Scary New Movies that have Been Released in the Past Year

Nothing beats the feeling of being scared half to death by a fantastically freaky horror picture, especially at the theater surrounded by more freaked out moviegoers. Why is it that we love being frightened? Our hearts race and our pulse quickens and the hair on the back of our heads stands up as the ghoul jumps out from behind our hero. We jump straight up almost out of our chairs when that scary moment comes. Alas, great scary new movies have been hard to come by. Most of the junk that comes out of Hollywood could not frighten a heart transplant patient much less the typical jaded horror movie fan.

In 2009 one movie did come out that struck a nerve with audiences around the world and that was “Paranormal Activity”. This shocker, which cost very little to make and was mostly shot on high definition video has grossed over $110,000,000 in U.S. box office to date. It just came out on DVD and Blu-Ray and will probably gross another $50 million there in 2010.

“Paranormal Activity” was directed by first timer Oren Peli, who spent a mere $15 million to get his movie in the can. Starring newbies Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat as a suburban yuppie couple from San Diego that are being terrorized by a demon ghost from hell, this movie starts out pretty slow but builds up to an unforgettably chilling climax. I saw this film at the theaters with a packed house and everyone jumped out of their seat gasping in terror every few minutes or so, especially near the end. Scary new movies just don’t get much better than this and this particular movie not only did well with audiences but with critics alike. If you have not seen it you are missing out.

Another of the new scary movies that came out early in 2009 was “Antichrist” and it was a stark contrast to “Paranormal Activity” especially considering all of the hype it received before it opened. The trailers had it pegged as the new “Exorcist” and boy were they dead wrong. Made by Danish film maker Lars Von Triers and starring Willem DaFoe and Charlotte Gainsbourgh as a couple that have recently lost their toddler son in a home accident, the film is more of a psychosexual character study and a depiction of a fever dream than any kind of horror story. The problem with this movie is not the movie itself. It is what it is, some sort of art piece with over the top bloodletting and gruesomeness. No, the main problem is how this movie was falsely advertised to the movie going public as one of the scary new movies of the year along the lines of “The Grunge” or “The Ring”, neither of which it even remotely resembles.

You need to pay close attention to any claims by studios of scary new movies that are opening soon. One of the freakiest looking of any of the scary new movies coming out soon is “The Black Waters at Echo’s Pond”. Watch the trailer online and make up your own mind.