Horror Around the World

The United States of America Runners-Up: Psycho (1960) - The Exorcist (1973)

As different as the fifty states, horror films in America range from somber chillers to gut-wrenching gorefests. Picking the best horror film from so many is tough -Psycho, Alien (1979), Jaws (1975), The Shining (1980), or maybe even something modern? Trying to list or count the prominent American directors and actors would be folly here. John Carpenter's The Thing stands out as distinctly American though, with its xenophobic message about distrust and the inevitable collapse of society

Canada Runners-Up: The Changeling (1980) - Black Christmas (1974)

Picking out Canadian from American horror is nearly impossible as American studios rampantly eat up Canadian directors and readily film across the border for tax cuts. The most notable Canuck director is David Cronenberg, who continually marries the visceral and cerebral in some truly horrific way. His most well known work is also his strongest, The Fly. Despite a bevy of great titles, Canadian horror ultimately seems to fall directly in line with American themes and motifs.

[b]Mexico[/b] [i]Runner-Up:[/i] [link=tt0098253] The Mexican horror industry is largely underwhelming with a long list of forgettable low grade horror films. The two true gems are the Lovecraftian inspired Cronos and the surreal Santa Sangre. The biggest thing to come out of Mexico though is the native born [link=nm0868219]. Lesser known director [link=nm0846010] deserves far more praise than he receives with powerful suspense films such as [link=tt0061752]Even the Wind is Afraid[/link] and [link=tt024260]The Book of Stone[/link].

The United Kingdom Runners-Up: The Descent (2005) - The Wicker Man (1973)

Early British horror followed the route of American with the Hammer Horror collections deploying Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee against their American counterpart Vincent Price. The UK has always shown a fondness and mastery for Gothic works and has the perfect settings for all things dark and dreary. Modern works can be easily mistaken for American ones minus the accents, but have been increasingly employing motifs related to knife violence and fear of authority.

Ireland

True Irish horror films are few and far between. There hasn't been many of note, but they tend to favor the country's large lush open spaces. Films that don't fit that rural bill, fall heavily inline with the urban horror films of Britain. Truly a country that could be mined deeper, but lacks the industry.

Australia Runners-Up: The Frighteners (1996) - Wolf Creek (2005)

Australian horror films tend to feature the country's greatest element - the large sprawling Outback. Themes typically relate heavily to independence and nature, while urban ones fall in line with British and American themes. The biggest name is Peter Jackson whose splatter films are the highlight of an otherwise lackluster early 90's. Native James Wan is also continually making waves since the popularization of the Saw (2004) franchise. Crocodiles and other eco-terror films have fairly strong roots here as well.

New Zealand

Talking about New Zealand horror is akin to talking about Irish horror. In many ways, both of the small island nations closely resemble their larger mainland neighbors. Yet, they both stand apart by featuring unique, striking rural areas. Kiwi horror films incorporate the verdant rolling mountains of New Zealand's countryside as well as the unpredictable and vast surrounding sea. Like Ireland's industry, not much of note has come out of it.

Italy Runners-Up: The Beyond - Deep Red

The vast majority of important Italian horror films fall under the genre of Giallo. Similar in tone and pacing to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, they employ a healthy dose of mystery, gore, and eroticism. Notable names include Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, and Dario Argento. The scene rose and fell alongside American slashers reaching its prime in the 80's before declining sharply in the 90's.

Germany Runners-Up: M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931) - The Cabniet of Dr. Caligari

German horror is notable for etching out the very beginnings of the horror genre. Most of the films are heavily influenced by the Expressionist movement and feature outlandish and surreal set designs coupled with moody cinematography. German cinema was vastly ahead of American at the time, but its supremacy ended when the Nazi party came to power. The horror genre has never recovered, despite a trash element known as German Underground whose most notorious member is Uwe Boll.

Spain Runners-Up: The Orphanage - The Devil's Backbone

Spanish horror tends to feature films that deal with the corruption of the soul rather than the desecration of the body. With huge Catholic undertones, you get a lot of creepy ghost stories centered around sin and guilt. Films don't always follow this strict motif though, as there has been a fair amount of notable zombie and slasher films. Although very few escape religious themes entirely.

France Runners-Up: Martyrs (2008) - Eyes Without a Face

French horror films are all over the place, ranging from highly artistic to brutally violent. The last decade has lead to the rise of the New French Extreme, which combines elements of ultra-violence and eroticism to shock the audience. Despite some highly objectionable content, the movement is pushing the horror industry into new and intriguing territories. Films such as Them and Inside show a lot of promise for an ever evolving French scene.

