This Week in Horror History | Candyman, Until Dawn, Don't Breathe & Lord of Illusions

At this point in August, it's summer's final warning. The days still burn, but the nights arrive earlier. Vacation houses empty out, mountain roads go quiet, and every dark window looks like it knows something you don't. This Week Horror History gives us a slasher story where your choices decide who survives a home invasion that turns the intruders into prey, a Chicago legend summoned back to the mirror, and one last exorcism recorded by a camera that should have stopped rolling. Then, after the break, our deep cut Spotlight follows a private detective into a Los Angeles maze of stage magic, cult, devotion, and illusions with very real teeth.

So choose carefully, breathe quietly, and whatever you do, do not say his name five times in the mirror. Welcome back to this Week in Horror History, your weekly time machine through the creepiest anniversaries in film, TV, books, comics, and games. I'm your host, Henrique Couto, and tonight we're talking about August twenty fourth through the thirtieth coming up. Super Massive Games hands you eight potential survivors and asks what you're willing to do to save them, Fetti Alvarez locks three thieves inside the worst possible house. Nya DaCosta brings an old Chicago legend into a changing neighborhood, and a disillusioned preacher lets a document henery crew film the ritual that is supposed to prove exorcism is a fraud.

Then, after the break on Our Deep Cut, Clive Barker mixes a cult horror, detective noir, and a magic act that nobody walks away from. Unchanged August twenty fifth, twenty fifteen, until Dawn launches in North America and the teen Slasher becomes something you can accidentally ruin with your own hands, developed by Supermassive Games. Until Dawn sends eight friends back to an isolated mountain lodge one year after a tragedy, a storm closes in old tensions return. Then the game starts tracking every choice, including nervous decisions made while the timer runs out. This is not a movie where you yet well.

Because somebody opened the wrong door. You opened it. You chose whether to hide, run, investigate, lie, or trust the person holding the flare gun. Its branching structure destabilizes every slasher archetype a seemingly doomed character can survive, a possible hero can disappear before sunrise. The story remembers exactly what you did. Until Dawn was one of my all time favorite video game experiences in my whole life. You get to basically live a eleven hour team slasher horror film and you get to make choices, you get to make mistakes, and one of the elements that drove me wild on this was there are parts where in order to survive, you have to be quiet.

That's it. You have to be silent, and it uses the controller to basically make noise if you move at the wrong moment. That made it so fun yet so stressful. And super massive and their series The Dark Pictures Anthology also a huge favorite of mine, and they did that really fun kind of summer camp monster game called The Quarry also a kind of choose your own adventure horror that was a lot of fun. If you have a PlayStation four or PlayStation five and you don't play it that often but you love horror, you should really check out Until Dawn on the PlayStation store or get yourself a physical copy if that's what you're into.

It's worth the play especially as fall begins and things get snowy and cold, because the game really establishes that very very well. On August twenty sixth, the twenty sixteen Don't Breathe open nationwide and a supposedly easy burglary turns into a locked room nightmare. Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, and Daniel Zavado play thieves who break into the Detroit home of a blind man played by Stephen Lang. They expect vulnerability, easy money, and a quick escape. Director Feeddi Alvarez flips that assumption on its head. The intruders know what they can see, but the homeowner knows every hallway and floorboard.

Once the lights go out, the house becomes his map and their maze. The title is also its operating instruction, Don't gasp, don't cough, Don't let the boards creak, Don't Breathe turns silence into action and a single room into a pressure chamber. At the box office, Don't Breathe opened at number one with twenty six point four million dollars in the US and Canada, then finished with one hundred and fifty seven point eight million worldwide, against a budget of reportedly nine point nine million dollars, one of twenty sixteen's clearest horror sleeper hits. I mean it even got a sequel, which was pretty damn good and Fetti Alvarez, this guy, I don't know.

He did the Evil Dead remake, which I grew to really like. And when I saw Don't Breathe and listen to an interview with him, he said that he was trying to keep that intensity of a first film, that wild, wanton disregard for sanity that often comes with first horror films. He wanted to keep that vibe going with Don't Breathe, and boy did he Don't Breathe is a hoot. I saw it in the theater. I found it very suspenseful, very scary. I really enjoyed it. So if you need a little quiet tension in your week, it's streaming on Netflix and Netflix with ads currently, or you can rent and or by the film on Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home.

August twenty seventh, twenty twenty one, Candy Man reaches US theaters and The Legend in the Mirror returns to Chicago, directed by Nya DaCosta and written by DaCosta, Jordan Peel, and Wynn Rosenfeld. This Candy Man is not merely a simple remake. It continues the nineteen ninety two story, returning to Cabrini Green after demolition and redevelopment has transformed the neighborhood. Yaya abdul Matin the second plays Anthony McCoy, an artist using the Candyman's story in his work. The more he investigates, the more the legend behaves more like a dark invitation. The film connects folklore with memory, gentrification, racial violence, and who gets to tell a community story.

