2009 Year in Review...so far

I have seen A LOT of movies this year. I’ve probably seen more movies in the theater this year than in the last two years combined! And I LIKE IT! I have to give credit to a lot of podcasts which have helped refresh my love and appreciation of the horror genre. Having seen so many flicks this year, I feel the need to take a look back and review the year 2009 so far.

I started the year off all atwitter for the release of My Bloody Valentine 3D in January. While I do like the original, I’m not a giant fan of it, so I wasn’t too annoyed by it being remade. As it turned out, I really liked this movie. Unlike a lot of the recent movies, it’s is not a name-only remake. By taking the film out of small town 80s Canada, they modernized it and added a different element. Many seemed to think this was a fault, but I tend to hate modern remakes which try to recreate the time period of the original film more than ones which go with a current theme and setting. The acting in this one is a bit stiff, particularly from Jaime King and Jensen Ackles. Having seen the latter in Supernatural, I think that’s just his thing, but it’s still kinda lame. The kills were good, serviced by the awesome 3D. In general, it was actually fun to watch. And yeah, I did buy the DVD with its blue/red 3D. It doesn’t look nearly as good, the movie still holds up for me.

The Unborn also came out in January, but I certainly wasn’t gonna see that trash in the theater. I ended up Netflixing it back in August and it was so incredibly forgettable that I’ve pretty much forgotten it. I seem to recall a spooky-eyed kid, but that’s every movie nowadays.

Having enjoyed MBV so much, I was super-excited to go to the theater again (something I have lost interest in as I grow older and more crotchety) to check out the remake of Friday the 13th. This was bolstered when I saw the teaser trailer. But then I saw the theater trailer and my enthusiasm waned a bit. Thumbs up for the nod to the original movie’s trailer, thumbs down for showing off too many jump scares. And then I saw the movie and lordhavemercy was it awful. Convoluted attempts to cover events in the original movie series, bad acting, hateful characters, and “clever Boy Scout” Jason were some of the problems I had with this movie. A lot of reviews claimed this one harkened back to ole skool Friday the 13ths, but not for me. I happen to love the early films in that series, particularly the first 4 (I’d venture to call them the pre-zombie Jason films) and I didn’t find any of those characters as vile or obnoxious as in the remake and Jason had much menace than in this movie. Modern filmmakers seem to think a killer can only be frightening if he’s a hulking mass of muscle. I’d advise these filmmakers to peruse a few true crime blogs to see just what sort of damage average-sized citizens can do.

My wait for DVD choice in February was The Uninvited starring Elizabeth Banks. I rented this one a few months ago and found it surprisingly decent. The plot started out pretty standard, so much so it was almost irritating at points, but then the TWIST happened (and no, I didn’t see that coming) and some of the irritating character ticks made sense. I am sick of twist-within-a-twist movies, but at least it keeps me on my toes.
I stayed away from the Cineplex in March, forgoing hanging out with a bunch of strangers to see young girls get raped. I only recently Netflixed The Last House on the Left and my expectations were kinda low, not just because I hated that trailer with that “Sweet Child o’ Mine” remake, but because I actually do not like the original AND because I was sooooo disappointed by F13. About the original, I must say perhaps I’m just jaded or perhaps it’s the bits of camp thrown in, but it just didn’t have the impact on me that others speak about. I can see where it might have been a bit shocking at the time, but mostly it was just boring and a little over-the-top. This one I found more brutal, but also more relatable. Not only did I feel more of a connection to the girls (and later her parents), but I felt more of an understanding of the criminals in this one. I will admit that the survival of two of the characters was a bit of a cop-out and the end scene was…well, it was random stupid, however, everything prior to that made those fairly minor flaws.

Still feeling some of that F13 dejection (and yes, even now at the end of September I’m STILL bitter about what that film did to me), I hopped on the bandwagon for The Haunting in Connecticut. This did not make me feel better about paying $6 (matinee) for a ticket and almost $10 for soda and popcorn (both small, mind you). I pretty much hated this movie. I have a real issue with movies that are allegedly based on real events that then do some ridiculous stuff that in no way happened in real life. I mean, did the cancer kid in real life (SPOILER!!!) really find dead bodies behind the walls? I doubt it. Also, I guess I never really felt like anyone was actually in danger since this is based on the family’s own account which shouldn’t matter since The Amityville Horror (the original) managed to scare me with a very similar premise. Of course, I was about 8-years-old and studying the Bible with demon-believer Jehovah’s Witnesses when I saw The Amityville Horror. Also, one word: JodyThePigFacedDemon.

