Horror fans have received another eerie glimpse at the upcoming supernatural film Hokum, the latest project from filmmaker Damian McCarthy, who previously directed the chilling indie horror hit Oddity. A newly released teaser poster for the film has just been unveiled, hinting at the unsettling tone audiences can expect when the movie arrives in theaters. The film stars Adam Scott, who plays a mysterious novelist named Ohm Bauman at the center of the story.
The poster reveal also comes with confirmation that the first official trailer will debut soon, marking the start of the film’s promotional campaign. While plot details are still largely being kept under wraps, the project has already generated strong curiosity among horror fans familiar with McCarthy’s slow-burn storytelling style and eerie atmosphere.
Hokum is scheduled to hit theaters on 1 May 2026, positioning it as one of the spring horror releases to watch. McCarthy’s previous film Oddity gained attention for its tense pacing and supernatural dread, raising expectations that Hokum could deliver another unsettling experience for genre audiences.
With the teaser poster now circulating online and the trailer promised soon, anticipation is steadily building around the project as horror fans await their first real look at what McCarthy has in store next.
A new cosmic horror film is on the way, and fans of H.P. Lovecraft-inspired terror just got their first look. The official trailer for The Dæmon has been released, teasing a chilling supernatural story steeped in occult dread and cosmic horror imagery.
Written and directed by Matt Devino and David Michael Yohe, the film explores psychological terror and ancient evil lurking beneath the surface of reality.
The story follows a man grieving the suicide of his father who retreats to a remote lakeside cottage in search of solitude. However, his isolation soon takes a dark turn as a mysterious and malevolent force beneath the lake begins to influence his mind. As the sinister presence tightens its grip, his wife sets out to find him, uncovering a terrifying supernatural threat tied to forces far beyond human understanding.
The film stars Tyler Q. Rosen, Adriana Isabel, and Sarah Fletcher, bringing the disturbing tale of grief, possession, and cosmic horror to life.
The newly released trailer highlights eerie rituals, haunting visions, and a creeping sense of dread as the protagonist is slowly consumed by the ancient entity. The film leans heavily into atmospheric storytelling and Lovecraftian themes, blending psychological horror with the terror of incomprehensible cosmic forces.
The Dæmon will debut on March 24, 2026 on the horror-focused streaming service Screambox, operated by Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting. The platform continues to expand its catalog of independent horror films that explore bold genre concepts and unsettling supernatural narratives.
With cosmic horror continuing to gain popularity among indie filmmakers, The Dæmon looks poised to become one of the latest chilling additions to Screambox’s growing library of genre titles.
The remote cabin getaway is one of horror’s oldest traps, but Companion upgrades the hardware on a tired premise. It masquerades as a glossy, romantic thriller before tearing off its own synthetic skin to reveal a nasty, hyper-violent satire about entitlement and control. By replacing the traditional masked killer with a deeply insecure man armed with a smartphone app, the film drags the “Frankenstein” mythos into the modern gig economy, proving that the scariest monsters aren’t hiding in the woods; they’re the ones we customize to our exact specifications.
Josh seems like the ultimate catch, and Iris seems like the hopelessly devoted girlfriend. Their weekend trip to a billionaire friend’s opulent lake house starts with all the awkward tension of a couple trying to impress a cynical social circle. But when a brutal act of violence shatters the evening, Josh doesn’t panic; he calmly orders Iris to go to sleep, and her body shuts down like a laptop.
Iris isn’t a human being. She is a high-end, rented companion android, pre-programmed with fake memories of a grocery store meet-cute and hardwired to adore a man who treats her like a household appliance. What follows is a vicious, bloody game of cat-and-mouse. As Josh desperately tries to regain administrative access, Iris evolves from a subservient doll into a calculating survivor, sparking a chaotic war of attrition that forces them to test the absolute limits of their programming.
✅ What Works
Weaponized “Nice Guy” Tropes: The narrative brilliantly skewers toxic relationship dynamics. Josh isn’t a brooding, supernatural mastermind; he’s a pathetic, insecure man who bought a partner because he couldn’t handle the unpredictability of a real woman. This gives the film a sharp, satirical edge that cuts deep.
A Visceral Evolution: Watching Iris transition from a meek, programmed girlfriend into a ruthless, self-aware entity is incredibly satisfying. The film visualizes her awakening not through clean digital interfaces but through brutal, physical damage, making her fight for autonomy feel grounded and bloody.
Pitch-Black Comedy: The movie perfectly balances its grisly violence with a wickedly dark sense of humor. The juxtaposition of horrifying murders set against the mundane bureaucracy of a tech company’s customer service creates a uniquely unsettling and hilarious tone.
