A new year brings a new swath of horror films. As the Anatomy of a Scream squad rings in 2019, here are some of our most anticipated films:
CC
2019 is shaping up to be another great year for horror and its many subgenres. The sleeper of 2017 – and one of my favourites of the year – was Blumhouse’s Happy Death Day. This year we get a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, that introduces a time loop/multiverse with the Babyface Killer. Lead by the charismatic and hilarious Jessica Rothe, I have high hopes for the follow-up.
Release Date: February 14, 2018.
Ashley
I’m looking forward to The Turning, a new adaptation of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James about a nanny who believes that her young wards are haunted. The script has been in development hell since 2016, but with Floria Sigismondi now on board as director, I’m very intrigued. She’s most known for writing and directing The Runaways, but she’s also helmed a lot of music videos for musicians like Marilyn Manson and David Bowie so I’m expecting The Turning to be visually stunning.
Plus, the film stars Mackenzie Davis and Finn Wolfhard and is written by the Hayes brothers, who also wrote The Conjuring and the House of Wax remake (which I actually really liked) so I’m also expecting it to be pretty spooky.
Release Date: February 22, 2019.
Valeska
All I want in life is for Jordan Peele to take all of my money. The brilliant, poignant, and devastatingly incisive Get Out topped my list for 2017. I fully expect Us to further cement Peele’s reputation for tapped-in and timely storytelling that expertly mixes biting humour and human horror. I’m willing to watch anything that Elisabeth Moss appears in and I really like Lupita Nyong’o as well, plus the trailer delivers a generous helping of genuine chills. I’m really looking forward to seeing this film and discussing it in an AOAS Squad Talk in a couple of months. (I’m not looking forward to the inevitable arguments about “elevated horror” from mainstream critics, however.)
Release date: March 15, 2019.
Gina
Looking ahead to the coming year, I’m intrigued to see what Vincenzo Natali’s latest will bring. An adaptation from the 2012 novella by Stephen King and Joe Hill, In the Tall Grass counts among its cast genre favourite Patrick Wilson and Ottawa-born Rachel Wilson in a narrative about a brother and sister whose roadtrip is interrupted by cries for help calling from a field.
I’m all about the Canadian horror goods, so this Ontario-shot film is high on my list.
Release Date: Unknown 2019 on Netflix.
Vincent
My most anticipated horror film of the year is Jordan Peele’s Us, however, I think most horror lovers are already highly aware of that release (plus Valeska claimed it first). Instead I want to share a horror-adjacent film I think we should all be on the lookout for in 2019.
I have been anticipating the release of the documentary Scream Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street for several years now. With creators Tyler Jensen and Roman Chimienti talking release dates on the film’s instagram page, and writing an article related to the film for the upcoming issue of Fangoria, I think 2019 might finally be the year it arrives!
Scream Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street is a documentary about my favorite Nightmare on Elm Street film: Freddy’s Revenge. What interests me about the film is that it not only takes a look at how the homoerotic subtext of Freddy’s Revenge is viewed in today’s culture, it also reflects on how star Mark Patton’s career was affected by the film’s release in 1985. It seems to be just as much about Patton’s struggles with homophobia in Hollywood as it is about the Freddy Krueger sequel — the negative effects of which are often erased when we praise the film today. I, for one, am excited to finally have Mark Patton’s voice heard.
Also: Scream Queen has one of the best posters I have ever seen.
Release Date: Unknown (hopefully 2019).
Joe
The 2019 release that I’m most excited for is The Perfection. Not a lot is known about it, aside from the fact that it made major waves when it debuted at Fantastic Fest last September. The film stars Logan Browning (from Netflix’s Dear White People) and Allison Williams (Get Out and Girls) as rival cello players in the spirit of Black Swan; not a lot of other information is available, aside from the fact that the film defies expectations and completely changes course all of the way through.
Those who have had the chance to see it say that it’s a stunner, but that you should go in as cold as possible, so avoid all of the trailers and spoilers (even more than usual)!
Release Date: Unknown 2019 on Netflix.
What horror films are you most excited for in 2019? Sound off in the comments below!
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