{"id":83324,"date":"2016-01-05T15:32:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T15:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=83324"},"modified":"2016-01-05T15:38:04","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T15:38:04","slug":"2016-horror-films-you-need-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/top-tens\/2016-horror-films-you-need-to-see\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 horror films you need to see"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re barely a week into the new year and we\u2019re already thrilled about the incredible crop of horror films coming our way. With movies like It Follows<\/em><\/strong>, Nina Forever<\/em><\/strong>, and Crimson Peak<\/em><\/strong>, 2015 was a banner year for the genre, and 2016\u00a0looks to be just as strong.<\/p>\n

So, from\u00a0the big-budget sequels and prequels to the no-holds-barred indie shockers,\u00a0let\u2019s shine a light on 25\u00a0of the horror films that you need in your life in 2016.<\/p>\n

The movies with the confirmed UK release dates come first, and there’s a lot that we’re really hoping make it to our screens in the near future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BONE TOMAHAWK
\n<\/strong>UK release:19 February
\nKurt Russell leads S Craig Zahler’s\u00a0brutal horror western as the leader of a small band of men who head into the wilderness to rescue a man and a woman from a troglodytic band of Native American cannibals. It\u2019s a slow-burner but when it hits, sweet Jesus, it hits hard. Like, Jack Ketchum hard. The excellent cast includes Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Lili Simmons, David Arquette and the great Richard Jenkins, who absolutely steals the film as Russell’s back-up deputy. Grim, gory and pretty bloody powerful.<\/p>\n

\"goodnight<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

GOODNIGHT MOMMY
\n<\/strong>UK release: 4 March
\nIt feels like we\u2019ve been waiting forever for this hotly buzzed Austrian horror to come out, and it\u2019s FINALLY hitting the UK in March thanks to Vertigo Releasing. The chilly tale is the story of a pair of twins who begin to suspect that the heavily bandaged woman in their home isn\u2019t actually their mother, and they begin to put that theory to the test. We can\u2019t wait to see it.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

THE WITCH
\n<\/strong>UK release: 11 March
\nRiding on the kind of\u00a0festival\u00a0buzz that\u00a0gets\u00a0reserved for the really special indie horrors like The Babadook<\/em><\/strong> and It Follows<\/em><\/strong>, Robert Eggers\u2019 debut is a meticulously crafted and beautifully atmospheric story of witchcraft in New England. A family facing the harsh realities of life in the wilderness begin to think that a witch may be responsible for their terrible fortune, but who is the one responsible for letting the devil in? It\u2019s very, very good. (Read our review here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

HIGH-RISE
\n<\/strong>UK release: 18 March
\nBen Wheatley\u2019s star-studded adaptation of JG Ballard\u2019s caustic satire has divided audiences on the festival circuit but we were big fans of this darkly funny and devilishly stylish dark comedy. Tom Hiddleston leads as Dr Robert Laing, who realises that the inhabitants of his tower block are beginning to form factions. It won\u2019t be long before the civilised veneer cracks and these animals run riot\u2026Elisabeth Moss, Luke Evans, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller and Reece Shearsmith also star. (Read our review here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

GREEN ROOM<\/strong>
\nUK release: 13 May
\nWe caught the latest film from\u00a0Blue Ruin<\/strong><\/em> writer-director Jeremy Saulnier at the London Film Festival and we\u2019ve just about recovered. It\u2019s a brutal survival horror centred around a young punk band who find themselves trapped in the green room of a right wing bar after witnessing a murder. Saulnier cruelly makes\u00a0you really like the band (Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole and Callum Turner) before he subjects them to all sorts of horrible things courtesy of Patrick Stewart\u2019s softly spoken neo-Nazi leader. It\u2019s gripping, stomach-turning stuff and you\u2019ve got to see it. (Read our review here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

