The Geisha of Gore’s BEST OF 2011
The Geisha’s Best of 2011
By Colleen Wanglund, “The Geisha of Gore”
I write about movies, but I don’t see very many new releases each year. Usually when I go to the movies I see old movies playing in revival houses. This year alone I’ve seen H.G. Lewis’s THE WIZARD OF GORE (1970), Alejandro Jodorowsky’s EL TOPO (1970) and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973), and Frank Henenlotter’s FRANKENHOOKER (1990) and BASKET CASE (1982), among others, all on the big screen in various theaters around my neck of the woods. I did manage to see a few new releases, but my list for The Best of 2011 will be a short one.
In no particular order, my favorite movies of 2011 are:
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 (FULL SEQUENCE)—(October 2011) Written and directed by Tom Six and starring Laurence R. Harvey, this flick blew me away. It was far darker and gorier than the original and had me laughing at some very weird and disgusting moments. I love torture porn (though not the term) although I generally don’t like sequels. Let’s just say that like the Grinch, my heart grew three times that day.
I SAW THE DEVIL—(March 2011; DVD/Blu-ray May 2011) Directed by Jee-woon Kim and starring Byung-hun Lee and Min-sik Choi, I SAW THE DEVIL tells the story of a serial killer and the secret agent who chases after him to get revenge for the death of his fiancé. This is a brilliantly done psychological twister of a film.
THE LAST CIRCUS—(August 2011) From Spain, this movie was intense and bizarre. It is about a weird love triangle involving two clowns and an aerialist in a run-down circus set against the last failing years of the Franco regime. Not for the squeamish, THE LAST CIRCUS keeps up its frenetic pace until the unpredictable and “Holy Crap!” ending.
HELLDRIVER—(world premiere 2010; DVD/Blu-ray December 2011) I got to see the New York premiere at the Japan Society with my daughter in April, and we had a blast. HELLDRIVER is the kind of horror/comedy that I love. Full of original zombies and lots of gore, this is a Special Effects feast for the eyes from Yoshihiro Nishimura and Sushi Typhoon.
THOR—(May 2011) I’ve seen some pretty craptastic superhero movies—CAPTAIN AMERICA (1979), JUDGE DREDD (1995), HULK (2003), and DAREDEVIL (2003)—but I really liked THOR. Starring Australian hottie Chris Hemsworth and directed by the Shakespeare-obsessed Kenneth Branagh, THOR turned out to be a really good comic book movie. The origin story was handled well and there was a lot of action. It didn’t try to do too much, which some other comic book movies have done in the past. It kept things simple but entertaining.
Honorable Mention goes to THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 (November 2011)….just kidding! I couldn’t resist. Hell, it’s not even really a horror movie.
© Copyright 2011 by Colleen Wanglund
