Zazie Beetz does not appear to be enjoying a restful hotel stay in the blood-soaked trailer for the forthcoming horror-comedy feature They Will Kill You.
They Will Kill You centers on a newly hired housekeeper (Beetz) at a mysterious New York City hotel known as the Virgil. She soon learns that the building is the headquarters for a satanic cult, with the members having chosen to murder her as a sacrifice.
In the trailer, Beetz gets this chilling warning: “This building is a temple to Satan. Each month, we must pay with a human sacrifice. Tonight, you are the offering.”
Later, a character asks Beetz, “Where did you learn how to fight like that?” She responds by nonchalantly saying, “Prison.”
Sokolov helmed the film from a script he co-wrote with Alex Litvak. Hailing from New Line Cinema and Nocturna, They Will Kill You counts Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Dan Kagan as producers. Litvak and Sokolov executive produce the project alongside Russell Ackerman, John Schoenfelder and Carl Hampe.
The Hollywood Reporterexclusively reported in August 2024 that Arquette and Felton had joined the movie’s cast.
Beetz can currently be seen opposite André Holland and Kate Mara in The Dutchman, which hit theaters over the weekend. She also has a role in Gore Verbinski’s feature Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, set for theatrical release next month.
Not only was it a fine year for horror movies, but it was also punctuated by a variety of intriguing, interesting, enticing, and downright mesmerizing performances in them.
From scenery-chewing villains to heartbreaking characters of tragedy, here are some of the best horror movie performances of 2023.
Alyssa Sutherland (Ellie in Evil Dead Rise)
Credit: New Line Cinema
The Evil Dead franchise is notable for two things. Ash Williams and Deadites. If one isn’t there, then it sure as hell needs a hefty showing from the other.
Evil Dead Rise features no Ash, so it leans heavily on its Deadite action, and Alyssa Sutherland performs like, well…a woman possessed.
Sutherland’s ”maggot mommy” is a mixture of Evil Dead Deadite old and new. Mischievous wise-cracking is there to a degree but with the nasty streak of Fede Alvarez’s 2013 movie.
Mary Woodvine (The Volunteer in Enys Men)
Enys Men is a difficult watch. Its discordant sound, grainy visuals, and repetitious story beats all serve a worthy purpose, but I can see how people might struggle with it.
Anchoring the increasingly swimmy tale of a remote lighthouse is Mary Woodvine. Her protagonist, known only as The Volunteer, serves as a vessel for our feelings on the strange turn of events depicted on screen whilst going on a narrative voyage of her own.
A lot of her performance has to come from facial expressions, and Woodvine conveys the dismay, worry, and horror of the story beautifully.
Heather Graham (Dr. Elizabeth Derby in Suitable Flesh)
Heather Graham’s expressive face just works wonders with Suitable Flesh. Joe Lynch’s cosmic horror madness works so well because Graham is at the heart of its body-swapping tale and conveys each of her personalities with fluid ease and no small amount of glee.
More Heather Graham in horror movies, please.
Larry Fessenden (Lt Col. Clive Hockstatter in Brooklyn 45)
I really enjoyed Ted Geogahn’s World War II chamber piece because its ensemble of characters pulled the tale in all sorts of fascinating directions, but its catalyst is undoubtedly Lt. Col. Clive Hockstatter played by genre stalwart Larry Fessenden.
Fessenden’s manic, heartbroken turn as a grieving army man sets the supernatural events of Brooklyn 45 in motion, and he continues to play a disturbing part of proceedings throughout.
Mia Goth (Gabi Bauer in Infinity Pool)
Mia Goth is a supreme weirdo, and we should be oh-so grateful she does horror movies. Case in point, her turn as Gabi Bauer in David Cronenberg’s unsettling and surreal latest Infinity Pool.
Goth’s Gabi is enchanting and alluring in a slightly dangerous way at first, but as we delve deeper into the film’s story, she reveals her sadistic, manipulative ways and her frankly deranged glee in tormenting Alexander Skarsgaard.
After the 1-2 punch of X and Pearl, Goth is on her way to becoming a genre icon.
Sophia Wilde (Mia in Talk to Me)
Talk to Me was one of the surprise hits of the year, thrusting its creators, Danny and Michael Phillipou, into the limelight. Its unique take on possession sees it used as a drug. And like any drug, the consequences can be devastating. Which Talk to Me emphatically shows us.
