When I was in high school, my best friend Lorraine introduced me to the fantastic world of horror and I’ve been addicted to the genre ever since. The difference between Lorraine and I, is that I think almost all the new horror flicks that come out can be categorized as “torture porn” and Lorraine thinks anything from before we were born is “too old to be scary.” It is both a blessing and a curse. She falls asleep when we watch American Psycho and I groan and roll my eyes when she drags me to the latest Saw film. The catch is that we taught each other the history of horror and came to love not just the new or the old, but every last piece of the horror genre.
The latest horror film came out on Friday the 13th and is called “Cabin In The Woods.” It is perfect. I’ll be honest, the first thing that drew me in was Chris Hemsworth aka Thor the god of thunder, but it was so much more. The trailers hint at the idea that what is happening to these five teenagers is more than planned and serves as a punishment for the lifestyle they lead. During the first ten minutes I kept commenting on how similar it was in structure and plot to Eli Roth’s “Cabin Fever,” then it was paying homage to “The Evil Dead.” It was then that I realized this wasn’t just an homage to “cabin” movies, but all movies that have ever scared an audience. It hints, subtly and blatantly, at hundreds of horror films before it. I went in to the theaters to watch some film where teenagers are punished for bad behavior with mind numbing violence and ended up with so much more. The trailer gives one big clue in including the cover of “I Put a Spell on You” by Marilyn Manson. The people in charge control every move the five kids make and own this group of an athlete, a whore, a scholar, a fool and a virgin. It gives the old school horror films’ meaning of “sex=death” a whole new look. It made me think of all the films that inspired it and reconsider the newer films that traumatized me. For this reason I put away my elitist attitude and devotion for old school horror and came up with a list of some of my favorite films from the past fifteen years that made me scream, cry, and have some of the most terrifying nightmares.
My favorite scary movie is “Funny Games,” which Michael Haneke wrote and directed in Germany in 1997 and then again in a shot for shot remake in English in 2007. This film doesn’t fall into the new vs. old or original vs. remake discussion because it is the exact same film in everyway, a fact the creator likes to point out. I saw the American in theaters and I don’t speak German, so the newest will always be nearest to my heart. Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet play two blonde baby faced killers who tear apart a family in their country home, the husband and wife played by the infallible Tim Roth and Naomi Watts. This is my favorite film because it makes no apologies and the horror is subtle (there is no onscreen violence). Everyone I show it to is left horrified and frustrated by the lack of resolution, but that’s what it’s meant to do. Haneke made it as a criticism of the mindless gore that goes on in contemporary films. The killers do one thing, kill. They have no reasons and no mercy.
Now Lorraine, my partner in film, is a devoted fan of the revamped Halloween franchise and it was her who introduced me to the lovely works of Rob Zombie. Zombie is a member of the “splat pack” of contemporary horror filmmakers and his main collaborator and muse is also his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie. They are the ‘Brangelina’ of gore. My favorite creation of theirs is the 2005 film “The Devil’s Rejects.” The film, which is actually a sequel to the forgettable ‘House of a Thousand Corpses,’ follows three brutal, sadistic killers who worship the devil and are somehow extremely charming and ‘loveable.’ There is the papa, Captain Spaulding, who wears his clown makeup the entire film and scares little kids and their mothers alike with his foul appearance and demeanor. He is the father of Otis and Baby, a brother and sister combo that are as demented as they are ruthless. Otis is the dirty hippie looking son who seems the most violent, quoting Charles ‘Tex’ Watson, of the Manson family, saying, “I am the Devil and I am here to do the Devil’s work.” Then there is Baby, played by Mrs. Sheri Moon Zombie who is as beautiful and sexy as she is murderous. I swear the ripped jeans she wears should hang in a museum somewhere. I definitely recommend this movie, but skip the prequel which is boring and the characters are so evolved in Rejects that you won’t recognize them from the first movie.
Some other contemporary horror films include:
Hostel 2: By fellow ‘Splat Pack’ member and my favorite horror hunk, Eli Roth, this one is both gory and realistic, as I could so easily see myself as one of the girls who is kidnapped. Don’t watch this if you’re going to the castle though, it’ll ruin hostels for you.
Shaun of the Dead: This is not only the funniest film on the list, but Edgar Wright’s masterpiece is on dozens of top 100 lists for being an amazing zombie film. Though I’ll always be a fan of George R. Romero and his Night/Dawn/Day/Diary ‘of the Dead’ films, this is easily my favorite zombie film.
The Orphanage: This 2007 film by Guillermo del Toro is not only terrifying but will leave you in tears. Even on my second viewing of the film I was screaming and then washing off the mascara that ran down my cheeks.
Let The Right One In: I’m talking about the original Swedish version, it’s so perfect I can’t even bring myself to see the American reboot. Those two little Swedes that play Oskar and Eli are pure gold, pure innocent vampire gold.
Audition: A Japanese film from 1999 tells the story of a woman who tortures men who fail to love her enough. As she is teaching her latest boyfriend a lesson on loyalty through torture, she says “Words create lies, pain can be trusted.”
Here’s a guide put out by Cabin in The Woods explaining the most famous deaths in horror.
http://www.craveonline.com/film/articles/186503-whats-killing-you-t