Hulu has announced that through its partnership with 20th Digital Studio, it will release nine horror features over the next several years, all of which will expand on shorts from the “Bite Size Halloween” collection.
“Bite Size Halloween” made its debut on Hulu for Halloween 2020 as part of that year’s Huluween lineup. Thirty different short films premiered that year, and in 2021 Hulu premiered 18 more. The new feature films will all feature previous writers or directors from the collection or be inspired by past shorts. The films deal with topical social issues such as mental health, ecological collapse, reproductive rights, interracial adoption, and online hysteria.
Two feature films based on the “Bite Size Halloween” collection have finished filming. “Grimcutty,” written and directed by John William Ross, was shot outside of Los Angeles in the fall of 2021 and is currently in post-production. The teen tech horror-thriller stars Shannyn Sossamon (“Wayward Pines”), Usman Ally (“A Series of Unfortunate Events”), Alona Tal (“Seal Team”), and newcomer Sara Wolfkind.
“Wormeater,” a rural British family trauma body horror from writer/director Ben Steiner, recently completed filming in the UK with stars Kate Dickie (“Game Of Thrones”) and Jemina Rooper (“The Girlfriend Experience”). The film is a thematic successor to Steiner’s 2018 20th Digital short “Urn.”
Additional “Bite Size Halloween” shorts “Appendage,” “The Hug,” and “Clock” have also been announced for feature-length adaptations.
Writer/director Anna Zlokovic’s horror short film “Appendage,” which is currently playing at Sundance, will begin production later this year. The short film stars Rachel Sennot (“Shiva Baby”) and Eric Roberts and tells the story of a young fashion designer whose anxiety physically manifests. Zlokovic has signed to write and direct the feature film version and casting is currently underway.
“The Hug” will expand on the story of the animatronic “Pandory the Panda” who terrorized children in his Pizza Palace in a viral 2018 short from 20th Digital. The original creators, writing/directing team Jack Bishop and Justin Nijm have signed on to the project.
“Clock” by writer/director Alexis Jacknow and inspired by the 2020 short of the same title will follow a woman’s desperate attempt to fix her broken biological clock.
Additional scripts from “Bite Size Halloween” filmmakers are currently in development and will be announced at a later date.
If you missed out on the first two years of “Bite Size Halloween,” both “seasons” are still available to stream on Hulu. Horror shorts released by 20th Digital before 2020 were released under the name “Bite Size Horror.” You can view a selection of those shorts in my coverage from 2017, otherwise, a search for “bite size” on Hulu will surface some of them, or you can seek them out online.
