Epic Pictures’ horror imprint Dread is serving up a blood-soaked nostalgia trip with The Boy From Below. The film stands as a loving, retro-fueled tribute to the iconic late-1990s slasher renaissance. It blendis dial-up-era aesthetics with classic video store culture.
Scream Queens and Movie-Obsessed Killers
Set on Halloween night in 1997. The story follows video store clerk Quinn Curtis. As she prepares for a cozy evening of movie marathons and local festivities, her night takes a turn for the worse. Her plans collapse when a masked psychopath known as “The Boy from Below” initiates a murderous spree. Obsessed with cinema, the killer begins meticulously executing his victims in hyper-violent recreations of famous slasher scenarios. This forces Quinn to weaponize her encyclopedic knowledge of horror tropes to outthink the killer and survive until morning.
The impressive ensemble features genre legends Dee Wallace (Cujo), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), and Tommy Lee Wallace (IT), as well as Jack Norman, Spooky Madison, and Chaney Morrow.
A Love Letter to the Video Store Era
Directed by Tory Jones, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jerron Spencer and Cheyenne Gordon, the project stems from a lifelong passion for physical media and late-night genre classics. Jones described the feature as an unapologetic love letter to the mid-90s video store era he grew up worshipping. At the same time, Epic Pictures CEO Patrick Ewald highlighted the film’s iconic villain and inner-genre awareness as the perfect catalyst to kick off the autumn horror season.
“The Boy from Below is inspired by and pays homage to the mid-90s and the era of the video store that I grew up enamored with. I consumed so many of the genre classics and especially slasher films… This is in many ways a love letter to those movies.” Director Tory Jones said.
Epic Pictures CEO Patrick Ewald had this to say: “A killer with real iconography, a filmmaker who understands the genre from the inside out… We’re dropping this one in August to ride straight into Halloween season.”
Award-Winning Festival Buzz
Before making its digital debut, The Boy From Below generated substantial heat across the specialized horror circuit. The film swept Scarefest Weekend, winning Best Feature Film and Best Kill Scene, and enjoyed celebrated runs at Days of the Dead, Crimson Screen, and the New Jersey Horror Con film festival.
Now available for home audiences, this neon-drenched slasher delivers an unmissable throwback for fans of vintage horror. Watch it now on digital and Letterboxd.
