Even though it’s still legally summer in August, you can’t help but get excited when you see the leaves starting to turn, the days growing shorter, and the nights growing colder. The recent hurricanes that have affected a lot of the United States are welcome for horror fans who wish to take advantage of the eerie environment to curl up with a new scary film on gloomy, rainy nights.
August 2, 2024: “Trap”
Director:
M. Night Shyamalan
Cast:
Jonathan Langdon, Alison Pill, Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, and Hayley Mills
In the suspenseful thriller Trap, a serial killer nicknamed “The Butcher” brings his teenage daughter to a pop concert as a thank you for her good grades. He finds out the performance is a sting operation run by the FBI in an effort to apprehend him when he observes a higher-than-usual police presence there. He checks his phone in the interim to view a live stream of his current captive, who is being detained in an unidentified location. With every exit barred and an FBI profiler on his tail, who knows exactly how he’ll respond and attempt to get away. He will need to figure out how to get past the many barriers the police have put up in order to leave the musical venue, all the while trying to hide his true identity from his daughter.
The actor Josh Hartnett (Oppenheimer) plays Cooper, a.k.a. “The Butcher,” a serial killer. Ariel Donoghue, who gained recognition for her role as Emma in Wolf Like Me, plays Riley, his daughter. Saleka Night Shyamalan, the daughter of director M. Night Shyamalan, plays the legendary pop sensation Lady Raven, while Hayley Mills (Unforgotten) plays Dr. Josephine Grant, an FBI profiler who can predict Cooper’s next moves throughout the film. Trap is scheduled to premiere in theatres and then be made available via streaming services at a later time.
‘Cuckoo’ (August 9, 2024)
Director:
Tilman Singer
Cast:
Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Maton Csokas, Mila Lieu
Hunter Schafer plays Gretchen in the film Cuckoo, a 17-year-old American who is compelled to live at a resort in the German Alps with her father and his new family against her will. Gretchen’s silent half-sister, Alma (Mila Lieu), piques the curiosity of her father’s employer, Herr König (Dan Stevens), and the peaceful surroundings of the resort do little to ease Gretchen’s anxiety. Soon after moving into her new house, she starts having horrific visions and dreams, which makes her wonder why Herr König is being so hospitable. As she looks further, she quickly learns a startling fact about König and her family that will alter the course of her entire life. August 9, 2024, is when Cuckoo opens in theatres. After that, it will stream on VOD services.
‘Alien: Romulus’ (August 16, 2024)
Director:
Fede Álvarez
Cast:
Cailee Spaeny, David Jonnson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu
Alien: Romulus is the newest space-based horror action movie, directed by Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breath), and produced by Ridley Scott. This film, which is the seventh entry in the Alien series, is a stand-alone sequel that bridges the gap between the events of the 1986 sequel Aliens and the 1979 original Alien. The film will centre on a fresh group of space colonists who come upon an abandoned space station. They discover many face-huggers that have been incubating in stasis as they are exploring the abandoned station.
When they get there, the creatures resurrect and attack the little crew, transforming them into unwilling carriers of the Xenomorph gene. Cast members of the crew include David Jonnson (Industry) as Andy, Spike Fearn (Aftersun) as Bjorn, Aileen Wu as Navarro, Archie Renaux (Morbius) as Tyler, and Cailee Spaeny (Civil War) as Rain Carradine. Together, the six of them comprise the youthful crew of space travellers who are driven to change the world. The movie Alien: Romulus will debut exclusively in theatres before making its way onto online video services.
‘Strange Darling’ (August 23, 2024)
Director:
JT Mollner
Cast:
Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Giovanni Ribisi, Barbara Hershey, Ed Begley Jr.
A serial killer and his intended victim are the focus of the suspenseful thriller Strange Darling, which will have you on the tip of your seat. Kyle Gallner portrays the murderer, who goes by “The Demon” (Smile). He has a one-night fling with Willa Fitzgerald, a young lady. She tries to leave him at some time during the night when she starts to feel uncomfortable, but he stops her from leaving so easily. It is advised to watch the movie blindly because it is compared to a cat and mouse game.
