IMO 2011 was a pretty good movie year. I've rented a shitload of great movies from my local rental store, I've seen a shitload of great movies at the theater and I've seen a shitload of great movies at the /SLASH Filmfestival, the first filmfestival I ever visited.
Here are a few of these great movies (oh, and some other stuff):
MAYNARD'S TOP 20
MAYNARD'S TOP 20
BEST HORROR / HORROR-RELATED MOVIES 2011
#20
Edgar Pêra'sTHE BARON
(O Barão)
Portugal, 2011
Powerful and haunting
black-and-white experiment;
incredibly weird, incredibly beautiful.
#19
Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman'sPARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
USA, 2011
Absolutely brilliant, inventive and very
well made sequel which is about as
great as its predecesors.
#18
Andrew Traucki'sTHE REEF
Australia, 2010
A surprisingly excellent and
highly effective shark-horror-flick
in the vein of "Jaws" and "Open Water".
#17
Stacie Ponder'sLUDLOW
USA, 2010
Fanatstic full length indie-debut
from "Final Girl" Stacie Ponder,
intriguing, intense and depressing.
#16
Steven Quale'sFINAL DESTINATION 5
USA, 2011
Impressive and highly entertaining
3D sequel, about as awesome
as the first part.
#15
James Wan'sINSIDIOUS
USA / Canada, 2010
Stunningly scary chiller
in the vein of oldschool 70s / 80s
haunted house horror.
#14
Sion Sono'sCOLD FISH
(Tsumetai nettaigyo)
Japan 2010
Superfreaky, highly insane
and uber-epic inferno of sick violence
and extremely absurd fun.
#13
Joe Cornish'sATTACK THE BLOCK
UK / France, 2011
Undoubtedly this year's funniest,
best-looking and most entertaining
alien-invasion movie.
#12
Darren Aronofsky'sBLACK SWAN
USA, 2010
Absolutely amazing arthouse-horror,
wonderfully directed, written and filmed,
starring a magnificent Natalie Portman.
#11
Rupert Wyatt'sRISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
USA, 2011
Surprisingly awesome Apes-reboot,
full of great actors, stunning effects
and remarkably intense scenes.
#10
Adam Wingard'sA HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE
USA, 2010
Mindblowing indie-horror with
fabulously grim atmosphere,
great actors and a brilliant plot.
#9
Jim Mickle'sSTAKE LAND
USA, 2010
Super-thrilling and highly emotional
post-apocalyptic vampire horror with a
great cast and fantastic-looking settings.
#8
Carlo Ledesma'sTHE TUNNEL
Australia, 2011
One of the best and scariest found-footage
movies ever made. Extremely suspenseful,
extremely creepy. A low-budget masterpiece.
#7
Gareth Edwards'MONSTERS
UK, 2010
Fantastic and incredibly well made
sci-fi/survival-drama with strong acting,
effective suspense and cool CGI effects.
#6
Simon Rumley'sRED WHITE & BLUE
USA, 2010
3rd best revenge flick of 2011:
unsettling, emotional and merciless horror-drama
with amazing actors and wonderful cinematography.
#5
Pedro Almódovar'sTHE SKIN I LIVE IN
(La piel que habito)
Spain, 2011
Breathtaking and highly intelligent horror-thriller,
perfectly written and directed,
starring an outstanding Antonio Banderas.
#4
Sean Byrne'sTHE LOVED ONES
Australia, 2009
2nd best revenge flick of 2011:
sick and demented, but also wonderfully entertaining
torture-rollercoaster, packed with brutal violence
and insane characters.
#3
Steven R. Monroe'sI SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (Remake)
USA, 2010
Best revenge-flick of 2011 and definitely one of
the best remakes I've seen in a very long time.
Gruesome and violent, disturbing and unsettling,
suspenseful and intense - I love it!
#2
Miguel Ángel Vivas'KIDNAPPED
(Secuestrados)
Spain / France, 2010
Hands down, one of the greatest home-invasion
movies of all time. Stunningly tense and supenseful,
full of harsh and uncompromising violence, plus:
a super-shocking opening and a nihilistic ending that leaves you speechless.
a super-shocking opening and a nihilistic ending that leaves you speechless.
#1
Gareth Evans'THE RAID
(Serbuan maut)
Indonesia / USA, 2011
The movie that came out of nowhere and blew us all away.
Incredibly suspenseful, incredibly action-packed,
incredibly intense and filled to the brim with the most
brutal kills and the most fantastic martial arts sequences I've EVER seen.
Trust me: you ain't seen nothing if you ain't seen THE RAID!
Honorable mentions:
MAYNARD'S BEST NON-HORROR MOVIES 2011
#10
Greg Mottola'sPAUL
USA / UK, 2010
Another brilliantly amusing
comedy with my 2 favorite Brits
Nick Frost & Simon Pegg.
#9
Lars von Trier'sMELANCHOLIA
Denmark, 2011
Dark, depressing and strangely beautiful
sci-fi-drama, wonderfully filmed and directed,
and with a stunning cast.
#8
Leon Ford'sGRIFF THE INVISIBLE
Australia, 2010
Funny and amusing, but also pretty
touching and highly emotional
superhero movie with a twist.
#7
Joe Wright'sHANNA
USA / UK / Germany, 2011
Stunning little action-thriller
full of beautiful set pieces and great actors,
most notably the uber-gorgeous Saoirse Ronan.
#6
David Cronenberg'sA DANGEROUS METHOD
Canada / UK / Germany, 2011
Impressive dialogue-laden bio-drama,
excellently written, excellently directed
and packed with excellent actors.
#5
David Michôd'sANIMAL KINGDOM
Australia, 2010
Shocking and powerful thriller-drama,
compelling, breathtaking and
thought-provoking from beginning to end.
