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While the idea of the 8 Films to Die For series has always
appealed to me, in a way of giving a path for horror films to find a larger
audience, the quality of films does vary and every year I find a couple of gems and a couple of stinkers
in each collection. Now that I’ve seen all of the films released in the 2015
series, I wanted to write a little article ranking the films and giving a small review of each for those that might be interested as a guide to the latest
releases. And with that out of the way, here are the films ranked in order from worst to best.
One thing that you will notice about many of the entries in
this year’s 8 Films to Die For is that there are a lot of clever ideas at play.
While The Wicked Within remains my
least favorite of the releases, it does have a solid concept to build on as it
presents a mystery concerning a young woman who is possessed during a family gathering.
Questions abound about why she is chosen or what the purpose of this demonic
presence means. Unfortunately, The Wicked
Within heavily struggles with actually getting the audience hooked into the
concept. Really, the film just crumbles into a series of generic possession and
haunted house clichés. Even the final twist of the film seems a bit desperate
to say ‘Look! We did actually have a cool idea!” Too bad getting there was a
bit of a chore and unfulfilling.
RATING
Like The Wicked Within,
there is a great idea at the foundation of Wind
Walkers. A group of hunters are secluded and hunted themselves by an old acquaintance
who has become possessed by (or turned into) a ‘wind walker’ of Native American myth. However,
the film takes a very strange turn and essentially becomes a cliché zombie film
by about half way through and proceeds to struggle to find grounding in its
focus. By the time it hits the third act, it has all kinds of trouble keeping things in line. There are a lot of interesting ideas at play (the myths, the commentary about
war), but none of it really works in any effective manner. The film is much
better in its moments than as a whole despite some very intriguing elements.
RATING:
In perhaps one of the weirdest moments of horror in 2015,
the clever backstory behind Murder in the Dark is the reason that the film
doesn’t really work. The makers of this little murder mystery flick about
students camping by ruins being killed off one by one actually kept the entire
cast in the dark about the script. None of them knew how it played out and most
of the scenes in the film are of a slightly improv’d nature. These are people
reacting to information in character that they may not have known about
previous to the moment. While the idea sounds very tempting, the results as a film are very
muddled. Because of this approach, the film lacks a lot of focus and drive and
with what amounts to a very by-the-numbers script it ends up being way more
disappointing than expected. If I were giving awards away though, this one would get
one for ‘Most Ambitious’ of the series.
RATING:
Suspension is the kind of film that, with a bit more fine
tuning of its script and execution, it would have been awesome. A young woman,
struggling with some issues at school and home, starts to retreat into a comic
book world that she’s writing which features a serial killer on the loose. However, the
killing becomes real and soon she’s being stalked by the masked killer from her
imagination. In a way, Suspension is kind of like a low budget slasher version
of The Dark Half and the film has some admirable traits as it begins to blur
the lines between ‘reality’ and ‘imagination’ in the latter half. With some
fine tuning of the writing to keep it focused (there are a few scenes that feel
needlessly jammed in there) and some better acting, Suspension could have
rocked it. In the end though, it ends up being a mediocre flick with a fun
idea.
RATING:
I have a very strong love/hate relationship with Lumberjack Man. The film is notoriously
dumb. It’s a slapstick horror comedy that attempts to take on the supernatural slasher
formula and mix it with a kid’s at camp comedy. I should hate this movie. It’s
concept about a pancake dragging lumberjack killer is silly, the humor is a lot
of sex jokes with no real knack for subtlety, and it’s horrendously formulaic.
However, I laughed a lot at it. It’s so dumb and so silly that it worked. It helps
that Michael Madsen gives a hilarious performance and carries a lot of the
film, but there is no reason why I should like this movie – but I did. Go into
this one with a huge grain of salt though and keep the expectations low and you might just have as much fun as I did with it.
RATING:
Don’t be fooled by Bastard’s
masked slasher killer on the cover, this is not necessarily his story. In fact,
the film goes about and takes an intriguing spin on the slasher genre by
exploring the origins of this particular 'bastard killer.' The film doesn’t always make sense and it
fails to capitalize on a few ideas within the concept, but I was impressed at
the approach that Bastard takes with its fun spin on the slasher film. If there
is a good comparison, think of the film in the sense that the original Friday
the 13th was an origin story for Jason. The film is littered with
some fun kills and even slides into a modern horror style (similar to the
brutal nature of the new wave French horror films of the 00s), so go into the
film with an open mind and you’ll find a little horror gem here. I sincerely hope
that a second one gets made to really run with the concept.
RATING:
Unnatural is purely a guilty pleasure kind of film. At its
foundation it’s a man vs nature flick, but this time it just so happens
that the nature here is a ravenous genetically altered polar bear. Some of the obvious
attempts at humor fall flat, but the film is also able to run on its practical
effects, fun concept, and the screen devouring talents of James Remar.
Unnatural knows what kind of film it is and it plays it up allowing for
moments like when a man blows up a truck while shouting “fuck you, bear!” and
the like. It’s hardly original, but the execution, dark humor, and outrageous
idea make this one a hugely fun horror flick.
RATING:
For a low budget feature, Re-Kill attempts some very ballsy maneuvers. The film is a zombie
focused found footage feature, but instead of just going in a by-the-numbers
manner it spins it off as a COPS style TV show during a post-apocalyptic era
where a zombie plague has spread across the globe. The film has no issue with
making a tongue in cheek social commentary that goes with its concept and the
use of really awkwardly hilarious commercials brings to mind the fun and violent material
of Paul Verhoeven at times. Luckily, Re-Kill is powered by some fun
performances and a Resident Evil
inspired plot to keep the audience hooked outside of the gimmicky style and the
use of violence and humor makes it the best release of this year’s series.
RATING:
And there you have it, the 2015 edition of 8 Films to Die For ranked for those interested. There is definitely some interesting themes and slick idealistic choices made for a lot of the films, but most of them had trouble getting the concept across with execution. There is a lot of talent to be found in various performances and in the creative forces behind these films though and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on a few individuals and teams in the future. Until then though, I hope we continue to get more 8 Films to Die For in the future.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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