Central to that is the tortured protagonist Mia, played by Sophia Wilde. She enters the story already grieving, and when the possession game appears to offer some closure, she carelessly pursues it, with a horrendous impact on the lives of those around her.
Wilde’s complicated character is believable and sympathetic, and yet that doesn’t stop us from watching in abject horror as she goes down a self-destructive path.
Justin Long (Mayor Henry Waters in It’s a Wonderful Knife)
This was a toss-up between Long and his younger co-stars Jane Widdop and Jess McLeod who delivered a warm-hearted Christmas romance story in the bitter cold of a slasher movie. But Long perhaps best encapsulates what director Tyler MacIntyre and writer Michael Kennedy were going for.
Long’s almost cartoonishly evil Mayor is very much a throwback to the kind of boo-hiss baddie of a certain Frank Capra Christmas classic but with the more obvious murderous edge. Justin Long’s likable qualities convert well to playing utter pricks, and Mayor Henry Waters is a fine example of that.
Kaitlyn Dever (Brynn in No One Will Save You)
Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios / Hulu
Brian Duffield’s follow-up to the superb Spontaneous blends alien invasion with home invasion to tremendous effect. It’s near-wordless, but that doesn’t stop its star from shining bright.
Kaitlyn Dever’s performance as the troubled recluse Brynn relies heavily on movement and expression to convey her character’s somewhat self-imposed isolation. Brynn’s struggles, both internal and external, come across on screen without a word being said, and Dever communicates them with a natural ability.
Joaquin Phoenix (Beau Wassermann in Beau is Afraid)
Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid hops genres constantly, sometimes to its detriment, but Beau himself is living in a personal horror movie, and as such, Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as the titular character is a notable horror performance.
That’s most readily apparent in the opening, where Aster and Phoenix put on a masterclass in ratcheting up anxiety-ridden uncomfortable tension. Beau utters every word like he believes the world will punish him for it.
Phoenix absolutely delivers on the title’s sentiment because Beau is afraid, always, in so many different and uncomfortably relatable ways.
Judy Reyes (Celie Morales in Birth/Rebirth)
A female-centric modern-day spin on the Frankenstein story, Birth/Rebirth focuses on womanhood and the ability to bring life into this world and the tragedy found within that. Both leads in Laura Moss’ superb horror represent that in quite different ways, to begin with, but common ground unites them in a horrifyingly twisted vision.
Judy Reyes may don the scrubs once more, but her character Celie Morales couldn’t be further removed from that sitcom variant. It’s a tough call to pick between the performances of Reyes and Marin Ireland in Birth/Rebirth, but the tragedy at the center of Celie’s story and the lengths she ends up going to in trying to reverse it make for a heartbreaking and shocking journey.
Amie Donald/Jenna Davis (M3GAN in M3GAN)
Both Amie Donald and Jenna Davis need mentioning in the performance of murderous robot M3GAN because both the physical and vocal performance make the character what it is.
The deadpan line delivery of Davis is as deliciously cutting as the unnerving physical delivery of Donald is deadly.Sure, you could say the film’s always angling to make M3GAN a bonafide modern horror icon, but the attempt wouldn’t have been successful without the two actors involved.
Russell Crowe (Father Gabriele Amorth in The Pope’s Exorcist)
The Pope’s Exorcist is a terrible movie. It’s the most cliche-ridden exorcism/demonic possession nonsense you’ll see wrapped into a single film.
But here comes Father Gabriele Amorth, riding in on his scooter and chugging caffeinated beverages whilst kicking demon arse with a tongue sharper than a butcher’s knife. Russell Crowe drags the film kicking and screaming into relevance with a wonderfully outlandish performance.
It’s the kind of role that feels like it should somehow allow Crowe to make a dozen more of these films. All technically terrible, but used as the perfect scaffolding for Amorth to strut his stuff again and again.
The Friends star died so young at just 54 years old, robbing the world of any more brilliant performances. The biggest tragedy, though, was that the lovelorn comic genius never found his one true love.
But he certainly tried! Perry dated some of the most beautiful and talented women in the world — so many you may even have missed some!
