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Whenever I hear people complain about how there’s no more legit quality genre flicks being made these days, I have to inform them that they’re just not looking in the right place. They may not necessarily be playing in your local multiplex amongst the latest remake or over-budgeted 3D extravaganza, but they do exist. Instead they’re sneaking around your downtown art house theater, being forgotten about within a line up of new on demand titles, or simply being overlooked amongst a slew Netflix Instant Watch schlock. Once in a while, you’ll get lucky and unexpectedly stumble on something you never heard anything about, then instantly fall in love with it. And that’s what happened with The Divide and myself.
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UHM – Upcoming Horror Movies – Your upcoming horror movies resource since June 24th ’99

I have experienced things in life that have taught me to never say,”It can’t get worse than this”! Because I know it can.Every horror fan usually knows this by the films they watch. If you mistake what happens in films as things “that will never happen to me”,well,you’ll learn.

As The Grey opens on the cold,bleakness Liam Neeson appears as a man that has no dream of life left,no lies,no illusions.The reasons are not apparent.

He is a sniper contracted to protect oil rig workers from infrequent wolf attacks,and shoots only when completely necessary.He respects the animal enough to know its dangers.His fellow humans he has much less admiration for,at least the ones he works with.They are the refuse of the real world,who deserve to be in the harsh conditions that he has chosen to be in.

On a routine flight to return to civilization the plane crashes literally in the middle of nowhere.The sound editors and techs did such a fantastic job with this film you feel as close to everything that is possible without actually being there.Real depictions of crash victims-and the cold,the cold is a complete character on it’s own.That would be enough to threaten your life.

Then you are hit with the real fear.The primal one most of us have forgotten on our long ride at the top of the food chain. The line between our world of safety and 911 and sanity, and complete all bets are off,nothing will save you but yourself world, is very thin.

He finds out in the worst way possible that the plane has crashed in the world of the wolf and they do not belong there.

Having some knowledge of the animal, but not much else he scrambles to live and protect what is left of humanity in this unforgiving reality. The survivors try to cope as well as you or I could,and we are along for every terrifyingly tense moment.

The Grey is real,raw,scary and so good you will be appreciative of every aspect of your life.Neeson is at his best when thrown against everything that man and nature fears, and it is a film experience. See it!

Editors note: This review was contributed by a reader by email submission to scoops@horror-movies.ca! 

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Every now and again you come across an independent horror movie that really does sustain tension and most importantly, doesn’t end up going for laughs. If that is what you’re looking for then you are in for a treat and its name is “Rage”.

Rage is a tip off to Duel, Steven Spielberg’s 1971 debut film where Dennis Weaver plays a commuter terrorized by an unseen driver in a semi-truck. Rage director Christopher Witherspoon swaps out the truck for a motorcycle to great effect, upping the challenge and changing expectations.

Rick Crawford plays Dennis Twist (a great twist on Dennis Weaver), an everyday guy with an everyday life. One day he heads out into town to run some errands, leaving his lovely wife Crystal (Audrey Walker) at home, even though it’s his only day off. Soon we learn why, he’s actually going to meet his mistress, Dana (Anna Lodej) and break it off with her. While parking, he cuts off a Biker (Christopher Witherspoon) for a parking space.

Never a good idea since you never know who you’re dealing with. Anyway, during the painful break up (painful for her, not him) we learn that she has an ex-con boyfriend that is not too happy about him being around in the first place, all the more reason to bolt. He says his goodbyes and heads out to his car only to be confronted by the Biker who keys his car in a drive by maneuver involving a large black combat knife. Thus begins the real game, is it Steven, Dana’s ex-con ex, or somebody far more dangerous?

Rage sets many theories into play from the obvious to the metaphysical and all are valid depending on your own point of view. Another thing the film does well is to keep us in the driver’s seat, holding our expectations, then switching gears and bring the action home, keep the tone but raising the intensity. We see so many knock off film every year but very few true homages that not only pay respect to the original film but bring their own standard of excellence to the table, Rage is trip worth taking.

