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The 13 Most Anticipated Horror Games of 2011
Last year was pretty good to horror fans, pretty good indeed. It gave us Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a game that would’ve scared my pants off if I had been wearing pants while I played it. What? Don’t you play all your horror games without pants? After coming close to soiling myself during late night Dead Space marathons I’ve learned the virtues of playing games while my loins are in the comfy embrace of a thick adult diaper. It keeps me from having to do laundry so I can save my quarters for more important things like soda and snacks for said half naked gaming marathons.
But enough about me and my bizarre gaming habits, let’s talk about this year and what’s lurking in the shadows, waiting to satiate our endless appetites for all things twisted and horrifying. If the following thirteen games are anything to go by, this year might just be the best one yet for fans of the genre.
I sincerely hope you’ve already pre-ordered this game by now because it’s only two weeks away. Dead Space 2 promises more scares, a longer campaign, more variety and an incredibly fun multiplayer mode, among a plethora of other exciting additions.
The third installment in the popular, if not a little convoluted, horror FPS series is coming up and so far it’s looking pretty damn good. The game marks the franchise’s first foray into cooperative gameplay, but hopefully it’ll do what Resident Evil 5 couldn’t and retain some of its scares. We also have playing as the supernatural powered Paxton Fettel and a much improved cover system to look forward to in what could possibly be the best game yet.
I love that developer Volition is taking the amazing Red Faction series in a terrifying new direction despite there being essentially no need to do so yet. Armageddon takes us under the surface of Mars where creepy bug-like aliens have been let loose upon the unsuspecting colonists. We can expect even more ways to unleash havok on the environments only this time in more claustrophobic quarters.
Sadly, no one outside Japan was able to experience Fatal Frame IV but there’s a chance that will change with the upcoming remake of what’s considered by many, including myself, to be the best game in the ghostly series. Like the last game, Crimson Butterfly will be exclusive to the Wii so you can expect a hefty amount of frantic wand waggling. If we do end up seeing it outside Japan don’t let its Wii exclusivity keep you from enjoying one of the best survival horror games of all time.
There are rumors this game will be out at the end of the year but if tomorrow brings with it an announcement to the contrary, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised. Demon’s Souls was a game I had no interest in until I was asked to review it and at first I resented it for being so unforgiving. After a few hours I tossed the game aside and vowed to never pick it up again. Not much later I cooled myself off and tried it again using the things I learned from my first tumultuous experience with the game to keep it from getting as frustrating. Thirty hours of tough battles later I discovered I was hooked and that is why Project Dark, a spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls, makes the list.
This is potentially the most fascinating game here because it’s the only one that’s been designed specifically with Kinect in mind. Rise of Nightmares is a game that we know practically nothing about but is enthralling nonetheless. It’s been drawing comparisons to D, a decent horror puzzle game released back in 1995. How the game will implement Kinect’s full body controls is yet to be seen but if it’s done well Rise of Nightmares could be good.
All I can say is finally. After waiting a decade to hear something about this game I was beginning to lose hope that we would ever see a sequel. Then it was revealed in 2009 that the game was on the way and was being made by the developer behind the original game. All signs point to us seeing this game near the end of the year but I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets pushed back a bit.
The only mobile horror game on the list is here for good reason, because it looks amazing. Not only could Revelations be easily mistaken for a console game (it uses a modified version of Resident Evil 5’s engine), its use of the 3DS’ 3D technology makes it infinitely more exciting.
Another game that might end up getting delayed since it’s been pushed back once before is the long in development Aliens: Colonial Marines, brought to us by the dudes (and dudettes) that gave us Borderlands. I just hope it’s better than that craptacular Aliens vs. Predator game.
Now, I hesitated to throw this one on the list since there’s little chance we’ll be seeing it this year, but I can hope can’t I? Blizzard’s shown every class in the game, many of the exciting new features, some boss fights, spells and a myriad other things so the chances of a release date being the next thing they reveal is looking pretty good. If Diablo 3 does make it to my anxious hands sometime this year I can assure you I won’t be heard from again for many, many months after its release.
Ah, yes. The game I hyped up before we knew anything about it was revealed at TGS to mixed results. It has three of the biggest names in the industry behind it, including Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil), Goichi Suda (No More Heroes) and Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill composer), is decidedly Japanese in flavor and could pass for a spiritual successor to Nightmare Creatures. I think that’s a formula for success right there.
Doom 4 was ready to be revealed at QuakeCon last year but was taken off the schedule to give it more time to look spiffy before its big showing. It’s because of this that Doom 4 makes the list because I simply want to see something from it preferably early this year. Developer id Software is likely going to focus on getting Rage out so Doom 4 won’t be seeing the light of day until 2012 (unless some crazy gaming miracle proves me wrong I suppose) but when we do finally see what those guys have been hard at work on over the last handful of years I’m sure it’ll be as exciting as any major release.
We only recently had some light shed on what’s been an otherwise very mysterious game. We’ve been promised a return to what made the original games so terrifying, including a stronger focus on puzzles, some side quests and the very exciting addition of weather that ought to mix things up a bit. Downpour might not be the complete return to the series’ roots many gamers have been hoping for, but so far it’s looking far more intriguing than the last handful of games.
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
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