2020 horror movies experienced numerous delays and uncertainty, but the year had some of the biggest news about franchises, casting, and more.
2020 was a wild year for horror movies, with some of the biggest news stemming from ongoing cancelations related to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, aside from that, the year had a lot to offer in terms of casting news, franchising rights, record-breaking, and more.
While 2020 was a highly-anticipated year for many, with massive franchises such as Halloween, Saw, The Conjuring, and The Purge all offering new sequels, all of the aforementioned movies got canceled due to theater closures after safety and health concerns that coincide with the spreading Coronavirus caused global shutdowns. With people isolating in their homes, social distancing, and turning to new methods to consume and enjoy media, all eyes turned to what titles were available on VOD and popular streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Shudder.
Because of this, streaming became more popular than ever. However, despite tons of competition, horror continued to rise as not only an immensely popular, but profitable genre. Both horror movies and TV shows broke records in 2020, and for good reason. 2020 also saw the resurgence of the drive-in, as the distanced way of enjoying movies (rather than being inside a theater) became an option for many families who were looking for some semblance of normalcy and catharsis in uncertain times. Some horror franchises may have been shelved for another year, but 2020 also brought announcements of the future, namely big opportunities for long-lasting franchises returning for another round of scares. Here's the very best 2020 had to offer in terms of horror movie news.
The majority of 2020's most highly-anticipated horror movies out were delayed to 2021 and, based on the state of theaters near the end of the year, could end up being pushed back even longer. The 2020 delayed horror movies were mostly well-known franchises and big titles, such as A Quiet Place 2, The Purge 5, Saw 9, Candyman, and Halloween Kills, but some other delayed movies from big studios, such as Freaky, Antebellum, and Run worked out alternative releases either via a limited theatrical run that shifted to VOD/Digital release after three weeks, moving to a streaming platform like Hulu or Netflix, or going straight to VOD. Although many of these titles can be expected to release in 2021 unless theaters remain closed, the ongoing movie delays throughout Hollywood—as well as production delays with movies and TV shows—were ongoing news for the majority of 2020.
A Nightmare on Elm Street legend and horror movie icon Robert Englund, who is most well-known for his role as Freddy Krueger in Wes Craven's long-running movie franchise, was announced to be joining the cast of Stranger Things season 4. The announcement came toward the end of 2020, in November, giving fans of both Englund's body of work and Stranger Things yet more reasons to be excited for the show's future. Although it's uncertain whether Englund will ever reprise his role as Freddy Krueger in another A Nightmare on Elm Street movie, the rights have reverted back to Wes Craven's estate after the director's death, and reports have stated that pitches for another Nightmare movie have been presented.
Regardless, the casting of Englund as a murderer in Stranger Things season 4 is a fantastic return to form for the man who built a career out of his portrayal of one of the most famous fictional murderers in cinema history. In Stranger Things season 4, Englund will be playing Victor Creel, a "disturbing and intimidating" man who has been kept imprisoned within the walls of a psychiatric facility since the 1950s. It sounds right up Englund's alley.
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not) were announced to be continuing director Wes Craven's legacy by helming the fifth installment in the slasher movie franchise, Scream 5, which was announced to be called simply: Scream. Some fans have expressed varying degrees of disappointment in the name choice, seeing it as a missed opportunity to continue with some of the franchise's trend by calling the movie "SCREAM5", a stylized version of the word "screams" instead. However, the announcements surrounding the movie, particularly relating to the return of several legacy cast members in their original roles, such as Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), David Arquette (Dewey Riley), and Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers).
Leaked set photos also hint at the possibility of the movie returning to Stu Macher's (Matthew Lillard) house, which could bring the movie full-circle. Though Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have stated the movie won't be as "meta" as past installments, there's plenty to look forward to. The involvement of original screenwriter Kevin Williamson and legacy cast have gotten the majority of Scream fans hyped for the movie's January 2022 release date.
