2012 HORROR IN REVIEW

There was no single breakout horror film in 2012.  There were several profitable horror films due to production cost vs. gross (such as THE DEVIL INSIDE, PARANOMAL ACTIVITY 4, and SINISTER) but all were critical disappointments.  There were also several that may have not been profitable here in the states but made a profit overseas (such as RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION, PROMETHEUS, and WRATH OF THE TITANS), but more often than not 2012 was dominated by non-traditional horror films such as BREAKING DAWN PART 2 and HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA and even PROMETHEUS.  Even harder still is finding a horror film that connected with audiences; only CABIN IN THE WOODS made a dent (but was ignored at the Box Office) as did the low budget V/H/S and to a smaller extent THE WOMAN IN BLACK.

One thing that 2012 can be noted for is the wide variety of horror films that were offered such as the found footage genre (THE DEVIL INSIDE, THE BAY, CHERNOBYL DIARIES, V/H/S), sequels (WRATH OF THE TITANS, UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING, RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION, SILENT HILL: REVELATION), possession films (THE DEVIL INSIDE, THE POSSESSION), ghosts (THE APPARITION, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, THE INNKEEPERS), vampires (UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING, BREAKING DAWN PART II, VAMPS, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER), serial killers (THE COLLECTION, THE RAVEN, SILENT NIGHT), and even strange creatures (THE BAY, CHERNOBYL DIARIES, PIRANHA 3DD), to name just a few.

The following is a list of all the horror and horror rated films of 2012 and how they stacked up at the domestic Box Office.  Please note that this list does not include International grosses and that information was obtained through the site Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)

     THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART II - $289.2 MILLION

          HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA - $146.2 MILLION

          PROMETHEUS - $126.5 MILLION

     WRATH OF THE TITANS – $83.7 MILLION

     DARK SHADOWS - $79.7 MILLION

     UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING - $62.3 MILLION

     PARANORMAN - $56 MILLION

     THE WOMAN IN BLACK - $54.3 MILLION

     PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 - $53.9 MILLION

         THE DEVIL INSIDE - $53.3 MILLION

     GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE - $51. 8 MILLION

     THE GREY - $51.6 MILLION

         THE POSSESSION - $49.9 MILLION

         SINISTER - $48.1 MILLION

     RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION - $42.3 MILLION

     THE CABIN IN THE WOODS - $42.1 MILLION

     ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER - $37.5 MILLION

     FRANKENWEENIE - $34.8 MILLION

    HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET - $31.6 MILLION

    CHERNOBYL DIARIES - $18.1 MILLION

    SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D - $17.5 MILLION

    THE RAVEN - $16 MILLION

    SILENT HOUSE - $12.8 MILLION

    THE COLLECTION - $6.8 MILLION

    HITCHCOCK - $5.5 MILLION

    THE APPARITION - $4.9 MILLION

    PIRANHA 3DD - $376,512

    A WEREWOLF BOY - $338,803

    V/H/S - $100,345

   THE INNKEEPERS - $78,396

    INTRUDERS - $69,136

    RED LIGHTS - $52,624

   THE BAY - $30,905

   KILL LIST - $29,063

   THE DAY - $20,984

   SILENT NIGHT - $14,567

   CITADEL - $13,201

    [REC] 3: GENESIS - $9,600

    THE MOTH DIARIES - $3,838

    BAD BLOOD THE HUNGER - $3,731

    VAMPS - $3,361

   ATM - $3,010

    CARL - $2,592

    I KISSED A VAMPIRE - $1,794

    MEETING EVIL - $525

    APARTMENT 143 - $383

     PLAYBACK - $264

Film Review: BENEATH LOCH NESS (2002)

Every once in a while there comes a film about the legend of the Loch Ness monster that’s actually good (i.e. INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS – 2004) but BENEATH LOCH NESS (2002) is not one of those films.  A team of American researchers at work on The Loch experience an earthquake that leaves one of their team members dead.  In the aftermath of the earthquake the researchers realize that a fissure has opened up.  Upon deeper investigation the American researchers soon discover that something big may have been released when the fissure opened up.

