Here’s my ballot so far. I’ve got a lot of things to narrow down and am just listing things right now, ordering them in my sense of general preference.
I haven’t seen a lot of movies that I wish I had: Zodiac, The Mist, The Orphanage, Frontier(s), Inside and Black Sheep. From the press they've received they could have appeared on any number of these awards, and they were all released within the voting period.
I just saw [REC], and I recommend it to everyone. It’s a Spanish movie about people stuck in a quarantined apartment building that is freaky as Hell. It’s neck-and-neck with Hatchet for my movie of the year; Hatchet was hilarious and guilty fun, but [REC] was serious business. Hard to compare them.
Horror Movie Of The Year.
-Hatchet
-[REC]
-1408
-Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon
-BBC’s Sweeney Todd
-Vacancy
-Number 23
-30 Days of Night
-Beowulf
-I Am Legend
-Fido
-Severance
-28 Weeks Later
-Wrong Turn 2
Best Villain.
-Sweeney Todd (Ray Winstone, BBC’s Sweeney Todd)
-Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder, Hatchet)
-The hotel/Olin as the personification of the hotel (Sam Jackson, 1408)
-Mason, motel manager (Frank Whaley, Vacancy)
-Leslie Vernon (Behind the Mask)
Scream Queen.
-Angela, the reporter (Manuela Velasco in [REC])
-Taylor Gentry, the director (Angela Goethals, Behind the Mask)
-Amy Fox, the wife (Kate Beckinsale, Vacancy)
-The ladies of Hatchet
Best Hero.
-Leslie Vernon, serial killer in search of a legacy (Nathan Baesel, Behind the Mask)
-Walter Sparrow, man obsessed with a book (Jim Carrey, Number 23)
-Mike Enslin, professional skeptic (John Cusack, 1408)
-Robert Neville, last man on earth (Will Smith, I Am Legend)
-Predator (AVP:Requiem)
Favorite Secondary Character.
-Shawn, the Asian tour guide (Parry Shen, Hatchet)
-Marcus, black best friend (Deon Richmond, Hatchet)
-Doc Halloran, the “Ahab” (Robert Englund, Rise of Leslie Vernon)
-Mr. Bottoms (Henry Czerny, Fido)
-Cesar, greasy bigot (
, [REC])
-Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell, Rob Zombie's Halloween)
Best Death Scene.
-Victor Crowley rips an old lady’s face in half (Hatchet)
-Infected victim falls to his death out of nowhere ([REC])
-Construction vehicle rips through vampires (30 Days of Night)
-Beltsander murder (Hatchet)
Favorite Scene.
-Exploration of the basement lab in [REC]
-Ending of Hatchet
-“Thanxgiving” trailer in Grindhouse
-A delusion of Olin rips into sadistic skepticism in 1408
-All Hell breaks loose in the stairwell in [REC]
-The opening documentary film in Fido
-Assisted suicide via an axe in 30 Days of Night
-Watching the tape collection in Vacancy
-Shooting up to turn in 30 Days of Night
-House attack from 28 Weeks Later
-The knife chair in Saw 4
-Virtuous heroine “exposed” in Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon
-Jim Carey’s breakdown and revelation in Number 23
Worst Movie.
-Kaw
-The Reaping
-P2
-The Messengers
-AVP:Requiem
-Rob Zombie's Halloween
-Saw 4
Lamest Death.
-The “hate crime murder” in Stir of Echoes 2: Homecoming
-The "whoops!" miscarriage in Saw 4
-Beating the bully in Rob Zombie's Halloween
-Dog killed by rabid birds in Kaw
-The dad who somehow loses his arm and hours later gives "birth" anyway
-Dog put down by Neville in I Am Legend
-Grendel withering after losing his arm in Beowulf
Worst Character.
-The son in Stir of Echoes 2: Homecoming
-The heroine in P2
-The main white cop in Saw 4
-The daughter in 28 Weeks Later
-Mike's dad in Rob Zombie's Halloween
-Loser pizza delivery boy in AVP:Requiem
-Michaels' older sister in Rob Zombie's Halloween
-Kid in The Messengers
Overlooked/Underrated Film.
-[REC]
-The Number 23
-Hatchet
-Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Life Time Achievement.
-Alfred Hitchcock
-Vincent Price
-Donald Pleasence
-Boris Karloff
-George Romero
-Stephen King
-Robert Englund
-Kane Hodder
Personal Award: Enough Already: Trope That Needs to Die.
-The plot twist where it turns out the villain was the hero all along, ala SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS Secret Window, SPOILERS Fight Club, High Tension, SPOILERS Revolver, Number 23, etc. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
-Long, sympathetic backstories for otherwise remorseless, 1- or 2-dimensional killers
-Heroes/villains dying at the end of a movie for the sake of dying