Best Horror Movies of 2011: Direct-to-Video/Limited Releases

Strong comedic performances and inspired insanity propel this intentionally awkward and goofy (a bit like Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!) horror-comedy about a naïve virgin whose fiancee discovers an amulet that turns her and her female friends into literal man-eaters.

An alternately fascinating and frustrating genre-bender mixing comedy, drama and thriller in the story of a LARP (live-action role-playing) event that devolves into real-life violence, Lord of the Flies-style.

Vanishing on 7th Street is an unusually introspective genre film from Brad Anderson (Session 9, The Machinist) that plays off the universal fear of the dark with a cerebral approach that feels at times more like a dramatic play than a horror movie.

This violent, play-like whodunit is set in a diner where one or more patrons and/or workers (including familiar faces Harold Perrineau, Danny Trejo, Michael Madsen, Jake Busey and Amber Benson) might be a vicious killer.

A supernatural slasher that doesn't try to be too clever, respects the genre and delivers effective frights -- pretty much all you can ask for in a diminished-expectations direct-to-video horror movie.

The tale of a small-town man's attempt to "civilize" a feral cannibal woman, The Woman's unnerving blend of gore and sexual violence is as psychological as it is graphic.

A well-made throwback slasher that doesn't try to do too much other than deliver the gory goods with an effective villain -- in this case, an undead faceless killer seeking vengeance for his death -- dispatching with a nubile cast of characters.

Good Neighbors is part serial killer thriller, part quirky drama and all wickedly fascinating whodunit that takes an unexpectedly dark and twisted turn as it delves into intriguing character studies of three seemingly normal people who are each unhinged in their own way.

Gritty, dramatic and steeped in human emotion, Stake Land's story of a man and a boy traversing a post-apocalyptic landscape is sort of like The Road with vampires instead of cannibals.

This British feature hits all the right marks for a successful zombie movie: apocalyptic scale, tense atmosphere, loads of action, bloody kills and dramatic despair, plus a likable cast of familiar British character actors.