The Absent (2011)
Evil Twin Slasher Film
Ingenue slasher film from Sage Bannick about a teacher finding his pupils are being killed, this eventually settles down as an old hat evil twin plot
Films of 2011
Absentia (2011)
Possible Creatures That Abduct People
The first genre film of Mike Flanagan. A fascinating film about creatures that may be abducting people. The film sits on an ambiguous line that leaves much in doubt, while achieving some strikingly subtle, understated directorial effects
Acid Head: The Buzzard Nuts County Slaughter (2011)
Deliberately Bad Film/Exploitation Homage
Tony Watt strikes again with another of wilfully bad, agonisingly unwatchable films. All the bad acting, plotlessly rambling scenes and random exploitation movie homages that one expects of a Tony Watt film
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Philip K. Dick Adaptation/Manipulation of Fate
A Philip K. Dick adaptation in which Matt Damon gets an accidental glimpse of the people that manipulate fate. This proves very satisfying on a conceptual and storytelling level
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Animation/Comic-Book Character
Steven Spielberg makes a solid effort to bring Hergé’s much loved comic-book character to life in this motion-capture animated effort. This plays free and easy with the original stories but generally gets the spirit of the comics right
Age of the Dragons (2011)
Epic Fantasy/Moby Dick With Dragons
This has a concept so ridiculous it might actually work – a fantasy version of Moby Dick. The sea captain’s obsessive hunt for a whale is transplanted to a fantasy kingdom and the whale made into a dragon
Alfie the Little Werewolf (2011)
Children's Werewolf Film
Film version of a popular series of Dutch children’s books. The lonely bespectacled werewolf boy is the most adorable sight, while the film is a sweetly gentle delight, not making a single wrong misstep
Alien Opponent (2011)
Rednecks vs Alien
Predator as enacted by a bunch of comically caricatured rednecks and white trash characters in a junkyard. The film is a cheaply produced, one-note joke that soon becomes tedious
Aliens Vs. Avatars (2011)
Alien Monster
This seems amusingly construed as a mash-up between two of James Cameron’s most famous titles … what we get is a painfully cheap film about people being pursued through the woods by an alien creature
All-Star Superman (2011)
Comic-Book Superhero/Animation
Another of the DC animated films, based on a work that reinterpreted Superman. This is somewhat bitsy in condensing a 12-issue series to a 73-minute film but holds some moments of great writing
All Superheroes Must Die (2011)
Superhero Film
Low-budget superhero film. With a plot that strips the superheroes of their powers and them facing a villain’s deathtraps, we end up with little more than a Saw copy in funny costumes
Almighty Thor (2011)
Asylum Mockbuster/Norse God Comes to Earth
Another of The Asylum’s mockbusters in this case blatantly ripping off the then recent Marvel Comics adaptation Thor, all made with The Asylum’s typical cut-rate production values
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011)
Singing Chipmunks
It may say how doomed the Western world is that people have paid to watch three films so far all centred around these annoyingly cutsie helium-voiced chipmunks. This is marginally less annoying that the preceding two
Alyce (2011)
Modernised Urban Alice in Wonderland
The director of Zombie Strippers! offers up Alice in Wonderland as a modern urban tale that becomes an allegory for a drug-induced journey into a disturbed headspace
The Amityville Haunting (2011)
Haunted House/Found Footage
Not long after the success of Paranormal Activity, The Asylum tried the bandwagon with the novelty of repackaging The Amityville Horror as a Found Footage film
Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes (2011)
True Life Exorcism/Found Footage Film
An Asylum film that has the idea of staging a retelling of the true-life Anneliese Michel story that formed the basis of The Exorcism of Emily Rose as a Found Footage film
Another Earth (2011)
Mirror Earth
An indie hit starring/co-written by Brit Marling that is a well-played mumblecore drama about redemption and loneliness. On the other hand, the central premise of a mirror Earth is preposterous science-fiction
Apollo 18 (2011)
NASA Moon Landing/Alien Possession Found Footage Film
Clever and well made Found Footage film about a NASA crew encountering something alien on The Moon’s surface. Falls somewhere between Alien, Apollo 13 and Paranormal Activity
Appropriate Adult (2011)
True-Life Serial Killer
TV mini-series about British serial killing husband and wife duo Fred and Rosemary West. While not uninteresting, this merely depicts the aftermath of Fred’s arrest and the relationship with a volunteer helper
Area 51 (2011)
Alien Nasties Escape from Area 51
Not to be confused with the Oren Peli Found Footage film. Sean Connery’s son Jason directs a film where a host of alien nasties imprisoned at Area 51 manage to escape
Arthur Christmas (2011)
Animation/Santa's Son
