Aliens, mist monsters and killers — oh my

Need a good fright? How about a slick thriller that will get your mind racing? Whether it’s monsters in the mist, serial killers, aliens or predators, there’s something here to chomp popcorn to while trying to keep your eyes open. The variety of talent involved, from Stephen King to Uwe Boll, is enough to keep this season’s horror films and thrillers intriguing.

“Stephen King’s The Mist”
Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Andre Braugher, Laurie Holden, Toby Jones, William Sadler, Frances Sternhagen, Jeffrey DeMunn
Director: Frank Darabont
Story: After a thunderstorm, a cloud of mist envelopes a small town. A group of people, including artist David Drayton (Jane) and his 5-year-old son, get trapped in a grocery store. There are dangerous creatures within the mist, and while all signs point to the cause being a local military base, some of the townspeople (including Harden) begin to believe that it could be the wrath of God.
Buzz: Darabont (“Shawshank Redemption, “Green Mile”) has proved that he knows how to bring a Stephen King story to the screen. At this year’s Comic-Con, he described the film as “a harrowing, intense movie.” He added, “It’s got a hard R rating.” What’s nice about Darabont’s King adaptations is that they usually focus on the characters; however, Jane (“The Punisher”) is hardly Tim Robbins or Tom Hanks, so it remains to be seen if the characters will be as interesting as the monsters.
Web site: http://www.themist-movie.com/
Release date: Nov. 21

“Alien vs. Predator: Requiem”

20th Century Fox

Starring: Reiko Aylesworth, Steven Pasquale, John Ortiz, Shareeka Epps, Johnny Lewis, Sam Trammell, David Paetkau
Director: Greg Strause, Colin Strause
Story: A Predator ship, carrying Aliens on board, crashes into a small town. As the beasts fight each other, the townspeople must band together to survive. A Predator/Alien hybrid (known as a Predalien) is also introduced. Co-director Greg Strause described the Predalien to MTV.com, saying, It’s “primarily Alien (with) very strong Alien features but with Predator mandibles and Predator dreadlocks.”
Buzz: A touch of counter-programming for Christmas Day here. The Strause brothers are best known as visual effects guys (considering their background, it’s surprising the Aliens in this film look so much like men in suits) and music video directors. Though the first movie (which Paul Anderson directed) was rated PG-13, this film is rated R, and the brothers told MTV.com that their movie would feature a lot more gore.
Web site: http://www.avp-r.com/
Release date: Dec. 25

“The Walker”

THINKfilm

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily Tomlin, Lauren Bacall, Willem Dafoe, Ned Beatty, Moritz Bleibtreu, Mary Beth Hurt
Director: Paul Schrader
Story: While their husbands are busy running the country, Carter Page (Harrelson) serves as a gay best friend to Washington D.C.’s women. When his friend Lynn Lockner (Thomas) gets involved in a scandal that could destroy her husband’s career, Carter offers to cover for her. He suppresses evidence and finds himself the chief suspect in a criminal investigation. He becomes a pariah in D.C. and must work to clear his name.
Buzz: Director (Schrader) calls this the end of his “night worker” quartet, which includes “American Gigolo” and “Light Sleeper.” Schrader loves lonely outsiders (“Auto Focus,” “Affliction”) and has a thing for the underdog who never quite succeeds. The BBC’s Stella Papamichael wrote, “This isn't Schrader at his best, but still, it's a journey worth making.”
Web site: NA
Release date: Dec. 7

“Hitman”

20th Century Fox

Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen, Michael Offei
Director: Xavier Gens
Story: Based on the video game of the same name, the film tells the story of Agent 47 (Olyphant), a gunman who is hired to take out targets for cash. But the hunter becomes the hunted as Interpol and the Russian military pursue him while he makes his way across Eastern Europe.
Buzz: Fans of the game, take note: Director Gens told Gamestar “I wanted really true and dirty violence — from splashing blood to broken arms.” He didn’t have any interest in making a PG-13 movie. “I told them I didn’t want to make another ‘Resident Evil’ or ‘Silent Hill,’” he told Gamestar. “To make it fit the game, there’d have to be more violence.”
Web site: http://www.hitmanmovie.com/
Release date: Nov. 21

“P2”

Summit Entertainment

Starring: Rachel Nichols, Wes Bentley, Simon Reynolds, Grace Lynn Kung, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
Director: Franck Khalfoun
Story: An ambitious young executive (Nichols) works late before getting ready to head to her company Christmas party. But when she gets down to the parking garage her car won’t start. A seemingly friendly security guard (Bentley) offers to help, but then wants her to join him for Christmas dinner. And the invitation isn’t optional. He’s been watching her for months.
Buzz: Whatever happened to the guy with the soulful eyes from “American Beauty”? Here’s your answer; poor old Bentley. Nichols is best know for her role as Rachel Gibson on “Alias.” This comes from one of the co-writers of “The Hills Have Eyes,” Alexandre Aja. If that makes your heart go all aflutter this may be the movie for you.
Web site: http://www.p2themovie.com/
Release date: Nov. 9

“Untraceable”
Starring: Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, Joseph Cross, Mary Beth Hurt
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Story: Jennifer Marsh (Lane) is an FBI agent hunting a serial killer who posts pictures of his victims on his own Web site.
Buzz: Looks like Lane is taking a role that would normally go to Ashley Judd. Hoblit is no stranger to the genre; he directed “Primal Fear,” “Fallen,” “Frequency” and “Fracture.” Hanks (“King Kong”) still really hasn’t found his niche as an actor — as with his dad back in the early part of his career, it’s unclear whether he’s a serious actor or a funny man.
Web site: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/untraceable/index.html
Release date: Jan. 25

“Seed”

Freestyle Releasing

Starring: Will Sanderson, Ralf Moeller, Michael Paré, Jodelle Ferland, Andrew Jackson, Michael Eklund
Director: Uwe Boll
Story: Sam Seed (Sanderson) is an insane mass murderer scheduled for execution. But after three attempts to electrocute him, he still won’t die. Warden Wright (Moeller) decides that the prisoner should be pronounced dead anyway and has him bound and buried. But, surprise, surprise, Seed digs himself out of the grave — and he ain’t happy.
Buzz: Uwe Boll (“BloodRayne”) is basically the Ed Wood of current horror films — his films are audaciously awful. He has some real loyalists in his cast including Sanderson (a veteran of five Boll films), Paré (three films) and Eklund (five films). Boll is also giving 2.5 percent of the film’s take to PETA (the film reportedly features brutal scenes involving animals, though, of course, none were actually hurt in the making of the film). “If humans were extinct and only animals inhabited Earth, our planet would survive,” Boll told IGN.com. The man is nothing if not interesting.
Web site: NA
Release date: Jan. 25

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