Just like the drive-in theater again became a viable and popular option for viewing movies in 2020, independent horror movies—which often are overlooked due to a focus on mainstream releases—came back with a vengeance. Movies like The Wretched topped 2020's movie box office because they were able to find not only a release date, but an audience at the drive-in. Also, due to the majority of consumers looking to what movies were available on streaming platforms and VOD/Digital, independent horror movies got more traffic. This was potentially due to a lack of competition from more well-known titles, but independent horror grew to new levels of appreciation as a result. In other years, independent titles are often discovered by audiences who already delve into that area, and go largely discovered by theater-goers, who are more inclined to see the next Halloween Kills rather than a choice like Relic or the Dave Franco helmed The Rental, both of which received positive reviews in 2020. While it's uncertain whether this will be a continuing trend in 2021, it's nice to see a shift in focus to less-heralded gems from independent creators in the spotlight for a change.
First announced in December 2020, Clive Barker—acclaimed horror author and creator of Hellraiser and Candyman—retained the rights to the Hellraiser franchise. This is not only big news because Hellraiser is being continued in two different directions, both of which were announced in 2020. Hellraiser is being made into a both reboot movie and an HBO TV series. Since Barker now has authority over his original property, he can be a driving force in these new iterations of Pinhead and the Cenobites, and hopefully bring the franchise back to its darkly sexual roots that conjure up the underbelly of 1980s BDSM and queer culture.
In the past, the Hellraiser movies have been included with slasher franchises like Halloween and Friday the 13th, but Pinhead is not a slasher movie villain, nor is he completely a villain at all. This "angel to some, demon to others" is arguably one of the most fascinating beings to be the face of a horror franchise, and the property being restored to Barker bodes well for the future. Although the Friday the 13th franchise is still locked in a legal rights battle between director Sean S. Cunningham and writer Victor Miller, the good news for Hellraiser is another win for horror movie fans.
The follow-up series (but not a sequel) to Mike Flanagan's smash 2018 hit The Haunting of Hill House, Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor released in October 2020 and immediately became one of the most-watched shows on the platform. Soon after it secured its spot in the top 10 week after week, and close to a month after release, Netflix announced that the series had shattered records. The Haunting of Bly Manor topped Nielsen's streaming ratings in only its second week; it was reported by Deadline that the series amassed 1.82 billion minutes of streaming by Netflix users.
Content in October is naturally skewed toward horror and horror-adjacent viewing in preparation for the Halloween season. However, Bly Manor was acclaimed for incredible acting, atmosphere, and a perfectly splendid retelling of Henry James' gothic romance, The Turn of the Screw, which served as the primary inspiration for the series. While news on The Haunting season 3 has yet to be announced, Bly Manor's success has secured further longevity for Flanagan with Netflix, where he will continue his collaborative efforts with the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's Midnight Mass. Given the success of both seasons, it seems inevitable that the show will continue with a third installment.
On March 25, 2020, director Stuart Gordon was announced to have passed away at the age of 72. Gordon was perhaps best known for adapting various works of H.P. Lovecraft. His movies, which include Re-Animator, From Beyond, and Dagon, were heralded as some of the best adaptations of the author's work, and blended traditional aspects of cosmic horror and elements of body horror with the gross-out tendencies of Dr. Herbert West's interactions with the newly re-animated in Re-Animator. Gordon's legacy was felt throughout 2020, however, with Lovecraftian horror being embraced and celebrated in numerous avenues.
From the appearance of Cthulhu in director William Eubank's Underwater to Richard Stanley's adaptation of The Color out of Space to Misha Green's Lovecraft Country, which aired its first season on HBO, Lovecraft was a name on everybody's lips in 2020. While it might mean big things for the sub-genre and horror movies in the future, it's sad Gordon wasn't around to celebrate with us. Gordon joins a list of other memorable names who were lost in 2020, including A Nightmare on Elm Street actor John Saxon and The Exorcist's Max von Sydow. While they may be gone, their impact on the genre will never, ever be forgotten.
