Leading up until the New Year we'll be unloading the best and worst lists of 2008 from all of Bloody-Disgusting's official reviewers. Beyond the break you can check out Ryan Daley's Best & Worst Horror Films of 2008, with lists from David Harley and myself still coming soon. Click here to keep up with the full year in review and also feel free to post your thoughts below, or at our forum's Top 10 of 2008 forum thread.
I’m not a huge fan of horror-comedies but this goofy, direct-to-DVD effort somehow won me over. A trio of roommates moves into an apartment that squats over the mouth of hell. A whole bunch of low-budget wackiness ensues. A guilty pleasure, to say the least.
9. FRONTIERE(S) (After Dark) May 9, 2008
We may be through with torture-porn, but torture-porn sure ain’t through with us. This bleak but compelling French film reminds us why backwoods neo-Nazis are worth avoiding. Energetic and raw.
8. RESTRAINT (Lionsgate) August 18, 2008
Starring the uber-foxy Teresa Palmer. That’s really all you need to know.
7. THE LAST HOUSE IN THE WOODS (Lionsgate/Ghost House) October 14, 2008
An homage to Italian exploitation films of the 1970s, this grainy, overwrought crowd-pleaser wins the award for Best Special Effect Involving a Neck Goiter.
6. THE BACKWOODS (Lionsgate) April 15, 2008
Gary Oldman saves a little girl with deformed flipper hands from a bunch of raving hillbillies. Kind of like STRAW DOGS but with deformed flipper hands standing in for retardation.
5. DOOMSDAY (Rogue Pictures) March 14, 2008
Neil Marshall’s follow up to THE DESCENT is just craaaaazy. A smashed-together amalgam of MAD MAX, RESIDENT EVIL, and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK that manages to be constantly entertaining even when it’s making absolutely no sense.
4. BAGHEAD (Sony Classics) December 30, 2008
This polarizing horror-comedy isn’t for everyone. A mismatched group of friends retreat to a forest cabin to get drunk, flirt with each other, and write a horror screenplay, even as a creepy Baghead killer watches them from the woods. The (mostly) improvised conversations are hilarious, and a few eerie scenes help bolster the horror aspects of the production. A low-budget experiment that actually works.
3. A CHRISTMAS TALE (Lionsgate) August 19, 2008
Available on Lionsgate’s 6 FILMS TO KEEP YOU AWAKE 3-disc set, this Spanish flick begins as a kid-friendly romp before making a staggeringly dark right turn into horror terrain. A genre gem waiting to be discovered.
2. DEXTER: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON (Paramount Home) August 19, 2008
The best show on television (now that THE SHIELD, THE WIRE, and DEADWOOD are finished) truly hits its stride in its sophomore season. Charismatic serial killer Dexter comes perilously close to getting nabbed by the po-po, while immature sister Deb continues to annoy the shit out of everyone with a complete lack of professionalism that makes Ally McBeal look like a progressive feminist in comparison. Yeah, Deb bugs. Still a great show, though.
1. INSIDE (LA’ INTERIEUR) (Dimension Extreme) April 15, 2008
A French film that shatters one of the oldest horror movie taboos into a million pieces. Not for the squeamish, INSIDE is a slick, mean-spirited shocker that goes where you don’t think it dares. Easily the best horror film I have seen this year.
Ryan Daley's Worst DVDs of 2008
5. CATACOMBS (Lionsgate) February 19, 2008
Shannyn Sossamon spends what seems like years running around wet Parisian tunnels in an attempt to escape a developmentally disabled goat-head killer. Like watching a cruddy Travel channel documentary about dark, wet tunnels.
4. DARK FLOORS (Ghost House) October 14, 2008
Nobody really expected thrash metal band Lordi’s first movie to be any GOOD, but this…well, this is abysmal. A man and his daughter get trapped in a hospital elevator by a fully-costumed Lordi, who try to act scary through about 25 pounds of bulky foam and fail miserably. Ugh.
3. ILS (THEM) (Dark Sky Films) March 25, 2008
Sure there were some eerie moments but come on, that had to have been the worst ending this side of HIGH TENSION. I, for one, thought THE STRANGERS was much better. Scott Speedman notwithstanding.
2. HELL’S GROUND (TLA Releasing) June 24, 2008
Lame Pakistani horror film crippled by stilted dialogue and the worst movie soundtrack EVER. I’d rather suicide bomb an Arby’s than have to sit through this one again.
1. DARK CHAMBER (Shock-O-Rama) February 26, 2008
A supremely boring crime drama posing as a horror film. This DIY effort centers around a few friends who stage a laboriously paced stake-out in a parked van. If you’re into bad direction and plodding dialogue, pop a bowl of popcorn, grab some smelling salts, and check this one out. It’s best watched in five or six sittings spread out over the course of several weeks.
Frontiers is fooking awesome, violent but dished out in an appropriate manor - nothing seems done just for the scare. Going to check out Backwoods if Gary Oldman is in it and also going to hunt down the 6 films to die for pack.
Ok. I thought The Backwoods was AWFUL!! It wasn't even scary. At all... And I thought Them was amazing! Those two need to be switched, but other than that, great list.
Great list -- Frontiers is one of my favs in the last couple years. I saw Backwoods a little while back and really enjoyed it. More a thriller then Horror, the last half hour especially make it a kickass flick. I downloaded Baghead a while back too and now I must actually watch it!! thankyou!
I'm sorry, but I loved Catacombs. In fact I even bought the dvd. It's a guilty pleasure, right along with Cry Wolf and Resident Evil (just the 1st one). It doesn't deserve to be on a worst list - any more than that boring as fuck Backwoods deserves to be on a best list.
THANK YOU for including Doomsday! i, like you, am one of the few to actually like (and own on DVD) this movie! LOVED (and own!) Frontiers and Inside too! and Catacombs was indeed just atrocious.
For the record, I'd like to add that if Let the Right One In had been granted a DVD release date in 2008, it would have easily been #2 on this list. LOVED that movie.
"I’d rather suicide bomb an Arby’s than have to sit through this one again." that right there won me over. now i have to see Last House In The Woods. nice list though. pretty diverse.
I agree with coldblood. I loved Catacombs. It seems that a lot of people on this site have Catacombs on the worst list. I would probably put it on my best list this year. That's the great thing about opinion though is that you're entitled to it and you're allowed to like what you want. And I know a lot of people just love love love the movie Inside, but I would love to see somebody with a different number one for a change. Maybe?
INSIDE is by far the best of the year! And one of the best of all-time.
DEXTER is fantastic, and I also really enjoyed FRONTIERE(S) and BAGHEAD.
DOOMSDAY should be on the worst list. I couldn't make it past 40 minutes. What a terrible mess!
BY FAR the WORST top 10 of them all. Is this a joke? wow you have some SERIOUSLY bad taste, this is like a 14 year old kids top 10. ILS is on your worst?!?!?!? and Killer pad is better than Let the Right one In??? wow wow wow
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