Box office receipts were down substantially this year, but amidst all the Hollywood crisis, horror films continued to thrive. There were a number of top grossing horror films this year, but does that necessarily mean any of them were good? In a year of remakes, foreign imports and homegrown malady, which was your favorite? I've elected to include a number of older films that found their first North American release in 2005. I am sure I've missed some, so let me know early so I can add them to the batch. Since there are only 20 spots, I've tried to leave out all the movies that nobody seemed to like at all (The Fog, Hide and Shit, etc.) but fear not, those will be on another year end poll.
Went with "Land," even though I had some major problems with it as a whole. And yes, "The Amityville Horror" remake was decent and fun, in my opinion.
I can't vote yet as I haven't seen a good chunk of the movies listed and of the ones I've seen, there's nothing much I'd consider best of 2005. I'll get a few more of these watched this week though so I should be more capable of making a decision then.
I am more of a classic horror movie fan, in other words, most of teh stuff that I like and collect is from the 80's, 70's and older. Of those films I have only seen three: High Tension The Devil's Rejects Saw II If I were to rate them I would keep that order, so I voted for High Tension, though it should be noted that I am going by the uncut sub version not what actually was released in the US.
High Tension having The Devil's Rejects as a close second! Haven't seen some of the other listed films, though.
DEVIL'S REJECTS first, with LAND OF THE DEAD and SKELETON KEY not far behind. BTW, the "2005 box office slump" thing is an urban legend of sorts. Ebert's site has an explanation of it.
The Devil's Rejects for me. I am also keen on Kairo and High Tension, but having seen them before this year, find it hard to count them. Hence, my second and third favorites of the year are Three...Extremes and The Skeleton Key.
I voted other...The Descent is easily the best horror film of the year, with The Devil's Rejects and Wolf Creek behind. Saw II gets a mention as well. I saw Haute Tension, Three...Extremes, and Kairo WAY before this past year, so I'm not even considering them, even though they're all great films.
I hate to commit to a "favorite", simply because of all the selections from 2005, the three that stand out above the rest are not only very good films, but three very different films in terms of style, context and sub genre, if you will. Those three are: The Devil's Rejects, Land of the Dead, and High Tension. I feel these three films will stand the test of time as great horror films for many reasons. Ultimately I voted for The Devil's Rejects because Rob Zombie accomplished something with this film that many other filmmakers would have failed at, making a great American, super-charged, rock and roll nightmare on celluloid; and pound for pound I think it's a step above the rest (if only slightly above the other two great films of this year).
There are some major ones there that I have yet to see (Devil's Rejects, Land of the Dead). Of those I have, Haute Tension gets my vote. Cursed was perhaps the worst.
I went with Wolf Creek that film just creeped me out. I may have went with High Tension but I saw it in 2003 so I don't really count it as this year. A top 10 for me would be. 1.Wolf Creek 2.The Descent 3.The Devil's Rejects 4.Saw 2 5.Three...Extremes 6.Land of the Dead 7.Amityville Horror 8.House of wax 9.Dark Water Tie 10.The Skeleton Key 10.The Exorcism of Emily Rose This has been the best year of the decade by far IMO.
