In 2026, horror belongs to the online creators. While Danny and Michael Philippou have led the charge over the last few years with back-to-back horror hits in Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, this year has seen YouTube giant Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach, The Backrooms creator Kane Parsons, and that’s a bad idea channel co-creator Curry Barker launch their theatrical filmmaking careers with massive success. Another director whose origins trace back to the online video-sharing platform is now about to get his chance to shine with a disturbing, yet darkly hilarious film that’s earned high marks on the festival circuit. At its center is a Glee star in her chilling first turn as a horror lead.
Independent Film Company and Shudder are bringing Breeder, the sophomore feature of writer-director and JouleThief YouTube channel creator Alex Goyette, to theaters tomorrow. It stars Daniel Doheny as Russell, a broke college student desperate for research funding, who’s offered an opportunity with an eccentric, highly-regarded poodle breeder named Patti, played by Dot-Marie Jones. To receive the money he needs, he heads out to her remote ranch for work, but the “project” she needs help with has nothing to do with miniature poodles. She’s moving on to breeding humans, and Russell needs to be a good stud, or else he’ll be put down. Ahead of its release, Collider can exclusively share a sneak peek that shows the emotional manipulation at play in a group therapy session that teases both sides of the villain.
The footage opens on Patti sitting with her adoptive “daughters” in a room that looks more like a stable. Her attention is focused on Yara (Lillian Doucet-Roche), who was evidently abandoned by her mother. Patti continues to push Yara, asking her over and over again to say exactly what she wanted to ask her mom, only with more force in every utterance. Her aggression ultimately pushes the young woman to break down, screaming “Why did you leave me?” at the top of her lungs before crying and leaning into her caretaker. Suddenly, the poodle breeder’s softer side comes out as she comforts Yara, assuring her that it’s good and cleansing to cry. The way each of the women act and the room they’re all kept in, however, hints that Patti’s kindness is the same as that she gives to her poodles and all serves a purpose in her twisted breeding project.
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.
- Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever. - You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
own head is where this does its damage. - These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
because they are weak. They lose because they are tired. - You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
- Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you. - You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
know that feeling from real life too. - The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
have met those adults. - By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
- Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
somebody who was at the party. - You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
same way you watch films. - The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention. - Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
- The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
room that quietly stops feeling ordinary. - Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
personal, which is rarer than it sounds. - This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
the ones who are not alone and refuse to be. - Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
standing in the hallway.
‘Breeder’ Lets Dot-Marie Jones Shine as a Horror Villain
Jones was nominated for three Emmys during her time as Glee‘s Coach Beiste, earning widespread recognition for a role that let her show off both her singing chops and emotional range. In the eyes of critics, though, Patti is another tour de force from the actress. Breeder currently has a strong 92% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes since its Tribeca Film Festival premiere, with most citing Jones as the standout for her ability to swing from warm to cold, calculating, and violent. She, Doheny, and Doucet-Roche are also joined in the weird and freaky feature by Maddie Phillips, Tanaya Beatty, and Paige McGarvin.
Breeder arrives in theaters on October 28 and will appear on Shudder after a limited release. Check out our exclusive sneak peek in the player above.
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