News
Is This The Real Life Shining Hotel
We reported here on iHorror a while back that the mysterious case of Elisa Lam was being turned into a movie.
After pulling out two projects with Ryan Gosling in Drive and Only God Forgives, director Nicolas Winding Refn is ready to step into the horror genre. Deadline reports Refn is currently in early talks to direct The Bringing, a spec script by Brandon & Phillip Murphy that was picked up by Sony Pictures after an intense bidding war happened in February.
The script itself doesn’t actually play specifically to Elisa Lam. Instead it focuses on a man investigating a death at the hotel, and the nightmare he stumbles into. With the hotel setting and the spooky nature, maybe Refn sees this as an opportunity to make his own version of The Shining without trying to imitate Stanley Kubrick obviously.
Watching the surveillance footage of Elisa in the elevator. We can see how a haunted hotel story could be quite compelling. The four-minute video posted below shows Elisa pressing all of the elevator buttons and waiting for it to move. Seeing that the elevator doors are not closing, starts behaving extremely bizarrely. It’s important to note that when her body underwent an autopsy no signs of drugs or alcohol were present.
[youtube id=”B3ukbnq_LBg” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]
Right after the events of the video, Elisa apparently gained access to the rooftop of the hotel, climbed to its water tank and, somehow, ended up drowning in it. Her body was found two weeks after her death, after hotel guests complained about the water’s taste and color.
The Cecil Hotel does indeed have a dark history.
“Part of its sordid history, involves two serial killers, Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger.
Now on death row, Ramirez, labeled “the Nightstalker”, was living at the Cecil Hotel in 1985, in a top floor room. He was charged 14 dollars a night. In a building filled with transients, he remained unnoticed as he stalked and killed his 13 female victims. Richard Schave, said “He was dumping his bloody clothes in the Dumpster, at the end of his evening and returned via the back entrance.”
Jack Unterweger, was a journalist covering crime in Los Angeles for an Austrian magazine in 1991. “We believe he was living at the Cecil Hotel in homage to Ramirez,” Schave said.
He is blamed with killing three prostitutes in Los Angeles, while being a guest at the Cecil.
In the 50’s and 60’s the Cecil was known as a place that people would go to jump out of one of the hotel’s windows to commit suicide.
Helen Gurnee, in her 50s, leaped from a seventh floor window, landing on the Cecil Hotel marquee, on October 22, 1954.
Julia Moore jumped from her eighth floor room window, on February 11, 1962.
Pauline Otton, 27, jumped from a ninth floor window after an argument with her estranged husband, on October 12, 1962. Otton landed on George Gianinni, 65, who was walking on the side walk, 90 feet below. Both were killed instantly.
There was also a murder of one of the residents. “Pigeon Goldie” Osgood, a retired telephone operator, known for protecting and feeding pigeons in a nearby park, was found dead in his ransacked room on June 4, 1964. He had been stabbed, strangled, and raped. The crime still remains unsolved.”

News
John Wick in Development for a Sequel and a Video Game

John Wick 4 was a complete blast and the ending pointed at the odd fact that John Wick might actually be… dead. I didn’t believe it for a second. Not John Wick. The dude is a tank. Lionsgate has already greenlit development for a John Wick 5.
That isn’t all the studio has in store though. It also appears that we will receive a big triple-A game based on the Baba Yaga.
“What is official is that, as you know, Ballerina is the first spinoff that comes out next year,” President of Lionsgate Joe Drake said, “We’re in development on three others, including and including television series, “The Continental”, will be airing soon. And so, we’re building out the world and when that fifth movie comes, will be organic — will be organically grown out of how we’re starting to tell those stories. But you can rely on a regular cadence of John Wick.”
In addition to those awesome projects, we also have The Continental TV spinoff coming and a whole new Ballerina film based on the assassins introduced in John Wick 3.
The synopsis for John Wick 4 went like this:
With the price on his head ever increasing, legendary hit man John Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Japan to Berlin.
Are you guys excited about a John Wick 5 and a full-on, shoot-em-up video game based on Wick? Let us know in the comments section.
News
Tim Burton Documentary Features Winona Ryder, Johnny Depp, and Other Regulars

Tim Burton will always be a part of horror for us. He has a page indexed here and we love it. From Beetlejuice to Ed Wood the director has broken the mold time and time again. A documentary focused on Burton is headed to Cannes this year and will feature all of the director’s co-conspirators in action.
The four-part documentary features Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, composer Danny Elfman, Christopher Walken, Danny DeVito, Mia Wasikowska, and Christoph Waltz. All of these awesome actors to talk about their time with Burton.
“Tim continues to build his aesthetic, the Burton-esque style, derived from a wealth of art, cinematic, and literary genres,” the release says “The documentary explores how Burton brings his vision to life through his own joyous idiosyncrasy and his ability to meld the ominous and the frightful with a sense of whimsy. Tim’s films are just the tip of the iceberg.”
The documentary will take us through Burton’s life and many adored films.
Are you excited to see Burton’s documentary? Let us know in the comments section.
News
‘The Last of Us’ Fans Have a Really Long Wait Till Second Season

The Last of Us was a big hit with fans. It brought in both fans of the game as well as new fans entirely. It managed to give gut punches in the feels and still managed to create a terrifying experience. That’s great and all but the long wait for fans isn’t going to be an easy one.
While the writers strike wages on and the powers that be drag their heels to give the writers the wages that they should be getting paid, it is not an easy ride for fans.
The Last of Us was already going to take a year at the minimum to get back to season 2 premiere. But with the writers strike in action those timelines have been pushed even further back.
Writer, Francesca Orsi of The Last of Us says that it looks like at the moment there could be a 2025 date in mind… and that is saying everything does work out.
“We will have to assess what is the end of the ’24 schedule, what are the shows that are going to be delivered for 2025. At this point, those shows that I’m looking to air wouldn’t necessarily be ready if this strike lasts six to nine months. So yes, that’s a big question for us, but I think we’ll cross that road once we come to it.” Orsi said.
We are all at the mercy of the writers and the hands that need to feed them. So, the wait could get really long depending on the amount of greed that the folks in charge have.
What do you think about the long wait for a second season of The Last of Us? Let us know in the comments section.