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Image via Poison Pictures
Back in 2021, Hannah’s love of all things nerdy collided with her passion for writing — and she hasn’t stopped since. She covers pop culture news, writes reviews, and conducts interviews on just about every kind of media imaginable. If she’s not talking about something spooky, she’s talking about gaming, and her favorite moments in anything she’s read, watched, or played are always the scariest ones. For Hannah, nothing beats the thrill of discovering what’s lurking in the shadows or waiting around the corner for its chance to go bump in the night. Once described as “strictly for the sickos,” she considers it the highest of compliments.
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A new political horror-thriller is bringing together familiar faces from one of the most talked-about genre films in recent years. Collider can exclusively reveal an upcoming film from Poison Pictures titled The Exit State, a provocative new feature from director Gabriela Ledesma that blends near-future terror with urgent political commentary. The Exit State will reunite Callie Schuttera and Clayton Farris following their acclaimed roles in Weapons, alongside Emmy Award winner Sharon Lawrence. The ensemble cast also includes Josh George, Nikki Dixon, Jeremy D. Howard, Cindy Nguyen, and Stakiah Lynn Washington. The Exit State marks Ledesma’s first horror-thriller and serves as the third feature from indie production company Poison Pictures.
Set in a United States spiraling toward authoritarian collapse, The Exit State follows a group of Americans fleeing south toward Mexico as violence escalates and sweeping policies turn their own country against them. Hoping to disappear quietly, the group takes refuge in what they believe is a safe house. That sense of security doesn’t last long. The shelter quickly reveals itself to be anything but safe, forcing the group to confront the horrifying reality that escape will come at a devastating and terrifying cost. Rather than leaning into speculative sci-fi tropes, the film positions its horror in recognizably modern fears.
A Near-Future Horror That Feels Uncomfortably Close to Home
According to Ledesma, the goal was to create something that feels less hypothetical and more immediate:
“We wanted to tell a horror story that doesn’t feel speculative — it feels imminent. The Exit State is about the terror of realizing the system you trusted was never built to save you.”
That philosophy places the film firmly in the tradition of political horror that reflects real-world anxieties back at its audience, using fear as a lens for examining power, complicity, and survival. Reuniting Schuttera and Farris after Weapons also suggests a continued emphasis on intense, character-driven performances, with Lawrence’s involvement adding further dramatic weight to the ensemble. While details on production timelines and release plans have not yet been announced, The Exit State is already shaping up to be a timely and confrontational entry in the genre. By grounding its terror in systems rather than monsters, the film aims to unsettle audiences with a question that should linger even after the credits roll: what happens when the place you’re running from is the one that was supposed to protect you?
The Exit State does not yet have a release date. Stay tuned at Collider for more.
English (US) ·