Get Ready to Cringe, Jump and Scream — Your Guide to the Horror Movies of 2019!

‘Pet Sematary’ (April 5)

Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) and his wife, Rachel (Amy Seimetz), relocate from Boston to rural Maine with their two young children, Ellie (Jete Laurence) and Gage (Hugo and Lucas Lavoie). Soon after they arrive, they make the discovery of a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near their new home. When tragedy strikes, Louis turns to his neighbor, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow), setting off a perilous chain reaction that unleashes an unspeakable evil with horrific consequences. As the tagline of the film proclaims, sometimes death is better!

Beware Spoilers: There’s a plot twist about the new Pet Sematary that separates it from the 1989 original: instead of the tyke Gage dying and coming back from the dead, now it’s the Creed family’s daughter, Ellie. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Entertainment Weekly, “Trust me, we were very nervous about it. I feel this way about anything that you remake or update. If we gave you what you had before, we didn’t do the subject matter much good. I’m very protective of movies, too, but I want a new experience each time, and feel like the filmmakers have really thought about the choice. That was one, we thought, ‘All right, let’s make this choice.'”

‘Hellboy’ (April 12)

Based on the comic book created by Mike Mignola — and serving as a reboot of the films that started with director Guillermo del Toro and actor Ron Perlman — it focuses on the title character, a half-demon who works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) to keep the world safe from supernatural threats. In this case, that threat comes in the form of the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich). David Harbour from Stranger Things plays Hellboy, and directing is Neil Marshall (Game of Thrones, Westworld, Lost in Space).

In comparing his Hellboy to Ron Perlman’s, Harbour told Empire, “Perlman does something quite extraordinary in those films that is very specific to him, and I did not want to imitate that in any way. In our movie, Hellboy’s younger. He’s rougher. He’s much more of a teenager. He’s really struggling with the idea of whether or not he’s a good person.”

‘The Curse of La Llorona’ (April 19)

From the studio: “La Llorona. The Weeping Woman. A horrifying apparition, caught between Heaven and Hell, trapped in a terrible fate sealed by her own hand. The mere mention of her name has struck terror around the world for generations. In life, she drowned her children in a jealous rage, throwing herself in the churning river after them as she wept in pain. Now her tears are eternal. They are lethal, and those who hear her death call in the night are doomed. La Llorona creeps in the shadows and preys on the children, desperate to replace her own. As the centuries have passed, her desire has grown more voracious … and her methods more terrifying. In 1970s Los Angeles, La Llorona is stalking the night — and the children. Ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment, a social worker and her own small kids are soon drawn into a frightening supernatural realm. Their only hope to survive La Llorona’s deadly wrath may be a disillusioned priest and the mysticism he practices to keep evil at bay, on the fringes where fear and faith collide.”

Producing is James Wan, the creative force behind The Conjuring universe, which means you can expect lots of jump scares. Starring is Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz and Marisol Ramirez.

‘Brightburn’ (May 24)

We all know the legend of Superman: Rocketed to Earth by his father when his home world of Krypton was in its death throes, he lands on Earth, is raised by the morally upright Kents and becomes the champion of the world. But what if a child from another world landed here and instead of becoming a hero, proves to be something far more sinister? Described as a “horrific take on the classic superhero trope,” this child is adopted by a kindly couple as well, but an evil begins to grow inside him that he unleashes.

‘Ma’ (May 31)

Oscar winner Octavia Spencer stars as Sue Ann, a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie (Diana Silvers), a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.  She offers the kids the chance to avoid drinking and driving by hanging out in the basement of her home. But there are some house rules: One of the kids has to stay sober. Don’t curse. Never go upstairs. And call her “Ma.” But as Ma’s hospitality starts to curdle into obsession, what began as a teenage dream turns into a terrorizing nightmare, and Ma’s place goes from the best place in town to the worst place on Earth.

‘The Dead Don’t Die’

Not much has been released about this one so far, though Focus Features does refer to it as “the greatest zombie cast ever disassembled,” and when you read the list of actors involved, they’ve got a point: Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Sara Driver, RZA, Selena Gomez, Carol Kane and Tom Waits. Serving as writer and director of this “comedy zombie film” is Jim Jarmusch.

