Top 10 Movies of 2008..HUGE LIST!
So these are my Top 10 Films of 2008! I am Chris. I know the majority of you do not know who I am, but I mainly only watch horror and sci-fi films, and it shows in my list. I hope this list encourages you to see some of these very underrated films of the past year.
10. Them (ils)
Directed by: David Moreau & Xavier Palud
The first of three French films that made my list this year. A story about home invasion, based on true events, with a shocking ending. Rather terrifying.
9. Hell’s Ground
Directed by Omar Khan
Pakistan’s first gore film! A group of kids taking a short cut through the wilderness always spells disaster in films, add in zombies, and a quasi Texas Chainsaw family and your in over your head.
8. Frontier(s)
Directed by Xavier Gens
The second Frenchie of the list taking place during the 90′s street riots in France, a group of activists fleeing the country to Amsterdam decide to stay at a hostel. First off, no, this isn’t like Hostel at all. They stay with a Nazi-Sympathizing family that run the place, did I mention that they are also cannibals, and one of the activists is a Jew? Great film!
7. Dance of the Dead
Directed by Gregg Bishop
One of the best zombie films in the last couple of years. Zombies at a high school prom! I wish my senior prom would have been that exciting…
6. Hell Boy II: The Golden Army
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
I will go on the record stating that del Toro is one of the greatest directors of our time, every one of his films have been amazing! HellBoy II was spot on with the comics just as the first one was, and what can I say…I am a comic book nerd. Fantastic writing, amazing visuals, and great creatures! Loads of action and Ron Pearlman as Red! What more can a guy ask for?
5. Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Directed by Jon Knautz
Tagged as Evil Dead for a new generation, that is a pretty bold statement. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was of Evil Dead capacity, but it was fantastic! Great story, great characters, and Robert Englund!
4. Inside
Directed by Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury
The final French film on the list, and the most BRUTAL film I have seen in years. A pregnant woman who is nine months along, and is going to the hospital in the morning to be induced into labor, gets an unwelcome house guest. A woman dressed in black, with a pair of enormous scissors. Her agenda is to leave with a new born baby. So, guess what the scissors are for? Fucking Brutal! Blood, Guts, Feces, Placenta, you name it this film has it! Not for the squeamish.
3. Mother of Tears: The Third Mother
Directed by Dario Argento
Lets just say I have been waiting for this film to be made, for a good decade or so. Never thought it would happen, but it finally did. This film ends Argento’s Mother Trilogy (Suspiria, Inferno), and Argento does it with style. Everything you have come to expect of an Argento film, just throw it out the window. Sure, its artistic, but not as much his other films. Argento goes for straight mayhem in this one. Hey, maybe I am biased because he is my favorite director, but this movie is amazing and I will fist fight you if you say otherwise.
2. Cloverfield
Now, before anyone starts to ask why this film is so far up, let me answer that question…because it is AMAZING! This is a great giant monster film! The best monster film since The Host crawled out of the Seoul’s Han river in South Korea back in 2006. I have heard so many people complain about this film, it made me sick, the camera was too shaky…seriously? You knew what you were getting into before going to see it. My favorite is, “You didn’t even get to see the monster!” What fucking movie were you watching? I saw an enormous monster obliterating NYC and everything else in its path! The viral campaign alone for that film was amazing, not to mention the Easter eggs and hidden footage in the film and DVD, plus the message after the ending credits said backwards! C’mon J.J. Abrahms is a goddamn genius! When the sequel comes out you can bet your ass I will be in line ready to see it at midnight! If you disagree with me about this picture, some talk to me and I’ll tell you why you are wrong, and why you secretly like it.
1. Batman: The Dark Knight
Batman, c’mon! Second best superhero ever! This film was an absolute masterpiece! I found nothing wrong with the film. I don’t need to say anything else about it.
Others:
Best DVD Release:
Directed by Carl Thedor Dreyer
This 1932 black and white, German, quasi-vampire film deserved the treatment Criterion gave it! On two discs, a HD transfer from the original film stock. Hours of extras including; audio commentary, new English text version, a documentary on Dreyer’s career, visual essays about the film, and a radio broadcast of Dreyer from 1958. Also included, a 215 page book on the writing of Vampyr, The Screen Play, and essays written on the film. If this sounds like something you’d be into I suggest paying the fifty bucks for it at Barnes and Nobel!
Best remake:
Essentially, I despise remakes, but this was actually remade by the writer/director of the original. Just an English version, because Haneke views Americans as idiots…he’s probably not too far off with that assumption. His original didn’t see a theatrical release in the states, and DVD sales were down also, so he believed that Americans didn’t want to see it because it was foreign. He was probably right, the film was amazing, and disturbing. Whats it about? Well, a family goes to their lake side home for a weekend, when two young men show up from the neighbors home asking for eggs. They don’t want the eggs, they want to place a bet and play a game. They bet the family wont be alive by 9:00am the next morning. The game, well, use your imagination. Haneke is a genius, because people love seeing torture in films, but they like a happy ending. Well he gives you what you want, then takes it away in a most unusual way. BUY THIS! Actually, I’d say watch the original by the same title, then the remake, but since its a scene for scene remake, you don’t really have too.
