Cole’s List of 2011′s Best Horror Films

Choosing my favourite horror movies of 2011 is tricky business, for a number of reasons.  One being that there haven’t exactly been a lot of good movies in the genre this year.  Another reason (and probably the biggest reason I’ve found it difficult) is because in Australia it takes longer (a lot longer, or at least it feels that way) to get horror flicks released.  Most of the time they are straight to DVD, but even so, we’re obliged to either import or watch trailers over and over until we get the actual film.  So, please excuse me if I’m ‘behind the times’ on a couple of my faves, as ‘technically’ they were released here in Oz in 2011.  Here’s my picks:

10.  Season of the Witch : Say what you will, but I may be one of the only Nicolas Cage fans.  In the world.  ‘Season of the Witch’ was pure junk food for me; gotta love a combination of bad script, medieval setting and horrible, horrible CGI supernatural graphics.  Despite all of this, I still liked it.  Ha.

9.  The Rite : Story followed a young priest who travels to Italy to study the art of exorcism with a renowned priest with an unusual approach to exorcisms.  This movie was odd – it wasn’t what I’d expected yet it was still pretty decent.  Anthony Hopkins was pretty amazing in it; I loved his role from the beginning.  It was a good idea that had a fair outcome.

8.  Insidious  Another weird one for me.  I watched it and debated afterwards in my head whether I’d enjoyed it or not.  Ghosts, paranormal activity, freaky demon things – I don’t usually get creeped out very easily but freaky kids scare the bejesus out of me.  Definitely worth a watch.

7.  Fright Night : The original is one of my all time faves (I love terrible vampire movies), so I was excited yet hesitant about the remake.  It was different enough from the original yet incorporated the main ideas.  Good movie – think of it as separate to the original and not a remake.

6.  I Spit On Your Grave : Ohhh, just the mere thought of this movie made my brain tingle.  Everyone loves a good ol’ revenge movie, especially when it is at the hands of a girl.  I know, I know, another remake, but I really enjoyed it.  Don’t know whether I preferred the acid bath or the sheriff’s shot gun… it was all too good for me.

5. The Thing : I’m fairly certain I’ve mentioned Kurt Russell’s jeans in the original ‘The Thing’ numerous times, so I must admit, it was a bit shattering to have a girl in the lead.  The movie itself was quite good – another junk food movie.  The CGI effects left a lot to be desired, but the story was well acted and generally well made.  A good prequel to an awesome original.

4. The Ward : This was a great movie!  Amber Heard plays a girl in a mental institution plagued by ghosts.  I love John Carpenter so I watched this with high expectations and it definitely delivered.  Apart from my girl-crush on Heard, there was enough creepiness and storyline twists to keep me interested.

3.  Scream 4 : Awesome.  Enough said. Well ok, not enough said.  Scream and Scream 2 were both fantastic but Scream 3 definitely resides on my ‘most hated horror movies’ list.  However, Scream 4 made me pretend Scream 3 had never even happened.  It was a typical Ghostface story but the ending was killer (pardon the pun).

2.  The Resident : Sneaky little horror movie, this one!  Jeffery Dean Morgan may be best known for ‘Watchmen’ or the lovable Denny on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ but boy, is he not so lovable after this!  He plays a crazy stalker/landlord to Hilary Swank’s naïve tenant.  This was a suspenseful, well-acted movie that kept me on the edge of my seat (and questioning my landlord!).

1.  I Saw The Devil : Technically a 2010, we didn’t get this in Australia until 2011.  And was it worth the wait!  Like I said before, revenge movies are awesome.  This is not the first Korean horror I’ve loved – I will be investing in more in the near future.  Min-sik Choi is every bit as insane and murderous as you would hope, in his role as Kyung-chul.  You become so engrossed in watching to see if he gets his just-desserts, it’s almost as though time stands still.  One of my absolute favourites, not only for the year, but for the genre.