FOLLOWING FILMS

Today on the podcast, Chris Maynard sits down with filmmaker Kevin Lewis—yes, that Kevin Lewis, the mad genius who gave us Willy’s Wonderland and cemented his place in modern cult horror. He’s back with a new Southern-Gothic nightmare, Pig Hill, a film that premiered at FrightFest and is now available on VOD courtesy of Cineverse, the folks behind Terrifier 3 and The Toxic Avenger. Pig Hill follows Carrie, played by Rainey Qualley, a young woman obsessed with the eerie legend of the “pig people”—grotesque creatures said to stalk the wooded hills of her rural hometown. As the disappearances of local women reach a chilling tenth victim, Carrie, her brother (Shiloh Fernandez), and their friend Andy (Shane West) begin digging into the folklore… and discover there may be more truth to the stories than anyone wants to believe. So let’s dive into Pig Hill, the filmmaking process, and what keeps Kevin chasing the next nightmare. Pig Hill is available on VOD today—and I’m thrilled to welcome Ke...

The New Yorker has added Extremist, the award-winning short film from writer–director Alexander Molochnikov, to its curated slate of prestige releases. The film is now streaming both on the magazine’s website and on its YouTube channel, accompanied by a newly published interview with Molochnikov. Inspired by the real case of Sasha Skochilenko—a St. Petersburg artist imprisoned for seven years after swapping four grocery-store price tags with anti-war messages—Extremist approaches her story from a more internal, imaginative angle. Instead of recreating events literally, Molochnikov explores the emotional and psychological weight of a seemingly tiny act of dissent at a time when public expression can trigger severe state retaliation. The film uses this small gesture as an entry point into broader questions about conscience, repression, and the cost of refusing to stay silent. Since premiering at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival, Extremist has quickly become a standout on the festival cir...

The first time anyone in Binger County heard the phrase “tourism initiative,” they assumed it meant another mural, maybe a sunflower festival, or, at most, a modest water tower repaint. No one expected the Lamp. It appeared first as a rumor: a whisper drifting down the aisles of Ozzie’s Hardware, caught between the feed sacks and the impulse-buy screwdrivers. Did you hear? Chickasha’s going to build a giant leg lamp. Like the one from the movie. But bigger. Way bigger. By the time the city council agenda went public, the Lamp had grown in the telling, from fifteen feet to thirty, then forty, before settling at an improbable, structurally questionable fifty. A fiberglass monument to kitsch. A glowing testament to the town’s new, maybe misguided ambition. The night of the vote, the council chambers filled with the kind of crowd usually reserved for bond issues or controversial playground shade structures. Retirees clutched printouts from the internet; teenagers filmed on their phones; th...

Altitude is set to bring one of next year’s most talked-about horror films straight into living rooms, with SHELBY OAKS arriving on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital on 15 December. The film, already building a devoted following long before its wide release, marks the feature debut of filmmaker and longtime genre commentator Chris Stuckmann, whose transition from critic to creator has been watched with intense curiosity by horror fans. At the centre of the story is a woman tortured by the disappearance of her sister—an absence that has shaped her life and, increasingly, her sanity. As she digs deeper into old memories and abandoned leads, she becomes convinced that the malevolent figure they once blamed for childhood nightmares might not have been imaginary at all. What begins as a search for answers spirals into a feverish fixation, blurring the line between trauma and the supernatural. Led by performances from Camille Sullivan, Brendan Sexton III, and Michael Beach, the film has already draw...

From Director Johnny Ma and EP Pablo Larraín comes THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR, a tender, off-beat dramedy about a mother, a daughter, and the chaotic, sometimes absurd ways we try to protect the people we love. The film, which premiered in the Centrepiece section of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, arrives with the support of multi–Oscar nominee Pablo Larraín, whose taste for emotionally sharp, character-driven stories is an ideal match for Johnny Ma’s sensibility. The film centers on Sara, played by acclaimed Korean actress Kim Ho-jung, who rushes from Seoul to icy Winnipeg after her 26-year-old daughter Sumi is left comatose following an accident. Faced with the terrifying possibility of an uncertain recovery, Sara channels her fear into a misguided mission: finding her daughter a future husband—preferably Korean—before she wakes up. Her tool of choice is a dating app, where she catfishes on Sumi’s behalf, stumbling into awkward, funny, and unexpectedly moving encounters. A...