An animated collaboration between Aardman and Sony Pictures Anomation. This has a good deal of eccentric charm that overcomes one’s dislike of the cloying sentiment of most Christmas films
Atlas Shrugged (2011)
Libertarian Political Fantasy/Ayn Rand Adaptation
The first in a three part film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s novel that makes a heavy-handed and frequently tub-thumping argument for the virtues of selfishness and despisal of any rules of fairness
Attack the Block (2011)
Alien Invasion on a British Housing Estate
A refreshingly original film that transplants an alien invasion story to a modern British housing estate where a group of young hoodlums become the first line of defence against the invaders
The Awakening (2011)
Victorian Ghost Story
A classic British ghost story that produces an exceedingly haunted atmosphere at times, although falls apart in a highly contrived M. Night Shyamalan twist ending
Babycall (2011)
Reality Blurring/Haunted Baby Monitor
Pål Sletaune is a Norwegian director who deserves more attention for his reality-bending surrealism. Here mother Noomi Rapace moves into new apartment where ghostly screams come through the baby monitor and she soon finds that she cannot be sure what is real
Back from Hell (2011)
Found Footage Possession Film
A possession film that takes the Found Footage approach. This takes the traditional approach of Catholic priests intoning exorcism rituals etc and fails to do anything interesting
Bag of Bones (2011)
Stephen King Adaptation/Ghost Story
The perpetually terrible Mick Garris is allowed loose on another Stephen King book where he promptly reduces a subtle, ambiguous ghost story to a series of lunging pop-up scares without any concept of atmosphere or nuance
Batman: Year One (2011)
Comic-Book Superhero/Animation
Animated adaptation of the classic Frank Miller graphic novel, this is dark, psychologically brooding, far more adult than the children’s niche it is sold to, and with producer Bruce Timm and his team at the top of their game
Battle Los Angeles (2011)
Alien Invasion/War Film
Essentially this is a big-budget alien invasion film like Independence Day having been reconceived as a gritty, shakycam-shot war movie along the lines of Saving Private Ryan
Battle of Los Angeles (2011)
Alien Invasion/The Asylum Mockbuster
This was The Asylum’s mockbuster take on Battle Los Angeles, a rehash of alien invasion cliches but with modestly more vigour than most of their efforts
Beastly (2011)
High-School Version of Beauty and the Beast
The interesting idea of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast retold in a modern high school setting. Despite itself, the film manages to wring a reasonable sincerity out of the premise
Behemoth (2011)
Giant Mythological Monster Awakens
A Syfy Channel film that is equal part disaster movie and monster movie. Formulaic but for the outlandishness of its premise – the disaster is caused by a giant mythological monster wrapped around the Earth
Bellflower (2011)
Mad Max Fans/Disturbed Psychology
Unclassifiable film about two fans trying to enact Mad Max fantasies. About the point when this delves down into a seriously disturbed mental space, the results are quite stunning
Blind Alley (2011)
Woman Trapped in a Laundromat by a Stalker
This borrows its set-up from Phone Booth with Ana da Armas barricaded into a laundromat from a taunting killer outside. You think that is where everything is going but then the film pulls a left field twist on us
Bloodlust Zombies (2011)
Zombie Film
Yet another zombie film. This one headlines porn star Alexis Texas in a regular acting role. Low-budget and tame on the gore front but with some often wryly amusing characterisations
Bloodrayne: The Third Reich (2011)
Videogame Adaptation/Vampire vs Nazis
The third of Uwe Boll’s Bloodrayne trilogy and one of his better films. The action scenes are slickly choreographed and the film is largely made by Michael Paré and Clint Howard who play to the gallery with entertaining regard
Blubberella (2011)
Plus-Size Vampire Heroine vs Nazis/Gonzo Bad Taste
Uwe Boll sets out to offend everybody in a film founded on making constant insults about its’ plus-size heroine’s weight and bad jokes about the Holocaust, including the Boll playing a comic Hitler
Bong of the Dead (2011)
Gonzo Zombie Comedy
A film about a marijuana crop that is grown using zombie brains as fertiliser. This starts with a promising gonzo zombie film tone but never quite sustains its approach
Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011)
Twilight Sequel/Vampire Marriage and Pregnancy
The point where the Twilight series collapses under its pretensions and draws every detail of its wedding out for an excruciating hour. A series that has been all about preaching chastity then segues into Right to Life advocacy
The Caller (2011)
Phone Calls Across Time
A horror version of Frequency where Rachelle Lefevre has phone conversations across time with a disturbed woman who then starts causing people to disappear and altering the timeline. Cleverly told and with some chilling twists
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Comic-Book Superhero
