Saturday, January 3, 2009

2009: The Year in Horror, Part 1

It's that time of year again, when the VoH takes a look into the proverbial crystal ball to see what the brand new year has in store for us fans of the gothic and macabre. I'm breaking up my preview into two parts. Tonight, I'm focusing on those projects which already have a set release date.

1/9
The Unborn: This comes to us from writer/director David S. Goyer. He gave us the new Batman flicks, the Blade movies and the underrated cult classic Dark City. He also gave us Kickboxer 2 and that Nicky Fury TV movie with David Hasselhoff.

1/16
My Bloody Valentine 3-D: Had enough of the endless horror remakes? OK, well here's another one, except... it's in 3-D! Rock on!

1/20
Boogeyman 3: Direct to video, as it should be. Wait... there was a Boogeyman 2?

1/23
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans: This medieval prequel charts the origins of the ages-old feud between the vampires and werewolves. Translation: No Kate Beckinsale.

2/6
Coraline: Cool dads everywhere will be taking their kids to see this long-awaited stop-motion animated film from Neil Gaiman and Henry "Nightmare Before X-Mas" Selick.

2/13
Friday the 13th: The most anticipated remake of them all. 'Nuff said.

2/17
Dead Like Me: Life After Death: All those who felt crushed when the criminally under-recognized Showtime series got yanked will finally get a shot at some closure with this direct-to-video production.

3/20
Lesbian Vampire Killers: Much like Smuckers, with a name like that, it has to be good.

3/24
The Grudge 3: At long last, the direct-to-video trigger is pulled on the Grudge franchise. This time Shawnee Smith of Saw fame stars.

3/27
Monsters vs. Aliens: I'll admit that this looks like a gem of an animated comedy, and it's got Stephen Colbert as the voice of the President. But I'm given pause that it's brought to us by the directors of Shrek 2 and Shark Tale.

5/15
The Descent: Part 2: I wasn't aware of this one, but given the tremendous popularity of the original, there's sure to be a lot of interest here.

5/29
Drag Me to Hell: Sam Raimi's triumphant return to the horror genre. Think of it as a breather before he rolls up his sleeves and tries to save the Spider-Man series.

8/21
Final Destination: Death Trip 3-D: In the time-honored tradition of Jaws, Friday the 13th and The Amityville Horror, the FD series makes that ultimate horror desperation move. It was supposed to happen more appropriately with the third one, but this time they finally made it happen.

8/28
Halloween 2: Rob Zombie's sequel to his 2007 remake is on the fast track as we speak.

9/18
Jennifer's Body: Diablo Cody, she of the pretentiously affected Juno, penned this horror comedy, in which Megan Fox will not appear topless.

9/25
The Crazies: Apparently this is the one remake that has no one upset, since George Romero's original has so many detractors.

10/16
The Stepfather: Christopher Meloni of HBO's Oz fame picks up the mantle of the heavy in this remake, while his new wife will be played by Sela Ward, who happens to be married to the guy who played Bub in Day of the Dead.

10/23
Saw VI: Yep.

11/6
The Wolf Man: Here's my personal most-anticipated flick of 2009. Can't wait to hopefully witness Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins do Lon Chaney and Claude Rains proud.

11/20
New Moon: The first of the three inevitable sequels to Twilight. If you're already a fan, rejoice. If not, brace yourself.