Thursday, January 2, 2014

Horror's Best Of 2013

Written by Scott Ruth


The time to round out my worst, at least watchable and best horror films of the year retrospective has come. If you missed the worst and middle of the road lists, check them out by clicking the links below:

The Best, The Worst & The "At Least Watchable" Horror Movies of 2013 - Part 1

Part 2 - The Best, The Worst & The "At Least Watchable" Horror Movies of 2013

Once again I ask you to bear in mind that it's essentially impossible to watch each and every horror film to be released in any given year, within the confines of a year's time. I mention this as it's quite possible (perhaps even likely) that you may have seen a great film that doesn't appear on my list and this may be the reason why the title in question is missing from all 3 of my 2013 lists.

Now on to the best films that the genre had to offer for 2013 (in no specific order). . . 




Europa Report - On a privately funded mission to Europa, Jupiter's fourth largest moon, an international crew of explorers is sent with the goal of finding new life. Unfortunately, things don't go exactly as they had been planned.


In the year when the studio machine churned out a visually stunning space exploration film that was devoid of any real emotion or substance (Of course I'm referring to Gravity, starring real-life emotionless android Sandra Bullock. She's not an android? Sheesh. And here all these years I was certain that, judging by her acting "skills", she had to be something with no human emotions!), filmmaker Sebastián Cordero has managed to best the Alfonso Cuarón-helmed one hundred million dollar studio film Gravity, with Europa Report, by combining a compelling story about a crew of astronauts travelling far from home with hopes of discovering life on one of Jupiter's moons, with spot-on acting as well as some amazing visuals. Europa Report may not be a perfect film, but if you want to see a space exploration film with substance and actors who are believable when they find themselves in perilous situations, I suggest you skip Gravity and check this one out!


Dark Skies  - A suburban couple grow increasingly isolated from their friends and neighbors as they fight to protect their children from being abducted by malevolent extraterrestrials.


The idea of aliens putting a family in peril is nothing new when it comes to movies, television or novels so it's no easy task for a filmmaker to come up with a way of pulling an audience in, making them interested in such a tale. Since pretty much every "new" idea has been done and done to death. So where does this leave today's filmmakers to go when making this sort of film? One thing that has always worked, and I'll be so bold as to state that it will always work, is to begin with a slow build up, allowing the story and it's details to slowly unfold and then grab the audience by suddenly picking up the momentum, turning the proverbial knob up to it's highest level, and take the viewers on a relentless ride where the protagonist(s) are forced to deal with one stressful, intense, and often insane, situation after another and not slowing the pace until the end of the climax or final "showdown" and this is just what Scott Stewart did with Dark Skies! I'll admit that there are moments when the pace did slow a bit more so than I would have preferred, but, for me, that did not take away from the enjoyment of this aliens-on-the-assault style thriller!


Mama - A young couple, Lucas and Annabel, find themselves in the position of caring for Lucas' two young nieces who had been left to fend for themselves in the wild following their father's murderous breakdown. The two young girls, now verging on feral, have difficulties returning to society, but before long the couple find themselves wondering if the girls returned alone!


I have to admit that I was reluctant to even see this film. The trailer left me feeling as if this was yet another one of the lame supernatural thrillers like The Conjuring and the Insidious films that Hollywood has been force-feeding genre fans with over the last handful of years. I gave in and, despite my concerns, I gave Mama a shot. I hated it. I found myself allowing my mind to drift while sitting there. Upon leaving the theater, I proclaimed Mama to be one of the worst movies I'd seen in many years, lumping it together with the likes of the aforementioned films The Conjuring and both Insidious films. Once time rolled around for Mama to begin showing on cable I figured I owed it to myself to give it another watch, but this time I swore that I would not allow me preconceptions to have any bearing on my feelings of the film. So, I watched Mama with an entirely clear, open mind. I have to admit that I had indeed allowed my preconceived notions to blind me to reality. In reality, Mama is a fantastically eerie film whose story is a quite intriguing one. It's scary in a time where I had thought that scary movies were but a thing of the past. The story itself was very much like something that you'd experience in an Asian genre film and is simply wonderful all around. 


The Lords Of Salem - Heidi, a radio station DJ living in Salem, Massachusetts, receives a strange wooden box containing a record, a "gift from the Lords." Heidi listens to the recording, and the bizarre sounds within the grooves immediately trigger flashbacks of the town's violent past. Is Heidi going mad, or are the "Lords of Salem" returning for revenge on modern-day Salem? 


Rob Zombie's name has become synonymous with brutal horror movies chock full of over-the-top violence and plenty of blood and gore. The Lords Of Salem does not fit into the usual Rob Zombie movie mould. Whereas Zombie's previous films, House Of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects and both Halloween films, were homages (or throw-backs) to the slasher-type films of old, The Lords Of Salem is a throw-back to the devil/witchcraft-inspired films of the 1960's and 1970's such as Season Of The Witch (1972), The Devil's Daughters (1973), Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) and Roman Polansky's Rosemary's Baby (1968). There are even aspects of this film that are reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980). It's much more cerebral engaging than Zombie's earlier work. 


Evil Dead - A group of friends head out to an old cabin deep in the woods to help one of them get off of drugs, cold turkey. They find that what looks to have been some sort of cult sacrifice has taken place down in the basement. They also find the Book Of The Dead down there too. Shortly thereafter, one of these young dopes unwittingly summons up demons who happen to be living in the nearby woods. The demons begin to possess the young folks, one by one, making survival a real challenge.