Austria Runner-Up: Hidden

Austrian horror largely gets lumped in with the French industry, but stands out in recent years singularly due to auteur Michael Haneke. His films masterfully play on the cerebral and have a tendency to cut deeply into open minds that can handle a little pretension. Crime driven psychological thrillers seem to be the standard course for the Austrian industry and while not exactly horror Revanche (2008) shows extreme promise for the future of the subgenre.

Belgium Runner-Up: The Ordeal

Much like Austrian films, Belgium's film industry closely ties in with the French. There's a wide range of quality for the limited films released from country. The better films tend to be very arty, while many are hardly worth watching. The common thread seems to be a healthy bit of the demented matched only by a large dose of nihilism.

Sweden, Finland & Norway Runners-Up: Dead Snow - TrollHunter

The Scandinavian nations are proving to be the most surprising foreign horror scene of the decade. Featuring beautiful landscapes, even mundane horror films from the region benefit from a strong natural backdrop. Yet, many of the films from this region are exceedingly strong and it is proving just as fertile as Japan was in the early 2000's. Most films in some way feature the prevalent cold which provides a beautiful allegory for all things dead and undead.

The Netherlands Runner-Up: The Human Centipede

Despite being relatively small, the Dutch industry has put out only a few government-funded horror films. Quality is sporadic and themes are widespread, but there are few surprises here and there. The Vanishing stands up as a strong thriller while The Human Centipede enjoys its own level of infamy. Other great titles to watch include Saint and Two Eyes Staring, but they don't really stand up against similar films from more established industries.

Russia Runner-Up: Viy (1967)

Most of my experiences with Russian films has been native Russians telling me how superior theirs are to other countries. They definitely have a unique convention, but claims of superiority are dubious at best. From my limited understanding of the Russian horror industry, there isn't much of one. Aside from the Night Watch series and the classic story Viy (and its remakes) there simply isn't much of an audience for horror in the bleak environments of Russia.

Japan Runners-Up: The Ring - Kaidan (1964)

Japanese horror is extremely deep and features one of the most fertile film industries in the world. In the 1950's Godzilla and other daikaiju films entered the world and have retained immense popularity even today. By the 60's, the nation's prevalent horror titles were arty with releases like Onibaba (1964) and Kaidan. By the 1980's, it began to migrate and the industry largely split between brutal exploitation films such as the Guinea Pig series and the supernatural Yurei ghost tales. Both genres continued to develop and in the early 2000's, Hollywood mined the Yurei half extensively remaking films such as The Ring and One Missed Call. On the opposite side, directors such as Takashi Miike, embraced an urban-inspired symphony of violence that bordered between the surreal and purely exploitative.

Korea Runners-Up: Thirst - A Tale of Two Sisters

Korean horror films closely follow the trends of Japan from the Yurei to the daikaju. It still retains its own identity and has a surprising amount of depth. Korean films have a tendency to focus on the suffering of their characters rather than actual physical violence. A weird national obsession focuses on high school girls and many films are highly critical of the pressure parents and school systems place on children. This particular sub-genre exploded in 1988 with the release of Whispering Corridors and shows no signs of stopping.

Hong Kong Runner-Up: Re-cycle

Hong Kong isn't necessarily known for its quality films, but there is no denying that it has the quantity. Cheesy horror comedies seem to be a staple export and finding a good one is few and far between. Regardless they have their own truly unique conventions and a wide global audience. The Thai industry also ties in with many Hong Kong films and it continues to try and remain independent of the highly constrictive Chinese film industry.

India & Pakistan

I won't hide my disdain for all things Hindi horror, only will mention that its there and there is a lot of it. I personally can't watch much of it because the convention is extremely off putting. Goofy and outlandish dance and singing routines don't seem like they should be a mainstay of horror. My basic impression of Hindi horror has always been the same old Bollywood song and dance with the addition of fantastic elements.

South Africa

More of an industry to watch, South Africa has long been a launch pad for US and UK industries to film on-scene in Africa. The recent attention that District 9 (2009) brought to the country shows a lot of promise for their film industry's potential. Tribal superstitions, racial concerns, exotic wildlife, and rampant warfare provide ample targets for broad horror themes.