#4
Jaume Collet-Sera'sUNKNOWN
Germany / USA / UK, 2011
A tremendous Liam Neeson
and a whole load of other awesome actors
in a fast-paced kick-ass mystery-thriller.
#3
James Gunn'sSUPER
USA, 2010
Insane, hilarious, a bit emotional and super-brutal
- one of the greatest and most interesting superhero movies
I've ever seen. Shut up, crime! :-)
#2
Tom Hooper'sTHE KING'S SPEECH
UK, 2010
Heartwarming, tearjerking and absolutely
wonderful masterpiece that definitely
deserves every single award it has gotten.
#1
Todd Rohal'sTHE CATECHISM CATACLYSM
USA, 2011
Without a doubt the funniest and weirdest comedy
I've ever seen. An absolutely unbelievable and unforgettable
laugh riot; I've never seen something quite like this.
"He'll fuck you up... yes, God will fuck you up!" :D
Honorable Mentions:BAD TEACHER / THE THREE MUSKETEERS 3D / TRON: LEGACY
Best Albums 2011:
1. Mogwai - "HARDCORE WILL NEVER DIE, BUT YOU WILL"
2. Amplifier - "THE OCTOPUS"
3. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - "NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS"
4. White Lies - "RITUAL"
5. Daft Punk - "TRON: LEGACY - Soundtrack"
Best Songs 2011:
1. Lana Del Rey - "VIDEO GAMES"
2. Mogwai - "WHITE NOISE"
3. White Lies - "BIGGER THAN US"
4. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - "AKA... WHAT A LIFE!"
5. Tiesto - "MAXIMAL CRAZY"
Best Books I read in 2011:
1. Michel Houellebecq - "PLATFORM"
2. Irvine Welsh - "FILTH"
3. Irvin D. Yalom - "LYING ON THE COUCH"
4. Melissa Bradley - "MAXIE BRISCOE: WEREWOLF"
5. Michel Houellebecq - "THE ELEMENTARY PARTCLES"
Posts
I definitely prefered the films on the non-horror list - but I'm impressed with myself that I liked Burke and Hare and it's on the horror list!
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't it goodto see Noel Gallagher back?
Impressive lists, Maynard. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the Raid, but I can't wait to check it our. Thought Kidnapped was average at best, but love the remake of ISOYG.
The Loved Ones rocked my world!
I HATED A Horrible Way to Die. Didn't even finish watching it.
ROTPOTA was AMAZING as was BLack Swan.
Loved every second of The Reef, but never heard of Baron.
Out of your non-horror list, I loved all the films I've seen except for Paul. :)
Good list, buddy. Lot of stuff I still need to see.But I agree with many of those. Totally forgot to include Monsters on my list, and I loved the hell out of that film.
ReplyDeleteP.S. - Mogwai is a great band.
ReplyDeleteA lot of good stuff on here, but honestly, Paranormal Activity? I so disagree. These films are to demonic possession what Twilight is to vampires. Laughed my way through the first one and struggled to stay awake during 2, which my nephew wanted to see, but he hated it too. We didn't even bother with 3.
ReplyDeleteGreat list - which I will use as a To Watch list in the coming months. Did I mention the valuable resource thing? Cheers, mate!
ReplyDeleteFantastic Lists!! I just saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes and it was really good!! I seriously thought it would be cheesy. I Spit on your Grave--dear lord that was brutal but a pretty good film.
ReplyDeleteI of course love that you have Paul and Hanna on your list and I still need to see Melancholia. I have heard mixed reviews but I have a feeling I will love it despite its depressing tone.
@Annalisa:
ReplyDeleteBurke & Hare may be more of a comedy, but IMO it's definitely horror-related.
Oh yeah it is. Liam's Beady Eye is quite good but Noel's Birds are way more satisfying :)
@neb:
ReplyDeleteThank you, George!
Omg, you will L O V E The Raid. It's action-packed, tense, brutal and full of impressive martial arts sequences.
Haha yeah, Loved Ones rocked my word too :)
It's strange. AHWTD got huge amounts of bad reviews, and it seems that I'm one of the few who really liked this.
Yes, ROTPOTA and Swan were both totally awesome.
Baron is weird and extremely bizarre, but if you love super-strange movies like Eraserhead and Begotten, you'll love this one too.
@Robocop:
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, Monsters was fookin' awesome. Adore this movie.
YES, Mogwai is a fantastic band. Last Album (Hawk) was a bit disappointing but the new one is fuckin' ace.
@Mel:
ReplyDeleteOh, really? I love the PA flicks. They all managed to scare me half to death :)
@Craig:
ReplyDeleteThe resource says: Well, there are a few gems on this list you definitely need to see :)
@Nicole:
ReplyDeleteRise was really great. Had no expectations but in the end it blew me away.
Yes, Spit was extremely brutal - I love extremely brutal movies :)
Hm, Melancholia... like it or dislike it. I'm a huge fan of director Trier and like nearly all of his movies - but I admit, that is a movie not for everyone.
I feel like such an outcast because everybody fucking loves Insidious and thinks it's the best thing ever, and I wonder what it did for them that it didn't do for me, because I was seriously underwhelmed by that film.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did just watch Kidnapped like five minutes (review will come soon!) and it was awwwwesome. Cliched plot and style but presented very well and I love the ending.
Hm dunno, maybe you wasn't in the right mood for it? When I was in the theater I wanted this movie to scare the shit out of me - and it did so. The opening credits set the tone and gave me goosebumps.
ReplyDeleteAh, cool to hear that you liked it. The ending... my goodness, jaw-dropping! shocking! Aaaahhh!!!
Nice list! I've got a buttload of horror flicks to check out now! Netflix here I come.
ReplyDeleteThank you and enjoy! :)
ReplyDelete