Top 10 Favorite Horror Movies For 2008!

10 - THE STRANGERS - It’s tough to claim a fear more deeply effective than home invasion, and this little chiller knows it. Rookie director Bryan Bertino truly understands the power behind the mystery of a masked figure as well as an apparently motiveless crime.. and extra kudos for knowing when to really let a shot linger to keep suspense going instead of trying to generate it through frenetic editing. It’s a nice touch to have a couple we’re to root for on the outs instead of deeply in love, though it’s the trio of iconic assailants that one leaves with the strongest impression of.

9 - CLOVERFIELD - I admit I didn’t think it was going to work as well as it did but there’s a good 20 minute early stretch in this film where I was truly scared, post 9/11 flashbacks aside. This clever kaiju update for the surveillance generation was paced, unsettling and way darker than I figured it would be. Wonderful to see a truly horrific and original monster once again. The ‘monster snuck up behind you!’ contrivances towards the end and the fact that they can tape all night with one battery (and get tremendous picture and sound out of a consumer unit) kill its power a bit, but I have to say it’s pretty solid even if the characters didn’t stay with me (other than the hilarious cameraman Hud). Still, any disaster film that makes me worry about what I’d do in a situation or how I’d save those I care about deserves a squeeze. And fantastic marketing, guys. Talk about a teaser! And it was hilarious seeing all the websites running “official leaked production art” that wasn’t even close to the creature design. Now where’s that giant evil toy they were making of it?

8 - REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA - Love it or hate it. Probably no middle of the road here. If you don’t like the first song, you get 60 others to choose from!

For me, even though it’s not horror, it’s great to see something like this get out there and resonate with the ‘different’ folk. Far more than tailor made for a “goth crowd” Repo! features some terrific pipes (Anthony Steward Head and Sarah Brightman, I’ll listen to you all day.) and the coolest production design I’ve seen this year. Not too often I want to walk around in a film’s world, but this one I’d get an apartment in (once they fix that whole organ decay issue) posthaste. Proud to be beautifully weird, it’s unveven at times but a carnival ride for the artistic and those into ‘dark culture.’ And Paris doesn’t ruin the film, if that’s what you were about to ask. If you still can find it in a theater or on its road tour, see it that way and you’ll truly get its energy. I’m not sure what kind of impact this will have at home on your own… but I’m gonna thank Darren Lynn Bousman if I ever meet him for reminding people it’s cool to be different (and for the most ‘what the fuck’ casting session this year).

7 - SPIRAL - Adam Green and Joel David Moore immediately kill any pigeonholing they could have gotten on Hatchet or with their comedy work with this tiny, somber study about three fucked up characters wracked by (seemingly) similar pains but with wildly different reactions. Making 600 grand look like 3 million, Green/Moore’s team (largely the encoring crew from Hatchet) take a grey, damp Portland, lace it with old school jazz and let some troubled, interesting people walk through Joel Moore’s brainspace. Awesome sound design and twists I didn’t call ahead of time coming make it a cool little tale to take in on a rainy winter night.

6 - THE RUINS - This one was a nice nasty surprise. Particularly effective are the performances and characters, moreso than most of the genre efforts this year. Truly disturbing violence, often self-inflicted, and a simple, quietly effective story kept me on a nice, sharp edge. While you’ll run with the premise of what the villain is or you won’t (the ‘cellphone ring’ gag was truly weird and eerie, to me), director Carter Smith has a great way with actors and the chops to keep an audience tense.

5 - [REC] - Me, from 15 minutes in until the last minute: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGH!!! I haven’t seen Quarantine yet, but the original scores in spades. Great performances, truly intense ‘monster’ attacks and the most disturbing ending I made it through in 2008 make [REC] one to watch from behind the sofa.

4 - DOOMSDAY - A quick rundown of its plot elements sounds like a film geek kid on a sugar rush describing a dream he had- “there’s a virus attack and nasty gore and the cannibal punks show up and roast and eat a guy and then they run into the woods and find a castle and fight knights and have an awesome fucking car chase!” There’s more to it than that, but this geek-tribute actually merits the coveted two words; Fucking Awesome. Buy the DVD and you’ll agree. How can you not fall for this film which tips its hat to some of the best sci-fi/horror/action from the 80’s to the point of using the font from Escape From New York?! Neil Marshall can do no wrong and makes this film his own. Criminally neglected in the States by its studio, this is a gory, intense, rockin’ gem.

3 - THE SIGNAL - Three different Atlanta directors collaborate to give you the best apocalypse film in years, without a budget or name actors. It’s sick, sunny, disturbing, socially conscious and heartfelt, sometimes all in the span of the same five minutes. Icons has had much to say about this over the past 2 years thanks for advance screenings and a healthy festival run; the hype is worth it. (AJ Bowen’s multifacted villain/jealous husband steals the show, though his beard is a close second). I expect him, the supporting cast, and the directing trio to be major forces in film soon… whatever’s next, guys, we’re psyched for it.

2 - TRICK ‘R TREAT - The best Halloween-related film after Carpenter’s 1978 classic. In fact it might be the best Halloween related film ever only because it’s ABOUT Halloween rather than simply taking place on it. Several interlocking stories on the same October night will entrance you, depicting how Halloween’s experienced as a kid, teenager, adult and senior citizen… all while embracing the rituals and touchstones of the holiday. From the event’s origins to its commercialization to the traditions involved (past and present) and the welcome feeling that spirits and monsters may be walking among us as we mimic them and go out to play…all are embraced in a big, wicked bear hug. A welcome nasty sense of humor (14 kids die!!) and a mood you can swim in help this add up to INCREDIBLE I can’t remember the last time I thought “they made a film just for me” and realized everyone around me was feeling the same. This is how I remember feeling about Halloween as a kid and this will become a mainstay in DVD players or whatever we’re using in years to come; I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes Halloween’s A CHRISTMAS STORY. That is, if Warner Brothers ever fucking releases it. Come on, guys. We promise we won’t kill any kids after seeing it. I’ll even double dip the disc!

And I must have a little Sam figure on my writing desk soon. You’ll want one too when you meet him. I hope this eventually does well enough on DVD that I get to see him again.

1 - LET THE RIGHT ONE IN - Two elements I always yearn for in my genre entertainment are to experience true emotion from the film besides just disgust/fear, and for people to shoot their horror films in ways that abandon the current trend of most modern genre(fast cuts and ripping off the look of Se7en). This film does both. A love story between two kids that just happens to embrace a supernatural element, drenched in the wintry despair of 1982 Sweden, I can’t find a better film, horror or otherwise, yet this year. It’s got the two best child performances I’ve seen in years, and has so much on its mind while still remembering to be scary and intense. It’s a horror film that is beautiful, and that makes it even more effective. A must see.