‘Play House’ Horror Movie Acquired by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster After Fantastic Fest Premiere

Horror movie Play House has landed a major distribution deal following its premiere at Fantastic Fest. According to Deadline, Focus Features and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster have acquired the film for a planned 2027 release.

The deal marks a major milestone for filmmaker Nicolas Curcio, who won the inaugural Fantastic Pitches competition at Fantastic Fest last year before bringing Play House to the festival this year. The low-budget horror film has also received positive reviews from critics, although the number of reviews remains limited.

Deadline reports that the acquisition was a seven-figure deal, a substantial return for a film reportedly made on a budget of just $100,000.

What Is Play House About?

The film follows a young man renovating a dilapidated house in an attempt to win back his ex. While working in the basement, he discovers VHS tapes from an unaired television show. As he uncovers the program’s disturbing history, its dark secrets begin bleeding into his own life and threaten his chance at reconciliation.

Curcio directed Play House from a screenplay he co-wrote with Kirby Gladstein. The cast includes Will Harrison, Jessica Sula, Jordan Gonzalez, and James Urbaniak.

The Real-Life Inspiration Behind Play House

Play House taps into the unsettling world of lost media and analog horror, but its premise also draws inspiration from a real location that caught the filmmakers’ attention.

The properties had been left to deteriorate after being purchased decades earlier for a proposed freeway expansion that never happened.

“We looked into it, and it was this freeway expansion project that started back in the ’50s and ’60s, where they bought close to 400-500 houses, and then they never built the freeway,” Gladstein explained.

The filmmakers began imagining what might have happened inside homes left abandoned for decades. That idea eventually became the starting point for Play House, particularly as some of the former Caltrans properties began going up for sale.

Could Play House Be Blumhouse’s Next Horror Hit?

Blumhouse has already scored a major horror success this year with Obsession, another film that generated significant attention. It’s too early to know whether Play House will achieve similar success, but its acquisition by Focus Features and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster puts the film in a strong position ahead of its planned release.

Play House is currently expected to arrive in 2027, although an exact release date has not yet been announced.

Are you looking forward to watching Play House? Let us know in the comments!