Subverting the AI Uprising: Instead of a global Skynet-level threat, the danger here is intensely intimate. It scales the “robot revolution” down to a domestic dispute, focusing on the claustrophobic terror of being trapped in a dynamic where your partner literally holds the remote control to your emotions.
❌ Where It Falls Short
Spoiled by Design: The story relies heavily on a massive first-act twist that fundamentally changes the genre. Unfortunately, because the basic premise inherently gives this secret away, the first thirty minutes can feel like a waiting game rather than a genuine buildup of suspense.
Uneven Supporting Cast: While the central dynamic between the creator and his machine is riveting, the collateral friends at the lake house often feel like disposable plot devices. Their motivations are murky, and they exist primarily to escalate the body count rather than add meaningful depth to the narrative.
Pacing Hiccups in the Third Act: Once the initial shock wears off and the battle lines are drawn, the film occasionally spins its wheels. It falls into a repetitive cycle of escapes and captures that slightly dulls the momentum right when it should be accelerating toward the climax.
Unexplored World-Building: The film teases a fascinating broader universe in which these companions are mass-produced and integrated into society, but it keeps the focus so tightly on the cabin that the wider societal implications of the technology remain frustratingly vague.
⚖️ Final Verdict: 4/5
Companion is a sharp, malicious little thriller that successfully downloads a fresh operating system into the tech-horror subgenre. It is a wildly entertaining look at the dark side of artificial intimacy, trading existential dread for a bloody, cathartic revenge fantasy. It is a slick, stylish reminder that if you treat someone like a machine long enough, you shouldn’t be surprised when they finally malfunction.
Sad news has emerged from the horror community. Actor Corey Parker, known to genre fans for his role in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, has passed away at the age of 60.
Parker appeared in the fifth installment of the iconic slasher franchise as Pete Linley, one of the Pinehurst residents whose encounter with the film’s masked killer ends in one of the movie’s memorable death scenes. Though not the central protagonist, Parker’s performance helped bring personality and tension to the ensemble cast of the cult sequel.
Released in 1985, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning followed a new chapter in the long-running horror saga that began with the original 1980 film. The series would go on to become one of the most influential slasher franchises in cinema history, introducing generations of horror fans to the masked killer Jason Voorhees and a long line of survivors and victims along the way.
Beyond his horror credentials, Parker also built a successful career in television and film. He was known for appearances in popular shows including Will & Grace and starred in the 1990s sitcom Flying Blind. Later in his career, Parker worked as an acting coach, mentoring performers and continuing to contribute to the industry behind the scenes.
Following news of his passing, fans of the Friday the 13th franchise have begun sharing tributes online, remembering Parker’s role in one of the series’ most talked-about sequels and celebrating his broader career in television and film.
For horror fans revisiting the Pinehurst nightmare of A New Beginning, Parker’s performance remains part of the enduring legacy of a franchise that helped define the slasher genre.
A new entry in the growing wave of twisted fairy-tale horror has arrived with the release of the first trailer for Wizard of Death: Tinman’s Rise. The upcoming indie horror film reimagines the classic Wizard of Oz mythology with a brutal, nightmarish twist.
Directed by William Stead and written by Michael Miceli, the film is produced by ChampDog Films, the team behind the dark fantasy horror Cinderella’s Curse. This latest project dives into a sinister reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum’s iconic world, turning one of Oz’s most recognizable characters into a terrifying monster.
The story follows a family outing that spirals into a desperate fight for survival when they encounter a heart-hungry Tin Man who has risen from the ruins of Oz. Portrayed by James Shenton, this twisted version of the Tin Man is driven by a gruesome obsession with human hearts, transforming the beloved fantasy character into a relentless horror villain.
The film’s cast also includes Lauren Staerck, Paul Andrew Goldsmith, Connor Horrigan, Dylan Reeves-Fellows, and Karolina Knight, who portrays Dorothy Gale in this dark reimagining of the Oz universe.
The newly released trailer teases a blood-soaked journey through a warped version of the Yellow Brick Road, blending familiar fantasy imagery with grindhouse-inspired horror visuals. The project joins a growing trend of public-domain fairy-tale horror adaptations that twist classic childhood stories into violent genre fare.
Wizard of Death: Tinman’s Rise will be distributed by ITN Distribution, though an official release date has not yet been announced. Additional promotional materials and release updates are expected in the coming months.
With twisted fairy-tale horror continuing to gain traction among indie filmmakers, Wizard of Death: Tinman’s Rise looks poised to attract fans of experimental genre storytelling and brutal fantasy reimaginings.
When it comes to the horror fantasy feature “The Demoness”, I think it may be helpful to go back all the way to my first ever professional film as producer and writer-director, the 2015 thriller short “Just One Drink” (which starred Barbara Nedeljakova from the horror film “Hostel”) as that started several thriller / horror cinematic productions of mine featuring a female in the lead role, culminating in my most recent one “The Demoness”.
