The Best Movies of 2009- 6-10

2009 was a pretty solid year for the Horror Genre. A lot of the year's best came from overseas, but American Horror showed strong too, which is a good thing; it's nice to see a good Global mix going on, as far as Horror movies are concerned. Different countries and cultures have their own voices that make the genre stronger, and we truly need to hear them all. Aww, look at all of that diversity!

So let's take a look at the best of what 2009 had to offer us, shall we?

Something about this little Aussie Thriller just struck a nerve with us, and me in particular.

Visually the movie is stunning, the characters are believable and likable (though sometimes absent-minded), and the concept is interesting and keeps you guessing. Oh, and it's pretty creepy too.

Some have said that the beginning half of this movie dragged a little, but I beg to differ; the first half of Acolytes seemed to me a meditation of sorts on teenagers, in which sexual angst and troubled pasts are set up to play an important role in what comes later. Good stuff.

Ever since Wolf Creek, we've been impressed with the Horror/Thriller efforts coming from down under, and Acolytes only serves to strengthen our resolve in the fact that we love them.

 

I love this effing movie. I can't remember having this much silly, no-brainer  fun watching a Horror flick in a very long time.

It's tongue-in-cheek nature is reminiscent of Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, or Shaun of the Dead in that it mixes humor and Horror so well,in a completely self-aware manner.

We loved the over-the-top and ridiculous action too. From the foot stomping at the edge of the cliff, to the Zombie wake up call scene, it's almost melodramatic in its mechanics, but it works. A machine gun mounted on a snowmobile? Count me in!

How can you not love a bunch of Nazi Zombies terrorizing innocent Norwegian people? Isn't that all we ever really want fro any movie that we see?

Here we have a remake that was actually really, really good, and what a nice change of pace that is for a change.

I'll admit that there's one scene at the very end of the movie that felt a bit out of place to me, but aside from that one small thing, LHOTL is a nasty little piece of remake bliss.  

Dennis Iliadis directed the hell out of this movie, and he has a bright future ahead of him in this genre. He created a dark and foreboding atmosphere, and made the story believable. Most American-made Horror films fail to reach this level or craft and realism anymore. Kudos my good sir.

I went into Orphan thinking that it would be just another in a long line of bland PG-13 cookie-cutter snooze-fests that Hollywood is so keen on churning out on the reg; you know, the ones that don't seem to understand what makes for a good Horror movie?

Well, I was totally wrong.

Orphan didn't play it safe at all, and in fact, it pushed the limits of disturbing quite often. To say that I was surprised with some of the places that this film went would be putting it mildly.

This is also a gorgeous film too look at; the camerawork capturing the mood through sparse winter landscapes which always make for a gorgeous setting. I'm a sucker for a snowy setting, what can I say?

...and in our final spot... We have a tie! Sure, something about claiming a tie cries cop-out to me, but we have more than enough love to go around. Come on, it's Christmas time!

Antichrist is a film that I will have to meditate over for some time to come. Sure, maybe it was a tad bit pretentious, but good lord it was also pretty horrific and engaging.

Was she evil? What happened to her in the forest with her son? Is this movie a misogynistic bash on all of woman kind? I have no answers, but I will be trying to come up with some for quite some time.

This film is unbelievably gorgeous to look at, and ridiculously so. Each of the film's "chapters" has its own look, from monochrome to black and white, and it's just something special to behold.

With Antichrist, Lars Von Trier captivates visually even if he manages to lose some of his audience thematically. Is this his masterpiece? I don't know, but it sure feels to me like it may be.

Either way, we'll never view mill stones or scissors in the same way again.

Killer Movie was a pretty damn good Slasher flick; yes it's fairly typical, and it doesn't come anywhere close to breaking any new ground, but it's smart, witty, and an overall fun time. 

I love how the smart script had just the right mix of humor and Horror to make it seem fresher than most movies of its kind, especially those of late. Slasher flicks can be fun and still work, and this movie reminds us of that.

Did we mention that this movie stars a pre-Big Bang Theory Kaley Cuoco? It does, and she is as smoking hot as ever here. She's definitely a bonus reason for watching this one.