Halloween is a time of heated debate around these parts. With so many amazing horror movies to watch (and only one of them being Halloween), deciding what else to watch can get pretty intense. When Becky revealed her own list of the best post-millenial horror films to as a critique of last Friday's list, I couldn't help but post it here (with some of my own added commentary). Except for repeats, the same rules as the previous list apply: an unranked list of "the best" horror movies to be released in or after 2000, arranged in chronological order.
28 Days Later
Quarantine
Zombieland
The Last Exorcism
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Grave Encounters
Sinister
The Cabin in the Woods
There's really no need to elaborate any further on these films, since I've already done that. They're all top-tier contemporary horror films that deserve all of the recognition that they can get. As was expected, both films that she was responsible for showing me made it on the list (The Last Exorcism and Grave Encounters), as did the one that I basically had to gag her to keep her from shrieking through (Quarantine). I'm likewise happy to see A Nightmare on Elm Street, which I previously mentioned, despite it's poor reputation, is a surprisingly high quality film. Which brings us to the films that are unique to Becky's list...
Dawn of the Dead (2004) - What Boyle popularized in 2002's 28 Days Later, Snyder continued in his directorial debut: a remake of George Romero's 1978 zombie classic. This is a film that I can considered for my earlier list, but ultimately decided against. For all of its good qualities - the more serious tone of its climax, which notably does not include bikers pieing zombies as part of some ill-conceived slapstick gag - it ultimately neither lived up to the original's quality nor that of its competition, trading in the original's dark satire for visceral thrills: settling in that the top what I would consider this century's second tier of horror. It's an exciting film that retains its merit under repetetive rewatching (there was a time where I would literally watch it every single time that it was on TV), so it's definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.
Saw (2004) - This is another that I initially considered, but ultimately rejected, from my own list. James Wan's promising debut boldly pulled none of its punches, but was sadly made with more enthusiasm than either the nascent director or its pittance of a budget could keep up with. The result is a mixed bag of unsettling gore and rudimentary film making. Neither its popularity nor its influence can be denied, since it single-handed ignited this century's "gore porn" trend (the Saw, Hostel and Cabin Fever franchises) and its sequels have never failed to turn a healthy profit on their modest budgets. Like The Blair Witch Project, it's proof that a bloated budget and expensive effects are not needed to make a good horror film, but I feel that Wans' later films (Insidious, Insidious: Chapter 2 and The Conjuring) are better examples of his talents.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) - I've never been a huge exorcism-themed horror fan, even though The Exorcism is an easy favorite of mine. So while I was not dispossessed to like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, I can't deny that I enjoyed it. Jennifer Carpenter is so incredibly disconcerting in the title role - unnaturally contorting her body, speaking in tongues and glowering with her impossibly black eyes like a latter day Linda Blair - that she singlehandedly makes the film. The movie lags, however, when divorced from her: plodding along with an uninspired court case involving the priest from her failed exorcism, which is the actual real-time plot of the film. It ultimately fails to scare because the real danger is over, safely tucked away in the film's back story.
30 Days of Night (2007) - I have to admit that this has to be the best conceived vampire film in history: vampires, whose greatest enemy is the rising sun, travel to Alaska in the winter months where they have unrestrained run of the place for six uninterrupted months. Seriously: vampires that can kill you 24-7 without ever having to worry about the inevitability of dawn. The film even plays out a lot like The Diary of Anne Frank, but where the Nazis are replaced by vampires: helpless families hiding in unheated attics, basements and crawl spaces to escape from their vampiric tormentors. Sadly, despite its brilliant premise and its interesting Holocaust parallels, it fails to deliver: the action flagging as the Alaskan residents turtle-up for winter and the plot itself failing to provide much of interest after the vampires settle in.
Chernobyl Diaries (2012) - Unlike most of the films that Becky included and I didn't, Chernobyl Diaries was neither disappointing nor did it come in just under my preferred choices. It's a found footage horror film with an interesting premise, solid execution and reasonable (if uninspired) twist at the end. Of any on this list, it is the one that stands the best chance of being forgotten, which is really a shame when you consider how impressive a directorial debut this was for visual effects-focussed Bradley Parker (he was able to balance stylish low-key lighting with the practical necessities of being able to see what's on screen with more finesse than far more experienced and celebrated directos). I would love to see what he could do with more substantive material than Chernobyl Diaries, although it sadly looks like I won't get that chance anytime soon.
The Conjuring (2013) - This is the last of the near misses from my list, which I reviewed on Unreality in preparation of Annabelle's release. It's a great James Wan-directed film and Blumhouse release: easily one of the most memorable from either. It's even gathered such a following that they're fleshing it out into a full-blown franchise, which I have previously speculated on. While its scares are generally well-executed and seeped with tension, the film ultimately missed out because of its occassional slips into schlock.
Evil Dead (2013) - I never got the appeal of the orignal Evil Dead film. The sequel I got, and even the third instalment I could understand, but never the series' initial instalment. Except for Bruce Campbell, it was terribly cast, the makeup was attrocious and I never thought that Raimi was a very good director. Like so many other low-budget debuts, it's made with far more enthusiasm than skill, meaning that the end product is a mixed bag of some good (the tree rape), some bad (Linda's possessed corpse) and some ugly (the campy, over-the-top and ultimately unsatisfying ending). Evil Dead 2 was really the movie that the original should have been, and that's more remake than sequel.
Evil Dead the remake, however, is another matter entirely. Its writing is streamlined, its direction is leveled-off and, despite the loss of Campbell, the acting is far superior. Although the tree-rape scene, which could have been more fully realized with modern special effects, was something of a letdown, the other scares were not. Combining intuitive timing with visceral body horror, Evil Dead is faithful to the original's spirit while improving on its overall quality. Although it was more than a few steps away from making my list, it's never-the-less a solidly good horror film that warrants watching by those who were likewise disappointed with Raimi's first cinematic offering.
Annabelle (2014) - This is another one that I reviewed for Unreality and another one that I greatly enjoyed. Far superior than it's terrible premise would suggest this is actually an intelligent, frightening and well-executed follow-up to The Conjuring. While it was a long way off from making my list, it's definitely something that fans of the first film should check out.
The Purge: Anarchy (2014) - And so we round off Becky's list with the superior sequel to the well-conceived but sadly decent The Purge. Like Dawn of the Dead did to Night of the Living Dead, The Purge: Anarchy exploads the scope of its franchise by exploring the socio-political underpinnings of its setting: a world in which (nearly) all crime is legal for one night of the year. Ultimately, the film suffers from adding too much into its cramped run-time, much of which (like government-subsidized purging) would have been better left for a sequel. Regardless, it is an intelligent parody of Western affinity for violence and perhaps the very people drawn to watch this film in the first place.
And there you have it: seventeen modern horror films that answer last week's list of so-called modern horror classics. Looking between the two lists, I was definitely drawn more for foreign (specifically: non-English language) films than Becky was and she was drawn to even more Blumhouse Production films than I was (which I find strange, given how much I have lauded their films in the past). Maybe the contemporary horror genre is actually in a much better place than I initially gave it credit for. Thoughts?
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I prefer this list. :P
ReplyDeleteSomehow this doesn't surprise me at all.
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