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Horror Pride Month: Actress Zoey Luna

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Zoey Luna

Zoey Luna is an actress with a plan, and so far it’s working out for her. A lifelong horror fan who is starring in the upcoming reboot of The Craft, she told all her friends that she was going to be a movie star at age 18 and she is well on her way.

The bubbly, charismatic young actress spoke with me for iHorror’s Horror Pride Month celebration, and she could not be more excited to be stepping into something as iconic as The Craft.

“Just to be in The Craft as my first movie is insane!” she gushed. “It’s been a thrill. It’s been amazing. I’m going to focus on the positive. This has been a huge positive in my life. The acting was great. Everyone was great at what they do and the director, Zoe [Lister-Jones], was just so amazing. Everyone made me feel at home. It was a really beautiful experience.”

This is only Luna’s third acting gig, she previously worked with Rosario Dawson on a short film titled Boundless and she made an appearance on Pose under the direction of Janet Mock.

Some might say this isn’t much, but for a teenage trans actress of color, those credits are astonishing. Of course everyone knows Laverne Cox and Alexandra Billings, and some horror fans might be able to name Angelica Ross who appeared in American Horror Story: 1984 as well as Pose, but on the whole trans actresses and especially non-white trans actresses have a harder time finding work.

Part of this has to do with the fact that so few trans characters are written and when they are, they’re given to cis-actors. Part of it is that trans actors and actresses are not taken seriously when they audition for non-trans roles. And some filmmakers are just plain bigots.

Zoey Luna has always known she was a girl even after her brother took it upon himself to her that she was actually a boy because she had a penis when they were small children. It didn’t shake her resolve however, as she grew up.

“That’s when I realized there was a problem, not with me, but with the world,” she explained.”I felt one way and they all felt another way just because of what was in my pants, and I thought, none of you guys are going to have sex with me so why the f*ck do you care?”

Coming out and being open about her identity was a challenge, especially in her home.

“You know, there was a problem because we’re Latinos,” she pointed out. “My dad was the man of the house. It was a really big difficult moment for my mom because of the reputation for my dad. So she kept it a pretty big secret between me and her for a while until he passed away. Once he died, I had a new life. My mom was always pretty supportive. The TV liked to make it look like she’s really an angel and she’s very nice-ish, but we’ve had a lot of problems.”

Problems or no, Luna has found her own path and continues to work hard at her chosen profession saying she’d love to do more horror films in the future. In fact, she wants nothing less than to be one of those women in the films that she grew up watching running away from a masked killer.

The Craft is currently in post-production and awaiting an official release date. Stay tuned for more details on that project as they become available.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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