Best Exploitation:
Directed by Ryan Nicholson
A slasher film that takes place at a bowling alley. Two rival bowling teams of kids in their 20′s, and when I say rival teams, I mean they fist s, fight, in the alley. This film has great gore, loads of blood, sex, dick, cunt, tits, full on on-screen intercourse, and a killer who wears a bowling bag on his head. Check out the uncut “balls out edition” being released in January.
Best Non-Horror Horror:
Directed by Neil Marshall
Marshall said he wanted to make a film of all of his favorite films combined; Road Warriors, Mad Max, Alien, and that’s exactly what he did. A full on action packed post-apocalyptic good time.
Best Animated:
Directed by Makoto Kamiya
For anyone who loves the video games, hates the films, or loves the films. Actually, it has nothing to do with the films! It centers on a T-Virus out break in an airport after the Raccoon City disaster, where two of our favorite RE characters meet back up after a few years, Clair Redfield and Leon Kennedy back to kick zombie ass! Non-stop zombie fun!
Biggest Disappointment:
Directed by John Erick Dowdle
(See my Quarantine review here!)
Worst Film of 2008:
Directed by Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen.
Okay, this was filmed about 2 years ago, but it was never released until the DVD this year, as far as I know. Swinson and Thiessen should never be allowed to look at another directors chair again, let alone actually be allowed to direct a film! Every horror magazine raved about this film, one even comparing the killer to Michale Myers! WTF! How can you see the comparison!?! This movie was complete shit! A van full of high school girls on their way home from a football game take a wrong turn and accidentally hit a woman’s SUV. The woman chases after them and threatens them with a gun. Scares the piss out of the girls, literally. Okay, so they go on their way home, get lost again and the woman tries to wreck them and the chase begins. She beats the girls, shoots at them, kidnaps one. Girls screaming, puking, bitching, screaming, bitching, crying, puking, shitting in ones hand and throwing it out the window onto the woman’s windshield, oh, and screaming. That’s about it. When you see this film, run away.
Best Comedy:
Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Directed by Jom Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
What can I say? I love this movie. So funny! It has everything a comedy needs; stoners, racist government officials, NPH, rednecks, a cyclopes, NPH in a whore house, NPH on ‘shrooms, every stereo-type known to man, and George W. Bush. I dunno how to explain why I love this movie, all I know is that in the theater Morgan and I pissed everyone off from laughing so hard. Pfft!
Best Western:
Directed by Takashi Miike
Miike is Japans greatest director, he has directed over 20 projects in the past two years, and has over 70 projects under his belt and there is no end in sight. Inspired by the original western films from Italy, known as Spaghetti Westerns. That’s right, the western films were originally from Italy, and they were good! Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish, and Django is one of the most infamous Sp Westerns ever, Miike decided he would make his on version of the classic tale, which in turn ended up being a prequel of sorts. Two clans, the reds and the whites take over a gold mining town, both looking to seek the treasure the town holds. This town holds a tragic love story, and a tale a revenge. One day a gunslinger stolls into town and everything goes to hell. SWD is loaded with action! Gun fighting, Sword fighting, fist fighting, and Quentin Tarantino! I loved this movie! It has a complete Japanese cast and is filmed in English! This one came out under the radar this year, and was over looked by the majority of people.
Boxed Set of the Year:
Take me back to my childhood! 1986 to be exact! After the second film was released The Real Ghostbusters aired on TV. It ran for 6 season and has 146 episode! I have been praying for this set, every since they started releasing TV series on DVD! My wish finally came true this year, thanks to Time Life DVD! So all 146 episodes on 25 discs! In cased in 5 steel book DVD cases, housed in a box that is a replica of the fire house!!!! Oh God!!! Amazing! It has 12 hours of bonus features, introductions on some episodes, commentary on some episodes. Words can’t explain how happy I was to get this! The best $180 I have ever spend in my life! I have had this set since Thanksgiving and I am on disc 17! Its so refreshing to watch a good cartoon, nay the greatest cartoon ever! That’s right, ever! If you are a fan of this series and have the cash to throw down on it, I suggest getting it from Time Life before they discontinue it.
Honorable Mentions: (in no order)
*Automaton Transfusion
*Machine Girl
*Tokyo Gore Police
*The Rage
*Rogue
*Feast II: Sloppy Seconds
*No Man’s Land: Rise of the Reeker
*Zombie Strippers
*Wizard of Gore (remake)
*[rec] (okay, so this came out over a year ago in Spain, and was the basis for this years Quarantine, but it should be out on DVD in the USA in ’09 so please check it out. One of the best films I have seen in years!)
This concludes my long ass post about this years movie releases. If you read all of this, awesome…if not, I don’t blame you. Let me know what you think about this films if you have seen them, or let me know what films you loved from ’08, or what you are looking forward to next year.
