Everyone else is doing it, so I figured I’d work out my top ten movies of last year. I’ve done a horror and a non-horror list. Some movies you might have seen overseas in 2008, but I saw them all in 2009, either in the cinema or on DVD.

My top ten horror films of 2009:

10. Antichrist (Lars von Trier)

No doubt, the most pretentious film I’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t make it any less provocative, the cinematography any less stunning, or the scenes of genital mutilation any less squirm-inducing. This film was blown way out of proportion in terms of how “shocking” it was, but it proved an interesting cinema experience (which we saw on my birthday of all days!) which sparked endless debate in the pub afterwards.

9. District 9 (Neill Blomkamp)

CGI is still far form perfect, but considering the budget, these aliens looked spectacular. It was great to see a film like this set outside of The States. Comparable to Cronenberg’s The Fly in many ways.

8. Monsters vs Aliens 3D (Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon)

Ok, not strictly a horror film, but for me it falls under the huge umbrella because it’s got monsters and aliens in it! This is a wonderful, fun movie, full of references to 1950s horror and sci-fi.

7. Friday 13th (Marcus Nispel)

As an entry in the Jason Voorhees saga, this is heavily flawed, but no more so than half of its predecessors in the series. There were many horror clichés and actions Jason took that were out of character, which marred the film somewhat, but it had enough brutal kills and gore to keep me entertained, which was more than I could ask for.

6. My Bloody Valentine 3D (Patrick Lussier)

This is one of the most entertaining cinema going experiences in recent memory. In 2D I can’t imagine this film has much going for it at all, but with all those eyeballs, boobs, and guts f lying out at ya, this was a lot of fun.

5. Coraline 3D (Henry Selick)

Another animated movie, but I feel this is certainly justified in belonging under the horror corner because it is genuinely creepy. A little slow in places, but this is rather gripping and has a truly menacing antagonist with a really nasty goal.

4. Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer)

Not to be un-patriotic, but I enjoyed this much more than Shaun of the Dead. This was everything I wanted in a zombie comedy and more. I laughed so hard during this, and I can’t wait until it comes out on DVD.

3. Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli)

I was so glad this got a UK cinema release (almost as glad as I was when Grindhouse made it over here). Having heard so much about it, I was determined to not go in with any expectations. It scared me quite a bit, but not to the extent that I couldn’t sleep that night. It bothers me that half the people who hear stories about folks crying in the cinema due to being so scared, will watch this and say it’s “fucking shit”.

2. Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)

I was so worried about watching this because of how great I’d heard it was. But it absolutely lived up to all my expectations. It was wonderful.

1. Drag Me To Hell (Sam Raimi)

It’s very rare that I see a film more than once in the cinema. But I just had to watch this again, and if possible I loved it even more on a second viewing. The first time I saw this, I missed the first five minutes or so (the whole scene with the little boy) so I had no idea the movie was going to end the way it did. It was a horrific, hilarious surprise! You can see the ‘twist’ coming a mile off, but it just adds to the anticipation of the climax. “Choke on it, bitch!”

My overall top ten films of 2009:

10. The Time Traveler’s Wife

9. The Hurt Locker

8. Star Trek

7. The White Ribbon

6. Up

5. Let The Right One In

4. Gran Torino

3. Avatar

2. Drag Me To Hell

1. The Wrestler

Filed under: Movies