THE CONJURING 2: THE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST<\/strong>
\nUK release: 17 June
\nAfter claiming that he was retiring from horror, James Wan has walked that statement back a little for the sequel to 2013\u2019s hand-clapping, painting-shaking possession horror. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson\u00a0return as Lorraine and Ed Warren, who cross the Atlantic to investigate the Enfield poltergeist. Fingers crossed that Wan and company can recreate the highly entertaining scares of the first, and that we don\u2019t have to suffer through too many clich\u00e9d ideas of what English people sound like and eat and such.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The monster from the Lights Out short<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LIGHTS OUT
\n<\/strong>UK release: 9 September
\nDavid F Sanberg adapts his deeply creepy short Lights Out<\/em><\/strong> to feature length in his feature debut, about a woman who \u201cis haunted by a creature who only appears when the lights go out.\u201d James Wan is on \u201cbig name producer\u201d duties, while Warm Bodies<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 Teresa Palmer takes the lead. Turning a short into a full film can be a risky business (remember how Mama<\/em><\/strong> struggled to really work?) but we\u2019re willing to give this a shot. It can\u2019t be any worse than Darkness Falls<\/em><\/strong>, right?<\/p>\n

\"Dane<\/a>
Dane DeHaan in Life After Beth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A CURE FOR WELLNESS
\n<\/strong>UK release: 23 September
\nWhile his Ring<\/em><\/strong> remake is getting a prequel this year, director Gore Verbinski has returned from big-budget Disney tentpoles to horror with his own mysterious project that sounds pretty enticing. Dane DeHaan plays a character who is dispatched to a \u201cwellness spa\u201d in Europe to bring his boss back, while Jason Isaacs plays the facility\u2019s sinister owner. Nymphomaniac<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s Mia Goth co-stars as a patient.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

THE NEON DEMON<\/strong>
\nUK release: Unknown
\nDrive<\/em><\/strong> and Only God Forgives<\/em><\/strong> director Nicolas Winding Refn brings his deeply stylish and heartily bloody sensibilities to horror, as a star-studded cast (Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks) head up a tale of elegant chills in Los Angeles. Fanning plays Jesse, an aspiring model who discovers the sinister truth behind the beautiful faces in the city of angels. We are so, so on board with the idea of this film.<\/p>\n

\"Evolution\"<\/a>
\nEVOLUTION<\/strong>
\nUK release: Unknown
\nThis was one of our absolute favourites at this year’s London Film Festival, a beautifully shot and deeply odd dark fairytale about an isolated community in a small coastal village from Innocence<\/em><\/strong> director\u00a0Lucile Hadzihalilovic<\/span>. The only inhabitants are young boys looked after by a group of women, and when Nicolas (Max Brebant) makes a discovery in the rocks, we start to get hints about what’s going on. There’s body horror here but pinning it down to a single genre is difficult. See it on a big screen and know as little about it as possible.<\/p>\n

\"31\"
\n<\/a><\/strong>31<\/strong>
\nUK release: Unknown
\nRob Zombie’s crowdfunded horror should finally hit the big screen (or some kind of screen) at some point this year (it’s debuting at Sundance very soon), and we’re definitely curious to see what he’s come up with. The man behind The Devil’s Rejects<\/em><\/strong> and the Halloween<\/em><\/strong> remake pledged to deliver something he wouldn’t be able to make in the traditional system, so we’re expecting plenty of brutality during our stay at Murderworld, where abducted victims are hunted down by lunatics dressed as clowns. Malcolm McDowell, Judy Geeson, Meg Foster and Sheri Moon Zombie star.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nTHE INVITATION
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nKaryn Kusama\u2019s The Invitation<\/em><\/strong> stunned us at the London Film Festival, as a dinner party hosted for old friends by the long-absent Eden (Tammy Blanchard) gets very uncomfortable when she and her new boyfriend David (Michiel Huisman) start talking about their new belief system. Is her antsy ex Will (a superb Logan Marshall-Green) right in thinking that something is seriously\u00a0wrong? It\u2019s very clever, brilliantly constructed and wonderfully performed. And it\u2019s very, very tense.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nTHE MIND\u2019S EYE
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nFrom Joe Begos, the maker of the low-budget and massively fun Almost Human<\/em><\/strong>, comes this telekinesis horror, which should hopefully conjure the spirit of early Cronenberg. Almost Human<\/em><\/strong> star Graham Skipper plays a gifted young man who gets convinced to return to the sinister facility where people like him are having their powers harvested. Lauren Ashely Carter, John Speredakos and Larry Fessenden co-star in this gory throwback.<\/p>\n

