A Record Horror Year in Store for 2022
Welcome to our annual horror movie preview as we look forward to a record year of horror in store for 2022. I don’t know if we are seeing a batch of films finally making their way to release after two years of pandemania, or if there is just an uptick in demand for horror movies. Maybe it’s just that I have some new sources for upcoming films. Whatever the reason, 64 movies is a preview record as we look towards a new year in horror.
January has an unfortunate reputation for substandard cinema. Critics claim that the post-holiday season is a bad time for movie-goers so to counteract that, I gave a little extra love to films premiering at the annual Sundance Film Festival. These include Speak No Evil, Piggy, and Nanny.
On the list of most awaited films in January is the fifth installment in the Scream universe, Scream: Legacy. This fifth installment of the Scream franchise brings back the original surviving cast on the 20th anniversary of the film’s release. I expect the old tropes that made the sequels suck, but I am still a fool for a reboot.
We continue January’s lienup with Mickey Rourke in Warhunt, a supernatural tale about a downed US Army plane in the Black Forest of Germany, and Marvel’s take on a the vampire monster in Morbius, Not much is known about Dr. Gift which is described as an 80’s slasher with a haunting ghost story.
The Darkness Outside begins with the disappearance of a little girl who claimed there were monsters in her closet, but friends and family suspect dark and mysterious forces are behind the disappearance. On the other side of the country, neighbors uncover a rabbit hole of darkness when they try to document paranormal activity in their apartment building in Something in the Dirt.
If you are a fan of the 2009 classic, Orphan, then you will want to check out Julia Stiles in the prequel, Orphan: First Kill. And finally, a group of friends tell scary stories during a ghostly excursion with unexpected consequences in Lore.
February
The groundhog says you have six movies to keep you warm while you wait for spring. My top pick for February is Studio 666 and I justify it with just two words: Foo Fighters. Enough said.
The Devil’s Light brings a twist to the exorcism theme when a nun with a special gift pursues training to perform exorcism - a rite that has thus far been the exclusive domain of priests. Virginia Madsen stars and that is a great reason to watch.
Next up is Blight, another movie about a child disappearance with little else to lead you on. Even less is known about the 2022 film, Hostage - an already overused film title.
Two classmates attempt to repair a broken friendship when their math teacher crosses the line, complicating things and inciting deadly consequences in Student Body while Leatherface comes out of hiding in rural Texas in the Netflix reboot of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And fresh off the TBA list is Incarnation starring Taye Diggs and Jessica Uberuaga. The pursuit of the American dream lands this couple in hot water when they discover a demonic spirit inhabiting their new home
March
Say good-bye to winter with six films on the menu for March. Two London urbanites head to Ireland in an ill-fated attempt to escape the frantic city life in Unwelcome. In Death Camp, the former owner of an abandoned cabin visits the site where a dozen teenagers were murdered 20 years prior - come for the horror, stay for the music. In Campton Manor, an author who writes horror novels based on his haunted house investigations finds himself trapped in his own story.
A series of urban legends from East Texas form the basis of The Texas Witch who haunts the forests near Jacksonville, while the few souls who survive the forest at the base of the Catskill Mountains tell their stories in The Hollow. And close out the month with The Sleep, a supernatural psychiatric experiment that challenges the survival of friends on Halloween night.
April
The forecast thins out as it does this time every year, but we’re cool with that because a fifth installment from the Insidious series arrives this month. The Dark Realm is a community supported project that picks up the story where Chapter 2 ended. Lin Shaye stars, and while this is not a James Wan film, Patrick Wilson directs while Jason Blum produces. And that is a trio I can definitely support.
Abyzou is an ancient demon known as “the taker of children” who tries to destroy an already troubled family in this film by Oliver Park. And a different ancient spirit is at work when a young girl is kidnapped and transformed into a witch in You Won’t Be Alone, a Sundance film that releases to the general public this month.
May
The plot of Window With a View is similar to The House of the Witch. A a college student gets trapped inside a house that was the site of a remote mass murder, and his friends fall victim one by one while attempting his rescue. A less complicated plot is Wolf Hollow which follows your basic family of werewolves living in the back country.
June
The Black Phone stars Ethan Hawke as a masked killer whose latest victim makes contact with the past through a disconnected phone in the basement where he is being held prisoner. Brought to you this summer by the House of Blum.
July
Three movies bring you out of the heat and into the theater in the middle of summer including a haunted house (Bed Rest), killer carnies (Massacre Academy), and the latest from Jordan Peele, Nope.
August
A reporter discovers that everything is not as it seems in Haunted Hotel while a young woman gets caught up on a gothic conspiracy in The Bride. Such are the minimal details for summer movies from a January perspective. There isn’t even a movie poster to make it interesting.
September
Fall and horror movies just go together with the long-awaited remake of Salem’s Lot. A year before this project was announced, I hoped we would see Mike Flanagan return from Doctor Sleep to remake the most frightening of Stephen King novels. As a consolation, it is being written and directed by Gary Dauberman who is known for co-writing the screenplays for the remake of It: Chapters 1 and 2. He also wrote and directed Annabelle Comes Home. A solid pedigree to elevate my high expectations.
