Those sleepless nights spent pondering how many gratuitous awards the 11th Hour readers will manage to pile on James Marsters are over -- the results are in, and chances are they're the prettiest ones around.
For those out of the know, last December and January The 11th Hour conducted a poll among our readership as to what were the best and worst in horror movies, sci-fi flicks and genre television series of last year. In the month and a half of voting we received an incredible number of responses, and after we discarded a few hundred repeats from the rabid First Wave and Sentinel fan bases (what is with you guys, anyway?), we still had quite a few ballots to contend with. And what a witty lot you were! You guys managed to squeeze in that limited space some truly cutting and libidinous remarks that made our whole staff tear up in pride. Padawans, we have taught you well. (Or maybe you were just born this way, in which case we recommend you seek help immediately.)
On the next three pages are your choices for the best and worst of 1999. Please do bask in your fine taste; if the saying rings true that we get the audience we deserve, then we are very proud indeed.
Well, except about that Harsh Realm thing, anyway.
Best Picture: THE SIXTH SENSE
Despite the glut of horror pictures released this year, The Sixth Sense received a substantial 47% of your votes, with Sleepy Hollow (16%) and The Blair Witch Project (13%) trailing meekly behind. The Mummy, Dogma, and The Green Mile managed 5% each.
Best Actor: HALEY JOEL OSMENT
Supporting Actor this -- it's the 11th Hour Awards, baby! Further proof of this fact lies in Bruce Willis' third place victory (17%), while Sleepy Hollow's Johnny Depp (23%) vied for a close second near Haley Joel's 27% lead.
Best Actress: CHRISTINA RICCI
With 25% of the vote, Sleepy Hollow's Christina was thisclose to second place contender Heather Donahue (23%) of Blair Witch Project fame. Sixth Sense' Toni Collette managed 11%, while Stigmata's Patricia Arquette and Dogma's Linda Fiorentino landed 9% each.
Breakthrough Performance: HALEY JOEL OSMENT
The little pisher whoops award-winning ass yet again, with 67% of your votes. Heather Donahue trailed distantly with 14%, while notable new faces included Doug Hutchison, Oded Fehr, Michael Clarke Duncan, the ubiquitous James Marsters (for his five seconds in House of Haunted Hill, we suppose, though we're still wondering where he fits in the sci-fi movie category), and, um, Betty White for Lake Placid.
Best Director: TIM BURTON
The Depp-enhancing director scored bigtime with the year's prettiest horror flick (40%), followed by The Sixth Sense's M. Night Shyamalan (27%), Dogma's Kevin Smith (17%), and The Green Mile's Frank Darabont (10%). Also notable: genre maestro Sam Raimi received a substantial number of votes for the truly horrifying For Love of the Game.
Best Screenplay: THE SIXTH SENSE
M. Night Shyamalan triumphed again with his sly and scary Sixth Sense screenplay (54%), while Kevin Smith's Dogma and Frank Darabont's The Green Mile got 21% and 11%, respectively. In the what-the-hell category: The Blair Witch Project, despite its utter lack of a script, still picked up 6% of the ballots.
Best Soundtrack: SLEEPY HOLLOW
Danny Elfman's music to decapitate by grabbed 31% of the vote, followed by that ass-kicking ode to Arnold, End of Days (13%); the downright satanic Stigmata soundtrack from Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan (12%); and the Stir of Echoes album (11%), backed no doubt by that cool Gob "Paint it Black" cover.
Best Makeup/FX: THE MUMMY
In this section's closest call, ILM employee and Mummy maker Nick Dudman (who also created Jar Jar, people!) just barely beat Sleepy Hollow FX artist Kevin Yagher, with 33% to 31% of your votes. Sure, the scarabs were cool and all, but Jar Jar, folks! Jar. Jar. How full of regret are we now?
