(L to R) Chase Sui Wonders as Ava Brucks, Madelyn Cline as Danica Richards, Sarah Pidgeon as Stevie Ward, and Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson in 2025’s ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer.’ Photo: Sony Pictures.
When five friends inadvertently cause a deadly car accident, they cover up their involvement and make a pact to keep it a secret rather than face the consequences. A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they’re forced to confront a horrifying truth: someone knows what they did last summer…and is hell-bent on revenge.
Former FBI Agent Will Graham (Edward Norton), who was once almost killed by the savage Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), now has no choice but to face him again, as it seems Lecter is the only one who can help Graham track down a new serial killer.
One year after her sister Melanie (Mala Mitchell) mysteriously disappeared, Clover (Ella Rubin) and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one…only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening.
When her husband’s sex game goes wrong, Jessie (Carla Gugino), who is handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house, faces warped visions, dark secrets and a dire choice.
When Cole (Judah Lewis) stays up past his bedtime, he discovers that his hot babysitter (Samara Weaving) is part of a Satanic cult that will stop at nothing to keep him quiet.
Looking for work, Aaron (Patrick Brice) comes across a cryptic online ad: “$1,000 for the day. Filming service. Discretion is appreciated.” Low on cash and full of naiveté, he decides to go for it. He drives to a cabin in a remote mountain town where he meets Josef (Mark Duplass), his cinematic subject for the day. Josef is sincere and the project seems heartfelt, so Aaron begins to film. But as the day goes on, it becomes clear that Josef is not who he says, and his intentions are not at all pure.
After a 4 a.m. knock at the door and haunting voices, Kristen McKay (Liv Tyler) and James Hoyt’s (Scott Speedman) remote getaway becomes a psychological night of terror as three masked strangers invade. Now they must go far beyond what they thought themselves capable of if they hope to survive.
True-crime writer Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) is in a slump; he hasn’t had a best seller in more than 10 years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, when he discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family, he vows to solve the mystery. He moves his own family into the victims’ home and gets to work. However, when old film footage and other clues hint at the presence of a supernatural force, Ellison learns that living in the house may be fatal.
An immigrant (Cristina Rodlo) in search of the American dream is forced to take a room in a boarding house and soon finds herself in a nightmare from which she can’t escape.
In a small town in Massachusetts, four high school girls perform a ritual in an attempt to debunk the lore of Slender Man. When one of the girls goes mysteriously missing, they begin to suspect that she is, in fact, his latest victim.
When troubled musical prodigy Charlotte (Allison Williams) seeks out Elizabeth (Logan Browning), the new star pupil of her former school, the encounter sends both musicians down a sinister path with shocking consequences.
(L to R) Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his son Spike (Alfie Williams) in Columbia Pictures’ ’28 Years Later’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.
Big money artists and mega-collectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce. After a series of paintings by an unknown artist are discovered, a supernatural force enacts revenge on those who have allowed their greed to get in the way of art.
Centuries-old vampire Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) travels to Victorian London, where he becomes obsessed with Mina Murray (Winona Ryder), the fiancée of his solicitor, Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves), believing her to be the reincarnation of his long-lost love.
A scene from 1974’s ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’. Photo: Bryanston Distributing Company.
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way, they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
(Left) Al Pacino at the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022. (Right) Dan Stevens in 2014’s ‘The Guest.’
Preview:
Al Pacino and Dan Stevens are starring in ‘The Ritual’.
David Midell co-wrote the script and will direct.
It’s a based-on-truth story of possession and exorcism.
If you were to go to the IMDb and enter the title ‘The Ritual’, you’ll find yourself confronted with a boatload of movies and shorts using that name. And that’s not even including the ones that add extra words such as ‘The Ritual Killer’.
So we think it’s high time there was a moratorium on using the title, say for around 100 years from now, to force filmmakers to come up with more original names for their work –– even if, as in the case of director David Midell’s new movie –– it does hinge on rituals.
With its grounding in a true story, the movie follows two priests — one questioning his faith (Stevens) and one reckoning with a troubled past (Pacino) — who must put aside their differences to save a possessed young woman through a difficult and dangerous series of exorcisms.
