In addition to the usual reviews and comments you would find on a horror movie blog, this is also a document of the wonderfully vast horror movie section of the video store I worked at in my youth.

Monday, January 7, 2008

2008 Preview

So, another year is upon us. It looks like it’s going to be a good one. Here are my most anticipated genre films of 2008. This list is excluding The Dark Knight, which obviously overshadows everything!

#10 The Ruins (Apr 4th)
I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz on the Net about this movie. I’m sure my hopes that this is going to be The Descent in a Mexican locale will be quickly doused, but I can dream, can’t I?

#9 Midnight Meat Train (May 16th)
A movie based on a story by Clive Barker featuring Vinnie Jones as a serial killer with director Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus) at the controls? ‘Nuff said.



#8 Quarantined (Oct 17th)
This is the American remake of one of my favourite horror films from last year, [REC]. The chances of them fucking this up are large, but with genre familiar actors like Jennifer Carpenter (TV’s Dexter) and Jay Hernandez (Hostel) on board, I at least have some hope.

#7 The Signal (Feb 22nd)
I’ve been waiting for this one ever since it played at Sundance last year. The premise sounds very similar to Stephen King’s 2006 novel Cell. The Signal looks very gritty and intense in a 28 Days Later kind of way. It’s currently slated for release in February, but has been pushed back a few times already, so who knows?

#6 The Strangers (Aug 29th)
A very cool looking poster and a production still of Liv Tyler falling down. That’s all I have to go on right now with this long delayed home invasion thriller. Yes, I know there is a trailer, but I've refrained from watching it. I want this to be great (as most home invasion films are, or least the ones made by the French), but I have a sneaking suspicion that it shares its shtick with another film I saw last year.

#5 Trailer Trash (Aug 22nd)
A lot of people would say that the fake trailers were the best part of Grindhouse. This year, horror’s current poster boy Eli Roth is releasing a movie of JUST fake trailers. In this current YouTube generation we are living in, this project has the potential to not only be huge, but actually immensely enjoyable at the same time.

#4 Funny Games (Mar 14th)
This is the one remake I’m actually looking forward to. Michael Haneke is one of those one-of-a-kind filmmakers. Though having a director remake his own film hasn’t always worked (2004’s The Grudge for example), I think Haneke is up to the task. Left un-Hollywoodized, I think North American audiences are going to be really disturbed when Funny Games come to their town.


Bruce Campbell is back in this little indie. The premise of The Three Amigos meets Evil Dead is the closest thing we will get to a fourth installment of the loved franchise, so fanboys rejoice. All the old Renaissance cohorts are in tow for this, so this should be a rip roaring time. I’m not certain this will actually get any sort of release this year, but here’s hoping!



#2 Doomsday (Mar 14)
No film made more excited about the horror genre in the last few years than Neil Marshall’s The Descent. In 2008, Marshall is back with his third feature. If the apocalyptic storyline isn’t enough to draw me in, Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins and Malcolm MacDowell certainly are. I can’t wait to see what Marshall does with a project of a larger scale.



#1 Cloverfield (Jan 18th)
The first blockbuster of 2008. No trailer has had me chomping at the bit more than Cloverfield. Kudos to JJ Abrams and company for keeping this project shrouded in mystery in this day and age. I don’t think there will be any middle ground here. It will either be totally awesome or a terrible way to start the year.

And here are a few others worth mentioning, as well.

-M Night’s The Happening
Even though Shayamalan’s last two films have been pretentious stroke fests, I am still not ready to give up on the little guy. I think if he doesn’t cast himself as the future saviour of the world this time, he’ll be ahead of the game.





-Hellraiser
Not particularly happy about this one, but if there is anybody who can do this remake right, it’s those nihilistic maniacs Alex Bustillo and Julien Maury (Inside).


This year sees remakes of three of my favourite Asian films. Given Hollywood’s track record, my curiosity about these must make me a glutton for punishment.





-X Files 2
Even though there are great many people that could give a toss about a new X Files movie, the huge ass fan in me cannot help myself from wanting to revisit something that absolutely consumed me for the bulk of the nineties.

All right, that's it. Less than two weeks until Cloverfield!

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