So without muddying the water with all the decades of classics - what horror movies did it for you (so far) this year? It's almost halloween, and we all need some new stuff rather than watching Suspiria for the fourteenth time, right?
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:32 (fourteen years ago) link
the fourteenth time high? it really makes a difference
― What the hell is hamster love (CaptainLorax), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:35 (fourteen years ago) link
well yeah
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:37 (fourteen years ago) link
My surprise nominee (and none of these are going to be academy greats duh) is The Haunting In Connecticut which will not go down in history or anything, but was a totally capable jump scare flick. I have no idea why they promoted the movie the way that they did, the initial theatrical release campaign made it look like some sort of slow yawn slightly creepy snoozefest, when in fact it is 100% cut from the flash of CREEPY DUDE in the mirror/corner/behind the kid school of filmmaking.
plot holes? well yeah, duh, but who cares
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:42 (fourteen years ago) link
This is prob a good place for me to fly my challop flag and say that as great as Let the Right One In is, it isn't really a horror film IMO.
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:47 (fourteen years ago) link
i kinda want to see paranormal activity.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:53 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah me too! although i fear the possibility that it might be a hype triumph and disappoint.
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Drag Me to Hell!
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:55 (fourteen years ago) link
man, still haven't seen that. or even zombieland (which doesn't sound like horror).
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:56 (fourteen years ago) link
all i've really seen in 2009 is drag me to hell and zombieland, which isn't really a horror movie either
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:56 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:57 (fourteen years ago) link
i just watched drag me to hell last night, and as a old school Raimi fanboy it was a ton of fun (srsly sam it is amazing how much mileage you can get out of the power of people/corpses/demonwhatevers vomiting on other people). Curious to find out how it worked for people that weren't kind of the target audience, esp the classic moments of Raimi complete set up nonsense (the best of which had to be the "well duh why not use these ice skates i was about to pawn on my suspended anvil" idiot lunacy).
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:00 (fourteen years ago) link
anybody see any of the big remakes (last house on the left, whichever one rob zombie did this year, etc)?
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:05 (fourteen years ago) link
drag me to hell was so great -- just rewatched but seeing it in the theatre was amazing what with everyone laughing & screaming simultaneously
― elmo leonard (elmo argonaut), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:08 (fourteen years ago) link
i think the only nasty cut-em-up flicks i like anymore come from france or asia, though the first 'hostel' and the first 'saw' were good. i have a ton of friends who are in the horror film community and they're all pretty cynical about it these days, everyone wants to turn shit pg-13.
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:09 (fourteen years ago) link
no desire to see the halloween remake, but the trailer was fucking terrifying (i've long held that horror movie trailers are usually way scarier than the actual movie, you just get a succession of jumps and creepy images without any context or warning).
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:10 (fourteen years ago) link
loved drag me... anyone seen paranormal activity yet?
or left bank?
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:12 (fourteen years ago) link
the french stuff is just brutal, but its been some of my favorite stuff as well, im sure a bunch of the usual whiners are going to lump it into the totally dumb invented "torture porn" genre but it just has such a deep sense of misanthropic malice and self-loathing xpost
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:12 (fourteen years ago) link
i have a ton of friends who are in the horror film community and they're all pretty cynical about it these days, everyone wants to turn shit pg-13.
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, October 22, 2009 2:09 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
http://tcmmoviemorlocks.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/famous-monsters-speak2.jpg
^^^ omar's friends
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:13 (fourteen years ago) link
considering using my mod cheat powers to edit the title to include 2008 because so much great unheralded stuff came out last year
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:13 (fourteen years ago) link
'inside' was just as rough thematically as it was in terms of gore imo, i.e. it's one of my favorite films of the past few years.
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:14 (fourteen years ago) link
id make it the whole decade but i think that the hostel/saw/ring/rob zombie non remake stuff would just take over and we've talked about that a billion times already (i love all three of the originals, and will go to bat for hostel 2 as well)
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:15 (fourteen years ago) link
me too hostel 2 is so underrated
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:16 (fourteen years ago) link
really felt roth didn't want to cheap out with an easy sequel on that one
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:17 (fourteen years ago) link
the saw series has turned into a joke imo
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:17 (fourteen years ago) link
oh yeah saw 3 was particularly awful
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:19 (fourteen years ago) link
never seen a saw movie (i am okay w this)
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I didn't really feel Hostel when I watched it - though that might've been because I'd watched Wolf Creek the night before which ten times more brutal and believable. Still haven't seen any of the Saws.
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:19 (fourteen years ago) link
martyrs was the best horror movie I've seen in years. it's french torture porn, and then again, it's not... which is what makes it so great. it totally transcends the genre and I can guarantee you won't guess where it's going.
eden park was pretty good. not the greatest film ever made but a nice patch on the "hunted by locals in the woods" genre.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Eden Lake you mean? I liked that a lot, some bits haunted me for a few days. Such a dark ending!
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:22 (fourteen years ago) link
duh, yeah eden lake
there are a lot of recent horror films I wanted to see that I haven't gotten around to. off the top of my head: teeth, the uninvited, embodiment of evil, dead snow... and I guess the haunting in ct now...
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:25 (fourteen years ago) link
anybody repping for inside in this thread needs to see martyrs stat
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:27 (fourteen years ago) link
paranormal is not that great. download it and see it at home. more of a living room thing than a theatre experience.
― let them eat cankles (jeff), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:33 (fourteen years ago) link
I wanna see nightmare, too. it's an older film that just got released on DVD, kind of low budget but looks promising.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455983/
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:34 (fourteen years ago) link
oh hey btw for the french horror heads, if you haven't seen frontier(s), thats pretty essential
Eden Lake is british, right? some great horror coming out of britain in the past few years, esp if you like a bit of comedy mixed with your gore (top recs would be Severance and Shrooms)
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:35 (fourteen years ago) link
― let them eat cankles (jeff), Thursday, October 22, 2009 2:33 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
really? how so? i would think it would be a quintessential movie theater movie!!
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:35 (fourteen years ago) link
I liked Drag me to Hell. Also liked Jennifer's Body actually. I think a lot of good recent US horror has been genre pastiche/comedy (I'd include Hostel ii). The French/Asian stuff is nice because it still does well playing the eeriness/bone-gristle straight. I've only seen the first 2 Saws but had to stop because why bother when there's stuff like Martyrs out there.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:35 (fourteen years ago) link
dead snow is pretty half-assed tbh
theres a foreign language film that is a great companion piece to Eden Lake that i can't remember the name of right now and it is killing me.
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Eden Lake is british, right? some great horror coming out of britain in the past few years, esp if you like a bit of comedy mixed with your gore
Yep, it's British. Not many laughs though.
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Just grabbed some new 80s movies to watch. Can anyone vouch for these?
Combat ShockDementedDon't Go In The HouseNight of the Demon
― let them eat cankles (jeff), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:37 (fourteen years ago) link
oh yeah wait, Ils (or Them) is the Eden Lake parallel. creeeeepy
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:38 (fourteen years ago) link
haha yeah Eden Lake is def not chock full o' laughs
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Because...
SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS ...it is pretty much just a Blair Witch clone and more fun than scary. For me, the experience was ruining by a theatre of 500 groaning teens.SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSSSPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS SPOILERSSSSSSS
― let them eat cankles (jeff), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:39 (fourteen years ago) link
*ruined
combat shock is fucked up. also pretty interesting and pretty good.
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:42 (fourteen years ago) link
thread title edit for the purposes of why not
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:43 (fourteen years ago) link
In light of the new title I will mention Wolf Creek again.
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah it looks totally cheeseball but I'm a huge shock waves fan so...
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:46 (fourteen years ago) link
speaking of which, the aussies have def had a horror boom this decade as well xpost
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:47 (fourteen years ago) link
for aussie film fans i def recommend this hilarious doc:
http://www.smartartists.com.au/not-quite-hollywood/nqh-poster.jpg
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:48 (fourteen years ago) link
"The Descent" is still the scariest film of that time span. "Drag Me to Hell" was tons of fun, though essentially just a remake of "Night of the Demon." "Zombieland" was entertaining, but totally sloppy and lazy.
Aussie-wise, "Rogue" is an undervalued and very well made gem in the giant croc genre.
Just came across some Korean POV torture porn flick called "The Butcher," which from the look of it may be the most unpleasant movie ever made.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
WC is the only Aussie horror I've seen that I can recall. Recommendations?
xxpost
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
xp to jeffI saw 'Don't Go In The House' last October. It has a nice gritty grindhouse vibe along w/ a Norman Bates type guy who uses a flamethrower instead of a knife.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Any good Japanese stuff from this period?
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:50 (fourteen years ago) link
It's another Korean flick, but if you count "The Host" as horror, "The Host" is a blast. The director's "Memories of Murder," while slightly pre-2005, is worth seeing, too, though not really a horror film. More a serial killer procedural along the same lines as "Zodiac."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:53 (fourteen years ago) link
if you are in the mood to see one of the worst films ever made, you can't go wrong with the 1980 night of the demon
http://www.youtube.com/v/CryBPpYTWfk
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:53 (fourteen years ago) link
so weird i was just going to mention memories of murder with that same caveat
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:54 (fourteen years ago) link
memories of murder is almost on par with zodiac i think
At some point J-horror switched from ghost girls to low budget OTT 80's style gore. I'm not really keen on it. One I liked was 'Exte' by the guy who did Suicide Circle about cursed hair extensions. Tonally a lot like Uzumaki & pretty fun.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:55 (fourteen years ago) link
the horror film 'the booth' is a very good japanese flick about a haunted DJ booth. not gory but i thought it was pretty spooky especially considering the setting.
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, 22 October 2009 18:59 (fourteen years ago) link
I really really really liked the strangers until the end
another one of the many horror movies with a great setup and no idea how to exit in a satisfactory manner
part of why I loved martyrs so much was that it found a graceful way out of its narrative challenges
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Pontypool is another recent one that takes place in a DJ booth & another one which really doesn't exit in a satisfactory manner. It's worth a look though.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Has anyone seen Grace or Giallo?
― let them eat cankles (jeff), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:16 (fourteen years ago) link
I AM A GHOST. THIS IS A TAKEOVER.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link
I enjoyed turistas. then again, I went into it with really low expectations. I've never seen anybody say anything good about it, but it's got great cinematography, some creative set scenes, and realistic acting. the xenophobia aspect of the premise is sorta o_O but the same could be said about eden lake.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Would've been great if Giallo was a 'Grindhouse'-style homage to all those 70s films. Instead it's:http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ne5Lb2SiFHg/SpvbzxSGD8I/AAAAAAAAkb8/COv33HMJVmo/s400/giallo_poster.jpg"i am a dud!"
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
the unborn was supposedly crap but I wanna see it for some reason
still haven't seen the orphanage
and speaking of korean films, chan-wook park's new one, thirst, is about a vampire priest, it played for 5 days here and I missed it... grrr
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:32 (fourteen years ago) link
btw I owned this record as a kid, can I just
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
this one too
http://www.wxyc.org/blog/dwf.jpg
sorry what were we talking about
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:39 (fourteen years ago) link
The Descent is great until the monsters show up
Paranormal Activity is bad, unless you really loved the Blair Witch Project
Last House on the Left remake has an interminable rape scene that kind of ruined the rest of the movie.
The Unborn was okay, kinda creepy when you find out the little girl star is an actual little girl
Halloween remake was terrible
Drag Me To Hell was pretty boring
Devil's Rejects is fantastic, a million times better than anything else Rob Zombie has done.
28 Weeks Later > 28 Days Later, but both are pretty good
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Got dragged to see The Collector, which was one of the worst movie experiences of my life. People who enjoy that kind of shit make me do the arched-eyebrow emoticon.
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
http://io9.com/5387328/see-the-beginning-of-the-descent-2
― let them eat cankles (jeff), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:42 (fourteen years ago) link
i rep for 'rec' btw. not sure about the upcoming sequel since the demonic possession/religious stuff in the first one seemed pretty weak & tacked on, but i hope it's good.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:44 (fourteen years ago) link
I watched the last 20 minutes of the ruins last week, it seemed terrible
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:45 (fourteen years ago) link
not sure how this differs from the original
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Is the original rape scene 10 minutes long?
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:48 (fourteen years ago) link
I didn't bring my stopwatch
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:51 (fourteen years ago) link
did a search on imdb for horror movies released in 2009 PowerSearch ResultsHere are the 1514 matching titles:
o_o
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:52 (fourteen years ago) link
that's excluding tv and video stuff
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, October 22, 2009 3:32 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
terrible, terrible movie
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:52 (fourteen years ago) link
did you like his other films
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:55 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought REC was great. I wasn't looking forward to the sequal but the one report I've heard about it was positive, so...
I didn't much care for the Brit horror movies mentioned above - Eden Lake, Severance, whathaveyou - though none are as bad as The Cottage. srsly do not watch the Cottage.
(oh wait, Brit horror The Descent was excellent).
― DavidM, Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:59 (fourteen years ago) link
martyrs fucked me up - i think i started a thread on it/french horror
the last house on the left remake was way less hateful and violent than the original but i kept getting distracted cuz the avenging moneyed class heroes had this fishy shadow over innsmouth look to them
i rep for it in basic ever ile horror film thread but home movie is the best dv/found footage horror movie ive seen - one of the best build-ups in a move ive seen recently
― m.coleman (Lamp), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:00 (fourteen years ago) link
did anybody see friedkin's bug? seems like it might be good in an off the wall kind of way.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:02 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm assuming you're not talking about the chris smith doc that i've been meaning to see for years
xp
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:03 (fourteen years ago) link
bug was kinda bad, with some good parts. it would be better on stage, i'm guessing.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:04 (fourteen years ago) link
The Haunting In Connecticut
i may have this mixed up w/ one of the other stories abt waspy white kids w/demons but was this the one with the medium and the sick kid? i liked it too although i almost felt it was more like a suspense or mystery film - washed out and grainy look and how sick and sallow every1 looked reminded me of british crime dramas
lol i have terrible taste but i also really vibed cry_wolf which is a pretty tense but hilarious teen horror/murder mystery
bug sucked btw
― m.coleman (Lamp), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
home movie not on netflix :(
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:13 (fourteen years ago) link
It didn't scare me, but The Devil's Rejects was certainly the best horror-ish film of this time span. Inland Empire is beyond genre, but without a doubt the scariest movie I've seen in the last five years.
― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:16 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.moviesonline.ca/movie-gallery/albums/userpics//poster_p2.jpg
― u madoff (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:16 (fourteen years ago) link
haven't seen [rec] or quarantine
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Inland Empire is beyond genre, but without a doubt the scariest movie I've seen in the last five years.
^ this
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:20 (fourteen years ago) link
lol i saw p2
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
i also half saw half slept thru trick or treat last night
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, October 22, 2009 3:55 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
liked old boy, hated lady vengeance
P2 is dope - ondemand all star
― Yo! ILX Blaps (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Trick r' Treat SplinterThem
― Darin, Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
hated lady vengeance
u mad
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:25 (fourteen years ago) link
jordan i think home movie is (certainly was) only available on ifc/comcast video on demand if u have it
lol @ inland empire. slocki iirc ud rep for the final destination series right? i think theyre good entertainment a+ death sequences imo
[rec]/quarantine are aight but not as great as the premise promises. havent seen the orphanage which is supposed to be a pretty good spanish horror film
― m.coleman (Lamp), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:25 (fourteen years ago) link
the signal is a good one but it's so weird that i don't recommend it to many people
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
i never saw diary of the dead b/c of bad reviews, but apparently i like camcorder/found footage zombie movies, so maybe i should give it a shot?
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:28 (fourteen years ago) link
btw if you see one of rec/quarantine, you really really dont need to see the other one, startlingly slavish remake for the most part, a few degrees south of that goddamn psycho redo
xpost i thought the signal was great great great, but yeah, really odd
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:31 (fourteen years ago) link
app i like the word really
Diary of the Dead kind of sucked unfortunately, imho.
― Darin, Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:33 (fourteen years ago) link
bug is terrrrrrible
― let them eat cankles (jeff), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I kinda loved Thirst and don't get the hate.
For:Drag Me to HellThe Descent28 Days/Weeks LaterPontypoolInsideRecThe ChildrenHome MovieThe Loved Ones (brilliant, funny Aussie horror)The Strangers
Against:MartyrsParanormal ActivityHostel (never saw Hostel 2)all the remakes (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Hills Have Eyes, etc.)most big J-horror
― Simon H., Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:38 (fourteen years ago) link
also The Signal is pretty rad.
― Simon H., Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:39 (fourteen years ago) link
lol doesnt the signal have the same premise as the s.king novel cell??
― m.coleman (Lamp), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:40 (fourteen years ago) link
"The Orphanage" is surprisingly moving, even sentimental. "rec" isn't bad, but it's essentially "Resident Evil" in Spanish.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:41 (fourteen years ago) link
havent seen the orphanage which is supposed to be a pretty good spanish horror film
It's good. But more of a ghost story/mystery than an outright horror film.
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:41 (fourteen years ago) link
but it's essentially "Resident Evil" in Spanish.
you mean the game, not the movie, right?
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:43 (fourteen years ago) link
how awesome does embodiment of evil look? I can't believe I've had this sitting unwatched on a shelf for 4 months.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtPQh1AMl2Q
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Pontypool is a decent low-budget zombie movie (as in, you only see a few zombies).
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Thursday, 22 October 2009 20:54 (fourteen years ago) link
and this is the part of the thread where I rep for 30 days of night
I watched it a second time and enjoyed it a lot more than the first time
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/30_days_of_night.jpg
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:10 (fourteen years ago) link
now let's talk about the mist again
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:11 (fourteen years ago) link
30 days of night got off to such a great start, and i was so excited about it, and then it just stopped being scary and turned cartoonish
― how rad bandit (gbx), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:12 (fourteen years ago) link
The Mist - Good movie, shite ending.
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:12 (fourteen years ago) link
really wanted it to be a creep-o slow burner, but noooooooo
i had forgotten about the ending of the mist, in my mind it stops with the fucking giant skeleton elephant thing
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:13 (fourteen years ago) link
the mist was great
xpost oh man i thought the ending was perfect
xxpost yeah 30 days of night fell off for me as well
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:13 (fourteen years ago) link
the mist didnt suck but it surely tried my patience pretty much any time some1 made a speech in the cereal aisle
― legit 40 (Lamp), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:13 (fourteen years ago) link
do u h8 cereal?
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:14 (fourteen years ago) link
i fucking loved the mist
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:14 (fourteen years ago) link
The movie and the short story deserved something better than a LOL GOTCHA ending.
Cut to black after they count bullets and look at each other.
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:15 (fourteen years ago) link
see, i liked that the short story and the movie had different endings!
― Mr. Que, Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:16 (fourteen years ago) link
i wanted the one chick to be like I SOLD ALL THE BULLETS TO BUY U THAT NINTENDO DS U SD U WANTED LOL
― legit 40 (Lamp), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:16 (fourteen years ago) link
There's some superior fan made "Mist" ending on youtube. Or at least there was. Maybe this is it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuLVpJqxy4Y
Love the option of watching the movie in black and white on DVD. Makes the gore less gratuitous.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:24 (fourteen years ago) link
nah, THIS is how the movie should have ended
http://oneshort.ytmnd.com/
― well pull down my pants and call me swamp thing (latebloomer), Thursday, 22 October 2009 21:35 (fourteen years ago) link
the original ending of The Mist is perfect, complete w/ great Thomas Jane overacting.
― Simon H., Friday, 23 October 2009 02:35 (fourteen years ago) link
The Orphanage was pretty good, kinda similar to The Haunting in Connecticut in that it sort of sheds its horror movie skin by the end
― had died in a balloon accident several years in a ballooning accident (dyao), Friday, 23 October 2009 02:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Just watched Trick R Treat. That was pretty fun.
― she is writing about love (Jenny), Saturday, 24 October 2009 04:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Has anybody see Voice? I just read a pretty enthusiastic write up about it and it seems promising.
I've got The Thaw and End of the Line coming next from Netflix. Probably add House of the Devil, too.
― she is writing about love (Jenny), Saturday, 24 October 2009 04:11 (fourteen years ago) link
otm
also otm
has anyone seen the woods (lucky mckee)? i liked may, but that's all i've seen by him.
― STRATE IN2 DAKRNESS (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 24 October 2009 05:03 (fourteen years ago) link
omg Teeth was amazing.
― billstevejim, Saturday, 24 October 2009 05:15 (fourteen years ago) link
― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.), Thursday, October 22, 2009 8:16 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
what about the sequence in the diner in Mulholland Drive where the guy is recounting his dream? I think that's the scariest thing I've experienced as an adult.
― Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 24 October 2009 09:07 (fourteen years ago) link
I like how Lynch's "eye of the duck" moments are either strangely beautiful or HOLY FUCK I THINK I MAY HAVE CRAPPED MY PANTS.
― Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 24 October 2009 09:08 (fourteen years ago) link
The Mist is pretty full on! The Marcia Gay Harden stuff was kind of overdone though.
I think someone said they hated the ending upthread. I thought it was brutal! Far more nihilistic and fucked up than them all just dying.
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:15 (fourteen years ago) link
If he'd shot them and then stepped out into the unknown Mist to face Fate, maybe nihilistic and fucked up. Still would have preferred the ambiguity of counting the rounds and fading out.
Shooting them, stepping out into the Mist and then the Army rolling through is just a cheesy GOTCHA, should have listened to the other folks!
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Basically, I think any horror movie with that kind of turnabout ending is taking the easy route - providing pat answers and a neat finale to the audience.
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Nah, the mood of the whole movie is a total horrible downer and I think the ending fits.
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:32 (fourteen years ago) link
But I think the human aspects could've been more well handled - like MGH should've been less obviously batshit, and the atmosphere in the supermarket should've built for mild consternation rather than everybody just shitting their pants from the minute the mist rolled in.
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:35 (fourteen years ago) link
The ending is less bleak than the rest of the movie, though.
end of the world, no hope at all vs. oops u shot ur kid, should have waited three minutes
Shock endings suck.
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:35 (fourteen years ago) link
It's bleaker for our viewpoint character. Worst possible outcome for him.
― His skin is eroding. His suckers have divots. (chap), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I didn't enjoy any horror films from this period (not really my genre), but I did enjoy thinking about some films that borrowed the zombie trope.
In particular Les Revanants/They Came Back (2005 outside of France), which is a slow, pensive film about the undead who silently want their lives (jobs/relationships/parents) back. I, like many others, felt left down by the ending, but it kept my attention for most the running time.
Also Deadgirl (2008), a discomfiting film about teenage lust, objectivization, and the loss of friendship. A summary of the later (teen outcasts find an undead woman tied up in a basement, and act upon their instincts) doesn't quite do it justice.
― Deliquescing (Derelict), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:54 (fourteen years ago) link
tonight i am watching "the collector" by the saw guys, looks feh
and tomorrow paranormal 'tivs.
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Monday, 26 October 2009 01:56 (fourteen years ago) link
based on the john fowles book slock?
― ian, Monday, 26 October 2009 02:00 (fourteen years ago) link
i dont think so! actually im sure its not. it looks like saw with... uh... a different guy.
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Monday, 26 October 2009 02:03 (fourteen years ago) link
milo so otm about the mist
― President Deez (some dude), Monday, 26 October 2009 02:05 (fourteen years ago) link
haven't seen the mist, should watch it.
― ian, Monday, 26 October 2009 02:06 (fourteen years ago) link
i cant believe u mist it
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Monday, 26 October 2009 02:06 (fourteen years ago) link
been wanting to see this for a while, such a fantastic concept...
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, 26 October 2009 02:09 (fourteen years ago) link
still kinda baffled by y'all who think the mist > 30 days of night
30 days of night is kind of cartoonish but it was, uh, based on a comic book
the mist had really bad cgi, bunch of contrived character types, and an unearned suhprise! ending
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, 26 October 2009 02:16 (fourteen years ago) link
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, October 22, 2009 2:35 PM
^ yes
― am0n, Monday, 26 October 2009 02:16 (fourteen years ago) link
I want to see Deadgirl, but reviews are pretty mixed - seems like it's hard to get a good read on indie horror quality. Critics automatically downplay the flicks, while horror fans get excited over pretty much anything.
It's a year too soon for this, but the Dawn of the Dead remake was really, really good.
― smashing aspirant (milo z), Monday, 26 October 2009 02:17 (fourteen years ago) link
I still wanna see the black and white version of the mist, seems like it might redeem at least the cgi stuff
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, 26 October 2009 02:23 (fourteen years ago) link
but reviews are pretty mixed
it's KIDS... with zombies!!
― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Monday, 26 October 2009 04:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Dawn of the Dead was good...especially the part with the preggers girl
― had died in a balloon accident several years in a ballooning accident (dyao), Monday, 26 October 2009 04:13 (fourteen years ago) link
bugcrush is kinda good. (i guess the whole thing's not up on youtube anymore, but it might be around somewhere.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kExFp8VT9eE
― STRATE IN2 DAKRNESS (tipsy mothra), Monday, 26 October 2009 04:25 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.arachnoid.com/ChildrenOfNarcissus/images/sutherland_invasion_1978.jpg
― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.), Monday, 26 October 2009 04:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Deadgirl is amazing
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Monday, 26 October 2009 05:08 (fourteen years ago) link
my thoughts from that itr thread where i do one sentence reviews of streaming netflix stuff i watch at odd hours:
deadgirl - this is going to be another one of those recommendations that isnt really one, i thought it was great, some weird rivers edge/brick/donnie darko/grossout horror flick blender action going on, really really mean spirited, another wonderful film designed to make you feel like people are just basically horrible and evil, dont know if anyone else should really watch it if they dont want to feel dirty and simultaneously violated and entertained, oddly wacky and slapstick in all the wrong parts, at least one (maybe both) of the leads is shockingly brilliant and will probably never get cast again. A-
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Monday, 26 October 2009 05:10 (fourteen years ago) link
ok just watched The Woods mentioned upthread (thx streaming netflix) and that is def one of the best horror things ive seen in recent memory.
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Monday, 26 October 2009 07:35 (fourteen years ago) link
oh, cool. i'll have to check it out. have you seen may? that's good too.
― STRATE IN2 DAKRNESS (tipsy mothra), Monday, 26 October 2009 13:57 (fourteen years ago) link
collector was pathetic
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Monday, 26 October 2009 14:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Haven't seen anything super-recent. Mist was okay-ish, kinda hokey/kinda entertaining, like a better-than average Sci-Fi Channel monster movie for most of its running time, but the ending fucking sucked. Not because it was "nihilistic" or whatever, just because it was cheap, ridiculously overstated and lame. Should have ended with the Great Old One lurching by overhead as the Jeep ran out of gas. Maybe with the hero counting bullets, counting heads. But fuck everything that came after.
Couldn't make it through 30 Days of Night. Started out cool enough, but got boring fast.
The Woods is awesome.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Monday, 26 October 2009 15:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Has anybody see Voice?
Is this the Korean film? I thought it was o-k but a letdown if considered as the 4th film in the 'Whispering Corridors' series. The 2nd - 'Memento Mori' - is the strongest. Incidentally the 5th film just came out but I'm a little hesitant.
Maybe I'll see 'The Woods' tonight.
― xcixxorx, Monday, 26 October 2009 16:53 (fourteen years ago) link
2009, 'horror' movies
LMAO
― Great Scott! It's Molecular Man. (Ste), Monday, 26 October 2009 17:23 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i still can't get over how good the woods was. looks beautiful, great performances, well written dialog, smart as hell. no idea why this movie is kind of a blip rather than well known.
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Monday, 26 October 2009 17:48 (fourteen years ago) link
I really dug may but never checked out the woods due to mixed reviews
director got fired off his last film, too
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, 26 October 2009 17:49 (fourteen years ago) link
am about to watch Martyrs. Wish me luck!
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 00:48 (fourteen years ago) link
THE STRANGERS is hands down the best I've seen this half of the decade. THE ORPHANAGE is terrible boring conventional bullshit.
― ben folds' cover of "such great heights" (Tape Store), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 02:46 (fourteen years ago) link
THE ORPHANAGE is terrible boring conventional bullshit
+sugared +embossed +pretentious +not at all scary
― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 03:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, The Orphanage gets a lot of praise, but I'm not sure why. It's decent for an old-fashioned ghost story, but nothing special. Same goes for The Others and most of the post-Sixth-Sense "grown up ghost story" genre.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 03:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Jesus Camp still scares me.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 27 October 2009 04:46 (fourteen years ago) link
paranormal activity was ok
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 05:43 (fourteen years ago) link
not the scariest movie ever made? i want it to be the scariest movie ever made.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 06:06 (fourteen years ago) link
I haven't seen The Orphanage, but the ending sounds absolutely hilarious (and it's also the same ending as another certain famous early 70s horror film, and both of these setups seem really ridiculous).
Curious about The Woods. I liked May as a character piece, though I wasn't really fond of the shot that bookends the movie... but I'm not really into this stuff for the gore or jump scare factor.
― Nhex, Tuesday, 27 October 2009 06:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Seconding (thirding?) this. I liked it a lot, but watching it at home on laptop was much more effective than seeing it in a theater. It's basically a feature length YouTube video.
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 27 October 2009 09:04 (fourteen years ago) link
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, October 26, 2009 1:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
this dude is never going to go anywhere if he keeps making his movies so hard to google
― Bobby Wo (max), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 10:09 (fourteen years ago) link
ok, about to watch martyrs, will report back in about 1:45
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 04:33 (fourteen years ago) link
oof. that was rough.
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 06:29 (fourteen years ago) link
will add more thoughts once i have time to digest it, but i can say that that is some bleak, bleak shit right there.
French movies sort of own this thread, huh.
― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.), Thursday, 29 October 2009 12:16 (fourteen years ago) link
THE ORPHANAGE is hands down the best I've seen this half of the decade. THE STRANGERS is terrible boring conventional bullshit.
― DavidM, Thursday, 29 October 2009 15:18 (fourteen years ago) link
wow the last 30 minutes of martyrs are just so brutal. i dont think id really put it in the horror category (as weird as that seems considering, well, everything about it) - idk what to call it. it isnt scary per se (uh certainly disquieting dont get me wrong).
really having trouble working my way around it. really good though.
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:28 (fourteen years ago) link
was talking w/a friend of mine about these sort of characteristics of new foreign (to me) horror films. there is def a totally different thing going on depending on whether yer talking about france/UK/spain/aussie, but all of them are simultaneously blooming, whereas the american stuff is sort of flailing around and retreading, and the asian extreme stuff seems to be caught in a rut.
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:31 (fourteen years ago) link
god i hate the term asian extreme but at least its a placeholder (and works better than j-horror).
asian X-TREME
― ADVANCED CHORD CHANGES (HI DERE), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:32 (fourteen years ago) link
The Strangers is effective but forgettable and completely contentless.
Got The Woods waiting on my hard drive, hadn't heard of it before this thread, but I'm quite excited about it now. Also, Bruce Campbell!
― Ok Abacus (chap), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:32 (fourteen years ago) link
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, October 29, 2009 2:29 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark
yep.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link
First 2/3 def. has enough (fucking freaky as shit) traditional macabre elements to qualify it as trad horror imo. Last bit is def on its own arthouse thing, tho. Absolutely loved this btw.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link
okay so I just read about Inside and um... yikes
― ADVANCED CHORD CHANGES (HI DERE), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:46 (fourteen years ago) link
there is a reason I don't watch these but tbh I love reading about them
there is def a totally different thing going on depending on whether yer talking about france/UK/spain/aussie, but all of them are simultaneously blooming
Any recommendations? I've already added Inside and Martyr to my queue, but haven't seen any mention of specific Aussie or Spanish movies yet.
― A polar bear you can see in a snowstorm (rockapads), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:52 (fourteen years ago) link
aussie: wolf creek obv.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:55 (fourteen years ago) link
for aussie/NZ stuff you should prob start with Wolf Creek
spanish - maybe rec? i have to think about this one a little more tbh
xpost hah yep
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:58 (fourteen years ago) link
lots of peeps rep for "the nun" on the spanish side, but i havent seen it so
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:59 (fourteen years ago) link
― ADVANCED CHORD CHANGES (HI DERE), Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:46 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
OTM
― how rad bandit (gbx), Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Here is generally how it breaks down for me:
Brilliant, worthy of canonization: The Descent, The Devil's Rejects, Martyrs
Almost there (great, but terminally flawed): Strangers (first half is the most awesome, scariest shit - second half, not so much); Haute Tension (that fucking twist - ugh); The Mist (Marcia Aspie Harden)
Highly Watchable: Drag Me to Hell (maybe this deserves top rating - on the fence about this), Hostels 1+2, The Hills Have Eyes (this & Dawn of the Dead are the only remakes worth watching), Dead Snow (boring as shit until the zombie freakout occurs; is hence thoroughly entertaining), Trick R' Treat, 28 Weeks Later, Slither
In a class of its own: Inland Empire
Shitbox: Saw movies, most remakes, most horror films (sad but true)
Have not seen: Paranormal Activity, Inside (will have seen both by weeks end), Rec, The Children, Home Movie, The Orphanage, Voice, Deadgirl, The Woods, Les Revanants
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Inside is way better than I'll ever be willing to give it credit for.
― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.), Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link
inside is one of those movies that's totally riveting but you watch the entire time with O_O that expression on your face. i think the thing with the cop at the end was especially O_O
― jØrdån (omar little), Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Drag Me to Hell (maybe this deserves top rating - on the fence about this) - I'd grant Grindhouse this same status (both features + trailers)
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Highly Watchable - also, add to this: Hatchet, a thoroughly entertaining bit of self-aware slasher-camp
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Hard Candy, with Ellen Page, is more of psychologicall thriller than horror, but I liked it a whole lot. Basically a two-character movie.
― (nutty nuggets at HEB) (Eazy), Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:52 (fourteen years ago) link
When done well, which sadly is not often, horror is my favorite genre. From the above recs I added Martyrs, Woods, Wolf Creek, Them, Deadgirl and The Strangers to my Netflix queue.
I enjoyed The Mist (it's better in B&W if you have a choice). Agree the ending would have been better if left after running out of gas/seeing the monster thingy walk by, etc.
Drag Me to Hell was OK (not scary at all, though). The CGI was at times cartoonish. But it doesn't take it self to seriously either. Don't think I'd recommend it to someone who's not already a big Raimi fan.
I only saw The Descent once a few years back. I thought it was great, and one of the scarier movies I've seen. I didn't find the CGI monsters to be that bad.
Trick R Treat was a solid movie. Again, not really scary, but it was entertaining and well made. It captured Halloween well (if that makes any sense).
As far as older films go, I saw David Cronenberg's The Brood last week. Some of the acting in that movie is subpar, but there were scenes that creeped me out, so if you haven't saw it yet, I'd recommend it (especially for Cronenberg fans). Not sure how popular this film was when it came out.
Was Scanner's good?
― musicfanatic, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:04 (fourteen years ago) link
I guess Dead Snow isn't out yet in the States as a DVD. But will check that one out as well.
― musicfanatic, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Patrick McGoohan RIP is excellent in Scanners. Also there is head exploding.
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:09 (fourteen years ago) link
One last thing: I can't believe Land of the Dead got positive reviews. Pretty much one big waste of time (and I'm a huge fan of Romero's). Diary of the Dead was better, but not really that good either. There's a new one out (or soon to be out anyway) called Island of the Dead. I don't have high expectations but I'll probably end up checking it out on Netflix.
― musicfanatic, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:10 (fourteen years ago) link
I watched Drag Me to Hell only yesterday. About as scary and as clunky as a fairground ghost train, but it gets by on sheer enthusiasm and a likable performance from the lead. Forgettable though.
All this Mist love mystifies me. No atmosphere to it at all, just dead.
― DavidM, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:21 (fourteen years ago) link
The Brood is maybe Cronenberg's best, outside of The Fly.
― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.), Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:23 (fourteen years ago) link
LOL I finally watched Devil's Rejects last night expecting i dunno what and it was mostly a comedy right? With some awesome tunage that gave me renewed respect for Rob Zombie's collection of 70s LPs. Terry Reid!
― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:25 (fourteen years ago) link
About as scary and as clunky as a fairground ghost train - see, this is what I loved about it. It totally felt like a relic from a bygone era that probably never existed to begin with. For that, it succeeds on style points alone imo.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Saw Saint Ange (Martyrs director's earlier film) on Netflix instant watch last night. It's quite slow & remarkably similar to Orphanage in places which is interesting since it came out earlier. Can't really recommend it though it does have another bizarre 3rd act switch involving subterranean lairs.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:37 (fourteen years ago) link
The Brood is maybe Cronenberg's best, outside of The Fly.― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.)
I love The Fly, but if you're in the mood for a horror movie, I think The Brood's better. I always thought The Fly was a tragic love story (with a few gross parts peppered in).
There's one scene in The Brood that was pretty shocking. I won't give it away for those who haven't seen it. But for those who have, it's the one in the school with the teacher. I don't think they'd be able to film that scene in front of kids today. My jaw hit the floor.
― musicfanatic, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:42 (fourteen years ago) link
trick r treat was pretty rad - kinda o_O that it went str8 2 video on demand considering. wrt to martyrs idk - the more i thought about after watching the more vivid and terrible some of those images were the last half hour of them finally breaking her will probably be one of the lasting cinematic moments from this decade 4 me
the end of martyrs has a truly horrifying clarity to it~~~
also watched antichrist which made me think of martyrs which i guess revels in the obliterating rather than the purifying nature of pain. it has some pretty amazing images too but its dreamy and cheap. i really disliked it
― legit 40 (Lamp), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
I read the Wikipedia synopsis of Martyrs--I don't think I can sit through it. As much as I want to love horror movies, I am a wuss when it comes to gore. I think that's why I like ghost movies best, though they are more rare among horror flicks it seems.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:09 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd def add Wolf Creek to my list, somewhere near the top. For some reason, I thought that came out in '04.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:14 (fourteen years ago) link
i'll always rep for this flick, it's a good spooky ghost flick with little gore (ok it's from '02 but still..)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyJcIgmi8Qs
― jØrdån (omar little), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:16 (fourteen years ago) link
The Brood is one of the best horror movies ever! Everybody should see it. Agree that the acting's wooden, but it's Cronenberg: what do you expect. Plus it suits the tone.
Drag Me to Hell is fantastic, one of the best horror flix I've seen in forever. Not at all scary, but a blast from beginning to end. Plus second Pillbox on Slither (goofy but fun) and The Hills Have Eyes remake (suprisingly great). Also loved Haute Tension and had no problem with the twist. And Wolf Creek. Grim as shit, but very well-made and genuinely unsettling.
Descent and Devil's Rejects are both solid, interesting films, but I didn't love either. Descent is crippled by bad story logic in the second half (why are things that depend on scent and sound so completely incapable of smelling or hearing ANYTHING, EVER?), and Rejects by horribly annoying dialogue that becomes insufferable long before the film ends. And, man, that final shot/scene is such a botched opportunity. Just shoot it all in slo-mo, blast Free Bird and run to credits as the splatter flies. How fucking hard is that?
Will also poo on Inside/A l'interieur while I'm here. Fun to watch, in a hands-over-the-eyes grossout kinda way, but man that shit was silly! Cheezeball politics, half-baked satanic symbolism, big reveals that come as no surprise at all, wooden & obvious delivery of everything. It's kinda fun, but the combination of deadly serious & grimmm tone plus the bonka-bonk goofiness of the material just didn't work for me. Final scene is marvelous, though.
Did like the French Frontier(s), which is similar in many ways (especially WR2 knucklehead political subtext), but better simply because it doesn't take itself half so seriously.
Speaking of taking shit way too seriously, anybody see that English chav-horror flick Eden Lake? Very well done, great acting and cinematography, but damn that pissed me off to no end.
Haven't seen Martyrs (I think I've had enough of the pure suffering/annihilation of beautiful women as fetishized aesthetic spectacle). Or Trick 'r Treat, which I guess I should rectify immediately.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:16 (fourteen years ago) link
I'll check it out, thanks for the rec. (xpost)
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:16 (fourteen years ago) link
Haven't seen Martyrs (I think I've had enough of the pure suffering/annihilation of beautiful women as fetishized aesthetic spectacle). - it goes so far beyond the usual parameters of "torture porn" as to be securely in its own category. I can understand wanting to avoid this film, but you should not do so b/c you see it falling into easy genre trappings.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:21 (fourteen years ago) link
below!!!! lol it took me most of that movie to understand it was supposed to be set during wwII
― legit 40 (Lamp), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:21 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought Them was a lot more effective than The Strangers (pretty similar plots).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAWEvZh8flg
― Darin, Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
all that talk about sinking german ships and the british sailors and american subs can be misleading...
― jØrdån (omar little), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I'll give Martyrs a shot eventually. Intended to watch it earlier this year as a part of a catch-up session on "endurance horror", but got burned out after watching Frontier(s), Imprint, Inside, Singapore Sling and Eden Lake in a couple days. Only so much a man can take.
P.S.: You've seen Singapore Sling, right?
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean, it's reaching back a ways (1990), but it doesn't get talked about or seen anywhere near enough.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:31 (fourteen years ago) link
yah no obv im retarded its just thats the only thing i really remember abt that movie - realizing it was supposed to be ww2 - that and trying to remember what other movie i saw that one chick in before
― legit 40 (Lamp), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:31 (fourteen years ago) link
singapore sling is greek right? have not seen, will check out
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:32 (fourteen years ago) link
it's got half the main cast of lock stock and two smoking barrels and zach galifiniakkis (sic) also
― jØrdån (omar little), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:33 (fourteen years ago) link
whoa waht
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
yah the cast of below is pretty great but i <3 bruce greenwood so
― legit 40 (Lamp), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:35 (fourteen years ago) link
there's a bit of talk upthread about that one, I called it xenophobic but nobody took the bait.
Haven't seen Martyrs (I think I've had enough of the pure suffering/annihilation of beautiful women as fetishized aesthetic spectacle).
I dunno, that's kind of like saying "I'm sick of japanese horror movies so I'm not watching audition"
martyrs transcends any torture porn label and takes things to a whole other level. yes, a large part of the final third involves torture, but so does the final third of 1984. in a similar way, martyrs' aesthetic isn't fetishized, it's just bleak as hell.
oops thread is moving too fast nevermind
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
P.S.: You've seen Singapore Sling, right? - nope. Will add, along w/ Them, to the queue post-haste. This thread is making me realize how much has passed me by in recent years, being ostensibly a horror stan & all.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Singapore Sling isn't horror, exactly, it's just ... something. Something that everyone should see. It's kind of a sequel to Otto Preminger's Laura, but with more torture. And porn.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Good to hear so strong a defense of Martyrs. I'd just gotten to this place where I'd noticed how many current films seem revel in this one very specific spectacle: beautiful woman with long (usually dark) hair in a thin (usually white) dress. As the film progresses, she is tortured, imprisoned, humiliated, sexually threatened and dunked in blood and/or offal. By the end of the film, she is so emotionally and physically shattered that she has come to resemble a wild animal. Her hair is matted, her skin and formerly white dress dark reddish brown with blood and filth, clinging to her shivering body. She is framed against plain or light backgrounds where she stands out like a bloody stain, a clot. Or else she is shot in extreme close-up, where her gore-soaked skin makes the whites of her eyes stand out like Audrey Tautou's. Eventually she dies.
I'd got to where I'd seen this image so many times in so many different ways that it started to bother me. I felt like I was watching not horror movies, but some dismal kind of fetish porn, female passion plays. So I decided to take a pass on Martyrs, based on exhaustion more than anything else. Once I get my nerve back up, I'll give it a shot.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:58 (fourteen years ago) link
shit - i just remembered a friend gave me a copy of this, and i still haven't watched it.
― missed the announcement, lay down in a ditch and pretended to be dead (sarahel), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:00 (fourteen years ago) link
the foreign films get all the attention, but North America has been holding its own. you have to look beyond the marquee, or even the aegis of PR-hogging distributors like Lionsgate, Ghosthouse and After Dark. and it helps to have the patience to sift through each week's crop of mostly dire direct-to-DVD (and now Netflix) offerings. i hesitate to call it a renaissance, but NA-indie horror has never been stronger, demonstrating an embarrassment of new ideas and technical ingenuity. ever since the deserved cult success of character-driven gems like 'May', we've had these offbeat entries:
DeadgirlGraceEnd of the Line Love ObjectThe Other SideThe Stink of FleshStuckZombie Honeymoon
some uneven first films ('The Roost', 'Hatchet', 'Home Sick', 'Murder Party') show enough genuine promise to make one optimistic that the best is yet to come from these young directors. Ti 'The Roost' West's Satanic '70s throwback 'The House of the Devil' looks like a winner. that said, i'd pay good cashmoney to keep a camera out of Alex 'Dead Birds'/'Red Sands' Turner's hands. and Brad Anderson needs a good talking to.
even the played-out postmodern slasher film has overcome its 'Scream'-assisted demise and mounted a minor comeback, with such strong entries as '36 Pasos', 'Red Velvet', 'The Hills Run Red', and 'Earth Day' all being worthy of discovery.
since the immaculate 'A Tale of Two Sisters', J/K-horror cinema seems to be in steep decline. S. Korea and Japan may yet surprise us with another jolt of out-of-nowhere brilliance, and you can never completely count out powerhouse directors like Shinya Tsukamoto (who needs to drop the 'Nightmare Detective' crap, ASAP), Sion Sono ('Exte: Hair Extensions' will be forgiven if 'Lords of Chaos' lives up to its impossibly high expectations), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Joon-ho Bong (forget 'The Host;' 'Memories of Murder' is the must-see) and, of course, Park Chan-wook. i actually have my hopes set on Thai horror as the next big thing. it's still in its awkward adolescence, caught between the inescapable box-office influence of 'ghost girl' scares and the hyperbolic cruelty of the Western 'torture porn' craze. but the style and the talent are there, as is evident even from Troma-esque parodies like 'Sick Nurses' and 'SARS Wars: Bangkok Zombie Crisis'. when the Thais ease up on the leering irony, as in the unsparingly nasty 'Art of the Devil 2', they really bring it. Thailand hasn't had its international break-out horror hit yet, but i'm sure there's one in the offing. the erratic anthology '4BIA' isn't a bad place to start. introduces the main players and sums up the state of Thai horror - stylish, if derivative, somewhat confused, and a little "slow," narrative-wise. 'The Nun' (someone mentioned?) is pretty awful, with an entirely CGI menace that misses the mark entirely. certainly not indicative of the best of Spanish horror. you'd be better served by the "big" pictures - 'El Orfanato', 'El Laberinto del Fauno' - and with the ingenious 'Timecrimes', Amenabar's definitive 'Tesis', or even the not-quite-satisfying 'The Nameless' (for me, Balagueró remains promising but has yet to pull it all together. 'REC' and 'Para Entrar a Vivir' show he's on the right track. there's no way that 'REC'2 can be anything other than a misstep sideways).
― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Damn, Mr. Hal Jam, I have seen exactly NONE of the American films you rep in that list (shame on a lazy horror fan). Thanks for the recs! And while I'm at it, 2nd the buried Tale of Two Sisters mention for anyone who hasn't seen it. Agree that it's the last really great Japanese horror flick I've seen.
Plus hell yeah for Timecrimes. Not a horror flick at all, just a sci-fi mystery thriller with a big dose of giallo-style suspense & shock. But it's one of the most entertaining and satisfying genre flicks I've seen in ages.
x-post to sarahel: Singapore Sling is sooooo good! It's a period piece shot in B&W, in the manner of 40s noir, a loving and surprisingly thorough reproduction of the style & tone, really beautiful from a visual standpoint. And it's horrifying and hilarious and revolting and hypnotic and just one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Plus the two female leads are AWESOME. Unforgettable performances from both, though one's clearly more unforgettably unforgettable than the other.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
oh, he told me about it before making me the copy - it was in trade for me making him a copy of Peter Watkins' Privilege
― missed the announcement, lay down in a ditch and pretended to be dead (sarahel), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Goddam Hal Jam, my Netflix queue was already getting out of hand & then you had to go & drop all that. How many horror flix can a bro sit thru? I guess we'll find out..
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:28 (fourteen years ago) link
I felt like I was watching not horror movies, but some dismal kind of fetish porn, female passion plays.
ha, it sounds like you were in exactly the right frame of mind to see martyrs!
maybe it's just me - because frankly I can't think of any single element of the film that would cause this - but I spent a lot of time thinking about the implications of torture porn while watching it. there's definitely a self-reflexive aspect to the film. I hesitate to talk too much about the plot, because not knowing where it's going is half the, uh, fun.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Tale of Two Sisters is actually Korean & I'd also recommend it - sort of a summation of Asian horror tropes elegantly bow-tied together. It was also loosely remade recently as 'The Uninvited'.
I have seen Deadgirl, Love Object, & Stuck but I didn't really like any of them. Maybe that scene is just not for me.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:30 (fourteen years ago) link
I looooove korean movies and I was convinced a tale of two sisters was one of the best movies I'd ever seen for about 3/4 of the runtime
but in typical korean fashion, the ending drifted off
still would recommend it highly
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Never seen Privilege (or, honestly, ever heard of Peter Watkins), but based on some quick snooping around, he & it sound fascinating. Another one for the endless list, I guess...
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:36 (fourteen years ago) link
tale of two sisters is like david lynch decided to direct a ringu-inspired bros grimm tale
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:36 (fourteen years ago) link
shutter - thai film- was good but it might just miss out on this time frame, i think it was 2004
― just sayin, Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:37 (fourteen years ago) link
xxp - you of all people on ilx should watch Peter Watkins' films.
― missed the announcement, lay down in a ditch and pretended to be dead (sarahel), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Oops on Tale of Two Sisters. May have known at some point that it was Korean, but "Japanified" it in my memory due to laziness and/or cultural ignorance.
Speaking of Japanese films (ahem), anyone see Strange Circus, by Shion Sono, the guy who made Suicide Circle a while back (and also Hair Extensions, I guess, which I haven't seen)? Kinda sleazy and cheap, but so inventive and bizarre and titillating and cetera. Again, it's not horror, not exactly, but it's very closely related to horror and another recent favorite. Probably make a good double feature w/ Tale of 2 Sisters. Similar in some respects, but waaaaaay more OTT.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Me of all people? Damn, now I guess I gotta...
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Gaah, plus I lied about the total moribundity of recent Japanese horror because TOKYO GORE POLICE. TGP is silly and pointless and it panders to its audience abominably, but it's at least as much fun as Drag Me to Hell. Plus gore and prosthetics are amazing, strongly indebted to rubbery 80s insanity flix like Society, but even more absurd.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
I was about to say it's only a matter of time before contenderizer's reviving watkins threads
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:54 (fourteen years ago) link
i am hear you no
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:56 (fourteen years ago) link
xposts
Yeah, I was getting at that upthread - it's like a return to the 'Evil Dead Trap' 80s days. TGP is probably the 'best' of these (director is -surprise - primarily a make-up/FX artist) as I didn't like Machine Girl or X-Cross & couldn't be bothered w/ Onechanbara. It's the ghost girls who are gone & I sort of miss them.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 29 October 2009 20:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Though it'd be pretty neat if we got a 2010 Tetsuo out of this.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:01 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176416/
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:02 (fourteen years ago) link
tale of two sisters is also the last great k-horror thing ive seen, let alone the japanese stuff. totally agree on the thai film future, kind of the only bright spot right now for me.
although having said that, Re-Cycle, although again im not sure whther to call it horror (fantasy tinged with horror maybe, idk) is worth watching.
i mentioned it upthread, but deadgirl really knocked me out. stuck is, uh, something to be reckoned with - havent seen the rest (wait maybe the stink of flesh but id have to imdb it to be sure). just passed up grace on the netflix queue, so ill have to rectify that i guess.
xpost ha tokyo gore police is pretty insane, if you liked it no reason not to go ahead and find machine girl if you havent seen it
xxpost heh well to each their own
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:06 (fourteen years ago) link
this thread moves quicker than i can type, so forgive xposts, but, yeah, they're not all going to be suited to all tastes. each succeeds, IMHO, in being a refreshing addition to a genre that thrives on the occasional infusion of creativity. and that makes them stand out.i guess a little more info might be useful. i'll try to avoid spoilers.
Deadgirl - ties together the zombie and torture porn tropes, while turning the teen sex film on its decomposing ear. not a pleasant movie, but uncompromising, intelligent and provocative.
Grace - genuinely unnerving variation on the hoary 'what a mother wouldn't do' theme.
End of the Line - might be my favorite of the bunch, because it's brimming with new ideas and actual horror and suspense. i've been waiting for Maurice Deveraux to make a great movie, sure he had it in him. he's almost done it. i don't know if this Canadian film has US distribution, so it might not be Netflix-able yet.
Love Object - the creepier, more horrific side of the bathetic 'Lars & The Real Girl'. a modest production where every element works. more comparable to 'May' than that film's actual sibling, 'Roman' (also good, but a little too slow for my liking)
The Other Side - shoestring action/horror hybrid with unflinching religious overtones. came out of nowhere and, frankly, blew me away. high energy, high concept. if you can get past some of the community theater acting, you may be just as impressed.
The Stink of Flesh - just when you think that every zombie permutation has been played out, enter the zombie sex film. swingers, desperate for warm bedfellows, kidnap a lone-wolf survivalist type in the aftermath of a zombie plague. it's not a bad deal for him - food, shelter, all the tail a guy can stand. but it quickly becomes a classic "too many roosters in the hen-house' crisis. inventive, quirky, ambitious. and miles beyond what one usually gets from trashy imprints like Sub Rosa Cinema and Brain Damage.
Stuck - "ripped from the headlines" horror given a proper black-comic treatment by Stuart Gordon. has some problems, and not one you'll re-watch often, but a solid "A-" B-movie. Gordon's experience in organic theater give him a certain knack for visceral ickiness. it's not a bloodbath, but the grisly bits really bring the pain.
Zombie Honeymoon - the 'zombie' aspect is less successful than the romance, thanks to winning lead performances. that's okay, because undeath and a taste for flesh are treated as a metaphor for any addiction that might strain a young marriage. the climax of this low-budget gem is masterfully directed. worth the sometimes rocky trip getting there.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:07 (fourteen years ago) link
These are a lot of movies! Which ones of these are unqualifiedly great?
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:12 (fourteen years ago) link
re: Sion Sono. i hated 'Exte' and couldn't get into 'Noriko' at all. even at his best, he's too uneven. as i said, a lot is riding on 'Lords of Chaos.'
Shinya Tsukamoto's quieter films - 'Vital', 'Gemini', 'A Snake of June' - have really grown on me. the man is monstrously talented. glimmers of genius even shine through the crassly commercial 'Nightmare Detective' series. he seems to be following Cronenberg's trajectory, though i find Tsukamoto's "mainstream art-house" maturation less compromised. can't wait to see where he goes next. anything but 'Tetsuo 2010'! wasn't 'Tetsuo Redux' - AKA 'The Body Hammer' - pointless enough?
― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Damn, it is really, really nice to have a troo, serious, full-time, die-hard horror stan in this thread. Saves me a lot of legwork (or eyeball work, or whatever).
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:16 (fourteen years ago) link
And yes, Body Hammer was pointless enough.
re:nu-Tetsuo, yeah, an English reboot shot in digital sounds pretty unfortunate. I didn't mean an actual new one, just something as unhinged & galvanizing for these times.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:18 (fourteen years ago) link
haha. glad i broke my self-imposed lurkerdom, then. if any thread was going to do it...
― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:19 (fourteen years ago) link
You've seen Strange Circus (Kimyô na sâkasu) though, right? I'm not saying it's not uneven, but it takes a bunch of huge gambles and pays most of them off. It's not perfect, but it's worth seeing just for sheer visual creativity on a shoestring budget.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:19 (fourteen years ago) link
^ a lot of what I look for in horror flicks, TBH.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:20 (fourteen years ago) link
What was wrong with Tetsuo:II? There was a bit in it where he speeds along the side of a building and some guy sticks his head out and goes "wha?" I wish that guy was in Tetsuo I.
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:22 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought Love Object was pretty boring, tho everyone else I saw it w/found it creepy.
― we are normal and we want our freedom (Abbott), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:27 (fourteen years ago) link
the director of love object was my neighbor and used to date my fiancee's best pal, apparently he's a good guy. i did find it funny that when i mentioned this to one of my horror bros, saying, "yeah the director of 'love object' lives in my building," just in passing, he looked at me quite seriously and said, "r0bert p@rigi." one of the great auteurs, i guess!
― jØrdån (omar little), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:58 (fourteen years ago) link
i'll see your visual creativity, and raise you for Sono's sheer audacity. remake this, Hollywood! but i think i actually admire 'Strange Circus' more than i can say i enjoyed it. Sono (and Masumi Miyazaki) never really sold me on the critical twist, the pacing is unbalanced, the climax is far too chaotic. but, yeah, some of the dream/nightmare imagery is stunning. still, i'll stick with Hisayasu Sato and Naoyuki Tomomatsu for my "ero guro" jollies. and Sono's on the bubble for me. 'Noriko's Dinner Table' was just a very good idea buried in three joyless, plodding hours of footage. i have no idea what he was thinking with 'Exte'. it just doesn't work on any level.
that Parigi story is too funny! wasn't even aware that 'Love Object' had a following among the horror bros. i've never met anyone who even knew about it. though i can see why this film would have its ardent attractors. it's different and well-made enough to stand out from the crowd. but it's also Parigi's lone non-TV genre credit. which makes me wonder if anyone stans for his much more extensive work as an executive producer. prolly not.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 30 October 2009 03:57 (fourteen years ago) link
oh, wow. the new Tomomatsu/Nishimura (TGP) collaboration looks mental. uh, NSFW? (no nudity, just extreme splatstick). and how much is Robert Rodriguez kicking himself right now for not making this first?
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 30 October 2009 04:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Very TGP-like, which isn't a bad thing at all, but I feel like I just saw every good bit. "Student Wrist Cut Rally" poster is pretty, not sure what to think of the, uh, blackface (???) business. Thing? WTF was that?
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Friday, 30 October 2009 05:01 (fourteen years ago) link
"SWCR poster is pretty awesome," is what I meant so say up there about it.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Friday, 30 October 2009 05:04 (fourteen years ago) link
i was thinking of doing a poll of gore scenes from 'inside', following the imdb parents' guide
― jØrdån (omar little), Friday, 30 October 2009 21:19 (fourteen years ago) link
ive only seen a couple sono movies but love exposure (not horror) is truly one of the most wonderfully weird movies i have ever seen
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Saturday, 31 October 2009 00:51 (fourteen years ago) link
a four-hour epic about upskirts and boners... it's just like... kinda genius
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Saturday, 31 October 2009 00:52 (fourteen years ago) link
I really really want to love Love Exposure but I just can't.
― Simon H., Saturday, 31 October 2009 00:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Just watched Trick R' Treat thanks to this thread. Thanks, thread! I think I have a new Halloween staple! As mentioned above, not really scary, but a lot of fun. It isn't really that similar, but it reminded me of Creepshow in a good way. And that's a commendable thing.
― I HEART CREEPY MENS (Deric W. Haircare), Saturday, 31 October 2009 03:32 (fourteen years ago) link
FYI The Thaw was stoooopid.
― Jeff, Saturday, 31 October 2009 04:15 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^ sorry, that was me. Perils of living w/ another ILX poster and all that.
― she is writing about love (Jenny), Saturday, 31 October 2009 04:17 (fourteen years ago) link
i just watched "the woods" and it was great, looked good, well-acted, etc. but uh i don't really think i understood it plotwise. still really enjoyed watching it (jenny you'd probably like this movie and you can stream it from netflix)
― congratulations (n/a), Saturday, 31 October 2009 05:20 (fourteen years ago) link
ok reading the wikipedia plot summary it makes more sense (i think i was trying to make it more complicated than it really was).
― congratulations (n/a), Saturday, 31 October 2009 05:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Thought The Woods made sense, more or less, but that making sense wasn't really the point. Reminded me of Suspiria (beyond the malefic doings in a girl's school angle) in that it's more concerned with creating an atmosphere of dreamy, exaggerated dread than with telling a wholly satisfying story, and I think it succeeds on that level.
― from alcoholism to fleshly concerns (contenderizer), Saturday, 31 October 2009 06:47 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, it was really my type of horror movie - i'm all about creepiness and dread and general "WTF" moments, not so much about gore and definitely not torture
― congratulations (n/a), Saturday, 31 October 2009 14:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh, cool. That is also my type of horror movie.
― she is writing about love (Jenny), Saturday, 31 October 2009 14:06 (fourteen years ago) link
speaking of malefic girl schools, anybody seen innocence? not sure how "horror" it is tho I've heard there's some creepy dread to be had
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Saturday, 31 October 2009 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link
So does Katalin Varga count as horror? It's basically a revenge tragedy a la The Virgin Spring, but there's plenty of Lynchian (for want of a better term) creepiness and unsettling atmosphere.
― The people of Ork are marching upon us (Matt #2), Saturday, 31 October 2009 15:45 (fourteen years ago) link
just because its after halloween doesn't mean this thread has to die
so "The Last Winter" is actually a pretty great little eco-horror movie with sort of a "The Thing" w/o any real monsters on screen vibe, and i would whole-heartedly recommend it if the last 15 minutes were not basically THE WORST ENDING EVER.
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 5 November 2009 00:27 (fourteen years ago) link
sauna looks like a good one
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 5 November 2009 00:39 (fourteen years ago) link
btw id like to take this opportunity to thank yall for posting to what might be my worst thread title ever. sorry about that.
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 5 November 2009 00:45 (fourteen years ago) link
I like to shit my pants, no worries
― 囧 (dyao), Thursday, 5 November 2009 01:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, "The Last Winter" is pretty good. I didn't even hate the ending, and in fact sort of appreciated how he just sort of went for it. It ended how a lot of horror movies these days cold-start.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 November 2009 01:09 (fourteen years ago) link
On Halloween I ended up seeing "House of the Devil" along w/ a bunch of other stuff. It's sort of reverent-to-a-fault somewhere between the Satanist 70s films & a little gore/prosthetics 80s (sort of irked how critics seem to be conflating the two due to it also being set in the 80s). There isn't really any winking or subverting or whatnot, just a pretty decent appropriation played straight. Some of the performances (not the lead; she was good) & camera-work veered into slightly off 'Masters of Horror' territory - i.e. approximating an old style can end up merely looking like recent TV. Doublescreen w/ Burnt Offerings or People Under the Stairs and nobody will bat an eyelid.
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 5 November 2009 01:17 (fourteen years ago) link
(Ok, pedantry alert has to acknowledge that 'PUTS' is 91. 'The Changeling' maybe but not the goofier 80s e.g. 'Fright Night' or 'House')
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 5 November 2009 01:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh and there are these, which sold me on it in the first place:http://www.chud.com/articles/articles/21226/1/THESE-HOUSE-OF-THE-DEVIL-POSTERS-ARE-BETTER-THAN-THE-FILM/Page1.html
― xcixxorx, Thursday, 5 November 2009 01:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Last night I watched End of the Line because of this thread and thought it was pretty damn good. Some OTT gore and par-for-the-course acting aside, it was definitely my kind of flick. The sound mixing alone provided half the scares. I read some less kind reviews complaining about the ending, but I thought it brought home the whole idea of the movie: either way you look at it humanity's fucked.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 5 November 2009 02:09 (fourteen years ago) link
ugh, Martyrs fucked my shit up last night. tbh, i really thought i might pass out or get sick for a little while (things that have made me pass out before: getting blood drawn, films in health class, a certain episode of nip/tuck.) the ending was really awesome, though i thought it became less disturbing once you started to find out what was going on and no longer had to try to rationalize it yourself.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 5 November 2009 05:12 (fourteen years ago) link
here's the sauna trailer. title's kind of nondescript but it's from finland so it must've originally been called hey, we're haunted by the ghosts of our evil deeds!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si8IqpZc8Fo
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Watched Paranormal Activity last night & was with it all the way up until the ending, which was a total deal-killler. Then I looked it up on Wiki & found out that I had downloaded a version with the original ending & that the theatrical version had been altered for the better, at least based on the wiki description of the revised ending. That's what I get for all the downloadin' I guess.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
The Changeling' maybe but not the goofier 80s e.g. 'Fright Night' or 'House' - The Changeling is an underrated classic & probably my fave "haunted house" ever.
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 5 November 2009 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
*"haunted house" movie
― you just freaked out more than our director of lols (Pillbox), Thursday, 5 November 2009 19:02 (fourteen years ago) link
it's from finland so it must've originally been called hey, we're haunted by the ghosts of our evil deeds!
i miss that meme
― sarahel, Friday, 6 November 2009 02:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I like this thread title btw.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 6 November 2009 02:55 (fourteen years ago) link
saw "trick r treat" - did not really enjoy. half-assed creepshow does not a good movie make.
― GO THICK AMOS! (jjjusten), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 17:07 (fourteen years ago) link
deadgirl - could've been stone cold classic in surer hands but as-is it's still worthwhile, nervy filmmaking. aesthetics are def more IFC/indie than grindhouse (moody scene transitions with shots of highways and clouds over ambient soundtrack, hello). major mistake: casting folks in their twenties to play high school students. if they had used real teens, the sexual-coming-of-age angle in the movie would have been uncomfortably foregrounded. most chilling shot: a fashion mag ad casually laid over deadgirl's face after it has been beaten to a pulp.
embodiment of evil - bravura gonzo gore freakout, great if you're willing to unplug yr brain and submit to the bountiful flow of horrific imagery. tacky and vile, but also hypersurreal and not without a sense of humor, like hostel if it were directed by jodorowsky or del toro. still waiting on a US DVD release.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 20:36 (fourteen years ago) link
"could've been stone cold classic in surer hands but as-is it's still worthwhile""great if you're willing to unplug yr brain"
I'm always willing to unplug my brain but right now I want to see stone cold classic that is brain agnostic!Any new ones out there? (can be older than 5 years)
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 20:43 (fourteen years ago) link
have you seen martyrs
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 20:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Getting it now -- any others?
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 21:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Stuff I watched in the past week that has been mentioned in this thread:
Paranormal Activity: a pair of cultureless, aspirational suburban dullards are mildly irritated by a ghost. I wanted to see them suffer a lot more for their crimes. A lot more. Barely a film.
Eden Lake: I actually liked this. The forest is shot beautifully. I feel a lot of responses to this film have been too hard on the mechanics of the chase ("how do they run for ages and end up five feet away from the pursuers?") but I don't see how else a director could contrive the repeated catch-escape-catch-escape sequences you need in a story of this kind. A lot of people seemed to get really upset with the class issue in this film, but the fact that it was disclosed so readily and brought to such a bleak—almost, almost funny—conclusion means we're not quite meant to see it the way we immediately want to see it, if that makes any sense.
Pontypool: This is a re-watch but the first time I saw it (three? four? months ago) I was pretty high. I LOVE this cute little movie. I seem to remember it was a novel, then a play, and now a film, so sometimes it seems like you're watching a piece of theatre (it's preposterously verbose and almost entirely static). There are also some really good jokes and the most surprising defence of the Official Languages Act (1969) you'll ever come across. You never know when it'll come in handy, right? (Not sure why the military voice at the end has a Metropolitan French accent, though. Maybe a joke too subtle even for me.)
End of the Line: I watched this based on the recommendation of Mr Hal Jam upthread and it did not disappoint. It doesn't hurt that I live a couple of stops from the creepy subway station some of the action was filmed in, but what we have here is a bit of cheap and cheerful horror that does quite a lot with a little. Fun stuff. I also find the idea of an almost entirely French-speaking crew handily knocking out an English language film that's livelier, edgier, and more economical than the somewhat safe, laborious English-language film industry elsewhere in Canada (stuff like Pontypool excepted, obviously).
― fields of salmon, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 21:41 (fourteen years ago) link
SAUNA is great, probably the best thing I've seen this year. I don't entirely get it, but in a way that makes me want to see it again, so if you're up for a movie which is closer to 'Seventh Seal' than 'Blood Feast', seek it out. This is Depressive Black Metal Horror, not Pornogrind Death Metal Horror.
― Soukesian, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 21:44 (fourteen years ago) link
(Yeah, OK, reaching out to a single figure demographic there, but then this is probably the place to do that.)
― Soukesian, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 21:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Waaay xpost: "Innocence" is creepily surreal, rather than horrific, but a great movie. Reminded me a lot of Robert Aickman's oblique 'strange tales'.
― Soukesian, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 21:55 (fourteen years ago) link
This is Depressive Black Metal Horror
I love how you think this might put anybody off.
― I thought I could make it work because you look a bit like a man (aldo), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 22:16 (fourteen years ago) link
A lot of people seemed to get really upset with the class issue in this film, but the fact that it was disclosed so readily and brought to such a bleak—almost, almost funny—conclusion means we're not quite meant to see it the way we immediately want to see it, if that makes any sense.
eden lake was very well-done from a technical perspective; ace acting, cinematography, editing, etc. in retrospect all its pleasures are of the mechanical sort, it's suspenseful and it works the emotions but I wasn't really haunted by it. I found the chav stuff to be a moral cheap shot, it's a film where the protagonists are good-looking city folk and the rest of the cast is comprised of violent, clannish, and psychotic bumpkins. it's nothing to get really upset about, lotsa suspense/horror classics truck in the same brand of xenophobia. but eden lake is no deliverance.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 22:20 (fourteen years ago) link
I wasn't really haunted by it.
That kid having his head burnt up and the ending both totally haunted me.
― I am flesh and blood. You are software and circuitry. (chap), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 22:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Isn't anything sufficiently horrible haunting in that sense tho?
― my full five minutes of iguana time (contenderizer), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 22:58 (fourteen years ago) link
i want to see House of the Devil really bad. and Sauna
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 23:13 (fourteen years ago) link
I can understand somebody being haunted by eden lake, and not just cause it's showing you horrible things - it's well done so what you're seeing has a good chance of getting under your skin.
but it felt mechanical to me - I could see the chess pieces getting set up on the board from the beginning, and I really didn't get surprised by any of the subsequent moves. I can't imagine any horror film fan would? whereas something like martyrs, the chess pieces get set up on the board and then WHAM BAM wait I didn't know we were boxing I thought we were just playing chessssss
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 23:20 (fourteen years ago) link
sauna is next in my queue btw
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 23:21 (fourteen years ago) link
dont bother with Death of a Ghost Hunter by the way. not that you were probably going to, but still
― NAKES HAVE THE STAPLES IN THEM (jjjusten), Friday, 20 November 2009 16:37 (fourteen years ago) link
thirst out on DVD this week
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 20 November 2009 16:48 (fourteen years ago) link
anybody seen ink? supposedly lowbudget but very effective, hasn't gotten a lot of mainstream press.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBGeErufQdY
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 20 November 2009 16:53 (fourteen years ago) link
^ dude made that movie for $250K
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 20 November 2009 17:01 (fourteen years ago) link
i just watched "the woods" and it was great, looked good, well-acted, etc. but uh i don't really think i understood it plotwise. still really enjoyed watching it.
I've just watched this and I liked it a fair bit. I thought it was a bit Heathers crossed with Suspiria - and though it falls way short of either, it had some interesting touches. There's a nice blustery, autumnal feel to it, and a constant woody creaking that plays throughout that adds a sinister presence. And Agnes Bruckner, in the lead role, recalled the pouty insouciance of a circa 2001 Scarlet Johansson. I liked her.Apparently the film sat on the shelves for a few years before getting a straight-to-DVD release. It's a little scrappy and not a great deal happens - no real scares either - but it deserved a better fate than the one it got.
― DavidM, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:03 (fourteen years ago) link
i keep misreading this title as 'lets all shit our pants to say something new'
― thomp, Monday, 23 November 2009 18:08 (fourteen years ago) link
watched Captivity
ehhh nothing new here, "twist" doesnt work at all, ending is stupid
― NAKES HAVE THE STAPLES IN THEM (jjjusten), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 17:12 (fourteen years ago) link
sauna was pretty awesome guys
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Sunday, 13 December 2009 01:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Glad you liked it - a lot of people at the screening I saw (and online) seemed rather pissed off by it.
― Soukesian, Sunday, 13 December 2009 10:47 (fourteen years ago) link
you guys just made my sunday.
― And now my dick is where? Oh, this is too rich (the table is the table), Sunday, 13 December 2009 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Bugcrush....really interesting. going to have to watch it again. i like this Treleaven guy, who wrote the story it was based on.
― And now my dick is where? Oh, this is too rich (the table is the table), Sunday, 13 December 2009 20:10 (fourteen years ago) link
(o also it is up in three parts on dailymotion)
― And now my dick is where? Oh, this is too rich (the table is the table), Sunday, 13 December 2009 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
― Soukesian, Sunday, December 13, 2009 5:47 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark
why?
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Sunday, 13 December 2009 20:52 (fourteen years ago) link
same director who made bugcrush made the ruins, which is mediocre but not badly done given the material. (i think it's just hard to make spindly vines scary on screen.) next he is supposedly making this.
― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 13 December 2009 21:04 (fourteen years ago) link
I guess if you wanted sauna to make "sense" it would be frustrating
but it's like a folk ghost story or fable
black metal horror is a pretty good approximation
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Sunday, 13 December 2009 21:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Why did people not like it? Well, I saw it at a horror movie festival, where audiences seem to favour fast-moving thrill rides involving zombies and unstoppable serial killers. Nothing wrong with that, but it really isn't what Sauna is about.
― Soukesian, Sunday, 13 December 2009 21:40 (fourteen years ago) link
the ruins was p terrible irrc - might have worked better as a short story but there really isnt anywhere to go (lol) w/the concept visually imo
― ^_^ (_² ÷_X +_- (Lamp), Sunday, 13 December 2009 21:41 (fourteen years ago) link
needed mobile man-sized plant monsters running around
― krampus activities (latebloomer), Sunday, 13 December 2009 21:44 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah the book is better but it's really a much different deal than the movie, conceptually. a lot of the movie was just like O NO PLANTS. i did like the scene where the girl goes crazy and starts slashing herself, that was freaky enough. but mostly it was zzz.
― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 13 December 2009 21:45 (fourteen years ago) link
(in the book, it's a guy who cuts himself open, but i guess any excuse to get a naked girl into a horror movie -- even a self-disemboweled one)
― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 13 December 2009 21:46 (fourteen years ago) link
yah also realistically casting a bunch of semi-retarded c-grade actors probably doesnt help w/creating a sense of tension and desperate isolation - most of the time it felt like they had half-forgotten why the got stuck @ this terrible day spa
― ^_^ (_² ÷_X +_- (Lamp), Sunday, 13 December 2009 21:49 (fourteen years ago) link
house of the devil was pretty good... quite a slow burn
― (9/9/8/9) (cozwn), Monday, 14 December 2009 11:14 (fourteen years ago) link
I know this falls just outwith the timescale (2002) but I always enjoyed marc evans' 'my little eye'
did anyone ever see 'switchblade romance' (2003)?
― (9/9/8/9) (cozwn), Monday, 14 December 2009 20:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Just watched martyrs -- pretty good -- thanks for the recommendation! -- is consensus that sauna is the one to watch next?
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 14 December 2009 20:20 (fourteen years ago) link
the subs on my dl of sauna didn't work :*(
― (9/9/8/9) (cozwn), Monday, 14 December 2009 20:36 (fourteen years ago) link
ha! i had to scroll through the subs for martyrs in a separate text file while running the movie in another window
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 14 December 2009 20:42 (fourteen years ago) link
speaking of malefic girl schools, anybody seen innocence? not sure how "horror" it is tho I've heard there's some creepy dread to be had― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Saturday, 31 October 2009 15:12 (1 month ago) BookmarkWaaay xpost: "Innocence" is creepily surreal, rather than horrific, but a great movie. Reminded me a lot of Robert Aickman's oblique 'strange tales'.― Soukesian, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 21:55 (3 weeks ago) Bookmark
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Saturday, 31 October 2009 15:12 (1 month ago) Bookmark
― Soukesian, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 21:55 (3 weeks ago) Bookmark
I watched Innocence recently. No, it's not horror. It's a dreamlike fantasy about child/girlhood, which is depicted as both an idyll and a prison from which eventually the girls crave escape, even though the outside/adult world beyond the walls is full of foreboding. There is a creepiness to it, oddly haunting too, but it's vague and dreamy. Quite light on narrative. Watch alongside Picnic at Hanging Rock, Voice of the Beehive, The Company of Wolves, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, maybe even The Virgin Suicides.
― DavidM, Monday, 14 December 2009 20:53 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm assuming you mean the spirit of the beehive, and not that we should invite the twee 80s pop group to watch innocence with us
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, 14 December 2009 21:12 (fourteen years ago) link
sauna - two brothers, one a cartographer and the other a sociopathic military man, join an expedition to determine the new borders of finland and russia after a war in the 1500s. the group gets literally and figuratively bogged down in a creepy swamp village and the ghosts of their wartime crimes close in. arthouse horror, but not excessively pretentious. it moves slow and doesn't hold your hand to explain details, so I can understand why traditional horror fans might get turned off, but the thing's absolutely beautiful. cinematography, set design, acting, script are all on point. there's not much plot and the ending is cavalier about resolving any of the issues raised - almost like they ran out of time and said, well, let's end it here. but I appreciated its sense of total desolation, reminiscent of stalker, hour of the wolf, or come and see, in how it sets you down in a wasted, godless no man's land with no hope of redemption.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, 14 December 2009 22:22 (fourteen years ago) link
switchblade romance also known as haute tension and I see it ws mentioned upthread
just about to watch 'the woods'; psyched
― (9/9/8/9) (cozwn), Monday, 14 December 2009 23:26 (fourteen years ago) link
thought the woods ws OK not amazing; can def appreciate what the ppl above see in it tho
had to stop watching martyrs cz it ws actually srsly freaking me out
― cozwn, Tuesday, 15 December 2009 23:44 (fourteen years ago) link
agree w/jjusten, captivity ws enh; diet saw at best
― cozwn, Tuesday, 15 December 2009 23:47 (fourteen years ago) link
just watched the last 2/3 of martyrs... I think someone in lamp's other thread called it pseudo-intellectual; nothing wrong w/a little symmetry tho it is def v.cute, as edward says, in the way it finds 'a way out of its narrative challenges'. beside the point however, it ws very good but tht first 1/3 is freaky and the last 1/3 is some bleak diet catherine breillat
― cozwn, Wednesday, 16 December 2009 00:56 (fourteen years ago) link
oh man, i don't feel qualified to judge it on that level being a) not fluent in French and b) having to follow the dialogue along in a separate text filebut was very impressed by the effects/makeup by what seems like a low budget movie.
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 16 December 2009 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link
so just watched "feed" and "1408"
feed was maybe ok i think (wow super gross, never scary at all really, but eh idk i think it worked on some level i cant quite articulate), 1408 was one of those missed opportunities that just infuriates me - build up was kind of good, and then the rest of the movie happens. how the fuck do you screw up a haunted hotel room locked door thing?
i think what i have learned is that john cusack needs to stay the hell out of scary hotel rooms (yeah im looking at you identity you overblown piece of shit)
― DANGER: DO NOT EAT SHAMELESS DONG (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 08:49 (fourteen years ago) link
btw should i just roll this over to 2010, or do people want to bother with a new thread?
― DANGER: DO NOT EAT SHAMELESS DONG (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 08:50 (fourteen years ago) link
for aussie film fans i def recommend this hilarious doc:http://www.smartartists.com.au/not-quite-hollywood/nqh-poster.jpg― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, October 22, 2009 6:48 PM (2 months ago)
― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Thursday, October 22, 2009 6:48 PM (2 months ago)
i never OTM people, but i will here. one of my favorite things i saw last year (not a horror film obv, but WOW, just goddamn brilliant and tons of fun). on netflix on demand last i checked, if you do such a thing.
― DANGER: DO NOT EAT SHAMELESS DONG (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 09:14 (fourteen years ago) link
1408 was one of those horror movies that just ended up being funny, because it wanted to be "scary" but wasn't - also see that Number 23 movie with Jim Carrey, that reminded me of something 10 year old girls would watch at a slumber party.
― sarahel, Wednesday, 20 January 2010 09:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Number 23 is in my most hated movies ever go to list.
― DANGER: DO NOT EAT SHAMELESS DONG (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 09:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Watcher in the Woods which I did see at slumber parties when I was 10, is better than Number 23
― sarahel, Wednesday, 20 January 2010 09:23 (fourteen years ago) link
but was very impressed by the effects/makeup by what seems like a low budget movie.
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 16 December 2009 17:29 (1 month ago)
the fx guy who did martyrs committed suicide shortly after it came out
director laugier was slated to do the hellraiser remake but sounds like he's off the project
interesting interview w/ laugier here: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39602
It's not a likeable movie. Even me, myself, I hate the film.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:56 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd just as soon see this thread continue. It's low-traffic enough that it's nice to have all the answers in one place. Maybe change the numbering on the title though. (2005 & beyond...eg)
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 17:01 (fourteen years ago) link
new title - ought to work
― DANGER: DO NOT EAT SHAMELESS DONG (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 17:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Watched Quarantine this past weekend. What a waste of time.
― what of the fuck you talkie bout (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 17:14 (fourteen years ago) link
this is one of those times where i really wish i could say "well you should see the original which they screwed up" but the remake is such a carbon copy that i doubt you'd like REC either.
― DANGER: DO NOT EAT SHAMELESS DONG (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 17:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks guys for the Sauna and Martyrs recommendation. It was very good. What you guys suggest would be even better?
"the fx guy who did martyrs committed suicide shortly after it came out"this is bummer! i hope it had nothing to do with the movie
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 20 January 2010 18:42 (fourteen years ago) link
didn't like Sauna. i admire Annila for trying something different. beautifully made and acted, but the J-Horror tropes seemed out of place in such an austere, almost-Shakespearean drama about brothers and guilt.
i'll recommend these:Coming Soon(2008) - the old "haunted film" thing, but with a clever twist. assured first film by the writer of the Shutter. intense without being too gory, and very commercially accessible, this could be a calling-card movie for Thai horror - if it's picked up by the right people (anyone but Lionsgate). only out on R3 (SG?) DVD right now. may have made the festival circuit.
The Chair (2007). co-ed moves into a house that may be haunted. yeah, yeah, yeah. and for a while this plays out like a first draft of Paranormal Activity. Brett Sullivan (who directed the first Ginger Snaps sequel) has some nifty new tricks up his sleeve, though, and the story ends up going somewhere quite unexpected. The Chair is one of the most effective horror films I've seen in some time, thanks in no small part to the brilliant sound design. everyday sounds are tweaked throughout to fray your nerves so that the shocks, when they come, hit hard. oh, to be see this in a theater with a sweet sound system! the scenario is inventively freaky, with more than a nod to Poe's oft-filmed "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," but believable characters sell the weirder plot turns. with better promotion, this one (which picked up a slew of major festival awards) could and likely would have enjoyed the same phenomenal word-of-mouth success as PA. Instead, the ever-clueless Lionsgate, in their infinite idiocy, packaged it as a Saw clone. they've done a fine film a tremendous disservice.
Red Velvet (2009)Murder Loves Killers Too (2009)a pair of unconventional slashers that demonstrate just how quickly shot-on-DV horror is coming of age. the slashing is actually the least effective part, though i'll credit both directors for coming up with ever ghastlier ways to slice, dice and otherwise dispatch their casts. handsaws seem to be in vogue. Red Velvet sets itself apart not only by looking fantastic - there are sequences here that wouldn't be out of place in the most vivid dreams of a Bava or Argento - but by devising an amusingly bent framing story. it's more Scream than Sorority House Massacre, in other words. but it doesn't smack of smug, self-conscious/righteous Cravenisms (or would they be Williamsonisms?) can't quite sustain itself through the not-so-shocking reveal, but a noble effort. MLKT is even stranger, plowing through its slasher mechanics early on, in an almost desultory rush. when the ensemble has been whittled down to the killer and the Final Girl, MLKT prolongs their cat-and-mouse games with nail-biting efficiency. and then it gets weird. gonzo, even. i don't know what genre to ascribe to the rest of this movie, but it's all very, very entertaining. if you pick up the DVD (and you should), don't miss the extra where deadpan director Drew Barnhardt recites the roster of alternate titles FOR 14 MINUTES! the movie's a treat, but this is absurdist cinema at its finest.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Wednesday, 20 January 2010 19:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Red Velvet was shot on 35mm, not DV. my mistake. and the very Bava-esque color saturation in many sequences is an homage to Pierre et Gilles, according to the director.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Wednesday, 20 January 2010 19:38 (fourteen years ago) link
really? it was pretty seamless for me... unless you're referring to the abrupt ending, then I agree. it's like 80 minutes of brooding then 5 minutes of everybody going apeshit.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 21 January 2010 15:01 (fourteen years ago) link
referring to the abrupt ending, yes, but also to the sporadic visions of lank-haired girl ghosts spitting up black stuff. filth, as per the original title, i assume. visually, it all just seemed a little too "Samara goes to Finland," and didn't jibe with the unique mood Annila spent so much of the film's running time carefully creating.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 21 January 2010 19:46 (fourteen years ago) link
I've read similar comments from others, but I can only say those images didn't strike me as being a straight J-Horror quote. Made me think of the medieval spooks and demons from M. R. James' stories, and that seemed entirely in keeping.
― Soukesian, Thursday, 21 January 2010 21:13 (fourteen years ago) link
lol. doing this now. alone (with only the youngest kid at home). it's not that great but WHY THE FUCK do i always watch this (and blairwitch project and...) when i am alone? at night? in the dark? cause i'm stupid i guess. okay, HUSBAND COME HOME NOW. LIKE FUCKING PRONTO.
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Thursday, 21 January 2010 22:08 (fourteen years ago) link
I always watch movies on my laptop with headphones and it can be much scarier than a television.
― Jacob Sanders, Thursday, 21 January 2010 22:20 (fourteen years ago) link
I know! Also, uh, what the fuck is up with that ending? Kinda dud. But the rest was scary. Not original at all, badly acted, but it still got me excpetionally scared. Husband is home now. Thank god. lol
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Thursday, 21 January 2010 23:31 (fourteen years ago) link
man this thread is an absolute goldmine, although i only posted on it at the time to hate on The Mist (and saved taunting J0rdan about liking P2 for AIM). i just went nuts and added about 20 movies mentioned here to my queue, since the wife and i have a tradition of watching horror flicks on Valentine's Day.
― Dr. Algernod Goon (some dude), Thursday, 28 January 2010 16:46 (fourteen years ago) link
haha now that is a tradition i can get behind!
― Shower to the sheeple! (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Baby Blues (2008)A rural mom with a downright lethal case of PPD chases her children around the family farmstead with a meat cleaver while her husband is away on business. Her eldest boy squares off with the murderous matriarch after witnessing the systematic slaughter of his weaker siblings, and tensions escalate as survival instincts clash with familial obligations. This is a lean, mean movie, nasty but undeniably effective, that "goes there" - again and again, pulling absolutely no punches. Which makes it one to avoid if you can't abide injury to beasts and children. Alongside Baby Blues' maniac mommy, the murderess from Inside comes off as reasonable and lenient. i'd say she makes Susan Smith seem like Mary Poppins, too. but that would be in bad taste.
I Sell the Dead (2009)An odd one. Amer-indie horror guru Larry Fessenden is in front of the camera, as half of a Burke & Hare-styled resurrectionist duo (Dominic Monaghan is his younger partner). Their grave-robbing misadventures, as related to an inquisitive priest, are a motley assortment of Hammer Horror motifs, tweaked with a thoroughly modern comic sensibility. The tone is odd but endearing. I could have done with more sauce, but this IFC find is sure to delight anyone who shares the filmmakers' genuine affection for the vintage chills of the Lee/Cushing era.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:40 (fourteen years ago) link
this is pre-2005, but all the heads are here so I'll ask... anybody have opinions about douglas buck's family portraits? always wanted to see it, but nobody talks about it much.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463310/
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Rogue is showing up tomorrow and i am excited/a little worried its going to suck
― Shower to the sheeple! (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:47 (fourteen years ago) link
i mean killer croc movie should be enough to pretty much dash any expectations of good, but yknow its the Wolf Creek dude, so ???
― Shower to the sheeple! (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
i keep almost watching family portraits and then just never getting around to bumping it up the queue, id be interested on what people think of it too
― Shower to the sheeple! (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:50 (fourteen years ago) link
was Family Portraits the first formal appearance of Cutting Moments? that was one BRUTAL short! can't remember where i caught it - it has been anthologized several times - but i know it wasn't in the context of FP.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Rogue isn't bad. looks great - both the movie and the croc. but it's too stingy with its onscreen mayhem, and falls short of the other Aussie killer-croc flick, 1987's Dark Age.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:57 (fourteen years ago) link
IIRC cutting moments made the festival circuit in the late 90s, then it was on a comp of shorts that went OOP and became highly sought after by horror fans... I think family portraits was the first widely available version (i.e. my local hollywood video had a copy).
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
This thread is like torture in that you guys are making me interested in seeing movies I know I can't actually watch.
― struck through in my prime (HI DERE), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:05 (fourteen years ago) link
you def don't want to watch family portraits dan
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:08 (fourteen years ago) link
I just read about "Cutting Moments" and you are 100% correct
― struck through in my prime (HI DERE), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:09 (fourteen years ago) link
though in our post-audition/oldboy/martyrs world, cutting moments does seem a little quaint
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:13 (fourteen years ago) link
at the time it was :O
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:14 (fourteen years ago) link
or should I say :()
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:15 (fourteen years ago) link
― struck through in my prime (HI DERE), Thursday, January 28, 2010 2:05 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
I'd like to option this premise for a high tech thriller that absolutely nobody will watch btw
― Dr. Algernod Goon (some dude), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:21 (fourteen years ago) link
'cutting moments' is totally o_O and 8< (scissors)
also: 'aftermath'
― ('_') (omar little), Thursday, 28 January 2010 19:22 (fourteen years ago) link
ok so i am selecting out of the on demand section of my cable - any votes for whether i should watch "the burrowers" or "skinwalkers"?
― srsly? im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (jjjusten), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Sorry if it's already been discussed but has anyone seen "Amer"? It is recommended to me so so strongly. Also, we all loved "Martyrs" right?
― 26 Mixes Focaccia (Stevie D), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:20 (fourteen years ago) link
oh man after thinking about it FOR MONTHS i finally remembered the name of the horror movie i always wanted to get made (or released) in full:
CHUNK BLOWER: A MOVIE WITH GUTS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9t2YjcbPzg
there's something so awesome and funny about it, and pretty much everything else Jim Van Bebber had a hand in. like 'My Sweet Satan.'
