Thursday, October 24, 2013

Announcing the Nominees for the the First Ever Casper Awards!

Hey everyone! Adam Riske here. This week, the F This Movie! Crew is voting for our first annual horror awards – The Caspers! Nominees can be found here and the winners will be announced next week, along with some surprise awards! We’d love for you all to participate as well. Read to the end of the column to learn how!

Best Horror Movie

The Conjuring – One of the most fun horror movies made in years. Very well-made and scary.


Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters – An infectiously good time that knows exactly what it is and is the best version of that movie.


The Lords of Salem – A sad, suspenseful and restrained effort from a filmmaker that is trying something different with very strong results.

Stoker – An unsettling and interesting character study that takes surprising turns.


You’re Next – Seamlessly blends comedy, thriller and horror together.  Also borrows elements from horror and action classics while still making them seem fresh and exciting.

Best Director

James Wan, The Conjuring – A director working at the height of his abilities. The one where everything came together and worked. Especially gratifying because you’ve been seeing him build towards this over the years.
Tommy Wirkola, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters – Able to maintain a fun kinetic energy reminiscent of Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness.

Rob Zombie, The Lords of Salem  - The most mature work yet from the talented director who tried to make more of a mood piece and succeeded admirably.

Gareth Evans & Timo Tjahanto, V/H/S/2 ("Safe Haven" segment only) – The energy and the intensity the directors bring to “Safe Haven” stands above most in the horror genre this year.

Adam Wingard, You're Next – He figured out a way to make the home invasion subgenre fun, which is no small feat.

Best Actor

Patrick Wilson, The Conjuring – Just another strong performance from the always natural actor. Wilson is terrific at making goofy go down easier.

Jeremy Renner, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters – An interesting mix of taking a character half-serious and half-jokingly, but Renner throws himself into all of the action sequences with sincerity and energy.
Elijah Wood, Maniac – Uses his boyishness to good effect to make an awful character even creepier.
Ethan Hawke, The Purge – Credit should be given to the actor/writer who seems to know the right pitch for interesting performances in genre movies.
Jeffrey Combs, Would You Rather – A twisted and rich character played to perfection by the reliable actor. This is a role Vincent Price would have done if he still made movies and Combs seems to know that.

Best Actress
Katharine Isabelle, American Mary – Very sassy and fun to watch. She commands your attention in every scene. She’s the whole show, really.

Vera Farmiga, The Conjuring – As always, Farmiga is great at humanizing genre roles that might seem out-there on paper.
Jane Levy, Evil Dead – A very physical and energetic performance. Levy is equally adept at playing the demon and the Ash-type character.

Gemma Arterton, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters – The role she was born to play. She’s so good in this role that she is now known in our circles as just Gretel.

Sharni Vinson, You're Next – I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say Sharni Vinson in You’re Next is to final girls as Bruce Willis was to action heroes in the original Die Hard.

Best Supporting Actor
Ansel Elgort, Carrie – A very charismatic performance making the familiar character of Tommy seem new and fresh.

Jeff Daniel Phillips, The Lords of Salem - Much of the success of The Lords of Salem can be attributed to Jeff Daniel Phillips’ warm, sympathetic performance as the man in love with the movie’s doomed heroine.

A.J. Bowen, You're Next – Arguably his best genre performance to date and he nails his big monologue scene.

Joe Swanberg, You're Next – Very funny and has a surprising arc.
Nicholas Tucci, You're Next – Great douchebag performance best appreciated on a second viewing.

Best Supporting Actress

Lili Taylor, The Conjuring – An effective and physical performance and a strong showcase for an underappreciated actress.
Meg Foster, The Lords of Salem – Really brave (she’s almost always nude) and super in-character as the baddest of the bad witches.

Judy Geeson, The Lords of Salem – Disarming would be the word I would use to describe this performance. It’s one that sneaks up on you.

Nicole Kidman, Stoker – Kidman’s best performance in a long time, using her on-screen iciness to solid effect.

Barbara Crampton, You're Next – Makes interesting choices to characterize the soft, warm mother of some real shitheads.

Your turn! We need you to decide who is going to be our first recipient of the Van Dien – aka the Lifetime Achievement Award. You can select any horror director, producer, actor or actress from any era. Please only choose one and leave your vote in the comments below.

We’ll tally up the names and the one with the most comments will be our first CVD! We’ll close the tallies at 11:59pm CST on Saturday night, October 26th.

Also, feel free to leave comments with your thoughts on the Casper-nominated movies, directors and performers.

13 comments:

  1. Love this! My votes (FULL DISCLOSURE: I haven't seen Hansel & Gretel yet, so my votes may be a tad unfair)
    Best Horror Movie: You're Next
    Best Director: James Wan
    Best Actor: Patrick Wilson (he may deserve it doubly for being the best thing about Insidious Chapter 2 as well)
    Best Actress: Sharni Wilson
    Best Supporting Actor: Joe Swanberg
    Best Supporting Actress: Meg Foster (kinda wish Maria Conchita Alonso was nominated, though. She had very little screen time but really stuck with me)

    And for the brilliantly named Van Dien: Roger Corman, because come on, he's goddamn Roger Corman

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  2. It occurs it me after rereading that perhaps I was only supposed to vote for the Van Dien. Oh, well. #ScaryDemocracyMonth

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  3. All right! My picks would be:

    Best Horror Movie: The Conjuring
    Best Director: James Wan
    Best Actor: Patrick Wilson
    Best Actress: Jane Levy
    Best Supporting Actor: Nicholas Tucci
    Best Supporting Actress: Lili Taylor

    Now for the Van Dien: It has got to be Linnea Quigley.

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  4. John Carpenter for the Van Dien.

    Unfortunately, I haven't seen most of these, yet. So, I'll just campaign for Katherine Isabelle for "Best Actress". She really is terrific!

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  5. For the lifetime achievement award, in true horror fashion a man whose achievement defined his lifetime:
    Robert Englund.

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  6. I like Terence Fisher for the Van Dien. He basically made Hammer Horror what it is/was.

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  7. I'll show my old-school roots here and nominate Boris Karloff.

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  8. I'll nominate Carl Laemmle Jr. for the Van Dien

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  9. I really liked both Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Lords of Salem but they're not my favourites. I have yet to see The Conjuring or Stoker - the former I'll probably watch tonight, not sure about the latter - but I have a hard time imagining either of them will top You're Next, which is already shaping up to be well in my Top 10 of the year.

    As for my vote for recipient of the Van Diem - gotta go with my man, John Carpenter. Though he wouldn't win any "What Have You Done for Me Lately" awards (though I really loved listening to his new Halloween commentary), no one else has a trifecta of horror movies I enjoy as much as Halloween, The Thing and They Live.

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  10. The Conjuring
    James Wan
    Jeffrey Combs
    TIE: Sharni Vinson, Jane Levy
    A.J. Bowen
    Lili Taylor

    ...John Carpenter for the Van Dien.
    Nobody, and I mean NOBODY (yes, even Hitch) knows how to shoot horror like the master.

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  11. Dare to be different! I'll second the nomination for Linnea Quigley.

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  12. I had determined that I wouldn't vote for Corman because my childhood was filled with a love of all things John Carpenter.
    Then I went to IMDB to look at Corman and the memories of all the awful and memorable movies that he directed or produced? How could I not vote for the man who made Teenage Caveman?
    So my Van Dien vote goes for Roger Corman.

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