‘Hostile Dimensions’ (August 23, 2024)
Director:
Graham Hughes
Cast:
Stephen Beavis, Cedric Gall, Patty Kondracki, Annabel Logan, Josie Rogers, Joma West
In this science fiction horror film, two documentarians are working feverishly to learn the fate of a well-known graffiti artist who has disappeared from the face of the earth. Based on the few hints that remain, the team deduces that the artist might have inadvertently discovered a means of passing between several dimensions of reality via gates that require a sacrifice to be unlocked. They journey to unfathomable universes and descend more and deeper into the rabbit hole as they attempt to record their encounters on camera. On August 23, 2024, the British found-footage horror film Hostile Dimensions will be simultaneously released on video on demand and in theatres.
‘AFRAID’ (August 30, 2024)
Director:
Chris Weitz
Cast:
John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, David Dastmalchian, Riki Lindhome, Lukita Maxwell, Keith Carradine
The idea of the film AFRAID has plagued humans ever since technology began to permeate both daily life and conflict. The “what if” scenarios that humans have about artificial intelligence have been explored in a number of films, including Wall-E, M3GAN, The Terminator trilogy, and I, Robot. In this movie, a young family is chosen to take part in the beta testing of a brand-new AIA smart home system. Everything seems to be going well at first as AIA starts to pick up on the habits and behaviours of each family member and modifies its behaviour accordingly.
But as it gets to know them better, it starts to meddle in their lives a bit too much, being dangerous and domineering in its pursuit of their “betterment.” This film will make you understand how much faith we as a society place in technology, including Ring cameras, smart thermostats, smart lightbulbs, self-driving cars, and even smart refrigerators, if you’ve ever been concerned that Siri or Alexa might be spying on you. After opening in theatres on August 30, AFRAID will subsequently be made accessible on video-on-demand (VOD) services.
‘Stream’ (August 21, 2024)
Director:
Michael Leavy
Cast:
Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Tim Reid, David Howard Thornton, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley
New gory and exciting horror film set in a harmless hotel from the producers of Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3, with special effects handled by Terrifier director Dameon Leone. Stream centres on Roy and Elaine Keenan, a couple who realise they are drifting apart and decide to take a weekend trip to try to mend fences with their family. They don’t realise that the charming hotel they reserved is actually more of a hotel of horrors, with the hotel management hosting a satanic live-streaming snuff-film event. All guests are in great danger as four insane killers prowl the hotel’s hallways and surrounding grounds.This movie, which opens in a few theatres on August 21, is a must-see for fans of both the Terrifier series and flicks like Vacancy.
‘The Deliverance’ (August 16, 2024)
Director:
Lee Daniels
Cast:
Andra Day, Glenn Close, Anjanue Ellis-Taylor, Mo’Nique, Caleb McLaughlin, Omar Epps
Not to be mistaken with the horror film from the 1970s about squealing pigs or banjos. This movie is mostly based on actual events that involved the Ammons family’s haunting in Gary, Indiana. Latoya Ammons, her mother, and her three kids move into a new house, and right away they start having suspicious paranormal experiences. These include black flies invading the household, footsteps sounding on the stairs when everyone is asleep, and dark creatures prowling the property. The situation rapidly got out of control, with one youngster levitating over her bed and another suffering a seizure that resulted in him saying horrible things to his mother in a low, gravelly voice. The Department of Child Services, the Gary Police Department, and a nearby church were all made aware of this occurrence. August 16 is when The Deliverance will open in theatres, and on August 30 it will stream on Netflix.
‘Blink Twice’ (August 23, 2024)
Director:
Zoë Kravitz
Cast:
Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Alia Shawkat, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, Kyle MacLachlan
With a star-studded cast and a secret private island complete with all the comforts you could want, this dark comedy is a psychological thriller. During a fundraiser banquet, tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) extends an invitation to waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie). She is also permitted to bring her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat), and King’s wealthy and influential friends spoil the two of them with as much food and drink as they like. When Frida discovers they have both lost time, she assigns it to drugs and drink, and things start to become strange. Shortly after, Jess disappears and no one else appears to remember her ever being there. The video appears to be virtually a parody of the Odyssey’s “Island of Lotus Eaters” tale, in which the island’s residents become so enamoured of their copious food, wine, and partying that they lose count of the years they have lived there. August 23 is when Blink Twice opens in theatres!
Topics #August2024 #HorrorMovies #MovieReleases #ThrillerFlicks
