5 horror movies to shock you into spring
Not content to give you anxiety in the bleak depths of winter, studios will keep rolling out horror movies this spring. Some of them, including these five chillers, might even make fans wish it were still cold enough to hide under the blankets.
'Ash'
In "Ash," musical artist and director Flying Lotus looks to give space horror a style infusion with the story of Riya (Eiza Gonzalez), who wakes up with amnesia on a strange planet to find the crewmates on her space station murdered. When Brion (Aaron Paul) appears, claiming to have answered her distress call, she must figure out what is real and what is not – and who killed the crew. The trippy trailer is "packed with short bursts of ominous imagery and shots of a surreal sci-fi planetscape," said Polygon. (March 21, in theaters)
'The Rule of Jenny Pen'
In Shudder's "The Rule of Jenny Pen," Geoffrey Rush plays Stefan, who lands in a nursing home after a stroke. He grows increasingly concerned about the behavior of Dave, (John Lithgow), a patient who uses the titular doll to torment residents. The movie is a "creepy puppet movie that’s also a meditation on aging, death and the fear that comes from losing control of your body," said The AV Club. (March 28, Shudder)
'The Woman in the Yard'
Holed up in a rural farmhouse after her husband is killed in a car accident and seriously injured herself, Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) has to figure out how to care for her two children. One afternoon, a strange woman, clad in black, appears sitting on a chair in the yard, and she moves closer and closer to the house. The trailer is "pretty damn unsettling," said Fangoria. (March 28, in theaters)
'Until Dawn'
Director David F. Sandberg brings the time-loop subgenre to horror with a video game adaptation about friends returning to the rural area where Clover's (Ella Rubin) sister disappeared a year earlier. They then become hunted — and wake to relive their murders again and again. The trailer "delivers a monster mash of time-loop terror," said Bloody Disgusting (April 25, in theaters)
'Bring Her Back'
Brothers Danny and Michael Philippou stormed the horror scene in 2023 with "Talk to Me," their parable about teenagers who allow themselves to be possessed by a demon and then upload the footage to social media. In May, they return with "Bring Her Back." The plot outline is vague but revolves around foster children "who uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother," said Deadline. (May 30, in theaters)