Candy Man is also a narrative. People repeat, reshape, exploit fear, and sometimes desperately need. And yes, the rule remains brutally simple. Five times into a mirror, So maybe chicken out at four. At the box office, Candy Man opened at number one with twenty two million dollars in the US and Canada and finished with seventy seven point four million worldwide, a solid theatrical result during the industry's pandemic era recovery. I've always found the Candyman concept, and of course the Candy Man films, to be very fascinating. I've watched the first one dozens of times and I always seem to find something else I get out of it.

This one I think added a good layer to the mythos. It was a lot of fun to watch. It was cool seeing in a way Tony Todd portray Candyman one last time, and I thought it brought a lot of good scares and a few good laughs too. If you've never seen the Candyman remake from twenty twenty one, it's available free with ads through Amazon Prime Video, and you can also rent or buy it through Amazon Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play Movies, and Fandango at Home for a change of pace. August twenty seventh, twenty ten, The Last Exorcism opens in US theaters and a practiced fraud walks into a case he cannot explain away.

Patrick Fabian plays Cotton Marcus, an evangelical minister who has staged exorcisms for years. Troubled by the harm that work may cause, he invites a documentary crew to record one final job and expose the hidden sounds theatrical smoke and psychological suggestion. Then Cotton meets Nell Sweetzer. Director Daniel Stamm traps us inside Cotton's skepticism. Every disturbing moment might have a rational explanation. Every explanation might be a story someone desperately needs to believe. The camera keeps recording as confidence gives way to doubt. The Last Exorcism works in the uneasy territory between faith, fraud, illness, exploitation, and the possibility.

The preacher picked the worst imaginable night to start telling the truth. Made for a reported one point eight million dollars, The Last Exorcism opened to twenty point four million and reached sixty nine point four million dollars worldwide. These are low budget horror economics at their sharpest. Definitely a creepy, fun flick worth your time if you're wanting to give it a first time watch or a re visit. It's available to watch free with ads on Plex and YouTube, and of course you can buy or rent it digitally at Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at home Tomorrow on Weekly Spooky.

Some people say karma comes back around, but sometimes it crawls in the antiquarium of Minister Crappin Things by Gary dee Up in Ontario, Canada, two former schoolyard bullies wake up to discover that the past has finally found them years ago, they tormented a quiet kid named Leonard. They stole from him, beat him, humiliated him, forced him to eat bugs, and laughed while they made his life a living hell. Now Leonard is all grown up, and he remembers everything. One of the men wakes in a locked basement with a glassicquarium sealed around his head. Inside are fire ants, carpenter ants, crickets, centipedes, hissing cockerroaches, and something that smells much much worse.

There's no way to take it off, no way to escape, And across the room, an old television flickers to life. On the screen is his former best friend, wearing the exact same thing. Then another face appears, a face they haven't seen since childhood, a face they hoped they would never see again. Leonard didn't forget what they did to him, and he didn't forgive them either, Because when you spend your childhood bugging the hell out of someone, you probably shouldn't be surprised when Hell sends the bugs back. Make sure you're subscribed and tune in tomorrow to hear this terrifying tale.

You won't want to miss this one, and whatever you do, don't open your mouth all right, my spookees. Time for a quick breather. But when we come back, we're headed to August twenty fifth, nineteen ninety five. Clive Barker Scott Bakula, a dead cult leader, a troubled detective, and a stage magician whose greatest trick may be convincing the audience that it's all only a trick. Welcome back, my spookees. Let's get into it for our deep cut spotlight. This time, we're going back to August twenty fifth, ninety five, when Lord of Illusions opens in US theaters and Clive Barker sends a private detective beyond the border between magic and murder.

Barker wrote and directed the film, loosely drawing from his story The Last Illusion. Scott Bacula plays Harry Diamore, a detective experienced enough with the supernatural to recognize when a case looks back at you. A Los Angeles assignment pulls Harry toward illusionist Philip Swan, Swan's wife Dorothea, and Nix, a cult leader whose followers believed he possessed real power. Here, stage magic is not merely misdirection. Sometimes the curtains and trapdoors hide something that needs neither. Lord of Illusions collides Genres. Harry has the weary posture of a noir detective. The city he glows with show business artifice and belief kurdles into obedience.