― arch-enemy Gay Cowboy Monster (the table is the table), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:20 (fourteen years ago) link
i watched 'Amer' the other night! it was okay.
― arch-enemy Gay Cowboy Monster (the table is the table), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Imdb shows amer as not coming out until march 2010 unless I am missing something
― srsly? im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (jjjusten), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha ok then nevermind
― srsly? im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (jjjusten), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Burrowers looks great but has a VERY slow build. decent payoff. and a very interesting cast. Skinwalkers was that PG-13 pseudo-werewolf thing? don't remember much about it.
Van Bebber box has been blowing my mind lately. never imagined I'd get to see Roadkill in full. and The Manson Family is definitive.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 29 January 2010 03:26 (fourteen years ago) link
xxxp I'm totally obsessed with giallo/Argento though so...
― 26 Mixes Focaccia (Stevie D), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Stevie, have you seen Bava's "Bay of Blood/Twitch of the Death Nerve"? it isn't Bava's best, but it is by far the most beautiful.
― arch-enemy Gay Cowboy Monster (the table is the table), Friday, 29 January 2010 03:33 (fourteen years ago) link
check out Eyes of Crystal (2005), Stevie. surprisingly good latter-day Italian giallo that borrows heavily from SE7VEN and delivers a compelling, linear(!) story in addition to dizzying visuals. never released here, but there's an excellent, fairly cheap R2 PAL edition.
you might also enjoy Five Dead on the Crimson Canvas, an endearingly inept recent(ish) Upstate giallo homage with its heart in the right place. god love them, they did try.
i've been exploring proto-gialli, like Tinto Brass' Deadly Sweet and Bava Sr.'s pre-Blood and Black Lace titles. interesting to chart the evolution of the form. and will we ever get see a DVD of A Quiet Place in the Country?!
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 29 January 2010 03:34 (fourteen years ago) link
you really think Bay of Blood is Bava's most beautiful film, Tabes? it's fun, sure, but candy-colored hackwork compared to The Whip and the Body and (esp) Lisa and the Devil. Bava always seemed best when he was playing up the kink for all its worth.
checked out k*ll*an's "Argento" poems on your rec, BTW. very cool! what else would you recommend? wrong thread, but IDGAFF.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 29 January 2010 03:37 (fourteen years ago) link
seems like the place and time to gush with admiration for Fulci's criminally overlooked Lizard with a Woman's Skin, Freda's nearly as good Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, Pastore's cheerfully crude The Crimes of the Black Cat and, perhaps my favorite of all, Avati's untouchable The House with Laughing Windows. is there a dedicated giallo thread? there oughta be.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 29 January 2010 03:41 (fourteen years ago) link
huh, never actually seen 'The Whip & The Body." on the queue now!
i think i really like "Bay of Blood" because it is so...candy-colored, so rich in class dynamics. plus the ending actually did make me go, "WOAH. FUCKING GREAT." but maybe that's just me.
if you liked that book of K3vin's, i'd also check out his latest, 'Impossible Princess.' it's stories, but they're all violent, sadomasiochistic, and slyly smart in a way that only dawns on the reader after a daty or so after finishing it. his latest project is apparently a book of poems based off of James Bidgood's classic "Pink Narcissus," which I AM ANTICIPLATING HIGHLY.
― arch-enemy Gay Cowboy Monster (the table is the table), Friday, 29 January 2010 04:39 (fourteen years ago) link
nah, not just you. love the ending of BoB. a real o_O moment! i blurt out something like, "remake that, Hollywood!" each time I see it. but the film, while important as an archetype of the '80s slasher/body-count cycle, is just one of Bava's lesser films, maybe on a par with the decorative but shallow A Hatchet for the Honeymoon and Baron Blood. certainly there's little of the psychosexual depth of his late masterpieces - the funereally transcendent Lisa and the incest-steeped Shock, which their subtle, almost subliminally nerve-rattling horrors. and, as a tale of terror, it's not much more than a haphazard assemblage of audacious, gory slaughter setpieces that fails to match the fine-tuned fear mechanics of Black Sabbath's "A Drop of Water" segment or the Gothicized fairytale lyricism of Black Sunday and Kill, Baby... Kill.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 29 January 2010 05:05 (fourteen years ago) link
tnx! 'Princess' added to the list. since Pink Narcissus is already sheer poetry, this should be heady as hell. i'll stay tuned.
back on topic, have you seen Bruce LaBruce's zombie opus, Otto, Or: Up with Dead People?
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 29 January 2010 05:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Ok, finished the burrowers. Liked it quite a bit, weird somber mood to it, and yeah nicely filmed and cast was pretty great!
― srsly? im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (jjjusten), Friday, 29 January 2010 05:11 (fourteen years ago) link
So apparently the writer/director of this did the screenplay for batman begins?!
― srsly? im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (jjjusten), Friday, 29 January 2010 05:18 (fourteen years ago) link
also would like to see this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800361/ but it appears to be unavailable on dvd
― srsly? im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (jjjusten), Friday, 29 January 2010 05:23 (fourteen years ago) link
more importantly, Petty made the disturbing and original Soft for Digging.
from the filmed evidence, the western-horror hybrid is very hard to get right. it shouldn't be. what's naturally spookier than the lonesome plains at night, or a deeper, more mysterious vein than Native American legend and superstition? but, not counting Near Dark, how many solid horror westerns have there been? VHS-era anthology Grim Prairie Tales was pretty decent, with a handful of genuine standout moments. so was Empire Pictures obscurity Ghost Town, a low-key chiller that has stayed with me like few others. can't think of more recent examples. i seem to be one of the few who hate DeadBirds, finding it an insufferably portentous misfire,
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 29 January 2010 05:37 (fourteen years ago) link
... should The Proposition count?
someone really needs to take an overdue whack at filming Richard Brautigan's hysterical PoMo farce, The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western. or, really, any of Robert E. Howard's mercilessly violent Western short fiction.
i recall Stephen King saying that, if he and Louis L'Amour were to stare out at the same picturesque mountain lake for long enough, L'Amour would surely come up with a sprawling saga about the settling of a frontier town, while he himself would end up writing a story about a monstrous being emerging from the depths nightly to drag cattle and cowboys to their watery doom. now, that's a horror western i'd love to see! wish he'd get on it already. and, please, let anyone but Mick Garris helm the inevitable screen adaptation.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 29 January 2010 05:57 (fourteen years ago) link
have you seen Bruce LaBruce's zombie opus, Otto, Or: Up with Dead People?
I unfortunately only saw the first 30 minutes of this, and wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it looked promising.
― sarahel, Monday, 1 February 2010 22:20 (fourteen years ago) link
is 'let the right one in' not mentioned because it's not really scary? It has vampires. Also, it's incredible.
― toastmodernist, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 02:49 (fourteen years ago) link
my take on it upthread:
This is prob a good place for me to fly my challop flag and say that as great as Let the Right One In is, it isn't really a horror film IMO.― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, October 22, 2009 5:47 PM (3 months ago)
― Don Quishote (jjjusten), Thursday, October 22, 2009 5:47 PM (3 months ago)
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link
― srsly? im a fucking unicorn you douchebags (jjjusten), Thursday, January 28, 2010 10:09 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i fear i'm too late to save this poor soul but Skinwalkers is garbage
― PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! (some dude), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
no i dodged that bullet! somebody upthread reminded me that it was some pg-13 teenthrob thing and i escaped the danger
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:42 (fourteen years ago) link
let the right one in is a horror film imo, but it's almost universally loved so maybe there's not much to say about it?
the proposition isn't a horror film, but it does have some horrific gory violence in it. also it's v v good. I started a thread on it a long time ago and ppl were like "eh, nick cave".
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:43 (fourteen years ago) link
I would like to see a horror western film also, seems like a lot of potential there, as long as it mined the terror implied by the primitive lawlessness of the wild wild west (something the proposition did very well btw)
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
as opposed to some stupid gunslinger cliche bullshit e.g. it's pale rider but w/ werewolves!
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:48 (fourteen years ago) link
although on second thought that might be cool, too
filmmakers get to it
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:49 (fourteen years ago) link
completely missed you saying that jjj. I think yr right re: it not being a proper horror but i think it's worth repping for at any possible opportunity.
Are any of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's movies post pulse any good? Never had a chance to see any and imdb gives them pretty low ratings but, well, it's imdb.
― toastmodernist, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:59 (fourteen years ago) link
oh yeah, pulse is pretty great, also (altho v different) Charisma. i wasnt knocked out by "cure" but lots of horror geeks love it
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:01 (fourteen years ago) link
the few I've seen post-Pulse seem to be retreads of his earlier stuff, which is far better.
Charisma was pretty awesome. Was Cure the mesmerism one?
― sarahel, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:02 (fourteen years ago) link
it was the one with the murder victims w/x's carved in their necks, ill admit i sort of drifted off and didnt end up paying a lot of attention to it so maybe?
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Pulse blew me away. I am all about glacially paced post apocalpytica, and with ghosts.
― toastmodernist, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:07 (fourteen years ago) link
ha shit i didnt see that you said "post-pulse" up there. my responses are useless lol at me
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:08 (fourteen years ago) link
ok actually "bright future" is kind of a great mindfuck!
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:09 (fourteen years ago) link
not really at all like pulse, at moments kind of a comedy, but i really liked it
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:10 (fourteen years ago) link
should we share what horror movies we put on our ballots for the 00s film poll or maybe save that til after the polll results?
― PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! (some dude), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
oh wait shit not bright future, doppelganger. what the hell is wrong with me today
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
oh shit i havent voted in that yet
Doppelganger reminded me of one of the earlier films that was better
― sarahel, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:13 (fourteen years ago) link
@jjj nah, i was lacking in clarity. i arr tired.
The girlfriend is massive horror buff, i wonder if i could pull off buying a bunch of kiyoshi and thirst and have it come off as romantic.
Also i seen a spanish horror v. drunk at the cinema and all i remember is that it involved kids with potato sacks and me liking it very much. does anyone have any idea what it could be?
― toastmodernist, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:16 (fourteen years ago) link
do we need to change the thread title to "post 2005 horror film and related relationship advice thread?"
― sarahel, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:18 (fourteen years ago) link
there's not enough of that going round.
― toastmodernist, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 20:19 (fourteen years ago) link
should we share what horror movies we put on our ballots for the 00s film poll or maybe save that til after the polll results?― PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! (some dude), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 8:11 PM (55 minutes ago)
― PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! PLIES! (some dude), Tuesday, February 2, 2010 8:11 PM (55 minutes ago)
haha prob after since my ballot was basically horror/horrorrelated/documentaries
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:08 (fourteen years ago) link
looking forward to mostly getting shut out on that thread tbh
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:09 (fourteen years ago) link
audition ftw
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:11 (fourteen years ago) link
haha i didn't vote for audition because i took it to be 1999. u_u
also how the fuck had i never seen "cutting moments" before? UGH. ARGH. :)
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:34 (fourteen years ago) link
i was actually surprised at how many horror-qua-horror films made my top 20. (and i've been kicking myself in the ass for two weeks now for not including martyrs.) nearly everything has an incredibly high body count, so i guess that partially makes up for it.
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:38 (fourteen years ago) link
whoops, should be "how FEW horror-qua-horror films made my top 20."
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:39 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah there was some debate about whether audition was 99 or 00 on the thread but omar ruled it fair game for the 00s
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:39 (fourteen years ago) link
re: Kurosawa. once it gets rolling, Doppelgänger is ridiculously fun. the lightest thing he's done since The Guard from the Underground. a bit less bone-crunching than in that one. Bright Future isn't exactly horror, but it is a very good film. i haven't kept up with the guy's work since Pulse. do want to see Loft and Tokyo Sonata, though (being out of work) i fear that one will cut a little too close to the bone. i didn't like Charisma. what was the point?
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:54 (fourteen years ago) link
@toastmodernist - Serrador's Who Can Kill a Child, maybe?
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't think that had potato sacks in it, but that movie is classic!
― sarahel, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:02 (fourteen years ago) link
the kid in The Orphanage had a crude sackcloth mask. but he did say "kids."
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:06 (fourteen years ago) link
i had pulse and martyrs p high up on my ballot and i think audition, jeepers creepers and session 9 as well. so a 1/4 (?) of my ballot - if id listed a full 40 i might have placed frailty, thirst, hostel 2 and home movie. probably not all of those tho
― b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:16 (fourteen years ago) link
You liked Session 9 that much? I liked it a bit, but by the end I was disappointed.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I vote session 9 pretty high too
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:20 (fourteen years ago) link
yah idk sarahel i liked it quite a bit - really well made, paced, shot iirc - great 'atmosphere'
also realized i voted for the devil's backbone
― b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:13 (fourteen years ago) link
It definitely was well shot and had great atmosphere, and the pacing was good too - I think I remember feeling like the ending was a cop out or something.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:18 (fourteen years ago) link
ok so now that the results are rolling out, not expecting anything horror to place in that list outside of prob audition
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 February 2010 19:54 (fourteen years ago) link
what about 28 days later?
― sarahel, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:21 (fourteen years ago) link
REC, Let the Right One In, The Descent, and Drag Me To Hell might all be in with a shout? Do we count Pan's Labyrinth?
― DavidM, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:33 (fourteen years ago) link
ok either i was distracted or blind but i didnt see let the right one in or the descent on the nom lists so i didnt vote for them NERD RAGE
i could see 28 days later, but wondering if there will be votesplitting between that and 28 weeks later
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:42 (fourteen years ago) link
28 weeks later wasn't even nominated, i don't think
― sarahel, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:45 (fourteen years ago) link
no, it was, because i voted for it
― rhea perlman is "horrible" (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:53 (fourteen years ago) link
i voted for 28 days later - even though 28 weeks later had Idris Elba and featured the, I'd like to think, Dead Alive-inspired rotary blade method of killing zombies
― sarahel, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:55 (fourteen years ago) link
I voted for 28 Days Later, Pan's Labyrinth, Shadow of the Vampire, May, Wolf Creek, & Let the Right One In
― Darin, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:56 (fourteen years ago) link
I voted for Let the Right One In and Shadow of the Vampire - though not sure how much they are "horror" movies
― sarahel, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:59 (fourteen years ago) link
god im pissed that i didnt see let the right one in on the noms list, would have voted unreservedly
― Jake Gyllenhaal needs more juggalo in it (jjjusten), Thursday, 4 February 2010 00:55 (fourteen years ago) link
: /
― ('_') (omar little), Thursday, 4 February 2010 00:56 (fourteen years ago) link
I voted Audition, Martyrs (will be pissed if this doesn't rank, but it prolly won't), Let the Right One In, The Host, A Tale of Two Sisters, May, Trouble Every Day
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 4 February 2010 01:33 (fourteen years ago) link
horror-ish shit in my top twenty: the host, american psycho (it counts, i think), visitor q, hostel ii, planet terror (yeah, yeah...but i think it was really dulled by its in-theater proximity to death proof and it was one of the most purely entertaining films i saw this decade).
still kicking myself as per upthread for not including audition and martyrs. wolf creek, pulse, and drag me to hell would have made a top forty if i'd bothered to do a list that long. still do not get the extreme love for let the right one in.
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Thursday, 4 February 2010 02:19 (fourteen years ago) link
planet terror (yeah, yeah...but i think it was really dulled by its in-theater proximity to death proof and it was one of the most purely entertaining films i saw this decade).
― sarahel, Thursday, 4 February 2010 02:21 (fourteen years ago) link
i voted for JUST planet terror, too, but i'm afraid my votes will just wind up going to grindhouse as a whole. :/ (and neither will probably place anyway.)
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Thursday, 4 February 2010 02:23 (fourteen years ago) link
okay, can't remember who rec'd it, and it has little to do with new horror, but there is NO WAY 'The Whip and the Body' is better than 'Bay of Blood.' got the former from Netflix today, and i don't think i've ever been more bored while watching a Bava film.
ahem. continue.
― arch-enemy Gay Cowboy Monster (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 February 2010 05:03 (fourteen years ago) link
I voted for: Audition, 28 Days Later, Drag Me to Hell, Martyrs & The Descent.
― they ate only candy canes (Pillbox), Thursday, 4 February 2010 06:29 (fourteen years ago) link
& Pan's Labyrinth, if that counts
― they ate only candy canes (Pillbox), Thursday, 4 February 2010 06:32 (fourteen years ago) link
ok well now that this is done, my horror votes and their points - placing ones with asterisks (kinda horror ones in italics):
Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006) - 40pts*Cremaster 3 (Matthew Barney, 2002) - 39ptsMarebito (Takashi Shimizu, 2004, Japan) - 36ptsWolf Creek - 35ptsMulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001, USA - 32pts*Ring, The (Gore Verbinski, 2002, USA) - 31ptsThem aka Ils - 30ptsHard Candy (David Slade, 2006) - 29pts28 Weeks Later (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007) - 26ptsGrindhouse (Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, EdgarWright, and Rob Zombie, 2007) - 23ptsSeverance (James Moran, 2006, UK) - 21pts28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002) - 20pts*Slither (James Gunn, 2006, USA) - 19ptsWoods, The - 17ptsSession 9 (Brad Anderson, 2001, USA) - 16ptsShaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004, UK) - 14pts*Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001, Japan) - 12ptsBattle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000) - 11pts13 Tzameti (Géla Babluani, 2005) - 10ptsMartyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008, France) - 9ptsA Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Ji-woon, 2003) - 8pts
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 06:22 (fourteen years ago) link
By the time Cremaster 3 becomes anything resembling a horror movie, it's been almost two hours, so when they start cutting each other's legs off, it isn't horrific, it's a joyous relief that something interesting is actually happening.
― sarahel, Friday, 12 February 2010 08:30 (fourteen years ago) link
oh man i dont even know what to say to you if thats what you think
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 08:33 (fourteen years ago) link
also re: cutting legs off have you seen this movie?
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 08:34 (fourteen years ago) link
I've seen four of the five (I haven't seen the opera one), and Cremaster 3 is just interminably dull, though intentionally so. I mean, it deals with a lot of Japanese ritual stuff that is traditionally slow moving and, well, dull. I liked Cremaster 2, the one about Houdini and Gary Gilmore. That one was about 45 minutes, if I remember right. The first two he made were about 30 minutes.
― sarahel, Friday, 12 February 2010 08:37 (fourteen years ago) link
i admit i have never seen any and am willfully oblivious. what is the thing that he did with this erect penis shaping the pottery? i like that a lot.
― "broken heart" is just a 50s euphemism for "the clap." (the table is the table), Friday, 12 February 2010 08:39 (fourteen years ago) link
i mean you caught the part in the first fifteen minutes where the corpse lady (representing gary gilmore) digs herself out of her grave right. or the flesh stripped horses. or the tooth destruction scene. perhaps the prolapsed disembowelment?
multiple xposts
that was cremaster 2 i think? the one with the bee/drone deal.
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 08:43 (fourteen years ago) link
cremaster 2 was the one with the bee/drone deal - it's a Mormon/Utah thing, also the one with Dave Lombardo
All I remember is a lot of boat, fishing baskets, tea ceremony, and Bjork playing with fruit in the bath -- I could very well be forgetting things, it's just my overall impression was one of a long period of tedium.
― sarahel, Friday, 12 February 2010 08:46 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah thats not a cremaster movie. you are thinking of drawing restraint 9. cremaster 3 is all about the masons and the chrysler building and lots of (admittedly slow developing) fucked up shit going on.
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 08:49 (fourteen years ago) link
a charming still from C3 that might make my horror justification carry a little more weight:
http://www.entreumcigarroeoutro.kit.net/cremaster_3.jpg
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 08:51 (fourteen years ago) link
oh whoops - you're right - yeah Cremaster 3 was a lot more exciting/interesting - that's the one with Richard Serra, and the Agnostic Front/Murphy's Law "battle" in the Guggenheim and the sheep kickline dancers that one was pretty good.
― sarahel, Friday, 12 February 2010 08:52 (fourteen years ago) link
I think I saw Cremaster 3 not long after seeing From Hell.
― sarahel, Friday, 12 February 2010 08:53 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost ok good because you were making me v v confused - was wondering if the cutting legs off comment was in re: aimee mullins ( who is an irl not having legs person)
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 08:57 (fourteen years ago) link
No - I was confusing one 3 hour long Matthew Barney film for the other one.
― sarahel, Friday, 12 February 2010 08:59 (fourteen years ago) link
And maybe I'm remembering wrong again, but I was taken with the fact that Richard Serra resembled Ian Holm who played a sorta similar Masonic role in From Hell.
― sarahel, Friday, 12 February 2010 09:01 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah dude is not really into brevity anymore (speaking of which btw, i think C2 is 1:20 or so. and how it flies by! ok not really)
xpost: huh yeah kind of. also C5, for whoever hasnt seen it, is fucking beautiful. no really!
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 09:03 (fourteen years ago) link
thats the opera one btw. also i realize that saying "oh hey see this asap" makes me kind of a dick considering this stuff never plays anywhere ever. thx walker arts for owning all 5 terrifyingly expensive laserdiscs.
as an added note, while tooling around looking for cremaster info, i discovered that one of my cremaster books is going for $750 on ebay. yay modern art!
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Friday, 12 February 2010 09:06 (fourteen years ago) link
not saying there's any intentional resemblance - C5 is the one I haven't seen, though I have seen stills and they are really lush and beautiful, it's the opera house one.
one can come by bootlegs of the Cremaster films - I got 1/2 and 4/5 in that format from Amoeba. The Walker and SFMoMA jointly own their copy of Cremaster 2 and affiliated artifacts, I believe.
― sarahel, Friday, 12 February 2010 09:08 (fourteen years ago) link
zombieland had its moments, but there was something not all there about it. no spoilers here cameo makes it well worth watching tho. so great.
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Monday, 15 February 2010 20:59 (fourteen years ago) link
also basically not horror at all. my measure for this is if my gf can make it through the whole movie without being angry at me for making her watch it afterwards, it is not real horror.
― 3:16 (jjjusten), Monday, 15 February 2010 21:00 (fourteen years ago) link
got my hands on a screener of Babysitter Wanted. wow. great little fright flick. exact same jumping-off point as House of the Devil, similar slow-burn build, but then tense and intense, by turns, from midway until the end, and definitely its own beast. watch for a wide release in May.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Monday, 15 February 2010 23:38 (fourteen years ago) link
just finished Dead Snow and wow i kind of hated it.
― THEY HAVE CREATED ANOTHER (jjjusten), Friday, 26 February 2010 06:06 (fourteen years ago) link
ok new moratorium, no humor allowed in zombie movies for the next 5 years and then we'll give it another try.
― THEY HAVE CREATED ANOTHER (jjjusten), Friday, 26 February 2010 06:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Watched Pontypool recently. Pretty good, it goes off into the deep end 2/3 of the way through, but an interesting take on a tired genre.
― DavidM, Friday, 26 February 2010 11:38 (fourteen years ago) link
ok, re that newly revived Japanese House from '77 -- I didn't laugh or jump once.
― Fusty Moralizer (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 28 February 2010 07:49 (fourteen years ago) link
so the verdict on house of the devil is generally thumbs-up? planning on watching it tonight.
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:25 (fourteen years ago) link
It depends on whether or not you appreciate the aesthetics of early-80s B-movie horror - drive-in-era relics & such. If you are down with that, HOTD is pretty much a straight-up homage, lovingly crafted as such, & u will def love it. Subtracting the nostalgia factor, I imagine it might seem oddly bland to the objective viewer.
― Man or Austro-Hungarian? (Pillbox), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Either way, it is worth watching imo, if only for the note-perfect performance of Tom Noonan - he is creeeeepy as hell & needs to be in more horror flicks.
― Man or Austro-Hungarian? (Pillbox), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Have any of y'all ilx0rs seen Lo? Thinking about watch-instantlying it tonight.
― Chatbot LeFonque (Jon Lewis), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:34 (fourteen years ago) link
just ordered a copy. Betz's first film, Joshua, was a great idea let down by poor execution. Unless he has improved tenfold as a director, this one sounds like it could have the same problem.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Monday, 15 March 2010 21:38 (fourteen years ago) link
ok new moratorium, no humor allowed in zombie movies for the next 5 years and then we'll give it another try.― THEY HAVE CREATED ANOTHER (jjjusten), Friday, February 26, 2010 1:07 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark
― THEY HAVE CREATED ANOTHER (jjjusten), Friday, February 26, 2010 1:07 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark
I actually kinda liked DS, but this is OTM. Zombieland was a good enough note to end on. Let the genre lie for a while & leave it for new blood to pick up & run with sometime down the line when a new series of apocalyptic events scares our culture into zombie-mode all over again.
― Man or Austro-Hungarian? (Pillbox), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:40 (fourteen years ago) link
by that I mean zombie movies in general, not just "humorous" zombie flicks.
― Man or Austro-Hungarian? (Pillbox), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Can we also stop doing emo vampire stories while we're at it?
― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:44 (fourteen years ago) link
funny zombie movies >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> emo vampire movies
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:45 (fourteen years ago) link
i saw the first part of Lo and it is pretty much not very good, there are some flashes of interesting and then waves of dull/dumb/awful
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 00:54 (fourteen years ago) link
wisecracking demon is just 1000% annoying and poorly thought out.
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 00:55 (fourteen years ago) link
may give that a shot
― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:06 (fourteen years ago) link
wait, Lo? dont do it!
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:07 (fourteen years ago) link
oh yeah? alright, i'll go with the zombie nazis instead.
― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:11 (fourteen years ago) link
didnt love that one, but much much better than LO imo.
also you could just watch impaler instead which is not a horror movie, but has a satanic vampire so
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Has there ever been a straight-up humorless zombie movie? The only example I can think of is Solaris.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:17 (fourteen years ago) link
well 28 days/weeks later arent really played for the funny imo, if yer looking for recentish examples
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:21 (fourteen years ago) link
i think all traces of humor in I, Zombie were unintentional. but I don't know. this was, after all, a movie that gave horrible new meaning to the phrase "jerking off."
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:30 (fourteen years ago) link
not much humor in Pupi Avati's Zeder (Revenge of the Dead, Stateside). just a good, old-fashioned scary story. with zombies.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:33 (fourteen years ago) link
28 days/weeks are pretty dry, true... I feel like they are the Stephen Wright of zombie movies.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:35 (fourteen years ago) link
they're derivative enough to be...
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:41 (fourteen years ago) link
i walked with a zombie is totally straightfaced, if multilayered
― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:42 (fourteen years ago) link
what about Dead & Buried and Deathdream? if there's any humor shading the horror here, it's of the absolute darkest hue.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:44 (fourteen years ago) link
The problem I have with horror movies that I've seen in the mid to late '00s and ongoing is that they are too slick, or full of gimmicky cinematography. Which is why I loved Drag Me to Hell so much - in addition to telling a good, if not entirely original story, the style was very workaday which worked well for it.
― Cattle Grind, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 03:11 (fourteen years ago) link
sorry guys but period detail aside, house of the devil was pretty bad. and even if it was supposed to be bad, it could have been a little less by-the-book.
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 15:05 (fourteen years ago) link
I liked the acting. Tom Noonan is always a treat to watch, and Greta Gerwig was good, esp. with her face blown off.
― Like a sausage or snake, smooth and soft (Pancakes Hackman), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link
secretly the best funny zombie movie of the best few years is Black Sheep, because it's about zombie livestock
― some dude, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 15:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Made it through 40 minutes of Lo last night, had to walk the dogs, couldn't convince self to pick it back up. My mileage pretty much matched jjjusten's-- it has redeeming qualities, but no.
― Chatbot LeFonque (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 15:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Just watched triangle, and it was eh ok
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 23:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Ok watching "inside" tonight, wish me luck
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Sunday, 21 March 2010 05:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Holy fucking fuck
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Sunday, 21 March 2010 06:52 (thirteen years ago) link
lol
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Sunday, 21 March 2010 07:39 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, I watched Inside this weekend with a lady friend. She threw up on me, almost gave me a black eye, and I had to get a hotel room that night. I don't think I've watched a more brutal film. Beating up a pregnant woman is bad enough.
― Jacob Sanders, Monday, 22 March 2010 00:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Wow. I watched 'Gutterballs' (a much, much nastier film than 'Inside') with a bunch of ladies. They surprised me by being totally into it. They were even cheering as the rapist slimeballs met their ugly ends. I guess the semicomic tone made the extreme violence go down easier, though there's nothing funny about that rape scene. Rough, rough, rough.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Monday, 22 March 2010 02:39 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i opened my "oh shit i saw a great movie last night" conversation w/gf with the clear statement that she should never under any circumstances watch it. Really amazing tho, liked it more than martyrs i think.
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Monday, 22 March 2010 20:07 (thirteen years ago) link
okay yeah, "Inside" is the movie I thought it was
absolutely no fucking way
kind of lolling at this actress's joker teeth, tho:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/B%C3%A9atrice_Dalle_1999.jpg/220px-B%C3%A9atrice_Dalle_1999.jpg
― ALLAH! *rolls on floor* (HI DERE), Monday, 22 March 2010 20:27 (thirteen years ago) link
That was the problem, I love it. And she's of the opinion that there is something inherently wrong with enjoying a movie like Inside. I like how the action occurred in a small house with that lighting. The color of these new french horror films are so much better than in most american horror films.
― Jacob Sanders, Monday, 22 March 2010 20:43 (thirteen years ago) link
http://static.boxrec.com/wiki/thumb/2/29/Spinks.leon.jpg/180px-Spinks.leon.jpg
― Like a sausage or snake, smooth and soft (Pancakes Hackman), Monday, 22 March 2010 20:45 (thirteen years ago) link
I've been trying to watch all the 'classic' video nasties and started with I Spit On Your Grave when it was showing but fell asleep during the first ten minutes. Is it worth buying? Inside sounds worth a look but judging by what you guys are saying maybe might watch in the daytime...
― taking naps between dances (RubyNoir), Monday, 22 March 2010 21:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Based on plot summary, new Season Of The Witch sounds up my alley... NEbody know anything about it?
― MOY WEIRD ANIMAL SKILETON (Jon Lewis), Monday, 22 March 2010 21:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Hey, horror people: what's that horror movie where they make a human worm by sewing the mouths of people to the anuses of people?
― bamcquern, Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:38 (thirteen years ago) link
centipede (first sequence)
― Lamp, Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:38 (thirteen years ago) link
lol human centipede &c
― Lamp, Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:39 (thirteen years ago) link
i mean wtfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Centipede_%28First_Sequence%29
― forksclovetofu, Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:47 (thirteen years ago) link
haha that movie was my #1 example on the "why do you like horror movies?" thread as to why civilization was doomed iirc
― ALLAH! *rolls on floor* (HI DERE), Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:49 (thirteen years ago) link
"Tom Six has stated that the inspiration for the film came from a joke he always made to friends about punishing people who were "nasty or annoying or a child molester" by stitching their mouths to "the ass of a fat truck driver". From here came what he saw as the concept for "a great horror movie" and he began to develop the idea."
― forksclovetofu, Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:52 (thirteen years ago) link
you realize that when this dude wakes up in the middle of his own real-life centipede, it will be the sign that our time on this Earth should come to an end
― ALLAH! *rolls on floor* (HI DERE), Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:54 (thirteen years ago) link
The star of this film is named Dieter Laser.
― everybody on ilx u have dandruff (Pillbox), Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:57 (thirteen years ago) link
his album is pretty good, the Santigold track is kinda weak tho
― ALLAH! *rolls on floor* (HI DERE), Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:58 (thirteen years ago) link
I was really disappointed by Inside, I thought it was complete crap. It seemed good until any time something actually gory or terrifying was supposed to happen and then it was totally unconvincing, making the entire movie fall flat. Martyrs is so much better its not even worth comparing the two. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone with you guys bein all omgz Inside so sick. Maybe my expectations were too high having seen Martyrs first? With Martyrs I was like desperately reminding myself that it was just special fx so as to not puke all over myself, whereas with Inside whenever something gory happened I was kind of squinting to try to make it look better.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 24 March 2010 17:48 (thirteen years ago) link
naw bro inside is garbage & not scary at all
― Lamp, Wednesday, 24 March 2010 17:50 (thirteen years ago) link
i think the scope of inside (despite the alarmingly high death toll) just works better for me, no subterranean lair, just a house - 4 rooms some stairs and a hallway which really ramps up the tension whenever someone new enters and yer waiting for the "oh shit is that a mangled body" moment to break the suspense. also i was happy to see a (kinda) straight motivational story arc, i had some issues w/the grand scope of the idea behind martyrs. dont get me wrong, i loved both movies, but inside just worked even better for me.
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Wednesday, 24 March 2010 17:56 (thirteen years ago) link
also the living dead homage moment was A+++++ for creepout fun.
my bloody valentine remake arriving tonight which i am not really looking forward to and mainly feeling i should bother with out of some weird genre obligation
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Wednesday, 24 March 2010 21:06 (thirteen years ago) link
was given a two day reprieve thanks to netflix sending me a copy that looked like it had been belt-sanded
― First and Last and Safeways (jjjusten), Thursday, 25 March 2010 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
nu-MBV is a fun genre exercise, but make sure to do it up proper w/ the 3D glasses. The 3D elements were applied in a vintage 80s camp/slasher style (ie lots of pick-axes poking out at u) & are easily the best thing about the movie.
― everybody on ilx u have dandruff (Pillbox), Thursday, 25 March 2010 17:10 (thirteen years ago) link
nu-MBV has, like nu-Friday the 13th, a sort of intriguing triple-start structure. Other than that, pretty by the books.
Intrigued by the mentions of "Inside" and "Martyrs" I did some googling. Yeesh. Too many flicks confuse "horror" with "horrible," and these seem like no exception, unfortunately. Gore overkill is usually funny, intentional or not, but paired with such extreme unpleasantness I'm not sure of the point. Just to be unpleasant? That'd be like recommending "Irreversible" for its cool fire extinguisher scene ("so real!") and awesome protracted rape ("totally intense!").
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 March 2010 17:37 (thirteen years ago) link
I think Martyrs had a point but it's tough for me to say, not being fluent in French. But in general, if you're tackling certain themes, not going full-on "horrible" is the cop-out. Like ordering a steak well-done, then drenching it in A1-sauce. If a cow died for your food, make sure you taste its cowness!
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 25 March 2010 19:01 (thirteen years ago) link
house of the devil still the raddest movie on this thread
― sturksducken (cozen), Thursday, 25 March 2010 19:02 (thirteen years ago) link
actually it's probably drag me to hell. alison lohmann <3
― sturksducken (cozen), Thursday, 25 March 2010 19:05 (thirteen years ago) link
x-post I think "full-on horrible" sort of *is* the cop-out. Which is one reason I loved "House of the Devil" so much. And "Drag Me to Hell," for that matter. Any dude can bust a squib, it takes a real filmmaker to rely on implied menace.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 March 2010 20:04 (thirteen years ago) link
house of the devil didn't really leave anything to the imagination though! it kept showing us exactly what was going on way before the main character finds out (okay, the pizza driver is definitely the killer, okay, these people definitely killed the prior occupants for some kind of ritual), so you end up just waiting for the inevitable. could have been way more tense.
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Thursday, 25 March 2010 20:10 (thirteen years ago) link
just read the wikipedia summary for 'inside', jesus fucking christ
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Thursday, 25 March 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
"Any dude can bust a squib, it takes a real filmmaker to rely on implied menace."
The particularly gory parts of Martyrs have the quality of a painting, and it is definitely a cop-out if the painting isn't actually on the canvas. Also, I suspect it's actually logistically easier to get a jump from the audience by not showing them much, especially if you don't have much money.
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 25 March 2010 20:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Inside is a great, unpretentious flick w/ a slightly dodgy twist. Martrys is pseudointellectual bullshit.
― Simon H., Thursday, 25 March 2010 20:35 (thirteen years ago) link
ok "great" is a bit strong but you get the gist
― Simon H., Thursday, 25 March 2010 20:36 (thirteen years ago) link
"Martrys is pseudointellectual bullshit."
Because it's French?
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 25 March 2010 20:40 (thirteen years ago) link
it is definitely a cop-out if the painting isn't actually on the canvas.
Nah. Because off screen your imagination takes effect, but on screen your brain is constantly telling you what you are watching is fake.
For that matter, in the commentary track to Carpenter's "The Thing," he notes the biggest audience squirm and jump reaction to this All Time Great FX-as-art flick came when a character cut his thumb a little (on purpose) and not with all the crazy gore monsters run amuck.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 March 2010 22:23 (thirteen years ago) link
The scare from the blood test in The Thing was easily the biggest jump-out-of-your-seat moment for me.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 25 March 2010 22:30 (thirteen years ago) link
I didn't get the sense that the gore in martyrs was meant to be realistic so much as aesthetic. for what it's worth, the non-gore 'scarey' parts operated like standard "don't reveal too much of the scary thing horror" or at least that's how I remember it, because I don't actually remember what the scary thing looks like.
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 25 March 2010 22:36 (thirteen years ago) link
ok my bloody valentine was ok in spots, not so good overall. it did follow the genre convention of absolutely terrible acting tho.
― HANKARY TORRENTS (jjjusten), Wednesday, 31 March 2010 19:28 (thirteen years ago) link
watched saw V the same night and i think i liked that better, which is not intended as a ringing endorsement of either movie.
last house on the left remake is on its way from netflix as we speak, which i am a bit more optimistic about. after which i think i will have caught up on my remake quota for the early part of the year.
― HANKARY TORRENTS (jjjusten), Wednesday, 31 March 2010 19:29 (thirteen years ago) link
The human centipede looks soooo nasty. I can't even read the description without feeling nauseous. DNW.
― taking naps between dances (RubyNoir), Wednesday, 31 March 2010 21:37 (thirteen years ago) link
haha thanx 2 my illiteracy i thought u had watched "V" the tv show 4 a minute...
i liked the remake of lotl okay - probably posted abt itt or elsewhere - way less brutal than the o.g.
― alt-3, gold & silver (Lamp), Wednesday, 31 March 2010 21:38 (thirteen years ago) link
what was that thread we did the other week about scary films?
― j0rdslovesomedude (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 31 March 2010 21:42 (thirteen years ago) link
aha: Enjoying horror films - why do we (or don't we)?
― j0rdslovesomedude (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 31 March 2010 21:43 (thirteen years ago) link
Jennifer's Body was way better than I expected, I really dug it. Totally mismarketed - the sleazy push they gave it probably turned off most of the Buffy/Juno/Ginger Snaps fans who would've really been into this. The Diablo Cody backlash and oversold media personality of Megan Fox probably hurt this a lot too, but Fox and Seyfried were both perfect IMO, and I found the script and dialogue amusing. Really a shame that this got buried.
― Nhex, Thursday, 1 April 2010 03:37 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, that's a great one. not quite everything works but the aesthetic really stands out and it's a lot of fun. plus, satanic emo band!
― original bgm, Friday, 2 April 2010 02:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Ok to my total surprise, I fully endorse the last house on the left remake (except for the final 2 minutes) but srsly, don't let that dissuade you. Honestly one of the only us serious horror films that measures up to the foreign competition from the last few years.
― HOT DISH THYME MACHINE (jjjusten), Monday, 5 April 2010 07:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Really? I may watch that last house remake then. I totally agree with the posts above about Jennifer's Body, I really, really enjoyed that film especially the relationship between Fox and Seyfried's characters, Adam Brody looked smoking, the dialogue wasn't as bad as I thought it would be considering the source and I thought the horror was well done too. The film showed that Fox has real potential as an actress when she stops being so self conscious.
― RubyNoir, Monday, 5 April 2010 13:28 (thirteen years ago) link
thought jennifer's body, hills have eyes and last house on the left were all pretty good
― etrian odysseus (cozen), Tuesday, 6 April 2010 12:02 (thirteen years ago) link
Both movies I mentioned are from France. One is shitty and one is good.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 6 April 2010 12:12 (thirteen years ago) link
riki lindhome is like a badass vn of aubrey plaza in lhotl
― etrian odysseus (cozen), Tuesday, 6 April 2010 12:29 (thirteen years ago) link
yes, Inside is shitty and Martyrs is good. (xpost)
LotL remake is surprisingly effective, too, though I agree about the ending.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 6 April 2010 13:43 (thirteen years ago) link
'x-post I think "full-on horrible" sort of *is* the cop-out. Which is one reason I loved "House of the Devil" so much. And "Drag Me to Hell," for that matter.'
Drag Me to Hell is pretty explicit with the old lady gum-fellating the heroine and whatnot! Not implied at all. I think the only time it really pulled back was for animal cruelty.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 6 April 2010 18:20 (thirteen years ago) link
!
― emotional radiohead whatever (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 April 2010 18:20 (thirteen years ago) link
I thought I knew all of the phrases that would make me decided to never ever see a movie but "the old lady gum-fellating the heroine" wasn't on that list until now.
― Wood shavings! Laughing out loud! (HI DERE), Tuesday, 6 April 2010 18:21 (thirteen years ago) link
To be fair, that scene is played for laughs, not scares.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 6 April 2010 18:27 (thirteen years ago) link
oh thank god for that, I don't know what I would do if the movie took the scene featuring a dentureless old woman gnawing on the heroine's penis seriously
― Wood shavings! Laughing out loud! (HI DERE), Tuesday, 6 April 2010 18:30 (thirteen years ago) link
michael haneke's drag me to hell
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 6 April 2010 20:12 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efok5ilZDZQ
The trailer for Human Centipede mentioned earlier in the thread. There does seem to be a level of quality to it, like something Cronenberg might be attempting now if he had stuck with body horror instead of making boring Viggo Mortensan movies.
"100% medically accurate"!
― Duke Newsom (DavidM), Wednesday, 7 April 2010 22:32 (thirteen years ago) link
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Thursday, March 25, 2010 8:10 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark
OTM. I was really disappointed by this movie. The first half was actually really good and suspenseful but once the first big scare moment happens it just goes downhill from there.
― fuckin' lame, bros (latebloomer), Monday, 12 April 2010 00:05 (thirteen years ago) link
and the ending was just lame.
tru
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, 12 April 2010 03:34 (thirteen years ago) link
trick r treat features an adolescent thurman merman
― etrian odysseus (cozen), Monday, 12 April 2010 10:30 (thirteen years ago) link
so i watched 2 movies last night, one of which is home movie which lamp rates pretty highly upthread, and i totally agree - yes it is HH shakycam, and there are some slightly implausible things due to that, but the acting is absolutely dead on, and the tension ratcheting is pretty fucking fierce, which is all the more impressive for a mostly bloodless movie. it is also really (intentionally) funny much of the time. its super solid, and avail on netflix for the peeps that couldnt get it before.
also saw house of the devil, and im going to have to join the chorus of "not really sure what people see in this movie" - sloooooooow, and with pretty much none of the menace or payoff to make it worthwhile. and yeah, theres a bunch of 80's nods (thanks for the 50 shots of the cassette walkman I GET IT ALREADY) but its really more of a 70's vibe, and neither is pulled off effectively. did not dig at all, felt mostly like a waste of time.
― HOT DISH THYME MACHINE (jjjusten), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Anyone excited about the remaking? of Piranha by the director of Haute Tension? I don't like to watch trailers so I have no idea what it will be like. I wish it wasn't going to be in 3D.
― Jacob Sanders, Monday, 12 April 2010 16:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Also I just saw the someone has/is remaking Scanners???
― Jacob Sanders, Monday, 12 April 2010 16:30 (thirteen years ago) link
a bunch of new stuff to stream on netflix; any of this worth recommending?http://instantwatcher.com/titles/new_infinite
― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 19:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Really liked Moon. That's a nice coup for a relatively new film.
I remember thinking Tape was pretty good, if you like those "three people in a room, obviously adapted from a play" kind of movies, and I usually don't like Linklater movies.
Breakdown is a must if you are a fan of 80's/early 90s Kurt Russell, really cheesy and fun.
No idea if it's any good, but I remember Kevin Corrigan hyping Beeswax in an interview last year. Other goodies: Star Treks II though IV and First Contact.
― Nhex, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:08 (thirteen years ago) link
re: horror movies - Retribution (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) is up there, and although it isnt nearly as good as pulse its def worth watching. Moon didnt do it for me at all
― HOT DISH THYME MACHINE (jjjusten), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Cube 2 is worth watching if you've watched the first, as well as 3 if you like seeing how things play out. They are great, but not bad either.
― Jacob Sanders, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:36 (thirteen years ago) link
oops. I totally though this was the ILG Netflix thread, my bad.
I liked the first Cube, so maybe I'll try Cube 2.
― Nhex, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:40 (thirteen years ago) link
hahaha I was going to ask how the Star Trek movies were in any way "horror" but decided to leave it alone
― don't you steal my Sunstein (HI DERE), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:41 (thirteen years ago) link
LOL but when he places that bug inside the guys helmet and you watch crawl inside his ear?? That terrified me as a kid.
― Jacob Sanders, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:48 (thirteen years ago) link
ha, i could've been a bit more specific.
― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 22:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Khan's chest = cronenbergian body horror
― I Smell Xasthur Williams (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 22:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Saw The Box last night. Man, it's sad, because there were definitely a great movie in there somewhere, but it was too long, the leads were miscast, the great sense of mystery was really undercut with all these ridiculous expositional scenes in the last act, spouting stuff I'd pretty much figured out 20 minutes ago. Some cool "what the hell IS this?" conspiracy horror stuff but there was probably too much of it. And oh man, the last scene, which was still affecting, way too long.
So much of the film undercutting itself, going back and forth between beautifully composed shots and bland generic scenery - the '70s theme especially seemed like it could have been better used. Langella was great (small role of Britta from Community was pretty entertaining too). There was so much potential here. Kelly's got a lot of talent but I hate to say it, this was a failure of direction above all.
― Nhex, Friday, 16 April 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Mulberry Street last night, was ok in spots but jesus, rat people? really? also more gritty DV stuck in an apartment building nonsense, which is a pretty beaten trope at this point. overall uh it was ok, but not really worth much effort to find. also, ending suuuuuuckks.
― HOT DISH THYME MACHINE (jjjusten), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:19 (thirteen years ago) link
man, it's sad, because there were definitely a great movie in there somewhere
^^^^I love richard kelly board description
― etrian odysseus (cozen), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:56 (thirteen years ago) link
watched session 9, pretty dece
― etrian odysseus (cozen), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:57 (thirteen years ago) link
ok decidedly not really horror, but silly gorefest (well really just bloodfountainfest) "Blood Car" needs to get brought up somewhere and this will prob be the best fit. def some debut filmmaker flaws evident (ie HOLY CRAP I CAN GET LADIES TO SHOW THEIR TITS NOW THAT I MAKE FILMS) here, but also really fucking funny in a lot of spots and decently written. so yeah if yer not looking for hardcore and are down with silly not-quite-horror films (that are not spoofs thank god), its totally worth a shot.
― Crazed semantic nattering! That's where I'm a viking! (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:05 (thirteen years ago) link
wait how did you escape the Viking thread
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:06 (thirteen years ago) link
fortitude and commitment to an ideal
― Crazed semantic nattering! That's where I'm a viking! (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:06 (thirteen years ago) link
oh
see, that's why I'm still there
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:09 (thirteen years ago) link
just noticing this now but im really glad u liked home movie jj!
my bf had never even heard of the dude so were working our way through his 80s films: the fog is really p classic imo altho i may be influenced by it getting sample for the heartbreak disco mix.
― Lamp, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:24 (thirteen years ago) link
also: although its incredibly corny supernatural (tv series) is really, really good and delivers some legit scares. the early seasons in partic manage to tip their hat to older serials w/o ripping them off too egregiously.
― Lamp, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:26 (thirteen years ago) link
oh lol: 1st post is in ref to john carpenter obv
― Lamp, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:27 (thirteen years ago) link
the fog is really p classic imo altho i may be influenced by it getting sample for the heartbreak disco mix.
ok, I have to hear this mix now.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:55 (thirteen years ago) link
"silly not-quite-horror films (that are not spoofs thank god)"Is this the one where the vegan kills for his car that runs on blood? It felt like a spoof of something. Wasn't there a movie about catfood made from humans?
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:03 (thirteen years ago) link
maybe I'm thinking of little shop of horrors
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:04 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah thats the one - idk, i dont think it was really spoofing anything i know about? its def pretty broad in its humor, not a dark comedy (although the last 5 minutes are kind of AMAZING imo).
― mmmphhhh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:08 (thirteen years ago) link
also lamp - yeah home movies was a fantastic surprise, still really into it, thx very much for the recommendation, because i am pretty sure that i would never have stumbled across it otherwise.
gf (uh fiance now i guess im supposed to say? weird) is out of town this weekend so if anybody wants to give me a line up of netflix streamable horror stuff i would be much obliged. she is not a fan, so it might be one of the few times i can dig in during normal human watching hours.
― mmmphhhh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:11 (thirteen years ago) link
anybody want to rep for the von trier antichrist? it keeps getting suggested to me as a horror film but something tells me thats bullshit and its just going to be long and make me angry
― mmmphhhh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
probably no help re: antichrist, but dancer in the dark feels very much like a horror movie.
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:15 (thirteen years ago) link
horrible movie
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:25 (thirteen years ago) link
that is
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:26 (thirteen years ago) link
anti-christ was - by a very wide margin - the worst film i saw last year in theaters. i know sum of the ilx art film crowd liked it and von trier is an accomplished crafter of images but its so craven & thoughtless in how it deploys violence & in the rhetorical tack it takes that i cant really recommend it.
i think it purposefully attempts to frustrate the viewer with an absence of meaning but there really is a void at the heart of this movie that sikkened me its like taking the "lets freak out the squares" impulse & ramping up the self-loathing & misogyny
― Lamp, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:26 (thirteen years ago) link
human centipede looks horrible and repugnant. i do not get the appeal of these films.
i guess i'm old and out-of-touch. free-country to make or watch them, obv.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 28 April 2010 20:31 (thirteen years ago) link
"human centipede looks horrible and repugnant. i do not get the appeal of these films."
i think you've already identified two sources of appeal.
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:22 (thirteen years ago) link
I feel the same way, though at the same time I can imagine 15-year-old me getting persuaded into watching it just for the shock value. Still, this shit's pretty far from Troma territory...
― Nhex, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:36 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm actually curious about what the appeal of "torture porn" is. i searched for the term on the thread and only saw passing reference to it, tho i know it's been a big genre in the recent past.
if the answer is embedded in the 625 posts above, no need to belabor it. i'll search it out when i have time (whenever that is!).
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:39 (thirteen years ago) link
actually i started a thread that ended up talking a lot about that here: Enjoying horror films - why do we (or don't we)?
― mmmphhhh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:41 (thirteen years ago) link
thanks, jjj. i'll check it out.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:42 (thirteen years ago) link
lol I was going to link that thread but started reading it again
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:48 (thirteen years ago) link
fuckin hate von trier
― i never promised you a whinegarten (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:50 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20356
Someone's writing a US remake of Martyrs?
― DavidM, Thursday, 27 May 2010 21:49 (thirteen years ago) link
anyone seen "mum & dad"?
― cozen, Thursday, 27 May 2010 21:57 (thirteen years ago) link
fuck that xpost
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 May 2010 21:58 (thirteen years ago) link
to expand:
A) the dude rewriting Martyrs is the dude who did "Vacancy" which means he aint exactly subtleB) the bowlderizing required to make that plot play in the american market is going to be extensive and laughable.
mum and dad sounds intriguing tho.
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 May 2010 22:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Mum & Dad was one of the few Brit horror movies of the past few years (since The Descent anyway) that didn't make me feel completely ho-hum about. It's no masterpiece, but it has a few nice blackly comic touches.
― DavidM, Thursday, 27 May 2010 22:07 (thirteen years ago) link
god, as if the original isn't laughable enough already
― Simon H., Thursday, 27 May 2010 22:12 (thirteen years ago) link
I watch La Horde last night. A really fun zombie movie. I'd recommend it. There an awesome parking garage scene, and for most of the movies, everyone is closed in a hallway, staircase, room, basement. Really terrifying at times. But there are one liners thrown in for humor, which takes away from the horror. I've never understood why people want to laugh while watching a horror film. I want to be scared, laughing lightens what I want to shock and thrill me. Anyway Watch La Horde.
― Jacob Sanders, Thursday, 27 May 2010 23:32 (thirteen years ago) link
kinda bummed that my girl will never be able to watch horror films with me.She keeps trying and keeps freaking out. She couldn't make it through the original night of the living dead for crissakes!
― forksclovetofu, Friday, 28 May 2010 13:38 (thirteen years ago) link
I have the same problem with my girlfriend. After A L"interieur I don't think she'll ever watch another horror film with me. I wish I had know who brutal that movie was going to be and we could've watch The Crazies instead.
― Jacob Sanders, Saturday, 29 May 2010 01:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Ever try easing her into stuff that's less overtly horror, like Buffy or Army of Darkness?
― Nhex, Saturday, 29 May 2010 01:59 (thirteen years ago) link
it's a good suggestion, but a l'interieur is like crossing the event horizon. there's no easy way back.
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Saturday, 29 May 2010 04:14 (thirteen years ago) link
it's the boo factor; she can't deal with being startled and waiting for it to happen drives her nuts. She was fine with A Certain Kind of Death and digs Miike; just can't cope if something grabs you from behind the door.
― forksclovetofu, Saturday, 29 May 2010 05:26 (thirteen years ago) link
have u tried easing her in w/the human centipede or martyrs
― cozen, Saturday, 29 May 2010 08:19 (thirteen years ago) link
don't u tell me to ease my gf into a human centipede
― forksclovetofu, Saturday, 29 May 2010 12:52 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/537029
― cozen, Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:38 (thirteen years ago) link
feel like human centipede isnt one of those things you can ease someone into, you just gotta go for it
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:41 (thirteen years ago) link
STEP ONE: GET REALLY CLINGYSTEP TWO: BUMP INTO HER A LOTSTEP THREE: FOLLOW HER CLOSELYSTEP FOUR: PROFIT!
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:43 (thirteen years ago) link
My wife is out of town til Thursday so I'm gonna binge on horror flix this wkend. Any netflix watch-instantly suggestions appreciated.
(LOL jjj posted the exact same thing upthread several weeks ago)
― minor thread (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:48 (thirteen years ago) link
the only 2 things i can think of off the top of my head that i know are on netflix on demand are "Shrooms" and "The Signal"
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:51 (thirteen years ago) link
OH SHIT and Deadgirl, if you haven't seen it.
Wow shrooms is good??? I didn't dare hope! Awesome.
Might do some of those shortish lovecraft thingies as well...
― minor thread (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:54 (thirteen years ago) link
The Woods is up there as well, and is pretty great (guy who did MAY, but better imo)
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:57 (thirteen years ago) link
and digs Miike
um, what
― Nhex, Saturday, 29 May 2010 14:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Already 2/3 through the Woods and will be finishing today. Right up my alley.
― minor thread (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:03 (thirteen years ago) link
as is Severance, if you want a tiny bit of british humor in yer slasher flick. also "the new guy" if you want a tiny bit of stalker horror in your low-budget quirky office space style comedy.
you can pretty much skip 100% of the "masters of horror" series, every one of them ranges from slight letdown to fucking awful imo (if you fell compelled to try one, fair haired child is the best of them)
xposts.
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:07 (thirteen years ago) link
oh no! Thx for the warning.
― minor thread (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:10 (thirteen years ago) link
idk, i havent seen all of them so im probably a bit too harsh, but for the most part it seems to be a repository for half-assed ideas that the directors aren't all that committed to. i might be missing some gems tho i suppose.
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:16 (thirteen years ago) link
Not totally qualified for this thread as it's a docu but damn I will see the f outta this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/movies/30cropsey.html?adxnnl=1&ref=movies&adxnnlx=1275145359-pAjU1jD6ODSppgC1jayJ6g
― we live on bagels we are Wburg FC (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:17 (thirteen years ago) link
saw "house of the devil" the other night and it was totes shite. old-style horror movie which is ""authentically made"" at the sacrifice of having anything particularly ""scary or cool"" happen at any point - all the horror is packed into the last ten minutes and none of it is any cop so what's the point?
shame as the general premise was good. and then i watched "drag me to hell" and it was just aas much of a joy as the first time.
― henry rollin rollin rollins (big spoon), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:23 (thirteen years ago) link
not so much horror, but check out machine girl if you havent already
― forksclovetofu, Saturday, 29 May 2010 16:27 (thirteen years ago) link
that doc sounds AWESOME
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Saturday, 29 May 2010 16:31 (thirteen years ago) link
I rate horror films by making my nephew and niece watch them and monitoring their reactions.Paranormal activity, was particularly effective.
― not_goodwin, Saturday, 29 May 2010 16:59 (thirteen years ago) link
i really enjoyed Pick Me Up (Fairuza Balk fending off a muttering Michael Moriarty!) and thought Cigarette Burns was fun, though none of the other cast-director-plot combos have inspired me to explore further.
― da croupier, Saturday, 29 May 2010 17:50 (thirteen years ago) link
though i just noticed The Screwfly Solution is on my queue, probably because it's joe dante directing elliott gould as a scientist trying to figure out why horny men have become homicidal killers. grand series title aside, i just want these to be decent Tales From The Crypt episodes.
― da croupier, Saturday, 29 May 2010 17:52 (thirteen years ago) link
miike's is worth seeing if you like miike i guesszombie soldiers from dante was terrible but still kind of worth seeing
― forksclovetofu, Saturday, 29 May 2010 18:48 (thirteen years ago) link
miike's imprint is awesome if you can get past billy drago's terrible overacting... it's an hour jampacked with jawdropping images, and there's something beautiful and sad about the last 20 minutes when the truth finally, uh, emerges
I've seen 3 or 4 other master of horror episodes and none of them comes close to imprint
― (e_3) (Edward III), Saturday, 29 May 2010 23:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Enjoyed "The Woods" so much that I watched the other Lucky Mckee movie on NF Watch Instantly, "Red". I guess this is the one Mckee got fired off of. Stone cold quality, would totally recommend. Not horror really, more a grim-ass honor & revenge tale, but based on a novel by horror author Jack Ketchum. Brian Cox is onscreen almost 100% of the movie, being awesome (he co-produced it-- maybe he loved the book?). Could totally imagine this as a late-period Clint vehicle.
Probs gonna go ahead and watch the other Jack Ketchum-derived flick, "The Girl Next Door". Any comments on that?
― we live on bagels we are Wburg FC (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 30 May 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Also the narrative driver of the film is GODDAMN PUNK KIDS HURT MY DOG!!! which brings me on board 100% from the get-go.
― we live on bagels we are Wburg FC (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 30 May 2010 17:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I would not recommend The Girl Next Door, but I don't remember it well enough to really say anything about it other than it is bad.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 30 May 2010 17:28 (thirteen years ago) link
been meaning to watch "the girl next door", reactions I've heard range from glorified TV movie to harrowing bleakfest.
got interested in seeing it after I read that ketchum's book was, in part, a response to mendal johnson's 70s cult novel let's go play at the adams. supposedly ketchum was so freaked out by the end of LGPATA he felt compelled to write his own version where justice is served.
― (e_3) (Edward III), Sunday, 30 May 2010 18:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Jon, check out May if you get a chance (though it's not on instant watch).
― Nhex, Sunday, 30 May 2010 18:40 (thirteen years ago) link
y'all will laugh but I am DLing the extended cut of The Wolf Man right now. Did not see the theatrical but got the idea that any chance it had of being dece was squashed by rampant recutting.
― 99 anna hay-uff jussa woan' do (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 30 May 2010 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
yr wife is out of town and you are dling the extended cut of the wolf man. dude.
― (e_3) (Edward III), Sunday, 30 May 2010 18:48 (thirteen years ago) link
I know, she wld probably watch it actually, I should just stick it on the hard drive till she comes back and continue on to the next trauma feast.
― 99 anna hay-uff jussa woan' do (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 30 May 2010 18:58 (thirteen years ago) link
so yeah, it's time to cue up scrapbook
― (e_3) (Edward III), Sunday, 30 May 2010 19:14 (thirteen years ago) link
but first, 'Shrooms'. Ha wow the score is by Dario Marianelli! He's a high b-list composer, they musta had some budget for this.
'We are on a plane to go shrooming in Ireland'-- excellent, get right to the point.
― 99 anna hay-uff jussa woan' do (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 30 May 2010 19:16 (thirteen years ago) link
i really loved the woods, talked about it a bit way upthread. and may's great, too. the girl next door, otoh, sounds too grueling.
most recent horror flick i've seen was andre aja's mirrors. started off with some promise, but fell apart quickly, and the last 1/2 hour is just ludicrous.
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Sunday, 30 May 2010 23:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Shrooms was awesome. Played into one of my pet themes (malevolent fungus) and had A++ semi-deformed cretinous backwoods folk. Thanks for the rec, jjj!
― 99 anna hay-uff jussa woan' do (Jon Lewis), Monday, 31 May 2010 01:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah that movie greatly exceeded my expectations, glad you liked it!
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Monday, 31 May 2010 04:42 (thirteen years ago) link
ok so out of nowhere movie that i loved - "Shallow Ground" (2004). what seems to be a creepy incoherent mess actually totally pulls it together by the end, although i get the feeling that there were some cuts for time constraints going on with some stuff towards the end. weird pace that works, def works that dread center in your brain effectively, a jump scare or two but not reliant on them. i dont even know where i found out about this (if its from this thread - hey thanx whoever), its been living in my queue for a while, but i really dug it. on netflix streaming btw, complete with a cover image that will make you think it has to suck, but it doesnt, i swear!
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Wednesday, 2 June 2010 17:57 (thirteen years ago) link
watched a couple of horror flicks last night. first up, saw guy james wan's dead silence. didn't much care for the saw series, but this thing is fucking great! retro gothic ghost story about a haunted ventriloquist's dummy. spooky, evocative and (for most of its running time) scary as hell. wall-to-wall haunted house jump scares, which are silly and get kinda old after a while, but still work like a charm. definitely one to watch with the lights off. not a lot of gore, but enough to keep you off balance, and i've always been a sucker for the haunted doll/dummy thing. movie's basically dumb as a box of rocks and makes no attempt to seem realistic at any level, but it looks fantastic, and is packed with subtle (and not-so-subtle) nods to other flicks: phantasm, the evil dead, suspiria, todd browning's dracula, etc. a perfect halloween popcorn flick, and on that level, at least as good as trick 'r treat.
next: the hills run red. meta-movie combo of the texas chainsaw massacre, blair witch, scream, rob zombie and eli roth. buncha movie geek kids go off into the backwoods, looking for a supposedly dead director of a long-lost and legendary horror movie, fatalities ensue. dialogue and characters are painfully dull, but the concept is at least half-cool, and the movie gets points for keeping the sleaze/gore meters pegged. again, lots of referentiality and borrowing, but it feels more uninspired here. secondhand elements feel less like nods to bava, fulci, TCM & brazil (?) than simple theft from the classics. i dunno, maybe i'm just annoyed by the director's failure to credit the obvious sources for his "ideas" in the commentary... bitching aside, it's a good time if you like lowbrow 70s/80s horror. plenty of special makeup & prosthetic mayhem, gallons of red corn syrup, a quick pace and a nasty sense of humor.
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Wednesday, 2 June 2010 18:32 (thirteen years ago) link
that was mostly bad CGI in tHRR, not red corn syrup. big mistake on Parker's part, IMHO.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Wednesday, 2 June 2010 20:04 (thirteen years ago) link
that's true and not true. there are a few obvious and disappointing moments of cgi grue (the demonia ripoff tree scene, frinstance), but it's mostly just real/fake blood. thinking of the finger and head choppings, various stabbings, etc...
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Wednesday, 2 June 2010 20:12 (thirteen years ago) link
True, true. The CGI were just so distractingly shoddy in those few scenes.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Wednesday, 2 June 2010 23:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Rhe only part of Dead Silence that wasn't boring was a joke by Donnie Wahlberg about dummies I probably could have lived without. Pretty much the least creepy thriller about ventriloquism I've ever seen.
― da croupier, Thursday, 3 June 2010 01:50 (thirteen years ago) link
A friend's wife asked about it and I cracked something like "yeah it's really scary if you're really scared of dummies" and unfortunately i spoke too drolly and she missed the sarcasm and rented it, later asking me how the hell I liked it.
― da croupier, Thursday, 3 June 2010 01:52 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't think I am at all interested, but philosophy of the knife is just out on instant watch netflix and i figured someone here would tell me just how atrocious it is.
― I have been forks-style since day one (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 3 June 2010 03:34 (thirteen years ago) link
Haha I just watched the first 30 minutes of that and decided to come over here and take a break! Timely.
Don't think Im up for it tonight tho, prob going to switch to candyman instead
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Thursday, 3 June 2010 05:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Hardcore gorehounds I know speak of it hushed reverent tones tho, so I'm going to give it a shot soon and will report back.
― CUSE EX MACHINA (jjjusten), Thursday, 3 June 2010 05:42 (thirteen years ago) link
ugh I'm reading a thread about philosophy of a knife on a horror movie board and why why why
― pokám0n (dyao), Thursday, 3 June 2010 06:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Rhe only part of Dead Silence that wasn't boring was a joke by Donnie Wahlberg about dummies I probably could have lived without. Pretty much the least creepy thriller about ventriloquism I've ever seen.― da croupier
― da croupier
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Thursday, 3 June 2010 06:09 (thirteen years ago) link
watched two more tonight, both inspired by recent recs on this thread:
shrooms: seriously blue-rinsed psycho thriller about college kids tripping balls in ireland. decent cast and dialogue, nice tight suspense and action direction, but no real surprises. figured out what was going on shortly after the first kill, and that took some of the fun away. i was entertained throughout, but hardly blown away, and it's too serious-minded & realistic to ever be a personal favorite. i kinda want my horror to be more fantastical and eccentric.
shallow ground: man this was great! a thousand thanks to whoever recommended it. cover art's so bad i probably never would have picked it up otherwise. one of the most imaginative and ambitious horror flicks i've seen recently. it's delivered somewhat like a stephen king novel, with several storylines progressing side-by side at all times, each containing its own twists & mysteries. never went where i expected, and i can't think of anything to compare it to. for all that, it operates squarely within the genre, and has an intriguingly artless awkwardness that reminds me of romero, cohen and coscarelli. not terribly scary, but creepy enough, and with more good ideas than 10 ordinary horror flicks.
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Thursday, 3 June 2010 06:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Glad you dug shallow ground!
"philosophy of a knife" is kind of amazing so far, but I can only handle it in bite sized pieces. It is kind of overpowering. Mostly archival footage so far, which means that things could go horribly wrong when i get to the reconstructed "experiments".
― Adolf Hipster (jjjusten), Tuesday, 8 June 2010 20:18 (thirteen years ago) link
Ok Jesus Christ, not sure I will actually manage to make it through this.
― Adolf Hipster (jjjusten), Tuesday, 8 June 2010 20:45 (thirteen years ago) link
my problem with philosophy of a knife is that it reeks of cliched goth/rave/industrial bullshit. (watched an hour or so of it after saying i wouldn't.) artsy-fartsy "embrace the darkness" bullshit without any actual aesthetic or moral intelligence. fucking cheezy-ass halloween rave flyer fonts, dated & uninspired "spooky techno" soundtrack, an artistic sensibility gleaned from watching old NIN videos. iskanov's previous films, which i checked out from the library a couple years back, make this even more clear. the fact that philosophy poses as a serious moral investigation makes it all the more insufferable.
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Tuesday, 8 June 2010 21:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Iskanov's Nails was fun - Lynch put through a cliched goth/rave/industrial grinder - but mostly because it's so short, colorful and frenetic. POAK, being none of these things, is a slog, and a catastrophic fail of non-editing. so is Visions of Suffering. apparently Iskanov's newest movie is even longer than POAK, even more indulgent. oh, joy. all this shit was tedious even before Karim Hussein's Subconscious Cruelty made it de rigueur.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 22:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Contenderizer, did you not find the (trying to avoid spoilers now) identity/M.O. of the killer in Shallow Ground a little bit unsatisfying? Overall I liked the movie quite a bit for its great ideas (when they ran the fingerprints through the database I think I actually shouted my appreciation out loud) but it seemingly didn't add up to much. I dunno I think I will actually watch it again soon, my bemusement demands it.
Shrooms, I dunno it just hit a sweet spot for me! I loved the scenery and loved loved the cretinous shack dudes so much. Agree the 'twist' was easily anticipated.
Try out The Chair. I think it ties with The Woods as my favorite of the dozen or so horror flix I've watched on Netflix streaming the last few weeks.
Watched Them (the French one) last night and am still getting my head around it...
― Blog is a concept by which we measure our pain (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 15:40 (thirteen years ago) link
oh good, The Chair is on my netflix instant queue but i keep skipping it because every time i look at the cover art i remember Shocker and get worried.
― Adolf Hipster (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 16:18 (thirteen years ago) link
It's very good. Actually I watched it bcuz of a mention by Hal Jam upthread!
Forgot to say I was impressed that Shallow Ground was able to commission a full orchestral score (and quite an intricate one) on their budget. Which was hilariously overactive in the early parts of the movie!
― Blog is a concept by which we measure our pain (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 16:28 (thirteen years ago) link
haha, nice! The Chair is a good one. don't be turned off by the horrible artwork. i think i ranted about that upthread. friggin' Lionsgate.
'Shallow Ground' does so many things right, but i agree that the sum-total effect of the movie is sort of underwhelming. i was so excited to see what Sheldon Wilson would do next. Then i saw Kaw...
― Mr. Hal Jam, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I was going to ask abt Kaw since it hits another of my sweet spots (I'm rather obsessed with crows and ravens). Sounds like I don't need to ask!
― Blog is a concept by which we measure our pain (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Kaw is watchable, but definitely a cheapo SyFy (Sci-Fi then) Channel creature feature. i just expected something more creative after Shallow Ground.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
so i watched paranormal activity a couple of days ago and im struggling to really say much of anything about it. it was fine i guess?
another example of how lots of horror filmmakers dont seem to get the value of creepy anymore, there wasnt really anything built up despite the fact that the movie is 100% intended to be a build up (which is kind of the key factor of camcorder movies tbh). made me feel like i should watch Blair Witch again, which whatever its faults did the build pretty much perfectly. (also might have been more accepting of PA if i hadn't recently seen Home Movies which is also camcordery but way better in execution and tension ramping)
― Adolf Hipster (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 19:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Camcordery at least nominally horror films - S/D/list them here so we can poll them later maybe?
feel free to give this a once over and let me know what im missing
― Adolf Hipster (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 19:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Firin' up The Burrowers right now...
― Blog is a concept by which we measure our pain (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 10 June 2010 00:34 (thirteen years ago) link
don't expect much
― Simon H., Thursday, 10 June 2010 00:48 (thirteen years ago) link
"Paranormal Activity" was 100% about the audience experience. It may be the only movie less well served by DVD than "Avatar."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 June 2010 02:10 (thirteen years ago) link
contenderizer, did you not find the (trying to avoid spoilers now) identity/M.O. of the killer in Shallow Ground a little bit unsatisfying? Overall I liked the movie quite a bit for its great ideas (when they ran the fingerprints through the database I think I actually shouted my appreciation out loud) but it seemingly didn't add up to much. I dunno I think I will actually watch it again soon, my bemusement demands it.― Blog is a concept by which we measure our pain (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, June 9, 2010 8:40 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink'Shallow Ground' does so many things right, but i agree that the sum-total effect of the movie is sort of underwhelming. ― Mr. Hal Jam, Wednesday, June 9, 2010 10:25 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark
― Blog is a concept by which we measure our pain (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, June 9, 2010 8:40 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
'Shallow Ground' does so many things right, but i agree that the sum-total effect of the movie is sort of underwhelming.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Wednesday, June 9, 2010 10:25 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark
agree that shallow ground adds up to a bit less than it promises, but i'm used to making allowances for low-budget, basically homemade horror flicks. approached it the same way i approach, say, phantasm or martin - measuring it more by what it does well than by what doesn't quite work. plus the first hour is so strong & unusual that i was okay with the underwhelming resolution.
anybody else think it felt kinda crypto-christian? what with the emphasis on family unity, father/husband-hood and retribution from beyond?
― the other is a black gay gentleman from Los Angeles (contenderizer), Thursday, 10 June 2010 02:21 (thirteen years ago) link
So has anyone seen "A Serbian Film"? I'm too scared to watch it.
― Number None, Monday, 12 July 2010 18:16 (thirteen years ago) link
Late to the game, but House of the Devil was pretty awesome imo. Such a great, slow build. The end doesn't totally satisfy in a "horror" sense, but for whatever reason it didn't really matter. Was thoroughly engaged throughout and I kind of wish more horror/suspense films these days moved like this.
The whole 80's "satanic panic" was always pretty interesting to me and I guess the concept here was a neat way to approach the subject. Also nice to see a fairly authentic throwback without irony or winking BS.
― circa1916, Sunday, 18 July 2010 05:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Puppetmaster: Axis of Evil comes out July 27th. Hopefully it will be on shelves at BlockbusterIt's supposed to be a sequel to Puppet Master III which is my favorite (the one with the Nazis)This movie will probably be the first decent one in the series since Puppetmaster V (1994)*I haven't seen Quarantine but I heard that [rec] was much better and apparently tons of people think that it is one of the scarier movies out there. I need to see [rec] and Audition*I rarely get all that scared by any horror movie. I can get shook up by watching something disturbing but that is a lot different than being scared. I also would never watch Cannibal Holocaust*I hate Rob Zombie movies. I heard he is remaking The Blob.
― serious nonsense (CaptainLorax), Sunday, 18 July 2010 07:34 (thirteen years ago) link
haven't seen a serbian film, not sure I want to
lately I've watched 'mum & dad' (straddles the ok-p.lame divide) and 'home movie' (pretty dece)
― ilx, 4chan with a slick minimalist interface (cozen), Sunday, 18 July 2010 08:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Saw "A Serbian Film," as weirdly coincidentally mentioned in another thread moments ago. Pretty sure every other "graphic" horror movie from anytime before now (god knows what fucking terrors the future holds) will now fail to shock me. (Not really a recommendation, though I do commend the filmmakers', uh, "commitment" to their endeavor.)
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 July 2010 09:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Places the movies have convincingly taught me never to travel: Serbia, Belgium.
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 July 2010 09:08 (thirteen years ago) link
I'll pass on A Serbian Film - for me the function of horror isn't "make the viewer despair for humanity"
― les yeux sans aerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 18 July 2010 15:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, I think that's the problem w/ the flick - using the genre of horror as a delivery system for that sort of purpose is inherently problematic.
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 July 2010 16:37 (thirteen years ago) link
spoiled myself for a serbian film (i guess?) but i doubt ill ever get to see it
id like to, maybe, since reviewers seem split on whether it has value & i really liked martyrs & hostel & despite the grotesque shit that happens itm it sounds like theres something to engage w/ as a viewer/critic?
but i dont really want to see it as some kind of test of courage/jadededness cuz a) after that hammer vid realized theres a p steep difference btw movies and irl and b) ennnnh
― Lamp, Sunday, 18 July 2010 17:17 (thirteen years ago) link
what's this hammer vid that you speak of?
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 18 July 2010 17:27 (thirteen years ago) link
watched serbian film this afternoon, i just hope to god the daily mail readers don't hear of/see it!
― not_goodwin, Sunday, 18 July 2010 17:28 (thirteen years ago) link
last year a video of two dudes murdering another dude w/ a hammer was going around & i tried watching it - p much the most horrifying & unsettling thing ive ever seen - think there may have been an ilx thread abt it? ive watched some p fucked up stuff (martyrs, men behind the sun) but the experience of watching that vid was less dissociative & manageable than any movie has been. basically unbearable ime
― Lamp, Sunday, 18 July 2010 17:42 (thirteen years ago) link
i think i've heard of that. i've seen some pretty grotesque stuff on the internet that i wish i could unwatch (bme pain olympics....) but i'm terrified of real violence. i've passed out watching a video in health class, passed out getting my blood drawn, and strangest of all passed out during an episode of nip/tuck (not real violence, wtf.) but i'm fascinated by extreme horror, i loved martyrs, er, "love" might not be the word. haven't seen men behind the sun yet. the feeling leading up to watching a really horrifying movie is intense, i feel really anxious and i'm not sure if i really want to do it, but knowing that its not real and that i can dissociate and analyze it makes me able to go through with it. and i like the rush of doing that, the rush makes it feel more real and triggers more interesting thoughts. i like the anxiety and i'm fascinated that a film can make me feel anxious like that. i like that i can think about horror in terms of why someone would want to make this and why i would want to watch this without quite getting into the deeply disturbing thought processes that would follow actually seeing a snuff film, not to mention the feeling of being implicated in the actual violence of the snuff film by wanting to watch it. i wonder if there is a similarity, though, between the dissociation that allows someone to see a horror film as not reality so as to make the experience less intense and the sort of dissociation that allows someone to actually commit a violent act. or even just the physical dissociation from pain that allows someone to suffer through the pain of getting a tattoo for example.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 18 July 2010 17:59 (thirteen years ago) link
it does sound like a serbian film manages to merge sex/death in the way the most gonzo ~bme~ gore stuff does one review i read explicitly connected it with goru. which is potentially interesting i think? but from what friends of mine who saw it in mtl have said its relatively cartoonish if still p visceral & the more grotesque it gets the more ur able to maintain "distance"
ill cop to liking that "testing" feeling of watching like french extremity/body horror stuff (generally dont like str8 gore) but i dont want to watch something just for that feeling
― Lamp, Sunday, 18 July 2010 18:14 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't really get a rush unless the film pulls me in on a basic "effective film" level.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 18 July 2010 18:19 (thirteen years ago) link
I haven't seen Quarantine but I heard that rec was much better and apparently tons of people think that it is one of the scarier movies out there.
ive had people say this and i get really confused because they are both functionally the same film, almost shot for shot, w/a slight change in what the source of the baddies is. you def dont need to see both, but eh see whichever is available, the diffs dont really matter imo.
that fucking hammer video - i just want to go on the record ONCE AGAIN and say srsly do not let curiosity or transgressive whatever trick you into searching this out, you cant unwatch it, it is horrible and you will feel guilty in a way that i can only imagine mirrors what unfortunates that stumble across kiddie porn feel like. its a fucking snuff video. dont do it to yourself. every time it comes up i feel dirty and shitty all over again thx to watching it once.
― t( :D t) (jjjusten), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 05:25 (thirteen years ago) link
on the more pos side, been watching some horror stuff again
The Hills Run Red - wow, some great freako gore stuff here unfortunately wrapped in a terrible terrible story. you can almost see the good movie poking through at times, some of the special effects are pretty fucking sweet, and despite all the peeps getting all crankypants about "too much CGI", watching the making of afterwards makes it pretty clear that most of this was good old pig guts and slaughterhouse runoff goo (no, srsly, i guess as long as you film in eastern europe they let you still do stuff like that). now on the bad side, there are attempts at being satire which FAIL, the story is uh total garbage, and the first 30 minutes is a slog of dumb set up and oh look titties and missed opportunities for some creepy moments. also one of the leads is some lady from australian pop group BARDOT and she is no good. watch it if you are really bored i guess.
Sheitan - whoohoo weirdo french psycho stuff rides again! this is some strange nonsensical cut and paste jump cut insane shit, one of my faves of the year so far - old school gonzo inbred tiny village all sexed up ready to go unwanted porno or uncomfortable story-telling creepout on our good old usual gang of city teens out for a drugspun chasing action night/morning/holiday weekend in the deep deep burbs. this is a million miles from the deep dark body horror stuff of ils and inside and martyrs, this is pure exploito creepshow funneled through techno backwoods family portrait horrorsleaze. the sort of film that makes me write in run on sentences apparently, but thats kinda how it felt to watch it, so go for it. fun times, kind of funny other than the points where you recoil in a sorta "oh shit did they just do that?" gasp moment.
― t( :D t) (jjjusten), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 05:42 (thirteen years ago) link
if anyone has not either one, here's a good idea for a freaky Belgian double feature: the fun, freaky Calvaire and Ex-Drummer (the latter not a horror movie, but still plenty messed up.)
― Simon H., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 07:03 (thirteen years ago) link
*not seen
― Lamp, Sunday, July 18, 2010 10:42 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i think i've heard of that. i've seen some pretty grotesque stuff on the internet that i wish i could unwatch (bme pain olympics....) but i'm terrified of real violence. i've passed out watching a video in health class, passed out getting my blood drawn, and strangest of all passed out during an episode of nip/tuck (not real violence, wtf.) but i'm fascinated by extreme horror, i loved martyrs, er, "love" might not be the word. haven't seen men behind the sun yet. the feeling leading up to watching a really horrifying movie is intense, i feel really anxious and i'm not sure if i really want to do it, but knowing that its not real and that i can dissociate and analyze it makes me able to go through with it. and i like the rush of doing that, the rush makes it feel more real and triggers more interesting thoughts.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, July 18, 2010 10:59 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark
man, i'm a lot more squeamish than you all. i never seek out real gore/mayhem footage. whole idea gives me the willies. for me, the process by which i distance myself from a gory death in a horror movie isn't that much different from the process by which i distance myself from scary or intense scenes in movies of other sorts. horror isn't special in this regard, it's just more extreme. i mean, when i was a kid, darth vader kinda freaked me out. and i got all white-knuckle panicky during that car chase scene w/ the woman strapped to the hood in death proof.
i do understand the allure of the forbidden and the "extreme", though, and sometimes get off on the taboo-busting rush karl describes. baise-moi definitely hit me that way. but i don't think that this sensation really has anything to do with horror, per se. it properly belongs to the most degraded sorts of exploitation films, and to plain old porn. just cuz awful shit happens in a movie doesn't make it horror.[/crotchety]
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 07:59 (thirteen years ago) link
i think that sensation has a lot to do with horror - i mean, there are certain cultural/social taboos that aren't associated with horror, but quite a lot of them, esp. as regards the body are stock in trade of the genre, right?
― sarahel, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 08:06 (thirteen years ago) link
jesus, had never heard about this hammer vid and I never want to see it.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 13:40 (thirteen years ago) link
and while I've only really dabbled in the truly extreme horror stuff, karl's excellent post gets at a lot of what makes the experience... well, not enjoyable, really. memorable? exciting?
I thought martyrs was excellent as well and a big part of that was the extreme anxiety it caused me. particularly because the movie switches gears radically a few times throughout its runtime and I was never able to truly get my bearings. definitely a rush of some sort.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 13:46 (thirteen years ago) link
and actually not all that different from the sustained dread I felt watching inland empire late at night recently. same feeling of unease, but streamlined and amplified x100.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 13:51 (thirteen years ago) link
saw a serbian film last night, i am not a big fan of the gore flicks (i like movies that stick with me after i watch them and gore, while sometimes physically taxing, is sort of in one ear out the other) but i was really impressed with it. i mean, yeah, it's fucking brutal but there's something to be said about a) the incredible job the dudes did making it so cohesive, b) the clear, like, anger apparent in the script/movie/etc, c) the fact that it is basically the most scathing commentary on manhood i think i have ever seen.
― Quantic Dream, So Hard To Beat (Will M.), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:07 (thirteen years ago) link
vincent cassel does a great old school chewing-the-scenery villain turn in sheitan
I watched the nick berg video back in the day and yeah there's some stuff you can't unsee
― (e_3) (Edward III), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:10 (thirteen years ago) link
A few days after seeing it I came to the conclusion that A Serbian Film is basically bullshit.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean it's only been 12 hours and I think it needs more time to sink in because I'm slow but I do feel at the moment that it's better than any stupid gore porn movie I've seen except maybe like Broken or something. HAven't een Martyrs though.
― Quantic Dream, So Hard To Beat (Will M.), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 15:15 (thirteen years ago) link
by broken do you mean the broken cuz I've never heard anybody rep for that one
― (e_3) (Edward III), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 16:15 (thirteen years ago) link
― The world’s most violent pizza delivery man (Alan N)
Funny you say that, because I have thought a lot about the similarity between the feelings that I get from Lynch movies and extreme horror. I think Lynch is able to create situations that bring about really powerful emotional reactions, but he does it in a relatively subtle way, more through juxtaposition of contrasting elements than just extremity (not that horror never does this,) and the emotions are more than just disgust or anxiety or fear. A bunch of examples from Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks come to mind, hell, any one of his movies. He is able to combine very odd sensations in a way that heightens them, e.g. Frank Booth's expode-at-any-moment anger sound-tracked by "In Dreams", and Dorothy walks out of the back room with her hair over her face like a sleepwalker. Throughout a Lynch movie I squirm and my palms get sweaty but its almost always balanced out by an incredible sweetness that is only effective when the dark elements make the sweetness really necessary (Sandy telling Jeffrey about her dream,) and there is always something creeping underneath the sweetness. I'm obsessed with Lynch and could go on forever and this isn't the place, so I'll stop before it gets too vague and nonsensical.
Anyway, yeah, I think David Lynch is the master of anxiety, but he is also fantastic at rewarding your anxiety and soothing you after it all. The entire arc of Eraserhead works this way imo.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:05 (thirteen years ago) link
surprised by martyrs fandom. was bored by that one. seemed pretty exciting at first, but the director was unconcerned with anything other than delivering carnage, so it got old fast.
sheitan's pretty great, but only really takes off when vincent cassel is onscreen. otherwise, it's just okay. probably would have dug it more if the ending had been 10% less incoherent, and/or the "wild kids" 10% less irritating (though both were clearly intentional). reminded me a bit too much of frontiere(s), though funnier and less punishing.
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:16 (thirteen years ago) link
Funny you say that, because I have thought a lot about the similarity between the feelings that I get from Lynch movies and extreme horror. I think Lynch is able to create situations that bring about really powerful emotional reactions, but he does it in a relatively subtle way, more through juxtaposition of contrasting elements than just extremity (not that horror never does this,) and the emotions are more than just disgust or anxiety or fear.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, July 20, 2010 12:05 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark
yeah, i wanted to respond to that, too. the feelings i experienced while watching inland empire were very similar to karl's description of the anticipation of extreme/transgressive horror. especially during the scenes leading up to nikki's meeting with the doctor/therapist/whatever. i felt jittery and unbelievably tense, almost traumatized by anxiety. i felt sick, as though some terrible line were being crossed, and even considered stepping out of the theater to gather my wits. at the same time, i was able to stand outside my reactions and observe them as interesting psychological phenomena. have long been struck by lynch's ability to elicit such deep, profound responses from such few and simple tools. those long shots of dark corridors in the first section of lost highway, for instance, absolutely terrify me. but they're just shots of dark hallways! nothing happens, but the sense of menace and impossible possibility is just overwhelming. suspect that lynch achieves a lot of this by the combination of image and sound in the moment -- not so much by narratively creating a situation that will arouse certain feelings.
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:28 (thirteen years ago) link
lynch achieves a lot of this by the combination of image and sound
yes, Lynch is sooooo good at combining intricate sound design and imagery/color. he makes most other directors, even very good ones, seem completely ham-handed. it makes me want to gush in ways that people who don't like Lynch would find very easy to make fun of. i guess i'll just say it makes a lot of sense to me that Lynch got into film through painting.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:37 (thirteen years ago) link
the making-of bonus features on the inland empire dvd were really eye-opening for me -- i'd been a lynch fan for a long time but never watched any documentaries (were there any before "lynch"?) or read much about him beyond entertainment mag stuff -- because you can see what *total control* he exercises over every aspect of the movie, down to repainting the walls or furniture if the shade doesn't match the effect he wants/saw in his head.
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:47 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i saw that! i'd read enough in interviews and stuff to know that he was like that, but to actually see it was really cool.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:49 (thirteen years ago) link
"surprised by martyrs fandom. was bored by that one. seemed pretty exciting at first, but the director was unconcerned with anything other than delivering carnage"
in what way? it struck me as a kind of quiet, muted violence, compared with say Prince of Persia. (not in terms of graphicness, [it certainly is graphic] but sensibility) by the end it is very clinical.
re: lynch -- none of the intentionally creepy movies are effective to me in that way, because the over-the-top elements completely undercut any menace, and on some level, lynch definitely wants to make us laugh, he has an odd sense of humor and he can't help himself, which undercuts every impulse to be frightened, but the straight story is certainly creepy in a pure way. How do you make matthew farnsworth sinister? He did it!
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 20:03 (thirteen years ago) link
hm, i definitely think Lynch has a sense of humor, but i doubt we'd agree on what he intended as "over-the-top" and humorous. The Straight Story i didn't find remotely creepy in any way.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 20:21 (thirteen years ago) link
how are you guys seeing A Serbian Film? downloading it?
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 20:35 (thirteen years ago) link
reading back what I wrote this morning - I'd like to clarify that I do think that inland empire is a better film than martyrs. (which I also liked quite a bit.) the more I think on it, the more I feel like inland empire is some kind of masterpiece specifically for the same audio/visual qualities a couple of you have mentioned already. masterful stuff.
and upping the quick edits/visceral carnage does not necessarily make for a better film. (as my comments may have read.) tho both that and the drawn-out, hypnotic style inland empire goes for are obviously both valid methods and both hit me the same way in the end - prolonged anxiety/dread.
and yeah, "clinical" is exactly the right word to describe the last act of martyrs. hard to argue with the notion that martyrs is interested in doling out carnage but I don't think that's all that's going on there either.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 20:35 (thirteen years ago) link
re: straight story creepinesshttp://www.sullivanmovies.com/broadcast_library/new_images/mini-series/anne_richard.jpgversushttp://www.lynchnet.com/absent/farnsworth.jpg
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 20:42 (thirteen years ago) link
well, the 1st half of martyrs pays more attention to ad-style slickness and people being blasted through doors (etc.) than character development, credible plotting, performances, ideas, etc. 2nd half gets all mysterioso and more clinical (i.e., suspense-driven), themes come to the fore, but it all still seemed pretty silly to me. didn't care about the characters or their plight, didn't believe in the situation depicted, was bugged by the pop style. not saying that it's a terrible movie. it's very well made, but didn't work for or appeal to me.
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link
you saw a different martyrs than I did
― (e_3) (Edward III), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 22:09 (thirteen years ago) link
the 1st half of martyrs pays more attention to ad-style slickness and people being blasted through doors (etc.) than character development
the time laugier spends with the family in the beginning shows that he's interested in developing characters, not just moving targets. if the stylistic trappings of the film are turning you off I guess that will keep you from getting fully immersed, but I imagine most people find martyrs wrenching and draining because they care about the characters, not because the director is producing a slick + empty gorefest. also thought the acting in martyrs was top-notch across the board.
