Sam Raimi and Jordan Peele Are Finally Teaming Up — For Horror

Two of horror's most distinct voices have never actually made a movie together. That changes with "Portrait of God," a Lionsgate religious horror film that just landed "One Battle After Another" breakout Chase Infiniti as its star — and marks the first-ever producing collaboration between Sam Raimi and Jordan Peele.

From Viral Short to Studio Horror

"Portrait of God" started as a YouTube short from writer-director Dylan Clark. Posted in August 2022, the short follows a religious young woman preparing a class presentation on a painting titled "Portrait of God" — and growing more unsettled the longer she stares at it, until what she sees challenges everything she believes. It's a simple premise executed with real control, and it struck a nerve: the short has now pulled in more than 10 million views on YouTube, the kind of grassroots number that gets Hollywood's attention without a single trailer or marketing dollar behind it.

That attention turned into a deal. Clark sold a feature spec based on the short to Universal back in December 2025. The project has now moved to Lionsgate, with Clark attached to write (alongside Joe Russo) and direct the expanded version himself.

Raimi's Ghost House Meets Peele's Monkeypaw

The real headline here is the producing team. Sam Raimi, through his Ghost House Pictures banner, built his name on gonzo, kinetic horror going back to "The Evil Dead." Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions has spent the last decade turning "elevated horror" into a mainstream commercial force with "Get Out," "Us," and "Nope." Despite both being two of the genre's most recognizable producing names for years, the two have never shared a producer credit — until now.

Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson framed the deal as a bet on Clark specifically, calling him "one of the most exciting emerging voices in horror." It's not a one-off vote of confidence, either — Lionsgate has also tapped Clark to direct the studio's upcoming reimagining of "The Blair Witch Project," meaning this "Portrait of God" deal effectively locks in his next two projects as a filmmaker.

Infiniti's Horror Pivot

For Chase Infiniti, "Portrait of God" is a hard turn into genre territory. She broke out this past year in Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" and followed it with "The Julia Set," which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2026. Stepping into a Raimi/Peele-produced religious horror feature, built from source material that already has a built-in audience of 10 million-plus viewers, is about as high-visibility a genre debut as an actor can land.

No release date or additional cast has been set yet, but between the short's existing fanbase, the Raimi/Peele pairing, and Clark's expanding deal with Lionsgate, "Portrait of God" is shaping up to be one of the more closely watched horror productions heading into next year.

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