April comes a-knockin’ with a cavalcade of new releases to check out, several of which are horror related. Grab whatever weird popcorn bucket I know you bought in 2024 and head on down to the theater.
For a spy thriller, make sure to check out The Amateur. Starring Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) as a mild mannered CIA cryptographer, the movie follows his descent into the criminal underworld to find those responsible for his wife’s death. With a great supporting cast including Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), the movie should showcase some excellent revenge-filled action and a fun, if not implausible, storyline. Hopefully it comes together nicely when it hits theaters on April 11.
If supernatural horror is more your bag, don’t miss Sinners. Focusing on twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan, Creed), the movie follows the siblings’ return to their hometown, leaving a troubled past behind. Unfortunately, said trouble follows them in the form of an undead evil. Set in what appears to be the Jim Crow south, the trailer spoils far, far too much, so I would recommend staying away if you have any interest in a classic movie-going experience. It looks to be a real treat with a great supporting cast as well, including Hailee Steinfeld (Edge of Seventeen), Jack O’Connell (Unbroken) and Delroy Lindo (Get Shorty). It creeps into theaters on April 18.
For a body horror delight, take a look at The Shrouds. Directed by David Cronenberg (The Fly), the story follows a businessman played by Vincent Cassel (Eastern Promises) who has created a controversial technology that monitors loved ones’ remains as they decay in their graves. After a desecration of his wife’s grave among others, the businessman sets out to discover why. The trailer shows very little, but the early reviews are mostly positive with critics enamored by Cronenberg’s examination of grief and loss. It releases on April 25.
If you want to see the sequel to a movie your dad probably loved, The Accountant 2 should be your pick. Ben Affleck returns as the titular accountant Christian Wolfe, along with Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) as his brother, in a film where the two must discover who murdered a close associate of Wolfe’s. Much like the first movie, this film looks to have similar action, some witty banter and a solid, if not predictable, looking story. The original film was in 2016, so I didn’t expect a follow-up nine years later – but here we are. Make sure your dad is ready to leave his favorite recliner when this drops on April 25.
Lastly, a third horror film titled Until Dawn also releases this month. Based on the 2015 video game of the same name, the plot follows a group of friends stuck in a time loop; they are continually killed by a different otherworldly threat each time they reawaken, and to escape, they must survive … you guessed it, until dawn. Although it changes a few elements from the source material, it might be for the better in the end. We’ll find out if the horror of bad video game adaptations continues when this releases on April 25.
