Tinseltown terror

8 months ago 25th Oct 08:15

According to Wes Craven's 1996 slasher flick 'Scream', there are several strict rules which need to be followed in order to survive in the world of horror movies. Never have sex, don't even think about drinking or doing drugs and, most importantly, never, ever say, "I'll be right back". But 2008 has seen all the rules literally massacred with a host of breakthrough original films guaranteed to give you the creeps. With only 'Saw V' to look forward to in cinemas this Halloween, we take a look back at a brilliant year for scary movies.Perhaps the most innovative take on the genre was 'Cloverfield', the mutant spawn of 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Godzilla'. If you can deal with a potentially sea-sickness inducing 90 minutes, this story of a group of friends escaping an enormous prehistoric-type creature (which the audience only catch glimpses of) as it terrorises New York City was a breath of fresh air. Rob (Michael Stahl-David) and his friends Hud, Lily, and Marlena race across Manhattan to rescue Beth (Odette Yustman), who is trapped in a collapsed building. But destroyed bridges, baby monsters and falling heads of national landmarks ensure their mission isn't easy. By showing the chaos through the lens of a home video camera (cinema verite for the film geeks), the movie excels with the rather underused technique of never revealing to the viewers what everyone on screen is so terrified of, leaving your imagination to provide a lot of the scares. It also humanises the film, an all too important factor for horror. If you don't get it right, the audience can actually feel a desire to see some of the characters murdered in the goriest way possible (Paris Hilton in 'House of Wax' springs to mind...)Later in the year, newspapers were faced with the dilemma of whether to crucify or praise an exploitation film about kids with blades in the height of the UK's knife crime epidemic. However, 'Eden Lake' impressed. School teacher Jenny (Kelly Reilly) is whisked away on a romantic getaway to Eden Lake by her boyfriend Steve (Michael Fassbender). Everything seems perfect in the idyllic British town, before a group of pesky kids who just won't turn their music down launch a campaign of terror against the couple involving torture, fire and happy-slapping. Much like 'Cloverfield', 'Eden Lake' features realistic characters and puts them in situations most of us find familiar. It's one of the most morally devoid films to come out of 2008. So what's more scary than a bunch of tooled up kids with camera phones? Answer: former soccer star Vinnie Jones stalking the subways as a psycho killer in 'The Midnight Meat Train'. Officially released alongside 'Saw V' on October 31 in the UK, the film was first screened at London's FrightFest horror festival in August, where it impressed gore lovers. Probably one of the bravest casting choices for an unmasked killer ever, Vinnie delivers a chilling performance as crazed butcher Mahogany (he doesn't say much, but you still wouldn't mess with him), who slaughters scores of innocent passengers in the underground passages beneath Los Angeles. Leon (Bradley Cooper) is the obsessive freelance photographer determined to uncover the truth behind the mysterious murders.Legend of fright flicks George A. Romero returned with another instalment of his hugely successful 'Dead' films with 'Diary of the Dead', a fresh take on the zombie genre he pioneered back in 1968 with 'Night of the Living Dead'.The filmmaker's fifth attempt follows a group of wannabe directors who encounter a rabble of real-life zombies during production. Arguably one of the very few horror directors to maintain credibility the more films he makes, Romero will never fail to create an interest in adding more prefixes to the '...of the Dead' brand - so the upcoming 'Island of the Dead' stands to reason.Representing horror-comedy - a consistently successful sub-genre with 'Ghostbusters', 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Army of Darkness' and 'An American Werewolf in London' all springing to mind - was the bizarre concoction 'Teeth'.