THE NEW MUTANTS Will Be a Trilogy of Horror Movies That Examines The Horror Genre

Last week the first trailer for Josh Boone's The New Mutants was released. It was mostly met with positive reactions, but there were definitely a few fans that didn't care for what they saw. Some people didn't like the generic horror movie feel that it had.

Well, this isn't going to be the only horror-themed New Mutants film. In fact, Josh Boone has planned a full trilogy of horror-themed New Mutant movies! Each one will explore a different aspect of the horror movie genre. During an interview with IGN he explained: 

“We brought it to FOX as a trilogy of films, really all based on that long run by Sienkiewicz, and kind of incorporates some stuff from later issues in the ‘80s. These are all going to be horror movies, and they'll 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.”

As a fan of horror films, I actually kind of like this concept. I think it would be cool to see a string of New Mutant horror movies! Especially with each one being a different type of horror film. He goes on to explain:

“Our take was just go examine the horror genre through comic book movies and make each one its own distinct sort of horror film. Drawing from the big events that we love in the comics.”

Boone went on to say that his New Mutants film is heavily influenced by a particular storyline involving Demon Bear, who he refused to call a villain. He also reveals some of the films that influenced his take on the story, saying:

“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. 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.

“Darabont wrote that back in the day and that was very inspiring to us. If we'd had just done New Mutants the comic, it would've been very much set-up like an X-Men movie in the mansion with Professor X and all that. So we really wanted to do something different. So kind of what we brought to Sienkiewicz and Claremont's take on New Mutants was this idea they're all in a psych-hole for mutants.”

We could definitely see elements of those films used in the first trailer that was released for the movie. He also revealed that the majority of the film used practical special effects to bring the story to life, which I thought was cool. As fans who grew up in the 70s and 80s, it's always great to see filmmakers want to push for more practical effects in their films. It gives the film a more genuine feel. 

I'm excited about this New Mutants movie and I hope that Boone gets to make his other two horror-themed movies in the franchise. I'd like to see where he plans on going with them. The director previously confirmed that the movie is set in the X-Men cinematic universe and also revealed a couple of characters that he'd like to eventually include, such as Karma and Warlock.

What do you think about Boone's idea to turn The New Mutants into a horror trilogy? 

The New Mutants hits theaters April 13, 2018.