365 Days Of Horror: Facts, Stats, and Numbers

Facts, Stats, and Numbers from 365 Days Of Horror

Uh...I'd like to buy a vowel.

The reviews may be over, but that doesn't mean the fun has to stop. Over the days and weeks, I'll be putting up a few posts about my experience watching a years worth of horror movies. I plan on writing a "Best Of" list talking about the movies I enjoyed the most, my favorite scenes, and all that other good stuff. I also plan on writing a "Worst Of" or "Razzie" list of the worst things I had to sit through. That will take some time since I saw some truly terrible movies. First, though, I thought it may be fun for loyal readers and casual observers to see some of the stats that came out of a blog updated literally every day with new content. Some numbers are obvious while others are truly surprising. Enjoy!

All-time Pageviews for 365 Days Of Horror

 67, 109

Months With The Most Views

December (14,450)

October (12,604)

November (8,777)

Months With The Least Views

February (934)

January (1,204)

April (1,216)

Reviews With The Most Views

Day 337: It - 3103

Day 155: Dead Silence - 2888

Day 251: Jennifer's Body - 1065

Day 182: Dead Snow - 899

Day 99: Masters of Horror: Fair-Haired Child - 878

Day 102: Village Of The Damned - 738

Day 244: Child's Play - 501

Day 365: Night Of The Living Dead- 397

Day 106: The Lost Tribe - 297

Day 65: Satan's Little Helper - 272

Reviews With The Least Views

Masters Of Horror: Homecoming - 15

I Sell The Dead - 16

Beast of Bray Road - 17

Daybreakers - 17

The Stuff - 18

The Mummy - 18

Night Of The Comet - 19

The Orphan - 19

The Resurrected - 22

Diary Of The Dead - 23

Thanks for pointing to the antiquated part of the internet

Top Referring Websites

Google

Reddit.com

Facebook

Twitter

Bing

Top Browsers

Chrome

Firefox

Internet Explorer

Safari

Opera

Top Mobile Devices

Android

iPhone

iPad

iPod

Blackberry

I can't find Candyland anywhere on this map.

Top Pageviews by Country

United States - 29426

United Kingdom - 6046

Canada - 2310

Russia - 1659

Germany - 1616

Italy - 1188

France - 1174

Brazil - 997

Australia - 743

Turkey - 463

Unexpected Countries That Have Visited The Site Over The Past Year (that I can remember)

Jersey

Netherlands Antilles

Madagascar

Ivory Coast

Guam

Bahrain

Cyprus

Sierra Leon

French Polynesia

Iraq

Iceland

Luxembourg

Oman

Djibouti

Qatar

Burikina Faso

Azerbaijan

Day 260: The Bunker

The Bunker

Pvt. Skeletonface reporting for duty, Sir!

War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! There are no shortage of war movies and there are countless horror movies out there, but rarely do the two genres meet. It's actually surprising how few war/horror movies are out there given the fact that "war is hell". There is already so much blood and carnage in war that you'd think it would be a natural setting for horror. The same could be said for Westerns in horror. These movies do exist, there has just never been a great standout. What is it about war and horror that are so difficult to mix together into one great movie? All it takes is one great war-themed horror movie to spawn a a practically untouched subgenre.

The Bunker is a 2001 supernatural/psychological horror movie directed by Rob Green (House [2008], The Trick). Set near the German-Belgian border in 1944, a group of German Panzer soldiers are ambushed by American soldiers. They seek refuge in an old bunker being manned by a teenage soldier named Neumann (Andrew-Lee Potts, Primeval, 1408) and an old soldier named Mirus (John Carlisle, The Omega Factor, The Avengers). When they contact their commanding unit for instructions, they are told to just wait. Mirus informs the soldiers that there are tunnels below the bunker holding ammunition, but he has never ventured far into them. He tells a story of the forest they are in, how a plague ravaged a town and a priest convinced people to murder the infected. As the night progresses, strange sounds are heard from the forest, which the soldiers believe to be Americans. We also see flashes of a traumatic event that occurred previous to the soldiers' arrival at the bunker. Soon Mirus ventures down into the tunnels, believing he is speaking to his dead son. Another soldier follows, and when their commander wakes up, he believes they have deserted and forces the rest of the group down into the tunnels. Deep inside, they discover a pit filled with bones and rotting corpses. The soldiers begin seeing things in the tunnel, believing they are being tricked and psychologically tortured by the Americans. The Germans begin turning on each other, unable to get a grasp on what is going on and who is down there with them. Who or what is haunting the soldiers and how does it fit in with the recent past?

"You can't just yell "Blammo!" You have to actually shoot!"

Initially, I thought The Bunker was going to be a supernatural revenge movie involving dead villagers getting their revenge on Nazi soldiers. Sadly, this isn't the case, which is a shame because who doesn't like seeing Nazis die horrible deaths? The movie puts me in a tough spot because I don't want to feel sympathetic towards Nazis. The Bunker goes for a mixture of psychological horror and supernatural horror, though neither are very good. While we do see shadowy soldiers towards the end of the movie, most of the supernatural elements are implied with shadow and flickering light. Paranoia is the main factor in the movie, and while not executed perfectly, the movie does well enough to get us from point A to point B. It makes me wonder why the filmmakers even bothered trying to make this a horror movie instead of just a psychological thriller. The movie clearly doesn't have a large budget, so if you can't pull off spirits, then it's just not worth it.

