The Spider-Verse expands into horror in first look at Sony’s new spinoff ‘The Spider Within’

Fresh off the enormous success of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Sony is wasting no time in serving up another cinematic outing for Miles Morales. No, I’m not talking about trilogy-closer Beyond the Spider-Verse, although that is scheduled to arrive in the not-so-distant future of March 2024, but a new short film, titled The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story.

And, as if an extra slice of Spidey magic wasn’t enough, it’s been confirmed that the short will be “horror-tinged.” A Spider-Verse short that taps into the horror genre? Anyone who loves the Doctor Octopus hospital scene in Spider-Man 2 or Mysterio’s trippy VR ride in Far From Home, your time has come.

The Wrap shared our first look at the short in the form of a moody image of Miles (Shameik Moore naturally reprises his role) in his bedroom. As previously confirmed, The Spider Within is set prior to the events of Across and sees the teen webslinger starting to feel the pressure of being Spider-Man. This results in a scary, thrilling ride through the fears of his subconscious.

Director Jarelle Dampier, who landed the job thanks to Sony Pictures Imageworks’ LENS (Leading and Empowering New Storytellers) program, revealed that the premise behind the film came from their own personal experiences with sleep paralysis. They also explained to The Wrap why they decided to take the story into an unexpected genre:

“My favorite genre is horror. I think it’s the perfect envelope to give great messages out, especially to younger audiences, and I think it’s something that we’ve kind of shied away from for a long time. But I think if you take a character that kids really love and you put that character in a thrilling situation, I think they get a lot out of it. I say kids, but really I’m talking about all of us. I’m talking about the kid inside of us, you know what I mean? The ability to use something scary with something we love, I think that’s the combination to landing the points, sticking the landing in the film.”

The Spider Within just made its world premiere at France’s Annecy International Film Festival and Market. There’s no word yet on when general audiences could see it, but with any luck it might be packaged together with Across the Spider-Verse‘s home release.