Welcome back to Horror Happenings! Today we’re talking Cary Fukunaga and the state of horror movies in general and sneaking a peek at the first teaser poster for a much anticipated prequel. Plus, we’re saying a small goodbye to a beloved horror master.

Cary Fukunaga Explains Why He Left Two-Part It Adaptation

Many a horror fan was thrilled at the news that Cary Fukunaga would be directing a two-part feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s It. Then, just as production was about to get underway, those same horror fans’ hearts were crushed at the news that Fukunaga was leaving the project due to differences with the studio. He gave a little bit of explanation stating that he and the studio “just wanted to make different movies.” This week, he explained further, and if him walking away from the project wasn’t disappointing enough, please allow these words to make you even more frustrated: “I was trying to make an unconventional horror film,” explained Fukunaga. “It didn’t fit into the algorithm of what they knew they could spend and make money back on based on not offending their standard genre audience. Our budget was perfectly fine…It was the creative that we were really battling…”

UGH. When this news broke, I penned an op-ed asking what exactly is going on with studio-produced horror. Now it looks like we have a few answers.

A respected director in film and television with a cinematic vision spent years on a passion project that was real horror. Innovative horror. And, more importantly, he was willing to call it as such. For most of the history of film and television, horror has been looked at as a genre most directors try and run away from, and instead, Fukunaga wanted to do it intentionally and twice.

Last week in this column I wondered aloud if the TV reboot was actually a good thing for horror fans and now I might even take that a step further and say that TV is the most exciting place for horror fans aside from a rogue independent feature. How did executives not look at the excitement, passion, and loyalty to the genre and let something like this get away from them? And from a studio who is supposed to be a genre brand no less!

There really is no conclusion here, it just mostly sucks. So, on that note, let’s move on to something that hopefully won’t suck!

First Leatherface Prequel Poster

We’ve been following the Leatherface prequel pretty closely since it was announced back in August of 2014. To get you up to speed, check out our article Everything We Know About Leatherface.

Now, after plot details have continued to be tightly under wraps, we have a look at our first poster.

After casting announcements were very careful not to say who was playing Leatherface exactly, it looks like the production is looking to continue the mystery by not revealing any faces in this small teaser. All of the secrecy surrounding the movie is certainly working on me, taking a prequel that I was not at all interested in when it was announced and turning it into something that I’m actually very excited to see. Here’s hoping we’ll have our first trailer coming soon too!

Wes Craven Has Died

This is probably not news to anyone who reads this column but last Sunday the news broke that horror icon Wes Craven had died. Horror Happenings didn’t get the chance to say Rest In Peace, Wes. We loved you.

Featured Image Credit: DeviantArtist PhotoshopIsMyKung-Fu

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Clarke Wolfe writes “Horror Happenings” for Nerdist every Sunday. You can follow her on Twitter @clarkewolfe.