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Underrated Horror: Sublime

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Hospitals can be frightening. The sickness, the blood, the sharp objects that look like medieval torture devices, and of course being surrounded by death—all of this contributes to our fear of these overly bright and sanitized buildings that are meant to help us. When we enter a hospital for even the most routine care, we may feel an itch of fear in the back of our minds. “What if I find out I am sicker than I thought? What if my routine procedure goes wrong? What if the nurses didn’t properly disinfect the needles? What if I never wake up from my anesthesia?” It is this collection of fear over hospital care that fuels the 2007 psychological horror film Sublime.

George Grieves, played by Tom Cavanagh, is a worrier. He has just turned 40, and while he lives a comfortable upper-middle-class life with his lovely wife and children, he can’t help but feel trepidation about his existence, especially the routine colonoscopy he has scheduled for the day after his birthday. His worries aren’t helped by a video shown to him by his son regarding voodoo practitioners, nor are they helped by a lively discussion amongst his family and friends at his birthday gathering, which includes the subject of hospital malpractice and mistakes made by healthcare providers. Still, his friends, his family, and his doctor all try to convince George that while it is understandable to worry, there is really nothing to be worried about.

When George awakens from his procedure, however, his worst fears begin to come true. He discovers a new surgical incision in his abdomen, freshly stitched and still bloody. How did he get that? Also, he is sweating profusely and can barely move his right leg. On top of this, a mysterious man in a red bow tie keeps entering his room and changing out his IV bag. Who is this man? What the hell is going on?

Soon, George is told that the hospital made a mistake—they gave him a procedure meant for another patient. Angered by this, George demands answers, including the identity of the man in the red bow tie who keeps changing his IV. The doctors, however, have not seen or heard of such a man. George’s quest for answers keeps hitting roadblocks as he goes in and out of a state of awareness, still groggy from his anesthesia and medications, but the hospital staff also appears keen on hiding the truth. His only ally is a caring nurse named Zoe, who is sympathetic to George’s troubles and wants to help him find answers.

As George and Zoe dig deeper into the hospital, the answers begin to show themselves in disturbing fashion. It is clear the hospital is hiding some terrifying secrets, and every chance George has at escaping is thwarted either by hospital bureaucracy or by the increasingly monstrous man in the red bow tie, who has now been seen murdering another patient. All of George’s fears have come to fruition, and he is trapped; however, his prison may not be exactly what it seems.

Sublime feels like a dark and grimy episode of The Twilight Zone with its cruel twists and unfortunate “everyman” protagonist. The film does a fine job exploring the everyday fears and worries we have, not only of the healthcare system but of the modern world as a whole. It is worth seeing if you enjoy slow-burn psychological horror, and it is currently streaming on Amazon and is available to rent or purchase at any number of retailers. For a taste of Sublime, check out its trailer below.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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