That said, I'm picking a few safe picks and a few risky ones for my most anticipated horror/thriller movies for 2012. None of these are in any particular order of excitement, except for the first one, which I'm most excited for, so let's get going.
Where to start with this film? Firstly, it's directed by Ridley Scott, you know, the director of Alien, and this was supposedly to a prequel of sorts but Fox decided they would only fund the movie it was an "original" story as the Alien name has been tainted with bad quality due to the last few films (Resurrection anyone?) and the Vs. Predator series.
The trailer is terrifying. I'm sure this will turn out amazing, I'm just hoping it stays suspenseful and doesn't turn into a full-blown action movie. The release of June2012 makes me a little worried it might be heavy on the action side of things.
The story revolves around a group of scientist who think they have found the origins of mankind. “Prometheus” is the name of the Greek titan who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humankind – only to be punished for his actions by being strapped to a rock and having an eagle eat his regenerating liver out every day, for the rest of eternity. Scott has that his new sci-fi project is very much an allegory for that tale, saying it too involves a “higher being [who is punished] in perpetuity in a horrible fashion” for stealing technology from more powerful beings and handing it over to humans.
I couldn't be more excited and though it's not longer a prequel to Alien, apparently sets the stage for them, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
This has me excited because it's Daniel Radcliffe's first starring movie without Harry Potter attached, and why he said he decided to do the movie. I remember watching a video on Yahoo that stated he has done the big blockbusters of Harry Potter and said he will never make another movie bigger than those. Which I found insightful that he realizes that.
Therefore, he said he wanted to focus his career on movies with a good story. That leads me to believe that this will at least have that, with a small budget of $17 million (considered to the $150 million Deathly Hallows: Part 2 had) and a creepy trailer, I'm hoping this is more thoughtful and introspective horror than jump scares. I'm also hopeful because James Watkins, director of horror/thriller Eden Lake is helming this project, so it's a known quantity he can do horror well.
The Woman in Black is a 1983 thriller fiction novel by Susan Hill about a menacing spectre that haunts a small English town. According to local tales, seeing the Woman in Black meant that the death of a child would follow. Hopefully the movie follows that closely and stays as creepy.
There isn't a trailer for the movie yet, but the lady with the annoying voice in the video below can explain it all.
It's a Tim Burton movie, so it'll be dark and yes it has Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter but she isn't the leading lady this time, other Burton alumni, Michelle Pfieffer is. It's going to be interesting to see Burton bring back this corky show for a movie that's a mix of soap-opera with the Adam's Family. Not truly "horror," but it still has monsters and ghouls in it.
There are two things that really excite me about this movie: Chris Hemsworth, aka Thor, and Joss Whedon writing it. Now, the R-rating also makes me happy as well. Reason being is that this isn't a cash in on Hemsworths' good looks and success from Thor to make a PG-13 horror movie to get teen girls in. Joss Whedon I'll trust with anything, and this is coming out a month earlier than his Avengers, so he has his money maker; this looks like a love project that he wanted to make.
It has a bit of stoner-slasher movie look to it, with some of the snarkiness from Buffy, but I'm a little skeptical director Drew Goddard as this is his directorial debut. Now as a producer and writer he has some big stuff under his name--Cloverfield, Lost, Alias and Six Feet Under--but he's an unknown quantity in this equation.
What sells me though is on the surface it looks like another story of 20-somethings wanting to escape to the woods to get away from it all and bad things happening, and it's hard not to compare it to the awful Cabin Fever, but the trailer leads me to believe it looks a little more like test-subjects trying to survive against an experiment of sorts with this mechanical cabin and crazy mind games type horror movie. Plus, it has some pretty good satirical writing in it.
Not all scary movies have to have the supernatural or serial killers in them. Sometimes surviving the harshest elements and creatures that nature throws at you can be terrifying. I think The Grey will do a good job of that.
Starring Liam Neeson, the plot revolves around an oil drilling team's struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the harsh cold wild of Alaska. Again, we have another movie that has almost the exact same plot, another British actor, The Edge, though there wasn't the biting cold or a pack of wolves in the The Edge, rather just the woods and a grizzly bear. No, the cold and wolves share another similarity to the 2010 movie Frozen, but that movie sucked. The way the wolves eyes look in the trailer, the part where Neeson forms a broken bottle glove/weapon, and the fact that it has a bigger budget, has to make it better than Frozen. Plus, with his recent movies Taken and Unknown, he's on a bit of a proverbially action streak that's pretty awesome.
Honorable mentions:
- World War Z: With no trailer out yet, it's hard to judge what this movie is going to be. It had Brad Pitt in it, which I'm a fan. World War Z the book however, has a bunch of disjointed stories woven together after the war has happened. I'm not 100 percent sure how they are planning to do this movie, but I'm intrigued and eagerly await a trailer.
- Total Recall: Okay, it's more sci-fi than horror, and it's a remake of the 1990 version that had Arnold Schwarzenegger in it, now replaced by Colin Farrel. The original was held in high regard and remembered fondly, and I've read that they have changed the screenplay pretty drastically from the original story We Can Remember it for you Wholesale by Philip K. Dick, which is never a good sign. It also has a $200 million dollar budget, so the company is banking on it doing well, but only time will tell.
The robots and cars in the movie look pretty sweet though.
- Underworld Awakening: Kate Beckinsale is back and it has more action and violence in it. Consider it a guilty pleasure.
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