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After tackling sequel territory with Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, Ti West returns to moody horror with The Innkeepers — a movie that I had been anxiously awaiting since I saw the spooky trailer. Much like West’s previous slow-building effort, The House of the Devil, this pic focuses on a really slow-paced character driven story, as opposed to your standard ghost tale and manages to be a slight improvement over the man’s previous additions to the genre.

The story revolves around a couple young 20-somethings as they work the remaining days at a supposedly haunted hotel named The Yankee Pedlar. The duo spend their lasting hours bantering back and forth, while occasionally attending to the mere handful of guests left in the hotel. Determined to find absolute proof that the place is haunted (in hopes that it will somehow save the place from closing), the starry-eyed and easily impressionable, Claire (Sara Paxton), sports a EVP meter and sets out through the halls in search of the resident spirit, Madeline O’Malley.
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UHM – Upcoming Horror Movies – Your upcoming horror movies resource since June 24th ’99

South Korea has been slowly trying to recreate the success of The Host since its release in 2006, but have since failed. At first it seemed as though Sector 7 would finally rectify the situation, but after having seen the movie, I’m sad to say that it didn’t. The film is just all over the place and the questionable CG didn’t help matters either.

The story revolves around a small group of oil-riggers working off an aged drilling station dubbed Sector 7. With years of non-existent oil, the crew are close to calling it quits until the old captain returns to suggest drilling one last time. Success!! And Sector 7 is saved from its seemingly inevitable closure. However, this comes with a cost, as the crew soon discovers when people start mysteriously dying off. The death’s are quickly revealed to be thanks to a large aquatic creature roaming the station and it’s up to the surviving crew and its resident "touch chick" to put a stop to the foul beast before it devours everyone.
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UHM – Upcoming Horror Movies – Your upcoming horror movies resource since June 24th ’99

Anja and five friends join anthropology student Dace on a journey to study a remote ancient rock painting. Their excitement vanishes when Mel becomes delirious after skinny-dipping in the waterhole. Feverish bleeding confused she physically and mentally regresses to a vicious predatory state. Mel has gone primal. Mels lover and friends realize they are the prey as she savagely hunts them down. Before they can escape another one of them starts to regress posing a hideous choice kill their friends or be killed by them. Their only hope of survival is through a cave where Anja learns too late the meaning of the ancient rock art they came to study.

Australia has always had it’s own little cornerstone in the Horror genre, dating back to the early exploitation films of the 70′s, or as they’re known ‘Ozploitation’ films. Luckily they’ve moved with the times with each revolution the Horror genre has had and “Primal” is a great piece of evidence that proves that they can still produce a great Horror film whilst still keeping their own charisma that Australian flicks seem to have.

“Primal” was  more of a word-of-mouth film, it didn’t get a-lot of promotion outside Australia, I myself came across it as a side link on YouTube.  I can say though that I’m glad I did, yes I know there’s nothing original about the film, even the trailer shows too much of what happens, but once you watch it you forget all that. It drags you into the film like your alongside the group of friends fighting for survival, you even start to feel a little tense about what’s going to happen next, it has a great mixture of suspense & comedy, though not too much comedy, just enough to allow you to relax for a second or two.

The cast is fantastic and the script is amazing! Kudos to the whole team on this film, especially the effects department who did an amazing job, always great to see film -makers using practical effects in this technological age. I whole heartedly recommend this film to any Horror fan. I enjoyed it so much that since my first viewing that my number of times of watching it are in double figures. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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The theme of 2011’s worst offerings was: disappointment. Why am I walking out of this theater under whelmed and over confused? Did you feel like making this movie because you were bored?

Short and sweet, I only have 5 films that I should have skipped to avoid the disappointment and need to listen to myself ask questions to myself, and it makes my heart hurt to see the first make the list:

5. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

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So I’m not typically an alien kind of person, meaning they’re not my favorite monster. But if you like hoards of faceless, raging extraterrestrial then watch Attack the Block. If the title sounds kind of indie its because this is a British film. The producers of Shaun of the Dead have added another hit in the horror genre; combining teenage thugs with the other worldly. You could only guess that a freaking alien would be the end of a gang of troublesome hoodlums but you’d be wrong.