I pretty much spent the next few weeks getting caught up on DVD releases. I finally watched Let the Right One In and while I really enjoyed the movie, I certainly didn’t think it was as amazing as the hype made it seem. I’d even argue whether this is even a horror movie, if I were better suited to get into that type of argument. I’m not, so I won’t, but that might affect how I feel about the reverence this film gets in horror circles. Again, it’s good, but it’s not all that.

May brought us Sam Raimi’s “return to horror” Drag Me to Hell. LeSigh. I did not like this movie. As I noted in my post on the movie, I was in Hell at the theater with a quite talky audience. What I might not have mentioned is that I am not as big a fan of the Evil Dead series as others. I liked the first movie and the second is a-ight, but the hijinks of Army of Darkness turn me off. (Not that that stopped me from buying it.) There! I said it. Sue me. Or move on with your life because this really doesn’t affect you.

I’m pretty sure it was during this time that I ramped up my Netflix streaming activities. I managed to watch some gems, including Splinter, Severance, Shiver, and The Signal (lots of S-titles there). I don’t believe I watched all of those in April/May, but whatever! I watched those and I liked ‘em! Also streamed and liked so far this year: Red (not really horror, but it’s based on a Jack Ketchum story and it has Kyle Gallner who is becoming a bit of a horror staple so go with it), Shrooms, Spiral (again with the S’s), Right At Your Door, Grindhouse: Double Feature (FINALLY!), Prom Night (the remake which I *gasp* didn’t hate, although I also *meh* didn’t love it), Blackout, The Host, and The Alphabet Killer. Streamed and not liked: Deadgirl. Not all of these are NEW, but they’re new to me so let it go, mmkay.

And I wasn’t just streaming movies! I also got some stuff in the mails too! I have been a movie-watching fool, yo. I think it’s the lack of fancy cable and my inability to get into any TV shows. So, Things What I Liked: Midnight Meat Train, Donkey Punch, Cold Prey (See it! See it now!), End of the Line, Shuttle, Eden Lake, Rogue, Black Water, Frontiers (ah, the French), and My Name is Bruce. Some of these might have been streamed, but I can barely remember what I did last week, let alone months ago. Besides, does it matter if it streamed or if I got the disc? I didn’t think so. I do know that some, like the awesome Cold Prey, are streaming now so get thee to Netflix.

Now we’ve reached the halfway point in the year. My movie-going activities heat up starting with checking out Orphan in late June/early July (?). This was another surprisingly good flick with a twist I didn’t totally see coming. I mean, I got half the twist, but not the whole twist. I hope we see the young actress who played Esther in more stuff in the future because she really rocked in this. My only complaint it that this suffered from a similar problem I had with The Uninvited: Dolty Dad. Dudes, get a freakin’ clue.

The end of summer saw me at the theater a 5 whole times. I started August with The Perfect Getaway, sort-of who’s the real bad guy vehicle. I came away initially not all that pleased with this one, but in retrospect, I think I really liked it. At least, I’d watch it again, which is a good measure of a film in my book.

As you may recall, in late August I created my own double feature by seeing Rob Zombie’s H2 and The Final Destination (in 3D) on the same day…at two different theaters. The Final Destination (viewed at MOA) was only okay. The 3D was weak and the story and acting were terrible. And then there was H2. Even now, one month later the overwhelming reaction I have to this movie is disappointment. Rob really missed the boat on this. As I stated before, somewhere in the hot mess that was shat on screen was a good movie (or maybe two). Rob just didn’t know how to execute it.

Finally, we have reached September with the remakening Sorority Row. This movie was a big vat of meh. I kinda just didn’t care. Also, last weekend I checked out Pandorum and I didn’t really like it. However, I think I have to see it again because I might have not gotten it upon first viewing. I might see it again in a cheap theater (which wouldn’t be too painful since it starts the luscious Ben Foster…purrrrrrrr).

So that’s what I’ve been up to movie-wise for the past 9 months…and there’s more to come. This weekend brought the opening of Zombieland which I’m mildly-excited about (only mildly because I’m just not crazy about horror comedy). And there’s a couple of more genre flicks before we reach the Oscar-bait Only part of the movies season. So I’m looking forward to check out more stuff. I haven’t lurved everything, but I’ve been happy seeing flicks on the big screen again. So yeah, there's that.