A new creepypasta has arrived to terrify audiences with Grimcutty. The Hulu horror movie revolves around a suburban neighborhood enduring a rising panic when the titular meme challenge begins terrorizing local teenagers and causing them to inflict harm on their parents, and themselves.

Sara Wolfkind leads the cast of Grimcutty alongside Usman Ally, Shannyn Sossaman, Callan Farris, Alona Tal, Kayden Koshalev, and Joel Ezra Hebner. Written and directed by John Ross, the film follows in the footsteps of Slender Man and The Empty Man before it, introducing a horrific new entity to terrify the Internet masses.

Related: Biggest Horror Movies Coming In Fall/Winter 2022

Ahead of the film's premiere, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with stars Sara Wolfkind and Usman Ally and writer & director John Ross to discuss Grimcutty, crafting the next terrifying creepypasta, highlighting diverse American families, and more.

Breaking Down Grimcutty

Sara Wolfkind in Grimcutty

Screen Rant: I'm excited to talk about Grimcutty. I'll start with Sara and Usman, what about the film really caught your interest?

Sara Wolfkind: I keep saying this, it's definitely like the title at first, like, "Grimcutty, oh, okay." I think that first piqued my interest, and I first read the sides, because I was only given the sides for the audition. I think Asha, as a character, she was just so relatable, and she was kind of awkward, kind of wanting to be different than how she is. The whole horror aspects of the internet influencing this whole mass hysteria thing was really interesting and appealing to me.

Usman Ally: Yeah, for me, I had some conversations with John and I liked the ideas that he had about this creature, and about the story he wanted to tell. I liked that there was an opportunity to sort of blend this supernatural stuff with honest, real human beings who are kind of going through something as a family. I particularly really was drawn to the opportunity to do so as a person of color, playing this kind of a role in a horror movie, I don't think this sort of representation is readily available in the world of horror, a mixed race family that's just going through it as an American family. So, the opportunity to do that was really great, and I was very pleased that Hulu and 20th Digital and John were really on board for that.

Usman Ally in Grimcutty

Was that always the intention when putting this film together, John? To create this really great space of representation for your cast?

John Ross: Oh, yeah, diversity was really important. We were just very open going into the casting process, and I think Usman just had this likability, this quality that I was looking for in the dad, so I was really excited when we got him on board. Representation was really important to me, like Usman was saying, American families are very different now, and I wanted to take this mixed race family, but have it be a family that all Americans could kind of connect with.

We've seen so many of these urban legends and figures throughout the years. What was it like developing the design of Grimcutty?

John Ross: Well, it was kind of based on an idea that I had in my head that I did a sketch of. I had always had this idea of a pale white face sticking out of this black cowl, and how I could play around with darkness and have this kind of ghostly face floating around in the darkness and have it jump out at you. So, I drew it, and then when the movie was greenlit, we did some more work on the design, definitely trying to have it be in the vein of Momo and some of those creepypastas, where it has this kind of Uncanny Valley feel to it.

So, a lot of the design work was just taking the creature's features and making it more and more human until we found that sweet spot where it's kind of like, "What is that thing?" I think the face especially turned out really well. I feel like it has that same kind of Uncanny Valley vibe as some of the internet urban legends that we're referencing.

Grimcutty

Yeah, it's definitely one that's going to sit with me for a while. Sara and Usman, what were your first reactions when you saw Grimcutty in person?

Sara Wolfkind: Ooh. In person, I remember [going to] John, and I was always like, "What's it going to look like?" Then John sent me film [of it, and I was] like, "Oh, wow." When I first saw it in person, I don't know, Joel, who played the Grimcutty in the costume, he was just large and walking around set, I think I was just taken aback. It's one of those things on sight where you just stare, and you're like, "Oh, that's him, we're just going to ignore him and move on." But it was really cool to see it for the first time.

Usman Ally: I had the same sort of response, just the size of it. I'm 6'3" and when I'm on a set, I typically don't have to look up at people, or anything. But I did, because Joel is like 6'4", 6'5", then on top of it, he's wearing this Grimcutty suit, which makes him even larger. But I'll also say that while I thought it was a scary sight, because the first time I saw it was on set, it was in a dark room, and it was kind of in the corner, and I walked on set and my friend was like, "Oh my god!" [Laughs] He had this reaction to it.

But also, I was talking to Shannyn about it, we were both like, it's kind of beautiful as well, in some ways. Maybe that's just our response to the artistry that it took to make something like that, because I gotta be honest, I was expecting it to be that we'd be working with this VFX kind of thing and being like, "Okay, the X is where the monster is, now act off of that." So it was a really fun, unique experience to be able to actually have it there with you, in all of its size and kind of glory.

About Grimcutty

Sara Wolfkind as Asha in Grimcutty

In this modern creature feature, a scary internet meme called “Grimcutty” stirs up panic amongst all the parents in town, convinced it’s making their kids harm themselves and others. When a real-life version of Grimcutty starts attacking teen Asha Chaudry (Sara Wolfkind), her parents believe that she’s cutting herself as part of a challenge. With her phone taken away and no one who believes her, Asha has to figure out how to get through to her parents and stop the Grimcutty once and for all. The film stars Sara Wolfkind, Usman Ally, Shannyn Sossamon, Callan Farris, Alona Tal, Kayden Koshalev and Joel Ezra Hebner as Grimcutty.

Next: 10 Movies & TV Shows To Watch On Hulu For Huluween 2022

Grimcutty is now streaming on Hulu.