Complete List of Winners for the 2017 Fright Meter Awards

The Fright Meter Awards committee that recognizes the best in horror recently annnounced the winners for the 2017 Fright Meter Awards. Here's the complete list.

Best Picture: The Witch

Best Director: Robert Eggers - The Witch

Best Actor: John Goodman - 10 Cloverfield Lane

Best Actress: Anya Taylor-Joy - The Witch

Best Supporting Actor: Richard Break - 31

Best Supporting Actress: Melynda Kiring - All Through the House

Best Screenplay: The Invitation

Best Short Film: The Stylist

Best Editing: Don't Breathe

Best Cinematography: The Neon Demon

Best Score: The Neon Demon

Best Makeup: Baskin

Best Special Effects: Krampus


  

Official Nominees for the 2017 Fright Meter Awards

The Fright Meter Awards recently announced its nominees for the 2017 Fright Meter Awards that yours truly is involved in. Here's the complete list of nominees.

Best Horror Movie

Don't Breathe
Green Room
The Invitation
Krampus
The Witch

Best Director

Fede Alvarez - Don't Breathe
Michael Dougherty - Krampus
Robert Eggers - The Witch
Karyn Kasuma - The Invitation
James Wan - The Conjuring 2

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Vera Farmiga - The Conjuring 2
Jane Levy - Don't Breathe
Kate Siegel - Hush
Anya Taylor-Joy - The Witch
Mary Elizabeth Winstead - 10 Cloverfield Lane

Best Actor in a Leading Role

John Goodman - 10 Cloverfield Lane
Stephen Lang - Don't Breathe
Logan Marshall-Green - The Invitation
Henry Rollins- He Never Died
Anton Yelchin - Green Room

Best Supporting Actress

Tammy Blanchard - The Invitation
Kate Dickie - The Witch
Melynda Kiring - All Through the House
Jena Malone - The Neon Demon
Imogen Poots - Green Room

Best Supporting Actor

Richard Brake - 31
John Gallagher Jr. - 10 Cloverfield Lane
Ralph Ineson -The Witch
Dong-soek Ma - Train to Busan
Patrick Stewart - Green Room

Best Screenplay

10 Cloverfield Lane
Don't Breathe
The Invitation
Krampus
The Witch

Best Make Up

31
Baskin
Bite
Clown
Krampus

Best Score

31
Green Room
Krampus
The Neon Demon
The Witch

Best Editing

10 Cloverfield Lane
Don't Breathe
The Invitation
Krampus
The Witch

Best Cinematography

The Conjuring 2
The Invitation
The Neon Demon
The Shallows
The Witch

Best Short Horror Film

Heir
Killer Friends
Night Stalker
Sandman
The Stylist

Best Special Effects

10 Cloverfield Lane
The Conjuring 2
Krampus
Lights Out
The Shallows

The Horror Chamber's Top 10 Films of 2016 #6 - #10

2016 has come and gone. It was a great year for horror. Over the next two days, I'll be highlighting the ten best horror films of 2016. Today, I'll start with 6 - 10.

6. Nina Forever

“Nina Forever” was one of those very odd horror comedies. It was also one of the best films that I’ve seen all year. One of the things that I liked about this film was the performances. I thought Cian Barry, Abigail Hardingham and Fiona O’Shaughnessy were great together as the three made their characters entertaining especially with the scenes that they are in with each other. It made this film fun. I also liked the way writer/directors Ben & Chris Blaine do a very good job moving the action and making sure the dark humor is timed very well while focusing on the film’s main character. It made it very twisted and entertaining. Check this film out on VOD and Shudder.

7. The Invitation

The Invitation was one of those films that takes a while to get in to, but the end result made it one of the best thrillers of 2016. One of the things that made this very good was Karyn Kusama’s direction. He’s able to keep you interested through the way that he directs the performances and action. It kept my interest and made me wonder if the main character is breaking down or is there’s something sinister at work. The screenplay from Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi was very good. I liked how they build up the suspense by focusing on his main character and the dinner party. By doing that, it allows everything to be built up to the very intense last act. It makes it worth through sitting through the dialogue scenes which was also very good. It also helped that the film has great performances from Logan Marshall Green and Tammy Blanchard as they help drive this film as the troubled ex couple. This worth checking out if you like intense thrillers.

