Best of the Decade: Fantasy Movies

Well, after several days of sleeping like I've been bitten by a tsetse fly, I'm starting to feel like myself again. If you have the nasty cold that's been going around the last few weeks, I sympathize completely and hope you feel better soon. Anyway, finally feeling better, I decided it was time to get back to my 'Best of the Decade' series before the decade actually ends (well, at least before the end of the month).

So, without further ado, Uncle P's picks for the Best Fantasy Movies of the Decade:

10. Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Pixar's only entry on this list is also one of their most delightfully silly movies. Monsterland powers itself on fear and scaring little kids is what Sully (John Goodman) and his buddy Mike (Billy Crystal) do best. That is until Sully stumbles upon the closet of a little girl too young to scare. When Boo (the name Sully gives her) crosses over, all sorts of silly nonsense ensues, including a brilliant homage to a Warner Brothers' classic:

Monsters, Inc. is sweet, scary, exciting and a pure delight.

9. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh star in director Ang Lee's Chinese fairy tale about a magical jade sword, unrequited love and flying martial arts. It set a new standard in wire-flying stunts and proved Michelle Yeoh could make us understand everything she was thinking without understanding a word she was saying. Originally written in English and translated into Mandarin, Crouching Tiger... is a visual and romantic feast. You may want to turn down the volume - or do your best to ignore the terrible English dubbing - for this gorgeous fight scene among the treetops of a bamboo forest:

8. Enchanted (2007)

Disney finally embraces its ridiculousness in this story of a an animated princess (Amy Adams in an Oscar-worthy performance) who is sent to the real world by a jealous evil queen (Susan Sarandon), where she meets the true love of her life (Patrick Dempsey). James Marsden, Idina Menzel and Timothy Spall round out the excellent supporting cast in this delightful parody with heart:

7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ( 2004)

I must admit that I'm not much of a Harry Potter fan. I find the books derivative and just a bit too cutsie, especially when it comes to Rowling's bad puns in naming characters and places. Still, director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) managed to produce a dark and scary movie with his entry in the series, elevating it from kiddie schlock to artful fantasy in the process (to be honest, this is the last film I saw in the series, as Rowling's rambling story simply couldn't hold my interest):

6. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

In his second film based on the Darkhorse Comics character, Guillermo del Toro amps up the visual effects to the point where watching it on the big screen almost tires one's eyes out. When an ancient tribe of magical beings attempts to retake the Earth, it's up to hellboy (Ron Perlman) and company to stop them. An astonishing film to watch, which requires multiple viewings in order to take everything in:

5. The Illusionist (2006)

Writer/Director Neil Burger's stunning love story about a poor boy in love with an aristocrat is shot in sepia tones and irising transitions, giving the audience the feeling they are actually witnessing events taking place in the 19th Century. Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel and Rufus Sewell star in this lush, romantic tale that deserves more love than it gets:

 

4. Stardust (2007)

Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite modern fantasists, and his novel is beautifully translated by director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) in this near-perfect fairy tale starring Clare Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, Mark Strong and the adorable Charlie Cox. Sadly ignored at the box-office, I think Stardust was the victim of poor marketing. It deserves to be seen and loved as much as I love it:

3. The Prestige (2006)

Christopher Nolan made my favorite film of 2010 (Inception) as well as the best superhero movie, ever. So it's no surprise that his tale of rival magicians at the turn of the last century should land so high on this list. Featuring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine and David Bowie, The Prestige is a story about competition, revenge, love and weird science, all told in the way only Nolan could tell it. Complex, moving and deliberately confusing (as the best magic tricks always are), The Prestige required at least two viewings before I could decide where my sympathies lied. A smart and breathtaking movie, The Prestige is another under-appreciated gem that deserves more fans:

2. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Guillermo del Toro makes his second appearance on this list with his dark fantasy about a young girl trying to escape the horrors of both Franco's regime and her stepfather's cruelty. Another movie my dear K hated because of its depictions of man's inhumanity to man, Pan's Labyrinth is a hauntingly beautiful meditation on how far we can go to rid ourselves of both physical and psychological pain. It is also one of the few films I can remember seeing that featured a scene which raised a collective gasp from every member of the audience. A stunning masterpiece from a director at the top of his game:

1. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 - 2003)

Kiwi director Peter Jackson managed to turn J.R.R. Tolkien's supposedly 'unfilmable' epic tale and caught our collective imaginations in doing so. I hope I don't need to tell how truly amazing these films are (or attempt to summarize their collective plots). Gorgeous and exciting, TLOR's last film, 2003's The Return of the King is the only film to win every Oscar for which it was nominated (including Best Picture), and tied both Ben Hur and Titanic for most Oscars won at 11. Let's hope Jackson's 2 movie version of Tolkien's prequel The Hobbit, fares as well:

Honorable mentions:  King Kong (2005); Howl's Moving Castle: Amelie; Pirates of the Caribbean; Shrek; Big Fish.

More, anon,

Prospero

*Watch for more links in this post, soon.

P

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My 10 Favorite Actresses of 2009.

Yeah, right! Megan Fox one of my favorite actresses? You really thought that for just one second I'd lost my mind, didn't you? Suckers.

In all truth, she's just there for the three straight boys who read my blog (Yes, James. I am talking to you and yes, you're welcome). And to be honest, Ms. Fox did appear in the film along with another actress whose performance I will actually be discussing, if you hold your panties on and don't skip ahead (and even though you have free will, remember what happened to Mrs. Lot when she peeped... you sinner!).

This was a harder list to make than the men's, simply because I saw so few films in which women had truly great roles. And more often than not, they appeared in films which I may have liked a little less, but in which their performances were worth seeing one reason or another. In one case, I have just seen the movie, but not had a chance to review it (and probably won't other than this post). As with the actors list, lust has nothing (and I can be 100% honest here when I say it) to do with my choices. If it did, there wouldn't be an Actresses list (rimshot).

Anyway, I actually surprised myself with a couple of my own choices, so I wonder if you'll be surprised by the same ones. Okay, okay... I'm getting on with it. Here are Uncle Prospero's Favorite 10 Actresses of 2009:

10 - Emma Stone in Zombieland:

As the older of two grifting sisters trying to survive the aftermath of the Z.A., Stone has come a long way since Superbad, and may be on her way to quite successful career, as long as she doesn't make too many movies like her upcoming voice work in... sigh... Marmaduke.

9 - Lorna Raver in Drag Me To Hell:

Have you figured out by now how much I adored this movie? So much of that comes from the astounding performance of veteran TV actress Lorna Raver. The 67 year-old actress goes the distance in what must have been a physically grueling performance. Granted, she had the help of stunt people and CGI, but still. An old Gypsy hag hasn't been so scary since Maria Ouspenskaya. Mrs. Ganush is a cloudy-eyed; phlegm-hawking; gooey-dentured; claw-fingered; insect-spewing monster another actress would have balked at playing. Raver (as does the rest of Raimi's terrific cast) goes at it full-throttle and Sylvia Ganush deserves to become one the best villains in the annals of Horror.

8 - Vera Farmiga in Up In the Air:

As another corporate flyer with an itch to scratch, Farmiga's inscrutible Alex Gorman seems a perfect match for George Clooney's detached Ryan Bingham. Until he starts to fall for her. In the hands of a lesser actress, Alex may have come off as a heartless bitch but Farmiga imbues her with a clear and real sense of vulnerability, which is why we don't hate her in the end.

7 - Alison Lohman in Drag Me to Hell:

I know I talked about the physical demands on Lorna Raver in this movie, but day-um! Lohman gets the snot kicked out of her by mostly invisible forces, in a beating that Ash himself might have had a hard time recovering from. She also manages to convince us (if not her boyfriend) that evil forces are indeed intent upon doing her harm without having to stick her tongue in her cheek, but but by playing it sincerely and honestly. Christine Brown isn't going down without a fight, no matter that the lesson learned ("Doing the right thing is always the best the ting to do, especially when it comes to cloudy-eyed hags") comes at an outrageously high price.

