The Best of 2013...Part Two... The Horror Films

The future of horror looks funny.

And that's a good thing!

I've mentioned before that with Horror/Scary movies, I have to be very careful with my selections.

As I am normally the only one that will watch, I have to pick and choose my battles (movies) carefully if I'm going to lock myself away for 90 minutes some night, or over the course or 2 or 3 nights.

Or in the event my honey watches with me on some date/movie night... it better not be too blood-soaked/gory or gruesome.

It's a fine line balancing act, but it can be done.  You just have to choose wisely.

In recent years, it was getting harder and harder to find anything that I even remotely wanted to make time for. 

I was nearly turned off a few years back from the entire horror genre with the Saw franchise and its ilk when the kills just become too graphic.

The pendulum had swung from "gotcha" and make you jump to sadistic realism that was stomach churningly awful.

But in 2013 I found that Horror had discovered something recently that had been done well sporadically in years past:

A sense of humor.

In fact, 6 of the 7 movies on the list are humorous in tone, 5 of those I labeled as Zom-Coms as the year went along and I realized how fun these movies were fast becoming.

Here are the best of those budget Zom-Coms that you might have missed:

John Dies at the End - 

A street drug that sends people to other dimensions.  Aliens ready to invade and take over Earth.  Maybe a tad more sci-fi than horror, this was quite a bit of crazy fun and shouldn't be missed.  You could never quite figure where the plot was going next, and maybe that was part of the film's charm.

A Little Bit Zombie - 

What happens when a mosquito transmits the zombie virus to a human host?  Hilarity, naturally.  Infected, but not totally turned, a groom-to-be fights off the zombie urges to feast on flesh, and his fiancée and best friend try and help him make the transition to partially undead.  Meanwhile, there's a pair of zombie hunters hot on his trail.

Detention - 

It's the Breakfast Club vs. Zombies.  A group of high schoolers face the zombie apocalypse from the detention room.  Naturally with a cast that size...

They're not all going to make it out alive.

Cockneys vs. Zombies - 

The Brits tackle a zombie invasion at an old-folks home.  Featuring, bar none, the greatest zombie chase in the history of zombie chases.  This one was a whole lot of fun, and I quite enjoyed it.  Those Cockneys are a tough lot to kill!

Warm Bodies - 

The one probably everyone heard about on this list was Warm Bodies.  A very well done horror love story, that has more heart and soul than any of the Twilight films.  :)

Toning down the gore and amping up the love and humor, this was the best of the bunch of Zom-Coms for the year.

Yep, a kid-friendly zombie movie.  If you're going to bring the next generation of horror fans into the fold, this was a fun way to start.


Naturally, with the success of The Walking Dead on AMC, Hollywood has taken notice and finally threw some money at a big budget zombie film, and they enlisted Brad Pitt to make it happen.

World War Z - 

The trailer looked amazing, and the movie actually lived up to the hype.  Naturally, I prefer slow zombies, but they made a logical reason behind why these zombies were fast, so I have no arguments with their decision.  Very well done, and I anticipate a sequel, Pitt-free or not, I'll be willing to take a look.

Finally, the best horror film of the year?

Cabin in the Woods - 

The most horror...check!  The funniest dialogue...check!  This one had it all, and it had it in great doses.  A smart film for fans of horror, and fans of good movies in general.  An intriguing premise filled with twists and turns at every corner.  Give it a spin and see what you think.


Tomorrow, things will get a little more family friendly! :)

Room For Rent...Cheap! "The Cabin in the Woods"

A secluded cabin in the woods... what could possibly go wrong?


The Story:

5 twentysomethings head off to a cousin's cabin located in the woods.  You've got your typical horror movie stereotypes:  jock (Chris Hemsworth), slut (Anna Hutchison), nerd (Jesse Williams), stoner (Fran Kranz) and virgin (Kristen Connolly).  They arrive in the middle of nowhere and are enjoying their stay, when suddenly the cellar door blows open... and they all decide to go down and see what might be going bump in the night.  They find a veritable treasure-trove of toys and old things and as they rifle through the collection, one of the group reads an ancient incantation from a journal.  Suddenly, the dead are rising, and they are coming for vengeance.

If only that were truly the scary part of their ordeal...


Okay, I did not see THAT coming.

Credit of course must go to the writing team of Drew Goddard (also first time director) and some guy by the name of Joss Whedon.

Well, apparently along with Red Dawn, a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth starred in this film, and was released after the Marvel franchise was up and running.  Smart on the part of both movies to capitalize on their fortunes of getting something before it was hot, but it really didn't matter as both films are able to stand on their own.  Whereas I liked the Red Dawn remake more than the original, I have to chalk this up as the best horror movie I've seen so far this year.

It's funny, scary, surprising, exciting and engaging.

Plus, unlike many of the horror movies of the last decade that really seem to dwell on the kills and letting you watch every slice and dice, this film goes old school and lets your imagination do a lot of the work, or throw gallons of red goo at the screen.

Thank you.

While not gathering the kids around to watch with me, I prefer my splatterfests to be less intimate and descriptively gruesome. 


Plus, there is a whole different layer to this movie than I've discussed here.  Those that have seen it know what I'm talking about, but I really don't want to ruin it for those that haven't seen it.

Good stuff...

Shame there won't be a sequel!!!

: )

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Again, due to the non-family friendly nature of this film, it's an outside chance, but I could definitely watch it again.