Horror to get excited about in 2011

I'm looking forward to a new year, especially seeing new horror films and reading new horror novels. So I've compiled a list of my most anticipated horror movies and books to be released in 2011.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Release Date: TBA

Directed By: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison

A young girl sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend discovers creatures in her new home who want to claim her as one of their own.

Although I haven't seen the 1973 original yet, I still want to see this remake. Mostly because the trailer is so creepy. See for yourself:

The Woman

Release Date: TBA

Directed By: Lucky McKee

Starring: Angela Bettis, Pollyanna McIntosh, Sean Bridgers

When a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to "civilize" the last remaining member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy. 

Not only is this film based on a Jack Ketchum novel and continues the story from Off Season and Offspring, but it's also directed by Lucky McKee and stars Angela Bettis! This is probably my most anticipated film of the year. There's no trailer out yet, so instead here's a behind-the-scenes video:

Scream 4

Release Date: April 15

Directed By: Wes Craven

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette

Ten years have passed, and Sidney Prescott, who has put herself back together thanks in part to her writing, is visited by the Ghostface Killer.

I loved the first three films (well, the second and third weren't as good as the first, but they weren't awful) and can't wait for the fourth.

The Cabin in the Woods

Release Date: TBA

Directed By: Drew Goddard

Starring: Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Jesse Williams

A twisted and unusual take on the familiar "cabin in the woods" formula.

This film was supposed to be released almost a year ago, but it was delayed to convert it into 3D, and given the new release date of January 14, 2011. And now because of problems with MGM, it's going to be delayed "indefinitely." But I'm still including it on this list because I'm hoping it will be released sometime in the near future. It's co-written by Drew Goddard (Cloverfield) and Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), so it should be interesting.
  
The Innkeepers

Release Date: TBA

Directed By: Ti West

Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis

A horror-thriller centered on the last two employees at a haunted hotel that's going out of business. 

I found Ti West's The House of the Devil to be very creepy, so hopefully this movie will be scary as well.

The Woman by Jack Ketchum & Lucky McKee

Release Date: March (e-book)
                     May (trade paperback)

The Woman is the powerful story of the last survivor of a feral tribe of cannibals who have terrorized the east coast from Maine into Canada for years now.  Badly wounded in a battle with police, she takes refuge in a cave overlooking the sea.  Christopher Cleek is a slick, amoral -- and unstable -- country lawyer who, out hunting one day, sees her bathing in a stream.  Fascinated, he follows her to her cave.  Cleek has many dark secrets and to these he'll add another.  He will capture her, lock in his fruit cellar, and tame her, civilize her.  To this end he'll enlist his long-suffering wife Belle, his teenage son and daughter Brian and Peg, and even his little girl Darlin', to aid him.  So the question becomes, who is more savage?  The hunter or the game?

I'm insanely excited about this book. Not only is it a third Ketchum book about the Sawney Bean clan, but it's also co-written by Lucky McKee!

Midnight Movie by Tobe Hooper & Alan Goldsher

Release Date: July 12

From legendary horror director Tobe Hooper and acclaimed novelist Alan Goldsher comes a horror event that mixes fact and fiction to tell the story of what happens when one of Hooper's films causes a strange contagion to spread across America, forcing Hooper to delve into long-forgotten corners of his past to solve the mystery.

As MIDNIGHT MOVIE opens, Tobe Hooper is attending a festival screening of his "lost" film "Destiny Express," a movie that Tobe wrote and directed when he was sixteen years old and that hasn't seen the light of day for over thirty years. Over the coming days, Tobe learns that terrifying, seemingly supernatural events are befalling all those who saw the movie that night. Soon, the audience members' friends are affected, too. And their friends. And their friends. The effects are growing exponentially, and before long, people are dying by the thousands. Suspecting that the solution to the movie's strange power lies in his own past, Tobe begins a desperate cross-country quest to understand the film's thirty-year-old origins... and come to terms with his own secrets.

The plot of this book sounds interesting and if Tobe Hooper can write as well as he directs, it should be good.

In Laymon's Terms edited by Kelly Laymon, Steve Gerlach & Richard Chizmar

Release Date: TBA

An oversized, huge tribute anthology for Richard Laymon -- featuring original and reprint short fiction, essays, interviews, personal remembrances, photos, etc. from dozens of the biggest names in horror! Personal, moving, and wildly entertaining -- this oversized hardcover is a collection that Richard Laymon would be very proud of!

I'm really hoping this actually gets released this year. I'm a huge Richard Laymon fan and I've been waiting for this tribute to him for a year and a half. It was supposed to be released August 2009, and that never happened. But according to the Cemetery Dance website, it will be released in 2011 and is "at the printer now." 

Entombed by Brian Keene

Release Date: TBA

Entombed is a follow-up to Dead Sea and was supposed to be released by Leisure in February, but after the changes Keene decided to go with a different publisher. It will be released as a signed, limited edition hardcover sometime this year.

Hollow by Brian Keene

Release Date: May 17

Hollow is a follow-up to Dark Hollow and Ghost Walk and will be released as a trade paperback and an e-book by Apex Book Company.

There's also one more thing to look forward to in 2011. Former Leisure horror editor Don D'Auria will be in charge of a new horror line at Samhain Publishing, which will release two books a month beginning in October.

What horror films or novels are you looking forward to in 2011?