BGH Staff Picks Top 25 Horror Films of the Decade Part 2

Today we hear from Casey and John, with another pair of top and bottom 5's from the last 10 years. Some familiar titles strengthen their case for the BGH Staff Top 25, while a couple new contenders enter the fray:

CASEY CRISWELL

Top 5

1. Let the Right One In
Visually and thematically striking, the only film that left me thinking for weeks afterwards.

2. Shaun of the Dead
I love horror, I also love to laugh. "Shaun" was a great combo of both.

3. Ginger Snaps
More than anything, "Ginger Snaps" feels like "Heathers" with fangs. Characters, story and themes were all top notch.

4. May
Possibly one of my most favorite unsung heroes. Angela Bettis was fantastic in this, and the movie was a slow burn with the perfect amount of creep to go along with it.

5. Dawn of the Dead
I loved the original. This remake gives it all a great sense of urgency with a hell of an opening sequence. Running zombies, while not for the purist, scare me more. What can I say, I'm a fat guy.

Bottom 5

1. The Attic Expeditions
What should have been a great low budget movie with the likes of Jeffery Coombs and Ted Raimi and Seth Green turned out to be a yawner through and through.

2. Wendigo
This is quite possibly the most boring movie I ever watched. I had high hopes too. Instead of thrills, it became an exercise in pain as I fought to keep my eyes open.

3. House of the Dead
Sure, its easy to hate on Uwe Boll, but you know what? I fed a lot of quarters into the "House of the Dead" arcade machine. This was akin to raping my childhood.

4. The Wicker Man
As a massive Hammer fan as well as a massive Christopher Lee fan, this remake was a travesty in every way shape and form. For christ's sake, Nicolas Cage in a bear suit. Do I need to say anything more?

5. Wolf Creek
It is quite possible that this movie makes my bottom five solely due to hype. There was so much of it around "Wolf Creek" -- how brutal it was, especially for a modern horror film. I simply failed to find anything whatsoever special about it.

JOHN SHELTON

Top 5

1. Inside
“Inside” stripped away the 30 years of baggage, clichés and expectations that had built up around slasher films and went back to the “killer/victim/dark house” essentials that made “Halloween” so effective. The end result is perhaps the greatest slasher film since Carpenter’s original.

2. Let the Right One In
Stark, moody and breath-taking, “Let the Right One In” boldly pushed boundaries with a dark coming-of-age tale about the relationship between a weak, bullied boy and an ambiguous vampire girl. Ambiguity is a theme running throughout the film, from the much discussed clothes-changing shot to the movie’s close which can be arguably be interpreted as either a happy or a sad ending.

3. Shaun of the Dead
The 2000s were the decade of the zombie and the movie that best bridged the past and future of zombie movies was “Shaun of the Dead”. It’s rare that horror-comedies succeed in being both scary and funny, but “Shaun” knocks it out of the park (with a cricket bat) on both counts.

4. Thirst
With its themes of guilt, toxic romance and the duality of man, “Thirst” alternates between comedy and tragedy for an entertaining and fascinating film that continues Park Chan-wook’s reign as one of the most creative and unique filmmakers of our times.

5. Ginger Snaps
“Teen Wolf” might have drawn the parallells between puberty and werewolves earlier but the clever script and strong performances of the leads took this tiny Canadian indie from obscurity to a permanent place on the list of the greatest werewolf movies of all time.

The Worst

(in no particular order)
The Happening
Mother of Tears
The Wicker Man
Diary of the Dead
Friday the 13th

I have to admit – I had a great time watching three of the five movies on my “Worst of” list. “The Happening”, “Mother of Tears” and most of all “The Wicker Man” are very much in “so bad they’re good” territory. If any of the directors came forth and said their movie was actually an elaborate prank played on filmgoers and critics worldwide, I’d at least have to consider the possibility, especially since all three of the filmmakers have a few solid entries on their resumes. Of the remaining two, well, just like his old pal Dario Argento, George Romero should thank his lucky stars that he has already earned his lifetime pass. We can only hope he regains his path a little better than Argento. I watched the last film on the list, the “Friday the 13th” remake, on DVD well after the massive backlash from the horror community had come and gone. Going into the movie with rock-bottom expectations, somehow I still ended up disappointed. I’ve never been a big fan of the “Friday the 13th” movies but if there’s one thing I could always count on from the franchise, it was that the movies wouldn’t be boring. This movie proved that it is possible to make a masked killer stalking topless teenage girls completely and totally uninteresting.