By William Earl, Zack Sharf, Jordan Moreau, Harper Mays, Antonio Ferme, Ethan Shanfeld, Pat Saperstein
AER / GARETH CATTERMOLE / 2025 Getty Images Variety’s second annual Horror Impact Report comes in a year when the genre has had unparalleled success. Indie films like “Backrooms” and “Obsession” were box office smashes, high-profile series like “Carrie” and the “Friday the 13th” prequel “Crystal Lake” are set to haunt streamers, and even iconic franchises like “Halloween” and “Hellraiser” are back as video games. Here are the artists and industry insiders fostering and elevating spooky storytelling.
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Austin Abrams
Image Credit: AFP via Getty Images Actor
“Resident Evil” After playing a junkie who breaks into a house and stumbles upon 17 missing children in “Weapons,” Abrams teamed up again with director Zach Cregger, this time as the lead of “Resident Evil.” Instead of playing one of the video game series’ gun-toting protagonists, Abrams stars as a medical courier tasked with delivering a mysterious package to a zombie-infested city. And shortly after “Resident Evil,” he headed to an even more dangerous location: the belly of a whale. Yes, Abrams is reuniting with his “Weapons” co-star Josh Brolin in “Whalefall,” a survival thriller about a scuba diver who gets swallowed whole by a giant sperm whale.
