Joker
I mean…it’s a good teaser, but I’m still not totally sold on the idea of this. I feel like Batman is such an essential part of the Joker’s character that to make a movie in a world where Batman doesn’t even exist seems wrong. I suppose doing a loose remake of The King Of Comedy is the best probable way to go about it, but then I remember this is a Todd Phillips movie, and the last time he did a Scorsese inspired movie, we got War Dogs, and it’s not like the rest of his filmography inspires any confidence either. I’m sure Joaquin Phoenix will be great as usual, and that’s pretty much where all my hopes are.
Joker will hit theaters on October 4th.
The Dead Don’t Die
It’s hard for me to get excited about zombie movies nowadays, but that doesn’t mean I don’t end up loving some of the new stuff coming out of the genre like Train To Busan, Overlord, Kingdom, or The Girl With All The Gifts. This trailer is super funny, and I’m sure Jim Jarmusch wouldn’t be doing a movie like this if he didn’t’ have something up his sleeve. I guess marketing for zombie properties does nothing for me anymore, but I still am excited for whatever Jarmusch has in store.
The Dead Don’t Die hits theaters on June 14th.
Annabelle Comes Home
There is a bit of sameness when it comes to how the Conju-verse movies operate with their scares, and none of them seem to have the same level of polish and ingenuity of James Wan’s entries, but despite that, I love how much fun they are. They take themselves just seriously enough to establish stakes and an old school creepy atmosphere, but the scares are all about playing with the audience. I even dug The Nun, despite its issues. The idea of this sounds really cool, and I’m sure many people were hoping to see more of this room when we first saw it in the original Conjuring. The writer for a bunch of these movies, Gary Dauberman, is making his directorial debut here, and I really hope it pans out.
Annabelle Comes Home will open in theaters on June 28th.
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
We don’t see a whole lot more than what we already saw in those Superbowl TV spots, but that’s OK. I’m really sold on this. I haven’t read the books this is based on, but I am aware of them, especially their illustrations, which seem to be directly translated on the screen for the monsters, which is awesome. André Øvredal is a wonderful filmmaker, whose previous films – Trollhunter and The Autopsy of Jane Doe – were amazing, and with Guillermo del Toro producing, I’m expecting some fantastic results.
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark opens will release in theaters on August 9th.
My Spy
I guess Dave Bautista had to get one of these movies out of the way, every big action star has to have at least one, especially if they came from a wrestling background, maybe it’s an unwritten rule or something. I will say there are a few jokes here that did make me chuckle, the “we kill her” line is good, that “wedding from Shrek” like at the end is fantastic. The actors certainly look charming. I’m not getting my hopes up necessarily, but this does look better than these movies tend to.
The release date for My Spy has not been announced yet.
I Trapped The Devil
This looks interesting. I just love the concept of someone thinking they have the Devil locked in their basement, and I also really like the fact that this is also a Christmas movie. I’m also not entirely sure what to expect out of this, it could go super dark, but it can also lean into some grim comedy, I can see things go either way, and the story itself could go into some wild directions, which makes the Twilight Zone comparison really compelling. IFC Midnight usually has a solid roster of nifty little genre movies, and this looks like another one worth checking out.
I Trapped The Devil will open in select theaters and VOD platforms on April 26th.
Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!