Top 5 Movies by the Splat Pack

In time for Halloween comes my list of the top five movies from the Splat Pack. The unofficial group of filmmakers who have created some of the scariest and bloodiest horror movies of the last decade, bring the current horror genre back to a state where it can rival the golden ages of violent, boundary pushing horror long gone. Check these out if you're looking for something more current to check out this Halloween.


 The Splat Pack is an unofficial term coined for a group of horror filmmakers and directors who are currently experiencing great success in the horror genre. Taking the genre in the opposite direction of the era of PG-13 teen slashers and horror flicks, the unofficial group has brought about a resurgence of extremely violent, gory and depraved low budget horror films which are dominating the Hollywood competition.

The "Frank Sinatra" of the Splat Pack is none other than Eli Roth, who's success with Hostel has made the new "torture porn" era of exploitation movies rather well known if not mainstream. Along with him are: Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes), Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II and Saw III), Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers), Leigh Whannell (Saw), Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) and James Wan ("Saw"). Because the group is unofficial and the term merely just a label there is no defined members, and different sources consider different people to be a part. I won't count Robert Rodriquez, as he is a well established filmmaker, nor Rob Zombie. Unfortunately, Ti West, my favourite current horror director is not considered to be a part of the list either. So, with who's who nailed down, I will now tell you my Top Five movies by the Splat Pack.



 1. The Descent (Neil Marshall)
The Descent is easily the scariest movie from the Splat Pack, mixing atmospheric horror and claustrophobia with violent creatures and survival. While The Descent definitely put me off spelunking for another couple decades, it didn't have to rely on a lot of gore and unspeakable cruelty to do it. That's not to say that there isn't a lot of violence and blood, but it is driven by the need to survive rather than occurring at the hands of some messed up people. While I don't really recommend the sequel, make sure you check out The Descent.





2. The Hills Have Eyes (Alexandre Aja)
Remakes are always a tough sell, and when Aja decided to remake the less successful  Wes Craven movie about a family who falls prey to a family of mutants in the desert it didn't seem exceptionally promising. However, Aja managed to remake the movie so that it is arguably better than the original. While he didn't bother to explain to much, the premise of a family of mutants surviving in the wasteland of a nuclear test site village proved to be creepy on the level of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Over top of that Aja heaped on a large level of blood and gore to create a horror movie that wasn't just made to just make some teenagers jump. The Washington Post only had one problem with this movie; "It's too damned good."



 3. Hostel (Eli Roth)
I would safely call Hostel the more mainstream of the Splat Pack's work, and I don't necessarily mean that most people have watched it, but that generally everyone has heard of it. Unfortunately, Hostel split audiences into two very different camps. There are those who think the movie is sick, coining the term "torture-porn" and weakly condemning the movie based on it's high levels of gore. The other camp however, see past the disturbing violence and blood to debate on what the movie means as a social commentary on consumerism. For those of you who can look past the blood and gore, you will find a terrifying movie that is surprisingly grounded in reality and will make you question a number of things.



4. Doomsday (Neil Marshall)
As a science fiction thriller Doomsday was not a very big success, as Marshall crafted the post-viral outbreak and quarantined wasteland world full of intriguing questions but in the end provided few answers. However, as a entertaining, violent, grindhouse-esque, B-movie homage it works wonderfully. Doomsday is one of my guilty pleasure movies because where else can you find a movie that will give you a futuristic semi-post-apocalyptic world complete with marauding cannibalistic raiders and medieval knights in castles? After watching it at least 3 times, I can say that Doomsday just never gets boring.




5. Repo! The Genetic Opera (Darren Lynn Bousman)
 While  the Splat Pack may all have the idea of bringing back violent R-rated horror movies, they have covered a wide variety of sub-genres over the last decade. Slashers, grindhouse exploitation, and creature features are some of the most general, but the one contribution that stands out in originality is Bousman's Repo! The Genetic Opera, a horror rock-opera musical that combined all the fun of a rock opera with the visual imagery of a gory organ repossessing gothic world. While not everyone may be able to handle the visuals, you can still appreciate the unique sound that is the genetic opera.