Movies
[Slamdance ’12] Review: ‘Ghoul’ An Above-Par Adaptation With An Unusually Rich Plot!
Chiller TV’s made-for-TV production, Ghoul, premiered last week at the Slamdance Film Festival. Yesterday we announced that it had an air date for Friday, April 13th. And today we have a review!
John Marrone writes in from Slamdance, “As so often explored by Moderncine creations such as ‘The Girl Net Door’, ‘Offspring’, or ‘The Woman’ – what worse beast is there, than man? Genre crawlers looking to see a corpse eating beast or rape scenes in the tunnels beneath the graveyard should take note – this is not a hard-R film… With children engaging problems that would traumatize adults, and an acoustically driven soundtrack by Sean Spillane, Ghoul feels very much like a less offensive version of something between ‘The Woman’ and ‘The Girl Next Door’.”
Click here for the full review.
Brian Keene’s Ghoul is based on a horror novel of the same name, which follows a group of young friends who risk their lives to stop a rash of disappearances in their town. Directed by Greg Wilson and penned by William M. Miller, the adaptation stars Nolan Gould (“Modern Family”). Wilson also directed Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door. The feature is part of Chiller’s new original productions. The film was produced by MODERNCINÉ’s Andrew van den Houten (The Woman, The Girl Next Door) and Robert Tonino. 
The bar wasn’t very high to clear, but Lionsgate’s The Strangers: Chapter 1 did manage to break a box office record here in 2024, achieving the highest opening weekend at the domestic box office out of any horror movie released this year… so far. This despite largely negative reviews, once again proving that the horror genre is as review-proof as it comes.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 debuted with $11.83M at the domestic box office in 2,856 locations, just barely topping Blumhouse’s Night Swim to rip the crown off the top of its head.
Here’s the full lineup of domestic opening weekends for horror this year…
- The Strangers: Chapter 1 – $11.8 million
- Night Swim – $11.7 million
- Abigail – $10.2 million
- Imaginary – $9.9 million
- The First Omen – $8.3 million
- Tarot – $6.5 million
- Immaculate – $5.3 million
- Lisa Frankenstein – $3.6 million
For further context and comparison, 2018’s The Strangers: Prey at Night opened to $10.4 million before making $31 million worldwide, a number Chapter 1 may eventually reach.
The good news for Lionsgate is that the production budget for The Strangers: Chapter 1 was a reported $8.5 million, so there’s a good chance this one will soon be profitable. But is it enough to justify theatrical releases for both Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, which will continue Chapter 1‘s storyline and have already been filmed? Or will Lionsgate pivot to a streaming release?
These are the questions we can’t help but ponder today. Stay tuned for more.
Madelaine Petsch (“Riverdale”), Froy Gutierrez (Hocus Pocus 2), Rachel Shenton (The Silent Child), Ema Horvath (“Rings of Power”) and Gabe Basso (Hillbilly Elegy) star.
Here’s the full official synopsis: “After their car breaks down in an eerie small town, a young couple are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive.”
Renny Harlin directed The Strangers: Chapter 1.
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