When Case (Brian Wimmer) is brought in to head up the team of researchers after the death of their team member he soon discovers that the monster now loose in The Loch may be too much for the local police to handle.  Case also has to contend with his ex-wife Elizabeth (Lysette Anthony) and enlist the help of the only local who believes in the existence of the month Blay (Patrick Bergin) and figure out a way to get the monster before the monster makes a meal of all the locals.

It’s not that the film is bad but it’s not any good either.  It borrows heavily from JAWS (1975) but the lack of any good visual SFX renders any fear or suspense from the monster null and void.  There is humor to be had in the film (and not at the expense of the characters themselves) which is good and the cast does a passable job with the material despite the unoriginality so at least the film is entertaining.  Credit this to director Chuck Comisky who keeps the film rolling with a screenplay by Shane Bitterling and Justin Stanley.

This is not a bad time waster as there are plenty of worse films out there but if you want to see a film about The Loch I’d suggest INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS.

Film Review: ALLIGATOR X (2010)

Mad scientist who create mutated killer animals is nothing new which is exactly what’s wrong with the film ALLIGATOR X (also known as XTINCTION: PREDATOR X).  Locals in the swamp lands are mysteriously disappearing and a local Sheriff Tim Richards (Locklyn Munro) and his old flame Laura (Elena Lyons) soon discover that there is a new predator on the loose that has made their homes its stomping grounds.  After a short investigation it is revealed that Laura’s ex-husband may have something to do with resurrecting a long extinct dinosaur and is trying to find a suitable place to allow it to breed and multiply.

I wish I could say there was more to the film but there really isn’t.  As written by Cameron Larson (with story credit going to Larson, George Kostuch, Caleb Michaelson, and Claire Sanchez) and directed by Amir Valinia this film is an uninspired and unoriginal mess.  You’d think that with five people behind the story of the film that you would at least get something original or at least entertaining but this film is neither.  The film is a knock-off of the hundreds of mad scientist films that came before it and the direction is pedestrian at best.  The film lacks any suspense and the story drags on even with this type of film.   Performances are abysmal even for Munro, who has proven his talents in such films as DRACULA 2000 and FREDDY VS JASON.  He’s playing the by-the-numbers sheriff (a role he’s been pigeonholed in).

I appreciate the occasional mad scientist creating killer monster film (SPLICE (2009) is an excellent example of this) but this story has been done to death and that’s “bad” death at that.  The SFX are not at all passable and what little humor there is disappears due to all the bad character stereotypes.  It’s not a very competent film and if it was at least entertaining I might forgive the many other problems.   

Book Review: BALTIMORE, OR, THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER AND THE VAMPIRE by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden

Both Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden are premiere writers on their own.  Mignola created the world of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. (The Bureau of Paranormal Research & Development) and Golden has written the thriller series Body of Evidence (as well as several Hellboy stories), so when their talents come together for Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire it is nothing but pure magic.  This is an illustrated novel with images by Mignola himself.

Lord Henry Baltimore is a soldier of World War I who accidentally awakens the wrath of sleeping vampires on the battlefield.  This first encounter leaves him forever scarred yet also marked by the vampires who become a plague upon mankind.  Years later he secretly gathers up three individuals whom he has encountered who would believe in his cause and might help him stop this plague once and for all.  As these three individuals await Baltimore’s arrival in a tavern each relay their own encounters with Baltimore and why he has become obsessed with ridding the world of the vampire plague as well as why they were all gathered in the first place.

Mignola and Golden uses the recollections of Baltimore’s associates to paint the reader a picture of who Baltimore is and how he became the ruthless vampire killer that he is.  Using the WWI as a backdrop for the origins of the story is a new twist on this style of adventure (but nothing new to Mignola who uses WWII as a backdrop for the origins of Hellboy) as well as using the vampires as the reason for the plague that kills indiscriminately from town to town.  There are many parallels between Baltimore and Hellboy besides their origins.  Both have a deformity, Hellboy with his right hand and Baltimore with his left leg (which he lost during the war and has now been replaced by a wooden contraption that allows him easy mobility).  Both have myth and legend interwoven within the story.  Hellboy uses elements of myths and legends from all over the world while Baltimore is infused with references from Hans Christian Anderson’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier among the typical vampire lore.