Get the full list of his complicated dating history below…
Gwyneth Paltrow
(c) WENN
This was one that really caught us off guard!
Matthew Perry wrote about having a little summer fling with Gwyneth Paltrow in his tell-all, back before they were both huge stars! She revealed more about it in her tribute to him, writing:
“I met Matthew Perry in 1993 at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. We were both there for most of the summer doing plays. He was so funny and so sweet and so much fun to be with. We drove out to swim in creeks, had beers in the local college bar, kissed in a field of long grass. It was a magical summer.”
Just over a year later he would be a household name on Friends — and so would she soon enough, thanks to roles in films like Seven.
Julia Roberts
(c) WENN
Julia was already one of the biggest movie stars in the world when Matthew reached out to her. They had a before-its-time romance, using fax machines back and forth all day to essentially text one another in 1995! After speaking on the phone for the first time — for five hours straight — they knew it was the real deal.
As big a deal as it was in the media, the relationship sadly only lasted about six months. Perry blames himself entirely; he wrote in his memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing:
“Dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me. I had been constantly certain that she was going to break up with me. I was not enough; I could never be enough; I was broken, bent, unloveable… So instead of facing the inevitable agony of losing her, I broke up with the beautiful and brilliant Julia Roberts.”
Tragically, Perry’s death fell on a day that may haunt Julia — her birthday, October 28.
Yasmine Bleeth
(c) WENN
Remember on Friends when Chandler drools over Baywatch babe Yasmine Bleeth? Well, this is how big a cultural impact Friends had immediately — he actually dated her IRL in 1996. Guess she was a fan of the show… and liked what she saw!
It was just a brief fling for Matthew — unlike Chandler, who continued to crush on her for years afterward!
Neve Campbell
(c) WENN/Eric Banks
Matthew made a pretty underrated gem of a rom com with Neve Campbell in 1998 called Three To Tango. The chemistry apparently extended beyond the screen, with the pair reportedly having an on-set romance. But it didn’t last — by the time the movie came out in 1999, they had already moved on.
It’s also possible she was his “one that got away”…
In his memoir, Matthew refers to a lost love he “never got over.” He doesn’t name her but says she was an actress he met on the set of a movie in 1999. Unfortunately it didn’t work out when she made it clear his “drinking was a problem” and “picked another guy.” He wrote that the breakup “still hurts” — that was over two decades later.
Fans suspect it was Neve because it was the only movie he made that came out that year. It would have filmed in 1998, but it’s assumed he just got the dates a little off. Then again…
René Ashton
(c) WENN/ Axelle Woussen
For most of 1999, Matthew Perry dated actress René Ashton. They were basically inseparable that whole year!
René seems to be the only other option for that breakup that “still hurts”. He didn’t make a movie with her, but it’s possible he was referring to meeting an actress who wasn’t working on the movie? They were together a long time — and it was while before his next romance…
Maeve Quinlan
(c) Nikki Nelson / WENN
Matthew dated soap star Maeve Quinlan from 2002 to 2003. It’s unknown why he and the Bold and the Beautiful actress split, but they seemed to have an amicable breakup as they were seen together years later getting along.
Heather Graham
(c) WENN/ Marcus Hoffman
In 2003, Matthew was rumored to have a brief fling with Heather Graham. Neither he nor the Austin Powers: The Star Who Shagged Me star ever confirmed this, but they were seen together A LOT for a couple weeks. Then she moved on to Edward Burns, and he moved on to…
Lauren Graham
(c) Nikki Nelson/WENN
Two Grahams in a row? Well, not exactly. This seemed to be a romantic near-miss for both parties.
Matthew and Lauren Graham met in 2003 and were linked in the media. But were they ever really a couple? The apparently flirted up a storm but just couldn’t get things together! In her own memoir, Talking As Fast As I Can, the Gilmore Girl explains Matthew was her “Friend Who I Almost But Never Exactly Dated” or her “FWIABNED.”
They kept a good friendship, though, even if it never quite materialized into something real. They went on to star in multiple TV and film projects together through the years.
