Bloody Disgusting: From a Fan-Built Horror Website to Cineverse's 360-Degree Horror Brand
Bloody Disgusting is a horror media outlet founded in Chicago in 2001 that grew from a fan-built website into what its owner, Cineverse, describes as the number one entertainment destination for horror. Under the name that began as bloody-disgusting.com, the brand now spans premium editorial, the Bloody FM podcast network, the Bloody Press publishing arm, merchandise and the SCREAMBOX streaming service, alongside a film history that includes creating the found-footage anthology franchise V/H/S and a central role in the theatrical success of the Terrifier films. Few genre websites have travelled so far from their origins — or changed the genre they cover as directly.
The site was founded by Brad Miska, writing under the pseudonym "Mr. Disgusting," together with co-founder Tom Owen. Nearly a quarter-century later, Owen remains with the company, while Miska departed in 2025 to explore new opportunities — a transition that closed the founding era and opened the brand's next phase under longtime team members John Squires and Meagan Navarro.
Overview
Bloody Disgusting covers horror film, television, games and wider genre culture with news, reviews, interviews, retrospectives and exclusive announcements. Its website remains, in Cineverse's words, the genre's leading website, and the editorial operation now sits inside a deliberately built ecosystem: stories drive audiences toward podcasts, streaming titles, books and merchandise, while theatrical releases promoted through the brand feed attention back to the site.
That integration distinguishes Bloody Disgusting from standalone horror blogs. Since Cineverse acquired it in 2021, the company says the brand has evolved from a web destination into a 360-degree media platform engaging fans online, through podcasts and social channels, at live events, through a publishing arm and collectible merchandise, and through SCREAMBOX, which it powers and describes as the fastest-growing horror streamer.
History and Founding
The founding story, as Miska has told it in interviews, was informal. His friend Tom Owen was learning to build websites, created a forum for their group of friends, and then proposed building a full horror site: Owen would build it if Miska, who knew a great deal about upcoming horror films, would populate it with content. The site launched in 2001 purely for fun and love of the genre. Growth came quickly — Miska has recalled that a competing site shut down around the same period and its readers migrated to Bloody Disgusting, creating hosting costs of thousands of dollars as traffic surged.
By 2007 the site had reached 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month, figures that mark its arrival as a major force in online horror. In September 2007, The Collective, a Beverly Hills-based entertainment management company, purchased a minority stake. That investment set the stage for expansion beyond publishing: in 2011 Bloody Disgusting began distributing and producing films, partnering with The Collective and AMC to create Bloody Disgusting Selects, a label intended to give independent genre filmmakers wider release.
The V/H/S Franchise and Film Production
Film production produced the brand's most famous creation. In 2011 and 2012, Miska and Bloody Disgusting created V/H/S, a found-footage anthology built from short films by directors including Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and the collective Radio Silence, produced with Roxanne Benjamin. Premiering at Sundance in January 2012, the film became a financial success and launched a durable franchise, with sequels including V/H/S/2, V/H/S: Viral, V/H/S/94, V/H/S/99 and V/H/S/85, several released as Shudder originals and setting streaming records for that service.
The significance for a news website is hard to overstate. Bloody Disgusting did not merely cover a hit horror franchise; it originated one, turning editorial authority and filmmaker relationships into intellectual property. Producing credits accumulated for Miska, including the 2022 science-fiction horror film Kids vs Aliens, and the model of a genre brand as producer would later inform the strategy of its corporate owner.
Ownership and the Cineverse Era
Cineverse, then known as Cinedigm, acquired Bloody Disgusting in 2021. Under Cineverse, the brand became the company's horror division, serving fans through editorial, audio, video and social content and branded merchandise. It has been central to Cineverse's theatrical film success, most visibly with the unrated yet widely released Terrifier films, Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3, and with franchise returns including The Toxic Avenger in August 2025 and Silent Night, Deadly Night in December 2025, both promoted through the brand's channels.