(most of what you said about martyrs is how I felt about hostel tbh)
― (e_3) (Edward III), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 22:24 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't remember martyrs having any characters, just modes, IE "vengeful," "victim," "villain." we feel sympathy because we are watching defenseless people go through unspeakable pain, not because we know them.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 22:30 (thirteen years ago) link
^ otm
loathed hostel, kinda dug hostel 2. a bit of real humor and some likable, quasi-credible characters go a long way. actors in martyrs did a good job of being all freaked out and terrified, opening their eyes really wide, but i only cared about the characters to the extent that i'll always care about women/children put in distressing situations. not hard to win that kind of sympathy/empathy. and i'm probably coming down too hard on the film, but i just never got into it. watched it all the way through without giving a damn about anything that happened. part of that comes down to the fact that i never believed that anyone was gonna get out alive.
it's an old truism that you can break through an audience's reserve by doing something really awful (e.g. killing a cute kid) - thereafter, they'll never know quite how far you'll be willing to go and will therefore not be able to maintain skeptical distance. but it works in reverse, too. if the audience fully expects that the worst will eventually happen to everyone onscreen, no matter what they do, there's no reason to emotionally invest in their struggles. maybe i'm losing the ability to emotionally relate to the more extreme forms of survival/endurance horror in general. my expectation is that total bleakness will triumph in the end, and i therefore can't even force myself to care about the sacrificial lambs offered.
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 22:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I hadn't thought of it that way before re: pitfalls of unrelenting bleakness. That's an excellent point.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 20 July 2010 22:42 (thirteen years ago) link
not to spoil it, but the "good guys" kind of won in martyrs from my viewing, but I was watching on a laptop with the subtitles in a separate text editor.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 22:49 (thirteen years ago) link
oddly, i first thought of this a few years back while watching a different serbian film. in that film, mehanizam, a psychotic hitman abducts a teacher and a cabdriver and brutalizes them for a couple hours as he forces them to accompany him on a rape/murder spree. was gripping until i realized that the filmmakers had this didactic/philosophical structure set up wherein the teacher's attempts to extricate herself from the situation could not succeed unless the cabbie helped her out, and the cabbie, for philosophical reasons of his own, refused to engage with anything. at which point i stopped caring.
since then, i've found it hard to emotionally invest in these types of films, and often when i do (eden lake), i wind up feeling manipulated and abused.
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 22:50 (thirteen years ago) link
the "good guys" kind of won in martyrs
i might agree, but that's put an awful lot of stress on the "kind of"
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 22:51 (thirteen years ago) link
^ ...that puts...
well it's at least as much a victory as passing health care HEYO!
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 23:04 (thirteen years ago) link
maybe it's really lazy to repost something I posted upthread, but since you brought up eden lake:
the reward in emotionally investing yourself in martyrs is an intellectual one, and it's not a reward that a formulaic film like eden lake can deliver. whatever you want to say about martyrs, I don't think you can call it predictable.
eh, I think I love this movie too much to write rationally about it.
― (e_3) (Edward III), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 23:27 (thirteen years ago) link
would agree entirely that martyrs wasn't predictable and that eden lake was. it was fairly easy to predict all the major plot movements in eden lake, but i was no less emotionally involved with the characters for that. that kind of sympathetic identification arises more from performance, dialogue and directorial emphasis than from plot or theme.
what would you say is the reward obtained by emotionally investing in martyrs?
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 05:19 (thirteen years ago) link
catharsis?
― an0n (Lamp), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 05:32 (thirteen years ago) link
makes sense. that's always the promised reward for vicariously experiencing someone else's martyrdom. only recent film that i felt something like catharsis in response to = lars von trier's breaking the waves. spent several minutes weeping as the credits rolled, not in sadness or anger, exactly, but in something almost exultant/grateful that arose out of those emotions. but that movie (and its star, emily watson) had to work so goddam hard to develop the sympathy and understanding required to pull off the emotional effect. didn't see martyrs doing anything similar, but you know, different strokes...
― good news if you wear cargo shorts (contenderizer), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 05:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I was really surprised & pleased with Black Death. It had a really small cinema showing but horror fans need to lovefilm/netflix it hard....
Its the missing link between Witchfinder General & The Wicker Man.
2 of the best ever British horror films imho.
and I agree with Eden Lake sticking with you, but I feel that might be more for britishers. In the UK, the setting, the characters & the antagonists are so close to real life. Kids like that are regularly stabbing each other in my neighbourhood. whereas I was never that worried about meeting a knife-gloved killer in my dreams...
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:16 (thirteen years ago) link
seeing Black Death and probably interviewing the director later this week - I kinda hated Severance so I'm hoping you're right about its goodness.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Ok halfway through "the children" right now and holy fucking shit, why have I not heard more about this film.
― CHEESECAKE VOTING FRUIT HATING SCUM (jjjusten), Friday, 30 July 2010 07:18 (thirteen years ago) link
never heard of it. checking other reviews gets me all curious. will further.
― a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Friday, 30 July 2010 07:35 (thirteen years ago) link
Ok that was absolutely fantastic.
― CHEESECAKE VOTING FRUIT HATING SCUM (jjjusten), Friday, 30 July 2010 07:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Ok
― a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Friday, 30 July 2010 07:56 (thirteen years ago) link
want
NOTE: do not watch the crappy terrible trailer for this.
I think this might be my favorite modern british horror film
― CHEESECAKE VOTING FRUIT HATING SCUM (jjjusten), Friday, 30 July 2010 08:08 (thirteen years ago) link
that good huh? up on the netflix queue it goes
― i'm gonna need a +1 so me & a friend can kick you in the balls (forksclovetofu), Friday, 30 July 2010 13:50 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, The Children is great.
― Simon H., Friday, 30 July 2010 14:44 (thirteen years ago) link
turned it off
I'm a wuss; hate broken bones protruding from skin
― cozen, Friday, 30 July 2010 14:46 (thirteen years ago) link
ok just watched the end
fukd up film
― cozen, Friday, 30 July 2010 14:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Ok so def not a new film per se but a recent compilation by Other Cinema Digital called Experiments in Terror is half awful and half awesome. Most of the modernish stuff is kinda artso-crap, but the standouts are "Outer Space" by Peter Tscherkassky which is v v unsettling and the completely and totally unhinged "Dawn of the Evil Millenium" by Damon Packard. Worth a run through if you dig weirdo gonzo stuff.
― CHEESECAKE VOTING FRUIT HATING SCUM (jjjusten), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
don't watch Broken
― the depressed-saggy-japanese-salaryman of ilx posters (Will M.), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 17:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Just finished "Creep" (which is maybe technically 2004 but whatever) and oh man what a squandered opportunity - every decent moment gets followed by something lunkheaded and awkward and str8 up stupid. kept trying to like it all the way through, and although it certainly isn't bad (i mean yeah theres much worse stuff getting pushed out of the horror grist mill) i cant really recommend it at all. in a lot of ways the fact that you could see the bones of something great under all the mess made it way worse, because it was totally frustrating, esp from a director whose stuff ive liked for the most part (severance, triangle)
― gg eileen (jjjusten), Monday, 16 August 2010 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
pontypool was awesome, not on netflix unfortunately.
it had its share of flaws but if you're able to do something new + smart w/ the zombie shtick in the oh 10 I'm gonna be in yr corner.
it's suspenseful, and it gets a lot of mileage out of leaving things up to yr imagination e.g. ppl describing the horrible things that are happening over the phone rather than actually showing them. which would prolly seem cheap in another film but here it's endemic to the plot, survivors trapped and cut off from what's happening outside their bunker.
― (e_3) (Edward III), Monday, 16 August 2010 20:24 (thirteen years ago) link
"let's all shit our pants"
umm...ok, you first
― Eyewona (admrl), Monday, 16 August 2010 20:25 (thirteen years ago) link
done
― (e_3) (Edward III), Monday, 16 August 2010 20:26 (thirteen years ago) link
OK...oh is that the time? I gotta go, sorry.
― Eyewona (admrl), Monday, 16 August 2010 20:32 (thirteen years ago) link
ok, I'm stuck at home while a dude installs central air, so im cruising through another netflix disc - Seventh Moon. And it is just fucking awful. iirc its one of the dudes who did blair witch and part of that ghost house underground collection, which thanks to this is dropping to a 1 out of 3 success ratio (The Children was great, this is awful and Lake Mungo was boring as hell.)
Yeah, gonna finish this out of obligation but man I know its not getting any better.
― gg eileen (jjjusten), Monday, 16 August 2010 20:37 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, trailer for seventh moon looked kinda promising but then I heard nothing but bad things about it
― (e_3) (Edward III), Monday, 16 August 2010 20:39 (thirteen years ago) link
"I'm a wuss; hate broken bones protruding from skin"
this is the one gore-ish thing that still gets a "ughhhhh" outta me. that post-seagal moment in the '90s when it migrated from horror and seemed to show up in every mainstream action movie was a living hell for me.
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Monday, 16 August 2010 20:42 (thirteen years ago) link
this was talked about way upthread but i watched the last house on the left remake last night. it was kinda bizarre for me. like it was a good movie but that rape scene left me so unnerved i couldn't enjoy anything after that point. and capping it with the dumb microwave scene didn't really redeem the experience for me.
should i bother with the original? or would it mess with me just as much?
― proud teabagger from rim country (arby's), Monday, 16 August 2010 20:54 (thirteen years ago) link
God the last scene of last house '09 is so awful.
The original is a much stranger beast. Worth seeing.
― Simon H., Monday, 16 August 2010 21:23 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah im still pissed about the stupid ass microwave scene fucking up what i thought was otherwise a pretty well done movie. stupid as hell.
original is very different, totally worth seeing
― gg eileen (jjjusten), Monday, 16 August 2010 21:59 (thirteen years ago) link
and the drawn out brutal rapey bit...?
― proud teabagger from rim country (arby's), Monday, 16 August 2010 22:11 (thirteen years ago) link
still quite drawn out and rapey iirc
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, 16 August 2010 22:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Has anyone seen House of the Devil?
Its a 2009 film shot in that 70's/80's horror style. I mean every detail from the filming technique to the waxy Coca Cola cups they once served drinks in at fast food restaurants is a throwback to that decade. Its also a pretty solid haunted house/slasher film. Not heavy on the gore but very creepy with a great pay off at the end.
http://imgur.com/f1orP.jpg
― AvertAlert, Tuesday, 17 August 2010 03:44 (thirteen years ago) link
some talk about that one upthread; reactions were mixed
― hopa dreams (cozen), Tuesday, 17 August 2010 07:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Um I just saw A Serbian Film and I want to sob and vomit and tear out my eyes and all of that. P much sets the standard for viewing discomfort.
― Chanté Ackerman (Stevie D), Thursday, 19 August 2010 07:25 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, curiosity got the best of me and I just watched it as well. mega shocking scenes aside, I thought it was basically garbage. I mean, all that "this is art! this is film!" stuff - hated that shit.
― original bgm, Thursday, 19 August 2010 16:55 (thirteen years ago) link
felt like the only things of value it had to offer were also completely unpleasant. the rest was all paper thin characters and dialogue with an idiotic soundtrack blaring over a couple scenes. big chunks of it felt like watching some sleazy cinemax junk to me.
― original bgm, Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:00 (thirteen years ago) link
one memorable line tho. you probably know the one. immediately made me think, "I really hope this doesn't become a meme."
― original bgm, Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:01 (thirteen years ago) link
I thought the sountrack/score was extremely effective and generally wonderful.
― Chanté Ackerman (Stevie D), Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:05 (thirteen years ago) link
uh "soundtrack"
yeah, not a dubstep fan in general, but different strokes for different folks
― original bgm, Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:09 (thirteen years ago) link
where exactly are peeps managing to see this? is it still in some sort of theatrical release, or torrents, or dvd or what
― gg eileen (jjjusten), Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:10 (thirteen years ago) link
p1r@teb@y is where I found it
― original bgm, Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
I hear there's a torrent of DVD rip of a screener copy floating around that has the words SCREENER COPY in the top-right corner that you don't even notice after a few minutes.
― Chanté Ackerman (Stevie D), Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:15 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, that's the one I watched. the studio's name appears in GIANT transparent letters every 15 minutes or so as well.
― original bgm, Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:22 (thirteen years ago) link
ok thx, was wondering if i was just totally outside the netflix loop or something for a bit there.
― gg eileen (jjjusten), Thursday, 19 August 2010 17:59 (thirteen years ago) link
this seems like a prime candidate for me to further explore the thing i was trying to figure out here: Enjoying horror films - why do we (or don't we)?
― gg eileen (jjjusten), Thursday, 19 August 2010 18:00 (thirteen years ago) link
I really should post my ASF rant there - hated it and everything for which it stands - but I'm busy watching 'The Gateway Meat' right now...
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 19 August 2010 19:12 (thirteen years ago) link
the new puppet master was shit. and this is coming from a fan of the the early movies.so disappointed
― you doesn't hasta call me johnson (CaptainLorax), Monday, 23 August 2010 21:34 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean how hard is it to have more death scenes and make them more creative
repping for Piranha 3-D here.
that upcoming Exorcism movie is getting good press too...
― the master of unlocking (San Te), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 00:46 (thirteen years ago) link
half enjoyed piranha 3D, definitely a step up from mirrors for aja, but still a disappointment. well, a disappointment on every level other than the gore-delivery level. gore-delivery was top notch.
otoh, watched skinned deep the other night and although it is from 2004, it is close enough and wonderful besides. ultimately no more than a "tribute to" (rip-off of) hooper's lunatic texas chainsaw massacre 2, but blazed and crazy and fun from beginning to end. good cheap gore, horrible acting, excellent gags and characters, and a billion stupid/brilliant ideas. more an absurd stoner comedy than a horror flick of any sort, but endlessly entertaining on that level. a new & instant favorite. recommended to all people.
― a dystopian society awaits if we continue on this path. (contenderizer), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 01:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Skinned Deep directed by Gabe Bartalos, Henenlotter's (and Matthew Barney's) main makeup and FX man. been years since i've watched it, but i do remember it being a good time, if a bit batshit.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 13:59 (thirteen years ago) link
― gg eileen (jjjusten), Monday, August 16, 2010 4:37 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
That's funny. I watched Seventh Moon on Chiller a couple weeks ago with my wife and we both thought it was decent. I was going to post about it on here, but then I was like, "Naw, someone will probably make fun of this." It makes total sense that it was directed by someone affiliated with blair witch.
― meat by mistake (kkvgz), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 14:35 (thirteen years ago) link
what are the good psychological horrors
session 9, inland empire?
― 'istory mang (cozen), Wednesday, 25 August 2010 07:35 (thirteen years ago) link
well, in addition to those, gotta second (seventh) the children, as recommended upthread by several. holy shit (!!!), instant classic, bar-none best straight horror/thriller i've seen in i don't know how long. great performances and photography, plus a genius central conceit carried out with pitiless logic, but absent overt sadism or pandering. so nice. loved almost everything about this film, the control of tension more than anything else. so otm about $$$ tensions and aspirations, dad/daughter relationships, fundamental grossness of the wee ones, etc. just cannot sufficiently stress the greatness.
i want more recommendations like this. so many indie production companies making movies direct to DVD these days: ghost house, raw feed, films to die for, etc. every once in a while, one must rise above the rest. you know, like the children. please to tell.
― a dystopian society awaits if we continue on this path. (contenderizer), Tuesday, 31 August 2010 08:18 (thirteen years ago) link
of the Ghost House's i've seen, Dance of the Dead (zombie prom. witty and wild) stands out. wouldn't kick Ole Brondal's The Substitute (The Faculty for the Twilight set) or the loopy The Last House in the Woods ('80s Italo gore/colored gels tribute - think Evil Clutch and House by the Cemetery, not Argento - with no brains but one nifty twist) out of bed, either.
there are some good ADHF titles: The Abandoned (unites enfants terribles Richard Stanley, Nacho Cerda and Karim Hussain for a Russian ghost story. but what a ghost story!)The Deaths of Ian Stone (inventive genre-bender. script could have used one more draft)Mulberry St (fumbles the zombie-ratman FX but gets the human stuff right)Borderland (scarily intense Mexican torture-cult hijinx undermined by lapse into cartoonishness and gratuitous Sean Astin)The Hamiltons (something different. generally successful. go into this one with minimal foreknowledge)Perkins' 14 (a great concept and seriously psychedelirious direction outweigh its (many) shortcomings)Voices (AKA Someone Behind You. superior late K-horror, more visceral than most)Dread (almost does justice to the bleak, black psychopathology of Clive Barker's BOB tale. meanders too much, but manages to mount a number of stunning moments)
i don't think there has been a good Raw Feed title yet. maybe Alien Raiders, which is virtually a remake of Carpenter's The Thing, in a supermarket, with HandyCam accoutrement. i guess Otis isn't bad. just misses the mark, for me.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 31 August 2010 18:34 (thirteen years ago) link
will think of others outside of the major franchises, post later.
Dance of the Dead The SubstituteMulberry St
These are all good. I hate Dread, though.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 31 August 2010 18:52 (thirteen years ago) link
after the a-bore-minations that were Book of Blood and MMT, i thought Dread was at least somewhat successful. one of my favorite stories, along with "Pig Blood Blues" (next up, i believe), so i was ready to hate it. felt longer than it was, and obviously padded, but packed a punch in the more directly sourced scenes.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 31 August 2010 18:59 (thirteen years ago) link
along with "Pig Blood Blues" (next up, i believe)
please don't let this be bad or a little piece of my 7th grade soul will die.
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Tuesday, 31 August 2010 19:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Dread director (Anthony DiBlasi) is doing it. and Barker seems to trust him implicitly. i'll give him the benefit off the doubt.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 31 August 2010 19:18 (thirteen years ago) link
so this thread deserves a revive since it's that time of year. have to say there's been an explosion of quality indie horror lately, and every recommend from this thread has been worthwhile.
watched the end of the line last night and I fall in with its supporters. a creepy, gory, and unique shocker, it balances the ghost/slasher/apocalypse angles nicely. some unmodulated performances but as noted above, it does a lot with a little and I anticipate most horror fans will be forgiving. between the end of the line, pontypool, and the signal, canada has been bringing the goods these past few years. martyrs was filmed in canada, too, tho I'm unsure on how much local contribution was made.
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Monday, 18 October 2010 18:12 (thirteen years ago) link
hey canada, why so apocalyptic?
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Monday, 18 October 2010 18:14 (thirteen years ago) link
what's new on netflix instant that's recommendable?
― Brick Frog! (forksclovetofu), Monday, 18 October 2010 21:45 (thirteen years ago) link
been out of the loop and watching very few movies lately. if anybody's seen anything cool in the last month or two, lemme know.
plus belated thanks to hal jam for the production company rundowns. agree on the abandoned (which i didn't entirely love, but enjoyed up until the too-pat ending) and otis (which was never better than okay). will check out dance of the dead, last house in the woods, perkins 14 and alien raiders. sound like they might be up my alley.
sublime = another raw feed title that almost works then totally, totally doesn't. keep meaning to see rest stop...
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Monday, 18 October 2010 22:01 (thirteen years ago) link
the signal, love object, grace, the chair, teeth, aftermath, and genesis all streaming on netflix
anyone seen the living and the dead? more like a thriller but marketed like a horror movie
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Monday, 18 October 2010 22:51 (thirteen years ago) link
you'd recommend all of those edward?
― Brick Frog! (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 02:33 (thirteen years ago) link
I will def second the signal
― farts vs. Rush in the world series of love (jjjusten), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 02:40 (thirteen years ago) link
and i will def second teeth
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 04:18 (thirteen years ago) link
o yeah if you haven't seen the signal... everyone should see the signal... see the signal.... see the signal...
? Man or Austro-Hungarian? (Pillbox), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:40 (7 months ago)
it's funny, I was gonna respond to this yesterday, but people have been doing some really interesting things with the zombie genre in the past few years, including variations on the theme. I slot the signal into a zombie-related category, it's more along the lines of something like shivers or the crazies, hordes of people possessed by something unspeakable bringing about the downfall of civilization. other innovative zombie flicks of late are deadgirl, pontypool (language is a virus!), sexykiller (absurd, quirky serial killer comedy from spain w/ bonus zombies, it's a treat), and the end of the line.
the only thing you should know about the signal before going in is it's an anthology directed by 3 different directors all dealing with the same plotline and characters. otherwise you will be like wtf with the tone changes.
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 13:53 (thirteen years ago) link
kinda can't believe this didn't get US distribution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf84vZUb_fM
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 14:03 (thirteen years ago) link
^ that's macarena gomez from dagon btw
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 14:51 (thirteen years ago) link
SexyKiller is pretty great. Manic direction, veers wildly between horror and comedy but somehow works. Definitely worth a look if it ever comes out here - or if you pick up the R2 release.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 15:19 (thirteen years ago) link
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Tuesday, October 19, 2010 7:51 AM (50 minutes ago)
oh crap no way. MUST SEE.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 15:44 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, I'm the harshest critic of both horror comedy and that type of hyperactive aesthetic but SK was gory bananas goodness
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 16:01 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't think I've seen a truly holy-shit horror movie since last year's The Loved Ones, which I'm sort of shocked never got a proper international release. I guess The Wild Hunt sort of counts - great movie, but a unique hybrid (drama/comedy/horror/fantasy?).
― Simon H., Tuesday, 19 October 2010 16:53 (thirteen years ago) link
IFC has had a pretty good track record distributing decent horror (sauna, pontypool, home movie), anyone seen these?
left bank - some belgian ghost storyfear(s) of the dark - B&W animated horror anthology, looks pretty coolthe skeptic - haunted house type thingthe last winter - directed by larry fessenden, who did habit and wendigo, with ron perlman and james legros
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 04:09 (thirteen years ago) link
oh wait, the last winter got mentioned upthread, n/m
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 04:10 (thirteen years ago) link
fear(s) of the dark - B&W animated horror anthology, looks pretty cool
great great great
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 04:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Left Bank is a weird, weird movie. very Belgian. no ghosts. just an unholy combination of Polanski, Cronenberg, Noe.Fear(s) of the Dark is so uneven. but the good parts are great. just great, tho. nothing in this movie is close to "great"x3.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 04:46 (thirteen years ago) link
rong. chas burns piece is great3 full stop. and it's so great to see bluch's demonic nobleman animated, even if the story is kinda wtvr. the other 3 main chapterss are all at least close burns level, if not quite. between great and great2. none of the stories end all that well, but it doesn't bug me for whatever reason. vibe and look are so great. a favorite thing.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 06:50 (thirteen years ago) link
"close to burns level"
it's a slow & quiet film for the most part. some grotesquerie, but few shocks or deep scares. atmosphere over all else, but i like that. use of light and space in the final ep is just (0)_(0)
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 06:52 (thirteen years ago) link
vibe and look are good, true. just wish stories were stronger. and that abstract thing stuck in the middle is too pretentious for words. brings the whole enterprise down, for me.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 07:53 (thirteen years ago) link
eh, it's french
anyway, i watched vincenzo natali's splice last night. it was okay, but disappointing in that it wasn't any better than that. to its credit: some smart writing in the first half, solid performances and good chemistry from adrian brody and sarah polley, and consistently impressive effects work. splendid, seamless, digital monster making with memorable creature designs. unfortunately, small dumbnesses accumulate as the story rolls along, eventually undoing the clever opening act, and the final half hour's descent into action/horror thrills is laughable. maybe worse is that the actress playing "dren" (a genetically engineered creature) is more annoying than convincing. she's lovely (and creepy!), but her wide-eyed innocent shtick is more grating than affecting. the biggest problem is that splice doesn't seem to know what kind of movie it wants to be. it's often comical, but in ways that seem unintentional and undercut the horror. like eraserhead, it establishes this interesting parallel between monster making and raising a family, but abandons the idea rather than follow it through. i have the feeling that it was conceived and would have worked better as a restrained and chilly tragedy , but the director & producers wanted something more populist. maybe not. whatever the filmmaker's motivations, it's still an interesting near-miss.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 16:49 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm less stringent on the QC when it comes to horror anthologies, they are rarely good start to finish
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
your review of left bank has piqued my interest
have heard many good things about splice
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:15 (thirteen years ago) link
If you want to check out something different, try 'Long Pigs.' framed as filmmakers Chris Power and Nathan Hynes' mockumentary about a culinary cannibal. Doesn't have the impact of 'Man Bites Dog', though more of that ilk than the irreverent 'Behind the Mask,' but it is quite an interesting curio, well acted, written, and paced. It really pushes the limits of the viewers' sympathies. Be warned that the FX for the dressed human carcasses are extremely realistic, so only the strong-stomached need apply.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:20 (thirteen years ago) link
ha, a friend tagged me in a photo of the poster art from long pig on facebook
I'm not sure if I was meant to be the diner or the dinee
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:27 (thirteen years ago) link
there's a lot to recommend about splice, especially with regard to the performances and the ideas that natali is playing with. it just didn't work for me. i loved the first half, but became increasingly bored and disinterested as things started to ramp up towards the end. i'm not sure why. the way over-the-top biological grotesquerie intrudes upon the lives of these nobly motivated liberal/techie canadians was strongly reminiscent of cronenberg, but the film never packed that kind of punch (for me, anyway). like it wants to be some hybrid of the brood and the fly (and frankenstein, of course), but didn't quite get there. but i'm kind of a hater in general, so...
might watch it again to see if i like it better now that i know what to expect. defnitely worked with fears of the dark, which i was ambivalent about the first time through.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:29 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i have heard nothing but bad stuff about splice tbh
plz also confirm that this "legion" movie is a piece of garbage - it popped up on netflix on demand and im just assuming its a waste of time
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:34 (thirteen years ago) link
That's weird. DVD cover art is just a knife-gouged and bloodied cutting board.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:36 (thirteen years ago) link
ok, there is a movie called long pig (2008) and one called long pigS (2007) both horror movies about cannibalism
that's not confusing, no not at all
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:38 (thirteen years ago) link
plz also confirm that this "legion" movie is a piece of garbage
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link
I'll have to watch Fear(s) again with that in mind. Had the same initial response.
'Splice' was a hoot in the theater. The audience reaction is as much fun as the movie itself.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link
the trailers for legion were v cool iirc
so maybe watch the trailer and skip the movie
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:41 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i have a neighbor that i hang out with while our dogs romp around and we drink beer a couple times a week that is also a horror dude and his hatred for legion was DIRE, and we agree like 90% of the time so i assumed he was otm, just expanding the polling group.
iirc he said that yes the trailers were cool and that there was no movie outside of the stuff in the trailers basically.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, "long pig" is just the term for a human corpse prepared as food. I'm not familiar with the other title - does look interesting. The one i'm recommending is a 2007 release that came to DVD in 2009.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:46 (thirteen years ago) link
ok I am watching long pig ASAP so I can say, however briefly, there is a horror movie I have seen which mr hal jam has not
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:49 (thirteen years ago) link
Other than the diner spoiled in the trailer, Legion is awful and surprisingly dull. Stick with the Prophecy films (but only through the third) or 'Gabriel', if you insist upon more of an archangel action/horror battle royale.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:50 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i'm curious about long pig, too. long as it doesn't go quite as far as man bites dog, i should be okay...
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Diner "scene"
LOL Edward. Race ya'!
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:53 (thirteen years ago) link
'Long Pigs' doesn't go nearly as far as MBD. but it's unsettling and quite good. Post here when you guys have seen it. I'm curious to hear what you make of the epilogue scenes.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 17:56 (thirteen years ago) link
long pigs unavailable on netflix ;_;
this is probably as good a place as any to pimp Session 9 again, perfect creeeeeepy halloween movie imo
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 20:15 (thirteen years ago) link
long pig also unavailable
netflix hates cannibals apparently
― only ad hominem strawman can troll me (Edward III), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 20:22 (thirteen years ago) link
so im trolling the netflix new releases horror section here, and wondering if anyone wants to warn me off "Blood Creek" (yeah i know its shumacher and all but it srsly sounds gonzo insane) or "The Reeds" british thingy?
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 20:28 (thirteen years ago) link
Blood Creek stars Dominic Purcell, so you know right there it is amazingly terrible
― O'Donnell and the Brain (HI DERE), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 20:31 (thirteen years ago) link
I thought Blood Creek was dumb, gory fun. Nazi zombie high/low-concept pseudo period mishmash executed with some style. Best Joel Schumacher film, for what that's worth. Give it a shot.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Reeds OTOH was a disappointment. Nonsensical ghost story with underrealized 'Timecrimes' aspirations. My guess is that the director had just watched Christopher Smith's ' Triangle.'
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
ok so the only other one that i keep dodging because i cant believe it is actually good is "Splinter". High reviews on Netflix, but idk, something just seems lame about it. any thoughts?
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 21:40 (thirteen years ago) link
have looked at it a bunch of times, but never picked it up. concept/creature looks great, but something about the packaging bugs me. if it's got good word of mouth, i'll definitely check it out.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 22:55 (thirteen years ago) link
splinter was pretty fun iirc
― just sayin, Thursday, 21 October 2010 07:57 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah but is it nasty?
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 21 October 2010 08:34 (thirteen years ago) link
man i cant even remember! i was pretty stoned when my gf + i watched it, so yeah im not v helpful in this discussion :-/
― just sayin, Thursday, 21 October 2010 08:36 (thirteen years ago) link
:-/
nasty is like the only thing you really need to remember. but stoned is cool. cheers on that.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 21 October 2010 08:40 (thirteen years ago) link
New scifi/horror on Netflix instant today:976-EVIL2 (1992) Blood and Donuts (1995)The Curve (1998)Diary of a Cannibal (2007)Hangar 18 (1980)Haunted Highway (2006)Return of the Apeman (1944)Rumpelstiltskin (1995)Space Children (1958)Ulli Lommel's Black Dahlia (2006)Visit to a Small Planet (1960, starring Jerry Lewis and based on the play by Gore Vidal!)
― Brick Frog! (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 21 October 2010 15:29 (thirteen years ago) link
If Haunted Highway is the same movie as "Death Ride" it is terrrrrrrible
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
and Diary of a Cannibal is also by Ulli Lommel, and he is a fucking awful hack.
Blood and Donuts looks kinda awesome tho
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:22 (thirteen years ago) link
never saw an uli lommel film (other than his Richard Hell movie years before his recent horror run). They came out like clockwork back when I worked at a video store. what exactly are they like?
― da croupier, Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:25 (thirteen years ago) link
a giant fuck you btw to imdb, which now makes me click twice on Lommel's page to actually get to a link to Blank Generation. ("Yes, I want to see what he directed...yes, I want to see EVERYTHING's he's directed...")
― da croupier, Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:27 (thirteen years ago) link
the big problem with lommel is his churning out of like 5 serial killer movies a year direct to video, esp since they seem to have an oddly sympathetic bent a lot of the time (although never in a way that might be interesting).
also, my favorite wikipedia plot summary EVER for the film "Daniel-Der Zauberer" which should give you some great insight into his craft:
PlotThe successful singer Daniel Küblböck is "loved by millions, hated by many" (as the subtitle says). The teenagers Rike and Tom decide to kill Daniel. They are morally but not directly supported by Baltazar. Whereas Daniel gets support from his dead grandfather Johnny who mostly carries a baritone horn and a wand on his person, has sometimes just one arm and wears a cap under his top hat.The first attempt on Daniel's life fails, because the teenagers are discovered and scared away by Daniel's vocal coach. Daniel shall take part in a screen test for Hollywood. Meanwhile Johnny and Baltazar talk with each other. Suddenly Baltazar changes Johnny into a cockroach. He assumes human shape again as he says the words: "I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!"Later the girl Petra visits Daniel. She is a fan of Daniel and wrote him a letter before. Petra works at the café of her grandfather (Grandpa Winter) in Daniel's hometown Eggenfelden. Grandpa Winter can't stand Daniel's music and the guests of his café agree with him. Daniel samples some tortes with his finger, buys them and gives Petra two cost-free tickets for his last concert of this year that takes place in Passau.Rike and Tom plan to shoot Daniel on the stage at this concert. But instead Rike just kidnaps Daniel and brings him to her house. Soon after that Tom arrives. Beforehand Baltazar encouraged Tom to kill Daniel once more. Tom and Rike want to film Daniel's execution, in order to become superstars themselves. When Daniel is alone in the room, his grandfather appears and emboldens Daniel to take the hardest test. Afterwards Rike and Tom don't bring off Daniel's murder. Instead of it they talk about their unhappy childhoods. Tom confesses that Daniel's latest hit song isn't bad in his opinion. Rike goes away and Tom makes a deal with Daniel. He releases Daniel and in return Daniel doesn't report the kidnap. Finally, Daniel returns to his concert. Grandpa Winter who is a concert attendee becomes convinced of Daniel and after it, he's a fan of him who behaves like a teenager.Johnny appears again in the evening. As Daniel asked for his Christmas gift, Johnny says to him that he forgot Rike and Tom and that he shall give them his new guitar. At first, Daniel disagrees with him, but then he does it anyway, whereupon the three of them become best friends.After all, Daniel finds a wand under the Christmas tree, with the note: "By the One-Armed". Daniel's grandma tells that her husband had just one arm. He was a musician at the Oktoberfest. She shows a picture of him and Daniel says that he appeared several times to him. His grandma says that Daniel is only allowed to use the wand in order to help people.Johnny and Baltazar meet again. Baltazar says to him that Johnny won the fight, but the war isn't over yet and the new wizard doesn't know how to use the wand rightly.
The first attempt on Daniel's life fails, because the teenagers are discovered and scared away by Daniel's vocal coach. Daniel shall take part in a screen test for Hollywood. Meanwhile Johnny and Baltazar talk with each other. Suddenly Baltazar changes Johnny into a cockroach. He assumes human shape again as he says the words: "I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!"
Later the girl Petra visits Daniel. She is a fan of Daniel and wrote him a letter before. Petra works at the café of her grandfather (Grandpa Winter) in Daniel's hometown Eggenfelden. Grandpa Winter can't stand Daniel's music and the guests of his café agree with him. Daniel samples some tortes with his finger, buys them and gives Petra two cost-free tickets for his last concert of this year that takes place in Passau.
Rike and Tom plan to shoot Daniel on the stage at this concert. But instead Rike just kidnaps Daniel and brings him to her house. Soon after that Tom arrives. Beforehand Baltazar encouraged Tom to kill Daniel once more. Tom and Rike want to film Daniel's execution, in order to become superstars themselves. When Daniel is alone in the room, his grandfather appears and emboldens Daniel to take the hardest test. Afterwards Rike and Tom don't bring off Daniel's murder. Instead of it they talk about their unhappy childhoods. Tom confesses that Daniel's latest hit song isn't bad in his opinion. Rike goes away and Tom makes a deal with Daniel. He releases Daniel and in return Daniel doesn't report the kidnap. Finally, Daniel returns to his concert. Grandpa Winter who is a concert attendee becomes convinced of Daniel and after it, he's a fan of him who behaves like a teenager.
Johnny appears again in the evening. As Daniel asked for his Christmas gift, Johnny says to him that he forgot Rike and Tom and that he shall give them his new guitar. At first, Daniel disagrees with him, but then he does it anyway, whereupon the three of them become best friends.
After all, Daniel finds a wand under the Christmas tree, with the note: "By the One-Armed". Daniel's grandma tells that her husband had just one arm. He was a musician at the Oktoberfest. She shows a picture of him and Daniel says that he appeared several times to him. His grandma says that Daniel is only allowed to use the wand in order to help people.
Johnny and Baltazar meet again. Baltazar says to him that Johnny won the fight, but the war isn't over yet and the new wizard doesn't know how to use the wand rightly.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:46 (thirteen years ago) link
B&D is cute. Low-key existential Canadian vampire tragicomedy, with Cronenberg as a mob boss.
Have I posted my pro-Lommel rant here yet? Can't keep track. Let's not forget that this guy was one of Fassbinder's most talented acolytes, made the brilliant 'Tenderness of Wolves' and some very interesting, very European-styled American thrillers (Brainwaves, The Devonsville Terror, Olivia, Cocaine Cowboys). His one Stateside hit, 1980's The Boogeyman, brought him into the good graces of Hollywood - whose advances he spurned with the film's sequel, as poisonous a Lala Land mash note as 'Sunset Boulevard'. sometime later, he realized that art is shit, money pays bills, and that direct-to-video serial killers and unwanted sequels can be churned out to the tune of a tidy profit. He's laughing all the way to the bank.I keep hoping that he'll pull a Boll and get around to making decent films again. He's got It in him.
976-EVIL 2 is one of Jim Wynorski's better films. So much better than Englund's crappy original, it's not even the same area code. Watch the NOTLD/It's a Wonderful Life mash-up sequence and just try not to grin.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:49 (thirteen years ago) link
wow at that wiki plot
― da croupier, Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
New on netflix instant today:
Ghoulies II (1987)Land of the Minotaur (1976 - Donald Pleasence and Peter Cushing!)Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)Stigmata (1999)
― The Saga of the Unkillable Mr. Poppins (forksclovetofu), Friday, 22 October 2010 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
oh Stigmata is really fucking stupid
― O'Donnell and the Brain (HI DERE), Friday, 22 October 2010 18:58 (thirteen years ago) link
and when the dude who unironically enjoyed "Ultraviolet" is calling out a movie as stupid, that movie must be PHENOMENALLY stupid
not like I have any business calling anybody out for posting off topic (pot, kettle etc), but forks have you noticed the thread title
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:01 (thirteen years ago) link
the "post 2005" part is that they're available for instant watching nowbesides it's not like we need two active horror movie watching threadsconversation starting is a delicate art
― The Saga of the Unkillable Mr. Poppins (forksclovetofu), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:04 (thirteen years ago) link
plus i'm looking for recommendations/warnings
― The Saga of the Unkillable Mr. Poppins (forksclovetofu), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:05 (thirteen years ago) link
bonus TMI: the poster/ads for ghoulies made me terrified of toilets for several months when i was nine.
― The Saga of the Unkillable Mr. Poppins (forksclovetofu), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Bonus BONUS NTMI: Ghoulies was Mariska Hartigay's first film
― The Saga of the Unkillable Mr. Poppins (forksclovetofu), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:07 (thirteen years ago) link
I check this thread to find out what's happening with recent horror films, not to discuss the relative merits of the ghoulies franchise
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:13 (thirteen years ago) link
vampyr from 1932 is streaming on netflix too, but I'd go to the streaming netflix thread if I wanted to talk about it
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:16 (thirteen years ago) link
heed the warning about stigmata it is an unredeemable piece of shit. fucking hate that movie.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:43 (thirteen years ago) link
I think the only Gabriel Byrne movie I've seen that wasn't terrible was The Usual Suspects.
wait did I see Miller's Crossing? I can't remember now
― O'Donnell and the Brain (HI DERE), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:50 (thirteen years ago) link
if you dont like millers crossing i will be so so sad..
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 22 October 2010 19:52 (thirteen years ago) link
excalibur dude
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 20:47 (thirteen years ago) link
I know I never saw Excalibur!
jjj Miller's Crossing was the movie you were raving about to Kyl3 and me in high school that you called a "stylized gangster movie" that led to 10 minutes of Kyl3 and me gangster-voguing, right? I don't think I ever saw it.
― O'Donnell and the Brain (HI DERE), Friday, 22 October 2010 20:50 (thirteen years ago) link
do you know if the ROTLD3 and 'Land of the Minotaur' on Netflix are the uncut versions? the R1 DVDs for both are severely edited. it makes a huge difference. the only reasons to watch LOTM are for Eno's score and for the exploding cultists during the climax. you will hear the former, but not see the latter, if this is the same print that BCI released as part of their 'Exploitation Cinema' double feature (with Norman J. Warren's sweet 'Suspiria' homage, 'Terror').
and the 'R'-rated ROTLD3 is just an insult to Screaming Mad George's insane FX. love this movie!
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 20:52 (thirteen years ago) link
there's some crap in netflix's streaming options. from beyond, for instance, is the R-rated cut.
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 20:54 (thirteen years ago) link
'Stigmata' is srsly THE WORST. Rupert Wainwright was on an episode of Bravo's 'The Millionaire Matchmaker,' and he was every bit the insufferable prick you'd imagine. and then some.
Netflix's 'Suspiria' is the US theatrical cut. plus: the puffy/throbbing title lettering. minus: much of the glorious gore. unforgivable!
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 20:56 (thirteen years ago) link
to bring it back around to the new... i'm not a Toetag Pictures fan - to say i hate everything they stand for would be an understatement - but Fred Vogel's latest, 'Sella Turcica', looks promising. it also looks like a straight-up Iraq-era 'Deathdream,' though i have it on authority that it goes somewhere else by the end. guess it'll cost me $20 to find out where. may wait for a used copy to show up. nice to see Camille Keaton out of retirement!
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:06 (thirteen years ago) link
what are yr thoughts on wicked pixel
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
haven't seen 'Deadwood Park' yet, so i can only judge Stanze based on 'Savage Harvest' (guilty fun), 'Scrapbook' (meh. could have been something with a better male lead), 'Ice from the Sun' (WTFWT?!) and 'China White Serpentine' (whatta downer, man. no thanks). i like that Eric's ambitious, and that he knows how to focus a camera and frame a shot. sometimes both at the same time. but i've yet to be really impressed by anything WP has turned out. have i missed a good 'un?
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link
I actually have not dived into his stuff yet at all, just seemed like he was doing some promising stuff in the late 90s / early 00s and was wondering what the deal was
when I was in st louis earlier this year I found out the local free weekly is a suicide girls type thing, and he takes a lot of the photos for it
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:18 (thirteen years ago) link
as budding auteurs go, my eyes are on Paul Solet ('Grace'), Dylan Bank ('Nightmare'), Graham Reznick ('I Can See You') and Travis Betz (if he can outgrow his Joss Whedon fixation). how about you?
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:22 (thirteen years ago) link
that does not surprise me. you might want to try 'Savage Harvest'. it's a no-budget 'Evil Dead' clone. impressive FX jostle for attention with some of the most awkward expository dialog ever penned. like i said, guilty fun. a painless way to spend an hour and change. ideal Halloween fare.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:24 (thirteen years ago) link
not to be too UScentric about it. v. curious to see what Tom Shankland ('The Children') does next, too. and what Steven Sheil ('Mum & Dad'), Júlíus Kemp ('Harpoon: Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre'), and Lawrence Gough ('Salvage') can do with more original material.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:29 (thirteen years ago) link
I dunno, it seems like a lot of people are capable of making 1 or 2 good films here and there but I'd hesitate to grace anybody with an auteur crown. I think I mentioned nightmare upthread? haven't gotten around to seeing that one.
kinda wanna see what devereaux pulls out of his hat next, and if laugier can follow up martyrs in any meaningful way. his new movie stars jessica biel so already I'm wondering.
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:30 (thirteen years ago) link
wondering/doubting
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:33 (thirteen years ago) link
oh! and Patrick Roddy ('Mercy' (2006) - a really interesting debut).
maybe it's morbid, but i have Laugier following the makeup man's lead and offing himself rather than attempting to follow up 'Martyrs'.
yeah, forgot Devereaux, maybe because he already has a few (early) strikes against him.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:34 (thirteen years ago) link
casting jessica biel in yr movie seems like a special kind of offing yrself
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:39 (thirteen years ago) link
i like JB, but i agree.
if i didn't recommend 'Nightmare' here, i meant to. thought Blank pulled off the snuff metafilm gimmick so much more effectively than any other contender. and he demonstrated a refreshingly adult attitude towards sexuality.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:39 (thirteen years ago) link
er, Bank. forfend i should confuse him with Aussie hack Jamie Blanks, yet i do so constantly.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:44 (thirteen years ago) link
so i suppose its too late for Lucky McKee to have any auteur left in him huh?
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 22 October 2010 21:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Also yeah I would love to see what Shankland does next, "the children" was a jaw dropper.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 22 October 2010 22:00 (thirteen years ago) link
ha, I was gonna mention mckee. he's filming a new horror film in the state adjacent to mine with angela bettis, so maybe there's hope for him yet.
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 22 October 2010 22:09 (thirteen years ago) link
still have hope for mckee
― just sayin, Friday, 22 October 2010 23:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Ive liked everything hes done so far so i am still in his camp for sure. even RED which shows the cracks of a aborted production is really quite a movie imo (and I blame the less great parts on the fixer that they brought in 100%)
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 22 October 2010 23:46 (thirteen years ago) link
ok to be fair, Sick Girl was not all that great, but in comparison to the other stuff in that series its still in the top 10%.
ok just watched Blood Creek and uh wow it was just awful. like one of the worst most nonsensical horror scripts ive seen in a while, and let me tell you, thats saying something.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 23 October 2010 02:53 (thirteen years ago) link
"the children" was a jaw dropper.
I'd add James Watkins (Eden Lake) and Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones).
― Simon H., Saturday, 23 October 2010 07:10 (thirteen years ago) link
watkins did descent 2 after eden lake, is he ready for auteur status
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Saturday, 23 October 2010 14:30 (thirteen years ago) link
going to see Paranormal Activity 2 today. excited as I loved the first. deliberately chose a time that I think the theatre will be least populated to reduce the possibility of other people ruining it for me.
― melody-hating aggr0 nerd (San Te), Saturday, 23 October 2010 14:46 (thirteen years ago) link
You know, it's easy to be cynical, but "Paranormal Activity" (the first) was really fucking scary. Every once and a while it just pops in my head, and then I'm freaked out when it's time to turn out the lights at the end of the night.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 October 2010 16:00 (thirteen years ago) link
I agree. I actually had trouble sleeping that night, and I can count the number of movies that have done that to me on less than two hands!
― melody-hating aggr0 nerd (San Te), Saturday, 23 October 2010 17:23 (thirteen years ago) link
watched Teeth last night, and maybe im just on a bad run here, but it did very little for me.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 23 October 2010 17:38 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah ditto on paranormal. the "pulled out of bed" sequence is real effective and the enemy that could be the furnace coughing hits a lil' too close to home.
― The Saga of the Unkillable Mr. Poppins (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 23 October 2010 20:48 (thirteen years ago) link
just wish they'd have ended it with the footsteps on the stairs and then the door slamming shut. would've worked so much better without a big BOOGABOOGA scare.that said, i have no idea what they'd do to make the sequel watchable.a smart investor would chart how long it takes between "horror movie where nothing happens and nothing is shown that is a huge hit a'la blair witch/paranormal" and jump in the water in say 2016 with a 25K investment and make a gazillion bucks
― The Saga of the Unkillable Mr. Poppins (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 23 October 2010 20:50 (thirteen years ago) link
The sequel is very good. Just got out. First is better, but instead of merely recreating the plot they interwove a connecting storyline before and after the events of the first. The first was better as the thrills were more subtle and this one was more abrupt...but this is a B plus for sure
― melody-hating aggr0 nerd (San Te), Saturday, 23 October 2010 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, October 22, 2010 1:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
yeah, the uncut version is the only way to go. great movie, but a little bogged down by teen angst whinge.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Saturday, 23 October 2010 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Saturday, October 23, 2010 7:30 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark
is this worth a look? figured it for a cheap cash-in. eden lake pissed me off to no end, but i respect the craft.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Saturday, 23 October 2010 21:10 (thirteen years ago) link
and lucky mckee OTM. didn't love red, but on the basis of may and the woods, i will happily watch anything the dude does.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Saturday, 23 October 2010 21:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I thought "Rogue" (the giant croc movie from the "Wolf Creek" guy) was surprisingly solid. Good acting (Radha Mitchell, Sam Worthington ...), and good effects.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 October 2010 21:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Watkins didn't direct Descent 2, just wrote it.
― Simon H., Sunday, 24 October 2010 04:34 (thirteen years ago) link
okay, so against my better judgment, i watched the human centipede tonight w/ a horror fan friend who brought over the DVD. annnnnd ... i don't quite know what to say. i didn't like it, but i respected and "appreciated" it a hell of a lot more than i thought i would. first half hour is marvelous: hilarious and bizarre. echoes of david lynch in the uneasy mix of surreal camp, plastic awkwardness and slick suspense. dieter laser (!!!), who plays dr. heiter, our conjoinment enthusiast, is marvelous, just fantastic. he's up there with udo keir's dr. frankenstein and david gayle's dr. hill (reanimator) in the mad scientist sweepstakes. a display that klaus kinski would be proud to call his own. but, man, i was not entertained by the movie's 2nd & 3rd act descent into remorseless, annihilating bleakness. it's funny at first, then ghastly, and finally just depressing, and that's not my idea of a good time. if it was me, i'd take the film's first 30 or 40 minutes, roll credits and call it a day. don't have much need for the grueling follow-through.
honestly, if anybody's seen it, i think you could take the film's one "deleted scene", a jaw-dropping dance number, show only that and call it a day. wraps up everything worthwhile about the movie in a nice little two-minute package.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Sunday, 24 October 2010 08:01 (thirteen years ago) link
had to play some walter/wendy carlos afterward to clear my mind. felt as though i'd been soiled.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Sunday, 24 October 2010 08:03 (thirteen years ago) link
i want to see Human Centipede but the stupid red box here isn't stocking it
― melody-hating aggr0 nerd (San Te), Sunday, 24 October 2010 13:24 (thirteen years ago) link
"Minotaur" must be the uncut one, then. I watched it yesterday and pretty much failed to extract any drops of enjoyment from it til the cultists started blowin' up. That scene is as awesome as the foregoing 70 minutes are dreary.
I preceded that on instawatch with The Crimson Cult, a clunky sub-Hammer joint which totally delighted me anyway. Give me a small town in England dominated by a secret murder cult and sufficient atmosphere of solemnity, namedrop 'The Great God Pan' and Hern The Hunter, and I'm happy.
― Topol Vuh (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 24 October 2010 14:20 (thirteen years ago) link
okay so, in full flight from human fucking centipede, i watched rogue and triangle last night. enjoyed both, though neither struck me as great.
rogue is a killer croc picture from greg mclean, who directed wolf creek a couple years back. interesting to contrast the two, cuz while they're both "survival horror" pictures, they're very different in tone. where wolf creek was crushingly bleak and pitiless, rogue is a much more friendly piece of work. it's closer to a man-vs-nature adventure tale in the spirit of jaws than what i'd usually call a horror movie, but it strays far enough into body count territory to qualify. more than anything, i was impressed by the location photography in the film's first half. rogue spends more time developing sympathetic characters and impressing us with lovely scenery than it does grinding our noses into the spectacle of human suffering. i appreciate that. like many almost-there horror films, it goes a bit too far over the top in its frantic final act, but mclean does a great job of keeping the tension cranked throughout. probably could have used a bit more of wolf creek's sadistic vigor, but certainly worth a look.
triangle is harder to summarize. it's a puzzle film, one that asks you to sort out what exactly is going on, and keeps upending whatever understanding you do manage to cobble together from moment to moment. that said, it's never quite as puzzling as it seemingly intends to be, and leaves a few too many loose ends dangling to be entirely satisfying. a small group of weekend pleasure boaters are stranded at sea by a freak storm and seek refuge on a huge, ancient and seemingly abandoned ocean liner that happens to drift by. then things get weird. want to say more than i have, but it's difficult to discuss the film without spoiling it, and it's the sort of thing one should approach with as little advance warning as possible. (i will say that it bears a suspiciously strong resemblance to a superior recent puzzle film that you should probably watch instead, but that's as far as i'll go in that direction...) despite a few misgivings, i liked triangle and had fun watching the pieces fall into place. it's far more clever, suspenseful and ambitious than most contemporary horror films, and that alone is enough to recommend it.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Monday, 25 October 2010 22:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I liked Triangle quite a bit!
Anyone watching Dead Set on IFC this week? Caught the first of five episodes last night and think it has potential.
http://www.e4.com/deadset/
― Darin, Tuesday, 26 October 2010 18:03 (thirteen years ago) link
continuing a brief horror kick/life avoidance routine, i watched two more horror films last night, both recommended in this thread:
first up, dead snow, and i'll keep in character as a picky-ass fun hater in saying that it was okay. a slick, professional and well-executed splatter comedy with solid performances and decent gore. but, man, it just isn't really my kind of movie. dead snow looks great and does the job, but there's no soul, vision, or personality to it. i suppose these are generic complains that apply to most 21st century horror films (the ones with commercial ambitions, anyway). filmmakers seem to believe that all the best horror films have already been made, and their only remaining task is to refine and recombine the established conventions in a marketable manner. this bums me out. i want a spirit of invention and ambition, the sense that the future of horror hasn't yet been mapped out. i dunno... i'm criticizing this perfectly respectable and entertaining popcorn horror flick for not being something entirely different, something it never intended to be, and i know that's not fair. but it helped crystallize and explain my lukewarm response to rogue, another fine but unremarkable pop movie that i felt i should have liked more.
next, the last house in the woods, a low-budget italian flick produced for (or at least distributed by) ghost house. i give credit to writer/director gabriele albanesi for putting my petty gripes about rogue, triangle and dead snow in context. TLHITW makes those films look like visionary masterpieces -- or at least gives me cause to appreciate their intelligence, craft and basic pop appeal. the title here provides a fine roadmap to the filmmakers' intentions: straight-up 70s exploitation homage, with nods to hooper, fulci and argento. rapey misbehavior, torture, deformity, mutilation and family depravity rule the day. there's some good here, including the three lead actors (a young couple and a mysterious stranger), evocative music that nails the 70s italo vibe, and a wonderfully bizarre conclusion. but getting to those last 20 minutes is such a goddam chore. the direction is flat, the photography and camerawork dull at best, and the film never generates much tension or interest. a real disappointment.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Tuesday, 26 October 2010 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
just watched Obayashi's House and holy shit is all i can sayit's amazing. not so much a horror movie i guess but man it is CHAOTIC
― a pun based on a popular ilx meme (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 05:01 (thirteen years ago) link
thought triangle was... OK. not a fan of 'recursiveness' on the whole tho
― cozen, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 10:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Saw The Loved Ones a couple of nights ago, fucking great! The audience was yelling and screaming, it was fantastic. Got to love projected high school dance fantasies.
― badg, Thursday, 28 October 2010 03:17 (thirteen years ago) link
just watched Obayashi's House and holy shit is all i can say
want to see this SO DANG BAD! played at a local theater a month or so back, but i missed it wah. poster's amazing too.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 28 October 2010 03:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Watching this dead set thing Darin mentioned on IFC right now, and it's pretty ok!
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 October 2010 03:57 (thirteen years ago) link
house came out on dvd about three days ago. You're gonna love it.
― a pun based on a popular ilx meme (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 28 October 2010 04:12 (thirteen years ago) link
fuck yes. adding it to cue with a vengeance.
so, tonight i watched another film that got positive marks in this thread: splinter. basically a monster attack movie set in a remote gas station, with the creature infecting/incorporating its victims in much the same manner as john carpenter's "thing". like several of the films i've watched lately, it's a slick, commercial production that lacks the ambition and oddball flair of my horror favorites. nevertheless, i liked it quite a bit. the filmmakers manage a nice balance of suspense and action on an obviously limited budget, and though there aren't any starmaking performances, it's stronger than most b-movies in the acting and character development departments. plus, although it's never terribly scary, splinter comes through with plenty of grue and good old-fashioned practical effects. very little obvious CGI and lots of grisly special makeup = AGL, especially in this day and age. nothing mind-blowing, but worth a look.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 28 October 2010 08:42 (thirteen years ago) link
feel in retrospect that i went too hard on rogue and triangle. neglected to mention the former's excellent ensemble cast (including sam worthington, on the verge of his big breakthrough) and triangle has really stayed with me. want to see it again, now that it's had a couple days to settle.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 28 October 2010 08:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Dead Set is that Charlie Brooker zombie Big Brother thing? I remember being not that impressed, but then I've had it up to here with both Brooker and zombies.
― like an ant to a crumb (DavidM), Thursday, 28 October 2010 09:07 (thirteen years ago) link
"rapey misbehavior, torture, deformity, mutilation and family depravity rule the day."
quoting myself on the last house in the woods, but i've been thinking about this for the last couple days. the insistent equation of evil with deformity (and age and ugliness) is horror staple going back to nosferatu, hell to shakespeare. it almost always bothers me. it bothers me a little when it's just sort of there, as it is in LHItW, and it bothers me a lot when there's a kind of equivalency suggested, as in wrong turn (backwood mutants flick w eliza dushku). this isn't limited to horror of course. you see just as much of it in kids' animated adventure films, in sci-fi, in fantastical genre films of all sorts. still, it's no less a significant part of horror's core identity.
i'm not outraged about it, or even wringing my hands, really. i'm only disappointed that this formula isn't more frequently inverted, subverted or just plain addressed. would like to see a few more lovely villains and hideous protagonists. suppose there's no money there...
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 28 October 2010 09:08 (thirteen years ago) link
"...is a horror staple going back to..." duh
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 28 October 2010 09:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Yr behind too hard on LHITW. Or maybe I'm too forgiving of all its shortcomings because the *SPOILERS* twist that turns the would-be rapists into reluctant rescuers felt completely fresh and inspired.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 28 October 2010 14:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Behind = being.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 28 October 2010 14:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Has anyone seen Descent 2? Planning on watching that one tonight.
I thought the first ep. of Dead Set had some good scares - looking forward to watching the rest back to back this weekend.
― Darin, Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Really didn't dig "Splinter" as anything more than a minor distraction. Now "Slither," on the other hand, I can really rep for.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Slither is all time great.
Watched Splinter and (lol) Saw VI last week and I think I enjoyed Saw VI more o_O. Splinter wasnt bad but it was sorta instantly forgettable, absolutely nothing whatsoever in there that hasnt been done a ton of times before, and much much better.
Saw VI was better than 3 4 and 5, which isnt saying much but it was an ok turn yer brain off sorta movie.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:44 (thirteen years ago) link
haven't seen slither, I guess I should huh
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:45 (thirteen years ago) link
i think its the only horror comedy from the last 10 years that really nails it, tbh
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:53 (thirteen years ago) link
meaning horror first w/comic elements. shaun of the dead is pretty great, but its a comedy w/horror elements if you get me
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I gave up on the Saw series after a late night viewing of IV where I realized they expected me to remember both the first and last names of characters, but I've been tempted to rewatch them all in advance of the new one.
― da croupier, Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I almost admire how they've created this byzantine plot instead of just having Tobin Bell live and grab new, unrelated people in each movie. I'd be more likely to admire it if they didn't hinge this plot around actors like Costas Mandaylor.
― da croupier, Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:56 (thirteen years ago) link
it's weird, I generally avoid horror/comedy because when it's bad it's dire, but some of my fave films are ones that pull it off (e.g. return of the living dead). I'd really like to know what a jjjusten makes of sexykiller but it is not on netflix.
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Thursday, 28 October 2010 15:58 (thirteen years ago) link
anyone who makes it past saw 3 is a strong man imo, that movie is fucking terrible.
yeah i agree re: horror/comedy being a pretty dicey proposition most of the time, but when its doen well (slither, severance) its great.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:04 (thirteen years ago) link
i dont know anything about sexykiller, but am curious - not on dvd yet?
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:07 (thirteen years ago) link
"Severance" was pretty solid, and I seem to recall the ending being ridiculous is a satisfying sort of flame. I think flame throwers and machine guns play a funny role?
"Slither" really underscores the fact that Nathan Fillion should be a big star.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Nathan Fillion is currently starring in his own police procedural on ABC
― lol tea partiers and their fat fingers (HI DERE), Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:21 (thirteen years ago) link
only R2 PAL, jj.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:27 (thirteen years ago) link
'Slither' was only necessary while 'Night of the Creeps' was out of circulation.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:28 (thirteen years ago) link
did like the conclusion. not the evildoers explanation for their behavior (which made no sense), but the surreal quality of the last 15 minutes or so, and especially the weirdly redemptive moments that we close with. problem was that i didn't much like the movie that got us there.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 28 October 2010 20:11 (thirteen years ago) link
i'd agree with those above who found splinter pretty average & forgettable. it is/was. it's certainly not as clever as triangle or as well-constructed as rogue, and it doesn't do anything that others haven't done a hundred time before (and, yeah, better). but i enjoyed it for what it was. maybe i was just in the right frame of mind...
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 28 October 2010 20:16 (thirteen years ago) link
think ahma try Cropsey tonight, which looks pretty odd/horrific/verite
― a pun based on a popular ilx meme (forksclovetofu), Friday, 29 October 2010 02:46 (thirteen years ago) link
re: Cropsey. What could have been a fascinating exploration of urban myth was mishandled by novice documentary filmmakers too easily swayed by sensationalism. The resulting movie amounted to little more than a mediocre episode of Cold Case. i believe that Brancaccio and Zeman set out to uncover the roots of Cropsey, a fearsome figure whose legendary misdeeds traumatized the children for Staten Island for generations. Tracing the legend's origins back to the closing of the Willowbrook psychiatric facility (the same corrupt State-run hospital exposed on TV by a young Geraldo Riveira), Brancaccio and Zeman are quickly distracted by the case of Andre Rand, an ex-employee accused of abducting and murdering a local girl. They abandon the roots-of-myth angle to do some amateur sleuthing, unsatisfied by the circumstantial case that has kept Rand incarcerated Upstate. Crackpot eyewitnesses and evasive law enforcement figures lead them on a wild-goose chase through Staten Island's alleged occult underworld. The enigmatic and manipulative Rand, seeing an opportunity for publicity, entices the naive filmmakers with jailhouse communiques promising a tell-all interview, only to renege repeatedly. Meanwhile, we're thinking, "wasn't this supposed to be about Cropsey?" It was all (sort of) interesting, but ultimately so unfocused and pointless.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 29 October 2010 03:12 (thirteen years ago) link
There are some great lists in this post put together by a friend of mine and D3nnis C00per's
http://denniscooper-theweaklings.blogspot.com/2010/10/lux-presents-2010-lux-than-zero.html
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Saturday, 30 October 2010 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
pretty accurate description of cropsey there, unfortunately.
― a pun based on a popular ilx meme (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 30 October 2010 19:08 (thirteen years ago) link
I dig del toro's list
1. Frankenstein (1931)/Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)Two of the most brilliant films ever made. Paradise lost – never regained. Karloff embodies the plea of Man in a way few have ever done. Whale is in a state of grace as a filmmaker.
2. The Birds (1963)/Jaws (1975)The two greatest “malignant nature” horror films. Horror is meant to unsettle man’s place in creation, physically or spiritually. Both films succeed admirably at this.
3. The Shining (1980)/The Innocents (1961)Two of the best “haunted house” movies of all times. In both instances, the scariest edifice is the human mind.
4. Vampyr (1932)/Nosferatu (1922)The vampiric doctrine concerning the corruption of soul and body is perfectly represented by these two films. One presents us with a skeletal parasite, harbinger of the plague, and the other one with the vague spectre of impending death.
5. Alien (1979)/The Thing (1982)The two best Science-Fiction/Horror hybrids. In both instances, the irrational horror elements rise above the scientific conceit and throw rational men and women into a paroxysm of terror.
6. Night Of The Hunter (1955)/Don’t Look Now (1973)Two terrifying fables. Childhood as horror. Tales of innocence endangered or lost in mazes of mortar or trees.
7. The Tenant (1976)/Possession (1981)Two parables about the dissolution of the self. The horror of an uncaring cosmos landing on the doorstep of domestic life and exposing social theatrics through overwhelming horror.
8. Martin (1977)/Let the Right One In (2008)Two tales of youth angst as vampiric malady. Unglamourized tales of infinite loneliness and scavenging in the fringes… yet terribly poetic and fragile.
9. They Came From Within (Shivers) (1975)/Night Of The Living Dead (1968)Two tales about the sudden loss of humanity by the pulsating drive of either hunger or lust. Ambulating sacks of flesh that ache with insatiable apetites. Hell is the others indeed.
10. Eraserhead (1976)/The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)Two tales of modern anxiety that manage to show us just how uncivilized our social structure really is. Tales of horror within the patriarchal structure that demonstrate that the most horrible place on earth is home.
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Sunday, 31 October 2010 05:06 (thirteen years ago) link
K guys you have abt 10 minutes to tell me which of these is the scariest/goriest/most disturbing (most intense, basically)
― twisted sister hazel dickens (Stevie D(eux)), Saturday, 6 November 2010 00:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Deadgirl hands down
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 6 November 2010 00:49 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean there are things that are way way more fucked up I could suggest but I don't like them nearly as much as deadgirl
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 6 November 2010 00:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean if you want super fucked up there's always aftermath or visions of suffering
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 6 November 2010 00:52 (thirteen years ago) link
ha, that del toro list is unsurprisingly a solid one
― Nhex, Saturday, 6 November 2010 00:55 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah the del toro stuff is quality canon
― a pun based on a popular ilx meme (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 6 November 2010 00:57 (thirteen years ago) link
2nd jjjusten on deadgirl, and yeah, the del toro list is excellent
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Saturday, 6 November 2010 00:58 (thirteen years ago) link
deadgirl 3rded
the signal also streaming on netflix iirc
not only do I like the films del toro selected, but his rationale for liking said films is boss and otm, also like the pairing thing he did
― death panel of the mods (Edward III), Saturday, 6 November 2010 15:56 (thirteen years ago) link
so, last night i watched another movie that's been mentioned itt: canadian maurice devereaux's end of the line. funny thing is that i'd avoided it for quite some time, despite great box art, due to vague worries that it would be a christian horror film. lol. it's anything but, and it's great. up there with the children, shallow ground and trick r treat among the best indie horror flicks i've seen recently. basically, it's a zombie movie about people trapped in montreal's subway and maintenance tunnels, but the "zombies" here are delusional religious zealots trying to save humanity from an impending (imagined?) apocalypse. as it happens, their means of salvation consists of bloody murder with sharpened crucifixes. so yeah, it's about as anti-religious a horror movie as can be imagined. unlike most contemporary horror films, end of the line is inventive, atmospheric, visually striking and genuinely scary, at least from time to time. better yet, it's got some ideas and personality of its own. a bit too ham-handed in its religious critique, and some of the performances (unfortunately including the lead) are terrible, but definitely worth a look.
anyone seen devereaux's previous slashers? has some fans on imdb.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Saturday, 6 November 2010 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
note: am only saying that deadgirl is the most extreme and disturbing movie in Stevie D's list, not that i liked it best. shallow ground is my favorite of the 4.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Saturday, 6 November 2010 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link
All the best bits in Paranormal Activity 2 were taken from the first one. All the worst bits (that is, the nonsensical barely-explained backstory) ultimately did it in. I did come out of it learning that demons either really, really hate pots and pans and pool cleaners or perhaps just have bad eyesight and commonly confuse them for small children.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 6 November 2010 22:22 (thirteen years ago) link
PA seemed like one of those films where a sequel would just ruin the magic of it. Like, how do you repeat that again?
― twisted sister hazel dickens (Stevie D(eux)), Saturday, 6 November 2010 22:29 (thirteen years ago) link
It's actually surprisingly effective when it sticks to the template! Our brains don't acclimate to the "gotcha" component of horror films - that's one reason horror films exist - but for all its mechanical jumps it's just not as creepy as the first one, thanks to the pointless backstory it brings in.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 6 November 2010 22:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Just watched "Drag Me to Hell" again and, man, what an effective fun house. Also, time and again it subverts the usual horror tropes. We know exactly what's going on. There's no mystery what's after her. We even know what it (generally) looks like and exactly what it wants (it's in the title!). Furthermore, the protagonist is a good person with good intentions, the victim of an unfair vendetta, who has a trusting, supporting boyfriend. She's brave and resourceful, and steps up when she needs to step up. She even does the one thing no one ever does in a horror movie (even Paranormal Activity 2 ultimately chickens out on the pet front). And yet, start to finish it's nothing but fun, and even gets away with the aforementioned anvil suspended in a shed gag and trademark Raimi gallons of spewing fluids. And it's even PG-13! Shows what a master of the form can get away with.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 7 November 2010 12:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Watched Deadgirl this morning, was ok, that is all.
― not_goodwin, Sunday, 7 November 2010 16:43 (thirteen years ago) link
man, i thought Paranormal Activity (the first one) was possibly the most boring piece of garbage i have ever seen. it didn't help that it took place in BARF san diego BARF.
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Sunday, 7 November 2010 20:54 (thirteen years ago) link
Eh I think it was capable but def not groundbreaking or anything
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 7 November 2010 22:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, it's was nice to get a movie able to get an entire theater to lose its collective shit over a bunch of slowly opening doors. That's something, compared to "Saw VI" or whatever.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 8 November 2010 00:55 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i mean it was pretty much a one-time-use experience for me, but what an exp it was!
― twisted sister hazel dickens (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 8 November 2010 01:01 (thirteen years ago) link
oooh! i want to talk about JT Petty's S&Man - but only with people who have already seen it. anyone?
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 8 November 2010 20:21 (thirteen years ago) link
out of that stevie d list i thought 'below' was probably the spookiest.
btw aftermath is really fucked-up, yeah. maybe more fucked-up: cutting moments.
― omar little, Monday, 8 November 2010 20:23 (thirteen years ago) link
i already mentioned both of them in the same post YEARS ago i see. i've run out of things to say.
― omar little, Monday, 8 November 2010 20:26 (thirteen years ago) link
I just watched "Frozen" and it's probably the most tense 90 minutes I've spent watching a movie. Unbearable at times but really well done.
― She Got the Shakes, Monday, 8 November 2010 23:31 (thirteen years ago) link
watched Cold Prey last night and for the most part its a totally acceptable movie but after i was done with it i sat back and thought "ok, would this make any impression at all if it was an english language film" and sadly the answer was pretty much no. just another stabby weirdo in the abandoned winter cabin/lodge flick, kinda ho hum and a little light on meat behind the scares. its on netflix streaming but only in the dubbed version (which per usual is awful) so if yer still curious def get it on disc.
mentioned this on another thread, but also watched Black Water on streaming which is a suprisingly boring aussie killer croc movie, kinda like Open Water but with peeps up in a tree.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 11 November 2010 16:31 (thirteen years ago) link
yep. felt the same away about the Austrian Dead in 3 Days. maybe we in the States and the U.K. are just jaded by the surfeit of homegrown "stabby weirdo" product. the foreign variants can be interesting - like the unrelentingly bleak and nasty Chilean Ángel Negro, or lurid Czech Scream clone, The Pool - but there wasn't much to either of these particular distro pickups.
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 11 November 2010 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
i watched the criterion rerelease of bergmans Magician last night, which has some fun with horror tropes in art film style; recommended.
― I'm sure Ebay has some wicked pog collections (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 11 November 2010 17:00 (thirteen years ago) link
Ooh that sounds great!
― twisted sister hazel dickens (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 11 November 2010 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh whoa just after Hal jam mentioned it, s&man just showed up on instant watch netflix. Will report back once I see it - kinda stoked
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 12 November 2010 03:09 (thirteen years ago) link
bergman's magician? never seen it. as good as hour of the wolf?
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Friday, 12 November 2010 03:24 (thirteen years ago) link
two i've recently watched:
the signal (2007) - highly recommended by several on this thread, and i can see why. cheap, inventive, lightning paced horror thriller about a mysterious broadcast signal that turns most everybody on earth into homicidal maniacs. much like a contemporary zombie-plauge movie, but with the twist that the monsters are still thinking, feeling human beings who just happen to have lost their marbles. in an interesting twist, it's kind of an anthology film: three directors tell one story in three chapters, each focusing on one of its three major characters. this allows for quite a bit of variety in style and tone. the first chapter is straight up action-horror, the second satirical black comedy, while the third is dramatic and a bit surreal. i didn't strongly dislike this movie, but i didn't love it either. the second act's cruelty distanced me from the film and what came after never won me back. i have a problem with films that lavish attention on powerful, angry male characters who dominate and brutalize those around them (especially when those being brutalized are women). this dynamic often kills movies for me, whatever else they might happen to have going for them.
no man's land: rise of the reeker (2008) - watched this cuz i've seen and liked a number of ghost house titles (sam raimi's production company). nothing special. basic concept is good: people trapped in a strange netherworld, trying to figure out its mysterious rules and what they might imply. unfortunately, the excecution is dull and unimaginative. starts well and chugs along appealingly for about half an hour, but only goes downhill from there.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Friday, 12 November 2010 03:55 (thirteen years ago) link
twist/twist - i really need to read stuff over before i post it...
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Friday, 12 November 2010 03:56 (thirteen years ago) link
have you seen the original (har har) Reeker? the sequel is more of a rethink/remake. i didn't care much for either, but the first had a certain hokey charm.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 12 November 2010 03:59 (thirteen years ago) link
no, never saw reeker. sequel doesn't incline me to seek it out. watching ole bornedal's the substitute tonight, a danish film distributed by ghost house. looks kinda crummy, but i did like the original night watch, all those years ago. here's hoping...
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Friday, 12 November 2010 04:18 (thirteen years ago) link
i really didnt like the signal v much but the further i get from having seen it the less i remember why
― every otm deej and shipley (Lamp), Friday, 12 November 2010 04:23 (thirteen years ago) link
i think i said up-thread that The Substitute = The Faculty for the Twilight set. it's not bad, but i'm not sure what Raimi & Co. saw in it.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 12 November 2010 04:26 (thirteen years ago) link
I like The Substitute a lot! it's better to think about it as an 80s-style "family film" (IE Goonies) than something aiming at wannabe goths or whatever.
― Simon H., Friday, 12 November 2010 04:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Huh
S&man
Not sure yet.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 12 November 2010 05:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I want to talk about it a bit but w/o spoilering thats gonna be tough
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 12 November 2010 05:55 (thirteen years ago) link
i know!
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 12 November 2010 06:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Ok going to bide my time until there's more than 2 of us by watching "live object"
Btw if I had known that rip torn and udo kier were in this I would have gotten to it faster!
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 12 November 2010 06:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Magician is really horror only in a carnival of souls waybut boy is it goodand don't miss the video essay supplement, very illuminating
― "deej otm" (forksclovetofu), Friday, 12 November 2010 06:57 (thirteen years ago) link
the substitute was excellent, way better than i expected. ending was a bit aprupt/unsatisfying, and the heavy-handed business about love being what makes humans unique caused me to gag occasionally, but no complaints otherwise. strong characters, wonderful performances, nicely moody cinematography and at least a little faith in its audience's intelligence. bornedal's got another film forthcoming for raimi and ghost house, called dybbuk box, due next year. looking forward to it.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Friday, 12 November 2010 09:51 (thirteen years ago) link
dibbuk box? something like that...
it's spelled dybbuk. it's a jewish demon.
― forksclovetofu, Friday, 12 November 2010 15:06 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i initially spelled it dybbuk, cuz that's the spelling i'm familiar with. but the imdb entry and apparent movie title = "dibbuk box" for reasons unknown, so i corrected for that.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Friday, 12 November 2010 16:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Magician is really horror only in a carnival of souls waybut boy is it good
carnival of souls is one of the greatest horror movies ever made
― death panel of the mods (Edward III), Friday, 12 November 2010 18:38 (thirteen years ago) link
then you will find some joy in magician. just making it clear that it's only horror accents in an art film, not the other way round
― forksclovetofu, Friday, 12 November 2010 19:41 (thirteen years ago) link
I can see why ppl don't fully dig the signal - it's not a "perfect" movie - but I loved it, one of my favorite recommends from this thread.
don't get yr "angry male character" issue, contenderizer, it's not like the movie's on that guy's side, he's the villain! and he's an interesting one because he's not evil, just sick. the film does have it's share of sadism/gore, but that's why it's on this thread and not the nonexistant scifi one. it sounds like maybe a personal aversion?
― death panel of the mods (Edward III), Friday, 12 November 2010 19:49 (thirteen years ago) link
paranormal activity
in the middle of watching this with my gf and she's gone to the toilet, the bitch
― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 November 2010 00:24 (thirteen years ago) link
she's gonna come back and stare at you for like three hours
― forksclovetofu, Sunday, 14 November 2010 00:25 (thirteen years ago) link
!!! SPOILERRY TALK BELOW \/\/\/
I just watched The Signal yesterday and I thought it was really good. I appreciated that they cut the tension in the middle with the black comedy stuff. I have to admit that I enjoyed Lewis's character because from our introduction to him it was obvious he was a jealous passive-aggressive guy with some inferiority issues but obviously if he hadn't watched so much of that damn signal he wouldn't have gone so damn crazy... its interesting to see a normal persons character flaws turn into OTT pathologies. There was a lot of brutalization in the film in general, its hard to claim that there was more put on women than men. Perhaps it just seems so much more brutal when the violence turns on women though? It was certainly more unsettling to me to see the lady's friend get her head bashed in repeatedly than say, when the same happened to Lewis (and more gore was shown even).
But, it addressed fears that play heavily into some favorite horror films like The Crazies (the original one) about how one could possibly know if anyone is sane when everyone has to act crazy in order to defend themselves and their loved ones. Sanity being something that is decided by society and not actually real is really scary, cause society seems more fragile than ever in our post-industrial techno world.
The second act brutality played more as slapstick to me though. That is probably due to my own desensitization, and I can see why someone would see it as just gratuitous exploitation.
As someone who refuses to pay time or money to things I see as gratuitous exploitation, I can certainly see contenderizer's larger point about violent asshole men being lavished with attention as a serious problem in modern horror films, since they are edging further away from being strictly the villains and more-and-more straddle that anti-hero line. For instance I thought the guy in Paranormal Activity was an obnoxious and abusive husband and I really hated the movie cause he was in it. Oh well, we all have our own hang-ups.
― The Porcupine Captain With A Crew of White Rabbits (Viceroy), Sunday, 14 November 2010 01:01 (thirteen years ago) link
those dudes are always dicks in these movies, not antiheroes. Dude in paranormal activity is a total jerk.
― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 November 2010 01:26 (thirteen years ago) link
ok so, watched love object and was kinda eh about it, finally saw human centipede and thought it was pretty well done EXCEPT for the fact that the 2 female leads are kinda terrible, but the big winner by far was Stuck, which I thought was completely fucking fantastic.
Tenebre and The End Of the Line showing up today from netflix so it should be a good week.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 17 November 2010 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
oh also watched The Chair and found it kinda lacking tbh - one great spooky shot, but that was about it.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 17 November 2010 19:27 (thirteen years ago) link
ok, sorry dudes, but after watching tenebre and being kinda blah about suspiria and a few others, i am (outside of Goblin which is awes and that super long crane shot around the house) i am just straight up not really an argento fan.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 18 November 2010 17:59 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, I like suspiria but I'm definitely argento-impaired
― death panel of the mods (Edward III), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Boooo. (That said, I can't think of many other directors I love who more regularly inspire choruses of "meh" from those around me.)
― Miss Garrote (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:01 (thirteen years ago) link
not kidding about that crane shot though, its pretty magnificent - apparently the american distributors wanted to cut it and he put his foot down and refused.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:05 (thirteen years ago) link
You still haven't seen his best picture, then. Write him off after you've checked out 'Deep Red.'
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:06 (thirteen years ago) link
ok, yeah, im def not 100% opposed, so i was going to ask for recs - the other one peeps keep mentioning is something about a bird or plumage or eh never mind ill just go to imdb and stop being stupid. anything you get behind eric?
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, Deep Red is the one that seems to treat the Argento non-fans best.
― Miss Garrote (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:13 (thirteen years ago) link
(I'm not particularly enthused by it, myself. I'm much more in favor of the flamboyant ones: Suspiria, Phenomena, Opera.)
― Miss Garrote (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I'll rep for 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.' it's a tidy, downright nifty thriller. But it's Srgento still so in the long shadow of his mentor, Mario Bava, that you might want to watch Bava's delightful Hitchcock riff 'The Girl Who Knew Too Much', first. Argento doesn't come of his own until 'Deep Red,' which is still traditional enough in terms of it's mystery and mechanics not to be alienating. 'Tenebre' almost doesn't make sense until you're immersed in Argento's world, being a metafictional autobiographical reinvention of 'Bird' and 'Deep Red' and a near parody of the giallo form in a slightly futuristic setting. It's his ' Alphaville,' if you will.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:24 (thirteen years ago) link
deep red is hitchcock + giallo kinda.
― omar little, Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:25 (thirteen years ago) link
That equation doesn't compute, because there wouldn't be any "giallo" without Hitchcock (and Edgar Wallace).
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:29 (thirteen years ago) link
i suppose that's true
― omar little, Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:36 (thirteen years ago) link
LOVE ARGENTO OR GTFO
and he's an interesting one because he's not evil, just sick. the film does have it's share of sadism/gore, but that's why it's on this thread and not the nonexistant scifi one. it sounds like maybe a personal aversion?
― death panel of the mods (Edward III), Friday, November 12, 2010 11:49 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark
it is a totally personal aversion. and it's weird, cuz when viceroy says, "I appreciated that they cut the tension in the middle with the black comedy stuff," i feel completely the opposite. jacob gentry wrote and directed jealousy monster (the name of that segment), and i loved the black comedy stuff up until the point where lewis was fully in control and raged out. the scene where he suddenly, brutally murders laura's (?) friend, and later, where he blinds and tortures laura with poison, were both played for laughs, and i didn't think either was particularly funny. they made me depressed and even a bit angry. perhaps i empathize too strongly with the victims in such situations to ever truly enjoy them. anyway, this aspect of gentry's chapter took me out of the movie and made it hard to get back in. fwiw, i did think it was an interesting, effective and well-made film overall.
that said, a lot of the best ott black humor/horror induces a kind of psychedelic bewilderment in the viewer, where you don't know how far things are going to go or how you're supposed to take it. more sadistic films will push through to the worst thing imaginable, while horror comedies and mainstream films will typically undercut the awfulness, or swerve away at the last minute. it's a legitimate and effective horror tool, and one that i don't have a problem with, for the most part. maybe i was just in the wrong mood for those kinds of stunts that night, i dunno...
i wanna ask though: did anyone watch the short film that's included as a bonus feature? like jealousy monster, it was written and directed by jacob gentry, in this case as a "24-hour film festival" contribution. it's a quick and dirty TCM ripoff wherein a goofy redneck psycho (played by the guy who plays clark in the signal) abuses and butchers several trapped women. given the obvious budget and time constraints, it's surprisingly successful, wringing a measure of suspense out of one deaf victim's attempt to escape and free a fellow captive. but i couldn't get around the fact that it's basically just helpless women getting snuffed one after the other, with a side of sickly lols. disliked it, and watching it after the signal didn't improve my opinion of the latter.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:42 (thirteen years ago) link
But it's Argento still so in the long shadow of his mentor, Mario Bava, that you might want to watch Bava's delightful Hitchcock riff 'The Girl Who Knew Too Much', first.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, November 18, 2010 10:24 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark
hell yeah, or blood and black lace
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:47 (thirteen years ago) link
can't really fathom anyone not digging tenebre, though.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, 18 November 2010 18:49 (thirteen years ago) link
the slasher genre shd probably give up right now tbh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GydyA_cVJNA
― pro EVOO sucker (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 23 November 2010 02:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Bad horror run for me - end of the line had some great initial jump scares but was teeteringly unfocused and oh man, some of the worst acting I have seen in some time. Really wanted to like it, but I just didn't.
Also lj I hate u.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 November 2010 07:29 (thirteen years ago) link
sorry you didn't dig end of the line, jjj (not my fault, but i did like and recommend it). acting was a serious problem, but i just forced myself to accept it as the price you pay for weird indie horror. dug it otherwise.
and yeah, can't imagine why anyone would want to watch mouse snuff
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 November 2010 07:33 (thirteen years ago) link
soz guys, was brought up in the 'animals eating other animals' thread and I felt it would fit here too
the joke is on me, for I have not been able to sleep properly
― pro EVOO sucker (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 23 November 2010 07:41 (thirteen years ago) link
we are very sensitive in this gore torture horror thread, louis
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 November 2010 08:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I Sell the Dead was way way too goofy for me, with a plot so transparent and cgi so blatant that i really didnt like it at all, seemed v v cheap, and not in a good way. Mum and Dad was a nasty bit of mean mean movie, not totally to my liking but some great moments - dad in particular was pretty o_O.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 26 November 2010 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Loved 'House of the Devil.' I love the tone and subject matter of many films from the mid- to late- 70's, and (this isn't a very original idea on my part) I thought Ti West captured it pretty perfectly without resorting to irony.
― jeevves, Friday, 26 November 2010 22:15 (thirteen years ago) link
S&Man = i mean, not really that good. maybe i watch too much S&M porn or something (i know TMI TMI) but most of that stuff was pretty tame, and didn't really dive into the meat of the questions Petty seemed to be attempting to ask.
anyway.
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Saturday, 27 November 2010 02:19 (thirteen years ago) link
It's not about S&M or porn, ya maroon!
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 27 November 2010 14:49 (thirteen years ago) link
excuse me, but who the hell are you?
It explored three directors, one of whom was obviously a fake (Eric), and didn't really dive that deep into the questions behind why people enjoy extreme, near-snuff, or snuff itself. even the 'paraphilia' talks with the husband-wife team were just completely insubstantial. and anyone who didn't see that last part coming is a maroon, imho.
i raise the issue of s&m and porn because of Zebub's bizarre machismo and those long, lingering shots of that 'dead' girl surrounded by candles. there was something strange there, her uncomfortability. to me, that was the most interesting part of the entire film. otherwise, pretty meh.
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Saturday, 27 November 2010 19:51 (thirteen years ago) link
It's not a documentary.
The question being asked is not so much "why do movies like the S&Man series exist?" as it is, "could something like the S&Man series exist, unsuspected, amid the protective shadows of underground fringe horror?"
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 27 November 2010 21:12 (thirteen years ago) link
hmm, well, yes. there are snuff films and stalker films that are real and do exist. you can find some of them pretty easily, tbh.
that said, i just finished 'Going to Pieces,' a pretty well-done doc about the rise of the slasher pic, political backlash, etc. streaming instant on Netflix. recommended.
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Sunday, 28 November 2010 01:58 (thirteen years ago) link
there are snuff films and stalker films that are real and do exist. you can find some of them pretty easily, tbh.
since i will never in my life spend any time searching for such things and reassure myself by believing they don't exist, i'd like you to unpack this a bit. i mean, i know that one can find footage of death and even murder, but we are told that snuff films in the classic sense don't exist. by "snuff film" i mean proper movies which happen to include footage of real murders, not simple, on-the-fly event recordings - a hazy division if there ever was one. i.e., not counting stuff like africa addio (as jacopetti was acquitted) or straightforward documents of executions & other killings.
i mean, do tell (don't show)...
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Sunday, 28 November 2010 03:01 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i guess it depends on whether one is using the classic definition of snuff films. obviously on-the-fly examples are numerous (see jjjusten's talk about the Hammer film, for example, which is as sickening as they come, really), but often, even those that are on the fly or depicting executions fit one aspect of snuff, and that is that they are intended for distribution and viewing. i read an argument somewhere (and i can't find it right now, excuse me) that Al Qaeda's videotaping of executions can be considered snuff in some way, since warlords (and etc) profit immensely from continued war (and opium production, duh).
so, yeah, you're right, but a lot of it depends on the parsing of the definition of snuff film.
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Sunday, 28 November 2010 03:39 (thirteen years ago) link
and yeah, mr. hal jam, i think that no matter what S&Man— part fiction, part real— that it just wasn't successful. it didn't scare me, and it certainly didn't make me think about anything that i haven't thought about before. those are two of my main concerns when watching films of this ilk— if it doesn't make me jump out of my seat, or doesn't make me ponder issues of violence (or moral codes, or sexual barbarism, or whatever), then i tend to be a bit non-plussed.
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Sunday, 28 November 2010 03:55 (thirteen years ago) link
bewildered and at a loss for words?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 28 November 2010 04:02 (thirteen years ago) link
regardless of how un/successful you felt Petty was, i do wish you'd refrained from SPOILing S&Man's IMHO clever gambit. those of us here who have seen it have tried to be discreet for the benefit of those who have not yet watched the film.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 28 November 2010 04:06 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, i get you, i don't feel i've spoiled anything, tbh. talking about issues relating to the movie doesn't equal SPOILER ALERT
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Sunday, 28 November 2010 06:21 (thirteen years ago) link
that said, i'm also sorry if i was a dick to you. i just find that within this genre, there's a lot of divisiveness within the fan base. it's cool that you liked it, i just found it sophomoric and rather boring.
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Sunday, 28 November 2010 06:22 (thirteen years ago) link
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Sunday, 28 November 2010 01:58 (5 hours ago)
No real snuff films have ever been found. If you DO know of snuff films that exist and are being sold, you should contact law enforcement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snuff_films
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 28 November 2010 07:22 (thirteen years ago) link
eh, i prefer not to interfere. or intercept such vile material. i'm just saying that if you go to Russia and former Soviet countries, it's there. i saw some things i don't wish i'd seen.
enough, tho. back to horror.
― Honey, I squirted jizz all over the baby (the table is the table), Sunday, 28 November 2010 08:33 (thirteen years ago) link
ok, not really horror at all but mentioned on this thread more than any other - "Timecrimes" is pretty fucking amazing. not mucking up a time travel movie deserves some sort of special award imo.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 30 November 2010 08:04 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah Timecrimes is great.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 30 November 2010 08:24 (thirteen years ago) link
yup
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 30 November 2010 08:29 (thirteen years ago) link
just watched calvaire, belgian survival horror flick from a few years back. holy shit, that was great. easily and instantly one of my favorite horror films of the past decade. from some shit i wrote on imdb:
kept thinking of humanism while watching this film, the enlightenment idea that human feeling and human intellect are equally rational and that they both intrinsically strive toward human betterment. like a lot of fashionable late 20th century/early 21st century pop philosophy, this film feels like an attempt to annihilate the humanist project, to entirely crush the idea that human beings, human thoughts and emotions have any purpose, that they strive towards anything but their own satisfaction.
marc represents humanist idealism in this scheme, an apollonian vision of human beauty and worth. he is an artist first and foremost. he is industrious and sensible. he sings sentimental, heart-wrenching songs about a love that conquers and thus defines human experience. he lives in a world that makes sense, is cooperative and rewards fundamental decency. but he is alone in this world. he is not only alone but deluded. in the film's scheme, marc's faith in the world's reciprocation of his rational decency is tragically misplaced. in the real world, the world around marc, brutality and obsession rule the day, and no communication can cross the distance between individuals. marc's failure to understand this dooms him.
therefore, when he, in the end, says, "i loved you," he is merely fulfilling his role. he is that which loves, or pretends to try to love, in a loveless world. he is the fool that sees beyond himself, truly believes in the petty, lying bauble, the love song, the christmas morning. in believing, he becomes the object of the world, its plaything. those around him, unable to see beyond themselves, simply use him to satisfy their own hermetic desires. i'm reminded here of lars von trier's dogville, another splendid assault on humanist self-delusion. and i say this as a committed humanist, the obvious object of this film's scorn. c'est la guerre.
