Top Five Horror Films of 2010

The year in Horror for 2010, it was full of sequels, remakes and 3D. Among all the sometimes silly, many times entertaining and occasionally frightening films of the year, a number stood out of the crowd. Here are five of those films that made the biggest impression on Doc Rotten - the top five horror films of 2010.

5 - SPLICE
Making bold decisions along the way, Splice weaves a challenging tale of science, parenthood and sexuality all in the disguise of a well crafted science fiction horror hybrid. The performances were top notch and the creature was highly imaginative and visually interesting. For the most part more about spectacle than gore, the film does sport a very "Gallagher" moment when a cage containing two squabbling creatures overturns and splatters the audience in red gooey goodness. At its core, it’s a genetic take on the Frankenstein story infused with sexuality and parenthood. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the year, Splice is a fun, thought provoking, visually stunning monster film.

4 - SHUTTER ISLAND
All I really have to say is the director’s name, Martin Scorsese, and the inclusion of Shutter Island to a top 5 list is immediately understandable. Add in popular actor Leonardo DiCaprio and it’s impossible to ignore. Based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel, Shutter Island is a genre blending thriller weaving a haunting tale of U.S. Marshall investigating a missing inmate at a secluded asylum and dealing with his own demons along the way. Hanging on the fringes of the horror genre with its psychological undertones and revelations, Shutter Island illustrates the more fragile corners of one man’s mind and questions what is perceived versus what is real. Scorsese is in top form, displaying astonishing transitions and set pieces. He subtly drops in visual cues hidden in the narrative to cue the more observant viewers in on the story. All the actors are fantastic, riveting. Shutter Island is a mind challenging treat that deserves to be viewed - and enjoyed - multiple times.

3 - RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE
Last year, Dead Snow was the little independent foreign flick that could; this year, it belongs to the Finish film Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, a confident gem of a twisted holiday treat. Never has the legend of Santa Claus taken such a devious little turn. In Rare Exports, an English archaeologist excavates a mysterious frozen block of ice out of the Korvantunturi mountains unleashing an unfriendly holiday threat the to the locals trying to keep their family business from bankruptcy. Impressively directed by Jalmari Helander with beautifully cinematography by Mika Orasmaa, Rare Exports a wonderful adult genre treat for the genre fan for the holidays. A must see.

2 - LET ME IN
A Hammer Films remake of a hit Swedish film Let the Right One In, Let Me In stars Chloe Moretz and Cody Smith-McPhee as Abby and Owen, a pre-teen vampire and an outcast lonely boy. Directed by Mike (Cloverfield) Reeves, Let Me In matches the haunting beauty found in the international success and creates a touching, emotional English companion. Moretz and Smith-McPhee deliver the best genre performances of the year with the rest of the cast equally stunning. Devoid of all the typical State-side genre tropes (over-aged teens, jump scares, jokey dialogue, and bad CGI effects), Let Me In is the most mature adaptation of a vampire tale the US theaters have seen in a long time. Well done.

1 - PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2
Last year, a tiny budgeted shocker took America by storm and created a monster hit. Paranormal Activity touched on a common fear - what if your house is haunted. A sequel announced for October 2010 had most curious whether it would measure up or fall flat. Would it be an Aliens to Alien or a Blair Witch Project 2 to Blair Witch Project? Director Tod Williams follows the same formula originated by Orin Peli and brought only a few needed tweaks and changes to great effect. The most successful being the addition of a fleet of security cameras through out the house which allowed Williams to ramp up the tension allowing the viewer to see more than the residents in the home. Of all the movies seen this year, Paranormal Activity 2 was the best time I had in the theater. I jumped, screamed and laughed at all the right places. It may not have been the best crafted film (that would have been Shutter Island), but it was the film that resonated with me the most and has become, without a doubt - for me, the best horror film of 2010.

Doc Rotten's Movie Monsters of 2010: Rare Exports

For each weekday throughout December, Doc Rotten will be looking back at 2010 examining 20 Movie Monsters of the year. Check back each day and rate how successful the monster worked on the big screen, DVD or BluRay. On December 31, we'll look at all 20 Monsters in order of their popularity. Let's take a look at today's Movie Monster of 2010.

Can Santa be scary? Many have tried over the years, but none have been as successful and original as the delightfully twisted Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Evolving out of a pair of celebrated shorts films by director Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports, Inc 2003 and The Official Rare Exports Inc. Safety Instructions 2005), Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a darkly comedic gem about a young boy, Pietari (Onni Tommila), in the Korvantunturi Mountains who must save his village when a team of archaeologists unearth the hidden tomb of the real Santa Claus. This Santa isn’t found dressed up in the classic red and white jump suit – although he does end up being dressed in the costume – instead this Santa wears no clothes, walks barefoot through the snow covered forest and has a intense focused stare that will send chills down your spine. As a horror film, this is more in the vein of Gremlins than the slasher films listed above. Rare Exports is a dark comedy with horrific undertones and some seriously creepy Santas. The film, well worth seeking out, is being released this December by Oscilloscope Laboratories and is already fodder in the rumor mill for a U.S. remake.

Doc Rotten's Holiday Horrors

Doc Rotten shares some Holiday Cheer Fear

From time to time horror film makers point their carnivorous camera lenses at Santa Claus and create holiday horror treats that tear and claw at the world’s fascination with jolly old Saint Nick. This season is no different with two European filmmakers putting Santa through the wringer. With both features hearkening back to the ancient European legends of Saint Nicholas, the Krumpas and Sinterklaas, Jalmari Helander’s Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale from Finland and Dick Maas’ Sint (Saint) from the Netherland take two different paths in exploring the old legend. Both are wildly successful. With Rare Exports, Santa and a horned helper called Krampus are excavated from the Korvantunturi Mountains creating a chilling bizarre anti-holiday tale; with Sint, the focus is on the spirit of Sinterklaas returning on December 3rd to take revenge and feels more like a modern day version of an 80’s slasher film. It doesn’t matter if you’re naughty or nice, you don’t want to run up on either of these creepy old men.

