Horror movies are dear to me: many are good… many suck terribly. Paranormal Activity, The Last Exorcism and the re-vamps of old school horror classics (besides the remake of Last House on the Left, which was actually better, to me, than the original), have all sucked on an epic scale, where as many of the movies that were made within this time period that were meant to be scary were just that. Here are my top 5 horror films of the last decade.
5. Hostel – The movie that really sparked a horror following in America, Hostel was both effective as a good story, a grand amount of torture violence, and an AMAZING ending that really makes you happy because of the redemption that is had.
4. Hostel Pt. 2 – The only movie to make me uncomfortable in theaters in the past 8 years, Hostel Pt. 2 is a true horror triumph: a triumph of how violent you can legally make an R-rated film. Then AntiChrist came out and set the bar higher.
3. Saw – This Se7en-esque film is a true masterpiece with one of the greatest twists ever in it with an ending that will give you chills and piss you off.
2. The Descent – Neil Marshall’s best (and only good, for that matter) movie is a creepy claustrophobic masterpiece of violence and the need to survive. Another must-see movie for a horror fan.
1. The Orphanage – Guillermo del Toro presented this extremely psychological and creepy movie that is a must see for Halloween. It is on Instant View on NetFlix and is MUST be seen by any horror fan.
Torture porn isn’t horror!!
Good call on Orphanage and Descent though.
What did you think of The Mist and 28 Days Later? Have you ever seen [rec] or The Children??
Yeah, The Mist should be on the list. As should Inside and Martyrs or any of the following: Frontier(s), Orphan, High Tension, House of 1,000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, 28 Days and Weeks Later, The Children, The Crazies remake, The Ring, Vacancy and (to stretch the genre a bit to quirky) The Signal and Ginger Snaps
I saw REC, and loved it, I just forgot it, and yes, torture porn isn’t horror, but the movie just made you feel uncomfortable, which was, in all honesty, quite scary. The Signal was more funny than it was scary, and Orphan, High Tension, Vacancy and Frontiers sucked (in my opinion). The Mist was good but the graphics they used really ruined it for me, and also the movie wasn’t THAT scary.
Just going to to throw a few oldies in there for consideration. I don’t think a list of the best horror can be made without “The Shining”. Less-watched these days but an excellent slow-burning psychological horror can be found in “Don’t Look Now” by Nicholas Roeg. From the last decade, but under-rated, Sam Raimi’s “The Gift” and Alejandro Amenabar’s “The Others” would also feature on any list of mine.
@Charlie: I forgot about Vacancy, I thought that was great too!
A couple other horror flicks from the last few years which I really enjoyed were Splinter (quite suspenseful, and a proper monster instead of cgi), and Pontypool (I just had a feeling of dread in my stomach the whole time, incredible low budget horror).
I think that Vacancy, The Mist, Captivity, and the 28 Days and Weeks Later movies were all very good. And anything Rob Zombie makes, really. He has a keen and gritty style that makes horror fun, a nice throwback to the classic days of horror. Though, as JC says, no movie has made me more uncomfortable in the theater to date than Hostel II. Gotta give eli Roth props for that! I am thinking that when he finishes Thanksgiving (his “fake trailer” movie from Grindhouse is being made into a feature length film), that’ll possibly top it… (As for AntiChrist, I have been DYING to see that!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Lars Von Trier and will see anything and everything he does!! Though, I’ve been kicking myself for this, too, I MISSED it when it aired on IFC and have yet to catch it since!) Anyways, those are the tops for me in horror this last decade…
Oh, and what about Oldboy and Teeth??!! Can’t forget those!! They were FANTASTICLY chilling, memorable, and incredibly terrifying!!
Be weary on von Trier’s stuff: AntiChrist is perhaps the most graphically disturbing film I have seen simply because you aren’t expecting it. Oldboy was great, but it just wasn’t scary (cheesy and gory, yes). Mist wasn’t scary, though it was great, 28 Days wasn’t scary either, though I LOVED it, and Teeth was more funny than scary. These aren’t just horror movies, but they are movies that I sincerely got scared during.
Also, see Nosferatu if you haven’t because that shit is SCARY.
I love Lars Von Trier, and I definitely am aware of the notoriety of Antichrist. I loved Irreversible, and it has a similar vibe to it, from what I can tell, and I truly appreciate when filmakers are willing to push the envelope in that way. And you’re right about Oldboy and The Mist; they weren’t really scary, although they are still technically horror genre films. They were more bleak and disheartening, though they were truly fantastic movies. Teeth was funny, but disturbing, and I’m not even a man!! :) I think that Captivity was an edge-of-your seat film, and it was Roland Joffe, so you know it is good!!
As for Nosferatu, I haven’t seen it but I would like to. Though I did see Shadow of a Vampire, which was based on that film. GREAT movie.
Yeah, Shadow was great, but my God, you wanna talk about a horror classic, all of the actors in Nosferatu were creepy looking and Max Shreck made me nearly piss myself because of how creepy he was. Irreversible was good, but nowhere near as graphic as AntiChrist, and my favorite von Trier film is without a doubt Dogville because of the never-saw-it-coming twist. Captivity was… interesting to say the least. I think that the film was good and was thrilling, but yet again, not scary in my book. The above movies SCARED the hell out of me, where as the ones you listed either thrilled me or made me say “shit, that sucks.” The movies are good, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t scary to me. Oh, have you seen Audition. There’s one I forgot. Wait…. damn, Audition was made in 1999. Well, screw it, that one was good and scary, too.
I am excited to see Nosferatu. It is one of my many dvds that I have purchased that I have yet to see. I’m very excited. I loved Dogville, too. That was a fantastic movie. I recently found Manderlay, its sequel, on one of my dvd hunts and am excited to see that, too. I guess you’re right about the thrilling aspect to the movies… it is really difficult for a movie to out-and-out scare me. Though, ever since I saw Halloween as a young kid, that movie will forever be the scariest to me. (After all, Michael doesn’t die… and I was 4 years old when I first saw it. So ever since then, no movie has been scarier to me.) Now I need to add Audition to my must-see list, too!! Exciting! Perhaps we ought to do a separate “disturbing movies” list for the new millenium!! :)
i agree with your selection of the 5 greatest horror movies but i think there are amny more movies that deserve to be mentioned as well. Movies such as “The Grudge”, “The Ring 2” and “The Omen” just to mention a few. The movies keep you on the edge throughout the entire movie. One never knows what to expect next
I’m on it!