One of my all-time favourite slow-burn psychological horror films is Brad Anderson's Session 9. It's a simple tale of an asbestos clean-up crew encountering... something within an abandoned mental asylum, and it's creepy as fuck! Anderson has dipped his toe in horror since with The Machinist, Vanishing on 7th Street, and a variety of TV shows, but he's about to make a big leap back into the genre with Existence.

And you know what? It actually doesn't look half bad.  Granted, Halle Berry and co-star Abigail Breslin are talented actors. Berry's won an Academy Award and Breslin's been nominated. And director Brad Anderson is the bomb when it comes horror and thrillers, what with his Session 9 and The Machinist. The Call follows a 911 operator who ends up dealing with a killer from her past after a young girl calls the center, kidnapped in the trunk of a car.  Working against the film is the plot has elements of Taken and Buried, and the trailer shows every beat we'll see in the movie. Still, there's talent involved, which gives me hope that The Call will be worth the watch when it opens March 15.  Trailer courtesy of Yahoo.

Remember Abigail Breslin, the cute little girl who received an Oscar nomination for her work in the indie comedy Little Miss Sunshine before she battled zombies in the modern classic that is Zombieland? No? Then you are a true Basement Dweller. Well, Breslin is moving further into the horror genre with her next project, The Hive, where she joins Oscar winner and Bond girl Halle Berry. Yes, we posted a picture of Berry instead of Breslin because we don't want to seem like a couple of pedophiles. Pervs yes, pedophiles no. The Hive is directed by genre veteran Brad Anderson, who helmed Session 9, The Machinist and Vanishing on 7th Street. Berry plays an operator at a 911 call centre who must race against time to save a teenage girl menaced by a deranged killer. Logically, Breslin plays the teenager. But wouldn't it be really interesting if she played the killer? Indeed. I like Anderson's work. So far his only real misfire has been Vanishing. The Hive's story does sou...

One of director Brad Anderson's weaker efforts, but still packs a punch or three. Actually, what makes Vanishing on 7th. Street so disappointing is that some of it is so good and scary that I couldn't help but be let down by the rest of it. This is a movie that runs out of steam before it ends. We're supposed to hang on and enjoy the ride, but there isn't enough here to do that. Anderson doesn't disappoint; he still knows how to make a scary movie. It's the script by Anthony Jaswinski that doesn't hold together. A Bad from me on this one.

But this one actually looks good! If you aren't familiar with the name Brad Anderson and you consider yourself a horror film, well, shame on you. Anderson made the exception Session 9, the effective The Machinist and the so-so-but-still-worth-seeing Transsiberian. Now he's about to unleash his latest effort, Vanishing on 7th Street, and it looks creepy cool. The film features Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo as a disparate group brought together by the fact that darkness itself seems to be making people disappear into thin air. Soon, the survivors are clinging to what light sources they can find, spurred on by ominous warnings to avoid the dark at any cost and to only trust the light they carry themselves. Sound good? Just forget Christensen is in it and give it a try. The film doesn't have a release date, but premiers at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.