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 30 November 2010 08:32 (thirteen years ago) link
I second the Calvaire praise. The Belgians are more fun than the French. (See also: Ex-Drummer.)
― Simon H., Tuesday, 30 November 2010 08:36 (thirteen years ago) link
dance sequence in the bar tops the one that kicks off werckmeister harmonies, love that scene to death
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 30 November 2010 08:41 (thirteen years ago) link
I think the most original horror flick I've seen this year was The Revenant, though Tuck and Dale Vs Evil was more fun.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 30 November 2010 09:01 (thirteen years ago) link
er. *Tucker*
― Simon H., Tuesday, 30 November 2010 09:10 (thirteen years ago) link
two movies from 2009 called "the revenant", neither much seen. which do you mean, and what's the appeal?
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 30 November 2010 18:03 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1336006/combined
This one. Basically, a stoner-y riff on zombie comedy that progresses in unexpected directions, including a pretty ambitious ending. Not perfect by any means, but definitely refreshing.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 30 November 2010 18:05 (thirteen years ago) link
both of the films you mention sound pretty great, though oddly similar
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 30 November 2010 18:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Tonally completely different. Also, avoid the Tucker and Dale trailer, it's too spoilery. (I've been told the movie should get a release of some kind early next year.)
― Simon H., Tuesday, 30 November 2010 18:10 (thirteen years ago) link
ok not sure if ex-drummer mentioned up there is horror per se but holy shit that is a movie that hates humanity pretty much - i liked it but it is a dark dark hearted experience.
millionaire band that does the music for the fake band is pretty awesome as well.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 1 December 2010 19:25 (thirteen years ago) link
these guys would do well in providence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4eWU-pg3uI
― attack of the krampii (Edward III), Wednesday, 1 December 2010 20:07 (thirteen years ago) link
pile of new stuff on instant watch
― old LOKO heads (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 1 December 2010 20:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Ok, just watched murder loves killers too (mentioned upthread by haljam) and I can't say enough good things about it. There are def flaws, but its one of the most exciting over the top things I've seen this year. Not a gore fest, but completely committed to what it sets out to do, great great scares, some dark wacky stuff going on. I want to talk about it more, but some of yall need to see it first.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 07:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh and holy shit, haljam otm re: the title special feature lololololol
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 07:34 (thirteen years ago) link
does anyone have any interest in doing a ballot style poll culled from this thread plus nominations now that we're at the end of 2010? i had this idea a few nights ago, but it was late and i was drunk so
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I'd vote in that for sure.
― benanas foster (Eric H.), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 17:16 (thirteen years ago) link
y not.
add The Loved Ones.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 17:22 (thirteen years ago) link
ok cool, ill start thinking out the details and prob launch the nom list in early/mid january. if anybody has any ideas on how many votes to allow or whatever let me know.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 17:29 (thirteen years ago) link
great idea, if only cuz it'll get me off my ass about tracking down some of the more obscure stuff recommended here
― Today, if he makes a grunge (contenderizer), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 17:36 (thirteen years ago) link
For real, tho, The Loved Ones. This 2010 Aussie gem is not out Stateside yet, but it really delivers the shock'n awesome "Oh, Shit!" moments. sort of a role-reversed Otis, only a billion times better.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link
a poll's a good idea but there are probably a couple of films that will crush everything else... drag me to hell, the devil's rejects, the descent, eden lake, martyrs
whereas most of the interesting things I saw on this thread were the offbeat recommendations
I'd almost rather see a POX thread or something like what omar little did here, tho it seems like a bit of commitment/time suck: The (Now-Overrated) ILX Top 100 Films of the 2000s Poll Results
― if nothing else this thread will result in some great display names (Edward III), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 19:27 (thirteen years ago) link
― gay Air New Zealand flight attendant Will Coxhead (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 21:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Saw it. Oh my god. Oh my christing god. I can't remember the last time I saw a film so suspenseful that I involuntarily climbed up the arm of the sofa. Five and a billion stars.
― The breads are OK but the the crumpet freaks me out (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 24 December 2010 09:21 (thirteen years ago) link
the unborn is pretty hilarious. my gf and i saw the beginning in a hotel and had to netflix it. gary oldman is a rabbi and stringer bell is a priest, and they walk into a bar!
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 21:40 (thirteen years ago) link
ok, they don't walk into a bar.
i have a lot of catching up to do wrt movies ive watched for this thread but as a public service announcement i just wanted to say that i have now seen the absolute nadir of zombie comedy horror and that movie is called Doghouse and i dont even have words to describe how shitty and wrongheaded and completely awful that piece of shit was.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 20:06 (thirteen years ago) link
"Doghouse" earned my favorite Wikipedia notice: "This article's plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise."
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 January 2011 20:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Cleansed my palette afterwards with Calvaire which was way better. wow though, bleak as bleak gets, would be a good double feature with Valhalla Rising or Let the Right One In if you wanted to kinda roll with the depressive black horror vibe for 4 hours or so. In the interest of throwing the whole thing for a loop, Meatball Machine is showing up tonight and that should be uh fairly different in tone i expect.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 20:52 (thirteen years ago) link
wow i never learn wrt to the lingering trick substitutions of former mod and evil genius DJP.
that gif should be the word "m3t4l" btw.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 20:53 (thirteen years ago) link
sauna is my go-to for black m3tal horror, I haven't checked out calvaire yet tho I've got a copy lying around somewhere
― Є|Э (Edward III), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 20:54 (thirteen years ago) link
in other news I thought the human centipede was a better movie than black swan
― Є|Э (Edward III), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 20:55 (thirteen years ago) link
I should clarify that it still has a lot of o_O unpleasantness and some moments of intensity so it isnt quite so subtle as i might be making it sound but it just seems kinda steeped in a deep-seated distrust of humanity in general and the resultant hopelessness. very effective
xpost i keep telling people to soldier through the first 20 minutes of human centipede (basically the part where it is painfully obvious that the two female leads cant fucking act at all) because if you do, theres an absolutely brilliant last 60 minutes. dieter lazar or whatever is kick ass creephouse villian, best ive seen in the full-on gonzo aristiocrat class in a long time. which is cool, because i am nearly as sick of the backwoods aw shucks chuckler who turns out to be oh no cannibal/torturer thing as i am of zombie comedies.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:01 (thirteen years ago) link
also i wanna talk about that documentary "Best Worst Movie" but since Troll 2 isnt even nominally a horror film i dont know whether to do it here or?
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:02 (thirteen years ago) link
reading the description of Meatball Machine really makes me wonder about your sanity, dude
― Indolence Mission (DJP), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:04 (thirteen years ago) link
dude just spent a para defending the human centipede, he's beyond all recognition
― Є|Э (Edward III), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:06 (thirteen years ago) link
watched the human centipede with two ppl who were def not into it but just the same it spawned a bunch of comedy catchphrases such as "I don't like human beings" or "FEED HER" that persisted for several days
― Є|Э (Edward III), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:08 (thirteen years ago) link
hey cmon now DJP i just chose not to add "Lucker the Necrophagous" to my netflix queue so obv i have standards
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:15 (thirteen years ago) link
btw u all have until this evening to tell me if Otis sucks because its gotten to the top of my queue and will ship tomorrow along w/Lets Scare Jessica to Death unless I hear otherwise.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:18 (thirteen years ago) link
calvaire is really good, i thought.
i have not watched much horror lately i have also not really watched any movies lately
thought this was interesting
― ╰㊂-㊂╯ (Lamp), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:21 (thirteen years ago) link
let's scare jessica to death is A+++++
― Є|Э (Edward III), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:22 (thirteen years ago) link
and meatball machine is more funny/ridiculous than soul crushing
― carles marx (contenderizer), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 21:55 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah ridiculous is what i was expecting, hopefully a bit more Machine Girl and a bit less Tokyo Gore Police, but we'll see.
totally stoked for lets scare jessica, it got lost in the middle of my queue and got forgotten for a bit
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 22:44 (thirteen years ago) link
didnt even make it 20 minutes into Meatball Machine, not because it was bad but because i think im kinda done with the goofgore stuff at this point, i just get bored and give up.
Otis was a decided misfire, played for laughs a lot of the time but unfortunately mostly just not at all funny. also the ending was str8 up terrible and embarrassing, like i have honest bafflement about how that ever saw the light of day. what a trainwreck.
on the other hand just watched The Abandoned last night and holy shit, what a great great movie - Nacho Cerda just straight up makes gorgeous looking movies, and the whole thing is just driven by menace more than plot (the plot fortunately was kinda secondary because there was a lot of head-scratching moments). absolutely a new favorite and highly highly recommended.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 13 January 2011 00:33 (thirteen years ago) link
just watched them because it was expiring from my instant watch queue. very effective little film.
― original bgm, Sunday, 23 January 2011 21:26 (thirteen years ago) link
I just watched "Frozen" and it's probably the most tense 90 minutes I've spent watching a movie. Unbearable at times but really well done.― She Got the Shakes, Monday, November 8, 2010 6:31 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― She Got the Shakes, Monday, November 8, 2010 6:31 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
I watched this last night. The dialogue and acting were terrible at times but it was pretty tense and I did like it overall until about half-way through when I started questioning whether wolves would actually just eat people like that, did some "research" and found out that it's highly highly unlikely. Ruined the whole thing for me. :(
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Sunday, 23 January 2011 21:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Just saw The Last Exorcism last week. Had some problems with it, one character in particular was not well written w/r/t who he was at the beginning of the movie vs. the end, and/but it used the "this is a documentary" thing well until the very very end.
― that's not funny. (unperson), Sunday, 23 January 2011 22:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Curious about Kevin Smith's movie, though early reviews from yesterday's premiere is that it's awful (I realize this is a "no shit" thing for most people).
Tweets from Creative Screenwriting editor Jeff Goldsmith (@yogoldsmith) from the Sundance premiere of Lucky McKee's new movie "The Woman," also last night:
> The Woman by Lucky McKee tells of a feral forest woman captured by a sadistic family man wanting to civilize her. Blood, rape & torture....
> Audience member yelling @ Lucky McKee - angry @ torture porn aspect. Security being called - the film did upset some people.
> 6 walkouts in Lucky McKee's bloody film The Woman. Sadly the last was a gal who was running to get out & fell & hit her head.
― She Got the Shakes, Monday, 24 January 2011 12:44 (thirteen years ago) link
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, October 22, 2010 6:09 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― just sayin, Friday, October 22, 2010 7:29 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark
good to hear this project came to fruition, sounds like he might lose contenderizer w/ this one tho
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Monday, 24 January 2011 16:00 (thirteen years ago) link
apparently the woman is a sequel to offspring
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262413/combined
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Monday, 24 January 2011 16:05 (thirteen years ago) link
McKee’s failure to secure Bettis a role seems to have played a part in his rescinding directorship of the adaptation of Jack Ketchum's Red during production.
Those of us waiting for the beautiful alchemy of McKee, Bettis and Jack Ketchum to make its way to the big screen in an unadulterated form have just received some great news as they’re all lined up to collaborate on Offspring: The Woman, a sequel to last year’s Offspring. That film was written by Ketchum from his own book and part two has been penned by McKee and Ketchum together as both a screenplay and novel.
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Monday, 24 January 2011 16:08 (thirteen years ago) link
sounds like he might lose contenderizer w/ this one tho
i still have faith, and loved may and the woods enough to trust him on whatever comes next.
in unrelated news, i watched both sexykiller (w macarena gomez) and bad biology this past weekend. they were the two genre films i came away from 2010 most wanting to see. both very enjoyable, though i can't call either an all-time favorite. bad biology is by far the strangest of the two, and easily the most uncomfortably sleazy horror film i've seen recently. that might not be such a dramatic claim, given that i actively avoid stuff like a serbian film and haven't yet worked up the nerve to see lars voin trier's antichrist, but it's definitely henenlotter's most direct attempt to bottle the comprehensively grubby allure of 42nd street cinema in its 70s heyday. it's funny, outrageous, clever, stupid, appalling and generally very enjoyable. have to admit that i was a bit disappointed by some of the horrorcore trappings and by henenlotter's perhaps merciful failure to take his absurd premise all the way, but i suppose he came as close as possible without succumbing to straight-up hardcore pornography. maybe next time...
sexykiller is great and similarly silly, if much less willfully grotesque. it's basically a kitchen-sink comedy horror film in the vein of michele soavi's cemetery man, where the rules of the game keep changing and the flashy ridiculousness of the cinematic style is the film's primary reward, but so long as you accept it on those terms, it's a wonderful ride. macarena (princess uxía) gomez stars as the titular murderess in a couture dress, and she's great. it's a ridiculous performance, more wild drag than legitimate characterization, but she fully commits to the part and clearly has a great time hamming it up. the rest of the cast is similarly cartoonish, and the movie rarely pauses for breath between hilariously gruesome murder set pieces. i suppose it's both quasi-feminist and fundamentally misogynist, but it's trivial, joyful and fluffy enough that political complaints seem churlish. looking forward to seeing it again.
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Monday, 24 January 2011 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link
It's pre-2005, but my brain suddenly spat up the fact that I really liked Bill Paxton's pretty under seen "Frailty," which came out in 2001. Close enough to horror, that one.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 January 2011 16:40 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3lUAZLB4JY
― She Got the Shakes, Tuesday, 25 January 2011 00:22 (thirteen years ago) link
(context: Guy freaked out and started shouting towards the end of the movie; he was escorted out by security)
― She Got the Shakes, Tuesday, 25 January 2011 00:24 (thirteen years ago) link
guys like this can fuck right off
― thank you based jättegod (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 04:51 (thirteen years ago) link
conversations where everyone is in the "sir, you've had your moment to speak and I'm trying to be respectful here" mode are THE WORST
― thank you based jättegod (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 04:54 (thirteen years ago) link
dude in that video just sold this movie to 90% of horror fans, lucky mckee should pay him royalties
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 15:42 (thirteen years ago) link
now that I think about it, he probably is
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 15:48 (thirteen years ago) link
He swears the dude isn't a plant, and seemed kind of shaken up about the whole thing at the screening, apparently. (The angry guy *is* an actor, if he's to believed in the video - he says something like "I've been in over 40 movies myself!").
― She Got the Shakes, Tuesday, 25 January 2011 16:00 (thirteen years ago) link
"There are limits that ought to be taken . . . our 'civilization' quote-unquote . . . "
"Sir, can I finish my sentence?" "I doubt it."
Fuck this dude. Like because he watched this movie and was upset by him he gets to be a dick to everyone. Shoulda jabbed him with a needle full of thorazine and tossed him out in the snow.
"I don't want this crap in my mind anymore!" HERE'S A HANDGUN, GIT 'ER DONE.
― you think you're cool, but you read ick (Phil D.), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 16:03 (thirteen years ago) link
apparently the dude was on OZ
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 16:05 (thirteen years ago) link
it's simple and accurate enough just to say that the guys's a fucking asshole
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 16:09 (thirteen years ago) link
(He = Lucky McKee / self-xxx-post)
― She Got the Shakes, Tuesday, 25 January 2011 16:11 (thirteen years ago) link
oh shit, that guy WAS on Oz wasn't he?
― thank you based jättegod (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 16:11 (thirteen years ago) link
First person account of the events preceding that video above.
Finally, the film ended, and the credits began to roll, and before anyone could even start to move toward the stage for the Q&A, Captain Indignant stood up directly in front of me.And he began to scream."THIS MOVIE DEGRADES WOMEN! THIS MOVIE DEGRADES MEN! YOU ARE SICK! THIS IS NOT ART! YOU ARE SICK! THIS IS A DISGUSTING MOVIE! SUNDANCE SHOULD BE ASHAMED! HOW DARE YOU SHOW THIS!"I've tried playing back the incident and breaking down how long actually elapsed. I can't, though. It's one of those moments that is distorted by that adrenaline that was already coursing through me, already so strong that I could feel the vein in the side of my neck pulsing, and having this guy stand above me, showering me in his spit of self-righteousness, and it felt like ten minutes went by of no one reacting to this lambasting of the filmmakers."WHO WOULD MAKE THIS? WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER SHOW THIS? I WOULD LIKE EVERY PERSON IN THIS AUDIENCE TO GET UP AND COME WITH ME SO WE DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS SICK MIND!"I heard someone suddenly yell back, even louder than him, "WHY DON'T YOU SIT DOWN AND SHUT THE F**K UP AND LET THE FILMMAKER HAVE HIS SAY?"And when the guy looked down at me, shocked, I realized it was me who yelled it."ARE YOU SAYING YOU LIKED THAT MOVIE?""Yeah. Yeah, I did."From a few rows behind me, I heard someone loudly and clearly say, "Then you're sick, too." That seemed to be all the fuel Captain Indignant needed, and he sneered at me."THEN YOU HAVE NO MORAL COMPASS, AND I FEAR FOR ANYONE IN YOUR LIFE."
And he began to scream.
"THIS MOVIE DEGRADES WOMEN! THIS MOVIE DEGRADES MEN! YOU ARE SICK! THIS IS NOT ART! YOU ARE SICK! THIS IS A DISGUSTING MOVIE! SUNDANCE SHOULD BE ASHAMED! HOW DARE YOU SHOW THIS!"
I've tried playing back the incident and breaking down how long actually elapsed. I can't, though. It's one of those moments that is distorted by that adrenaline that was already coursing through me, already so strong that I could feel the vein in the side of my neck pulsing, and having this guy stand above me, showering me in his spit of self-righteousness, and it felt like ten minutes went by of no one reacting to this lambasting of the filmmakers.
"WHO WOULD MAKE THIS? WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER SHOW THIS? I WOULD LIKE EVERY PERSON IN THIS AUDIENCE TO GET UP AND COME WITH ME SO WE DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS SICK MIND!"
I heard someone suddenly yell back, even louder than him, "WHY DON'T YOU SIT DOWN AND SHUT THE F**K UP AND LET THE FILMMAKER HAVE HIS SAY?"
And when the guy looked down at me, shocked, I realized it was me who yelled it.
"ARE YOU SAYING YOU LIKED THAT MOVIE?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I did."
From a few rows behind me, I heard someone loudly and clearly say, "Then you're sick, too." That seemed to be all the fuel Captain Indignant needed, and he sneered at me.
"THEN YOU HAVE NO MORAL COMPASS, AND I FEAR FOR ANYONE IN YOUR LIFE."
― you think you're cool, but you read ick (Phil D.), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
is that guy really lee tergesen? if so, it's rich coming from a guy who bit somebody's dick off and crapped in a nazi's mouth on national television....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU8kwKVir7Y
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 19:34 (thirteen years ago) link
The description of that movie makes it sound like a cross between "Last House on the Left" and "Dead Girl."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 January 2011 20:26 (thirteen years ago) link
'black death' looks dope imo
want to see 'the children', and also: http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/23084
― omar little, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:00 (thirteen years ago) link
birdemic is finally releasing on dvd some time in february!
it is supposed to be utter shit, but in a highly watchable made by a crazy person way
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:02 (thirteen years ago) link
most of my friends have seen birdemic multiple times, i've never pulled the trigger. it may be time.
― omar little, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Loved "The Children." Some really creepy scenes. "Black Death" was slow but ultimately worth it (Andy Nyman, in it in a small role, also rules - his horror play Ghost Stories, that he stars in and wrote with Jeremy Dyson from the League of Gentlemen, and which just jumped from the Hammersmith Lyric to the West End, is an awesome, awesome night out). Apologies for the heinous "structure" of that sentence, but I'm trying to learn to type on this tiny keyboard and my goddamned fingers are cramped from this one post :(
― Walter Galt, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:08 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah ive already said it a bunch of times but the children is just about perfect, an absolute must see
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:09 (thirteen years ago) link
^ yup, no two ways about it
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:24 (thirteen years ago) link
"it is supposed to be utter shit, but in a highly watchable made by a crazy person way"
this movie is unwatchable in its original linear order, but fantastic when randomized in increments of five to ten seconds.
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:27 (thirteen years ago) link
have had the children blu-ray sitting on my shelf for the past month
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Thursday, 27 January 2011 22:16 (thirteen years ago) link
which "the children" -- the one from 2008?
― big baller eating steaks every day (jeff), Thursday, 27 January 2011 22:20 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, this one
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_(2008_film)
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Thursday, 27 January 2011 22:26 (thirteen years ago) link
thanks
― big baller eating steaks every day (jeff), Thursday, 27 January 2011 22:31 (thirteen years ago) link
ok that link was funky, let's try again
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_%282008_film%29
― in my room, redefining the meaning of black crowes (Edward III), Thursday, 27 January 2011 22:42 (thirteen years ago) link
I was enjoying Frailty quite a lot until the utter bullshit of the last ten minutes, they seemed to have been transplanted from a far dumber film. The kid who played the older brother was very good I thought.
― Inevitable stupid dubstep mix (chap), Sunday, 30 January 2011 18:51 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i liked frailty a lot when i first saw it but watched it again p recently on netflix and it was less good than i had remembered. its still solid & v effective for the most part but there some bad-cheesy moments throughout
― Lamp, Sunday, 30 January 2011 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
ha I actually love the ending of Frailty
― Simon H., Sunday, 30 January 2011 21:02 (thirteen years ago) link
so watched belgian whatever sl8n8 (now americanized into slaughter night for stupid people) and uh wow it just kinda blew. like sub masters of horror level crap.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 31 January 2011 22:52 (thirteen years ago) link
― Dr. Algernod Goon (some dude), Thursday, January 28, 2010 11:46 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark
that time of year again, i need to comb this thread more. any particular flicks there's kind of a consensus on being worth seeing?
― hercudeez and nuts affair (some dude), Sunday, 6 February 2011 01:30 (thirteen years ago) link
did anyone ever see The Descent Part 2? it being straight-to-DVD after the first one made a decent amount of money seems like a red flag so i'm apprehensive.
― hercudeez and nuts affair (some dude), Sunday, 6 February 2011 02:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I wrote something about descent 2 somewhere on ilx, it's not terrible but it's a huge huge letdown compared to the original.
Speaking if which, I'm about to watch the "I spit on your grave" remake so I am obviously not to be trusted in matters of taste or decision making hoping for the best.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 10 February 2011 06:14 (thirteen years ago) link
Just watched the children, wasn't impressed at all. So many things bad about it i don't know where to start.
Can't believe how much love it's getting on this thread!?!
― not_goodwin, Friday, 11 February 2011 09:34 (thirteen years ago) link
You're not alone. We saw it last weekend and hated it.
― Most women do not like atheism.(8)(9)(10) (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 11 February 2011 10:05 (thirteen years ago) link
didn't hate the children but def didn't love it as much as others here.
some good atmosphere, decent acting, I liked that they didn't try to explain the causes and the ending was well played (think I preferred the version in the deleted scenes tho).
but the kill gags were clumsily executed (ha) and the plot didn't hold any surprises. children go crazy, children kill, the end. not enough imagination and/or sheer terror to sustain the enterprise.
if you want a good kids-who-kill flick, check out home movie. that one is seriously haunting.
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Friday, 11 February 2011 15:31 (thirteen years ago) link
wha?! Home Movie is TURRRRRRRIBLE. Stupidest. Parents. Ever.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 11 February 2011 15:59 (thirteen years ago) link
eh, I liked it
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Friday, 11 February 2011 16:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I actually think part of the psychology of home movie is that you really want bad things to happen to those parents
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Friday, 11 February 2011 16:17 (thirteen years ago) link
also appreciate the black humor in it
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Friday, 11 February 2011 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
maybe one day i'll retrieve my copy of HM from the bottom of the closet and rewatch it. prolly not during this lifetime.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 11 February 2011 16:26 (thirteen years ago) link
hope you enjoy it more in your next life
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/reincar1.jpg
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Friday, 11 February 2011 16:30 (thirteen years ago) link
on craft alone, The Children is just streets ahead of anything else comparable. there are so many shots and setups in it that are pure Kubrick. i love the vagueness, the formulaic trappings, the banality of the threat, the unsparing viciousness of the mayhem. proof that an oft-told tale can still surprise in the right hands.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 11 February 2011 16:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Not much of a life going on in that picture!
― not_goodwin, Friday, 11 February 2011 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link
The children for me had it all,
bad acting, sound, editing, make-up, it was perfectly bad!
I mean, a range rover that has crashed into a tree with enough force to throw the drive through the window but not dint it at all and only have the bonnet slightly open with a little steam coming out of it is just lazy film making.
― not_goodwin, Friday, 11 February 2011 16:41 (thirteen years ago) link
would've enjoyed it more if it were pure kubrick, except the director kept inserting those non-sequitur shake-the-camera/loud-sound/disjointed-scene-of-mayhem, wish shankland didn't fall back on faddish editing tricks to ramp up tension and stuck to his more effective atmospherics
plus the elaborate setups of the sled / greenhouse / playground scenes lacked the simplicity and elegance I look for when I'm waiting for someone's grievous bodily injury
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Friday, 11 February 2011 16:54 (thirteen years ago) link
i'd waste my breath defending Shankland and his movie against your cavils, but... you endorsed Home Movie. what would be the point?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 11 February 2011 17:19 (thirteen years ago) link
I dunno... kill time until yr next rebirth?
I'll still watch dark corners tho, wanna see where shankland's gonna go cause he does have chops
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Friday, 11 February 2011 17:30 (thirteen years ago) link
looking forward to we are what we are, coming out next week I think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7igAdSavJU
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Friday, 11 February 2011 20:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Somebody do the 1974 horror film poll do I can start canvassing for the totally totally awesome "Black Christmas" which I just saw for the first time.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 04:24 (thirteen years ago) link
shame on you for being so late
― just sayin, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 09:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Wait, how did I see "Black Christmas" before you?
― DJP, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 13:25 (thirteen years ago) link
your overpowering olivia hussey fixation?
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 15:04 (thirteen years ago) link
TCM will destroy a '74 horror poll btw
― it made me wish batman had written an article on mfas (Edward III), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 15:06 (thirteen years ago) link
lol, this just reminds me of the time when our 9th grade English teacher accidentally showed us Olivia Hussey's breasts
― DJP, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 15:17 (thirteen years ago) link
here you go:
Best Horror Film of 1974 (part 19 of a series)
― Darin, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 16:23 (thirteen years ago) link
I avoided this movie for so long because I assumed it was a stupid Santa killer movie. Man was I ever wrong.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 17:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Haha I mean killer Santa movie. Although I think there actually was a movie where serial killer tracked do
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 17:35 (thirteen years ago) link
wn department store santas, but I can't remember for sure.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 17:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Don't Open 'Til Christmas (1984).
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 17:38 (thirteen years ago) link
Thx dude! You just saved me a bunch of clumsy imdbing.
Iirc that movie was not so good.
― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 15 February 2011 17:48 (thirteen years ago) link
no wai
― DJP, Tuesday, 15 February 2011 17:50 (thirteen years ago) link
ok so in the low budget available on netflix streaming category - watched something called "Hampshire: A Ghost Story" and thoroughly enjoyed it! it is in no way a great film, and you can def tell the actors are unpaid for the most part, but theres some scares in there that make it totally worthwhile. a couple stupid bits, but lots of well done actual creepy spots as well.
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 16:25 (twelve years ago) link
Got free passes to see Insidious tomorrow night. Hoping for some good old-fashioned boogeyman scares, we'll see.
― Anti-mist K-Lo (Phil D.), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
rereading my post there i feel like im being overcautious and underselling this hampshire movie - it was late and i was a few beers in so i dont wanna go all BEST MOIVE EVAR but it was prob one of the best things ive seen so far this year
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
Highly recommend Black Death, which has been out in the UK for awhile but only recently began screening in the US. It's by the guy who made Triangle, Christopher Smith, and is basically a grim medieval plague trudge structured like a realistic horror flick. It's all very Doom. A processional to an inevitable result. Name Of The Rose + Aguirre influences strong.
― return, descender (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 17:12 (twelve years ago) link
Also, finally saw The Children based on this thread. Put me in the pro column. I don't know that there's enough there to warrant a second viewing but it did kick my ass. Will refrain from spoiler-y discussion.
― return, descender (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 17:13 (twelve years ago) link
oh man i really really want to see black death
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 17:40 (twelve years ago) link
Soundtrack album is also awesome, semi-ambient acoustic evilness.
LOL I guess Sean Bean will never get to act without a sword in his hand again.
― return, descender (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 17:43 (twelve years ago) link
black death sounds sweet, can't wait to see it
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 23 March 2011 17:45 (twelve years ago) link
Black Death is enjoyable (not something anyone in the 14th century ever said I'm guessing), but nothing amazing. Better than Centurion and Valhalla Rising or any other gritty hack'n'slash movie that came out last year.
― Hippocratic Oaf (DavidM), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 20:03 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know that I would call it amazing but it is v v good at what it does and it's def a breed apart from the two you just mentioned and Solomon Kane etc etc.
― return, descender (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
im a pretty big fan of valhalla rising tho too so if this is better all the more awesome imo
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
tbh it's a different beast altogether than VR.
― Hippocratic Oaf (DavidM), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
oh hey in case you wondering about the state of the icelandic horror industry i just watched "Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre" and wow its even worse than the title sounds. avoid avoid avoid.
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 March 2011 06:08 (twelve years ago) link
two from netflix instant watch: High Road which attempts to make the descent but set in mountain climbing and FAILS and Shadow which apart from a kinda awful ending was pretty good imo.
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 19:59 (twelve years ago) link
oh hey in case you wondering about the state of the icelandic horror industry i just watched "Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre" and wow its even worse than the title sounds
please tell me this movie was about a whale watching a dude with a harpoon kill shittons of people
― whelping at his sandpapery best (DJP), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 20:01 (twelve years ago) link
in that case it would be a finnish movie though
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 20:10 (twelve years ago) link
Was wondering about a Ghost House film that's on instawatch-- Dark Floors, the one featuring the Finnish false metal band Lordi playing their stage personas.
― the worst thing Narada Michael Walden has ever been associated with (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 21:26 (twelve years ago) link
haha yeah i keep looking at that one and then saying naaaah
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
curse you! We need a guinea pig.
― the worst thing Narada Michael Walden has ever been associated with (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 21:42 (twelve years ago) link
man if i havent already earned my hazardous duty pay on this thread i just dont know what to tell you
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 21:52 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, how else would I know to avoid Harpoon!!
― Partyin', partyin', fun fun fun fun (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 21:55 (twelve years ago) link
by looking at the title...?
― whelping at his sandpapery best (DJP), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 22:03 (twelve years ago) link
Session 9, y/n?
― the worst thing Narada Michael Walden has ever been associated with (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 23:05 (twelve years ago) link
i love session 9, huge huge fan
― broke my o_O face o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 23:23 (twelve years ago) link
yeah session 9 is good.
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 23:29 (twelve years ago) link
Sweet, it's on for tonite then.
― the worst thing Narada Michael Walden has ever been associated with (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 23:35 (twelve years ago) link
Dark Floors, the one featuring the Finnish false metal band Lordi playing their stage personas.
oh god I've been dying to see this
― sorry ozzy but your dope is in another castle (Edward III), Thursday, 31 March 2011 14:08 (twelve years ago) link
So Session 9 was awesome (and I guess actually too old for this thread's brief?) but I started slipping in and out of consciousness during the hectic climax so I'ma watch the last 40 minutes again.
― how do I Mothman a ho? (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 31 March 2011 22:18 (twelve years ago) link
april fools.....?http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/movies/rubber-quentin-dupieuxs-rolling-horror-movie-review.html
― slight even by tweet standards (forksclovetofu), Friday, 1 April 2011 15:35 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.hbevol.com/youaretheshit/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/affiche_rubber.gif
― slight even by tweet standards (forksclovetofu), Friday, 1 April 2011 15:36 (twelve years ago) link
no, totally real. and boring.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 April 2011 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
i expected more from Mr. Oizo.
(it's available on iTunes, BTW)
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 April 2011 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
thought the end of Session 9 was a little cheap, but the journey was totally worth it -- in terms of atmosphere, tone & the utilization of space, it is totally creepy & VERY effective.
― Grotjahn in the Moma (Pillbox), Friday, 1 April 2011 16:28 (twelve years ago) link
I was excited for Rubber based on the trailer, but I read a review that said the dialogue was all winks to the camera and ugh
― da croupier, Friday, 1 April 2011 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
Insidious has been getting pretty good reviews.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 April 2011 18:44 (twelve years ago) link
I should have known better, but "Scream 4" was so terrible that after struggling with my instincts I finally walked out 10 minutes before the end. I just couldn't take it anymore.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 April 2011 12:56 (twelve years ago) link
Has there been anything good out this year? I think the only 2011 horror film i've seen was The Rite, which is pretty torpid on the whole.
Attack The Block looks potentially interesting though.
― I LOVE BELARUS (ShariVari), Wednesday, 27 April 2011 13:01 (twelve years ago) link
I still haven't seen we are what we are
lucky mckee's the woman still without a release date
― don't judge a book by its jpg (Edward III), Wednesday, 27 April 2011 13:49 (twelve years ago) link
stake land looks interesting maybe?
― forks (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 27 April 2011 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
Before the shitty Scream there was a trailer for Apollo 18, which looks like a cross between Alien and Blair Witch. Lots of dubious behind the scenes stuff does not inspire faith in the project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA2pPv4T2YE
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 April 2011 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
Has anyone seen Prowl? It's not getting a cinema release here (although I think it may have been shown at Frightfest) but I enjoyed Manhunt by the same director so I'm tempted to give the DVD a go.
― DISPLAY NAMING RIGHTS (Upt0eleven), Wednesday, 27 April 2011 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
Black Death looks good.
i really liked Insidious. in fact, i'd go see it again.
― it is his "enigmatic signifier" (the table is the table), Wednesday, 27 April 2011 20:54 (twelve years ago) link
my favorite thread, kept me alive last fall when i went on a binge and watched 30 or 40 semi-current horror movies in the space of a few months. since then, not much. collapsing into fuddity with william castle, old AIP, amicus, hammer, etc. need new recommendations. is taxidermia a horror movie?
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 27 April 2011 21:04 (twelve years ago) link
ok this is 2004 so not officially right for this thread but have ppl seen Dead Man's Shoes ?
― just sayin, Friday, 29 April 2011 14:54 (twelve years ago) link
Yup. Shane Meadows' best film, imo. Paddy C is amazing in it.
― Hippocratic Oaf (DavidM), Friday, 29 April 2011 19:15 (twelve years ago) link
So I finally watched The Devil's Rejects and was sort of let down. I mean it was good but I didn't think it was exceptional. The final scene was pretty epic tho.
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Thursday, 12 May 2011 23:29 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.thetunnelmovie.net/
New film released this week simultaneously in cinemas and as a free torrent. Anyone seen it? The torrent's taking ages.
― 百万个叉烧包 (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 20 May 2011 23:37 (twelve years ago) link
It was pretty bad
― 百万个叉烧包 (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 21 May 2011 22:50 (twelve years ago) link
that trailer didn't look too promising, thanks for taking one for the team
― oh! me so brodie (Edward III), Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:20 (twelve years ago) link
np
― 百万个叉烧包 (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:34 (twelve years ago) link
Black death was ok, enjoyed insidious more.Old spooky lady ghost things always work, right?
― not_goodwin, Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:44 (twelve years ago) link
saw a couple of these last week
splice was a really hard one to wrap my head around, its really a profoundly fucked up movie but you get the feeling that they reined in the full psycho a bit (which is a shame) - still the fact that some of the stuff in this happens despite being a pretty major release is pretty crazy. i would get into it but man its spoilers ahoy, ill just say that it sure felt a lot more like some creepout indie/foreign gutpuncher than multiplex fare. even so, still not entirely sure i liked it overall.
the final destination was the best argument against 3d in movies ive ever seen. also it was a godawful pile of shit in general. way tamer and cuddly than the first 2 in the series, which i like.
also watched "the ugly" but thats from the late 90s so
― blbllbllllllrlrrghgghhh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 15:52 (twelve years ago) link
ha to be clear, im saying that i like the first 2 final destinations, not that i like the tame and cuddly turn. yall probably guessed that i suppose tho
― blbllbllllllrlrrghgghhh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
― just sayin, Friday, April 29, 2011 3:54 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― Hippocratic Oaf (DavidM), Friday, April 29, 2011 8:15 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark
^^ this is worth reposting... super creepy
― just sayin, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
lol @ "way tamer and cuddlier" being a complaint about a movie that features someone's internal organs getting sucked out by a pool filter
― Tom Skerritt Mustache Ride (DJP), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
original romcom title was disemboweling you always
― old man yells at soundcloud (Edward III), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
although reading the description of #2, you might have a point
― Tom Skerritt Mustache Ride (DJP), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
I love you guys. Just watched Triangle, easily the most fun I've had with a film in ages. Just brilliant. Watched Black Death last night (also for recommendations made here), great in an entirely different way. This director is one to watch.
― 百万个叉烧包 (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 28 May 2011 13:14 (twelve years ago) link
Rogue. Quite good in so many simple ways but thwarted mainly by its crepey obsession with America. Could have been excellent.
― It's not like we could go to Islam (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 4 June 2011 12:33 (twelve years ago) link
Two must-see titles that are best approached with as little foreknowlege as possible: Simon Rumley's RED, WHITE & BLUE and Eli Craig's TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 4 June 2011 14:00 (twelve years ago) link
ok fantastic! i kept almost watching red white and blue but then going eh who knows, its on netflix streaming so thats a no brainer. thx dude
― just malorted a little bit in my mouth (jjjusten), Saturday, 4 June 2011 14:10 (twelve years ago) link
thanks HJ, will keep a look out
― orchestral pygnoeuvres in zee park (contenderizer), Saturday, 4 June 2011 14:23 (twelve years ago) link
think you're maybe mentioned tucker & dale before (?), or someone has, but i forgot about it...
I admired the construction/form of Red White and Blue but didn't find the actual plot/character particulars terribly interesting. Tucker and Dale is great though - I'm shocked there was no attempt to make it a mainstream hit, as it's easily the best horror-comedy since Shaun of the Dead
― Simon H. Shit (Simon H.), Saturday, 4 June 2011 15:01 (twelve years ago) link
(saw both of these at a genre fest last July.)
― Simon H. Shit (Simon H.), Saturday, 4 June 2011 15:03 (twelve years ago) link
Don't know where to stick this (I gave up disturbing myself with this stuff years ago,) but I stumbled across this Q&A site of people asking vague questions about half-remembered horror films, and found some of the described scenes bizarrely hilarious.
http://www.best-horror-movies.com/horror-movie-question-43.html
― The hoppiest hop hopper now with xtra hops (Dan Peterson), Monday, 6 June 2011 22:16 (twelve years ago) link
Found Red White and Blue to be kind of a depressing bummer, but ymmv.
Also tried watching God of Vampires, but couldn't get past the poor production.
― Darin, Monday, 6 June 2011 22:21 (twelve years ago) link
ha i just had the same exact thing happen wtih god of vampires
― just malorted a little bit in my mouth (jjjusten), Monday, 6 June 2011 22:32 (twelve years ago) link
I know right! I'm beginning to suspect that a large portion of the horror films on Netflix are only being rated by the filmmakers and their families.
― Darin, Monday, 6 June 2011 22:44 (twelve years ago) link
Speaking of which, has any sat through Horde yet?
Black Death starts streaming on Thursday!
― Darin, Monday, 6 June 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i watched horde a few weeks ago, it was kinda eh. weirdly enough i thought id written it up on this thread but i guess not, it was def not a knockout and didnt really bring anything new to the table at all imo.
― just malorted a little bit in my mouth (jjjusten), Monday, 6 June 2011 22:51 (twelve years ago) link
ah, thanks for the heads up. I think I'll skip that one.
― Darin, Tuesday, 7 June 2011 15:25 (twelve years ago) link
Just watched black death and am sad to say I thought it was completely bland and boring. An utter disappointment from a director that I have otherwise really enjoyed.
― just malorted a little bit in my mouth (jjjusten), Sunday, 12 June 2011 23:59 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i wasnt really feeling it either, definitely his worst movie
― just sayin, Monday, 13 June 2011 08:30 (twelve years ago) link
watched rubber last night: an odd french flick (english language) that riffs on horror movies but is more an absurdist comedy. with gore. concerns a sentient tire gifted with head-exploding powers that awakens from castoff dormancy to wreak vengeance on basically everything it encounters, from water and beer bottles, to insects and other small mammals, and eventually to human beings.
the film was written and directed by quentin dupieux, and at least looks good. it's set somewhere in the american southwest, and makes fine use of the washed out colors and vacant landscape. rubber's only real problem is that the writer/director seems to be so completely in love with his own poker-faced absurdity that the whole thing becomes rather tiresome after a while. we not only get the killer tire itself, but a stand-in audience who observe the film's action at a comfortable remove, an unhinged sheriff, a creepy errand boy, lots of dumb comedy and vague suggestions that some higher power is controlling this whole experiment to god knows what end.
worth a look, but at least as frustrating as it is enjoyable.
― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:11 (twelve years ago) link
directed by mr. oizo!
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:12 (twelve years ago) link
(want to see it, havent yet, etc.)
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:13 (twelve years ago) link
wow, i didn't know that QD = mr. ozio! knew that oz did the soundtrack tho. only ozio-like bit comes over the end credits, fwiw.
― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:42 (twelve years ago) link
i have been waiting for rubber w/great anticipation tbh
― lemon kerrang! (jjjusten), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:59 (twelve years ago) link
fuck, didn't even get my own "tiresome" joek. brain just isn't working today.
― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Thursday, 16 June 2011 00:10 (twelve years ago) link
ok, this is v. surprising to me!
― original bgm, Thursday, 16 June 2011 14:02 (twelve years ago) link
rubber is now on netflix streaming btw. let me in as well. plus a bunch of probable crap, but it was a pretty sig horror upload today it seems
― lemon kerrang! (jjjusten), Friday, 1 July 2011 20:02 (twelve years ago) link
OK, I just watched Doghouse which really sucked. BUT (and I realize how lame this is to bring up) it featured a comic book cover/logo design I did for the Dark Horse comic adaptation of Evil Dead at the 4 minute mark of the movie. Kind of neat to see something you made in a film, even if it is really shitty! It's the little things in life...
http://www.horror-movies.ca/AdvHTML_Upload/evildead-3-cover.jpg
― Darin, Sunday, 10 July 2011 05:07 (twelve years ago) link
Nah that is actually pretty bragworthy and badass imo
― lemon kerrang! (jjjusten), Sunday, 10 July 2011 07:08 (twelve years ago) link
Well, too bad the movie wasn't better.
I caved in and watched Let Me In last week. Not bad really.
― Darin, Sunday, 10 July 2011 14:13 (twelve years ago) link
rubber was REALLY bad imo
― brooklyn's complicated relationship with bacon (forksclovetofu), Monday, 11 July 2011 03:04 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i have not heard good things
― death to ilx, long live the frogbs (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Monday, 11 July 2011 03:12 (twelve years ago) link
which sucks because high-concept comedy-horror directed by mr. oizo should not be bad.
it's a poor attempt at an art movie with tons of meta and lots of stop motion tire rolling and it put me to sleep
― brooklyn's complicated relationship with bacon (forksclovetofu), Monday, 11 July 2011 03:17 (twelve years ago) link
half liked rubber, half hated it, certainly didn't love it. was awfully dull for a comic horror film (even an arty one), and the "meta" jokes were forced and unfunny, especially the opening scene/monologue.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Monday, 11 July 2011 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
So, wait - how many upthread have actually seen "A Serbian Film?"
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 11 July 2011 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
I watched Bunnyman at the weekend, in which six apparently healthy men and woman fail to outrun a dude in a rabbit suit - which is evidently harder than the London Marathon makes it look. It's one to add, along with Sweatshop and The Rite, to the 'safely avoid' pile. Didn't think much of Wake Wood either.
Husk was reasonably diverting. I quite enjoyed Zombies Of Mass Destruction too - it's as blunt as satire gets but has a kind of dorky charm.
― модный хипстер (ShariVari), Monday, 11 July 2011 20:11 (twelve years ago) link
Gonna be a dissenting voice here and say I loved "rubber". But it's a million miles away from being a horror film.
― lemon kerrang! (jjjusten), Tuesday, 12 July 2011 07:16 (twelve years ago) link
[rec] 2 out today on DVD
― duke of irl (Edward III), Tuesday, 12 July 2011 14:02 (twelve years ago) link
It's very much like [rec]. Doesn't do anything particularly interesting but doesn't tarnish the memory of the original either.
Was there a film about possession being hyped as 'from the makers of [rec]' a while ago? I vaguely remember seeing something about it but can't find anything online now.
― модный хипстер (ShariVari), Tuesday, 12 July 2011 14:12 (twelve years ago) link
Speaking of Evil Dead: http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/07/12/evil-dead-4-on-the-way-confirms-bruce-campbell/
― emil.y, Tuesday, 12 July 2011 17:14 (twelve years ago) link
Watched Insidious last night and thought it was a great. I started getting nervous they would ruin it with the ghostbusters team, but it worked.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 17:13 (twelve years ago) link
haven't seen let me in but most of the reviews I've read begrudgingly admit it's good
― duke of irl (Edward III), Wednesday, 13 July 2011 17:28 (twelve years ago) link
Let Me In wasn't bad at all, it's just that it was an exact remake of the Let The Right One In. I was expecting the director to add something else to the film. I think if I hadn't seen the first movie I would of really love Let Me In.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 17:31 (twelve years ago) link
couldn't sleep last night, got up in the middle of the night and watched ils, what was I thinking
― duke of irl (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 14:53 (twelve years ago) link
ils?
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 17:43 (twelve years ago) link
Never mind, I thought it was an abreviation... I looked it up.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 17:44 (twelve years ago) link
French film, often retitled "them" in English. Not the one about the giant ants
― I dream of vodka sandwich (jjjusten), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 17:45 (twelve years ago) link
But you already knew that.
yeah, thinking about that one still kinda freaks me out a year later! I guess the thin veneer of plausibility is what gets me.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:15 (twelve years ago) link
great exercise in menace + tension
ending was eh but still more satisfactory than the strangers, very similar films tho
― Any one can have ketchup for their food, I don't care any more (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:15 (twelve years ago) link
love how the restraint employed makes it that much scarier. esp for modern horror.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:27 (twelve years ago) link
ending is a bit weak, yeah. still, it's tough for it to live up to what your imagination has likely conjured up by that point...
― original bgm, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:28 (twelve years ago) link
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/Them.jpg
― Any one can have ketchup for their food, I don't care any more (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:34 (twelve years ago) link
:-o
― original bgm, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:38 (twelve years ago) link
The tension was handled ok but i remember having reservations about the whole feral children / feral Romanians aspect. They're not identified as Roma but the idea of roving bands of evil 'gypsy' kids is played up constantly in the central European media. I doubt it was made with that in mind but it was a unfortunate coincidence.
― модный хипстер (ShariVari), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:58 (twelve years ago) link
Western European, rather.
― модный хипстер (ShariVari), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
I had similar reservations about the class stuff in eden lake
ils spends of lot of time bagging on romania doesn't it? bad cops! bad tv! bad kids!
― Any one can have ketchup for their food, I don't care any more (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
Yep. Not sure whether it was written with Romania in mind or just shot there because it's cheap and adapted. Either way, it colours the tone of the film.
― модный хипстер (ShariVari), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 19:15 (twelve years ago) link
Birdemic on netflix instant!
― generous doler out of lollies (forksclovetofu), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
so 'insidious' is p lolbad
― stepmomster (Lamp), Friday, 22 July 2011 18:19 (twelve years ago) link
Yep - and it's still one of the best new horror films i've seen this year.
― модный хипстер (ShariVari), Friday, 22 July 2011 18:29 (twelve years ago) link
oh man birdemic is a rough trial, just fyi
REC 2 on the way for me. also about halfway through make out with violence and so far it seems like a goofier more boring version of deadgirl
― I dream of vodka sandwich (jjjusten), Friday, 22 July 2011 20:00 (twelve years ago) link
like kinda mumblecore deadgirl which is nagl
even the title sounds like a bad emo band
― Any one can have ketchup for their food, I don't care any more (Edward III), Saturday, 23 July 2011 02:49 (twelve years ago) link
still havent finished it
watched Perkins 14 and got so uninterested partway through that i just let it play in the background while i looked for other streaming netflix on my iphone
― I dream of vodka sandwich (jjjusten), Wednesday, 27 July 2011 23:30 (twelve years ago) link
insidious story was kinda blah, but man o man did some of the ghosty scares in the first half hit that sweet spot!
― notes on camping (Pillbox), Friday, 29 July 2011 07:15 (twelve years ago) link
So none of this is new stuff, but they just added a bunch of Giallo to Netflix streaming - I saw deep red and never kill a duckling or whatever for sure, but there were a ton more
― I dream of vodka sandwich (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 21:42 (twelve years ago) link
Hmm I didn't really feel like they were supposed to be gypsies, I read it as more like the kids were morally symptomatic of all the political horrors that went down in that region. Like they were moral idiots born from that environment...?
Let Me In wasn't bad at all, it's just that it was an exact remake of the Let The Right One In.
Really? I found the differences totally fascinating. Granted, they are subtle differences...
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 22:39 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know. The film didn't really have an obvious sense of history or domestic political context attached to it, as far as i can remember. Would presenting them as being so shaped by the trauma of Romania's recent history that they are incapable of interacting in a civilised way be any less problematic a position for a Western European film to take?
― HIS BODY IS FAT BECAUSE HE HAVE BIG HEART (ShariVari), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 22:44 (twelve years ago) link
Probably not!
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 2 August 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link
I thought the kids in "Ils/Them" were meant to be not Roma/"gypsies" but further remnants of Romania's infamous orphanage horrors. Ceauşescu famously outlawed abortion and contraception, so the orphanages (and later streets) were teeming with untended and uncared for kids. I think Romania still has the highest number of orphans in Europe.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 3 August 2011 01:54 (twelve years ago) link
finished "make out with violence" and while it wasnt completely terrible i def wouldnt bother with it ever again. Cigarette Burns (the carpenter thing from masters of horror) was undeniably batshit, but not in a good way, more in a making this up as i go along way. also not worth watching.
OTOH i finally got around to rec 2 and was pleasantly surprised! I mean yeah plausibility is stretched and there are plotty nonsense moments (ie uh where did those other kids go?), but the first one worked in spite of that and this one does too. also the night vision trick (not gonna spoil here, if youve seen it you know) is brilliantly executed and boosts the creepiness up a notch. noticed that the dudes that did this kept this story for themselves and gave quarantine 2 the terrible looking scary airplane script, which is hilarious to me.
― I dream of vodka sandwich (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 August 2011 18:19 (twelve years ago) link
Hey you guys I don't watch many horror films at all and haven't looked in on this thread but I thought you might be interested in this Korean webcomic.
http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=20&weekday=tue
Have your computer volume turned up. Scroll down. Keep scrolling.
― L.P. Hovercraft (WmC), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 21:26 (twelve years ago) link
anyone see "I saw the devil"?
http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/i-saw-the-devil-mondo-kevin-tong-poster-400x600.jpg
― glasgow based god (cozen), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 21:28 (twelve years ago) link
I really liked it - i think we talked about it a little in the human centipede thread. Its def more in tune with that moody oldboy vibe than horror per se. Its kind of what i wish Memories of Murder had been in a lot of ways.
― dougie instructor (jjjusten), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 21:56 (twelve years ago) link
nice poster
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 22:16 (twelve years ago) link
I finally saw "A Serbian Film." Wasn't terrible, wasn't terribly good, once again had more to say about what we watch and why we watch it than any sort of trenchant political commentary, hard as it may have tried. So out to shock it comes off more than a little ridiculous, but I suppose it's worthwhile and its commitment to its not exactly depraved but certainly horrific vision impressive.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 24 August 2011 22:19 (twelve years ago) link
theatrical or dvd or "wink wink" or?
― dougie instructor (jjjusten), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 22:23 (twelve years ago) link
Wink wink. So I presume uncut. But given this movie's clear artistic distance from the average exploitation, I'm really surprised it's getting banned left and right. Yes, it's gonzo with its gore and sexual violence, but it would take a real freak to read it as titillating. And indeed, its very protagonist takes issue with its content, basically.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 24 August 2011 22:49 (twelve years ago) link
webcomic delivered!!!
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 25 August 2011 01:23 (twelve years ago) link
Cruising my way through the last few years of extreme, I was pretty let down by "Martyrs." It felt like it was adapted from a (very) short story and then padded out to feature length, glimmers of ambition countered by its bucket of bullshit. A lot of these French extreme directors (was this movement sent in motion by the goofy "High Tension?") just want attention to get to the US, though I admire the fact that the folks behind "Inside" (up next in my queue) opted not to go the American studio horror route, yet, though I did find it amusing that both they and the "Martyrs" guy were at one point attached to a remake of "Hellraiser."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 August 2011 11:42 (twelve years ago) link
I've debated this here a couple times, but for me claire denis' trouble every day was the initial french film to feature loving arthouse cinematography of blood drenched tableaux. tho it's missing the exploitation vibe of the fancy grindhouse fare that came later, it was a style marker pointing the way. I guess high tension was the first one to present the whole dubious package.
― hello I love you but I've chosen darkness my old friend (Edward III), Thursday, 25 August 2011 13:48 (twelve years ago) link
Not surprisingly, there is a wiki associated with this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_French_Extremity
Though reading this, I'd put Gasper Noe's "I Stand Alone" and maybe even something like "Baise-Moi" at the fore of this Euro "extreme" movement.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 August 2011 14:13 (twelve years ago) link
there is also an ilx thread iirc
― just sayin, Thursday, 25 August 2011 14:13 (twelve years ago) link
OK, Inside was just garbage. Makes Martyrs seem all the more ambitious.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 August 2011 16:15 (twelve years ago) link
should I saw the devil get its own thread y/n
― 4chap (cozen), Thursday, 25 August 2011 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
anybody see the scary moon movie or the del toro related remake yet? optimistic about the first one, reaaaaaal worried about the second one being awful
― dougie instructor (jjjusten), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
apollo 18 and dont be afraid of the dark, respectively, once i actually thought for a second
― dougie instructor (jjjusten), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 17:37 (twelve years ago) link
I am trying to figure out if you meant "The Orphanage" or "Don't Be Afraid Of Katie Holmes's 'Acting'"
xp: lol
― beemer douchebag (DJP), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
I initially thought you were talking about a movie and its remake, and was all "I don't think the moon has anything to do with DBAOTD or 'The Orphanage'"
― beemer douchebag (DJP), Wednesday, 31 August 2011 17:44 (twelve years ago) link
does anyone have any interest in doing a ballot style poll culled from this thread plus nominations now that we're at the end of 2010? i had this idea a few nights ago, but it was late and i was drunk so― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, December 15, 2010 11:13 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Did this never happen?
― Gus Van Sant's Gerry Blank (Eric H.), Friday, 9 September 2011 18:46 (twelve years ago) link
Also, Rubber not bad, but not very good either. Mostly just loved Jack Plotnick in it because I have a small crush on him.
― Gus Van Sant's Gerry Blank (Eric H.), Friday, 9 September 2011 18:47 (twelve years ago) link
Stake Land is also worth checking out.
"The Reef" is a good old fashioned shark film on netflix WI.
― Darin, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 05:57 (twelve years ago) link
still trying to decide if i think Insidious was ok or crap
― guh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 17:04 (twelve years ago) link
its kinda interesting in that it is a gore free horror flick which is super rare these days, and there were some pretty great "woman in the trapdoor in the haunting" style super creepout moments, but oof that last half hour and the general incomprehensible plot were rough. been a while since someone made a proper old school haunted house (yeah yeah i know) movie.
― guh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 17:07 (twelve years ago) link
you can always hang your hopes on DREAM HOUSE
― black metal version of "the boy with the thorn in his side" (Edward III), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 18:08 (twelve years ago) link
oh yeah that will suck
― guh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
Thought Insidious was pretty weak overall.
― michael assbender (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 18:11 (twelve years ago) link
dude who directed DREAM HOUSE has the weirdest filmog
2011 Dream House 2009 Brothers 2005 Get Rich or Die Tryin' 2002 In America 1997 The Boxer 1993 In the Name of the Father 1990 The Field 1989 My Left Foot
― black metal version of "the boy with the thorn in his side" (Edward III), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 18:12 (twelve years ago) link
I think it came out in 2004, but I really enjoyed A Tale of Two Sisters over the weekend.
― Darin, Wednesday, 21 September 2011 18:28 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i am a huge huge fan of tale of two sisters, its one of my favorites
that list does not inspire confidence in dream house
― guh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 18:34 (twelve years ago) link
insidious was pretty shitty but i have to give it a couple of points for good use of "tiptoe through the tulips"
― congratulations (n/a), Sunday, 25 September 2011 03:14 (twelve years ago) link
Wow, has anyone seen "S&Man?" It's on Netflix streaming right now. Sort of fucked up, but also sort of inspired, and worth seeing with no prior knowledge.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 October 2011 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
― babytown frolics (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, November 8, 2010 3:21 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Friday, 14 October 2011 20:38 (twelve years ago) link
There we go! Anyway, worth seeing! If everyone else wants to leave the room, I'm here to talk.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 October 2011 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
paranormal activity 2 seemed really good until it was over and i realized i didnt really like it at all - like scanning the images to try and see if anything is changing seems involving at the time but then you realize that the movie sucks
― American Horror Sorry (jjjusten), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
pontypool is now on instant watch netflix fyi. as is dreaded and surely terrible Red State
― American Horror Sorry (jjjusten), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
a kevin smith social commentary torture porn movie, how bad can that be
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 21:36 (twelve years ago) link
also <3 pontypool
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 21:38 (twelve years ago) link
I just read the plot of Red State
please don't watch it
― do not wake the dragon (DJP), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 22:27 (twelve years ago) link
ooh! I saw Slither over the weekend (is that post-2005)? That was amazing. Easily one of my most favorite relatively recent horror films. I laughed all the way through it.
― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 22:28 (twelve years ago) link
was super-happy to see the nods to Hennenlotter and Troma too
― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 22:29 (twelve years ago) link
I love Slither so so much. i think its fantastic.
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 22:34 (twelve years ago) link
I don't really seek out horror that much but I accidentally ended up watching Rubber the other day and I kind of enjoyed it.
― What does one wear to a summery execution? Linen? (Michael White), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link
I know rite? bummed that it bombed :(
― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link
Slither is super-clever.
I just finally "Monsters." Obviously, due to its premise it gets/got branded as horror, or neo-horror, or sci-fi or whatever, but I actually thought it a beautiful little movie. Sort of like "Before Sunrise" with giant alien octopi.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 October 2011 00:21 (twelve years ago) link
good description. not a great movie but interesting.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 20 October 2011 01:07 (twelve years ago) link
whoops i am a huge liar, pontypool is on comcast/xfinity/whatever the fuck instant viewing in HD, not netflix. sorry dudes
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Thursday, 20 October 2011 01:32 (twelve years ago) link
Tucker and Dale is great though - I'm shocked there was no attempt to make it a mainstream hit, as it's easily the best horror-comedy since Shaun of the Dead
― Simon H. Shit (Simon H.), Saturday, June 4, 2011 4:01 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark
^^ otm this was so much fun
― just sayin, Saturday, 22 October 2011 09:25 (twelve years ago) link
25 Best Horror Films of the Aughts
― encarta it (Gukbe), Monday, 24 October 2011 18:27 (twelve years ago) link
i've seen surprisingly few of those
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Monday, 24 October 2011 18:30 (twelve years ago) link
Seen all but five or six of those, and would also argue that five or six of those have no place on a list like that. Also lame that they include "Let Me In" and "Let the Right One In," both.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 October 2011 18:34 (twelve years ago) link
i think i'm gonna be okay living my whole life not seeing either human centipede or antichrist
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Monday, 24 October 2011 18:37 (twelve years ago) link
didnt realise halloween 2 was rated v highly?
― just sayin, Monday, 24 October 2011 18:38 (twelve years ago) link
I don't think it is in most circles
― do not wake the dragon (DJP), Monday, 24 October 2011 18:39 (twelve years ago) link
xxxxpost Pontypool is so fkin great. Do whatever it takes to see it.
Was sick over the weekend, so:
THE LAST EXORCISM - was really psyched to see this based on Ebert's description of it as an unironic, earnest, smart exorcism movie. It's on instawatch now. I loved the shit out of it til the last 10 minutes no no no why they do that?!?! Pretty cool minimal solo acoustic score by Nathan Barr who does the True Blood music.
THE FORGOTTEN - McNulty and the cop who masterminded Hamsterdam costarring in a dark sci-fi thing with Julianne Moore who remembers her babby but everyone else says there never was a babby? Basically an above-average episode of X-Files with one treasurable moment where a truly freaky special effect happens to Alfre Woodard.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 October 2011 18:50 (twelve years ago) link
Halloween 2 is terrible in conception and execution. Ever wonder why Michael Myers is the way he is? Me neither. "Human Centipede" is neither scary nor particularly gross, concept aside. It's less a horror movie than it is a horrible comedy; a least, its humorous bits are its best bits, not least because the not humorous bits are sort of darkly funny, too. "Antichrist" does not sit with my Von Trier antipathy. Misogyny couched as misanthropy is more banal than scary.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 October 2011 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
Hold on though, Brad Dourif has a pivotal role in Halloween 2? That's a major selling point for me...
That Top 25 list contains a lot of films for which I've never any praise before...
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 October 2011 19:57 (twelve years ago) link
I am down with 95% of that list i think!
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Monday, 24 October 2011 20:17 (twelve years ago) link
curious which films you havent seen praised, pretty much everything on there other than halloween 2 seems to be pretty solidly well regarded.
ok maybe not war of the worlds, but i thought that was surprisingly good, if not very rooted in horror imo
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Monday, 24 October 2011 20:19 (twelve years ago) link
I thought e.g. Strangers and Bug were p much disregarded?
(there's a lot on that list I haven't seen which is the only reason I'm askin')
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 October 2011 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
I am huge fan of the strangers, and bug has its moments, mostly thx to the weirdo dude thats in it being pretty captivatingly fucked up every moment throughout.
but oh man, the strangers is great, a must see
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Monday, 24 October 2011 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
its really the first american film thats really tried to tackle that whole ILS(them)/eden lake/funny games territory and gotten it almost 100% right. its fucking fantastic.
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Monday, 24 October 2011 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
a lot of stuff on that list I haven't seen (mostly the foreign entries - I'm rather apprehensive about Miike based on what I've read for ex) but that Halloween movie is fucking garbage.
― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 October 2011 20:28 (twelve years ago) link
Happy to see The Strangers, Bug, Inland Empire, and Inside. I find Pulse weirdly overrated. Don't get the HII love, at all.
Also, the two big Belgian shockers of the aughts (Calvaire, Ex-Drummer) are both better than any of the New French Horror flicks.
― Simon H., Monday, 24 October 2011 20:29 (twelve years ago) link
is Drag Me To Hell actually good? I gave up on Raimi a long time ago... been curious about Bug for awhile tho
― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 October 2011 20:29 (twelve years ago) link
It's loads of fun IMO. Also, least fortunate protag of the 00s.
― Simon H., Monday, 24 October 2011 20:38 (twelve years ago) link
I was glad to see both Let The Right One In and Let Me In on there. I watched them back to back on successive nights and thought the US version more than justified itself. The contrasts were super interesting to me.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 October 2011 20:42 (twelve years ago) link
I found the American one better than it could have been but still totally unnecessary, since the best bits were lifted directly from the other one.
Was Paranormal Activity on that list? Should have been.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 October 2011 21:54 (twelve years ago) link
watched insidious over the weekend- don't deny that it's pretty crap, but there were some v. effective scares and the score was hilariously (and also effectively) waaaay over the top. All in all a fun ghost movie w/ very little blood for those of us that can't swim in the same waters as the Mr. Hal Jams of the world.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 24 October 2011 22:10 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah I've been hearing good things about Insidious' music from film score freaks. Should check out.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 October 2011 22:19 (twelve years ago) link
There are a couple movies I wish hadn't made the list, but I'm pleased with it overall.
― michael assbender (Eric H.), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 00:42 (twelve years ago) link
wolf creek & the descent are def my fav two horror movies of the 00s
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 00:48 (twelve years ago) link
which ones dont you like eric (or is that a professional secret or whatever)?
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:04 (twelve years ago) link
To me, "The Descent" and "Wolf Creek" epitomize a trend divide between horror and the horrible (the latter not in the qualitative stuff, just that "Wolf Creek" isn't scary so much as unpleasant, though the build-up is strong). "The Descent" is one of those movies I'm glad I saw in the theater, in the dark, when I couldn't pause it.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:05 (twelve years ago) link
my list would def be different, but the only ones that really jump out at me from that one that are bad calls are history of violence as a not horror film (although an ok film otherwise) and house of the devil which is the most overrated wink wink style exercise ever. i know some of you dudes like it but that movie is a PIECE OF SHIT.
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:11 (twelve years ago) link
Mostly the ones I wish weren't on the list are the ones that stretch the definition of "horror" a little too far for my taste (this coming from someone who wanted Irreversible included). Mostly that means A History of Violence.
― michael assbender (Eric H.), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:13 (twelve years ago) link
xpost yep, tho I think AHoV isn't really a very good film apart from not being horror
― michael assbender (Eric H.), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:14 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, if something like History of Violence makes it, then Irreversible should be on there, too.
Loved "House of the Devil."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:14 (twelve years ago) link
I also would've put Let the Right One In and Let Me In in a single slot, even tho they're both valid entries on their own.
― michael assbender (Eric H.), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:15 (twelve years ago) link
i would include irreversible way before i'd include hov.
this is still a pretty good list, even if a large chunk of it makes me 0_o.
far less than even a dedicated horror site's list would make me 0_o though tbf.
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:18 (twelve years ago) link
man do i really have to get halloween II from netflix then? i was not expecting to have to bother with that one
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:19 (twelve years ago) link
stuff that would probably make my list, if i was making one
drag me to hellvisitor q (love that this is here)wolf creekmartyrsinland empire (love that this is here too)pulse
not that all the rest are crap by any means (though maybe 1/5th actually ARE crap).
xpost: JOHN, NO YOU DON'T.
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:22 (twelve years ago) link
I'll just say trust your instincts about Halloween 2 and leave it at that.
― michael assbender (Eric H.), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:24 (twelve years ago) link
i rubbernecked through the remake of the first one because i'm a masochist. two made me actively angry, rather than passively in a "well at least they haven't shit all over robocop in the 21st century yet" sort of way.
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:26 (twelve years ago) link
ok well then I am leaving Stake Land at the top of my queue because i am way more interested in that one
somehow managed to end up with symbiopsychotaxiplasm/exporting raymond sitting here at the house despite wanting to just be loaded up w/horror this week. dumb me.
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:28 (twelve years ago) link
i did send back the STUNNINGLY BAD sucker punch this morning tho after watching like 15 minutes of it
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:29 (twelve years ago) link
lol u watched 15 minutes of sucker punch
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:31 (twelve years ago) link
truth in advertising there
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:32 (twelve years ago) link
It was better than uh sky captain and the world of color correction I guess
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:34 (twelve years ago) link
lol i liked sucker punch. u gotta take it on its terms i think & have a strong tolerance 4 indie dance fuxxors jams from 2007
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:40 (twelve years ago) link
that's no way to talk about lords of acid
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:40 (twelve years ago) link
o wait im thinking of donkey punch nvr mind
Halloween II is dull and ugly.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:43 (twelve years ago) link
house of the devil which is the most overrated wink wink style exercise ever
eh? yeah, it's a style exercise, but it mostly refrains from any sort of LOL/winking-at-audience bullshit from what i remember.
― circa1916, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 02:01 (twelve years ago) link
Working title - House of the Devil: look at my Walkman for the 40th time.
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 02:37 (twelve years ago) link
I love how all the time wasting/filler in that movie is just like those VHS-designed horror flicks you rent when you're young and basing your decision on the box/title only to find little in the way of payoff. Except this movie was in on the joke, and the joke is that it takes itself totally seriously.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 03:00 (twelve years ago) link
Working title - House of the Devil: look at my Walkman for the 40th time
XD
― original bgm, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 03:47 (twelve years ago) link
just watched it last weekend and thought it was pretty bad. everything up to the last 15mins was super-tedious and then the climax was ineptly executed and fell flat.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 03:51 (twelve years ago) link
so annoying how pretty much every review of house of the devil talk abt what a SLOW BURN it is and how its so great at BUILDING TENSION and really its just super boring
― just sayin, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 10:32 (twelve years ago) link
Man, now I'm afraid to say I mostly liked Halloween II. Mostly. Could've cut way back on the Sherri Moon Zombie stuff, but the whole opening sequence was terrific and there was some almost-real pathos from Dourif.
― Food! Trends! Men! Hate! (Phil D.), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 11:02 (twelve years ago) link
I liked House of the Devil. Mary Woronov!!! I love her.
― tokyo rosemary, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 13:00 (twelve years ago) link
― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Monday, October 24, 2011 11:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― just sayin, Tuesday, October 25, 2011 6:32 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark
I watched it just last week too. I didn't know anything about it but found it on instant view. I thought the tension was pretty good but I agree with this entirely "the climax was ineptly executed and fell flat". I was sort of enjoying it up until the end and then I was like ._. that's it?! Thumbs down.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 13:37 (twelve years ago) link
― Threat Level: Panda (jjjusten), Monday, October 24, 2011 4:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
I loved The Strangers.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 13:43 (twelve years ago) link
After I watched it I read all about the real murders it was based on. Some creepy-ass shit right there.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 13:44 (twelve years ago) link
I watched it just last week too. I didn't know anything about it but found it on instant view. I thought the tension was pretty good but I agree with this entirely "the climax was ineptly executed and fell flat". I was sort of enjoying it up until the end and then I was like ._. that's it?!
That's what I love about it! It's all slooooowwww build, and then the payoff is both more or less exactly as promised by the title yet somehow much, much less. It's like a low-budget equivalent of "Suspiria" or something.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 13:47 (twelve years ago) link
I mean, the looooooooong time spent with her just killing time in the living room? Awesome.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 13:48 (twelve years ago) link
I thought the tension was pretty good but I agree with this entirely "the climax was ineptly executed and fell flat". I was sort of enjoying it up until the end and then I was like ._. that's it?! Thumbs down.
Did anyone have this exact same response to The Last Exorcism? I did. Still hoping to find out the last 10 minutes were added by a distibutor or something...
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 17:37 (twelve years ago) link
Don't think it's been mentioned on this thread, but has anyone else seen "Severance?" Not bad, funny but also effective.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 October 2011 15:15 (twelve years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Severance_poster.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 October 2011 15:16 (twelve years ago) link
Also, count me among the "Tucker and Dale" fans. It's a little padded out, but pretty smartly aware of its own silliness.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 October 2011 16:07 (twelve years ago) link
I haven't seen either of the last two. I think I'm going to watch "Them" tonight.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 17:31 (twelve years ago) link
"Them" is another good one to watch sans distractions, in the dark. No pausing.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 October 2011 17:32 (twelve years ago) link
Good to know.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
i thought i mentioned severance on here somewhere - i like it, if i was ever going to do my horror comedy rundown it would be the late in the night kinda nasty one to keep people awake at night. lots of fun.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 18:14 (twelve years ago) link
so pontypool was ok? i enjoyed some of it quite a bit. barely barely horror tho, which isnt a bad thing.
also curious about what enbb thought of Them
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 October 2011 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
pontypool is way horror! it's a zombie movie fer chrissakes! yeah it's thoughtful and it generates a lot of its horror off-screen, but it's tense, claustrophobic, nightmarish. the scene where the guy on the phone is succumbing to the plague is one of my favorite horror moments of the last few years.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/713_fi_x491_pontypool.jpg
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:13 (twelve years ago) link
x-post - I totally fell asleep and didn't watch it. Plan to tonight. I will let you know!
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:14 (twelve years ago) link
its a light hearted romp!
ok not really at all
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:15 (twelve years ago) link
Started S&Man last night. Got interrupted about 20 minutes in but wow. Can't wait to finish it.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:19 (twelve years ago) link
I liked Pontypool in a lot of ways, steven mchattie was fantastic, but its (to me) def a different kind of film draped in a lot of horror tropes. i didnt really ever feel any menace or scares at any point, but not because of any failing in the movie, i just dont think thats what the guy was really trying to do - and maybe because the concept itself was so intellectual and unreal? in other words, it felt like the makers knew that there was no believability to the scenario, so they presented it more as a thought experiment than anything with any real weight.
its hard for me to explain. and i definitely mostly liked it, although the ending was kinda the last nail in the wink wink nudge nudge coffin for me.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
btw anyone here watching american horror story at all? the first episode was a godawful worthless mess, but the second episode was much much better. i dont have a lot of confidence as a whole, but i am def enjoying it more than the walking dead as far as tv horror attempts go.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:23 (twelve years ago) link
that grimm thing on the other hand is all but guaranteed to be a complete shitshow
agree the ending of pontypool was a little eh (and I totally could've done without the post credits subsubsub-tarantino whatever that was) but I totally bought the conceit (zombies are kind of ridiculous anyway). they got the atmosphere right, the desolation of the setting creeped me out so I never felt at an intellectual remove from what was happening.
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:52 (twelve years ago) link
yeah actually the post credit thing was the only thing that i actively disliked about the movie.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:54 (twelve years ago) link
and there are def some spots that stuck with me that i dont want to get too specific about and spoilering - first driving moment and teakettle in particular stand out.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
yeah that opening in the snow is great - the movie's like a demonstration of how to be scary without showing anything at all
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Thursday, 27 October 2011 17:57 (twelve years ago) link
I'm watching american horror story. yeah the first episode was a mess. I get the feeling they were trying to condense about 5 episodes into one on the pilot. It's improved since then, but we'll see where it goes. Overall it's a pretty silly show, but I'm a silly person with low expectations when it comes to television horror.
― Darin, Thursday, 27 October 2011 18:37 (twelve years ago) link
Coincidentally (or not, given the time of year and all), my paper this week asked our local horror maven (she's an editor for Rue Morgue) for a guide to recent stuff that most people might be unaware of. So, here 'tis. I've seen very few of them. (Yes, it does have House of the Devil.)
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 28 October 2011 02:29 (twelve years ago) link
Cool - I need to track down Stake Land and I Sell the Dead.
― Darin, Friday, 28 October 2011 14:39 (twelve years ago) link
Man, the vast majority of those are not streaming on Netflix. If Netflix really wants its streaming service to supplant its DVDs, it needs to offer, like, every genre movie available to stream.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 October 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
Thats a pretty cool list, although I am not a fan of I sell the dead. A++++ choice on dog soldiers which everyone should see.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Friday, 28 October 2011 17:12 (twelve years ago) link
I'll let my mom know
― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Friday, 28 October 2011 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
Does she like dogs and/or soldiers?
― Food! Trends! Men! Hate! (Phil D.), Friday, 28 October 2011 17:25 (twelve years ago) link
she likes gentle period movies and romantic comedies and despises violence
― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Friday, 28 October 2011 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
Anyone see Lake Mungo? Any thoughts?
― emil.y, Friday, 28 October 2011 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
I thought Dog Soldiers was OK, but all I remember was people running around the woods willy-nilly being chased by werewolves.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 October 2011 19:39 (twelve years ago) link
i didnt like lake mungo at all, but lots of people did so ?
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Friday, 28 October 2011 20:07 (twelve years ago) link
Lake Mungo is great.
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 28 October 2011 20:10 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, i liked both lake mungo and dog soldiers
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Friday, 28 October 2011 20:44 (twelve years ago) link
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, October
Just watched it. I LOVED it.
It was 70 some odd minutes of me peeking through my hands and actually screaming out loud - twice. I never ever do either of those. I thought it was excellently done and was completely freaked out and engaged throughout the whole thing. When they got to the big reveal I was genuinely surprised and it upped the creepy factor by 10. Also - the noisemaker at the end - brilliant. It was so good.
Also, I liked that it was short. In general I think most movies should be 90 mins or less so I really appreciated that part.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
What should I watch on instantview next! Nothing foreign this time because I'm gonna be making stuff while I watch so I need to be able to look away from the screen now and then.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Saturday, 29 October 2011 20:48 (twelve years ago) link
The French dude was really hot too. That was also nice.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Saturday, 29 October 2011 20:55 (twelve years ago) link
A few decent non-foreign, newer horror movies currently streaming (or at least were recently):
Let Me InBlack DeathThe House of the DevilStuckTriangle
― Darin, Sunday, 30 October 2011 00:27 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah "House of the Devil" is the perfect choice to have play in the background, actually.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 30 October 2011 00:58 (twelve years ago) link
I love Stuck!
― Simon H., Sunday, 30 October 2011 01:26 (twelve years ago) link
I also love stuck.
However, if "the signal" is still available, give that a shot maybe.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Sunday, 30 October 2011 05:48 (twelve years ago) link
enbb, you ever tried lake placid?
― google sluething so hard right now (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 30 October 2011 18:30 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah The Signal is quite good - I could really go for a film-length exploration of the dark splatstick vibe of the middle segment.
― Simon H., Sunday, 30 October 2011 18:31 (twelve years ago) link
Nope, never seen lake placid.
The signal isn't available. Gonna go with Stuck - will report back.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Sunday, 30 October 2011 23:57 (twelve years ago) link
Oh hey another option would be "session 9" which is a great straight up spook out horror masterpiece.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Monday, 31 October 2011 01:52 (twelve years ago) link
yep.you would like placid. giant crocodile and betty white. Plus oliver platt!
― google sluething so hard right now (forksclovetofu), Monday, 31 October 2011 04:57 (twelve years ago) link
Just finished "stake land", and it was pretty damn good actually.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Monday, 31 October 2011 05:17 (twelve years ago) link
Hey, what do you know: "Trick R Treat" is pretty good fun!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 October 2011 14:11 (twelve years ago) link
(It does feature an unusual degree of cruel and serious child endangerment stuff, but hey, it's a horror movie)
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 October 2011 14:14 (twelve years ago) link
Stuck was good!
Will try another tonight. Maybe even TWO. O_O
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Monday, 31 October 2011 14:42 (twelve years ago) link
ugh jesus no.
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Monday, 31 October 2011 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
sometimes i worry about you people. </morbius>
Pontypool came up on Netflix Instant today. OT
― encarta it (Gukbe), Monday, 31 October 2011 15:11 (twelve years ago) link
Watched Dragged Me to Hell last night - it was allright, a little one note. definitely some good scares tho
― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 31 October 2011 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
Pontypool came up on Netflix Instant today.
sweet! been waiting for this!
― da croupier, Monday, 31 October 2011 15:35 (twelve years ago) link
Tellin' you, it's Halloween, so watch "Trick r Treat." Dunno why the studio dumped this one.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 October 2011 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
probably because ppl generally don't like movies that feature wholesale kid slaughter, esp. mentally handicapped kids
― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Monday, 31 October 2011 16:34 (twelve years ago) link
Hmm, that could be it.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 October 2011 16:41 (twelve years ago) link
Lake Mungo was on Netflix instant, found it to be quite a good ghost movie and actually pretty moving, but man, what a stinker of a title. I expected it to be about killer amphibians with a title like that. Also I finally watched Session 9--more creepy than scary, but artfully done. I don't think I liked it as much as some others here.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 31 October 2011 17:15 (twelve years ago) link
Pontypool is awesome so far ...
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 October 2011 17:16 (twelve years ago) link
Still don't like trick r treat. Also watched Antichrist last night and a) Lara Von trier can fuck off and b) people getting all O_O about the "staggeringly brutal violence" obv dont watch the stuff that I do
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Monday, 31 October 2011 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
OK, Pontypool is getting really silly about an hour in. Like, surreal-silly.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 October 2011 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
Not to go back to Trick r Treat, which seems to have its detractors, but I do find it interesting that a film (especially a relatively lighthearted one like this) should make one so uncomfortable (as it did me) simply by doing harm to kids, which, given the genre, is really modest in the shock scheme of things. I did like the en media rex vibe of the thing, and the near complete lack of explanations.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 October 2011 20:48 (twelve years ago) link
from what I know/remember, most horror movies bend over backwards to not harm the kids
― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Monday, 31 October 2011 20:50 (twelve years ago) link
I was going to give that a shot tonight but now you're worrying me.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Monday, 31 October 2011 21:07 (twelve years ago) link
it's nothing to get worried about, it's a pretty goofy movie. i'm with jjusten on this one though, didn't think it was that great. my issues with it had more to do with it being an omnibus of shorter stories loosely tied together, just didn't cohere for me. go for session 9 instead, one of the few genuinely scary movies i've seen recently.
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 31 October 2011 21:10 (twelve years ago) link
and with hardly any gore!
OK Session 9 sounds pretty great and it'll be the 4th mental institution themed movie I've watched this week.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Monday, 31 October 2011 22:23 (twelve years ago) link
Hopefully not The Ward. I'm a huge Carpenter fan, but even I knew better than the expect anything from this stinker. And still, it let me down!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 October 2011 22:47 (twelve years ago) link
Oh yes, that was one of them. lol.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Monday, 31 October 2011 22:48 (twelve years ago) link
so what were the other ones?
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 31 October 2011 23:43 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRNYqsMIbg0
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 00:08 (twelve years ago) link
That was scary!!
I realize that's the point but damn. Good choice.
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 03:37 (twelve years ago) link
Watched Lake Mungo yesterday. I liked it, though it wasn't particularly scary. Quite a tender little story.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 03:38 (twelve years ago) link
exactly
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 04:37 (twelve years ago) link
About to watch wilderness because I am falling behind on my streaming horror, will report back.
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 04:52 (twelve years ago) link
Well that was mediocre
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 06:36 (twelve years ago) link
Might be juuuust drunk enough to round out the night with the certain to be awful "red state"
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 06:42 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, it was unfairly plugged as a ghost story but it's almost purely about loss.
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 07:03 (twelve years ago) link
(mungo)
― Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 07:04 (twelve years ago) link
Pro tip: you can not get drunk enough to watch red state
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 08:09 (twelve years ago) link
Watched Pontypool last night. Interesting concept, but could of used a few more scares.
― Darin, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 12:52 (twelve years ago) link
watched "The Mist" last night, what a fucking great movie
― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 13:42 (twelve years ago) link
Did you see it in black and white? Much better in black and white.
Loved how Pontypool wasn't scary. It's sort of like "No Exit" by way of Ionesco. Dada existentialism.
"What we need is a flame thrower."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 14:07 (twelve years ago) link
No, we saw it in color.
I was impressed with how faithful it was to the novella (at least until the end, which WAU)
― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 14:11 (twelve years ago) link
See the black and white version. Not only do the effects port better, but that's how it was lit/directed, with B&W in mind.
Dan, you can find a fan-edit version of the ending somewhere which, I recall, was better.
Pontypool also works as a sort of sneaky allegory, too, for the French-Canadian separatist movement!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 14:14 (twelve years ago) link
I wasn't a huge fan but the mist in b&w >>>>> the mist in color
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 15:41 (twelve years ago) link
I didn't have a problem w/ the twilight zoney ending of The Mist... I mean they had to end it somehow considering that the novella didn't really have an ending.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 15:53 (twelve years ago) link
Thomas Jane's Maine accent totally threw me
― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
I spent about 5 minutes going... "Is he Dutch?"
― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 16:00 (twelve years ago) link
Just occurred to me how many from "The Mist" cast made it into "The Walking Dead." At least three, and no doubt they would have gotten Jane, too, had he not been hooked up to "Hung."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 16:07 (twelve years ago) link
HARDWARE NOW STREAMING ON NETFLIX FYI
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, 3 November 2011 01:33 (twelve years ago) link
red flag to the bull here.
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Thursday, 3 November 2011 01:42 (twelve years ago) link
ha well consider the author tho
― ride the dronosaur (jjjusten), Thursday, 3 November 2011 01:57 (twelve years ago) link
OK Session 9 sounds pretty great and it'll be the 4th mental institution themed movie I've watched this week.― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Monday, October 31, 2011 6:23 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark
― Juggy Brottleteen (ENBB), Monday, October 31, 2011 6:23 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark
s9 is creeeeeeeeeepy
― now they know how many holes it takes to fill buffandmaxsmom (Pillbox), Thursday, 3 November 2011 02:33 (twelve years ago) link
wait why do people like this Pontypool movie...?
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 3 November 2011 05:23 (twelve years ago) link
the lead guy is really good, but I dunno, the premise seems sort of overwrought
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 3 November 2011 05:24 (twelve years ago) link
As I pitched it to my friend, it's "No Exit" by way of Ionesco but also a metaphor for the perils of talk radio and also maybe the French-Canadian separatist movement and also the threat of language itself. Maybe. Would make an awesome play. It's scary and funny, but in an absurdist way that nonetheless takes itself seriously. I think it's wildly ambitious, not overwrought, and hovers on the cusp of so many Big Ideas that it's constantly engaging. Some may see that is a failure, but I loved its tonal and thematic ambiguity. Plus, it's very well acted and directed for what is in essence a three people in a room story.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 3 November 2011 12:05 (twelve years ago) link
it is well acted and directed (and looks great) I just feel like the underlying premise was sort of fleshed out in the wrong way
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 3 November 2011 15:26 (twelve years ago) link
I'm not so sure! It's pretty surreal. There's that bit where the doctor (who randomly enters via a window) is sitting in the booth, with headphones on, eagerly tossing back snacks as he watches the assistant go nuts on the other side of the glass. Or the fact that no one ever explains exactly what's going on, or the nature of the disease, or how it's spread. And then there's that absurdist black and white ending in the credits, which is just totally strange. Honesty, the movie really took me by surprise. I thought it one of the richest films I've seen in eons. The horror aspect was almost totally peripheral. It just added to the strangeness.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 3 November 2011 18:18 (twelve years ago) link
it is not a movie without flaws, but still worth recommending/seeing imo
reminded me of early cronenberg, not in tone or content, just in the way it presented some weird intellectual ideas on the horror/scifi spectrum while falling short of being a perfectly executed film, oh yeah and canada
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Thursday, 3 November 2011 18:26 (twelve years ago) link
Or the fact that no one ever explains exactly what's going on, or the nature of the disease, or how it's spread
yeah this is the real problem imho
early Cronenberg ref makes sense to me
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 3 November 2011 18:28 (twelve years ago) link
The original conceptualization for the movie was to have Burgess read the script with the wavering line being the only visual. Sydney's voice would be heard and Laurel Ann would only get a mention.
^ they should still make this version, it would cost $19.95 to produce
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Thursday, 3 November 2011 18:33 (twelve years ago) link
I don't get the Cronenberg comparison. Pontypool is so totally about language and communication, whereas Cronenberg is so much more ... physical. The fear, the terror, is real and immediate. Pontypool is a much odder bird; for being terrified, its protagonists follow pretty unpredictable emotional paths, exacerbated by how much they may or may not be affected by the symptoms of the spreading virus. And Pontypool does have all those aspects of outright absurdism, too. It's very intellectually engaged if somewhat obscure, but no more than, say, Bunuel's "Exterminating Angel."
It's sort of lost in the shuffle that the film takes place on Valentine's Day, too, which surely muddies up the themes even more. "Kill is kiss."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 3 November 2011 18:56 (twelve years ago) link
it's more in the execution - the cerebral presentation, the half-explained stuff, dabbling in horror but not really fully engaging with the genre imho
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 3 November 2011 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
Sure, I can see that. But I really do think the Ionesco comparison is pretty apt. I mean, at one point when the woman is listing words that have no meaning or whatever she does actually say "rhinoceros." And just as a convenient reminder, Wiki sums up Ionesco's play thusly: "Over the course of three acts, the inhabitants of a small, provincial French town turn into rhinoceroses; ultimately the only human who does not succumb to this mass metamorphosis is the central character, Bérenger, a flustered everyman figure who is often criticized throughout the play for his drinking and tardiness."
Sub in zombie for rhinos ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 3 November 2011 19:03 (twelve years ago) link
sub in zombie for rhinos, and you have Zombie Strippers, which wears its (unexpected) Ionesco influence proudly. Club Rhinoceros!
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 3 November 2011 21:58 (twelve years ago) link
Well, Zombie Strippers is certainly absurd ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 3 November 2011 22:50 (twelve years ago) link
TS: Theatre of the Absurd Vs Cinema of the Unsettling
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 4 November 2011 00:25 (twelve years ago) link
Bloody Disgusting had a pretty good list of the best horror films of the '00s. I got there looking up stuff about "Session 9," which was great until, inevitably, the resolution. Some good ones they remembered: http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/18403
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 4 November 2011 11:58 (twelve years ago) link
oh i forgot about frailty
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 4 November 2011 15:28 (twelve years ago) link
Just watched The Strangers - the tension at the start was handled brilliantly. Expected a bit more from the end, though.
Not sure how many other directors would hire Gemma Ward for a film and get her to wear a full-face mask for the duration. Would be interested in seeing the sequal.
― Mohombi Khush Hua (ShariVari), Sunday, 6 November 2011 11:06 (twelve years ago) link
Pontypool is fucking classic, josh in chicago otm
The Mist is the worst, remembering it and its connection to The Walking Dead kinda brings home some of the reasons i don't like that show
― some dude, Sunday, 6 November 2011 12:23 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I've never understood the love for The Mist. I like the premise, but the dialogue is so naff and the characters are all awful. The whole thing's weirdly amateurish as well.
― DavidM, Sunday, 6 November 2011 21:03 (twelve years ago) link
watched "The Shrine", interesting premise poorly executed, kind of a shame really.
― cannonball aderall (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 17:56 (twelve years ago) link
watched the Strangers last night. what a great set-up, I was totally sold on this movie for like the first hour. great use of music + Dennis from Always Sunny as obligatory sacrificial lamb. resolution was too anti-climactic tho, sorta fell down on the delivery imho.
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 17 November 2011 17:41 (twelve years ago) link
there's a sequel? why?
I think it was in development for a while, but I doubt it'll actually happen.
