Movies
‘The Wolfman’ Joins Uni’s Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights
In a new press release for this year’s Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights short films competition, it was revealed that The Wolfman will be howling alongside Jigsaw (from Lionsgate’s Saw franchise) at this year’s event taking place in October. The Wolfman remake hit theaters November 9th from Universal Pictures, so why not do some special events at Horror Nights to lead up to the release? Read on for details on the short film competition.
Chiller and Universal Studios Hollywood are partnering to recognize the nation’s top short-form filmmaking horror genre talent with the “Halloween Horror Nights-Chiller Scary Good Film Competition,” offering filmmakers an opportunity to have their scariest short film rewarded with a broadcast on Chiller of their work, a $1,000 cash prize, and a trip for two to the October 2 opening night of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Contest entries will be accepted from July 1, 2009, through August 21, 2009.
Prospective filmmakers are invited to submit short films of 90 seconds to three minutes in length on DVD (two copies of each film must be submitted). Selected films will be judged by a panel of horror industry professionals. Criteria will be storytelling skill, originality, and the degree of the “good scare.” The top 10 shorts will be posted online at HalloweenHorrorNights.com/Chiller from September 8-24 for public voting.
The winning “Scary Good” film will be announced on September 25. In addition to the prize and the Chiller broadcast of the film, the winning filmmaker will be honored in front of celebrities, studio executives, and media at the October 2 Chiller-Eyegore Awards ceremony, which will kick off the annual Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Entries should be sent to Halloween Horror Nights-Chiller Scary Good Film Competition, 100 Universal City Plaza, Building 5511, Universal City, CA 91608. Additional information on the contest, including a complete list of rules and regulations, is available online at the website above.
This year Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights will present all-new “live” experiences based on one of the all-time biggest box-office horror franchises, “Saw”, per an agreement among Universal Studios Theme Parks, Lionsgate, and Twisted Pictures, and on “The Wolfman” per an agreement with Universal Pictures. All-new mazes, all-new scare zones, and new shows will be featured.
Universal has been having a hell of a time getting their Universal Monsters brand back on a better path in the wake of the Dark Universe collapsing, with four movies thus far released in the years since The Mummy attempted to get that interconnected universe off the ground.
First was Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, to date the only post-Mummy hit for the Universal Monsters, followed by The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Renfield, and now Abigail. The latter three films have attempted to bring Dracula back to the screen in fresh ways, but both Demeter and Renfield severely underperformed at the box office. And while Abigail is a far better vampire movie than those two, it’s unfortunately also struggling to turn a profit.
Where does the Universal Monsters brand go from here? The good news is that Universal and Blumhouse have once again enlisted the help of Leigh Whannell for their upcoming Wolf Man reboot, which is howling its way into theaters in January 2025. This is good news, of course, because Whannell’s Invisible Man was the best – and certainly most profitable – of the post-Dark Universe movies that Universal has been able to conjure up. The film ended its worldwide run with $144 million back in 2020, a massive win considering the $7 million budget.
Given the film was such a success, you may wondering why The Invisible Man 2 hasn’t come along in these past four years. But the wait for that sequel may be coming to an end.
Speaking with the Happy Sad Confused podcast this week, The Invisible Man star Elisabeth Moss notes that she feels “very good” about the sequel’s development at this point in time.
“Blumhouse and my production company [Love & Squalor Pictures]… we are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” Moss updates this week. “And I feel very good about it.”
She adds, “We are very much intent on continuing that story.”
At the end of the 2020 movie, Elisabeth Moss’s heroine Cecilia Kass uses her stalker’s high-tech invisibility suit to kill him, now in possession of the technology that ruined her life.
Stay tuned for more on The Invisible Man 2 as we learn it.
[Related] Power Corrupts: Universal Monsters Classic ‘The Invisible Man’ at 90
Dev Patel’s ‘Monkey Man’ Is Now Available to Watch at Home!
Five Underseen Vampire Horror Movies to Stream This Week
‘Stream’ – Horror Movie from the Team Behind ‘Terrifier’ Sets August Theatrical Release
‘The Blair Witch Project’ – Original Stars Release a Statement Asking Lionsgate for Residuals & Recognition
‘Mountain Man’ – Joe Manganiello Will Battle Zombies in Upcoming Horror Movie
