When you think of spooky scary skeletons, you may think of October. You may think of September even as the creepy season starts rolling in when Jack Skellington is at his happiest. But it may surprise you that you don’t have to wait long to get a scare in the theater.
This April will be giving October a run for its pumpkins, honestly. A ton of movies are coming out that are challenging the month for dominance of the jump scares. If you want possession movies, you’ve got it (A lot of them, in fact). If you want documentaries on the legacy movies have left behind, covered. Let’s talk about that for a second, with all thehorrorfilms releasing in April 2023.
Perhaps this month’s most prominent name in horror,Evil Dead Risewill be the fourth effective effort to jump-start the franchise. This is coming on the heels of Bruce Campbell retiring the character of Ash Williams, and they’re trying now to do the tried and true horror movie sequel plot where theytake the story and put it in a city.
Fans of the 2013Evil Deadremake will rejoice at seeing this one as it seems very in line with Fede Alvarez’s vision for the franchise. The red band trailer features a woman’s hair and scalp being peeled off, which hasn’t been done sinceSaw IVwith proper gusto. Perhaps the most exciting angle to this movie may be if the mom who gets possessed also happens to be pregnant. Then the question can be asked, is the baby possessed too? What’s most interesting about this movie is what isn’t seen right now. Part of what makes the original so memorable is how they give so much time between the shocking sequences to recover from the hell you’re witnessing. Hopefully, this one has some of that magic that helped get the original off its feet.
The Pope’s Exorcist
Russell Crowe is starring as Fr. Amourth, one of the Vatican’s most renowned exorcists. The title is mildly clickbait, but the premise will be interesting enough, with the story based on true accounts from Amourth, who was credited with over 100,000 exorcisms during his life. Now while thereal personclaims that most incidences are a result of psychosis, this is not that version. ThinkThe Conjuringlevel of excitement, and you’ll probably be right at home with this one.
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From Black
From Blackis aShudderoriginal. The plot follows a recovering drug addict being given a second chance to see her lost son again. It’s not as simple as it sounds, though, as the wrinkle comes in with some supernatural forces at play. Kind of a deal-with-the-devil sort of situation combined with some pretty wild visuals. That appears to be the film’s biggest selling point, with weird-looking makeup and candles strewn about the place paired with a very normal, documentary-style camera placement for added creepy factor.
Another film with demons as a central plot finishes us off at three for the month. This film perhaps has the most interesting setup of all three of them. The story follows a serial killer who claims on the day of his scheduled execution that he’s been possessed by a demon. If true, they can’t execute him. The interesting part will be seeing how legitimate his claim is through the movie as the weird things may be happening by circumstance of a master manipulator or perhaps by some higher power. This very same claim has been made by various murderers and quickly debunked in real life, which adds that realistic grounding element to the film. It feels like a movie that may fly under the radar of most but deserves to be seen by more.
This one may lean a bit more into funny than horrific, but it certainly has the season’s spirit in mind with a very violent Renfield starring as an Uber Eats guy for his boss man Dracula. Nic Cage playing Dracula will be the big draw for people here, but it’s also possibleRenfieldcould gain more traction than that if itdoes prove to be popular. It seems it’s trying to be a firm dark comedy in the same vein asWhat We Do in the Shadows,which is probably a solid move. That and the latest red band trailer show it to be suitably violent, with Dracula just eating everything, so this will probably be an April must-see.
Beau is Afraid
This is another wild creation from Ari Aster. It’s hard to get a sense of what it’s really going to be as he’s got his own unique style, to be sure. First,Hereditaryas a straight horror, thenMidsommaras a weird folk horror that’s strangely about a breakup. Now we have a horror comedy from the director that’s beendescribed as a “JewishLord of the Rings.” The story is about Joaquin Phoenix as he finds a way to overcome his anxiety and travel home to confront the death of his mother.
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Living with Chucky
Lastly on the list is a documentary about theChild’s Play franchise’s legacy with people likeLin Shaye, daughter of the guy who founded New Line Cinema, and Marlon Wayans, responsible forScary MovieandA Haunted House. If you’re at all interested in behind-the-scenes of how things are made or care to look into the legacy that a franchise leaves behind, give this a watch and appreciate how the magic happens.