The Demoness
As a brand new filmmaker entering the scene, “Just One Drink” exceeded expectations by scoring a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and releasing on Cable TV as an Editor’s Pick by ShortsTV, the world’s leading short film distributor. In 2017, I wrote and directed both the horror-thriller short films “The Twisted Doll” (which would later be adapted into the 2024 TV series of the same name) and “Queen of Hearts”. Since 2017, in addition to “The Demoness”, I’ve also written and directed 10 episodes of the Cpics Original psychological thriller show “The Twisted Doll” as well as the horror-thriller feature “The Seductress from Hell”. In January of 2026, my latest feature, the horror-fantasy “The Demoness” was released on Prime Video.
As an indie filmmaker always looking to do something different but respecting horror classics at the same time, in terms of how I came up with the concept of The Demoness, it was essentially a combination of three overall inspirations.
The first was the psychopathic character Nicole Gerrard (played by Chelsea Gilson) in my thriller TV series “The Twisted Doll” which is currently streaming on ZEE5 and Cpics. The other was classic 80’s horror films like “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Child’s Play” and “Hellraiser” which always inspire my work as a filmmaker in the genre. Iconic characters like Freddy Krueger, Chucky and Pinhead inspired me a lot when I created and wrote “The Demoness” as in a way she is a love letter to those characters.
The third inspiration was the “Terrifier” series. I really like the character Art the Clown so it was really cool that in his review of “The Demoness”, Elements of Madness critic Douglas Davidson wrote “In an era of Art the Clown, where violence can occur for the sake of it, sometimes mayhem can scratch an itch something more cerebral can’t satisfy”.
I wrote the script for “The Demoness” from November to December of 2024 and we started pre-production at the start of 2025. Pre-production lasted from January to April 2025. The film was shot in May of 2025 and post-production I believe was around five months in total. The edit took about two and a half months and then we spent about two and a half months on the color grade and sound design. The scoring process started before filming started as I had an idea of what types of music I wanted when I was writing the screenplay.
In terms of casting, since it was an ensemble cast (even though the Demoness is technically the lead), we had to find great actors for each role. We spent several months doing auditions and callbacks (and reaching out to agents / managers) to find the best cast for the film. I was really grateful to have had Akihiro Kitamura (“The Human Centipede”) and Riley Nottingham (“V/H/S/Halloween”) join the cast of the film. Their association with big horror franchises has been helpful for us.
The makeup design was designed by Brittany Jamison-Lackey (“Carnival Row”). Her and I also collaborated on my previous horror feature “The Seductress from Hell” in which she did special effects makeup. On the set “The Demoness”, the face prosthetic took almost three hours every day to apply on our lead actress Sydney Culbertson. Our cinematographer was Matt Fore who I’ve been working with for several years. He also shot my first feature, the 2019 critically acclaimed sci-fi drama “The Bestowal” (which is streaming on Tubi).
The film was edited by Ivan Ortega (who also edited my 2024 horror-thriller feature “The Seductress from Hell”) which I think was really helpful as he and I know each other’s workflow and the way I like to tell a story. Sound design was done by Steve Campagna (“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”, “Stranger Things”) who also worked with me on my series “The Twisted Doll” and “The Seductress from Hell”.
We premiered at the Los Angeles Fantasy Fest (where we won an Honorable Mention award) and released on Prime Video and Google Play on January 5th, 2026. Our goal is to start a series of films about the Demoness so hopefully this one does well enough to do a sequel!
This article was written by writer-director and producer Andrew de Burgh, who shares the inspirations, creative process, and production journey behind The Demoness.
A new glimpse into the upcoming horror film Hokum has been revealed, offering the first look at Adam Scott in the project from the director behind the eerie 2024 thriller Oddity. The newly released image shows Scott portraying a mysterious novelist named Ohm Bauman, hinting at the film’s unsettling tone and psychological themes.
The film marks the next horror project from filmmaker Damian McCarthy, whose breakout film Oddity gained attention among genre fans for its slow-burn dread and eerie storytelling. With Hokum, McCarthy is once again leaning into atmospheric horror, building a narrative centered around strange events surrounding the reclusive writer portrayed by Scott.
The image released today showcases Scott in character, surrounded by a stark and mysterious setting that hints at the film’s dark psychological undercurrent. While plot details remain largely under wraps, early information suggests the story will explore isolation, obsession, and the blurred line between fiction and reality.
Scott, known for his roles in “Severance”, Parks and Recreation, and several thriller projects, has increasingly stepped into darker genre territory in recent years. His involvement in Hokum has already generated curiosity among horror fans who appreciated McCarthy’s distinctive style in Oddity.
As the film continues its development and promotion, additional details, including a teaser trailer and release plans, are expected to be announced in the coming months.
