The Variety-hosted Hollywood & Horror event took place Wednesday at the Trophy Room in Los Angeles, gathering key producers, executives, and creative talents to discuss the growing influence of genre storytelling. The highlight of the evening was a keynote conversation with Jason Blum, CEO of Blumhouse, who reflected on his journey and the company’s 15-year impact on the horror landscape. This Jason Blum Horror Celebration marked an important moment in genre cinema, emphasizing both innovation and broad audience appeal.
Jason Blum Shares Insights on Building Blumhouse’s Model
Jason Blum began his career far from Hollywood’s spotlight, working as a cable salesman and real estate agent before confidently calling himself a film producer during the early days of Blumhouse. He explained the company’s unique business philosophy to Variety’s Senior Entertainment & Media Writer Matt Donnelly while marking the production company’s 15th anniversary. Blum described their approach: instead of charging upfront fees, they earn only if a movie succeeds, allowing the company and collaborators to move quickly from one project to the next.
As Blumhouse prepares to release Black Phone 2, Blum reflected on his passion for horror and the freedom the genre offers. He highlighted the ability to create “insane, subversive, crazy movies” within the studio system, which often resists such risks in other genres. Unlike many indie films, horror frequently enjoys wide theatrical distribution because studios recognize its unique creative potential and audience reach.
“There’s a clear line you can draw between that desire that I had in myself and our business model, which is don’t pay me a fee, but if the movie works, pay me and everyone else involved with it. And if it doesn’t, we’ll move on to the next one,”
said Blum, reflecting on his approach to production.
“You can trick the Hollywood machine into releasing insane, subversive, crazy movies, and that’s always why I was always interested in doing studio movies with horror, because it’s the only genre where you can just do the craziest things, and they’re not independently released, and yet studios still release them,”
he added.
“I really do love horror for a lot of reasons, but what I love most is it’s a way to take independent films and to make subversive, crazy films that have been released by mainstream public companies.”
Shudder’s Role in Elevating Emerging Horror Filmmakers
Samuel Zimmerman, Senior Vice President of Programming at Shudder, shared how the horror streaming platform has carved out a distinctive space for showcasing innovative genre films. Starting as an intern and editor at Fangoria, Zimmerman rose to help build Shudder into a crucial outlet for thrillers, body horror, and psychological terror over the past decade. Headquarters under AMC Networks, Shudder has amplified the voices of emerging filmmakers by trusting their instincts and catering to passionate audiences worldwide.
“There are movies we released and made that in traditional or conventional knowledge, you might not see as something successful or something that can be commercially broad, but because we love it, we think other people will,”
Zimmerman explained to Variety’s Executive Digital Editor William Earl.
“We’ve seen that translate, especially with our international films. [Shudder] released films like ‘Terrifier’ and ‘La Llorona,’ and these movies that made real impacts, whether they were incredibly damaging and freaky or socially and politically aware. It’s about trusting our own instincts and trusting the audience’s instincts and seeing where it takes us.”
Attention to rising talent has been a hallmark at Shudder. Zimmerman emphasized the platform’s pride in launching filmmakers who continue to succeed in the broader industry.
“We’re privileged to be at a stage with filmmakers where we’re working on different features and second features, and then we get to see these filmmakers welcome the world and make big, incredible work. We did ‘Revenge’ with Coralie Fargeat, and then she did ‘The Substance.’ We were lucky to work with Issa López with ‘Tigers are Not Afraid,’ and then she did ‘True Detective.’ Not only do we get to make these statements with these filmmakers that introduces them to the world, but it puts us in a position of [similar to finding] your favorite band, which is trendsetting [for us].”
Innovations in Horror Through Virtual Reality
Meta has ventured into the horror space through immersive collaborations with Blumhouse properties like M3GAN and The Black Phone, blending technology and storytelling via virtual reality experiences. Rick Rey, Meta’s Content Entertainment Lead, described how these projects provide distinct interactive perspectives that enrich horror narratives beyond traditional viewing.
