Hollywood is obsessed with the horror genre.

Traditionally, a relatively cheap genre to produce that offers studios a low-risk investment for a high return at the box office; the genre (and its many, many sub-genres) have enjoyed constant success for a number of years.

They come out all year. The dog days of winter are filled with seemingly endless waves of soulless and faceless slash fests that offer very little in terms of originality, creativity or even scares. Nowadays, horror films are out there more to disgust than they are there to scare. Gone are the days of Rosemary’s Baby, Evil Dead, Halloween or The Exorsist – now we get Mama, Evil Dead, Halloween and The Last Exorcism.

Hollywood has fallen into the trap of remaking previous horror staples with modern (read: overly gory; cheap scares) updates. The genre has become a hollow shell of its once proud former self. It’s gotten so bad, that the genre feels the need to spoof itself. We’re not talking about the Scary Movie series either. The Cabin in the Woods, is at once a frightening homage to past horror heroes and a stinging commentary on the state of the genre itself. The essence of a scary movie seems to have been lost and filmmakers know it.

In any case, the studios typically save their best shock flicks for the month of October and its preceding months and this year is no different. But with no Saw to look forward to, what horror films are worth (or at least seem worth) your hard earned cash?

Continue reading to find out…if you dare.

The Conjuring (2013; dir. James Wan)

James Wan, the Malaysian-Australian director has two films, The Conjuring and Insidious: Chapter 2 coming out within two months of each other and both starring Patrick Wilson in the male lead.

Wilson stars in The Conjuring as real life paranormal investigator Ed Warren and Vera Farmiga plays his wife, Lorraine. The film follows them as they investigate a Rhode Island haunted house and psychological torment follows.

The Conjuring has been getting some rave reviews leading up to this week. It is getting comparisons to The Exorcist by some publications and Variety is calling it an “old-school freakout”. While I certainly don’t expect this little film to be quite on The Exorcist’s level in terms of quality or even provide the amount of quality chills, not many modern films get mentioned in the same sentence as that seminal picture and it’s a sign in and of itself that Wan might have something with The Conjuring.

The Conjuring will be released this week, on July 19th.

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013; dir. James Wan)

There’s always one on Friday the 13th, isn’t there? Insidious: Chapter 2 has the coveted date for this year (falling in September) and looks to be taking advantage of the superstitious date’s ominous reputation.

Wan returns to direct as do stars Wilson and Rose Byrne as Josh and Renai Lambert. Wilson and Byrne are the troubled parents of Dalton (Ty Simpkins), who and are once again being used haunted and used as vessels for ghosts (don’t you hate it when that happens?). This time its Wilson’s Josh that is being used and the results look to be pretty terrifying.

Both of these films seem very patient with its scares and if nothing else, appears to be building character and a story around the people they chronicle. That kind of thing goes a long way in terms of an audience caring about what’s going on in these pictures and I’m hopeful Wan can achieve that goal with these films. Wan seems to be a director that appreciates how great the genre can be when done right and with the right amount of patience, character and scares.

Of the two, the trailer for Insidious: Chapter 2 seems to own a better film. But both seem like traditional psychological horror pictures with limited violence and gore that has become so prevalent of late. Both of his films look to be among the best the genre has to offer in this second half of 2013.

Insidious: Chapter 2 will see release on September 13th.

You’re Next (2013; dir. Adam Wingard)

Home invasion thrillers seem to be experiencing a renaissance of sorts of late. Silent House and The Purge have both done a fair amount of business. Silent House relied on a gimmick of sorts (the entire thing was made to look like one continuous shot and real time action) and saw a decent amount of business that was capitalizing on Elizabeth Olsen’s recent brush-in with fame.

The Purge had a premise that seemed straight out of a student’s idea notebook. Honestly, it looked so juvenile in its planning and marketing, I was forced to skip out on it. But it did well enough that a sequel is already in store for next year.

Building on these recent home invasion successes comes You’re Next, a glossy and polished looking film from journeyman director Adam Wingard. Wingard had sections in both V/H/S and V/H/S/2 and has done short films on the internet and festival circuit.

This film premiered in 2011 at the Toranto Film Festival and received universal acclaim there. God knows why it took so long for the film to see a wide release, but at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, the future looks bright for this little indie film.

While the early buzz is promising, it’s the trailer for this that really impresses. The cinematography is dark, but not muddy and has a soft feeling to it that might be found in a David Fincher film. It looks like it relishes in some cheap scares here and there (what modern horror picture doesn’t?), but while The Purge’s concept of mass home invasion seemed silly and ridiculous, this film feels eerily real – even with the invaders’ odd animal masks (they are branded The Animals in the marketing).

