Saturday, October 29, 2011

October Horror 2011 - Post-season - Greatest hits 2009

I didn't originally write anything about the first October Horror Viewing season in 2009, but we watched some really good movies that year.  So the first entry in the post season is this writeup of the entirety of the 2009 season.

That year we had simple categories since we were just starting:  Zombies, Slashers, Hauntings & Exorcisms, and Scifi Horror.

Zombies week:  Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, Quarantine, Dead Snow, Braindead.

All these movies were pretty solid.  Shaun and Zombieland are zombie/comedy classics and are very funny.  Dead Snow was really fun to watch because of the novelty of the concept of Nazi Zombies and the balls to film zombies in bright daylight in the snow.  Definitely a highlight and something I enjoy watching again from time to time.  Although we originally watched the sub'd version I have a dub now which is much more fulfilling.  28 Days Later is a modern classic for being one of the first movies of the current zombie cultural resurgence, and also for the unapologetic fast zombies.  Quarantine deserves special distinction since it was so unsettling it took me 3 tries to watch to the end.  Braindead is an early Peter Jackson movie and is just weird.  I don't know what to say about it, it's beyond messed up.  I think my favorite of the week, horror wise, was Quarantine.  In general I liked Shaun of the Dead the best since it is REALLY funny.

Slashers: Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Cut, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2004), Saw, Prom Night (2004)

Prom Night was also on this year's list, partially because we either never watched it in 2009 or just didn't remember watching it in 2009.  Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street are all huge classics.  I probably liked Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street the best.  Friday the 13th has pretty excellent kills and the twist killer reveal absolutely floored me the first time I saw it.  Nightmare of course put Robert Englund's Freddy on the map, and I really like him as a character because of how bizarre and manic he is while still being half a second away from killing you dead.  I think Cut deserves special mention for being quite fun to watch with a pretty novel concept.  It's a little silly, but hey...Molly Ringwald in a horror movie.

Hauntings & Exorcisms: The Unborn, Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, 1408, A Haunting in Connecticut, The Amityville Horror, 13 Ghosts.

Exorcism movies are some of my favorites.  The Exorcism of Emily Rose is probably #1 on my list of scariest movies ever.  I watched it at 2 in the afternoon, with all the lights on, in a dorm room, with the door open, on a green tinted 15" CRT monitor and it still scared the crap out of it.  Personally the least solid movie in this week was Rosemary's Baby.  I just didn't think it aged well and it was kindof weird and boring.  The Amityville (remake) was decent, although a little visual at the expense of personality.  The Omen (remake) was also fun, but a bit silly.  It was just a bit too easy to mock.  13 Ghosts is one of my favorite movies, but not particularly scary.  It's a very original concept and the execution is wonderfully stylish.  The Unborn is also very stylish, with some excellent jump scares and a few genuinely creepy moments.  1408 is also very creepy, but feels a little rushed and frantic.  They probably didn't want to run out of things to do since the movie was set in a single room.  A Haunting in Connecticut is probably my favorite horror movie out of the week.  Pretty much everything it does is perfect.

Scifi Horror: Pulse, The Mist, Dreamcatcher, The Thing, Doom, Event Horizon, Aliens.

Aliens was a poor choice, as it much more action focused than Alien.  Doom as well, I honestly don't know why we put it there.  I guess it had some horror moments in the middle.  Dreamcatcher is another great movie that has a lot of fun moments, it's just a bit more disturbing than creepy.  Still well worth watching.  The Mist was a great tense movie, but the ending is very polarizing.  You either really love it or you hate the death out of it.  It gets a major thing right that a lot of monster movies just forget: The monsters are scarier the less you see of them.  Pulse is a guilty pleasure for me.  It never seems to get a lot of respect and the sequel was horrible.  It's got a lot of plot holes but I just love the concept and the execution is competent enough to make it interesting.  Event Horizon is a modern horror classic, as far as I'm concerned.  It's scary, it's gross, it's bizarre.  The concept is innovative and the execution is horrifyingly tense.  It's also one of my favorite scary movies and does pretty much nothing wrong.

--PXA

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