The Internet needs another Best of 2009 list like it does an incurable virus, but whatever. I was asked to do one by the good folks over at Critics Notebook, and who am I to refuse a chance to treat myself like a big deal? It feels good once in a while. Especially when I also have the opportunity to flash lights on the year’s most slept-on horror flicks, ones that either didn’t make it into any theaters on their way to DVD oblivion, or suffered from puny theatrical runs.
These lists are never easy. Once your own is posted, it’s there for any- and everyone to see, dissect, hate, agree with; it’s also there for the writer his- or herself to chastise. “How could I forget that film?” “Why in Sam-hell did I place that above this?” I’m sure I’ll ask myself in due time. Another thing, there are still a few films I’ve yet to see that could’ve very well landed on my list: The Lovely Bones, for instance. Or, Julia. Maybe even The Headless Woman (which I’m finally watching tonight). Certainly The Fantastic Mr. Fox and/or Up. Oh, and The Messenger.
I did see Avatar, though, and I’m confident in its exclusion from my rundown. The visuals and effects are magnificent, sure, but the story is irritably predictable and, frankly, trite.
Well, here goes nothing….. My 10 Best Films of 2009 list, followed by the 10 Best Overlooked-By-The-Mainstream Horror Films of ’09:
Critics Notebook: Matt Barone’s 2009 Best Of lists
THEATER OF MINE 
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