I sincerely hope that this film doesn’t get too carried away with the gore or extreme violence; those things really distract from real scares. The shot in the trailer with light coming through a keyhole and a figure blocking that light as he walks by the door is more terrifying than any visual dismemberment.

I am cautiously optimistic that You’re Next will be one of the best horror films of the year. It comes out August 23rd.

Let’s hope people see it.

Carrie (2013; dir. Kimberly Peirce)

Every horror fan knows Carrie.

The 1976 classic, birthed from the mind of one the genre’s greats, Stephen King, had the character and imagery to become one of the most iconic and influential horror films of the 70s.

And now Carrie is a victim of Hollywood’s incessant need to remake films that never needed remaking. But that doesn’t make it any less essential to the season or to this list.

Chloë Grace Moretz stars as the troubled teenager, tormented by her mother (Julianne Moore) and made fun of at school for being an outcast by her schoolmates (Gabriella Wilde).

Judging by the trailer (a good one, if a little revealing), this seems very similar to what Brian De Palma did with the source materiel in 1976. Reportedly, this iteration follows the novel more faithfully than De Palma’s film, but that seems to be every producer’s excuse these days for remaking a film that never needed remaking in the first place (Total Recall, I’m looking at you).

This film ranks so high for one reason and one reason only: Kimberly Peirce.

Fourteen years removed from the film that catapulted her career, Boys Don’t Cry is a helpful reminder that Peirce can lend a brand of thoughtfulness to whatever she does.

And no, the correlation between Carrie and Boys Don’t Cry is not lost on me. Both stories are very similar from a human aspect.

One of these social outcasts just happens to have the supernatural on her side.

Gravity (2013; dir. Alfonso Cuarón)

No, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity is not, in the modern sense a horror film, but make no mistake: it is one in the traditional sense. When human beings are thrust into extraordinary situations and are faced with insurmountable obstacles to survive, you have the best kind of survival-horror.

The images in that trailer get my heart racing, my palms sweating and my mind thinking.

There doesn’t seem to be any supernatural threat, or ghost, or masked killer lurking about. There don’t seem to be any cheap scares – in fact, the scares don’t seem to be dictated at all by anything other than the natural universe. The idea that the biggest threat is the smallest amount of force that can push you into oblivion is absolutely brilliant.

It’s thrilling, it’s original and it’s real.

Gravity looks like the most terrifying picture to come out of the Hollywood system in a long, long time. While we certainly don’t get any hint of this in that trailer, rumors have swirled for months that the film will contain a plethora of long shots, opening with a seventeen minute opus that sets the stage for what’s to come.

Cuarón is no stranger to complicated, choreographed long shots. He used similar compositions in Children of Men to create a sense of panic, fear and uncertainty that could work beautifully in Gravity.

Not much else beyond this trailer is known about Gravity, but information is sure to leak out when the film opens at the Venice Film Festival at the end of August. It’ll go wide October 4th.Paranormal Activity 5 (2013)

The Paranormal Activity craze started in 2007 as one of those Blair Witch Project-esque “true story”, found footage gimmick films. It was made on an insanely low budget ($15 thousand) and made a huge worldwide return, grossing almost $200 million in its initial release.

And while it took major studios three years to capitalize on this idea, in 2010 came the second installment and every year since then, a la Saw, we’ve had another chapter in the Paranormal Activity saga.

Paramount has found a way to produce these pictures for $5 million each time since the second film and come up with well over $100 million upon release each time. I doubt PA 5 will be any different.

Not much is known about PA 5. But one can observe the model and come up with some things here.

First, Katie Featherston is likely to reprise her role as the troubled Katie. She’s been in every film and that shouldn’t change with this fifth film.

Second, it’ll come out the weekend before Halloween. Since the second picture, the series has been a seasonal favorite for the Halloween crowd. Again, nothing has been formally announced, but if the film didn’t come out October 25th, it’d deviate from the series’ successful model and Paramount likely wouldn’t let that happen.

And finally, it actually might be okay. Regardless of how I as an individual feel about these films, it can’t be denied that they have a devoted following. Fans really get into the mythology of the whole thing and have completely bought into its story. Critics also have a bit of a soft spot for this indie series that could. For the four pictures that have seen theatrical release, PA 1, 2, i and 4, their Rotten Tomato aggregate scores are 83%, 59%, 68% and 26%, respectively.

Obviously that last film has been the black sheep of the series and who knows how it will affect the fifth film, but it is likely that the fifth Paranormal Activity can easily steer the ship back on course.

All of the clues point to Paranormal Activity 5 being the must watch horror film of the season.