Table of Contents
Welcome to another daily horror digest! I have a triple-feature of quick reviews today, a fun new trailer in the news section, and some good daily trivia. Let’s get to it!
Movies of the Day
Deadly Display
Star Rating: 3 out of 5
Deadly Display takes place almost entirely inside a closed nightclub with only two people. Those people are Tess (Annabella Rich), whose father owns the club, and Edward (Cy Henty), who is considering buying the club. Or at least, that’s what Tess thinks. Edward seems nice at first, but as their conversation continues, he begins to reveal a much darker and disturbed side of himself. I like a movie that can maintain interest when it is almost completely just two characters talking to each other, and Deadly Display managed to keep me hooked. The performances are very good (Edward seemed over the top at first, but I understood why later), and I really enjoyed the finale.
The most pivotal moment in the plot happens about two-thirds of the way through, and if I have to nitpick, I didn’t like how it was handled. It didn’t feel like it was built up to properly, and the impact could have been much bigger if it had been presented differently. It’s a disturbing moment, but it still could have been approached more directly without resorting to cheap shock tactics (as it is, it just avoid showing anything at all). But even with that complaint, the overall building of tension throughout the movie is mostly well done. I recommend Deadly Display for fans of slow-burn thrillers that rely on acting and dialogue much more than action. It’s currently streaming as a rental on Prime Video.
I Curse This Land
Star Rating: 2 out of 5
I Curse This Land is a chiller about a pub cursed by a witch. Allie (Annabella Rich) recently bought the pub after the previous owner met an unfortunate fate. As she struggles to make the business work, she also has to deal with the haunting perpetrated by a witch who put a hex on the land many years ago. As the haunting gets more aggressive, Allie relies on a new friend to find the help she needs to get rid of the curse. The actual substance of the movie is a better fit for a short film, which makes the pace agonizingly slow. There are long stretches where almost nothing happens. No mood setting, no character building, no plot. Nothing. The witch looks pretty good, and the idea is fine, but there’s just not enough here for a recommendation. But if you want to, you can rent I Curse This Land on Prime Video.
Return of the Corn Zombies
Star Rating: 1.5 out of 5
I’m not surprised with how this turned out, but I was hoping for more. The story follows a group of survivors in a corn-based zombie apocalypse (the zombies have corn stalks in them) who are trying to get to the safety of a place called Homestead. Once there, they slowly start to realize that it isn’t as safe as they’d hoped. The plot is very basic, and Homestead’s secret is obvious if you’re at all familiar with the apocalypse genre. The movie is too long at 100 minutes, and there aren’t many zombies except for in the beginning and the end. The rest is filled with LOTS of talking, but not much character or plot progression. I don’t recommend Return of the Corn Zombies, but you can rent it on Prime Video.
In the News
- The Creep Tapes season two will debut on Shudder sometime in the fall of 2025. (Bloody Disgusting)
- John Cho and Alexandra Daddario are set to star in the horror film Inground. The movie will be about a father and son’s attempts to install a swimming pool in their backyard that turn into a “terrifying nightmare.” (Deadline)
- Lola Tung (The Summer I Turned Pretty) and Nico Parker (How to Train Your Drangon 2025) will star in Osgood Perkins’ upcoming film The Young People. The movie begins production this fall, but no details about the story have been released. (Variety)
- Production has wrapped on Stake Out, a horror-thriller about a former couple who discover a “gruesome reality” when they have a stake out to watch a suspected murderer. Brenton Thwaites (Oculus), Charlee Fraser (Furiosa), and Danny Huston (30 Days of Night) star. (Deadline)
- Hokum, an occult horror movie starring Adam Scott, has been picked up for distribution by Neon. (Deadline)
Birthdays
Carla Gugino was born on August 29th, 1971. She began acting in her teens, mostly in television. She transitioned more into movies in the 1990s, and one of her earliest horror roles came in 2001 in She Creature. In more recent years Carla has appeared in numerous movies and shows from filmmaker Mike Flanagan, including Gerald’s Game (2017), The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023). Her most recent horror movie was the comedy-horror Lisa Frankenstein (2024).
Also celebrating a birthday today is Minami Hamabe, born August 29th, 2000. Minami co-starred in Godzilla Minus One as Noriko. In horror-related media, she’s also appeared in a couple of live-action manga adaptations, Ajin: Demi-Human (2017) and The Promised Neverland (2020).
More birthdays on August 29th:
- Rebecca De Mornay (1959) – Mother’s Day (2010), Saint Clare (2024)
- Melanie Fullerton (1962) – Night of the Lepus (1972)
- Tom Six (1973) – creator of The Human Centipede movies
- Ignacia Allamand (1981) – The Green Inferno (2013), Knock Knock (2015)
Events on This Day
As Above, So Below was released in the United States on August 29th, 2014. It is one of of the better found footage movies of the 2010s, and it is definitely worth watching if you’re a fan of the genre. The story is set primarily in the catacombs of Paris where a woman has assembled a small crew to search for an ancient artifact. Their journey begins like many other found footage horror movies, but the sets itself apart with the slightly surreal way it traps its characters.
He Knows You’re Alone premiered in Los Angeles on August 19th, 1980. The wide release of the movie was gradual, eventually getting into more than 1,000 US theaters by November. The movie is about a bride-to-be who is stalked by a killer who targets women who are about to be married.
Thank you for reading!
