(also see my music list below the fold)
Year-end top-ten lists can be so...contemporary. We have over a half-century of television, nearly a century of film, and centuries of art and music to explore and discover. When faced with the staggering maw of creative history, whatever jazzed you in the last year can quickly lose relevance. In addition, items that resonated during the last several months of the year inevitably take precedence over things that emerged at year's beginning. Still, people seem to love these list dealies, and after musing over the concept a while, I think I've come up with a way to deliver the goods without betraying my ingrown disdain for the practice.
None of the films in this list are new, as in NOW PLAYING, though a few are relatively recent releases on DVD:
Calvaire (2004) - By far the best of the French-language xenophobic "dread of the country folk" horror sub-subgenre (also see Frontière(s), Sheitan.) An itinerant singer/performer gets caught in a web of delusion surrounding a group of psychotic farmers who haven't seen an outsider in, well, a long time. Tight and precise, Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz's first feature has not a single shot wasted and remains visually engrossing and dramatically tense throughout. Look for an early cameo by Jean Rollin prodigy/French porn star Brigitte Lahaie. The high-end cast also includes Laurent Lucas, a veteran of French thrillers like Lemming and Harry un ami qui vous veut du bien, and Philippe Nahon, who you may recognize from Haute Tension, or as Gaspar Noé's Butcher. One reason this film ends up on a 2008 list is that it nagged at my subconscious until I watched it a second time—only then did I fully appreciate its brilliance. Du Welz' new film, Vinyan, also looks quite promising.
Cloverfield (2008) - Part of the reason this film won me over was its not-so-metaphorical depiction of Manhattan as a big, giant trap (all you people who are loathe to leave the island will want to get out right quick when a gigantic, powerful monster attacks.) Though I'm typically not a fan of CGI, the method used here is spare and effective, and the viewer is never over-exposed to the totality of the monster in question. The narrative flows fast and stays unpredictable throughout, with shocks aplenty. Cloverfield is proof that a great monster movie can still be made, with a minimum of means at that.
The Signal (2007) - Three directors collaborated on this technophobic/survivalist nightmare, and just when you thought the concept of a deadly, mind-warping electronic transmission was finished as a horror-film premise, these guys have kept it fresh. The Signal gets off to a rocking start immediately and never stops moving (always a joy for me, as I'm often seen in my living room, 30 minutes into a film, shouting "where are the zombies?!?") The story is consistently surprising, with loads of unexpected humor and plenty of the red, red kroovy for the gorehounds.
Naboer (Next Door) (2005) - A young, Norwegian professional, after an acrimonious breakup with his live-in girlfriend, gets unwillingly submerged in the dark, sensual world of two odd sisters that live next door. The sisters' seemingly endless flat is a masterwork of set design, with dozens of doors and creepy rooms that suggest past horrors. The whole film is remarkably claustrophobic and dense, in an unsettling "windmills of my mind" sort of way. Next Door is also notable for featuring one of the most unusual, violent, but undeniably hot sex scenes in recent film history.
The Nude Vampire/The Iron Rose - Two of director Jean Rollin's 1970s films recently made available (Autumn 2007) as part of the Salvation label's ongoing Rollin collection. Though the director's work is often much maligned as being cheap and cheesy, the fact is that his films are consistently visionary and compelling, especially when one considers that they are some of the most inexpensive productions to come out of France. It's my understanding that Rollin works each film outward from a set of pre-conceived imagery, filling in the sometimes spare narrative as he goes. If you like beautiful, young Europeans in 70s-mod fashion, sexy female vampires, crumbling chateaus and moody beach scenes, Rollin's films will not disappoint. The Iron Rose (1973) is a minimalist piece about a young couple trapped overnight in a cemetery, while The Nude Vampire (1970), Rollin's second feature, reads like a cross between one of his vampire dramas and a classic Trek episode.
