The Best And The Worst of 2006
A year is a long time; funny enough it seems to fly by. But when I sat down to write a year end review I found myself stumbling. What the hell happened all year between the remakes, the sequels and those few gems of true horror goodness? Ive scraped together the best and the worst of what I can remember
THE BEST
Though it seems like longer, Eli Roth got our year banging with his over the top gorefest, HOSTEL. It truly set the tone of the year: torture makes for box office. Nothing holds truer to that than the latest from the franchise about nothing but torture--SAW 3. It proved to be every bit as good as the previous films and unstoppable at the box office. Keeping in tone was the remake of THE HILLS HAVE EYES which was scary, gory and just downright good. On the Indie front, the simple little film FEED proved to be more disturbing than I was ready for with its graphic use of sex and unusual torture of feeding people to death. MURDER-SET-PIECES was another indie that reveled in the ultra-violent and its shocking tale of a crazed man killing almost everyone is a must see for its sheer graphic nature.
Sequels--there is never a shortage of sequels. UNDERWORLD 2 was well received, or at least by me anyway. Its mix of vampire goodness, non-stop action and blood made it one of my personal faves. FINAL DESTINATION decided to end its series (hopefully) with the mediocre entry FD3. It had the gimmick and the gore, but lacked much else. TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING brought us the origin of one of the screens iconic killers, Leatherface. It was gruesome, scary and you almost couldnt take your eyes off the screen. Fueled by brilliant performances, stunning visual set pieces and more gore than should be allowed (thankfully) in an R rated movie--I have high hopes for the proposed unrated DVD coming out in the beginning of the year, but we know where that can lead.
Some may not agree, but I enjoyed GRUDGE 2, the follow up to the enormously successful THE GRUDGE. Taking more influence from the Japanese original it felt more like a horror movie and offered up some very scary set pieces. On the Foreign front, 3EXTREMES took us to the limit with its superior tales of terror, especially the entry of DUMPLINGS. Russia opted for a mix of horror and fantasy in the dark, engrossing tale NIGHT WATCH. The most profitable Russian movie ever made, look for its sequel DAY WATCH to find its way to us soon.
Honorable Mention:
Proving that internet hype, months of waiting, and one of the most memorable lines ever uttered in a movie is not enough to break a box office, SNAKES ON A PLANE was one of the best theater experiences you could have had in 2006, if you were lucky enough to have a good crowd. The movie was well made, fun and offered a good creepy crawly time. The downside was the obvious inserted scenes of blood and gore which attempted to justify the films R rating, well that and Samuel L. Jacksons now infamous fan written line.
Now for my top 3 films of the year! Like em or not.
3) Its a mix of clever 80s clichs, simple plot, hilarious comedy, and stomach churning moments that only a crawly bug movie can deliver. SLITHER proves to be the best horror/comedy of the year, oh hell, the past couple of years. It shows that you can mix horror and comedy together and not get bogged down. Add in the great performances and super gruesome fun and what you get is a damn good time watching a movie.
2) We watched how it was made, and then we waited, and waited and yeah, we waited some more. But finally our FEAST was served, and what a satisfying dish it was. Opting for real monsters and full on splatter effects, rather than CGI, made FEAST a must see, must own for any true horror fan. Im still stunned how a movie that documented its making on TV ended up being so surprising and surprisingly good.
Drum roll! Hydes Number 1 Horror film of the year is
THE DESCENT, in which a group of adventurous female friends find themselves fighting not only each other and their pasts but also mysterious creatures determined to rip them apart. The films spelunking scenes create more claustrophobic terror than anything the monsters can dish out. But the film proves to be not only horrifically violent and scary, but a real plot with real characters makes it the scariest and the best horror film of 2006.
Now THE WORST!
Remakes, sequels, and just sad attempts at trying, round out the worse of the year starting with WHEN A STRANGER CALLS--a remake that opted to only remake the first twenty minutes of the original and stretch it out. It failed to scare or even get anyone to the theatre. Ghosts were the subject of several films AN AMERICAN HAUNTING which had some A-list stars but nothing else. Did anyone even see THE RETURN, with Sarah Michelle Gellar? I know I didnt. And then there is the bastardization of a terrific Asian horror film by way of PULSE, which was simply unwatchable. SILENT HILL, which somehow made $100 million, was more boring than exciting, and more okay than scary. I know there has to be more, is it possible I liked more movies this year then I disliked??
