

Opening Logo courtesy of Benjamin J. Colón (Soul Exodus)

So in a really cool turn of events, Elvira herself actually retweeted last week’s edition of ABGT, which was about, of course, Elvira. It was a pretty neat moment for me as a writer.

Welcome to this week’s edition of ABGT, which is part one of a look at 2015 horror. This time, I’m offering my predictions for the year. You might say they’re bold predictions. I wouldn’t, because I don’t want Greg DeMarco to sue. But you can say whatever you want. If this goes over well, I might make it an annual thing. Keep in mind that I have no way to know if any of these are true. Some of them are my hopes, some of them are my pessimistic viewpoints, and all of them are just slightly educated guesses. The whole point of reading these things is to have fun, so feel free to debate with me in the comments!

No other introductions necessary, so let’s get right to it.

#10: Scream Factory announces complete Phantasm box set, including Ravager

We know that Phantasm: Ravager is supposed to arrive some time in 2015. Other than a trailer and the smallest of details, we don’t have much to go on. I think that’s not because Don Coscarelli doesn’t have a distributor, I think it’s because he does have a distributor and they’re waiting for the right time to make a huge announcement. That announcement will be a complete franchise set of all five films from Scream Factory.

Scream has had a pretty big year. They released both the long-awaited Nightbreed set and the massive Halloween set that includes the producer’s cut of Halloween 6. They may not be looking to top themselves, but I would imagine somebody there wants to keep that momentum going. There are rumors that Coscarelli has the rights back to all four of the original films. Even if that wasn’t true, Scream has worked with Anchor Bay (who released DVDs of the first, third and fourth films) in the past and already have Blu-ray rights to Phantasm II. I think this stands a pretty good chance of happening, especially considering Scream is becoming a company that makes the impossible possible for horror fans.

#9: Paranormal Activity 5 is the lowest-grossing film of the series

I don’t think that PA5, which apparently has a subtitle of The Ghost Dimension (no really), will bomb. That would be impossible. However, the quality of the films has dropped dramatically and even the biggest supporters of Paranormal Activity, like myself, are beginning to give up on the franchise. I hated PA4 and while The Marked Ones was an improvement, it wasn’t really that good.

Quality is one thing, but the box office numbers have my back here. The first film made $193 million. The second made $177 million. The third made $207 million. The fourth dropped dramatically with $140 million and then The Marked Ones was the first to get less than $100 million as it only brought in $90 million. They’re all successes and the new one will be a success too. However, the two-year gap between main-story entries and the lackluster reaction to the past couple of sequels mean that this one will be the worst-grossing of the franchise yet. This is about the time in Saw‘s lifespan (six movies in) when Paranormal Activity beat it and Lionsgate announced the seventh and final film. I expect something similar here.

#8: Crimson Peak is a hit, Guillermo del Toro gets to do At The Mountains of Madness

Crimson Peak is Guillermo del Toro’s next big horror movie, a presumably big-budget affair for Universal. It’s funny that he has a bigger budget horror film at the studio, because Universal balked at the idea of a big-budget R-rated adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains of Madness. Del Toro went on to do Pacific Rim and it was a pretty big hit. Now he’s making Gothic horror film with quite an impressive cast. Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain are all good-great actors. Charlie Hunnam is very popular and can be good in the right role.

Obviously Del Toro wants this to be a success because why wouldn’t he? However, I think this is a secret test by Universal. If Del Toro can sell Crimson Peak, a horror film with no previous ties, a 19th century setting and considering who it is, a large budget…then maybe he can sell Lovecraft. He said in January of last year he was going to try again to get the film made. If he can prove that he can sell this kind of horror, then I think Universal will finally get Madness moving.

#7: The new Friday the 13th is the best sequel since the 80s

Say what you want about Platinum Dunes and Paramount, but they’re taking their time with the new Friday the 13th. Sure, there have been rumors of everything from it being another reboot, it being a 3D film and (even worse) a found footage film, but these are just rumors. There have even been rumors that Jason wouldn’t be the killer, which is absurd at this point. Some may think that Paramount just has no idea what they’re doing but I think they do. They could have picked any one of these ideas and rushed the film out, because they’ve rushed Friday sequels out in the past. They’re not rushing this one.

The film was supposed to arrive in February, but now it’s due out in November. Slasher movies don’t take long to film so it could start production in the next couple of months and still be good for that date. I think Paramount’s taking their time to make a movie that fans will actually enjoy. When it comes to Friday the 13th movies, Paramount hasn’t been kind. Considering the fact that Derek Mears appears to be on board (the only thing praised unanimously about the 2009 movie), that gives me hope. I think this movie will surprise people with how good it is.

#6: The Evil Dead TV series will tie into the 2013 remake somehow

It looks like the sequels to Evil Dead and Army of Darkness aren’t happening. They were announced after the success and fan praise for the 2013 movie but nothing ever got rolling. Instead, Starz announced Ash vs The Evil Dead, with Sam Raimi writing and directing the pilot and Bruce Campbell returning to play Ash. That’s awesome news. I couldn’t be happier to see the Chin back to playing Ash in more than a ten second cameo. However, if you’re a fan of the “remake”, you’re probably wondering, “What about Mia?”

