Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi Join Forces to Turn a Chilling Short Into a Feature-Length Nightmare
The chilling short that inspired Sam Raimi and Jordan Peele’s upcoming film is streaming now—see what sparked their next nightmare.
Consider this an early holiday gift: Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi are teaming with Universal for a religion-tinged horror feature based on a creepy little short you can watch right now. That pairing alone is catnip for horror fans.
The project
The movie is inspired by writer-director Dylan Clark's 7-minute YouTube short 'Portrait of God,' which dropped in August 2022 and has racked up more than 8.6 million views. The core idea is simple and unnerving: Mia Reilly, a young student, studies a painting of the capital-G Almighty and winds up interrogating her own beliefs as the image seems to look back. If you cue up the short, keep an eye out for Clark himself popping in for a late, spooky cameo.
Who is doing what
- Jordan Peele is producing through Monkeypaw Productions with Win Rosenfeld (Candyman, Him, Nope).
- Sam Raimi is producing alongside Ghost House Pictures' Joe Russo and Romel Adam.
- Joe Russo is also co-writing the feature with the short's creator, Dylan Clark.
- Universal is backing the project.
Quick industry note so no one gets confused: this Joe Russo is the Ghost House writer/producer, not the Marvel/Avengers filmmaker of the same name.
Raimi has another movie hitting first
Before Raimi digs into 'Portrait of God,' he has a new horror-thriller called 'Send Help' on deck — billed as
"darkly comedic"
It stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien as Linda Liddle and her smug, condescending superior Bradley Preston. A routine business trip goes sideways when their plane crash-lands on a remote island en route to an overseas event. The office squabbling turns into a bloody fight to survive, and the two are forced to drop the corporate power plays and renegotiate who actually holds the reins if they want to make it home.
Where Peele's next feature stands
Peele is also at work on his untitled fourth movie. It was once dated for Christmas 2024, then bumped to October 2026, and, after the strikes and other scheduling chaos, Universal has taken it off the release calendar for now.