This Season's Craziest Horror Flicks

STARRING: Milo Cawthorne, James Blake, Kimberley Crossman
DIRECTED BY: Jason Lei Howden
HORROR SUBGENRE: Heavy metal
A pair of metalheads form a band and unleash an evil entity which threatens to destroy reality itself in New Zealand director Howden's fabulously-monikered splatterfest.
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Executive producer Ant Timpson performed the same service on last year's superlative haunted home movie 'Housebound' and produced the recent post-apocalypse action film 'Turbo Kid.' He is also one of the folks behind the 'ABCs of Death' horror anthology franchise.

STARRING: William Shatner, George Buza, Rob Archer
DIRECTED BY: Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, Brett Sullivan
HORROR SUBGENRE: Christmas
This Yuletide anthology movie concerns the mayhem which ensues after a young boy summons the anti-Santa, A.K.A. Krampus! (See also 'Trick 'r Treat' filmmaker Michael Dougherty's self-explanatorily titled 'Krampus,' out Dec. 4).
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Shatner's previous horror movies include 1975's 'The Devil's Rain' (which costarred a pre-fame John Travolta) and 1977's 'Kingdom of the Spiders.'

STARRING: Michael Weston, Jimmi Simpson, Sutton Foster, Lily Cole, Gabourey Sidibe, Sarah Silverman
DIRECTED BY: James Roday
HORROR SUBGENRE: Culinary
Three costumed lunatics with special dietary requirements take over a Mexican cantina in the directorial debut from 'Psych' actor Roday, who also cowrote the film.
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Roday's inspiration for the project? "I dreamt of cannibals, pop culture, and Mexican food," he has said.

STARRING: Keanu Reeves, Ana de Armas, Lorenza Izzo
DIRECTED BY: Eli Roth
HORROR SUBGENRE: Psychosexual
Home-alone family man Evan (Reeves) gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to help a pair of young flirtatious strangers (de Armas, Izzo). That is, unless he bargained for 24 hours of extreme mental torture.
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Izzo is the wife of director Roth.

STARRING: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Nina Dobrev
DIRECTED BY: Todd Strauss-Schulson
HORROR SUBGENRE: Slasher
In this horror-comedy, Farmiga ('American Horror Story') plays Max, the daughter of a B-movie actress (Akerman) who died two years earlier. Now Max is mysteriously transported into her mom's '80s-era slasher flick 'Camp Bloodbath.' Joining Max on her meta adventure are Dobrev ('The Vampire Diaries'), Thomas Middleditch ('Silicon Valley'), Alia Shawkat ('Arrested Development'), and 'Vikings' actor Alexander Ludwig.
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Ludwig also appeared in August's 'Final Girl,' and Farmiga is the younger sister of 'Bates Motel' star Vera Farmiga.

STARRING: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain
DIRECTED BY: Guillermo del Toro
HORROR SUBGENRE: Gothic
An aspiring novelist (Wasikowska) encounters creepy goings-on after moving into a crumbling British mansion with her elusive new hubby (Hiddleston) and his aloof sister (Chastain). Director del Toro returns from the giant-robot territory of 'Pacific Rim' for this period thriller, which resides in the more familiar terrain of his critical hits 'The Devil's Backbone' and 'Pan's Labyrinth.'
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Stephen King has hailed the movie as "just f---ing terrifying." Hey, he should know!

STARRING: Lin Shaye, Barry Bostwick, Greg Grunberg
DIRECTED BY: Neil Marshall (and others)
HORROR SUBGENRE: Anthology
The 10 interlinked stories that compose 'Tales of Halloween' were brought to the screen by a scarily large number of filmmakers — 11 in all, including 'The Descent' director Marshall — and feature an even longer cast list of genre acting notables, such as Bostwick ('The Rocky Horror Picture Show'), Shaye ('Insidious'), and Grunberg ('Big Ass Spider!').
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: 'Tales' features onscreen cameos from directors Joe Dante ('Piranha') and John Landis ('An American Werewolf in London').

STARRING: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan
DIRECTED BY: Rob Letterman
HORROR SUBGENRE: Kiddie-friendly
Black plays real-life 'Goosebumps' author R.L. Stine, whose fearsome fictional creations stay safely within the pages of his books throughout the entire film, The End. Just kidding! They get loose and wreak monstery havoc.
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: The movie features the real Stine. If he is the real Stine. Cue creepy theremin!

STARRING: Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins
DIRECTED BY: S. Craig Zahler
HORROR SUBGENRE: Western
'Tombstone' and 'The Thing' star Russell returns to the Western and horror genres with novelist Zahler's directorial debut. Kurt's sheriff leads a posse that saddles up to rescue some Old West folks (including Lili Simmons from the show 'Banshee') kidnapped by cave-dwelling cannibals.
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Fifty years before shooting 'Bone Tomahawk' at the Paramount Ranch outside L.A., Russell appeared on a string of '60s TV Westerns, including 'Gunsmoke,' that filmed at the same locale.

STARRING: Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Olivia Taylor Dudley
DIRECTED BY: Gregory Plotkin
HORROR SUBGENRE: Found-footage
A new family discovers a box of videotapes in this sixth, and supposedly final, entry in the supernatural franchise. According to the trailer, "Every secret will be revealed." So are we finally going to find out who Carly Simon wrote "You're So Vain" about?
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Oren Peli, who directed the original 'Paranormal Activity,' finally released his second film, 'Area 51,' in May, more than five years after the start of production.

STARRING: Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood
DIRECTED BY: Breck Eisner
HORROR SUBGENRE: Witch
When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? In this particular case, the answer is Vin Diesel. The voice of Groot plays an immortal warrior who has spent centuries tracking down witches while mourning the loss of his wife and daughter. It's enough to make you furious. And fast!
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Costar Elijah Wood's indie-horror production company, SpectreVision, made the recent zombie-kids comedy 'Cooties.'

STARRING: Tye Sheridan, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan
DIRECTED BY: Christopher Landon
HORROR SUBGENRE: Zombie
Be prepared for gore, nudity, and general tomfoolery as three scouts and a cocktail waitress try to survive a zombie outbreak. The cast includes Patrick Schwarzenegger (son of Arnold), David Koechner ('Anchorman'), and Cloris Leachman!
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Leachman is a horror-comedy veteran whose credits include 'Young Frankenstein,' 'Scary Movie 4,' and 'The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure' (at least we think that was a horror movie).

STARRING: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, Michael Smiley
DIRECTED BY: Corin Hardy
HORROR SUBGENRE: Rural
A conservationist from London relocates to a remote locale in Ireland with his wife and infant child—and accidentally disturbs a horde of demonic forces.
SPOOKY SIDE NOTE: Director Hardy's previous credits include the short film 'Frogz Legz,' about a sexual encounter which goes horribly—and amphibiously—awry.