April 17 (UPI) — Mother Mary, a new psychological thriller film starring Anne Hathaway as a famous pop star, opens in theaters Friday.
The movie follows singer Mary (Hathaway) and costume designer Sam (Michaela Coel), estranged best friends who reunite on the eve of Mary’s comeback performance.
Featuring music by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA twigs, the film will release alongside the soundtrack Mother Mary: Greatest Hits, which includes seven songs performed by Hathaway.
Mother Mary is one of several movies and TV shows that combine the worlds of pop music and horror. Here is a list of five others:
‘Smile 2’
The 2024 supernatural horror film is a sequel to the 2022 movie Smile. Naomi Scott stars as Skye Riley, a pop star whose comeback tour is derailed after she starts being terrorized by the Smile Entity.
Rosemarie DeWitt, Miles Guiterrez-Riley and Kyle Gallner also star in the movie written and directed by Smile creator Parker Finn.
Scott recorded a soundtrack for the film titled Smile 2: The Skye Riley EP, which features the singles “Blood on White Satin” and “Grieved You.”
Smile 2 is available to stream on Prime Video, Paramount+ and MGM+.
‘Trap’
The 2024 thriller is written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, the filmmaker behind such titles as The Sixth Sense, Signs, Split and Old.
Set against the backdrop of a concert by fictional pop star Lady Raven, played by Shyamalan’s daughter Saleka Night Shyamalan, Trap centers on Cooper (Josh Harnett), a father attending the show with his daughter (Ariel Donoghue). Unbeknownst to everyone, Cooper is the serial killer known as the Butcher.
Saleka Night Shyamalan wrote and released the album Lady Raven as a soundtrack for the film. The album features the singles “Release,” “Save Me” and “Divine.”
Trap is available to stream on Hulu and HBO Max.
‘Oshi no Ko’
The 2023 dark mystery series is an anime based on the manga by Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari, and has aired three seasons in Japan.
Oshi no Ko tells the story of Gorou and Sarina, a doctor and his former patient who are reincarnated as Aqua and Ruby, the twin children of the famous idol Ai Hoshino. The pair navigate the perils of the entertainment industry while investigating their mother’s murder.
Takuro Iga composes the music for the show, which has released a soundtrack for each season.
Oshi no Ko is available to stream on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
‘Vox Lux’
The 2018 drama film is written and directed by Brady Corbet (The Brutalist).
Natalie Portman stars in this dark story as Celeste, a pop star who rose to fame after surviving a school shooting. The cast also includes Jude Law as Celeste’s manager and Stacy Martin as her sister, Eleanor.
Vox Lux is available to stream on Tubi. The film’s soundtrack was written by Sia and Scott Walker, and features tracks performed by Portman and Walker.
‘Perfect Blue’
The 1997 psychological thriller is an anime film inspired by the Yoshikazu Takeuchi novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis and directed by famed late filmmaker Satoshi Kon.
The movie follows Mima, a pop idol who loses touch with reality when an obsessive fan begins stalking her after she leaves the music industry.
Featuring a soundtrack by Masahiro Ikumi, Perfect Blue is available to stream on Hulu, Prime Video and HBO Max. The movie was re-released in theaters as a 4K restoration in October.
About the Author