Also coming in September is what appears to be a scary version of the Great Pumpkin, and that is Dark Harvest. The antagonist, October Boy, rises from the cornfields on Halloween to treat with those who dare confront him. I double-checked and this film starring Elizabeth Reaser is not a comedy.
Two more films for your preseason viewing include Mama Bear and Don’t Worry Darling. Paranormal forces are at work in the home of a recently widowed father wrongly arrested for a mysterious murder in Mama Bear with a cast of relative unknowns. However Olivia Wilde directs and stars in Don’t Worry Darling about a 1950’s utopian experimental community that sounds a bit like the Stepford Wives. The cast includes Chris Pine, Florence Pugh, and Wilde’s boyfriend, Harry Styles.
October
The box office kicks off the Halloween season with a series of ghost stories told around the Campfire in this anthology featuring our favorite horror film mom, Dee Wallace. Next up, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell team up again to produce a new installment in the Evil Dead series, Evil Dead Rise. This tale of a reunion between two sisters takes place - not in a cabin in the woods - but in an urban LA apartment. Venturing in the remote country is no longer a prerequisite to flesh-eating demon infestation.
I have fond memories of a vacation tothe Outer Banks on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Things may have gone differently, if I had seen Outer Banks Slasher. The area is steeped in history with more than one ghost story to keep you awake at night. This particular tale surrounds a descendant of Blackbeard who becomes possessed by a family heirloom and was filmed entirely on location in the Outer Banks.
When the clock strikes midnight, you can catch pirate radio host Devlin Deeds spinning tales of murder, madness, and the macabre in The Witching Hour. This film has been finished for several years with a rolling release date - currently set for October.
And finally, you hate to see it end but after the last installment, I think it is really time for Halloween Ends. Jamie Lee Curtis is back, and so are Davide Green and Jason Blum who brought us last year’s Halloween Kills. According to the byline, this really is the end. But who are we kidding? Fifty years of Michael Meyers and a $700 million franchise with a solid cult following is not likely to go away any time soon.
November
November is traditionally void of cinematic horror, so we are hoping for the pandemic-delayed release of Nightmare on 34th Street later this year. Don’t hold your breath too long, though. We have been watching trailers for this British horror film since 2017.
December
Elf is a another British horror film with little more to entice you than a family holiday in Finland gone wrong. And the title, of course. It’s a long shot for holiday horror which is why we have the cleverly named Violent Night as a backup. There are even fewer details here aside from the projected December release date.
TBA
I had to work hard to get the list of TBA films under 20 from the dozens of horror movies in production. I included only English-speaking films scheduled for release in the United States to keep the list manageable. And I admit that I am just not a fan of subtitled horror movies.
The Crooked Man is a spin-off from the Conjuring Universe that has been on the TBA list for several years without making it to release, so I decided to give it one last try along with the Terrifier 2. A home invasion takes an unexpected turn in Go Away while Blumhouse brings us Apartment 213. I located a poster but no description. However, if you google “Apartment 213” you will find it connected to a Jeffrey Dahmer residence. It is also the name of a popular extreme haunt in Los Angeles so do what you will with that information.
A couple more Stephen King tales are planned for this year including Mr. Harrigan’s Phone from a collection of short stories entitled If It Bleeds and a remake of Firestarter. Also on tap is a reboot of Hellraiser. What is the difference between a remake and a reboot anyway?
During a vacation with friends, two children disappear into a forest overnight only to return with strange behavior in There’s Something Wrong with the Children.
If you liked the 2017 short film, She Came from the Woods, then you will want to stick around for the full-length feature. And if you like ghost ships, you will want to see what Jason Blum and Jared Leto have in store for Adrift.
A couple of new high-tech films with unsearchable titles are Curs>r and M3GAN. One has a plot similar to Would you Rather while and the other is an all-too-lifelike robot with a mind of her own.
I’ve never figured out how to get the pronunciation right for Samhain, so I expect to be corrected a lot once movie gets to release. The term has essentially become synonymous with Halloween night and this version is about the murder of of a little boy while trick-or-treating. A lot of people draw the line at kids so viewer beware.
Stick around for The Last Call when survivors of a cult suicide reach out to a doctor searching for the truth, only to find out that some things aren’t meant to be discovered. A paranormal team investigates an abandoned school for a popular TV show in Nefarious and, while searching for clues of a missing teenager who disappeared during a previous investigation, they discover the ghosts of missing schoolgirls from the sixties. And for lack of a more interesting plot line, a couples’ vacation rental turns deadly in Mid-Century.
We enter the home stretch with a Friday the 13th fan film, My Special Boy, and close out the preview with a movie I really didn’t want to put on the list. Umma has an unimpressive description that involves a woman living in America who becomes haunted by the fear of turning into her own mother after the estranged mother’s remains arrive from Korea. Sam Raimi and Sandra Oh changed my mind.
If my math is right, this year’s preview stands at 63 films, including 18 TBAs. And that is a record in any book.