2018 was a good year for all things horror and here’s to hoping 2019 is even better! I know I’m hoping against hope with some of the things on my wish list for the coming year, but I’ve been waiting a long time for some of these to come to fruition.
1. The Thief of Always Movie
For years I have been following the development progress of this Clive Barker classic as it makes its way to the screen. And for years, I have been disappointed again and again. As of right now, it looks like this project is in nowhere land. Search online and you can see how many starts and stops this adaptation has had. I’m hoping 2019 brings good news that finds this film on the fast track to being made. This may not be a horror novel per se; in fact, it is marketed as a YA fable, but like all of Clive Barker’s works, the fantasy is dark and there are more than enough scenes to indulge the appetites of any horror fan. There has been talk before of this movie being done entirely in CGI animation, but I would like to see a mix of real actors and CGI, blending fantasy and reality as it is done in the book, and they can also stay true to Barker’s unforgettable illustrations. If you are unfamiliar with “The Thief of Always”, I recommend you find a copy and enjoy Barker at his best as writer and illustrator.
2. The Return of Freddy and/or Jason
With Friday the 13th emerging from the legal cluster fuck the franchise has been in and news of LeBron James’ interest in getting the series back on track, I’m really hoping cameras start rolling on the next installment this year. I’m hoping for a return to form for Jason and that they’ll remember that all fans really want is Jason back at Crystal Lake, slaughtering his way through a fresh batch of teenagers. It’s pretty simple. No outrageous plot twists or new additions to the backstory needed. The slew of Friday fan films being churned out right now have been good because they honor the style and tone of the original films, which is also why the video game has been so popular. There was an idea brought up in “Crystal Lake Memories” about bringing all the final girls back for a showdown with Jason. I’d pay to see that. Tina, Ginny, Chris, Trish, maybe even Alice… and possibly Tommy.
As far as Freddy is concerned, I am not optimistic about our chances of seeing him resurrected any time soon. I don’t know what’s going on over at New Line, but I bet they just have no idea what direction to take the franchise. Another reboot? A sequel picking up where the original series left off (before “New Nightmare”)? Maybe they should take a page from the “Halloween” playbook and ignore some of the later sequels. The series is in a weird state of limbo creatively. I’d love to see Heather Langenkamp return in some way; I also wouldn’t mind Lisa Wilcox coming back, Alice duking it out with Freddy one last time. I’m so eager for a new movie to help me forget the godforsaken monstrosity that was the remake, so I’m crossing my fingers for good news in the coming year.
3. Alien 5 with Neill Blomkamp and Sigourney Weaver
Back in the early 2010’s, rumors began circulating that Ellen Ripley would be making her return to the big screen in a brand new “Alien” installment that picks up after the end of “Aliens”, ignoring part 3 and “Resurrection”. I remember getting excited as concept art drawn up by Neill Blomkamp was released on Bloody-Disgusting, along with the news that Sigourney Weaver was working alongside him to create the Alien sequel we always wanted but never got. The studio was on board and everything looked good to go. Until Ridley Scott ruined everything.
Instead of an awesome new Alien movie, we got “Prometheus”. And a few years later we got “Alien: Covenant”. These movies were probably not total shit, but because I felt robbed, that’s how I describe them to anyone who will listen. Ridley Scott decided he wanted to be back in the driver’s seat of the franchise and blew off any idea of Blomkamp’s and Weaver’s involvement. Ridley, you deluded old fuck, we’re not here for you. We’re here to watch Ripley fuck some Aliens up. Pure and simple. Ridley Scott had a plan to make several more Alien installments, but the studio put that idea on the back burner after “Covenant” did not perform as well as they hoped. This is why I’m praying for a miracle now, even though all the genre news sites declare the Blomkamp and Weaver project dead in the water. Stranger things have happened.
4. The Next Installment in the Hannibal Lecter Book Series
Thomas Harris may be the only person on earth that writes at a slower pace than George R. R. Martin, and he’s a bit of a recluse to boot, so nobody knows if he has any plans to continue with the Lecter series after 2006’s very uneven “Hanninal Rising”. I would like to see him pick up where he left off at the end of “Hannibal”, where we saw the radical transformation of Clarice Starling under the guiding hand of Hannibal Lecter (if you’ve only seen the movie, you have no idea what I’m talking about. Read the book). Harris always takes years to write his books, but this may be the longest pause of his career.
5. The Dark Tower Done Right
I am a Stephen King fanatic and my favorite books of his are “The Dark Tower” series. The one-off movie with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey was just awful. They tried to cram plot points from seven books into one two hour movie. An epic like “The Dark Tower” needs the “Game of Thrones” treatment, an idea which has been tossed around before. Amazon currently holds the rights and is supposedly developing the first season, but nothing more has been spoken about it since this past summer, though at the time it was stated that the series was greenlit and would begin pre-production in the near future. It would be awesome to see this done! Each book could easily fill an entire season. This would be the perfect format for the series; nothing would be lost in the way of storytelling and they can be as graphic and gory as they like.
What are you guys looking forward to in the world of horror for 2019? Let’s talk about it in the comments!!
