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I, for one, have been just delighted by how frequently I've been hearing the words "Oscars" and "horror" in the same sentence. In large part, that's due to The Substance, Coralie Fargeat's body horror project that racked up five nominations for this year's Academy Awards. But on January 31, the two were paired together thanks to the release date announcement of one horror legend and one actor that's finally receiving his Oscars cred.

That is, David Cronenberg and Guy Pearce, respectively, whose upcoming spiritual sci-fi strange-fic The Shrouds (try saying that one time fast) is coming to US theaters in April 2025.

It's not just the fact that Pearce, whose work in 2024's The Brutalist nabbed him a nom for Best Supporting Actor this Oscars season, and Cronenberg, who's responsible for horror touchstones like The Fly, are working together that has us wanting to pull back the veil on The Shrouds. Part of what makes it interesting is that, for a filmmaker who has pioneered the body horror subgenre (there's a lot of his influence in The Substance, I'm positive), the film is remarkably, well, out-of-body.

According to Deadline, who published the release date announcement January 31, The Shrouds will star Black Swan's Vincent Cassel as a billionaire who invents GraveTech, a system that allows living gumans to keep watch on the souls of their departed loved ones. However, things go awry when the remains of Cassel's wife, who inspired the Tech, are dug up and desecrated and...

Ok, now that I'm writing this down, it sounds like there's at least room for body horror. You got us David, you sneak.

What's unknown about the film is exactly what role Academy Award nominee Pearce will be playing, or for that matter, details of his costar Diane Kruger's character. What we do know, though, is that The Shrouds is headed to select cities in the US April 18, and then will be available nationwide April 25.

I suppose the final thing we know, you could say, is that if well-received, it will only spark more Oscars conversations in the horror genre (or Horror conversations in Oscars circles, either way). Horror is having one hell of a moment right now, and with talent like Pearce and Cronenberg cooking up something spooky together, I foresee that moment continuing for a very, very long time.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we've cobbled together a couple pieces to send a chill up your spine. Join Popverse as we explore:

• The best horror movies of all time, according to horror aficionado Greg Silber
• The most underrated horror movies from the past couple years
• All the new and upcoming horror movies for 2025 and beyond

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.