― Simon H., Thursday, 17 November 2011 17:43 (twelve years ago) link
The last i'd heard they'd started production but i'm not sure it is likely to see the light of day. It made a lot of money for a low-budget film so i can see why they'd want to turn it into a franchise. Can't imagine it having the same impact when you know what's coming, though.
― Mohombi Khush Hua (ShariVari), Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
it did have the charm of being a simple concept executed really well, which I always appreciate. but was definitely expecting more of a payoff.
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:18 (twelve years ago) link
I had the same feeling. I suppose there's a certain unexpected honestly / realism in the direction it took. It just wasn't very exciting or interesting to watch.
― Mohombi Khush Hua (ShariVari), Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
*honesty*
― Mohombi Khush Hua (ShariVari), Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
huh most of the reason i liked that movie was the chilling aspect of how not explosive the ending was, i dig the totally plain explanation and its way creepier than anything else they could have done imo
― janskin graft (jjjusten), Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:32 (twelve years ago) link
thats a tortured senctence/description, but i wanna avoid spoilering so itll have to do
*SPOILERS* *SPOILERS*
it's just that by the time they finally get around to killing the couple it's just ho-hum stabby stabby when they could have done that to them at pretty much any point in the film. they don't inflict any extra dosage of psychological terror or manipulation - there's no angle - they're just like "welp, sun's up guess we should stab them in the stomach now. yawn"
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:35 (twelve years ago) link
I like the premise, but the dialogue is so naff and the characters are all awful. The whole thing's weirdly amateurish as well.
stephen king iirc.
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:41 (twelve years ago) link
the tension created in the first section had already started to flag at a certain point when all the standing at a distance and then disappearing became too repetitive. i thought the movie was at its best when the female character was left alone in the house for the first time.
xpost re: the strangers
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 17 November 2011 19:43 (twelve years ago) link
totally. film needed to up the ante at a certain point to sustain the tension and it just didn't
― The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 17 November 2011 20:16 (twelve years ago) link
I read somewhere the strangers was supposed to have a much longer section at the end with the intruders interacting with the couple but they ran into issues - can't remember if it was budgetary or they just didn't like how it was turning out - seems like the ending was something thrown together to make due, and it plays that way too
agree it's an effective movie with a disappointing ending, ils (them) is extremely similar but handles the payoff much better imo
― the boy with the gorn at his side (Edward III), Thursday, 17 November 2011 20:43 (twelve years ago) link
been a dry dry last few months for horror movies huh? btw that exorcism thing that made piles of money is crap right?
― blurgh (jjjusten), Monday, 23 January 2012 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
Big piece in the NYTimes on Ti West and his new ghost movie "The Innkeepers."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 January 2012 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
It sucks.
― Simon H., Monday, 23 January 2012 17:04 (twelve years ago) link
saw that piece, movie sounds terrible
― “How you like that, Mr. Hitler!” (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 23 January 2012 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
Did either of you see/like the last one? Because I loved the last one, but some people think it "sucked" too.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 January 2012 18:01 (twelve years ago) link
Your talking about "house of the devil" right? I hated it but I think I was seriously in the minority on here.
― blurgh (jjjusten), Monday, 23 January 2012 18:13 (twelve years ago) link
i liked "house of the devil" a lot until the last 15 minutes or so.
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 23 January 2012 18:16 (twelve years ago) link
house of the devil is horrible crap. insidious too. can't imagine what people see in those movies.
have like six months of this thread to chew over...
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Monday, 23 January 2012 18:16 (twelve years ago) link
lol Harry Potter is gonna be in a horror movie
― Bam! Orgasm explosion in your facehole. (DJP), Monday, 23 January 2012 18:30 (twelve years ago) link
guys don't see apollo 18 it is awful. MOONROCKS. jesus.
― NZA, Monday, 23 January 2012 18:32 (twelve years ago) link
The Woman In Black actually looks...potentially good?
― Simon H., Monday, 23 January 2012 19:30 (twelve years ago) link
:( had high hopes for this based on the premise but this is the third random bad thing I've heard about it
― “How you like that, Mr. Hitler!” (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 23 January 2012 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
MOONROCKS oh wow! I think there was similar stuff in Track of the Moon Beast.
― Frobisher (Viceroy), Monday, 23 January 2012 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
yeah Apollo 18 was such a disappointment. Why does most sci-fi horror ended up disappointing?
― JacobSanders, Monday, 23 January 2012 20:09 (twelve years ago) link
not every movie can feature Satan making Sam Neill poke out his eyes
― Chaka Collar, lemme rock you (DJP), Monday, 23 January 2012 20:10 (twelve years ago) link
don't know if it's been mentioned but Lady In Black carries the Hammer imprimatur and after seeing the trailer (which looked pretty decent) it really seems like they're going after the classic Hammer vibe.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 23 January 2012 20:12 (twelve years ago) link
I dunno I just keep laughing at Harry Potter looking startled
Every time he looks out the window and gasps, in my mind I think he's seeing Dumbledore
― Chaka Collar, lemme rock you (DJP), Monday, 23 January 2012 20:13 (twelve years ago) link
SPOILER the woman in black is snape SPOILER
― NZA, Monday, 23 January 2012 20:14 (twelve years ago) link
most or all of these have already been mentioned but here are some recent fav horror movies:
martyrs - pretty brutal and compelling, the guy at the movie store was like "enjoy!...well...you probably won't exactly ENJOY it"insidious - it was dumb but fun and had a couple really crucial scares and the score is one of the best everall 3 paranormal activities - i don't think the blair witch comparison is fair in that none of these will cause motion sicknessteeth - this is an origin story I AM READY FOR TEETH 2: THE CUNTENING ALREADY
and not sure if it qualifies as a horror flick but MURDER PARTY...everyone should watch MURDER PARTY, it is gorey and hilarious and about the most fun i've ever had in front of a tv screen
― NZA, Monday, 23 January 2012 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
Teeth was filmed in a friend's house in Austin!
― JacobSanders, Monday, 23 January 2012 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
The Woman In Black might be interesting. I remember the 1989 version being really good - they captured the tone of the novel perfectly.
I keep forgetting Daniel Radcliffe is an adult. I though he'd be too young to play the lead, but maybe not.
― Mohombi Khush Hua (ShariVari), Monday, 23 January 2012 20:58 (twelve years ago) link
tempted by TEETH 2: THE CUNTENING as a dn
― this is funny u bitter dork (forksclovetofu), Monday, 23 January 2012 22:58 (twelve years ago) link
It was awesome. Quite cheaply done but very very effective. One scene in particular (I think you know the one I mean) gave me nightmares for years.
― Autumn Almanac (Schlafsack), Monday, 23 January 2012 23:13 (twelve years ago) link
I finally got around to watching "Insidious." All I really knew were the consistent complaints that it begins with real promise but goes off the rails halfway through, but I almost felt the complete opposite! I thought it started out pretty boilerplate but then turned into a riff/parody of "Poltergeist" by way of "Paranormal Activity." But especially "Poltergeist." Should have had the balls to play the OTT angle for laughs, I guess, but I've seen less enjoyable movies.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 20:09 (twelve years ago) link
It's not that I didn't have my complaints about Insidious, but I got enough outta it to make a second viewing mandatory. And finally a non-semi-ambient score for a horror flick, hallelujah.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 22:03 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, it's a pretty aggressive score.
I admit it's one of those movie where I sort of felt bad for the guys. Like, they had a quick idea, made a cheap movie fast, with some degree of ingenuity, then sort of fudged it until it was too late to turn back from a pretty rote idea that owes so much to "Poltergeist" (and its sequels!). But a rote idea with ingenuity is better than a simply rote idea!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
didn't get a sense of ingenuity from indisious, just of tedious rehash posing as fond tribute. so much lifted from poltergeist and paranormal activity, but nowhere near as scary or enjoyable as either of those. a great score, one unforgettable jump scare, one nice netherworldly set piece, and a splendid villain's lair didn't add up to a watchable movie, imo.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 23:59 (twelve years ago) link
but i hate fun, so what do i know?
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 00:00 (twelve years ago) link
Maybe i was just in a great mood that night, who knows?
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 00:37 (twelve years ago) link
I thought the ingenuity was all technical, not the storytelling. Just creative camera placement and stuff is what I meant.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 00:49 (twelve years ago) link
Catch-up post:
Appreciated I Saw the Devil, but didn't love it. It's slick in a good way, like good Spielberg, and suspenseful as hell, no complaints on a technical level. I very much enjoyed the unexpected comic touches but thought it got lost in the obvious relish with which it presents its antagonist's misdeeds. The hero's story became a background detail for much of the film, and the sleazy presentation of rape and abuse eventually turned me off. A good film, overall, but it can't hold a candle to Memories of Murder (since jjjusten made the comparison).
Rewatched A Tale of Two Sisters to prep for I Saw the Devil and liked it even more than I did the first time around. Insubstantial but extremely well put together: solid performances, stylish visuals, impeccable suspense engineering, and a satisfying central mystery.
I may have mentioned this upthread, but I didn't at all care for Martyrs. Boring and pointless. Inside is marginally better, but when it comes to the “New French Extremity”, I'll take Trouble Every Day or Calvaire (Belgian extremity, I know).
Pontypool is GREAT. Showed it to a friend of mine a few months back, and like A Tale of Two Sister, it holds up just fine on a second pass. Love the ideas, ambition and execution. The Dogville of zombie movies.
Red State is hideous, one of the ugliest movies I've seen in quite a while, but I can't call it unoriginal or insubstantial. Takes big risks, some of which pay off, but the sexual politics are just revolting.
Monsters is okay, but vanishingly slight and full of story holes that undermined my immersion in the story.
Tucker and Dale is funny and endearing. Wasn't blown away.
Had a great time wrestling with and dissecting Antichrist, but it's not one of my favorite Von Trier flicks. Smart, visually spectacular and symbolicially dense, but also a bit of a chore.
Josh in Chicago OTM re: the "trend divide between horror and the horrible" in contemporary scary movies. Not so down with cruel, ostensibly realistic thrillers that exploit the horrible (Wolf Creek and Eden Lake for example). I tend to think of such stuff endurance or survival horror, as those descriptions cast a wider net than "torture porn" and aren't so divisively judgmental.
Didn't care for Black Death. Spent too much of its time heroicizing the faith of the brutal Christian witch-hunters and demonizing the haunted pagans for my taste (even if the epilogue subverts everything that came before).
Love Trick R Treat! Last segment is a bit of a letdown, but I was totally on board for everything up to that point. My favorite horror anthology this side of Creepshow.
Have doubts about anyone who enjoyed The Mist.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 01:23 (twelve years ago) link
Didn't really feel like starting a new thread about it, but parts of Joe Carnahan's The Grey were scarier than any recent horror flick I've seen, though it doesn't qualify as horror per se. A really nice surprise.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 25 January 2012 01:37 (twelve years ago) link
Was JUST about to post in this thread in support of the horrorish undertones of The Grey!
― dead-trius (Eric H.), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 04:06 (twelve years ago) link
It's a horror movie maybe in a Bergman "silence of God" type way, but it's probably more a disaster movie than either. Still, the most singularly upsetting thing I've seen in mainstream release in a long while.
― dead-trius (Eric H.), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 04:07 (twelve years ago) link
Ok so that's one to add to the watch list, was curious about it already.
― blurgh (jjjusten), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 04:10 (twelve years ago) link
'insidious' is just sort of nothing, i think, like its the sort of movie that fills time w/o really requiring much of the viewer or leaving any impression
― # (Lamp), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 04:11 (twelve years ago) link
Is "Attack the Block" horror? It's pretty fun.
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 04:13 (twelve years ago) link
xxpost Really misleading trailer, tho
― dead-trius (Eric H.), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 04:13 (twelve years ago) link
attack the block is not horror. kidstyle sci-fi action, imo. it's way fun.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 07:36 (twelve years ago) link
lol Eric, great minds. It's amazing how much would-be-hokey material you can pull off when you effectively dial up intensity.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 25 January 2012 07:51 (twelve years ago) link
Slightly off-topic but I read The Woman in Black tonight, in one sitting. incredible book.
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 11:11 (twelve years ago) link
i'm not necessarily arguing "attack the block" is horror but it's barely sci-fi. if they just called the creatures "monsters" instead of "aliens" it would be hard to classify it as sci-fi. either way, i really enjoyed it and think a lot of the horror fans would like it too (though it's nowhere near as gory as most of these movies, some blood/gore but not a lot).
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 14:50 (twelve years ago) link
I enjoyed Attack the Block, but think it's massively overrated. Like Tucker and Dale, it's sort of a slightly different take on the same ol', albeit tonally the two couldn't be more dissimilar.
Still amazed that Martyrs has gotten as much OMG mileage as it has. I thought the movie was padded out to the point of absurdity, and silly to boot. Though I suppose that is better than Insides, which is just ridiculous on so many different levels.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 15:21 (twelve years ago) link
well, though they both clearly aim to entertain a broad audience, attack the block is more thematically substantial than tucker and dale. it's also more ambitious and takes bigger risks. none of that necessarily makes it the better film, but i got more out of it.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 15:58 (twelve years ago) link
I really want to see The Grey! I have a irrational fear of wild animals especially dogs of any kind.There are wild dogs that roam the woods behind my mother's house and at night you can hear them howling. They have bred with the coyotes and now they look like wolves. No one really knows what they are at this point.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:10 (twelve years ago) link
just saw a trailer for silent house, a remake of a uruguayan film that looks like a mashup of ils and russian ark, starring the olsen twins younger sister
― the star of many snuff films (Edward III), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:19 (twelve years ago) link
also watched the six degrees of hell trailer which has one of the creepiest taglines in recent memory: "Corey Feldman is back"
― the star of many snuff films (Edward III), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
If you really want a Corey Feldman horror flick, seek out The Birthday.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:51 (twelve years ago) link
Or even if you don't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfx7XEEixA
― Simon H., Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:54 (twelve years ago) link
― JacobSanders
wow it's like some awesome uruk-hai of dogs
― omar little, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:56 (twelve years ago) link
At least one overeager animal-rights fellow got annoyed w/ my review; I can only imagine the onslaught Ebert is gonna inspire w/ his not-so-lupine-friendly writeup.
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 07:04 (twelve years ago) link
ok, my ctrl-f isn't working, so apologies if I:ve street-teamed for this before on this thread, but I finally got around to seeing Absentia recently and it was an excellent scrappy indie horror movie. A friend of mine from middle-school made it with her husband and I kept watching their updates from the horror festival circuit last year, where it did fairly well. Anyway, it's available On Demand through a bunch of cable providers and will be on dvd in March. Sorry for steetteaming, but this is also an honest recommendation.
― put a boner at the top of the site (beachville), Thursday, 26 January 2012 10:58 (twelve years ago) link
― omar little, Wednesday, January 25, 2012 5:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
as in "dreadlocked, easily decapitated"
― fuckhead (latebloomer), Thursday, 26 January 2012 11:56 (twelve years ago) link
It'd be funny if every decapitation in a horror film took several whacks and completely interrupted the flow of the film. Every "Friday the 13th" film would be 30 minutes longer.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 12:44 (twelve years ago) link
hahaha if jason was really serious about his business he'd be carrying a guillotine around with him
― fuckhead (latebloomer), Thursday, 26 January 2012 12:59 (twelve years ago) link
sorry contendo, but i i don't think i can trust your opinion on horror anymore. Martyrs is the new euro extremity to beat, so fucking brutal and disturbing (admittedly, unfortunately, the very last scene sucked.) Inside is a complete joke. Calvaire was okay, but not operating on the same plane as Martyrs at all, it had some great bizarre visuals, but no tension. still need to see Trouble Every Day.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 26 January 2012 19:26 (twelve years ago) link
sorry contendo, but i i don't think i can trust your opinion on horror anymore.
yeah I draw the line at breathless enthusiasm for Pontypool
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 19:29 (twelve years ago) link
i am down with martyrs and inside, i dont really seem them in opposition at all.
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 19:36 (twelve years ago) link
Then you draw the line at ME shakey!
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 January 2012 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
sorry. I was really into Pontypool's first 20 minutes or so, but the it's central concept proved too slippery and elastic to sustain the film. I appreciate what it was trying to do, but it failed imho.
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
sorry contendo, but i i don't think i can trust your opinion on horror anymore. Martyrs is the new euro extremity to beat, so fucking brutal and disturbing
that's cool. "brutal and disturbing" is hardly a plus in my book, whether we're talking about horror movies or heavy metal.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Thursday, 26 January 2012 19:57 (twelve years ago) link
Pontypool is so awesome. I'd see that shit on stage.
Martyrs ... I mean, come on. It's like three different movies at once, each pretty intellectually facile.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:00 (twelve years ago) link
know what's intellectually facile, your mom
― the star of many snuff films (Edward III), Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:01 (twelve years ago) link
was Pontypool a play first? seems more like a book-based thing.
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:02 (twelve years ago) link
I think it was a book first, but it really would make a great play.
xpost Hah, my parents are both doctors, and whenever they saw me watching gory horror movies they'd always explain just how fake the effects were! Still had nightmares as a kid ... hmm, I wonder if anyone ever has nightmares with bad special effects? Like they're being chased by really fake looking werewolves?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:09 (twelve years ago) link
i get that pontypool isn't for everyone, but i love both the ideas and the execution (screenplay, performances, photography, editing and sound design). ken loney's description of the zombie attack is one of the most horrifying, surreal and gripping moments of carnage in modern horror, all the more impressive for the fact that it consists of nothing but words and reaction shots. pontypool does get a little thematically heavy-handed in its final scenes, but up to that point, i have no complaints.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:09 (twelve years ago) link
and yeah, it'd make a great play
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:10 (twelve years ago) link
I like a lot of aspects of it - it's minimalism, the lead actors are really good, the sound design is great, the concept is interesting - but the sloppy explication of what is actually going on in the film as it drags on just really killed it for me. in the end it's hobbled by it's own "two (sometimes three) people in a room talking". it needed some kind of reveal/explanation that just never comes.
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:12 (twelve years ago) link
own "two (sometimes three) people in a room talking" premise
that should say
i was satisfied by the explanation. words become infected. good enough for me. doesn't seem any more unreasonable than ghosts, demons or magical whatever. i prefer horror with fantastical/unexplained/symbolic elements to stuff that attempts to be realistic & convincing.
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:17 (twelve years ago) link
you know, generally speaking
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
Calvaire = Trouble Every Day > Inside >>>>> Martyrs = High Tension
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 20:23 (twelve years ago) link
and La Meute way below even those
i actually liked Pontypool a lot. i found it more creepy than horrifying, but that's okay.
i'll never get what people like about Inside, i thought it just fell flat on its face. its been a while since i saw it, but i remember my disbelief not being suspended whatsoever.
i have no idea what this is supposed to mean:
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:17 (twelve years ago) link
Well - umm spoilers - there's the first movie, where the girl escapes and they try to figure out what happened to her. Then there's the other movie about the girl being haunted/attacked by her demonic alter ego. And then there's the third movie, where the other girl is being tortured as part of some vague theological experiment. None are satisfying beyond the most, yes, facile dorm room parsing. Seemed totally padded out to fill a feature-length run time, which is how I feel about most torture porn - pretentious, silly or both.
In other words, yeah, HIgh Tension both raised and lowered the bar in one fell swoop.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:56 (twelve years ago) link
Basically, Ponypool is so rich in metaphor (which I'm sure I noted upthread), but Martyrs (and Insides, for that matter) is so literal minded it's totally gormless.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:00 (twelve years ago) link
Sorry, Pontypool.
see, I at least had fun w/ Inside as an over-the-top psycho gorefest; it felt much more modest than Martyrs, much to its credit.
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
I can barely remember it (which is why I consider it vastly inferior to the already stupid Martyrs), but I think I recall finding it enjoyable in a OTT way UNTIL the policeman comes back as a zombie, and then I realized how much the filmmakers were just spinning their wheels. I was glad to hear the CGI baby inserts were allegedly done without their permission, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:09 (twelve years ago) link
oh man cop coming back as a "zombie" is one of the coolest things about that movie, its a very sly trick and tip of the hat.
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:14 (twelve years ago) link
also im sorry but theres a million miles more legit depth to martyrs than pontypool, pontypool just wears "look at me i am thinking" right on its surface but thats all there is.
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:15 (twelve years ago) link
nah.
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:17 (twelve years ago) link
A million miles? Really?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:18 (twelve years ago) link
Legit depth?
I like Pontypool a lot, but then I'm a tremendous sucker for homegrown (Cdn.), well-executed high-concept genre stuff.
Speaking of which, anyone but me seen this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flz5_JDGI3Q
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:19 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEUQUFvuV6I=Martyrs
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:20 (twelve years ago) link
so pontypool is about words acting as a virus because why? who knows? and then 90 minutes of movie happens and we learn nothing at all. its an empty movie wrapped up in an attempt to look smart while saying and signifying nothing at all.
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:21 (twelve years ago) link
whoops, that was a misleading clip. it's not a cheap-looking period piece, it's about LARPing gone wrong. xxp
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:22 (twelve years ago) link
Who says Pontypool is "about" anything?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:23 (twelve years ago) link
so pontypool is about words acting as a virus because why? who knows? and then 90 minutes of movie happens and we learn nothing at all.
^^^this
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:23 (twelve years ago) link
never heard of Martyrs before, now I'm curious
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:24 (twelve years ago) link
re: Pontypool, I've always taken it as principally being about french-english relations in Canada, or just cultural/linguistic hegemony in general if you like.
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
Personally, I still think Pontypool is a metaphor for Quebecois independence, which is at least partly about language. Simon, you're Canadian, what do you think?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
I understood that going in but that didn't make it a better movie. the movie was still 2/3rds two people sitting in a room making up explanations for things
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:27 (twelve years ago) link
i do enjoy that this is a showdown between canadian horror films
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:29 (twelve years ago) link
well not inside i dont think, but the main contenders
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:30 (twelve years ago) link
I feel kind of weird about 'it thinks it's smart' as a dismissal? So it overreaches itself a bit, big deal! I like a thinkin' mess!
Oooh oooh I need opinions on The Wild Hunt! How izzit?
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:33 (twelve years ago) link
eh i dont think it thinks its smart as much as it really really wants us to think its smart. i was thinking of reading the book to see if it just got fucked up in transition actually
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
I think Pontypool could have been less vague but maybe the concept would have completely fallen apart with closer inspection. I doubt it tho cause I will accept pretty lamebrained explanations for things in horror movies.
― Frobisher (Viceroy), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:37 (twelve years ago) link
The Wild Hunt might be my fave QC flick of the last few years - funny, genre-defying, and surprisingly rousing. Only real flaw is the writing of the "queen" / girlfriend character, really underdeveloped.
And yeah Josh I definitely read it that way too, at least in part.
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:39 (twelve years ago) link
I will accept pretty lamebrained explanations for things in horror movies.
yeah so will I! Instead we get ... nothing. we get the half-guesses (which turn out to be correct, for no apparent reason?) of the two main characters and that's it.
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:41 (twelve years ago) link
I like that bit in Dawn of the Dead when the zombies hold up a sale banner that's been painted over with IT'S ABOUT CONSUMERISM in bloody letters.
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:44 (twelve years ago) link
I'm not saying the film should've been more obvious about it's subject matter. it was plenty obvious!
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:48 (twelve years ago) link
tbh a lot of this is handwaving from me because the central problem with pontypool is that it is scary exactly once, and that happens in the first 10 minutes of the movie.
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:49 (twelve years ago) link
Why are you all convinced Pontypool explains itself? The main characters have no idea what's going on, and the addition of that language expert just makes it all the more surreal.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:53 (twelve years ago) link
because by the end they're babbling to each other about what they need to say (and how) in order to save themselves etc.
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:55 (twelve years ago) link
like they have no idea what's going on, but then they talk about it enough to convince themselves of various courses of action
actually the only thing that could make me more irritable would be if the 80 minutes spent parsing what was happening was just a red herring because then what the fuck is the point at all
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:57 (twelve years ago) link
and the presence of the language expert just makes this all the more irritating! it's like the film introduces a character that should explain stuff and then he doesn't, rendering the character's appearance fairly pointless.
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:57 (twelve years ago) link
i do have a proposal that would bring unity back to this thread but it would require you all to watch Red State and that is a bridge too far imo
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:59 (twelve years ago) link
xpost The movie does not end with them babbling! The movie ends with them in a highly stylized bar, in black and white, continuing the surreal streak.
Exactly! It's hilarious. At one point the language expert is literally tossing back popcorn, fascinated, while everyone argues!
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:00 (twelve years ago) link
Once again, I bring up Ionesco. Particularly "Rhinocerus,"
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:01 (twelve years ago) link
oh see i was giving the movie credit by ignoring the weird natural born killers second ending as something stupid the producers forced them to tack on
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:02 (twelve years ago) link
xpost only spelled correctly, sorry
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:02 (twelve years ago) link
There's an alternate ending?
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:03 (twelve years ago) link
I must have fast-forwarded through and/or completely forgotten this "second ending"
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:03 (twelve years ago) link
its a post credit or partial credit ending
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:03 (twelve years ago) link
yeah I missed that
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:04 (twelve years ago) link
One online take:
"Grant's final speech creates a new reality into which they escape from the bombing - 'a new place, that isn't even there yet'. As he talks, he continues to bring it into existence - the colour saturates. The doctor sets this up earlier in the film when he says the disease could result in reality itself changing. 'The word is the world.'"
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:05 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfNYh4OfE_I
Fuck! Me and the people I watched it with shut it off during the credits. Not reading Josh's last post! Watching the end on NF tonight!
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:06 (twelve years ago) link
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:07 (twelve years ago) link
geez that almost makes the movie worse imho
― Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:09 (twelve years ago) link
oh you sound so excited and you are going to be so bummed out xpost
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:10 (twelve years ago) link
Hrmph. Josh-- am i better off not watching the easter egg ending?
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:13 (twelve years ago) link
Pontypool is based on Tony Burgess' novel Pontypool Changes Everything. Burgess adapted the material for the screen himself. According to McDonald, the writer hashed out a script in 48 hours.
gee i would never have guessed
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:14 (twelve years ago) link
ok sorry i am starting to be a dick about this and i will quit it.
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:15 (twelve years ago) link
xpost It doesn't make much of diff., to be honest. Just saying it underscores that there's more going on here than the central "what is going on?" mystery. Like, if you hate the film, it doesn't make it better. If you liked the film, you might like it less. If you thought it was a really fascinating, intelligent, surreal horror metaphor for all sorts of things, like me, then it helps make it great.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:16 (twelve years ago) link
It's cool to be a dick about this, btw! The movie is def. divisive.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:17 (twelve years ago) link
It's cool to be a dick about this, btw!
new borad descrption
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:33 (twelve years ago) link
frankly even if I thought the movie didn't effectively evoke any number of themes (which I think it does), it would mostly get by on McHattie's voice.
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 January 2012 23:44 (twelve years ago) link
Hah I def. did not know about the second ending either! Now I have to watch this again or at least the last third...
― Frobisher (Viceroy), Friday, 27 January 2012 00:08 (twelve years ago) link
the only part that actually felt separate from the main arc of the story is the tacked on ending, which really did a disservice to the whole thing by trying to give some pretentious explanation. but the rest of your commentary just tells me that we have vastly different expectations of horror films, nothing really to argue about there.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, 27 January 2012 01:26 (twelve years ago) link
loved the ending of martyrs, loved everything about it. pontypool's good too. feel like there was a good run of horror movies at the end of the decade, but things have petered out, especially if we're still arguing about martyrs and pontypool.
― the star of many snuff films (Edward III), Friday, 27 January 2012 02:33 (twelve years ago) link
Well, I will say in both those cases there's at least a little bit to chew on, like them or not. Since then it's been pretty much all ghost stories and vampires.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 January 2012 03:49 (twelve years ago) link
anyone but me see The Woman?
― Simon H., Friday, 27 January 2012 05:54 (twelve years ago) link
― blurgh (jjjusten), Thursday, January 26, 2012 2:21 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
well, it's obviously open to interpretation, but i think pontypool is about the relationship of language to violence. the disease it examines is not an absurd linguistic virus, but rather the human propensity for inciting warlike, tribal conflict. the film literalizes the ability of spoken words to create realities in which collective violence becomes possible. the protagonist's big rant at the end makes this point very clear: wars are conjured by what we tell each other and by what we choose to make of what we're told. it's no coincidence that the main characters are newscasters, keepers, creators and narrators of the collective social truth.
treating warlike thought as a communicable disease and locating its outbreak in a small, seemingly insignificant town highlights its sickening, pointless absurdity. pontypool transforms the "ordinary" cinematic spectacle of war into something not-normal, something ridiculous, horrible and profoundly alien. the words and ideas that enable violence become the monster, the invader, the thing from out there that threatens the in here. this interpretation helps make sense of the WWII=related words and phrases the zombies often repeat ("u-boat", etc).
the only scene in the movie that breaks the characters-on-a-stage framing is a long, dispassionate rundown of victims and assailants. it's a twilight zone inversion of something we're all familiar with: the solemn recitation of the names of the heroic fallen as presented on the nightly news. but where the sense-making agenda of a newscast makes such accountings seem somehow reasonable, pontypool insists on the tragic, pointless stupidity of loss. what is war, after all, but a cancer of the collective mind?
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Friday, 27 January 2012 07:06 (twelve years ago) link
^ probably should have read that one over first
― his hands are a dirty fountain through which lives spurt (contenderizer), Friday, 27 January 2012 07:09 (twelve years ago) link
I like what you wrote right there. What scared me about Pontypool was the doubt the characters felt, unsure if they were insane or not. And if even trying to stop whatever 'it' is will also be going insane.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 27 January 2012 08:10 (twelve years ago) link
Insanity in horror terrifies me when it's done well, not the over-abused main character is actually insane and killed them. But when insanity is more like a contagious germ, that's what scared me about pontypool.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 27 January 2012 08:14 (twelve years ago) link
Y'all keep neglecting to mention that Pontypool is also frequently hilarious, on purpose.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 January 2012 12:52 (twelve years ago) link
But, yeah, the contagious insanity aspect works so well because the acting in this movie is awesome and convincing, even while dancing around such stylized, deliberate, Mamet-precise dialog.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 January 2012 12:55 (twelve years ago) link
i assumed the virus in pontypool was intended as a means of genocide against english-speaking, i mean, they even literally used the word genocide to describe what was happening, and not some random happenstance.
― hhhhhh Bill I juste like ertronic thinges (NZA), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
english-speaking canadians doh
― hhhhhh Bill I juste like ertronic thinges (NZA), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 20:19 (twelve years ago) link
oh! i watched frozen last week...it was a very good idea, but i think if you're going to build a movie's tension around the survival of three characters stuck on a ski-lift, you need to not spend the first 10 minutes making the audience hate them for being fratty douchebags.
― hhhhhh Bill I juste like ertronic thinges (NZA), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 20:44 (twelve years ago) link
so i finally got around to watching quarantine 2 and although it is not nearly as bad as i expected, that doesnt mean that it isnt total crap. pretty much confirms my idea that balaguero (bet i spelled that wrong) had one good script and one bad one, kept the good one for rec 2 and cashed in on the reject by selling it to the idiots who made Q2
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Wednesday, 8 February 2012 19:42 (twelve years ago) link
watched Atrocious yesterday (not an auspicious name for a movie but eh spanish dudes so who knows) and it was ok? mainly because it was short, but pretty well acted - be warned, yep, its yet another of the 10 bagazillion shakeycam horrors out there, but the pacing was kinda well done and it didnt overstay its welcome at 70 minutes or so. you could def do much much worse on streaming netflix, but thats not exactly a ringing endorsement, so
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Wednesday, 15 February 2012 21:59 (twelve years ago) link
My last street-team on this topic, I swear. Absentia is available through a shit-ton of cable providers as well as through iTunes and a couple of other places. I don't watch a shit-ton of horror movies, but I don't scare easily. For whatever reason, maybe because it was good, this one did it for me. Spent a few minutes just grabbing my wife's arm muttering "Fffffuuuuuuuuuck".
― getting good with gulags (beachville), Thursday, 16 February 2012 00:23 (twelve years ago) link
Absentia is good, yeah. Optimal use of an insanely meagre budget. Surprised there aren't way more horror flicks themed around missing persons.
― Simon H., Thursday, 16 February 2012 00:26 (twelve years ago) link
huh i dont know that one at all, will try to track it down.
btw as a long time supporter of the hostel movies (2 esp) i just saw the trailer for direct to video hostel 3 and hoo boy i can not imagine how fucking pissed eli roth must be about that thing.
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Thursday, 16 February 2012 00:29 (twelve years ago) link
Absentia scared both T and I!
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 16 February 2012 00:45 (twelve years ago) link
I tried to watch "Tokyo Gore Police," which isn't really horror, I guess, but does feature some horrific low-budget effects. I admire its moxie, but was mostly bored, even as giant mutant phalli were firing bullets and a woman's torso turned into alligator jaws, after she had bitten off a dude's manhood.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 February 2012 00:47 (twelve years ago) link
ugh, I hate that guy's stuff.
― Simon H., Thursday, 16 February 2012 00:50 (twelve years ago) link
Nishimura, that is.
― Simon H., Thursday, 16 February 2012 00:52 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I hate that stuff too
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Thursday, 16 February 2012 01:52 (twelve years ago) link
you know why I generally hate horror films? bcz ppl judge them by how SCARY they are. What the fuck is entertaining about being scared? Same thing with motherfucking rollercoasters. Worst shit in the world. I don't want to be scared once the rest of my motherfucking life, I'll sign up for that ahead of having one good orgasm.
THIS IS SINCERE
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 February 2012 02:04 (twelve years ago) link
understand why people don't like nishimura, but i did enjoy tokyo gore police. cheap, inventive, fun, funny. wasn't bored for a minute, but mileage clearly varies.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Thursday, 16 February 2012 02:11 (twelve years ago) link
slipping on horror flix myself. last week, i watched some wretched thing i got from the library called stake land it was wretched.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Thursday, 16 February 2012 02:13 (twelve years ago) link
Huh. I had heard good things about Stake Land.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 February 2012 03:13 (twelve years ago) link
no mention of sion sono's cold fish in here, anyone seen it?
― I GUESS THAT CINNABON GETTIN EATEN (Edward III), Thursday, 16 February 2012 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
i watched tokyo gore police on halloween while eating pizza, it was pretty stomach-turning. not really my kind of horror.
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 16 February 2012 19:24 (twelve years ago) link
Jesus christ watch A Serbian Movie last night, and I want my innocence back.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 17 February 2012 19:01 (twelve years ago) link
no sympathy
― (thinks and smiles) (DJP), Friday, 17 February 2012 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
you know why I generally hate horror films? bcz ppl judge them by how SCARY they are.
you realize this flat out admits that what other people think of what's on the screen is more important to you than what's on the screen.
― da croupier, Friday, 17 February 2012 19:29 (twelve years ago) link
I watch horror for many reasons one of them is I like being frightened, also I like being challenged by what I'm watching.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 17 February 2012 19:33 (twelve years ago) link
I just checked an indiana jones thread to see if morbz hated temple of doom (which has horror AND rollercoasters) and he just said all the films can't hold a torch to Thief Of Bagdhad so fair enough.
― da croupier, Friday, 17 February 2012 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, Serbian Film is so ridiculously vile that I can't feel bad for having seen it. Coulda been worse.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 17 February 2012 19:45 (twelve years ago) link
How could it have been worse?? Serious question.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 17 February 2012 19:46 (twelve years ago) link
It would have been a worse experience if it had been better made. For me, it was just so ham-fisted, obviously and cheaply symbolic and crappily produced that it didn't have much effect on me other than to be a little grossed-out by filmmakers' apparent hierarchy of deviance as evidenced by the chronology (120 days of sodom style) -- which is truly fucked is baby rape is in the MIDDLE.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 17 February 2012 19:59 (twelve years ago) link
nobody puts baby rape in the middle
― johnny crunch, Friday, 17 February 2012 20:01 (twelve years ago) link
irl lol
― A Full Torgo Apparition (Phil D.), Friday, 17 February 2012 20:03 (twelve years ago) link
Ha! I thought it was kind of beautifully shot and the pacing was perfect, but there's a limit to what I'll call a good.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 17 February 2012 20:04 (twelve years ago) link
I agree with Three Word Username. It was just so OTT yet so on the nose at the same time, it was more a morality exercise than a real affront to my sensibilities. Like, is rape bad? Yes. Does the movie say otherwise? No. Is it really rape? No. Is it as hard to watch as "Irreversible?" No. Is it as well made as that movie? Hell, no. Etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 17 February 2012 20:06 (twelve years ago) link
I watch horror for many reasons one of them is I like being frightened, also I like being challenged by what I'm watching when heads explode.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Friday, 17 February 2012 20:16 (twelve years ago) link
anyone who watches ASF deserves what they get
Like it's some unique Rubicon? "ASF" is so surreal and intentionally provocative, but what distinguishes it from a host of horribles, on the offensive front, isn't that significant. What is significant is that it has a moral compass to it, which is more than you can say for any number of aimless torture porn flicks.
Also, and I thought this was interesting, I just read "The Lazarus Project" by the esteemed Bosnian-American novelist Aleksandar Hemon, which hinges in part on a return to the former killing fields (as such) of the Balkans, and darned if there weren't some depraved heart of darkness similarities to "ASF." Makes me wonder if the filmmakers were onto something that many of us may never fully understand.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 18 February 2012 14:01 (twelve years ago) link
i didn't mean it all that seriously. just given what i've heard, i've decided that it's a baby too far, and wanted to flex my opprobrium.
i haven't seen the film, but i thought it was generally acknowledged that bosnia's recent history is, if not "the point", exactly, then what ASF is responding to/arises from. or at least that that's the excuse.
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Saturday, 18 February 2012 14:06 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, that's totally accurate, and made explicitly obvious in the movie. Just saying that as repellent as aspects of the movie may be, I found it intriguing to read something of a more classy, accepted nature - that is, an award winning novel by a top-notch author - that in some ways explores many similarly horrific aspects of the former Yugoslavia's recent history.
The baby thing, by the way, is virtually a blip in a parade of semi-stylized atrocities, many of which take place in passing, or through a delirious filter. And the brief scene is practically narrated by the film's voice, its amorla pole, the same figure who makes the movie's themes explicit. Which isn't totally exculpating, but it does make pains to contextualize what you're seeing (or, really, not seeing in this case). But what I was getting at is that as horrific as it is in theory, it's really splitting hairs to say it's any "worse" than "Insides," or "Martyrs," or "Hostel" or whatever. There's some Korean film called I want to say "The Butcher" that looks so repellent I'd never see it; even though I doubt it goes as "far" as "ASF," it's approach seems wholly more disgusting and exploitative.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 18 February 2012 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
Amoral, not amorla, though amorla should be a word, I think.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 18 February 2012 14:39 (twelve years ago) link
yeah - easily the worst of the Sono I've seen. one-note, plodding, super long and very hateful.
― Simon H., Saturday, 18 February 2012 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
though amorla should be a word, I think.
lol, i thought "amorla pole" was a literary figure i should be familiar with. a femme fatale, clearly...
― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Saturday, 18 February 2012 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
bond villainess obv
― I GUESS THAT CINNABON GETTIN EATEN (Edward III), Sunday, 19 February 2012 08:42 (twelve years ago) link
Just saw Triangle, enjoyed it (I'm liking my horror movies tinged with sadness more and more these days), and am amazed at how many people really just did not get the significance of the Sisyphus myth and walked away thinking they'd seen a failed time travel movie.
― Three Word Username, Sunday, 19 February 2012 11:29 (twelve years ago) link
Wow, THE LOST (or JACK KETCHUM'S THE LOST as the cover image reads) just blew. me the fuck. away.
Probably old news to y'all (2005) but it's on instawatch if you haven't. Both movies I've seen based on Ketchum have kicked my ass. (RED was the other).
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Friday, 16 March 2012 15:28 (twelve years ago) link
also wondering if anyone saw the woman yet... like red it's another ketchum-mckee joint
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:02 (twelve years ago) link
I really want to.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Friday, 16 March 2012 17:02 (twelve years ago) link
Just watched The Oregonian. Someone hold me? Please?
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 17 March 2012 02:07 (twelve years ago) link
RED is absolutely fantastic, havent gotten to the lost yet, but the girl next door was def no fun to watch.
triangle fans should all see timecrimes which is a much more well done and nuanced version of the same basic trope.
also "the thing 2011" should pretty much be avoided by everybody
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 20:44 (eleven years ago) link
so wait is the oregonian good or
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 20:45 (eleven years ago) link
i have no idea! 'It was an experience'. It's aggressively nightmarish. I felt trapped and hopeless in it. There are some hacky LOL Lynch/i has a surrealism moments but it's so single-minded that it really gets to you.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 20:50 (eleven years ago) link
holy fuck @ "The Girl Next Door"
― THIS TRADE SERVES ZERO FOOTBALL PURPOSE (DJP), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 20:55 (eleven years ago) link
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 21:02 (eleven years ago) link
oh no wait it is actually the opposite of that my bad
I really want to watch it based on how much i've dug the other films based on Ketchum books but man, I might not have the spine.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 21:04 (eleven years ago) link
Oh yeah jjj did you see Roman? It has the Mckee/Bettis parts of the mix though no Ketchum. I liked it a lot.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 21:05 (eleven years ago) link
Triangle IS NOT A TIME TRAVEL MOVIE, thus not the same basic trope.
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 21:20 (eleven years ago) link
oh shit you are right i guess? my memory of triangle is a little limited tbh
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 21:21 (eleven years ago) link
I'm still bitter about Triangle. Watched it up til 15 minutes from the end. Wife came home, so I left the finale for later. A few busy days elapsed. A free hour emerged, logged on, no longer available on streaming. ARGH.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 21:24 (eleven years ago) link
Got kind of nostalgic buzz from finding out Fangoria a) still exists, and b) still does their Chainsaw Awards. This year's nominees:
BEST WIDE-RELEASE FILMDON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARKDRIVE ANGRYFINAL DESTINATION 5FRIGHT NIGHTINSIDIOUSPARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
BEST LIMITED-RELEASE/DIRECT-TO-DVD FILMATTACK THE BLOCKBLACK DEATHTHE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II (FULL SEQUENCE)RED WHITE & BLUESTAKE LANDTUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILMAMERI SAW THE DEVILKIDNAPPEDA SERBIAN FILMTHE SKIN I LIVE INTHE TROLL HUNTER
BEST ACTORAntonio Banderas, THE SKIN I LIVE INSean Bean, BLACK DEATHChoi Min-sik, I SAW THE DEVILNick Damici, STAKE LANDTyler Labine, TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVILNoah Taylor, RED WHITE & BLUE
BEST ACTRESSTabrett Bethell, THE CLINICRose Byrne, INSIDIOUSAmanda Fuller, RED WHITE & BLUEJosie Ho, DREAM HOMEBailee Madison, DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARKPollyanna McIntosh, THE WOMANBEST SUPPORTING ACTORWilliam Fichtner, DRIVE ANGRYMichael Parks, RED STATEEddie Redmayne, BLACK DEATHMarc Senter, RED WHITE & BLUEAlexander Skarsgård, STRAW DOGSTimothy Spall, WAKE WOOD
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESSElena Anaya, THE SKIN I LIVE INKatrina Bowden, TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVILDanielle Harris, STAKE LANDLin Shaye, INSIDIOUSCarice van Houten, BLACK DEATHJodie Whittaker, ATTACK THE BLOCK
BEST SCREENPLAYJoe Cornish, ATTACK THE BLOCKDario Poloni, BLACK DEATHSimon Rumley, RED WHITE & BLUEPedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar, THE SKIN I LIVE INNick Damici, Jim Mickle, STAKE LANDEli Craig, Morgen Jurgenson, TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL
BEST SCORESteven Price, Basement Jaxx, ATTACK THE BLOCKChristian Henson, BLACK DEATHCliff Martinez, CONTAGIONJoseph Bishara, INSIDIOUSJeff Grace, STAKE LANDMichael Convertino, WAKE WOOD
BEST MAKEUP/CREATURE FXMike Elizalde, Spectral Motion, Paul Hyett, ATTACK THE BLOCKRobert Hall, CHROMESKULL: LAID TO REST 2Max Van De Banks, Dan Rickard, THE DEADBrian Spears, Peter Gerner, STAKE LANDKristi Boul, Marcus Koch, Mike Oliver, SWEATSHOPRobert Kurtzman, Anthony Pepe, THE WOMAN
― Eric H., Thursday, 22 March 2012 01:31 (eleven years ago) link
uh, what is it then?
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Thursday, 22 March 2012 01:36 (eleven years ago) link
Is Groundhog Day a time travel movie?
― Une semaine de Bunty (ShariVari), Thursday, 22 March 2012 06:45 (eleven years ago) link
It's a retelling of the Sisyphus myth.
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 22 March 2012 07:24 (eleven years ago) link
Trying not to spoil the hell out of it, but I will if you insist.
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 22 March 2012 07:25 (eleven years ago) link
no, it's cool. leave it there. i had the same reservations.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Thursday, 22 March 2012 08:01 (eleven years ago) link
The Cabin in the Woods ends up pretty awesome after a fake-out start.
― Eric H., Thursday, 22 March 2012 23:37 (eleven years ago) link
Actually, I'm still buzzing off it. Hoping not to spoil it in saying that it's sort of the ultimate meta dead-teen movie that winds up moving in an entirely 'nother direction.
― Eric H., Thursday, 22 March 2012 23:40 (eleven years ago) link
Actually, it might be salient in the "enjoying horror movies" thread, but it's gotten tl;dr.
― Eric H., Thursday, 22 March 2012 23:41 (eleven years ago) link
The best Jack Ketchum-related flick (to call back to the initial thread bump) is The Woman, IMO.
Cautiously optimistic about Cabin in the Woods.
― Simon H., Thursday, 22 March 2012 23:44 (eleven years ago) link
the woman shows up tomorrow, pretty excited to see it because when mckee is on, hes really on
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Thursday, 22 March 2012 23:50 (eleven years ago) link
How gross is The Cabin In The Woods?
― THIS TRADE SERVES ZERO FOOTBALL PURPOSE (DJP), Friday, 23 March 2012 00:17 (eleven years ago) link
Gross enough.
― Eric H., Friday, 23 March 2012 02:02 (eleven years ago) link
I enjoyed The Oregonian. I think a lot will depend on the setting and frame of mind you see it in. Watching it on a sunny Sunday morning, as i did, is going to detract from the experience and it probably wasn't as effective as i wanted it to be. Certainly worth seeing.
― Une semaine de Bunty (ShariVari), Sunday, 25 March 2012 09:58 (eleven years ago) link
The Thing (remake/prequel) - Okay, has some good-to-great monster effects, but inevitably disappointing.
The Human Centipede 2 - Insanely revolting, kind of shoddy and pointless, but ambitious and even clever in its way.
1408 - I have no idea why i watched this, other than they had it at the library. Terrible.
Vanishing On 7th Street - Another library movie. I suspect that this will not be the consensus opinion, but it thought it was pretty okay. Loved the idea of shadows as a monster, loved what they represented even more, and while the dumb Christian allegory behind The Mechanic ruined that film for me, here it only ruined the ending. Kind of want to go back and rewatch Session 9 now, cuz I figure there has to be a big, stupid "DO YOU SEE?!?" metaphor behind that one, too.
Black Death - Did not like this movie. Interesting concept and a good cast, but a dully obvious result. Was also bothered by the constant stressing of Christian heroism and virtue in opposition to obviously evil paganism. The coda tried but failed to subvert this. It's like making a movie about a tribe of demonic Jews who capture and torture a bunch of heroic Nazis. (Oh yeah, right, Tarantino did that...)
Amer - Started watching this last night, but was far too sleeby, so I'm gonna try again today. Looks kind of amazing...
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Sunday, 25 March 2012 17:00 (eleven years ago) link
Oh yeah, and thanks for the reminder abt The Woman, Simon. Need to see that & The Skin I Live In.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Sunday, 25 March 2012 17:03 (eleven years ago) link
Damn, that Fangoria list makes "Wide-Release Films" seem incredibly shitty, doesn't it? There isn't a single film in that first group that holds a candle to the likes of Attack the Block, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and I Saw the Devil. TBF, I haven't seen the remakes of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Fright Night.
Plus I need to see Kidnapped, too.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Sunday, 25 March 2012 17:08 (eleven years ago) link
The Fright Night remake was pretty good, but almost entirely due to Colin Farrell's perf. So for the movie to get nominated but not him is ??
― hot and brothered (Eric H.), Sunday, 25 March 2012 22:33 (eleven years ago) link
Comments on the rest of Fangoria's "Chainsaw Award" nominees:
BEST WIDE-RELEASE FILM:Drive Angry - I genuinely hated this movie. One of the worst films of 2011, IMO.Final Destination 5 - Haven't seen it, don't particularly care to.Insidious - I didn't hate it like I hated Drive Angry but didn't much like it either. Has a few entertainingly old-fashioned "haunted house" moments, a good score and a great villain's lair, but it lazily rips Poltergeist and Paranormal Activity (itself a child of Poltergeist) without improving on either.Paranormal Activity 3 - Haven't seen it. I liked the original OK, but haven't felt compelled to follow the sequels. Same deal w/ the Final Destination franchise.
BEST LIMITED-RELEASE/DIRECT-TO-DVD FILM:Attack the Block - LOVE THIS MOVIE! See the dedicated ATB thread for details.Red White & Blue - News to me. Anyone seen this?Stake Land - Wasn't paying full attention, but disliked this. Like The Road with vampire things and way too much tough-guy posturing for my taste.Tucker and Dale vs. Evil - Fun!
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM"Amer - Watching this tonight.I Saw the Devil - I've got a few reservations, but this was pretty damn great.A Serbian Film - I drew a line in the sand with this one, but am lately thinking that since I watched The Human Centipede 2, I might as well go there...The Troll Hunter - Good times. Would put in the same category as Attack the Block and Tucker and Dale.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Sunday, 25 March 2012 23:27 (eleven years ago) link
In the Best Score category, not giving a mention to Conrad Pope's for The Presence is foolish. It was one of 2011's best film scores of any category. Will cosign the nod for Christian Henson's Black Death music though. Great score.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Monday, 26 March 2012 02:32 (eleven years ago) link
okay, so amer was pretty great. more than a little trying in its paradoxically retro experimentalism, but beautiful, sensual and richly atmospheric. it's usually described as a giallo homage, and it is, but that description suggests something much more narratively traditional than what amer delivers. it's nearly wordless, unflaggingly surreal, and prone to extended passages of abstract image and sound. in addition to the giallo in general and certain dario argento films in particular, i'd say that it owes a substantial debt to maya deren's meshes of the afternoon, jaromil jires' valerie and her week of wonders, and the trashier excesses of the 70s "art film". in the present moment, it's similar in style and content to recent videos by nicolas mendez (scissor siters' "invisible light" and el guincho's "bombay"), sharing with them a winking affection for yesterday's avant-garde. suspect that a lot of people would view it as a flashy but tedious exercise in vacant style, but i loved it and had a great time puzzling out what the torrent of bizarre yet evocative images might signify.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Monday, 26 March 2012 09:06 (eleven years ago) link
Yes, it's very good. I saw it with a group of friends who didn't really dig the lack of narrative or the heavy reliance on giallo tropes. I loved it. It is one of the most fetishistic films I have ever seen. Every object or movement is treated to such extraordinary scrutiny. It is like Argento's approach to bleck leather gloves applied to everything. The end result is disorientating and surreal.
― Une semaine de Bunty (ShariVari), Monday, 26 March 2012 09:53 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, when I initially saw dvd reviews of amer I thought it was some obscure giallo film somebody had dredged up, I mean look at the poster
http://twitchfilm.com/galleries/Amer.jpg
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 26 March 2012 13:18 (eleven years ago) link
It is one of the most fetishistic films I have ever seen. Every object or movement is treated to such extraordinary scrutiny. It is like Argento's approach to bleck leather gloves applied to everything.
otm, and i love that poster
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Monday, 26 March 2012 16:21 (eleven years ago) link
KIDNAPPED (2010, d. Miguel Ángel Vivas)
[contains some mild spoilers, just so's you know]
Okay, so I'm using that Fango "Chainsaw Awards" list to catch up on films that I'd heard about over the last year or so but forgotten or never managed to get around to. The Human Centipede 2 was first up, followed by Amer and now this. The first thing I should probably say is that Kidnapped (original Spanish title: Secuestrados) is an extremely efficient and suspenseful low-budget thriller with excellent performances, consistently impressive photographic choreography, and splendid execution of a clever central conceit: the whole thing is done in just 12 unbroken, real-time shots. It's gripping, brutal, edge-of-your-seat stuff, but it's also an despicably sadistic exercise in the cinema of pure torture. Due to its relative realism and apparent sincerity of purpose, I hated it far more than the much more cartoonishly repulsive Human Centipede 2.
Kidnapped is a simple film concerning a wealthy Spanish family whose beautiful and obviously expensive new home is invaded by a trio of vicious Eastern European thugs on the night that they first move in. Jaime, husband to Marta and father to Isa, is abducted by the leader of the small gang and taken into town where he is forced to withdraw money from his various accounts. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter are mercilessly tormented by the two remaining goons, with the stakes quickly rising from verbal abuse to beatings, torture and eventually graphic child rape. For a good deal of the film's running time, the soundtrack consists of nothing but the women's pleading, weeping, screaming and whimpering. I found the whole thing to be a hideous, pointless and ultimately infuriating endurance test. It has no seeming point other than the presumably "thrilling" spectacle of brutality, rape-threat and rape itself. That and the ever-helpful lesson that you should probably kill the bad guys when you have a chance.
Again I was reminded of the role that dehumanization plays in such films. Not dehumanization of the external sort that fails to recognize the people it perceives as real human beings, but dehumanization that through application of prolonged torture reduces human beings to a helpless, desperate, animal state in which basic perception and cognition become all but impossible. This process is essential to the mechanics of the contemporary torture-thriller, and it's probably my least favorite device in all of popular cinema. Fuck this movie.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 00:04 (eleven years ago) link
[rewriting yesterday's amer review, cuz it was hard to read and wth]
AMER (2009, d. Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani)
First things first: Amer is one of the best and most distinctive contemporary horror movies I've seen in the last few years. What I want out of a horror film is a nightmare worth having, and that's exactly what this film delivers. Amer is usually described as an homage to the Italian giallo genre, and while that's certainly an accurate description, it suggests something much more narratively traditional than what this film actually delivers. Amer is nearly wordless, genuinely surreal, and prone to repetitive extended passages of abstract image and sound. At times I found the film more than a little trying in its unflagging dedication to retro-stylized "experimental" gestures, but was carried through by its sensuality, richly creepy atmosphere, wonderful period music and formal beauty.
In addition to giallo as a genre and certain Dario Argento films in particular, I'd say that Amer owes a substantial debt to Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon, Jaromil Jires' Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and the trashier excesses of the 70s "European art film". In terms of present-day contemporaries, it's strongly similar in style and content to recent music videos by Nicolas Mendez, sharing with them a winking affection for the campier aspects of yesterday's avant-garde (check youtube for Scissor Sisters' "Invisible Light" and El Guincho's "Bombay", both stunning). I was also reminded of David Lynch from time to time, especially in the obscure dream logic, emphasis on suggestion and fetishistic focus on mysterious totem objects.
It's basically an allegorical point-of-view journey through a young woman's sexual coming of age, visiting her as a girl, a young woman and an adult, and while much of the symbolism is quite obvious, it ultimately leaves the cumulative significance up to the viewer's interpretation. I enjoyed this strategy a great deal, especially in that the subject is retro-appropriate to the formal approach. I suspect that many viewers will see Amer as a flashy but tedious exercise in vacant style, but i loved it and had a great time puzzling out what the torrent of bizarre yet evocative images might signify.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 00:34 (eleven years ago) link
lucky mckee's the woman is up next, though i'm not sure why, as from what i've heard, i'll probably hate it. i'm hoping for something less completely repellent than kidnapped, cuz i loved both may and the woods.
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
the woman is great, more later on...
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 09:41 (eleven years ago) link
man we are mirroring each others netflix queues, i just watched the woman yesterday as well.
pretty mixed here, i dig mckees sorta off kilter way of dealing with stuff like characterization, its a lot more wacky but also thoughtful than most horror stuff, and not afraid to use the somewhat ott and ridiculous to establish somebodies internal monologue. the soundtrack is a bit of a problem, there a couple points where it works, but hiring one dude to do all of the songs was a bad choice. the bigger issue for me is that this is a weirdly similar movie to ketchums earlier work the girl next door, and almost seems like a rewrite to me (although with some much more bizarro moments). i think its ok, but def loses any of the fun or lightness that mckees earlier work can achieve (the woods in particular). my thoughts are still a bit up in the air on a final verdict. better than HC2 tho!
― Thu'um gang (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 17:50 (eleven years ago) link
the Wikipedia entry for The Woman is not very good
― THIS TRADE SERVES ZERO FOOTBALL PURPOSE (DJP), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 17:54 (eleven years ago) link
The Woman (2011, d. Lucky McKee)
I'd been dreading this one, as due to some wiener's very public freakout at Sundance last year, it's been both hyped & condemned as the last word in the ultra-brutal, rape-happy cinema of punishment. Happily, it's nothing of the sort. The Woman comes dressed (or is that undressed?) as textbook torture porn, but it's actually a subversive feminist interrogation of the genre, dressed up as a two-fisted assault on American-style patriarchy. As in his career-making debut, May, McKee's style here is a hybrid of indie and horror approaches, mixing bright pop music, clever irony and offbeat family drama with escalating psychosis and gruesome violence.
The titular character is a woods-dwelling, at seemingly feral woman who is captured and imprisoned in a makeshift dungeon by all-American family man Chris Cleek after he first spies her on a hunting expedition. Though Chris's motives are mixed at best, he pretends to his family and himself that he intends only to "help" his captive by "civilizing" her. This apparently involves shackling her to a wall and bullying her into submission. Chris's family attempts as best it can to adjust to this bizarre scheme, but begins to fragment under the stress. As the film progresses, we come to understand that they has suffered Chris's abuse for years, and that his treatment of "The Woman" is hardly a novel aberration.
Though the film does feature scenes of torture and even rape, it is never anywhere near as exploitative or sadistic as most films of this genre. I won't deny that it is at times quite graphic and disturbing, but for the most part, it implies the worst of its horrors, never stooping to wallow in suffering for its own sake. I spoke earlier about the role that "dehumanization" plays in many survival horror films, and one of the most interesting things about The Woman is how aggressively and comprehensively it subverts the genre's standard dynamics. From the outset, The Woman visually resembles the icon of the "dehumanized victim" so common to this genre: she is dirty and hunched, her hair matted, her face dark with filth. Her wide, bright eyes shine out from that darkness like those of a trapped animal. But crucially, she is never less than human. She is smarter than her captor, always thinking, always defiant, always in control of herself if not her situation. She is the return of the repressed, female identity unmaimed by male dominance, and while Chris tries to break her, to make her an appropriately subservient part of the world he imagines he has mastered, she cannot be tamed.
I suppose that all of this sounds didactic and not a little bit ridiculous. It is. The Woman is an unapologetically polemical film, and the characters are largely symbolic. It has many flaws, not the least (as jjj mentioned a few posts back), a crushing overreliance on an upbeat soundtrack consisting almost entirely of good but oddly inappropriate power-pop songs by Sean Spillane. I loved it because I like feminist horror films, allegorical horror films, political horror films, genre cinema that has something worthwhile to say. For all the terrible trials it puts its characters through, it's ultimately quite humane, respectful of identity and courage, hopeful about the possibility of resistance and change. And The Woman just kicks ass.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 March 2012 05:30 (eleven years ago) link
sorry for long. perhaps i oughtta "get a blog" or post this stuff on imdb, but i like it here, so this is what you guys get for being cool.
(and, jeez, looking back i realize that i really need to spend more time reading over this stuff before posting it. so so many wrongs.)
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 March 2012 05:33 (eleven years ago) link
Fuck this movie.
YES thank you that is exactly how I felt about Kidnapped, too. What a hateful, cynical waste of considerable time, technical skill, and effort.
― Simon H., Thursday, 29 March 2012 05:38 (eleven years ago) link
also, Lucky McKee is probably the nicest filmmaker I've ever met.
― Simon H., Thursday, 29 March 2012 05:41 (eleven years ago) link
What a hateful, cynical waste of considerable time, technical skill, and effort.
this. most galling thing about it is how fucking brilliant it is, from a technical standpoint. one of the most skillful pieces of cinematic suspense engineering i've seen in ages ... unfortunately put in service of the worst sort of cheap, sadistic nihilism.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Thursday, 29 March 2012 06:00 (eleven years ago) link
Totally. I knew people who admired it for that reason but it was so objectionable on every other level that I pretty much thought they were nuts.
― Simon H., Thursday, 29 March 2012 06:06 (eleven years ago) link
Contenderizer, have you seen THE LOST? (Mckee produced and written, based on Ketchum)
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 29 March 2012 19:09 (eleven years ago) link
no. curious. any good? (haven't seen red either, dunno why.)
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Sunday, 1 April 2012 21:13 (eleven years ago) link
The Skin I Live In (2011, d. Pedro Almodóvar)
By far the most self-assured and visually striking of the horror-ballpark films I've watched recently, I also had more fun with Almodóvar's latest than with any of the others. It's a strange hybrid of overheated melodrama, slow-building mystery and clinically creepy medical horror, served up with enough oddball twists and turns to keep the audience in a more-or-less constant state of gobsmacked befuddlement. Antonio Banderas plays Robert Ledgard, a renowned though reclusive surgeon and medical researcher who has developed, by means not quite entirely legal, a new kind of transgenic skin replacement tissue. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, he keeps a lovely young woman named Vera (Elena Anaya) imprisoned in his gorgeous though jarringly eclectic art and design museum of a house, and it is through experimenting on her that he seems to have perfected his invention. As the film progresses, we learn that Robert's life has been marked by tragedy, his greatest loves undone by a pair of ghastly betrayals. The puzzle pieces are doled out slowly, in an elliptically time-jumping fashion and with plenty of red herrings, so that for most of the film's running time, we're unsure of what really happened and how it all relates to the mad doctor and his strange "patient".
Though engaging, the film has a strange, herky-jerky quality, the product of jarring tonal inconsistencies, suddenly abandoned plot threads and a wildly swerving narrative arc. The Skin I Live In is an adaptation of a popular novel, penned by the director with assistance from his brother, Augustín, and I suspect that many of these qualities are the product of an awkward transition from page to screen. I wasn't much bothered by the somewhat bumpy ride, as even the most seemingly pointless digressions and revelations are at the very least colorfully bizarre. I was, on the other hand, somewhat bothered by Almodóvar's heavy reliance on rape as a plot device. It's one that the director has employed frequently in the past but seldom in such a gratuitously nasty fashion as he does here. Nonetheless, given its subject matter, this is a much less grisly film than it could be, its darkest horrors more psychological than physical.
Many reviewers have faulted The Skin I Live In for its coldly unpleasant tone and credulity-stretching plot developments. I can see some merit in such complaints, as the conclusion seems to reach for an emotional crescendo that the film hasn't otherwise earned. I'm willing to forgive this. The combination of mystery, suspense, vivid grotesquerie and Almodovar's trademark visual flair kept me happily (if queasily) engaged throughout. The performances, sets, costumes and music are all wonderful, reason enough to recommend the film on their own. It may not be "100% medically accurate", or even all that plausible, but The Skin I Live In never fails to entertain.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Sunday, 1 April 2012 21:33 (eleven years ago) link
(cross-posted and rewritten from the human centipede thread)
The Human Centipede 2 (2011, d. Tom Six)
Well, I didn't like it. It lives up to its billing and outdoes its predecessor in the "truly revolting" department, but is also a rather joyless chore. Where The Human Centipede gave us a comically unforgettable monster and encouraged us to sympathetically identify with his victims, the sequel is a a much less engaging proposition. Tom Six displays no interest in any of his characters save Martin, the film's pathetic, deranged and seemingly retarded villain. Martin's many victims are, for the most part, mere bodies. We know nothing about them, and they seem to exist only as mute and helpless torture subjects. We cringe at the abuse they suffer, but that's about it. The film's exclusive focus on Martin, the subject of almost every shot that doesn't represent his point of view, unfortunately robs The Human Centipede 2 of any real suspense. We're no longer trapped down there in the basement with the mad doctor's victims, hoping for the best but dreading the worst. Instead, we're watching from over the shoulder of a repulsive ghoul as he goes about his repetitive business, wondering how bad it's going to get. And it gets pretty horrible.
Laurence R. Harvey, who plays Martin, is the film's biggest asset and its weakest link. Physically, he's a riveting grotesque, but the character he portrays is so pathetic and one-dimensional that he quickly becomes tiresome. Martin sweats and frets. He lumbers fatly about and he rolls his veiny, boiled-egg popeyes while emitting an awful mewling sound. That's about it. For an hour and a half. He's like the Eraserhead baby as a grown up, murderous pervert, and his capacity to fascinate is as limited as you might imagine.
In terms of overall narrative arc and general tone, this film isn't too terribly far removed from its predecessor. It starts out as a black-hearted, deeply grotesque horror comedy but then dives at the halfway point into crushingly bleak & dismal full-on torture porn. And yeah, that's a perfectly fair description of what's going on here, as far as I'm concerned. Six's sequel is a good deal more graphic than The Human Centipede, reveling in the splattering shit and gory mutilations the first film only implied. On the other hand, it's never anywhere near as plausible as its predecessor, so the emotional impact of all the onscreen offal is fairly minimal. It's simply sickening, but undeniably effective on that score. I will say that it's a somewhat interesting, ambitious and even a clever film, though I can't explain how or why this is so without spoiling its best ideas. Potentially worth a look if you're a jaded gorehound with a stomach of iron, but recommended to no one.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Monday, 2 April 2012 05:25 (eleven years ago) link
^ only movie that really makes good on the thread title, imo
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Monday, 2 April 2012 05:36 (eleven years ago) link
also, cuz fuck a spoiler, no matter how sleazy, cynical and repulsive six's films may be, he's been braver and more honest than most in explicitly admitting the pornographic aspects of "torture porn" as a genre. the human centipede 2 frames its predecessor as a horror film with which martin is sexually obsessed (cleverly retconning that film's often bad acting into a kind of jokey verisimilitude), and we eventually figure out that most everything we see in the sequel is simply a nonsensical erotic fantasy that the human centipede has inspired in martin's deranged mind.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Monday, 2 April 2012 05:59 (eleven years ago) link
Haven't seen the sequel, but a friend of mine noted how impressed he was at the total contrast with its predecessor. That is, the first is sort of slick and sterile, and relatively restrained (given the subject matter), yet the second is totally grungy and septic, and explicit (especially given the subject matter). That's got to be by design, though what it means, I can't say.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 April 2012 14:29 (eleven years ago) link
Has anyone else seen "Rare Exports?" Easily the best twisted Christmas horror film since "Gremlins."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 17:25 (eleven years ago) link
http://dailydead.com/david-gordon-greens-surpiria-remake-is-official/
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
― emil.y, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 21:43 (eleven years ago) link
after they remade texas chainsaw massacre I just don't give a frig anymore. go ahead, remake eraserhead, I don't care.
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 21:48 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, wicker man was my dgas breaking point, can no longer muster so much as a disgruntled expression
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 22:04 (eleven years ago) link
Well at least its dd green? He can do good work sometimes. Great work with the right material.
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 22:13 (eleven years ago) link
Wait waht
― sfdgafhtehw (jjjusten), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 22:17 (eleven years ago) link
This is the dude that brought us pineapple express and your highness, he is officially fucking terrible
lol you saw Your Highness
― God, Music and Romeo and Juliet (DJP), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 22:19 (eleven years ago) link
(xpost) Enh, even if you're a fan of Hooper's Texas Chainsaw 2 (I'm not) those 90s followups were pretty bad, way before the remake and the prequel. The "brand" has been compromised for quite some time. 3D one on the way this year. No thanks.
― Hey Jude, don't make it BAD MENTAL HEALTH (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 22:22 (eleven years ago) link
George Washington and All the Real Girls are both great movies and i will ride for pineapple express
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 01:50 (eleven years ago) link
ok i have not seen either of those. cant get behind pineapple express myself though, and even if i could that movie gives me zero optimism abt the dude handling suspiria well, which despite its O_O moments works with a lot of subtlety, which pineapple express has none of.
― sfdgafhtehw (jjjusten), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:13 (eleven years ago) link
DGG's career suggests the movie he should be remaking is Body Snatchers.
― get me bloodied (Eric H.), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:19 (eleven years ago) link
or white zombie maybe
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:21 (eleven years ago) link
Or "the stuff"
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:22 (eleven years ago) link
Or Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.
― get me bloodied (Eric H.), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:31 (eleven years ago) link
Why remake Susperia? The movie is renowned for it's visual style, not it's script. Who's doing the remake Return to Reason? Jon Favreau?
― HE HATES THESE CANS (Austerity Ponies), Wednesday, 11 April 2012 15:46 (eleven years ago) link
This thread is hard to search for!
Anyway, "Cabin in the Woods:" what a weird fucking movie. Like "Tucker and Dale" meets ... "Cube?" Tips its hand to its best gag early, not sure I like where the film ends up. Reminds me a bit too much of Ben Stiller's "Low-Budget Tales of Cliched Horror" bit. Everybody see it so we can discuss.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 13 April 2012 19:46 (eleven years ago) link
I liked Tucker & Dale. Not to your point. I just wanted to post that I had a good laugh and was charmed by the movie.
― HE HATES THESE CANS (Austerity Ponies), Friday, 13 April 2012 19:51 (eleven years ago) link
CITW was fun, but felt like more of a stoned undergradute cultural studies thesis paper than a movie at times.
― Simon H., Friday, 13 April 2012 19:59 (eleven years ago) link
I wish they had more fun having fun with it, or found a better way to reveal just what was going on. By the end I was thinking of these sort of every which way but loose VHS b-movies like "Return of the Living Dead III" and "Waxwork."
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 13 April 2012 20:27 (eleven years ago) link
(I liked Tucker & Dale a lot, too! This one had some fun with cliche subversion, but less consistently so)
I liked CITW. Merman gag was pretty solid.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Saturday, 14 April 2012 00:35 (eleven years ago) link
Merman gag was ace. Motorcycle into barrier gag would have been good had they not revealed said barrier so early with that eagle.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 April 2012 00:58 (eleven years ago) link
i think it was pretty lolsome that you knew it was coming.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Saturday, 14 April 2012 00:59 (eleven years ago) link
cabin in the woods was fun shit, it was pretty fucking goofy but had some genuinely startling moments, fran kranz + bradley whitford = gold.
― humba (NZA), Saturday, 14 April 2012 02:05 (eleven years ago) link
You mean, it was funnier knowing he would fail? In that case, I don't they pulled the gag off that well. They could have had a Sam Jackson in "Deep Blue Sea" moment, but nope.
This was so Fran Kranz's movie, and if I ever saw it again - and I'm not sure why I would need to see it again - I'd see it for him. Some dude on etsy I'm sure is getting right on that travel-bong.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 April 2012 02:38 (eleven years ago) link
I actually really appreciated Ebert's key takeaway:
This is not a perfect movie; it's so ragged, it's practically constructed of loose ends. But it's exciting because it ventures so far off the map.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 April 2012 02:42 (eleven years ago) link
Also, a bit miffed at all the reviews who characterize these college kids as dummies. They're all actually pretty smart - Thor as an econ wiz was worth a chuckle, and I actually liked when the other hunk put on his smart glasses to look at something - but their behavior is directed contrary to said smarts. They're literally made to behave like dummies
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 April 2012 03:02 (eleven years ago) link
thought cabin was pretty great. speakerphone gag was perfect
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Saturday, 14 April 2012 03:12 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, a big point was making them into the stereotypes. Also Rex Reed not getting the Final Girl wasn't actually a virgin was pretty wtf (except not coz its Rex Reed but you know).
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Saturday, 14 April 2012 03:16 (eleven years ago) link
Wasn't quite sure why the victims are allowed to "win," or why all the other countries seemed to have failed/succeeded, persevering over evil, given what's at stake. I suppose all those unanswerable loose ends constitute a big part of its ridiculous charm. Regardless, the Japanese schoolgirls got the biggest laugh when I saw it.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 April 2012 03:25 (eleven years ago) link
hahaha. the japanese thing killed me.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Saturday, 14 April 2012 03:27 (eleven years ago) link
Wait, was this 3-D?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 April 2012 03:29 (eleven years ago) link
no. it was going to be, but due to MGM clusterfuck we were spared that indignity.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Saturday, 14 April 2012 03:31 (eleven years ago) link
saw cabin in the woods early this afternoon. dug it a lot, though i can't quite say it's great. i do have this advice: if you have any interest in it at all, do not read anything about it, do not talk to your friends about it, do not wait for DVD, do not read this thread, just go.
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Saturday, 14 April 2012 23:31 (eleven years ago) link
lol rex reed http://www.observer.com/2012/04/cabin-in-the-woods-rex-reed-richard-jenkins-bradley-whitford/
(spoilers within)
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Saturday, 14 April 2012 23:43 (eleven years ago) link
I'll second contenderizer.
― "Fourvel - it's like Fievel, but one less." (R Baez), Saturday, 14 April 2012 23:46 (eleven years ago) link
I doubt if these people even know who Sigourney Weaver is.
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:14 (eleven years ago) link
here's a screenshot of the betting board from cabin: http://i.imgur.com/BQaLg.jpg
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:16 (eleven years ago) link
sold when i saw "angry molesting tree"
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:18 (eleven years ago) link
The way the opening scene cut to the title: Funny Games?
― "Fourvel - it's like Fievel, but one less." (R Baez), Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:18 (eleven years ago) link
lol Deadites
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:22 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i thought of funny games too, though where haneke is a stern moralizer who wants to chasten his audience, cabin in the woods gives the horror audience more of a gentle ribbing
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:22 (eleven years ago) link
Good to have that screenshot. I only caught a glimpse of "dismemberment goblins", which was enough for a laugh.
― "Fourvel - it's like Fievel, but one less." (R Baez), Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:26 (eleven years ago) link
"Reptilius" would have been damn awesome.
You can't see it on there, but I think one category was just called "Kevin." I don't know if that's supposed to be like Freddy, Michael or Jason, or just some fictional ... Kevin.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:56 (eleven years ago) link
Oh, wait, there it is: Kevin, bottom left.
What I thought was oddly funny ... what if the kids in the cabin had accidentally raised killer robot insect with giant saws or whatever? Would have made a hilariously poor fit for the spooky woods.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:58 (eleven years ago) link
We Need To Talk About Kevin.
― "Fourvel - it's like Fievel, but one less." (R Baez), Sunday, 15 April 2012 01:01 (eleven years ago) link
what if the kids in the cabin had accidentally raised killer robot insect with giant saws or whatever? Would have made a hilariously poor fit for the spooky woods.
still pretty scary though. plus kill you good, by the looks of things.
was really hoping for a screenshot of that board, so thanks, h4a. passed by too quickly in the movie for me to catch stuff like "deadites" and "angry molesting tree". lol @ "witches" and "sexy witches". will take option #2, if it's all the same to you.
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Sunday, 15 April 2012 02:30 (eleven years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, April 13, 2012 8:02 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
[mild spoilers ahead, so...]
yeah, i thought the film handled this very well. not only are the kids forced into their roles, they're textually framed as "horror movie types" from the very beginning: the introductory shot of the panty-clad protagonist as seen voyeuristic 80s-style makes this comically clear. to say nothing of the opening sequence that foregrounds the film's twofold reality. those scenes put such huge quotation marks around the presence of the kids in the movie (and the movie as a whole, tbh) that i had no problem accepting the first act's more contrived and familiar aspects. by the time we got to mordecai the harbinger and the straight-up evil dead cabin, it was clear that the cliches were pretty much the entire point.
while watching, i liked how up-front the film was in letting us in on its first-level secrets, but in retrospect, i might have appreciated a bit more restraint. by the time we got to the reversals and expansions about halfway through, there wasn't much mystery left, which drained the subsequent absurdity exhibition of its power to really surprise me. overall, i liked it a lot, but a bit of the air did fizzle out in the ott final act.
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Sunday, 15 April 2012 02:49 (eleven years ago) link
Disagree, but not vehemently. Leaving the reveal til the end would have been mindblowing, but left the entire first half pretty tediously cliched. Knowing they were playing around from the get go was sort of crucial.
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Sunday, 15 April 2012 03:08 (eleven years ago) link
I think it was very well measured. I didn't expect it to go as bonkers as it did. I guess Meta's only direction to go is out.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Sunday, 15 April 2012 03:25 (eleven years ago) link
("The Japanese are the only other viable market currently running!")
Ha. I like the furious STATE-OF-THE-GENRE-RIGHT-NOW of the movie the more I think about it. It may or may not toss posterity out the window, but whatever - the manipulators/manipulatees scenario may probably always be potent. Or not.
― "Fourvel - it's like Fievel, but one less." (R Baez), Sunday, 15 April 2012 03:28 (eleven years ago) link
anyone seen the divide? very bleak
― JacobSanders, Sunday, 15 April 2012 03:34 (eleven years ago) link
remind me: pontypool is yea or nay?
― boy, was that Dan Fielding hungry for some cake! (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 15 April 2012 03:40 (eleven years ago) link
i like pontypool, its worth watching
― JacobSanders, Sunday, 15 April 2012 03:43 (eleven years ago) link
Finally got around to Stake Land last night. I liked its faux-Malick lyricism and affectless voiceover more than I usually like actual Malick lyricism and affectlessness. The story felt very third- or fourth-hand, too much like I Am Legend or 28 Days Later or whatever other apocalyptic vampire/zombie movies you might name. But the downbeat vibe was an interesting approach, and there was some legitimately gorgeous filmmaking.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 15 April 2012 04:18 (eleven years ago) link
did rex reed even watch the same cabin in the woods that i did?
― humba (NZA), Sunday, 15 April 2012 05:55 (eleven years ago) link
well he thought the virgin was actually a virgin so I don't think so
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Sunday, 15 April 2012 05:57 (eleven years ago) link
also, since we've gone all Glenn Kenny, here's Wells: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2012/04/underground_hor.php
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Sunday, 15 April 2012 05:58 (eleven years ago) link
very enthusiastic yea from me, but it's pretty divisive, so no promises
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Sunday, 15 April 2012 06:11 (eleven years ago) link
someone make a Cabin In The Woods thread
― Number None, Sunday, 15 April 2012 06:16 (eleven years ago) link
Leaving the reveal til the end would have been mindblowing, but left the entire first half pretty tediously cliched. Knowing they were playing around from the get go was sort of crucial.
yeah, i agree with you there. i guess i wasn't clear. i liked that we knew from the outset that a game was being played and who the players were. my criticism, and it's a fairly mild one, is that i felt that the film gave the larger game away a bit too soon. we quickly came to understand so much of the film's overall design that after the first forty minutes or so, there weren't any real surprises left. we just got to see how things played out. a more conventional approach would have been to hold enough back so that we could learn about the next-level stuff along with the protagonists, and i think that might have served the final act a little better. would at least have allowed the ever-increasing absurdity to be disorienting, rather than merely comical. think this could have been accomplished without ditching the basic structure.
i dunno, maybe that "merely" was unfair. this winds up being a strangelove-style satirical comedy more than a "proper horror film, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that.
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Sunday, 15 April 2012 06:23 (eleven years ago) link
ok
I've debated it here at length, but I think "Pontypool" is one of the best movies I've seen in years.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 15 April 2012 13:01 (eleven years ago) link
I'll add another yea for Pontypool.
― "Fourvel - it's like Fievel, but one less." (R Baez), Sunday, 15 April 2012 15:42 (eleven years ago) link
I think pontypool is rampagingly adequate.
― Rango Unchained (jjjusten), Sunday, 15 April 2012 18:19 (eleven years ago) link
pontypool is better on the second viewing
― humba (NZA), Sunday, 15 April 2012 23:51 (eleven years ago) link
i will never know if that is true
― Rango Unchained (jjjusten), Monday, 16 April 2012 01:17 (eleven years ago) link
Was surprised to see The Wicker Tree on sale at Best Buy last night for 14 bucks. Worth buying, or just worth seeing? It beckons me strongly...
― bit.ly sno cone maker (Jon Lewis), Friday, 27 April 2012 17:49 (eleven years ago) link
I did the same double take, as it was on a center rack facing the front door with the likes of MI4
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Friday, 27 April 2012 17:51 (eleven years ago) link
Wicker Tree is...something. Worth seeing, definitely. A friend of mine is quoted on the jacket, though, which was nice to see!
― Simon H., Friday, 27 April 2012 18:30 (eleven years ago) link
one of the reviews of "cabin in the woods" was mentioning those recent-ish french horror movies that were talked in this thread, made me think to check-up on those guys and it turns out the guys who made "Inside" made a new one, "livid". I checked it without knowing/seeing a thing about it and it was ok.
― Sébastien, Monday, 30 April 2012 17:33 (eleven years ago) link
*trailer-like mild spoiler*
the subject of the movie appears on the betting board of "cabin in the woods", haha.
― Sébastien, Monday, 30 April 2012 17:40 (eleven years ago) link
thanks for the tip, sebastien, gonna watch livide tonight
― Choc. Clusterman (contenderizer), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:56 (eleven years ago) link
Okay, so Livide is wonderful! Not perfect by any means, but I had a hell of a lot more fun with it than I was expecting (wasn't a big fan of writer-director team Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's previous À l'intérieur). It's a hybrid of a number of different horror approaches and tropes, generally gothic in style and more seductive than coherent.
It contains winking references to a number of classic horror films, but never succumbs to meta-movie jokeyness. Despite it's self-awareness and fan-letter trappings, Livide is quite serious and straightforward about its aims as a traditional horror film. It's spooky, atmospheric, increasingly dreamlike, visually inventive and rather old-fashioned in many respects, especially recalling the more surreal European horror films of the 70s and early 80s. And it's only occasionally punctuated with the kind of slam-bang gore and action you might expect from the writer-director team. Recommended.
― Choc. Clusterman (contenderizer), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 10:07 (eleven years ago) link
wanna stress that's it not a perfect film by any means. the acting isn't great, the ending is iffy, its more a mash-up of borrowed bits than an original work of its own, and the characters & dialogue are pretty dull. the emphasis is clearly on the visuals and atmosphere, which is fine, but the film takes a while to really get going in that department.
― Choc. Clusterman (contenderizer), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 16:46 (eleven years ago) link
the emphasis is clearly on the visuals and atmosphere
Which may explain a comment on some torrent thread that despite lacking English subtitles the dude felt he got the gist.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 18:29 (eleven years ago) link
That said ... I'm having trouble finding a copy with subtitles.
The English sub script in circulation is extremely clunky. I opted to write my own. Curious to see how it compares to the subs on the forthcoming French Blu-ray.
As for the film, i'm more reserved in my enthusiasm. Some gorgeous bits, often beautifully lensed, and i didn't mind the slow-to-start structure. But where their first film got tighter once its players converged in the house, this one unravels, the story going nowhere and everywhere between setpieces. It tries to pull off that Euro-cine illogic that carried Argento, Bava, Fulci, etc. over their roughshod narratives, but never really convinces that Livide wasn't being made up by its creators, simply as an excuse to introduce allusive and generic elements, as they went along. the fauilure to establish a coherent, original mythology makes its horrors funhouse-freaky rather than in any way consequential. I got the impression that Maury & Bustillo built their script from images instead of ideas. fine for the phantasmagoric factor, but a recipe for a half-baked film.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:26 (eleven years ago) link
Dude, you returned! Just in time for the all time horror poll!
― Rachel Profiling (jjjusten), Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:33 (eleven years ago) link
hey welcome back hal jam! can't say you're wrong about livide, but i was more enamored of its strengths than distracted by its flaws.
― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:37 (eleven years ago) link
the copy i, uh, borrowed came with subs, but they're very bad, often completely nonsensical. didn't get in the way of my understanding/enjoyment of the film. i could mail the .srt to you if you haven't got anything else.
― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:40 (eleven years ago) link
the fauilure to establish a coherent, original mythology makes its horrors funhouse-freaky rather than in any way consequential.
i at least half agree. the film's mythology is erratic and oneiric, which makes things seem incoherent, yes, but not entirely senseless, imo. i bought into the allowances granted by livide's dream-logic, though the film has basically no psychological subtext and is therefore only occasionally as weirdly evocative as its makers seems to intend.
the "funhouse-freaky" assessment is 100% otm. as it went on, livide reminded me more and more of insidious, james wan's cinematic carnival ride from last year. the two films have a lot in common, though bustillo & maury's in-genre reference points are different, and i think livide is a much, much better film overall. certain aspects also reminded me of hélène cattet & bruno forzani's amer, a richer exercise in retro-themed dream-horror.
― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:54 (eleven years ago) link
mr. hal jam please report to this thread, also if you could tell us the 200 films we forgot to nominate that would be great
THE VAULT OF ILX Top 100 HORROR Movies Poll Voting Thread (voting closes May 7)
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Thursday, 3 May 2012 13:43 (eleven years ago) link
Bumping thread to get as many horror threads on the Site New Answers page as possible...
And because apparently, The Loved Ones is pretty good?
― Björk lied (Eric H.), Friday, 1 June 2012 14:45 (eleven years ago) link
I saw it at TIFF's Midnight Madness a few years back. It's far from profound but it's a lot of fun.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 14:49 (eleven years ago) link
is The Loved Ones finally getting US distro? it's a stylish, fun riff on torture and teen horror tropes. def. worth checking out.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 14:59 (eleven years ago) link
didn't like it, but it's not dull
― spextor vs bextor (contenderizer), Friday, 1 June 2012 14:59 (eleven years ago) link
looks like it, MHJ
― Björk lied (Eric H.), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:00 (eleven years ago) link
only three years later. christ. already ponies up for the UK DVD (and Blu-ray upgrade), but I enjoy it enough that I'd pay yet again to see/support the domestic theatrical release.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:07 (eleven years ago) link
watched sion sono's cold fish last night. not sure what to think of it, tbh.
it's a long, a slow-building, and largely character-driven suspense thriller that eventually goes completely off the rails with grand guignol gore and brutality. somewhat reminiscent of takashi miike's audition in this regard. left a bad taste in my mouth though i'm not sure why, as it's less perverse and sleazily transgressive than strange circus, which i love.
― spextor vs bextor (contenderizer), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:26 (eleven years ago) link
couple of new-ish titles worth checking out.
Absentia - patient, subtle, admirably Lewtonesque. sticks with you.Ashes - moody, mature, thoughtful. shame about the third act. had to go there?DeadHeads - overlong but endearing zombuddy flick #1Enter Nowhere - stagy but clever. though i can't see the point of re-watching once you're keen to the trickEvidence - FF-by-numbers, but this one builds to an exhilarating, disorienting, frankly batshit finale (that continues through the credits. don't tune out prematurely)Father's Day - irreverent Troma-approved exploitation. works best when it's not tripping over its own excessesA Horrible Way to Die - mumblecorror? some will hate this more than life itselfNazis at the Center of the Earth - no, really. totally entertaining.Respire - inventive and almost great. see qualifier for AshesRestraint - Aussie cat-and-mouse thriller, adult variant (read: with sexy overtones)The Revenant - overlong but endearing zombuddy flick #2. mentioned upthread, i believe.Some Guy Who Kills People - didn't completely work for me. still worth seeing for the acting and good intentions.Wrath - Aussie cat-and-mouse thriller, teen variant (read: with slasher overtones)
can't wait for DEAR GOD NO! promises to be the last word in demon biker Bigfoot meta-exploitation.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:33 (eleven years ago) link
I hated Cold Fish - too long, too loathsome, too self-satisfied.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 15:33 (eleven years ago) link
co-sign on Absentia and The Revenant.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 15:34 (eleven years ago) link
the former is noteworthy for pulling off quite a bit on a seriously skimpy budget.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 15:35 (eleven years ago) link
Some Guy Who Kills People - didn't completely work for me. still worth seeing for the acting and good intentions.
gets points for title obv
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:38 (eleven years ago) link
what Shion Sono movie isn't too long, too loathsome, and too self-satisfied? that's his trademark.
i liked CF - more than Guilty of Romance, which i can't get into no matter how i try. it's operatic in a way that recalls the OG Straw Dogs.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:38 (eleven years ago) link
CF, that is. not GOR.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
I mentioned it way upthread, but did anyone else get around to seeing "S&MAN (Sandman)?"
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 June 2012 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
well, Love Exposure at least managed to dodge the "loathsome" requirement, though I still only like it about 1/10 as much as everyone else I know does.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
like S&Man a lot. didn't we discuss it?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:42 (eleven years ago) link
Luv X and Noriko double up on the overlong.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
up=down.
NOT recommended, without hesitation:
Bordello Death TalesClownstrophobiaA Darker RealityDemons Never DieDevil's PlaygroundThe Green MonsterHellraiser: RevelationsHouse of Flesh MannequinsKillMadison CountrySleepaway Camp IV: The SurvivorStrippers vs WerewolvesWon Ton Baby!Terror Overload
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:57 (eleven years ago) link
I liked S&Man a lot too. I wanted to discuss it ages ago but no one was interested.
― but he go's to a resturang and then die in a toilet (Jon Lewis), Friday, 1 June 2012 15:57 (eleven years ago) link
a few more that should have made the noteworthy list. kicking myself for leaving off Rabies. still one of the best things i've seen this year.
Beyond the Black Rainbow - '70s sci-fi/horror stylistic pastiche. gorgeous to behold-and-hear but maddeningly void of meaning. also saddled with maybe the worst ending of all time ever. turn off your mind.Cold Sweat - geriatric Nazis, horny teens, nitroglycerine. doesn't quite gel, but has a handful of great moments. another close-but... from the promising Adrián García Bogliano. i'm very eager to see PenumbraRabies - daaaaaaaaaark comedy of errors and errant intentions. subversive and quite brilliant. horrible things happen, so often that it's not a stretch to call it "horror." - see also Headhunters (Hodejegerne)
for our purposes, are Daylight, MMMM and Sound of My Voice to be considered horror films?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:11 (eleven years ago) link
always up for a S&Man discussion, Jon. fire away.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:13 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, hit me. It was one of the more unique fake/real docs I've ever seen, its subject matter so unseemly that when it veers from truth (assuming any of it was real) it's pretty subtle and scary.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 June 2012 16:19 (eleven years ago) link
well, suicide circle, strange circus and exte are relatively brief. honestly, this is the only sono where the length has been a problem for me. would have worked better, overall, if it'd taken more cues from the wonderfully deadpan and kinetic opening scene.
