I was at a midnight screening when my phone lit up with a Deadline alert. You know the jolt — a single name can reframe a whole project. Tonight that name is Karyn Kusama, and the stakes feel oddly immediate.
Observation: Studios keep circling game adaptations as reliable tentpoles
Mouthwashing — Karyn Kusama to direct Sony’s game-to-film gamble
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news: Sony hired Karyn Kusama — the director behind Jennifer’s Body and The Invitation — to take the helm of Mouthwashing, an adaptation produced by Scott Derrickson with a script from Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay.
I’ll tell you what matters: Kusama’s films trade in pressure and slow-burn unease, which is exactly the temperament a paranoid space-thriller needs. The game’s premise — five crew members stranded on a freighter after a crash, supplies running out, trust collapsing — reads like a trust fall that no one is ready to catch. Mouthwashing is a pressure-cooker whose seams you can already feel tightening.
From a practical angle, Sony brings scale and distribution muscle; Derrickson’s horror pedigree and Manfredi & Hay’s tone-heavy credits suggest the aim is a character-first sci-fi horror. I’d watch how Kusama and the producers translate the game’s paranoia into the language of actors, sound design, and claustrophobic production design — that’s where an adaptation makes or breaks.
Who is directing the Mouthwashing movie?
You can file this under confirmed: Karyn Kusama is attached as director, working with producer Scott Derrickson and writers Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, per THR. If you’ve followed her career, you know she favors slow burns and human fractures over jump-scare mechanics.
Observation: A24’s slate keeps blending absurdity with affection
Goblin — Chase Sui Wonders boards A24’s raunchy puppet comedy
Deadline reports Chase Sui Wonders has joined Goblin, A24’s “raunchy comedy in the vein of Ted meets E.T.,” which already carries Kenneth Branagh’s voice on the poster. You should expect a tonal tightrope — gross-out humor threaded through a sentimental center — and A24’s brand will push for unexpected emotional beats beneath the laughs.
Observation: YA horror keeps leaning into road-trip mythos
Bad Influence — a road-horror with a modern female-rage core
Deadline also notes a cast boost for Bad Influence: John Cho, Ethan Suplee, Ana Ortiz, and others join Madeline McGraw and Xochitl Gomez. The logline pitches a spring-break return trip that mutates into a horror device after a mysterious hitchhiker appears — think Thelma & Louise energy inverted by contemporary teenage anxieties.
Observation: Small, tech-driven horrors travel fast in festival circuits
Modem — a Swedish techno-horror about a haunted connection
Alliance Media Partners picked up sales for Modem, directed by Tim James Brown. The premise is concise and unnerving: a family on a digital-detox vacation finds an old modem; turning it on awakens a sadistic demon that weaponizes their connected world, and a toddler disappears. The screenplay leans into isolation and paranoia — fertile territory for efficient, intimate horror.
Observation: Actors revisit genre roles when the creative fit clicks
Hellboy 3 — Doug Jones teases a return under the right conditions
In a JustWatch interview, Doug Jones (Abe Sapien) echoed Ron Perlman’s wish for another Guillermo del Toro-led Hellboy. Jones said he’d return “under the rubber bits” if the director, story, and payday lined up — a practical list from a veteran performer who knows the physical toll of creature work.
Observation: Wellness culture and thriller beats have merged into a new subgenre
Pendulum — Mark Heyman’s directorial debut at a New Mexico retreat
The trailer for Pendulum sets a new-age retreat in New Mexico against a slow-burning reveal: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Phoebe Dynevor, Jacki Weaver, Jena Malone, and Norman Reedus orbit a secret that flips spiritual solace into terror. Heyman, who wrote Black Swan, is moving from psych-thriller scripts to directing — a pivot that could sharpen the film’s psychological architecture.
Observation: Streaming franchises often reboot between seasons when momentum stutters
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters — season three reportedly set for a complete creative overhaul
Variety reports Apple TV and Legendary Television are in talks to redevelop Monarch for season three with a new showrunner and writers, and promises of “new Titans” from Legendary’s Monsterverse. That’s a blunt signal: when a showrunner exit meets franchise potential, studios sometimes clear the board to reframe scope and tone. Monarch’s overhaul is a chessboard reset, pieces swept off the table.
Is Monarch getting a season 3?
Sources say talks are active but nothing is locked. Apple TV and Legendary are courting writers and showrunners to redesign the third season, and that may or may not include characters from seasons one and two — which raises casting and continuity questions you’ll want to watch closely.
Observation: Genre TV still mines small moments for big laughs
Eternally Yours — vampires at game night
The trailer for next week’s Eternally Yours drops a moment of levity: vampires playing game night. It’s a reminder that horror series succeed when they let characters breathe between scares, and a single playful scene can become one of the season’s most shared clips.
There are threads to follow here: Kusama’s signature tension and Sony’s appetite for genre, A24’s tonal experiments, and streaming’s willingness to reset a tentpole. Deadline, THR, and Variety are the outlets breaking the scoops — keep them on your feed if you want the earliest confirmations.
If Kusama turns Mouthwashing into the kind of slow, character-led nightmare she does best, will studios start trusting directors with intimate, game-rooted stories again — or will this be another reminder that adaptations are a bet only a few directors can win?