The film is an authentic portrayal of Emma Schmidt, an American woman whose demonic possession culminated in harrowing exorcisms. Her case remains the most thoroughly documented exorcism in American history.
It’s certainly one that has potential –– after all, we’ve seen successful horror movies drawn from true life cases (or loosely based on them) including the likes of ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’, last year’s Russell Crowe pic ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ and, of course, even ‘The Exorcist’, which has its roots in reality.
Who else is in ‘The Ritual’?
Ashley Greene and Abigail Cowen are also in the cast for this one, but we’d expect that to expand as the movie gets going.
Who is making ‘The Ritual’?
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s ‘Abigail’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Midell, who previously directed movies such as ‘NightLights’ and ‘The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain’, wrote the new movie with his creative partner Enrico Natale.
And Stevens is no stranger to horror movies –– his latest, ‘Abigail’, is in theaters right now, and he has ‘Cuckoo’ coming up later this year. As for Pacino, his most famous horror-inflected movie may well be ‘The Devil’s Advocate’, in which he played John Milton, who turns out to be… well, the title is a clue. We would also throw in his performance as a version of himself rapping about coffee in ‘Jack and Jill’. That’s pretty terrifying.
When will ‘The Ritual’ be in theaters?
As of yet, the movie, which will be distributed worldwide by XYZ Films, doesn’t yet have a set date, but the company is planning to release it next year.
Oscar® nominee, Al Pacino arrives on the red carpet of The 92nd Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 9, 2020.
From zombies to slashers to demonic possessions, horror tends to be a seasonal genre. It’s also one where the little details make all of the difference between success and failure; some times that means tiny tweaks or exceptional style in the execution of a classic formula, and others it’s a subversion or full-on reimagining of everything audiences have come to expect. But those ideas have all existed in one form or another, for decades, and they evidence the durability of the genre itself and the sometimes overdue opportunity to breathe new life into a combination that has fallen out of fashion.
Ari Aster’s 2018 debut “Hereditary,” for example, explores the devastating depths of a family dealing with extreme loss and its own troubled legacy, but the young filmmaker does so while touching on elements of psychological horror and demonic possession. And his follow-up, “Midsommar,” arriving this week, looks mercilessly at a grieving young woman and her estranged boyfriend as they encounter a mysterious, bohemian community while vacationing in Sweden. The new film echoes the considerable tradition of a sub-genre known as “folk horror,” where pagan traditions and ancient rites claim the souls — and bodies — of the skeptical and unwilling. In our own pagan celebration, Moviefone offers a primer on just a few of the films that may have inspired the film (and others that share its folky DNA).
Benjamin Christensen’s documentary-style classic was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made, and certainly one of the era’s most controversial because of its depictions of torture, nudity and sexual perversion. Not only was its “nonfiction” approach groundbreaking at the time, but Christensen’s film, an anthology, provides a uniquely academic and yet incredibly visceral look at the dangers of superstition in misunderstanding disease and mental illness.
This Swedish film famously served as inspiration for Wes Craven’s “The Last House On the Left,” but by itself Ingmar Bergman’s rape and revenge story offers plenty of complex and very powerful moments that don’t necessarily require the kind of graphic depictions of brutality that would come later.
“Witchfinder General” (1968)
American International Pictures
A film that has only grown in mystique since director Michael Reeves’ death from barbiturates just a year later, this obscure title helped establish many of the tropes of British folk horror while adapting Ronald Bassett’s novel of the same name, about a 17th-Century witch hunter and his heavily fictionalized exploits during the English Civil War.
Though it sounds like one of Mario Bava’s Italian horror odysseys, this underrated gem is actually a “Witchfinder General” follow-up (they’re both from the same film production company), about an English village taken over by demonic possession.
This film completes what has become known as the folk horror “Unholy Trinity” (along with “Witchfinder General” and “Blood on Satan’s Claw”) and is by far the most famous film of that sub-genre ever made, famously described by Cinefantastique as the “Citizen Kane” of horror films. Robin Hardy’s film follows a police sergeant investigating a girl’s disappearance who becomes ensconced in a community that has abandoned Christianity for Celtic paganism. Eep.
