Ten Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Films for the First Quarter

The Orphanage (Horror) - The Orphanage centers on a Laura (Belén Rueda) who purchases her beloved childhood orphanage with dreams of restoring and reopening the long abandoned facility as a place for disabled children. Once there, Laura discovers that the new environment awakens her sons imagination, but the ongoing fantasy games he plays with an invisible friend quickly turn into something more disturbing. Upon seeing her family increasingly threatened by the strange occurrences in the house, Laura looks to a group of parapsychologists for help in unraveling the mystery that has taken over the place. (Synopsis courtesy of IMDb.com) Produced by Guillermo del Toro, The Orphanage opens nationwide January 11.

The Eye (SciFi/Horror) - SciFi veteran Jessica Alba (Dark Angel) stars as a violin virtuoso who has been blind since childhood. After receiving a corneal transplant to repair her vision, she discovers her new eyes were not the only things transplanted. She begins seeing horrific visions as if seeing through the eyes of a violent killer. Opens everywhere February 9. (Tidbit: The theatrical trailer for this film on the beginning of Saw IV, features the music of Blaqk Audio, the synthesized vision of AFI's Davey Havok and Jade Puget.)

One Missed Call (Supernatural Horror) - In the same vein as FearDotCom, Pulse and The Ring, One Missed Call is about a supernatural force that kills through the victim's cellular phone. The missed call results in a creepy voice mail - a recording of a gruesome death. A gruesome death which, in just a matter of days, turns out to be your own. The potential of this film lies in the inclusion of Azura Skye, an oft-creepy cult (and personal) favorite. Opens everywhere January 4. (Tidbit: Both One Missed Call and The Eye are remakes of Asian horror flicks - One Missed Call from Japan and The Eye from China.)

Cloverfield (SciFi, Monster movie) - Producer J.J. Abrams brings us a near-future look at New York City as it is destroyed by an as-yet-unseen monstrosity. While some of the film is shot as a film, using industrial studio-type cameras, the majority is shot using hand-helds. But never fear, faithful readers, it promises to be far more impressive than the Blair Witch Project. Opens everywhere January 18. (Tidbit: There is wide speculation that a commaradary between Abrams and actor Greg Gruenberg has led to a crossover between Cloverfield and NBC's Heroes; including theories that the monster destroying the city in the film is the same monster featured in the Heroes online comic 9th Wonder)

Over Her Dead Body (Supernatural Comedy) - Taken from Rotten Tomatoes.com: "Devastated when his fiancée Kate (Eva Longoria Parker) is killed on their wedding day, Henry (Paul Rudd) reluctantly agrees to consult a psychic named Ashley (Lake Bell) at the urging of his sister Chloe (Lindsay Sloane). Despite his skepticism over her psychic abilities, Henry finds himself falling hard for Ashley, and vice versa." At first, Ashley's psychic visions are all fabrications meant to urge Henry into a happy life after Kate. But as their relationship grows, Ashley's visions become real - Kate comes back to haunt her almost-widower's new flame. Opens everywhere February 1. (Tidbit...sorry, kids. I couldn't find any trivia about this film, other than the producers picked the lesser of three evils when applying a title...Other choices: How I Met My Boyfriend's Dead Fiance and Ghost Bitch.)

Pathology (Psychological Horror) - Pathology stars Milo Ventimiglia as Ted Gray, a bored med student. He and a group of his peers devise a game - commit the perfect murder. Each of them must commit their idea of the perfect murder while the rest of the group uses forensics and pathology to figure out how it was done. Sounds to this writer like the recipe for a good old fashioned thriller. Opens everywhere February 8.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Fantasy) - Based on the young adult series, The Spiderwick Chronicles is about a young boy whose family moves into a cottage in the country where he finds an old journal, "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide." The field guide explains and outlines all of the things that live in our world, just beyond our front doors but tucked away out of sight - goblins, faeries, gremlins and the like. Opens everywhere February 15.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes (Horror/Suspense) - With a cast of relative newcomers, The Poughkeepsie Tapes tells the tale of an astonishing discovery in Poughkeepsie, NY - ten bodies buried in the yard of a home. Inside, their discovery turns more grisly as they find over 800 video tapes portraying the development of a serial killer. The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a mockumentary including interviews with law enforcement agents, criminalists and neighbors in the community where the bodies and tapes were found.

Inkheart (Fantasy) - Based on the young adult book of the same name, Inkheart promises a roller coaster ride as we follow young Meggie and her eccentric aunt Elinor as they try to rescue her father who has been kidnapped. Why has he been kidnapped, you ask? Because he can read things and characters out of their book worlds and into our own. Cast includes Dame Helen Mirren, Paul Bettany, Brendan Fraser and Andy Serkis. Opens everywhere March 19.

Shutter (Supernatural Horror) - After a tragic accident, a young photographer (Joshua Jackson) and his new wife, (Rachael Taylor) discover mysterious shadows in their photographs taken by a camera. They start to ignore it, unaware that what it entails is both horrendous and shocking, and that you can not escape your past. (Synopsis courtesy of Wikipedia). Shutter is a remake of the 2004 Thai film of the same name. Opens everywhere March 21.