Lightbox launches Frightbox with Hulu and HBO horrors

Documentary maker Lightbox has opened a horror drawer.

The London and Los Angeles company, run by Jonathan Chinn and Simon Chinn, has launched Frightbox, a dedicated label for horror non-fiction, with its first two titles landing days apart on Hulu and HBO, according to Deadline.

The Hulu title comes first in the calendar. Clown Panic is a feature-length documentary made for Huluween, Hulu's seasonal Halloween line-up. It revisits reported clown sightings and the media frenzy and moral panic that followed.

The film mixes archive footage and viral internet videos with interviews, per Hulu trailer materials. Those interviews include witnesses, law enforcement officers, clowns and cultural commentators, according to ABC7. It streams on 12 October on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, according to Hulu. It was the first Lightbox and Frightbox project to be announced.

One night earlier comes the HBO entry. The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story is a three-part cold-case series, meaning it re-examines a long-unsolved killing. It centres on the 1985 murder of Dorothy Lou Thompson, who owned a pet cemetery. It premieres on 11 October on HBO, according to iHorror.

Viewers will see the change on screen. The Lightbox logo morphs into Frightbox at the end of both shows.

The move builds on recent Lightbox credits including Apple TV's Twisted Yoga and National Geographic's Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, executive-produced by Ryan Coogler.

For fans, this means two very different scares in one week. One strange behaviour craze. One unsolved murder. Both finished stories, ready to watch back-to-back.