Zombies, vampires, monsters and many other imaginary creatures are rising up again, like 30 years ago. After a long season of “slasher” films that re-started with “Scream” some time ago, the film industry has decided to put on the road again some super-productions and re-makes of classics, a few new stories that might give us this year nice surprises. What am I talking about? Horror, boys and girls. Blood, screams, tension, adrenaline, rampage, hunting, limbs, darkness, unconstrained eroticism with creatures of a fantasy world and a long list of elements continues.

This year we will get a decent amount of Horror in our cinemas, or maybe in yours only because I don’t know if these pieces will come to Germany. Among all the up-coming films, I have chosen these ones as my personal favorites. I hope they don’t disappoint me:

Lords of Salem.

The most-recent production of Rob Zombie. Many people have had some problems with Rob Zombie’s style, but I actually like it, as hos work is from a horror fan to a horror fan. His way to show it was in his debut film “The house of the 1000 corpses”, and improved his directing skills in the second part: The Devil’s Rejects. A very peculiar film that portrays the daily life of the original serial-killers of his first film. A characteristic of his films is the humanization of the murderers, and the deep psychological involvement to create horror.

Lords of Salem promises to be something completely new in his line of work. It is different because the horror will not be brought through the usual psycho killers as previously was (The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween, etc.), but most probably through the Devil itself incarnated in some witch or wizard. No idea about the film and the trailer doesn’t say much, but I’ll watch it for sure as soon as it arrives here.

World War Z.

I’ve not read the book. Big sin, yeah sure, but I know the writing style of Max Brooks when I was reading parts of the Zombie Survival Guide. The story of World War Z sounds interesting and it is not shown as a classic horror film based entirely in the dark mystery and the unknown killer quietly waiting for the prey nor the horde of zombies that well trained members have to destroy.

More than a horror film, I would consider it an adventure/drama film. World War Z is treated as a historical report of the beginning and development of the epidemics that has been released in the world’s population. It is that, a historical view based in personal experiences (fake, obviously) of the survivors and unfortunate fighters. Another humanized way of viewing the horror in the real world.

Evil Dead.

Eagerly awaited film re-enacting the events of the 1981 film “the Evil Dead”. The 80’s film was originally seen as full of violence and gore, so now they wanted to create something even more violent and gore. Sam Raimi (original creator of the cult saga) is in charge of the production of this re-make next to Bruce Campbell (leading role of the original series). Just watched the trailer and still feel the chills in some scenes. I guess they nailed it.

Stoker.

A family of psychos (including a Norman Bates lookalike) conforms this thriller, where the most selfish passions are playing around. These people are living under the same roof hating/loving each other and yet, destroying everything and everyone around. The story itself might not sound interesting, and the actings of the guy and the girl do nor convince me in the trailer, but I’m more than eager to see what is the “different” offer in this film. It just got my attention.

Carrie.

Stephen King’s mind has always given stories with a high mix of mental disorder and supernatural forces. Carrie is a perfect example of it. The story made it to the big screen originally in 1976 with a young Sissy Spacek playing the introverted girl. This time, the role has been inherited to Chloe Grace Moretz who, in my opinion, has a big challenge in this new version. But another interesting role is Carrie’s mom, played by Julian Moore, a master of drama and suspense, as she has previously demonstrated. More than horror with bloodbaths and slash shots, I hope this re-make is a deep psychological and crude view into White’s family.

Dark Skies.

Indeed, this film reminds me a lot to Insidious, but in this particular case, we have a more explicit and constant manifestation of the “strange” creatures and behaviors within its characters. I see it like the mix of many cliches trying to net a complex plot. Might see it, but just to check how they can end a story with such a classic plot of a haunted house.

Mama.

Years ago, while procrastinating, I found an Argentinian horror short-film named “Mamá”. I saw it had many views and very good ratings. Watched it and… craped my pants. Whoa, boy! 3 minutes that shocked me, but I was not the only one. Turns out that Mexican artist “Guillermo del Toro” also had the same impression and shat himself. He was so impressed with the production of it that contacted the creators of “Mamá” and decided to produce a longer film from it.

When a project is related to Guillermo del Toro, I’m very critical and look for the details he offers, the story, the screenplay, the effects, the production in general. So far I’m not disappointed and have liked most of his work (except for the Hellboy series, just my personal likes).

Now Guillermo brings back a story through the eyes of a child and the innocence against an unexplainable force in the surrounding. Andrés Muschietti puts the story and the direction, and Guillermo offers the quality in production. Can’t wait to see this.

For now is enough gore, blood and horror. But surely there will be more films around and I’m gonna be there. Muahahahaha!!!