2007: Best/Worst #1

Last Updated on July 27, 2021

ARROW INTRO:
Yup another year is about to pass and all kinds of
horror schtuff was tossed our way hence this zany retrospective-ish list. So
pour yourself a tall glass of Jack Daniels, axe your better half in the head
to get her/him out of the way and read on! You got the floor Ammon! Lather it in blood!

AMMON:
With 2007 wrapping up, we
here at AITH put our thinking caps on and came up with our Best and Worse of
the year.  The AITH news team (Eric, Jared, & my sorry ass) have put
together our thoughts on what rocked and what sucked in this year – beyond
just picking a top ten. Whether we were blown away (GRINDHOUSE, THE MIST),
or simply bored to tears (SAW IV; HOSTEL PART II), here is the horror year
in review – and as you can see, sometimes our tastes are alike, and
sometimes they couldn’t be more different.  Just goes to show you, opinions
are like assholes… and so are we. Happy New Year, ya’ll! On behalf of the
entire AITH crew, thank you for a great 2007! Let’s make 2008 a bloody good
one!

BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN THAT TURNED OUT
TO BE LONG-WINDED AND ANNOYING AFTER A WHILE:

AMMON: CLOVERFIELD.
The trailer for CLOVERFIELD
made a HUGE impact with TRANSFORMERS, and then the poster with the headless
Statue of Liberty… then the rest of the marketing campaign featuring fake
websites made the whole thing so mysterious, new, and exciting. But after
awhile though, there wasn’t enough new info to keep anyone interested, and
yes… got MORE annoying after awhile. It opens next month, and I don’t even
care.

ERIC:
TRANSFORMERS. Only because after I saw it,
I wanted to smash in the TV. every time another commercial for this
brain-dead idiocy aired.

JARED:
SAW 4. Just seemed like the same old thing. Nothing really caught my
attention or made me take notice. Then again, everybody knew what SAW was
and what it was about, so how much more could they market?

BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN – PERIOD:

AMMON: GRINDHOUSE. From the awesome double
feature trailers to the kick ass movie posters, to the awesome in-theater
display, GRINDHOUSE gave us a marketing campaign that echoed that of the 70s
and 80s… too bad it didn’t pay off with the masses. Just goes to show you
that the majority of theater goers like the cookie-cutter marketing
campaigns than those trying to do something truly fun and original.

ERIC: 300 – turns out mixing Nine Inch Nails
with what initially looked like a high-end Playstation game REALLY pulls in
an audience! (Runner-up: 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. Great trailer, great website,
great posters… mediocre movie.)

JARED:
I have to go with THE DARK KNIGHT, every bit of media for this thing
gets me more and more interested in it. As for films that came out in
2007… it’s a tough one. I’m torn between I AM LEGEND, HALLOWEEN, and 30
DAYS OF NIGHT. All three made me want to see the films even more, but if I
had to choose the one that put me over the top, I’d have to go with I AM
LEGEND. Biggest December opening ever.. can’t really argue with that.

NUDITY BIT OF THE YEAR IN A HORROR
FILM:

AMMON: HALLOWEEN.

While
HALLOWEEN didn’t float my boat, it did deliver when it came to nudity!
Danielle Harris got naked a few times, as did a few others… it was like
being in the 80s all over again. Other filmmakers should take notes from
Rob Zombie on this one – if you’re going to do an R rated slasher movie, be
sure to include the gratuitous nudity!

ERIC: Danielle Harris in HALLOWEEN! (Runner up:
Kristina Klebe in HALLOWEEN! 🙂

JARED:
The few that come to mind are the many hotties in HOSTEL 2 and the
fabulous boob shots in HATCHET. As for the number one though, I’m going with
Danielle Harris in HALLOWEEN. She may be a 30 year old playing a 20 year
old, but damn does she nail it! And you can’t tell me you weren’t waiting
for that glorious day as much as I was.

DUDE THAT SHOULD’VE KEPT HIS SHIRT
ON:

AMMON: This is a tough choice, mostly because I
don’t take note when dudes get shirtless, and let’s face it – with the
Schwarzeneggers, Stallones, or Van Dammes of today, there’s no stars out
there that rely on the shirtless hero montage. But I think I’ll have to go
with Kevin Bacon in DEATH SENTENCE. Looking sickly and pale in his wife
beater was kind of gross… as it should be.

ERIC: Heather Matarazzo in Hostel II. Wait –
whattaya mean that’s not a dude?