\"Before<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

BEFORE I WAKE
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nMike Flanagan and Jeff Howard\u2019s follow-up to Oculus<\/em><\/strong> was supposed to be released last year but was pulled from the schedule when Relativity went bankrupt. However, it looks like we should\u00a0get to see their latest this year, with Thomas Jane and Kate Bosworth starring as a couple who adopt a boy whose nightmares manifest in the real world. We fully loved Oculus<\/em><\/strong> (so much so that we’re excited to see what the duo do with Ouija 2<\/em><\/strong>) so we\u2019re hoping for something special.<\/p>\n

\"Simon<\/a>
Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE WOODS<\/strong>
\nUK release: Unknown
\nAfter having The Best Time Ever with their genre homages You\u2019re Next<\/em><\/strong> and The Guest<\/em><\/strong>, Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett pare things back with this low-budget horror about a group of college kids who go on a camping trip with dire consequences. With an unknown cast and a deliberately vague plot, The Woods<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is reportedly aiming to be truly frightening as opposed to the crowd-pleasing, darkly comic fun of the duo\u2019s last two movies. We can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

\"Zoe<\/a>
Zoe Kazan in In Your Eyes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THERE ARE MONSTERS
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nThe Strangers<\/em><\/strong> writer-director Bryan Bertino returns, with awesome Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks<\/em><\/strong>) starring as a mother who must protect her young daughter from a terrifying monster (as the title suggests). Elisabeth Moss was previously signed to the Kazan role, and when two actors this good are up for an indie horror, we start getting our expectations up. Scott Speedman and Aaron Douglas round out the cast.<\/p>\n

\"Olivia<\/a>
Olivia Cooke in Ouija<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nAnything written by the brilliant Jane Goldman makes our to-watch list, so we\u2019ve got our eye on this murder mystery set in London in 1880, where a Golem is the prime suspect for a series of brutal murders. Juan Carlos Medina (the excellent Painless<\/em><\/strong>) directs an ace cast, including Olivia Cooke, Douglas Booth, Bill Nighy and Daniel Mays. We’re suckers for Gothic horror, especially when it comes in period costume, so we’re looking forward to plunging into the London fog for this one.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Belko Experiment writer James Gunn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE BELKO EXPERIMENT<\/strong>
\nUK release: Unknown
\nJames Gunn may be all about the Marvel universe now, but he\u2019s back in the horror genre (kind of) with this story of a group of American employees in South America who are ordered to kill each other by their bosses. Wolf Creek<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s Greg McLean directs Gunn\u2019s script, while the strong cast includes Melonie Diaz, John C McGinley, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Rooker (of course) and Steve Agee. We’re also hoping to finally see McLean’s Blumhouse horror 6 Miranda Drive<\/em><\/strong> at some point this year…<\/p>\n

\"Southbound\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SOUTHBOUND<\/strong>
\nUK release: Unknown
\nWe\u2019re very excited about this anthology horror from directors Roxanne Benjamin (producer on the V\/H\/S<\/em><\/strong> movies and the awesome Faults<\/em><\/strong>), David Bruckner (The Signal<\/em><\/strong>), Patrick Horvath (The Pact II<\/em><\/strong>) and Radio Silence (the ’10\/31\/98′ segment of V\/H\/S<\/em><\/strong>). That excitement\u00a0is almost entirely based on the advance buzz as we’ve not seen anything of it yet, but we like the sound of this horror set on a lonely stretch of highway on a single night.<\/p>\n

