Editorials
‘Antebellum’ and 15 Other Horror Movies, TV Shows and Video Games Coming in September
The horror genre can, at turns, provide a much-needed escape from the world we live in, as well as an opportunity to directly confront our anxieties about those very real ills. Throughout the month of September, new movies, TV shows, mini-series and video games are giving all of us horror fans something to look forward to, whether we’re having a great time or cowering on our couches… or both!
The nightmare begins now – right now! – with the September 1st VOD release of Followed, a supernatural thriller about a social media influencer who’ll do anything to boost their numbers, including staying at a haunted hotel! In the room where a serial killer once lived! This one takes place entirely on a computer screen, a la the hit films Searching and Host.
HBO Max debuts a new series on a much larger scale on September 3rd, a sci-fi thriller called Raised By Wolves, about a planet where androids raise the last human children and defend them from religious zealots. But maybe the androids aren’t as peaceful as they seem, and maybe they’re growing a little too human? Travis Fimmel and Amanda Collin star in a series written by Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners), and produced by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), who also directs the first two installments.
‘Raised by Wolves’
One day later, on September 4, your horror options expand with I’m Thinking of Ending Things, a new psychological horror film from director Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa), about a young woman trapped on a farm with her boyfriend and his parents during a snowstorm, where the situation turns mind-bending. The film stars Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Collette and David Thewlis, and debuts on Netflix after a brief theatrical premiere. In her review at Bloody-Disgusting, Meagan Navarro says the film “will likely wreck you,” and is “triumphant in casting a spell of heartbreak and longing.”
Also on September 4, you can find the new horror-thriller The Owners in theaters, On Demand and on Digital! Maisie Williams from Doctor Who stars alongside Sylvester McCoy, also from Doctor Who, in a home invasion film about young thieves who break into the wrong house, and find themselves in a game of cat-and-mouse with the elderly owners!
Netflix has more horror offerings in the days that follow, with the South Korean zombie thriller #Alive debuting on September 8. The film takes place in a city that’s under quarantine, and follows a pair of survivors trying to isolate in an apartment that’s cut off from the outside world. Then, on September 10, McG returns with The Babysitter: Killer Queen, a sequel to his 2017 horror comedy, in which the survivors of the original attack find themselves once again hunted by satanic cultists. Judah Lewis, Emily Alyn Lind, Robbie Amell and Bella Thorne headline the cast.
‘The Babysitter: Killer Queen’
Hey, remember VHS? Not the anthology horror movies, but the actual tapes? They once again become the source for untold horrors in the new horror film Rent-A-Pal, about a lonely man who finds a tape with a recording of a friendly person on it, played by Wil Wheaton. But this “Rent-A-Pal” isn’t free, and the cost may be too much to pay. Unless, of course, you’re in the audience, where the price to see Rent-A-Pal in theaters and On Demand will be comparatively reasonable when it premieres on September 11!
Over on HBO, September 14 arrives with The Third Day, an ambitious TV mini-series told in two parts over the course of six episodes. The first half, “Summer,” stars Jude Law as a man drawn to a mysterious island full of creepy traditions. The second half, “Winter,” stars Naomie Harris as a woman who arrives on the same island, who presumably also has some unpleasantness ahead of her. Katherine Waterston, Paddy Considine and Emily Watson co-star.
‘The Third Day’
Back in the streaming realm, September 16 brings the debut of The Devil All the Time, a new Netflix thriller starring Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, Bill Skarsgard, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke and Mia Wasikowska, from acclaimed director Antonio Campos (Christine). The all-star film tells the story of the backwoods of Ohio, where creepy sheriffs and preachers descend on Holland’s character.
One day later, on September 17, Shudder debuts Spiral (not to be confused with Higuchinsky’s surreal cult classic Spiral, or the delayed sequel Spiral: From the Book of Saw). The film stars Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Ari Cohen as a same-sex couple who move to a small town with their teenaged daughter, only to find it’s a sinister place.
Make sure you mark September 18 down on your calendar! That’s the day that Antebellum finally debuts On Demand. Janelle Monáe stars as a woman enduring the shocking evils of slavery in the antebellum south, and also as a historian exploring those horrors in the present day. In Bloody-Disgusting’s review, Meagan Navarro says Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz’s film “creates terror from history” but “struggles against its lack of tension and heavy-handedness.”
‘Antebellum’
But wait, there’s more! September 18 also brings with it the premiere of Alone in theaters and On Demand. The film, directed by John Hyams, stars Jules Wilcox as a woman traveling alone and the psychopath stalking her. In Bloody-Disgusting’s review, Meagan Navarro says the film “offers gorgeous violence featuring two competent leads,” but also that it’s “shackled by a familiar, barebones script.”
Also on September 18 (we told you it was a big one), the horror-thriller No Escape debuts in theaters and On Demand. The film tells the story of a social media influencer who’ll do anything to boost their numbers (which seems to be a popular plot point nowadays) and who travels to Moscow and becomes embroiled in a deadly game.
‘Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous’
And if you’re looking for a complete 180 from all that terror, September 18 also sees the debut of the Netflix series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. The animated show tells the story of a group of teenagers who are trapped on Isla Nublar, who have to fight for their survival when dinosaurs escape. The series takes place during the events of the film Jurassic World.
Late September may be a teensy bit early to start playing Christmas carols, but it’s just the right time for the new thriller Let It Snow, making its debut On Demand September 22. The film stars Ivanna Sakhno (Pacific Rim: Uprising) as a snowboarder being hunted by a maniac on a snowmobile.
