9 new trailers you should watch this week

As August draws to a close, I’ve been reflecting that this is one of my favorite times of year. It’s not that my birthday is coming up (don’t ask when, and don’t ask how old). It’s because Halloween is just around the corner.

I grew up on scary and spooky movies, whether it was A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, or the Friday the 13th series. Later on, I ran across classics like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, and foreign films from masters like Dario Argento. But no matter how old I got, I never lost my love for the run-up to Halloween. There’s something about the crispness of the air, the turning of the leaves, and the idea of walking through a crowded street dressed… well, dressed as just about anybody.

Maybe it’s the anonymity. Maybe it’s the chance to dabble in the darker side of human nature with impunity. Maybe it’s that I just really love stage blood and the color black. I’ve never really figured it out.

Please check out nine trailers from this week below.

Suspiria

Remember when I mentioned Dario Argento? My first introduction to his work was the 1977 film Suspiria, about a young woman who travels to a dance academy in Germany, only to discover that it is home to… well, some pretty bad things. From the looks of the latest trailer, the upcoming remake from director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) will use the same premise as a jumping off point, before diving into its own particular form of madness. One thing I’m particularly excited about? The score, with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke trying to fill the shoes of the original soundtrack, which came courtesy of Italian prog-rock band Goblin.

Slice

Look, it’s a movie about a pizza joint built on a gateway to hell. It stars Zazie Beetz (Atlanta, Deadpool 2) and Chance the Rapper. There’s a ghost. There’s a werewolf. There’s a pun-happy title. Of course you should watch this.

Hold the Dark

Green Room’s Jeremy Saulnier directs this story about a man (Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright) who is called in to find a child that has been abducted by a pack of wolves. It looks like things don’t go so well, in what promises to be a taut and disturbing story told against the unforgiving backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness.

Night School

Opinions about Kevin Hart may vary, but everybody loves Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Hadish. It should come as no surprise that she’s unquestionably the best part of the trailer for this new film, which follows a group of adults in night school struggling to get their GEDs.

American Vandal, season 2

The first season of the Netflix mockumentary American Vandal came along at the perfect time — my colleague Megan Farokhmanesh called it “a refreshing take on true crime” — and the show is returning next month with its second season. This time there’s an even more absurd crime to investigate, and judging by the latest trailer, things will get, um, messy.

Killer Kate!

Sometimes horror movie set-ups can seem a little far-fetched, but Killer Kate! has one that everybody can relate to. A group of women on a bachelor party head to a remote cabin, booked on an Airbnb-like service, only to discover that they’ve walked into a sadistic murder trap hatched by some bumbling idiots. Did I mention I just booked a vacation with Airbnb?

Outlaw King

Chris Pine, and Chris Pine’s beard, star in this film based on the life of Robert the Bruce, the Scottish warrior who fought for his country’s independence from England in the 1300s. The project reteams Pine with his Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie, and will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before debuting on Netflix in November.

My Dinner with Hervé

This teaser is short, but it gives a glimpse at what appears to be yet another notable performance from Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage. This time, the actor will be tackling the role of Hervé Villechaize, the actor best known for his work on Fantasy Island and The Man with the Golden Gun.

King Lear

Anthony Hopkins stars in this alternate-world retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear. A co-production with the BBC, it aired in the UK earlier this year. It will be coming to Amazon Prime in September.