A few undecided
Fox gave us the best gimmick of the year when they released their high profile remake of THE OMEN on June 6th 2006 (aka 6/6/6) not bad, but its deletion of the originals musical score hurt it. Yet, you simply cant ignore a gimmick like that. Tim Burtons CORPSE BRIDE was not as memorable or iconic as NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, but it was still enjoyable, Ill still opt for the latter though. BLACK CHRISTMAS has so far failed at the box office, but Im saving any review until I get out there to see it. The same with the novel turned movie, PERFUME, which is an amazing novel and hopefully will be an amazing movie.
And all the rest
MASTERS OF HORROR returned and is continuing to gives us lackluster weekly horror. Perhaps the novelty of a weekly horror series is wearing off. If you want that, TALES FROM THE CRYPT released a couple of seasons this year (now 5 all together) and they are far better than anything on TV today. Spike Channel gave us SCREAM AWARDS, the first ever Oscar type awards for us horror fans it proved to be a damn good time as well. And Starz! Channel presented its slasher movie documentary GOING TO PIECES: RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER. While it gave some interesting insight into of one of our favorite subgenres it failed to offer anything really interesting. BLADE, minus Wesley Snipes found its home on Spike as well, but sadly no one saw it and it wont be returning, look for it on DVD soon.
Looking forward.
In 2007 well be going back to a HOSTEL as we find the HILLS will have some more EYES. A ZOMBIE will resurrect HALLOWEEN and fans are still unsure as we wait to go to a much-hyped GRINDHOUSE. RESIDENT EVIL plans its EXTINCTION. We will see what happens 28 WEEKS LATER, dont answer your phone for the Americanized ONE MISSED CALL. There will be 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (based on the graphic novel) when AVP: SURVIVAL OF THE FITEST hits. Dont pick up a ride with THE HITCHER just tell your self I AM LEGEND as we prepare for THE VISITING as THE MESSENGERS leave their mark and you find your way out of WHITE NOISE 2: THE LIGHT.
May our New Year be filled with horror and always remember kiddies...we watch Bad movies so you don't have to!
--Hyde has spoken
Originally Published on Horror-Web by Hyde 10.02.06
A year is a long time; funny enough it seems to fly by. But when I sat down to write a year end review I found myself stumbling. What the hell happened all year between the remakes, the sequels and those few gems of true horror goodness? Ive scraped together the best and the worst of what I can remember
THE BEST
Though it seems like longer, Eli Roth got our year banging with his over the top gorefest, HOSTEL. It truly set the tone of the year: torture makes for box office. Nothing holds truer to that than the latest from the franchise about nothing but torture--SAW 3. It proved to be every bit as good as the previous films and unstoppable at the box office. Keeping in tone was the remake of THE HILLS HAVE EYES which was scary, gory and just downright good. On the Indie front, the simple little film FEED proved to be more disturbing than I was ready for with its graphic use of sex and unusual torture of feeding people to death. MURDER-SET-PIECES was another indie that reveled in the ultra-violent and its shocking tale of a crazed man killing almost everyone is a must see for its sheer graphic nature.
Sequels--there is never a shortage of sequels. UNDERWORLD 2 was well received, or at least by me anyway. Its mix of vampire goodness, non-stop action and blood made it one of my personal faves. FINAL DESTINATION decided to end its series (hopefully) with the mediocre entry FD3. It had the gimmick and the gore, but lacked much else. TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING brought us the origin of one of the screens iconic killers, Leatherface. It was gruesome, scary and you almost couldnt take your eyes off the screen. Fueled by brilliant performances, stunning visual set pieces and more gore than should be allowed (thankfully) in an R rated movie--I have high hopes for the proposed unrated DVD coming out in the beginning of the year, but we know where that can lead.
Some may not agree, but I enjoyed GRUDGE 2, the follow up to the enormously successful THE GRUDGE. Taking more influence from the Japanese original it felt more like a horror movie and offered up some very scary set pieces. On the Foreign front, 3EXTREMES took us to the limit with its superior tales of terror, especially the entry of DUMPLINGS. Russia opted for a mix of horror and fantasy in the dark, engrossing tale NIGHT WATCH. The most profitable Russian movie ever made, look for its sequel DAY WATCH to find its way to us soon.
