I'm okay with those six too. I would personally swap a couple out, but I'm sure we all have that opinion.
My thoughts on the current candidates:
I don't think
The Orphanage is necessary because it's in the same vein as
Pan's Labyrinth and
The Devil's Backbone, but it's a pretty good film. I found the story fairly uneventful, and I predicted the ending, but the atmosphere is decent, albeit overly-dependent on creepy loud noises. If we were going to add a slow-burn atmospheric film, I'd pick
Session 9 by a mile.
I agree with some others that
Final Destination is not a great film. However, it's the only true slasher in the bunch (by "true" I mean formulaic), so if nothing else, it shows that slashers are not en vogue, and in order to gain notice, they had to do something gimmicky like remove the physical stalker altogether. That's not a great reason to include it, but at least it's a justification.
Some of the other suggested films are really good too. Mum & Dad, The Host, Pulse, Ils, Frontiere(s), Thirst... All worthy. I wouldn't vote for
Pulse simply because we already have
The Ring and
Shutter. I'd rather see some non-"J" Asian horror get in, like
Oldboy or
Thirst (and I'd pick
Oldboy for its notoriety). A much as I love them, I'd have a tough time including two New French Extremist films in the Honorables -- it would be a missed opportunity to sweep up with greater diversity -- but I strongly feel that one should have been in the top 24, and another in the HM's due to the extent of its influence, overall quality, and breadth of style and subject matter.
I guess at this time, I'm not going to add any backings unless someone wants to lobby for a particular film. The films I, personally, would include are
Inside,
Black Swan,
Oldboy, and
Session 9, all of which I've already backed. I also like
Battle Royale in the list for being a unique outlier (but not officially backing it at this time... I might if it looked like it was going to fall). That would leave one spot for another quality choice, maybe
The Signal or
The Host, or
Devil's Backbone, even though it would double-up on del Toro. He's one of the important drivers of the genre right now, so deserving.
My thoughts on the overall list, realizing this has no bearing:
If we could fine-tune tune the list (understanding that we can't), I'd get rid of The Ring because we already have Ringu in the 90s, or make it a Special Mention since it does have importance for bringing J-Horror worldwide. I think this is a result of us submitting our 2000s while debating the 90s.
I'd remove Dog Soldiers because Neil Marshall doesn't need two, and The Descent is a better representation.
I also don't love having both Behind the Mask or Cabin in the Woods in the top 24. I actually think neither is worthy of such high rankings, but I don't have an issue with one being there. Both satirize our genre by joking about cliches, providing explanations of common flaws, and reinforcing stereotypes. I'd rather dispell that believe by including good films. ;) They're both fun though, and if I were picking one it would be Cabin in the Woods because it's actually scary in parts, and does a nice job with the immoral game show trope. My main beef, however, is just that I think including both is redundant.
I watched Little Otik before backing it (actually not quite finished yet) and it's great. In my mind though, it's proabably a better fit for Honorable Mentions due to its relative obscurity and being a stylistic outlier, but that's only if I were fine-tuning this list to the Nth degree... It's well deserving of a top spot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sculpt
Say, Gigan, let me say, I not only enjoyed reading your insight into the films, genre and general reviewer idiosyncrasies, I think you write well too. IMO has good flow, subtle humorous references, and conceptually succinct use of adjectives, as here:
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Thanks Sculpt... I appreciate the kind words.