Rachel Dunn
(c) WENN
Matthew’s next big relationship was with a young Brit named Rachel Dunn. It was serious enough that, unlike most of his relationships, which he kept very close to the chest, he actually spoke about it publicly! In a 2004 piece in the Evening Standard, he gushed:
“With Rachel in my life, I know that I can be very committed and not some selfish guy who just wants to hang out with friends. I want to spend time with my girlfriend and explore what it means to have a much closer relationship than I’ve previously had time for.”
Perhaps it was the fact she was in his life right at the end of Friends, and he suddenly had enough time to really devote to a personal life? There was even talk of marriage, but it didn’t last. They called it quits in 2005.
Cameron Diaz
(c) Stefan Trautmann / WENN
We wouldn’t so much say Matthew Perry “dated” Cameron Diaz as he went on A DATE with her. And it did not go well!
In Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Matty revealed he was set up with the Holiday star in 2007, apparently right after her breakup with Justin Timberlake. He got the sense she “wasn’t interested” in the setup at all and that she got “immediately stoned.” Even worse, she hit him!
As he remembers it, he said “something witty” to her during a game of Pictionary, and she went to punch him in the shoulder playfully — and nailed him in the face instead! If you’ve seen the Charlie’sAngels films, you have to imagine that punch HURT! He recalls responding:
“Are you f**king kidding me?”
Like we said, there wasn’t a second date! Hey, sometimes two people might be amazing individually — just not so much together, and they just don’t connect! The next one though…
Lizzy Caplan
(c) Adriana M. Barraza / WENN
This was a big one. THE big one, as it turns out.
Matty was with Lizzy Caplan for about SIX WHOLE YEARS, from around 2007 to 2012! This time Matthew went back to keeping it private — neither gave an interview about it the entire time they were dating OR even after!
But in his book, the Whole Nine Yards star reveals just how close it got. He says he was planning to propose but just never got to it — and she ended up marrying some British guy. (Lizzy married Tom Riley in 2017.) The next time it was that serious, Matthew WOULD propose.
Molly Hurwitz
(c) Matthew Perry/Instagram
The last big relationship Perry would ever get the chance for was with a talent manager named Molly Hurwitz. They dated for a couple years starting in 2018, and the sitcom star DID pop the question. The two were engaged about a year before they ended things in 2021.
Neither said much about the relationship of the breakup, with Perry simply saying:
“Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them. I wish Molly the best.”
However, in her social media tribute to her ex after his passing, Molly wrote about how she admired his “brilliance” and had a “magical” time with him. She also said he was “complicated” and caused her a lot of pain. Ultimately we got the idea this was a tough relationship with a troubled artist.
There seems to be some disagreement though, as some of Perry’s friends have come out since to call Hurwitz a “con artist” and to say Matty hated her in the end! Whoa! Maybe not so amicable…
Sadly, though Matthew was said to still be looking for the one right up until his passing, he never did settle down.
Brandy has the most wonderful life and one BIG HATER in Netflix’s upcoming Holiday ComedyBEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER! streaming exclusively on Netflix November 16.
The Grammy-winning singer stars as very merry and very successful mother and wife Jackie who sends a boastful holiday newsletter that makes her old college friend Charlotte (Heather Graham) feel like a lump of coal every Christmas.
Source: Netflix
“Jackie needed to have a certain kind of mystery and a certain kind of joy, but an inscrutable joy,” said director Mary Lambert in an interview with Tudum. So, Brandy felt perfect for the role because she ‘just makes you feel like she’s really happy to see you.’
Plus, she can sing! ‘Jackie was the lead singer in this band with Rob (Charlotte’s husband). That’s part of their past history. And I wanted somebody who could really convincingly give us that.”
When a twist of fate lands Charlotte and her family on Jackie’s snowy doorstep just days before Christmas, she seizes the opportunity to prove her old friend’s life can’t possibly be that perfect.
Source: Netflix
“I knew she could become this slightly over-the-top personality but with complexity so that when you see her being jealous there’s a lot of conflicting emotions going on there,” said Lambert about Charlotte.
“[She] doesn’t really like Christmas, and feels that Christmas is a time where everyone expects more from her than she can give.”
Check out the trailer below:
Bursting with holiday cheer, Best. Christmas. Ever! also stars Jason Biggs, Matt Cedeño,Wyatt Hunt, Abby Villasmil, and Madison Skye Validum.
