¡QUÉ HORROR! 2011
The Wrap-Up

So, there we are. Thirteen primary titles, plus four additional ones. And yes, one of those additionals wasn’t really a runner-up, but Little Deaths is an anthology that must be seen by those horror fans who aren’t put off by sex and sexual situations. And though it snuck onto the list because Simon Rumley’s “Bitch” was in it, I must also point out that Andrew Parkinson’s “Mutant Tool” was quite definitely one of the most bizarre horror tales I saw within the past twelve months, regardless of length. Heh.

Now, before we get on with the candidates for ¡Qué Horror! 2012, I’ll be going through another new ¡Qué Horror! feature, the Auxiliaries, titles that may not be what people will automatically think of as horror films, but were nonetheless some of the most noteworthy movies I had the privilege of viewing over the past year. I’ll kick off the Auxiliaries in November: four batches, ten films.

I’d also like to stress that there’s nothing stopping you from checking out each of the 2011 candidates. Just because they didn’t make the final cut, doesn’t mean they’re no longer worth your time; there are good reasons why each of those films became a candidate in the first place. (Two of the Auxiliaries actually come from the candidates list, so you’ll be seeing them there anyway.)

Other than that, I guess the only other thing to say is, once again, have a Happy Halloween.

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2011
The Preliminaries

Here we are. October again, and time for this year’s final list of the 13 best horror films I’ve seen in the past year.
As you may have noted if you’re a regular visitor to the Iguana, I’ve been keeping an online track of the candidates for this year’s list: 44 in all. As I’ve done in the past, I’ve tried my best to spread the ¡Qué Horror! love around, so this year, I’m instituting a list of runners-up, wherever applicable.
As always, you can break down the horror scene into the current sub-genre trends; these days, you’ll find zombies, vampires, found footage, faux docs, home invasion, just to name some.
To avoid instances where, say, zombies threaten to overrun the list, I’m giving each sub-genre a single slot, but in cases where the decision was difficult, or there were just several noteworthy titles, there will be a runner-up. Just think of it as a bonus, other films that are worthy of your time and some ¡Qué Horror! love.

As always, cut-off viewing date was September 30, and the list is comprised of the 13 best horror movies I saw for the first time within the window of October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011, regardless of initial public screening date.

For the past years’ ¡Qué Horror! rundowns, please scour the Archive.
Beyond that, there’s not much else to say but, Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoy this year’s baker’s dozen plus…

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2010
The Preliminaries

It’s pretty obvious that activity here at the Iguana has crawled down to virtually non-existent of late. A number of reasons for that, but you’re not here to hear them.
What you are here for, is the annual list of horror films that should warrant your time and attention: ¡Qué Horror!, the 2010 edition.

Sadly, unlike past rundowns, not all the entries this year will have separate, full-length reviews. I struggled with this decision, but it was either this slightly compromised version of ¡Qué Horror!, or no rundown at all this year, and I really didn’t want to break tradition, so...
As with last year, cut-off viewing date was September 30, and the list is comprised of the 13 best horror movies I saw for the first time within the window of October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010, regardless of initial public screening date.
I should also point out that I was unable to catch a couple of key September releases before the deadline, namely the Eli Roth-produced The Last Exorcism, and the first salvo in the Night Chronicles, Devil; with any luck, I’ll end up loving them, and they’ll make an appearance in next year’s ¡Qué horror! list.

For the past years’ ¡Qué Horror! rundowns, please scour the Archive.
Beyond that, there’s not much else to say but, Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoy this year’s baker’s dozen…

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2009
The Preliminaries (2)

Before I get to last Halloween’s rundown, just some random statistics.
While ¡Qué Horror! 2008 had two sequels (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 Weeks Later and Eli Roth’s Hostel: Part II), three film adaptations (The Mist, from Stephen King’s novella; The Ruins, from Scott B. Smith’s novel; The Midnight Meat Train, from Clive Barker’s short story), and one foreign-language film (Juan Antonio Bayona’s El Orfanato), this year’s batch will include two remakes, one film adaptation, three foreign-language titles, and one entry that finds its origins in TV.

