Best Horror Movies of 2008-

1. Frontier(s): This is one of my favorite horror films of the year, because it uses horror as a platform with such understanding of the genre. It uses crisis, deception, and injustices that the filmmakers saw in France and injected it to this film to give us a creative and very symbolic film. The movie is extremely brutal and it uses the massive bloodshed to show the harshness in the world.

2. Inside: Along with Frontier(s), Inside is a great example of French horror at its best. The intensity level is the same, but it is far more simplistic. There is very little dialogue and aside from a few policemen who aren’t around for very long there are only two characters: the victim and the killer. The entire film is very engaging, especially the intense cat and mouse chase. The whole film takes place in the same house and for most of it the victim is stuck hiding out in the bathroom. This gives it a very claustrophobic and entrapped feeling that is exposed through the tension that builds up. Motherhood and protecting it is of the most importance to the characters of the film. We learn that there is a reason to what happened to cause this hunt and it is more than a random home invasion. There is a desperation and desire to have and protect children. However, it turns in to a supplier of evil that will spur further lies. There is no real build up in the film, we are just thrown in to a bloody battle between these two women. The gore is continuous throughout the entire movie, giving us a fast paced horror film that still seems to take its’ time with all that it conveys.

3. Repo! The Genetic Opera: Repo! The Genetic Opera is daring, creative, and gives us something completely original unlike anything we have seen before.  It takes us in to a completely different world and really goes in to deceit, corruption, and desperation of the characters and the twisted roads they are heading in. With Alexa Vega, Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino, Bill Moseley, and Sarah Brightman in a film together it is one of the oddest casts, but an incredible one at that. I probably wouldn’t be crazy about the music itself, but it really fits the characters perfectly and furthers the story. The entire film with many different sub-plots and characters is all told through these songs. The music is inventive, full of atmosphere, and has a purpose in that it tells us the story effectively. Repo! The Genetic Opera is a very gothic film with dark shadows and tones. There is great contrast in the lighting though as it seems so much, but particularly Shilo and Mag, are constantly glowing. There are comic illustrations in between several of the musical numbers that help give clear context and narrates what is happening now and the horrors of some of the characters’ pasts. There is a lot that is hidden from other characters, but we are able to understand these prevailing lies and injustices even when the characters are still ignorant of this. The colors and drawings are vibrant and really jump out at you. All of the images in the film really take you in to this dreamlike, very dark and disturbing world.

4. The Orphanage: The Orphanage is one of the best ghost movies in the past decade. It is layered with so much that draws us in to the film. Built up tension leads to evils that piles up to a terrifying mirage. The visuals between the past, present, and the new state that is found in the end is very well done and explores what each of these mean. The characters are strong and through the bond that is established in the beginning as well as the history that we learn give us an understanding and connection through the hardships that our main character, Laura, goes through. Through her we get the powerful psychological side to the film that brings everything alive. The film has a way of showing the horrors that come to surface when you try to bury the past and does wonders with displaying the tension building up to this. The house itself has a very creepy feel adding on to the suspense. The cinematography is stimulating and brings us in to a new world that plays with darkness, fear, and how this can strangely be a miracle in the right context.

5. Baby Blues: Baby Blues is a very disturbing look inside real life horrors. It takes a very depressed and paranoid mother and takes away the nurturing and protective role that she is supposed to uphold, turning her in to a vicious and relentless murderer. The film has plenty of blood, but really what made it such a great horror film is how much depth the characters had. The oldest child who was being hunted was the symbol of innocence, yet one who refused to let himself be a victim. He showed more intelligence and strength than most adults would have in a similar situation. You hear about mothers murdering their children all too often, but it is quite another thing to witness this on screen. The film is one take on it, but it includes many universal themes that speaks to these tragedies. What I really appreciated about this is it wasn’t just done for shock factor. Every second of the film is shocking, but more importantly somehow through the cruel acts it manages to be so personal and compassionate. As murderous and horrid the mother is, I didn’t see her solely as a monster. I saw her struggle and the pain emerging throughout her. The fact that I was able to feel for a women that sets out to murder every one of her children says a lot regarding the time that was put in to her character, the writing,  and the performance. Everyone is given such human qualities that what we are watching seems all too real.