6 - Amanda Seyfried in Jennifer's Body:

See? I told you Megan Fox was connected, if only in that she was the title character in this movie, which actually is about Seyfried's character, "Needy." Tapping into her hidden nerd, the 24 year-old actress is the perfect example of a performer rising above the material. Diablo Cody (the less said about Juno, the better) wrote this Teen Horror Comedy about bitchy teenage girls, which was marketed to the completely wrong audience (horny teenage boys). Cody's tragically hip dialog made this movie dated ten minutes before it was released, but Seyfried shines in her transformation from mouse to avenger.

5 - Isabelle Fuhrman in Orphan:

What a creepy surprise Orphan turned out to be for me. And what a disturbing performance from a 12 year-old. And believe me, no matter how disturbing you may find the Killer Child genre of Horror, you'll be doubly disturbed by this.

4 - Anna Kendrick in Up In the Air

Kendrick's comedic turn as the icy-exteriored but fragile Ivy-Leaguer who followed a schmuck boyfriend to the middle of nowhere and ended up in a job she both hates and is unqualified to do.
And that speech on the dock...

3 - Jordan Ladd in Grace:

One of the year's more disturbing entries, which walks the line between Vampire movie and Zombie movie. As a mother so obsessed she literally wills her still-born child back to life, only to discover that baby Grace has an insatiable appetite for blood, Ladd (Cabin Fever) goes for broke and succeeds in creating an empathetic, if completely insane character.

2 - Marion Cotillard in Nine:

Honestly, the only reason to see Rob Marshall's mammoth mistake, Cotillard once again shows she deserved her Oscar and gives the kind of performance the other, better-known actresses in the movie should have given.

1 - Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia:

Yes, I finally saw it, but haven't had the chance to review it, and while Stanley Tucci, Jane Lynch and Amy Adams are all wonderful, and despite Nora Ephron's rather hackish adaptation of the book by blogger Julie Powell, Streep still turns in yet another astonishing performance as an Icon of both American Television and Cuisine. Yet another reason Streep deserves the title "Best Actress of Her Generation."

I hope that my 10 Favorite Movies of the Decade will be coming up soon. A plumbing issue in my ancient kitchen has turned Uncle Prospero's house a bit upside down... among other things going on right now...

More something, anon.
Prospero

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Top 10 Movies of 2009

Yes, I know, the year has already been gone for a week. What the hell took me so long? A hundred and five distractions. Plus the fact that I knew this was going to one of those posts that takes freaking forever to write, no matter how short it is. And it won't be short, I can almost guarantee - so I won't blame you if you skip on to the list already, but you'll probably miss some pretty damned funny stuff (or not).

Anyway, 2009 was a really interesting year in movies. 3D finally made a successful run and looks like it's here to stay. And Sci-Fi had its best year since The Empire Strikes Back. We learned that even a dead protagonist can sustain a series of increasingly godawful sequels and still make money; we re-learned that James Cameron is an insane genius of hype, if nothing else; jailbait werewolves make tweenie-boppers and cougars scream and zombies still rule. We also re-learned that the Interwebs still have the power to turn $11,000 into $100M, no matter how bad your movie really is. Oh, I almost forgot. We learned Alan Moore should just stop bitching and whining about Hollywood, because everyone already knows he wrote the source material, anyway. And let's not forget the return of traditional 2D, hand-drawn animation (an art I feared lost forever).

Yes, yes... "Get on with it already, Uncle P." And so I shall. Once again, these are simply the 10 best movies I saw this year. I don't have easy access to limited release films; I don't have the time to see every every movie I would like to nor the interest in seeing a good 60% of what Hollywood thinks of as movies, these days. Agree, disagree, call me names... I don't care. I'm sitting safely in my home office, sipping a cocktail and having a smoke. So here are picks for the Top 10 Movies of 2009:

10 - Coraline:

Tim Burton produced Henry Selig's 3D Stop-Motion fantasy, based on Neil Gaiman's children's book of the same name, about a girl who discovers an alternate universe where things aren't nearly as perfect as they seem. Delightfully creepy and charmingly animated, Selig (along with Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park) is thankfully keeping the art of Stop-Motion Animation alive in the age of digital CGI.

