Gore Whore's Best and Worst of 2012

2012 is done and over with and, in all honesty, not a great year for horror. Not for me anyway. Choosing five films to add to my "worst" list was a piece of cake but since I'm not a big Hollywood horror person, I didn't see a lot of great ones to add to my "best" list. That said, after much (and I mean MUCH) consideration, I was able to come up with what I think is a pretty solid list.

**Best**

The Cabin in the Woods: Starring Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth and Anna Hutchison

Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

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The Loved Ones: Starring Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy and Victoria Thaine

When Brent turns down his classmate Lola's invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge. 

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Brutal: Starring A. Michael Baldwin and Michael Patrick Stevens

A family man is trapped and tortured by an unknown assailant (known only as Brutal). As the story unfolds, we find that neither man is who they claim to be.

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Huff: Starring Charlie O'Connell, Natasha Alam and Marie Bollinger

A woman steals her abusive boyfriend's drug money for her three teenage daughters to seek better lives for themselves and a bloody pursuit ensues. 

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Children of Sorrow: Starring Bill Oberst Jr., Hannah Levien and Whitney Nielsen

  

Children of Sorrow, a young woman embeds herself in a cult looking for answers to her sister's disappearance, only to find a dark secret within the cult.

**Worst**

The Innkeepers: Starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis

During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay. 

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Detention: Starring Josh Hutcherson, Shanley Caswell and Spencer Locke

  

As a killer named Cinderhella stalks the student body at the high school in Grizzly Lake, a group of co-eds band together to survive while they're all serving detention.

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 ATM: Starring Alice Eve, Josh Peck and Brian Geraghty

  

On a late night visit to an ATM, three co-workers end up in a desperate fight for their lives when they become trapped by an unknown man. 

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Playback: Starring Christian Slater, Ambyr Childers and Toby Hemingway

  

A cop investigates the case of a missing local teen, though he discovers a dark secret that has been unleashed in his town, and an evil spirit that will stop at nothing to find its heir. 

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Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines: Starring Doug Bradley, Camilla Arfwedson and Simon Ginty

A small West Virginia town is hosting the legendary Mountain Man Festival on Halloween, where throngs of costumed party goers gather for a wild night of music and mischief. But an inbred family of hillbilly cannibals kill the fun when they trick and treat themselves to a group of visiting college students.

 

CFL Horror's Best and Worst of 2012

**Best**

Cabin in the Woods: Starring Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth and Anna Hutchison

Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

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The Innkeepers: Starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis

During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay.

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The Loved Ones: Starring Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy and Victoria Thaine

When Brent turns down his classmate Lola's invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.

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V/H/S: Starring Calvin Reed, Lane Hughes and Adam Wingard

When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for. 

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Sinister: Starring Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance and James Ransome

A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm "snuff" films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960s.

**Worst**

The Apparition: Starring Ashley Greene, Sebastian Stan and Tom Felton

A couple is haunted by a supernatural presence that is unleashed during a college experiment. 

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Paranormal Activity 4: Starring Katie Featherston, Kathryn Newton and Matt Shively

It has been five years since the disappearance of Katie and Hunter, and a suburban family witness strange events in their neighborhood when a woman and a mysterious child move in. 

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The Woman in Black: Starring Daniel Radcliff, Janet McTeer and Ciaran Hinds

A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals. 

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The Possession: Starring Natasha Calis, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick

A young girl buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that inside the collectible lives a malicious ancient spirit. The girl's father teams with his ex-wife to find a way to end the curse upon their child.

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Piranha 3DD: Starring Danielle Panabaker, David Hasselhoff and Matt Bush

After the events at Lake Victoria, the pre-historic school of blood-thirsty piranhas make their way into a newly opened waterpark.

J.R.'s Best and Worst of 2012

Well we've made it through another year! We lived through the Mayan Apocalypse, survived a cut throat election and managed to avoid being swept off the face of the earth by tornadoes, hurricanes and wild fires. So, what's left to do except nail down our best and worst horror films of 2012!

