As Halloween approaches, Matt Glasby, author of The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film, available here, highlights what to watch – and what to watch out for.
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Based, once again, on a true-ish story, the final Conjuring film in this phase—whatever that means—brings Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga back as real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, along with part three’s director Michael Chaves.
By now you know what to expect: analogue chills, spooky toys and those James Wan-style jump-scares where weird-faced demons suddenly leer at the camera. The case of the Smurl family, which this is—loosely—based on, was also covered in the 1991 TV movie, The Haunted. Some suggest this inspired the OG Conjuring. Spooky.
The Cut
Orlando “Legolas” Bloom stars as a boxer undergoing a terrifyingly fast weight loss for a comeback fight. But is he losing his grip on reality? Cue all kinds of nightmarish body horror as he sheds more and more pounds. If it sounds like The Wrestler grappling with The Machinist, that’s probably the plan.
Bloom lost 50lb for the role, so you can’t fault his commitment, co-stars John Turturro and Caitríona Balfe (Outlander) are usually good value, and director Sean Ellis made the excellent Metro Manila, so it’s surely worth a punt on streaming.
The Long Walk
One of Stephen King’s leanest, meanest tales, The Long Walk was written in 1967 when he was 19 (!), then published in 1979. Execs have long-considered it unfilmable, but presumably most hadn’t a) read it or b) actually seen a film, because it’s an absolutely banging idea. Every year, in a dystopian America of the future, 100 young men walk until there’s only one left alive, with soldiers shooting the stragglers.
No wonder everyone from George A Romero to Frank Darabont fancied their chances. Directed by The Hunger Games franchises veteran Francis Lawrence and starring bright young things Cooper Hoffman and David Johnson, it finally strides to the screen.
The Strangers: Chapter 2
Perhaps the least-anticipated horror film of the year, Renny Harlin’s sequel to his spectacularly pointless reboot The Strangers: Chapter 1 follows survivor Madelaine Petsch in the days after her (un)original ordeal. Apparently, Chapter 3 was shot back to back with the first two.
“The idea of doing this four-and-a-half hour epic and splitting it into three chapters was a very unique opportunity,” Harlin told Hollywood Reporter. “I thought I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t jump.” Viewers may experience regret for slightly different reasons.
Him
With sports horror now officially a thing—see also The Cut—Justin Tipping’s intriguing effort stars Tyriq Withers (this year’s I Know What You Did Last Summer) and Marlon Wayans (er, Scary Movie) as American football players meddling with Faustian forces they cannot possibly control.
Withers plays the innocent up-and-comer, Wayans the ageing legend. The script made the 2022 Black List, Jordan Peele’s producing, and the trailer looks trippy AF. Though if it’s anything like the actual game, it’ll be far too long and impossible to follow.
Shelby Oaks
YouTube film critic Christopher Stuckman turns the tables with his feature debut, which he wrote, produced and directed. It involves a documentarian (Camille Sullivan) looking for her missing sister (Sarah Durn), the host of an online ghost-hunting show. The search leads her to the eponymous Ohio town, unearthing evils from their past.
Stuckman has been heralded as “one of the most promising new voices in horror”, but our favourite response is the review that calls it, “Obviously written by a critic.” Burn.
We Bury the Dead
Australian director Zak Hilditch, who made the decent Stephen King adaptation 1922, turns his attentions to this intriguing non-zombie zombie movie. After the US accidentally WMDs Australia—could happen—Daisy Ridley joins a “body retrieval unit” to search for her husband. Only the bodies they retrieve aren’t entirely dead.
What follows sounds pretty ambitious on the budget, although the worry that it might all be an A24-style grief metaphor persists.
Black Phone 2
A sequel to Scott Derrickson’s over-engineered serial-killer flick? Hmmmm, OK then. But seeing as the original was based on a Joe Hill short story, and Ethan Hawke’s baddie The Grabber died at the end, it’s hard to imagine what could happen next.
The plot involves Madeleine McGraw’s character seeing visions of a back-from-the-beyond Grabber stalking new prey at a winter camp. But this will need to really go hard to justify its existence. “Dead is just a word,” runs the tagline. But then so is cash-in. OK, maybe two.
It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This
Rachel Kempf and Nick Toti hit upon a novel way to promote this found-footage flick. They vowed to never release it online, so anyone who wants to see it must attend a live screening—easier said than done for those who live outside America.
If the marketing is admirable, the film itself—a self-reflexive effort about two film-makers (Kempf and Toti themselves) buying a creepy property—sounds pretty familiar. Coming to a cinema near you? Who knows.
