Top 25 Recent Horror Movies You Haven't Seen: The Top 5

5. The Signal (2007)

A story told in three parts by three different writer/directors, The Signal follows three characters trapped in a world gone mad. Phones, TVs and radios have all begun transmitting a signal that, if stared at or listened to for too long, infects the viewer/listener with delusions and homicidal rage. The first "transmission" (as each of the film's acts are titled) concerns a young woman escaping from her abusive husband during the initial outbreak, and the beginning of her journey to meet her secret boyfriend at the train station. The second transmission involves the husband's pursuit of his wife, and provides the viewer with perspective on what it's like to see through the eyes of the infected. The final transmission belongs to the boyfriend, who is also looking for the wife so that he can rescue her. The film is strong overall, but really shines in the middle act which manages to be deeply sinister and darkly hilarious at the same time. The cast is made up of unknowns, but they do a great job with the material. Bonus: the extras on the blu-ray/DVD include three cool short films set in various locations as the signal outbreak begins (a TV news studio, a family on a road trip, and in a Best Buy).




4. Ginger Snaps (2000)

The werewolf-as-metaphor-for-puberty angle hasn't really been used any better than in the intelligent Canadian indie Ginger Snaps. Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabelle (both best known for this movie, actually) play a pair of Goth sisters in a cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood whose idea of fun includes taking detailed photos of fake suicides and guessing how the popular kids at school are going to die. Both are also late to begin getting their periods (at ages 16 and 15), a fact which their mother (Mimi Rogers, simply amazing in a role as a mom so polite and sincere that it scares the girls more than the werewolf does) takes way too much interest in. But then the older sister, Ginger (Isabelle), is attacked by a werewolf, and her body begins to change. She gets her period, starts craving the popular boys, and hair starts to grow in places where there was no hair before. The younger sister, Bridgette (Perkins), suspects her sister is becoming a werewolf, and seeks assistance from the only other person who saw the werewolf that attacked Ginger: the local drug dealer. The film has a lot of fun playing with the puberty metaphor, especially in a scene with the school nurse that is the comedic highlight of the film. As Ginger's changes begin to intensify, the comedy starts to fade away and gets replaced by some genuine scares. As an indie production, the werewolf effects are not fantastic. But they are decent enough to not be too distracting, and the clever script makes up for the film's budget limitations.



Honorable Mention goes to the first of Ginger Snap's direct-to-DVD sequels, Ginger Snaps: Unleashed. (NOTE: Spoilers for the original film ahead) Unleashed picks up after the original film, and follows Bridgette as she treats herself with doses of Monkshood  (aka wolfsbane) to keep from transforming into a werewolf. She is also being haunted by visions of Ginger, who acts as a visualization of Bridgette's conscience. Bridgette accidentally overdoes and ends up in a government rehab facility (I'm sure there's a Canadian healthcare system joke in here somewhere), cut off from her cure. While not as good as the original, Unleashed is still a very clever movie and a worthy follow-up. And extra points for going darker with its content, including a really disturbing supporting character.



The direct-to-DVD prequel, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, can be skipped. While not terrible (it's the best-looking of the three), it is basically just the original Ginger Snaps set a hundred years in the past, but less clever and entirely unnecessary.


3. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)

The first film from director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness, 50/50) was shelved before its scheduled 2006 theatrical debut, and has yet to receive any kind of release in the US (it's available as a region-free UK blu-ray, or can easily be torrented if you're into that kind of thing). A perfectly cast, and impossibly gorgeous, Amber Heard (Drive Angry, The Rum Diary) stars as the film's titular character. Mandy is the virginal object of desire for seemingly every guy in school, yet is extremely shy and self-conscious. She grew up an orphan, had few friends, and has only recently blossomed into womanhood. She seems uncertain how to deal with all the attention she's suddenly getting. Hesitantly accepting an invitation to a remote house party, she finds herself with a group of "friends" that she doesn't know very well. In not much of a plot surprise, teens begin to die off at the hands of a killer who is obsessed with Mandy.

Pictured: worth killing for.