8. Harvest Lake

If “The Neon Demon” wasn’t released this year, I would be considering this as the oddest film of the year. It was the follow up from “Found“ director Scott Schirmer. One of the things why I liked it a lot was the screenplay. It does a very good job with the way that it handles the dark elements especially with the sex scenes as they had a bizarre tone and added level of dread. The other thing that I liked was that it had a very good cast that included Elle Church, Tristen Risk, Kevin Roach and Dan Nye as the performances kept me interested as the story developed.

9. 10 Cloverfield Lane

Going into “10 Cloverfield Lane”, I was expecting it to be more like “Cloverfield” with the found footage format and everything. Instead, this was way different and way better than “Cloverfield” as it mostly felt like an Alfred Hitchcock film than a straight up monster film. Most of that had to do with the screenplay. I like how the screenwriters go something completely different by going the thriller route for most of it. It made some the scenes intense and made the story feel different from other sci-fi films. The film also has great performances from John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. This could’ve easily been made by Alfred Hitchcock.

10. 31

Rob Zombie was back in 2016 with one of his goriest and one of his best films to date with“31”. This film was intense and shocking. It had a 70’s horror vibe to it which made shocking elements work so well. It also had villains that were terrifying to watch. This also has very good supporting performances from Richard Brake as the twisted Doom-Head. The performance alone literally brought the film to another level as it gives the gloom and doom that this film is going for.

Honorable Mentions: Bed of the Dead, Model Hunger, Flesh for the Inferno, The ID, Vampyres

Review: "31"

Rob Zombie has been an interesting direction. When I saw his first film “House of 1,000 Corpses”, it only latest 10 minutes as I thought the beginning was awful and it was going to stupid. It was so bad that I didn’t want to ever see a Rob Zombie film ever again. My opinion of him as a filmmaker changed when he came out with his version of the classic horror film “Halloween” back in 2007. Ever since then, I’ve have seen every one of his films including his best film “The Devil’s Rejects” and everything except 1,000 of House Corpses. This leads me to his latest film “31” which deals with a bunch of homicidal clowns and aristocrats.

The film is about five carnival workers who get kidnapped by a bunch of homicidal clowns and aristocrats. They are forced to play their game called 31 for the 12 hours. The object of the game to fight and survive against their captors. If they can, they may just walk out of there alive. The film stars Sheri Moon Zombie, Malcolm McDowell, Richard Brake, Elizabeth Daily, Meg Foster, Jeff Daniel Phillips and Lew Temple.

It seems like every Rob Zombie film is either one of those where you love it or you really hate it and wish he’d stop directing film. This film has same theory with all of the reviews for this film. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say that “31” is equal or better than “The Devil’s Rejects. One of the reasons that it very good was Zombie’s direction. He does a very good job with the way that he directs the action. The scenes were thought out very well as it had an intense 70’s throwback feel to them where it puts you on the edge of your seat. It also helped that the tone of film also added to the intense action. The other thing that makes it very good were the performances. Zombie does a very good job making sure the performances work with the film’s tone. Whether it’s the way that he directs his villains to the other characters in the film, he makes sure that they stand out in one way from other.

Speaking of standing out, I thought Richard Blake stood out from everyone in this film. I liked how he make his character Doom-Head very sinister through the way that he approaches the character from the way that he speaks to the way that he moves. It had a sinister tone that keeps you frightened. Hopefully this will get him more work in the genre, as he does a great job pulling off this character.

Zombie’s screenplay was also good. What I liked about it that he keeps the level of dread throughout very dark and intense. Whether it’s the film’s opening scene to the ending, it had that level of frightening moments that make a horror film stand out. It’s what makes this a shocking film for the entire time. The other thing that makes the screenplay good was the fact that the villains had a demented personality to them. Whether its characters like Doom-Head, Sex-Head and Sick-Head, they brought a level of the dread that makes the horror in the film feel horrifying. It adds to the film’s disturbing and bloody tone.

“31” is an intense and shocking film from start to finish. If you’re on the fence on getting Rob Zombie’s “31”, get it today as this is the most shocking and gory film that you’ll see this year.

Review Rating: Five Stars.