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  By far my favorite horror film of 2008.  Mike Dougherty crafted one helluva terrifying film that fires on every cylinder that horror-cineophile devour.  I gave this film four stars initially but really want to give it a fifth just because it was so damned original.  The scariest part of this film is the hellish road Warner Bros. Has paved into getting it released; the original release date was Oct. 5, 2007. 

   LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is my second favorite film of the year.  I didn’t see it till after new years day, but technically it’s still considered part of 2008’s coffer.  A brilliant coming-of-age vampire film, the tale tells of a young boy who befriends a girl that’s a vampire.  A love forms between the two that’s enchanting yet scary as hell.  Matt Reeves of Cloverfield fame is remaking it for American audiences because studio executives don’t like subtitles.  Hell, most of them don’t read anything beyond coverage anyway. 

   Darren Lynn Bousman’s finest work to date has solidified the once Saw franchise sequel helmer as an artiste with a vision.   Lionsgate divorced this film and dumped it into like three screens nationwide because the execs didn’t understand it.  A rock-horror-opera.  That was it, plain and simple.  I caught this flick just before the holidays with a crowd at the Sunset 5 which included singing in the aisles led by Darren’s fiancé.  It was a frakkin’ good time.  This film will find its audience in the years to come and will sit side by side with Rocky Horror. 

   THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN scared the shit out of me the first time I saw it.  I wasn’t quite ready for the brutal violence that Kitamura had in store for us.  Being accustomed to the drivel of SAW, I expected more of the same from Lionsgate.  But this had legendary Clive Barker behind it.  Unfortunately, this film suffered a disowning from the studio due to childish antics and treatment of the former VP Peter Block who was let go and the company decided to dump every film Block developed for them.  Most of the horror crowd seemed upset, even threatening to boycott Saw V, but that memo didn’t seem to work. 

4 is one of the most terrifying films I have ever seen.  It’s a Russian flick made a few years ago that was banned in the country.  It’s not really new, but new to dvd and video stores.  The tale opens with this ‘My Dinner with Andre-ish’ discussion in a bar with three people about the supposed government cloning programs within their republic.  What follows is a journey that I’ve never experienced and scared the bejeezus out of me to the point where at the end I said, ‘WTF was that?’ 

QUARANTINE was one of the better nail-biters of the year.  I haven’t seen REC but know enough about that film to form an opinion that this remake was a decent effort by the brothers Dowdle.  I tried desperately to get through their Poughkeepsie Tapes about a year ago and couldn’t stop laughing at how bad it was.  This film proved that they have talent.  Jennifer Carpenter looked hot and was convincing as the reporter caught in a building with rabid residents and Jonathan Schaech is always a fun actor to watch.  This one’s better than you expect.

DAY OF THE DEAD was fun.  Simply put.  Everyone reading this will be rolling their eyes, but understand that Jeffrey Reddick and horror vet Steve Miner were NOT ABLE TO ADAPT THE ORIGINAL FILM in any way beyond the title due to copyright issues.  They needed to craft a stand-alone tale and the original script was far more terrifying than the final cut.  Give it a chance!

CLOVERFIELD  was a rousing good time.  Shaky cam & all, I dug the film for what it was; a badass monster flick.  The film moved fast enough where the audience didn’t have time to find the plot holes till long after the credits rolled.  And that damned trailer…unforgettable. 

Prom Night:   Director: Nelson McCormick

Seriously.  I’m in love with Jessica Stroup and thought this was an effective PG-13 film.  It’s not really horror, more of a teen slasher, but you have to remember, WE WERE ALL 12 YEARS OLD AT ONE POINT.   JS Cardone’s original screenplay was a hard-R and Screen Gems watered it down for the intended audience.  The same goes for next October’s remake of THE STEPFATHER which pairs JS Cardone and Prom Night helmer Nelson McCormick once again in PG-13 territory with the uber-hot Amber Heard.   

SAW V:   Director: David Hackl   (THE WORST)

The worst excuse for a sequel ever.  Inept writing followed by breaking every rule they put in place, shattering our trust with the concept.