9 - Watchmen:

Alan Moore... blah, blah, blah... unfilmable... blah, blah, blah... Dr. Manhattan's penis (image NSFW)... blah, blah, blah. Director Zach Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) may not have made the best Superhero Movie of all time, but it certainly ranks in the Top 5. His slo-mo/stop-mo/360 style of filmmaking is perfectly suited to comic book adaptations and his attention to detail in recreated illustrator Dave Gibbons original artwork is astounding. And I, for one, didn't miss the giant squid at all. And it has one of the most amazing opening credits sequences ever put to film; alternative history at its finest.

8 - Up:

Disney/Pixar's next Oscar-winner actually is the Best Animated film of the year. This 3D CGI fantasy tells the story of an old man rediscovering his childhood sense of adventure; a lonely young boy discovering friendship; an exotic bird trying to feed her babies and a childhood hero who turns out to be something other than he appeared to be. If the first fifteen minutes don't make you cry, the last ten, will. This film went in a delightfully unexpected and often hilarious
direction, proving Pixar's writers and directors are among the few at the major studios who are still capable of original story-telling. Not since Dorothy's, has a flying house been the start of so much -- Squirrel! -- fun. Simply delightful.

7. Zombieland:

Do I really need to say why? How about just this: Woody Harrelson; Bill Murray; amusement park; hilarious; gory; evil you-know-whats; zombies. While its no Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland is a great ride. "Nut up or shut up!"

6 - Star Trek:

Current wunderkind J.J. Abrams takes over and re-invents one of Science Fiction's most beloved and revered franchises with an exciting, funny and original film which uses alternate time-line theory to re-introduce Gene Roddenberry's original characters in a fresh way, while still remaining true to them in this origins tale of Kirk, Spock, Bones, O'Hura, et al and the very first voyage of the USS Enterprise.

5 - Up In the Air:

As I said in my original review, I loved Jason Reitman's debut film Thank You for Smoking. I then loathed his follow-up, the inexplicably popular Juno (honestly, one more whiny folk song and I was going to pull a Stewie and Brian --language NSFW -- on the DVD.) But Up In the Air's hilarious script by Reitman and Sheldon Turner is the perfect vehicle for the handsome and charming George Clooney, who deserves the title "The Cary Grant of His Generation.:

4 - Trick 'r Treat:

Yes, I know this movie was made in 2008. Yes, I know it was screened at festivals all over the place and thousands of people saw it before I did. Most of the world, including Uncle P, finally got to see Michael Dougherty's thoroughly original and enjoyable Horror anthology when it was released on DVD this past October. Gory, funny, a little scary and featuring loads of great performances from some the most underrated film actors working today, Trick 'r Treat is destined to take its place among the holiday's classics. I've posted this trailer several times, but it's worth posting again because it's almost as much fun as the movie, itself.

3 - District 9:

The best thing to come out of South Africa since Charlize Theron, Neil Blomkamp's relatively low-budget Science Fiction movie pays homage to the classics, while still generating an original and fascinating film. Combining first-person documentary-style filmmaking with traditional narrative, Blomkamp's essay on man's inhumanity is exciting, horrifying and breathtaking all at once. Another fine example of Alternate History Sci-Fi.

2 - Drag Me to Hell:

How much do I love Sam Raimi's triumphant return to the genre that made him famous? More than I can tell you. As you may well know, I saw this with many people I love, all of whom loved it nearly as much as I did. Relentless; gross; creepy and hilarious without a glimpse of nudity or a single four-letter word worse than 'damn,' Raimi's film proves that effective horror movies don't need mindless teenagers getting hacked to death by a masked killer to be truly effective and scary. Drag Me to Hell is the best Horror movie in the last 20 years. Sorry for the poor quality of the below video's sound, but I thought Raimi's comments were worth hearing.

