The first poster for The New Mutants is a real scream

"The only thing you have to fear … is yourself."

Just yesterday, THE NEW MUTANTS dropped a tease which looked to be a nod to the forthcoming film's villain, the Demon Bear. And now, we've got a look at the first official poster for the movie that, for the past several moments, has been giving me some serious NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET vibes. For real, scroll down to check the poster out, and tell me that it doesn't remind you of Krueger's agonizing soul-covered chest with a white sheet draped over it.

What the poster actually shows is the film's five lead characters trapped and screaming from behind some manner of a hideous, white veil. The leads I'd mentioned are Mirage (Blue Hunt), Sunspot (Henry Zaga), Cannonball (Charlie Heaton), Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy), and Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams). In fact, if you look at the bottom right-hand silhouette, you can definitely catch a glimpse of Wolfsbane's razor-sharp incisors.

According to the film's director, Josh Boone, THE NEW MUTANTS will be the first film in a trilogy, with the debut movie looking to the classic comic book story "The Demon Bear Saga" for inspiratation.

“We brought it to FOX as a trilogy of films, really all based on that long run by [Bill] Sienkiewicz, and kind of incorporates some stuff from later issues in the ‘80s,” Boone commented. “These are all going to be horror movies, and they're all be their own distinct kind of horror movies. This is certainly the ‘rubber-reality’ supernatural horror movie. The next one will be a completely different kind of horror movie.”

In regard to using "The Demon Bear" story arc as the launching pad for the series, Boone explained that, “Our whole pitch for this series was based on Bill Sienkiewicz run with Chris Claremont [The New Mutants vol. 1 #18–31, 35–38], so it's very much when New Mutants became dark and surreal and more horror driven,” Boone said. “We were incredibly inspired by the Demon Bear story which is probably the best, well-known New Mutants story. We also drew on movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Stephen King stuff, and even Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors." See, I told you! Freddy's agonizing soul-covered chest for the win!

THE NEW MUTANTS will arrive in theaters on April 13, 2018.  

Source: Twitter

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.