It quickly becomes clear why the studios balked at releasing this film. The movie is simply too damn good, which makes it somewhat unmarketable. It's too artfully done to be a true horror movie, but too disturbing and violent to please the art house crowd. It's the rare slasher movie that is well written, well acted, and very well directed. The teenagers are not stereotypes, but fleshed-out characters with all the simultaneous arrogance, self-consciousness, intelligence and naivety that real teenagers have. Also working to the film's advantage is the reveal of the killer during the second act rather than the third. This allows the film to also develop the killer's story and motivations. Which is not to say that there isn't also a disturbing third act twist, of which there are several. Heard does a good job as the audience's quiet cypher, observing those around her and trying to determine whether their intentions with her are friendly or selfish. The rest of the cast is equally good, with Whitney Able (Monsters) giving the film's best performance in the "shallow head cheerleader"-type role and adding several painful layers of insecurity and sadness to what is usually a cliche. Able also gets the movie's best-looking sequence, as she is pursued by a car through a large hayfield. Earlier I said that Rogue was the second best looking movie on this list (after #1). While that is true, I had to put a lot of thought into whether Rogue or Mandy Lane looked better, because Mandy Lane is a beautiful-looking movie. Treat your eyes to this movie, because everything on screen looks amazing.

Left: Exhibit A. Right: Exhibit B.

2. Session 9 (2001)

Brad Anderson's second entry on the list coasts almost exclusively on the intensely-creepy atmosphere of its setting: the real-life Danvers State Hospital, an abandoned, decaying psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts (which throughout history has also been known as State Lunatic Hospital At Danvers, The Danvers Lunatic Asylum, and The Danvers State Insane Asylum). The film is ostensibly about a small hazmat team brought in to remove asbestos from the hospital in preparation for the hospital's sale and subsequent renovation. But that's just a setup to get a bunch of guys in white hooded suits to walk around inside a dark, terrifying building (did I mention that they filmed in the real hospital, the one where the pre-frontal labotomy was first developed? I did? Good)(oh, and that the set dressing was 95% made up of real stuff the crew found lying around in the hospital? I didn't? Well now you know.) Anderson milks the location for every scare it's worth, including a nightmare-inducing walk through the dark underground tunnels that connect the various wings of the hospital. There are some plot twists as each of the characters are overcome with either fear, paranoia or plain ol' madness. But again, the building itself is the main character, and it is a truly unsettling place (Fun fact: The hospital was renovated and turned into an apartment complex a few years after the movie was filmed. Then a year later the apartments burned down under what was described as "mysterious circumstances" in the event's official report.)




1. Stake Land (2010)

Have you ever wanted Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life) to make a post-apocalyptic vampire movie? If so, Stake Land is the closest you're likely to get (though Malick does tend to make weird decisions, so you never know for sure).  Stake Land follows the enigmatic Mister (Nick Damici, who co-wrote the script with director Jim Mickle) as he leads newly-orphaned Martin (Gossip Girl's Connor Paulo) as they travel across a country that has been destroyed by a vampire plague. They journey upwards through the ruins of America towards the mythical New Eden, a town in Canada rumored to be a safe harbor where humanity is starting over. While technically vampires, the creatures mostly serve the same purpose as zombies. They are an ever-present threat, but the biggest challenge is the day-to-day survival in a world where society has collapsed. Lack of food or shelter is just as dangerous as vampires, and other surviving humans may not have the noblest of intentions either. Mister and Martin pick up a few strays along the way, including a nun (Kelly McGillis, nearly unrecognizable from her Top Gun days) and a pregnant southern belle (modern scream queen Danielle Harris). The movie plays like The Road, as the makeshift family moves from one temporary shelter to the next on their long, slow trek towards hope. Along the way they encounter small communities of survivors, both benevolent and hostile. But the characters never stop for long. This is a movie about constantly journeying onwards.

That's exactly how I think Canada actually looks.

The film's cinematography is breathtaking. Mickle worked diligently to scout locations that would give his vision of a ruined society an authentic punch. Abandoned factories, collapsed farmhouses, overgrown highways and dead forests do wonders to convey the sense of complete isolation from the living. The gore is vivid when it needs to be, but not excessive. Stake Land is a gorgeous, intelligent, scary and desperate film.