‘Child’s Play’ (June 21)

While this is the eighth chapter in the big screen series that began in 1988 about a murderous doll named Chucky, this one is more or less a reboot and it doesn’t involve creator Don Mancini or usual Chucky voice actor Brad Dourif. The plot pretty much goes back to basics: Karen Barclay (Aubrey Plaza) is a mother who gives her son, Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a doll that has an evil nature that neither one of them are aware of. Though obviously they gradually discover the truth.

‘Annabelle Comes Home’ (June 28)

Annnnnd we have another killer doll on our hands with this one, actually the seventh installment of the Conjuring Universe, which consists of three chapters of The Conjuring, spin-offs The Nun, The Curse of La Llorona and the forthcoming The Crooked Man; as well as two preceding films, Annabelle (2014) and Annabelle: Creation (2017). Describes the studio, “Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her ‘safely’ behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest’s holy blessing. But an unholy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, who all set their sights on a new target — the Warrens’ 10-year-old daughter, Judy, and her friends.”

’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ (June 28)

The low budget 2017 shark thriller 47 Meters Down (starring Mandy Moore and Claire Holt) was successful enough that it inspired this sequel, though the only thing it seems to have in common with the first film is sharks. This time the focus is on four teen girls who go diving in a ruined underwater city, but find their adventure turned to horror as they learn they’re not alone in the submerged caves. Cue the Jaws theme …. you know, if it wasn’t owned by somebody else.

‘Crawl’ (July 12)

If you’re not frightened by sharks (see above), then maybe you get your terror from alligators? That’s certainly the hope of filmmakers behind Crawl, which deals with a young woman (Kaya Scodelario) who becomes trapped in a flooding house during a Category 5 hurricane and must battle against alligators. Definitely not a good day.

‘The New Mutants’ (June 2)

This is a part of the long-running X-Men film franchise, though pretty much a spin-off of sorts. The focus is on five young mutants who, when they begin to show signs of their extraordinary abilities, find themselves trapped in a secret facility and held against their will. They fight to escape not only these trappings but their own past sins. It’s definitely being sold more like a horror film than a superhero adventure. There are rumblings that with Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox this one could bypass a theatrical release altogether and be presented as an event on the forthcoming Disney+ streaming service.

‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ (August 9)

Here’s how CBS Films describes the movie: “It’s 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind … but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where, for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time — stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah’s terrifying tome.”

‘Midsommer’ (August 9)

The setting is the summer in a small Swedish village. There, a vacationing couple initially takes in the idyllic setting, but gradually begin to realize that there is a cult-like mentality among the people living there that becomes increasingly threatening to them.

‘It: Chapter Two’ (September 6)

Released in 2017, the first part of the adaptation of Stephen King’s It was a massive success, costing $35 million and pulling in over $700 million and allowing Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise to scare the hell out of millions of people around the world. Well, here comes the second chapter, taking place 27 years after the first when evil has arisen again. The characters from the first film, who long ago went their separate ways, find themselves drawn back together to combat that evil in the form of Pennywise. The cast includes James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone and the returning Skarsgard.

‘The Addams Family’ (October 11)

Now the Addams family is returning for the first time in CG animated form, promising more weirdness than ever before. The premise is that the Addams family’s lives begin to unravel when they face-off against a treacherous, greedy and crafty reality-TV host while also preparing for their extended family to arrive for a major celebration. Check out this voice cast: Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron from the Star Wars films) as Gomez, Charlize Theron as Morticia, Chloë Grace Moretz as Wednesday, Finn Wolfhard (what a name that is) as Pugsley, Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester, Bette Midler as Grandmama, and Allison Janney as Reality TV host Margaux Needler.

‘Zombieland: Double Tap’ (October 11)

Sequel to 2009’s Zombieland (a decade later, no one can accuse the filmmakers of rushing this production to cash in on the first film’s success), it sees Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahasse (Woody Harrelson), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) move to the American heartland. There they face off against evolved zombies, other survivors and “the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family.”

‘Doctor Sleep’ (November 8)

In this sequel to The Shining (Stephen King’s novel and decidedly not the Stanley Kubrick film, which the author isn’t a fan of), young Danny Torrance (he who would raise his finger and repeat the phrase, “Redrum”) is all grown up and has become a man with psychic powers, which he refers to as “the shining.” Like his late father, he is battling alcoholism, but finds his life altered when he discovers a cult that feeds on the “steam” of children who have similar powers to his. Ewan McGregor plays Danny, with Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat, head of that cult.