WELCOME TO THE BLUMHOUSE

BY: Georgia Davis

The film studio Blumhouse is known for its horror films like Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Invisible Man and Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Recently, though, the company dove into TV to give up-and-coming directors a chance to shine. That’s why it teamed up with Amazon Studios for the Welcome to the Blumhouse project.

The anthology series is four film-length segments. Themes of family, suspense, and horror are tied together with novice directors leading the way. Perhaps it’s a test for more significant movies down the line. 

It isn’t Blumhouse’s first broadcast venture. The company also creates Hulu’s holiday anthology Into The Dark, which is released seasonally. The trailer for Welcome to the Blumhouse — watch it above — has a horror cadence, especially with the mantra “I run my mind. It doesn’t run me.” Here’s more about each episode: 

THE LIE

This one has star power with Joey King and Peter Sarsgaard at the helm. When King’s character commits an unspeakable crime, her parents will stop at nothing to protect her. King has had an impressive few years with Netflix’s The Kissing Booth and Hulu’s The Act. Director Veena Sud adapted this from the 2015 German film We Monsters. 

BLACK BOX

“Black Box” has a Black Mirror feel to its creepy plot. To retrieve his memories, a doctor instructs Mamoudou Athie’s character Nolan to look into a black box. In the VR landscape, he must figure out what happened to his wife. M. Night Shyamalan inspired Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr., and he told The New York Times, “I really felt like it’d be interesting to see the story of a deeply flawed father that gets the second chance to be a good one as a result of a push from his daughter.”

NOCTURNE

Name a more haunting musical instrument than the piano. Starring up-and-comer Sydney Sweeney, a young woman finds herself obsessed with being the best at Julliard. She will stop at nothing until she is on top. “Nocturne” gives up major The Perfection vibes, so it will surely be a captivating film from Zu Quirke. She wrote the film years ago based on her own experience. “I eventually decided not to go into music, but I had a lot of friends who did go that route,” Quirke said, “And the thing that always amazed me was the sheer dedication they showed toward this pretty arcane, esoteric art. When the rest of us were listening to Green Day and Yellowcard, all these people were going away and playing ‘The Rite of Spring’ on repeat.”

EVIL EYE

Priyanka Chopra Jonas serves as an executive producer of the installment “Evil Eye,” which follows an Indian family. When Sunita Mani’s character meets a man, her mother believes it’s an evil person from her past. Full of suspicion and superstition, the film from Elan and Rajeev Dassani will keep you on the edge of your seat.