With Spring well and truly off to a flying start in terms of horror movies, May draws in and promises yet another deliciously gory month for fellow horror enthusiasts. Having already seen a shape-shifting, basement dwelling ghoul in Baghead; a crazed vampire child, inadvertently kidnapped by a group of bundling criminals in Abigail and a creepy revisit to an all-time classic horror franchise with The First Omen, May is looking to be yet another great month for horror brought to us in 2024.
The following is a selection of my personal picks for the month ahead.
Tarot (May 3)
Directed by Spenser Cohen (Moonfall and Extinction) in collaboration with Extinction co-worker, Anna Halberg, Tarot is a supernatural horror movie set to be released this may. Following a group of friends who commit the cardinal sin of using another tarot reader’s cards, Tarot will lay bare the consequences of dabbling in the Dark Arts (because tarot reading is always akin to Satanism in good ol’ Hollywood).
Inevitably, their slapdash tinkering wakes an evil entity that foretells each of their fates and each of the friends must dice with death and fight to avoid the otherwise unavoidable.
The premise surrounding Tarot strongly reminds me of Final Destination. However, I guess only time will tell whether or not it will be received by theater-goers with the same shrift.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 (May 17)
Confusingly, The Strangers: Chapter 1 is indeed the third movie in the franchise. The movie is set to be a re-imagining of the first films, as opposed to treating us to an origin story, as the title so strongly suggests.
Strangers: Chapter One will follow a young couple as they wait to be married. To celebrate their engagement, the lovers take a road trip across the country when their car breaks down (we all love a cliché). With no signs of life to assist them in getting back on the road, they have no choice but to take shelter in a nearby AirBnB woodland retreat (because this couple clearly haven’t seen a horror movie in their lives). As predicted, the retreat quickly turns into their potential deathbeds are they are thrown into a battle of survival against a group of masked strangers with one thing on their minds- gruesome murder.
While The Strangers: Chapter 1 looks like it will be bursting at the seams with horror clichés and platitudes, humans are a wholly believable enemy, making The Strangers franchise stand out from the multitude of monster movies and alien attacks.
New Life (May 3)
Written and directed by John Rosman as his debut entry, New Life is set to be a nail-biting “cat and mouse” horror/thriller, set in the mountainous region of the Pacific Northwest.
The movie will follow Elsa, a formidable “fixer” tasked with apprehending a mysterious fugitive. As the pursuit reaches boiling point, Elsa grapples with her own battle against a killer disease known as “ALS”, adding an abundance of layers of complexity to the high-stakes chase. The intertwining narratives will unveil deep insights into humankind, emphasizing themes of acceptance and hope amidst abject adversity.
What really strikes me about this movie is it’s “outside of the box” thinking, that will shine a light on the production and set it aside from the rest with it’s fresh approach and – what looks to be – a thrilling game of cat and mouse.
Upcoming Horror, May 2024 – Summary
It seems that 2024 is going to be an explosive year for horror fans. As the months roll in, more and more projects are being revealed, each as exciting as the last. May certainly looks to be a firm contender for the best month so far and I wait with bated breath for the month to finally roll in.