4) The Revenant
Director: Kerry Prior
So what if the Boondock Saints were undead, one was ex-military, and they decided to clean the streets of scumbags? That’s exactly what The Revenant is about, as best friends Joey (Chris Wylde) and Bart (David Anders) deal with the latter’s zombification after he’s killed in Iraq. Joey acts as any best friend should, trying by any means to keep his undead friend “alive,” but soon realizes human blood will be the only way to slay Bart’s ravenous hunger. Well, hell, if you’re going to eat people, why not at least eat the bad ones?
But besides the whole Bart is a Revenant thing, only reanimating at night to drink blood, Kerry Prior’s script is rather funny and commanding, going far beyond the boundaries of a “buddy flick.” This isn’t just two unique friends getting in zany situations together. There are wonderful bouts of true friendship and awesomely comedic horror writing which rivals some of the funniest genre films in recent years, helped by fantastic chemistry between Anders and Wylde. My review tackles many other beautiful details about the film, so feel free to check it out if you’re interested!
Director: Sean Byrne
I was fortunate enough to catch this little doozie back in 2010 and have known of Sean Byrne’s magnificent take on the “torture porn” genre for quite some time now, but 2012 finally saw a mainstream release here in the states for a deservedly wider audience. I mean, OK, prom is a horrifying enough ordeal for some teenagers as it is, but The Loved Ones takes awkward teen romance and turns it into dastardly horror provided by an obsessive love that consumes a young girl and drives her into a psychotic madness.
The term stalker is a dangerous understatement when describing main character Lola, as Robin McLeavy gives us a hypnotically unsettling performance while kidnapping her crush Brent (Xavier Samuel) right before prom. Waking up in captivity, Brent has to struggle for his life while being tormented by Lola and her protective father. There’s a wonderfully incestuous dynamic hinted at between Lola and her father to make the situation even more dark, but the true horror festers in McLeavy’s performance as an incredibly jaded schoolgirl who goes leaps and bounds farther than we’d like to imagine, enjoying every minute of it.
This is one of those underrated gems that if you’ve missed until now becomes a must see. Seriously horror fans, get on The Loved Ones if you somehow haven’t already!