Free | 23/6
Posted: 2/13/2012
By Karen KemmerleTribeca Alum Ti West knows how to pick his leading ladies: Vanessa Horneff in The Roost; Jocelin Donahue in The House of the Devil; and now, Sara Paxton in The Innkeepers. Sara Paxton, a budding veteran of the genre, really comes into her own as Claire, an adorable, gawky and neurotic slacker, whose boredom and obsession with ghosts -- to put it mildly -- lead to eerie and perilous consequences. She appears in almost every shot of the film, and it is through her point of view that the audience enters the realm of the paranormal.Paxton s electric turn in The Innkeepers is not her first foray into the horror genre. Her role as Mari, the battered heroine of the 2009 remake of The Last House on the Left, proved that she has the chops to become a series genre actress. In The Innkeepers, her doe-eyed beauty contrasts starkly with the dull and eerie surroundings of the Yankee Peddler. (She recently appeared in Shark Night 3D as well, but hey, nobody s perfect.)
In honor of Sara Paxton s compelling genre work, here are our picks for up-and-coming horror ing nues that are well on their way to becoming new age scream queens.Ok-Bin Kim
Notable Films: Thirst (2009).Director Chan-wook Park, the horror genre darling of South Korea, could not have picked a more fitting leading lady for his first vampire film than Ok-Bin Kim. Thirst, a gory and wild ride, begins with the kind-hearted Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), a priest who turns into a vampire after a medical experiment goes badly awry. Struggling with his newfound craving for blood and carnage, Sang-hyun finds a soul mate in Tae-ju (Kim), the young and beautiful wife of a friend who is only too happy to sate his appetites. Their love affair is the stuff of nightmares, and Kim s performance is mesmerizing. The tilt of her head, the glint in her eyes, and her blood-splattered face all contribute to her convincing portrayal of a woman who kills freely and revels in her conquests. As the complicated Tae-ju, Kim also m