1 - Moon:

Duncan Jones' brilliant feature debut is a return to smart, quiet Science Fiction. Eschewing elaborate CGI effects; explosions; alien monsters and deep-voiced villains, Jones relies on story and character; the two of the Three Commandments of a good film. Add Sam Rockwell's astounding performance(s), and you have Cinema's Holy Trinity. Like Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Duncan's Moon is truly smart Sci-Fi at its best. If Rockwell isn't nominated for at least one major acting award, yours truly will be one very unhappy film fan.

There you have it. I hope you clicked the links and watched the videos. I tried my best to link to things other than the usual, and include clips I haven't used (or even seen) before, even though I may have written about most of these movies, before. I also tried to say at least one or two new things about films I've talked about at least once before. And, as always, I would love to know your thoughts. What was/were your favorite(s) of 2009?

More, anon.
Prospero

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Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the Decade

First let me say, I have tickets to see Avatar this coming Saturday, so this list may (or may not) be amended come Sunday.

While researching all the great Sci-Fi movies of the last 10 years, I found lists that included films I would categorize as 'Fantasy,' which also included plenty of Superhero movies. These will be addressed in a separate post. And while many Superhero films contain Sci-Fi elements (Superman is from another planet, after all) but to me, they are more Fantastical than Scientific.

Again, these are entirely my opinions. You can agree, disagree or ignore them completely; I don't care.

10. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

Larry Blamire's hilarious tongue-in-cheek 50's homage about a pair of stranded aliens, their radioactive pet; a mad scientist and his lab-created girlfriend and a mind-controlling skeleton in the California desert is just pricelessly funny."Dance, Animala! Dance!"

9. Pitch Black

Director David Twohy introduced the character Riddick (and the actor Vin Diesel - oh, how I'd love to hear that voice whispering dirty talk in my ear) in this surprisingly good film about a group of travelers stranded on a planet inhabited by blood-thirsty bat-like monsters who only come out during the yearly eclipse of its two suns. The survivors struggle to make their way through the exceptionally hostile environment to a ship that save them, led by the criminal Riddick, who has had his eyes surgically altered to see in the dark. An original concept and well-developed characters helped make Pitch Black better than most B-movies. Radha Mitchel, Cole Hauser and Keith David round out the cast in this exciting and scary movie.

8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Michael Gondry directs Charlie Kaufman's script about a man (Jim Carrey in an extraordinary performance) who hires a company to erase the memories of a love affair gone sour. Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Jane Adams, David Cross, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson round out the exceptional cast of this weird, haunting and beautiful film.

7. Slither

James Gunn (author of the Dawn of the Dead remake) directs Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker and Gregg Henry in this comedic take on a small town over-run by alien slugs who turn the residents into zombies (and Rooker into a tentacled monstrosity). Slither crosses the line between Horror and Sci-Fi, though the alien elemnet makes it Sci-Fi in my book. Disgusting and hilarious. Best line: "Somethin's wrong with me!"

6. Star Trek

J.J. Abrams' reboot of the classic series was the second most fun I had at the movies last summer. Near-perfect casting and a clever script that maintains the integrity of the original TV series while allowing for new elements and character relationships helped make Star Trek one of the few franchise reboots that actually work, despite what my Trekker friend Dan (no, not my dear D) thought. A thoroughly enjoyable film, made all the more so by terrific performances from Chris Pine; Zachary Quinto; Zoe Saldana; Karl Urban; Simon Pegg; John Cho; Anton Yelchin; Leonard Nimoy and Eric Bana.

5. Children of Men

Afonso Curaon's adaptation of the P.D. James novel set in the not-too-distant future is a dystopian nightmare, where no children have been born for 18 years and one man finds himself the unlikely guardian of the only pregnant woman on the planet. Dark, grim, violent and bloody, Children of Men is ultimately hopeful about mankind's future. It also features some of the most amazing continuous shots ever set to film. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine head up the cast of this extraordinary film. Sorry K, I know you hated it, but I loved it.

4. Moon

Duncan Jones' brilliant film tops my list of the best films of 2009, hearkening back to the great 'quiet' Sci-Fi films of the 70's. Sam Rockwell's amazing performance alone is worth the price of admission.