“They offer different types of opportunities. In ‘M3GAN,’ you as a viewer can experience what it’s like to have an M3GAN’s vision, and it’s not just a situation where it’s feedback effects. We’re actually in real time scanning your room environment, highlighting objects, leveraging the sensors and the cameras that we have in the device to make it feel personal to you,”
Rey detailed.
“We’re a technology company. We are doing our best to develop the tech that’s going to empower creators and creatives to really create these types of experiences at scale. We’re hoping to see many different variations because it really sort of just opens the aperture in terms of what the creative power is. Empowering creators [and] making sure that we’re developing our tool set and that we’re delivering it to studios, developers, creators, filmmakers to make sure that they have the opportunity to play.”
Easterseals Disability Film Challenge Elevates Diverse Voices in Horror
Nic Novicki, founder of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, shared how the initiative has grown from a casual experiment to a vital platform advocating for authentic disability representation in film. Partnered with Easterseals, a leading disability services organization, the Challenge now showcases hundreds of films annually that often explore suspense and thriller elements intertwined with diverse perspectives.
“Roughly one in four of the population self-identifies as having a disability,”
Novicki remarked.
“95% of those roles are actually portrayed by people that don’t have disabilities. I came up with this idea for a disability film challenge, and right away casting directors and film festivals started reaching out. In 2017, I partnered with Easterseals, which is the nation’s largest disability services organization and now to date, we have 850 films that have been created.”
The 2025 edition’s theme focused on thriller and suspense, with filmmakers presenting varied interpretations that illustrate horror’s expansive reach and its intersection with issues of identity and inclusion.
“Thriller and suspense, they’re cousins. When you hear the word disability, it intersects because you can have somebody with a disability, that’s part of any religion, sexual orientation. Horror intersects too,”
said Novicki.
“We had 123 films [this year], and many of them are going to screen in the horror block [at film festivals]. Every year, we have a set genre and an assignment, and everybody has their own interpretations of what that film is. I love seeing that you get 123 different versions of what thriller and suspense is. I think that’s really what horror is too, [because] there’s not just one kind of horror movie.”
Experts Discuss the Soundscape of Contemporary Horror
In a panel moderated by Variety’s Chief Music Critic Chris Willman, composers and music supervisors reflected on their contributions to 2025’s major horror projects and the unique challenges of crafting effective soundtracks in the genre. Jeff Russo, the composer for Alien: Earth, spoke about balancing homage and innovation when scoring one of horror’s iconic franchises.
“One of the things that me and [Noah Hawley] talked about was we needed to figure out what the underlying material made the audience feel right,”
Russo shared.
“I wanted to tip my hat to Jerry Goldsmith’s score [for ‘Alien’] and use the same sort of harmonic structure and the same feeling that he was able to derive.”
Chanda Dancy, composer for I Know What You Did Last Summer, recounted how her past work on numerous Lifetime films shaped her approach to horror scoring, infusing her soundtracks with dramatic orchestration reminiscent of 1990s horror styles.
“When I was starting out, I did like a million Lifetime films that ended up with people stabbing and slashing. Whenever I think of 90s style horror, I think of a giant orchestra, [with] lots of brass. It’s very bombastic and has lots of melodic motifs.”
Amanda Krieg Thomas, known for supervising music on American Horror Story and Monster: The Ed Gein Story, stressed the importance of trust between directors and music supervisors in shaping the overall vision of a horror project.
“The vision of a music supervisor is in service to the vision of our show or our director. Where that trust is applied can look different in so many different types of working relationships,”
she said.
“I think that it is that trust between the creative and what we do that makes the collaboration strong.”
Continuing Horror’s Evolution and Cultural Impact
The Hollywood & Horror event organized by Variety not only celebrated the successes of past and present genre filmmakers but also spotlighted the ongoing innovation reshaping horror storytelling across platforms. From Blumhouse’s lean production model catalyzing daring studio horror to genre-specific streaming platforms like Shudder nurturing emerging voices, the horror landscape is thriving through diverse narratives and inventive technology. Additionally, initiatives like the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge highlight the genre’s growing inclusivity and multidimensional storytelling. As creators and technologists expand the boundaries of horror, audiences can expect increasingly immersive and socially resonant experiences in theaters, streaming services, and emerging media alike.
