Drag Me to Hell
It's a safe bet to say that when horror fans heard Sam Raimi was returning to the genre, we pretty much wet ourselves. I personally count Evil Dead 2 as one of my most beloved flicks of the 1980's and it's because of Raimi that fellow Michigan buddy Bruce Campbell has gone on to a long career of cult fame but, over the years and three Spider-Man movies later, there was some doubt if he could return to where he began successfully. The answer: Hell, yes! Revisiting the feel, lower-budget, and demonic comedic styling of his past work, Drag Me to Hell was the most fun I had in theatres last year. Sure, some of the effects looked a little too CGI and I wasn't too keen on Justin Long's performance, but I was much too busy gleefully laughing at the Raimi's (Sam wrote with brother Ivan) ode to the Three Stooges and a funhouse joyride. When my favourite movie of the year can have a possessed goat yelling out "You tricked me, you black-hearted who-o-o-o-o-ore!" it is a good year indeed.

Zombieland
Not convinced by early poster art or the premise, it took the trailer for me to want to see Zombieland opening weekend. A droll mix of the undead, Woody Harrelson going "redneck", and a whole slew of sarcasm, Zombieland continued my personal theme of horror being 'fun' this year. I haven't been this in love with an opening title sequence/music combo since 2004's Dawn of the Dead and it's a good thing the rest of the movie kept the grin on my face. Having grown tired of zombie movie after zombie movie, it was great to see one that made fun of that fact. Zombieland made for the perfect popcorn horror flick, kept things going at a fast-pace, and has one of the best cameo roles in any movie... ever. I'm excited to see it again on Blu-Ray very soon but consider me less excited there's talk of a sequel.

Paranormal Activity
Oren Peli managed to take the basic idea behind The Blair Witch Project and turn his fifteen-thousand-dollar budgeted film into the highest-grossing pure horror film of 2009. Paranormal Activity was a supernatural genre film that just resonated with so many people and gave proof that with a little ingenuity and rooting your story in reality it was truly possible to make a creepy, engrossing, and popular movie with no name stars, no real elaborate special effects, and a compelling idea. No other horror film in recent memory have I heard so many people proclaim how scary it is, which is a great thing as it brought former fright fans back to the theatres and gave a whole new generation of young horror virgins their first real taste of the adrenalin rush a well-shot scare scene can supply.

The Last House on the Left
This remake of Wes Craven's 1972 debut feature doesn't even come close to topping the grittiness or disturbing moments of its source but the makers wisely ditched the comic relief policemen, gathered together a good group of actors to make a convincing batch of psychopaths, and piled on a good helping of revenge. This definitely earns it's R-rating with its difficult to watch rape scene and blood slinging finale and it marks the second remake of a Craven film (the other being Alexandre Aja's The Hills Have Eyes) that surprised me at how well it turned out. Just forget about that incredibly pathetic, and lame, final moment...

Trick 'r Treat
We first heard about Michael Dougherty's not-quite-an-anthology Halloween themed horror flick years back and after a whole lot of delays and (I assume) mishandling by Warner, Trick 'r Treat finally arrived via the Warner Premiere direct-to-DVD label. But don't let the fact this was dumped to home video throw you off as this could have easily had a few tidy weekends in theatres due to not only all the hype from genre fans surrounding it but Dougherty's sometimes clever handling of multiple stories. While I can't admit to being as super enthusiastic as most, Trick 'r Treat delivered exactly what I wanted from it being a fun little love letter to the one holiday a year evil is allowed to come to the forefront. This is a creative ride with lots of things guaranteed to make you smile and enough cool scare moments to make it an 82-minutes you won't regret spending.

Josh Pasnak (Co-Conspirator)

Drag Me to Hell
So many of the icons of my youth have lost their touch over the years. Carpenter, Romero, Craven, and Hooper no longer have the edge they once had and it is quite sad when I think about how they were always able to deliver the goods in a seemingly effortless manner. I have to admit that when I heard Sam Raimi was making a return to horror, my hopes were not high especially when this type of talk about other directors has only given us mediocre films like Land of the Dead and Vampires. Raimi proved me wrong by delivering the best genre picture of the year by far with his signature mix of horror and comedy. The set pieces are great, the cartoonish gore is plentiful, and the story and characters are much better than we have come to expect from an American horror flick these days. I liked this so much, I saw it twice in the theatres (in as many weeks) which is something I have only done a few times in my life. Now that Raimi is done with big-budget Spiderman sequels and the like, it is great to know he can return to the genre that he obviously loves and still enjoy doing it. I wish some of this enthusiasm would rub off on some of the other masters of horror.

Zombieland
This was another night at the theatre that was a blast. Woody Harrelson is perfectly cast as a seasoned zombie hunter who teams up with a nerdy yet cool teenager (Jesse Eisenberg) and together they battle hordes of zombies, join forces with a couple of girls, and hang out at an unlikely celebrity's house. There is a lot of visual eye candy on display in this flick and it is a feast for the senses at times due to the high energy style that director Ruben Fleischer chose to employ. I have seen so many zombie movies in my day that it is really nice to find out that there is a way to still make the genre fresh and that some nifty settings, a great cast, and a fast-paced story can transform a burnt-out plot seem new. This is the kind of movie that will still be a classic 20 years from now because it is do damned fun.

Dead Snow
Nazi zombies in the snow seemed like a sure thing and this movie delivered on every level. First of all, we get the campy characters we all love from slasher movies including a dreadlocked heroine, a long-haired cool dude who rides a snowmobile, a horny girl who gets busy in an outhouse, a chubby comedian who is a horror nerd, and the other usual suspects. We also get some film references in the dialogue for all the movie geeks and a great setting in the Norwegian snow. The main draw here though is almost non-stop gore and action during the second half of the movie featuring a chainsaw, a sledgehammer, head bashings, arm severings, head rippings, and more than enough zombie shenanigans to make Dead Alive-era Peter Jackson proud. This is an old fashioned, rip-roaring gorefest that will have you cheering as you eat your popcorn. Did I mention the fact that it has Nazi zombies? What's not to like!?

The Children
Let me start by saying that I am not a fan of horror movies that feature children. Why then would I go out of my way to watch a horror movie called The Children? No, it is not because I am a masochist but it is because I have been hearing a lot of good things about this movie and didn't want to be the chump that ignored the hype. From an editing standpoint, this movie is brilliant. The tension is planted almost immediately and then increased and decreased at precisely the right times. There are no fake-outs or jump scares but just a simple story told in a manner where the viewer is only shown what needs to be shown. This is one of those movies that had me glued to the screen and I could not pay attention to anything else. I was transfixed by what was happening and the simplicity of how a mysterious affliction that turns children into intelligent murderers could be so effective and creepy. There are no special powers or cheesy lines with these kids, they are just plain evil.

Grace
This tale of maternal instinct taken to the extreme is a great example of a slow-burn horror film that relies more on atmosphere and performances than scares. Jordan Ladd's standout performance is haunting and heartbreaking as a mother who suffers from major depression when her unborn child dies inside of her only to have it miraculously come alive upon delivery. This is no ordinary baby as it desires fluids other than breast milk which leads to a number of disturbing scenes as mom becomes more desperate to take care of her child. This is a ballsy movie with touchy subject matter that is sure to offend some viewers but avoids exploiting the subject matter and plays it straight more like a drama than a monster movie. Writer/director Paul Solet's calculated approach takes a twisted tale of the bond between mother and daughter and shows us the extremes to which grief can take us.