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Inside Blumhouse’s ‘Black Box’ with Phylicia Rashad and Mamoudou Athie

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Black Box

Welcome to the Blumhouse is slated to launch this week. The eight-film anthology tackles a variety of topics centered around family, relationships, and the terrifying positive and negative wielded by each. The first two films–Black Box and The Lie–are set to drop on Amazon Prime on October 6, 2020 with two more features the following week. The back four feature-length episodes will drop in 2021.

In advance of its opening this week, Black Box stars Phylicia Rashad and Mamoudou Athie sat down with iHorror to talk about the film and the particularly dark vision it presents.

Athie plays Nolan, a single father suffering from amnesia after surviving the terrible car accident that killed his wife. His life is falling apart and he is at his wits’ end when he is convinced by a doctor (Rashad) to take part in an experimental treatment in an attempt to recover his memories.

The experiment works, but with terrifying results revealing far more questions than answers with a mind-blowing conclusion you must see for yourself.

When I began watching this film, I couldn’t help note that this was exactly the kind of role I would expect Rashad to play, but the genre was surprising, and I had to know what what drew her to Black Box.

“I liked the story,” the legendary actress explained. “I like the way it’s told. I like the humanity of the story. Also, I really like the challenge and the opportunity to research a field that I haven’t researched before. I mean, not since college studying general psych and abnormal psych, but this was on another level. This was researching from a practitioner’s point of view. Not just learning about it. So that was quite nice.”

One of the particularly interesting points of the film was the growth and development of the relationship between doctor and patient. Athie and Rashad’s chemistry onscreen is incredible, especially considering there was very little time to rehearse.

“We were thrown in like peas and carrots in a pot of soup,” Rashad said with a laugh. “We didn’t have much rehearsal because we didn’t have much time.”

“Yeah we were just really just thrown right into it,” Athie–who you might remember for the recent deep sea horror film Underwater–agreed, “but you know with an actor like Ms. Rashad it’s like you’ve been there all your life.”

It’s not only their relationship that evolves throughout the film, however. Athie’s character has an incredible arc especially as he begins to feel a darkness in the memories that are coming back to him in the healing process.

It’s an intense transformation to watch, and offered its own challenges to the actor as he was preparing for the role.

“It’s one of those things where it looks kind of awful,” the actor said. “I had a teacher that once said you can use acting as a kind of therapy sometimes and get some things out of you. This was an opportunity to do that. I was like, this is the one. It was wonderful.”

“He’s very modest,” Rashad said of Athie. “He’s really phenomenal. Al Freeman, Jr., I don’t know if you remember him or not; he was a masterful actor and a master teacher, and he would say to his students that acting is movement of thought. Move to the center of thought and put yourself in the way of the reality. He never studied with this master, yet that’s what Mamoudou does.”

Black Box premieres on October 6, 2020 on Amazon Prime. Check out the trailer below and don’t miss this excellent film!

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The Original ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel Had an Interesting Location

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beetlejuice in Hawaii Movie

Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s sequels to hit movies weren’t as linear as they are today. It was more like “let’s re-do the situation but in a different location.” Remember Speed 2, or National Lampoon’s European Vacation? Even Aliens, as good as it is, follows a lot of the plot points of the original; people stuck on a ship, an android, a little girl in peril instead of a cat. So it makes sense that one of the most popular supernatural comedies of all time, Beetlejuice would follow the same pattern.

In 1991 Tim Burton was interested in doing a sequel to his 1988 original, it was called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian:

“The Deetz family moves to Hawaii to develop a resort. Construction begins, and it’s quickly discovered that the hotel will be sitting on top of an ancient burial ground. Beetlejuice comes in to save the day.”

Burton liked the script but wanted some re-writes so he asked then-hot screenwriter Daniel Waters who had just got done contributing to Heathers. He passed on the opportunity so producer David Geffen offered it to Troop Beverly Hills scribe Pamela Norris to no avail.

Eventually, Warner Bros. asked Kevin Smith to punch up Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, he scoffed at the idea, saying, “Didn’t we say all we needed to say in the first Beetlejuice? Must we go tropical?”

Nine years later the sequel was killed. The studio said Winona Ryder was now too old for the part and an entire re-cast needed to happen. But Burton never gave up, there were a lot of directions he wanted to take his characters, including a Disney crossover.

“We talked about lots of different things,” the director said in Entertainment Weekly. “That was early on when we were going, Beetlejuice and the Haunted MansionBeetlejuice Goes West, whatever. Lots of things came up.”

Fast-forward to 2011 when another script was pitched for a sequel. This time the writer of Burton’s Dark Shadows,  Seth Grahame-Smith was hired and he wanted to make sure the story wasn’t a cash-grabbing remake or reboot. Four years later, in 2015, a script was approved with both Ryder and Keaton saying they would return to their respective roles. In 2017 that script was revamped and then eventually shelved in 2019.

During the time the sequel script was being tossed around in Hollywood, in 2016 an artist named Alex Murillo posted what looked like one-sheets for a Beetlejuice sequel. Although they were fabricated and had no affiliation with Warner Bros. people thought they were real.

Perhaps the virality of the artwork sparked interest in a Beetlejuice sequel once again, and finally, it was confirmed in 2022 Beetlejuice 2 had a green light from a script written by Wednesday writers  Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. The star of that series Jenna Ortega signed on to the new movie with filming starting in 2023. It was also confirmed that Danny Elfman would return to do the score.

Burton and Keaton agreed that the new film titled Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice wouldn’t rely on CGI or other other forms of technology. They wanted the film to feel “handmade.” The film wrapped in November 2023.

It’s been over three decades to come up with a sequel to Beetlejuice. Hopefully, since they said aloha to Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian there has been enough time and creativity to ensure Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice will not only honor the characters, but fans of the original.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice will open theatrically on September 6.

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Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel

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Maybe it’s because The Exorcist just celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year, or maybe it’s because aging Academy Award-winning actors aren’t too proud to take on obscure roles, but Russell Crowe is visiting the Devil once again in yet another possession film. And it’s not related to his last one, The Pope’s Exorcist.

According to Collider, the film titled The Exorcism was originally going to be released under the name The Georgetown Project. Rights for its North American release were once in the hands of Miramax but then went to Vertical Entertainment. It will release on June 7 in theaters then head over to Shudder for subscribers.

Crowe will also star in this year’s upcoming Kraven the Hunter which is set to drop in theaters on August 30.

As for The Exorcism, Collider provides us with what it’s about:

“The film centers around actor Anthony Miller (Crowe), whose troubles come to the forefront as he shoots a supernatural horror movie. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) has to figure out whether he’s lapsing into his past addictions, or if something even more horrific is occurring. “

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New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie

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Deadpool & Wolverine might be the buddy movie of the decade. The two heterodox superheroes are back in the latest trailer for the summer blockbuster, this time with more f-bombs than a gangster film.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Movie Trailer

This time the focus is on Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman. The adamantium-infused X-Man is having a bit of a pity party when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) arrives on the scene who then tries to convince him to team up for selfish reasons. The result is a profanity-filled trailer with a Strange surprise at the end.

Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It comes out on July 26. Here is the latest trailer, and we suggest if you are at work and your space isn’t private, you might want to put in headphones.

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