Now, for the record, ¡Qué Horror! 2008 looked like this:

The Last Winter (Dir: Larry Fessenden; September 2006)
Joshua (Dir: George Ratliff; January 2007)
The Signal (Dirs: David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush; January 2007)
Teeth (Dir: Mitchell Lichtenstein; January 2007)
28 Weeks Later (Dir: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; May 2007)
Bug (Dir: William Friedkin; May 2007)
El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (Dir: Juan Antonio Bayona; May 2007)
Hostel: Part II (Dir: Eli Roth; June 2007)
The Mist (Dir: Frank Darabont; November 2007)
Cloverfield (Dir: Matt Reeves; January 2008)
The Ruins (Dir: Carter Smith; April 2008)
The Strangers (Dir: Bryan Bertino; May 2008)
The Midnight Meat Train (Dir: Ryuhei Kitamura; July 2008)

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2009
The Preliminaries (1)

It’s getting to that time of year again, when I have 12 months’ worth of film viewing to look back on so I can compile a rundown of the 13 best horror movies from that time frame.
Given that when I put together ¡Qué Horror! 2008, I had yet to have seen certain key titles from that period, and this past year has proven to be a time to play catch-up as best I could, there’s a bit of an overlap between ¡Qué Horror! 2009 and last year’s batch.
So I decided to tweak the parameters of the list somewhat. Instead of a rundown of the 13 Best, Most Recent Horror Movies, I just chose the 13 best horror movies I’d seen for the first time in the past 12 months, regardless of initial public screening date.* (I did, in fact, manage to finally see a key 1995 vampire title earlier this year, but as you’ll note, it didn’t make the list; wasn’t too enamoured of it…)

Also, another deviation from last year’s ¡Qué Horror! will be its frequency: last year, I posted one entry a day for the last 13 days of October, culminating on Halloween.
Now, you’ll have noted that the Iguana isn’t as active as it was in the heyday of its first two years (long, involved story not really pertinent to this post). As such, I can’t really say I’ll be able to replicate last year’s feat, so I’ve decided to start posting as early as October 1, on an irregular basis. I may even post more than one title on any given day. That should give me enough wiggle room to get through all 13 films before October 31 comes around.
That should also give you time to hunt this year’s baker’s dozen down for a Halloween frightfest marathon, should you so wish it.
(The cut-off viewing date for this year’s batch is September 30, and there are only about 7 hours left of that; any horror film I may see for the first time this October will be eligible for ¡Qué Horror! 2010.)

Now, before I leave you to it, I’d be terribly remiss if I didn’t publicly thank my nephew Jeb, who’s responsible for my having had the opportunity to see eleven of this year’s formidable batch.
Many, many, many thanx, Jeb. This would have been a sad-a$$ ¡Qué Horror! without your invaluable help.

Next, in The Preliminaries (2), I’ll have a rundown of ¡Qué Horror! 2008.

* Which is the date listed with each title.

AFTERTHOUGHTS (60)
EMPIRE’S 50 GREATEST TV SHOWS EVER MADE!

And on Empire’s list…

45. Farscape 1999-2003
An Australian sci-fi series featuring muppet aliens from The Jim Henson Company – it's not exactly a pitch that says 'edgy' or even very good. Against the odds, though, Farscape emerged as an innovative, amusing and endlessly watchable romp as Astronaut John Crichton fumbled his way through life on the other side of the galaxy while dropping endless pop culture references that were clearly lost on his alien companions. In Claudia Black's Aeryn Sun was found one of sci-fi's favourite pin-up girls and the chemistry between Black and co-star Ben Browder was so apparent they were reunited after Farscape's cancellation for the final series of Stargate SG-1.

30. Dexter 2006-present
The last thing the world needed was another series about a forensic scientist but it certainly adds something to the mix when said CSI is also a recreational serial killer. Mischievously sadistic, Dexter is a darkly amusing tale of a psychopathic monster living in the heart of sunny Miami and trying to reconcile his stabbier urges with being an otherwise decent guy. Michael C Hall is flawless as the carver in question and the show sports one of the cleverest title sequences around.

27. Six Feet Under 2001-2005
Dark, comical and really rather wonderful, it's little wonder that Six Feet Under flowed from the same pen that gave us the equally incredible American Beauty. Alan Ball's HBO series about a dysfunctional Pasadena family who run an independent funeral home was a wonderful meditation on life, love and grief. Headed up by Peter Krause as the prodigal elder son Nate Fisher and featuring Michael C Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose and Rachel Griffiths, the cast, like every facet of this compelling production, oozed class.

25. Futurama 1999-present
It's unfair to compare Matt Groening's other show to The Simpsons. Because what is as good as The Simpsons? Judged on its own merits, this futuristic comedy about the bumbling employees of an intergalactic delivery company is witty, silly and completely non-sensical in just the right measure. It's got some characters who don't work (Hermes Conrad, we're looking at you), but Bender the antagonistic robot makes up for any faults. It was revived for a reason, you know?

24. Twin Peaks 1990-1991
Who killed Laura Palmer? That was the question on everyone's lips during 1990 as David Lynch's bizarre small town mystery unfolded on our screens. A demon called Bob, a little man who talked backward and minor pie fetish were just some of the features on display here. But despite a healthy dose of surrealism everything fell into place. Until the rather less appealing second season, that is, where the question on people's minds was more akin to 'Who is Windom Earle and what in God's name is going on?' but that's beside the point.

