Just for fun, let’s take a leisurely stroll through the wide-open field of this year’s genre movies, the overlooked and the overbooked. It could be instructive to recognize just how many new films fit into the genre mold. Also to note how successful they are — all of the top-ten-grossing films of 2012 are genre items.
We wouldn’t necessarily recommend them as a better evening’s entertainment than the Ten Best above, but you might be surprised to discover a stylistic gold mine in a used-appliance store. Please don’t consider this a comprehensive list, just a page from one movie-lover’s journal. (We’re omitting animated films and documentaries, as well as genres that are patently loathsome, e.g., Imaginary Friend films like Ted.)
Drug-smuggling crime: Contraband
Policier: Rampart, End of Watch, The Raid, Deadfall
Comic policier: 21 Jump Street, Bernie
Car chase: Hit & Run
Australian weird-out: Snowtown, The Hunter
Cheapo horror: I Am a Ghost (on a bang-for-the-buck basis, H.P. Mendoza’s gothic ghost story is the best horror film of the year), Silent House, The Cabin in the Woods (one of the year’s funniest movies), The Innkeepers, V/H/S
Euro-thriller: Headhunters, Easy Money aka Snabba Cash
Euro-paranormal: Intruders
Tarantino-esque: Seven Psychopaths, Killing Them Softly
Vamps ‘n’ wolfmen: Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Dark Shadows
Babysitter comedy: Fun Size
Splatter: The Collection
War movies: Act of Valor, Zero Dark Thirty, Red Dawn, Simon and the Oaks, The Lucky One
Outdoor survival: The Grey
Old-school horror: The Woman in Black, The Raven
Southern sleaze: The Paperboy, Lawless, Django Unchained
Dystopia: The Hunger Games, Total Recall, Cosmopolis
Young-male gross-out: American Reunion, The Three Stooges
Eco-horror: The Bay, The Impossible
Sports comedy: Goon
Spies: The Bourne Legacy, Skyfall, Argo
Giant critters: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Family/female sex comedy: For a Good Time, Call…, The Oranges, Dark Horse, Lola Versus, Hysteria, Natural Selection
Marital comedy: This Is 40
Russian gangster psychedelia: Generation P
Martial arts: Tai Chi Zero
College laffs: Liberal Arts, Blue Like Jazz
Human/android buddy flick: Robot & Frank
Political comedy: The Campaign
Hyperlink: 360
Slackers in love: Crazy Eyes
Rock musical: Rock of Ages
Apocalypse sitcom: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Sci-fi: Prometheus, Safety Not Guaranteed, Men in Black 3
Fractured fairy tales: Snow White and the Huntsman
I’m mad as hell: God Bless America
Comic-book superheroics: The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises
Classics illustrated: Wrath of the Titans, John Carter