6. Otis: Otis is an adrenaline pumped satire on the torture porn sub-genre that glues you to the screen. Some of the funniest moments are through how the media treats missing persons cases. The real gem of the film is how it shows suburbia gone crazy. It depicts brutally torturing and making an individual suffer in the sickest and most twisted ways as if that was the only normal and healthy response for a family member to have: the one true way to show that they cared. By doing this in the movie, it in itself is critiquing how morality is often lost in our society today. The family is more murderous than Otis was since he was actually very disappointed when his victims died. He only harmed them in hopes of scaring them in to giving him the acceptance that he has longed for. He creates a dungeon that mirrors the world of a high school girl. Otis like many others, wasn’t happy in high school and lost someone he loved. The only difference between him and a million other people who experienced this is he sets out to create new high school memories, even if they are artificial and torture induced. The writing in the film accompanied by the brilliant and energy charged portrayals of these unique, but all very likeable characters in one way or another, is spot on making it smart, hilarious, disturbing, and very real.

7. Let The Right One In: This Sweedish vampire film is slow moving, but interesting and visually vibrant movie. The bulk of it seems much more like a drama than you would expect. Rather than action or gore based, it uses a very still and strangely quiet atmosphere. It isn’t even as heavy on dialogue as you would think, yet through the relationship between a vampire girl and a weaker human outcast so much is shown to us. What sets this apart from other vampire films more than anything else though is the dedication that is clearly put in to every second of it. It actually makes the outside world and those who use violence as sport seem like the true monsters. Especially with the death and blood being spread out, it puts the concentration on our two main characters. The cinematography is visually stimulating as majority of the film is glowing white . The blood against the shining image of the snow combined with the moderation it is showed to us in makes it stand out even more. Whenever there is even a hint of light when a vampire is present, there is almost an overpowering brightness. Let The Right One In deals with injustice, dependency on violence, loneliness, friendship, and bending the rules at times. It is a very different and subtle vampire film, but one of the best films of its kind out there.

8. Dance of the Dead: Dance of the Dead is a coming of age teen comedy inside of a zombie outbreak. All of the characters, performances, and relationships seem very natural and with so many types of kids covered, there is someone for everyone to relate to. What is really fun with the wide variety of characters is how they all ban together when they learn of the zombie attack, strangely enough this is what it takes to bring them all together. Who doesn’t love two decapitating teen ferociously biting in to each others flesh to show their love for one another? It doesn’t get much better than that when meshing teen romance with horror. The film adapts a lot of zombie movie standards and pokes fun at just about all of them along the way. There is comedy in almost every situation and with the characters being so fun and likeable, Dance of the Dead gives us a very intelligent, entertaining, and inventive zombie film.

9. Nympha: The environment is very secluded and there is a very unsettling mood. It is very cold and empty, ultimately becoming very draining as it is more difficult to watch as it goes along. We watch as someone who only has intentions of doing good for the world is stripped of everything she has including faith and strength. The physical torture is attacked one sense at a time, since it is supposed to be drawn out to bring her closer to God. It has the opposite effect though as the mental torture escalates and turns in to something completely different. The ideas of good and bad are played with a lot, ensuring the viewer that nothing is what it seems to be and evil can be hiding anywhere. The corruption, abuse, and twisted mindset power the film. Tiffany Shepis gives the best performance of her career in Nympha. Shepis doesn’t have a ton of dialogue, especially in the scenes where the most is conveyed through her. She depicts so much depth, suffering, and betrayal mostly with facial expressions alone.

10. Zombie Strippers: For a film that takes place during George W. Bush’s fourth term in office, having horror and political elements only seem natural. For the horror side, you get nothing less than you would expect: cheesy gory fun and decapitating flesh among a rising epidemic of the living dead. The political subtext was handled very well as it is subtle enough to either ignore it or appreciate it, but the choice is up to the viewer. The dialogue and most of what we are seeing is very goofy and light, which doesn’t make us feel like we are being hit too hard over the head with any of the context. Using strippers as zombies really shed light on the need for acceptance and how conformity can be a necessary step towards this for some. The more political side of it is the disease itself and all of the experimentation used were designed to get more soldiers, ones that would be able to eternally fight. After they were shot down, they could just get up again; making them undefeatable. An army of zombies could be very dangerous, but this is the very thing the government is willing to take lives for. This adds a great deal of horror to the film as both aspects work very well together. Robert Englund in one of his best recent performances is reason enough to see this film. Through every crooked move and evil laugh joy is just seeping out.