17. South Park 1997-present
The Guinness World Record holder for "Most swearing in an animated series," Trey Parker and Matt Stone's crudely animated monster is going strong more than ten years later after we were first introduced to Cartman and the boys. Still offending just about everybody on the planet, it has avoided jumping the shark by continuously changing its targets and, most importantly, remaining incredibly funny. While it's undeniably puerile, the secret of South Park's success lies in the fact that its intentions are essentially good. Those who challenge common sense and general decency are the ones in the firing line – anybody else who gets hit are, well, collateral damage.

15. Heroes 2006-present
We'd heard shows before boast about 'cinematic' production values, but Tim Kring's Heroes actually meant it. Every super-charged hour boasts lavish amounts of special effects – Hiro's time-freezing abilities are particularly cool – and a classy, noirish aesthetic partly inspired by M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. But eye-candy alone wouldn't have won Heroes its place on this list. Kring's genius was in bolting the flashy action onto a slow-burning storyline full of shadows and mystery. And having a really cute, invincible cheerleader in the cast doesn't hurt none either.

13. Battlestar Galactica 2003-present
Dark, unflinching and often brutal, BSG is a very long way from the camp seventies show of the same name. In fact, given that this is one of the most pioneering sci-fi shows in decades, its name is probably its biggest liability. This is a show more concerned with internal rifts, politics and strife than spatial anomalies or aliens with forehead prosthetics, making it a far more introverted character-driven drama than anything in the Star Trek canon. Edward James Olmos' gravel-tongued Admiral leads a great cast of characters (Gaius Baltar, we salute you) and the epic space conflicts, portrayed with a shaky, hand-held style for realism, are blissfully rendered mayhem.

9. The X-Files 1993-2002
Created by surfing enthusiast Chris Carter, The X-Files proved to be the show that could do anything. It could modulate its tone from Twin Peaks creepy to Texas Chain Saw Massacre terrifying to Three Stooges silly. It had a pair of good-looking, charismatic heroes with deliciously simmering sexual chemistry – plus a rogue's gallery of memorable villains, including the putrid Flukeman, stretchy Eugene Tooms and butt-loving Cigarette Smoking Man. Of course, the long-running 'Myth-Arc' conspiracy plotline would have baffled Einstein and was never properly wrapped up in any case, but with at least one more big-screen outing lined up for Mulder and Scully there's still time to redeem the show that launched a thousand Dark Skies.

5. Lost 2004-present
Only time will tell whether it's as clever as it seems, but few TV shows have gripped viewers' imaginations like this hybrid of Swiss Family Robinson and Twin Peaks. An innovative structure in which each episode hones in on a different character, with flashbacks and flashforwards expanding their backstory, ensures the entire cast is fleshed out beyond the constraints of the primary narrative. But aside from the host of unique and colourful characters – from earnest Jack to cocky Sawyer, noble Jin to bug-eyed Ben – it's the epic mysteries at the core of the story that keeps us coming back. What powers does the island have? What's that polar bear doing in the tropics? And how come Hurley never loses weight despite being marooned on an island?

Note that all comments are from the article, a few of which I may not completely agree with.
As much fun as I manage to find in all the Island weirdness, I actually have been riveted to Lost more for the characters than anything else. I really do want to find out what happens to them…
And speaking of weirdness, I think Twin Peaks got short shrift here, considering any bizarre bits we may happen to find in television today, I feel can be traced all the way back to TP’s influence. (Even Empire makes mention of TP twice, in shows that ranked higher than it.)
Not only was its shadow only too evident on shows like Northern Exposure and Picket Fences, the massive cultural impact it had clearly made strangeness welcome on the small screen, paving the way for all the off-kilter programming that came in its wake, and continues to this day.
It’s also important to note that when TP was strange, it was truly strange. Network television had never been to such surreal spots before, and truth to tell, hasn’t really been there since.
(I also happen to rather like Season 2…)

At any rate, I’m still glad TP made the list, which you can find here. Check it out for more bits on these shows, and to see if your favourite series made Empire’s cut.

Parting shot: Episodic recaps/reactions of Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Heroes, and Lost can be found in the Archive, along with a review of the Futurama straight-to-DVD feature, Bender’s Big Score.

(Lost OS courtesy of impawards.com; The X-Files 2 OS courtesy of aintitcool.com; Battlestar Galactica image courtesy of SCIFI Channel; Twin Peaks image courtesy of tarnishedlady.typepad.com; Dexter image courtesy of fanpop.com.)