Supernatural Thriller Bagman Hopping on the Horror-Thriller Craze

There’s always been a place for horrors, thrillers, and horror-thrillers at the cinema. Fear and anticipation are two of the most visceral emotional reactions that a filmmaker can draw from their audiences. A truly high-quality horror-thriller can make the viewer enjoy the fear, or at least, the story around the movie and the subsequent endorphin rush.

Most recently, Bagman has been announced, with Sam Claflin of The Hunger Games, Adrift, and Peaky Blinders cast out of the gate. It’s being billed as a supernatural thriller but is still very early in its development. Still, here’s what we know so far and the scene that Bagman looks to be entering as horrors and thrillers continue to be popular across entertainment.

What we know so far

On 16 May 2022, it was announced that Claflin would be in the upcoming movie Bagman. At the time, the film was reported to be offered to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival, which concluded on 29 May. At the time of writing, nothing had been put out by the media concerning prospect buyers for the movie, but that doesn’t mean that Bagman isn’t going ahead.

Clafin, who played Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games and Oswald in Peaky Blinders, is the only star that has been named so far. Bagman will be directed by the Scottish filmmaker who helmed the second season of Peaky Blinders, Colm McCarthy, with John Hulme penning the script.

Based on comments from Lionsgate, the studio behind Bagman, a big draw of the film will be putting Claflin in the leading role. Jorge Alfaro and Meredith Wieck have been tasked with overseeing the project, both of whom were also involved in The Hunger Games. Nathan Kahane, motion picture president at Lionsgate, says that Claflin has “grown into a compelling leading man,” and they’re “thrilled” to have him involved.

Resurgent genre with loads of horror on the horizon
Popular film themes are often replicated in other areas of entertainment. If you ever want to see what themes and genres appear to be trending, you can turn to online slots. Developers can create these casino games relatively quickly to respond to gamer preferences and create so many that popular themes quickly become dominant offerings.

This is why the slots library already has horrors like Blood Suckers II, Universal Monsters Dracula, The Invisible Man, Dark King: Forbidden Riches, The Wolf’s Bane, and Ghost Pirates. It’s indicative of how many online gamers click on horror-themed slots, particularly the supernatural ones, with that intrigue all but certainly making the theme popular in other entertainment mediums.

So, it won’t come as a surprise that there’s a whole host of exciting-looking horrors and thrillers on the way to the big screen in 2022. Headlining the slate for many will be The Black Phone, due for release on 24 June. It might just seal this year as one to remember for Ethan Hawke, who’s already been superb in The Northman and looks set to flex his show-stealing talent as the creepy kidnapper in this flick from the makers of Sinister.

Starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, Nope brings the man-of-the-moment in horror back to the big screen with this notoriously mind-bending flick from Jordan Peele. That comes out on 22 July. A bit further down the line, on 9 September, director Gary Dauberman will release his take on the oft-adapted novelist Stephen King, but not with his recent thriller The Outsider, but with a novel that was adapted back in 1979, Salem’s Lot.

Others that could lean more into the hit-or-miss category include Don’t Fear, which took 17 days to shoot in 2020, Halloween Ends, and The Devil’s Light. Given the talent involved, Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling might just be a sleeper in 2022. Set for a 23 September release, it stars Florence Pugh, Gemma Chan, and Chris Pine and is set in a 1950s, seemingly man-made utopian community.

If those big releases detailed above live up to their potential, horrors and thrillers could well be among the most memorable films of 2022, perhaps increasing the intrigue for Bagman’s eventual release.