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Horror shows signs of rising from the grave as we look at the year in fear

By Dan Kaye
Special to MSN Movies

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Not long ago, I wrote an article for this site about whether the horror genre could survive as it wallowed in what many call "torture porn," a subgenre that relies almost exclusively on long, lingering scenes of sadistic, usually non-supernatural violence and cruelty that mostly jettisons suspense, real chills and character empathy in favor of pure gratuitousness. Well, the jury seems to have spoken to some extent: While much of that material may still thrive in the direct-to-DVD market, high-profile horror releases like 2007's notorious "Captivity" fell flat on their faces. Perhaps mainstream audiences have had their fill, although this Halloween's "Saw V" may eke out a bit more cash for that seemingly unstoppable franchise.

Yet, at the same time, classier fare like "The Mist" (which, with its Stephen King source material, monsters galore and apocalyptic theme, should have been a hit) also failed spectacularly at the box office. This year's literary horror entry, "The Ruins," based on a best-seller by Scott Smith, also died with audiences. Part of the problem was the marketing: While "The Ruins" was no one's idea of an Oscar winner, it was a decent and original little horror flick that its studio, Paramount Pictures, declined to screen for critics, a trend with genre flicks that has backfired tremendously in some cases. It shows that perhaps even the studios themselves can no longer tell a good movie (horror or otherwise) from a bad one.

To be sure, there are plenty of bad ones. The endless parade of generic remakes (both of iconic American films and Asian entries) continued unabated this year, with fodder like "Shutter," "The Eye," "Prom Night" and "One Missed Call" marching into theaters for a week or two, earning just enough to justify their cost, and slinking back out into oblivion. Sadly that cycle is likely to continue, with studios and producers targeting former untouchables like "The Birds," "Rosemary's Baby," "Hellraiser," and "Nightmare on Elm Street" (the Asian contingent is represented by "The Uninvited"). Expect to see more knockoffs of the "camcorder"-style horror flick, too, thanks to the success of "Cloverfield" and the new "Quarantine" (hell, even horror legend George A. Romero tried it, with lousy results, on his "Diary of the Dead").

So, is horror dead, or at least moribund? Not quite. Flawed yet interesting indie films like "The Signal," "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" and even "The Midnight Meat Train" have all attempted something different, while France has started its own cottage industry in extreme horror with tales like "Frontier(s)" and the upcoming "Martyrs." Many of these flicks can be seen at festivals like Los Angeles' Screamfest, which provides a welcome home for buried studio offerings, hopeful indies and even a variety of short subjects over the course of 10 days every October. Other events like Montreal's Fantasia Festival and Spain's Sitges Festival continue to be thriving breeding grounds as well (think of them as the Sundance and Cannes of horror pictures).

With all that in mind, here's a list of my humble picks for the best horror made available in 2008. It's a mix of studio hits, indie sleepers and up-and-comers, all of them either on DVD, screening theatrically or coming to either one in the near future. My hope is that, despite the remakes, teen fodder and straight-to-cable sludge, horror could be clawing its way out of the cinematic grave.

"Cloverfield" (DVD)

The year started off with a bang as "Cloverfield" roared onto screens amid an avalanche of hype and mystery. Taking the personal camcorder aesthetic to the extreme, visionary producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves not only delivered the best American monster movie in years, but (like the original "Gojira" did in Japan in 1954) also gave it a subtext. The seemingly random, unexplained attack on New York by a giant, grotesque creature was a chilling metaphor for our worst fears that even superseded the smallish characters running around in the foreground.

"The Strangers" (DVD)

Using silence and darkness punctuated by an eerie folk song, first-time writer/director Bryan Bertino served up a genuinely frightening home invasion saga that also became a surprise hit. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman are assaulted by three masked strangers, and, while their actions tended toward the "stupid" end of the movie-behavior spectrum, atmosphere and suspense made up for their shortcomings. No motivation or explanation for the attack is ever given (save one creepy line from one of the assailants), which makes it that much more terrifying. Points must be deducted for the last shot -- it almost, but not quite, ruins the preceding 90 minutes!

"[REC]" (import DVD)

A news reporter, her camera crew, some firefighters and a random group of residents are trapped in an apartment building where a virus of some kind is turning everyone into homicidal maniacs. Sound familiar? That could be because "Quarantine," the American remake of this Spanish horror hit, just arrived on U.S. screens. Both versions milk the immediacy of the video cam style for all its worth, and both are full of nasty shocks, but "[REC]" adds a layer of horror in its final moments that makes it the creepier of the two. Held back to avoid competition with its stateside duplicate, look for "[REC]" to pop up on DVD soon.

Next page: More from the year in fear!