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5.  The Last House on the Left

You can say what you will about remakes or classics or whatever, but let’s be honest – the original, while perhaps groundbreaking, no longer holds up.  It lacks the brutality modern movie-goers can handle.  This remake hits all the same notes, but in the modern age.  Plenty of unsettling violence in this effective remake.

4.  Trick ‘r Treat

I don’t even know when this film first appeared on the radar, or the big screen, but the first time a real audience got to see it was when it came to DVD and Blu-ray this year.  A cool anthology that will definitely became part of your October regular viewing.  Violence, chills, laughs, you want it – you got it.

3.  My Bloody Valentine 3-D

2009 was apparently the year of the remake that I didn’t mind too much.  I actually really enjoyed MBV3D.  It had fun kills, plenty of blood, and full frontal nudity.  This was also one of the first flicks to really prove to me that 3D can work to make a film better without always throwing something at your face. Though this film does throw midgets, pick-axes, and eyeballs at your face.  And its cool.

2.  The Children

A foreign gem of horror that doesn’t hesitate to spill blood, whether it belongs to a group of stuffy adults or some little hellish children.  The Children isn’t afraid to take risks when it comes to showing violence against kids and weaves it all together with a dreadful atmosphere.  A great addition to your Christmas viewing list.

1.  Friday the 13th

Oh yes, another remake and this one tops the list.  Why?  Because I’m a slasher fan.  I love slasher  flicks and I love Jason Voorhees and I am very glad to see him back in action in a non-embarrassing way.  The franchise was dying, but the Platinum Dunes team injected 100ccs of Fuck Yeah back into its veins.  With more than a dozen excellent kills, some awesome laughs (thanks to Aaron Yoo), and six beautiful, perfect breasts.  When you’re making a Friday the 13th flick, you need blood, boobs, and plenty of dead kids.  This film did it right, so it gets the top spot.

There it is.  It’s not a clean list and it’s not necessarily full of good films, but 2009 was a rough year for horror, at least for this old school slasher fan.  I’d really love to hear what films you loved below in the comments.  For the record, I did miss House of the Devil and Dead Girl, but as I mentioned, struggled with what films should actually be eligible for a 2009 award, because of release dates.

Read More: Year in Review