6. Gothika (2003)
Gothika was Dark Castle’s first foray into serious horror, but it was still panned by nearly every critic at the time of its release. It’s actually a pretty clever psychological thriller that sees Halle Berry (fresh off her Oscar win for Monster’s Ball) committed to the very institution she works at after murdering her husband. The film probably didn’t need its supernatural twist (a twist that requires a lot more suspension of disbelief than the movie actually earns) but the cast, which includes Penelope Cruz, Robert Downey, Jr. and John Carrol Lynch, elevate the material.
5. Splice (2010)
Vincenzo Natali’s Splice is arguably the most polarizing film Dark Castle ever put out (it’s also the best-reviewed by critics but received a D CinemaScore from audiences), but even if you’re not a fan you can’t deny the sheer boldness of the thing. Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody deliver fantastic performances as genetic engineers who splice human and animal DNA in an attempt to revolutionize science. Splice asks a lot of big questions and the answers it gives may not satisfy everyone, but it is a smarter-than-average sci-fi horror film with a truly bonkers ending that has to be seen to be believed.
4. The Hills Run Red (2009)
You wouldn’t think that a direct-to-DVD slasher film with a title that is clearly ripping off Wes Craven’s infamous film The Hills Have Eyes (and Alexandre Aja’s remake, which was released just three years earlier) would be any good, but you would be wrong. Dave Parker’s The Hills Run Red is an enjoyable, gory homage to 80s slashers and filled with enough meta humor to appease even the most cynical horror fan. This isn’t high art we’re talking about here, it’s just really, really fun. The film follows a group of film fanatics (including Salem’s Janet Montgomery) who journey into the backwoods to find a print of a notorious snuff film that was thought to have been lost forever. Most of the characters are insufferable, but they appropriately meet their demise by the film’s main villain Babyface. It’s a shame that more horror fans didn’t catch on to The Hills Run Red when it was released. It’s not great, but it’s damn entertaining.
3. House of Wax (2005)
I’ve said plenty about House of Wax in the past, but for good reason: it’s actually a really good movie! You can’t even hate Paris Hilton in the film because she does exactly what is required of her. Aside from that, the set design and attention to detail from the production crew is simply astounding. The acting is decent. The script has its issues (it’s maybe about 20 pages/minutes too long), but the film never tries to be something it isn’t. It’s an amusing time at the movies and one of the better slashers we have been offered in the new millennium.
(Totally unrelated, but I just realized that the “wax” in the poster looks more like a certain bodily fluid than actual wax. What do you think?)
2. House on Haunted Hill (1999)
Dark Castle Entertainment’s producing debut was William Malone’s star-studded remake of William Castle’s House on Haunted Hill. The remake upped the gore factor significantly and focuses more on special effects than character development, but the cast (which includes a hammy Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, Taye Diggs, Paul Galagher and Chris Kattan) more than makes up for it. Like all of Dark Castle’s films, there is not a lot of substance in House on Haunted Hill, but it’s a delightful house of frights with some truly creepy moments (that face removal is such a great visual). Sure, the fact that the characters keep splitting up is unbelievable, but you wouldn’t have a movie if the characters didn’t make incredibly stupid decisions! This is one of the last great horror films of the 90s (I’m not joking).
1. Orphan (2009)
Jaume Collet-Serra went from House of Wax to Orphan (he also directed this year’s surprisingly good shark movie The Shallows), Dark Castle’s best film to date. The marketing behind Orphan was ingenious. Focussing on Esther’s (Isabelle Fuhrman, a revelation) secret got butts into seats and it became the sleeper hit of the summer of 2009, earning $41.5 million on a $20 million budget. Vera Farmiga adds a much-needed dose of humanity to the film as the grieving mother. At 123 minutes, the film is a little too long, but the twist ending almost makes up for it (it’s a doozie). Serra’s direction is sleek but not distracting, and David Leslie Johnson’s script wisely focuses on character development over cheap shocks (though it does have that oft-criticized narrative trap of devolving into a slasher by its end). No one would say any Dark Castle film is great cinema, but on a pure enjoyment level, Orphan knocks it out of the park.
How would you rank Dark Castle’s films? Do you agree with our ranking? Let us know in the comments below!