Honorable Mention:
Proving that internet hype, months of waiting, and one of the most memorable lines ever uttered in a movie is not enough to break a box office, SNAKES ON A PLANE was one of the best theater experiences you could have had in 2006, if you were lucky enough to have a good crowd. The movie was well made, fun and offered a good creepy crawly time. The downside was the obvious inserted scenes of blood and gore which attempted to justify the films R rating, well that and Samuel L. Jacksons now infamous fan written line.
Now for my top 3 films of the year! Like em or not.
3) Its a mix of clever 80s clichs, simple plot, hilarious comedy, and stomach churning moments that only a crawly bug movie can deliver. SLITHER proves to be the best horror/comedy of the year, oh hell, the past couple of years. It shows that you can mix horror and comedy together and not get bogged down. Add in the great performances and super gruesome fun and what you get is a damn good time watching a movie.
2) We watched how it was made, and then we waited, and waited and yeah, we waited some more. But finally our FEAST was served, and what a satisfying dish it was. Opting for real monsters and full on splatter effects, rather than CGI, made FEAST a must see, must own for any true horror fan. Im still stunned how a movie that documented its making on TV ended up being so surprising and surprisingly good.
Drum roll! Hydes Number 1 Horror film of the year is
THE DESCENT, in which a group of adventurous female friends find themselves fighting not only each other and their pasts but also mysterious creatures determined to rip them apart. The films spelunking scenes create more claustrophobic terror than anything the monsters can dish out. But the film proves to be not only horrifically violent and scary, but a real plot with real characters makes it the scariest and the best horror film of 2006.
Now THE WORST!
Remakes, sequels, and just sad attempts at trying, round out the worse of the year starting with WHEN A STRANGER CALLS--a remake that opted to only remake the first twenty minutes of the original and stretch it out. It failed to scare or even get anyone to the theatre. Ghosts were the subject of several films AN AMERICAN HAUNTING which had some A-list stars but nothing else. Did anyone even see THE RETURN, with Sarah Michelle Gellar? I know I didnt. And then there is the bastardization of a terrific Asian horror film by way of PULSE, which was simply unwatchable. SILENT HILL, which somehow made $100 million, was more boring than exciting, and more okay than scary. I know there has to be more, is it possible I liked more movies this year then I disliked??
A few undecided
Fox gave us the best gimmick of the year when they released their high profile remake of THE OMEN on June 6th 2006 (aka 6/6/6) not bad, but its deletion of the originals musical score hurt it. Yet, you simply cant ignore a gimmick like that. Tim Burtons CORPSE BRIDE was not as memorable or iconic as NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, but it was still enjoyable, Ill still opt for the latter though. BLACK CHRISTMAS has so far failed at the box office, but Im saving any review until I get out there to see it. The same with the novel turned movie, PERFUME, which is an amazing novel and hopefully will be an amazing movie.
And all the rest
MASTERS OF HORROR returned and is continuing to gives us lackluster weekly horror. Perhaps the novelty of a weekly horror series is wearing off. If you want that, TALES FROM THE CRYPT released a couple of seasons this year (now 5 all together) and they are far better than anything on TV today. Spike Channel gave us SCREAM AWARDS, the first ever Oscar type awards for us horror fans it proved to be a damn good time as well. And Starz! Channel presented its slasher movie documentary GOING TO PIECES: RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER. While it gave some interesting insight into of one of our favorite subgenres it failed to offer anything really interesting. BLADE, minus Wesley Snipes found its home on Spike as well, but sadly no one saw it and it wont be returning, look for it on DVD soon.
Looking forward.
In 2007 well be going back to a HOSTEL as we find the HILLS will have some more EYES. A ZOMBIE will resurrect HALLOWEEN and fans are still unsure as we wait to go to a much-hyped GRINDHOUSE. RESIDENT EVIL plans its EXTINCTION. We will see what happens 28 WEEKS LATER, dont answer your phone for the Americanized ONE MISSED CALL. There will be 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (based on the graphic novel) when AVP: SURVIVAL OF THE FITEST hits. Dont pick up a ride with THE HITCHER just tell your self I AM LEGEND as we prepare for THE VISITING as THE MESSENGERS leave their mark and you find your way out of WHITE NOISE 2: THE LIGHT.
May our New Year be filled with horror and always remember kiddies...we watch Bad movies so you don't have to!
--Hyde has spoken
Originally Published on Horror-Web by Hyde 10.02.06
