Anyone who has been to an AMC theatre or is even vaguely familiar with the Nicole Kidman AMC ads knows what they expound about the theatrical experience and the “indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim” or “how heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” We are driven to seek out certain experiences at the cinema because it is a safe place to experience catharsis. Fear in particular is an emotion that we like to face in the safety of a defined timeline, with a known beginning and end, and thus, horror films have become a popular form of catharsis for that adrenal release. It’s no wonder a steady stream of horror films is in the pipeline this summer to sate that appetite.
One of the most anticipated horror films this summer is MaXXXine the conclusion of the Mia Goth starring Ti Westtrilogy (which began with X and continued with Pearl which Mia Goth also co-wrote). This trilogy is interesting. I’m a big believer that writers enter a story with characters at the moment they find most interesting. This is a primary reason prequels are hard, and are often even harder if the original writer is involved (I factor it as one of the reasons many people struggle to connect with Episodes 1-3 of Star Wars but are more forgiving of Rogue One). Prequels rarely work from original creators because it’s based on the backstories they already deemed less interesting than what they began with. So, when I say I found Pearl a much more interesting horror film than X, that is a high compliment. I enjoyed X, I found it to be a fun slasher film. But Pearl with its technicolor nods was something else altogether. Pearl was born out of the lockdown of Covid and to have something so fun in the horror landscape come out of that period (one that made nods to the Spanish flu within it). And now to have the conclusion, which follows the action of X, a sequel to the first film in the series, set in the 1980s in Hollywood with Maxine Minx in Hollywood on the precipice of her big break, but a mysterious killer threatening to reveal her past. The perfect climax for this trilogy that is a love letter to the movies and horror. And Hollywood in the 1980s, sounds terrifying even without a killer. It arrives in theatres on July 5th.
Horror is often highlighted for its screams. Well, in 2018, a film came out that challenged that aspect of horror by placing the idea of silence as being scary. I’m of course referring to A Quiet Place. The third movie, a prequel, in that franchise, is being released on June 28th, A Quiet Place: Day One, set in New York as the title suggests beginning on the first day of the invasion that made the world go quiet. I’ve already expressed my thoughts on prequels, but as proven above there are always exceptions, and this film also has fairly limited involvement of the original creatives (only John Krasinski has a story by credit) so it already has a better chance at not just being the additional thoughts of the previous works.
Finally, horror is one of the few areas studios still take a chance on new titles. It’s because they often are low cost and high reward. Audiences show up and they get their box office, they also aren’t driven by “star power” in the same way they feel other films are. There used to be a time when horror films launched stars, which is alluded to in the trailers for MaXXXine. If you haven’t heard about Longlegs yet, you will. It follows an FBI Agent who looks into an unsolved serial killer case and discovers a personal connection to the killer. It had a secret screening at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles on May 31st that was way overbooked, their lines wrapped around the blocks of the theatre and they had to send many ticket holders away unhappy (the tickets were free), but, the ones who got in were treated to a first-rate horror event that had left them raving. It arrives in theatres on July 12th.
I said audiences aren’t driven to the horror genre by star power in the same way as they are for other genres, and that is true, to an extent. In the horror genre, the “star power,” with the exception of the occasional scream queen, tends to be behind the camera, not in front of it. Hitchcock is known as a horror director, despite the fact he did few horror/suspense films in his career, the ones he did, he did well. Well, love or hate him, people also think of M. Night Shyamalan in the same way, so when he has a new film, we take notice. And he has a new film out this year. If you’ve seen the trailer for the film Trap, which will be in theatres on August 2nd, you know it’s about a serial killer who finds himself at a concert that was set up to trap him. Now, because it’s an M. Night Shyamalan movie, and all that was revealed in the trailer, I’m anticipating another twist. But what that twist is, well, I’ll have to wait until August to find out. And isn’t that the glory of the cinema?
Already in theatres are two horror films that attempt to shake up the perspective a little, The Exorcism, which gives a unique take on The Exorcist, and In a Violent Nature.
Happy horror summer.
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