Poppascotchs Top 10 Horror films of 2011

Ok, so maybe I’m a little late on rounding out my personal favorite horror films of 2011, but considering the epic and frequent nature of the horror-movies.ca staff parties I’m amazed that the site gets updated at all.  Seriously I’ve never seen so many alcoholic beverages consumed, hallucinogens passed around, and large uncontrolled fires since Woodstock 94, and that took place over three days.  These events transpire every 3 business days.   It’s taken off years off my life but that’s ok considering I don’t plan to live past 30 so I’m in no trouble here.  Well without further ado, here are my top ten horror films of 2011.  Enjoy!

10: Contagion (Dir: Steven Soderbergh)

Movies that involve epidemics are often subject to the same boring tendencies and conventions that often lead to not only a slow movie, but one that isn’t worth the payoff.  Contagion however takes a different road to the finish line by showing the viewer a deadly and quickly spreading virus that kills millions of people, but gives the situation to us in the perspective of various characters in completely different roles and it works in spades.  We are given a very realistic portrayal of what would have to people if the law was extremely lax and taking a back seat to survival.  Even though contagion isn’t exactly a horror film, the portrayal of humans in dire situations is horrific when you see how realistically this scenario is portrayed.

9: Fright Night (Dir: Craig Gillespie)

A lot of our regular readers have a love affair with the original version of Fright Night back in the Eighties but I have to admit, I’m not exactly a fan.  Since I missed the film when it originally came out, I didn’t catch up to it until very recently and it didn’t really do it for me since I didn’t have the nostalgia of seeing it in my youth.  However, this year’s remake with Anton Yelchin and the absolutely gorgeous Imogen Poots doesn’t fail to impress.  Keeping the core story of having a vampire move in next door to a suburban single mother household, this remake ups the action, violence, and insanity leaving the viewer with a pretty solid horror film.  It’s just a shame none of you went to the theater to check it out.

8: Rubber (Dir: Quentin Dupieux)

Many people found this low budget insanity about a sentient tire that kills people as a bit pretentious, but I personally found it as a clear and refreshing take on not only the horror genre, but how we as an audience treat the entire film viewing experience.  It often has scenes of characters breaking the fourth wall and actually has a group of characters that are watching the events unfold that are referred to as “the audience”.  It’s a film that you need to pay attention to and enter with an open mind and if you do that, you may find it as great as I did, or you will hate everything about it.

7: Red State (Dir: Kevin Smith)

In high school I was the biggest Kevin Smith fan in the world but somewhere along the lines of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jersey Girl, he lost me.  It came as quite a shock when this lovable dick joke slinger decided to make a horror film and the first thing that came to my mind was the most apathetic “Meh” I could muster.  Going in with little to no expectations may have helped when I got treated to one of the best horror films of 2011 that showcased a harrowing and disgusting tale of complete religious fanaticism leading people into a world of violence and anger.  There are a few moments that aren’t perfect but on the whole, this is a seriously good film which terrifies and shocks to the very end.  Also John Goodman is in it.

6: Hobo With A Shotgun (Dir: Jason Eisener)

A New era of Grindhouse films have hit the market in the past few years because everyone suddenly remembered how insane and awesome the Grindhouse era was.  Unfortunately, the new wave of Grindhouse films have been mostly lackluster, but Hobo with a Shotgun exists solely to buck all of those conventions by delivering a completely insane story filled with off the wall characters, completely unnecessary gore, and a pedophile Santa Claus.  I’m not sure why, but I totally buy Rutger Hauer as a Hobo who is completely fed up with the corruption and violence in his town.  If the title hasn’t already sold this film to you, then this one isn’t for you but you should know that this is the seminal movie to watch with a bunch of friends over a pizza and a six pack.

5: I Saw the Devil (Dir: Jee-Woon Kim)

This Korean import tells the story of a Secret Agent whose wife becomes a victim of a serial killer and vows revenge.  It’s a great film about a man who slowly and surely becomes the monster in his pursuit of an insane and remorseless serial killer.  It’s brilliantly paced, wonderfully acted, and fantastically written which isn’t something that you normally see in a film with this much unrelenting gore.  It’s a rather unforgettable movie that reminded me a lot of David Fincher’s classic Seven mixed with all of the best parts of Silence of the Lambs without being conventional or unconvincingly self-aware.  We’ll all be talking about this film for quite some time.

4: Stake Land (Dir: Jim Mickle)

Every year there is a film that gets released under the radar with little fanfare and blows everyone away.  This year, that movie was the fantastically depressing post-apocalyptic vampire film Stake Land.  As a group of survivors try desperately to reach “New Eden” they encounter both vampires and all other remaining factions of humanity from cannibals to quiet and happy townsfolk.  It’s a film about people who have to endure massive hardships in order to survive in a world that is new and foreign to them.  On a side note, this film was shot in Pottstown Pennsylvania which is just a stone’s throw from my location.  After seeing all of the beat up homes, the desolate farm country, and the abandoned factories, the illusion of a post-apocalyptic America was shattered for me.  That’s what Pennsylvania normally looks like (See: The Road, shot in western PA).