A Look Back in Horror - My 2012 Review

2013 is fast approaching and behind it it leaves the ups and downs of 2012 in horror film. Another year where we saw sequels, a prequel, more found footage and a remake along with a few gems plus releases that haven't hit the United States yet and one that originally came out in 2009 but only reached the shores of America this year and a festival favourite that's not on general release till next year.

Here's a few of my personal best and worse movies... I'll start with the worst!

Straight to DVD was The Haunting of Whaley house (read my review here), the ending was decent, but what proceeded it was a complete shambles.
Then there was Airborne, although it had some potential, it needed someone special behind the camera, but that was missing. (read my review here).

Both had weak scripts and poor acting.

Hitting cinemas everywhere was Paranormal Activity 4 and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Watching PA4 was like listening to a really long joke expecting the punch line to be amazing, but alas, it turned out to be nothing more than a bad joke that I could have done without hearing.
As for ALVH, well, I hated every minute of it!


A couple more worth mentioning: 80s slasher homage The Sleeper which I found rather dull. Michael Biehn's The Victim, which I'm sure he wrote, directed and starred in just so he had an excuse to have sex with his wife on screen! And the biggest let down of the year for me was Prometheus (read my review here) It wasn't a bad film, in it's own right it was a good film, but with the connection to the Alien franchise and the fact that I'm such a fan, I was completely underwhelmed by it!

Now for the fun stuff...

Once again Kate Beckinsale donned the rubber outfit to play Selene in Underworld: Awakening. This was exactly what I was expecting, GUN BLAZING ACTION! Beckinsale slipped back into the role so easily and looked more comfortable than ever during the brilliantly choreographed fight scenes.
The Cabin in the Woods was one of the biggest releases this year and I've seen a lot of mixed reaction. I found it very entertaining. It was a roller coaster ride of fun with a mix of different sub-genres all mixed together.

Other movies worth mentioning: Fathers Day, Resident Evil: Retribution, Silent night, Detention, Cockneys vs Zombies (read my review here), The Revenant, Girls Gone Dead and Some Guy Who Kills People.


Now for the best of foreign horror...

Penumbra, Sleep Tight and [REC]³ Génesis (read my review here). All Spanish and all great films with some of the best acting this year, especially Cristina Brondo who plays the lead in Penumbra and Luis Tosar, the lead actor in Sleep Tight. If you haven't seen them, then you should!



Now for some of my favourites of the year...

Although Kill List and The Innkeepers were released very late in 2011, most of us got our first look at these two early 2012. Again both of them got a very mixed reaction from fans, but I enjoyed them both.

The Australian 2009 film The Loved Ones was only released in the US this year and what a gem of a film you were missing out on! The lead actress, Robin McLeavy, gave one of them most memorable performances in a very long time as the sweet and evil Lola ('Princess').
Cassadaga (read my review here) is another that was a 2011 film but got released this year to DVD in the UK. You guys in the US will have to wait till next year though!



The Woman in Black, Apartment 143 (read my review here), Midnight Son (read my review here) Excision, The Bay and V/H/S (read my review here) were also among my favourites this year.

My top two films that came out on general release this year, one in the theatre and one to DVD are Sinister (read my review here) and Lovely Molly (read my review here). They're what I consider to be the best of the mainstream and best of the independents.

So what was my most favourite? What was the best of 2012? Well, for most of you, if you're in the UK you'll have to wait till the end of January or if you're in the US, even longer! If you were lucky like me you caught this at a film festival. It is of course the Soska sister's body modification horror, AMERICAN MARY (read my review here).

The twin magic of Jen and Sylvia Soska really shines through in their second feature film, showing their true genius that flickered throughtout Dead Hooker in a Trunk and proving their leadership in the new breed of horror writers and directors. This is a must see for horror fans!

Check out the trailer below and if you watch carefully, it shows the qoutes and star rating from various sources and at 1:20 minutes this pops up: "5 stars - Horror-Movies.ca"... That's from my review!

I did miss a couple of films this year but hope to catch up soon. They were Silent Hill: Revelation, The Possession and The Collection (which hasn't been released in the UK yet!)

So there you go, that's my best and worse of 2012. What's yours? Comment below...