One of the more disappointing of the Marvel Comics adaptations. Despite all the elements assembled, this never comes to life in director Joe Johnston’s hands and takes forever to get into action
The Captains (2011)
Star Trek Documentary
Documentary where William Shatner interviews the actors who played the captains in the other incarnations of Star Trek. The entire show is hijacked by the Shatner ego as he constantly overrides his interview subjects
Cars 2 (2011)
Pixar Animation/Talking Vehicles
Sequel to Pixar’s Cars. While the original was a cutely appealing concept with a gentle contemplative message, this plays as more of an out-and-out spy caper making a virtue of its international locations
Cassadaga (2011)
Medium Tracks Serial Killer
Director Anthony DiBlasi has become a rising name in the horror genre in recent years. Here he makes a film about a deaf woman who gains mediumistic abilities and her tracking a serial killer who turns his victims into living marionettes
A Cat in Paris (2011)
Animation/Cat's Adventures
French film that was nominated for the 2011 Best Animated Film at the Oscars. Cute but over-rated, the film is all highly stylised hand-drawn caricature that looks great but never works very hard to engage in terms of its characters
Cell 213 (2011)
Prison Horror Film/Soul Redemption Allegory
A muddled allegorical redemption drama with Eric Balfour sentenced to a maximum security prison where he is haunted by hallucinations
The Change-Up (2011)
Bodyswap Comedy
A raucous and eminently predictable variant on the bodyswap comedy that also manages to be expertly played by leads Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds and pulls off some genuine laugh-out-loud moments
Children Who Chase Lost Voices from the Deep (2011)
Anime/Lost Underground Realm
Makoto Shinkai conducts a flawless capturing of Hiyao Miyazaki’s style – the clean simplicity of the animation, reverence for nature, the tender intimacy of the characters – in this beautifully animated work about the discovery of an underground realm
Chillerama (2011)
Horror Parody Anthology/Drive-In Homage
In the same vein as Grindhouse, four filmmakers have come together to make an anthology of spoof horror films that homage the drive-in tradition. Good taste is left well behind and the results are both outrageous and funny
A Chinese Ghost Story (2011)
Chinese Supernatural Fantasy/Ghost Romance
A Chinese Ghost Story was one of the greatest Hong Kong fantasy films; this remake gets everything wrong. The aerial combat scenes are replaced by CGI, the characters rewritten and the Buddhist elements eliminated
Chop (2011)
Sadism and Torture Comedy
A man is abducted by a stranger who proceeds to remove his limbs in an effort to make him remember the terrible crime he committed. This suggests an incredibly grim film. Surprisingly enough, it is a comedy
The Collapsed (2011)
The Aftermath of a Mysterious Catastrophe
A family try to make it through the woods in the aftermath of a mysterious catastrophe while hunted by something unseen. Sort of a zombie apocalypse film without any zombies where the terrors are psychological
Comforting Skin (2011)
Girl's Tattoo Comes to Life
Canadian film about a girl’s strange obsessive relationship with her talking tattoo. The idea has been done before but the film and fine performances give it life
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope (2011)
San Diego Comic-Con/Fandom Documentary
Documentary-maker Morgan Spurlock of Super-Size Me fame visits the San Diego Comic-Con and follows several attendees but comes away finding surprisingly little to say about the nature of fandom
Conan the Barbarian (2011)
Sword and Sorcery
This revival of Conan the Barbarian is a dismal effort that gets little of what made the character work, while Jason Momoa gives little impression he is taking proceedings seriously
Contagion (2011)
Plague Outbreak
Steven Soderbergh turns to making a plague outbreak film that uncannily predicted a great deal of what happened when Covid-19 struck. A reasonable star cast line-up suborn themselves to a cool sober script
Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)
Roger Corman Documentary
Documentary about legendary B-budget director/producer Roger Corman, although this is more of an awe-struck tribute that disappointingly fails to venture into any of the stories of notorious cheapness and cost-cutting practices attributed to Corman
Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
Western/Alien Invasion
High-concept Jon Favreau directed film that has a winning title concept, overflows with star power and is made on a big budget. But the script feels like it had no idea what to do after setting up its title conceptual mash-up
Creature (2011)
Alligator Man
An enthusiastic B movie that takes its ridiculous premise of a group of friends encountering an alligator man lurking in the backwoods Louisiana swamps far too seriously for its own good
Cross (2011)
Action Film/Mystical Artifacts
A copy of The Expendables (albeit with the addition of fantasy elements) that brings together a line-up of B-action movie actors as a team. While some of the actors shine, the feel is of a cheaper effort earnestly trying to copy its betters