Barker turns the magician's central promise that your eyes can be deceived into a horror principle. If every visible miracle could be a trick, the real danger is the one performance that no one can explain. The result is grimy and unmistakably Barker, flesh and faith, glamour and decay wrapped around a detective who keeps walking toward the impossible. Lord of Illusions open to four point eight million dollars and finished with thirteen point three million in the US and Canada. That was modest business for a wide release, but its cult reputation eventually became much larger than its theatrical footprint.

And this is what I haven't seen in years, but I always remembered liking it. There's so much in Clive barker ouvre to like, and so much that can be forgotten when you put it up against hell Raiser. So I'm gonna actually give this one a revisit. This week, and you should consider it as well. It's very easy to get your hands on. You can watch it free with ads on YouTube tub and Pluto TV, and of course you can rent or buy it digitally on Amazon Prime Video, Fandango at Home, and Apple TV. Let's crack open the creepy calendar for some horror related birthdays, shall we?

First Up? Born on August twenty fifth, nineteen fifty eight is Tim Burton, the filmmaker whose beautifully crooked worlds include Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, Franken Weenie, and Sweeney Todd. Of course, my personal favorite is ed Wood and to me in its heart, it is kind of a horror movie. Oh, Happy birthday, Tim Burton. Born on August twenty eighth, nineteen sixty two is David Fincher, director of Alien three seven and Zodiac, where dread is built from cold spaces, patient details, and minds that refuse to let go. A very happy birthday in fluorescent lighting to David Fincher. Born on August twenty ninth, nineteen thirty five is William Friedkin, the director who gave horror The Exorcist and later returned to feverish psychological terror with the highly underrated Bug.

Friedkin is kind of a grandfather of horror films that came a little bit later than most, but boy did he leave a mark. So a very very happy birthday to William Friedkin, and talking of granddaddies of them all, pardon the pun. On August thirtieth, seventeen ninety seven, Mary Shelley was born, author of Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, the Gothic creation story that taught horror to ask who exactly the real monster is and how safe is it really to play god. A very happy birthday to Mary Shelley and to all of our horror birthdays. Let's all have a nice slice of creepy cake Man the sea.

You know it's Candle's cake calendar. Creepy's the only word that works. I'll have to figure that one out in the future. For our then and now this week, Horror puts control in the wrong hands Nineteen ninety five gives us the illusionist to maybe doing more than pretending. Twenty ten give us a preacher trying to control the story while a documentary camera catches it slipping away. Twenty fifteen gives control to the player, then makes every choice feel dangerous, twenty and sixteen gives one man complete command of a darkened house, and twenty twenty one gives control to a legend, repeated until the story becomes stronger than the people telling it.

And finally, for our weekly recommendation, if you want a late summer watch with small town grudges, wicked bargains or wicked baggins, and Max von Sidau smiling like he already knows your price. Head back to August twenty seventh, nineteen ninety three, when Needful Things opens in US theaters, a d acting Stephen King's nineteen ninety one novel about a shop in Castle Rock, Maine. Its owner, Leland Gaunt, seems to stock exactly one object each customer has always wanted. The price is surprisingly affordable. There's just one additional favor. Those favors begin as petty pranks, but Gaunt understands the town better than its residents understand themselves.

Every resentment is a fuse, every rumor is a match. Soon, Castle Rock tears itself apart, while Gaunt watches on. Ed Harris plays Sheriff Allan Pangborn, trying to identify the hand behind the chaos. Max von Seidow makes Gaunt, charming, patient, and delighted by human weakness. Needful Things is devil at the counter comfort horror with one irresistible question, what would you want badly enough to make somebody else pay for it? Needful Things opened at number two with five point two million dollars and finished with fifteen point two million in the US and Canada, a modest theatrical result for a major Stephen King adaptation, but it did have a second life on home video and especially on television, where there was a longer cut split in two, which I highly recommend.

I recently revisited Needful Things, and I gotta say the film just screams Halloween season without actually being set at Halloween. It's the most autumny Fall kind of film ever. I really do recommend if you've never seen Needful Things, or you just need to get into the Fall mindset a little early, and don't we all, you should definitely give it a watch. It's available to rent or buy through Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and Amazon Prime Video. Luckily, with them you don't have to bargain, just pay the rental price and that my Spooky's was your trip through August twenty fourth through thirtieth in horror History.

Tomorrow, make sure you don't miss the brand new weekly spooky horror story just waiting to make you feel bugged deep down, and make sure you're subscribed on your favorite podcast app, because there's something spooky to enjoy every single day of the week. And in October, we'll even be publishing more than once a day at times, because that spooky fun feeling it just needs a little help to grow, and we're happy to give it a little water. And of course, come back here next Tuesday for another trip through horror history. Until then, remember our days are numbered, because that's how we tell them apart.

See you next week.