3. Donnie Darko

Richard Kelly's 2001 debut casts Jake Gyllenhall as the title character, a young man who finds himself caught up in a bizarre time-travel conundrum involving an evil 6 foot tall rabbit named Frank and a jet engine falling from the plane carrying his sister home from a dance competition in the future. Maggie Gyllenhall; Mary McDonnell; Patrick Swayze; Beth Grant; Jenna Malone; Noah Wylie; Drew Barrymore (who produced) and Katherine Ross all give fine performances in this weird, wild and wonderful film that is still the subject of conjecture and debate among critics, film enthusiasts and physicists. Sadly, Kelly's follow-up films (Southland Tales; The Box) have not lived up the potential he displayed in his first outing.

2. Wall-E

Pixar's amazing story of trash-compacting robot who longs for companionship was tied for my choice (along with The Dark Knight) for Best Picture of 2008. Gorgeous, hilarious and deeply romantic, Wall-E is director Andrew Stanton's eco-warning love story for the 21st Century, and quite simpley one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever made.

1. Artificial Intelligence; A.I.

Originally developed by the late Stanley Kubrick, Stephen Spielberg's adaption of Brian Aldiss' short story 'Supertoys Last All Summer" was the first film I professionally critiqued on the now-defunct PhillyOut.com. As one friend commented after we saw it, A.I. is a 'thick' film. Part fairy tale (Pinnochio), part domestic drama and all heart, Speilberg's Sci-Fi masterpiece may well be his most contested film. But astounding performances by young Haley Joel Osment as the robot David who longs to be a real boy and Jude Law as the framed-for-murder 'pleasurebot' Gigolo Joe help elevate this deep, dark and ultimately thoughtful film about what it means to be human into something much more than the sum of its parts. Derided by many critics when it was first released, opinions about this movie have changed greatly over the past nine years, and I am glad to report that I am no longer among the minority of folks who love it.

Honorable Mentions: District 9; The Cell; Signs; War of the Worlds; Serenity; The Fountain; The Host; Cloverfield; Minority Report.

My picks for the Top 10 Fantasy Movies of the Decade, next.

More, anon.
Prospero

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Top 10 Horror Movies of the Decade

Having been practically raised on Horror movies, it takes a lot to unsettle, surprise or scare me. And in the last 10 years, I can count on one hand the Horror movies that really got to me. And on the other hand, I can count the ones that at least entertained me.

There had to be hundreds (if not thousands) or Horror movies released since Y2K had many of us convinced that the Apocalypse was nigh. Most of them were actually quite terrible (see my last post). A few were okay. Even fewer were actually any good.

Once again, this list is based solely on my opinion. Agree, disagree, rant and rave... I really don't care. As I've said before, my feelings aren't easily hurt (unless you're my boyfriend and you cheat on me - but that's unlikely these days, anyway). So, without further ado, here is my list (in order of my personal favoritism) of the 10 Best Horror Movies of the Decade:

10. 30 Days of Night

David Slade's 2007 adaptation of Steve Niles' graphic novel put the blood back into the vampire movie. A small town in far northern Alaska is under siege by a group of nasty Euro-trash vampires who know they have an entire month without sunlight to do whatever they want with those who elect to spend the long, long night in the far north. Josh Hartnett is the town Sherrif; Melissa George is his estranged wife; Ben Foster is the enigmatic Renfield-like Stranger and Danny Huston is the vampire leader in this violent, gory and relentless film.

9. Dead Silence

Also from 2007 comes the second film from director James Wan and writer Lee Whannel (Saw) about a man (Ryan Kwanteen) who returns to his hometown after the death his wife to uncover the truth about the evil ventriloquist Mary Shaw and the curse she has placed on his family. Underrated and under-seen, Dead Silence may well be the creepiest ventriloquist movie since Magic.

8. Kairo (Pulse)

Kaiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 Ghost in the Machine story is one of J-Horror's most disturbing and effective titles. When a friend commits suicide, a group of Japanese students investigate a string of events that may well lead to the end of life as they know it. When first watching this film, I found myself desperate to see around corners in a effort to stave off the incredible tension Kurosawa manages to build. Forget the lame (and downright boring) 2006 American version and get together with someone you want to hold onto to watch this incredibly intense ghost story.