Most of the money went into sets and uniforms, which both look very good. The acting is good throughout with a cast of people that you may recognize from bit parts in other movies. The film is fairly dark, not in content, but in actual color. While it makes things difficult to see at times, this styling actually serves a purpose. The dark colors are juxtaposed with the bright, dream-like flashbacks that inform the audience of what transpired before the soldiers arrived at the bunker. The atmosphere is fairly good and there's enough suspense to keep the audience interested in seeing what will happen. Unfortunately, the big reveal is kind of a dud, especially when you look at the DVD cover and expected something else. There is a mediocre amount of violence with one good scene involving a flare gun. It's certainly not enough for a movie set in World War II.

"Who left ze smoke machine on again?"

The Bunker had a lot of potential, but just couldn't pull it together for a good horror movie. The psychological fear and paranoia is decent, but the supernatural elements are too sparse to make everything come together. The movie would have been better off as a straight war film than horror. There is nothing particularly scary about the film and the lack of violence in a war movie is disappointing. The costumes and sets look very good and the solid acting helps carry the movie. The Bunker isn't a bad movie, I was just expecting a lot better. If you're looking for a better mix of war and horror, you're better off with Deathwatch.

5/10

Day 243: Anatomy

Anatomy

Oh, those wacky Germans

Guten Tag, alle. Today's review comes from the land of chocolate, beer, schnitzel, and genocide. A German horror movie about murderous medical students seems like a no-brainer. Just about everyone is afraid of doctors and hospitals. Whether it's blood or needles or just hearing bad health news, going to the doctor is rarely a pleasant experience. While there have been a few medical-based horror movies, it's an oft-ignored subgenre despite having a built-in scare factor. Perhaps the Germans can bring the medical horror.

Anatomy is a 2000 German horror movie starring Franka Potente (The Bourne Identity, Run Lola Run) as medical student Paula Henning. Paula wins a spot in the prestigious University of Heidelberg Medical School which was once run by her grandfather. Paula us joined by another girl from Munich named Gretchen. On their train ride, a young man named David, suffering from an enlarged heart, collapses and Paula gives him CPR, saving his life. At the school, they are taught by the strict Professor Grombel (Traugott Buhre) who lays out their difficult and extensive syllabus. All the students go out for drinks on the first night and Paula meets a young man named Caspar (Sebastian Blomberg) while Gretchen meets a student named Hein. David is in the same bar and is attached by an unknown assailant. When he awakens, David is on a dissecting room table at the medical school. He tries to escape, but is killed by two doctors. Paula is shocked to see David on the dissecting table the next day. She secretly sends a tissue sample to her lab friend back home in order to get a cause of death. She also notices that David has a brand on his leg with the label “AAA”. Paula keeps her relationship with Caspar at arm's length while Gretchen eventually leaves Hein, breaking his heart. Paula get's David's results back, explaining that his blood had an outlawed drug called Primodal in it, which plasticized his blood, thus preserving his entire body. She begins doing research on the “AAA” brand and discovers that it was used by a secret society of medical investigators called the Anti-Hippocratic Society. The society performs gruesome medical experiments in the name of science, regardless of hurting or killing people. At the same time, Gretchen begins seeing another boy at school. Enraged, Hein kills the boy and tortures Gretchen. It is revealed that he is part of the Anti-Hippocratic Society and he turns her into one of the cadavers on display at the school. When Paula confronts Hein, he begins to terrorize her. While fleeing, she discover's the society's secret lodge with Professor Grombek inside. He reveals that Paula's grandfather was a member and experimented on prisoners in concentration camps. When the society tries to punish Hein for killing people out of jealousy, Hein kills Grombek and goes after Paula. How will she survive and is Caspar really who he says he is?

That's not sanitary. THAT'S NOT SANITARY!!!

Medical-based horror movies are nothing new, but for whatever reason, they never reach their potential. I was expecting Anatomy to have high amounts of blood and gore, but it never got to that point. In the beginning, I was actually concerned that there would be too much torture in the movie since one of the first scenes is a man waking up in the middle of an autopsy. There are various scenes of body parts and the inner workings of the human bodies which will certainly give some people with weak stomachs cause for concern. Despite this, the movie's horror comes more from Hein's stalking than medical torture. Part of me is glad since I don't like torture, but I feel that more blood and gore would have created a greater sense of danger. There is a good amount of action with some solid chase scenes towards the end, but the violence is pretty tame compared to what I was expecting.

The movie has a pretty good story, far better than other medical horror movies like The Surgeon or The Dentist. The characters are established early and their development progresses well. The pacing is a little slow in certain parts and could have used a few more action scenes to keep things moving along. The mystery and conspiracy are interesting, but things were revealed a little too easily. Hein is not a big part of the first half of the movie, so it was a little odd when he became the main villain. The inclusion of Nazi experimentation had crossed my mind early in the film and I'm glad they touched on it, giving the film a feeling of authenticity. The acting is pretty good all around and the direction captures a fair amount of thrills. The film was thankfully in German, though there are dubbed versions out there. I much prefer subtitles as dubs tend to be distracting and make it impossible to enjoy the acting.

Are they doctors from the future?

Anatomy is a good horror movie for a wide audience, but lacked the blood and guts I was expecting. When you have doctors torturing people, there is a certain amount of gore to be expected, but for whatever reason, Anatomy doesn't go that route. I think have more of that would have created a scarier atmosphere. More effort is put into the story, which is actually pretty good thanks to solid acting and directing. The movie has some good thrills and a scary scene or two. If you're looking for a good movie first, and a decent horror movie second, you might enjoy Anatomy. Auf Wiedersehen!

7/10