Top 10 Horror Buzz Meter: Can Saw stay on top?

By SpookyDan

It’s October which means Halloween and that means SAW… at least it used to?

The Buzz is in and Paranormal Activity is leading the charge, with Trick ’r Treat coming in second and Saw 6 in third position still going strong.
***Buzz data collected by a super computer in my brain, based on the collected amount of conversations I have had with random horror fans.

Top 10 Buzzing movies in Horror October 2009
1. Paranormal Activity (In theaters now)
2. Trick ‘r Treat (DVD)
3. Saw 6 (In theaters now)
4. The Human Centipede (festival circuit)
5. The Hills Run Red (DVD)
6. Drag Me To Hell (DVD)
7. Zombieland (In theaters now)
8. Halloween 2 (Rob Zombie)
9. Dead Girl (DVD)
10. Repo! The Genetic Opera (In theaters now and on DVD)

Top 10 Buzzing movies for upcoming Horror films
1. The Human Centipede
2. A Nightmare on Elm St (remake)
3. Antichrist
4. The Wolfman
5. The Fourth Kind
6. Mother’s Day
7. Frozen
8. Dread
9. Dark House
10. 2001 Maniacs – Field of Screams

Take a step back for a moment and remember fondly of the days when Jigsaw didn’t exist. Back when Horror was young and fragile with entries like Valentine and I Know What You Forgot You Did Last Summer part 3. But the days of The WB are gone and with that the days of the beautiful screaming teens following in the tradition of Scream are gone as well. Then on a magical day two guys named James Wan and Leigh Whanell wrote and directed a new horror film; SAW. That was the historic day that Twisted Pictures was born, Lionsgate returned to importance, and our hero JIGSAW is to be the new Icon of Horror! A franchise and a new era of Horror arrived kicking and screaming like a newborn.

Now, 5 sequels later (and two more in development) Jigsaw has killed many more deserving souls, and his many assistants have helped him carry out his mission to rid the world of naughty people. The horror franchise is alive and well with its latest entry SAW 6 and loads of fans are dying to see it. Saw has transcended the overused description “torture porn”, and become synonymous with Halloween. Just like many others, I will line up to see the latest entry this weekend, and Saw will undoubtedly collect millions of bucks from its devoted followers. Horror is alive and well in 2009 and Saw 6 will do nothing but help the $$$ roll in toward the year end horror box office.

But will Saw 6 be the sequel that everyone wants to revisit? Longevity is something that everyone is familiar with. Over the last year the local revival theater The New Beverly has enjoyed countless sold out shows of movies from our past. And only time will tell what films demand repeated viewings. As a horror guy I talk to a lot of horror fans and they seem to be talking about something else this season, two new horror films have been all the buzz this year: Paranormal Activity and Trick ‘r Treat.

These two films have horror and pop culture all talking.

Trick ‘r Treat
Michael Dougherty created a nasty love letter to Halloween that horror fans across the globe are calling “the next great Halloween classic”, and “A perfect Halloween film”. It delivers the blood, the boobs and the right tone to warrant multiple viewings, while also being smart and clever. Yet for whatever reason Warner Bros decided that it was to be a direct to DVD release (studios can be dumb). As of yesterday I have been to about 10 stores looking for the blu-ray release, without any luck. I gave up and rented it. Is it possible that all of Los Angeles is still sold out of Trick ‘r Treat? And with so many people talking about how cool it is, why is it that I cannot find a copy?

Paranormal Activity
Is it the next Blair Witch Project? Maybe it is, but maybe it’s just simply a good and scary film. Shot with a tiny budget, and leaving everyone talking about how scary it is and how one guy named Oren Peli made a smart horror film with no money that is making Millions. Many movie studios are now looking at the marketing plan as the new way to sell films. I have no doubt that in the coming year we will see a huge amount of no budget films shot this way and given the big studio push, hoping that it will catch on the way that this has… but they will probably suck. How long before we see knock offs called Supernatural Motion or Paranormal House? Maybe you should give me $12,000 bucks and I will film spooky stuff in my house…wait…I know; HAUNTED DOG…my dog Frankie can be the star, I will add some ghostly doggie VFX and we can even set up the sequel called HAUNTED CAT! The point is Haunted Dog may sound silly, yet some studio exec has probably already green lit it. (If not, email me dan@spookydan.com and we can set up a meeting to cut the check)