New Horror Classics?

A selection of horror reviews, but are any of them horror classics? Well actually yeah, I think some of them are! This is a pretty neat little selection for the most part...

The Thing (2011)
I had high hopes for this in spite of the poor reviews and to be frank part of the reason why I've not reviewed any non-marathon horror films for quite a while now is because I really DIDN'T want to review this one. I must point out though, this isn't a clear cut issue. There are good elements here. But overall this isn't really a good film.

As you're probably already aware this is a prequel to John Carpenter's "The Thing". The opening starts with a bunch of Norwegian characters in Antarctica. So far so predictable. But i've still got high hopes during this opening because of the re-use of Ennio Morricone excellent score from John Carpenter's original. Then all of a sudden the ground opens up and their vehicle plunges into a large crack in the ice. The vehicle becomes stuck part way down this newly opened chasm and after a bit one of them shines a torch down to see.... the opening title. And that's all the film shows of this extreme scenario. What seemed almost like it could have been a film in and of itself showing how these guys get back to the surface is just cut short. And the Ennio Morricone score never returns. Oh well....


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The Revenant (2009)
It is absolutely shocking to me that this has gone straight-to-DVD. This was a 'too good to be true' trailer for me a long while back. The premise is that a guy returns from the war as some kind of zombie/vampire thing and he and his friend try to find some interesting uses for his new ability to survive after death.




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Take Shelter (2011)
I'd heard good things about this one, but it was hard to expect much from it. A film about a man slowly going insane sounds quite introspective and dull. However, this really gets you into the head of the main character and his doom-laden visions are very vivid and tense. I've got to give credit for the cinematography and effects. Right from the start we see what looks like an impossibly huge stormcloud and the visuals are always striking.




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The Innkeepers (2011)
The latest film from Ti West. I was a bit unsure about this. As much as I loved "The House Of The Devil" Ti West's follow-up was "Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever", a widely panned sequel. Also, I HATE ghost films. I just generally find that ghost films disappoint me and I have ranted on this in the past. It might be getting confusing when I give a pretty good score to "Poltergeist" and seem to wave the problem away in the case of the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" films, however I've always made it clear in those cases that the ghost angle is a negative for me. Here is the first point where I really have to step back and say that my normal irritation with ghost story elements is somehow not a problem for me this time...


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(cross-posted to Halloween Candy)