\u00ab\u00a0It\u00a0\u00bb is back.
Scared about what 2017 might bring? Join the club.
That’s what’s so delicious about horror movies. For a couple of hours, viewers can forget about the very real terrors of war, disease, natural disasters and political division. On the screen, there might be zombies, vampires, aliens or sadistic murderers, but once the lights go up, they all disappear back into the projector. If only our real fears could be banished so easily.
Some familiar spooky faces are returning. Annabelle, the creepy doll, is back in \u00ab\u00a0Annabelle 2. \u00a0\u00bb Samara, of die-in-seven-days videotape fame, is still crawling out of TVs, this time flat-screens, in \u00ab\u00a0Rings. \u00a0\u00bb And Stephen King’s horror classic \u00ab\u00a0It,\u00a0\u00bb which reminded us all how much we hate clowns and sewers and especially clowns in sewers, is getting a new look.
Classic monster movies are more action movies than flat-out horror these days, but \u00ab\u00a0The Mummy,\u00a0\u00bb \u00ab\u00a0War for the Planet of the Apes,\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0Kong: Skull Island\u00a0\u00bb are sure to draw big audiences.
From the department of films with actual novel premises, audiences are eagerly awaiting \u00ab\u00a0The Belko Experiment,\u00a0\u00bb which takes the kill-your-friends concept of \u00ab\u00a0The Hunger Games\u00a0\u00bb and Japan’s \u00ab\u00a0Battle Royale\u00a0\u00bb and transforms it to an office environment. Maybe you always thought that one guy in accounting was annoying, but this is ridiculous. And speaking of office horror, there’s real promise in \u00ab\u00a0A Cure for Wellness,\u00a0\u00bb in which an employee is sent to bring the company’s CEO back from a mysterious spa in the Swiss Alps, where nothing is like it seems and leaving is not an option.
Not every eagerly anticipated horror film is covered in our photo gallery, because many haven’t released photos or trailers yet. But we’re still looking forward to the \u00ab\u00a0Flatliners\u00a0\u00bb sequel (September 29), a \u00ab\u00a0Friday the 13th\u00a0\u00bb reboot promising a Jason and his mother origin story (October 13–Friday, of course), and a third \u00ab\u00a0Cloverfield\u00a0\u00bb film, called \u00ab\u00a0God Particle\u00a0\u00bb (October 27)
Here’s a look at the scary cinema offerings looming on the fresh new calendar pages of 2017.<\/p>\n