― spextor vs bextor (contenderizer), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:26 (eleven years ago) link
xpost I saw it quite awhile ago so my memories have some moss on them now. I should rewatch so it's on the tip of my tongue. But basically it was p damn powerful stuff and I wanted to hear other ppl's thoughts.
― but he go's to a resturang and then die in a toilet (Jon Lewis), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:29 (eleven years ago) link
Exte?! a mildly amusing idea that would've been better served as an anthologized short. but noooooo, Sono had to drag it out, through domestic melodrama and sociopolitical subplots, to an excruciating 108 min.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:36 (eleven years ago) link
i might also need to re-view, Jon.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:38 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, exte didn't feel too long to me. my objection was that it felt lazy and pointless. the horror had no bite and the comedy wasn't particularly funny.
― spextor vs bextor (contenderizer), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:40 (eleven years ago) link
intrigued by beyond the black rainbow
OH FFS!
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:40 (eleven years ago) link
BTBR is all shiny, shiny surfaces and killer soundtrack. it may be a bizarro coming-out allegory - or it may just be a shiny, shiny load of reverent/referential bullshit. or a little of both. it would be fun to see on the big screen.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:44 (eleven years ago) link
The title of S&Man is too clever and never fails to confuse me before I remember what it means. Good movie, though, and the everyguy main subject is pretty convincing, whether it's total acting or not.
― The Thnig, Friday, 1 June 2012 16:46 (eleven years ago) link
agreed. and it is. fortunately.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:47 (eleven years ago) link
that final S&Man tape. (shudder).
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 16:49 (eleven years ago) link
<3 Beyond the Black Rainbow, so much. Conversely, kinda hated Rabies.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 17:10 (eleven years ago) link
huh. what did you find to love about BtBR? i've been tryin'.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 17:12 (eleven years ago) link
Besides that it's visually stunning and has a great analog-synth soundtrack, I find it inscrutable in the best way, throwing out just coherent enough a narrative - complete with a year-specific flashback! - to suggest readings without throwing any in your face. Plus, great villain.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 17:15 (eleven years ago) link
that just wasn't enough for me. all the films to which it alludes had meat on their bones. Cosmatos just served up the carcasses on a pretty plate. with a side of mint jelly.
soundtrack is awesome, i concur. was shocked that it wasn't done by Lopatin.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 17:19 (eleven years ago) link
It was done by a member of Black Mountain, I believe. Shame it didn't get a commercial release.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 17:21 (eleven years ago) link
The main thing I hated about Rabies was the editing - that whole, "build to a claimax in one setting then cut to the other setting instead" thing they were doing through the whole thing felt like a cheap TV move.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 17:24 (eleven years ago) link
*climax
yep. Sinoia Caves (Jeremy Schmidt of BM). i'm hoping for at least an isolated track on the Blu-ray. c'mon, Magnet.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 17:25 (eleven years ago) link
Wake Wood 3 nights ago. Had me in under its spell for about 30-45 minutes, then became useless. Timothy Spall as classic villager-who-knows-dark-secrets A+, pretty sweet percussion + synth score, neat specifics to the horrid ritual, but overall dudsville. By the time of the OMG Coda I did not care at all.
― but he go's to a resturang and then die in a toilet (Jon Lewis), Friday, 1 June 2012 17:26 (eleven years ago) link
i liked that about Rabies. lent a loping, off-kilter feel to film that underscored the unpredictable way each scenario played out.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 1 June 2012 17:29 (eleven years ago) link
By the seventeenth cut-away I just stopped giving a shit, I think.
I think BTBR was bolstered for me thanks to my mental pairing of it w/ another Canadian mindfuck - though not at all horror - which I saw at the same fest, Daniel Cockburn's You Are Here.
― Simon H., Friday, 1 June 2012 17:43 (eleven years ago) link
The title of S&Man is too clever
That's part of its genius. Even the titular character complains that nobody gets it, and they keep confusing it for S&M Man.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 June 2012 18:00 (eleven years ago) link
That's part of its genius. Even the titular character complains that nobody gets it, and they keep confusing it for S&M Man
I'd forgotten that. Still, though, for someone trying to choose a movie on Netflix, it's like "huh?" Until later, when it's "ahhh, ok."
I rather liked Wake Wood when I saw it, though now I remember nothing except that very good "birth" scene.
― The Thnig, Friday, 1 June 2012 18:07 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah... sometimes a good front half and nice grotesque/arabesque details are enough for me. In Wake Wood's case, nah.
― but he go's to a resturang and then die in a toilet (Jon Lewis), Friday, 1 June 2012 18:12 (eleven years ago) link
i posted about both of these in the horror results thread and then realized that they really had no business in there so
Trouble Every Day hmmmmm, kind of confused what people see in this movie really, mostly because oh man vincent gallo is really at his most inept and terrible in this movie, and thats saying something. ive heard theories that his wooden idiocy is intentional here, but i dont buy it.
Amer really exceptional and fantastic, scratches the same itches that Strange Circus and Anguish and Hausu do for me - i say if you want to do art-house horror go all in, and thats just what this does. i dont think i have a single criticism about anything this movie did, and i hope everyone sees it asap
― I want L'interieur chicken, not Hausu chicken (jjjusten), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 19:34 (eleven years ago) link
Is Amer available on streaming (will try to remember to check when I get home)
― Convert simple JEEZ to BDSMcode (Austerity Ponies), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 19:51 (eleven years ago) link
not afaik, i think you have to get it on disc
― I want L'interieur chicken, not Hausu chicken (jjjusten), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 20:05 (eleven years ago) link
some more stuff, including one surprising gem. and some okness.
yellowbrickroad - amateur awesomeness, despite an ending that i am fairly eh about. totally fantastic sound design in which the soundtrack is the antagonist both for the viewer and the characters. yeah i know, that doesnt seem to make any sense but just trust me, watch it, its a great movie and a total surprise. might appeal to the pontypool crowd. streaming netflix fyi.
absentia - another somebody has gone missing but why film which yeah is kinda done to death at this point, but theres some pretty solid acting and writing going on here. the jump scares start to evolve into something more forboding fairly early at which point the film hits a pretty nice balance between psychology and spookifying, with at least one very cerebral and subtle "oh shit" moment towards the end. i dug it.
the disappeared - and another missing person thing, british, well acted but sorta wandering around in search of a hook and you can feel that most of the way through. ending is off the rails and not really set up or justified well including a gotcha moment at the very end that might maybe surprise really really stupid people that didnt figure it out about 15 minutes into the movie. pretty aimless, pretty dull. also on netflix streaming but eh dont bother unless you are hoping for a mashup of a dumber sixth sense and a tame kids in trouble film. bleh.
― I want L'interieur chicken, not Hausu chicken (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 June 2012 19:45 (eleven years ago) link
Playback (2012) is on streaming now. It looks dumb. Is it?
― Lewis Apparition (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 14 June 2012 19:57 (eleven years ago) link
well, christian slater is in it.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 June 2012 20:01 (eleven years ago) link
i mean i havent seen it but a brief imdb etc spin makes it look pretty bad
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 June 2012 20:04 (eleven years ago) link
Is that the one where Christian Slater's career just looms in the background making people unspeakably depressed?
― nuts spats (Austerity Ponies), Thursday, 14 June 2012 20:06 (eleven years ago) link
christian slaters career is too small to loom at this point
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 June 2012 21:42 (eleven years ago) link
maybe it tapdances behind the radiator
yellowbrickroad also has a little lynch going on, various scenes work pretty well at getting a more straight forward inland empire sort of vibe, although one of the missteps of the ending is having a little too much lynch without nearly enough idea behind it. also, the first time i watched it i gave up because of a totally hamfisted moment with a movie ticket seller, but its worth soldiering through that and getting to the meat of the movie i think.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 June 2012 22:17 (eleven years ago) link
so anyone else see the Fright Night remake? i was pleasantly surprised, because its not half bad, david tennant in particular does the scenery gnawing just about perfectly.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
I thought it was actually better than the original, but never thought much of the '85 version. Colin Ferrell tears it up as the knowing anti-Edward.
― old people are made of poop (Eric H.), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 16:26 (eleven years ago) link
V SLIGHT SPOILER
yeah agreed, in particular i liked the fast shift in tone from sleazy charmer to unstoppable force of destruction once he isnt invited into the house. its nice to be reminded about how good he can be when he isnt picking shitty movies to be in. i do feel bad for mintz-platz tho, that dude is never going to escape the mclovin trap. and to be fair he was kinda useless in this, i almost wondered if they cast him just so they could put him in the trailers/on the marquee as a "hey america its kind of a comedy too!" signifier.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 17:02 (eleven years ago) link
I thought The Pact was more effective than 90% of the rubbish i've sat through recently. Not totally amazing but not a waste of an hour and a half.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Saturday, 30 June 2012 12:56 (eleven years ago) link
Saw Splice last night. Filmmakers were so into the idea of making a horror movie that was actually an allegory for the effect of childbirth on young married couples that they forgot to include the horror movie.
― Three Word Username, Saturday, 30 June 2012 17:18 (eleven years ago) link
Hmm, "Fright Night" remake a weird hybrid: it's both smarter and stupider than the original.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 July 2012 16:04 (eleven years ago) link
coincidentally, my wife and i tried to watch it last night. Script seemed fine and so did Colin, but the lead was really uncharismatic and the direction really flat and cold. Only got like 20 minutes in, but gonna try again tonight in case it picks up.
― da croupier, Monday, 2 July 2012 16:29 (eleven years ago) link
and yeah, didn't even remember david tennant would show up eventually
― da croupier, Monday, 2 July 2012 16:30 (eleven years ago) link
It sort of picks up, in a ruthlessly efficient sort of way that sets it apart from the original, but it feels like several pages of script still went unaccounted for.
Amusing the number of non-American leads in this: Colin, Tennant, Poots (ha, Poots), Collette, and then the American lead just happens to be the son of two famous Russian refugees.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 July 2012 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
Setting this in Vegas is brilliant, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 July 2012 16:36 (eleven years ago) link
Would sort of be happy, tho, to not see any more horror movies set against the backdrop of mortgage crisis.
― old people are made of poop (Eric H.), Monday, 2 July 2012 16:39 (eleven years ago) link
watched sleep tight (from the director of rec) over the weekend - really good! even tho the plot seems a bit played out
― just sayin, Monday, 2 July 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
xpost Have their been a lot? I thought Vegas was perfect because not only is it nightlife-centric and full of transient workers, but it's also a housing crisis epicenter!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 July 2012 17:29 (eleven years ago) link
Cabin in the Woods still on multiple viewings
― Fiendish Doctor Wu! (kingfish), Monday, 2 July 2012 19:04 (eleven years ago) link
yeah agreed, in particular i liked the fast shift in tone from sleazy charmer to unstoppable force of destruction once he isnt invited into the house
watching it now. This aspect is good, but aside from Colin, the film seems directed by a robot (the teal and orange color grading and muttermutter-BOOM sound mixing doesn't help either). A better lead (not that "Mom, girlfriend, I'm sorry I'm a dick but you have to do what I say without asking me to give a sentence of explanation!" is an easy role to play) and a better director and this could have been classic.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 4 July 2012 04:49 (eleven years ago) link
ok the irony of a movie written by a former Buffy showrunner ending with a rote "charmless finally can relax and fuck his long-suffering girlfriend" was just compounded by the decision to put a country version of "99 Problems" over the credits (and when was the last time a decent movie ended with random shots from the movie over the credits?).
― da croupier, Wednesday, 4 July 2012 05:20 (eleven years ago) link
seriously, i can't think of a time where there were clips from the movie over the closing credits and I was grateful for the memories of 30 minute past
― da croupier, Wednesday, 4 July 2012 05:21 (eleven years ago) link
saw the new fright night a while ago. it's effective and smart, and colin farrell is great in it, but i thought it lacked personality. the original succeeds not because it's a "good movie", but because it's clever, affectionate, buried in period drag and deeply weird. i love the way it stretches and eroticizes certain moments (especially the dance seduction, which makes sense, but also ed's death, which is just bizarre), causing them to pop out from the rest of the movie like windows into a much stranger world. it really seems to care about its characters and about nerdy horror fandom, where the remake seems distinctly embarrassed by such enthusiasms.
― contenderizer, Wednesday, 4 July 2012 05:25 (eleven years ago) link
and though i like david tennant, his character was all but useless here, and we never really understood why the protagonist would seek his help
― contenderizer, Wednesday, 4 July 2012 05:26 (eleven years ago) link
we never understood why the protagonist did anything
― da croupier, Wednesday, 4 July 2012 05:32 (eleven years ago) link
That's what I meant about it being smarter and stupider than the original. Pros include the vamp played by Colin, not as a yuppie but as a work-by-night bro. Also, setting a vampire fight in a gallery full of anti-vampire tools. But the rest is pretty half-assed. Like, the Ed character, he knows Jerry is a vampire from minute one, but why would he even suspect? And then I like the fact that his mom and girlfriend both find out the truth midmovie in the most overt manner possible, Jerry's psycho freakout, but then what? What happens to the mom? Is she just lying in the hospital? Girlfriend should have stayed there, too. If you have to have faith to use a crucifix, does that mean a crucifix just plastered on the wall does no good? How did David Tennant know anything about this particular breed of vampire? Etc. And the last few beats of the movie are terrible. If ever a flick needed a fake-out second ending it was this one.
Anyway, like I said, feels like it was missing a few pages of script somewhere, like a reel got misplaced.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 4 July 2012 14:03 (eleven years ago) link
what are 2012's picks?
― killer camel beej (cozen), Friday, 6 July 2012 22:25 (eleven years ago) link
im interested in that too! i mean obv cabin in the woods but what else
― just sayin, Friday, 6 July 2012 23:08 (eleven years ago) link
sadly, i got nothing. its been a dry year so far, at least wrt anything i have seen
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:30 (eleven years ago) link
I'll let you know once I get my hands on some Fantasia screeners
― Simon H., Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:34 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, i ain't got nothing neither. i've talked about most everything i've seen recently, and it's all been older stuff. hal jam mentioned quite a few newish films elsewhere, but i'm not sure how many were actually 2012 releases.
― contenderizer, Saturday, 7 July 2012 21:45 (eleven years ago) link
anyone seen lovely molly or the innkeepers?
― second only to popcorn (or something), Saturday, 7 July 2012 22:09 (eleven years ago) link
lovely molly - no; innkeepers i wasnt feelin
― just sayin, Sunday, 8 July 2012 00:18 (eleven years ago) link
I think ti west is crap, so I have not done the innkeepers. Yet.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 8 July 2012 00:36 (eleven years ago) link
I want to like Ti West 'cause he seems like an intelligent guy, and I respect that he's trying to do genuinely different things with the medium, but I didn't care for HOTD and strongly disliked Innkeepers.
― Simon H., Sunday, 8 July 2012 00:39 (eleven years ago) link
sleep tight which i mentioned up above is apparently getting a US release later this year, so i'd put that on the list
― just sayin, Sunday, 8 July 2012 10:13 (eleven years ago) link
has anybody heard of "shock labyrinth"? it's on instant watch and seemed possibly interesting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHomW7otjr0
'Ju-On' and 'The Grudge' series director Takashi Shimizu sets his latest horror outing in a Mount Fuji amusement park that bears a striking resemblance to Japan's real Fuji-Q High Land and "the world's longest horror house walk-through" located there.
― Authorities don't know who shot the 50 Cent the goose. (forksclovetofu), Monday, 9 July 2012 00:30 (eleven years ago) link
the only reviews i can find seem to be "eh."
― Sophomore subs are the new Smith lesbians. (the table is the table), Monday, 9 July 2012 04:18 (eleven years ago) link
saw the new fright night a while ago.
Completely forgot that Tennant was in it. Should see it again if only for him. But apart from that I had a really great time watching it I thought Colin F was ACE in it.
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Monday, 9 July 2012 12:50 (eleven years ago) link
Can anyone recommend similar style films? I really enjoy horror (hah, didn't even think it was scary at all) like this.
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Monday, 9 July 2012 12:53 (eleven years ago) link
Watched The Caller last night. It's a creepy premise, and maintains a spooky aura, but there's a lot "no, really, you're not <doing x>" moments and wastes Luis Guzman. (I would say it wastes Bill from True Blood but he doesn't really have charisma or presence anyway.)
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 10 July 2012 20:05 (eleven years ago) link
made it about 10 minutes into shock labyrinth and gave up - huge fan of that director but it looked like it was going to be a horrendous misstep. also from what i can tell its mostly a film meant to show off 3D tech, and it really really shows.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 11 July 2012 15:59 (eleven years ago) link
okay, will pass.i just got a membership to IFC Center, can anyone rep for this?http://www.ifccenter.com/films/the-pact/
― This clam, stranded on someone’s floor, is trying to dig itself (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 11 July 2012 18:53 (eleven years ago) link
I really liked The Innkeepers. Dug the vibe and characters. There's something about Ti West that's refreshing without trying to knock us out about how refreshing he's being. On the other hand, though, there's a little oomph missing from his movies. I keep feeling like he's close to making something really significant but it might still be several films into the future.
― The Thnig, Friday, 13 July 2012 22:46 (eleven years ago) link
the missing oomph thing gets at my reservations, though i haven't seen the innkeepers. so far, he seems to generate good instincts and ideas, but rather dull movies.
watched don't be afraid of the dark the other night. was okay, very well-mounted, but sort of flat. one of the only times i've thought that a horror film really, really should have been shooting for PG-13, that it was harmed by its unwillingness to be a "family movie". a bit more cartoonish zip and a bit less grue, and it could have been a halloween classic.
― contenderizer, Friday, 13 July 2012 22:56 (eleven years ago) link
i guess i mean that it could have taken a few cues from gremlins. loved the production design and the kid lead was pretty great. story wasn't much, though.
― contenderizer, Friday, 13 July 2012 22:59 (eleven years ago) link
I missed this last week @ Japan Society, figured y'all shd know about it.
http://www.pajiba.com/trade_news/trailer-zombie-ass-the-toilet-of-the-dead-yes-that-is-the-actual-title-not-a-metaphor-for-an-adam-sandler-film.php
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 22 July 2012 08:33 (eleven years ago) link
this is playing locally as a midnight film; anybody wanna rep for it?http://www.ritesofspringmovie.com/
― I dont even know that I think this sucks per se (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 25 July 2012 06:27 (eleven years ago) link
Search says nobody here has been discussing Berberian Sound Studio but I figure the title might not give away that it's a new horror film. Looks good to me.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 20:29 (eleven years ago) link
Ok so I just watched "The Oregonian" last night (netflix streaming fyi) and its def low budget and makes some mistakes but overall i thought it was really really impressive and effective, including some actual physical goosebump/chill moments. riyl: non-narrative, creepy, lynch filtered through dirtbag vibe. its def as much an art film thing as a horror really, some tschevverasky (sp?) in there as well. totally worth it. unless you hate it in which case whoops.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 16 August 2012 19:38 (eleven years ago) link
yeah it was definitely effective. I didn't completely LIKE the effect it made on me, but it def made it.
― Lewis Apparition (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 16 August 2012 20:18 (eleven years ago) link
Man, "Rubber" was terrible, and terribly smug.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 August 2012 20:39 (eleven years ago) link
Absentia's quite good. Simple and effective.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Friday, 24 August 2012 19:49 (eleven years ago) link
i really liked 'absentia'.
― second only to popcorn (or something), Friday, 24 August 2012 19:58 (eleven years ago) link
anybody interested in apparition?
― The muted sensation feels amazeballs. (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 25 August 2012 01:44 (eleven years ago) link
so the hobbit version of maniac is out, uh, somewhere. maybe in limited release or overseas. or so i hear. anyone seen it?
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Saturday, 25 August 2012 02:12 (eleven years ago) link
so, Kill List? quite effective imo - & [SPOILER] I loved the unexpected third act to homage to 70s Brit pastoral horror.
― Broney, Pt. 1 (Pillbox), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 23:08 (eleven years ago) link
kill list was one of the few memorable ones i have seen in recent times . V/H/S would be another. it is a short story wrapping a bunch of other short stories, implying they all happen within the same "universe". it would be cool if they made a tv series out of it.
― Sébastien, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 00:03 (eleven years ago) link
Watched McKee's The Woman. There's something really 1990s about the insertion of the emotional singer-songwriter music over key scenes that either makes me think that 1) McKee is playing with us in an interesting way, or 2) is just tuck in the 90s, which I think is an actual possibility. He's certainly done this before.
Also the guy who played the dad was great. Pretty good ending, too.
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 14:30 (eleven years ago) link
emil.y, i think it was Simon H on another thread who also called Berberian Sound Studio a horror film - can I ask what makes you think that it is? Based on Peter Strickland's previous movie, and on a feature in the current Sight and Sound, I don't think it's a genre film as such (ie i get the impression it's about psychological collapse rather than supernatural threat) , although not having seen it, I could be wrong.
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 14:35 (eleven years ago) link
I wish all these horror movies were just released immediately to Netflix streaming, because that's where they need to be.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 14:42 (eleven years ago) link
ie i get the impression it's about psychological collapse rather than supernatural threat
So, err, you don't think Repulsion is a horror film?
― emil.y, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 16:07 (eleven years ago) link
I mean, okay, the reasons I think it is a horror film: it premieres at FrightFest, a horror film festival; it has been reviewed as a horror film by every publication; the themes are of psychological horror set in a giallo production (and you are missing a lot if you don't think psychological horror is 'really horror'); the director thinks it's a horror film; the sole imdb genre tag is 'horror'.
I'll actually see it on Saturday so I can tell you if I suddenly have a revelation that it isn't one, but I'm fairly sure I won't.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 16:13 (eleven years ago) link
― The Thnig, Wednesday, August 29, 2012 7:30 AM (2 hours ago)
liked the movie, but thought that the soundtrack was badly misjudged. almost certainly the result of being a bit too attached to 90s/early 00s indie film sensibilities. that said, the power-pop goofiness did soften the blow in a way that i appreciated. if the soundtrack had been all glowery and "intense", i probably would have found the film a good deal more repulsive.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 29 August 2012 17:25 (eleven years ago) link
Watched and enjoyed Ti West's The Innkeepers last night. Not great, but it rewards the patience it demands. It's similar to The House of the Devil in that it spends way too much time on the slow-paced development of uninteresting characters, but by time spooky stuff started going down, around the halfway point, I was hooked. It's vanishingly slight, and the ending is a bit anticlimactic, but I was genuinely unnerved for most of the last half hour. Also appreciated West's willingness to leave his audience with more questions than answers. Otoh, it's all but done in by the casting. The lead actress is clearly supposed to be cute as a button, and she is, but she's also terribly one-dimensional and unconvincing.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 29 August 2012 17:38 (eleven years ago) link
For better or worse (maybe worse), I've given up resisting Ti West because of his clear flaws and instead just loving him for existing at all.
Anyone ever seen his pre-House of the Devil flicks, The Roost and Triggerman?
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 17:46 (eleven years ago) link
House of the Devil burned me so badly that it will take a really desperate night of netflix streaming for me to even think about giving this dude another shot.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 29 August 2012 18:20 (eleven years ago) link
Innkeepers is a totally different vibe. Definitely lots of laughs. Triggerman has its fans, but it was only in cropped form when it was being streamed.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 18:27 (eleven years ago) link
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, August 29, 2012 11:20 AM (8 minutes ago)
this isn't a recommendation, cuz i think you'd probably hate it, but i hated house of the devil and at least half liked the inkeepers. spent most of the first 45 minutes wondering how i'd let myself get fooled again, though.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 29 August 2012 18:31 (eleven years ago) link
i sort of liked the house of the devil, enough to watch it twice. i thought is it was very "neat", every facets of the retro fetish thing, the photography, costumes, lame intrigue, just a retro-licious neat litle bad horror movies like i have seen when i was a kid on on Commander USA's Groovie Movies and stuff. anyone remember a psycho knockoff from the late 70's early 80's where the killer inject a syringe of blood in a blow up doll full of water? that one was odd.
― Sébastien, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 21:30 (eleven years ago) link
google tells me it looks like it was "Private Parts " . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mURQ4OKRygA will have to watch that one again i think.
― Sébastien, Wednesday, 29 August 2012 21:35 (eleven years ago) link
I didn't hate HOTD, but my main impression was that I'd liked to have seen Tom Noonan's awesome creepy dude performance basically C&Pd into a better, scarier movie.
― Broney, Pt. 1 (Pillbox), Wednesday, 29 August 2012 21:45 (eleven years ago) link
maybe if i was a walkman enthusiast i would like that movie
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 29 August 2012 21:46 (eleven years ago) link
emil.y, i look forward to hearing yr report on Berberian Sound System and am, right this v second, happy to accept that it is as horribly horrible as repulsion
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 30 August 2012 09:02 (eleven years ago) link
Just watched The Caller, which is sorta like a remake of that Dennis Quaid movie Frequency with less laughing. Really dug it -- effectively wrings every bit of unpleasantness out of the situation, possibilities of which only dawned upon me slightly before the happened in the movie. Mostly, though, it made me depressed that good solid Grade B+ horror films like this never make it to the U.S. multiplex anymore and instead we get sludge like The Roommate and Sorority Row.
― The Thnig, Friday, 31 August 2012 01:46 (eleven years ago) link
caught Berberian Sound Studio a couple of mornings ago, liked it a lot.
― Simon H., Friday, 31 August 2012 02:22 (eleven years ago) link
damn, berberian sound studios is a great gis
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/BerberianSoundStudio1.jpghttp://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/BerberianSoundStudio2.jpghttp://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/Berberian-Sound-Studio.jpg
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Friday, 31 August 2012 05:18 (eleven years ago) link
Saw Berberian Sound Studio last night - think it's one of the best films i've seen in years. wrote a bit about why here.
― Fizzles, Sunday, 2 September 2012 09:26 (eleven years ago) link
I agree! Really really great.
Do you mind if I post your link over on the Berberian Sound Studio thread?
― emil.y, Sunday, 2 September 2012 12:16 (eleven years ago) link
no, not at all. didn't realise there was a thread.
― Fizzles, Monday, 3 September 2012 06:43 (eleven years ago) link
ok watched a couple of new ones
The Final - i really should have known better, but yeah its a stupid revenge topical bully egdy columbine what if that is a complete movie execs try to imagine the slipknot generation 4 years too late clusterfuck trainwreck. avoid avoid avoid.
Snowtown/alt title The Snowtown Murders - well if you are craving a soul-destroying bleak horror skincrawler ala Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer this is one for you. its fairly brilliant, and incredibly well-acted, and deeply in the camp of "movies that are so hard to watch that i dont really recommend them". its a rough one, and gets worse when you find out that it is a true story.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 18:53 (eleven years ago) link
available on netflix streaming, if you want to ruin your day instantly on demand.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 18:54 (eleven years ago) link
Wow, this looks either stupid or brilliant:
http://cf.drafthouse.com/_uploads/drafthousefilms/galleries/16162/abcdeathxa-poster2__poster.jpg
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 18:54 (eleven years ago) link
it can be both!
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 18:58 (eleven years ago) link
actually i cant really blow up the picture in a way that gives me most of the info at the top abt the directors
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:00 (eleven years ago) link
if they are all troma directors or mick garris is involved i retract my brilliant comment
The ABC's OF DEATH is an ambitious anthology film featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world's leading talents in contemporary genre film. Inspired by children's educational ABC books, the motion picture is comprised of 26 individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free reign in choosing a word to create a story involving death. Provocative, shocking, funny and ultimately confrontational; THE ABC's OF DEATH is the definitive snapshot of the diversity of modern horror. Drafthouse Films, Magnet Pictures and Timpson Films are proud to present this alphabetical arsenal of destruction orchestrated by what Fangoria calls "a stunning roll call of some of the most exciting names in horror across the world."
Angela Bettis Hélène Cattet Ernesto Díaz Espinoza Jason Eisener Bruno Forzani Adrián García Bogliano Xavier Gens Noboru Iguchi Thomas Cappelen Malling Jorge Michel Grau Yoshihiro Nishimura Banjong Pisanthanakun Simon Rumley Marcel Sarmiento Jon Schnepp Srdjan Spasojevic Timo Tjahjanto Andrew Traucki Nacho Vigalondo Jake West Ti West Ben Wheatley Adam Wingard Mikael Wulff Yudai Yamaguchi Lee Hardcastle
― vincent black shadow giallo (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:01 (eleven years ago) link
considering how little ti west usually gets done in 90 minutes i am worried abt what he can do in 5
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:03 (eleven years ago) link
super gory trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq0NKDex30U
― vincent black shadow giallo (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:06 (eleven years ago) link
M1ke D'4ngel0 said that Ti West's segment should appeal to the same crowd that digs A Serbian Film. Yay.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:18 (eleven years ago) link
since i have nothing today, a brief summary
Angela Bettis - dig her, but roman was just kind of ehHélène Cattet - made amer which is A+++Ernesto Díaz Espinoza - something called mirageman? idkJason Eisener - hobo with a shotgun! getting more promisingBruno Forzani - also amer relatedAdrián García Bogliano - cold sweat? unknown to meXavier Gens - frontier(s), another good sign, potentiallyNoboru Iguchi - the machine girl. not totally my thing, but could be interesting, def will be wacky Thomas Cappelen Malling - did that norwegian ninja thing i still havent watchedJorge Michel Grau - we are what we are? again, idkYoshihiro Nishimura - tokyo gore police, which i liked even less than machine girl. splattertown for this one i am sureBanjong Pisanthanakun - shutter and alone, pretty solidSimon Rumley - red white and blue which i also have only gotten through a little of, pretty slow starterMarcel Sarmiento - deadgirl, which is one of my modern favesJon Schnepp -metalocalypse i guess? something called the removers that i know nothing abtSrdjan Spasojevic - if you couldnt guess from the name, its the serbian film guy. which i still havent seen so i will reserve judgementTimo Tjahjanto - stuff called macabre and dara, no clueAndrew Traucki - black water which sucked, the reef which i never watched because of black water, s for shark or a for alligator i imagine. yawn.Nacho Vigalondo - timecrimes dude! awesome!Jake West - doghouse, which was a knucleheaded assholish messTi West - house of the long naps. yuckBen Wheatley - down terrace and kill list, keep meaning to watch down terrace but haventAdam Wingard - V/H/S, which came out last week and i havent heard much about, along w/his other films pop skull and laura panicMikael Wulff - some show called pandaerne? who knows?Yudai Yamaguchi - versus which is awesome! meatball machine which is not.Lee Hardcastle - apparently a hyper-violent claymation dude? credited with segment "T is for Toilet" which sounds like no thanks to me.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:24 (eleven years ago) link
looks pretty promising to me, although the ultra short format is worrisome.
has anybody heard anything abt V/H/S? i know its a found footagey thing which can be very nagl, but i still hold out hope for the possibility of good work thx to rec etc
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:26 (eleven years ago) link
Reviews have been pretty awesome for it, iirc.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:34 (eleven years ago) link
Jorge Michel Grau - we are what we are? again, idk
really wanted to see we are what we are, spanish cannibalism flick on the realism tip
― vincent black shadow giallo (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:37 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBkNz3_pzsw
― vincent black shadow giallo (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 19:38 (eleven years ago) link
Bogliano is a very interesting Argentinian director. prolific, too. haven't seen Penumbra. Rooms for Tourists is still my favorite. B&W Hitchcock/Argento boarding-house melee with a biting message.Gens made the truly ghastly big-budget nukesploitation slog The Divide. and the even worse Hitman. remind me why we ever cared about this guy? oh, yeah. five minutes I will probably be skipping. but I'm expecting Rumley's short to be my favorite. if it's half as good as his contribution to Little Deaths, I will walk away very satisfied.Macabre is the Western title for Rumah Dara, an Indonesian bloodbath of near-Inside proportions. eager to see what else Tjahjanto can do, esp. without his "team" (The Mo Brothers).Vigalondo's Extraterrestrial is a lot of fun. Edgar Wright-ish sci-fi rom-com. nothing like Timecrimes. he has some range.yeah, Doghouse wasn't so great. but West's Evil Aliens remains a blast. a very wet, very silly blast. he's erratic but talented.Wingard's mumblecorror A Horrible Way to Die made waves earlier this year. no fan of his earlier films, but AHWTD showed some raw promise. with the proper Adam Green-sized breaks, he could go places.Hardcastle is a (relative) unknown whose short became a YouTube sensation and won him a place among the other 25 slots. it's very gross, and very funny.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 21:44 (eleven years ago) link
oh see i have dodged little deaths because i was afraid it was yet another mediocre trilogy alpped together after three extremes (the first one) had such an impact. i just skipped it on my netflix queue, will amend.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 21:48 (eleven years ago) link
oh, it is. but Rumley's segment (the last, unfortunately) pulverizes the other two.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 21:50 (eleven years ago) link
I kind of loved We Are What We Are. Also, it inspired one of Slant's worst (as in worst-written) reviews ever.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 12 September 2012 21:51 (eleven years ago) link
I kinda want to check out ABCs of Death at TIFF but the reviews haven't been so hot and a lot of the directors I recognize are people I "appreciate" but don't enjoy (Wingard, West, Rumley).
― Simon H., Wednesday, 12 September 2012 21:52 (eleven years ago) link
i did see "a horrible way to die", and i think i had kind of mixed feelings about it? i have only fleeting memories of it, which is not usually a good sign. netflix streaming if people are curious.
sounds like i should def check out macabre/rumah dara though
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 21:54 (eleven years ago) link
honestly i would see abcs of death just to see what else the two people behind Amer have up their sleeve
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 21:55 (eleven years ago) link
if you liked Amer, you should try to see Blackaria and Last Caress, a pair of absolutely OTFT French giallo homages by François Gaillard and Christophe Robin (probably not his real name). all the blood (my god the blood), boobs, crazy-cam shots, Lifesavers lighting, and throbbing music that Amer emulated, but without all that arty-farty subtlety to harsh the buzz. i loved both of their efforts more than words will allow. total sensory overload junk food.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 22:04 (eleven years ago) link
^ bookmarked
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 22:07 (eleven years ago) link
Cattet & Forzani have another feature-length arty-farty giallo homage in the works, I believe. They know their strengths. I'm not complaining.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 22:07 (eleven years ago) link
Also, it inspired one of Slant's worst (as in worst-written) reviews ever.
*double checks*
Whew!
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Thursday, 13 September 2012 02:57 (eleven years ago) link
I enjoyed The Innkeepers a lot more than House Of The Devil. The plot and characters are, as mentioned upthread, really slight but Paxton is more than engaging enough make you care about her fate. It clearly wasn't interested in breaking new ground but a couple of laughs and a sustained bit of tension is more than i get from most mainstream horror films these days.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Friday, 14 September 2012 17:35 (eleven years ago) link
Just saw "The Grey." Yeah, it's not really horror, but we talked about it a bit here. It was OK, but for a b-movie I guess I wish it was a little less A-ish in aspiration.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 September 2012 17:46 (eleven years ago) link
watched The Reeds the other night. Recently added to NF streaming. Great setting (endless semi-deserted marshland somewhere in England), young-dumbasses-go-camping (in this case boating) plot template but carried off with aplomb and a fair amount of personality despite poor scripting. Has a ~mindblowing gimmick~ which did not succeed in blowing my mind, but at least it tried. Not great but would watch next film by same ppl.
― Lewis Apparition (Jon Lewis), Friday, 14 September 2012 18:24 (eleven years ago) link
v/h/s was pretty creepy
― just sayin, Sunday, 16 September 2012 13:34 (eleven years ago) link
Just watched the Innkeepers the other day. I think Ti West is great at creating sympathetic characters (at least "character" enough for this kind of movie) and as SV put it, sustaining tension, but he is so bleh when it comes to pay-offs. I liked House Of The Devil more just cuz he drew that out further, but I wish he'd make something atmospheric that didn't require him to do a big reveal.
― da croupier, Sunday, 16 September 2012 14:29 (eleven years ago) link
or maybe hire someone to create a less generic ghoul for him to put at the end of his next hallway
― da croupier, Sunday, 16 September 2012 14:32 (eleven years ago) link
Joe Swanberg's V/H/S segment had me squealing with glee. everything about it just worked for me. or maybe I was just grateful for the temporary respite he granted us from shaky cam. i'll confess that I am not the biggest FF fan. hate the PA series and its imitative ilk. yet I still found V/H/S watchable, on the whole. occasionally even enjoyable. as one should expect, most of the stories are severely underdeveloped, the "watching idiots act like a-holes" thing is tedious in the extreme, the wraparound has no actual payoff, etc. but, man, Swanberg killed it! anyone seen his werewolf movie, Silver Bullets? first segment is the other keeper.
if you like Ti West, it's safe to say that you'll like his contribution. it's sooooooo Ti West. i thought it was eh, ok.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 16 September 2012 19:36 (eleven years ago) link
idk i liked ti west's story more than i expected
― just sayin, Sunday, 16 September 2012 21:12 (eleven years ago) link
but yeah joe swanbergs was definitely a highlight
Seems like I mostly agree with jjjusten on things, so I'm surprised by how slowly (even Ti-West-style slowly!) I'm becoming a Ti West die-hard. I can't even put my finger on why. I guess you either groove to his tempo or you don't. Psyched for V/H/S.
― The Thnig, Monday, 17 September 2012 17:11 (eleven years ago) link
i like his tempo but when he finally gets to the climax it's usually pretty disappointing. i liked HOTD and Innkeepers until the last 10 minutes of each.
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 17 September 2012 17:19 (eleven years ago) link
Since it was mentioned upthread, I watched The Caller on Netflix streaming and ugh what a risible piece of crap. The whole stalker/abusive ex-husband plot was twice-warmed-over crap, the film was set in Puerto Rico for no discernable reason whatsoever and was oddly devoid of Hispanics not named Luis Guzman, it actually had a scene of the heroine falling to her knees in front of a grave . . . it started strong but just completely went to crap very, very quickly.
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 17 September 2012 17:26 (eleven years ago) link
Maybe it's that West's movies are so much about tempo that the sorta-bad endings don't bother me as they would in other, plottier films. It's like ambient music or something. That said, I bet if his endings suddenly got kick-ass, I wouldn't complain.
― The Thnig, Monday, 17 September 2012 17:26 (eleven years ago) link
not that any of you were probably going to bother, but avoid "Chain Letter" like the plague. dumb as dumb gets, painfully acted, stupid in every way.
watched Entrance yesterday and its kind of a hot mess. very slow in establishing a something is wrong here vibe, but then pays off? kind of? tbh i wanted to like it, but im pretty sure i didnt. did make me doublecheck all the locks in my house when i went to sleep though, which is something i guess? idk. netflix streaming for the interested.
followed that up with Silent House (the one from portugal), and man, impressive feat and pretty spooky throughout until the ending which was both totally vague and unrewarding and fairly nonsensical. really thought this would be a winner, but pretty much totally failed for me.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 18:25 (eleven years ago) link
Silent House is Uruguay, i think - unless we're thinking of different films.
I quite enjoyed it but the ending isn't great.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 18:41 (eleven years ago) link
oh shit uruguay is right, mixing up my countries with u's in them today i guess
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 18:42 (eleven years ago) link
Silent House ...
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb57525/simpsons/images/6/60/Uruguay.jpg
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 18:47 (eleven years ago) link
open letter to Lucky Mckee:
THE INDIE ROCK, IT HAS TO STOP
― Lewis Apparition (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 September 2012 15:22 (eleven years ago) link
Keep hearing good things about "Kill List." Just heard that "VHS," which I also want to see, may be the most egregious use of shaky cam ever. A friend of mine had to turn it off before he barfed. "Turn it off before you barf" sounds like it'd be the perfect tag-warning to stick on a horror film, but in this case apparently for all the wrong reasons.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 September 2012 15:30 (eleven years ago) link
Kill List is one of the most bafflingly overrated films of recent times
― Number None, Monday, 24 September 2012 15:33 (eleven years ago) link
Most of the recommendations I've gotten don't say it's a great film, just different and surprising. And very hard to (literally) understand.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 September 2012 15:35 (eleven years ago) link
watched some of 'kill list' but didn't make it to the end - the juxtaposition of kitchen-sink domestic strife with the uncanny elements seemed a bit ham-handed and i kinda lost interest. didn't help that the characters were all horrible bastards, either. the wikipedia summary makes it seem like it goes in pretty much the direction i expected it to go from what i saw, ie shitty wicker man. be interested to hear what others thought of it, though.
― bizarro gazzara, Monday, 24 September 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
it has its own (pretty short) thread. I guess its supporters call it ambiguous, i just thought it was nonsensical
― Number None, Monday, 24 September 2012 15:41 (eleven years ago) link
Ha, that sums up 95% of horror!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 September 2012 15:41 (eleven years ago) link
I wish I could discuss my feelings abt why The Woman does not succeed despite some staggering aspects. But there's no way to do so without major spoiling...
― Lewis Apparition (Jon Lewis), Monday, 24 September 2012 16:06 (eleven years ago) link
ha i think i had the same problem actually
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 24 September 2012 20:07 (eleven years ago) link
Once more into the breach, dear ghosts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7Xn2JqH5ng
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Thursday, 27 September 2012 14:35 (eleven years ago) link
Kids.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 27 September 2012 14:38 (eleven years ago) link
If that was NOT every scary scene in the movie, the movie will be 42 hours long.
― Three Word Username, Thursday, 27 September 2012 15:05 (eleven years ago) link
man im sorry but i am so so done with that series, i dropped out after #2
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 September 2012 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
#3 actually wasn't bad for the most part, but they've ridden this pony way farther than they should have.
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Thursday, 27 September 2012 15:45 (eleven years ago) link
oh i never remembered to get on here and talk about this - Dream Home (which is on netflix streaming fyi) is a pretty interesting weird thing, it has one foot in the sorta half-comedic slightly overblown melodrama get out of HK cinema a lot, and the other foot in totally gonzo splatter brutality. its pretty jarring, but its also pretty amazing and i really dug it.
on a less optimistic note, the innkeepers is sitting at my house right now, so you can prob all look forward to me getting cranky abt people continuing to give a shit abt ti west.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 September 2012 15:54 (eleven years ago) link
Oh, that movie is really not bad at all.
Was curious about "Dream Home," but I guess I'm pretty tired of ironic OTT gore.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 27 September 2012 16:19 (eleven years ago) link
oh i might have misled you, theres nothing ironic at all about this movie, its not another meatball machine or machine girl, its deadly serious for the most part, and weirdly sad.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 September 2012 16:21 (eleven years ago) link
But it's a social satire, right?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 27 September 2012 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
maybe in the vaguest of terms? i mean there is a message for the times aspect there i guess, but its not overblown.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 September 2012 16:24 (eleven years ago) link
the first 5-10 minutes will either hook you or its not a movie for you tbh, it basically reveals itself right out of the gate.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 September 2012 16:25 (eleven years ago) link
Just started "the innkeepers" countdown to ironic Walkman placement begins now.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 28 September 2012 04:51 (eleven years ago) link
Gotta say, as much as I am not sold on the dude, his soundtracks are fucking badass
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 28 September 2012 04:53 (eleven years ago) link
And there it is, a huge "intel inside" sticker on a clunky laptop. First 10 minutes.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 28 September 2012 05:00 (eleven years ago) link
Oh wait, worse, it's an "evil inside" sticker.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 28 September 2012 05:03 (eleven years ago) link
Alright, time to eat some crow here, I thought the innkeepers was great. Sorry for beating you up all the time Ti (house of the devil is still a total piece of shit tho).
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 28 September 2012 14:38 (eleven years ago) link
Told you!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 September 2012 14:48 (eleven years ago) link
I liked the Innkeepers, tried to watch The Letter the other night and I fell asleep, Tera stayed awake for the movie and said it was very creepy.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 28 September 2012 15:02 (eleven years ago) link
Which "Letter?"
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 September 2012 15:12 (eleven years ago) link
With winona ryder and james franco
― JacobSanders, Friday, 28 September 2012 15:24 (eleven years ago) link
Is "Stoker" a horror film or a thriller? Just don't know if it's worth discussing here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXaanQkzrXU
― EVERYONE COOKING SCMABLED EGGS,CHEESE WITH TOASTER!! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 28 September 2012 16:08 (eleven years ago) link
Looks more like future gay cult fave.
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Friday, 28 September 2012 16:09 (eleven years ago) link
Well it's park chan-wook...
― EVERYONE COOKING SCMABLED EGGS,CHEESE WITH TOASTER!! (forksclovetofu), Friday, 28 September 2012 16:12 (eleven years ago) link
(Morbs excepted, gays are some of the biggest horror fans.)
― Ham Lushbaugh (Eric H.), Friday, 28 September 2012 16:18 (eleven years ago) link
stoker POSSIBLE SPOILERS DO NOT READ FURTHER is rumored to be a quasi-vampire tale so it's prolly appropriate here (quasi in that it's like near dark, where the word vampire is never used)
― space dokken (Edward III), Friday, 28 September 2012 18:56 (eleven years ago) link
Although influenced by Bram Stoker's Dracula, Miller clarified that Stoker was "not about vampires. It was never meant to be about vampires but it is a horror story. A stoker is one who stokes, which also ties in nicely with the narrative."
― Number None, Friday, 28 September 2012 18:58 (eleven years ago) link
What the hell, there was a 2010 Joe Dante movie? "The Hole?" Who saw this? Where did it go?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 29 September 2012 02:34 (eleven years ago) link
Kids.― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:38 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:38 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
not a horror movie iirc
― Broney, Pt. 1 (Pillbox), Saturday, 29 September 2012 03:48 (eleven years ago) link
I'm at about the point where: fuck fount-footage ghost movies, fuck vampires & fuck zombies - for a good decade at least.
― Broney, Pt. 1 (Pillbox), Saturday, 29 September 2012 03:53 (eleven years ago) link
* 'found footage' - I'd def watch a movie abt a fountain of ghosts.
― Broney, Pt. 1 (Pillbox), Saturday, 29 September 2012 03:54 (eleven years ago) link
Check out Boo d'Artifice
― da croupier, Saturday, 29 September 2012 03:57 (eleven years ago) link
Boo d'Artifice should be the title of the ilx horror movie.
― Broney, Pt. 1 (Pillbox), Saturday, 29 September 2012 04:02 (eleven years ago) link
has anyone watched "the tall man"? i swear i just read a really positive review of it but i don't remember where, and now it's up on netflix streaming
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 17:42 (eleven years ago) link
might not be horror exactly but from director of martyrs, looks like the review i read was in av club
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 17:44 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah The Hole has been in some kind of weird limbo for 2 years and is only hitting theaters now. I'm curious. The source book is a big deal, right>
― QUOTE sampling at a higher rate UNQUOTE (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 18:26 (eleven years ago) link
the wikipedia entry for the tall man has some horrendous spoilers, so avoid reading the plot summary
― space dokken (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 18:36 (eleven years ago) link
tall man not exactly horror and not flawless but worth watching, takes some interesting turns and looks good
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 03:33 (eleven years ago) link
man ive done a mini-marathon over the last couple days, including some stuff that i chanced on netflix streaming that were waaaaaaay better than expected.
― Therion - Beyond Santorum (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 04:01 (eleven years ago) link
details pls!
― QUOTE sampling at a higher rate UNQUOTE (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 14:19 (eleven years ago) link
yeah rly you can't blow thru here all coy mccoy like "I watched a bunch of awesome stuff, betcha wish u knew what it was"
― space dokken (Edward III), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 19:05 (eleven years ago) link
― set me on fire RAAAAH (DJP), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 19:06 (eleven years ago) link
I've seen a bunch of fun stuff lately, but none of it adheres to the post-2005 edict: Town That Dreaded Sundown, Bloody Birthday, Deadly Blessing, Onibaba, and Sleepaway Camp--all, shockingly, for the first time.
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 20:01 (eleven years ago) link
Anyone seen Rouge River or Knock Knock 2? Caught a fast forwarded glimpse of trailers for both.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 20:04 (eleven years ago) link
ok im in the middle of teaching a customer how not to blow up his shit, but to make that less of a driveby i watched apartment 148, undocumented, pop skull, and cold fish. more thoughts on all of them when i get a chance
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 20:39 (eleven years ago) link
director of pop skull had a big hand in VHS and did one of the segments.
― omar little, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 20:41 (eleven years ago) link
ok im reasonably sure that dude is not going to manage to set his bass amp on fire now, so leem take a crack at these.
apartment 148 - yep. its found footage, so if thats going to ruin it for you, just go ahead and get out of the pool right now. where it differs radically from that oversaturated mush is that 1) the actors are good. like really really good. 2) the script is also way above the expectations ff stuff usually brings to the table, and written for a smart audience. this is what i wish paranormal activity had been like - effects are super solid, pacing is far far better then PA, im sure that it will get lost in the netflix streaming shuffle for 99% of the people that ought to see it.
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 20:47 (eleven years ago) link
Oh man, is he trying to play a guitar through a bass amp? That's instant explosion if I've read my IMM correctly.
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 20:53 (eleven years ago) link
undocumented - strangely well funded (peter stormare is in it! one of the leads from deadgirl. also that short dude from alias) suspense gore (call it kinda torture porn if you have to) twist on the illegal immigration issue, not without its faults but much much better than expected - again, some decent acting that exceeds what you figure you are going to get, about as subtle as i dont know something really unsubtle, only one ungainly overwrought setpiece that is kind of a shame in an otherwise fairly tughtly drawn movie. not one for the ages, but better than many.
xpost hahaha
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 20:53 (eleven years ago) link
V/H/S is bad bad baaaaaad.
― DavidM, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 21:05 (eleven years ago) link
pop skull - one for the avant weirdos, starts with a warning about strobe effects that may be dangerous for epileptics and HOLY SHIT ARE THEY NOT KIDDING. Tscherkassky's Outer Space drawn out to 90 minutes? ok not all the way through, theres quite a bunch of moody lonerism going on, and some less than dead on acting, but it is a serious art-damaged visual overload mindfuck. script isnt great, but who cares, my eyeballs are bleeding.
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 22:03 (eleven years ago) link
sorry to hear that abt v/h/s, i was looking forward to that quite a bit
OK, just watched "Apartment 143" (for that is its name) and enjoyed the performances, the timing of the scares, and the film's refusal to mock the scientist characters, was let down by the final climax and completely annoyed by the sound design -- which made itself known when a really effective completely silent scene happened early on, and that lead to all the dumb sound effects, reverb, and electronic bass grumbles being completely at the front of my attention more than they ever should have been. A weekday evening's scary entertainment, could have been more.
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 22:56 (eleven years ago) link
yeah those are all fair criticisms - might have been more critical of the sound design but having watched yellowbrickroad where the main antagonist at some points is sound (its hard to explain, but really! not a metaphor!) recently i was prob more open to being abused by a soundtrack
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 23:06 (eleven years ago) link
recently enjoyed Friedkin's "Bug", which goes here I guess (also watched Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes", which does not go here, and didn't like it at all). anticipate my horror-watching to ramp up soon, it being the season and all
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 23:11 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i was thinking of soliciting "top ten watched it this year" lists from thread regulars for halloween, either here or on their own thread. i would say top ten horror from 2012 but its been pretty much a wasteland for me so far this year.
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 23:12 (eleven years ago) link
I respect "The Hills Have Eyes" but it's a rare case where I think the remake is, if not a better movie, a little more competently executed, at least. Although nothing beats having Michael Berryman in your movie.
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 23:15 (eleven years ago) link
i rate the remake higher than the original i think
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 23:15 (eleven years ago) link
they are two very different versions of abject nihilistic world hate tho, so im not sure if its fair for me to compare them
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 23:16 (eleven years ago) link
based on its rep, yes I was expecting something a little more "competently executed" as Phil says. a lot of it struck me as lazy and sloppy. and I actually lol'd at the ridiculously abrupt ending.
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 23:20 (eleven years ago) link
the sloppiness of early Craven kind of works for me. been a while since i've seen Hills, but Last House on the Left is a fractured, half-competent mess that still manages to be great.
― circa1916, Thursday, 4 October 2012 03:40 (eleven years ago) link
hm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0j7K6-0Ak4#!
― space dokken (Edward III), Thursday, 4 October 2012 20:15 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0j7K6-0Ak4
Apartment 143 was pretty great. Thanks for the tip, jjj. OTM that it's the strength of the performances that really carries this thing. The same is true of The Innkeepers which I watched the night before. That screwball tone between the two leads could have been excruciating; instead it was a joy. These were both a nice reminder that even in this genre if you've got really good acting you need almost nothing else.
Anyone seen The Outcast, which is part of the same logo-series as Yellowbrickroad, The Woman, and Cold Fish?
― bass line has no point of view (Jon Lewis), Friday, 5 October 2012 15:15 (eleven years ago) link
i thought v/h/s was not bad but i think i value it for just the vouyerisem & the conceits of not internally 'explaining' the vignettes or trying 2 tie them together
― johnny crunch, Friday, 5 October 2012 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
Made it through most of Apartment 143, which is pretty good so far. It really underscores that as much as haters want to, um, hate, "Paranormal Activity" is ingeniously effective, in that it invented an endlessly mutable low-budget horror model. That is, this movie is a clear imitator, and yet none the worse for it, unlike, say, all the "Jaws" imitators or "Halloween" imitators.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 6 October 2012 01:47 (eleven years ago) link
I don't recommend Rogue River unless you are wanting a poorly thought out contender to A Serbian Movie.
― JacobSanders, Saturday, 6 October 2012 16:54 (eleven years ago) link
Watched the Innkeepers, thought it was really disappointing but I kept thinking about it, suddenly (spoilerette) figured out that Kelly McGillis's character is a psychic and not a clairvoyant, and decided it was a cool little movie.
― Three Word Username, Sunday, 7 October 2012 22:31 (eleven years ago) link
I watched The Innkeepers on Saturday, and maybe I was just tired or couldn't get into the rhythms, but the whole thing struck me as a real shaggy-dog-story waste of time.
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Monday, 8 October 2012 15:06 (eleven years ago) link
re: Kelly McGillis, all I could think was, "Well, there'll be no 'Top Gun' reunion anytime soon, will there?"
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Monday, 8 October 2012 15:09 (eleven years ago) link
Maybe "Return to Witness," though!
Personally, I really like the shaggy dog quality of Ti West. They always feel mildly subversive to me, waiting for a payoff that's rarely there.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 8 October 2012 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, I don't know, maybe it was me. I really liked House of the Devil!
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Monday, 8 October 2012 15:13 (eleven years ago) link
No, I think the pay-off was there -- the hotel was haunted, warnings from beyond were real, but the timeline was screwed up and the jump moment was supposed to take place in your head, not on screen.
― Three Word Username, Monday, 8 October 2012 15:23 (eleven years ago) link
Well, I saw VHS. Was neither won over nor totally repulsed. I guess it made me feel kinda gross afterwards for having watched it, but not severely.
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Monday, 8 October 2012 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
Would watch a movie about Kelly McGillis' life. It would be more upsetting than a lot of the movies in this thread.
― Three Word Username, Monday, 8 October 2012 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
sinister anyone? thinking of heading out to watch it tomorrow night.
― second only to popcorn (or something), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
great commercial, 90% chance of sucking
― space dokken (Edward III), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 21:25 (eleven years ago) link
needs a more generic name
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 21:28 (eleven years ago) link
"scary"
"boo"
― space dokken (Edward III), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 21:31 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YrDQ18P9x4
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 21:41 (eleven years ago) link
so nobody's seen it then cos i got all that.
― second only to popcorn (or something), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 22:35 (eleven years ago) link
Poster from my friend's first movie: http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s480x480/156554_439169819451760_805380985_n.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 October 2012 23:55 (eleven years ago) link
That is a badass poster and makes me want to see that movie.
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 00:29 (eleven years ago) link
anyone heard anything about any of these? friend of mine wants to go to a night, but i don't know what's what.
http://www.afi.com/silver/films/2012/v9i4/spookyfest.aspx
― circa1916, Thursday, 11 October 2012 13:52 (eleven years ago) link
Huh, a few of those movies look great. A few more, not so much.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 11 October 2012 14:09 (eleven years ago) link
Watched "Tall Man" on netflix last night. Certainly defied my expectations, I'll say that much!
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Friday, 12 October 2012 13:33 (eleven years ago) link
Is it a phantasm spin off?
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 12 October 2012 19:08 (eleven years ago) link
I wish!
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Friday, 12 October 2012 19:29 (eleven years ago) link
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Tuesday, October 9, 2012 8:29 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark
― 'Anti-Rolling Stones Cannon' (Pillbox), Saturday, 13 October 2012 01:19 (eleven years ago) link
slated for weekend viewing: Tall Man, Silent House, Pulse
― 'Anti-Rolling Stones Cannon' (Pillbox), Saturday, 13 October 2012 01:21 (eleven years ago) link
Earlier, I'd briefly confused Silent House w/ Silent Hill, and read the wiki for the latter (2006 film adaptation, not game). I'm always wary of game-to-film adaptations, but this Ebert pan actually has me slightly intrigued:
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one and a half stars (out of four), calling it "an incredibly good-looking film", but said that he "did not understand the story" and criticized how "all through the movie, characters are pausing in order to offer arcane back-stories and historical perspectives and metaphysical insights and occult orientations."
― 'Anti-Rolling Stones Cannon' (Pillbox), Saturday, 13 October 2012 01:45 (eleven years ago) link
Silent House is very attractive to look at, but falls apart if you look at it too closely; therefore best to not look at it too closely and enjoy it on a purely aesthetic (Olsen) level.
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Saturday, 13 October 2012 01:55 (eleven years ago) link
Has anyone seen Lovely Molly? We watched it last night and I loved it, but I think Tera has reach a threshold with horror films. It's time for a break. After Rogue River, Chernobyl Diaries, Tall Man, basically every horror film mentioned here in the last few months, I think she feels worn down with these movies, with nightmares and being spooked. Anyway Lovely Molly really succeeded for me, had me confused, creeped out and scared. I didn't realize the director was involved with the Blair witch movies.
― JacobSanders, Saturday, 13 October 2012 01:57 (eleven years ago) link
Sinister sucked. Only virtue: James Ransone.
― Simon H., Saturday, 13 October 2012 02:26 (eleven years ago) link
please please people, watch the original silent house, not the remake
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Saturday, 13 October 2012 04:28 (eleven years ago) link
duly noted. will do.
― suggest butt (Pillbox), Saturday, 13 October 2012 04:33 (eleven years ago) link
saw the uruguayan silent house at the pictures. it was ok, wasn't crazy about the ending iirc. didn't get round to seeing sinister the other night, pencilled in tomorrow. hearing very mixed reviews.
― second only to popcorn (or something), Saturday, 13 October 2012 08:46 (eleven years ago) link
Beyond the black rainbow arrives at my house on Monday, will report back
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Saturday, 13 October 2012 19:42 (eleven years ago) link
just finished Yellowbrickroad. Kicked my ass.
― you can kill things and still like them, i don't know (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 13 October 2012 20:01 (eleven years ago) link
Watching In My Skin and feeling quite nauseous indeed
― Simon H., Sunday, 14 October 2012 03:50 (eleven years ago) link
dans ma peau? yeah that'll set yr teeth on edge
― space dokken (Edward III), Sunday, 14 October 2012 17:06 (eleven years ago) link
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Friday, October 12, 2012 9:33 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Friday, October 12, 2012 3:08 PM (2 days ago)
martyrs' director follow up
I started watching, it's shot really well, but it wasn't grabbing me. haven't gotten around to finishing it. avoid reading the spoileriffic wiki entry btw.
― space dokken (Edward III), Sunday, 14 October 2012 17:10 (eleven years ago) link
Wow, never heard of "Yelowbrickroad," but a quick check to make sure it was on Netflix and some intriguing reviews (I avoided spoilers) has jumped this to the top of my must-sees.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 14 October 2012 17:18 (eleven years ago) link
Couldn't be doing with Yellowbrickroad. Just seemed like an hour and a quarter of increasingly hysterical shouting at nothing in particular with a dreadful ending tacked on. I may have been in the wrong frame of mind for it, though.
― Go Narine, Go! (ShariVari), Sunday, 14 October 2012 20:47 (eleven years ago) link
Totally agree with whoever upthread said that Ti West movies make you feel excited for the truly good movies he's going to direct in the near future. The Innkeepers has a bunch of good stuff in it, but its message -- that interest in the occult pretty much emerges from boredom -- seems so transparently self-defeating.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Monday, 15 October 2012 03:11 (eleven years ago) link
Watched "The Woman" yesterday. Haven't seen "Offspring," I think the only other McKee I've seen is his installment of "Masters of Horror" with Angela Bettis as the entomologist. Anyway, it ultimately seemed a lot less than the sum of its parts. The parts were often considerably good, but at the end I was left very "meh." The musical cues were preposterous.
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Monday, 15 October 2012 13:46 (eleven years ago) link
Saw Sinister, I didn't think it was terrible, Ransone's puppy eyes were a highlight. English wife was not. WTF is up with casting that lady?! There's nothing wrong with her, but there was no reason for her to be there either. I appreciated the ending's swift pace.
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Monday, 15 October 2012 14:12 (eleven years ago) link
watched Let the Right One In last night - quality stuff
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 October 2012 15:42 (eleven years ago) link
guys, i'm looking for a copy of a film called Necrocam for a friendhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297307/any idea where i can find a t0rr3nt!!!111!!! or just buy/stream the damn thing?
― let's have sex and then throw pottery (forksclovetofu), Monday, 15 October 2012 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
Shakey, you should watch the US remake as well. Not quite as solid but has some merits of its own.
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Monday, 15 October 2012 15:46 (eleven years ago) link
I like the POV rollover crash shot in the remake better than everything in the original excepting maybe the pool shot (that the remake sort of wisely chooses not to try and top).
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Monday, 15 October 2012 15:49 (eleven years ago) link
I liked a lot of the little things about it - that it was set in the 80s for no particular reason, the way various "action" shots kept things in the background or out of frame (her going up the side of the wall, the pool shot), the avoidance of exposition/monologues
I must admit the 12-yo vag shot was a little, uh, shocking
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 October 2012 15:51 (eleven years ago) link
Yellowbrickroad works much much better on headphones (except that it will damage your eardrums at one point).
The Woman is def less than the sum of its parts.
I liked Let Me In just as much as Let The Right One In. The differences are v fascinating.
― you can kill things and still like them, i don't know (Jon Lewis), Monday, 15 October 2012 16:48 (eleven years ago) link
yeah thats not what it was
― just sayin, Monday, 15 October 2012 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
^and i didn't get that either til I read the ile thread.
― you can kill things and still like them, i don't know (Jon Lewis), Monday, 15 October 2012 17:07 (eleven years ago) link
ah!! I thought I saw a scar but the shot was so quick I wasn't sure what I was supposed to take away from it.
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 October 2012 17:10 (eleven years ago) link
that must be one of the most commonly misinterpreted shots ever
― Number None, Monday, 15 October 2012 17:10 (eleven years ago) link
tbh I suppose I could have rewound it to get a better look but that just felt creepy o_0
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 October 2012 17:18 (eleven years ago) link
the actual backstory for it is in the book but we're not told anything in the film so basically no one picks up on it. I certainly didn't
― Number None, Monday, 15 October 2012 17:21 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, the only real clue in the film is the line "What if I wasn't a girl?"
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Monday, 15 October 2012 17:25 (eleven years ago) link
I think she definitively says "I'm not a girl" at some point but the meaning of that is ambiguous
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 October 2012 17:26 (eleven years ago) link
anybody even HEARD of necrocam?
― let's have sex and then throw pottery (forksclovetofu), Monday, 15 October 2012 17:43 (eleven years ago) link
Potential kinda Sinister SPOILER....
I have a soft spot for movies, especially in the horror genre, that are the opposite of twisty. Movies that say, "Something is going to happen. Now it's happening. Look, it happened just like we said." I appreciate grim inevitability. Sinister sort of falls into this category. I suppose the king of this kind of thing is Night of the Living Dead.
― The Thnig, Monday, 15 October 2012 17:51 (eleven years ago) link
ok which brave soul among us will google "necrocam" for forks
― space dokken (Edward III), Monday, 15 October 2012 17:53 (eleven years ago) link
i have googled.
― let's have sex and then throw pottery (forksclovetofu), Monday, 15 October 2012 17:54 (eleven years ago) link
xpost The Thnig YES exactly re: grim inevitability! I call these kinds of films/stories 'processionals' and it's a quality I love. Black Death, I felt, excelled at this. Now I want to see Sinister.
― you can kill things and still like them, i don't know (Jon Lewis), Monday, 15 October 2012 19:17 (eleven years ago) link
I call these kinds of films/stories 'processionals'
ha, I like that
rosemary's baby comes to mind
― space dokken (Edward III), Monday, 15 October 2012 19:31 (eleven years ago) link
Hmm, "Yellowbrickroad" gets points for non-stop unease, but loses them for rampant batshittery and thread unraveling, plus an ending that seems sort of drawn from myriad Low Budget Tales of Horror.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 15 October 2012 19:34 (eleven years ago) link
Ending does not live up to the rest of the film, i do agree.
― you can kill things and still like them, i don't know (Jon Lewis), Monday, 15 October 2012 19:38 (eleven years ago) link
I guess I'm just SO used to sweeping the final 2 minutes of otherwise-admirable horror films under the carpet that it barely registers anymore...
― you can kill things and still like them, i don't know (Jon Lewis), Monday, 15 October 2012 19:39 (eleven years ago) link
glad people are seeing yellowbrickroad, which i have championed a bit on this thread - the 2 big flaws are the ending and the absolutely terrible early scene with the ticket taker which made me turn it off the first time around. but yeah the use of sound doesn't get much better wrt horror imo. anybody else seen the oregonian yet? thats likely to be another devisive one. also in the same sorta art damaged vein, pop skull has some great moments, although perhaps surrounded with too much mopey lonerism for many.
shit i still haven't done my top ten netflix streaming recently viewed list for halloween. maybe later tonight.
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Monday, 15 October 2012 19:48 (eleven years ago) link
i promise not to put deadgirl in there for the 10th time, although i did watch it again recently.
i think the best parts of 'pop skull' involve the gloomy atmospherics of that industrialized small town suburb landscape, it's definitely just a compelling setting imo. fantastic scares, better for the uncertainty of their origin.
― omar little, Monday, 15 October 2012 20:00 (eleven years ago) link
ok beyond the black rainbow has some great minutes and some pretty O_O shots and cinematography but omg it is so sloooooooooooooooooooooooooow. and the ending is weak as fuck. made that "entrance" movie i watched a few weeks ago feel like a non-stop adrenalin thrill ride.
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 19:12 (eleven years ago) link
BtBR is really not horror at all.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 17 October 2012 19:57 (eleven years ago) link
deadgirl sounds interesting but I dunno how much zombie-rape I can handle
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 19:58 (eleven years ago) link
deadgirl is i think amazing but yeah its deeply upsetting throughout
― costly pussy riot (jjjusten), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:01 (eleven years ago) link
So Dead Sushi sounds dumb, but maybe fun?
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:14 (eleven years ago) link
re: deadgirl, a difficult film to watch but worth it, it's def not some grindhouse atrocity flick, more like a downbeat indie film that turns on a horror plot point
― space dokken (Edward III), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:32 (eleven years ago) link
hmm well how graphic would you say it is
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:37 (eleven years ago) link
xpost: after an intriguing X-Files intro, I thought that Yellowbrickroad degenerated into an utterly charmless and dull piece of survival horror by the numbers. Given the title, I do wonder if the original script didn't have to be amended after the production team received a stern legal warning not to step on those ruby slippers.
― Soukesian, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:49 (eleven years ago) link
technically there's nothing more graphic than what you'd find in an R rated film, but the context is everything, the movie's never on the side of the abusers, it's not prurient, and the title character's performance is incrediblly brave, as central to the movie's success as polyanna macintosh's was in the woman
― space dokken (Edward III), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:54 (eleven years ago) link
the movie's never on the side of the abusers, it's not prurient
okay yeah this is kinda the key thing for me, didn't know how to phrase it
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 20:55 (eleven years ago) link
Ok, totally against all my expectations, paranormal activity 3 was amazingly good - not only the best of the series by far (1 I was mixed on, 2 was terrible), but among the best found footagey video tape things I have seen. Big scares, super creepy, never boring. Huge recommendation, and it is on Netflix streaming. I am totally shocked.
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 09:03 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, a friend of mine was going on about how 3 was actually really good. Wasn't sure if I believed him. I'll have to give it a go. Ended up just turning off the 2nd one.
― circa1916, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 11:49 (eleven years ago) link
Do you need to have seen P1 and P2 for P3 to land?
― The Owls of Ja Rule (DJP), Tuesday, 23 October 2012 11:52 (eleven years ago) link
probably not? i mean, there is an overarching plot that's being advanced but it's so stupid that i don't think you'll miss much.
― adam, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 12:44 (eleven years ago) link
paranormal activity 3 was ok but i was annoyed that the ending makes no sense as a set-up for paranormal activity 1
― da croupier, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 12:48 (eleven years ago) link
pa3 might be a little better if you haven't seen the first 2 because the scare effects might be less familiar and you won't actually think about how it supposedly ties in to the previous entries
― da croupier, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 12:50 (eleven years ago) link
funny the PA movies seem to be moving down the same road as the original halloween series (subgenre-definer gradually introducing more occult content to try and "explain" the supernatural elements of the first two films, though in this case 3 is a prequel rather than a wholly unrelated story)
― da croupier, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 12:53 (eleven years ago) link
PA 3 was as solid as the second one, and while not as fresh as the first, proof that they can just do this forever. We'll always be afraid of the dark, cheap scares and what we can't see.
PA 3 did make some small changes to the format, though. Moving camera, more than one location, additional cast (babysitter, camera guy). Same idea, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 14:16 (eleven years ago) link
I'm a fan of PA1, PA2, and PA3 in almost equal measure.* I wondered if they'd keep going back in time, with PA4 shot on 8mm. But nope.
*Then again, I'm the only human on record to like Apollo 18. I'm a sucker for found footage.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 18:07 (eleven years ago) link
I find this article all sorts of wrong outside of the title: http://www.salon.com/2012/10/25/have_horror_movies_hit_a_new_golden_age/
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Thursday, 25 October 2012 03:19 (eleven years ago) link
Weird that the article keeps going back to torture porn.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 October 2012 03:26 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, the thrust of the piece seems to be saying, "isn't it nice that horror isn't so upsetting once again?"
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Thursday, 25 October 2012 03:28 (eleven years ago) link
Weird article, he keeps bringing up movies and then saying he hasn't seen them.
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 25 October 2012 03:32 (eleven years ago) link
Watched Yellowbrick Road and overall I liked it, nice sense of dread throughout and I liked the idea of people just walking into the woods and going insane. But what happened at the end?
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 25 October 2012 03:35 (eleven years ago) link
arrgh ok i am too tired to deal with that salon piece but advance warning tomorrow i plan to pedantically take it apart sentence by sentence.
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Thursday, 25 October 2012 05:48 (eleven years ago) link
i wouldnt worry too much abt the ending of yellowbrickroad, its the point where the movie indulges its lynch in all the wrong ways.
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Thursday, 25 October 2012 05:49 (eleven years ago) link
xp You can start w/ them mis-identifying the "gold standard in found-footage horror."
In other news, I finally watched Inland Empire (which technically qualified for inclusion here based on the thread title) and it fucked up my whole weekend.
― Simon H., Thursday, 25 October 2012 05:56 (eleven years ago) link
did this finally, join in if you want: Hey it's halloween, everybody should shit their pants - ilx horror crew top tens.
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Thursday, 25 October 2012 06:38 (eleven years ago) link
ok my line by line claim about that salon article was a little ambitious considering i havent seen the movie he starts out with, but i still plan on taking that dumb article apart
― Jesus said "What the hell is a Wumpscut?" (jjjusten), Thursday, 1 November 2012 16:35 (eleven years ago) link
Good!
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Thursday, 1 November 2012 16:38 (eleven years ago) link
At first we don’t understand why César (Luis Tosar), the protagonist of the new Spanish horror thriller “Sleep Tight,” would dream about suicide in the opening sequence. Sure, he has to get up at 5 a.m. to go to work as the front-desk concierge in a middle-class Barcelona apartment building, and the grumpy old guy who manages the building gives him a hard time about watering the plants and staying out too long for lunch. But he also gets to wake up next to Clara (Maria Etura), a vivacious younger woman who likes to show off her terrific figure in high-end lingerie. It takes quite a while, in fact, to figure out the problem: Clara doesn’t actually know that César is sleeping in her bed, night after night, let alone that he’s the source of the creepy love letters and abusive text messages she gets every day.“Sleep Tight,” first of all, is a nifty new Euro-horror film, with several wicked-cold Hitchcockian twists, that shows off the range and craft of terrific Spanish director Jaume Balagueró, co-founder of the “Rec” franchise (still the gold standard in found-footage horror).
“Sleep Tight,” first of all, is a nifty new Euro-horror film, with several wicked-cold Hitchcockian twists, that shows off the range and craft of terrific Spanish director Jaume Balagueró, co-founder of the “Rec” franchise (still the gold standard in found-footage horror).
Ok, we can start here - REC is a good film, but in no way would be the definitive gold standard found footage film, and actually comes a bit late in the game. Privileging it over Blair Witch or the Paranormal Activity films or a bunch of other less well known things is a misstep.
It also offers a way to talk about the odd predicament of 21st-century horror movies, which remain enormously popular but seem – and this is inherently a subjective judgment – to have lost critical respect and cultural relevance in recent years.
Pretty willful falsehoods here - the pre-scream era was a critical wasteland for horror (not that i like the way horror turned after scream better.) theres no way you can say that horror is at a critical or cultural ebb at this point, it is examined constantly in the media, and mainstream horror movies are huge events now. On one hand you have the crazy success of the PA films, on the other you have the media preoccupation with the scummy edge of horror (human centipede, serbian film, etc.
There’s a standard critique of contemporary horror that gets trotted out during Halloween week, which goes something like this: Wasn’t it better when horror movies relied on psychology and atmospherics, rather than splatter and special effects?
Well yes, but not from informed sources, this is like mentioning that your parents think that all that rock and roll sounds like noise - i dont see a lot of trustworthy critics going down this route much anymore
Hasn’t our culture gone irretrievably downhill, from “The Haunting” in 1963 to the original “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” to “Hostel”? Blah blah blah!
again, three great films, but only the most facile interpretation rates them in this way. in fact id put odds on most people rating TCM on top here, and i think its the nastiest and most "debased" of the three.
I’m not sure how valid that line of argument ever was – and I speak as someone who has written versions of that piece, more than once – but here’s the thing: Over the past several years, horror has pivoted decisively in a new direction, thanks largely to an injection of new energy from Europe (especially the bizarre richness of recent Spanish horror cinema) and the indie-film fringe.
bizarre take on the modern era as a time where the influence of asian and french extremity doesnt exist that is 100% a disingenuous way to set up the next totally false baseless argument:
In what we might call the “Paranormal Activity” era, slasher films and “torture porn” (a phrase that was never quite fair) have faded away, and the biggest horror hits have been designed as spooky thrill rides, built on innovative technique, narrative suspense and clever surprises, but hardly at all on gore or out-and-out sadism.
haha lol waht. if you define "the biggest horror hits" as basically being a stand in for "the paranormal activity films, then maybe i guess? but thats hardly a comprehensive look at successes in the genre. Also, a quick look at the shift towards gore/sadism on television even outside of the horror genre, i think dude is seeing what he wants to see here.
Even as fantasy has become a dominant current in both Hollywood film and fiction publishing, horror is still perceived as a low-prestige, low-budget and somewhat disreputable niche product.
considering the speed at which major studios are scrambling over each other to nab these films, and the explosive success of the walking dead and to a lesser extent american horror story, nah.
Looking at the genre from a historical perspective, I’m pretty sure that “torture porn” was more of a media-outrage meme than a real phenomenon, and the success of Eli Roth’s admittedly gruesome and unrelenting 2006 “Hostel” was pretty much an aberration.
do i even bother to make a list here? theres been far more proliferation of (ok largely bad) torture porny stuff than the usual flogged to death found footage stuff.
Despite the name, for instance, the “Saw” franchise was mainly a series of heavily moralistic puzzle-box fables; people assumed they were incredibly gruesome, but by contemporary media standards, the bloodshed was nothing special.
alright, 2 things. 1. Saw has some pretty grotesque stuff in it, to the point where this guy is either lying or doesnt remember or didnt really watch the movie. 2. so wait, torture porn failed to be significant because the rest of the media landscape now exceeds one of the progenitors of the genre in severity on a regular basis? what?
(OK, you won’t catch me defending “House of 1000 Corpses” or the rest of Rob Zombie’s spectacularly gory directing career. But the guy’s not exactly flavor of the month anymore either.)
well other than being handed endless big budget horror remakes to fuck up, so i would say he is still a player, and in fact is doing a lot better than darren lynn bousmann or eli roth for that matter
Along with “Sleep Tight,” which is admittedly a subtitled film that will play in a few big cities and on VOD, this week also brings us “Silent Hill: Revelation 3-D,” second in a video-game-derived series and follow-up to a big hit that flew somewhat under the radar six years ago. I haven’t seen it, because the distributor saw no percentage in screening the movie for the New York press, which should tell you something.
yeah it tells me that you probably shouldnt use it as an example or talk about it
This movie will be dismissively reviewed by mainstream media, or ignored altogether, and draw teenagers and young adults by the millions.
why sneak the old "horror is for kiddies" trope into an article about why horror is having its golden era? sounds like most of these supposed hang-ups about the critical acceptability of horror are your own.
The first “Silent Hill,” which was scripted by one-time Quentin Tarantino collaborator Roger Avary and directed by French import Christophe Gans, is a phantasmagorical journey, rich in digital effects but also in creepazoid atmosphere, with clear nods to David Lynch and the Wachowskis.
hahahaha what? phantasmagorical journey are you shitting me? also gtfo with this clear nods to Lynch thing, ive seen the movie and just because something weird happens it doesnt make it a goddamn homage to lynch ffs. i guess the wachowski nod is "look this has a shitload of cgi in it, remember the matrix, that stuff was all over in those movies."
It makes a terrific late-night Amazon or iTunes rental, at least if you don’t need to be up early the next day. (Yes, it also suffers from a bad case of plot-resolution stupidity, but horror fans are used to being abused on that front.)
and again, mr. i support horror throws in a "eh horror fans dont care about plot or stuff making sense" dig, because deep down he really doesn't respect horror or the people who watch it very much. or maybe at all.
Like the recently released “Paranormal Activity 4,” which I skipped (is it worth the 12 bucks?), “Silent Hill: Revelation” will probably yield one of the best returns on investment of any Hollywood movie made this year.
wait, so we are all living in the paranormal activity era, you can't be bothered to go see those movies, despite using them as a lynchpin for your description of the modern horror scene?
No one was expecting that kind of yield, however, from the surprise hit “Sinister,” a nifty little creepshow that stars Ethan Hawke as a true-crime author who gets trapped by his own inability to stop watching a series of horrifying Super-8 films. It’s like a meta-lesson on the evils of film criticism! Wrapped up, that is, in a disturbing yarn that’s both a haunted-house movie, a demonic-possession tale and a serial-killer drama. (With a supporting role by Fred Thompson, the one-time GOP presidential candidate turned TV pitchman!)
havent seen it, but congratulations on getting 2 super lazy throwaway zing lines in there wrt film crit and fred thompson, who's a clever boy
Just in the last couple of months, I’ve reviewed the imaginative indie-horror anthology “V/H/S,” the claustrophobic and scary Jewish-exorcist film “The Possession,” the delicious L.A. zombie-vampire farce “The Revenant” and the oddly intoxicating Filipino-made horror fantasy “The Road.” Quite a few other horror movies have been released this year that I haven’t seen or didn’t cover — “Smiley,” “The Tall Man,” “Lovely Molly,” “The Corridor,” “Intruders” and so on – which may or may not be any good but have little or nothing to do with the torture-porn or teen-splatter stereotypes.
hahaha wait, did you just list a bunch of movies you haven't seen and then use them to support your earlier point about how torture-porn and splatter is dead? while couching the possibility that you are wrong by cautiously throwing the little or nothing in there. and btw you are wrong wrt lovely molly imo, and ignoring the fact that the director of the tall man is the martyrs dude, who just maybe got this cushy hollywood gig by establishing himself via one of the most gore and sadism laden movies in recent memory is a pretty big oversight here, cmon man.
To find anything like that, we have to go back to Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s “Cabin in the Woods,” a brilliant mashup that’s part H.P. Lovecraft and part Philip K. Dick.
WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, namedroppin cool dude references like it aint no thing
Is it too early to proclaim that we’re living through a new golden age of horror, and almost nobody’s paying attention?
nope. its way too late, because it happened 10 or so years ago, and you're the dude not paying attention.
― Jesus said "What the hell is a Wumpscut?" (jjjusten), Thursday, 1 November 2012 17:33 (eleven years ago) link
“Silent Hill: Revelation 3-D,” second in a video-game-derived series and follow-up to a big hit that flew somewhat under the radar six years ago
can we marvel at this for a bit
― Gandalf’s Gobble Melt (DJP), Thursday, 1 November 2012 17:52 (eleven years ago) link
"a big hit that was under the radar" ie I am a mouthbreathing feeb who can't even sustain a coherent argument for the length of a sentence
― Gandalf’s Gobble Melt (DJP), Thursday, 1 November 2012 17:55 (eleven years ago) link
I kiss you, jjjusten.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Thursday, 1 November 2012 18:06 (eleven years ago) link
Just a dude makin stuff up baout horror movies
― this update fixes the following known sugs (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 1 November 2012 18:22 (eleven years ago) link
Absentia. Good movie. But I don't get why [SPOILERS AHOY] if the husband was just underground in bugtown, why he was showing up as a ghost in the first half of the film? What did I miss?
Excision. Ah, Christ, lots of energy wasted on this one. Wants so bad to be May that it tries to create its own Angela Bettis. I imagine anyone who has seen the still photos of this film gets pretty bummed when all that vibrant imagery is relegated to a few dumb dream scenes.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 1 November 2012 20:19 (eleven years ago) link
I will add:
Absentia was really well done considering how smalltime it was. I really liked the two female leads and they were totally believable sisters.
Excision, on the other hand, had a ton of celebrity cameos and none of them could save it. The desperation to be cool reminded me of that Robin Williams movie where he swims naked and is serenaded by Bruce Hornsby. Not recommended.
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 1 November 2012 20:27 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, whut? I actually was quite impressed with the original Silent Hill, but it is in no way Lynchian, ffs. Plus one thing I liked was that they used live-action for a fair few bits that they could well have fucked up with CGI, but I dunno, pretty sure it had quite a bit of it still.
― emil.y, Thursday, 1 November 2012 20:36 (eleven years ago) link
haha i just reread my critique and got mad all over again. i was just writing as i thought of stuff, theres lots more in that article to be ridiculed. i mean for starters, theres the great point where he talks about how enormously popular horror films are and then say that they have lost cultural relevance IN THE SAME SENTENCE
― Jesus said "What the hell is a Wumpscut?" (jjjusten), Thursday, 1 November 2012 22:54 (eleven years ago) link
now i understand why people get all hulked up about rockism
― Jesus said "What the hell is a Wumpscut?" (jjjusten), Thursday, 1 November 2012 22:55 (eleven years ago) link
Re: "Absentia," it was the rare film where I appreciated its lack of explanation, but the implication was not simply that they were underground but that they were in some sort of parallel dimension. So I got the impression he was trying to break through to her, though why as a scary ghost, I dunno. Unless he was just miffed that he was being declared dead in absentia, rather than "absconded by bug spirits to an alternate world." OTM with them being plausible sisters. The one was even plausibly pregnant, which is even more rare in the movies.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 2 November 2012 01:33 (eleven years ago) link
First dude to appear in the tunnel was all "you can SEE me?!?" They were around. Assume scary ghost aspects were her subconscious attempting to make sense of his presence.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 2 November 2012 08:25 (eleven years ago) link
xp: she was actually pregnant.
― how's life, Friday, 2 November 2012 08:55 (eleven years ago) link
I liked the cops too. Good casting all around in that movie.
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Friday, 2 November 2012 14:56 (eleven years ago) link
huh i liked absentia but feel like it's a tad overrated here, the acting was the weak spot for me
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 2 November 2012 15:04 (eleven years ago) link
None of that satisfactorily explains why the husband was a scary ghost. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that might be a fault with the film.
― The Thnig, Friday, 2 November 2012 20:52 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, it def. would have worked better if he was a nicer, "help me" sort of ghost.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 2 November 2012 22:34 (eleven years ago) link
did anyone else see "silent house" (not "silent hill")? the ending was kind of lame (you don't HAVE to have a twist, guys, especially when it's totally obvious) but it was effectively scary. good use of gimmick (takes place in real time, edited so it looks like all one shot), darkness, and the quirks of digital video to create a really claustrophobic, creepy tone.
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 5 November 2012 19:14 (eleven years ago) link
I think they had to keep the twist considering it was a remake
― Gandalf’s Gobble Melt (DJP), Monday, 5 November 2012 19:15 (eleven years ago) link
i got a netflix dvd of it waiting at home. already know the twist so i'm hoping it's less likely to annoy
― da croupier, Monday, 5 November 2012 19:18 (eleven years ago) link
― Gandalf’s Gobble Melt (DJP), Monday, November 5, 2012 7:15 PM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark
yeah but if you've already seen the original getting rid of the twist would be like a whole other twist
― Number None, Monday, 5 November 2012 19:51 (eleven years ago) link
i'm just sick of obligatory twists. fuck you shyamalan
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 5 November 2012 20:47 (eleven years ago) link
http://zombiesatemygames.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/sleepaway-camp.jpg
― The Thnig, Monday, 5 November 2012 21:12 (eleven years ago) link
...Dream Home (which is on netflix streaming fyi) is a pretty interesting weird thing, it has one foot in the sorta half-comedic slightly overblown melodrama get out of HK cinema a lot, and the other foot in totally gonzo splatter brutality. its pretty jarring, but its also pretty amazing and i really dug it.on a less optimistic note, the innkeepers is sitting at my house right now, so you can prob all look forward to me getting cranky abt people continuing to give a shit abt ti west.― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, September 27
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, September 27
didn't love or hate inkeepers. thought it was okay. scary and well constructed, but the characters bugged me. nice ending.
plus howdy, y'all
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 November 2012 04:37 (eleven years ago) link
i watched apartment 148, undocumented, pop skull, and cold fish. more thoughts on all of them when i get a chance― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Wednesday, October 3, 2012 1:39 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― I'M THE ONLY ON (jjjusten), Wednesday, October 3, 2012 1:39 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 November 2012 04:39 (eleven years ago) link
Watched "The Woman" yesterday. Haven't seen "Offspring," I think the only other McKee I've seen is his installment of "Masters of Horror" with Angela Bettis as the entomologist. Anyway, it ultimately seemed a lot less than the sum of its parts. The parts were often considerably good, but at the end I was left very "meh." The musical cues were preposterous.― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Monday, October 15
― Tom Hardy & the Batbreakers (Phil D.), Monday, October 15
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 November 2012 04:41 (eleven years ago) link
Excision. Ah, Christ, lots of energy wasted on this one. Wants so bad to be May that it tries to create its own Angela Bettis. I imagine anyone who has seen the still photos of this film gets pretty bummed when all that vibrant imagery is relegated to a few dumb dream scenes.― The Thnig, Thursday, November 1, 2012Excision, on the other hand, had a ton of celebrity cameos and none of them could save it. The desperation to be cool reminded me of that Robin Williams movie where he swims naked and is serenaded by Bruce Hornsby. Not recommended.― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, November 1, 2012
― The Thnig, Thursday, November 1, 2012
― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, November 1, 2012
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 November 2012 04:43 (eleven years ago) link
and i guess it came out last year, but father's day rules. best movie ever associated with troma, and a way better tribute to their 80s heyday than hobo with a shotgun. super dumb, but smart-funny and crude as hell.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 November 2012 04:48 (eleven years ago) link
er, ah, i mean i loved excision. incision is some other thing. probably.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 November 2012 04:50 (eleven years ago) link
i guess i've missed this thread...
o hai contenderizer welcome back
so I'm not sure how I missed this one but I started watching hansel and gretel, a 2007 south korean flick. like most good korean flicks it's got top notch cinematography, sets, and sound design. for context's sake I'd call it similar to a tale of two sisters, but don't really want to give too much info about the plot. not knowing anything goes a long way here. streaming on netflix.
― CGI fridays (Edward III), Thursday, 15 November 2012 21:49 (eleven years ago) link
Trina is among my most hated things, but I will give fathers day a shot. Prob going to give "the black rock" a shot here soon, watched the first 10 minutes and I think it's way less stupid than the awful cover art implies
― Me order! Me Fieri! Me run Flavortown! (jjjusten), Thursday, 15 November 2012 22:16 (eleven years ago) link
Rejected last night without even getting beyond the main titles:The HiddenDark House
― multiple decades of jazz (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 15 November 2012 22:18 (eleven years ago) link
Not Trina, troma
― Me order! Me Fieri! Me run Flavortown! (jjjusten), Friday, 16 November 2012 02:44 (eleven years ago) link
the hidden from 1987?
― sug ones (omar little), Friday, 16 November 2012 02:47 (eleven years ago) link
no, 2011
― multiple decades of jazz (Jon Lewis), Friday, 16 November 2012 03:15 (eleven years ago) link
i also hate troma, but father's day does a good job of being like a troma movie on the surface while avoiding the crushing generic dumbness of most of their product. the style is troma, but the sensibility is much smarter and stranger. it's got problems: a lot of dumb or just plain unfunny jokes, "grindhouse" stylization, overstated tastelessness, but like i said, it's easily the best troma flick i've ever seen (faint praise, sure).
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Friday, 16 November 2012 03:43 (eleven years ago) link
oh right, hence the thread in which i'm posting xp
― sug ones (omar little), Friday, 16 November 2012 04:09 (eleven years ago) link
I have solid memories of the '87 Hidden, tho it's been a very long time since I watched it. It def gets points for starring a young, Blue Velvet-era Kyle MacLachlan!
