Today is fancy movie day! Welcome to the New York set for House of Horrors, an exciting
collaboration between Legendary Pictures and YouTube! I’m so excited to film on not just
one of YouTube’s new sound stages, but on a set that Guillermo Del Toro personally oversaw.
He does have haunted victorian mansions on the brain thanks to his upcoming horror film
Crimson Peak, hitting theaters in 2015. Speaking of 2015, this is a spooktalcular time to be
a horror fan! Like its close cousin the comic book movie, the horror genre is becoming decidedly
more high-brow. And with a menagerie of ambitious horror films to choose from, I’m here to
illuminate the top five you should be particularly IGOR to see. And I don’t know about you,
but I always enjoy a cool drink with my movies, even when merely discussing them! Cheers!
Let’s begin with higher education, and by that I mean medical school. Now, before Lazarus
referred to Ra’s Al Ghul’s hot tub, it was a man Jesus Christ brought back from the
dead. And we all know how science loves to be a religious buzz kill, with doctors long
trying to beat death themselves. But while the medical students 1990’s Flatliners only
kissed death, the new movie Lazarus is going for a full-on make-out session as these medical
students accidentally kill one of their group - which gives them the proper moral AND legal
motivation to discover how to resurrect the dead. And like Flatliners’ impressive cast
of up and coming talent, Lazarus stars the new Heather Graham Olivia Wilde, Evan Peters
also known as Quicksilver, Black Spider-Man poster boy Donald Glover and mumblecore king
Mark Duplass. And Lazarus has excellent breeding behind the camera, as it’s one of the latest
films from horror producer extraordinaire, Jason Blum - the man behind Paranormal Activity,
Insidious and The Purge. Is this supposed to be refrigerated? Now surely the medical
students in Lazarus must draw some inspiration from the very first doctor to resurrect the
dead, Victor Frankenstein. He didn’t have a lot of cool, diverse friends though, straight
from a Hollywood casting department like in Lazarus - instead he had Igor, who is actually
the lead in this new Frankenstein movie! That’s right, this time Frankenstein’s story is
being told from Igor’s point of view. And you know you can always get the REAL story
when it comes to the help. Daniel Radcliffe plays Igor, going from the boy who lived to
the man who serves - Frankenstein! Who will be played by James McAvoy with Jude Law’s
hair. Man, is it getting hot in here! No really - well, behind the camera for Frankenstein
we have one of the directors on BBC’s Sherlock, who’s wrangled Moriarty to join the fun!
And then last but certainly not least, Chronicle screenwriter Max Landis. The whole affair
is a delicious origin story - Radcliffe promises we won’t see the monster until the very
end - that hopes to reinvent everyone’s favorite mad scientist and assistant - something
that hasn’t been done successfully since 1974’s Young Frankenstein. It’s ALI - ! Grace?
Crap. Whoo, I should’ve worked out more when I was alive - but I do feel much better!
In fact, I feel reborn, which is what Sony hopes for the Goosebumps franchise as they
finally bring it to the silver screen. Author RL Stine has been writing these junior horror
novels since 1992 - the Goosebumps trademark green ooze turning into lots of green cash
with over three hundred and fifty MILLION books sold to date! This has led to a certain
level of fame for the man known as Stephen King Jr, and RL Stine even wrote an autobiography
- It Came from Ohio! And as anyone can clearly see, the Goosebumps film is that cover illustration
come to life! Speaking of things on the page coming true, the Goosebumps movie imagines
a world where all the scary characters in these books really do exist - and Jack Black’s
Stine keeps them locked up in his home, like some kind of ghoulish hoarder! But as if his
daughter meeting a cute boy at school isn’t horrifying enough, that boy accidentally unleashes
the monsters! Hijinks ensue. And Mr. Black seems to be relishing his new role - well,
that he even HAS a new role - as indicated by his enthusiastic appearance at this year’s
Comic Con. That’s new! But sometimes new is good, like the new elements in the third
chapter of Insidious! Horror artiste James Wan will serve only as a producer on this
latest installment of the franchise he helped create, but he is giving his co-creator Leigh
Whannell a chance to step into the spotlight. Mr. Whannell will not only make his directorial
debut but also returns in his role as “Specs” - as will his fellow ghost hunters Angus Sampson
as Tucker and Lin Shaye as Elise Rainier. This trio is going to become the new throughline
for the Insidious films since, well, star Patrick Wilson didn’t want to return. I
bet that phone call played out like a Hollywood horror movie... But it might be a big break
for Dermot Mulroney, who now stars as a single father trying to protect his teenage daughter
from a demon. And obviously he needs assistance protecting her, as she starts out the movie
with not one but TWO broken legs. Also, take note, the third chapter of Insidious is actually
a prologue - literary speak for prequel. So while Elise Rainier searches for ghosts, we
should be on the lookout for references and reveals that relate to the first two films.
By the way, former Disney Channel star Stefanie Scott is definitely a fresh face to keep an
eye on, as she not only stars here but also in the upcoming Jem and the Holograms movie!
Now let’s get some fresh air! I’ve brought you out to the veranda because there’s nothing
like a new perspective on a familiar subject, which is what our most anticipated horror
film of 2015 - Crimson Peak - has to offer. THIS haunted house film - from the brilliantly
disturbed mind of Guillermo Del Toro - is, so far, a mystery. What we do know is that
it has shades of Alfred Hitchcock’s famed romantic thriller Rebecca, with a young author
played by Mia Wasikowska discovers her new husband Tom Hiddleston isn’t quite who she
thought he was. But isn’t that a horror all new brides face? And quite a number of
grooms too, I imagine! However, she’s in for quite an adventurous honeymoon, exploring
her new home...and family. Plus get this, Charlie Hunnam’s handsome young doctor pines
after her too! I guess when it rains men it pours in this gothic horror ROMANCE which
Del Toro describes as intelligent AND perverse - like the works of DH Lawrence, Edgar Allen Poe, and Alan
Moore.