\"Darling\"<\/a>
\nDARLING
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nPod<\/em><\/strong> was on our list of our favourite 2015 horrors, so we\u2019re looking forward to seeing writer-director Mickey Keating reteam with star Lauren Ashley Carter for this black and white psychological horror about a young woman who is hired to look after a very old New York building and starts\u00a0to lose her mind. Pod<\/em><\/strong> stars Larry Fessenden and Brian Morvant also appear, alongside Helen Rogers (Body<\/em><\/strong>) and Sean Young (who’s been having something of a genre comeback with this, Jug Face<\/em><\/strong> and Bone Tomahawk<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\"Sun<\/a>
\nSUN CHOKE<\/strong>
\nUK release: Unknown
\nWe loved this deeply unsettling chiller from Ben Cresciman at FrightFest, which stars Freaks And Geeks<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 Sarah Hagan as Janie, a young woman undergoing some kind of treatment from an icy lady named Irma (Barbara Crampton, whose other FrightFest film Road Games<\/em><\/strong> will hopefully get a release this year too). As she begins to be given more freedom, Janie begins to lose control\u2026It\u2019s a beautifully made psychological drama that raises just as many questions as it answers. We’ll say no more, just…see it. (If you insist on our saying more, our review is here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"They<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nAnother FrightFest favourite was this intense and moving debut from writer-director Perry Blackshear. After a long time apart, Wyatt (Macleod Andrews) visits his best friend Christian (Evan Dumouchel), but he can\u2019t shake the voice in his head that tells him that the end is coming, and that he\u2019ll have to fight the threat that\u2019s already here\u2026It\u2019s an affecting indie drama about friendship and a nail-biting horror about losing your mind, and we can\u2019t recommend it enough. (Read our review here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Baskin\"<\/a>
\nBASKIN
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nEarly word has been good for this Turkish shocker from Can Evrenol (based on his own short), in which a group of unlikeable policemen stumble upon a gruesome Satanic ritual in a small backwoods town, at which point things go very, very bad for them. With piles of eyeballs, goat-headed women, and a trailer that can best be described as “batshit”, expect\u00a0gory madness.<\/p>\n

\"Elisabeth<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

QUEEN OF EARTH<\/strong>
\nUK release: Unknown
\nElisabeth Moss delivers a stunning lead turn in Alex Ross Perry’s brutally uncomfortable follow-up to his caustic comedy\u00a0Listen Up, Philip<\/em><\/strong>. It’s essentially a two-hander, taking place in a beautiful lakeside house, where Catherine (Moss) goes with her friend Virginia (Fantastic Beasts<\/em><\/strong>‘ Katherine Waterston) to get over her break-up. The longer we spend with the two women, the more we see how toxic their friendship is, and as they tear chunks out of each other, Catherine’s psyche begins to fracture. Heavily influenced by early Polanski, this is a gripping psychological horror.<\/p>\n

\"observance\"<\/a>
\nOBSERVANCE
\n<\/strong>UK release: Unknown
\nMore Polanski-infused horror from the LFF here, but Observance<\/em><\/strong> is also steeped in body horror and the grim sense of inevitable punishment of Silent Hill<\/em><\/strong>. This low-budget horror is centred around a PI who takes a job staking out a woman from an empty house across the street. His heart’s clearly not in it, his dreams are extremely\u00a0unsettling, and we start to wonder about just how he got to this point. With a truly chilling sense of unease and some proper scares, Observance<\/em><\/strong> is an excellent indie horror that we highly recommend. Keep an eye out for it.<\/p>\n

Keep up with the latest horror news with the new issue of SciFiNow.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These are the 25 must-see horror films in 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":83362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,12],"tags":[797,1554],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/The-Witch-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}