And although it’s been a slow month for horror video games, that all changes on September 29 with the release of the virtual reality experience The Walking Dead: Onslaught on PCVR and PSVR. The new story allows players to assume the role of Daryl, Michonne, Rick and Carol as they gather supplies and battle hordes of the undead!
Remember: All of these release dates are subject to change, especially in 2020!
‘Let It Snow’
Due to a complex series of anthropological mishaps, the Wayans Brothers are a huge deal in Brazil. Around these parts, White Chicks is considered a national treasure by a lot of people, so it stands to reason that Brazilian audiences would continue to accompany the Wayans’ comedic output long after North America had stopped taking them seriously as comedic titans.
This is the only reason why I originally watched Michael Tiddes and Marlon Wayans’ 2013 horror spoof A Haunted House – appropriately known as “Paranormal Inactivity” in South America – despite having abandoned this kind of movie shortly after the excellent Scary Movie 3. However, to my complete and utter amazement, I found myself mostly enjoying this unhinged parody of Found Footage films almost as much as the iconic spoofs that spear-headed the genre during the 2000s. And with Paramount having recently announced a reboot of the Scary Movie franchise, I think this is the perfect time to revisit the divisive humor of A Haunted House and maybe figure out why this kind of film hasn’t been popular in a long time.
Before we had memes and internet personalities to make fun of movie tropes for free on the internet, parody movies had been entertaining audiences with meta-humor since the very dawn of cinema. And since the genre attracted large audiences without the need for a serious budget, it made sense for studios to encourage parodies of their own productions – which is precisely what happened with Miramax when they commissioned a parody of the Scream franchise, the original Scary Movie.
The unprecedented success of the spoof (especially overseas) led to a series of sequels, spin-offs and rip-offs that came along throughout the 2000s. While some of these were still quite funny (I have a soft spot for 2008’s Superhero Movie), they ended up flooding the market much like the Guitar Hero games that plagued video game stores during that same timeframe.
You could really confuse someone by editing this scene into Paranormal Activity.
Of course, that didn’t stop Tiddes and Marlon Wayans from wanting to make another spoof meant to lampoon a sub-genre that had been mostly overlooked by the Scary Movie series – namely the second wave of Found Footage films inspired by Paranormal Activity. Wayans actually had an easier time than usual funding the picture due to the project’s Found Footage presentation, with the format allowing for a lower budget without compromising box office appeal.
In the finished film, we’re presented with supposedly real footage recovered from the home of Malcom Johnson (Wayans). The recordings themselves depict a series of unexplainable events that begin to plague his home when Kisha Davis (Essence Atkins) decides to move in, with the couple slowly realizing that the difficulties of a shared life are no match for demonic shenanigans.
In practice, this means that viewers are subjected to a series of familiar scares subverted by wacky hijinks, with the flick featuring everything from a humorous recreation of the iconic fan-camera from Paranormal Activity 3 to bizarre dance numbers replacing Katy’s late-night trances from Oren Peli’s original movie.
Your enjoyment of these antics will obviously depend on how accepting you are of Wayans’ patented brand of crass comedy. From advanced potty humor to some exaggerated racial commentary – including a clever moment where Malcom actually attempts to move out of the titular haunted house because he’s not white enough to deal with the haunting – it’s not all that surprising that the flick wound up with a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite making a killing at the box office.
However, while this isn’t my preferred kind of humor, I think the inherent limitations of Found Footage ended up curtailing the usual excesses present in this kind of parody, with the filmmakers being forced to focus on character-based comedy and a smaller scale story. This is why I mostly appreciate the love-hate rapport between Kisha and Malcom even if it wouldn’t translate to a healthy relationship in real life.
Of course, the jokes themselves can also be pretty entertaining on their own, with cartoony gags like the ghost getting high with the protagonists (complete with smoke-filled invisible lungs) and a series of silly The Exorcist homages towards the end of the movie. The major issue here is that these legitimately funny and genre-specific jokes are often accompanied by repetitive attempts at low-brow humor that you could find in any other cheap comedy.
Not a good idea.
Not only are some of these painfully drawn out “jokes” incredibly unfunny, but they can also be remarkably offensive in some cases. There are some pretty insensitive allusions to sexual assault here, as well as a collection of secondary characters defined by negative racial stereotypes (even though I chuckled heartily when the Latina maid was revealed to have been faking her poor English the entire time).
Cinephiles often claim that increasingly sloppy writing led to audiences giving up on spoof movies, but the fact is that many of the more beloved examples of the genre contain some of the same issues as later films like A Haunted House – it’s just that we as an audience have (mostly) grown up and are now demanding more from our comedy. However, this isn’t the case everywhere, as – much like the Elves from Lord of the Rings – spoof movies never really died, they simply diminished.
A Haunted House made so much money that they immediately started working on a second one that released the following year (to even worse reviews), and the same team would later collaborate once again on yet another spoof, 50 Shades of Black. This kind of film clearly still exists and still makes a lot of money (especially here in Brazil), they just don’t have the same cultural impact that they used to in a pre-social-media-humor world.
At the end of the day, A Haunted House is no comedic masterpiece, failing to live up to the laugh-out-loud thrills of films like Scary Movie 3, but it’s also not the trainwreck that most critics made it out to be back in 2013. Comedy is extremely subjective, and while the raunchy humor behind this flick definitely isn’t for everyone, I still think that this satirical romp is mostly harmless fun that might entertain Found Footage fans that don’t take themselves too seriously.
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