― The Fieri Garnishes (Pillbox), Friday, 16 November 2012 04:24 (eleven years ago) link
I like Troma's The Children and Combat Shock a lot and for some odd reason I have a memory of quite enjoying Terror Firmer. There has to be a few more gems that I'm forgetting.
― The Thnig, Friday, 16 November 2012 15:23 (eleven years ago) link
The Children was great!!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8054/8098572607_db4ea2cecc.jpg
― passion it person (La Lechera), Friday, 16 November 2012 15:25 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, there are bright moments here and there. i remember liking tromeo and juliet, but it's been a while.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Friday, 16 November 2012 21:06 (eleven years ago) link
Ok the American version of silent house might actually be the worst horror remake ever. Avoid like the fucking plague, so infuriatingly wrongheaded and terrible.
― If you will not name your dog "Ping Pong" you are no longer my friend (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 November 2012 08:39 (eleven years ago) link
never saw the original, had to stop the remake about a quarter of the way in
― da croupier, Wednesday, 28 November 2012 15:08 (eleven years ago) link
oh wait i'm thinking of dream house. i actually did watch silent house (though it was weak).
i wasn't over the moon about the original, but it was a solid horror romp, this remake is really stunningly awful though, and misses the point of the original film in every way. seems to exist only as a vehicle for down blouse shots of the third olsen spawn.
― If you will not name your dog "Ping Pong" you are no longer my friend (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 November 2012 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
Speaking of which, I think I want to do an eoy horror poll. Leaning towards a quick nomination round, spanning oct 2011 to oct 2012 (with the caveat that post oct stuff from this year will be allowed, but prob will have limited support.) followed by a top ten limited ballot poll.
I will be fairly down & dirty with the rollout unless someone wants to volunteer graphics or w/e. blurbs accepted, but not required.
― If you will not name your dog "Ping Pong" you are no longer my friend (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 November 2012 05:16 (eleven years ago) link
Before I bother, are other people down with this?
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Friday, 30 November 2012 06:34 (eleven years ago) link
I am!
― Go Narine, Go! (ShariVari), Friday, 30 November 2012 09:10 (eleven years ago) link
i doubt i could name 10 good horror movies i saw since october that were actually released since october
― da croupier, Friday, 30 November 2012 13:02 (eleven years ago) link
Joe Dante's "The Hole" is now streaming on Netflix. I'm not sure it was good, but it's ... not bad? Lit bright like a cheap TV movie, with some questionable pacing, effects, acting. Not really scary at all until, maybe, the end. And yet, there's something to it. It's like a dark, kids version of "House." Not sure who its audience is meant to be. Apparently ... no one!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 30 November 2012 15:04 (eleven years ago) link
I noticed last night that it was up. Kind of excited. Your description oddly enough sounds like what I would want a new (-ish) Joe Dante movie to be.
Also noticed among the new streams-- there's a documentary about that famous olde tyme lunatic in Chicago who built a house especially designed to murder people in.
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Friday, 30 November 2012 15:17 (eleven years ago) link
H h Holmes? I saw a doc about him tht was pretty terrible, wonder if its the same one.
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Friday, 30 November 2012 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah him. Let me know if this is the one that's shit, in which case I won't bother.
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Friday, 30 November 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
http://instantwatcher.com/titles/77464
yup, that's the not-very-good doc i remember on the topic
― passion it person (La Lechera), Friday, 30 November 2012 16:00 (eleven years ago) link
and seriously some days i think frontline docs are the most terrifying movies i have ever seen, so it's not because it's a documentary
― passion it person (La Lechera), Friday, 30 November 2012 16:02 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, frontline is the shit
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Friday, 30 November 2012 16:08 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, if someone could come up with a generous list of eligible films (based on VOD release or whatever) I imagine there's lots I could vote for, but based on local theatrical / fest viewing, nearly nada on my end.
― Simon H., Friday, 30 November 2012 16:26 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah that's the crappy doc I was thinking of. Basically if you've read devil in the white city, you know more than the documentarian seems to.
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Friday, 30 November 2012 17:42 (eleven years ago) link
ouch
― SHUT UP AND GET YOUR TURKEY SCIENCE BOOKS (Austerity Ponies), Friday, 30 November 2012 17:59 (eleven years ago) link
did anyone see the innkeepers
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Friday, 30 November 2012 18:00 (eleven years ago) link
no, no one saw it, kind of sad for ti west
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 30 November 2012 18:04 (eleven years ago) link
http://i.thestreet.com/files/tsc/mainstreet-photos/photo-gallery/art-gallery/bodywork-blank.jpg
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Friday, 30 November 2012 18:04 (eleven years ago) link
if only there was a way to show all messages
― da croupier, Friday, 30 November 2012 19:17 (eleven years ago) link
IF THERE WAS ONLY A WAY FOR YOU SMART ALECKS TO ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION YES OR NO
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Friday, 30 November 2012 19:19 (eleven years ago) link
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YGbcwOTASfg/T6b2reEEWFI/AAAAAAAAADQ/DTXimbirgxM/s1600/Yes%2520no%2520maybe.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 30 November 2012 19:24 (eleven years ago) link
Saw it, and despite really hating house of the devil, I thought it was fantastic.
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Friday, 30 November 2012 22:50 (eleven years ago) link
THANK YOU JUSTEN.
i liked it—good star performance, great setting, genuinely spooky at points. however, i thought it simmered along more than came to a full boil, know what i mean? and the climax/ending left me a bit *shrug*
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Friday, 30 November 2012 22:54 (eleven years ago) link
What an interesting thread and it deviates wildly from just shitting oneself to horror.I am going to check out Sauna and have several others queued up. Going back a couple of years I really rate Refn's Valhalla Rising, especially higher than that awful Tony Scott tribute with ultraviolence that was Drive. VH isn't perfect but Mikkelsen's prescence and its unrelenting bleakness elevate it above movies like Black Death. I am hoping Sauna has a similar ambience to VH. Gonna rewatch Pontypool as well as I was drunk when I first watched it and The Children sounds essential. Stunning thread guys and keep up the good work. Has anyone mentioned Wake Wood on here? Not noticed it.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Friday, 30 November 2012 23:56 (eleven years ago) link
VH I mean't VR.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Saturday, 1 December 2012 00:02 (eleven years ago) link
Sauna was no good
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Saturday, 1 December 2012 02:36 (eleven years ago) link
I liked Wake Wood for its first hour quite a bit and then it shit itself unforgivably.
Innkeepers - Liked it a lot. The screwball tone could have gone so very wrong, but the two leads made it wonderful. It seems like it was meant to be kind of underachieving and baggy in the scares department. I dunno. A weird, interesting target to aim for and I think West and his actors hit it square on.
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 1 December 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
i do agree, but found the ending pretty unsatisfying
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Saturday, 1 December 2012 18:39 (eleven years ago) link
IOW, if it had maintained its simmering tone throughout i would have been fine with it, but when it tried to go out with a bang, i dont think it worked
Yeah... I think you're right, actually. I'm so used to disregarding the last 90 seconds of all horror films, LOL...
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 1 December 2012 19:04 (eleven years ago) link
Apartment 227 or whatever does the same thing. Perfectly fine ending, then tries to fit in one last zing.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 1 December 2012 20:32 (eleven years ago) link
Pontypool?
A sequel is coming out.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g128/NOISENIK/PontyPoolChanges_Poster_560.jpg
― *rad hug eomticon* (Control Z), Saturday, 1 December 2012 20:35 (eleven years ago) link
Pontypolo
Huh. What is it with Bruce MacDonald and sequels lately?
― Simon H., Saturday, 1 December 2012 20:37 (eleven years ago) link
I love Pontypool so much that even though I know there are a couple of books in the series (right?) I'm not so sure on a sequel.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 1 December 2012 20:46 (eleven years ago) link
i gotta watch that (p1)
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Saturday, 1 December 2012 21:30 (eleven years ago) link
lol i cant wait for jjjusten to see this news.
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Saturday, 1 December 2012 21:36 (eleven years ago) link
yesssss pontypool is so awesome
― susan dey with jigga (some dude), Saturday, 1 December 2012 22:03 (eleven years ago) link
Noooooooooooooooo
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Sunday, 2 December 2012 00:56 (eleven years ago) link
To be fair, maybe this time he will make an actual movie
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Sunday, 2 December 2012 00:58 (eleven years ago) link
Plus I know that I have been desperately awaiting a full low rent sin city explanation of that that fantastic credits teaser
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Sunday, 2 December 2012 01:00 (eleven years ago) link
did i tell u guys i took 3 weeks off all my work a few months ago to bang out a horror movie script and that it is my dream to make it in the next couple of years?
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Sunday, 2 December 2012 01:11 (eleven years ago) link
sweet, please make us shit our pants, man, we know you can do it
― susan dey with jigga (some dude), Sunday, 2 December 2012 04:55 (eleven years ago) link
It is my dream
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Sunday, 2 December 2012 07:41 (eleven years ago) link
hey, me too! wrote a horror movie, i mean. not quite done, but mostly. it involves stuff.
also i love pontypool and am psyched for changes. never thought it'd actually get made. woot.
watched dante's the hole on netflix the other day. eh. starts great, very much in retro-80s style, nice lady with nice but squabbly kids moving into a generic (but nice) suburb with nice neighbors, only to encounter spookiness. goes down the shitter pretty fast though. more of the movie should have been like the dreamscape-y bit at the end.
also watched V/H/S. half okay, half terrible. confirmed my distaste for ti west. worst segment in the bunch, and i knew it was his within a minute.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Sunday, 2 December 2012 19:34 (eleven years ago) link
i'm gonna try pontypool as a double feature with cabin in the woods tonight.any suggestions for a third that's available on netflix streaming?
― (alternatively, “Respec’”) (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 2 December 2012 21:42 (eleven years ago) link
Tucker and dale vs evil
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Sunday, 2 December 2012 23:25 (eleven years ago) link
cabin in the woods so good y'all
― (alternatively, “Respec’”) (forksclovetofu), Monday, 3 December 2012 05:30 (eleven years ago) link
I wonder if the Pontypool sequel will be more of an Ozzy or Bowie "Changes"...
― Frobisher the (Viceroy), Monday, 3 December 2012 06:32 (eleven years ago) link
BTW, am I the only person who gives a shit/fux wit the whole ChromeSkull saga? I personally thought Laid To Rest was a very good film for being made with, like, $20 dollars.
― Frobisher the (Viceroy), Monday, 3 December 2012 06:36 (eleven years ago) link
guy has a camera attached? i tried to watch the first one, but wound up doing something else instead, so i couldn't really tell if it was any good.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Monday, 3 December 2012 07:39 (eleven years ago) link
there were coffins in a barn and he had a car with booby traps, that's what I remember. maybe my memories are better than the film.
― Frobisher the (Viceroy), Monday, 3 December 2012 07:46 (eleven years ago) link
i just remember this fuzzy shot shot of a chrome skull head guy w a big knife (haw) & a camera stuck on his shoulder, and when it was shooting, you could see the little red light (maybe it's from the box art, i dunno). a pretty spooky concept, i admit, but the movie didn't do much for me. or maybe i was drunk so i forgot it. 50/50 odds.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Monday, 3 December 2012 07:54 (eleven years ago) link
no doubt I was drunk when I watched it. The hillbilly nerd character with dial-up charmed me though, I think that's what did it for me.
"I don't have a phone line... per se..."
― Frobisher the (Viceroy), Monday, 3 December 2012 08:01 (eleven years ago) link
is there a general thread for horror movies we have seen recently or can i put something on here that i saw but is not new
― passion it person (La Lechera), Monday, 3 December 2012 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
alternately, real question: does the word "shunting" mean anything to you?
― passion it person (La Lechera), Monday, 3 December 2012 15:41 (eleven years ago) link
weird movie, huh?
and i think there's a gp horror thread, but i can't remember what it's called.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Monday, 3 December 2012 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
yeah I would support creation or reanimation of pre-2005 horror movie thread. been watching a lot of old stuff lately, almost nothing new. started but didn't finish amer, the tall man, and absentia (tho it's not that they were so bad I had to turn them off, I just didn't find them compelling enough to keep watching or stay awake).
sauna is awesome, can't understand someone judging it "no good" even if it wasn't their cup of tea. acting, dialogue, period set & costume design, cinematography, all top notch. it's a mood piece with a frustrating diabolus ex machina conclusion, the 'black metal horror' sobriquet is appropriate, yadda yadda. if you're not in the market for a movie that wallows in its own well-constructed miasma that's cool but it was one of my favorites of the last 5 years.
can't wait to see the films produced from s1ocki + contenderizer's scripts, both of which I assume will be savage torture porn outings
― CGI fridays (Edward III), Monday, 3 December 2012 16:30 (eleven years ago) link
srsly digging that Pontypool 2 poster design
― Pillbox, Monday, 3 December 2012 16:35 (eleven years ago) link
I liked pontypool a lot but unsure about the viability of a sequel
― CGI fridays (Edward III), Monday, 3 December 2012 16:41 (eleven years ago) link
i wrote a horror movie too but you don't see me bragging about it
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Monday, 3 December 2012 16:44 (eleven years ago) link
― CGI fridays (Edward III), Monday, 3 December 2012 16:47 (eleven years ago) link
― passion it person (La Lechera), Monday, December 3, 2012 3:41 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Aaaaaaaaaargh!
― emil.y, Monday, 3 December 2012 17:07 (eleven years ago) link
hahahaha
it didn't mean anything to me before friday, but now? now it does.
― passion it person (La Lechera), Monday, 3 December 2012 17:08 (eleven years ago) link
Tucker and Dale would pair really well with Cabin in the Woods. I would recommend watching Pontypool on its own, though, as it's a different sort of movie. Perhaps consider replacing it with Severance, which I thought was very clever and tons of fun.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 December 2012 17:34 (eleven years ago) link
Is Severance still on nf streaming?
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Monday, 3 December 2012 17:40 (eleven years ago) link
It is.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 December 2012 17:41 (eleven years ago) link
http://366weirdmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/society.jpg
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Monday, 3 December 2012 19:43 (eleven years ago) link
good dn pairing
― CGI fridays (Edward III), Monday, 3 December 2012 19:46 (eleven years ago) link
Is that from "From Beyond?" Or "From ... Behind"?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 December 2012 19:47 (eleven years ago) link
the worst part was how much he looked like mitt romney
― passion it person (La Lechera), Monday, 3 December 2012 19:47 (eleven years ago) link
i have relevant news to this discussion but decided to post it in the 77 update thread.
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, 3 December 2012 20:39 (eleven years ago) link
I thought "Stake Land" was pretty well made, especially for what was surely a low-budget. Basically post-apocalyptic zombie horror only with vampires, so there's a nice daylight break everybpdy gets from the running and stabbing, Brief hints of "Blade" don't work well, but that stuff is ancillary, and I liked the conception of vampires here as sort of feral foes, but still fightable.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 4 December 2012 18:22 (eleven years ago) link
everyone is a vampire?
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Tuesday, 4 December 2012 19:51 (eleven years ago) link
oic
so i watched "The Tall Man" last night and i liked it, def didnt love it - a very odd film to follow up Martyrs. its horror, kinda? a few too many twists jammed in there for my liking, and a very odd, somewhat unamerican tone to the whole thing (in that the central idea would never be something an american filmmaker would dare to do imo). hard to elucidate that w/o spoilers
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:01 (eleven years ago) link
(in that the central idea would never be something an american filmmaker would dare to do imo)
agreed
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:02 (eleven years ago) link
liberal daydream becomes nightmare
the ending is def pretty enh, although i think i was somewhat taken out of it by being preoccupied with "whoa, really, thats where hes going with this?"
not in a martyrs way, fyi
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:07 (eleven years ago) link
society is so great
really don't get the love for pontypool
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:12 (eleven years ago) link
amen brother
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:15 (eleven years ago) link
unusually for me and recent horror movies, I actually liked the ending
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:19 (eleven years ago) link
its not a bad ending or anything, its just kinda subdued for the last 15 minutes or so
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:21 (eleven years ago) link
one of my favorite things was looking it up on imdb and seeing the legions of butthurt reviews from people that are outraged because it isnt about the slender man
― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:23 (eleven years ago) link
couldn't remember if I was the only pontypool hater around here or not... I mean I wanted to like it and there are things about it that are good, but it devolves into something that's much more irritating/eye-rolly than engaging
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:27 (eleven years ago) link
Eye-rolly? What made you roll your eyes, seeing as it avoids many of the predictable cliches you'd get from any other movie with the same (initial) premise?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:53 (eleven years ago) link
well the part where they just start making up/accepting explanations for what's going on for one thing
or the end where the two characters are spouting gibberish to each other
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:56 (eleven years ago) link
basically I think it's all downhill when the doctor shows up
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 20:57 (eleven years ago) link
It's been a while since I saw it, but I was very satisfied with several of my takes upthread. The movie is at least partly about the dissolution of language/meaning, so if you made it to the insane post-credits scene - you did, right? - you see how the characters survive by creating their own reality.
I'm surprised at how many people (not nec. you) get caught up with exactly what is happening and why, when that's literal sort of read is a MacGuffin.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 December 2012 21:24 (eleven years ago) link
well, the dissolution of language/meaning is portrayed really literally. in a ridiculous fashion, imho.
when you have a character just show up arbitrarily show up and provide an otherwise unsupported and ridiculously convoluted explanation for what has been happening on-screen, that just strikes me as lazy filmmaking.
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 21:34 (eleven years ago) link
up to that point the viewer has been shown enough to piece together something is going on that involves language turning people into zombies, but then the doc shows up and the expository hypothesizing goes into overdrive
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 21:36 (eleven years ago) link
um SPOILERS I guess lol sorry
See, I thought the doctor was hilarious for providing that literal meaning. But I find so much more metaphoric richness to the film, that the literal reading is to me more a comment on literal readings/our desire for explanation. I plant the film firmly in the absurdist tradition (and have noted the many parallels Ionesco).
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 December 2012 21:56 (eleven years ago) link
Like, this total goofball comes hurtling through the window for the sake of (unreliable) explanation, then makes his exit back out through the window, iirc.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 December 2012 21:57 (eleven years ago) link
I like meta/high concept horror movies but this one goes farther than I'm willing to go, I guess
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 22:19 (eleven years ago) link
stretch to call it a horror i suppose but ben wheatley's new one 'sightseers' is great. far more satisfying than 'kill list' though i'd count myself as a big fan of the former. he really seems to be progressing.
― So: The Answers (or something), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 22:25 (eleven years ago) link
Kill List really let me down, though it was made/acted well. I'm just not sure what to make of the turn to the "Wicker Man," especially given the preceding real-world ugliness.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 December 2012 22:32 (eleven years ago) link
try 'sightseers' if you get a chance. far more thematically consistent, just as gruesome, genuinely funny and actually a bit moving.
― So: The Answers (or something), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 22:38 (eleven years ago) link
couldn't remember if I was the only pontypool hater around here or not
jjj hates pontypool enough for any ten regular people
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Thursday, 6 December 2012 01:15 (eleven years ago) link
haha
― CGI fridays (Edward III), Thursday, 6 December 2012 16:09 (eleven years ago) link
anyway I like the doctor in pontypool, it's kind of like oh here's this sane rational person who seems to have answers in the midst of things going to hell and then he starts messing up his words and it's like argh no hope. agree the ending of pontypool gets goofy with the random word shouting but I had been on its side for a long time by that point.
― CGI fridays (Edward III), Thursday, 6 December 2012 16:17 (eleven years ago) link
to take a step back from my usual overblown ranty hatred of pontypool, its really the last 20-30 minutes that ruins it for me, i think a couple of earlier moments are really effective, the hand on the window is kinda pitch perfect, the degeneration of the calls to the helicopter dude are amazing, and the tea kettle thing was one of the better moments in oh shit dread filled horror i saw that year. and i kinda love stephen mchattie in anything. but the ending (and even more the completely fucking terrible double ending) kept dragging the things i liked down the more i thought about it. so yeah, i'll admit that there are certainly worse things out there, but i've never had a movie become so retroactively poisoned by the utter drop in quality of the last third. i didn't even hate it right after it finished (albeit with a certain sting wrt the sin city moment at the end), but the more i thought abt it afterwards, the more disappointed i was at how badly they fumbled.
― Dave Whobeck? (jjjusten), Thursday, 6 December 2012 16:27 (eleven years ago) link
Still ... that's progress!
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 6 December 2012 16:30 (eleven years ago) link
The doctor was one of my favorite parts of Pontypool. I was really happy through most of the movie, but there was a drop in quality at the end. I'm fine witht he gibberish cure, but somehow they failed in executing it, and the blocking felt clunky. I dunno, it just fell apart. I just kind of cringed through the last bit.
― SHUT UP AND GET YOUR TURKEY SCIENCE BOOKS (Austerity Ponies), Thursday, 6 December 2012 17:17 (eleven years ago) link
Well fuck it, I'm going to watch scream 4. Not optimistic abt this one at all.
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 06:12 (eleven years ago) link
Uggggggh this is awful already
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 06:29 (eleven years ago) link
The true meaning of horror is being a movie series trapped with David Arquette...forever.
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 06:41 (eleven years ago) link
Everyone in that movie seemed trapped.
SIMILARLY
I just watched the Mother's Day sorta-remake. Plot's pretty different (house party interrupted by previous tenants, a Ma Barker gang looking for money supposedly mailed to the location, who then torture the shit out of everyone) but there's random bits - specific modes of death, references to "Queenie," even a reference to disco sucking - taken from the original. My friends and I wandered on to Mother's Day in high school and it's weird to have such a dark, earnest movie based on a camp classic. Rebecca DeMornay certainly gave it her all as the mom, though.
― da croupier, Friday, 7 December 2012 06:46 (eleven years ago) link
Only person in Scream 4 who had the ol' Scream spirit was Hayden Panettiere oddly enough
― da croupier, Friday, 7 December 2012 06:47 (eleven years ago) link
Def recommend Mother's Day to anyone who wants to see an epic vision (2 hours long!) from the director of Saw II-IV
― da croupier, Friday, 7 December 2012 06:48 (eleven years ago) link
If there is one honest good moment in this movie I will give it a thumbs up. All I am asking for is one.
(Note: I mostly make this promise because I am pretty sure there will not be one)
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 06:58 (eleven years ago) link
They can not possibly stab enough of these characters fast enough
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 07:05 (eleven years ago) link
i certainly can't recall one
― da croupier, Friday, 7 December 2012 07:05 (eleven years ago) link
an honest good moment, i mean
― da croupier, Friday, 7 December 2012 07:06 (eleven years ago) link
i do love that they had the writer of scream 3 rewrite the script
― da croupier, Friday, 7 December 2012 07:07 (eleven years ago) link
Haha oh boy, that is not promising
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 07:13 (eleven years ago) link
Ok hold on, a slightly clever thing just happened, we are not flatlined quite yet
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 07:18 (eleven years ago) link
Please someone kill an arquette, that is all I ask
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 07:33 (eleven years ago) link
Piece of shit
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 08:00 (eleven years ago) link
Sorry, I spoke too soon, horrible piece of shit.
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Friday, 7 December 2012 08:16 (eleven years ago) link
watched ATM tonight - three people walk into the wrong 24 hour ATM booth in the wrong parkling lot and a dude murderously fucks with them cuz why not
― da croupier, Sunday, 9 December 2012 05:01 (eleven years ago) link
come on, who hasn't?
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Sunday, 9 December 2012 05:41 (eleven years ago) link
this movie The Traveler, where fat Val Kilmer mumbles and whistles at cops as they die one by one, if even more giggle inducing. They keep calling him The Stranger and Mr Nobody so I'm guessing The Traveler was title #3
― da croupier, Sunday, 9 December 2012 05:50 (eleven years ago) link
is even more giggle inducing.
― da croupier, Sunday, 9 December 2012 05:52 (eleven years ago) link
Avoid A Night In The Woods at all costs. It's from the producers of The Children and Monsters, so you'd expect it to be competent, if nothing else, but it is absolutely dire. The worst kind of zero-effort Blair Witch rip-off. Has literally nothing going for it at all.
― Go Narine, Go! (ShariVari), Sunday, 9 December 2012 17:45 (eleven years ago) link
I walked out of Scream 4 in the theaters, which is saying something, because the only reason I was there was to kill time. I think I made it until 10 minutes before the end, with its "don't you see!!?!" lecture about social media and reality shows or something, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I knew there was nothing that could happen in those last few minutes to make me hate the movie any less.
Said it before, but Wes Craven has got to be one of the smartest worst filmmaker on earth. For every great movie he made, he made a decade of stinkers. "Redeye" was really good, though. And I should revisit "The Serpent and the Rainbow," which iirc had one of the scariest trailers I've ever seen. "Don't bury me! I'm not dead!!!"
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 9 December 2012 17:52 (eleven years ago) link
Had high hopes for Silent House, but ended up getting somewhat bored by the end.
― Darin, Sunday, 9 December 2012 19:21 (eleven years ago) link
Original or remake?
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Monday, 10 December 2012 05:10 (eleven years ago) link
The one with that new Olson which I assume is a remake. Wasn't aware of a different version.
― Darin, Monday, 10 December 2012 16:57 (eleven years ago) link
the original is about 1000 times better, the remake is one of the worst recent horror films ive seen
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Monday, 10 December 2012 17:51 (eleven years ago) link
In preparation for Christmas I've watched Sint (which I loved) and Rare Exports (which I couldn't be bothered with), currently rewatching Carpenter's version of The Thing. Why can't films be like that any more?
― Troughton-masked Replicant (aldo), Monday, 10 December 2012 22:57 (eleven years ago) link
Huh, I liked Rare Exports a lot. Not really horror, per se, so much as a fun lark.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 10 December 2012 23:34 (eleven years ago) link
i was fine with the doctor in pontypool what i couldnt stand was the wet blanket radio producer character, she was just awful
it is pretty great that they made a canadian film where english is the enemy and they have to speak french to survive, i relished that
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 06:21 (eleven years ago) link
Ok so if you haven't seen "kill list" yet, stop wasting time and go find it right now. Just watched it, best horror film of 2011, bar none.
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 07:23 (eleven years ago) link
I reserve the right to call myself an idiot tomorrow after I actually go through the list of 2011 horror films, but holy shit, close to perfect.
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 07:25 (eleven years ago) link
:}
― So: The Answers (or something), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 10:20 (eleven years ago) link
that's supposed to be a :) at the previous comment. must learn to concentrate.
― So: The Answers (or something), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 10:21 (eleven years ago) link
I liked about half of Kill List, but hated the whole Wicker Man sub-plot. Would quite happily have watched a full-length film of just the hitman plot.
― Troughton-masked Replicant (aldo), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 12:33 (eleven years ago) link
Wicker Man subplot was totally lame. Like, well made, well filmed, but lame. Mentioned above, maybe, but Kill List was like Wicker Man + A Serbian Film, some dark unpleasantness in service of ... nada. Surprised Pontypool could be your boogeyman but this one gets a total pass.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 14:58 (eleven years ago) link
kill list is good
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 15:16 (eleven years ago) link
It is good, or at least worth seeing. But as much as I appreciate the complete left turn it takes at the end, I can't fully support it.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 15:25 (eleven years ago) link
I hear Wicker Man subplot and I hope, but this movie sounds terrible.
― passion it person (La Lechera), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 15:59 (eleven years ago) link
It's not 100% successful but it's not terrible. It doesn't really go into enough detail with the subplot for it not to feel a bit tacked-on and it's not explained in a totally satisfactory way but it's an ok film.
― Go Narine, Go! (ShariVari), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 16:07 (eleven years ago) link
I know a lot more people who have more trouble with the accents than with the ending, tbh.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 December 2012 16:16 (eleven years ago) link
I was wondering how many people would have to play it with subtitles.
― Go Narine, Go! (ShariVari), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 16:18 (eleven years ago) link
re kill list: i think i made the "wicker man + a serbian film" comparison upthread, and yeah. kind of dug the hitman stuff, was halfway on board with the turn to paranoid folk horror, but the ASF element killed it dead for me. wound up disappointed.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 12 December 2012 03:43 (eleven years ago) link
i think i made the "wicker man + a serbian film" comparison upthread
uh, just checked, and no i didn't. some other board, i guess. anyway, josh in chicago otm.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Wednesday, 12 December 2012 03:49 (eleven years ago) link
i dug the turn. i love movies that change genres unexpectedly.
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Wednesday, 12 December 2012 16:30 (eleven years ago) link
yeah it sounds way up my alley. Totes gonna watch.
― the clown's reflection is incorrect (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 12 December 2012 16:45 (eleven years ago) link
hey so instead of the 2012 fast poll i talked about, here's what i did, would appreciate it if peeps participated: 2011 Horror Flash Poll nominations thread
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 December 2012 18:49 (eleven years ago) link
The Corridor (on nf streaming) made me really happy. Imagine if someone forgot everything about Dreamcatcher except the general vibe and then made an excellent little indie horror based on those incorrect memories. I passed this by while browsing dozens of times.
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Monday, 31 December 2012 17:19 (eleven years ago) link
Is Jonesy in it
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Monday, 31 December 2012 17:22 (eleven years ago) link
Kind of!
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Monday, 31 December 2012 17:22 (eleven years ago) link
no shitweasels tho
Jonesy!
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Monday, 31 December 2012 17:23 (eleven years ago) link
SSDD
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Monday, 31 December 2012 17:25 (eleven years ago) link
2010 Horror Flash Poll nominations because hey, I am bored at work
― tiniest homeless (jjjusten), Wednesday, 2 January 2013 17:25 (eleven years ago) link
V/H/S? more like total/fucking/garbage
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Saturday, 5 January 2013 18:46 (eleven years ago) link
i saw that went up on streaming. You're the third or fourth person i've heard to dislike it.
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 5 January 2013 18:49 (eleven years ago) link
it is like 90% terrible, the only part i liked somewhat was the joe swanberg segment
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Saturday, 5 January 2013 18:55 (eleven years ago) link
About watch the wicker tree thx to 2011 poll, followed by 388 arletta ave
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:15 (eleven years ago) link
Uh is this supposed to be a comedy
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:25 (eleven years ago) link
Sorry in advance LL
Holy crap this might be amazing if this is intentional.
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 00:27 (eleven years ago) link
I don't wven
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:14 (eleven years ago) link
Bahaha cat what the shit
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:18 (eleven years ago) link
Ok somewhere around 45 minutes this turned from laughably terrible to totally amazing
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:36 (eleven years ago) link
I mean in many ways it is still terrible but it's just odd enough that I am totally sold
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:38 (eleven years ago) link
And now it is just terrible again?
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:49 (eleven years ago) link
Aaaaarrerrgggh, just finished. Infuriating movie. When it finds its step, it's great, but it spends most of its time being fucking inexcusably bad.
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 01:54 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah it's not great but as I mentioned, there is a lot of natural-seeming nudity (as opposed to contrived nudity) and that has to count for something?
― bish borscht (La Lechera), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 02:49 (eleven years ago) link
388 arletta ave really didnt do it for me either. ive got the hammer horror doc coming, so that should tide me over for a bit i suppose. also watched the corridor, and mostly liked it but was not blown away. good actors, looked great, kinda eh on the plot.
― facile cliff (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 18:42 (eleven years ago) link
aw well I'm glad you watched it. It really struck a chord with me.
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 9 January 2013 18:45 (eleven years ago) link
(corridor, not 388 arletta)
Ok why didn't anyone tell me that The Oregonian * was (yet another) tumblr photo shoot (at least this one had interesting sound design?)* was super boring* had no plot
Was this some kind of student film?? I swore while we were watching it that the person who made it could not have possibly been over 30. After about 25 min we switched (wisely, I think) to Slumber Party Massacre.
If it got better after that point, I apologize. I did lol at the smiling old woman in the red cape.
― bish borscht (La Lechera), Friday, 11 January 2013 14:12 (eleven years ago) link
ive got the hammer horror doc coming
jjj, what's this?
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 11 January 2013 14:33 (eleven years ago) link
someone tried, La Lechera.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 11 January 2013 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
Signs along the road I should have followed, I guess. I just want to know if there was a reason the blood on her face kept changing patterns. Was that just a bunch of continuity errors or was it on purpose? It was the only variable to pay attention to because everything else was same same same same stumble stumble swig swig smoke smoke scream scream zzzzzzzzzzzz
― bish borscht (La Lechera), Friday, 11 January 2013 15:19 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199528/?mode=desktop
Re: wards question
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 11 January 2013 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
Ahh ok jjj, thanks, thought it was a new doc. Have seen the one you linked to - it was originally shown on BBC TV - and I have to warn you that it's p poor, just at a technical level, ie v v amateurishly shot on video footage. Poor old Peter Cushing looks extremely ill and frail throughout, and he died hot long afterwards, tho' it is of course p touching to see him and Christopher Lee together for the last time.
Personally I'm really excited abt the forthcoming Blu-Ray release of the first Hammer Dracula which contains the mythical 'strong' Japanese cut of the movie - long considered THE holy grail for Hammeristas.
Sorry to step back into the past on a post 2005 thread, tho.
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 11 January 2013 15:34 (eleven years ago) link
You forgot piss piss
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 11 January 2013 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
I have a book abt Hammer called A History of Horrors which I haven't read yet. But the book I REALLY want to find is the one about the music of Hammer Horror films. It exists, I am assured.
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Friday, 11 January 2013 16:06 (eleven years ago) link
The two Wayne Kinsey books - The Bray Years and The Elstree Years - are my go-to books about Hammer - lotsa juicy production detail etc and not much in the way of 'critical analysis' (which the films don't really need, imho.) Have never seen a book on Hammer music, tho.
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 11 January 2013 16:11 (eleven years ago) link
They had some landmark scores - the James Bernard shriek-fests of course, but also the amazing Mummy scores by Reizenstein, Tristram Cary and Carlo Rustichelli...
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Friday, 11 January 2013 16:15 (eleven years ago) link
http://books.google.com/books/about/Hammer_Film_Scores_and_the_Musical_Avant.html?id=NSQQx-D2EO0C
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Friday, 11 January 2013 16:16 (eleven years ago) link
Much as I love James Bernard, I wld hesitate to claim that he was ever at the cutting edge of European modernism. I guess Richard Rodney Bennett is a closer call, but even then...
Really like Christopher Gunning's score for Hands of the Ripper
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 11 January 2013 16:31 (eleven years ago) link
Bernard would probably be the least likely example, yes. While at the same time being the closest thing to a house composer they had. I'm sure that book is fannish and booster-y but I still wanna read the hell out of it.
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Friday, 11 January 2013 16:35 (eleven years ago) link
Bernard's partner Paul Dehn was a really interesting character, too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dehn
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 11 January 2013 16:43 (eleven years ago) link
oh neat! Wow he died so much earlier than Bernard. That's sad. I should make it clear that I like Bernard's music but it is so hyperventilating that about a 10 minute dose is usually enough.
― ~farben~ (Jon Lewis), Friday, 11 January 2013 16:49 (eleven years ago) link
We saw Mama on opening night in a packed theater and I screamed at the top of my lungs twice. It's not perfect, but I liked it.
― this customer is a jerk (La Lechera), Sunday, 20 January 2013 19:46 (eleven years ago) link
My wife showed our 8-year-old the trailer to that this morning and apparently it was too much for him (despite being PG-13).
― how's life, Sunday, 20 January 2013 20:26 (eleven years ago) link
Mama has one of the better CGI monsters I've ever seen. Low bar, I realize.
― The Thnig, Sunday, 20 January 2013 21:37 (eleven years ago) link
it's a pretty creepy commercial, it freaked my 11yo son out
― son of telegram sam (Edward III), Sunday, 20 January 2013 21:48 (eleven years ago) link
avoid rec 3 like the plague, it's not just the worst of the rec franchise, it actually manages to be worse than the absolutely terrible quarantine 2. totally rudderless disconnected uninvolving garbage with attempt to play to laughs like a half assed zombie rom-com.
really stunningly disappointing, and it wasnt a hand off project, its at least one of the original dudes. jerk.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 22:20 (eleven years ago) link
Too bad, first two rec films are great.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 23 January 2013 23:20 (eleven years ago) link
I'm going to assume this has been talked to death already, but I finally saw The Strangers last night and was really let down. Was nowhere near as intense and/or unrelenting as I'd been led to believe. The similar Them from a few years prior was so much more effective. But Strangers has a lot of fans here, right?
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 29 January 2013 18:47 (eleven years ago) link
I loved the first 2/3rds of it. the ending is stupid.
― Welcome to my world of proses (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 January 2013 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
^ yup
― a sock of regals (Edward III), Tuesday, 29 January 2013 19:00 (eleven years ago) link
*SPOILERS*
I wasn't really expecting (or wanting) a big reveal about the attackers' motivations, but when it just came down to a banal "now we stab you!" anti-climax it felt like all the tension and buildup were wasted. and then the coda, totally dumb and unnecessary.
― Welcome to my world of proses (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 January 2013 19:05 (eleven years ago) link
iirc the original script had more interaction between the strangers + the victims, but when they tried to film it nobody was particularly happy with the way it was turning out and they cobbled something together? after the carefully controlled beginning it def feels like somebody threw their hands in the air like w/e
― a sock of regals (Edward III), Tuesday, 29 January 2013 19:14 (eleven years ago) link
I loled when I heard the Joanna Newsom song. The whole thing was kinda blah and I didn't really care who died or why at the end. Better than The Oregonian though!
― this customer is a jerk (La Lechera), Tuesday, 29 January 2013 19:19 (eleven years ago) link
plot point cut from the script: they were killed for listening to joanna newsom
― a sock of regals (Edward III), Tuesday, 29 January 2013 19:23 (eleven years ago) link
The first twenty or thirty minutes of The Strangers is excellent. The last ten, as mentioned, severely let the side down.
― Tullamorte Tullamore (ShariVari), Tuesday, 29 January 2013 19:24 (eleven years ago) link
Ever since reading this solid list, I've had Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 in my queue. Finally watched it. Some thoughts. (Potential SPOILERS, I guess.)
It's a mile better than the first one, that's for sure. In fact, it's even better if you haven't seen the first one, because it just drops you into some serious shit with zero explanation (I wish more horror movies did this!) and for the first 20 minutes it's a thing of bewildering beauty. And then the first 20 minutes are revealed to be a dream. Are. You. Shitting. Me? After that, well, I guess it's okay, but all that business with the white horse? I don't know. I can identify moments of good orchestration (the finale in the shack with the helicopters overhead) but it seems a far cry from a great horror film.
Is there enthusiasm for this movie around these parts?
― The Thnig, Sunday, 3 February 2013 15:58 (eleven years ago) link
yeah I wanna catch up on some marquee flicks, once I'm done w/ paranormal activity 3 I'll take a run @ halloween 2. isn't there a director & theatrical cut?
― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Monday, 4 February 2013 01:37 (eleven years ago) link
xp there was talk abt that list somewhere (maybe upthread?) and i rememember we were all a bit bewildered by the halloween 2 inclusion
― just sayin, Monday, 4 February 2013 11:43 (eleven years ago) link
SPOILERS
Watched Martyrs last night, after reading that Slant top ten list (which is missing Kill List, imho.) Thought it was really terrific, and that rarest of all things - an original horror movie. Noticed that it was financed by Wild Bunch, who had a hand in Noe's Enter the Void, and thought the ending - cosmic close-up of eye as we pass into and back through the infinite - was actually v. Noe-like. If anything, the film was a little two crowded w/ ideas and plot devices - could've lost the Switchblade Romance-esque 'imaginary monster' angle, maybe. Loved the utter bleakness of the ending.
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 6 February 2013 12:55 (eleven years ago) link
Martyrs has the old man from Just For Laughs in it, couldn't believe my eyes.
― not_goodwin, Wednesday, 6 February 2013 14:01 (eleven years ago) link
So, Chernobyl Diaries - promising first half, destroyed by incredibly awful second half. Let me say that again, INCREDIBLY AWFUL second half. Avoid avoid
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 07:16 (eleven years ago) link
Yes. Offensive and stupid as well as inept.
― Head Cheerleader, Homecoming Queen and part-time model (ShariVari), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 08:34 (eleven years ago) link
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, February 12, 2013 2:16 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
might say that about... chernobyl itself
― zero dark (s1ocki), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 14:37 (eleven years ago) link
i watched The ABCs of Death, i really enjoyed it! obviously any anthology movie is gonna be hit-and-miss, but there was a nice variety and the whole conceit worked pretty well. the first segment is one of my favorite horror flick things i've seen in recent years, just awesome.
― BIG REUSS aka the fun.driver (some dude), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 14:40 (eleven years ago) link
Good to hear, since "VHS" totally turned me off contemporary horror anthologies that feature three letters for a title.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 14:43 (eleven years ago) link
HATED ABC's. might have been more forgiving had this sophomoric embarrassment been sold to us as a Spike & Mike fest rather than as a cutting-edge genre anthology.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 15:55 (eleven years ago) link
Even better to hear, because now I can skip it.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
Wish i had. But do try to catch Michael Sarmiento's nifty "D is for Dogfight" somewhere.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 16:11 (eleven years ago) link
If only this exercised at lived up to its Gory -er, Gorey-esque pr(e/o)mise. More empty Drafthouse hype.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 16:13 (eleven years ago) link
^^^ "exercise had."
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 16:14 (eleven years ago) link
"D is for Dogfight" showed before my screening of V/H/S. This wasn't the case for everybody?
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 16:25 (eleven years ago) link
Started watching Dead Snow last night. It seemed promising, for a "bunch of college students in a lol cabin" flick, but my wife got too nervous that I would fall asleep and leave her sitting up all night alone watching a scary movie. I'm a repeat offender there, so I can't hold it against her. After I turned it off, she fell asleep and I stayed up watching Monsters, which ironically was a much more low-key monster flick that she might have enjoyed.
― how's life, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 16:52 (eleven years ago) link
Monsters was a touching, beautiful film, I thought.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 16:59 (eleven years ago) link
Watched A-D of the ABCs just now. "Dogfight" could have made an awesome video for some Warp band, or Nine Inch Nails or something. Don't feel the need to see any more of these, though, considering I have yet to reach any of the real unpleasantness, which I imagine begins at least with "F is for Fart."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 18:42 (eleven years ago) link
a-z is playing at IFC next month, kinda thinking about seeing it on a lark
― it was very clear that it's a sarcastic song (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 18:45 (eleven years ago) link
I'd suggest larking something else. Reminds me of one of those "Spike and Mike" clip movies.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 18:47 (eleven years ago) link
Is there an echo in here?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 18:53 (eleven years ago) link
Ha, that's hilarious. I read what you wrote, but obviously the reference didn't really stick. Or maybe I didn't make it past "I hated the ABCs," which was non-endorsement enough.Though clearly the Spike and Mike reference must have gotten to me, because a few shorts in I started thinking, hey, this is like a Spike and Mike Sick and Twisted thing ...
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 19:22 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, just being an ass. (: S&MS&TAF is an unavoidable point of reference. esp. once you get to F, G and especially K.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 12 February 2013 20:14 (eleven years ago) link
OK, just finished "ABCs," because it was there. One of the shorts, "Dogfight," may be a masterpiece. Several are so terrible their creators should be embarrassed (looking at you, Ti West). One, "L is for Libido," underscores just what a difference even the modest contextual foundation of "A Serbian Film" provides.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 19:33 (eleven years ago) link
Dogfight was cool but i dunno if it was a favorite personally. obviously there was some shit in there but i liked the whole rhythm of the movie, i never got bored or annoyed for very long.
― BIG REUSS aka the fun.driver (some dude), Thursday, 14 February 2013 05:42 (eleven years ago) link
Bored? Maybe not. Annoyed? Pretty much for the duration. Agree with several reviews that point out how sad it is that horror's supposed best and brightest default lazy shock or puerile potty.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 14 February 2013 14:05 (eleven years ago) link
anyone who enjoyed Absentia should try to check out Patrick Rea's The Empty Acre (2007). Heartland Gothic with roots (tentacles?) in Lovecraft, Carver and Yates. how many films can you say that about?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 15 February 2013 04:44 (eleven years ago) link
Is it on Netflix? Absentia was uncommonly good, given the budget, etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 February 2013 12:38 (eleven years ago) link
Sitting down w/ "lizard in a woman's skin" tonight, outside of the realm of this thread I guess, but there isn't really a thread for it so
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 18 February 2013 05:13 (eleven years ago) link
Oh Giallo, so many camera angles
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 18 February 2013 05:17 (eleven years ago) link
And breasts
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 18 February 2013 05:18 (eleven years ago) link
Oh shit, this movie is badass. Is there a Giallo thread?
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 18 February 2013 05:47 (eleven years ago) link
one of my favorite Fulci films or gialli.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 18 February 2013 18:01 (eleven years ago) link
Sinister was much better than I expected. Not perfect by any means but one of the most effective Hollywood horror films I have seen in a while.
― Head Cheerleader, Homecoming Queen and part-time model (ShariVari), Wednesday, 20 February 2013 21:21 (eleven years ago) link
Just watched Entrance, I liked it alot. I guess I like the slow-to-no-burn style these days, since I liked Black Rainbow a ton, and haven't yet had a problem with Ti West (though I will be skipping V/H/S on account of this thread).
― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 22 February 2013 06:34 (eleven years ago) link
Watched Grave Encounters last night. Way better than the premise (TV show ghost hunters encounter real haunted house, yawn). I appreciated how halfway through it started going in a House of Leaves direction, with the interior of the house defying physical logic. And waking up with the wristbands! And the rat! Not all that scary, of course, but pretty pleasing to this viewer.
― The Thnig, Friday, 22 February 2013 14:51 (eleven years ago) link
there shld def be a fulci thread - love the fact that the dead doggies in Lizard were made by the same guy who did E.T.
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 22 February 2013 14:57 (eleven years ago) link
Looks like a sequel to Grave Encounters is streaming, too. And a whole bunch of other skip-the-theater horror.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 February 2013 15:13 (eleven years ago) link
Just watched Absentia. Very effective, atmospheric and mysterious, though, looking back, what was with the pregnant woman's hallucinations/visions of her missing husband in the early part of the film? It could have done without them, anyway.
― DavidM, Friday, 22 February 2013 20:13 (eleven years ago) link
The Possession was fairly mediocre. Matisyahu in the Fr. Merrin role was an interesting touch but it's pretty pedestrian otherwise. The shadow The Exorcist casts over the whole genre is obvious but with a subject so rich in potential, it's surprising how mundane most films about possession are.
Grabbers was quite weak as well. Comedy horror about Lovecraftian monsters washing up on an Irish island too reliant on cliches and stereotypes to be scary or funny.
― Head Cheerleader, Homecoming Queen and part-time model (ShariVari), Saturday, 23 February 2013 12:55 (eleven years ago) link
would be nice if possession films partook of the innovations seen at the fringes of the millennial zombie resurgence
watched paranormal activity 3, reminded me of a good 70s TV movie, not earth shattering but creepy in a contained way
― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Sunday, 24 February 2013 19:13 (eleven years ago) link
Grave Encounters surprisingly good! Basically Blair Witch meets Rec, but that's fine enough for me.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 24 February 2013 23:15 (eleven years ago) link
been going to horror movies all weekend at the Nevermore film festival. See this movie when you get the chance; it is superb. first feature, shoestring budget but you'd barely know it, good acting/plotting/depth...just one of those rare movies from out of nowhere that excel beyond your best expectations.
― available for sporting events (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 25 February 2013 01:35 (eleven years ago) link
Completely baffled by this but grave encounters 2 (which is streaming on Netflix) seemed to be uh really quite good? Let me be clear, I had drank a whole bomber or two of beer and it was late, but yeah. Give it some time in the beginning before you bail.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 25 February 2013 05:06 (eleven years ago) link
That came off weird - I really liked the first grave encounters, I am just always surprised when a sequel to a low budget horror film is not completely terrible
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 25 February 2013 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
Yay for the Grave Encounters love. Will watch the sequel post-haste.
― The Thnig, Monday, 25 February 2013 18:46 (eleven years ago) link
I appreciate the metaness of (at least the start) of Grave Encounters 2. Though I find it hard to watch characters this obnoxious, even if it "works." Basically, so far, if GE was "Blair Witch" redux, this is like "BW2," though I doubt this movie will drop the ball that hard.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 26 February 2013 20:23 (eleven years ago) link
OK, "Grave Encounters 2" is like "Blair (Rec) Paranormal Activity Project 2: Book of Shadows, Hypercube."
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 February 2013 17:37 (eleven years ago) link
ha trying to figure out if that is a positive or negative review
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 27 February 2013 19:15 (eleven years ago) link
Have added Grave Encounters to my rental list.
Wasn't expecting Paranormal Activity 4 to do anything new but didn't think it would do the old stuff so poorly. Cutting it down to ten minutes and tacking it on as a coda to part 2 would probably have improved both films.
Red Lights was enormously disappointing after Apartment 143. Has a professional sheen but devolves into a dull mess after about half an hour.
― Head Cheerleader, Homecoming Queen and part-time model (ShariVari), Saturday, 2 March 2013 12:53 (eleven years ago) link
Not sure how I feel about "GE2." It's basically exactly the same as the first, with extra mythology and a dash of meta. Better than it could have been, I guess.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 2 March 2013 22:22 (eleven years ago) link
Watched GE2 and I liked how they extended the story, brought it back around to the TV host, etc. It's only in execution that it doesn't live up to GE1. The middle section of GE2, which, as Josh says, is just a re-do of GE1, just isn't effectively staged. But I liked the meta first third of the movie and, again, appreciated what they tried to do with the latter 2/3. It would've looked good on paper, I suspect.
― The Thnig, Sunday, 3 March 2013 23:13 (eleven years ago) link
maybe not 'proper' horror but Stoker is brilliant. every frame is a work of art.
― So: The Answers (or something), Monday, 4 March 2013 18:27 (eleven years ago) link
yeah I'm looking forward to that one
― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Monday, 4 March 2013 19:42 (eleven years ago) link
looking fwd to anything from PCW really
― the 'dirty sprite' is implied (forksclovetofu), Monday, 4 March 2013 20:24 (eleven years ago) link
he is terrible
― zero dark (s1ocki), Tuesday, 5 March 2013 04:05 (eleven years ago) link
where is that negativity coming fromi think you have untapped vengeance
― the 'dirty sprite' is implied (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 5 March 2013 15:24 (eleven years ago) link
thought stoker was so duummmmmmbbb
― just sayin, Tuesday, 5 March 2013 15:24 (eleven years ago) link
Yup. Very pretty, but also pretty fucking stupid.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 5 March 2013 15:38 (eleven years ago) link
if you mean that it's pretty hard to believe some of the characters' motivations then yeah it's a bit silly but visually it's so fucking lush that i was prepared to forgive that and go with it.
― So: The Answers (or something), Tuesday, 5 March 2013 17:02 (eleven years ago) link
oh good another thread where me & s1ocki can fight about chan wook park
― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Tuesday, 5 March 2013 17:14 (eleven years ago) link
or s1ocki and I for that matter
thank you.
― zero dark (s1ocki), Tuesday, 5 March 2013 17:57 (eleven years ago) link
― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Tuesday, 5 March 2013 18:06 (eleven years ago) link
just watched Beyond the Black Rainbow - Hal Jam mostly otm upthread, absolutely gorgeous with an amazing score, some funny references (Benway Pharmaceuticals lol) but severely lacking in the plot/dialogue/characters dept. I found the ending more funny than terrible but it was definitely some kind of cop-out. Will watch whatever this guy makes next though, he just needs a better script/collaborators.
― Donkamole Marvin (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 11 March 2013 15:47 (eleven years ago) link
just a casual frequenter of this thread but i loved loved loved 'entrance'
― johnny crunch, Monday, 11 March 2013 23:24 (eleven years ago) link
im an unrelenting mumblecore apologist tho so ymmv obv
is 'toward a new cinema' anything? i guess just a prod company they only set up for this movie? cant find much info
― johnny crunch, Monday, 11 March 2013 23:35 (eleven years ago) link
Mumblegore!
Hadn't actually realised it was a horror film. Has been on UK Netflix for a while. I'll check it out.
― Des Fusils Pour Banter (ShariVari), Tuesday, 12 March 2013 08:35 (eleven years ago) link
Just watched The Loved Ones, which, despite some over-craziness of the bad guys and some played-out scenarios, still kept me on edge for much of it. Very strange what they chose to do (or not do) with the main protagonist guy. And it was nice to have the guy's girlfriend be a normal, sex-positive girl instead of a chaste heroine or whatever.
I swear that the dinner scene from the original Texas Chain Saw has inspired 100 films, including this one. That has to be one of the key scenes in all of horrordom.
― The Thnig, Friday, 15 March 2013 01:42 (eleven years ago) link
did anyone see pandorum
― zero dark (s1ocki), Friday, 15 March 2013 03:28 (eleven years ago) link
Is tht the space station one
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 15 March 2013 04:07 (eleven years ago) link
Yes it is, and yes I did, and I hated it. Like strongly hated it
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 15 March 2013 04:09 (eleven years ago) link
Not space station but space ship,
― zero dark (s1ocki), Friday, 15 March 2013 04:44 (eleven years ago) link
Stoker is too arty to ever get actually scary, but it's a total lollipop.
― Zero Dark 33⅓: The Final Insult (Eric H.), Friday, 15 March 2013 05:20 (eleven years ago) link
Hang on, back to The Lovely Ones. I just saw this last night but suddenly I'm wondering what the parallel plot (the dopey kid and the goth girl go to the dance) was all about. That plot never interacted with the main plot, did it? It was nice, I liked it, but huh?
― The Thnig, Friday, 15 March 2013 18:25 (eleven years ago) link
Ok so in the sometimes metacritic is wrong category, just watched "House at the End of the Street" last night and thought it was actually really quite good. Ending is crap (thats a theme here obv) but yeah, nice sense of menace, way better than usual performances, and pretty adept ratcheting of tension. savaged on metacritic (score of 32 iirc) but way better than you would think.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 16 March 2013 16:26 (eleven years ago) link
Didn't really take to Entrance, unfortunately and i like mumblecore more often than not. I didn't think there was enough in the first hour to sustain much tension and the ending wasn't particularly worth the wait. I'm not sure it worked as indie drama either. I appreciate what they were going for, though.
― Des Fusils Pour Banter (ShariVari), Monday, 18 March 2013 08:51 (eleven years ago) link
Is "House" the one with J. Law in it? I could have sworn one of the main objections to the movie is some either crazy twist or logical paradox that completely shoots the film in the foot, but I might be thinking of something else.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 March 2013 11:55 (eleven years ago) link
xp idk i love the lack of tension, theres no tension in real life, rite? i really id'd w/ the lead character. also, i dont think i knew it was 'horror' going into it, which prob really helped how scary i found the last 20 mins
― johnny crunch, Monday, 18 March 2013 12:00 (eleven years ago) link
if you mean jennifer lawrence and not jude law, yes, that is the movie. guessing the thing people hate is the ending, which is pretty tacked on and cliched to say the least
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 18 March 2013 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
I am basically getting the impression that Jennifer Lawrence is going to one day own Hollywood
― Darth Icky (DJP), Monday, 18 March 2013 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
Just saw Chernobyl Diaries: You know, I rather liked the set-up here. Unique location, nice feel, solid opening half with the bear and the dogs and whatnot. Then, you know, the rest of the movie happened after that.
― The Thnig, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:07 (eleven years ago) link
haha that is a very apt description i think
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 18 March 2013 16:11 (eleven years ago) link
finally got around to Cabin in the Woods. very enjoyable! I have never liked a Joss Whedon anything before afaik
― his girlfriend was all 'ugh and he wears a solar backpack' (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 18 March 2013 16:32 (eleven years ago) link
firefly and serenity are worth your time imo
― i petted a bodega cat today. (forksclovetofu), Monday, 18 March 2013 16:54 (eleven years ago) link
OTM, if only to lol at Nathan Filion and Alan Tudyk attempting to curse in Mandarin
― Darth Icky (DJP), Monday, 18 March 2013 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
I tried Buffy a long time ago but something about the jabberiness and shitty production values really turned me off.
was not especially surprised by anything in CITW but loved all its details. "System Purge" button did not disappoint, was fun just trying to catch all the references
― his girlfriend was all 'ugh and he wears a solar backpack' (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 18 March 2013 17:05 (eleven years ago) link
i never clicked with buffy post-facto but i think that was kind of a "you had to be there" moment
― i petted a bodega cat today. (forksclovetofu), Monday, 18 March 2013 17:13 (eleven years ago) link
Buffy is enjoyable enough while watching it but I never was engaged enough to actively follow it
meanwhile Firefly/Serenity had a much more interesting premise to me and is actually helped by only being one season and a movie
― Darth Icky (DJP), Monday, 18 March 2013 17:28 (eleven years ago) link
Made it ~30 minutes into Martyrs, gf says I tapped just before shit got real. Even reading the wiki plot summary afterward gave me chills.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 18 March 2013 17:34 (eleven years ago) link
Martyrs is lame. First 30 minutes is like 30 minutes from a different movie. Shit gets real after that. Real ridiculous.
Buffy is the very definition of a cumulative show, where the emotional and plot payoffs are only there for those who have followed it. It's not an ideal show to dip in and out of, and it's not helped that the first few episodes are not very good. But it quickly really kicks in as a truly amazing series. A few of the later episodes, like the musical episode and "The Body," are some of the best TV ever produced, but they both require a preexisting investment in the characters.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 March 2013 17:37 (eleven years ago) link
I haven't rewatched Buffy in years, largely because I don't think I'd be as impressed as I was at 18 and 23ish.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 18 March 2013 17:39 (eleven years ago) link
IMO the musical episode suffers greatly from most of the cast being absolutely terrible singers
also, the best parts of the episode are the background musical scenes happening to other people, like the woman singing to the meter maid about trying to get out of a parking ticket; the actual main character story stuff didn't land at all IMO
I felt Buffy as a show worked much much better when it mixed real stakes in, particularly with unexpected deaths of ancillary characters. I also loved the concept of Dawn but sort of hated the way it was done.
― Darth Icky (DJP), Monday, 18 March 2013 17:40 (eleven years ago) link
I loved the way it was done, and wish the show ended after that season.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 March 2013 17:50 (eleven years ago) link
Could never get into Buffy, loved Firefly.
― a church not made with ham (Jon Lewis), Monday, 18 March 2013 18:03 (eleven years ago) link
hahaha "martyrs sucked, buffy rules" = me and josh have very different opinions on things and the world
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 18 March 2013 18:07 (eleven years ago) link
Martyrs is terrific but quite a lot of the power hinges on the twist late on.
― Des Fusils Pour Banter (ShariVari), Monday, 18 March 2013 18:31 (eleven years ago) link
buffy > firefly, both classic, though.
martyrs is also awesome.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, 18 March 2013 18:59 (eleven years ago) link
The part I saw was very well made and the tension was ratcheted nicely, I just wussed out.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 18 March 2013 19:10 (eleven years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, March 18, 2013 1:37 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this is otm
firefly is pretty weak in comparison, the characters/performers were not nearly as charming or compelling. maybe it woulda gotten better.
― zero dark (s1ocki), Thursday, 21 March 2013 16:22 (ten years ago) link
Amazingly, given the confrontational material, I am in the minority on "Martyrs." I do think it's well made, etc., I just think that what you have to endure is pretty much negated by what I consider a BS ending, a problem that's been a facet of French horror since "High Tension." But hey, some people think "Martyrs" is smart and profound, etc., so more power to them. I will concede I appreciate its thematic ambition, bullshit or no, more than I appreciate the strictly bullshit of something like "Insides."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 March 2013 16:52 (ten years ago) link
haha and again, we have v different tastes, i think martyrs is great but inside is near perfect
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 21 March 2013 16:58 (ten years ago) link
I think they're both roughly equal, or close enough and so far beyond almost any other contenders that the decimal points don't matter.
― alternately mean and handsy (Eric H.), Thursday, 21 March 2013 17:45 (ten years ago) link
i hated 'inside' so much. the acclaim from ostensibly sane martyrs-digging ilxors makes me wanna give it another shot, but i was high as fuck when i saw it and i still didn't like it, so i doubt that i'd come around.
finally saw [rec] last night, tight little flick.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 21 March 2013 18:46 (ten years ago) link
I think (rec] and its sequel are totally great, totally scary and immersive. Third one is silly, even if by design.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 March 2013 18:57 (ten years ago) link
Third one is terrible awful garbage.
Watching "sinister" tonight in the hopes that it will be the first good horror movie of 2013. Not optimistic.
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 04:00 (ten years ago) link
Ok that was fucking fantastic. More tomorrow when I don't need to go to sleep
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 06:44 (ten years ago) link
It's great, isn't it? I'm not sure why my expectations were so low going in but it's really effective.
― Des Fusils Pour Banter (ShariVari), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 08:32 (ten years ago) link
ethan hawke
― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 12:43 (ten years ago) link
I'd be skeptical too
Sinister looks like a great movie from the trailers
― the pheromones of hot clothing (DJP), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 13:57 (ten years ago) link
It honestly barely ever missteps throughout - performances are great, writing is solid, expectations are thwarted in all the right ways, soundtrack is capital C creepy and awesome. Basically gore free, but that isn't to say theres not some pretty terrifying moments. In a lot of ways it felt like the classic era of modern japanese horror stuff.
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Wednesday, 27 March 2013 21:58 (ten years ago) link
I am here today to urge you to see Little Deaths, a resolutely unpleasant but very interesting UK anthology film. You'll be a bit disappointed by the conclusion of the first of the three stories, but the storytelling, style, and editing is solid throughout. The second story, "Mutant Tool," is by far the most fascinating--hard to fully grasp but possibly brilliant. But each story has something worthwhile, or at least highly unusual. Get on it.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 28 March 2013 14:08 (ten years ago) link
a couple dudes i'm pals with made this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRq1SmwJnN0
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 28 March 2013 18:05 (ten years ago) link
is there a genre name for that kind of straw dogs/funny games/strangers home intrusion horror?
― Look, Brian, about the afro wig... (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 30 March 2013 04:23 (ten years ago) link
"Home invasion horror" sounds snappy enough to me, not sure if there's a proper term.
― emil.y, Saturday, 30 March 2013 13:46 (ten years ago) link
Sinister had some great BOOs I just couldn't forgive what idiots all the characters were.
― da croupier, Saturday, 30 March 2013 13:48 (ten years ago) link
also that house had the shittiest lighting - you couldn't even see the walls during dinner
― da croupier, Saturday, 30 March 2013 13:49 (ten years ago) link
i mean you move your family into a murder house (i guess so you can stare at the backyard where the murder happened), and find a box of murder tapes in the attic that you know was recently empty. then you watch one tape a night, stroking your beard in horror instead of GETTING THE FUCK OUT OF A MURDER HOUSE WHERE WELCOME WAGON LEAVES YOU SNUFF FILMS.
― da croupier, Saturday, 30 March 2013 13:52 (ten years ago) link
Netflix streaming surprise tonight "citadel" which although treading similar ground to "Eden lake" and "ils" is well worth giving a chance. Not without flaws certainly, but still
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 April 2013 07:20 (ten years ago) link
that movie would be a lot scarier if it were called your next but good on them for hiring barbara crampton
― unprepared guitar (Edward III), Thursday, 4 April 2013 14:59 (ten years ago) link
xps
Yo, we watched "Sound of My Voice," which is more of a drama about a cult than a straight-up horror film, but what the hell, I'll mention it anyway. Undercooked but mostly the undercookedness works for it. Plus the vomiting-tarp scene is classic.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 4 April 2013 20:00 (ten years ago) link
Loved that movie until the last minute
― da croupier, Thursday, 4 April 2013 22:07 (ten years ago) link
Recalling a funny New Yorker takedown.
How can you hope, or presume, to crank up our dread of the inhuman when, from the start, you refuse to play by regular human rules? Throughout “Sinister,” the rooms remain darker than crypts, whether at breakfast or dinnertime, and the sound design causes everything in the house to moan and groan in consort with the hero’s worrisome quest. I still can’t decide what creaks the most: the floors, the doors, the walls, the dialogue, the acting, or the fatal boughs outside.
Earlier:
. His latest project—“This could be my ‘In Cold Blood,’ ” he says—concerns a family that was hanged from a tree outside the very house where Ellison now dwells, although somehow he has failed to inform his wife, Tracy (Juliet Rylance), of this cheerful fact. Up in the attic, he stumbles on a clue: a boxful of old Super-8 films, plus, helpfully, a projector on which to show them. Switching it on, he finds himself watching scenes not just of the hanging but of other multiple murders from the past. Who made the film? Or, rather, *who made the film?*, as Ellison writes on his notepad. The director of “Sinister” is Scott Derrickson, who co-wrote the script with C. Robert Cargill, and we can but pray that they move on to a new bio-pic of Melville. Imagine his questions: *one leg only?* and *why a whale?*
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 4 April 2013 22:42 (ten years ago) link
looool
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 4 April 2013 22:52 (ten years ago) link
eh thats a pretty lazy review, very rex reedish in its "couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the film because it was beneath me" vibe. particularly in the second paragraph, where it looks like hes willfully ignoring information from the film in lieu of zingers
god i hate reading half-assed critics banging their self-satisfied boners on the table wrt horror, its just the worst
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Thursday, 4 April 2013 23:36 (ten years ago) link
no, jjj, that is valid criticism, delivered with perhaps a touch too much snark. the J-horror audio and visual stylistics were overplayed to the point of distraction. i think you're just unwilling to accept criticism of a movie that you loved. personally, i am a lot cooler in my enthusiasm for Derrickson's film. it was... okay. with a hilariously bad climax and ending.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 4 April 2013 23:59 (ten years ago) link
Ha lets be clear, I didn't love the movie. Still, complaining abt the idea that dude didn't tell his wife abt moving into a murder house when a huge plot point is the fact that dude didn't tell his wife abt moving into a murder house is crap criticism.
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Friday, 5 April 2013 05:28 (ten years ago) link
Mostly I'm just using this as an exemplar to bitch abt mainstream critics tackling (and failing) when they approach the horror genre. Starting with a "these characters are unrealistic" move when totally unrealistic situations occur to those characters leads down a stupid path.
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Friday, 5 April 2013 05:42 (ten years ago) link
"How convenient that a projector is in the attic when the existence of a box of films in an otherwise empty attic in a recently sold house is also completely counterintuitive?"
Good catch champ. Also ghosts might not be real.
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Friday, 5 April 2013 05:46 (ten years ago) link
"Jack couldn't possibly be in the old photo of the overlook hotel, this movie is garbage!"
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Friday, 5 April 2013 05:49 (ten years ago) link
Starting with a "these characters are unrealistic" move when totally unrealistic situations occur to those characters leads down a stupid path.
uh... not really.
― just sayin, Friday, 5 April 2013 06:24 (ten years ago) link
Characters reacting irrationally to irrational situations shocker
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Friday, 5 April 2013 06:36 (ten years ago) link
Why would that lady jump out of a second story window to escape from leatherface she might sprain her ankle
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Friday, 5 April 2013 06:38 (ten years ago) link
Why would Nancy fall asleep knowing Freddy is waiting for here there?
― alternately mean and handsy (Eric H.), Friday, 5 April 2013 10:51 (ten years ago) link
I just watched Martyrs and it really didn't do anything for me. I found the whole secret society thing cliched and silly. So they all really invest all this money and time to hear a testimonial that probably won't change their lives in any meaningful way? Also could not stand Lucie's imaginary predator.
― daavid, Sunday, 7 April 2013 05:22 (ten years ago) link
Yep.
xpost Nancy tried really, really hard to stay awake! You try it!
Haven't seen the Hawke movie myself, but I guess some horror movies are hurt when the house looks totally haunted from minute one. It pretty much cuts down on the suspense, because it's not a matter of what will happen but when. I think it hurts "The Shining, too." Oh, look, crazy guy alone in a spooky hotel, what will down? Something scary, I bet!
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 7 April 2013 14:14 (ten years ago) link
rewatched beyond the black rainbow a while back, just after the 2011 horror flash poll. i fucking blew it on that one. though it falls apart in the final stretch, it's a fascinating film, a hell of a lot better than (say) human centipede 2.
― contenderizer, Sunday, 7 April 2013 19:48 (ten years ago) link
pretty low bar you've set there
― badg, Sunday, 7 April 2013 21:37 (ten years ago) link
wull yeah
― contenderizer, Sunday, 7 April 2013 22:14 (ten years ago) link
Man, I was so primed to like "Evil Dead." The one reaction I didn't expect was indifference. The world it created wasn't tight enough (logic holes were everywhere) or loose enough (see the original) to make it anything more than 90 minutes of scare-free suffering. The new additions of a nail gun and an electric knife do not = "creativity." I'm sure I'm not the first to note that the movie only finds it feet in the last few minutes when it gives up its pointless "grit" and gives into over-the-top-ness.
― The Thnig, Monday, 8 April 2013 15:00 (ten years ago) link
90 minutes of scare-free suffering
otm. i'm always griping about the sadism of contemporary horror, so i didn't want to be the first to say it, but this is exactly how i felt. it's slick, fast moving, grisly as hell, and kind of dull in spite of all that.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Monday, 8 April 2013 15:45 (ten years ago) link
loved the Evil Dead remake, to my great surprise. I'm generally anti-remake but a friend asked if I'd like to go see it and I so seldom do things with friends I thought what the hell and we went to the theater at this pretty awful and weird mall in a theater I normally don't go to at all and I thought it was really good. I could not really give a shit about plot holes in a horror movie, I come for the vibe and the scares and the darkness and man oh man the fucking Evil Dead book with the drawings and the writing...still great, perfectly re-done. thought the addiction metaphor, albeit clumsy, worked and was effective. the various call-backs to the original were cool and the whole thing was...refreshingly reverent, I thought.
brought down somewhat by the mother and five-year-old two seats ahead of me, no five-year-old needs to see that opening scene. as the movie went on the rest of the family gradually joined them but with every gruesome part I'd be thinking "man...your kid does not need to see that"
― not feeling those lighters (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 9 April 2013 01:45 (ten years ago) link
wtf is wrong with people? your kid has to learn to seek out onscreen eviscerations on their own, at age 9, like any normal human being
― cacao nibs (Eric H.), Tuesday, 9 April 2013 02:02 (ten years ago) link
"Home Invasion" as a genre is troublesome. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the days of a bunch of dumb teenagers going out into the woods to drink and celebrate their last days of freedom for the summer, before they all get chopped to pieces. I miss that." - one of the guys who does the weekly trailer recap on Grantland OTM
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 9 April 2013 02:05 (ten years ago) link
I am pro home invasion and chopped to pieces in a campground horror, because I am a universalist.
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Tuesday, 9 April 2013 04:35 (ten years ago) link
camp invasion
― original bgm, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 05:14 (ten years ago) link
Underrated Aerosmith -- I'd agree that plot holes in horror movies can be irrelevant. Less so logic holes, though, when they upset the film's own created logic. But anyway: I too rather liked the addiction metaphor. I also appreciate the general verve with which the filmmakers attacked the film. They took their job seriously, that's for sure. (A minor quibble: I didn't like how the Book of the Dead looked. I thought the scratchy writing was cheesy and looked like the opening credits to Seven. It looked like a movie prop rather than something ancient and unknowable.)
And also! The people entering the theater right in front of us were a mom with three little kids (maybe 8 to 11 years old). Are they advertising this flick on Nickelodeon or something?
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 13:21 (ten years ago) link
"Home Invasion" as a label always makes me think of that scene in Twin Peaks where Bob crawls over the living room sofa into the camera. I know that's not what "Home Invasion" means, but still, that's like the worst home invasion moment ever.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 13:22 (ten years ago) link
I always think of this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ac/Ice-t_homeinvasion.jpg/220px-Ice-t_homeinvasion.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 13:33 (ten years ago) link
Is there a good "cell phones will kill you" movie (he asks from his cell phone)?
― relentless technosexuality (DJP), Tuesday, 9 April 2013 13:35 (ten years ago) link
One Missed Call? Haven't seen it but the Miike original is supposed to be good.
― Des Fusils Pour Banter (ShariVari), Tuesday, 9 April 2013 13:39 (ten years ago) link
Was going to say Cellular, but the cell is what's supposed to save her.
― cacao nibs (Eric H.), Tuesday, 9 April 2013 13:41 (ten years ago) link
Pulse? Is that the killer cell movie?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 13:47 (ten years ago) link
The Signal?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 13:48 (ten years ago) link
The perfect film would be "Cell" based on the Stephen King book but Eli Roth recently abandoned that project.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 15:12 (ten years ago) link
So you know it's gonna be good, because that guy can do know wrong, that guy can ... wait, what the hell has that guy been up to? Still miffed that no one saw "Hostel 2?'
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 16:40 (ten years ago) link
Eli Roth's new movie is an homage to "Cannibal Holocaust," et al.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/03/01/eli-roth-on-the-horrors-of-the-green-inferno
He's playing it up as a "crazy" shoot, a la "Apocalypse Now" and "Aguirre."
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 9 April 2013 17:20 (ten years ago) link
So crazy he was banging two women at once.
Not at the same time, or anything, but behind each other's backs. That kind of crazy.
― cacao nibs (Eric H.), Tuesday, 9 April 2013 17:25 (ten years ago) link
love that his idea for a cannibal movie is that these dumb hippie kids want to save these savages, see, so they go down to bumfuck booga-booga land and fuckin chain themselves to trees and shit, see, which totally works, but then their plane crashes and the same fuckin nosebone prims FUCKIN EAT THEM!!! lol irony, see? because they're really just savages and shit.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Friday, 12 April 2013 02:36 (ten years ago) link
i mentioned it on the appropriate thread but y'all should be made aware that Upstream Color is really just a horror movie at heart.
― gr8 tr∞lls i have known (forksclovetofu), Friday, 12 April 2013 04:22 (ten years ago) link
Men's Fitness magazine voted Roth Most Fit Director in their July 2006 issue, a title Roth takes very seriously, with a strict workout routine that he documents on the Hostel DVDs. Roth claims he treats every red carpet like it was a Milan runway, and often jokes that he only makes films as a way to live out his lifelong dream of being a male supermodel. He spoke of his love for fashion in his interview in the October 2007 issue of Italian Vogue.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 12 April 2013 04:27 (ten years ago) link
Seeing evil dead tomorrow, stoked
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 14 April 2013 00:33 (ten years ago) link
Report!
― gr8 tr∞lls i have known (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 14 April 2013 07:26 (ten years ago) link
Loved it, but if you don't like your horror movies really mean, or dont enjoy the French extreme stuff, do not go to this.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 14 April 2013 21:51 (ten years ago) link
isn't it tiresome that the movie has been made twice before? that one remake serves a purpose?
― Sébastien, Sunday, 14 April 2013 22:20 (ten years ago) link
I was talking about this actually with the dudes I saw it with (mainly because of the goddamn Carrie remake trailer) - remaking Carrie sucks because the story is the story, you can't really fuck with it or people will freak. The core of evil dead is 5 people end up at an isolated cabin, find a bad book, and terrible things happen to them. That's it. There's just a ton more leeway there to do there than your average remake.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 14 April 2013 22:30 (ten years ago) link
Also, evil dead 2 and this are moving in opposite directions from the original. There is nothing funny in this movie. Ever.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 14 April 2013 22:32 (ten years ago) link
went on the evil dead 2013 page to see if there was sequel, thinking i should wait until it is out and make it a double bill but now i just don't know:"At the SXSW premiere event, Alvarez announced that a sequel is in the works. In addition, Sam Raimi confirmed plans to write Evil Dead 4 with his brother; it was later specified that this film would be Army of Darkness 2.
At a WonderCon panel in March 2013, Campbell and Alvarez stated that their ultimate plan was for Alvarez's Evil Dead 2 and Raimi's Army of Darkness 2 to be followed by a seventh film which would merge the narratives of Ash and Mia"
so they will try to mix these world together!?
― Sébastien, Sunday, 14 April 2013 22:40 (ten years ago) link
also, that's a lot of films.
― Sébastien, Sunday, 14 April 2013 22:49 (ten years ago) link
that sounds stupid. The remake is competently done but it just feels hollow. It's not fun (which fair enough it's not going for) but it's not scary either. It's just a succession of increasingly gory events, signifying nothing
― Number None, Monday, 15 April 2013 00:51 (ten years ago) link
As opposed to the original and ED2, which signify ... ?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 15 April 2013 00:52 (ten years ago) link
That's why I've always appreciated the ED template: it's all horrible things, but I guess the lack of pretension heightens the OTT giddiness of the grisliness. This one, however, sounds like it errs on the side of too much characterization/context.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 15 April 2013 00:54 (ten years ago) link
the buildup to the nurse girl peeling her own face was pretty tense, but i was bummed that she only snagged a cheek piece. the drawing in the book was way rude, so i was expecting a whole lot worse. otoh, the next-beat punchline was pretty great.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Monday, 15 April 2013 00:56 (ten years ago) link
signifying me having a good time at the movies Josh. It definitely doesn't have too much characterization or context either. The intervention subplot isn't really developed, and the cast are as interchangeable as all the non-Ash characters in the originals
― Number None, Monday, 15 April 2013 01:05 (ten years ago) link
also, i maybe beg to differ (just a little) on the "there is nothing funny in this movie" angle. it's never genuinely comical, not even in the grossout manner of dead alive and re-animator, but it does occasionally nod in that direction. cheek slipping, arm plopping, "injury to the eye", and especially the climax of the confrontation w the bomination, which might as well be tokyo gore police.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Monday, 15 April 2013 01:10 (ten years ago) link
nasty movie doh
Tokyo Gore Police was just the worst. It was like "GWAR: The Movie."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 15 April 2013 01:32 (ten years ago) link
i lolled. but then i liked the one gwar show i saw, too.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Monday, 15 April 2013 01:33 (ten years ago) link
i interviewed the tokyo gore police people, it was such a weird interview, wish it was still online
― zero dark (s1ocki), Monday, 15 April 2013 13:56 (ten years ago) link
I was so, so excited for the Evil Dead remake. It was a real shock to me how unmoved I was by it. Maybe if it had just been some random movie and not titled "Evil Dead" I would've felt less depressed about it. As effective as the remake might be in some regards, I certainly never need to see it again, whereas the original I could watch over and over to bask in the constant ingenuity, which never fails to feel as fresh and zesty as a spring rain. <---they should use that blurb on the next dvd box
― The Thnig, Monday, 15 April 2013 17:41 (ten years ago) link
its too bad its totally humourless if thats indeed true
― zero dark (s1ocki), Monday, 15 April 2013 17:55 (ten years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, April 15, 2013 2:32 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I thought it was hilarious, but I still find GWAR hilarious.
― emil.y, Monday, 15 April 2013 18:16 (ten years ago) link
I'm not against humorless. I like humorless horror. But if the ingenuity doesn't expand much past what type of kitchen implement is used to mangle someone, then I'm going to be bored regardless of the realism of the splatter.
― The Thnig, Monday, 15 April 2013 18:39 (ten years ago) link
i have a soft spot for raimi and the ED franchise but the world does NOT need an army of darkness 2
― gr8 tr∞lls i have known (forksclovetofu), Monday, 15 April 2013 20:30 (ten years ago) link
OK, so I went to see a 12:35 screening of "Evil Dead" today. "Wait, 12:35?" say the vigilant time stamp watchers. "The movie can't be over, can it?" Well ...
I nestle into my seat and the movie starts. Demon woman burned alive, etc. Then I hear it: there are two other couples in this vast, empty theatre with me ... and one of them brought a fucking kid! Like, older than one, less than two, chattering away barely pre-verbally. I kind of squirm, but what can you do, right? So eventually the shit starts to go down and the kid begins to cry. They shush it calmly, and I'm thinking, just TAKE THR FUCKING KID OUT OF THE HORROR MOVIE! So eventually, the dad stands up and takes the kid out, shushing calmly the whole way. Phew, I think. But then, five minutes later, he bring the kid back in, right during the cheek slicing sequence. And guess what? The kids starts to cry. This time, he stands in the aisle bouncing the kid, shushing her, because god forbid he miss the action. After a while, I can't take it anymore, stand up, leave, and head straight for the counter. The guy who sold me the ticket greets me.
Me, immediately: How can you let someone bring their little kid into "Evil Dead?"Him, raising hands defensively: I know, I know.Me: That's totally fucked up.Him: I know, I know. Me: A kid shouldn't be watching that.Him: I know. We usually have a policy of no kids under 6 in R-rated films, but that's only at night. During the day ... (he sort of shrugs)Me: You know she's in there right now, crying?Him: Right now?Me: Yes, right now.Him: Sir, I apologize. Please take this free pass. Me: But see, I don't care that the kid is crying. I care that the kid's in there at all. You know it's fucked up when all sorts of shit is happening on screen, but it's the screaming kid that's making me sick to my stomach. The kid is going to be fucked up for life. Him: I know. I'm really sorry.
Fortunately, this movie was such an absolute piece of shit I had no problem just leaving. I mean, it's as if they asked themselves, now can we better the first movie? And the answer was: fill the movie with the stupidest people possible. Even by horror movie standards!!!
Find a trapdoor covered with blood? Hey is that blood? Opens trap door.Finds a basement that smells like burnt hair, filled with dozens of suspended slaughtered cats? Huh, that's weird, maybe it's witchcraft, let's stay.Find a book made of human skin, wrapped in barbed wire, full of demonic images, that literally and legibly says, in English, "DO NOT READ THIS" and "PUT THIS DOWN." Huh, that's weird, maybe I will read it. Better yet, maybe I will translate this ancient unknowable language and read it some more!
I mean, holy fucking shit. The nurse? Who gets blood vomited up all over and cites it as a withdrawal symptom? Did she get her fucking degree from the University of Phoenix? And this fucking shack in the woods has power and hot water? For that matter, the previous, what, tenants bind up the book in barbed wire ... and then leave it in the basement with all the rotting cats? Which no one but the one girl could smell through the inch-wide cracks in the floor? I mean, fuck this shit. I like effects well enough, but this was bad, badly made and boring.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 April 2013 19:15 (ten years ago) link
http://criticultredux.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/evil-dead-2013-movie-hd-wallpapers-5.jpg?w=538&h=300
was bugged by the suggestion that backwoods witch cults take penmanship lessons from shitty metalcore album art
and yeah, i wasn't so bugged, but JiC otm wr2 dumb plot holes and senseless behavior
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 00:10 (ten years ago) link
though tbh, if i found a mysterious occult text with dire warnings scrawled all over it, i'd only be that much more intrigued
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 00:11 (ten years ago) link
After you found the blood stains all over the trapdoor and a couple of dozen rotted cats hanging from the ceiling? I think I'd leave. The great thing about the original is that it doesn't even toss that extra shit in there. It just gets going. This one is so just so inert, so not kinetic. I'm glad I left.
I mean, gah, the misplaced priorities!
"Do you think some satanic ritual took place here? All these dead animals and Book of the Dead warnings and stuff?"
"I dunno. We'll look into it later, after we're done letting her go cold turkey in this safe, controlled environment."
Do they even go back and explain what was going on in the prologue? Who those backwoods folks were? Did that prologue take place a week earlier? A month earlier? It was implied this was their old family cabin. Do they bring in any of that stuff, explain what happened to their mother and why the old family cabin was no only in a sorry state of disrepair but also the site of sadistic demonic ritual slaughters and stuff?
Not that I care, though it's hard to care less than these filmakers cared.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 01:04 (ten years ago) link
ha i think some of you who are heralding the internal logic in the original ED have maybe not seen it in quite a while
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 19:44 (ten years ago) link
I watched it again last week, actually. The *complete* lack of internal logic is what makes it awesome. It's totally unpredictable anarchy. This one removes the anarchy and goes for rote. For certain in the original the shit doesn't go down *after* they've descended through a bloody fucking trapdoor to a room filled with hanging cats which they identity as the site of some nefarious ritual before picking up a book wrapped in barbed wire that literally says DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.
The first ED proved your movie doesn't have to make sense to be fun. This new one unlearns every lesson taught by the first one.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 20:22 (ten years ago) link
Anyone else surprised they haven't remade (rebooted) Poltergeist? That movie is scary, and a remake would suuuuuuuuuuck. Thank goodness the Suspiria remake is DOA.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 20:44 (ten years ago) link
Really hoping Eli Roth's "The Bad Seed" never makes it off the ground.
And seriously, fuck any parent who would bring their kid to this.
― New Authentic Everybootsy Collins (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 21:22 (ten years ago) link
My wife asked me this morning why I didn't yell at the parent instead of the manager. Because I didn't want to get shot, duh!!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 21:28 (ten years ago) link
Raimi is producing a Poltergeist remake...
― Number None, Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:30 (ten years ago) link
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dij6WEeIFp4/TwTgLtjLZnI/AAAAAAAAAxs/ES1-bcrnQoc/s1600/rick-santorum-family-e8430.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:34 (ten years ago) link
Raimii, left, with fans
Go into the light, Raimi.
― cacao nibs (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:34 (ten years ago) link
it's being directed by the guy who did Monster House which i know has its fans (and is meant to be pretty Spielbergian)
― Number None, Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:36 (ten years ago) link
Sort of, in the "we are referencing Spielberg" sense. But it is animated and not scary, so whatevs. GTFO with a "Poltergeist" remake.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:59 (ten years ago) link
i particularly liked the clinical/psychedelic horror touches of beyond the black rainbow , made me think of phase IV, altered states."when you learn that Panos Cosmatos's chief inspiration in making Beyond the Black Rainbow was half-remembered yet vivid recollections of old-timey VHS covers in the horror section of the video store of his youth, you might decide that the movie itself is the evidence, not his words."didn't know this while watching and the guy who wrote that is on the mark, this is exactly why i liked it: bad horror movie with uncomfortable mood and interesting retro photography. same reason i liked house of the devil, Blackaria and Last Caress (thanks for mentioning the last 2 upthread mr Jam) . have to say i fell asleep on beyond the black rainbow but i will watch it again for sure. recommendations pls?
― Sébastien, Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:16 (ten years ago) link
note: last caress have some of the retro-iest crass sexual objectification that has rarely if ever been seen, like at one point the gang get into the creepy manor, no trace of the owner in sight, and one of the girls get upstairs to get a bath , right, and the magicians in the editing room made a digital zoom-in on her stipping after she stripped: they made her strip twice. faut le faire! another one near the end: the "last girl" is hidden by a wall, looks around the corner for the boogeyman then quickly climb up the stairs. magicians in the editing room play that back in slow mo so we can have a better look at her ass! for real.
― Sébastien, Friday, 19 April 2013 05:44 (ten years ago) link
it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie, it's only a joke movie,
― Sébastien, Friday, 19 April 2013 05:51 (ten years ago) link
^^i kept repeating myself that and i did avoid fainting. on another subject, mr Jam upthread talked about another movie, "Gutterballs" , now that one i just couldn't find anything about it at all. i'm used to find something interesting in kitschy crap or just plain bad but that one i... couldn't , made me wonder if something about it flew above my head or something. beyond lousy: unwatchable. apparently they wanted to break the record of usage of the word fuck. so , there's that. oof.
― Sébastien, Friday, 19 April 2013 06:09 (ten years ago) link
yeah, i think you might have missed the raison d'être of Gutterballs, which was to be the gleefully excessive and vulgar '80s slasher we could never have gotten during that decade. c'mon, suffocation by '69!you could try Nicholson's recent Famine, but i wouldn't bother. a fun riff on Slaughter High, but so poorly made that the technical shoddiness brought tears to my eyes. i don't know what went wrong.
since you liked the Gaillard/Robin films, see Andreas Marschall's Masks. has the audacity to remake Suspiria in all but name, with moments that rival the sensual intensity of Amer. i'm a big fan of his rough but promising Tears of Kali, so it's great to see him become even more formidable as a filmmaker. watch this guy.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 19 April 2013 14:25 (ten years ago) link
Ok, just finished John dies at the end, thoughts tomorrow
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 20 April 2013 06:32 (ten years ago) link
quite liked 'evil dead', looked good and nice nasty streak. not mind-blowing but p fun, serviceable horror.
― So: The Answers (or something), Saturday, 20 April 2013 12:48 (ten years ago) link
Wow, looked up "Gutterballs," which I had never heard of, and can't think of a movie I'd rather see less. Gosh.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 April 2013 12:59 (ten years ago) link
FOAF worked on Gutterballs, movie is reportedly a classic case of having it both ways: he made it a parody so he could make the hateful scumbag movie he wanted to make.
― Three Word Username, Saturday, 20 April 2013 15:38 (ten years ago) link
curious to hear what you've got to say, cuz i started watching it last night at midnight, but quickly bailed in favor of sleep. initial moments weren't promising (mostly due to the overwritten, badly-delivered voiceover), but i was cheered by giamatti's appearance. gonna try again this evening.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Saturday, 20 April 2013 15:50 (ten years ago) link
ah! thank you for the info Mr. Hal Jam. i suspected that was my problem with gutterballs : i didn't "get" these guys. i naturally "got" similar stuff before , like when i was a kid and saw some troma films for an example, but these guys, idk why, but nope. i'm too old?! it is happening.
― Sébastien, Saturday, 20 April 2013 16:06 (ten years ago) link
At last, a filmmaker brave enough to make the vulgar and excessive slasher film the '80s likely would have prosecuted.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 April 2013 16:08 (ten years ago) link
Nicholson's heart is in the right place. At least physically, AFAIK. He's an über-fan making the sort of movies he always wanted to see. What he lacks in filmmaking talent, he makes up for in enthusiasm. And heart. Which, remember, is (probably) on the right side of his chest. Same as you or me.
Notice that i am not really recommending or endorsing any of his movies.
JDATE is a mess. But so is the book.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 20 April 2013 16:26 (ten years ago) link
He's an über-fan making the sort of movies he always wanted to see.
