“Pale Blue Eye”
Scott Cooper may have just whiffed it with “Antlers,” but we’re willing to overlook it fof the premise of this new one which is pretty insane and ambitious. A veteran detective attempts to solve a series of murders that took place at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1830, helped by a young cadet who will later become world-famous author Edgar Allan Poe. Plus it’s got an absolutely stacked cast: Christian Bale, as the veteran detective, joins Gillian Anderson, Toby Jones, Timothy Spall, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Harry Melling, AKA Dudley Dursley in the “Harry Potter” films, stars as Poe.
Release date: TBD via Netflix.
“Piggy”
This Sundance debut by Carlota Pereda seems fucked up, and we mean that as a compliment. The film is a bloody fable about Sara, a teenager in a rural Spanish village, who is constantly tormented because of her body type. And that “violence and gore” warning that it comes with? Not a deterrent, it’s an incentive.
Release date: Premieres in January at Sundance, then TBD.
“Poor Things”
Nobody does unsettling like Yorgos Lanthimos, and this premise —upon drowning herself to escape her abusive husband, a woman has her brain replaced with the brain of her unborn child by her father — is on a whole other level. “Poor Things” reunites the director with “The Favourite” co-writer Tony McNamara, as well as Emma Stone. Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Margaret Qualley also star.
Release date: TBD via Searchlight Pictures.
“Prey”
It’s a new installment of the “Predator” franchise! “Prey” tells the origin story of the Predator in the world of the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. Naru, a skilled female warrior, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth. It’s definitely a bit nerve-wracking to see a major franchise take on indigenous culture, but the cast looks promising and this marks Dan Trachtenberg’s (“10 Cloverfield Lane”) second film, so we’re feeling hopeful.
Release date: TBD via Hulu.
“Salem’s Lot”
Screenwriter Gary Dauberman (“It,” “Annabelle”) is taking on the first film adaptation of Stephen King’s favorite novel, about a writer in a town of vampires. Dauberman is writing the script and directing – his second time at the helm since “Annabelle Comes Home.” With cast members like Alfre Woodard and Bill Camp, it’s hard not to get excited about this one.
Release date: September 9 via Warner Bros.
“Scream”
Twenty-five years after the original series of murders in Woodsboro, a new Ghostface emerges, and Sidney Prescott must return to uncover the truth. The fifth installment in the ever-iconic “Scream” franchise has already doubled its $24 million budget at the box office and impressed critics, including our own Marya E. Gates. There’s no such thing as too much meta-analysis of horror, and everyone’s favorite self-aware film series is still going strong. Plus, we’re always here for a Neve Campbell comeback.
Release date: Out now via Paramount.
