Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier has made a slasher thriller set at Halloween. Here’s the trailer for Slayground, out next January. Update: Any film with Jeremy Saulnier’s name attached is worth a bit of anticipation, and Slayground looks like a lot of fun. By the looks of things, it’s a mixture of slasher horror and ... Slayground | Jeremy Saulnier’s slasher thriller gets new trailer, features Rawhead Rex cameo
Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier has made a slasher thriller set at Halloween. Here’s the trailer for Slayground, out next January.
Update: Any film with Jeremy Saulnier’s name attached is worth a bit of anticipation, and Slayground looks like a lot of fun. By the looks of things, it’s a mixture of slasher horror and mystery/pursuit thriller.
There’s a mass murder in one of those modern ‘scarezeone’ haunted houses (the titular Slayground), and the suspect is one of the attraction’s masked workers. But as the police hunt him down, we’re left to ask: is he really the culprit?
Here’s the full synopsis:
Scare-actor “Metal Mike” Graves wakes up in a haunted attraction surrounded by the dead bodies of his co-workers. As a state-wide manhunt closes in, he races to uncover the truth–even if the trail leads straight back to him.
Slayground’s cast includes Cory Michael Smith, Chase Sui Wonders, Stanley Simons, Sophie Wilde, Young Mazino, Imogen Poots, Matty Matheson, James Badge Dale and Stephen Root.
Saulnier is the director of such gritty genre pieces as Blue Ruin, Green Room and Rebel Ridge, and Slayground looks like a similar mix of abrupt violence, suspense and dry humour. We’re not quite sure why there’s a flash of the monster from Clive Barker’s low-budget cult gem, Rawhead Rex, but we like it all the same.
Plus there’s an in-your-face, death metal quality to go with the Halloween theme. Unfortunately, the carved pumpkins will be rather soggy by the point of release: Slayground is in cinemas from the 29th January.
We’re sure it’ll be worth the wait.
21st September 2026: The marketing campaign for director Jeremy Saulnier’s latest film has officially begun – and it looks as though the Blue Ruin, Green Room and Rebel Ridge has made something distinctly horror-focused.
Over the weekend, certain screenings of Resident Evil showed teasers for Slayground; you can find leaked footage of it online if you know where to look. (Edit – it’s officially online now. See below.)
“A24 invites you to an experience you’ll never forget,” the trailer’s blurb reads, before offering a web address: runlikehell.com. Head to that URL, and you’ll see a matrix of the same sort of grainy security cam footage seen in the teaser.
By the looks of things, at least part of Saulnier’s film will take place in one of those ‘scarezone' attractions where customers wander around in the dark as people holding chainsaws leap out from behind curtains.
(‘Slayground’ does sound like a punning spin on ‘scarezone’ now we think about it.)
The question percolating in our minds is, how does this square with the rumoured plot details we’ve previously heard about? Only a few weeks ago, there was word that Slaygound is Saulnier’s spin on The Fugitive, with a lead character (played by Cory Michael Smith) winding up as the prime suspect in a mass murder case.
Saulnier has mashed genres together in the past, though; Green Room was equal parts siege thriller and bloody horror. It could be that the viral footage seen above captures the moment a masked killer commits all those murders, and the rest of the film unfolds as a chase thriller.
We may not have too long to find out what Saulnier’s been up to. A counter on that viral website counts down to the 20th October 2026. It’s likely we’ll get more details then; or perhaps a surprise release?
Filming on Slayground completed last year, so it could sneak into cinemas fairly soon.
We’ll keep you posted.
