Best 2007: Horror!!

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.

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.

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.

Click
here for more including

BEST KILL OF THE YEAR!