Worst Horror Movies of 2008-

1. Vampire Diary: It still surprises me that given a topic that has so many intriguing possibilities, most vampire films fall so incredibly short. The low budget in this film shows. While it almost stumbles on some promising themes of loneliness, always being on the run, needing to blend in to society, and the uncontrollable thirst, it doesn’t go far enough with any of this. I found the characters to be very hollow and empty. This alongside with the very low grade acting didn’t make the characters seem real and therefore it was hard to really care about anything that was going on. Also, the lesbian relationship that was thrown in there seemed like its’ only basis was to get people’s attention, particularly male attention. It does make some sense since there is a very anti-male mindset shown. All of the guys are depicted as rapists, justifying her monstrous habits. Of course this and particularly the main characters past wasn’t gone in to enough. With so much reason not to care the film is full of moments that just seem overdramatic and don’t have any effect on the audience.

2. Brotherhood of Blood: I was extremely disappointed with this. Before any type of story had developed it was already over. I was just shocked that it would end things so abruptly and take no time at all to develop anything. The cast, especially Sid Haig and Ken Foree, was terribly wasted. There is some really moronic dialogue that holds them back even further. The story of vampire hunters entering the nest of those that they hunt to save a friend, is barely even present. There is a very numb and empty feeling to the film in the sense that it seems nothing is really present: no story, no personality, nothing. Brotherhood of Blood is a very mundane film and a huge waste of time and talent.

3. Day of the Dead: A movie that claims to be a remake, but truly isn’t. The two films have seemingly nothing in common. Aside from zombies and the military being around the only similarities between the films are embarrassingly miniscule. Steve Miner claims his film to be a re-imagining of Romero’s Day of the Dead, but this was just an excuse to make a completely different zombie film and actually get some people to see it by plastering the name, Day of The Dead, on it. Nick Cannon’s acting didn’t help things along either. Part of the problem is he was given very stereotypical dialogue. His overacting though made him unintentionally laughable like many other things in the film. The one and only risk the film takes is making one of the zombies a vegetarian zombie, which is definitely against the norm. Still, they really didn’t do anything with this and it just seemed like a waste in the end. There are several wasted storylines such as the one of Bud, who is the vegetarian zombie, and Sarah, our heroine, who he has a crush on. By pairing them off together this could have made a sick, but very interesting turn. It would have given the potential for conflict between what Bud loves and what he has become. There are many instances where so many possibilities are open, but Day of the Dead is too lazy to even acknowledge any of them.

4. The Strangers: The Strangers is another home invasion film full of clichés and copies of other films. It has a feel and pacing extremely similar to Them, which I felt was a flawed movie, but The Strangers is far worse since it never had the payoff that Them did. Time is spent on our characters in the beginning, but there is still no sense of really having any idea who these people are. The acting was very good thankfully, making it a little easier to sit through difficult moments. It was unfortunate how the protagonists acted so ridiculously, basically just asking for their death. I did find the silent doll face and sack masked killers to be very spooky and suspenseful. However, knowing absolutely nothing about them never lets us get in to their heads or even have the slightest idea what the killing is about. The lack of dialogue made the film suffer though. The bulk of the movie just seems like a music video. The music tries to create scares and cover up the silence and lack of dialogue and even for the most part, action. However, it becomes the main element of the film and everything else gets lost. The action we do have is just a very bland and repetitive chase segment that lasts for the bulk of the movie. The Strangers had some potential, especially with the image and habits of the killers, but there is far too little character development, dialogue, and action, making the film boring, recurring, and vastly unoriginal.

5. Shrooms: Just another movie with characters that we have no idea who they are. It makes it hard to feel for any of them. Even on the other side, there is no cool villain we can admire either. The visuals are eerie and show the trance that the teens are in. Shrooms just falls short, taking far too many short cuts and easy way outs, while trying to appear more psychological than it really is. The attempted twists at the end were the most annoying aspect of the film. It really isn’t that intelligent of a movie, although it tried to create the illusion of one. The ending is horrible and just a reminder of the time you wasted watching the film.