Best of 2012 – My picks for my faves of the past year.
Best of 2012
My picks for my faves of the past year
Rather than calling this The Best, you should think of it more like my top recommendations. I know a lot of sites are going to post Prometheus, Cabin in the Woods and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Killer as their best, so I thought I would stay away from them and pick some different stuff. If you haven’t seen these films I would recommend them. Bright green titles link to my reviews.
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Best Horror Movies of 2012-
Top picks not in order. Some may have 2011 release date but dvds weren’t released until 2012.
Honorable mention: The Tall Man
Best independent Horror film: The Whisperer in Darkness
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Horror Books
My best reads for 2012:
ok, these were not released in 2012, but that is when I read them.
My Work is Not Yet Done – Thomas Ligotti
Full Dark, No Stars – Stephen King
Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood – A. Blackwood
Honorable Mention:
Hour of the Beast – C. Michael Forsyth - may never be considered a classic but it sure was fun to read!
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Best Television of 2012:
Best Overall: The Walking Dead (no surprises here) – AMC
Best New: The Dead Files (Travel Channel) A psychic and an ex-detective investigate paranormal activities.
Best old series that I purchased on DVD: Kolchak: The Night Stalker
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Worst of 2012:
The Devil Inside - The same basic story as the movie, The Rite. Neither film has any good scares.
Paranormal Activity 4 Nothing new here
Fright Night - remake – gimme’ a break, what a piece of garbage!
Biggest disappointments for 2012:
The Dark Night Rises - not a bad movie but it can’t compare with The Dark Night (of course, that was a hard act to follow – The Dark Night is the best Batman film ever, IMO)
Hollywood – The announcements of a slew of remakes coming down the pike including; Evil Dead - why would you even? (although I must admit it looks vicious) And, Carrie – are you kidding me? De Palma had the perfect adaptation. Meanwhile, all the interesting, original and cutting-edge horror films are coming from France, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Hollywood greed machine ensures that they will not touch any film without the possibility of a blockbuster, multi-million dollar hit (or perhaps an Oscar). Any chance of originality is suffering.
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Looking forward to in 2013
Movies:
Livid
Lords of Salem
Pacific Rim
Mama
Books:
Doctor Sleep - the long anticipated sequel to ‘The Shining’ by Stephen King
Devil’s Rock is that good? I have been passing on it for a long time…?
Yeah, its a small, low-key movie, not a huge blockbuster – its not perfect, but enjoyable for a horror fan.
I just started Devil’s Rock. Be back in a bit to tell you what I think. I’ve had it in my queue but kept skipping by it.
You have me curious:)
If you’re going to watch it, don’t read my review – it would be more fun to discover what is going on in the film without any foreknowledge.
I enjoyed it. It’s hard to pull off a movie, especially a small film, with very few characters and one confined space. I got that claustrophobic feeling, worrying about what was coming out of where! I was also very surprised by the ending. I’m like yeah! and then I’m Oh No!! Perfect ending and some really good acting. Nothing felt forced or rushed. Watching it again soon.
I’m going to watch Woman in Black again also. I feel I missed something. I did get pulled away from the movie a couple times. I liked it but feel I missed some critical need to know information.
That’s great that you enjoyed it. I like reccomending films that not many people have seen. I watched it ‘On Demand’ but I think I may purchase it on dvd or Blu-ray to watch it again.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I am always ridiculously behind on current horror releases…but I did see The Devil Inside…at the theatre no less! I wanted my money back…I fecking hated that film!! I can’t say I have been at all impressed with the new generation of Hammer films I’ve seen thus far but I do plan on checking out the Woman in Black just the same. Devil’s Rock definitely intrigues me! Really enjoyed VHS…one of the few 2012 flicks I did watch!
The Woman in Black, feels and looks like an old Hammer film. The cinematography is excellent – great creepy settings and scenery.
I cannot wait for ‘Doctor Sleep.’ I think that will be my horror highlight of 2013.
Considering the stories in ‘Full Dark…’ were the most brutally violent stories in years, I think he’s in the right mindset for Doctor Sleep. Can’t wait.
I am a huge fan of old Hammer films, but couldn’t get into The woman in black. It looked great, it just broadcast so much that there were no real surprises for me and with a ghost story there needed to be some. Kolchak was a great show.
I think that is a problem with ghost stories themselves, anything in the classic ghost story genre is going to be something we’ve kinda’ seen already…. I remember some of these Kolchak episodes from when I was a kid. My faves are the headless biker, the werewolf on the cruise ship and The voodoo zombie (which actually scared me when I first saw it). Darren McGavin was a great character actor.
McGavin really sold it with his attitude of trying so hard to get everyone else to believe in the monsters and being so frustrated with how the system dealt with these case.
Good list, the walking dead!!!
LOL, can’t beat it – its better than a lot of movies that come out!
Very true