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Thanks, Dr. K, for that articulate (and TOTALLY true) video. It seems like I've been having this conversation about unoriginal horror movies a lot lately, and I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head. I'm looking forward to reading that essay!

Candyman was another great horror that used mirrors.

I really don't understand the popularity of these sub standard horror films of the last 6-7 years. Especially since the advent of the SAW and Hostel films. Usually horror films go in cycles.

Usually a couple of really good horror films are released, which are then followed by a large group of poor imitators, eventually turning the public off the whole horror genre for a copule of years at least. This results in studios easing off on the production of horror films.

But these days there doesn't seem to be any let up in the rubbish horror films that studios are producing, which the general public are more than happy to spend their money on.

People should really abscond from watching this rubbish.

Dr. Kermode, with all these horror films being released, surely there are some that are worth seeing? What are the best horror films of the last 10 years?

10) Rec
9) The Orphanage
8) The Passion of The Christ
7) The Descent
6) Final Destination 3
5) Switchblade Romance
4) Shaun of the Dead
3) Dog Soldiers
2) 28 Days Later
1) The Blair Witch Project

So Dr. Kermode, do you know that we know that you know that that's a still from the Gus Van Sant remake of Psycho? Go there with trepidation indeed.

I wonder if this mirror concept comes from drug use. I used LSD in my youth and it's very unnerving when you look in the mirror and don't quite understand the person staring back at you.

Damn I forgot The Mist, sod it!

10.b) The Mist

:D

Is the psycho still a reverse ironical thingywotsit?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I thought The Descent was excellent.

The Orphanage was an elegant horror film but didn't blow me away (much like the Others).

Shaun of the Dead was really funny and clever.

I didn't like 28 days later, way too much shouting for a horror film and found it very mtv/bayish.

The Blair Witch started off really well but loses steam towards the end and I'm guessing it doesn't really stand the test of time.

I thought the Mist was really good and I'm gonna watch it again, in black and white this time, as Darabont originally intended.

I thought They Live was excellent and Eden Lake was really good.

A lot of people were raving about the Saw films, but I was shocked about how utterly rubbish they were.

I hear good things about Wolf Creek.

I'll definitely give Dog Soldiers a go, I think the director is pretty talented.

I might as well check rec and Switchblade romance as well, thanks.

this sound like another nail in the coffin of mainstream horrer.im a huge fan of classic studeo horrer such as tigeron, british lion, amicus and of course hammer. the main problem with horrer as a genre is it is cyclical a trend appears and its followed whether this is portmanteau in the late 60's - early 70's or the modern phenoman that is torture porn. the problom with hollywood is that they cannot get out of their currant cycle and when they do they rip off classic horrer films or rip them off from other countries,why can they not produce a well structered intreasting film?? i mean rec is brilliant so what do they do? make a remake why??what is the point.
at least contemporary spanish cinema and britsh films are flying the flag for the horrer genre when i saw outpost last year it gave me hope that one day horrer will return full circle to the golden age of horrer.
sorry for the rant,
nathan flood bsc

Well I think most Horror films are the same anyway, never mind using mirrors all the time.

Most of them are about a group of teenagers in the middle of no where.

Who smoke too much weed or get drunk and get stabbed to death by someone with a silly mask.

There are normally rock songs of the year shoved in it, which everyone admits years later are rubbish.

Most of the film is quiet until someone jumps out of no where and all of a sudden the volume is on max.

Don't get me wrong there are good horror films.
Like Ringu, REC which came out recently I can think of right away. But then again I’m not a horror fan

I don't think it's poissible to dissorientate the viewer any more than that in a three inch windown on a computer screen. Well done.

And in terms of original horror that offers both viceral excitment and intellectual substance the most obvious candidate has got to be David Cronenberg. Videodrome, Scanners and the seemingly overlooked eXistenZ are my personal favourites.

"the seemingly overlooked eXistenZ"

I agree thats gets overlooked like Strange Days,Punishment Park,Empire Of The Sun,Das Experiment. Lost classics that should get re-released,instead of rubbish like The Broken.

Dear Dr. Mark,

Firstly, a very true critique of the genre.

Now somewhat off topic but I'd be interested to hear your response to this question (on a side note, is there a general section to post comments/questions?)

Have you heard the leaked tape of Christian Bale bleating like a lunatic? If not it is all over youtube and has become quite an internet meme. Incidentally I would like to ask you, are angry filmmakers, be they actors (e.g. Bale), directors (Cameron) or whatever, necessary in the top movie making environments? Does their otherwise inexcusable anger become required to make great films?

NOTE: I am not suggesting Terminator Salvation will be a great film, I was referring more to Cameron in that sense.

How ironic that i write a post about Video nasties and film censorship only to have my comment censored.

If only the B.B.C were that quick to censor Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.

Fascism is alive and well and funded by our TV license.

good reviews from reliable sources?
what were these reliable sources?
as with all these unoriginal new main-stream horror films being churned out by the day comes the 'scary as hell' 'i dare you to see it' '****' reviews spewed all over the posters. (just as the new wave of horrible degrading american comedy's have 'funny as hell' 'best comedy of the year' bla bla spilled all over their equally as unoriginal advertisements)
I honestly rarely see these films, there was a time when i would try to make it to every horror film i could possibly could. But NOW, if i see an advertisement up, or a review, for a film such as this one with the same old (and most of the time quiet literally identically written) reviews shrouding their very title, i just dismiss them, who knows i could be missing out on a few really good films, but like you just love to say Mark; I AM RIGHT, 80 or so percent of these films are identically advertised and give me identical effect-nill.

oh god and for the record, if anyone here agrees that HOSTEL was one of the years BIGGEST letdowns please say so, because i feel so alone with that opinion.
With Tarantino's name to it and Roth's marginally eye-catching directing, all these reviews splurred all over it raving about how blisteringly nasty it was, i CAN'T be the only one who was letdown to a level where it caused me physical pain!
Don't get me wrong it was a half-decent film and very well made, yet it had been hyped up so much that i just couldn't appreciate it for what it had been marketed as; a Gore flick, (gore being the keyword, something i didn't recieve much of).
I don't see why people mock the SAW series either, the first film was very underrated, the third dropping out horribly (like all long running slasher series do), the third being a gore fest that filled the gap Hostel left inside of me, then the series degraded into a horrible mess from there...JUST like a slasher series do ALL the time. I believe they will be remembered (even if only by the true cultists)

Dear Maestro Kermode


I have been a great admirer of your work for many years, and so it’s great to see you have a presence here online at the Beeb, and I love it to bits. Hope you don’t get so busy you can’t keep up with it. Consider this my maiden post!

Just to echo your sentiments about THE BROKEN. I too thought that it was a triumph of style over substance: it certainly looked the part, with great visuals and sound (albeit with an overbearing Guy Farley music score), but nothing I haven’t seen before: THE MAN WHO HAUNTED HIMSELF (1970), anyone? To name but one!

Didn’t think you fully gave Lena Headey her due, though. For me, she has the screen presence of a young Charlotte Rampling: she can be a sweetheart one moment, and an ice queen the next, capable of sending quite the fearful shiver down your spine. Not many actresses capable of that. Admittedly, THE BROKEN doesn’t quite showcase her to best effect, but the qualities I admire in her are present and correct in the film, IMHO and, for me, makes it just about palatable. May she get the better roles her talent deserves. That’s my truth and I’m sticking to it!


With admiration and respect


J.

A person who hates women. Doesn't sound like you used the word correctly when describing that supermarket movie, sounds like someone who loved women.