13. “It”
What You Should Know: We’ll admit that we’d be a little more jazzed for this Stephen King adaptation had the long-gestating Cary Fukunaga version, starring Will Poulter as Pennywise the Clown, come to pass. But even with Fukunaga stepping down as director (he’s currently still a named screenwriter) in favor of Andrés Muschietti, and Poulter being replaced by Bill Skarsgård as the malevolent It, the project is destined to be one of the most talked-about films of the year purely based on the enduring popularity of the source material. As had been envisioned previously, this is still planned to be the first of two films, and featuring the principals (led by Jaeden Lieberher) as children when they first encounter the clown, it promises to tap into that ’80s-influenced style of horror that produced the TV smash “Stranger Things” (not least because Finn Wolfhard from the show is in the cast, too) And if Muschietti is a little more of an unknown quantity, his previous film “Mama” certainly had creepy atmosphere to spare even if it was a bit of a letdown in terms of narrative — not something that should be an issue here, as the childhood portions of King’s novel, especially, are among the most imaginative and influential horror stories of modern times.
Release Date: September 8th.
12. “We Have Always Lived In The Castle”
What You Should Know: It seems strange that it’s taken this long for Shirley Jackson‘s wonderfully atmospheric 1962 novel (it’s short, too; you can read it in a day or two) to come to the screen, but here it is at last, and with an interesting breakout director at the helm. Stacie Passon, whose debut “Concussion” was one of the more original and offbeat LGBT-themed indies of recent years, follows up a couple of episodes of “Transparent” with this ambitious project. The story is a kind of haunted-house narrative, although the inhabitants of the house are not dead and it’s told from their point-of-view: the mysterious Blackwood family, half of whom died in a poisoning attack for which the elder sister is widely believed to have escaped justice. The film stars Sebastian Stan, Alexandra Daddario, Taissa Farmiga, and also Crispin Glover, in case you were in any doubt of the kind of fairy-tale Gothic creepiness it embodies.
Release Date: None yet.
11. “Gerald’s Game”
What You Need To Know: It’s been impressive to watch director Mike Flanagan make a name for himself in the horror genre in the last few years. He’s taken a number of films that look unpromising on paper — “Oculus,” which seemed to be another J-Horror ripoff; “Hush,” the four-billionth home-invasion film; “Ouija: Origin Of Evil,” a sequel to a dreadful cash-in studio picture — and turn out terrifically made, genuinely creepy movies that have really marked him as a rising star in the genre world. “Gerald’s Game” might mark his most promising picture to date — it’s an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1992 novel about a married couple’s handcuff-assisted sex night in a remote cabin that goes horribly wrong, with Carla Gugino in the lead role and Bruce Greenwood and Henry Thomas in support. It’ll be a tough job to pull off — it’s basically set in one location and mostly within the lead character’s head — but Flanagan’s proven to have the chops to take it on for sure.
Release Date: Netflix will be releasing, but haven’t yet set a date for it.
10. “Slice”
What You Need To Know: Fact: Chance The Rapper is the goddamn best. His fast rise and unconventional, record-label-free approach came to a head last year with his brilliant “Coloring Book” mixtape, and generally, he’s just a joy to read about or listen to. And now he’s becoming Chance The Actor, with A24 late last year revealing that he was headlining a secret horror movie that the company had backed called “Slice.” Helmed by Austin Vesely, who directed a number of Chance’s videos, it takes place in a mysterious city, and sees the rapper play an outlaw framed for a killing spree targeting pizza-delivery boys. Oh, and werewolves may be involved too. “Atlanta” standout Zazie Beetz and “Eyes Of My Mother” and “The OA” star Will Brill also star. Not every music artist makes the crossover to movies, but Chance’s easy charisma should make this closer to a genre “Purple Rain” than a, uh, “Crossroads.”
Release Date: Nothing firm yet, but a bow at the genre-minded fall festivals seems a good bet.
9. “A Cure For Wellness”
What You Need To Know: A couple of bloated ‘Pirates‘ sequels and a mega-flop “The Lone Ranger” later, it’s easy to forget that Gore Verbinski is a legitimately talented filmmaker with quite a few good movies behind him. Hopefully he’ll shortly remind us all with “A Cure For Wellness,” which stands out in the early part of the year as a rare completely original studio movie. Following a young executive (Dane DeHaan) sent on a mission to retrieve a doctor from a mysterious Alpine spa, it’s looked incredibly visually striking from the first footage, and has set up a mystery that we’re genuinely intrigued to find out more about, hopefully returning Verbinski to the excellence of his last dip into the genre, the original “The Ring” remake. The cast is good, too, with a well-deserved studio lead for DeHaan, and with “Nymphomaniac” star Mia Goth and Jason Isaacs, in creepy scientist mode again after “The OA,” in support. Also: a shit-ton of eels.
Release Date: February 17th.
8. “Death Note”
What You Need To Know: Despite various attempts over the years, the history of manga-to-English-language-movie translations isn’t a great one. We’ll see how this spring’s “Ghost In The Shell” turns out, but the 2017 one that we’re really interested in is “Death Note,” which sees Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s well-loved property (adapted previously into anime series, a TV drama and four live-action Japanese films). Adam Wingard, the excellent director of “You’re Next” and “The Guest” (as well as last year’s tepidly received “Blair Witch” reboot) is the man in charge, and after it nearly bit the dust when Warner Bros. pulled the plug shortly before it went into production, Netflix came to rescue. And a good thing, too, because on cast alone, this should be interesting: Nat Wolff plays the lead role as a teen who’s left a supernatural notebook by a demon (Willem Dafoe) that enables him to kill anyone, with “The Leftovers” star Margaret Qualley as the female lead and the great Lakeith Stanfield as an eccentric private detective trying to stop Wolff. Sold!
Release Date: Production got underway last summer, so we imagine it’ll land sometime in the warmer months.
7.”XX”
What You Should Know: The anthology horror movie has been a surprisingly successful format, considering the usual difficulty in getting anyone to see short films, and the fact that they are inevitably a bit of a mixed bag. But given the health of the “V/H/S” and “ABCs Of Death” franchises, it seems the market for short-form horror does exist, and if it gives a chance for emerging female voices to get a wide release under their belt, we’re all for it. “XX” is a package of four shorts, all directed by women, of whom Karyn Kusama is probably the best-established, while Jovanka Vuckovic has several horror shorts to her name, Roxanne Benjamin has one feature behind her, and Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, makes her debut. The film played in Sundance to largely positive notices, so even if it can offer little more than a sampler of its directors’ talents, we’re anxious to to try the tasting menu.
Release Date: Limited release and simultaneous VOD on February 17th.