Over the years, there have been many variations on the concept of an evil Santa stalking his victims through the snowy December landscape. One of the first and most famous was Amicus’ Tales from the Crypt (1972) where a naughty Joan Collins faces a killer in a Santa suite on Christmas Eve. Based on a strip in EC Comic’s Vault of Horror, the film was produced by Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg and directed by Freddie Francis. In 1980, director Lewis Jackson brought Christmas Evil, featuring a homicidal Santa, to the theaters to little or no fanfare. Since then however, the film, also known as You Better Watch Out, has become a cult classic with cult filmmaker John Waters calling it the “greatest Christmas movie ever made.”

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Review: Rare Exports (2010)

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a delightful surprise. Set in the mountains of Finland during the Christmas holidays (December 23 and 24 to be exact), the story is about a group of archaeologists excavating a mountain and the locals from the surrounding village. The narrative focuses on young Pietari (Tommi Korpela), a pre-teen boy who is keenly aware of what the archaeologists have unearthed and the danger the village is in. When Pietari’s father, Rauno (Jorma Tommila), and his fellow slaughterhouse butchers discover their reindeer prey have been mysteriously mutilated near a fenced in entrance to the mountain, they begin to investigate and soon come face to face with a creature resembling the Santa Claus of local legend - a much different version than the current commercialized iconic character. After a few twists and turns, the full threat of the monster is revealed, and it is up to Pietari to save his family and village from “Santa’s elves” and possibly the demonic Krampus from Northern European legends.

From the description, one may think this is a holiday film for the entire family and in many ways it could be; however, it is a fantasy for adults who are children at heart. The film may not be appropriate for most kids; it is full of f-bombs and full-monty Santas. Not exactly material for U.S. families. But the story is a fascinating coming-of-age tale of a young boy discovering his worth while exploring the legend of Santa and his elves. This isn’t the dime-store jolly Santa in a red coat and black boots, this is the age-old European Santa legend and, boy, is he creepy and frightening - and he’s ready to punish the local children. At a brisk 80 minutes running time (a perfect length), Rare Exports keeps things moving along and smiles on the audience's faces. Except for Pietari, the script is light on character work; instead, it focuses on telling the story, running over conceived notions of Santa, and allowing its lead character to win the hearts of the audience.

Rare Exports also has two extraordinary accomplishments going for it: the cinematography by Mika Orasmaa and the original sound track by Juri Seppä and Miska Seppä. The shots of the Finland mountaintops are breathtaking. When Riley, the financier of the archaeological dig, is giving his opening speech with the snow-covered Korvatunturi mountains behind him, it’s jaw dropping and beautiful. The village homes and slaughterhouse are lit and photographed in a realistic manner making their lifestyle all the more authentic. The small village feels very isolated from the modern world. When the mysterious mountain creatures begin to reveal themselves from within the forest, it’s haunting and foreboding. In another scene the falling snow dances around young Pietari as he stands his ground. For the sound design, as the camera pans the locales, the accompanying original music is lush and rousing - as well done as any Hollywood film. Rare Exports contains one of the more memorable efforts in some time. The orchestrated score pulls you into the story, the landscape and adventure that lies upon the screen.

While all the actors do a tremendous job at presenting a convincing world for Rare Exports, Per Christian Ellefsen as Riley the financier and Onni Tommila as Pietari the young boy are stand-outs in the cast. Ironically they both have the same innocence and youthful imaginative performances even though they differ in age by fifty years. Riley is chasing the Santa legend from his youth, but is corrupted by his adult experiences. He understands what he has excavated from the Finnish mountain and the revelation of the discovery enlivens the character. He is both giddy and apprehensive about his discovery. Likewise for Pietari, he also knows what is happening in the dark countryside and the revelation of the creature's origin brings his character a similar life and purpose. Riley stands atop the mountain claiming “We have a grave to rob” while Pietari sits at the mountain's base fighting to save his family and friends. Pietari’s character arc reveals the man inside the young boy and the intelligence and courage that his fellow villagers fail to recognize, including his own father. “Tell my father what I did” he requests as he prepares to sacrifice himself to the creatures in order to save his village and the children.

Also of note is Peeter Jakobi who plays the Santa-like creature that Riley releases from the mountain prison. His slender, sharp features and quiet stillness are chilling and fascinating, likely to produce some goose-pimples. He has no lines but his gaze alone is as memorable as a well-written soliloquy. The trio of men that portray the slaughterhouse family are a winning bunch as well, drawing the audience’s sympathy to their plight - their struggling business and their deadly encounter. They are so disarmingly entertaining, it is not difficult to root for them throughout the conclusion. Oddly, there are no women in the cast (aside from a few extras), Pietari has no mother and there are no women in the hunting party nor the excavation team.

Directed by Jalmari Helander, Rare Exports is a darkly comedic holiday treat with a chilling twist on the Santa legend. The film is an expanded version of his award winning shorts from 2003 and 2005. While the direction is still horrific in tone, Helander holds back from being too graphic, enabling the narrative to maintain a warm, childlike innocence. A little too free with its language and nudity for U.S. audiences, Rare Exports is still a perfect winter treat for the young at heart and can easily warrant annual viewing. Already being rightfully compared to Joe (Gremlins) Dante and Tim (Sweeny Todd, Alice in Wonderland) Burton, Jalmari Helander is a promising new talent and his Rare Exports should not be missed. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is being released in the U.S. this December by Oscilloscope Laboratories beginning in New York and L.A., then expanding throughout the States with limited screenings.