A Quiet Place
Director: John Krasinski
Writer: Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, John Krasinski
Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 95 Minutes
Release Date: April 6, 2018

Co-written and directed by John Krasinski, the horror-thriller A Quiet Place is set in a dystopian 2020, in the aftermath of an extraterrestrial attack. The planet’s population has been decimated by a race of blind, bloodthirsty creatures that hunt their prey with a heightened sense of hearing. In New York, the Abbott family learns how to survive in complete silence after their youngest son, Beau (Cade Woodward), falls victim to the sound-sensitive invaders.

A Wrinkle In Time
Director: Ava DuVernay
Screenwriter: Jennifer Lee, Jeff Stockwell
Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peña, Storm Reid, Zach Galifianakis, Chris Pine, Deric McCabe, Levi Miller
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Rated PG | 109 Minutes
Release Date: March 9, 2018

“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” “” Tzu, Chinese

26 different publishers rejected Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time when she began shopping the book around in early 1960. The science fantasy story was seen as too complicated or “too adult” for children to comprehend, and publishers of the era believed there wasn’t an audience for books with young female leads. They were wrong. The children’s novel was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 1962, and has since become a beloved classic, praised for encouraging young girls to embrace their love of speculative fiction and pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Now, 55 years later, Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, a film adaptation directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma, The Thirteenth), hopes to inspire young girls of color similarly. Known for championing diversity and inclusion in Hollywood, DuVernay is the first woman of color to direct a live-action film with a production budget over $100 million. In keeping with her goal to create a more diverse representation on screen, DuVernay chose to stray from L’Engle’s description of the characters and cast actors of all ages, ethnicities, and genders to ensure the timeless story resonates with today’s audiences.

The Strangers
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Bryan Bertino
Screenwriter: Bryan Bertino
Cast: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Glenn Howerton, Gemma Ward
Distributor: Scream Factory
R/Unrated | 86/91 Minutes
Release Date: March 6, 2018

2008’s The Strangers, written and directed by Bryan Bertino, was inspired by two real-life events: the Tate murders, a series of killings carried out by members of the Manson Family in 1969; and a string of break-ins that occurred in the Texas filmmaker’s neighborhood as a child. One night, while his parents were out, somebody knocked on the front door of Bertino’s house, and his little sister answered it. The strangers on the doorstep were asking for someone who didn’t live there. Later, Bertino found out that these uninvited guests would knock on doors throughout the area; if no one was home, they would vandalize the property and take what they wanted.

As for the mask-wearing, knife-wielding sickos in The Strangers, the fact that someone’s home doesn’t discourage the intruders; it emboldens them. After a long night at a friend’s wedding reception, James (Scott Speedman, Underworld) and Kristen (Liv Tyler, The Lord of the Rings trilogy) return to James’ childhood summer home in rural South Carolina. Just after 4 a.m., there’s a knock at the door. A young blonde woman (Gemma Ward), whose face is obscured by shadow, asks for Tamara. When James tells her that she has the wrong house, the woman leaves with an unsettling utterance: “See you later.”

Drag Me to Hell
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Sam Raimi
Screenwriter: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi
Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza, Octavia Spencer, Ted Raimi
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated PG-13 | 99 Minutes
Release Date: February 13, 2018

“You’d be surprised what you’ll be willing to do, when the Lamia comes for you.”

In 2009, Sam Raimi, the filmmaker behind low-budget cult classics like The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness, returned to the horror genre with a vengeance with Drag Me to Hell.

Produced by Raimi and Rob Tapert‘s Ghost House Pictures and distributed by Universal Pictures, Drag me to Hell is like an off-the-rails dark ride at a demonic carnival – a gloriously over-the-top slapstick splatter-fest that delivers seismic shivers to the central nervous system.

The Shape of Water
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Screenwriter: Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, Octavia Spencer
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Rated R | 123 Minutes
Release Date: December 15, 2017

A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, Guillermo del Toro was fascinated as a child by fairy tales, ghost stories, and monster movies that ignited his imagination and compelled him to tell his own stories. When he started writing and directing films, those influences laid the foundation for del Toro’s uniquely expressive approach to genre filmmaking – a return to the dark romanticism of Universal horror films like 1931’s Frankenstein and Dracula.

Best known for his three Spanish-language films that upend conventional genre storytelling, Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone, and Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro weaves vivid phantasmagorias that capture the beauty and the horror of the human experience. His supernatural epics are equally as inventive, from Blade II and the Hellboy series, to Pacific Rim and his gothic romance, Crimson Peak. His new film, The Shape of Water, is the culmination of del Toro’s career thus far – the summation of everything the filmmaker has learned, refined and perfected.