JPX's Best of Horrorthon 2005

1. Favorite: Audition, hands down. This was one of the only films this year that made my skin crawl (“deeper, deeper, deeper. . .”)
2. Hidden gem: The Ghost Ship. A psychotic ship captain starts murdering his shipmates in this very dark tale. One death in particular is pretty brutal. I’d also have to include Homebodies, I mean when else have we seen murderous elderly people?
3. Most disturbing: No competition here, the final third of Audition disturbed me so much that I can’t look at Asian girls the same way anymore. The only problem is that I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to sit through this film again.
4. Scream queen: Simone Simon from Cat People, attractive yet weird and creepy.
5. Worst: The Embalmer, the box cover promised me a scary version of Skeletor and all I got was this lousy tee shirt. Also, the remake of The Fog was dreadful.
6. So bad it’s good: Head of the Family, I mean, he has an enormous head, that’s just so freakin’ funny! It’s just so large, oh God, I have tears in my eyes.
7. Goriest: I’d have to go with Infection on this one. Summerisle wasn’t as taken with the ooze of the infection because it was green, but I was totally disgusted. The sounds alone made me want to hurl.
8. Most memorable death: The first victim in House of Wax meets a terrible end involving a lot of hot wax.
9. Best looking monster: Wow, I didn’t really see a lot of “monster” movies this year. I guess I’ll go with the bloody boy from Shallow Grave.
10. Scariest: Not a lot to choose from this year. Again, the Asians have it with their creepy, longhaired women. I’d go with Premonition or Face.
11. Best Horror Release in 2005: If I was going to go strictly by what I watched during the Horrorthon I’d have to go with House of Wax, although Shallow Ground was good too despite the incoherent final few minutes.