Holiday shoppers scanning the crowds this season may notice more than discounted gadgets and glittering storefronts—there’s a sinister buzz building around Silent Night, Deadly Night, the new theatrical horror arriving December 12. Tickets have officially gone on sale, and early promotions are turning Black Friday and Cyber Monday into a blood-red countdown to release day. With Fandango offering limited-time buy-one-get-one tickets and a fresh preview clip stirring up fan chatter, the film is positioning itself as winter’s most chaotic night at the movies. The latest incarnation of the cult franchise comes from filmmaker Mike P. Nelson, who writes and directs a new story that revisits the chilling legacy of Billy, a traumatized boy who grows into a holiday-season executioner. Nelson’s take leans into tragedy as much as terror—violence is inevitable, but for the first time, someone might try to pull Billy back from the brink. Rather than simply revive the original film’s shock value, th...

Eugene Jarecki’s The Six Billion Dollar Man arrives at a moment when journalism and institutional power feel more volatile than ever. Premiering as a Special Screening at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the documentary turns its focus toward Julian Assange, spotlighting his release in 2024 and revisiting a story the world has debated for more than a decade. Rather than treating Assange as a historical figure, the film places him firmly in the present, arguing that the stakes surrounding his case are not resolved but escalating.  Jarecki’s approach is expansive and global. The documentary was filmed across multiple regions, tracing the arc of WikiLeaks from its early revelations to the years that followed—years marked by court battles, diplomatic standoffs, constant surveillance, and attempts by various governments to control the narrative. The film incorporates firsthand accounts from journalists, attorneys, public officials, activists, and individuals who interacted with Assange di...

The official synopsis suggests that this film isn’t just a continuation — it's the reckoning everything has been leading toward: Maya must confront the masked killers one final time, forcing a brutal, full-circle collision between survival and revenge. Where previous installments leaned into dread and helplessness, Chapter 3 appears poised to flip the dynamic. The hunter and the hunted may finally trade places. If the teaser is any indication, Maya’s story is no longer just about escaping the Strangers — it’s about ending them. THE MINDS BEHIND THE MADNESS The screenplay comes from Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland , adapting the world originally created by Bryan Bertino — the filmmaker whose original The Strangers left audiences checking their locks for years. This closing film is produced by Courtney Solomon , Mark Canton , Christopher Milburn , Gary Raskin , Alastair Burlingham , and Charlie Dombek , with Lionsgate releasing in partnership with Fifth Element, alongsid...

Colin Minihan’s Coyotes is one of the most unexpectedly enjoyable thrillers of 2025, a tight, fiery, eco-horror adventure that blends creature-feature suspense with an intimate family drama. What could have easily become a campy “animals attack” movie instead emerges as a tense, stylish, emotionally resonant survival story that hits far above its weight class. The plot is straightforward but immediately gripping: a Hollywood Hills family, Scott (Justin Long), Liv (Kate Bosworth), and their teenage daughter Chloe (Mila Harris), becomes trapped in their home as wildfires rage nearby. The already volatile situation turns terrifying when a pack of coyotes, driven from their habitat and behaving with eerie coordination, surrounds the house. The genius of the setup is its layered tension. The fire, the darkness, the isolation, the failing communications, the smoke, all of it compounds into an atmosphere where anything could go wrong at any moment. The coyotes are just the final spark thrown ...

New Line Cinema is once again stepping into the arena, and this time, the stakes for Earthrealm have never been higher. Mortal Kombat II , the follow-up to Simon McQuoid’s 2021 reboot, arrives in theaters and IMAX® in May 2026, promising an even bolder, bloodier, and more lore-rich entry in the long-running video game adaptation saga. McQuoid returns to the director’s chair with a renewed confidence and a stacked creative team, adapting a screenplay by Jeremy Slater ( Moon Knight ) based on Ed Boon and John Tobias’s legendary fighting game series. Where the first film teased a tournament that never came, this sequel dives headfirst into the chaos, and the cast list alone hints at how massive this confrontation will be. Johnny Cage Enters the Fight The loudest cheer from fans may be for the arrival of Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban. Known for his intensity in The Boys and Dredd , Urban brings his signature grit (and surprising comedic chops) to the brash Hollywood martial artist....