Folk Horror’s Roots and Fresh Horrors Bloom

🩸 FRESH CUTS

🪓 'M3GAN 2.0' Is Bigger, Bolder, and Bloodier
The viral AI doll returns in M3GAN 2.0, hitting theaters June 27. This time, M3GAN faces off with another artificially intelligent creation: AMELIA, a rogue military bot gone haywire. Critics are divided—some calling it a “camp masterpiece,” others missing the original's subtle dread. Early box office projections estimate a $20 million domestic opening, proving that our favorite synthetic slasher still has power over audiences.

📼 Netflix’s ‘Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show’ Reveals More Madness
New character trailers dropped for Netflix’s upcoming anime inspired by Lovecraftian terror. Featuring Seishiro Sano and Eita, the series drips with cosmic dread and promises dark humor wrapped in existential terror. Fans of Junji Ito and Paranoia Agent will want to keep this one on their radar—it’s shaping up to be 2025’s weirdest animation offering yet.

🪦 Halloween Horror Nights Announces “Grave of the Flesh”
Universal Orlando’s HHN 2025 just unveiled one of its most grotesque concepts to date: “Grave of the Flesh.” This original haunted house plunges guests into a skin-sewn underworld funeral where corpses don't stay dead. It’s part cannibal cult, part reanimated terror—and it’s already being called one of HHN’s most anticipated mazes ever.

🌆 Universal Horror Unleashed Heads to Chicago
After its Vegas launch earlier this year, Universal is expanding its year-round immersive horror attraction to Chicago. “Horror Unleashed” blends real actors, reactive environments, and evolving storylines into a live-action scream park experience. Expect longer lines—and longer nightmares.

👁️ CREATOR SPOTLIGHT

Mike P. Nelson – Director of ‘Sweet Revenge’
The “Jason Universe” is finally opening new creative doors, starting with the short film Sweet Revenge, directed by Wrong Turn (2021)’s Mike P. Nelson. This project reimagines Jason Voorhees in a fresh, stylized vision that leans into psychological dread without abandoning slasher roots.

Nelson hints that if the short succeeds on digital platforms, a longer-format “Jason Universe” feature might not be far behind.

🔪 DEEP DIVE

Folk Horror’s Resurgence: Why Nature Is Scarier Than Ever

Folk horror—once niche, now mainstream—has seen a stunning revival over the past decade. From Midsommar to The Witch, and now indie darlings like God’s Country’s Eyes, filmmakers are embracing slow-burn rituals, isolated landscapes, and ancient fears.

Key points:

• Ecological Anxiety: Climate dread fuels modern folk horror, turning nature itself into the enemy.

• Ritual & Trauma: Folk horror explores the emotional aftermath of grief, community pressure, and inherited violence.

• DIY Aesthetic: The subgenre thrives in low-budget cinema, allowing indie creators to conjure dread through story and setting rather than CGI.

As we get further from religion and closer to apocalypse, folk horror's primal power only grows stronger.

👻 HORROR HISTORY

1979's Phantasm Turns 45
Don Coscarelli’s bizarre dreamlike cult classic introduced the Tall Man, deadly silver spheres, and surreal coffin dimensions. Though it baffled critics on release, it built a loyal fanbase over time.

Legacy impact:

• Influenced the dream logic of films like It Follows and A Nightmare on Elm Street

• One of the first horror films to embrace a franchise without clean continuity

• Its lo-fi effects inspired indie horror creators across generations

Modern horror continues to echo its tone: surreal, unpredictable, and defiantly strange.

🧟 MONSTER MANUAL

SKINWALKERS – Shapeshifters of the Desert

These terrifying creatures from Navajo legend can mimic animals—or humans—to lure prey. Their legend is centuries old, but skinwalkers have found new life in recent horror media (Skinamarink, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, Dark Winds).

Evolution:

• Pre-20th century: Oral tales of cursed witches and ritual shapeshifters

• 1990s: Appeared in horror novels and fringe documentary TV

• 2020s–now: Reimagined as metaphors for identity horror and surveillance culture

Psychologically, skinwalkers reflect a deep fear of betrayal, the uncanny, and losing trust in your own senses.

📺 WHAT TO WATCH

NEW RELEASES

• M3GAN 2.0 – AI gone wild again—this time with military hardware (Theaters)

• Sinners – Ryan Coogler’s vampire epic with social horror layers (Digital & Theaters)

• Maa – Indian horror-drama with emotional ghosts and family trauma (Theaters India)

HIDDEN GEMS

• Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project – Meta-horror meets Bigfoot (Amazon)

• Eye for an Eye (2015) – A disturbing psychological descent into guilt (Tubi)

LEAVING SOON

• The Ritual – A cult-in-the-woods thriller starring Al Pacino and Dan Stevens, leaving Prime Video July 15. Watch it before it vanishes!

📚 READING LIST

NEW RELEASES

• Midnight Teeth (Amanda Harlow): A vampire road trip through post-pandemic America

• The Bell That Never Rang (Yusuf Karim): A haunted boarding school novella with chilling allegory

CLASSIC REVISITED

• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. With paranoia, isolation, and unreliable narration, this novel still resonates in today’s fragmented world.

🎮 GAME OVER

Resident Evil 9 Officially Unveiled
Capcom confirmed Resident Evil 9: Requiem at this month’s showcase. Set in a post-biohazard dystopia, the trailer teased a return to survival horror roots with new AI-driven enemies that stalk you relentlessly.

Other horror game highlights:

• Silent Hill 2 Remake – Bloober Team says it’s “deep into polish phase,” release expected by Halloween.

• Little Nightmares III – Eerie co-op horror launching October.

• Doom: The Dark Ages – More demonic than ever.

2025 is shaping up to be a massive year for horror gamers.

🎭 HORROR HAPPENINGS

• Halloween Horror Nights 2025 (Orlando, Sep–Oct): “Grave of the Flesh” and more terror to come.

• Universal Horror Unleashed (Chicago, opening Oct): Year-round horror theme park hits the Midwest.

💀 FINAL THOUGHT

This month proves horror is not just a genre—it’s a language. Whether it’s AI gone rogue, haunted forests, or ancient monsters of folklore, the genre keeps reinventing itself to mirror our deepest fears. Horror is flourishing across borders, mediums, and generations—and if June is any indication, the rest of 2025 will be beautifully terrifying.