Nat Wolff

In Netflix’s ‘Death Note,’ Nat Wolff plays Light Turner, a high schooler who discovers a mysterious notebook that gives him the power to kill anybody.

Netflix’s Death Note sure is still happening, and will be premiering on the streaming service in a little more than a week. To get us all extremely hype for a movie based on material that was popular when most of us were in middle school, Netflix released a clip today of the first meeting between two main characters: Nat Wolff’s Light, and Lakeith Stanfield’s hunched-over detective L.

Adam Wingard’s adaptation of popular anime series Death Note drew a lot of heat before the public even saw a single frame, as fans of the original were displeased to learn he’d set the film in the U.S. instead of the original Japan and make the Asian lead into a white guy, a move we shall henceforth refer to as “Ghost in the Shelling.” And while the question of whitewashing will most likely persist on through the film’s August 25 release, we still have yet to see whether it will be a competent horror film on non-politicized terms. Today, the public can start to get an impression of whether the film is garden-variety bad in addition to being #problematic.

No one necessarily wants to think about their hotel room’s previous occupants, but the Duplass brothers HBO’s Room 104 is worth considering. The new July anthology explores one mysterious motel room with a full trailer featuring James Van Der Beek, Orlando Jones, Amy Landecker and more.

Regardless of how you felt about last year’s Blair Witch, Adam Wingard has earned more than enough goodwill with genre flicks like You’re Next and The Guest to ensure that we’ll be stoked to see whatever he does next. That would be Death Note, his American adaptation of the classic Japanese manga, starring Willem Dafoe as a spiky-headed and mega-creepy, self-described “death god” (I mean, what did you expect).

It’s no secret that Hollywood has an ageism issue. While most actresses over 45 are doomed to playing mothers, grandmothers, or not getting any work at all, male actors’ careers are easily extended into their more distinguished decades. The last time Tom Cruise had a female co-star close to his age was Miranda Otto in 2005’s War of the Worlds. Which is why it’s so refreshing these days to see actresses past their thirties get a younger love interest. Or, is it? The Home Again trailer is here to test that theory.

The Duplass brothers will find plenty of Togetherness in HBO’s Room 104, a new anthology series chronicling the occupants of one mysterious motel room. There’s plenty of stars to join them in the first trailer as well, including James Van Der Beek, Orlando Jones, Transparent star Amy Landecker and more.

What would you do if you mysterious notebook fell into your hands and gave you the power to kill anyone? Maybe you’d write the name of a high school enemy or a crappy ex in the notebook just for giggles, then realizing its murderous magic is for real, quickly toss it out the window and run away. But for Light Turner, he decides to use that notebook for all the power it gives him.

Even more eyebrow-raising news from Warner Bros. following reports that the studio is looking to decrease the number of films they release each year: Death Note, the forthcoming adaptation of the hit Japanese manga, is moving over to Netflix, as the streaming service is in late-stage negotiations to take the project off of WB’s hands.

After delivering two great genre features back to back with the subversive horror flick You’re Next and throwback thriller The Guest, director Adam Wingard definitely has our full attention, regardless of what he does next. His new project is Death Note, based on the popular Japanese manga, with The Leftovers star Margaret Qualley now in talks to join the cast of the U.S. adaptation.