As much as I love all types of movies, horror is a genre that I tend to lean towards more than most. I enjoy just about all kinds from slashers to creature features and all styles from cheesy to serious. Horror is a genre ripe with opinions and vastly different tastes but every there’s a small selection of films everyone can agree on and some that everyone has completely opposite opinions on. Below is the list of my favorite horror movies from 2011- a year of ups and downs and certain movies that have split audiences. Differences in opinion are what make these lists as fun as they are so feel free to discuss your favorites and least favorites in the comments below.
10. Chillerama - If you are in the mood for schlocky cheesy exploitation type movies than CHILLERAMA offers you a wide selection of shorts films to chew on. If not for a mediocre title in I WAS A TEENAGE WEREBEAR this could have been even more fun. This is the type of movie you put on with a group of friends and a lot of drinks to go around.
9. A Horrible Way To Die - This one is not everyone’s cup of tea. Overall A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE comes off as an ugly and brutal film. The style is very indie and feels basically like a mumblecore film, the female protagonist has issues and AJ Bowen while fantastic is a nasty little character. While all that may sound unpleasant it was still pretty fascinating to watch, especially just for AJ Bowen’s fantastic performance as a killer struggling with his addiction. It can be a tough film to accept- so don’t blame me if you see it and come out with a burning hatred for the film.
8. La Casa Muda (The Silent House) - This film finally made its way to DVD in the states this year and I jumped on the opportunity to watch it. LA CASA MUDA is billed as a horror movie shot in one continuous take and while I feel they could easily be cheating in that regard the film is still a pretty freaky haunted house ride that is never boring. Some of the twists we’ve seen before but overall the film really delivers some bone chilling scenes of tension and some really effective scares.
7. Scream 4 - Here we go- the expletives are really hurling at the computer screens now. I had a ton of fun watching SCREAM 4- is it as new and exciting as the first entry? Not really- but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a major improvement on SCREAM 3. It was great seeing Dewey and Gale back on the big screen as well as the menacing voice of Ghostface. The finale is packed with plenty of issues but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy those too. Also, if you weren’t laughing during all the opening fake outs, then this movie wasn’t meant for you anyway.
6. Fright Night - For those I haven’t lost with the previous pick I’m bound to lose now. If not then hear me out- I am not the world’s biggest fan of the original FRIGHT NIGHT. I don’t hate the movie I just think I was many years late to the party. That being said the remake is not transcendent stuff- in more ways than one it doesn’t necessarily improve on the original- I just found it more entertaining. Colin Farrell hams it up as Jerry the vampire, the score is pretty good and the effects aren’t anywhere near perfect but they are fun. The point is that even though FRIGHT NIGHT probably didn’t need to be made- it was and since it’s here and is a ton of fun I’m just going to sit back and enjoy it.
