WE’RE NOT GOING TO LIE TO YOU: NOT EVERY SINGLE MOVIE THAT WILL BE RELEASED IN THE NEXT TWO MONTHS WILL BE A WORLD-AND CINEMA-CHANGING CLASSIC. THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN STUDIOS USUALLY DUMP THEIR LEAST APPEALING PRODUCT – BUT THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW EXCEPTIONS (DEADPOOL, WAYNE’S WORLD, GET OUT, AND GROUNDHOG DAY). SO PERHAPS YOU’D BETTER BRAVE THE COLD TO CHECK THESE OUT
BY DAN SALAMONE
DRACULA
FEBRUARY 6
This new spin on the fanged one’s legend reimagines Dracula as a tragic origin story rooted in loss and vengeance. Set in the 15th century, the film follows a doomed prince (Landry Jones) who is cursed to inherit the mantle of Dracula after renouncing God in the wake of his wife’s brutal murder. Directed by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Léon: The Professional) the French production follows the efforts of a fiery priest (Christoph Waltz) to bring down the seemingly immortal stealer of souls.
SCARLET
FEBRUARY 6
Brilliant Japanese animation director Mamoru Hosoda (Belle, Summer Wars) attempts something close to an anime mashup of Hamlet and The Time Machine in this story of a medieval warrior princess on a quest to avenge the death of her father who, after her apparent death, is nursed back to health by a young man from the present day. When con fronted later with her father’s killer, will she succumb to the cycle of vengeance or allow herself a life beyond it? It’s a Venice Film Festival 2025 winner.
GALE: YELLOW BRICK ROAD
FEBRUARY 11
Ever wondered what The Wizard of Oz would’ve been like if it included a coda in which Dorothy is an old woman, haunted by terrifying nightmares of her time in Oz, and her granddaughter is cursed to return and confront the twisted remains of that once-magical world? No? How about an entire movie devoted to that idea? The trailer lands on just the right side of creepy-but artful. Cautious optimism found.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
FEBRUARY 13
If you thought a time-traveling, gender-reversed Hamlet was ambitious, you may be equally intrigued – and/or horrified – by a new adaptation of one of our most beloved Gothic romance literary classics from the writer-director of Saltburn and Promising Young Woman (the latter earning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay). Telling the story of passionate, tempestuous working-class Heathcliff (here given a controversial twist via the casting of Jacob Elordi) and his doomed love-obsession with the moneyed Catherine (Margot Robbie), early trailers hint at a strain of very Saltburn-esque erotic perversity that thrilled half the internet (and disgusted the other half). The mid-February re lease foretells either an early pre-summer smash or a mid-February folly for the ages.
SCREAM 7
FEBRUARY 27
This deathless (wordplay alert!) seventh installment follows the always-profitable and frequently satisfying travails of a coterie of beautiful young people who meet terrible ends via cutlery wielded by lunatics in masks. This entry finds original screenwriter and franchise creator Kevin Williamson in the di rector’s chair for the very first time.
THEY WILL KILL YOU
MARCH 27
This new cross between Ready or Not and Satanic Panic stars the woefully underutilized charm machine known as Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2) as a down-on-her-luck gal who takes a maid position at a mysterious NYC high-rise, unaware that its Shining esque creepiness conceals a satanic cult that sacrifices its staff to the Dark One. If the raucously bloody trailer is any indication, the cultists have chosen highly unwisely. The director of one of the best Tarantino knockoffs ever made (Why Don’t You Just Die?) helms this one.
GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE
FEBRUARY 13
Sam Rockwell’s presence in anything is an unambiguously good thing (see this crystallized in his amazing monologue on The White Lotus), but the movies don’t always do right by his considerable gifts looking at you, Argylle. That said, the film’s 94% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes suggests that director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) has done right by Mr. Rockwell in this deceptively simple premise: “Claiming to be from the future, a man takes hostages at a Los Angeles diner to recruit unlikely heroes to help him save the world.”