Most Influential: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
The dawn of the 21st century is here, and the future of movies lies in do-it-yourself, ultra-simple, experimental fare, according to a whopping 53% of our readers. The Sixth Sense came in second (30%) for raising the bar in smart, scary storytelling that much higher. Our favorite answer: The Last Broadcast.
Most Sequel-Worthy: THE MUMMY
It's been a year of landmark horror films, and 36% of our 11th Hour readers want to see a sequel to... The Mummy? (Apparently our cries for A Stir of Echoes 2: Dig Deeper went unheard.) Other sequel-worthy fare: 26% of you chose The Sixth Sense, 14% Blair Witch, 8% Dogma, and 2% too many chose Bats.
Most Kick-Ass Death Scene: BRUCE WILLIS DIES HARD
Unlike some publications, we're not about to ruin the secret of The Sixth Sense for the three or so folks out there who haven't seen it, so we'll just say it's that scene. You know. Also popular were the Sleepy Hollow decapitations (specified: Casper van Dien), the final scene of Blair Witch, and the scarab beetle action of The Mummy, while a significant number of your ballots lauded the virtues of Ben Affleck's exploding head (in Dogma, that is).
Coolest Omnipotent Being: ALANIS MORRISETTE AS GOD
It was God versus Satan in our celestial poll, and being the Good Samaritans you 11th Hour readers are, Dogma's God (Morissette) triumphed over End of Days' Satan (Gabriel Byrne) 37% to 31%. (Although one enthusiastic fan did specify "Gabriel Byrne pisses fire!" on their ballot.) Other cool omnipotent types: Imhotep, The Blair Witch, Mr. Jingles and the Headless Horseman.
Wisest Use of Pre-Millennial Tension: END OF DAYS
Hey, End of Days won something! The millenniumy comedy -- er, dramatic thriller -- whooped ass with 35% of your vote, leaving Dogma (26%), Stigmata (16%) and other Y2K wannabes eating dust. Yeah, Arnold, yeah!
Most Deserving Victim: THE CAST OF THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
The combined effect of those wishing Heather Donahue would just shut up and drop dead (17%) with those wishing ill upon the whole cast (21%), led to a sweeping victory for the not-so-dearly departed Blair Witch crew. Meanwhile, The Mummy's Beni, "the chick from Deep Blue Sea" and "that annoying blonde guy in The Haunting" got a combined 27% of our readership homicidal, and Arnold managed 7% of the votes for End of Days.
Best Use of Shirtless Man With Shovel: A STIR OF ECHOES
Well, duh! (Or as some of our less-informed readers put it, "Huh? What'd I miss?") The kick-ass Stir of Echoes had to win something, and to no one's surprise, 86% of our reader's signaled out Kevin Bacon's stunning, um, performance. The remaining 14% went to Brendan Fraser, who was indeed scantily clad and digging in The Mummy. Do we sense a trend here? Sure hope so!
Hottest Actor/Actress: JOHNNY DEPP/CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
"Mmmmm, Johnny..." wrote one enthusiastic proponent of the Sleepy Hollow star, and the majority of you agreed. Other faves for the guys included Brendan Fraser, James Marsters (shocking!) and an impressive showing for The Mummy's little-seen-but-very-noticed Oded Fehr. Meanwhile, Catherine Zeta-Jones managed to win despite The Haunting, followed by Christina Ricci and Linda Fiorentino. Of rather scary note: a number of our nine-year-old female readers (we hope and pray) cast their ballots for that 11-year-old stud known as Haley Joel Osment.
Worst Movie: THE HAUNTING
That tri-syllabic death knoll of doom known as Jan De Bont swept this category with his sacrilegious remake (30%), followed by the godawful Bats (18%), the love-it-or-hate-it Blair Witch Project (15%), the I-can't-believe-you-remember-it Carrie 2 (8%) and --*sob*-- the woefully chastised End of Days (7%). Oh, sweet Arnold, how did it go so very, very wrong?
