The Best Directing Duo In History Are Making A Horror Movie

Ethan Coen revealed the news in an interview with the Associated Press while promoting his recent, much-enjoyed B-movie, Drive Away Dolls. The director dished that the horror film is yet to be named but nonetheless reunites the legendary siblings who, for the last few years, parted ways in a brief hiatus. 

Principal photography will get rolling in the fall, though, for the time being, details about the project remain minimal. However, given the Coen brothers’ track record of making excellent movies—as adored by critics as they are by enormous audiences—the anticipation couldn’t be higher. 

Ethan did reveal during a January Masterclass in Norway that the upcoming project is a “pure horror film”–one that will fully embrace bloody sequences. The director added the film, reveling in bloodshed, will satisfy those who enjoyed the siblings’ first film, Blood Simple.

Ethan’s co-writer for Drive Away Dolls, his wife Tricia Cooke, spilled some beans, too, and shared that the forthcoming horror film will still retain the Coen brothers’ penchant for dark comedy. Expect bleak humor to “lighten” up the blood and guts–as it does in many a Coen project (Barton Fink comes to mind, as do the moments of levity in No Country for Old Men).

Fans of their work will tell you the directing pair have not technically worked together since collaborating on 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a Netflix release. The Western anthology film consisted of memorable vignettes—some tragic, some comic, all vaguely surreal and quintessentially Coen—showcasing their immense storytelling versatility. 

Perhaps will come as no surprise that, like their shared career, the Coen brother’s hiatus was nothing if not prolific. 

While apart, Ethan sought new creative direction, leading to Drive Away Dolls—a vintage-inspired romp critics are already lauding. Meanwhile, Joel pursued his own path, writing and directing the celebrated The Tragedy of Macbeth, starring Denzel Washington as the doomed Scotsman and earning rave reviews. 

Contrary to rumors and speculation, the momentary pause did not equate to an outright breakup of the Coen brothers, which many fans feared. Ethan quickly clarified that the hiatus was only a temporary divergence during which, cinema devotees may be happy to know, the siblings remained in close contact.

While none of their previous cinematic successes have been horror movies, strictly speaking, they have featured their fair share of scary moments, characters, and situations. For example, look no further than Anton Chigurh, the chief antagonist of No Country for Old Men. Chigurh terrified audiences—not merely through the awful haircut the Coen brothers imposed on actor Javier Bardem, who played the baddie to rave reviews.

Stalking Josh Brolan’s Llewelyn Moss, the film’s hero, through the night; emotionlessly killing a dizzying excess of innocents with a captive bolt pistol (a device commonly used to kill cattle); subjecting several unfortunates to his twisted, fatalist philosophy–obviously, unforgettably, Chigurh was horrifying.