This year, as I did both last year and in 2012, I am engaging in something I like to call the Year-End Dash. Basically, its the scramble to get as many eligible titles viewed as possible before the end of the year for the forthcoming BAM Awards.

The extemporaneous reactions to late viewing will be short, but they will be logged. So I thought it would also be a good idea to re-post in standalone form some of the more memorable films I’ve seen in the first few jaunts.

The Aggression Scale

My tweet on this film gives no more away than the synopsis of this film I feel: This is like the Home Alone as a horror film trailer taken seriously, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s awesome. This film has an effective open that directly ties to later events, features great bloodwork, some very solid performances including Ray Wise, Dana Ashbrook and the chillingly astute, silent turn of Ryan Hartwig. It raises the stakes, chaos, violence, and in some cases, ingenuity of the aforementioned film while also making those things a function of character more so than the element of surprise.

9/10