Dahmer vs Gacy (2011)
Cloned Serial Killers Showdown/Gonzo Horror
This gets full marks for an attention grabbing title – outside of that it has the cheap shabbiness of a Troma film, substituting a gonzo sarcasm and plentiful bad taste and gore for many of the filmmaking basics
The Darkest Hour (2011)
Alien Invasion
An alien invasion film set in Moscow. This is nothing more than a special effects vehicle about how the culturally self-absorbed twentysomething computer geeks and party girls save the world
Dawn of the Dragonslayer (2011)
Dragon Fantasy
From the people who made the Mythica films, this is a modest and well made fantasy film about a young farmboy thrust into the role of dragonslayer that does good things on a limited budget
The Day (2011)
Post-Holocaust Survivalism
A post-holocaust film that takes its tone from the bleak survivalism of The Road. Much focus on the grim harshness of trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world but there nothing particularly original in the film’s treatment
Dead Ball (2011)
Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film/Combat Baseball
The Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film is a genre filled with gore, madcap combat moves, bizarre bio-mechanoid transformations. This concerns itself with a game of baseball that has become a blood-drenched combat sport
Deadheads (2011)
Zombie Bromance/Comedy
Yet another zombie comedy. Essentially a zombie bromance where it gains its life from its two characters’ motormouth performances. The humour sits halfway between goofy silliness and the occasionally amusing
Detention (2011)
Gonzo High School Film/Slasher Parody/Time Travel/Bodyswap
A film with insane creativity and spilling over with snide pop culture wit. Like a mash-up of Bad Kids Go to Hell, John Dies at the End and Back to the Future written by a love child of Kevin Williamson and Diablo Cody
The Devil’s Rock (2011)
Nazis Uncover Occult Forces
New Zealand-made WWII horror film with a set-up – Nazis encountered occult forces in a bunker – that draws heavily on The Keep. Modestly effective and gore-drenched
The Divide (2011)
Survivors of a Nuclear Holocaust in a Cellar
Tough and brutal depiction of the collapse of civilised order among a group of survivors of a nuclear holocaust holed up in a cellar. This holds an incredibly bleak depiction of human nature
Donovan’s Echo (2011)
Precognition
Film about clairvoyance and predestination that owes much to Don’t Look Now. Unfortunately, this reduces everything to the prosaic level of a tv movie thriller
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)
House of Goblins
Guillermo Del Toro produced cinematic remake of a 1970s tv movie, this creates a good deal of creepy mood and atmosphere with Katie Holmes as a mother who finds goblins in the cellar, but never pushes any of it in a way that jolts audiences in their seats
Dream House (2011)
Haunted House/Reality Bender
Maybe one of the worst cases of a trailer ruining the film by giving away the big mid-film surprise. The film itself is an absurdly contrived Shutter Island copy that has nothing else up its sleeve beyond its big surprise
Dreileben (2011)
Hunt for an Escaped Killer
German mini-series about the hunt for an escaped killer that consists of three films, each telling the stories of different characters that weave into the main narrative
Drive Angry (2011)
Occult Car Chase Film
Essentially a supernatural version of a 1970s car chase movie with Nicolas Cage as a motorist who has escaped from Hell to settle a score. This makes a play for the trashy and absurd and comes out all the more entertaining for it
Earth’s Final Hours (2011)
End of the World/Disaster Movie
Another Syfy Channel low-budget disaster film. This creates a fascinating if scientifically dubious end of the world premise about a white hole but spends the show on the routine stuff of car chases and gunfights
East Meets West (2011)
Hong Kong Comedy/Eastern Deities Become Superheroes
Hong Kong comedy designed to bring together an ensemble of local stars. The film starts out about the efforts to reunite a band and turns into a wacky effort where everybody discovers they are avatars of deities
11-11-11 (2011)
Occult Film/Numerological Premonitions
Saw series director Darren Lynn Bousman delivers a loopy cross between The Number 23 and an occult film whose sole selling point is the significance of the date it was released
Exit 33 (2011)
Psycho Gas Station Owner
Dull and routine film with Kane Hodder as a psycho backwoods gas station owner. The film miscasts the hulking Hodder in trying to make him look like an ordinary guy
Exit Humanity (2011)
American Civil War Zombie Film
Modestly effective zombie film set during the US Civil War. This eschews the usual gore-drenched zombie attacks in favour of a nicely achieved story about one man’s internal journey through the apocalypse
The Extraordinary Voyage (2011)
Georges Melies Documentary
French documentary made for the 150th celebration of Georges Melies’s birthday. Interesting if never uncovering anything new. Too much focus is placed on A Trip to the Moon and its recent restoration
Extraterrestrial (2011)
