What a Crappy year for over all horror this has been. The Hollywood horror industry is at an all time low giving us pointless remakes, pitiful PG-13 filler and unoriginal ideas with nothing in mind but the box office dollar. But there where a few highlights amid the numerous disappointments. So I thought I would chime in with my top 10. Hope you all have an excellent New Year.

1. Frontier[s]--- Survival horror from France and it is all good; actually it’s freakin’ outstanding! In the middle of a rioting Paris a small gang with stolen money escapes to an out of the way Hostel run by a dysfunctional family that does not play nice. Mean-spirited, intense, vicious, twisted, savage, very brutal, and very well made, this is easily my favorite horror film of the year.

2. Inside---Exceptionally bloody woman in jeopardy flick from the French delivered the goods and vaguely reminded me of the 80’s French splatter feast “Baby Blood”. How far will one woman go to get a pregnant woman’s baby? Feed you gore hunger and find out.

3. The Strangers---Wow this turned out to be a total surprise. Borrowing from the French thriller “Ils [Them]” this is an excellent home invasion thriller packed with taunt suspense.

4. Baby Blues ---Damn 2008 needed more films like this one. A woman with 3 kids and a new baby is suffering from postpartum depression. Now any well tuned horror fan knows where this is going, so I’ll just say its gritty, tense, rather unsettling, very well made and highly recommended.

5. The Living and the Dead---This U. K. outing is from 2006 but didn’t get a DVD release until 08 so I’m listing it. Now this is a masterpiece of madness gone awry. When a father must go away his mental ill son locks the nurse out and attempts to take care of his bed ridden mother. But he doesn’t take his medication correctly and slips into madness. Let’s just say it’s not a pretty sight

6. Mulberry Street---Wow this is good. Nice to see a real kick-ass stateside horror film these days. Rats, sickness and zombies collide in a run down apartment and the streets of Manhattan in this fantastic micro budget Indie that delivers a chaotic, violent, gory, claustrophobia with a great sound design to add to the discomfort.

7. The Lost---I liked the based on a true story “The Girl Next Door” [you can see another version of the story in “An American Crime”], but this Jack Ketchum adaptation is better and grittier packed with sex, violence and a latter day 70’s feel.

8. Midnight Meat Train ---Reminiscent of “Raw Meat” ’72 take a ride on the train to nowhere as a psycho displays the fine art of butchery with gore aplenty.

9. Zibahkhana [Hell’s Ground] --- Pakistan’s first gore movie is an entertaining zombie’s meets slasher gore piece in the Lollywood meets American 80’s horror vein. Pot smoking 20 something’s in a psychedelic van venture on to the cursed Hell’s Ground where they encounter, a mad hitcher, zombies and a murdering maniac in a burka.

10. Mother of Tears --- What the hell I’m going to give Dario some love. Inferior to “Suspiria” and “Inferno”, Argento ends the “Three Mother’s” trilogy [in his new less appealing contemporary form] with gruesome violence and gore and of course lovely ASIA. I’m calling it his best film since “Opera”.

Mentions: [in no particular order]

The Ruins ---This one turned out to be pretty kickass mainly due to the fact that it didn’t take a predictable route. iary of the Dead --- Sure it is the man’s weakest zombie outing but I found it to be pretty good over all.

Philosophy of a Knife --- Previously explored in “Men Behind The Sun” this lengthy [4 ½ hours] Russian documentary style black & white feature observers the heinous [supposed real life] atrocities in GRAPHIC detail committed by Chinese surgeons at Camp 731 during WW2.

The Signal --- A TV signal is making people go crazy and commit crazy acts of violence.

Five Across the Eyes – Get past the micro budget, screaming chicks, and over shaky hand held and this little survival piece is a rewarding ride. A van load of chicks on a road trip hit a car and decide to run. Not a good idea as the owner is one pissed of bitch with a shotgun that turns their night into a hellish ordeal.

Dexter: Season 2 --- Excellent Showtime series featuring a meticulous serial killer. Nuff said.

Trailer Park of Terror --- Campy, trashy, and silly this comedy dishes out crude humor and bloody gore.

The Happening --- If only it could have been as good as it could have been. I love the premise, the deaths, while the sheer campiness of it all was a huge negative.

Ils [Them] --- The ending is a bit of a disappointment but what leads up to it for a couple at a vacation home is solid suspense from the French.

Seed --- My first encounter with the ‘DREADED’ Uwe Boll prove to be rather amusing. A serial killer comes back from the electric chair to kill. One very memorable ‘feather ruffling’ kill [with a hammer] is worth the price of admission alone. And the Xtras hold a killer short film.

The Bad:
All the pg-13 slasher and J-horror remakes I didn’t watch.
Catacombs
Quarantine
Saw V
Pathology
Rest Stop 2
Joy Ride 2
Wizard of Gore [Even wacky Crispin Glover couldn’t save this one]
This list goes on and on.