Pretty much every movie related website on the Internet has come up with some sort of Best of the Decade list over the past month. But while the majority of them focused on straight up “Best of” lists featuring relatively well known films, I figured in the spirit of this website that I would instead focus on the lesser known films that have been made over the past ten years.
But one question I had to figure out was just how should I whittle down films as “Long Tail” films. Plenty of films started out as smaller films that eventually found their audience, while there is certainly a fair share of films that were initially given a wide release. So I decided I would use two different determining factors to help figure out which films would be considered part of the long tail.
The first is the amount of screens the film was released on during its theatrical run here in the US. I decided to go with a relatively small number of screens as the ceiling (100 at the films widest release) and that any film that broke that would simply be dismissed. This number essentially acts as the films initial chance to gain potential viewers. Films eliminated by this include The Proposition (158 screens), City of God (242 screens) and The Triplets of Bellville (463 screens).
Secondly I went off of reviews on IMDb.com. Once again I selected a fairly small number of reviews as the ceiling (no more than 10K). This number reflects the film’s total audience, as the films that are more popular with mainstream audiences, or those that have rabid fan followings, typically break that number quite easily. Film eliminated by this number include such seemingly smaller films like Oldboy (28 screens, 87016 votes), Dead Man’s Shoes (2 screens, 16286 votes) and Let the Right One In (53 screens, 45413 votes).
While still far from a perfect system, this seemed to work pretty well in eliminating a fairly large chunk of lesser known films, making it a far more manageable task for me to select some of my favorites from what remained. One interesting note, this process seemed to favor documentaries as twelve ended up making the list. So while the quality of documentaries has grown throughout the decade, it still seems like the form still has a ways to go to capture the public’s attention.
And without further ado, I give you this decades 30 Best Long Tail Films.
Pontypool is a bit of a favorite both here and at Row Three, so the chance for Andrew and i to sit down with producer Jeff Coghlan and ask him some questions about the film was a real treat. Is the trilogy still in the works? How awesome is Stephen McHattie? And just what is up with the final scene in the movie? All those questions and more are answered, and listen up for a rare podcast cameo from Film Junk’s Jay Cheel as well.
It has taken some time, but finally the Canadian Zombie but not Zombie film Pontypool will make its theatrical debut here in the Twin Cities at none other then the Oak Street Cinema as part of their Late Night Horror series. The film will play on September 24-26th at 9:30 pm each night.
Minnesota Film Arts is also promising that this will be the first in what they claim will be a weekly horror series. As much as I hope this is true, I’m sure most members of the Twin Cities film community knows better then to get their hopes up when it comes to the Oak Street, and I’m no different. But even though I am unconvinced at the idea of the Oak Street pulling off a horror series, I will still make sure to head over there to watch Pontypool in all its 35mm glory and I hope you do as well.
Of course, once you finally do watch the film be sure to check out my rather long winded essay on the film. It might actually make sense to you then.
Warning! The follow editorial does contain spoilers. Proceed with caution!
Being born in 1976 I have missed most, if not all, of what I would consider the major tide changes in horror film making here in the United States. The two closest to my heart, and in my opinion the two most important films, being Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Some might say that I was able to witness a similar precedent with The Blair Witch Project, which is a fair point to make. But I think that over the course of time since The Blair Witch Project was released has proven the film to be far more influential in the marketing of films, and specifically the rise of viral marketing, then it has influenced the horror genre.
But while The Blair Witch Project certainly was influential, Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were revolutionary by comparison. Both were low budget shock fests that relied far more on mood and atmosphere to set the table for the scares they were about to serve the audience then most of the other low budget fare of their time. Night of the Living Dead was serious whereas other horror films of the day were campy. And The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, despite its reputation, isn’t bathing in gore as many of its contemporaries were, but rather is a subtle and subdued fright fest. Neither are particularly scary by today’s standards and styles, with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre relying on an general level of creepiness rarely matched in any other film, and Night of the Living Dead almost suffocating the viewer with tension. And while these two might not be the best horror films ever made, particularly in the case of Night of the Living Dead where most people, myself included, view its sequel Dawn of the Dead to be the superior film, but these two films introduced audiences to new concepts and styles in horror, with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre masterfully manipulating audiences with its “based on actual events” premise. As much as I would like to discuss The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the lack of zombies in the film make it a bit difficult to directly correlate to the film that made me want to write this piece in the first place. But Night of the Living Dead on the other hand, brought about a whole new and terrifying meaning to the word zombie, which is quite relevant to what I wish to discuss.
Before the walking, brain-eating living dead zombies that flood current pop culture ever existed, the zombie was a vastly different monster. The concept of the zombie originated in the Caribbean where the belief is held that a certain kind of puffer fish is poisonous enough to cause people to slip into a death like coma for several days and the inevitable result of this being that people are often buried alive. It is believed that this technique had been co-opted by various criminal elements, and through their employment of Voodoo sorcerer’s (called bokors), that they can control these beings once they are revived from their horrific slumber. The region’s strong religious beliefs have led to the notion that anyone this happens to is at the mercy of the bokor that revives them. This practice was of course showcased in the fantastic film The Serpent and the Rainbow as well as the totally unappreciated, yet equally fantastic, Weekend at Bernie’s II. And while these films are now modern day exceptions to the norm, up until the release of Night of the Living Dead the basic premise of the zombie was someone who was powerless to resist the mind control of another person. But then Night of the Living Dead changed everything.
Since the release of Night of the Living Dead and its revolutionary seminal take on zombies, this has become a relatively stale sub-genre. There are still plenty of good zombie films being made, but there have been few innovations on the zombie concept in the decades since. Fast moving zombies, considered revolutionary by the uneducated when they appeared in Zach Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead, had already been implemented in 1985’s Return of the Living Dead. The idea of worms or parasites controlling a host body, used most recently in the film Slither, was used earlier in the 1987 film Night of the Creeps, and even then it was clearly an homage to the iconic 1957 horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 28 Days Later showed perhaps the most innovation of this group by changing from living dead zombies to a viral hate plague, but even it relied on a blood born pathogen for transmission and used what would soon become the cinematic standard of using fast moving ghouls. Even the Spanish horror film [Rec] showed further innovation by sequestering the victims in the same building as the zombies rather then have them hiding in a building with the menace outside. [Rec]2 looks to increase the claustrophobia even more by using first-person camera angles to draw the viewer directly into the film. All of these are welcomed additions to the sub-genre, and when used well can make for a unique and enjoyable viewing experience, but by no means has the sub-genre done much more then implement minor tweaks on a premise that has existed relatively undisturbed for fifty years. That is, until Pontypool came along and changed everything.
This one looks to prove that you can make a successful zombie movie without really hving any zombies, as this Canadian film focuses on a radio host who listens to his various callers as they try to report on the zombie plague ripping through the city.
Pretty much every movie related website on the Internet has come up with some sort of Best of the Decade list over the past month. But while the majority of them focused on straight up “Best of” lists featuring relatively well known films, I figured in the spirit of this website that I would instead focus on the lesser known films that have been made over the past ten years.
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