New Horror Film Might Finally Have Enough Blood

Mia Goth is kneeling on the floor of a cabin in the middle of the woods, soaked in blood.

Of course, it’s not real blood. It’s stage blood, and the set is full of it. When Mia stands up, the prosthetic gore is ankle deep. Maybe even shin deep.

She is in the midst of filming for her upcoming new film Return of Slaughtered Dead: Gush and Pour. The third film in the “Slaughtered Dead” franchise, this one might have finally incorporated enough blood to make an impression. Or a flood.

“It’s definitely a challenge I haven’t faced before” Goth said in an interview after filming wrapped up for the day. It was hours after shooting the cabin scene, but she still had red stains on her face. “Just about every scene I’m in, I have to walk through six inches of stage blood. It’s like walking through syrup. It’s exhausting.”

Previous entries in the franchise have set records in sheer quantities of stage blood used. The last film, Slaughtered Dead: Rise and Butcher faced a lawsuit after an actor nearly drowned in scarlet fluid. The intense gore and blood in the films are now legendary, but the studio and filmmakers seem to believe it’s not enough.

“We ordered 450,000,000 gallon-sized buckets of stage blood.” Director Fede Álvarez told the media yesterday afternoon, a little blood dripping from his mouth as he spoke. “The props team told me there wasn’t that much stage blood in existence. So, that set us back a few months. Some of the prop blood is still getting mailed here. It kind of makes me thirsty. Wait, I didn’t mean that. Can we strike that from the record?”

When asked about the almost daily deliveries of fresh blood, he said, “We get barrels dropped off every day. But it’s not enough. We might have to use CGI to fill in the gaps and really get us to the level we want.”

Of course, even using CGI might not do the trick. After all, “you can’t swim through CGI. That’s the biggest problem we have right now.”

That was stunt coordinator Tom, who talked to the media from the hospital where he was actively drawing his own blood to possibly use in the film as a backup plan. Growing faint with blood loss, he managed to add, “we are kindly asking for donors to send us their blood. I know it’s a lot to ask, but the film is going to be great.” He passed out soon after this.

Fede Álvarez (Alien: Romulus) can't bloody wait for his new bloody film to come out. (Photo credit: Your mom)

The practical demands of the new film are certainly a setback for New Line Cinema, which needs the film to make 600 million dollars to break even. Some experts are wondering how the new film will make money, since Return of Slaughtered Dead: Gush and Pour is already banned in Europe, Canada, and Ohio.

But Álvarez is undaunted.

“This movie is going to be bloody made. It’s going to be bloody released. And it’s going to be bloody good fun,” he told the press while sipping a Bloody Mary. “Our actors, producers, and crew have put their own blood, sweat, and tears into this picture. Well, mostly their blood. So, we’re going to finish what we bloody well started.”

But does the studio share his enthusiasm? A New Line Cinema spokesperson gave a brief update via X (formerly Twitter): “Return of the Slaughtered Dead: Gush and Pour will be made, even if we need to harvest blood from a herd of cows to make it.”

As of time of publishing, director Fede Alvarez was last seen asking the studio if a herd of 200 cows was in the budget.

Return of Slaughtered Dead: Gush and Pour comes out in the United States in early 2027, in theaters everywhere except Ohio.