Blumhouse and Atomic Monster used a 90-minute “Blumfest” panel at New York Comic Con on Friday to show a first trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs, confirm a games-to-film deal with MatPat, and announce a new director and cast for several 2027 projects. IGN reports that Blumhouse founder Jason Blum and Atomic Monster founder James Wan were on stage with YouTuber MatPat, who moderated.
MatPat’s indie horror deal
MatPat signed a deal with Blumhouse to produce films based on indie horror games. The first is Amanda the Adventurer: The Movie. Deadline reports the film adapts DreadXP’s 2023 puzzle game, with Epic Pictures CEO Patrick Ewald producing. Bloody Disgusting says no writer or director is attached yet.
It isn’t Blumhouse’s first game adaptation. The studio is also behind the Dead by Daylight film, directed by Thordur Palsson.
The Exorcist: Martyrs
Director Mike Flanagan and cast member Chiwetel Ejiofor presented the trailer. Flanagan said he set out to make Martyrs the scariest project he has made, and thinks he has managed it: “This movie is so goddamn scary. I could feel it on set.” IGN also published a Q&A with Flanagan, which notes the influence of The Exorcist III on the footage.
River
The slasher River premiered at TIFF and set off a bidding war. According to Deadline, Universal and Blumhouse won it for more than $10 million. The trailer shows Jessica Rothe’s character swimming in a river as a hulking, silent man (Dane DiLiegro) swims straight at her. Her siblings, played by Jane Levy and Max Mattern, wait on a boat. IndieWire says Universal will release it in US theatres on 15 January 2027.
Franchise updates
- Paranormal Activity 8: Wan pushed for a new entry, saying the team can “make a movie as scary as the first one.” A set video showed director Ian Tuason in the original film’s bedroom, saying the film will take audiences “back to a familiar space.”
- Saw 11: Blum promised the franchise would return “in a whole new way” under Wan and Leigh Whannell. Wan said he picked Mike P. Nelson to direct but kept the key ingredient of a Saw film secret.
- RoboCop and Blair Witch: Both got brief check-ins with nothing new. Dan Stevens still stars in the Prime Video RoboCop series, and Dylan Clark still directs the fourth Blair Witch Project film.
New projects and first looks
- Molepeople: Rob Savage, whose Other Mommy opens this weekend, announced his next film. He called it a “subterranean horror movie” in the vein of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. Lakeith Stanfield stars.
- Anything But Ghosts: Obsession writer-director Curry Barker and co-star Cooper Tomlinson appeared for their comedy-horror about two con artist ghost hunters who land a job that turns out to be real. It opens on 7 May 2027, and Barker and Tomlinson star.
- Something Is Killing the Children: Craig Zobel (The Hunt, The Penguin) will direct. Casting the lead, Erica Slaughter, is the next step. Comic co-creator James Tynion IV said he wants the performer to capture her strength and her humour.
- Heidi Wong: The horror creator known as the Horror Queen will write and direct an original short for Blumhouse, inspired by Eastern mythology and folklore. Blum said the plan is to develop it into a feature.
None of the announcements carries a UAE release date yet.
