Welcome to BlumFest 2025 as the ubiquitous studio touted its slate of horror flicks for the rest of 2025 and beyond. Moderated by the Croes Bros, panelists that included Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum, Black Phone 2’s Mason Thames, Madeline McGraw, Ethan Hawke, Demían Bichir, Miguel Mora, author Joe Hill, Nine Inch Nails’ Robin Finck, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’s Emma Tammi, Elizabeth Lail and Matthew Lillard took the audience through the studio’s big upcoming films and games.
The first project discussed was Black Phone 2, with author Joe Hill describing the process as “surreal.” Miguel Mora is very familiar with that feeling, playing Ernesto Arellano who is the younger brother of deceased Robin (who Mora played in the original). There is just something about the clip shown, featuring Hawke’s Grabber torturing the teens from beyond the grave, makes me think the younger Arellano is not going to fare much better. The panelists for Black Phone ended their portion with one word teases for the film, with Hawke giving the best response: “Grabber”.
The next project up was video game Sleep Awake with creator and Nine Inch Nails member Robin Finck saying it was made by a “badass crew.” The films cited as influence for the game include The Exorcist, Mandy, and all of John Carpenter’s work.
One final tease was delivered by Lillard, but only to the true FNAF aficionados, when he described a hypothetical third film as “Mano a Mano.” Lillard may have been the fan favorite of the group present, but he will soon have competition from the just announced voice of Toy Chica: Megan Fox.
With fifteen years of scaring audiences under their belt, Blumhouse has more than earned their horror credentials as present and future home to so many incredible horror franchises. “A growing fan base,” as Blum put it, needs these franchises (which also include a new Insidious movie) to thrive. Horror fans can experience Black Phone 2 on October 17th, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 on December 5th and Sleep Awake in 2026.
You must be logged in to post a comment.