The Best Horror of 2011 Part One

At first blush 2011 wasn't a great year for horror fans. The year started with a whimper as warmed over and watered down "horror-lite" in the form of The Roommate and Red Riding Hood failed to excite audiences. The remake train kept chugging along, except with all the heavy hitter franchises over and done with, studios scrambled to remake anything with a "name" attached to it rather than try to come up with ideas on their own. The results were box office poison. After four months of  no wide releases, August saw a new film dumped onto 3,000 screen each week, yet no one reminded audiences to show up. Final Destination 5, Shark Night, Apollo 18 and Fright Night 3D all under performed and the abysmal Creature set box office lows for attendance per screen.

Yet if you look a little deeper, this was a banner year for the genre. New advances in streaming technology and video on demand services allowed companies like Magnet and IFC Midnight to release high quality genre films throughout the year to rabid fans flat screen TVs. Independent theaters looking for an edge gave high quality indies theatrical screens. James Wan and Leigh Whannel proved once again you don't need to throw 50 million dollars on screen to scare audiences with the spectacular haunted house gem Insidious. Redbox allowed patrons picking up a quart of milk and a stick of butter to add festival favorites Bereavement and A Horrible Way To Die to the shopping cart (these films are consistently sold old every time I check). For a pittance of a budget, newcomer Jason Eisner out-Grindhouse-d Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and introduced the phrase "Welcome to Fucktown" into the everyday vernacular.

The films that didn't make the cut would be at or near my top ten any other year. Stake Land proved vampires don't have to sparkle and can still be ballsy. REC 2 upped the ante of the first film and added a terrific exorcist twist. The Thing prequel/quasi reboot had its flaws but mostly succeeded by paying homage to Carpenter's masterpiece. Paranormal Activity 3 added new mythology to the story and provided some much needed new scares to the mix. Rubber proved the french can do the surreal just as well as ultra gore, and I'll never look at a set of Michelins the same way again. Bloody Disgusting entered the game with a quiet German zombie flick Rammbock and continued to put out a series of smaller, high concept horror films throughout the year.

This year I'm breaking my top ten into two lists. The first list looks at the top ten films that received either a theatrical release, hit DVD shelves or were available via video-on-demand through services like Vudu, Amazon or your local cable provider. The one exception to this list has already been picked up by IFC Films and was too good not to include. I'll publish a second list later this week of the top ten screeners we received along with unreleased independent films that audiences will hopefully have a chance to experience for themselves  in 2012.

Top Ten Wide Release Films of 2011

10a. In Their Sleep from Mike's original review: The du Potet’s eschew the constant over the top violence and gore of Inside (a film which, for all its merits felt like a Roadrunner cartoon by its end) for a much quieter film that is punctuated by moments of breath stealing atrocities. Flashbacks and fantasy sequences litter the film, keeping the viewer guessing while peeling back layers of truth. Similar to the first act of Inside the victims have no idea their home has been breached. This tact provides the psychological terrors of the film. The idea that one can be nestled within their confines, completely oblivious to the torment that lays an arm’s length away plays itself out with stark results. Items that are supposed to provide a sense of security serve to imprison victims instead: in one of the most harrowing sequences of the film a small girl leaps at a deadbolt, with escape just out of the reach of her clutching fingers. (full review)

10b. Hobo With A Shotgun from Mike's original review: Hobo with A Shotgun could have been a one trick pony, a fancy name delivered with a shit eating grin that delivered nothing more than the promise of a homeless dude blowing away street trash in the most cornball and satirical ways. Instead it's a much better, more accomplished film. It works due to the decision to have Rutger Hauer plays his character straight amidst the insanity that surrounds him keeping the film grounded. Hauer wears all the indignities he's suffered through in every crag and wrinkle in his face.There's no need for an exposition filed back story, Hauer's actions and world weary tone when delivering hamfisted justice say it all. (full review)

9. Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil from Mike's original review: Spot on casting goes a long way in this film. It’s a buddy comedy first and foremost, and Tudyk and Labine share a breezy chemistry with one another that allows the audience to buy them as longtime friends. Tudyk comes off as a sort of big brother to the dimwitted Labine. He never comes off as exasperated or mean spirited. Alan Tudyk can’t not be funny on film. TMZ could release home footage of him exposing himself to cub scouts while shooting up heroin and I’m sure there’d be at least three gut busting laughs. Both Tudyk and Labine come off a so likeable that it becomes apparent after spending thirty seconds with them the pair couldn’t harm a fly let alone shove a psych major headfirst down a wood chipper. (full review)