Baltimore is one of those books that doesn’t just infuse it with the myths and legends of the past but it also becomes a part of those stories of myths allowing Baltimore himself to become a legend.

My 100 Favorite Horror Films List 2013

We are coming up on a new year and I decided that one of the newest additions to the 100 Favorite Horror Films site will be my actual list and why each of these films are on my list.  Over the course of the next year I will focus an article on each of my favorite horror films and why they are on my list.  I encourage everyone to post their own lists so that we can all get a look at which films are your favorites.

1. THE EXORCIST

2. ROSEMARY’S BABY

3. CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)

4. THE HAUNTING (1963)

5. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)

6. DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)

7. DAY OF THE DEAD (1985)

8. ALIEN

9. MARTIN (1977)

10. JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING

11. PSYCHO (1960)

12. PHANTASM

13. SUSPIRIA

14. GOJIRA (1954)

15. TETSUO: THE IRON MAN

16. CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012)

17. POLTERGEIST

18. THE EVIL DEAD

19. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

20. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

21. BLACK SWAN

22. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST

23. VAMPYR (1932)

24. DAVID CRONENBERG’S THE FLY (1986)

25. SLITHER

26. HALLOWEEN (1978)

27. CEMETARY MAN

28. MISERY

29. THE MIST

30. INSIDIOUS

31. SAW

32. [REC]

33. [REC] 2

34. DAVID CRONENBERG’S NAKED LUNCH

35. JACOB’S LADDER

36. JU-ON: THE GRUDGE

37. MAY

38. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

39. SPIDER BABY, OR THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD (1968)

40. 28 DAYS LATER

41. RE-ANIMATOR

42. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)

43. THE BIRDS (1963)

44. GINGER SNAPS

45. SEVEN

46. THE DESCENT

47. CHILD’S PLAY

48. BLACK SABBATH (1963)

49. CARRIE (1976)

50. BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR

51. JAWS

52. THE HOST

53. BLOOD & BLACK LACE (1964)

54. SHAUN OF THE DEAD

55. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

56. PAN’S LABYRINTH

57. DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)

58. ARACHNOPHOBIA

59. FREAKS (1932)

60. SPLINTER

61. CANDYMAN

62. CLIVE BARKER’S NIGHTBREED

63. THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932)

64. FRIGHT NIGHT (1985)

65. CUBE

66. BRAINDEAD (1992)

67. HELLRAISER (1987)

68. SPLICE

69. A SERBIAN FILM

70. DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)

71. HARD CANDY

72. DAVID CRONEBERG’S VIDEODROME

73. MARTYRS

74. STEPHEN KING’S STORM OF THE CENTURY

75. THE BEYOND

75. THE HOWLING

76. BUG

77. PITCH BLACK

78. BLACK CHRISTMAS

79. CREEPSHOW

80. HIGH TENSION

81. RARE EXPORTS

82. PUMPKINHEAD

83. DAVID CRONEBERG’S CRASH

84. THE FRIGHTENERS

85. LEVIATHON

86. STEPHEN KING’S IT

87. PET SEMETARY

88. HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW

89. ZOMBIE (1979)

90. EVENT HORIZON

91. RESIDENT EVIL

92.  HORROR HOTEL (1960)

93. THE SHINING (1980)

94. WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE

95. RINGU

96. JOHN CARPENTER’S PRINCE OF DARKNESS

97. THE EVIL DEAD 2

98. CLIVE BARKER’S LORD OF ILLUSSION

99. THE LOST BOYS

100. THE GUARDIAN

Here is my full list with the following being some of my “10 I wish I could also add” – 1. CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961), 2. KWAIDAN (1964), 3. BURN, WITCH, BURN (1962), 4.NOSFERATU, A SYMPHONY OF TERROR (1922), and 5. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943).