Blumhouse Is Producing Eight Original Horror Movies Exclusively For EPIX
Blumhouse is about to bring a lot more horror to cable. The production company behind movies like Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, Get Out, Happy Death Day and The Invisible Man announced a new partnership that will have them developing and producing eight original horror/genre-thriller movies exclusively for the cable network EPIX.
Blumhouse and EPIX announced the new partnership today, which will have Jason Blum serving as executive producer of all eight movies. The first movie under the new deal will be A House on the Bayou, written and directed by Alex McAulay (Don't Tell a Soul). Here's the official synopsis:
"The film follows a troubled couple and their preteen daughter who go on vacation to an isolated house in the Louisiana bayou to reconnect as a family. But when unexpected visitors arrive, their facade of family unity starts to unravel, as terrifying secrets come to light."
Casting is underway, but production should happen quickly since EPIX will be premiering it sometime in December 2021. The rest of the movies that follow sound like they'll be coming rather fast as well, because the press release indicated that the rest of the Blumhouse and EPIX slate will debut in 2022. But as of now, we don't have any specific titles or details on the other movies included in the deal.
This is the latest attempt by Blumhouse to expand their horror slate with a distribution partnership. Last year, Blumhouse kicked off the anthology horror/thriller film series Welcome to Blumhouse for Amazon Prime. Four movies were released to the streaming service last year, and another four movies are coming this year. Blumhouse has also been delivering anthology horror through Hulu with the Into the Dark series.
EPIX appears to be interested in expanding their genre fare after recently debuting the critically-acclaimed horror-thriller Saint Maud. EPIX President Michael Wright said:
"Blumhouse's track record of producing high-quality, audience-favorite films have made them a driving force in the horror genre renaissance, and have been top-notch partners for EPIX. We can't wait to work with Jason Blum and his talented team in this new capacity, and make EPIX the exclusive home of more Blumhouse content."
I wish we could not use content so often when we're talking about filmmaking here, but whatever. Chris McCumber, President Blumhouse Television, added:
"This partnership with EPIX is an additional opportunity for us to collaborate with a great team in helping them grow their slate of genre films, while continuing to bring Blumhouse fans the kind of programming they know and love."
The movies under the Welcome to Blumhouse banner left something to be desired. And knowing that there are eight movies coming over the next two years, I can't help but worry that this is going to be just fast food chills and thrills. But maybe Blumhouse will surprise us and deliver something worth watching.