The original film, The Evil Dead (1981) from Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, was much more of a horror-comedy than it was an  all-out horror film. This remake, co-produced by both Raimi and Campbell, tosses out most of the humor, opting for more of a mean, nasty and quite gory re-telling of the original story. Writer/director Fede Alvarez remained very loyal to the original material, simply making a more serious, more violent and dare I say far gorier version of Raimi's film. I can recall wishing, in my younger days back in the 1980's, that the original film hadn't been so campy and silly. Thanks to Alvarez, as well as Raimi and Campbell, my wish came true. I will always adore the original 1981 classic, but this "remake" is, in my opinion, one of the few remakes that is actually better than it's predecessor. 


You're Next - When a gang of masked, ax-wielding murderers descend upon the Davison family reunion, the hapless victims seem trapped... until an unlikely guest of the family proves to be the most talented killer of all.


As I mentioned above with regard to creating a new, or at least interesting, take on the alien assault genre, it's perhaps even more difficult to make a slasher/home invasion type film that isn't just another re-telling of the same story that we've seen in those kind of films, time and time again. Filmmaker Adam Wingard offered up a relentless and engaging tale that finds those invading on the short end of the stick. Movies like Funny Games and The Strangers took the "we're all helpless when/if someone decides to sneak into our home and assault us" stance whereas Wingard mixed things up a bit and not only introduced a unique reason for the"invasion" (most of these sort of movies chose to never give us a reason "why"), but also gave us a character who was far more than meets the eye. 


We Are What We Are - A seemingly wholesome and benevolent family, the Parkers have always kept to themselves, and for good reason. Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank rules his family with a rigorous fervor, determined to keep his ancestral customs intact at any cost. As a torrential rainstorm moves into the area, tragedy strikes and his daughters Iris and Rose are forced to assume responsibilities that extend beyond those of a typical family. As the unrelenting downpour continues to flood their small town, the local authorities begin to uncover clues that bring them closer to the secret that the Parkers have held closely for so many years.


This film, a remake of the 2010 Spanish film with the same title, is beautifully shot, contains some of the best performances of any film this year and has a climax that is not only sure to shock it's audience but also a very fulfilling one. 


Jug Face - Jug Face tells the story of a pregnant teen trying to escape a backwoods community when she discovers that she may be sacrificed to a creature in a pit. The entity in the pit requires a life for keeping the community safe. The face of the person to be sacrificed is crafted onto a ceramic jug. When ignored, the entity unleashes an evil onto the community.


Jug Face is a very atmospheric genre film, one that manages to be very disturbing despite the fact that it's not chock full of over-the-top violence and gore. Don't get me wrong, there is some gore in this film, but the gore takes a backseat to the storytelling and that's something that is rare in this day and age, where horror has become more visual with the idea of shock for the sake of shock has become more "important" that allowing the storytelling to create the necessary shocking moments. Jug Face is the very opposite of those sort of modern horror films. Jug Face manages to get under your skin without having to show you someone who has had their skin removed, in full, graphic detail, if you take my meaning. It's a return to horror the way it used to be. 


Frankenstein's Army - Toward the end of World War II, Russian soldiers pushing into eastern Germany stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The scientists have used Frankenstein's work to assemble an army of super-soldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades -- Hitler's last ghastly ploy to escape defeat.  


If bizarre, disturbing imagery is what you're into when it comes to a horror film, then Frankenstein's Army is sure to be right up your alley. The creature that inhabit this film, creatures that were created by the Nazis, are both terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time. The story is a very fun and interesting one and the experience, as we never know what's around the next corner, is one that very few films can pull off correctly, but it has been pulled off, and very well, in Frankenstein's Army!


Maniac -  In this remake of Bill Lustig's 1980 horror film, the owner of a Los Angeles mannequin shop develops a dangerous obsession with a young artist.


Be prepared for what you may view as horror blasphemy.....director Franck Khalfoun's remake is better than the 1980 original film! That's right. It's the better film all around. Now before you get the erroneous idea that I am not a fan of Lustig's classic film allow me to stop you right there. I am not only a fan of the film, but I consider it to be one of the best horror films ever made! That's right. And that means that I consider this, the remake of said film, to also be one of the best ever. And it is. Both versions of Maniac are exactly what horror is meant to be. The are unsettling, disturbing and they are unforgettable. Once you see Frank Zito, in the original film, or Elijah Wood, in this remake, proceed to scalp a woman alive, it's a vision that you'll never get out of your mind. Both films rewrote what horror should be in their own respective eras. Back when Lustig's film came out, it put other horror filmmakers on notice...it was time to up the ante, and now Khalfoun has done the same to today's genre filmmakers. There are only a few things that make
Khalfoun's film the better film is the way it was shot (the POV shots are very unsettling) and Elijah Wood's performance in this film is nothing short of outstandingly amazing. This guy continues to amaze me with his ability. We've watched him grow up on film. From Radio Flyer to Lord Of The Rings and now from Pawn Shop Chronicles (where he plays a character nearly as fucked up as his character here is) to Maniac, Elijah Wood has continually proven that he has the unique ability to change as the times require. He went from the sweet kid to the Hobbit on a mission and now he's managed to be able to be very convincing as a complete psychopath in Maniac (and in Pawn Shop Chronicles and Sin City as well). 



In retrospective, 2013 was a pretty good year for horror. Hopefully we'll see less of the hokey, cartoonish antagonists like we've seen in Insidious Chapter 2, and we'll continue to see more filmmakers who are interested in continuing to help horror return to it's roots. Either way, horror movies will keep  getting made, and we'll all keep supporting them, good, bad or even worse! And, after all, that's what's most important as we, the fans of the horror genre, are the most loyal fans in the world!

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