Decide Who Survives in Interactive Slasher ‘Slay Day,’ In Theaters Fall 2026
Interactive slasher movie Slay Day is coming to theaters next fall from Kino Industries’ CtrlMovie, Variety has learned. The film will ask audiences to “collectively vote on each critical decision using their smartphones, seamlessly altering the story as it plays.” As a result, no two screenings will be the same. Set on Friday the 13th, 1987, […]
Interactive slasher movie Slay Day is coming to theaters next fall from Kino Industries’ CtrlMovie, Variety has learned.
The film will ask audiences to “collectively vote on each critical decision using their smartphones, seamlessly altering the story as it plays.” As a result, no two screenings will be the same.
Set on Friday the 13th, 1987, in the picture-perfect town of Belle Falls, the story follows six teens preparing for their biggest night of the year: the Sadie Hawkins dance. But when the town exhumes the body of the real Sadie Hawkins to unravel the truth behind her killing spree 50 years earlier, a malevolent force returns to the town.
With over 20 unique endings, Slay Day transforms the slasher formula into a ruthless social experience: can you survive a horror movie when you’re the one pulling the strings?
Jayden Bartels (“Goosebumps”), Shelby Simmons (“Bunk’d”), Emma McNulty, Caleb Brown (Mother’s Day 2016), Luke Mullen (V/H/S/99), Corrado Martini, and Lyndon Smith (“National Treasure: Edge of History”) star.
John David Buxton makes his directional debut from as script by Andrew Matisziw (“Goliath”).
Mark Dragin (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”), Michael Kagan (The Apology), and Scott C. Silver (The Pyramid) produce. Eric Schneider, Angela Kay, and Chaz Barsamian are executive producers.
“Horror has always been about participation — yelling at the screen, covering your eyes, daring the killer to come closer,” Buxton said. “Slay Day turns that instinct into action. For the first time, the audience truly decides who lives, who dies, and who deserves to, in a democratic and instantaneous experience.”
“We’ve spent years developing CtrlMovie to blur the line between story and player, but Slay Day is the first time audiences will experience that power on a theatrical scale,” added Silver. “It’s not just a movie, it’s a new theatrical experience where every decision ripples through the story in real time. The technology lets people experience horror in the most personal way imaginable, because this time the deaths are the direct result of the audience’s choices.”
Following its theatrical run, Slay Day will be released across traditional and interactive platforms, including major gaming services such as Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox.