8. Bereavement from Mike's original review: Rickaby's portrayal of Sutter, along with the odd twists his relationship Martin takes lift this above the standard hack and slash formula. Sutter's first few scenes hold true to standard tropes, with him being the strong silent type, and Mena filming him without revealing his face, reminiscent of the truck driver in High Tension. As the film continues and the bodies pile up, Sutter's inner turmoil and psychosis externalize themselves. There's two way conversations with character's that aren't there and his repeating of a mantra: "If they can't feel, then they have no fear, but if they have no fear, why do they run?" He's torn by his actions, seemingly looking for a way out, but these invisible demons keep pulling him back in. Rickaby gives his killer a sense of turmoil and empathy rarely seen in the genre. By the end, you begin to feel the slightest twinges of sympathy for the man. (full review)

7. Troll Hunter from Mike's original review: Yet despite the Brothers Grimm backdrop, Trollhunter has as much in common with the ode to workplace tedium Office Space as it does folklore. Far from all out Troll action, Ovredal depicts the tedium that overwhelms Hans’ work for maximum comic effect. Hans exposes hunting the creatures as more of a bureaucratic hassle rather than action and adventure. There’s endless forms (oh those dreaded TPS reports!) to fill out after each hunt, not to mention endless hours of travel, of fact gathering and of setting up stake outs in the ass end of nowhere. It’s both sad and funny that while his tagalongs view Hans as national hero, he’s just a working class schlub wearing homemade armor muttering under his breath how much he hates his life moments before getting battered into unconsciousness. (full review)

6. A Horrible Way To Die Another film I desperately need to wrap up my review on. Whle I'm not a fan of Adam Wingaard's need for six blurry transitions a minute there's no denying the greatness of AJ Bowen's performance as a conflicted serial killer and the overlapping story of his ex's battling addictions and fumbling new romance.

5. Attack The Block from Mike's original review: In spite of the heavy issues dealing with the gaps in the classes, Cornish’s film brims with frantic energy and whip smart humor. In between moments of blood curling horror lives fantastic physical gags and sharp dialogue. Cornish keeps the camera fast moving and lively, with the focus cutting and zooming throughout the action sequences where the kids find themselves surrounded by the  monsters. The electronic soundtrack makes for perfect accompaniment to the often chaotic action on screen. Cornish also has a knack for building tension. (full review)

4. Insidious from Mike's original review: One casualty of American horror films this past decade has been the presence of the supernatural. To be sure, there have been exceptions here and there, as the success of the Paranormal Activity franchise will attest to. However, with a country deluged by multiple wars, financial turmoil, religious fundamentalism at home and abroad and sharp division among political ideologies, other worldly fears seem quaint by comparison. As a result, American audiences want their terror to be something tangible, and the past decade has seen the rise of torture films, extremely realistic gore and violence, home invasion flicks and hostile foreign territories. As the creative force behind the original Saw, writer Leigh Whannell and director James Wan have done more than their fair part to influence that trend. However, with the gratuitous torture phase and remake train beginning to slow down, the pair has returned to try their hand at a modern day haunted house fright flick. (full review)

3. The Corridor from Mike's Original review: The aftermath of the friends’ trip to the woods play out back in the cabin in terrifying fashion. The Corridor provides jolting moments of terror. It’s not that the violence presented on screen is far above and beyond the norm in this type of film. Rather, it’s the casual, almost relaxed way a group of lifelong friends tear in to one another that makes it riveting. Also, while it would usually be a kiss of death to say any part of a movie reminds one of The Fourth Kind, there’s an unnerving scene involving a videotaped message from the mother that provides a startling moment. (full review)

2. I Saw The Devil At some point I'm going to have to do a full review of this stunning piece of Korean exploitation from Jee-Woon Kim (A Tale of Two Sisters). On the surface the story of a lawman seeking revenge on the serial killer who murdered his fiance is a simple one. However, Kim fills the story with so many variables, including a wide left turn to a cannibal's lair two thirds of the way through that the viewer never knows what is coming next. Gorgeously filmed (I DARE you to find a scene in an American genre film as striking as the opening moments of snowfall as seen through the view of a bis' windshield wipers) and featuring another stunning performance from Oldboy's Min-sik Choi, this is the most perverse and engrossing serial killer film since Silence of the Lambs. an absolute must see for any fan of K-horror with visuals that justify the existence of the Blu Ray format.

1. The Woman from Mike's Original Review: As difficult as McKee’s film is to sit through at times, it’s essential viewing. Fans and critics often decry modern horror as lacking the fortitude to tackle difficult subject matter with any substance. McKee presents a portrait of systematic abuse and violence that goes on behind the close doors of many a seemingly happy suburban home. He does not sensationalize the violence like the Hostels or Saws of the world. In the past year films like A Serbian Film and The Human Centipede have garnered headlines with shocking material and graphic, exaggerated on screen violence.Mckee takes the opposite tact by almost underplaying what we see on screen. (full review)


There you have it folks. How did we do? Are there any glaring omissions? Films we loved that you'd rather stick a sewing needle through both eyes rather than watch again? Give us your feedback you sons of bitches.