Eli Roth’s The Horror Section Brings Found Footage Nightmare Dream Eater To Fandango
Fresh from its limited theatrical run, Eli Roth’s new production banner The Horror Section is ready to invade your living room with Dream Eater, a found footage nightmare that is already being called one of the most terrifying horror films of the year. The film arrives for home audiences in the United States on Fandango and other digital platforms beginning November 18. Pre orders are available now if you feel like voluntarily ruining your sleep schedule.
The film comes from the Canadian genre trio Blind Luck Pictures, a group of indie filmmakers who clearly never got the memo about making something nice for family viewing. Co written and co directed by Jay Drakulic, Mallory Drumm, and Alex Lee Williams, the film also stars Drumm and Williams in a story that blends raw documentary realism with escalating supernatural dread.
The Horror Section describes the movie as “Blending raw, documentary style realism with escalating tension and scares, Dream Eater delivers an unshakable nightmare that lingers long after the final frame.”
The story follows Mallory, a documentary filmmaker who travels with her boyfriend Alex to a remote mountain cabin to document his violent sleep disorder. But as Alex’s parasomnia grows more disturbing and inexplicable, Mallory begins to suspect that something else is inside the house — and possibly inside his dreams. What begins as a tense psychological experiment soon descends into full scale terror as the couple’s footage captures something far beyond the limits of human explanation.
Found footage horror might have been quiet lately, but Dream Eater seems poised to jolt the genre awake again. Early reactions from those brave enough to watch it have compared its creeping tension to The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, two films that defined the format. And that is not a coincidence.
In a statement about the film, Eli Roth shared his personal reaction to the experience of watching Dream Eater, saying:
“I vividly remember every movie that truly terrified me. I remember standing on 25th street in New York City when my friend Kevin Foxe handed me a VHS of a film he had produced, which had just gotten into Sundance, called The Blair Witch Project, and that night I had to sleep with the lights on. I remember watching a screener of Paranormal Activity during the filming of Inglorious Basterds in my apartment in Berlin, and I was so freaked out that I had to give it to Quentin to traumatize him as well.
“And then there was Dream Eater, watching this movie alone, in my house, and turning on the lights because it was that scary. It has been so long since I have been truly terrified by a film to such a degree that I had almost forgotten what it felt like. What these three filmmakers have pulled is not just remarkable on a low-budget DIY filmmaking level; they achieve the holy grail of horror, which is to make a movie that absolutely terrifies you. I was so blown away that I sent the film to everyone at The Horror Section, and we all agreed that this is ‘the one.’ I believe Dream Eater will be the scariest film of the year and truly has the potential to break out to be the next Paranormal Activity or The Blair Witch Project.”
Coming from a man who gave us Hostel, Cabin Fever, and Thanksgiving, that kind of endorsement carries serious weight. Roth clearly believes Dream Eater has the power to do what only a handful of films manage — scare audiences so badly they consider sleeping with the lights on again.
For fans of independent horror, Dream Eater represents another bold step from The Horror Section, which Roth founded to spotlight unique, uncompromising voices in genre cinema. Its focus is on pushing boundaries and amplifying fresh talent — something this film’s creators have done in spades.
If you love your horror sweaty, shaky, and deeply unsettling, this one is likely to be right up your alley. Dream Eater will arrive in the U.S. on Fandango and other digital outlets on November 18.
As for a U.K. release — there’s no news yet, but you will hear it here first when it’s announced.
Until then, maybe avoid watching this one alone, and for the love of sleep, make sure your night light still works.