The corporate structure now around the website includes Bloody FM, described as the chart-topping horror division of the Cineverse Podcast Network; Bloody Press, the publishing arm bringing audiobooks, e-books and print editions to market; a merchandise line; and SCREAMBOX, available as both subscription and free ad-supported streaming channels for casual and committed horror fans. Advertising is handled in part through Cineverse's 360 ad solutions operation, selling access to the brand's passionate fanbase across those surfaces.
Coverage and Content
Editorially, the site publishes at high volume across horror news: casting and production announcements, trailers and posters, release dates, reviews of theatrical and streaming titles, interviews with filmmakers and performers, and retrospective features that keep older films in conversation. It covers television and streaming horror as heavily as theatrical releases, follows video games, and reports on collectibles and physical media that matter to committed fans.
The tone assumes deep genre literacy. Bloody Disgusting writes for readers who know the difference between franchise entries, follow directors between projects and care about unrated cuts and festival premieres. Exclusives — first trailers, images and announcements — are a currency of that relationship with studios and independent filmmakers, and the site's longevity means its archive documents more than two decades of modern horror as it happened.
Audience and Reach
The audience metrics from 2007 — 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million monthly page views — were recorded when the site was only six years old and purely a website. Its reach today, while not publicly stated in the same form, is exercised across far more channels: the website, Bloody FM podcasts, social media, live events, publishing, merchandise and SCREAMBOX streaming. Cineverse promotes the brand to advertisers precisely on the intensity of that fandom, describing audiences among the most passionate in entertainment.
Theatrical results supply indirect evidence of influence. Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3 became breakout successes for independently released, unrated horror, and Cineverse credits Bloody Disgusting as central to that success — the brand's audience effectively functioning as a marketing engine. For a site that began with friends sharing horror news, becoming the promotional backbone of hit films represents a remarkable expansion of what a genre publication can do.
Notable People
Brad Miska, co-founder, built the site's editorial identity under the "Mr. Disgusting" byline, created V/H/S and accumulated producing credits before leaving in 2025 to explore new opportunities, with the company publicly thanking him for nearly a quarter-century of contributions. Tom Owen, co-founder, remains a senior figure at the brand and announced its latest leadership phase. In 2025 Cineverse promoted John Squires and Meagan Navarro to co-managing directors of Bloody Disgusting; both had long been part of the team driving its success, and they now run the site day to day. Earlier contributors associated with running the site in its growth years include Adam Dodd and Jonathan Barkan.
Digital Presence and Platforms
The website at bloody-disgusting.com remains the flagship, but the brand's digital presence is deliberately multi-platform. Bloody FM podcasts extend its voices into audio; social channels distribute news at the speed horror fans expect; SCREAMBOX turns editorial curation into a viewing destination, with premieres such as The Coffee Table and Project MKHEXE highlighted among recent titles; and Bloody Press carries the name into books and audiobooks. Live events and merchandise complete a presence designed so that a fan can encounter Bloody Disgusting at every point of their genre life.
Recent Developments
The defining recent development is the 2025 leadership transition. With Miska's departure, Cineverse promoted Squires and Navarro to co-managing directors, while Owen framed the change as entering the brand's next phase, with further emphasis on growing the platform, forging strategic partnerships and entering new ventures. The theatrical slate promoted through the brand — The Toxic Avenger returning in August 2025 and Silent Night, Deadly Night in December 2025, alongside the Terrifier phenomenon — shows the division's film role continuing to expand.
From Chicago beginnings in 2001, when website-building was a hobby and horror news was a favour between friends, Bloody Disgusting has become a case study in genre media: a fan publication that won a mass audience, turned that audience into films, and was ultimately acquired as the horror engine of a public entertainment company. Its name, chosen for shock value, now sits atop a streaming service, a podcast network and a publishing imprint — a long way from a forum for friends, and a central institution in modern horror culture.