7. The Mist

Film adaptations of Stephen King's novels and stories have always been hit-or-miss. Luckily, director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption; The Green Mile) is one of those few directors who actually understands King's works and and can successfully translate them for the screen. The Mist has long been one of my favorite King novellas, and Darabont's version of it is both creepy, fun and exciting while featuring some excellent performances from Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Andre Braugher and Frances Sternhagen. And Darabont's horrifying ending is actually far superior to King's original, ambiguous ending.

6. The Devil's Backbone

Before he made the brilliant Pan's Labyrinth, director Guillermo del Toro took on Franco's post-revolution Spain in this highly disturbing tale of an orphan who encounters the ghostly occupant of his orphanage's well and the unexploded bomb waiting for Franco's troops. Chilling, haunting and visually arresting, The Devil's Backbone is the perfect companion piece to Pan's Labyrinth.

5. (Tie) Shaun of the Dead / Fido

Really more of a comedy than a horror movie, Edgar Wright's 2004 homage to all that is Romero is both hysterically funny and gruesomely creepy. As Shaun (Simon Pegg) tries to keep his girlfriend, best friend and family safe from the zombie plague that has enveloped England, he learns a thing or two about responsibility, love and survival. I still want to know why I was the only person in the theater to laugh when Ed (Nick Frost) screams "We're coming to get you, Barbara!" into the phone at Shaun's mum.

Equally funny and even more satirical is Andrew Currie's hilarious Fido, starring Carrie Ann Moss, Dylan Baker and Billy Connolly in an alternate history tale of a 1950's America where zombies have been domesticated via an electrical collar which turns them into docile servants and sex-slaves. Taking cues from such staples as Lassie and Dawn of the Dead, Fido may actually be funnier than Shaun, because it takes on The American Dream and turns it completely upside-down.

4. [Rec]

Juame Balaguero and Paco Plaza's first-person tale of a reporter trapped in a building filled with zombies was re-made in the U.S. as Quarantine, though the original is far more effective. Chilling and filled with shocks, Balaguero and Plaza use the techniques pioneered in The Blair Witch Project and elevate them to a whole new level.

3. The Descent

With his first film Dog Soldiers, director Neil Marshall took on werewolves. For his follow-up, he took us underground with a hardy group of female thrill-seekers exploring caves in the Blue Ridge mountains. Following a cave-in, our intrepid adrenaline junkies find themselves lost in the dark and pursued by cannibalistic humanoids. Claustrophobic and filled with tension, The Descent is one of the few movies that ever made Uncle Prospero actually jump out of his seat. And it's also one of the very few Horror movies where the women are actually real people rather than just jiggly-boobed victims. Make sure you see the original version, rather than the U.S. version with it's typically happy ending...

2. Trick 'r Treat

I have talked about Michael Dougherty's Halloween anthology ad nauseum, but I still think it is one of the finest and most entertaining Horror movies or the past 10 years. I just hope his planned sequel lives up to the original.

1. Drag Me to Hell

Director Sam Raimi (Darkman; Spider-Man) first made a name for himself with The Evil Dead, a groundbreaking horror film about a group of college kids who unwittingly unleash a horde of "Calderian Demons" on the world. After a long and varied career (which included the highly underrated The Gift), Raimi returned to his Horror roots with this summer's most entertaining film. The story of a young woman (Allison Lohman) who denies a mortgage extension to an aging gypsy and pays the ultimate price, Drag Me to Hell is an old-fashioned tale of terror loaded with Raimi's signature shots, loads of violence and not a single F-Bomb or one second of gratuitous nudity. The most fun I have had at the movies in a very long time.

Honorable Mentions: 28 Days Later; Ginger Snaps; Teeth; Saw; The Ring; The Devil's Rejects; The Gift; The Others; Cabin Fever; May; The Orphanage; Orphan; Zombieland.

Oh, and the picture at the top of the post? Only there to freak out my dear friend, Dan. Yeah, I'm evil like that...

More terrors, anon.
Prospero

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