Image via Archstone Entertainment
Published Oct 20, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT
Hannah covers horror, sci-fi, and games at Collider, where she writes news and features, reviews new releases, and interviews the people who make them. She’s helping build out Collider’s gaming coverage, with Pokémon as one of her specialties. If she isn’t writing about a monster, she’s probably watching one on a tape from her VHS collection.
Sign in to your Collider account
Jon Heder earned a permanent place in comedy history with Napoleon Dynamite, a movie that made an awkward teenager’s talent show performance one of the most recognizable scenes of the 2000s. His subsequent roles in movies like Blades of Glory gave him plenty of opportunities to make uncomfortable situations funny. His latest project puts that skill to work in a setting where a laugh offers little reassurance that anyone is going to be okay.
The occasion is a surprise birthday party, with friends gathered to celebrate a woman who should have every reason to enjoy herself. Instead, the evening becomes increasingly difficult for her to understand, and the people around her don’t seem to share her concerns. Being surrounded by familiar faces offers little comfort when everyone else appears to be having a very different night.
Collider can exclusively share a new sneak peek from I See the Demon, the psychological horror movie starring Alexis Zollicoffer and Heder, which releases on digital platforms October 20 through Archstone Entertainment. Directed by Jacob Lees Johnson, the movie follows Lucy (Zollicoffer), whose surprise party becomes a nightmare as she experiences unexplained phenomena. The exclusive scene brings viewers to the dinner table, where conversation continues around an increasingly uneasy Lucy. Wine glasses and candlelight give the gathering a welcoming appearance, but her expressions suggest she is having trouble settling into the celebration.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child's Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
FIND YOUR NIGHTMARE →
01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
ASomebody falling asleep when they really should not. BA toy that has moved, and nobody touched it. CA phone ringing in an empty house. DA child talking to somebody who is not there.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
AI am exhausted and my mind is playing tricks on me. BSomething in this room is not where I left it. CSomebody is in here with me. DThis house has never felt entirely right.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
ANever fall asleep. BNever leave it out of your sight. CNever answer the phone. DNever go down to the basement.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
AConvince myself I imagined the whole thing. BTell someone, and brace for them not believing me. CWork out which person I know could be behind it. DGet everybody in the house into one room.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
AFine during. Wide awake at two in the morning. BShouting at the screen that nobody is listening. CCalling the twist out loud before it lands. DThrough my fingers, holding on to something.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
AFall asleep in a room I have never been in before. BKeep an old doll on the shelf facing my bed. CAnswer every unknown number that calls after midnight. DSpend one night alone in a house with a history.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
ANot wanting to turn the bedroom light off. BNot trusting one particular object in my house. CLooking twice at people I have known for years. DFeeling like something came home with me.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
AThat I am still asleep, and it knows it. BThat the thing nobody believed me about is here. CThat somebody with a key is downstairs. DThat something is in the doorway, watching us sleep.
REVEAL MY NIGHTMARE →
The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
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.
Elm Street
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.
Chucky
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.
Scream
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.
The Conjuring
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.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Jon Heder Discusses Finding Humor in Psychological Horror
Heder plays Roger in an ensemble that also includes Mallory Everton, Noah Kershisnik, Dave Martinez, and Archelaus Crisanto. In an exclusive statement shared with Collider, the actor discussed bringing his comedy experience into the movie. He also addressed the challenge of making those lighter moments feel believable alongside the horror:
“As an actor mostly known for comedic roles, it's always fun looking for those side projects that challenge viewers’ expectations of you and your abilities. And while I may be handling one of the more light-hearted characters amongst an ensemble cast with very dramatic performances, I found it challenging to keep those comedic moments grounded so as to feel like this guy is right at home in this world of psychological horror. Sometimes in earth-shattering circumstances, when it feels like the world may end at any minute, we all have moments of sudden clarity and perspective, and we can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the pit we’re in, and that is what I wanted to explore with this role.”
Johnson wrote the movie with Davey Morrison and Martha Duzett. Its central mystery begins before the party, when Lucy sees something strange in the sky, and follows her into what initially appears to be a loving surprise. With her friends encouraging her to relax while unsettling events continue, Lucy has to make sense of an experience that nobody around her seems willing to acknowledge.
I See the Demon is available on digital platforms on October 20. Stay tuned at Collider for more.
English (US) ·