Fritz Kiersch directed this adaptation of Stephen King’s short story of the same name, about a small Nebraska town under the control of “He Who Walks Behind The Rows” and his 15-year-old disciple Isaac (John Franklin), who leads his fellow children in a murderous revolt against their parents and other adults.
Ben Wheatley co-wrote and directed this incredible, mesmerizing film about an ex-military man drawn into a mysterious and deadly game involving human sacrifice and a religious ritual he unwittingly becomes a part of. Featuring shocking violence and a devastating, unexpected ending, Wheatley’s film is shrouded in terrifying ambiguity. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading and go watch it now.
Robert Eggers’ film about a 1600s English family and the plague of maladies that befalls them is, like “Kill List,” an entrancing journey into the perils of superstition and suspicion. Anya Taylor-Joy perfectly captures the restless energy of a young woman eager to explore the adult world only to be blamed for events over which she has no control — because, of course, something more sinister is afoot. Or is it?
David Bruckner (“The Signal”) directed this adaptation of Adam Nevill’s novel of the same name about five college friends who encounter increasingly strange phenomenon after reuniting for a hike through the Swedish wilderness.
This oddly overlooked chiller from “The Raid” mastermind Gareth Evans was in production at the same time as “Midsommar” and takes a more classically autumnal approach to folk horror. Dan Stevens plays a man in 1905 London who travels to a forbidden island to rescue his sister from a secretive sect. (Trust us when we say that is the tip of the iceberg.) Profoundly disturbing, “Apostle” really goes for it in ways that few horror movies do these days, and even though it was only released last year, seems ripe for rediscovery.
2018 has been a really good year for horror movies.
It probably has to do with the unease we’re all feeling, whether it be political, cultural, or environmental. The filmmakers behind these films have internalized those anxieties, and given them supernatural or mythological weight, to create something as entertaining as it is cathartic. (If anything, the success of “Get Out” has established the tone and tenor for the entire year’s horror output, in new and idiosyncratic ways.)
Quite frankly, the fact that these films scare the pants off of you while also saying something makes them even more miraculous.
‘A Quiet Place’
Paramount
This year’s breakout horror sensation was, undoubtedly, “A Quiet Place,” an unnerving and fiendishly clever take on the alien invasion genre wherein the creatures’ primary motivation is sound. (It shares a lot with a terrific episode of the original “Twilight Zone” series, “The Invaders.”) Co-writer/director/star John Krasinski turned what could have been a gimmicky romp into something profound and unnerving, playing like a single continuously sustained suspense set piece for its entire 90-minute runtime.
But if it was only thrills Krasinksi was after, it wouldn’t have connected the way it did; thankfully, he grounded it with a remarkably human story of a single family living their lives at the end of the world. And Emily Blunt, as the pregnant matriarch struggling to hold her family together, gives one of the greatest performances of the year. She’s a scream queen who can’t make a peep.
‘Veronica’
Netflix
“Veronica” quietly premiered on Netflix in February, unceremoniously dropped on the service despite its high pedigree (it comes from Paco Plaza, co-creator of the wonderful “[rec]” franchise) and catchy, based-on-a-true-story logline (involving a teenage girl, a “spirit board” and demonic possession). But from those inglorious beginnings came something of a word-of-mouth sensation, with many taking to the Internet to proclaim it the scariest movie they’d ever seen.
And while that reaction might be a bit much, it’s not exactly wrong, either, especially since the most vocal Twitter users maybe haven’t seen some of the older classics. “Veronica” is definitely sleep-with-the-lights-on scary, and its supposed basis in fact makes it even more haunting and terrifying. Because stuff like this can’t happen in real life, right?
‘Cargo’
Netflix
Netflix debuted this deeply heartfelt post-apocalyptic chiller, arguably the most thoughtful and emotionally resonant zombie film you’ll see this year.
In “Cargo,” Martin Freeman stars as a man living in the Australian outback after the end of the world. He’s got a small child and, early in the film, loses his wife to the zombie outbreak. He also soon becomes bitten and so it becomes a race against time to get his child in safe hands before he succumbs. The film’s subtle, intricate world-building (people were bracelets that tell them how long they have until they turn, there are medical needles handed out that kill the undead) and nifty additions to preexisting mythology (the honeyed goo that covers the soon-to-be-zombie’s eyes and mouth is a great flourish) do much to pave over some of the more well-worn territory.
