Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios
Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg teams up with Paramount Animation for a new horror-comedy. The filmmaker will once again put his own spin on an iconic horror property.
What do we know about the new horror movie from Predator: Badlands’ Dan Trachtenberg?
Dan Trachtenberg is making a new animated horror-comedy, Freddy the 13th (via Deadline). The film will adapt the eponymous graphic novel from Yehudi Mercado. The report describes the film as a “PG-rated horror delivering scares and laughs to the whole family.” Compared to the filmmakers’ previous outings, Freddy the 13th marks a massive shift in tone. The film was announced at the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where new footage from a new Batman movie also debuted.
View this post on Instagram
The filmmaker took to Instagram to announce the project, with a picture of the film’s script, writing, “I’ve spent most of my career making movies that parents probably shouldn’t show their kids. Happy to announce, along with [Yehudi Mercado] and [Paramount Pictures], I’m finally making one…they…can…? ?”
The name makes the project sound like an amalgamation of Freddy Krueger, the Nightmare on Elm Street icon, and the Friday the 13th franchise. The 2025 graphic novel’s synopsis reads, “Uncle Buck becomes the Boogey Man when a horror-obsessed, unlucky schlub accidentally kills the legendary slasher Nighty Night, he inherits the mantle of the monster—right as he’s stuck babysitting his niece and nephew for thirteen nights of terror. Now, as rival killers crawl out of the shadows to seize the throne, Freddy must drive cross-country to break the curse, protect his family… and prove he’s finally good at something, even if it’s being evil.”
Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios
The film will follow Freddy Vanwinkle, who is the “thirteenth son of a thirteenth-born son who fails at everything in contrast to his brilliant siblings”. Vanwinkle accidentally kills the Nighty Night monster, inheriting his mantle. The rest of the story follows Vanwinkle’s adventures as he tries to break the curse within 13 nights.
Trachtenberg will also produce the film with Ben Rosenblatt.
Originally reported by Rahul Majumdar on ComingSoon.net.
