Holy Crap, the New 'X-Men' Spinoff Is a Horror Movie

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The idea that the open-ended X-Men franchise would spawn a sequel that fits snuggly in the horror genre considering the box-office success of M. Night Shyamalan's Split, a sly deconstruction of super villains that turned out to -- SPOILER ALERT FOR SPLIT -- be a sequel to his 2003 realist superhero movie Unbreakable (which has since spawned a third movie in the trilogy, Glass, now shooting). But seeing it actually happen it in the first trailer for The New Mutants is a shock -- superpowers really open a can of jump-scare worms.

New Mutants, created by the legendary Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, was the X-Men universe's first true spinoff, launched in the '80s and continuing on in the new millennium. According to early casting reports, the movie, helmed by Fault in Your Stars director Josh Boone, would star young up-and-comers as the classic characters. Split's Anya Taylor-Joy plays Magik, a girl who wields sorcery. Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones will play Wolfsbane, who (you guessed it) can turn into a wolf. Williams does most of the SCREAMING in this trailer (I believe that's her in the YouTube still), so expect her to go full lycanthropy before the credits roll.

There's also the Native American Danielle Moonstar aka Mirage, who creates illusions and is played by Blu Hunt; Brazilian Sunspot (a firestarter played by Henry Zaga); and a Kentuckian named Cannonball, who can launch himself in the air, and is played by Stranger Things actor Charlie Heaton. One of the other characters is supposedly an alien… but you don't really know any of that based on the trailer. It's really meant to scare the living shit out of you.

This fascinating inversion of the genre arrives on April 13, 2018. Can we still call them the New Mutants if the movie gets a sequel?

Thrillist VIdeo

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Wes Rendar is a big X-Men fan.