‘Hereditary’
A24
The breakout indie horror movie of the year (it wound up being A24’s biggest hit), “Hereditary” is still giving us the heebie-jeebies.
Ari Aster’s assured debut features a tour de force performance by Toni Collette as a woman whose family is coming unglued after the death of her mother, an overpowering matriarch with an incredibly dark secret. The movie unfolds slowly and deliberately, with the audience uncovering the mystery alongside Collette, to profoundly disturbing results. Punctuated by bursts of shocking violence, a spine-tingling score by frequent Arcade Fire confederate Colin Stetson and some of the spookiest moments in recent horror movie memory, “Hereditary” takes hold of you and never, ever lets go. *clucks tongue.
‘Annihilation’
Paramount
To anyone who is thinking, “Isn’t ‘Annihilation’ more of a heady sci-fi movie?”, we’d just like to remind you of the screaming bear creature that brutally murders somebody … or the mutant shark-alligator that puts the big beastie in “The Meg” to shame … or the part where somebody’s stomach is sliced open and eel-like intestines slither underneath. And these are just the parts we can remember off the top of our head.
“Annihilation” is a brutal, brilliant film, that follows a scientist (Natalie Portman) as she journeys into an alien region known as The Shimmer, hunting for answers about what happened to her lost husband (Oscar Isaac) – and how to save him.
Ultimately, the title refers to her own self-destruction, beautifully depicted in the film’s final act with a virtuoso climax as chilling as anything in a straight “horror film” this year.
‘The Ritual’
Chances are, “The Ritual” (now on Netflix) will seem familiar to you. It most closely resembles “The Descent,” in the sense that it’s about a group of friends (this time, they’re male and led by the in-demand Rafe Spall) who go on a hiking trip following a personal tragedy. Of course, like in “The Descent,” that trip soon turns very, very ugly.
But if you let go of its connections to other films, “The Ritual” is strangely rewarding, with a heavy atmosphere of dread that permeates every frame and a handful of finely honed performances (Spall, in particular, haunted by a brutal event, is compelling and cowardly in equal measure). Plus, the creature is one of the strangest, most bewitching designs in the current horror landscape. You’ll be riveted.
‘Mandy’
RLJE
“Mandy” has turned out to be one of the sleeper hits of the year. It was released on VOD and theatrically at the same time and after a few weeks actually expanded into more theaters. And with good reason — it’s not only one of the year’s best horror movies but it’s one of the year’s best movies (period).
As directed by the truly visionary Panos Cosmatos (“Beyond the Black Rainbow“), “Mandy” concerns a lumberjack named Red (Nicolas Cage), who goes on a rampage after his titular girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) is murdered by cultists. It’s weird, for sure (we didn’t even mention the supernatural S&M biker gang), but also profoundly moving and haunting, with one of the all-time greatest Cage performances (seriously).
It’s also arguably the most metal movie ever made.
‘Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich’
Full Moon
Sorry, “The Happytime Murders,” but this is the X-rated puppet movie we’ve all been waiting for. “Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich” is a gore-soaked reboot of the horror franchise that began way back in 1989 and has continued, unabated, to this day. (There was a canonical sequel – the 12th – released in 2017.)
In this entry, written by certifiable genius S. Craig Zahler (“Brawl in Cell Block 99,” “Bone Tomahawk”), the backstory has been rewritten (hello, Udo Kier as a Nazi toymaker!) and a new story has formed around a toy convention where the demonic playthings run amok. The narrative is inspired, in part, by racial, ethnic and homophobic prejudice. So, yes, this isn’t for everyone. But if you’re finding yourself wanting a bloody blast of inappropriate humor, outré horror, and some very, er, “heightened” performances (led by Thomas Lennon), it’s hard to top this.
‘Suspiria’
Amazon Studios
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Luca Guadagino’s “Suspiria” is that it doesn’t try to ape Dario Argento’s peerless original. Instead, he crafted a brand new experience around the same basic framework (a dewy American girl, this time played by Dakota Johnson, travels to a European ballet school run by witches). The remake is incredibly artful and effective in completely different and equally profound ways. (He even stayed away from the primary colors of the original; this one is awash in autumnal hues.)
