The Best Horror Films of 2012
2012 was a terrifying year at the multiplex, and we mean that in a good way. Though there were still plenty of obligatory vampires and forced found-footage films, moviegoers felt a breath of fresh air pump through the proverbial lungs of the horror genre with new perspectives on classic premises that provided some truly thrilling moments.
We're sure that this month's big horror flick, LD Entertainment's "The Collection," a follow up to 2009's "The Collector" from the writers of "Saw IV-VII" which finds protagonist Arkin (Josh Stewart) coerced into teaming up with mercenaries to track down The Collector's booby trapped warehouse and save the beautiful Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick), will round out a sterling year of Hollywood horror. In honor of that movie's impending release on November 30, take a look back at the Best Horror Films of 2012 in the following slides!
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The very first release of the year, Paramount's "The Devil Inside" proved to be a veritable phenomenon and kicked off the studio's centennial anniversary with a bang.
Grossing more than $100 million worldwide on a budget of $1 million, this little found footage flick gave audiences just what they were looking for - a terrifying experience at a time of year when all you can find are four-quadrant tent poles and family films left over from December.
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Less than a year after he put the wand down for good, "Harry Potter's" Daniel Radcliffe was headlining his very own horror movie. "The Woman in Black" has shown Hollywood that even after playing the same character for a decade, one won't necessarily be typecast.
Scoring hordes of positive reviews, the James Watkins-directed haunt became CBS Films' biggest hit to date earlier this year and cemented 2012 as a standout year for horror.
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After wowing critics with Sundance hit "Martha Marcy May Marlene," Elizabeth Olsen made it clear that she wouldn't be living in the shadow of her "Full House" starring siblings Mary Kate and Ashley any longer.
Her next movie, Open Road Films' "Silent House," was good for plenty of standard screams, as "slasher" kind of movies go. We're sure there wasn't anything silent about the audiences' reaction when watching the picture.
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Cinephiles waited years for the Joss Whedon-Drew Goddard collaboration "The Cabin in the Woods" to finally get released, and when it did they found that it was every bit worth the long delay.
Toying with genre conventions like the heads of the film's central characters were, "Cabin" has been called the most original horror movie since "Scream" by many; suffice to say, it's a must see for genre enthusiasts.
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Found footage found its way back into cinemas Memorial Day weekend with "Chernobyl Diaries," a "Hills Have Eyes" style horror thriller centering on a group of teen tourists in the abandoned city of Pripyat who get more than they bargained for when they hired an "extreme" tour guide.
The decaying cityscape and frightening use of barely showing the mutated assailants was praised, and collectively made the film a moderate hit for Warner Bros.
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This writer's favorite horror flick of the year? Fox's long-gestating "Alien" prequel "Prometheus."
Though more a sci-fi/adventure/horror hybrid (just like the other films in the series), and therefore a more interesting movie than most seen this summer, there were more shocking, stomach-turning scenes in the Ridley Scott-directed epic than most horror movies can hope for.
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Exorcism movies are a Hollywood staple, but the sub-genre has been beaten to death. Luckily for the filmmakers behind "The Possession," Judaism provided some new themes (or at least a plot device).
Where "The Exorcist," its sequels and countless imitators relied on Catholicism to battle the forces of evil, the Sam Raimi-produced movie turned to the Hebrew faith to rescue a disturbed little girl. The result was one of the sleeper hits of the season, chock full of a few heart stopping sequences.
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Hot off the success of "The Hunger Games," Relativity Media released "House at the End of the Street" to show off their beloved lead actress Jennifer Lawrence.
The blond beauty gave her best "damsel in distress" performance in the creepy thriller, a far cry from her Katniss Everdeen character.
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Hailed as one of the coolest horror flicks of the year, "Sinister" is one of the most original in a long while. Pedigree talent like the director of "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and the producers of "Paranormal Activity" ensured that the film would deliver, and it certainly left many wanting to skip out on making those home movies, after all...
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