Entertainment Earth

10/28/2008

The Top 10 Horror Films from 2000-Present

The present decade has already seen few trends. None, have been more annoying than the remake trend, studios pillage horror films form the 70s and 80s to remake. The quality has varied from great (Rob Zombie's Halloween) to piss poor (The Fog). Meanwhile, Italian horror is mostly dead. Thankfully, Asia, and now France as well, has been providing us with a huge catalogue of horror. The French are really giving us new levels of brutal violence with films like Irreversible and High Tension. Meanwhile, Japan, Korea, and Thailand, are all giving horror fans some of the best work, the genre has seen. Sure, some is crap, but that is to be expected. Unfortunately the other trend is US remaking them, again with varied results. Many of these fall under the annoying PG-13 trend, films made to pull in a younger audience. But, then the trend of so called "torture porn" came, thanks to the huge success of films like Saw and Hostel. Controversy also came with films like Captivity, and the subgenre's own propensity for graphic images. This, then brings us to the present, and my final list.

10. - Based on Jack Ketchum's controversial bestseller, this is not a horror film in the regular sense, but rather in the horrific atrocity sense. It is a searing and horrific film, that is often hard to watch. I felt beaten and mentally raped by the time it was done and was just in tears. Truly it shows humanity at it's worst. A brutal film, yet, with no exploitative content.

9. - One of the best slashers in many a moon came from France. This gory and exciting film, has become a fan fav. Too bad it's director is now the remake guy, as he has done The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, and the upcoming Piranha. Oh, well...

8. - Awesome mix of horror, action, romance, martial arts, and period drama. The monster attacks are gory and exciting, the action ass kicking, and the babes hot as hell. Witness, the wonders of Monica Belluci's breasts! This French masterpiece is one of the best Euro-horror movies in the last few years.

7. - It's cool to see so many movies wanting to bring back the brutal violence of the 70s, but Rob Zombie's sequel to his highly enjoyable House of 1000 Corpses is the one to do it best. Vicious, gory, and totally bad ass, it is not the typical studio release. The cast is great, with awesome villains and an amazing anti-hero in William Forsythe. His torture of the villains, really makes you want to cheer for him, but question his acts, too. A masterpiece.

6. - My favorite Takashi Miike film, this dark comedy is a greatest hits package of offensive material: pissing, necrophilia, shit, lactating mother, incest, hot Japanese school girl hooker, son beating up mom, etc. This movie is just fucked up and shows why Miike is the fucking man!

5. - One of the finest Stephen King adaptations ever, this one was over looked at the box office, but seems to now be getting it's much deserved props. Wonderfully acted, suspenseful, and with one of the best endings, I have seen in ages, this one will hopefully be seen as a classic in the future.

4. - One of the scariest films in recent memory this Korean masterpiece of terror totally captures you in it's web. The acting and writing is phenomenal, as the film unfolds more and more as it goes along. A shame that it is being remade into The Uninvited; a film that is sure to be utter filth.

3. - Brutal, vicious, nerve shredding, intense, suspenseful, ultra-violent are just a few words to describe this French splatter film. Many times my jaw dropped watching this film, and by the end of it, I knew I had seen a film destined to be called classic!

2. - While not a horror film in the truest sense, this Japanese classic has a HUGE fan following in the horror and cult world, and is extremely shocking and violent. Hugely controversial in a post-Columbine world, it is still not distributed in the US. But, it is a film that needs to be seen by all horror fans. The movie moves at a quick pace, is smart, and the graphic gore provided by teens on teens, makes this a film that will never air at your local high school.

1. - This kick ass, gory, and suspenseful monster film from England is perfect. A beautiful female cast battle scary looking monsters, in this adrenalinized and nail-biting movie that is already being called a classic by some. And, rightfully so. I fucking love this movie! It's director, Niel Marshall, is the future of horror!


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