News

‘The Substance’ Director Says There Won’t Be a Sequel

Published

1 year ago

January 8, 2025

Coralie Fargeat, the director of The Substance — last year’s breakout body horror hit, says the movie is a stand-alone and there won’t be a part two. When asked about a follow-up during a red carpet interview, Fargeat scoffed at the idea

“Oh, no. Oh, no. The point of this movie is to present fresh things to the world. No sequels, no prequels, no number two, number three. I’m gonna be so happy to bring something else fresh to the world in a bit.“

The Substance

In the film, Hollywood vanity, ageism, and male toxicity are explored. Demi Moore plays Elisabeth, a famous celebrity who is aging out of the business. She starts using a designer drug that allows a younger version of herself, named Sue, to literally emerge and live in the outside world for a week. Complications arise when Sue becomes addicted to fame and attention and breaks the seven-day rule and in doing so, ages Elisabeth while in her stasis mode at a rapid rate.

It seems like the perfect movie for a possible franchise. It could follow other clients who use the drug and their travails or even an episodic television series that does the same. But at this point, that idea is moot.

#TheSubstance director Coralie Fargeat says there will not be a sequel to the film. #PSIFF https://t.co/Zb60FtL8TQ pic.twitter.com/JSD6AZ6Pnu
— Variety (@Variety) January 4, 2025

The Substance became one of the most critically-acclaimed movies of 2024 both among critics and horror fans. Last weekend, Demi Moore took home the Golden Globe for Best Female Actor – Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy. Fargeat says Demi’s win is perfect.

She told Variety:

“It was the entire reason why I made this film! To show that a woman shouldn’t be seen through her youth or her beauty but what she does. And Demi has done many things. It says a lot about where society puts its gaze. I think it was the best recognition for the film’s message. It was also a project that was very difficult to make and nobody wanted to make it how I wanted to make it — loud, excessive, violent. So it was great to see her on the stage for this uncompromising vision and the risk-taking that she dived into going on this journey with me.”

So far, Fageat doesn’t have another project in the works. But that doesn’t mean she is not thinking about it.

“It’s going to be totally different but with a lot of similarities. I love to make bold and surprising films with things that you don’t expect, so definitely that’s what I want to do. And I love the freedom that I gave myself for this film and that’s certainly something I want to keep doing. That was the greatest thing for me on ‘The Substance.’”

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News

Horror Has a New Obsession With Inde Navarrette

Published

3 hours ago

May 18, 2026

Luna Gray

Obsession opened nationwide May 15, 2026, and it did not sneak up on anyone. Director Curry Barker sold the film out of TIFF’s Midnight Madness section for a reported $15 million after a bidding war, on a production budget of $1 million. The film opened to a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- CinemaScore. None of that is the story people are actually talking about.

Deadline is running headlines about sequels and anthology spinoffs. The horror internet has a different priority.

Inde Navarrette is the story.

Who She Is

Navarrette is twenty-five, from Tucson, and has been working professionally since her teens. Genre audiences have had eyes on her for a while. Three seasons as Sarah Cushing in Superman & Lois, an arc as Estela de la Cruz in 13 Reasons Why. She was building a resume that said she could carry emotional weight. Obsession confirmed she can carry a demon. Girl has range.

What the Film Asks

Bear (Michael Johnston), a lonely man pining for his childhood friend, gets his hands on something called a One Wish Willow. He uses it and Nikki finally loves him back. What that looks like on screen is Navarrette’s problem to solve for the next 109 minutes.

She does it across three registers without losing the thread of any of them. There is the Stepford version of Nikki, smiling too wide, giving Bear exactly what he wished for. There is the screaming version, a full unraveling that I promise is unlike anything you have ever seen. And there is the third one, the depleted shell, the one that shows up when the other two have burned through everything. Most performers can do one convincingly. Navarrette rotates through all three within one scenes worth of dialog.

The Work

Deadline named her as having solidified scream queen status. The Hollywood Reporter ran a full breakdown with her on what the ending demanded. Navarrette on the subject of her genre future was brief and direct: “If horror will have me, I will stick in horror for a while.”

Horror will have her. Obviously.

News

This Week in Horror: Black Phone 2, The Backrooms, and the Return of Scary Movie

Published

3 days ago

May 15, 2026

Luna Gray

A release week. Something in theaters today, something on Netflix tomorrow, a trailer that is going to divide people cleanly down the middle, and a Kane Pixels situation that is either the most exciting thing to happen to A24 horror in years or a complete disaster, and we are about to find out which in two weeks. Here is everything.

Obsession Opens Today

Obsession is in theaters today. Curry Barker directed, Inde Navarrette stars, and the premise involves a supernatural toy called One Wish Willow that does not appear to grant wishes in a way that works out well for anyone. Barker is coming off solid work in the short horror space and this is his feature debut.