I think she’ll have a role in the series. There were a lot of people that liked the Mia character and really dug the remake. Since you can’t just have Ash vs Deadites for an entire series (well, you could but let’s assume Starz wants something else), I think we’ll get Jane Levy joining the series at some point. She probably won’t star. She may not even be a recurring character. But I think for at least an episode, maybe more, Ash and Mia will cross paths.

#5: The Dark Tower officially announced, McConaughey to reprise role as Randall Flagg

This is working under the premise that Matthew McConaughey will end up playing Flagg in the four-film adaptation of The Stand, but I think that’s all but a certainty at this point. It’s funny, because if McConaughey were cast as Flagg five years ago, everyone would have hated the idea. But now he’s had a career renaissance and has proved he can still act after taking all of those paycheck movies. Sometimes you just need to pay the mortgage, man.

Considering Flagg doesn’t have a lot to do in the The Dark Tower movies for a good chunk of the series (he’s more of a background character for a lot of it, while other villains are pulling the strings), I think it’s not too much of a reach to say that if McConaughey plays Flagg in The Stand, and The Stand does well, then he could reprise the role for The Dark Tower. With all the work that’s been going into big budget King adaptations lately, I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to think a Tower announcement is coming. Warner Bros. is already doing The Stand and IT as multi-part, large-budget adaptations. Why not The Dark Tower?

#4: The Poltergeist remake won’t suck.

Call it optimism, call it blind hope, but I have a good feeling about this one. Like Friday the 13th, this was also pushed back from a February release date. The difference is that this was given a release right in the middle of the summer movie season. It’ll be during Ant-Man‘s second weekend and on the same day as Adam Sandler’s video game comedy Pixels. That alone shows the kind of confidence that Fox seems to have in their remake. Even a tried and true franchise like Insidious, which is out a month earlier, only has the Entourage movie to deal with.

The director is Gil Kenan, who previously directed Monster House. So he has experience with haunted house movies, even if it was previously animation. That was still a really good movie. Brad Bird has proven in the past that you can move from animation to live action and still be just as good. The cast includes such acting heavyweights as Sam Rockwell and Jared Harris, so they’re not playing around. If the special effects are also thoughtfully crafted, then we might have a winner. Cthlulu knows that Hollywood could use a good horror movie after the year that was 2014.

#3: A new Nightmare on Elm Street with Jackie Earle Haley will be announced.

We seem to be all about nostalgia these days. Everything’s getting remade or rebooted or turned into an Avengers-like franchise. Anything to take known properties and keep milking them. If there’s a franchise that has been constantly milked for money, it’s this one. There’s got to be something in the works at Warner Bros for another Freddy movie, even if we haven’t actually reported on the news yet. I think 2015 will be the year that we are greeted with news about another Freddy movie. I think if WB is smart about it this time, they’ll craft an entirely original story and get the only good thing about the remake, Jackie Earle Haley, to come back.

With today’s special effects, you can really do wonders with the dream landscape. One of my biggest issues with the remake, among other things, was that they just felt content to poorly remake scenes from the original instead of doing their own thing with the same character. If Haley is able to shine again and you do something special with the effects, you already have two-thirds of what made the franchise work. Maybe get a Robert Englund cameo in there too somehow. We do like our nostalgia.

#2: The adaptation of Stephen King’s IT will get an A-list, respected actor to play Pennywise.

And it won’t be Tim Curry. I hate to tell you guys this, but Curry is in his late sixties and had a stroke last year. He’s not returning to the role of Pennywise and he really shouldn’t. He left his mark on the role and it’s time someone should take it into much darker territory. We already have a great director on board, as True Detective‘s Cary Fukunaga is writing and directing at least part one, which begins filming in the summer.

As True Detective shows, he can already handle going back and forth between timelines, something that happens often in the novel. He’s also shown that he can go into some dark territory, something that King’s novel did and the miniseries was too limited by its format to fully accomplish. I think on top of all of that, he’s going to get a huge name that’s known for their acting ability to play Pennywise. I wouldn’t dare guess who, but it’s going to be someone that’s going to cause some debate, even if they are a great actor. My personal choice is Andy Serkis, but I know it’ll be someone much bigger and probably British. Pennywise is the selling point of the movie, Warner Bros will do their best to make sure we know who is under that clown makeup.

#1: Clive Barker will get booted from the Hellraiser remake (again), which will go back into limbo

As much as I hate the idea of a Hellraiser remake, it’s going to happen. The Weinstein Company seems set on bringing back Pinhead. The remake has been in development hell since 2010, possibly earlier, but big news comes up every once in a while. At first, Barker was reportedly writing the script with an eye on directing. Then Dimension decided they didn’t want the creator of Hellraiser involved with Hellraiser. Go figure. Next, they had talented filmmakers like Pascal Laugier (Martyrs) and the team of Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 3D). Neither seemed to fit, and it was rumored that Dimension wanted a teen audience.

It seems like they’ve finally relented, at least for the moment, on a serious take on the franchise. In October of last year, Clive announced that he was writing and this year he said he just finished a new draft. So there at least seems to be progress. I think, through no fault of Barker’s, that he’ll once again be removed from the project and it’ll remain in limbo. I want a new Hellraiser film of some kind, but I just don’t see it happening. Maybe the surprising Barker resurgence will continue and he’ll get to see his vision appear on screen, but I doubt it. Prove me wrong, Weinsteins.

Ending Notes:

That’s it for me. Leave some comments here, on my Twitter or my Facebook. Next week is the second part of the 2015 look, as we break down all the major releases of the year to come!



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