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Nato And Remy’s Last Stand: 2011’s Best Horror Films

When Matt and I began discussing 2011, and doing a best of list, we actually had a few moments of impasse. I tend to take the blame for that because I admit, I like some weird-ass shit. I often peel layers away and try to find things that some wouldn't notice. In most cases, though, I end up finding things that are't even there. At which point, I blame the drugs and crawl back into my pillow fort to cry myself to sleep while listening to Enya. In those instances, Matt just takes the reigns and acts as the single, sane voice of both of us, which I am forever indebted to him for. In this case, I took the odd numbers, and Matt took the even numbers, and joining forces, we created the ULTIMATE Top Ten Horror Films for 2011. Now if you are wondering why we are not doing a best of 2012 list, just be aware, him and I both already have plans to do so singularly, so be on the lookout for both.

4) Insidious

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I’m extremely outspoken about my love for James Wan’s Insidious for multiple reasons, but good horror is the most prevalent one. I mean, in a time of studio remakes and awful reboots, Wan was able to bounce back from the horrid debacle that was Dead Silence and deliver one of the most creative, visually enticing, well-written horror films in years, boasting originality over re-hashing.  I mean, what other movie can exploit gangly and freakish oldies singer Tiny Tim for the true monster he was through the music he created, as Insidious conjured a hair-raising scene involving Tiny Tim’s Tiptoe Through The Tulips, a scene that stresses tense atmospheric horror over cheap thrills and kills. This film re-instated my faith in director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell instantaneously, making me explode with joy at the news of Insidious Chapter 2 being greenlit.

-Nato

3) Kill List

This was one of those horror movies you hear about buzzing from the corners of the room. Take the best Guy Ritchie crime movie you have seen in a long time, and mash that movie up with (the original) The Wicker Man, and you have an idea of what Kill List has in store for you. It’s about a man, a fellow soldier, who gets asked to do some random killing jobs for some people he doesn’t know, and things get twisted, pretty quickly. We can see our lead may not be well in the head, and those who hired him may have hired him for just that reason.

When I watched Kill List, I watched the movie knowing nothing at all about it, so by the middle of the film I was transfixed, and by the ending of the film (which is incredibly disturbing) I was sitting there, slack-jawed, in awe at what I just saw. The violence in the film is brutal (the hammer to the face scene, anyone?) and the story is a complex and creepy one, involving secret societies and our own primal urges. Kill List is NOT the movie you expect it to be, and the way it skews those normal movie tropes is what makes it so unforgettable to watch. And please understand, you will NOT shake that ending.

-Remy

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