2009's Slate of Horror Films - What To Look Forward To and What To Look Forward To Not Looking Forward To.

I haven't actually done any looking back at 2008 yet, but I am willing to look forward to 2009 at this point... I thought it might be interesting to look at what's slated to hit the theaters, horror-wise, this year. Obviously, there's a few big, notable releases, such as the remake of "Friday the 13th" and Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell". The poster for "Friday the 13th" could be the high point on that flick... my hopes are a lot higher for Raimi's return to his low-budget horror roots with "Drag Me to Hell". Now, keep in mind, this is just what's slated at this time and it can change at any time. Also, there's bound to be plenty added and some taken away.

January has a couple of notable films coming out, the first being "Slaughter", which is the first film to be developed from the Slamdance Screenplay competition... "Slaughter" is about a young actress who discovers that her and her co-stars have been cast in a Japanese snuff film. On a similar note, "Perkins' 14", which also comes out in January, was the result of the online film colloboration, Massify.com. The latter is going to be part of the After Dark Films Horrorfest lineup, which also includes "Autopsy", "The Broken", "Dying Breed", "Butterfly Effect: Revelation" and "From Within". As for Hollywood released films, you'll get "The Unborn" with Gary Oldman... a PG-13 horror from Platinum Dunes (sweet!). The remake of "My Bloody Valentine" (even better!) also comes out and so does "The Uninvited", which is a British film, based on a Korean film, which is also going to be remade in the U.S. in 2010 (I'm speechless).

February, of course, holds the date for the new "Friday the 13th", which is scheduled to come out on, of course, Friday, February 13th. "Jason was my son... and today is his birthday."

March holds the date for "Knowing", directed by Alex Proyas ("Dark City", "The Crow") and starring Nic Cage. This has been in talks for a while and is finally coming out... it's about a professor that unearths a time capsule depicting the dates of the assassinations of historical figures, the hotel fire death of his wife and the imminent world apocalypse... he then attempts to stop these incidents from occuring.

A bit of a break for anything scheduled until May, when Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" finally comes out, which is about an L.A. loan officer who has a powerful curse unleased on her by a mysterious woman... after she denies her an extension on her home loan. How fitting for these times...

Then, July has "Orphan" and a remake of "Piranha" from "High Tension", "Hills Have Eyes" director Alexandre Aja.

August has "Final Destination 4"... 'nough said.

September brings you "The Crazies", directed by Michael Eisner's kid, Breck Eisner, and it's the remake of the 1972 Romero film that... well, never really caught on. The original is actually pretty good, though. If you haven't checked it out, you should.

October brings you "Sorority Row", a remake of "The Stepfather", "Saw VI" and "Zombieland", which stars Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg and is about the most frightened guy on Earth, who leads a motley crew of survivors in a world overrun by zombies.

Finally, November will bring you "The Box" and the much anticipated "The Wolfman", starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins.

So, to me, it looks like a lot of the same old PG-13 horror stuff that Hollywood's been pumping out for a while now, plus a few established sequels and franchise movies, then one or two to look forward to. The best stuff could definitely be going straight to DVD and, in that case, you'll just have to keep reading Dead Harvey every Monday, so we can tell you about the new movies of the week!