FILM GUTTER – THE ANNUAL TOP TEN! PART 1

Yes, it’s that time of year when things turn all retrospective and we start looking back at the year that was. 2018 was certainly a fascinating year for Film Gutter, which gave us the opportunity to actually programme some films for the first time – helping to put together screenings of American Guinea Pig: Song of Solomon, Your Flesh, Your Curse and of course both Nekromantik films with the legendary Jorg Buttgereit in attendance. Those few days remain an absolute highlight of the year for me!

But we watched many, many more films than that, and as always out top ten list refers to films WATCHED in 2018, not necessarily released in 2018. So, without any further ado, here are Film Gutter’s highest commended titles of this particular annum, starting in this part one with numbers 10 up to 6...

10) AMERICAN GUINEA PIG: SACRIFICE (7.5/10)

The American Guinea Pig series has been growing a serious following since it began, and while Bloodshock probably remains my favourite of the four so far, both this year's installments were very good indeed. Sacrifice was also well among the hardest movies to watch of the year – especially for any male viewer – but it's a fascinating (if slight) story with incredible visual effects. Not for the faint of heart, yet well worth an hour of your time if you can stomach it. ​

9) Dead Human Collection (7/10)​

This Brazilian short film was absolutely uncompromising, and showed an intriguing triptych of characters effectively haunting a disturbed serial killer, each of them representing some facet of his own personality. It packs in a lot for a short film – in fact the more I reflect on it, the more I wonder if it would have been even better served by being longer – and is performed and delivered with intensity throughout.

​8) Difficulty Breathing (7/10)

One of the most wonderful things about this short film was seeing it on the big screen – the impact of the sound in the cinema was absolutely remarkable, and something that didn't come across quite the same on the small screen. With that said, this story of a woman trying to overcome the aftermath of a sexual assault is plenty impactful in its own right, being both very simple and effective, with only one character for the most part.

7) Red Room 2 (7.5/10)​

I can't compare this to the first one, which I haven't seen as yet, but this one was strange and entertaining in equal measure, driven by a real guessing game of which person would be the one to emerge alive and victorious from the red room. It's not without its flaws, but it's directed and delivered with enough verve to keep you watching and has a heartily unexpected ending to boot as well. Certainly one of the better examples of the wave of splatter movies to come out of Asia.

​6) American Guinea Pig: Song of Solomon (8/10)

The third part of the AGP series made a genuine impression in both the extreme horror world and beyond, and rightly so – an excellent exorcism film in its own right, even without the great practical effects, lit up by a fantastic lead performance from Jessica Cameron, who absolutely steals the show in the role of the possessed. As one priest after another fails to exorcise the demon from her, we lead to an even darker conclusion than you might expect for a film in this particular series...

We'll be back next week with our entries from 1-5!


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