Alien Invasion/Comedy of Errors
This, the second film from Nacho Vigalondo, is a head-scratcher, Though it is ostensibly an alien invasion film, Vigalondo instead creates a comedy of errors
The Fades (2011)
Teen Can See the Dead/Apocalytic Resurrection
An underrated mini-series – sort of the anti-Supernatural. This creates a highly original afterlife mythology and some great characters arcs, while overspilling with wry nerdish in-humour
Fading of the Cries (2011)
Flight from Occult Forces
Low-budget ingenue effort with pretensions to being more, this produces some occasionally nifty effects that quickly weary and only seem to hold up a thoroughly hackneyed B horror movie plot
The Fairy (2011)
Woman Claims to Be a Fairy Comedy
Entirely charming film about a woman who claims to be a fairy. In the best tradition of Jacques Tati, this consists of a series of deliriously nonsensical sight gags that become an utter delight
Father’s Day (2011)
Troma Film/Possessed Killer/Bad Taste Splatter
Troma film that ventures back into their regular bad taste territory. This often feels like a film that never coheses into a particularly clear idea of what it is trying to do, possibly the result of six different directors
Faust (2011)
Pact with the Devil
Alexander Sokurov, the director behind Russian Ark, turns to the classic story about a man who sells his soul to The Devil. A very different version than we are used to that takes place in an earthy, cluttered Mediaeval world
Ferocious Planet (2011)
Alternate Dimension
Passable film about the accidental opening of a portal that transports a laboratory to an alien world teeming with monstrous creatures
Fertile Ground (2011)
Haunted House
Adam Gierasch, known for his gore-drenched horror films like Autopsy and Night of the Demons, takes a change of direction into the haunted house genre
The Fields (2011)
Coming of Age Story/Backwoods Happenings
This feels like Children of the Corn remade by Terrence Malick. The film does nicely with the wry, quietly observed naturalism of its Coming of Age story, less so when it moves into horror territory
Final Destination 5 (2011)
Precognition/Doomed Bridge Collapse Survivors
The series drags another entry out set around the premonition of a bridge collapse. This one is played with such an enthusiasm for the bizarrely improbable deaths that it is one of the best of the sequels
Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011)
Flying Swordsmen/Wu Xia Film
Tsui Hark, a key figure of the modern Wu Xia cycle, makes a lushly extravagant, Chinese-backed flying swordsman epic. Featuring a wide canvas of characters who come together in a series of very entertaining playoffs
4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011)
End of the World
Abel Ferrara makes an End of the World film that hardly ever leaves the characters’ apartment and in which almost nothing happens. Considering the angry, bleak work of his heyday, you cannot wonder if the 60 year-old Ferrara has lost his mojo
Frankenstein: Day of the Beast (2011)
Frankenstein Film
What is there that a new version of Frankenstein can offer? This low-budget effort strips everything down to simply a monster movie about the creature pursuing Frankenstein on his wedding night
Frankenstein (2011)
Frankenstein Stage Adaptation
Danny Boyle’s stage adaptation, broadcast live on movie screens, wrings up some unique changes on the classic tale. The role of Frankenstein and creation alternated between Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller
Fright Flick (2011)
Slasher Movie on a Slasher Movie Set
A slasher movie that takes place on the set of a slasher movie. Director Israel Luna has an idea that you feel could have been far cleverer than the way it ends up being presented on screen
Fright Night (2011)
Vampire Next Door Neighbour
Another 1980s horror remake that resurrects and changes the original to little purpose. This fails to understand that what was original in 1985 lacks much alongside other contemporary vampire films
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (2011)
Anime TV Series Spinoff/Magician Heroes
Film spinoff from the popular anime tv series that seems caught between a film and a tv episode. While the film reaches for epic scale, the usual run of power blasts, there is nothing that we haven’t seen before
The Future (2011)
Whimsical Relationship Drama/Magical Realism
Oddball and whimsical – welcome to the world of Miranda July who serves up a quirky relationship drama peopled with talking cats, conversations with The Moon and time-freezing abilities
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Serial Killer Thriller
David Fincher’s English-language remake of the Swedish film is capably made but a lesser shadow of something that worked perfectly the first time. In particular, Rooney Mara is no substitute for Noomi Rapace
Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)
Animation/Shakespeare with Talking Garden Gnomes
Surely the most outlandish film premise ever slung together for an animated film – a version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet conducted between talking garden gnomes in rival backyards