{"id":2577,"date":"2026-05-29T18:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/29\/hannah-rose-may-tackles-hollywood-horror-moviemaking-with-new-comic-fatal-fest-exclusive\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T18:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:10:00","slug":"hannah-rose-may-tackles-hollywood-horror-moviemaking-with-new-comic-fatal-fest-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/29\/hannah-rose-may-tackles-hollywood-horror-moviemaking-with-new-comic-fatal-fest-exclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Hannah Rose May Tackles Hollywood Horror Moviemaking With New Comic \u2018Fatal Fest\u2019 (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t \t \t\t<\/svg>\t\tLogo text<\/span> \t<\/a> <\/p>\n

\tWhen she was growing up in her native Ireland, Hannah Rose May<\/a> was told that in order to make it as an actress, she had to move to Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\tSo May did just that, packing up her bags and moving to Los Angeles in the late 2010s. <\/p>\n

\tBut as any person chasing the Hollywood dream knows, success is never what you imagine it to be. And two things happened while she was in the City of Angels. One, Ireland became a go-to Hollywood production location and also saw its own screen industry rise. <\/p>\n

\tAnd, two, May, after finding some work acting in comedy, has conjured and cut a career in writing horror \u2026 in the comic book field. \t<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI\u2019m definitely surprised it\u2019s turned into a full-time career,\u201d she says. \u201cThe horror part is interesting because I didn\u2019t consciously set out to be a horror writer, but naturally the stories I\u2019m drawn to have horrifying themes and undertones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tFollowing the breakout indie success of her acclaimed, \u201cExorcism At\u201d universe, which includes\u00a0The Exorcism at 1600 Penn<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Exorcism at Buckingham Palace,<\/em> May is now back with a new original series, titled Fatal Fest,<\/em> which will be published \u00a0by IDW\u2019s horror imprint, IDW Dark.<\/p>\n

\tAndrea Scalmazzi is the artist on the series that will debut later this year as a five-issue mini-series. If successful, more stories could follow. <\/p>\n

\tMay says the book taps into her time in Hollywood, combining horror, the entertainment industry and the insatiable quest for IP. \u201cIt\u2019s Saw<\/em> and Squid Game<\/a><\/em> twisted together in a Hollywood setting,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\tThe story concerns six emerging horror filmmakers who are invited to compete at Fatal Fest, the mysterious festival run by reclusive horror maestro Frank Finch and his legendary production empire, Fatal Films. They soon discover this is no ordinary film festival. Finch has one simple rule: to create true fear, you must experience it. If these filmmakers want to win the Fatal Fest, they need to be willing to kill for it.\u00a0<\/em> \t<\/p>\n

\t\u201cA common denominator in my work is people trying to survive systems trying to consume them,\u201d she says. \u201cHollywood is one of those systems that consumes a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tShe also said the horror producer is not based on any one person (sorry, Jason Blum), but if any one person did rise to the comparison, it would be Wes Craven<\/a>, the filmmaker behind A Nightmare on Elm Street <\/em>and Scream<\/em>, among other classics.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cHannah and Andrea have created a world that feels equal parts Hollywood Horror satire, psychological thriller and pure nightmare fuel,\u201d said IDW senior group editor Heather Antos in a statement to THR<\/em> describing the book. \u201cIt\u2019s bold, bloody, incredibly clever, and completely unapologetic in its vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMay found work on comedies such as Ballers<\/em> and Ghosts<\/em> but it was during the downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that she turned to writing as serious endeavor. <\/p>\n

\t\u201cI was left with my own thoughts,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was either I download TikTok or save my sanity and do something I had always wanted but had been afraid.\u201d And as an actor, she knew well the finicky nature of being at the disposal of the desires of producers or filmmakers of companies. This was a way to try to exert a measure of control. <\/p>\n

\tHer first title was Rogues Gallery, a miniseries published by Image Comics in 2022 that looked at toxic fandom. But it was Exorcism at 1600 Penn<\/em>, a supernatural thriller set in the White House,\u00a0which became an unexpected but instant bestseller upon release in 2024 that proved to her she was on the right path. A feature adaptation, naturally, is currently in development at horror house Blumhouse<\/a>-Atomic Monster.\u00a0 \t<\/p>\n

\tOther comic titles and work followed, including a Harley Quinn story for DC and Smile: For the Camera<\/em>, a comic based on Parker Finn\u2019s Smile<\/em> horror movies that is currently on stands.<\/p>\n

\tIronically, May believes that her work as an actress makes her a better writer as gives her approach a more character-based understanding. And conversely, she thinks her acting has benefited from her writing as it has deepened her understanding of storytelling.<\/p>\n

\tIDW Dark and May plan on unveiling more details about Fatal Fest<\/em> at San Diego Comic Con in July, where May is due to be on several panels including, natch, one on actors turned comic book writers. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tCheck out the cover for the comic\u2019s first issue below.<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tFatal Fest<\/em><\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of IDW<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logo text When she was growing up in her native Ireland, Hannah Rose May was told that in order to make it as an actress, she had to move to Hollywood. So May did just that, packing up her bags and moving to Los Angeles in the late 2010s. But as any person chasing the Hollywood dream knows, success is never what you imagine it to be. And two things happened while she was in the City of Angels. One, Ireland became a go-to Hollywood production location and also saw its own screen industry rise. And, two, May, after finding some work acting in comedy, has conjured and cut a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[499,1573,2,27,60,1574,1575],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blumhouse","category-hannah-rose-may","category-hollywood","category-movie-news","category-movies","category-squid-game","category-wes-craven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}