Welcome to Slayground: Jeremy Saulnier Takes Us Inside a Halloween Haunt for His New A24 Horror Thriller
A haunted attraction is supposed to be frightening right up until the moment you remember that everybody inside is being paid to scare you. The blood is fake, the screaming maniac around the next corner is probably thinking about his lunch break, and the corpse hanging from the ceiling will be back in a storage cupboard by November. Jeremy Saulnier’s latest film appears ready to make that distinction considerably harder to recognise.
A24 has begun pulling back the curtain on Slayground, the new horror thriller written and directed by Saulnier, whose previous films include Blue Ruin, Green Room and Rebel Ridge. The project was previously known under the title October, but is now officially being promoted as Slayground, taking its new name from the haunted attraction that forms an important part of the story. A mysterious teaser was initially shown in cinemas ahead of Resident Evil screenings, presenting what appeared to be surveillance footage captured inside the attraction before directing audiences towards the film’s viral website, RunLikeHell.com.
The teaser keeps its cards remarkably close to its chest. Rather than explaining the plot or introducing the film’s sizeable cast, it throws viewers directly into the Halloween attraction, using grainy security-camera imagery to move through its darkened corridors. Fake horror and the possibility of something considerably more genuine appear to be occupying the same space, which makes an effective introduction to a film whose wider story is apparently much larger than a straightforward haunted-house slasher.
Slayground has been described as a fugitive thriller set around Halloween, and reported story details provide a much clearer idea of where Saulnier is heading. According to World of Reel, Cory Michael Smith plays the film’s central character, who works at the haunted attraction from which the movie takes its title. He becomes the primary suspect in a mass murder investigation before escaping police custody and going on the run. With a major manhunt underway, he attempts to prove his innocence while avoiding the authorities pursuing him. Those plot details have not yet been laid out in an extensive official A24 synopsis, so for now they should be treated as reported information rather than every twist of the film being definitively mapped out.
The cast surrounding Smith is substantial. Imogen Poots reunites with Saulnier after starring in Green Room, while James Badge Dale, Matty Matheson, Chase Sui Wonders, Sophie Wilde, Young Mazino and Stephen Root are also among the announced ensemble. Macon Blair, a longtime Saulnier collaborator who starred in Blue Ruin and appeared in Green Room, has also been reported to have a smaller role.
For horror fans, the return of Poots to Saulnier’s world is particularly notable. Their previous collaboration, Green Room, put a touring punk band inside an isolated venue after they witness a murder and become trapped by the people determined to prevent them leaving. Patrick Stewart played club owner Darcy Banker, with Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole and Callum Turner joining Poots in the cast. A24’s own synopsis describes the film as a life-or-death struggle between the trapped musicians and the people controlling the venue, and Saulnier used that confined environment to steadily reduce the distance between thriller and outright horror.
Slayground appears to be working with a very different story, but the basic ingredients provide Saulnier with another situation where confined spaces, sudden violence and people under extreme pressure can collide. The haunted attraction also offers an especially useful horror setting because deception is built into the place. Actors are supposed to jump from the darkness. Screams are expected. Blood, bodies and weapons are part of the scenery. If something genuinely terrible happened in the middle of the performance, recognising exactly when the entertainment had stopped could become a problem in itself.
When the Haunted Attraction Isn’t Pretending
There is plenty of precedent for horror films turning commercial scare attractions into places where the danger becomes real. One particularly relevant example is Hell House LLC, Stephen Cognetti’s 2015 found-footage horror film, which follows the preparations for a Halloween haunted house inside the abandoned Abaddon Hotel and the horrifying events surrounding its opening night. What begins as the construction of a seasonal attraction gradually becomes something much darker, with the film making particularly effective use of the fact that creepy props, masked performers and unsettling figures don’t initially look out of place inside a haunt.
The setting is part of what makes these stories work. Put a masked figure carrying a weapon outside a Tesco at two in the afternoon and people are going to have questions. Put the same person inside a Halloween attraction filled with artificial corpses and screaming customers and everybody assumes they’ve met a particularly committed employee. The environment gives filmmakers permission to hide real danger among deliberately manufactured scares, and the teaser for Slayground appears very aware of that possibility.
For UK physical-media collectors, the timing is particularly appropriate because Hell House LLC is receiving a new Limited Edition Blu-ray from Last Slate Video next month, on October 26. The release gives fans another opportunity to revisit one of the modern films most closely associated with the haunted-attraction subgenre just as Slayground begins inviting audiences into another apparently unsafe place of seasonal employment. You can order the Last Slate Video Limited Edition of Hell House LLC here.
The comparison should not be taken to mean that Slayground is simply another Hell House LLC. Based on the reported plot, Saulnier’s film expands beyond the attraction into a fugitive story and police manhunt, while the teaser deliberately reveals very little about how the haunt fits into the mass murder at the centre of the narrative. What it does establish is an environment where determining what is real could prove difficult, and Saulnier has previously demonstrated a particular talent for placing characters in situations that deteriorate quickly and violently.
What Is A24 Counting Down To?
There is another mystery surrounding the film. The teaser directs viewers to RunLikeHell.com, an official promotional site carrying Slayground branding, security-camera imagery and a countdown clock. At present, however, A24 has not formally announced a theatrical release date for the film. Earlier reporting suggested a 2027 release was possible, while the marketing now points towards something happening much sooner. The teaser itself has been reported as carrying a fall release message, but exactly what the countdown is leading towards has not been officially explained.
That means suggestions that Slayground could suddenly arrive this October remain speculation rather than a confirmed release plan. The countdown could be leading to a release announcement, another trailer or something else entirely. Until A24 says otherwise, there is no firm date to circle on the calendar.
What we do know is considerably more interesting than the secrecy initially suggested. October is now Slayground. Jeremy Saulnier has written and directed it. Cory Michael Smith leads a formidable cast, with Imogen Poots returning to work with the filmmaker a decade after Green Room. A haunted Halloween attraction is tied to a story involving a mass murder suspect, an escape from custody and a large-scale manhunt, while A24 has chosen to begin selling the film by dropping us directly into the attraction itself.
And if years of horror cinema have taught us anything, it’s that when a haunted attraction promises an experience you’ll never forget, you should probably read the waiver before going inside.