Taking place through the span of a single evening, a possibly apocalyptic event seems to localize on a single block of this Britain town. After mugging a nurse, the group of young thieves witnesses the first creature to fall from the sky. After a quick attack, the gang kills it, and brings it to the safest place they can think of, hoping to get some semblance of an answer as to what it is. The rest of the movie is the battle between human and inhuman, generously filled with plenty of action and triumph.

The particularly scary moments of the movie lie in scenes of great tension, when the characters are most vulnerable, or, when you just know someone’s about to get ripped to shreds. I would say the gore level is a 5 out of 10, but it fits the subtext of the movie so less is better. If you’re a fan of the unique British dialogue, as I am, you’ll very much enjoy the awesome phrases that we don’t get to usually hear. Trust. Overall, I’m rating Attack the Block a 4.5 out of 5. Highly recommended. Even if it’s not terrifying.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD0gm7dHKKc

Related posts:

1. Attack The Block Review
2. Attack The Block
3. Attack the Block DVD Release Date

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The first Hostel was a movie I surprisingly enjoyed. It was gory, creative, and ballsy for a theatrical release. I admired Eli Roth’s attempt to (along with Saw) bring forth a very dark and incredibly gory approach to death in mainstream horror. The sequel was a disappointment for me, as it was simply more of the same, but at least the gore was amped up and we were given a little backstory on the society that runs these torture chambers. Now, four years later, we’re given a low-grade straight-to-DVD sequel that’s nothing more than an obvious cash-in on the Hostel name.

Eli Roth takes a step back and lets his friend Scott Spiegel (Intruder, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money) take the reigns, which I wasn’t entirely against since the last two horror fares from Spiegel offered some clever camera tricks that I had hoped to see him revisit with this sequel. Sadly that’s not the case here, as aside from a lot of gratuitous shots of the camera following someone’s ass (for whatever reason), it’s all a pretty straight forward directorial effort.
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UHM – Upcoming Horror Movies – Your upcoming horror movies resource since June 24th ’99

For me, horror on the big-screen this year did basically nothing for me. Sure there was a few, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like any of the big-budget horror flicks as I did enjoy a few. So here I bring to you my top ten horror films of 2011 in no particular order, which are my personal favorites this year.

10) I Spit on Your Grave - I Spit on Your Grave retells the horrific tale of writer Jennifer Hills, who takes a retreat from the city to a charming cabin in the woods to start on her next book. But Jennifer’s presence in the small town attracts the attention of a few morally deprived locals who set out one night to teach this city girl a lesson.

This one was released in the UK on January 21st of this year, unlike the States and i have to say, it actually surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. I went in wanting to hate it and came out fully appreciating that sometimes remakes can work.

9) Cold Fish - When Syamoto’s teenage daughter is caught stealing, a generous middle-aged man helps resolve the situation. The man and his wife offer to have Syamoto’s troublesome daughter work at their fish store. Syamoto soon discovers the horrific truth of the seemingly perfect couple.

Sion Sono has hit gold yet again and has hit all the marks, well for me at least. It was an awesome ride which I will enjoy for years to come.

#8) Little Deaths - Well-to-do home owners Richard and Victoria pose as religious do-gooders and lure homeless girls to their luxurious home. Apartment dwellers Claire and Pete invigorate their love life with a role-playing game with increasingly hazy boundaries. Jen and Frank, once prostitute and pimp, are now trying to make a go of things as an exclusive couple. Little Deaths are little games that sometimes lead to the big one.

As a sucker for anthology films this one sucked me right in, and it is a wonderful collection of twisted stories which deals with pain and pleasure.

7) The Woman - Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers, Deadwood) is a small town court officer living a quiet, seemingly normal life in the heart of Maine with his beloved family. That is, until Chris discovers a feral woman roaming the woods and makes it the family’s project to civilise her. But as the family’s methods of forcing civility upon the woman become ever more extreme, the perverse bonds uniting them will be cast into violent relief.