Guadagino fascinatingly chooses to set the movie in the same year that the original film was released, bringing in elements of socio-political unease that the original steered clear of, broadening the scope but maintaining its emotional intimacy. The cast’s performances (led by Tilda Swinton) are peerless and Thom Yorke’s score is, like the rest of the film, haunting and unforgettable.
If you aren’t moved, puzzled, or enraged by “Suspiria,” you probably had your eyes closed.
‘Halloween‘
Universal/Blumhouse
40 years after John Carpenter’s original, David Gordon Green has crafted a “Halloween” that stands nobly alongside it. In this new movie, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has gone from a terrified babysitter to an embittered survivalist, keenly aware of how prepared she should be if Michael Myers ever breaks free. (Spoiler alert: he does.)
This is a horror movie as much about a homicidal maniac ruthlessly murdering folks on Halloween night as it is about how acts of violence can cause trauma that can course through entire generations. Green’s direction is layered and nuanced, combining Carpenter’s elegance with more down-and-dirty moments, and the script (by Green, Danny McBride, and Jeff Fradley) wisely avoids the muddled mythology that the franchise had built up in the subsequent sequels. Instead, this is a direct follow-up to the original, full of chilly synths, bloody kills, and a female empowerment subtext that makes it the best possible horror sequel for 2018.
‘Ghost Stories‘
IFC
“Ghost Stories” flew under the radar for a lot of people earlier this year, blotted out by the titanic horror movie events of 2018. But you should go back and check it out. It’s a hoot.
Written and directed by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, based on their stage play, “Ghost Stories” is playful and scary. It is an expert homage to the old British horror anthologies that Amicus would put out in the 1960s (oftentimes employing down-on-their-luck horror icons) that still feels fresh and relevantly today.
Nyman plays a professional debunker who is assigned three seemingly unexplainable cases by an aging mentor — in one, a night security guard is menaced by an otherworldly force; in another, a young motorist encounters a forest-dwelling beast. The third and final story yet focuses on a successful businessman (“Sherlock’s” Martin Freeman) who is plagued by strangeness while waiting for the birth of his child. All of the stories will chill your blood, and the wraparound segments create their own kind of messed-up story.
Creepy, twisty, and oddly mournful, “Ghost Tales” (which is now out on home video) is worth spending a sleepless night with.
‘Apostle‘
Netflix
Gareth Evans, who had previously directed the two “Raid” movies, moved into far spookier territory with his epic follow-up, a folkloric mind-f*ck that makes “The Wicker Man” look like “Hotel Transylvania.”
In 1905, a restless man (Dan Stevens) travels to a remote British island to rescue his sister from a dangerous cult, led by a charismatic madman (Michael Sheen). That’s pretty much all you can say about “Apostle” without giving way some of its myriad, blood-splattered surprises, but just know this … it’s going to mess you up and it’s going to mess you up good.
Evans, known for his visceral fight sequences, plays things more atmospheric here, instead settling into the sorrowful presence of the island, and how broken people are able to build a society that is just as broken. It’s beautiful and compelling, with an ending you will not believe, and since it arrived on Netflix, there’s no excuse for you to not watch right now. Like, go!
‘Revenge‘
NEON
2018 seems like the perfect time for a feminist rape-revenge movie and whew boy did French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat deliver. In “Revenge,” Jen (Matilda Lutz, star earrings dangling from each lobe) is invited to a lavish weekend getaway by her rich (and married) boyfriend. Things take a turn for the worse when one of his buddies rapes her, and then her said boyfriend attempts to kill her. Thankfully, she’s got a will to live and a locket full of high-powered hallucinogens.
While some of the make-up effects are wildly over-the-top (so much gushing blood), they are all in service of putting the viewer in Jen’s position, as the claws her way to vengeance. She is a survivor. And while this is sounding more like a thesis project than a thrilling piece of entertainment, let me assure you that it is. The subtext is all there, and Fargeat (in her very first film!) delicately balances the message of the movie with the thrill of watching very bad people get dispatched in appropriately nasty ways. (Lutz is a revelation.)
Think of it as the first drive-in classic of the #MeToo era.
