I have been an admirer of movies since I was a kid and my tastes have evolved as I’ve gotten older. Nothing pleases me more than a slow artful drama, or a tasteless slapstick comedy all the way to brain-dead action flicks, but the one genre I will always have a passionate love for is horror. I may not be as versed in the genre as many horror-buffs, but as the years go by nothing really puts a smile on my face like a good jaunt into the world of horror. Every year I like to take a step back and recognize the films that spoke to me the most and while there is still a couple months to go I thought it’d be fun to take a look back and relive some of my favorites from this year so far.
Unfortunately, I feel like the horror releases both theatrically and direct-to-DVD have been extremely lackluster, and I had trouble filling out what I thought was a worthwhile list of 10 high quality films. The first four choices are all what I would call good films, but the real crème de la crème don’t kick in till the top six and I am keeping my fingers crossed that come December 31st the first half of the list will look a little different. Most of these flicks are on DVD and Blu Ray right now so if you’re looking for something to watch this Halloween get to your nearest DVD retailer and pick one up or head out to the theater and check them out!
10. The Crazies – I knew that this film was a remake of a George Romero movie and admittedly I have never seen Romero’s original film. I cannot compare the two films, but while watching the update I can’t help but feel like the original moves a little slower and cares less about breakneck pacing to please today’s ADD audiences. I absolutely love Timothy Olyphant and his deputy in this flick though, as well as the intense nature of its pace.
9. Daybreakers – I had extremely high expectations for this film upon its release. The previews made this film out to look like it was going to be all kinds of crazy. What I got was considerably less so, serves me right for being fooled by the trailer. I found the film to be a lot slower than I was expecting and for as serious as it seemed the film wanted to be all the cheesy acting by Willem Dafoe and over the top gore at the end was sort of jarring. I really did enjoy the film though, but I was really hoping the filmmakers would explore the lore of Subsiders and the effects that the lack of blood had on the vampire population and less on the ridiculous discovery of the cure.
8. The Wolfman – I expect that this is not going to be a popular pick and had this year not been severely lacking in unbelievable horror films there is probably no way this would have been considered to be on the list. That being said I had a ton of fun watching this one; Del Toro is tragically miscast in the lead and the only time I enjoyed his character is when he was covered in hair, not speaking and decapitating everyone in his path. I really dug the werewolf makeup effects and transformation but when it came to the beast getting on all fours and moving at incredible speed, I found myself face palming more than once. Plus this film feature Anthony Hopkins chewing ever so delightfully on the scenery and a so bad it’s good final fight sequence that had me cringing and smiling all at the same time.