The Black Phone 2 Hits Netflix Tomorrow

The Black Phone 2 streams on Netflix starting May 16. Scott Derrickson directed both, Ethan Hawke and Mason Thames are back, and the first one did $132 million on a budget that did not require $132 million to recoup, so this sequel had time to actually be made right instead of being rushed out.

The first Black Phone is one of the better supernatural thrillers of the decade, and the ending left enough room that a sequel is not a stretch. The thing I want to know is whether Derrickson is doing something with that space or just filling it. Tomorrow we find out.

The Scary Movie Trailer Is Here

The Scary Movie trailer is out and June 12 is the release date. Michael Tiddes directs. Anna Faris is back. Regina Hall is back. Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans are back. The whole thing looks exactly as chaotic as you would expect from a Scary Movie film in 2026, which will either be a feature or a problem depending entirely on how you feel about the franchise.

The original Scary Movie came out in 2000 and it was funny. Some of the sequels were funny. I am genuinely not sure what this one is going to be, and I mean that in a way that is not entirely negative. Faris has not been in a wide release in a while. Seeing her back in the thing she was genuinely great at is enough to make me curious even if the whole rest of the movie turns out to be a mess.

Insidious: Out of the Further Gets an August Date

The sixth Insidious film has been officially dated for August 21. Jacob Chase directs, Amelia Eve leads, and Brandon Perea and Lin Shaye are back in the cast. The trailer showed at CinemaCon in April and the response was apparently positive enough that the August date got locked in immediately after.

Shaye has been the connective tissue of this franchise since the beginning and the decision to keep her involved in whatever direction the series goes next is the right one. She is also just an extremely good horror actor who does not get enough credit for how much work she has done making these films feel like they are about something beyond the haunted house mechanics. August 21.

The Backrooms Movie Is a Month Away

The Backrooms opens in theaters May 29 through A24. Kane Parsons directed it. He is 20 years old. He is the Kane Pixels person, which means he built an entire mythology from scratch in YouTube shorts and did it well enough that A24 hired him to make a theatrical feature before he could legally rent a car in most states.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve star. James Wan and Shawn Levy are producing. The budget exists. The question that has been hanging over this project since it was announced is whether a feature-length Backrooms works or whether the whole thing depends on the specific intimacy of the short format, and we are two weeks from knowing.

American Horror Story Is Going Back to the Coven

American Horror Story Season 13 is coming in October on FX and Hulu, and it is going back to the Miss Robichaux’s Academy setting from Season 3. Sarah Paulson is back. Evan Peters is back. Angela Bassett is back. Ariana Grande is joining the cast.

The Coven season was the last time the show felt like it had a unified identity, and bringing the whole thing back around to that specific world is a reasonable way to remind people why they liked it before the middle seasons started doing a lot of experimental things that did not always work.

News

Exclusive: ‘Key of Bones’ Reveals New Poster and Cannes Fantastic Pavilion Gala Screening

Published

4 days ago

May 14, 2026

Anthony Pernicka

The curse is heading to Cannes.

iHorror is exclusively revealing the brand-new poster for Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate ahead of the film’s screening this Saturday at the Fantastic Pavilion Gala during the Cannes Film Festival.

The supernatural horror-comedy will screen as part of the Fantastic Pavilion festivities during Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, marking another major moment for the indie production as momentum continues building toward the film’s Fall release.

*Actor Jeremy King, Actress Gina Vitori, Writer/Director Tony Armer, & Actress Melissa Chick*

Filmed in Key West, Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate follows a local waitress, a ghost tour guide, and an unlucky tourist who accidentally awaken a pirate curse tied to the infamous Anne Bonny. What follows is a wave of ghosts, supernatural chaos, cursed treasure, and paranormal mayhem spreading across the island.

Written and directed by Tony Armer, the film stars Gina Vitori, Melissa Chick, Jeremy King, Chad Newman, Benjamin Healy, Ty Spann, Kitty Clements and Vincent De Paul.

*Gina Vitori as Mary Read* *& Jeremy King as Christie*

Key of Bones also marks one of the first feature film productions connected to iHorror, expanding the brand beyond horror coverage and into original filmmaking.

The newly released poster leans into the film’s mix of pirate mythology, paranormal horror, cursed treasure, and the eerie atmosphere of real haunted locations in Key West. It offers another glimpse into the movie’s supernatural adventure, comedy, and ghostly chaos.

If you’re attending events in Cannes this weekend and would like to catch the screening of Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate, visit Fantastic Pavilion for event schedules and screening information.

For more on the film, visit www.KeyOfBones.com