The horror of childhood
Innocent childhood things lend themselves to horror pretty easily. It starts with creepy dolls that were a pastime for an older generation. That trope evolved into something like Child’s Play, with the My Buddy-esque toy coming to life. The Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise took the old animatronic puppets from old school pizza places and gave them a spooky twist. Now, a couple of films are taking the older format of children’s TV and giving it a scarier edge. The first is a horror comedy named Buddy, which is about a Barney-like mascot. This other film is a take-off of shows like Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round
Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting have just released the trailer for Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round. It starts off as a Mr. Rogers-esque show with a friendly host and his puppet acquaintances, but things take a turn as reality isn’t what it seems. Michael Gilio, who wrote Dark Harvest, stars as the Fred Rogers-like host and Aiden Leary makes his feature film directorial debut on this film from a script by him and C.R. Thompson.
The synopsis reads, “James Jensen hosts a children’s series celebrating imagination and memory, yet he slowly realizes his own past is missing. As episodes progress, the playful world of puppets and colorful sets fractures into something darker. Distorted interactions trigger fragments of a childhood trauma linked to a devastating house fire, forcing him to confront what he suppressed.”
A Joe Swanberg production
Filmmaker Joe Swanberg was a major figure in the mumblecore film movement, and as the years have gone by he has also earned several credits in the horror genre, whether by taking acting roles in films like A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next, The Sacrament, and Blackout, or by directing the werewolf movie Silver Bullets and contributing a segment to the anthology film V/H/S. he has teamed with Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Entertainment to produce a slate of five horror films, which include this film, along with Helldorado, Kenneled and Yellow Eyes.
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round will be available on Screambox on May 19.
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