Happy Valentine's Day 💕, 'The Vampire Lovers' remains supreme 🧛🏻‍♀️, Matthew Ninaber talks 'A Knight's War' ⚔️, & more!

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The Creep Tapes, streaming exclusively on Shudder, are coming back for a second season! After the first season's success, which saw it become the most-watched Shudder show of all time, the new season is expected to premiere later this year! 📹

Sam Raimi has begun work on his new film, Send Help, which stars both Dylan O'Brien and Rachel McAdams.

Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen) is back! The director, who co-hosts The Movie Crypt Podcast with Joe Lynch, announced his first film in eight years, The Ascent, which is being described as a shark attach film. 🦈

Anthony DiLeo Jr. has passed away after complications from Covid. The actor, who is known for his role in Day of the Dead, also starred in Monkey Shines and the 1990 version of Night of the Living Dead.

Creepy Duck Design's posters continue to make waves across social media. This week, they showed off their official teaser poster for the upcoming Silent Night Deadly Night film, which will premiere later this year. 🎅🪓

Matthew Ninaber's A Knight's War dives into sacrifice, hope, love, and destiny. Ninaber, most known for playing the titular character in Psycho Goreman, sculpts a griping tale about one knight's journey into the underworld to find the Chosen One. He faces death and learns hard truths about the human condition, all set in a vast fantasy world. We had the pleasure of speaking with Ninaber. You can watch the video interview here.

Love always finds a way to bring two people together, especially in horror films. This week, we celebrate some of our favorite couples in horror films, who made it through the good and bad times together, mostly in one piece. Check out our list featuring our favorite couples in horror films/series.

Saw X, released in theaters in September 2023, took fans by surprise as to how much it wasn't a Saw film per se, but a John Kramer film. Set between the events of Saw and Saw II, the film shows the great lengths that John went through in order to find a cure and to continue his work (which he did until the end of the third film while also enlisting a select group of dedicated followers that would continue his work after his death). The film was one of the most well-received films in the series, paving the way for Saw XI, which is, at this time, scheduled for a September 2025 release. The trailer itself spoiled much of the film, including the return (it's not really a surprise as they were integral parts of films 1-3) of two important characters, but also some of the traps and kills as well. Still, this was a fantastic film, probably the best after the original, and I can't wait to see what the eleventh film brings us. [Review by Brett]

Susan Price wants to sell you a home. She has a knack for closing deals... and closing portals to the underworld. In the trailer for Dread's For Sale by Exorcist, Susan invites you along on the search for a home and maybe a few ghosts. Doused in cheeky humor, the film (out March 11 on VOD) promises to be a bone-tickling good time. And who knows, it could offer up a few scares, too. All I know is, it looks like a hoot! Watch the trailer. [written by Bee]

If you know me at all, you know how much I adore Samara Weaving. That remains true after watching the Borderline trailer. Weaving stars alongside Ray Nicholson (don't talk to me, I'm still recovering from his charmingly sinister turn in Smile 2) in a story about an obsessed fan who stalks and then tries to marry a major pop star. Anyone else loving all these pop-centric films lately? In 2024, we had Trap and Smile 2, in addition to indie films like Bloodthirsty from a few years ago. We need more! From the Cocaine Bear writer Jimmy Warden in his directorial debut, Borderline looks equal parts absurd, hilarious, and off-the-rails. Right up my alley! Watch the trailer. [written by Bee]

The Bewitching Nature of The Vampire Lovers

A gentle mist emanates from the television screen. Ingrid Pitt’s visage breaks through the haze almost as though etched in stone. Her gaze penetrates the soul, eliciting a shiver to gallop down the spine. It tingles, yet you never want to shake that feeling. That’s the experience of viewing the 1970s seductive and sexy The Vampire Lovers. Pitt plays Mircalla (also known as Marcilla and Carmilla), an eternal vampire whose very being depends upon seducing young women and sucking their blood. 55 years later, the Hammer Films release remains a vastly underrated relic from a time when women were learning to embrace their sexuality and were unafraid of doing so in public.

Mircalla, a femme fatale whose bloodlust knows no bounds, wrangles unsuspecting young women with vows of undying friendship and loyalty. The bonds of sisterhood link them – first Laura (Pippa Steel) and then Emma (Madeline Smith), two souls who succumb to Mircalla’s advances. It’s their yearning for affection that’s their biggest weakness. A desperation hangs on their lips, and with every breath, the hunger for companionship transmits through the air, just like their pulsating heartbeat. Mircalla is drawn to them, herself seduced by their innocence. Once she latches herself to their bodies, there’s simply no possibility of tearing them away. Mircalla terrorizes these young women with blood-soaked night terrors. Visions of a grey cat pouncing on their chests come to them in the witching hours and provoke the most shocking screams you’ve ever heard emitting from their lungs.

The film, directed by Roy Ward Baker, throbs with the lovesick sensuality and irresistible quality inherent to the vampire figure. Dark, mysterious, and erotic, the fang-toothed embodiment of all impulses seems to exist as lethal temptations. Mircalla emerges out of the shadows as a merciless and salacious sorceress – her skin as delicate as porcelain, her hunger as insatiable as a lioness on the hunt, and her determination as steely-eyed as an eagle’s. In her destruction of human existence, she unlocks animalistic instincts that go beyond the carnal. Her lusts sink deep into the cravings to be understood and loved. The corporeal gives way to a spiritual awakening, at least that’s what Mircalla seems to believe.

“You must die! Everybody must die!” she shudders beneath the sun’s sharp rays. Her strained, tearful declaration captures the hopelessness of living without loving, or feeling so hollowed out that you can’t feel much of anything. She clings to these vivacious young women as a way to feel again, a way to claw through the impenetrable darkness and just maybe rediscover what it means to exist with purpose and meaning. Mircalla agonizes over such pain, both as a covert operation to further seduce her lovers and an avenue through which she can finally confront her own mortality.

The Vampire Lovers makes for a perfect blood-coated Valentine’s Day treat. It arouses one’s deepest venereal desires through a lesbian vampire’s most indelicate, bodice-ripping passions. Decades have passed since its initial release, and there’s no questioning why it’s endured as an important piece of vampiric cinema. Much like vampires themselves, it is forever eternal.

For a full list of upcoming films, please visit our Screaming Soon list on Letterboxd