THE 1ST ANNUAL MORBIDLY AMUSING AWARDS

With Oscar season now officially over, it’s time for we here at Morbidly Amusing to deliver our own dose of glitz and glamour, albeit through blood-drenched glasses. The 1st Annual Morbidly Amusing Awards hand out honors to those in the world of horror and genre film who we felt best (or worst) exemplified a given film category. Dr. Morbid himself voted on each category from a predetermined list of nominees, along with Ross Tweedy, the Moshing Maniac himself Kenny Nardozza, and yours truly. Who reigned supreme in the year in horror that was 2013? We decide in Part 2 of The Morbidly Amusing Awards.

THE UWE BOLL AWARD – WORST HORROR/GENRE DIRECTOR

Awarded in the name of one of the worst filmmakers on the planet, the Uwe Boll Award goes to a filmmaker who proved to be severely lacking in directorial talent in 2013.

The nominees are…

Malcolm D. Lee for Scary Movie 5

Michael Tiddes for A Haunted House

Dario Argento for Dracula 3D

Robert Rodriguez for Machete Kills

And the winner is…

Robert Rodriguez for Machete Kills

My how the mighty have fallen. Robert Rodriguez, once one of the most beloved genre filmmakers working in the business, is now being mentioned in the same breath as Uwe Boll. While he has proven to be quite the talented director in spurts, his work on Machete Kills is perhaps the worst of his career. A needless sequel that largely comes across as cheap and uninventive, I think even we here at Morbidly Amusing would have preferred another Spy Kids sequel to this lackluster outing. Here’s hoping Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a much needed return to form.

BEST HORROR DIRECTOR

Sam Raimi forever. Remember Evil Dead. Forget Spider-Man 3.

The nominees are…

James Wan for The Conjuring

Adam Wingard for You’re Next

Jim Mickle for We Are What We Are

Franck Khalfoun for Maniac

Don Mancini for Curse of Chucky

And the winner is…

James Wan for The Conjuring

While James Wan had two horror films released in 2013, we are awarding him for his work on perhaps his best film to date, The Conjuring. It not only proved to be a big hit amongst audiences this past Summer, but also became a champion of film critics, a rarity for a horror film nowadays. Wan has always been rather hit or miss, but his attention to detail and ability to craft a genuinely terrifying atmosphere in The Conjuring proved to be enough to stand above the rest as the Best Horror Director of the year.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A MALE IN A HORROR FEATURE

The nominees are…

Elijah Wood in Maniac

Brad Dourif in Curse of Chucky

Bill Sage in We Are What We Are

Nicholas Hoult in Warm Bodies

And the winner is…

Elijah Wood in Maniac

One of the few unanimous decisions by us here at Morbidly Amusing, none of us could deny Elijah Wood’s magnetic performance as the deranged Frank in Maniac. It takes a special kind of actor to deliver a memorable performance in a film that, for the most part, tells its story from the first-person perspective, but Wood rose above this limitation and made it look easy. You almost feel like you, the viewer, and Frank are one in the same for much of the film’s running time. If that’s not terrifying, I don’t know what is. Elijah Wood clearly has the ability to creep like no other.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE IN A HORROR FEATURE

The nominees are…

Sharni Vinson in You’re Next

Fiona Dourif in Curse of Chucky

Vera Farmiga in The Conjuring

Jane Levy in Evil Dead

And the winner is…

IT’S A TIE!

Sharni Vinson in You’re Next

&

Fiona Dourif in Curse of Chucky

Morbidly Amusing’s esteemed voters were firmly split on this category and there was nothing that was going to make any of us budge. While the Moshing Maniac and Dr. Morbid firmly believed that Fiona Dourif gave the best female performance as the wheelchair-clad Nica in Curse of Chucky, Ross & I sided with Sharni Vinson’s physical performance as our heroine Erin in You’re Next. Fiona brought an intense vulnerability to Chucky’s latest adventure and there’s no doubt that seeing her act opposite her father’s voice was a unique joy for horror fans. Vinson proved to be one of the more memorable final girls in recent memory, fending off the home-invading animal mask-clad killers who grow increasingly frustrated by their inability to kill her off. It’s safe to say you can’t go wrong with either performance.

WORST HORROR/GENRE FEATURE

The nominees are…

Machete Kills

Scary Movie 5

A Haunted House

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Dracula 3D

And the winner is…

Machete Kills

The third and final award that goes to Robert Rodriguez’s grindhouse-esque sequel is one that champions the film as one of the worst movies of 2013. Honestly, what more needs to be said? Machete Kills fails to do anything to justify its existence as a follow-up to a pretty enjoyable original. It parades out a cast of second-rate actors (not including Walton Goggins of course) for seemingly no purpose and tells a story about as compelling as the phonebook. Let this be the last words spoken about Robert Rodriguez’s worst film. 

BEST HORROR FEATURE

The nominees are…

The Conjuring

Maniac

Curse of Chucky

You’re Next

Evil Dead

We Are What We Are

And the winner is…

Maniac

Although The Conjuring was a close runner-up, Franck Khalfoun’s Maniac remake ultimately takes home the award for Best Horror Feature. It’s a supremely confident, stunningly beautiful film that benefits from Elijah Wood’s brilliant performance as Frank and exceptional cinematography from Maxime Alexandre. If you haven’t yet had the chance to check this film out, do so immediately. It’s the rare horror remake that succeeds greatly in updating its story for modern audiences while also bringing a new, unique perspective to the table.

THE FIRST INDUCTEE INTO DR. MORBID’S HALL OF HORROR

Bruce Campbell

Morbidly Amusing’s founder Dr. Morbid has been a life-long horror fan and the creation of this website is just one of the many ways he shows his passion for his favorite film genre. With this passion comes obsession, which is one of the main reasons these very Morbidly Amusing Awards exist. This obsession pertains not just to awarding current horror films, but to honoring horror films of the past and those cult horror figures who have brought so much joy to the hardcore fans. One of these figures is Bruce Campbell, an actor known predominately for his role as Ash in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series, who Dr. Morbid has chosen as his first inductee into Dr. Morbid’s Hall of Horror.

Known for his quick-wit and off-beat sense of humor, Bruce Campbell immediately endeared himself to horror fans by fighting off demons in 1981’s low-budget, cabin in the woods cult classic The Evil Dead. Six years later he returned to the role in Evil Dead II, a sequel/remake that became an instant classic thanks to director Sam Raimi’s insane sense of humor that was only matched by Campbell’s hilarious turn as the chainsaw-wielding Ash. They completed the trilogy with 1992’s Army of Darkness, which supplanted Ash to medieval times where he once again has to fight off powers released by the infamous Necronomicon. Since the end of the series, Campbell has popped up in many other films, most notably in cameo roles in many of Sam Raimi’s other films. He has found the bulk of his success on television with his role as Sam Axe in the USA network’s Burn Notice.

While there is still talk of another sequel to the original Evil Dead series, most fans for now will have to settle for his post-credits cameo in 2013’s Evil Dead update. If you have the chance, you should definitely check out Bruce Campbell’s incredibly entertaining biography If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. It’s an insightful read that will only increase your affection for the man behind Ash.

With his induction into Dr. Morbid’s Hall of Horror, we here at Morbidly Amusing reached out for comments from the man himself. It’s safe to say that we were pleased with the response we received, which you can watch below. Hail to the King, Baby!