The Conjuring Prequel Heats Up, Evil Dead Burn Hits VOD, & Her Private Hell Arrives to Cold Reception – Horror Roundup

Welcome to Knockout Horror and to our Cutting the Crap Horror Roundup for the last week of July. It’s been a bit of a quiet week but we still have some stuff to talk about. Namely The Conjuring prequel heating up for production, Evil Dead Burn arriving on VOD, and Her Private Hell dividing audiences. Let’s take a look.

The Conjuring Prequel Production Begins

When The Conjuring: Last Rites released late last year, everyone was very insistent that this was it for the Warrens. Their story was done and dusted; the spooky objects were packed away, Annabelle was safely locked up, and the journey was finally over.

I called massive bullshit on that in my review and expected to see another entry within the next few years. Well, guess what? A prequel to The Conjuring just started production under the working title of Bridgeport and with a likely future title of The Conjuring: First Communion.

Local filming preparations have begun in Albany, New York and shooting is believed to be starting in August. We can safely slap an October 2027 release date on that, should everything go to plan, so those of you who are desperate for more spooky shenanigans from everyone’s favourite ghostly con artist couple has something to look forward to.

The big question is what can we expect from the story? Well, the Warrens have a long history of taking unsuspecting people’s money helping people rid their homes of unwanted spirits so one would have to assume that we’ll be heading back to the 40s or 50s to see how the couple got started.

This would be very much supported by the casting of Garrett Wareing as Ed Warren and Amanda Fix as Lorraine Warren as both actors are pretty young. It’s excellent to see Fix getting some high profile roles after the underrated Tubi hit Lowlifes in 2024.

So why are we going backwards in the timeline?

Why to cash in, of course. The Conjuring: Last Rites was marketed, very much, as the end of the Warren’s story but this is a franchise that still has plenty of legs. We might have reached the end but that doesn’t mean we can’t go back to the beginning and make some extra money.

A prequel allows Warner Bros. to stay true to their word and end Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s story while still exploring the greater Conjuring universe.

The cynic in me says that the bottom line played a part in it, too. Wilson and Farmiga are huge stars. They had to come with a premium price tag. Why not cast two talented, but relatively unknown, younger actors so they can devote more money to making the movie as scary as possible? Or to tuck the savings into their back pocket, at least.

The best way to look at The Conjuring: Last Rites was as a bit of a gimmick. One last chance to see the OGs. The conjuring universe and its “monster of the week” stylings are far too valuable to just let them evaporate into the ether.

Just think, as well, if audiences enjoy this new film, Warner have reset the clock on the Warrens and can start all over again. A whole new series for a younger generation. They would be mad not to at least try.

What’s New on Knockout Horror?

We knocked out a lot of reviews this past week. I am trying to catch up on movies I missed so most are fairly old.

We closed out last week looking at the excellent creature feature Primate (2025), the absolutely abysmal final chapter in the recent Strangers reboot The Strangers: Chapter 3, and by checking out the enjoyable Evil Dead Burn.

We’ve already covered the ultra dull The Bay (2026) this week if you are looking for a dishwater dull shark flick and we just wrapped up reviewing the Scary Movie reboot which was incredibly disappointing.

Keep your eyes out for some more reviews over the coming days as I carry on wrapping up some of the stuff I missed as well as a few brand new movies and one surprising Tubi sleeper hit.

Evil Dead Burn Hits VOD

Evil Dead Burn hits VOD in less than a week on August 4th with a 4K Blu-ray release to follow in September. I actually enjoyed the movie quite a lot but it is very interesting to see such a short cinema run for a major release like this.

It begs the question of whether Warner Bros. were unhappy with the box office or whether this was their plan, all along? It’s increasingly obvious that theatrical runs are, basically, foreplay for the VOD climax.

Gen Z and millennials are driving the box office at the moment while older viewers tend to wait so that they can watch it comfortably on their couch with their slippers and a warm drink. I think that is somewhat key in why we are seeing these rapid VOD releases. If the cinema run doesn’t blow up, cash in on the people who don’t want to be around those pesky youngins with premium VOD

Let’s be honest for a second, though… You Gen Zers are pretty noisy when watching movies on the big screen. Why don’t you have an inside voice and why are you always whipping out your phones? My millennial mind can’t understand paying money to sit staring at a 7 inch screen.

I’m kidding of course. The big screen would be completely borked without you guys treating it like a third space where you can hang out with friends.

Her Private Hell Divides

Speaking of the cinema, Her Private Hell is currently dividing audiences up and down the nation with its theatrical run. It stars the brilliant Sophie Thatcher and plays out as something of a modern, science-fiction laced Giallo.

The synopsis reads “A hypnotic, unhinged thriller with an original story promising plenty of glamour, sex, and violence“. Not exactly a great insight into what you are getting into but one thing movies like this always guarantee is that they will be divisive.

I’m seeing a lot of claims of style-over-substance which, to be honest, I kind of expected. That gorgeous neon-aesthetic only works if you have a decent story to back it up.

There’s a split narrative at play here as Nicolas Winding Refn weaves two very different movies into one. One is a story about a nepo-baby actress preparing to shoot a sci-fi movie when her life takes a complicated turn, while the other is an action-heavy story about an American G.I. searching for his missing daughter in the seedy underbelly of the city.

Commenters describing it as suffering from “incoherent writing and confusing dialogue” is not what you want to see. I’m going to check it out as soon as I can and slap up a review but I’d advise potential viewers to go in with low expectations.

What’s new on streaming?

I’ve noticed Amazon Prime Video pushing a ton of horror to my television’s homepage lately. Some of it I recognise, others I don’t. One that I am seriously excited for and am going to check out tonight is The Devil’s Mouth which was just added yesterday.

It’s yet another creature feature where a group of friends go exploring in a Thai cave system, only to find themselves trapped with a deadly shark. For those keeping count, that will be the second shark themed horror movie set in Thailand that I will have reviewed in just a week with The Bay (2026).

The Devil’s Mouth stars Kathryn Newton, of Ready or Not 2, fame and I think she is awesome so I’m looking forward to checking it out.

Speaking of creature features, another one I recently reviewed, Primate, is coming to Prime Video on the 31st of July. It follows a family who are terrorised by their adopted chimp Ben and it is a ton of fun so go watch it. You can even read our Primate Ending Explanation if you need answers.

Finnish folk horror Nightborn is finally coming to Shudder on July 31st and that looks like a lot of gloomy fun. It follows a couple (played by Seidi Haarla and Rupert Grint) stuck in an isolated house in the Finnish woods as they begin to suspect there is something terribly wrong with their newborn.

HBO Max is adding The Long Walk in July. This was one of my favourite movies of 2025. It’s based on Stephen King’s first book and follows a group of young men forced to walk in an endless march to please a demented Major in a dystopian version of America.

My fiancee is currently reading the book so that’s a fun coincidence. Check out our review of The Long Walk here and our Long Walk Ending Explained here.

Onto Next Week

So that wraps up a quiet week in the horror world. There wasn’t a great deal to talk about but this has been a busy month, in general. Thanks for reading!

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