Get ready for summer scares
Brand-new horror coming to our screens
Horror fans rejoice!
You don't need to wait until October to fill your calendar with creepy cinema highlights - August is shaping up to be month packed with exciting new horror releases.
We're screening sophomore features from directors who have shaken up the genre over the past few years, a thrilling debut featuring some familiar faces, an anniversary screening of a stone-cold classic and more. Michael Coull, programmer of our Dundead festival and strand, shares why you should be adding these films to you your watchlist.
Published
August Horror Highlights
Bring Her Back
Following on from their hit Talk to Me, brothers Danny and Michael Philippou are back with a terrifying new horror. Starring Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins and newcomers Billy Barratt and Sora Wong, it tells the story of a teenage brother and sister who uncover sinister goings on at their new foster home.
Michael says...
It’s another thrilling, freaky, genuinely shocking and expertly-made slice of Aussie terror. The brothers’ backgrounds as YouTubers can be felt in their astute sense of teenage life, as well as in some brilliant moments of screen-based terror. I physically winced more than once...
Weapons
From the writer and director of Barbarian, Zach Cregger, comes a brand new horror-thriller that we can't wait to screen. Weapons tells the mysterious tale of what happens to a community when a class of children go missing on the same night.
First reactions are looking good and Michael says...
It looks very twisty, with an irresistible mystery at its heart. I can't wait to see what it's all about.
Dundead: Night of the Hunter
For our monthly Dundead screening, we're celebrating the 70th anniversary of The Night of Hunter. Based on a 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, it’s a gorgeous, dreamlike tale of a murderous preacher who terrorises two children.
Michael says...
This is a really unique film. It's a film that works on every level - It's beautiful to look at, it's a compelling story, it's extremely entertaining and it will look incredible on the big screen.
Together
This directorial debut from Michael Shanks stars real-life married actors Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple who become dangerously entwined. Expect lots of body horror and supernatural surprises. Critics are calling it "a piercing codependency allegory" and a "delightfully queasy body horror".
Michael says...
This one has been a big hit at festivals. If you're a fan of The Substance or David Cronenberg, this one's for you.
And there's more...
While not strictly horror, we also wanted to draw your attention to some other upcoming titles that may be of interest.
Eddington is the new film from Hereditary and Midsommar, Ari Aster. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and more, this contemporary Western takes place in a small town that fills with conspiracy theories and neighbourhood unrest during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Harvest is a spellbinding period piece with elements of folk-horror. Set in a rural Scottish village, where the traditional way of life is suddenly disrupted when a series of unexpected invaders arrive, it stars Caleb Landry Jones (Nitram, Get Out).
Throughout August Complicit: A Michael Haneke Retrospective brings a selection of the Austrian auteurs films to our screens, including a 35mm screening of Funny Games.
See you in the cinema!