A brutal film that yet again blew me away. The film has caused a slew of controversy when it played at film festivals prompting one audience member to make this statement; “The Woman should be burned and never seen again.” That statement actually made me hunt this one down.

6) Hobo With a Shotgun - A vigilante homeless man pulls into a new city and finds himself trapped in urban chaos, a city where crime rules and where the city’s crime boss reigns. Seeing an urban landscape filled with armed robbers, corrupt cops, abused prostitutes and even a pedophile Santa, the Hobo goes about bringing justice to the city the best way he knows how – with a 20-gauge shotgun. Mayhem ensues when he tries to make things better for the future generation. Street justice will indeed prevail.

During its run it has had its share of defectors. Either you love it or you hate me. Me? I freaking love Hobo With a Shotgun, all the way from its over-the-top violence to the somewhat surprising score. I fell in love instantly.

5) Bedevilled - Hae-won is a beautiful single woman in her thirties who works at a bank in the Seoul city. She leads a busy life until she becomes a witness to an attempted murder case, and at the same time, things get complicated at work. When things get out of hand she is forced to take a vacation so she heads for ‘Moodo’, a small undeveloped island, where she had once visited to see her grandparents. And where she had befriended a girl named Bok-nam who stills writes to Hae-won asking her to visit despite the fact that Hae-won never bothered to reply. Upon arriving at the island, Hae-won is shocked to see everyone treating Bok-nam like a slave.

Jang Cheol-soo’s Bedevilled is one film you need to check out if you haven’t already. If you loved I Saw the Devil, give this one a look. I thought it was badass. But that’s just my opinion.

4) Beware - The town of Shady Grove holds many dark secrets. Amongst them is the sadistic tale of “Shane”, a boy who was tortured and chained to a tree as a youngster. Legend has it that he wanders the woods in search of revenge. But no proof of his existence has ever been discovered… until now.

While not perfect, the film is still pretty damn killer. Jason Daly has given me everything I want from a slasher flick, a demented killer, boobs and buckets of the red stuff. It’s a fun popcorn flick.

3) Wound - WOUND is a Supernatural Horror Film that explores the dark worlds of mental illness, incest, revenge and death. We follow Tanya as she searches for the mother she has never met – a mother (Susan) who gave her up for dead after being abused by her own father who remains stuck in her present life.

Yet another controversial film has made my list. Wound is David Blyth’s return to the horro genre after several years absence and what a return. This of course will not be everyone’s cup of tea as it deals with mental illness and incest, which goes deeper than you might expect.

2) Rage - A thirty something man who lives in a suburb just outside of Portland says goodbye to his beautiful and loving wife and heads into town. There he unintentionally provokes the wrath of a mysterious motorcyclist. The confrontation between the two, sets in motion a day long battle. Beginning in the form of harmless taunts then quickly escalating into something more serious and then into something unimaginable.

Made on literally a shoe-string budget, Christopher R. Witherspoon has unleashed an utterly badass thriller in the vein of Steven Spielberg’s Duel. The film has been laying wast to the festival circuit and currently doesn’t have distribution, but keep your eyes peeled, this is one to keep your eye on. Just wait till the last act!

1) I Saw The Devil - I SAW THE DEVIL is a shockingly violent and stunningly accomplished tale of murder and revenge from Korean genre master KIM Jee-woon (The Good, The Bad, The Weird and A Tale of Two Sisters). Oldboy’s CHOI Min-sik plays Kyung-chul, a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. The embodiment of pure evil, he has committed horrifying and senselessly cruel serial murders on defenseless victims, successfully eluding capture by the police.

Revenge has never been so sweet! I Saw The Devil is not only in my top 10 of 2011, but I’m pretty sure it has a place in my top 20 of all time, it is that good. Kim Jee-Woon made me stand up and take notice, check it out if you haven’t already.

Now that you have read my list be sure to go and vote in our Community Vote for the Best Horror of 2011

Related posts:

1. You Voted: 15 Best Horror Films of 2011 So Far
2. Most Watched Horror Films, May 2011
3. Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011 Tickets & Films

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