**Best** 

The Raven: Starring John Cusak, Alice Eve and Luke Evans

When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works, a young Baltimore detective joins forces with Poe to stop him from making his stories a reality.

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Piranha DD: Starring Danielle Panabaker, David Hasselhoff and Matt Bush

After the events at Lake Victoria, the pre-historic school of blood-thirsty piranhas make their way into a newly opened waterpark.

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Sinister: Starring Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance and James Ransome

A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm "snuff" films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960s.

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Mother's Day: Starring Rebecca De Mornay, Jaime King and Shawn Ashmore

The sadistic members of a villainous family return to their childhood home to terrorize the new home owners and their guests.

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Silent Night: Starring Malcolm McDowell, Jaime King and Donal Logue

The police force of a remote Midwestern town search for a killer Santa Claus who is picking off citizens on Christmas Eve.

**Worst**

Cabin in the Woods: Starring Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth and Anna Hutchison

Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

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Prometheus: Starring Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green and Michael Fassbender

A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

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The Innkeepers: Starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis

During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay.

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Dark Shadows: Starring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green

An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins, is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection.

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The Devil Inside: Starring Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth

In Italy, a woman becomes involved in a series of unauthorized exorcisms during her mission to discover what happened to her mother, who allegedly murdered three people during her own exorcism.

The Innkeepers 2011 - REVIEW

Anybody who knows me, knows that I'm not a big fan of Ti West. I've seen most of his films and I can honestly say that I have yet to watch one that has pulled me in and held my attention all the way through. I'm always willing to go in open minded and I'd probably be the same way with West's films had I not been berated by one his friends for not liking The House of the Devil. I'm all for people expressing their feelings and shit but when it borders on a personal attack, that kinda ruins it for me.

The Yankee Pedlar Inn is a hotel in Torrington, CT, that's been welcoming guests for over a hundred years. However, not many have been stopping by lately, and the owners have chosen to shut it down. In the Yankee Pedlar's last weeks of operation, the staff have been reduced to just two people, Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy). Neither one is especially interested in hotel management, but they're both students of the supernatural. They've come to the Yankee Pedlar because it has a reputation for being haunted and they want to see for themselves if ghosts walk the halls before it's too late. The two spend their time searching the empty rooms for evidence of paranormal activity, which Luke will post on his website (if he ever finishes it), but they don't find much until an eccentric woman (Kelly McGillis) who shares their fascination with ghosts checks in. Together, they begin to discover the truth about the Yankee Pedlar's strange legacy.

I didn't much care for Paxton's character in this one. It's nothing against her personally, I think she did an okay job, but there was just something about it that irked me the entire time. Maybe it was that she didn't come off as your typical "ghost hunter" or maybe it was the immaturity of the character, I dunno. I can't quite put my finger on it but I found her (Claire) quite annoying. Healy I could relate to a little more... an eternal pessimist or realist with a fascination of the paranormal. His character was just as immature as Paxton's but he didn't whine as much. As far as the acting abilities of these two people, nothing jumped out at me as overly good or bad.

West is notorious for the slow burn horror, if you can even call it horror. To me, it's not because it isn't scary and before anyone starts yelling that "you just don't get it", I do get it. I can enjoy an intense, wait for it, film just as much as an in your face, scary as hell kind of film but for me West's creations never have the kind of pay off that make me respect the film as a whole. It's like having ho-hum sex for an hour and a half and never climaxing. You wanna stick around for the ultimate ending because you know once you get it, it'll be explosive but it never happens. There are those that like this kind of film but I just can't get into a film that is so painfully slow and delivers nothing at the end. I'll most likely watch more of his stuff, I want to like his work, I want to say I finally watched something from Ti West that I enjoyed but so far it's just been like "ho-hum sex" for me.

Synopsis Source: Fandango