JARED:
All of them. I prefer the female chest. If I absolutely had to
choose, I’d go with Will Smith in I AM LEGEND. Mainly because while all the
women are oooing and ahhing, us guys are cursing that talented bastard for
having the perfect physique.

FLICKS AITH SUPPORTED THAT ENDED UP
KICKING OUR ASSES:

AMMON: GRINDHOUSE.

GRINDHOUSE
might have failed at the box office, but everyone fan of horror or simply
those who love movies who actually saw this beast in the theater LOVED it.
Maybe you’re more of a PLANET TERROR fan than a DEATH PROOF fan… either way,
a good time was had by all.

ERIC: 300, 28 WEEKS LATER, HATCHET.

JARED:
Now I’ve only been aboard AITH for less than half a year, so I’ll try my
best to answer this one from memory and some researching. From what I can
see, for this category I’d definitely have to go with VACANCY. Seems like
the AITH staff dug the build up and The Arrow really thought it was badass.
I have to agree with him. VACANCY was an edge of your seat film that
bordered along the lines of what’s accepted. I found it to kick all kinds of
ass. Plus, how can you go wrong with Kate Beckinsale? Simply put, you can’t.

FLICKS AITH SUPPORTED THAT GOT
THE FINGER:

AMMON: THE MIST.

Whether it was
because it was released around Thanksgiving, and people weren’t looking for
an R rated monster movie, or because it wasn’t marketed enough for people to
know that it was out. Either way, THE MIST opened at the number 8 spot and
quickly dropped out of the top 10. With Frank Darabont directing, we
figured it would have been gold… but we were wrong. Too bad too, because it
turned out to be one of the better Stephen King adaptations ever made.

ERIC: ILS – where was the audience for this
sharp, intense spookfest? Same for MULBERRY STREET – it seems as though flicks would
be wise to AVOID being picked up by After Dark Films at this point, like
this potent indie.

JARED:
 We’re all pretty decent Eli Roth
fans here at AITH, and HOSTEL PART II just got some bad jive. The first
HOSTEL was a smash hit. The second one had potential and we were all looking
forward to it, I mean, a deeper look at the guys behind the Elite Hunting?
Sounds good to me. We’ll never know why this one didn’t cut it in the box
office.

MOVIES WE NEVER WANT TO SEE IN A NEW
VERSION ON DVD AGAIN:

AMMON: THE EVIL DEAD.

With the
release of EVIL DEAD: THE ULTIMATE EDITION on DVD this month, there should
be no room for another one… ever. Don’t the big wigs making these decisions
realize that if they release a new edition every year, people will start to
catch on and simply hold off on buying one until they KNOW they’re getting
the best one? If they release another one, I think I may pull an Ash and
chop my own hand off… just because.

ERIC: EVIL DEAD. Enough already!

JARED:
Almost everything. Granted, as a DVD collector I love special editions and
all that, but chances are I already have the movie, and unless it’s an
absolute favorite, I’m not buying another copy, so then I’m left kicking
myself in the ass for buying something the studios wanted me to buy in the
first place. And it’s obvious studios love releasing special editions right
around the same time a sequel hits the theaters or a remake. The main
franchises that come to mind are SAW and HALLOWEEN. Granted, the original
HALLOWEEN is one of the greatest films ever made… but how many DVDs do you
need to release for it? There can’t be that many lost extras to throw on.
And the SAW films are just a tease. A week before the new one hit’s theaters
we get an uncut edition of the last one. That’s just not nice.

KILL OF THE YEAR IN A HORROR MOVIE:

AMMON: THE MIST –

THE MIST
featured two of the better kills in the theater this year, both for very
different reasons. But with the notion of having fun, I’ll go with the death
of the crazy religious nut job who gets a bullet in the chest, and then in
the head… audiences everywhere cheered! The kill wasn’t amazing, but goddamn
did it feel good!

ERIC: The head being ripped in half in HATCHET

JARED:
Another tough one. I could go with Donnie Wahlberg’s head being smashed by
two ice blocks. Or maybe Victor Crowley literally ripping someone’s head
apart. But for the top kill, I’m going with Josh Hartnett chopping his
buddies head off at the end of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT like it was a piece of
firewood. The whole flick you’re cut away during the really gruesome parts
then WHAM your thrown right into it and it… is… awesome.

PART 2 OF THIS LIST COMING
SOON!