From what I've read about Gutterballs - and keep in mind, I've seen A Serbian Film, and will defend it - it sounds like the biggest piece of shit ever, one that begins with a gang rape (in the first five minutes?) capped by rape-by-bowling pin, then goes downhill from there. And then to top it off, he re-released it with explicit sex cut in amidst the death by 69, sodomy by sharpened bowling pin and close-ups of castrations, eye sockets plugged with used condoms, etc.. That's the sort of movie he always wanted to see? Good for him for making his dream come true, but that's fucked up, even if it's in service of "parody," which the sort of bottom-scraping exploitation/slasher stuff he's referencing from a distance pretty much does on its own. Shock in and of itself does not seem a good goal if, by many accounts, the movie is not scary, well-acted or even particularly funny. Sleaze for sleaze's sake is a chump's game.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 April 2013 16:41 (ten years ago) link
Don C's Bogus Journey.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 20 April 2013 16:56 (ten years ago) link
i haven't seen gutterballs, but it's hard to be a truly dedicated horror/gore/exploitation fan and keep a clean conscience. i mean, i have a weird affection for herschell gordon lewis, this despite the fact that his films are exploitative, at least arguably misogynist and very poorly made. the cynical service they offer to the drive-in audience's most tawdry desires is part of their "charm", a quality that's only magnified by antiquity. what in its era seemed like reprehensible filth often comes in time to be seen as quaint kitsch. it happened to the naive gore and nudie flicks of the 50s-60s a while back, and now it's happening to the more feral strains of sleaze unleashed in the 70s and 80s (e.g., rob zombie, eli roth). on that level, i can see why someone might want to cross pieces with, say, forced entry in making a fond tribute to misspent youth.
personally, i can't compartmentalize graphic depictions of rape and torture as cheerfully transgressive genre thrills. regardless of context, i find that kind of stuff absolutely repellent.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Saturday, 20 April 2013 17:21 (ten years ago) link
it's hard to be a truly dedicated horror/gore/exploitation fan and keep a clean conscience.
I absolutely agree with this, to an extent, though the dividing line I suppose is being able to see a piece of shit for what it is, or even to have a personal dividing line. Granted, that may be a a fine line, but one-upping sleaze for the sake of sleaze is a dubious achievement, especially if it's achieved largely by just depicting gruesome or repellent acts in greater detail than ever before. Things get even more questionable when you factor in moral transgression, which, admittedly, is subjective. But while you will find very few people who will defend rape, obviously there are different ways it can be handled and depicted in films, to different ends. To shock, to challenge, to satirize, whatever. But the further a film leans on mere transgression as its theme, the thinner the ice becomes. Which doesn't mean these sorts of films shouldn't be made, but does often warrant the right to cry foul (pun intended).
Again, I'll happily defer to someone who has seen it, but it does not sound like "Gutterballs" does any of its gross stuff with an degree of wit or craft, which leaves ... what? The re-release with explicit material just makes the whole enterprise sound that much more cynical. No one said those shitty slasher films of the '80s were particularly good, and I don't imagine any save a select few had a problem with the fact that the past 60 or so years of exploitation lacked in the rape and gore and violence department. To push that stuff even further in service of some vague aim of "parody" is, like I said, a chump's game. To do something fresh or smart or funny or stylish with it takes talent.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 April 2013 20:28 (ten years ago) link
anybody see Cronenberg's son's joint Antiviral? no idea if I liked it or not at this stage in the game (watched it on a bus ride while half asleep), but simultaneously impressed and amused by how blatantly dude is biting his daddy's stylistic cues.
― ta-nehisi goatse (fadanuf4erybody), Saturday, 20 April 2013 21:20 (ten years ago) link
Is this the one where celebrity itself is a virus or something?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 April 2013 21:41 (ten years ago) link
i am watching john dies at the end. slow going.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Sunday, 21 April 2013 01:21 (ten years ago) link
The two leads are kind of awful, which doesn't help. I think there's an absurdist thing going on that I ended up enjoying, but in the same way that I enjoyed Rubber, which most of y'all hated iirc.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 21 April 2013 01:42 (ten years ago) link
I am more than a little convinced at this point tht coscarelli can't really direct his way out of a paper bag, but somehow that works for him a lot of the time? He does feel a little bit like he is keeping the inadvertent shock schlock genre alive, but in a genuine way, not a wink wink way. Because he might actually be really terrible at what he does, but in a way that I find oddly charming.
All told, I really liked JDATE.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 21 April 2013 01:46 (ten years ago) link
But it is also an unraveled baffling mess.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 21 April 2013 01:48 (ten years ago) link
^ mostly the latter. the opening wasn't at all promising, but i gave it a fair shake on phantasm's behalf. it has moments and, yeah, a kind of dunderhead charm, but it's ultimately a trainwreck. done in by charisma-free lead performances, gratingly wacky dialogue, and lazy plotting that seems driven by nothing so much as a desire to seem "random".
i'm not the biggest rubber booster, but i enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than this.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Sunday, 21 April 2013 16:17 (ten years ago) link
I watched Resolution last night and although I wasn't too happy with it's own resolution it was a very unsettling, freaky ride. Excellent film for a low budget debut and if the ending had been handled differently it would be A+.
― Jason Dowd, Sunday, 21 April 2013 16:52 (ten years ago) link
JDATE
Lol, I hope this is intentional.
― emil.y, Sunday, 21 April 2013 16:53 (ten years ago) link
110%
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 21 April 2013 20:58 (ten years ago) link
Need to see Resolution. And It's in the Blood.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 21 April 2013 21:00 (ten years ago) link
watched the Criterion of Goke: The Body Snatcher From Hell (okay it's from 1968 so not post 2005 but whatever) - campy as fuck but some great really arresting imagery too
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 22 April 2013 15:57 (ten years ago) link
If any of you have the chance, see Upstream Color while it's in the theater. The sound stuff is amazing, and it's basically a horror movie, what with the worms and the surgery and the plants and the mind control stuff.
― and that sounds like a gong-concert (La Lechera), Monday, 22 April 2013 17:00 (ten years ago) link
what if I hated Primer
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 22 April 2013 17:07 (ten years ago) link
I don't know because I honestly can't remember if I saw it or not. Pretty sure I didn't.(I know it's a cult favorite but I'm not a member of the cult is what I'm saying.) Anyway, I thought Upstream Color was scary and good fwiw.
― and that sounds like a gong-concert (La Lechera), Monday, 22 April 2013 17:12 (ten years ago) link
but this threads for good and scary.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 22 April 2013 17:13 (ten years ago) link
That's why I mentioned it!
― and that sounds like a gong-concert (La Lechera), Monday, 22 April 2013 17:14 (ten years ago) link
i mentioned it on the appropriate thread but y'all should be made aware that Upstream Color is really just a horror movie at heart.― gr8 tr∞lls i have known (forksclovetofu), Friday, April 12, 2013 4:22 AM
― brb buying poppers w/my employee discount (forksclovetofu), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:24 (ten years ago) link
i dunno if i would recommend this if you hated primer
― brb buying poppers w/my employee discount (forksclovetofu), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:25 (ten years ago) link
So, Resolution. I had such high hopes for this one. Nope. It's never quite boring, and generates a good amount of uneasiness at times, but the story is underdeveloped and ultimately very unsatisfying. It just doesn't add up to quite enough. a curio with a high YMMV factor. for me, Dawning did this sort of ultraminimalist character-driven genre-"ish" thing more effectively. and of course Absentia, which remains the gold standard. I should add Lovely Molly and The Pact, with reservations.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 25 April 2013 05:32 (ten years ago) link
The shadow of Ti West's inflence grows e'er longer.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 25 April 2013 05:33 (ten years ago) link
I finally saw Evil Dead. I was kinda happy to find that I really dug it! Definitely in the spirit of the original, even if it pales in comparison. I was kind of frustrated that there wasn't any one character to take you through the whole thing, it was like the brother, the sister, and Lou Taylor Pucci sort of had their interchangeable Ash moments throughout the thing. The brother/sister backstory was layed on waaaaaay too thick, the song and the mom and the ugggh stop.
But, I mean, like aero said upthread...once they get in the cabin and they find the demony stuff and then there's the book and the kooky music it's like your favorite horror movie blanket. I liked the uber-gore, and there were a few little humorous moments, like Lou Taylor Pucci slipping on the tongue like it's a banana peel was p lol
I enjoyed that it looked like a lot of it was done with practical effects. It was a nice reverential touch, I thought. Oh, and the rusted out Classic in the backyard <3
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 27 April 2013 06:06 (ten years ago) link
Watched Mama, was ok with a few jump scenes. Only gripe was the "mama", cgi face was ridiculous.
― not_goodwin, Saturday, 27 April 2013 10:55 (ten years ago) link
Always excited to make fun of "Evil Dead" some more. Like the scene where the sister, drooling and limping, walks into the room dragging a shotgun and they're all, sister, are you all right? What's wrong sister?
And then she shoots him.
Ha ha. What a moronic movie. Sound and fury signifying etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 27 April 2013 13:05 (ten years ago) link
i completely cant get behind that critique/style of critique but maybe thats more of a general topic for the horror films why do we/don't we like them thread more than this one since it isn't specific to this movie.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 27 April 2013 16:02 (ten years ago) link
It's In the Blood another disappointment. well-made but unremarkable. getting frustrated.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 28 April 2013 03:36 (ten years ago) link
rob zombie's new one: predictably dumb as fuck, but without evil rednecks (!) and has at least one weird demonic midget thing (!!). dunno if i'd call it good, but i wasn't bored really. his wife really shouldn't act ever again, though.
a friend also loaned me a dvd-r of the Maniac remake, which i'm real skeptical of obv but what the fuck, i'm sure i'll end up watching it
― ta-nehisi goatse (fadanuf4erybody), Sunday, 28 April 2013 04:43 (ten years ago) link
I concede it's a pretty fickle standard. Obviously people being stupid shouldn't invalidate horror films, because otherwise I would dismiss some of the best horror films ever made. I suppose somewhere in my calculations I consider style/originality/effects/general effectiveness/wit/surprise/shock/scares/mood, etc.. The "Evil Dead" remake was an example of a film that failed on all of these levels save perhaps effects, which is why I guess stuff that doesn't usually bother me really bothered me. Also, the characters were really, really stupid, which reduced it to the level of an exercise for me, both as a film and as a filmgoing experience. Especially coming just a year after "Cabin in the Woods," "Evil Dead" was like watching a children's balloon animal fart out all its air and flutter aimlessly across the screen.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 28 April 2013 12:40 (ten years ago) link
i think part of the problem was that the remake brought character to the fore in a way the original never did, spending all that time building up the protagonist's tragic backstory, the strained relationships, etc. it attempted to be roughly "realistic" in the manner of most contemporary commercial horror films (and failed, imo), while the characters in the '81 version are distanced and framed by weird naive-but-knowing stylization of that era. the latter approach is much more forgiving, since the audience is never really asked to believe in what they're seeing.
― controversial vegan pregnancy (contenderizer), Sunday, 28 April 2013 12:57 (ten years ago) link
That could be it. If you're going to fill your film with real people rather than punching bags, they have to act like real people.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 28 April 2013 13:15 (ten years ago) link
I have Sinister to watch this weekend, yay
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 3 May 2013 23:57 (ten years ago) link
It's so good
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 4 May 2013 00:15 (ten years ago) link
it was yr raveups that convinced me :)
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 4 May 2013 00:21 (ten years ago) link
I started Sinister with the lights out...1/3 of the way through I got up and turned the lights back on. Jeeeeezus it made me jump like 90 times!I really enjoyed it, except towards the end. *spoilerish* the kids took me right out of the movie, so the ending ended up feeling kinda dumb. But the rest of it was fun! And JAMES RANSONE Sergeant Ziggy at yr service <3
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 5 May 2013 02:19 (ten years ago) link
Has anyone caught anything good on Netflix streaming recently, other than Grave Encounters, Lovely Molly, JDATE, etc?
I've just installed a chrome plugin that gives me access to the whole US catalogue, which is pretty huge but looks mostly terrible. I'm sure there are some hidden gems though.
― хуто-хуторянка (ShariVari), Monday, 6 May 2013 06:25 (ten years ago) link
About to watch "we are what we are" will report back.
Not streaming on Netflix, but should be on fear.net if you have on demand cable or whatever
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 8 May 2013 04:12 (ten years ago) link
Sadly mediocre at best
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 8 May 2013 06:03 (ten years ago) link
Thanks. Might give it a miss then.
― хуто-хуторянка (ShariVari), Wednesday, 8 May 2013 07:37 (ten years ago) link
to expand, it just seems really painfully aimless? and man, for those of you that don't like big leaps of anti-logic, the lead up to the climax is crazy crazy stupid and totally beyond belief.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 9 May 2013 16:48 (ten years ago) link
watched the maniac remake last night. repellent and rather dull. not recommended, but gorehounds will appreciate the effects work.
then i watched sinister. almost the opposite: disturbing, but not inclined to wallow, and a hell of a lot of fun. loses some steam when it goes ott in the 2nd half, but i loved the build-up. clever play on the "found footage" genre, too.
― controversial vegan pregnancy (contenderizer), Monday, 13 May 2013 02:02 (ten years ago) link
Watched Dead Europe tonight. It's about an Australian/Greek photographer guy taking his father's ashes back to Europe and he starts seeing dead people and starts realising the folk nonsense his family talked about curses wasn't strictly bollocks. It is flawed but worth your time.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Wednesday, 22 May 2013 00:56 (ten years ago) link
Man, I'm kind of struggling with "Mama" right now. Seems good, but all the ancillaries are bothering me: Chastain's wig/character, the horrible acting of the psychologist, Jaime Lannister ...
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 22 May 2013 15:05 (ten years ago) link
Hmm: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/maniac/
― Not Simone Choule (Eric H.), Thursday, 23 May 2013 17:16 (ten years ago) link
yeah, mentioned it a couple posts back. did not enjoy.
― controversial vegan pregnancy (contenderizer), Thursday, 23 May 2013 17:27 (ten years ago) link
Sorry, missed it. Had to rebookmark a bunch of threads when they were getting out of control.
― Not Simone Choule (Eric H.), Thursday, 23 May 2013 17:44 (ten years ago) link
Saw Mama on a flight and I have a question for horror buffs. The feel of the movie is very similar to dozens of others, including the US remake of The Ring, right down to certain motifs: autumnal setting, sleuthing in spooky libraries/archives, aerial shots of cars driving through woods/mountains, solemn orchestral score, Oscar-nommed actress slumming it, clear if misplaced sense of its own classiness. I feel like I've seen so many so-so horror movies in the past decade that look like this and I wondered what the first was. Does it pre-date The Ring?
Mama was OK but I couldn't even begin to buy Jessica Chastain as a tattooed goth bass-player.
― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, 24 May 2013 12:13 (ten years ago) link
It sounds like you're referring to this hyper-styled, filtered look, which casts everything in perpetual blue shadow. It's a good question. There is a lot of "The Ring" in this movie, and a million other movies, too. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of movie in this movie, which is what lets "Mama" down. Just nothing happening when everyone already seems to know what's happening, for no good reason.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 24 May 2013 13:51 (ten years ago) link
I seem to recall a precursor to the look being Neil Jordan's "In Dreams."
Really wanted to love Black Rock, but with a movie this stripped-down, the execution needs to be pretty much perfect, and key aspects were a little lacking.
― Simon H., Friday, 24 May 2013 14:34 (ten years ago) link
intrigued by a field in england, new movie from the guy who did kill list, which got "eh" to "amazing!" responses itt. trailer makes it look like it might scratch the same itch sauna did for me....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRvzjkzu2U
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Friday, 24 May 2013 15:43 (ten years ago) link
totally dig the 70s paperback style of the movie poster too
http://cdn.bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/a-field-in-england-poster-1.jpeg
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Friday, 24 May 2013 15:45 (ten years ago) link
ooh that looks good but i think i would instinctively like it based on the title and poster alone :-/
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Friday, 24 May 2013 15:48 (ten years ago) link
That dude needs to slow down.
― Not Simone Choule (Eric H.), Friday, 24 May 2013 15:48 (ten years ago) link
some weird ass remakes coming out too, of 70s aussie sleeper patrick and hated-by-jjjusten mexican cannibal flick we are what we are (the latter by the guy who did stake land).
tho I do believe remakes should be made of small imperfect movies instead of fucking up what was fine to begin with. wish somebody would remake the 70s telekinesis pic the medusa touch. great premise poorly executed.
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Friday, 24 May 2013 16:03 (ten years ago) link
yeah AFIE looks like total la lechera catnip
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Friday, 24 May 2013 16:05 (ten years ago) link
AFIE looks amazing pls give me puritan pron!
― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, May 24, 2013 8:13 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I feel like Shyamalan kind of midwifed this style.
― 2 huxtables and a sousaphone (Jon Lewis), Friday, 24 May 2013 16:55 (ten years ago) link
I think i have a problem taking Reece Shearsmith seriously
― Number None, Friday, 24 May 2013 16:59 (ten years ago) link
Wheatley's Sightseers was dreadful for me, after that he really he needs to make amends. Despite the good reviews it got it was absolute rinse.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Friday, 24 May 2013 17:56 (ten years ago) link
couldn't disagree more, DSP. but then i treated Sightseers as a theoretical prequel to my favorite movie of 2011 (Simon Arthur's Silver Tongues), and it just made me love both that much more.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 24 May 2013 18:01 (ten years ago) link
Not seen Silver Tongues, it looks decent. I expected a kind of Mike Leigh's Nuts In May crossed with a Hammer House of Horror vibe from Sightseers and it has no atmosphere, no tension and the writing is dreadful. Whilst watching it I started to think I might have overrated Kill List.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Friday, 24 May 2013 18:24 (ten years ago) link
Leigh/NIM, yes. But I don't know what could have led you to expect a HHOH vibe. it's such a thoroughly modern film. Wright's production credit is more key than anyone is willing to acknowledge. I'd also argue that Sightseers is not a horror movie, no matter how high the body count. Just a very black, very British comedy.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 24 May 2013 18:38 (ten years ago) link
I will be looking forward to AFIE so long as there is 0 comedy involved. I didn't detect any in the trailer, but maybe my detector is off?
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Friday, 24 May 2013 18:50 (ten years ago) link
I suppose it was the HHOH element of the 2nd half of Kill List that endeared me to it and I expected more of the sameish. "it's such a thoroughly modern film." Maybe that is what I hate about it, it reminds of that Danny Boyle type of film making, that seems calculating and competent but always weighs the same. Or maybe you could sub DB for British.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Friday, 24 May 2013 19:14 (ten years ago) link
netflix streaming has been a goddamn death zone for horror adds for weeks
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 30 May 2013 16:32 (ten years ago) link
a death zone sounds like it would be a great source for horror movies. or did you mean more "stagnant, useless"?
― how's life, Thursday, 30 May 2013 16:40 (ten years ago) link
a health clinic of horror adds
― 2 huxtables and a sousaphone (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 30 May 2013 16:41 (ten years ago) link
Alright fuck it, watching hatchet 2
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 3 June 2013 05:35 (ten years ago) link
Hahaha that was glorious stupid fantastic self-aware fun! I know I am normally mr. serious moody creepfest much of the time on this thread but that was every right kind of ridiculous.
Plz note: this is custom built for gorehound return of the living dead 2 types, if that is not your scene don't bother. Funniest moment is a Venetian closet nod gag that is an all time winner.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 3 June 2013 07:03 (ten years ago) link
Ok on the more sober side of the day, I might have oversold that a little. First 5-10 minutes are a little worrisome, the middle is mostly gore free but full of some clever nods and awesome cameos, and the last 30 are non stop ridiculous bloodbath fun.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 3 June 2013 21:31 (ten years ago) link
Going to find out if V/H/S/2 is any good tonight, didn't mind the first one and some reviewers have been raving about it.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Friday, 7 June 2013 14:29 (ten years ago) link
never bothered with the first, but gotta say, the raid guy doing a short has me interested
― original bgm, Friday, 7 June 2013 16:54 (ten years ago) link
It is a piss poor horror anthology but the Welsh bloke who made raid really delivers, the rest are shit. His short about a deranged doomsday cult is totally in the wrong company.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Saturday, 8 June 2013 00:17 (ten years ago) link
i pretty much HATED the first V/H/S, so it's going to be tough to get me to go back to the well on that one.
should be getting "some guy who kills people" on disc tonight via netflix, will report back
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 8 June 2013 19:39 (ten years ago) link
If you hated V/H/S give it a wide berth, because overall 2 is even worse. But I would recommend fastforwarding to the Gareth Evans contribution, which is in a different class to the other 3/4 of the movie.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Sunday, 9 June 2013 01:55 (ten years ago) link
Evans/Tjahjanto segment of V/H/S 2 almost did me in. More the un-steady cam than the intensity. Though that, too.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 9 June 2013 16:53 (ten years ago) link
when the idea is good i can bring a lot of good will to the table (to make it work for me) and on that level VSH got it: an underground vhs tape exchange network that focus on "paranormal" snuff videos. dude, that creeps me out.
― Sébastien, Sunday, 9 June 2013 17:38 (ten years ago) link
woops VSH... i got a bit ill at ease at the first one , the second one not so much. maybe because i am getting used to the aesthetic. i hoped they would play down the paranormal/supernatural direction or at least frame it in a "scientific" way , example: what seems like possession is in fact (insert fanfiction) in a way that actually enhances the spooky indice.
― Sébastien, Sunday, 9 June 2013 17:51 (ten years ago) link
OK, "Hatchet" ... I confess I've never heard of it. Is the film a proper silly homage, or a confrontational let's see how far we can push the sleaze plus add tons of sadism up the ante fest like the Gutterballs idiot?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 9 June 2013 18:12 (ten years ago) link
Some guy who kills people - likable fun comedy, not really horror at all. Lots of fun though, and Kevin Corrigan and Brian Bostwick are both great!
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 11 June 2013 15:42 (ten years ago) link
Been enjoying "Hatchet," glad it was brought up here (again?) since it gets retro-ish horror comedy better than most these days. I'm all fine with the gore and boobs, but so many of these aware retreads don't exactly retread, because they up the sleaze and sex and sadism and flat-out meanness to an unnecessary degree, all while forgetting the fun.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 17:38 (ten years ago) link
Wait, were you talking about Hatchet? I have like ten minutes left, and don't recall coming across Kevin Corrigan or Brian Bostwick.
Oh, shit, I get it! I thought you were describing "Hatchet" as "some guy who kills people." That's hilarious.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 18:02 (ten years ago) link
hey guys I finally watched this movie called wolf creek lemme tell you all about it
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 16:00 (ten years ago) link
is there a wolf in it
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 16:31 (ten years ago) link
SPOILER: it's a husky
― they are either militarists (ugh) or kangaroos (?) (DJP), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 16:33 (ten years ago) link
there is neither a wolf nor a creek it is a total ripoff
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 18:21 (ten years ago) link
hadn't heard of Hatchet before, sounds pretty fun. Joel Murray!
― Bathory Tub Blues (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 18:24 (ten years ago) link
Hatchet is...not great. Go in with low expectations and it's quite fun though.
― хуто-хуторянка (ShariVari), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 18:50 (ten years ago) link
i dont really remember how i felt abt hatchet tbh, the one i was talking abt in this thread recently was hatchet 2
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:01 (ten years ago) link
p sure there ws at least one creek in the background there at some point.
― So: The Answers (or something), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:07 (ten years ago) link
John Jarratt would def. be considered a wolf in certain social circles.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:09 (ten years ago) link
Checked out THE EMPTY ACRE based on the recommendation upthread that compared it to ABSENTIA. I think it's a good comparison texture-wise, but I could not deal with the movie. The editing was really poor. Actually, it's interesting to me how I can put up with poor acting, effects, etc, but poor editing just had me tapping my foot like a madman. It's the one element of the amateurish that, apparently, I can't stand.
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:12 (ten years ago) link
I guess wolf creek 2 is gonna make or break greg mclean after the rogue debacle huh
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:32 (ten years ago) link
Is Rogue the crocodile movie? I liked that one, actually.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:37 (ten years ago) link
ha well that makes one of us
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:44 (ten years ago) link
notwithstanding quality, rogue's budget was $26MM and it made back $3.5MM, he hasn't directed a film since
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:45 (ten years ago) link
so apparently shooting has wrapped and release date is late this year?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TN1I6o5PGbY/UZOJ4dITqkI/AAAAAAAALmY/01qlGFpEVeA/s1600/wolf-creek-2-poster.jpg
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:49 (ten years ago) link
i was there -- THE EMPTY ACRE was unbearable
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Wednesday, 12 June 2013 19:55 (ten years ago) link
Hatchet II was pretty much bad, but it's so silly I can't believe it was at the center of a ratings controversy.
It did make me chuckle once, though. The movie loves its buckets of gooey fake blood, and after each kill frequently shows some tree or wall or whatever getting splashed in ridiculous fashion. In this one, someone gets killed by hatchet, and the ghost monster killer has to work hard to pull the blade out of the body. The camera keeps cutting back and forth between an unbloodied tree and a frustrated killer, back and forth, back and forth, until the blade finally gets freed and the tree gets its gratuitous baptism by blood.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 June 2013 18:48 (ten years ago) link
Srsly though, the closet gag killed me in that movie.
I have been reduced to watching resident evil: revelations on Netflix. Yes I know this is going to suck.
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Friday, 14 June 2013 05:30 (ten years ago) link
Haha I mean silent hill: revelations
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Friday, 14 June 2013 06:07 (ten years ago) link
Oh my god this is so amazingly terrible wtf are you doing Sean bean
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Friday, 14 June 2013 06:08 (ten years ago) link
Man I think the V/H/S movies are a blast. I'm totally cool with that becoming a one-a-year-franchise.
― Walter Galt, Friday, 14 June 2013 10:48 (ten years ago) link
I only made it half way through Silent Hill: Revelations. Kit Harrington was astonishingly bad. He's not exactly Laurence Olivier in Game Of Thrones but he looked like acting was something he'd only read a vague description of, rather than having engaged in personally, beforehand.
― О боже, какой мужчина (ShariVari), Friday, 14 June 2013 10:58 (ten years ago) link
Just finished abcs of death, need to crash but I will report back tomorrow
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Thursday, 20 June 2013 07:21 (ten years ago) link
alright, so as anthology films go, its better than expected, and probably the best of any recent ones unless maybe you count the signal - nothing terrible overstays its welcome, but half or more of the films are ok to fairly good (i will verify that im not misremembering here in a second by rolling through them with some ratings). there is some stuff thats mediocre and yes a few that are just straight up hot garbage, but oddly the pacing is kind of well worked? its hard to believe that this is due simply by luck, i think the dude that planned this had some ideas about at least the tone of the directors and assigned letters accordingly. theres def a sense of play going on, not always overtly. going to be as spoiler free as possible obv.
so:
A (Nacho Vigalondo - Timecrimes) - 4/10. pretty eh in concept, i get the feeling dude thought he was going to BLOW MY MIND and wow he didn'tB (Adrian Garcia Bogliano - Penumbra, Cold Sweat) - 5/10. it's ok, doesnt really hang together, feels cheapC (Ernesto Diaz Espinoza - Mandrill, Bring me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman) 6/10. okish, been done too many times before and betterD (Marcel Sarmiento - Deadgirl) 10/10. probably my favorite of the bunch. looks great, perfectly executedE (Angela Bettis - Roman, most of the good horror roles for women in the last 10 years) 3/10. ehhhh, a little too wacky, but also super by the numbers blandF (Noburu Iguchi - Zombie Ass, The Machine Girl) 0/10. Completely stupidly embarrassingly terrible. I think he's trying to say something about Japanese film, but what he is trying to say is dumb as fuckG (Andrew Trauki - The Reef, Black Water) 2/10. Def the winner of the "who can pocket the most money from whatever stipend people were given" prize, no tension, who caresH (Thomas Malling - Norwegian Ninja) 6/10. Points given for some tech skill and a full on load of wtfI (Jorge Michael Grau - We Are What We Are) 7/10. in the blunt force category, unpleasant, but smart and simpleJ (Yudai Yamaguchi - Meatball Machine, Battlefield Baseball) 4/10. Participation prize, who caresK (Andres Morgenthaler - nothing i know at all) 4/10. vaguely amusing, but feels mostly like someone slipped in a spike and mikes reel while no one was looking. eh.L (Timo Tjahjanto - Macabre) 10/10. Totally blindsided by this one, by far the nastiest of them all, gonzo weird and pulls no punchesM (Ti West - Innkeepers, House of the Devil) 6/10. I think someone was bummed out that people think he makes slow moving stuff, clever tone shift but pretty much a throwawayN (Banjong Pisanthakun - Shutter) 8/10. Clever, with a light touch, takes an old joke and works it well.O (Bruno Forzani/Helene Cattet - Amer) 10/10. Gorgeous to look at, basically an excellent primer to see if you will dig Amer, if a bit samey tbh.P (Simon Rumley - Red White & Blue) 8/10. One of the most narratively ambitious films here, and even though it didn't really deliver for me, it's v well done.Q (Adam Wingard - Pop Skull, A Horrible Way to Die) 10/10. King of mope atmosphere (which i liked but srsly) discovers his funny bone and wins big big big. Awesome.R (Srdjan Spasojevic - A Serbian Film) 9/10. Totally incoherent and probably grabbing at some big themes that it cant really pull off, but tons of ambition give it some points that maybe the execution doesn't quite earn.S (Jake West - Doghouse) 4/10. Not as shitty as doghouse, but still plenty stupid. feels like a castoff rob zombie video. hire some goddamn actors you hack.T (Lee Hardcastle - idk) 6/10. ugh claymation, some funny bits. but dude. claymation.U (Ben Wheatley - Kill List) 6/10. wanted to love it, some spots work, but man, it mostly feels like a phoned in messV (Kaare Andrews - Altitude, badass comic artist) 10/10. ok lets be fair, the story is a mess, but the fact that this dude brought in something that looked like this with the budget he was given is completely amazing. give this guy a writer and some better actors and holee shit. srsly.W (Jon Schnepp - Metalocalypse, The Venture Brothers) 10/10. winner of the what is happening to me award for sure. completely insane and seizure inducing, but also somehow ultra creepy and hilarious and brainwormy.X (Xavier Gens - Frontier(s)) 8/10. def going to be the gorehound favorite, but under the splatter and the really really blantant point making, there's just not much there.Y (Jason Eisener - Hobo With a Shotgun) 9/10. This guy may be style over substance, but what fantastic, lurid, exceptional style it is.Z (Yoshihiro Nishimura - Tokyo Gore Police, Helldriver) 10/10. I normally hate this stuff, but dude goes ALL IN on this one, so totally over the top and unfettered by taste, logic, or subtlety that it is a killer, perfect closer. tons of fun and full of bile and hostility and slapstick wackiness.
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Thursday, 20 June 2013 17:10 (ten years ago) link
whew that took longer than expected. but yeah, 18 of 26 hit the 6/10 or better mark.
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Thursday, 20 June 2013 17:11 (ten years ago) link
gonna try berberian soundsystem tonight i think
― i didn't even give much of a fuck that you were mod (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 20 June 2013 17:43 (ten years ago) link
Hey y'all, since I don't watch much recent horror, can anyone ID a movie from 2-3 years ago that had a preview with a group of people in a diner, where an elderly woman transforms into some sort of alien? Movie got poor reviews as I recall, but I'd like to refind that trailer on youtube.
― New Authentic Everybootsy Collins (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:33 (ten years ago) link
"Priest" I think?
― DJP, Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:41 (ten years ago) link
i remember something like that but it was a demon, not an alien (bc the movie was about angels or something)xpost
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:41 (ten years ago) link
legion?
I think Legion is the movie you're looking for
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:41 (ten years ago) link
sorry, "Legion"
― DJP, Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:42 (ten years ago) link
legion was the one i was thinking of at least
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6p01-in6-k
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:42 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, Legion is it, thanks. That granny scene, pretty innocuous by the standards of a lot of stuff in this thread, totally creeped me out.
― New Authentic Everybootsy Collins (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:46 (ten years ago) link
I totally was thinking of "Legion" when I wrote "Priest", somehow I've managed to meld these two movies I've never seen into the same film
― DJP, Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:47 (ten years ago) link
i havent seen legion but according to multiple trustworthy reports that movie is exhibit #1 for "everything good is shown in the trailer."
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:53 (ten years ago) link
I swear to god, netflix times their streaming schedule by waiting until i send back a dvd. abcs of death is now up on streaming. watch it so i can start a poll on which one is the best
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Thursday, 20 June 2013 21:07 (ten years ago) link
cmon dudes, its streaming! im going to start the poll anyway, even if im the only one who votes in it.
― Hi i am your great fan suces (jjjusten), Thursday, 27 June 2013 20:39 (ten years ago) link
Watched up to T and will finish over the weekend. Nothing has really grabbed me so far - apart from O, which is excellent.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Thursday, 27 June 2013 20:41 (ten years ago) link
berberian sound system is fucking awesome but really isn't a horror film
― i didn't even give much of a fuck that you were mod (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 27 June 2013 21:00 (ten years ago) link
Berberian Sound System pisses all over the overrated Sightseers, which is predictable and is no better than what an average film student could produce. I love b-movie stuff with good actors,
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Thursday, 27 June 2013 22:03 (ten years ago) link
you keep getting that backwards, DSP.
ILX's collective hard-on for Amer is becoming a source of endless amusement.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 27 June 2013 23:16 (ten years ago) link
I thought Amer was pretty dull iirc. Don't remember much b/c nothing happened.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 27 June 2013 23:32 (ten years ago) link
Wheatley's new movie A Field in England is already available on the t0rrentz for those that are inclined that way. It looks a lot better than Sightseers.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Saturday, 6 July 2013 11:36 (ten years ago) link
It was on Channel 4 last night. I really enjoyed it, but it's not a horror film in any way, shape or form. Wants to be Jodorwsky more than anything else.
― Troughton-masked Replicant (aldo), Saturday, 6 July 2013 12:09 (ten years ago) link
I didn't realise it wasn't a cinema release, only just read Bradshaw's review yesterday.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Saturday, 6 July 2013 12:21 (ten years ago) link
So, Calvin Reeder's THE RAMBLER... that was, uh, Calvin Reeder's THE RAMBLER.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 6 July 2013 15:42 (ten years ago) link
it is a cinema release, it was released to theaters, disc, VOD, etc, simultaneously. some kind of experimental distribution strategy I guess.
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Saturday, 6 July 2013 19:12 (ten years ago) link
For a few minutes I thought "The Conjuring" was going to be a self-aware horror movie. Pretty soon I realized it was just every single ghost/haunted house/possession movie ever made, all at once, including Wan's last film "Insidious." This was better than that, amassing a few good brute force scares, but it unfortunately falls prey to many of the same things that have hampered, well, just about every single ghost/haunted house/possession ever made.
I wonder if Lili Taylor remembers she starred in 1999's "The Haunting?"
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 03:51 (ten years ago) link
About to watch "Mama", lets see how this goes
― You pieces of shit. (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 04:03 (ten years ago) link
It goes on for quite a bit, actually.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 04:08 (ten years ago) link
I kind of hated The Conjuring and I have no idea why anyone finds it scary/compelling.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 23 July 2013 04:18 (ten years ago) link
I liked The Conjuring just enough. No masterpiece, but easily improves on Insidious.
― Boven is het stil (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 04:19 (ten years ago) link
Really, when it starts with killer demonic doll, I figured it would ridiculous on purpose, but no, it's just next stop, sillyville station.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 04:27 (ten years ago) link
The Insidious train just sat still next to the not-scary-in-the-slightest platform.
― Boven is het stil (Eric H.), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 04:28 (ten years ago) link
Mama is 90% pretty fucking fantastic, but unfortunately that last 10% is another terrible shitshow of an ending. Fuckers.
― You pieces of shit. (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 06:01 (ten years ago) link
Lemme be fair here though, it's a killer first full length and I have to give this dude a ton of credit for that.
― You pieces of shit. (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 06:02 (ten years ago) link
Also holy shit, I had no idea that was Jessica Chastain until the closing credits
― You pieces of shit. (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 06:03 (ten years ago) link
I can't say enough nice things about The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh. a "ghost" story with one set, and basically one actor, but beautiful, original, chilling, and deeply moving. I think it hits VOD this week or next.
Found - not a FF horror, thank goodness - was at least halfway to greatness. meaning, it was great for at least half its runtime - but went terribly awry from there.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 12:17 (ten years ago) link
sinister - shit yeah
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 12:54 (ten years ago) link
1) saw the conjuring last night and there is not enough time in the world for me to list the plot holes and gripes i have with this movie2) still, i screamed 2x3) how does a movie this weak (a "witch" from the salem witch trials"? really?) get vera farmiga and lili taylor?!
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:19 (ten years ago) link
Farmiga's done a ton of schlock. Taylor probably needed the work
― Number None, Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:26 (ten years ago) link
I keep asking the same thing every time I see Julianne Moore et al. in the "Carrie" trailer (which is basically just the entire movie in two minutes; there aren't enough plot twists they can throw in to justify showing the pig's blood dump in the promo).
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:28 (ten years ago) link
anyone here seen francis ford coppola's twixt? looks like some kind of ghost story (?), gots elle fanning and val kilmer.
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:33 (ten years ago) link
lili taylor was in hemlock grove so
― just sayin, Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:33 (ten years ago) link
And she was in "The Haunting," so
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:35 (ten years ago) link
i haven't watched hemlock grove -- my lili taylor memories are mostly of her playing cool/weird people, not chirpy/possessed mothers of 5 married to office space guy.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:35 (ten years ago) link
http://www.releasedonkey.com/big/TVY1Qk1Ua3dNamt3TkRZME5WNUJNbDVCYW5CblhrRnRaVGN3T1RjNE5qWXpOUQ/picture-of-liam-neeson-lili-taylor-catherine-zeta-jones-and-owen-wilson-in-castelul-b-x26-xe2-ntuit-large-picture-number-12.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:36 (ten years ago) link
anyway you all know this movie sucks, stop pretending
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:36 (ten years ago) link
is that scooby doo?
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:37 (ten years ago) link
Pretty sure the past several posts including mine have been degrees of "The Conjuring sucks."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:38 (ten years ago) link
oh i thought you were trying to tell me i was wrong to expect lili taylor to be goodwhatever! this movie suuuuuucks.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 July 2013 13:38 (ten years ago) link
Photo is from "The Haunting" remake, which was awful EXCEPT for the casting of Taylor.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 25 July 2013 14:10 (ten years ago) link
omg she plays the nervous woman? does she fall in love with CZJ? now i remember that. super weird casting!
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 July 2013 14:13 (ten years ago) link
Owen Wilson played "Luke" in the film
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 25 July 2013 14:19 (ten years ago) link
ugh the haunting remake
― nice moderating dude (jjjusten), Thursday, 25 July 2013 15:29 (ten years ago) link
the haunting remake of what
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Thursday, 25 July 2013 19:31 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocy8TseK88I
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 July 2013 19:44 (ten years ago) link
Hey wait you guys didn't tell me The Conjuring was based on the warrens!
― Thelema & Louise (Jon Lewis), Friday, 26 July 2013 22:34 (ten years ago) link
and it still sucked!
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Saturday, 27 July 2013 00:17 (ten years ago) link
watching a report on the local news right now about how droves of ppl are visiting the original farmhouse where the conjuring occurred and it's irritating the shit out of the owners and their neighbors
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Saturday, 27 July 2013 03:21 (ten years ago) link
Thanks to Steve Bissette's Facebook feed I just learned the first Ed and Lorraine Warren-based movie was the TV movie The Demon Murder Case (1983), which is in YouTube in its entirety and features a wee Kevin Bacon.
― Thelema & Louise (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 27 July 2013 17:55 (ten years ago) link
There's a throwaway line (among many) in "The Conjuring" where they talk about another possible haunting ... in Long Island.
http://www.impawards.com/1979/posters/amityville_horror_xlg.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 27 July 2013 20:08 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpPdgrr5diM
I hope the Conjuring sequel is about the Smurls.
― tokyo rosemary, Sunday, 28 July 2013 02:17 (ten years ago) link
I have read good reviews of the Conjuring so I'm surprised to see it get no love here.
― tokyo rosemary, Sunday, 28 July 2013 02:22 (ten years ago) link
I just went to see it today and liked it pretty well. More than Insidious, definitely.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Sunday, 28 July 2013 02:24 (ten years ago) link
I did some seriously embarrassing yelling and clutching of poor Je55e's arm.
Watched The Collection (sequel to the collector) on Netflix streaming last night, and lets be clear, it's a hot mess of stupid post saw dumbness, but watchable, at least if you go in brainfree or at least super drunk. Def the worst movie to feature one dude from oz and another from the wire that I have ever seen.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 28 July 2013 02:45 (ten years ago) link
i have 'House at the end of the street' (HATEOTS) to watch tonight...is it any good?
― the pen is mightier than the penisword (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 28 July 2013 02:49 (ten years ago) link
I can't remember? That's probably neither a good nor a terrible sign.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 28 July 2013 02:53 (ten years ago) link
I could swear I talked abt it on this thread? But I am on iPhone so can not search worth a shit
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 28 July 2013 03:03 (ten years ago) link
welp i'm bored so it's getting a spin
― the pen is mightier than the penisword (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 28 July 2013 03:05 (ten years ago) link
Good luck, it will either be terrible, awesome, or unmemorable
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 28 July 2013 03:12 (ten years ago) link
I'm starting to feel like I liked it actually? I had a crap ton of fancy infused coctails and charcuterie tonight topped with key lime pie, so I am an unreliable narrator
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 28 July 2013 03:15 (ten years ago) link
enough of your humblebragging, mr fancydrunk
― the pen is mightier than the penisword (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 28 July 2013 03:21 (ten years ago) link
Oh no, that's just regular bragging
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 28 July 2013 04:16 (ten years ago) link
HATEOTS is not bad! not v horror-y but good story
j-law is ridic gorgeous, also main boy v crushworthy
― the pen is mightier than the penisword (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 28 July 2013 04:38 (ten years ago) link
if you go in brainfree or at least super drunk
Yeah, that's a pretty low hurdle for anything, tbh.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 28 July 2013 13:53 (ten years ago) link
Man, I was really let down by The Conjuring. I liked Sinister, Insidious, and others in this vein, but, I dunno, a couple good scares does not a good movie make. I saw it just a few days ago and I seriously cannot remember what happened at the end. It could be that I've just had my fill with exorcism movies. Most of them are really lazy; it doesn't require much narrative logic ("She's possessed!") and then usually just ends with some Catholicism and whatnot.
I wish this movie had been all about that demon doll. More demon doll movies!
― The Thnig, Monday, 29 July 2013 17:21 (ten years ago) link
sinister, insidious, and mama (which i just watched) are all alike in having great, creepy first hours while the bad things are happening in the background, and then going to shit once they have to actually show the bad things and they're just pathetic cgi monsters
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 29 July 2013 17:24 (ten years ago) link
scooby doo syndrome
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Monday, 29 July 2013 17:25 (ten years ago) link
watched jack ketchum's the girl next door and would now like to wipe my brain of it please. don't think it's particularly well made but the tv movie stylings make it even more disturbing if anything and if the idea is to show you just how depraved and nasty people can be and how horrifyingly easy it could be for a corrupting adult to coerce kids into such behaviour then it does its job i suppose.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 29 July 2013 17:34 (ten years ago) link
xp That's why I would rate The Conjuring above Insidious, et al. It didn't get real dumb at the end. Well, obviously that's a matter of preference, but by the time the other movies had explained themselves I was like oh yeah okay ho hum but I stayed pretty tense and engaged up through the end of The Conjuring. Also: creepy basement.
Fun fact: The real demon doll on which the demon doll in the Conjuring was based was a Raggedy Ann doll. Not quite as frightening. http://www.warrens.net/Annabelle.html
xp The Girl Next Door has been in our queue forever and I don't know why because I will never ever watch it.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 17:36 (ten years ago) link
Thnig and I had a convo after the movie about the laziness of the scary basement in The Conjuring -- this family of 5 moves into a huge old dump, digs through a wall and finds...their surprise basement, where the furnace is! I am fully 100% aware of the suspension of disbelief required to find movies like this entertaining, but that was a poorly thought out detail that could have easily been fixed by someone knowing that there was a basement. People do not buy a house to live in with their 5 kids and not know where the furnace is (even in the 70s!).
Add the lazy Catholic stuff/witch demon (and a bunch of other stuff I thought was just kinda weak) and I just couldn't find it in my heart to like this movie. I even found it pretty scary but that's because I have glass nerves that are shattered by loud sounds, not because it was actually scaring me. I didn't have any trouble going into the basement even that same evening!
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 29 July 2013 17:39 (ten years ago) link
family of 7! sorry!
Your basement is decidedly not evil, though. It's not even a little creepy!
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 17:40 (ten years ago) link
It is when I'm down there hehehe
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 29 July 2013 17:41 (ten years ago) link
Are you a Salem Witch?
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 17:41 (ten years ago) link
Perhaps I'm being hard on The Conjuring because it felt like the straw that broke the back. Horror movies have grown quite adept at pulling off shock scares in the last four or five years (Mama, et al) and that has been fun but now it's starting to feel like a formula (have scenery A + silence B + camera movement C) and the weaknesses are really starting to show through. The glow is gone. We need a fresh model.
― The Thnig, Monday, 29 July 2013 17:48 (ten years ago) link
I found it scary beyond the shock scares, actually. There was a creepiness to it that really got to me, plus as Jesse and I were discussing, some of the really scary parts were longer than just a second of being startled. Like
SPOILER ALERT*******The kid looking under her bed and then insisting that she could see the thing behind the door standing right behind her sister, Jesus H. the "hide and clap" game with Lilli Taylor and the hands coming out of the wardrobe, the whole long scene starting with the pictures falling off the walls and ending with the Wicked Witch of Rhode Island jumping off the top of the wardrobe onto the eldest daughter.*******END SPOILER
What people find scary is completely subjective, and those parts contained some elements that are almost guaranteed to freak me out. But as arguably dorky as the Salem witch premise was, the fact remains that I got up to pee in the middle of the night last night, three days after seeing this movie, and while I was sitting there sleepily looking out the bathroom door, I suddenly got it in my head that said witch would be crawling past the door any second and damned if that didn't wake me up fast.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:02 (ten years ago) link
Kid looking under bed=Poltergeist, which was 100x scarier.Clap game with ghost=The Orphanage, which was 10x betterWicked Witch popping out=Drag Me to Hell, which was better.
And so on.
I got lots of Friday the 13th the series vibes from bits of this, from the investigators to the room full of cursed objects that LOL DOES NOT LOCK?!?! The doll in the glass was like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQnJSujjPzk
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 18:09 (ten years ago) link
Which movie that was 100x scarier did the bit with the laundry line sheet flying into a silhouette?
― Boven is het stil (Eric H.), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:11 (ten years ago) link
My sense of exhaustion with movies like The Conjuring might be personal to me. It reminds me of The Great Re-boot Forsaking of 2010, when the Nightmare on Elm Street remake got me to swear off all such movies forever.
...OR DID IT?!?
― The Thnig, Monday, 29 July 2013 18:12 (ten years ago) link
I do like that there is a now a sub-category of "yeah the house is haunted now what movies?" Used to be lots of "is it all in her head?" Or "there must be an explanation here." But now it's all "what do we do about the demon living in your basement?"
My fave along these lines may be the guy in "Paranormal Activity." "Hmm, let's see what's going on here, usually there's a good explanation for ... oh my God, I am detecting a terrible presence here, I'm leaving, good luck!"
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 18:12 (ten years ago) link
Man, now I'm trying to remember where the clothesline gag was from ...
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 18:14 (ten years ago) link
Let Kevin Bacon, Andy Griffith and Cloris Leachman renew your faith in the genre... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WktVSnhdEmc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWktVSnhdEmc
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:25 (ten years ago) link
kinda feel like all those movies are the fading concentric circles of a rock thrown into the genre pool by late 90s asian horror directors. also the rock has long matted hair and moves with rapid jerks.
anybody got a line on the patient zero for this style?
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:32 (ten years ago) link
it isnt the first, but wrt american directors the ring really spawned a million imitators
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:34 (ten years ago) link
maybe this is selective memory but didn't ju-on: the grudge single-handedly revive the haunted house movie
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:36 (ten years ago) link
anyone ever see the solid and creepy japanese haunted DJ booth film "the booth"? A robust 73 min.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:37 (ten years ago) link
obv ringu revived the moribund haunted VHS tape movie
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:37 (ten years ago) link
I enjoyed The Conjuring and like carl a. said, it was nice that it wasn't scary up front and then limp and dumb in the second half.
It wasn't one of the best movies I've ever seen, but it was easy, fun, and scary, which is what I want sometimes on a summer afternoon.
The Catholic stuff was fine - I mean, it was in the context of a standard movie about possession. What I don't like, and when I think priests and crosses are lazy moves is when they show up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where Christianity otherwise doesn't figure in, so they're just shorthand for "Good."
― potatoes-in-law (Je55e), Monday, 29 July 2013 18:57 (ten years ago) link
yeah i agree the catholic stuff is pretty straightforward in a context of demonology / possession and as far as this is based on an actual "case file" i guess it needed to adhere to some basic conventional tropes
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:01 (ten years ago) link
also it's rhode island & you can't really escape catholicism in this place.
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:05 (ten years ago) link
There were some good scares, like what carl posted about SPOILER thekidseeingthethingbehindthedoor /SPOILER, which was a nice, extended creepy moment. And a couple that could have been standard shocks: the woman on top of the wardrobe and the pictures falling. They were special b/c they extended the scare a few beats beyond the initial startling jump.
I'm sure my fear was heightened by having carl agatha shrieking and trying to duck for cover under my torso.
― potatoes-in-law (Je55e), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:10 (ten years ago) link
yea agree, the rhythm was pretty slow to start but the i thought it was to good cumulative effect. also the period costuming & set dressing was pretty well done without being overdone or distracting imho. i appreciated all of the dramatic collars of vera farmiga.
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:16 (ten years ago) link
Yes, me too. Some dumb Slate writer criticized Farmiga's outfits. As if a clairvoyant working in an evil-fighting duo in the 70s wouldn't wear ruffles. and IIRC, she dressed like that IRL, too.
― potatoes-in-law (Je55e), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:21 (ten years ago) link
her outfits were great and totally reminded me of some of my earliest teachers (who weren't nuns)
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:23 (ten years ago) link
Has any horror movie ever addressed what happens if you've dealing with a classic (classical?) demonic possession and you're, you know, Jewish or something? Like, do demons just go for the Catholics? If you're Jewish, do you have to worry about vampires? Can you still wield a cross against vampires if you're Jewish? Or are there different demons that prey on different religious denominations? Just the cliche of all the religious iconography and all that gets a little campy to a non-Catholic like me.
Thinking (a tiny bit) more, doesn't the presence of demons or whatever in a Catholic god vs. the devil context invalidate all the other religions in these fictional worlds?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 19:28 (ten years ago) link
I seem to recall the vampires in Buffy, and the demons and other stuff, being sorta of unrelated to religious stuff. They're just there, like aliens or interdimensional monsters. Because Willow was explicitly Jewish, but neither her religion nor anyone else's religion played a part in the show, iirc. And Whedon is an atheist.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 19:30 (ten years ago) link
That's what I was getting at - religion isn't really a part of the show, but sometimes they still casually use crosses without commentary. Or maybe that was just in the early seasons?
― potatoes-in-law (Je55e), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:33 (ten years ago) link
There have definitely been movies in which the demonically affected were atheists or nonbelievers. One of the rules in Stephen King's TV's Salem's Lot (or maybe it was the book?) was that if you didn't believe in the power of the cross, the cross had no power, which is why Barlow ate the priest.
Hush you screamed, too. Do you remember when we were watching I think it was Friday the 13th Part II and something scared me and I poured beer over both of us? That was funny.
also everybody OTM re: Vera Farmiga's collars.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:36 (ten years ago) link
Oh, LL, I was watching The Legend of Hell House the other day and if you have not seen it, I think you would really appreciate medium Florence Tanner's wardrobe. It made me think of you as I was watching it.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:38 (ten years ago) link
we were watching I think it was Friday the 13th Part II and something scared me
Probably wasn't Friday the 13th Part II, then. Now, if you said you fell asleep, then yes, it could have been that one.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 19:43 (ten years ago) link
The Possession (2012) was, if I recall, a Jewish exorcism movie. Shares the same traits as the rest of these films: good acting, fine production, a few creepy sequences, some jump scares... and then some forgettable flailing before the end credits.
― The Thnig, Monday, 29 July 2013 19:43 (ten years ago) link
It's kind of like comic book universes. When Jews are dealing with this demon over here, Catholics are dealing with that demon over there, Spider-man is dealing with this villain here, X-Men that villain there ...
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 19:46 (ten years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, July 29, 2013 7:43 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
You are just too cool for me. I can't keep up.
It was some goofy jump scare, to which I am particularly susceptible having, as LL said so well upthread, glass nerves.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:48 (ten years ago) link
Legend of hell house is fucking obligatory!!!!
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:55 (ten years ago) link
Ah, the De-Ghostulator machine. Who could forget that?
― The Thnig, Monday, 29 July 2013 19:56 (ten years ago) link
The novel of The Keep dealt with the issue of a Christian monster and a Jewish protagonist. I can't remember if Mann's film carried any of that over...
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, 29 July 2013 19:57 (ten years ago) link
Has any horror movie ever addressed what happens if you've dealing with a classic (classical?) demonic possession and you're, you know, Jewish or something?
not really a horror movie but "this is the end" does kind of
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:02 (ten years ago) link
The Possession was mildly interesting for the Jewish angle (and Matisyahu) but disappointing otherwise. There is also a famous 1970s Turkish rip off off The Exorcist called Seytan I've been meaning to watch.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:14 (ten years ago) link
In other news, know what's scarier than demons? Angry off-leash dogs. Just now, not 5 min ago, I was walking my dogs and this big froth-mouthed monster came barrelling at us and attacked my dog (not the little one, but she was caught in the middle). It was one of the most terrifying things I've experienced in SOME TIME and I screamed at the top of my lungs for help because I was pretty sure that this dog was going to eat all three of us there in the alley.
Fortunately, we are ok but holy shit. Talk about what's scary? That's scary. This dog was real (compared to a demon).
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:17 (ten years ago) link
FYI we are all ok physically, though the dog has a little blood in his fur. I'm scared to touch him.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:18 (ten years ago) link
Dogs are fucking scary.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 20:24 (ten years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7f/Devil_Dog-_The_Hound_of_Hell_FilmPoster.jpeg/220px-Devil_Dog-_The_Hound_of_Hell_FilmPoster.jpeg
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 20:25 (ten years ago) link
hope you & your pups are ok, LL
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:27 (ten years ago) link
All I know, is that if I were a non-believer, and I saw a vampire, and I saw that the vampire did not react well to crosses, then watch me become a believer pretty quickly. Like, if that won't solidify your faith, nothing will.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2013 20:28 (ten years ago) link
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, July 29, 2013 7:57 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I don't think it was very explicit that the monster was Christian, but it's such a weird weird movie that I may be misremembering.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:31 (ten years ago) link
Yvette Mimieux!
Yeah dogs are seriously scary. My poor baby, I wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to go into the alley again. He let me touch his head and chin. I think he's ok?
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:32 (ten years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, July 29, 2013 3:28 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
but maybe all this would prove is that vampires hate cliches
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:32 (ten years ago) link
yeah i mean real demons aren't scared of the vaticanthat much i know
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:35 (ten years ago) link
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, July 29, 2013 4:31 PM (9 minutes ago)
iirc the nazis mistakenly thought the symbols embedded in the walls of the keep were crosses, so they started wearing crosses to ward off the evil, but it turned out the symbols represented the hilt of the sword the protagonist carried w/ him. pretty sure there's a scene in the movie where the SS commandant tries to pull a cross on the evil spirit and he just crushes it and the hand in which it is held.
weren't the two powers battling supposed to be older than christianity? read the book 20 years ago so I'm a little foggy.
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Monday, 29 July 2013 20:50 (ten years ago) link
I was thinking of the scene where the bad monster (who's really nice to Ian McKellan in the movie, plus I think he stops Ian McKellan's daughter from getting raped by a Nazi, so how bad can he be) was unimpressed by the cross-wielding Nazi.
But yes, I do recall that it was an ancient battle between the Keep monster and the dude on the motorcycle.
I read the book when I was a kid (part of the "steal age inappropriate horror novels from my aunt" years) but I did rewatch the movie in the last couple of years, although the weirdness of the movie has obscured my memory.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, 29 July 2013 21:18 (ten years ago) link
Xpost I meant to say 'Christianity-derived'. Obv the vamp in the keep does not accept jc as his personal l & s etc.
I hope Carl (dog version) is ok!!! We used to get attacked all the time in this neighb before the trend changed from pits to chihuahuas and yorkies.
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, 29 July 2013 21:47 (ten years ago) link
The Keep (novel) is quite good. I just read it a couple of years ago.
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, 29 July 2013 21:49 (ten years ago) link
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, July 29, 2013 12:55 PM (2 hours ago)
― The Thnig, Monday, July 29, 2013 12:56 PM (2 hours ago)
just cuz yeah
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Monday, 29 July 2013 22:42 (ten years ago) link
read the keep as a kid. thought it was great, though i hardly remember it now. my clearest memory of the book is my sense of of disappointment at the demon in the film. iirc, he was supposed to be made of congealed but never quite solid smoke, so the seemingly solid skeleton monster was a bit of letdown. film is interesting on its own merits, if awfully slow.
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Monday, 29 July 2013 22:46 (ten years ago) link
Hell House is the book with the sauna scene? That was really scary. We're at the 911 vet now btw, just to be sure.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 29 July 2013 23:23 (ten years ago) link
mann was pressured by the studio to make severe cuts to the keep, can't remember the details but more than 1 hour was removed and mann essentially disowned the film. I would love to see a director's cut, there are some great stately sequences but the pacing is awful. clearly a broken film.
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 01:53 (ten years ago) link
now that I think abt it, I'd love to see del toro take a run at the keep. mann definitely didn't get the monster thing.
good luck LL!
― truth bomb lawyer mean mean pride (Edward III), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 01:55 (ten years ago) link
The opening sequence with the trucks rolling into the town is herzogian dreamy but yeah broken film.
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 02:03 (ten years ago) link
Movie's got lots going for it, and so much going against it. Score is cool, but the atmosphere is a MTV misstep in a way that Mann doesn't usually manage. Fantasy is not his forte. He's a master of stylized hyper-realism, not make-believe. "The Keep" is like his "Legend," minus the Rob Bottin make-up effects.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 02:27 (ten years ago) link
Yep about to watch the nightmare on elm street remake. why? Well basically because its here so I might as well.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 04:52 (ten years ago) link
As you can tell I am super optimistic and really stoked.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 04:53 (ten years ago) link
I wish that had been done well, because Jackie Earle Haley was a truly inspired bit of casting. It's really, really bad, unfortunately.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 30 July 2013 05:10 (ten years ago) link
Wow this is really really bad
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 05:39 (ten years ago) link
Hands down absolutely the worst of the remakes. I'll probably poll that, but if you vote for anything else you are wrong.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 06:45 (ten years ago) link
I liked it slightly more than Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D, tbf.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 07:28 (ten years ago) link
Or rather, disliked it slightly less.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 07:35 (ten years ago) link
Watching "Sinister" right now. LOL at Hawke's Post-It notes. One says "Box of films - where did it come from?" and next to it is another Post-It Note with a scribbled picture of a box. Gotta love his diligence!
This movie is ridiculous, but so far probably better than "The Conjuring." Btw, in "The Conjuring," wow, did that family of 7 get over the mysterious, horrible first-night death of the family dog fast.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 15:06 (ten years ago) link
OK, Ethan Hawke. Stop watching snuff films and taking pictures of evil stuff - get out of the house! I'm serious, just get out. Don't you love your family? Nothing good will come of your half-assed investigation.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 15:40 (ten years ago) link
Also, turn some lights on.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 15:56 (ten years ago) link
Alright, "Sinister" was pretty pointless. "Conjuring" was scarier, relatively speaking.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 17:13 (ten years ago) link
I haven't seen the movie but I thought one of the main points of Sinister (based on the synopsis I read) was that leaving the house actually triggered the demon to possess one of your kids and make him/her kill the rest of the family? So leaving the house was actually the wrong thing to do?
― My Buddy® of sexting (DJP), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 17:15 (ten years ago) link
I swear sometimes it feels like some of you dudes watch this stuff hoping to not enjoy it
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 17:31 (ten years ago) link
this is ILX, that is the default mode for consuming entertainment for 75% of the population
― My Buddy® of sexting (DJP), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 17:33 (ten years ago) link
^^^
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Tuesday, 30 July 2013 17:37 (ten years ago) link
xpost Yeah, that was the trigger, which I thought was a neat twist.
It was actually ILX that made me watch it, because god knows, it got some vicious reviews, or at least really cynical reviews. I just found it pretty ... rote. "The Conjuring" had more heart to it, this one just kind of zips along and does its thing, like "Mama" did.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 18:16 (ten years ago) link
Basically, I go into every movie hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Because really.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 18:32 (ten years ago) link
Rewatching the evil dead remake to see if it holds up on a second viewing.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 31 July 2013 04:43 (ten years ago) link
and imo it totally does. i honestly dont think it does much of anything wrong, and the lead (the one from suburgatory) does a great job. i wonder if it would be held in super high esteem if fanboys weren't so busy being precious abt the original. not leveling that at you peeps, just reading the imdb litany of 1 star user reviews and getting annoyed.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 31 July 2013 16:40 (ten years ago) link
It's definitely better than average among horror remakes of the last decade.
― Boven is het stil (Eric H.), Wednesday, 31 July 2013 16:48 (ten years ago) link
this is a late reveal twist - and only true after you've spent a couple weeks stroking your goatee and watching a collection of snuff films left in your attic, one a night
― da croupier, Wednesday, 31 July 2013 16:54 (ten years ago) link
i can't remember if they showed that the dads from the previous families also spent their nights perusing the box of snuff, despite presumably not being true crime authors desperate for a hit.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 31 July 2013 17:05 (ten years ago) link
What did the demon do before Super 8 films?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 31 July 2013 17:15 (ten years ago) link
and when will he finally be forced to upgrade?
― da croupier, Wednesday, 31 July 2013 17:29 (ten years ago) link
according to his interview in that Keanu doc, Buhguul says that the day he has to go digital is the day he retires, because nothing will ever be as creepy as film stock
― da croupier, Wednesday, 31 July 2013 17:37 (ten years ago) link
What a reactionary. Get with the times, immortal evil one.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 31 July 2013 17:46 (ten years ago) link
Yeah jeez there are filter apps for that!
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 31 July 2013 17:54 (ten years ago) link
Ok tonight I finally got the bluray of "Hardware", which I haven't seen in idk 15 years? Super fucking excited.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Friday, 2 August 2013 05:06 (ten years ago) link
ugh The Conjuring was horrible on every level - hardcore pro-christian message and relentless determination to enshrine the nuclear family as the locus of goodness/happiness - the 1970s used as a signifier of ludicrous social freedom (the one non-white character is introduced so that we can laugh at his afro)
― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 4 August 2013 07:19 (ten years ago) link
don't forget the asian assistant ghost blaster guy
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Sunday, 4 August 2013 13:27 (ten years ago) link
ghost blaster guy was so forgettable - uncharacterised - i forgot him, my bad
― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 4 August 2013 14:08 (ten years ago) link
i was sad to see lili taylor appearing in shit like this, too, esp playing a woman who is almost solely defined by her motherhoodness - valerie solanas seems a long way off...
― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 4 August 2013 14:11 (ten years ago) link
New Yorker review called James Wan "virtuoso moviemaking ... worthy of applause." Ha.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 4 August 2013 15:28 (ten years ago) link
(the one non-white character is introduced so that we can laugh at his afro)
uh... no?
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Monday, 5 August 2013 14:54 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, there's nothing funny about that guy's afro.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 5 August 2013 15:29 (ten years ago) link
Continuing saga of remake fest 2013, about to watch the Friday the 12th remake. Yes. I know it is going to almost certainly suck.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 04:37 (ten years ago) link
Friday the 12th? grfo
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 05:51 (ten years ago) link
xpost to elmo
at the screening i went to, there was def a big laugh when the black dude w/ the afro turned up - but maybe it was a racist audience rather than a racist text
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 6 August 2013 06:50 (ten years ago) link
It is the 12th one! Also plz note my jokes are totally hilarious
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 07:02 (ten years ago) link
cf: dad jokes
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 16:55 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NmRGR45azo
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 20:15 (ten years ago) link
It really wasn't that bad! Better imo than either the nightmare or Halloween reboots, honestly
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 20:16 (ten years ago) link
Maybe because I feel like the peeps who made it get the original in a way that neither of the others did?
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 20:19 (ten years ago) link
thought the first texas chainsaw reboot - the one w/ r lee ermey - was the best of these reboots
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 6 August 2013 20:47 (ten years ago) link
okay just gonna ask this here since I can't find the relevant 1970s horror thread... but once upon a time someone on here linked to a blurb/youtube about a 1970s horror film involving a bunch of senior citizens in a tenement housing committing a bunch of murders. Does this ring a bell with anyone? hard thing to google
― joe schmoladoo from 7-11 (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 21:10 (ten years ago) link
homebodies
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 21:36 (ten years ago) link
one of my fave 70s flicks, given up on seeing this on DVD or blu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQd52fsX0pQ
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 21:39 (ten years ago) link
^ appears to be 1998 real player quality
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 21:41 (ten years ago) link
YES
thank you
― joe schmoladoo from 7-11 (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 21:41 (ten years ago) link
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 21:42 (ten years ago) link
hmm says you can buy a DVD of it here?
― joe schmoladoo from 7-11 (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 21:49 (ten years ago) link
boot.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 22:54 (ten years ago) link
Scream Factory or Code Red may eventually get around to releasing it. i hope. wicked film.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 22:55 (ten years ago) link
oh yeah, had no illusions about that being official/legal
― joe schmoladoo from 7-11 (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 22:57 (ten years ago) link
Same director as the Friday the 13th remake iirc
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 23:05 (ten years ago) link
from mr hal jam's lips to god's ears
― this gtr climbed mt. washington (Edward III), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 23:44 (ten years ago) link
Bah. Bill doesn't listen to me. I keep requesting The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie and Savage Intruder. Nuthin. but he does claim to have Curse of the Blue Lights and a new, apparently much-improved print of Evilspeak on the way. wd make up for his uninspiring recent slate of dumb sex comedies and Crown Royal repackagings.
New contender for 2013 honors: Jug Face. Wow. Appalachian "The Lottery" riff with excellent performances and a thoughtful script.
The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh is now Streaming on the Netflix. So no more excuses for not checking out this truly impressive and affecting movie.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 7 August 2013 00:36 (ten years ago) link
a new, apparently much-improved print of Evilspeak
!!!
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 August 2013 00:43 (ten years ago) link
And i wish i had Cliff's ear. He's doing fine without me, but he favors the heavy-hitters and the crowd-pleasers. BD/DVDs of Prince of Darkness, The Beast Within and ITMOM coming soon. I think i'm most excited for the All Night Horror Marathon multipacks. The Outing! Catacombs! Cellar Dweller!!!!
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 7 August 2013 00:44 (ten years ago) link
You're Next isn't quite as great as the reviews would have it, but it's an effectively nasty turn on the "last girl" archetype.
― Boven is het stil (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 02:45 (ten years ago) link
really enjoyed You're Next but part of it may have been that I saw the shitty new Woody Allen movie a few hours earlier and it just looked stellar by comparison
― thot police (fadanuf4erybody), Sunday, 25 August 2013 02:40 (ten years ago) link
Watching "killer joe" tonight which is nominally horror I think and maybe "drive angry" which should be suitably awful
― waterface down (jjjusten), Sunday, 25 August 2013 03:35 (ten years ago) link
Not really Horror but I just watched "My Amityville Horror," a documentary that catches up with young Danny Lutz, now in his 40s and still disturbed... it was really interesting. I'm sure he believes everything he says happened to him but its hard to shake the idea that viewing at least a dozen fictionalized and sensationalized accounts of events that occurred when he were a very frightened child didn't warp his memories to some degree. I was surprised how much hate he still carries around for his step-dad.
― Kissin' Cloacas (Viceroy), Sunday, 25 August 2013 04:14 (ten years ago) link
Killer joe - def not horror, but deeply deeply fucked up and worth seeing
― waterface down (jjjusten), Sunday, 25 August 2013 06:37 (ten years ago) link
I love My Amityville Horror. Did you not get the sense that Dan Lutz clung to the idea that the supernatural shit in the house was real to avoid, still, the p obv truth (to me, as an observer) that George Lutz was an abusive tyrant? Poor kid got gaslit so hard by his family, the media, Hollywood, the public... Phew. Also he totally shreds on the guitar.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Sunday, 25 August 2013 08:02 (ten years ago) link
I'm with you guys. "My Amityville Horror" is really good. It shows the psychological devastation of unwanted public attention (and, of course, a clearly abusive parent!) as good as anything else out there. Dan Lutz both wants attention and hates attention, and as a viewer you both love him and want to shake him by the shoulders. It's an uncomfortable knot of a film.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 15:07 (ten years ago) link
you both love him and want to shake him by the shoulders
Yes!
Also the part with Lorraine Warren and the chicken and the one true cross relic.
― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 17:09 (ten years ago) link
I had no idea she was still alive when that scene came on.
― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 22:12 (ten years ago) link
Up tonight - totally divisive film "no one lives" by the dude that did versus (awesome) and midnight meat train (which I loved but is not for everyone), ryuhei kitamura
― waterface down (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 August 2013 02:57 (ten years ago) link
Wait waht this is produced by pathe (ok cool) and uh wwe studios
― waterface down (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 August 2013 02:58 (ten years ago) link
Well, trying not to liveblog this but holy fuck this is some bad bad dialog, bad bad bad bad bad
― waterface down (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 August 2013 03:02 (ten years ago) link
Howlingly, maybe hilariously bad?
― waterface down (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 August 2013 03:04 (ten years ago) link
Ok on the plus side (?) this is OTP gore that would never ever be attempted by a mainline American horror director, makes rob zombie look like a sap
― waterface down (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 August 2013 04:56 (ten years ago) link
Well that was crap
― waterface down (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 August 2013 05:26 (ten years ago) link
I come bearing glad tidings. I saw a 2012 horror flick last night called "Would You Rather" that was really good and pretty tense. Despite a weird cast that includes Sasha Grey, John Heard, D'Angelo from The Wire, and Jeffrey Combs (who is great!), it's a serious movie and well worth a look. And though Grey is the weak spot, the acting is overall great, and I would've actually liked the movie to be longer in order to spend more time with the large cast, which isn't something I feel a whole lot.
― The Thnig, Friday, 30 August 2013 13:42 (ten years ago) link
That is an unusual cast, truly
― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 30 August 2013 20:31 (ten years ago) link
Good recommendation. I will watch absolute garbage if Jeffrey Combs is involved (seriously considered shelling out $40 to have my picture taken with him at a Star Trek convention earlier this summer), so I might as well watch an actual good movie with him in it.
― carl agatha, Friday, 30 August 2013 20:38 (ten years ago) link
combs' old co-star barbara crampton is in you're next!
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 30 August 2013 20:42 (ten years ago) link
Joel bought V/H/S on DVD today. i wished i'd known how fucking weak it was before i let him.
― RAWK of Agger's (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 31 August 2013 21:11 (ten years ago) link
Liked You're Next quite a bit, especially the second half. The score was perfect.
― carl agatha, Monday, 2 September 2013 05:13 (ten years ago) link
still wish it'd been titled "your next"
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Monday, 2 September 2013 19:26 (ten years ago) link
Yer Next.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 September 2013 19:32 (ten years ago) link
I thought it was pretty good too, but I preferred the scarier first half. Glad I didn't leave the theater fearing windows though.
― no fomo (La Lechera), Monday, 2 September 2013 19:36 (ten years ago) link
I know I will watch The Possession (recent dybbuk thing) on Netflix and I know it will suck.
― i believe we can c.h.u.d. all night (Jon Lewis), Monday, 2 September 2013 21:11 (ten years ago) link
Maybe watch some of Apparitions instead if you haven't seen it.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Monday, 2 September 2013 21:16 (ten years ago) link
Normally I don't like horror movies that go goofy, but "You're Next" pulled off that switch from serious, grueling horror to over-the-top almost-comedy without making me roll my eyes, which is an accomplishment. I don't think the movie will stick in my head for long, but I have nearly no complaints.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 3 September 2013 16:43 (ten years ago) link
hey just in case you get bored and see that "the final" is streaming on netflix and think what the hell, don't bother it's super terrible
― waterface down (jjjusten), Tuesday, 3 September 2013 17:07 (ten years ago) link
oooh Apparitions is so good. Sometimes it's a little lol with the rogue priest thing tho.
"McCalahan, this time you've gone TOO FAR! Ya gotta stop exorcising people, its giving the Church a bad name!""Oh yeah? The only name I care about, is the name of THE LORD!""I'm gonna bust you down to alter boy if you don't watch it!"
(nb none of that happens but sometimes has that vibe)
― PRISON WARDEN CONSCIOUSNESS (4th Dimension) (Viceroy), Tuesday, 3 September 2013 17:08 (ten years ago) link
one thing i enjoyed about "you're next": in a movie all about people killing other people in a variety of gruesome ways, there were (almost) no guns
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 3 September 2013 20:10 (ten years ago) link
The Final is the worst film I've ever seen.
― AlanSmithee, Tuesday, 3 September 2013 21:36 (ten years ago) link
I'm guessing you directed it
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Tuesday, 3 September 2013 21:39 (ten years ago) link
No, the director was apparently quite happy to put his name on this badly-acted, badly-scripted pro-school massacre propaganda.
― AlanSmithee, Tuesday, 3 September 2013 21:44 (ten years ago) link
I loved "John Dies in the End." It's like "Buckaroo Banzai" meets, I dunno, "Donnie Darko" meets ... Christ, I dunno. Lots of stuff.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 September 2013 16:18 (ten years ago) link
thinking about watching "Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan," or at least the first 10 minutes of it.
― PRISON WARDEN CONSCIOUSNESS (4th Dimension) (Viceroy), Saturday, 7 September 2013 21:44 (ten years ago) link
I hope that Pontypool sequel comes out this year and saves 2013 from being one of the worst ever years for horror movies in recent history.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Saturday, 7 September 2013 21:56 (ten years ago) link
I tried to see "you're next" yesterday, but I got stuck for 10 minutes waiting for a train to pass and chalked the loss up to fate.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 7 September 2013 22:22 (ten years ago) link
Lets be fair, it won't be bad enough to clinch making 2013 the actual worst year for horror movies in recent history.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Sunday, 8 September 2013 02:55 (ten years ago) link
Thanks to mr Hal Jam for recommending the last will and testament of Rosalind Leigh. Just finished it on Netflix and really enjoyed it.
― i believe we can c.h.u.d. all night (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 8 September 2013 03:17 (ten years ago) link
More coming up from Mike Flanagan (Absentia).
http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/toronto-oculus-helmer-mike-flanagan-in-focus-features-international-deal-for-somnia/
― how's life, Thursday, 12 September 2013 16:59 (ten years ago) link
watched VHS and The Bay this week. both had enough moments that I had no desire to stop them, but they were underwhelming all the same
― da croupier, Thursday, 12 September 2013 17:03 (ten years ago) link
ive had "magic magic" sitting at my house all week and i just keep sort of never wanting to watch it
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 12 September 2013 17:04 (ten years ago) link
The Bay is a curious one. Doesn't even feel like a movie. It's more of a document -- like, it feels like a DVD bonus feature. That said, it held my interest.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 12 September 2013 17:15 (ten years ago) link
so DePalma and Levinson have given the found footage genre a go, have any other old-school dudes given it a shot?
― da croupier, Thursday, 12 September 2013 17:23 (ten years ago) link
Romero's Diary Of The Dead?
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Thursday, 12 September 2013 17:31 (ten years ago) link
DePalma's had a better conceit (iirc no pretense of anyone but himself putting the footage together, where Levinson pretends some wikileaks types decided to cut together classified footage with Boo!s and a horror score), but Redacted turned into really insufferable, lazy auteurist agitprop by the end, where Levinson did a better job of mixing message and genre. but man, I like to think I don't sweat "why are you filming this?" when watching these types of films (I liked Chronicle!), but VHS and The Bay were real lazy on that front.
xpost oh right! I enjoyed that ok, but i can't remember much
― da croupier, Thursday, 12 September 2013 17:32 (ten years ago) link
i could swear i already complained abt the bay on here, but i guess not. i hated it
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 12 September 2013 18:00 (ten years ago) link
Think I missed my chance to see You're Next today. Oh well.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 September 2013 19:08 (ten years ago) link
maybe next time
― WHAT DOES SAMANTHA FOX SAY (DJP), Thursday, 12 September 2013 19:19 (ten years ago) link
I really loved "Magic Magic", but it is def not going to appeal to everybody. or much of anybody. and thats not some snooty cork-sniffer back patting there, it's a difficult movie to love, but i think it knocked it out of the park honestly. moody, bleak, scare free, ultra subtle, but capable of the deep under the skin creeps. its kind of like refn directing lets scare jessica to death around the valhalla rising period, or a non-psychedelic oregonian or pop skull. idk i dont want to pimp it too hard because i think it needs a very specific weird sensibility + the right time to view it, and on a different day i might have thought it was a snoozefest.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 14 September 2013 14:55 (ten years ago) link
its also a movie that sort of assembles itself as you go - the pieces are weird and disjointed but they all fit somehow. cera is great, temple is great, and the trailer is weirdly and maybe intentionally misleading, probably best seen without reading anything first, and def stay the fuck away from the imdb user reviews until afterwards.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Saturday, 14 September 2013 14:59 (ten years ago) link
Magic Magic? Pretty good entry to the long line of women-are-crazy psychological horrors, I thought. Really good, actually. I like how it takes out-of-your-comfort-zone anxiety and just slowly slowly heats it up in a pressure cooker until it boils over into complete hysteria. The scene on the rock is a terrific centre piece: a jittery Juno Temple trying to summon the courage to jump down into the sea, her friends yelling at her, and her attention keeps going back to an ominous rock that's just below the water's surface. Tension tension tension. Strange film. The audio/visual atmosphere of it is weirdly unnerving and uncomfortable, like the use of "Minnie the Moocher" being played on repeat on the car stereo and somehow sounding really sinister.
Juno's fab, and Michael Cera is actually really good. He isn't playing 'Michael Cera', which helps.
― hewing to the status quo with great zealotry (DavidM), Saturday, 14 September 2013 21:20 (ten years ago) link
watched John Dies at the End last night. Deeply invested in its own silliness, throws out a million ideas a second, like Buckaroo Banzai (the rasta mystic seemed like an obvious nod) but with more cartoonish gore and more dick jokes. It had this garish, harshly lit feeling to it that I've noticed in other similar splatter-comedy fests of recent vintage like Hobo With a Shotgun, not sure what to attribute that to... Not really scary on any level, but fun.
― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 September 2013 16:34 (ten years ago) link
by Don Coscarelli btw
― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 September 2013 16:35 (ten years ago) link
It had this garish, harshly lit feeling to it that I've noticed in other similar splatter-comedy fests of recent vintage like Hobo With a Shotgun, not sure what to attribute that to
troma nostalgia, maybe.
― slam dunk, Tuesday, 17 September 2013 16:45 (ten years ago) link
watched The Chaos Experiment (originally titled "The Steam Experiment"), where Val Kilmer locks 5 people (including patrick muldoon and eric roberts) in a death trap stream room because he's worried about global warming (armand assante plays the cop who'd rather be at a bar). One of at least two movies on instant where Val Kilmer acts annoying in a police interrogation room while people die one by one. Slightly more enjoyable than The Traveler, as Kilmer does some actual "i'm a wacko" acting rather than just whistling, but the ending was even dumber. apparently it only played in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as they filmed it there for tax credits.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 September 2013 16:58 (ten years ago) link
highly recommended if you want to see eric roberts walk around half-naked as women randomly scream the same word over and over in a steam room filmed in a gauzy orange
― da croupier, Tuesday, 17 September 2013 17:03 (ten years ago) link
Sold!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 September 2013 17:38 (ten years ago) link
Wait, what is the opposite of sold?
Not sold!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 September 2013 17:39 (ten years ago) link
Donated!
― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 September 2013 17:40 (ten years ago) link
Thanks! OK, what rhymes with hug me?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 September 2013 18:24 (ten years ago) link
Ibra scores after five minutes. PSG looking good vs Monaco.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Sunday, 22 September 2013 19:09 (ten years ago) link
Wrong thread, obviously.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Sunday, 22 September 2013 19:10 (ten years ago) link
Alright, fine, like the glutton for punishment I am, just started Apollo 18 after fleeing the first terrible 5 minutes of Silent Hill: Revelations
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 25 September 2013 04:51 (ten years ago) link
It's definitely not an improvement on Silent Hill.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Wednesday, 25 September 2013 11:17 (ten years ago) link
I loved Apollo 18. I am literally the only person on the planet who did. I can't explain it. I am sorry.
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 25 September 2013 14:31 (ten years ago) link
I thought it was alright! People who like to nitpick logic jumps and anachronisms are going to find it a little challenging however.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 25 September 2013 15:37 (ten years ago) link
The fact that silent hill STARTS with a dream within a dream jump scare = no thanks no way
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 25 September 2013 15:38 (ten years ago) link
Really?!? You though it was all right!? You are my new friend!!!
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 25 September 2013 15:39 (ten years ago) link
INSIDIOUS 2: It's like INSIDIOUS 1, plus a little POLTERGEIST 2, plus a little NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3. Not bad, but I'm really okay if there's not an INSIDIOUS 3.
― The Thnig, Monday, 30 September 2013 14:28 (ten years ago) link
I can barely remember anything about Insidious the first, except the bit where they're all "and some ghosts come for... ... ... INSIDIOUS reasons". Dun dun duuuuuhhhhhhh.
― emil.y, Monday, 30 September 2013 14:33 (ten years ago) link
I saw the first Insidious the other week. As soon as they started going on about astral traveling I was having doubts, then Darth Maul turned up
― Number None, Monday, 30 September 2013 14:37 (ten years ago) link
That's pretty much when it went off the rails, IMO. But I have said before, perhaps in this thread, that the movie prior to that point seriously scared the hell out of me so I was actually glad that it got dumb so I could mentally regroup and not spend the next three days jumping at shadows.
― carl agatha, Monday, 30 September 2013 15:06 (ten years ago) link
I have decided to participate in this little Twitter project of watching 31 horror movies in 31 days so there's a decent chance I will see Insidious II before the month's end.
― carl agatha, Monday, 30 September 2013 15:07 (ten years ago) link
Insidious 2 was way better than The Conjuring even though it had all of the same elements. Angry woman ghosts, goofy ghost hunters, ghost sniffing clairvoyants, big old houses. I2 had one of my favorite male stock characters too, the Donald Sutherland-style sensitive man. I liked it!
― Untt (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2013 15:08 (ten years ago) link
even secret rooms!
Favorable comparisons to The Conjuring almost guarantee that I will see this movie!
― carl agatha, Monday, 30 September 2013 15:13 (ten years ago) link
agree that it was at points unnerving, but i really disliked insidious. couldn't hack the cornball, almost aggressively cliched obviousness of everything, wan's debt to formulaic storytelling and conventional depiction pushed almost into surrealism (a quality i liked, for whatever reason, in dead silence). didn't care for paranormal activity, either, so maybe i'm just hostile to new school haunted house movies.
haven't seen a really (really) good recent horror movie in months, maybe since berberian sound studio, nor have i been following this thread. halloween season suggestions appreciated, hint hint..
― IIIrd Datekeeper (contenderizer), Monday, 30 September 2013 15:16 (ten years ago) link
We also learn that Rose Byrne's character's name is spelled Renai, which is kind of weird imo but hey -- at least we know. I think her sad eyed blank-facedness works for her in this role really well.
― Untt (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2013 15:16 (ten years ago) link
I have to give Insidious credit for its effective use of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips."
― Immediate Follower (NA), Monday, 30 September 2013 15:17 (ten years ago) link
Paranormal Activity I finally saw recently. Thought it was boring as hell, you could tell what the ending would be from a mile off and nothing in the build-up to that was compelling or interesting.
― emil.y, Monday, 30 September 2013 16:00 (ten years ago) link
I think I say this every year, but Paranormal Activities films only work in theaters. This seems counter-intuitive--they're handicam movies, shouldn't they be ideal for home viewing? But no! 90% of the scare of those films is in the humming, almost Lynchian soundtrack, which totally envelopes you in suffocating white noise in a theater, but virtually vanishes at home. That is the result of my scientific experiment, anyway.
― The Thnig, Monday, 30 September 2013 16:29 (ten years ago) link
Huh. I've only seen the the first two, and both at home. I found them enjoyable and sufficiently creepy (the bit where the wife stands stock still at bedside for six hours or whatever is extremely effective IMO) but not as frightening as advertised. Maybe that's why.
― carl agatha, Monday, 30 September 2013 16:36 (ten years ago) link
How was the score for Insidious 2? Pt 1 was mostly memorable because of it.
― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 30 September 2013 19:31 (ten years ago) link
Hmmm...not overwhelming? I don't remember much about it aside from the fact that I didn't find it distractingly melodramatic.
― Untt (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2013 19:31 (ten years ago) link
rats....distractingly melodramatic is what I was hoping for. the last one was deliriously OTT.
― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 30 September 2013 19:57 (ten years ago) link
It was basically a replay iirc.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Monday, 30 September 2013 20:07 (ten years ago) link
Tho I wasn't a major fan of the score the first time around.
based on someone's advice (itt?) I watched paranormal activity 3 first and found it pretty enjoyable, it reminded me of a 70s TV horror movie, no stunning masterpiece of craft but creepy in a low-budget quotidian way
haven't gone back and watched the first two tho
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Friday, 4 October 2013 04:19 (ten years ago) link
I did watch the evil dead remake unfortunately, that was some terrible shit
wasn't even measuring it against the original, went in w/ an open mind and blecch
some of the attack scenes were creepy but every other part of the movie was a terrible slog, super serious + stupid is a terrible combination, the bar is pretty f'kn low if this is what passes for quality horror in 2013
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Friday, 4 October 2013 04:26 (ten years ago) link
That thought did go through my mind during You're Next once or twice.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Friday, 4 October 2013 04:49 (ten years ago) link
It might have been me who suggest Paranormal Activity 3 -- it's my favorite of the series, and I like all of them.
Saw "Scream 4" last night. (Yeah, I'd forgotten that it existed, too.) It, y'know, felt like a Scream movie.
― The Thnig, Friday, 4 October 2013 14:28 (ten years ago) link
The weird ending of Paranormal Activity 3 keeps popping in my head, and every time I do I confuse it with the weird ending to "Insidious," and then I think, wow, no, that was "Paranormal Activity 3."
The oscillating fan stuff was a masterstroke, even if the movies themselves are the feature equivalent of those screen pranks where someone stares at a rocking chair until Regan from "the Exorcist" suddenly pops up.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 4 October 2013 14:32 (ten years ago) link
Just watched The Possession. I get that The Exorcist casts a long shadow, but there are ways to make a possession movie stand out a little and other than having the demon be a dybbuk, this one didn't. It wasn't bad, per se, just not very exciting.
― carl agatha, Friday, 4 October 2013 16:14 (ten years ago) link
There's something to be said about supernatural events excusing/erasing bad fathering in this movie, but I'm struggling to make coherent thoughts. It's most out there when the father is accused of abusing his daughter and cut off from seeing them, when it's really that the daughter is possessed (so he's just misunderstood all along) but also in the way that the father is the only one who can fix the possessed daughter/broken family even though his absence/disengagement was presented as the (invalid, apparently) reason that the family was broken up in the first place.
― carl agatha, Friday, 4 October 2013 16:19 (ten years ago) link
Another thing about SCREAM 4. The amount of white girls viciously stabbed in this thing was out of control. Just one after another, pretty bad stabbings too, without camp, and with very few interruptions of males or minorities. It was kind of overwhelming.
Also saw Rob Zombie's THE LORDS OF SALEM, which I highly recommend. It's not scary in the slightest, but there is still much to recommend. The lead character is very different than your typical female lead and the whole mood of the thing is fantastic. The final 20 minutes are really wonderful--just a satantic freakout that makes little sense and is all the better for it. And it doesn't wimp out at the end either.
The only thing that keeps the movie from being a minor classic is the cliche of the filthy, writhing witches. Very little in this movie feels cliche, so that was a significant fly in the ointment.
― The Thnig, Friday, 4 October 2013 16:32 (ten years ago) link
i liked it too, but think it could have used a stronger lead. smz was fine (surprisingly decent, really), but never all that interesting or compelling. and the final shots were kind of horrid, casting a slight pall on what came before.
agree that the mood & atmosphere are wonderful, and i loved the more offhand moments of interaction between smz & her strikingly rob-like costar, esp the bit where he puts on "venus in furs" and isn't sure that it's the right choice.
great third act and lots of memorable incidents along the way. easily my favorite r-zom film this side of house of 1,000 corpses, but still just a solid 'B'.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Friday, 4 October 2013 16:47 (ten years ago) link
is 'dark skies' any good? it got mailed to us by mistake, not sure whether to bother with it or not
― gotta lol geir (NickB), Saturday, 5 October 2013 10:55 (ten years ago) link
American Mary!!!
Slight spoiler: if you make rape a part of your plot, this is how to do it. Also rape revenge is sooooooo not my genre but I loved just about everything about this movie.
Something about the sensibility reminded me of May in a really good way.
― carl agatha, Sunday, 6 October 2013 19:44 (ten years ago) link
sold
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Sunday, 6 October 2013 19:59 (ten years ago) link
! yeah I'm in
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:18 (ten years ago) link
We finally watched Snowtown Murders and it was waaay better than I anticipated. I say that because we tried to watch Beyond the Black Rainbow the night before and I was so severely bored/irritated at the plot-artsy shit ratio that I refused to watch more than an hour of it. Snowtown was really well done for a movie about such gruesome stuff. I mean y'all already know that but I had to chime in since that's the sort of irritating person I am.
― Untt (La Lechera), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:21 (ten years ago) link
Love black rainbow but yeah it is all vibe no plot
― Hip Hop Hamlet (Shakey Mo Collier), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:25 (ten years ago) link
Hilarious ending too
i still think about snowtown - def straddled the line really well between artistic movie & a true crime movie
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:27 (ten years ago) link
Totally. Also I thought the casting/acting in Snowtown was top notch. The roo scenes were a bit tough to stomach, but nowhere near what I expected.
― Untt (La Lechera), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:28 (ten years ago) link
the killer & the main kid were ridiculously convincing
cannot get over how the rest of the cast/extras were locals
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:29 (ten years ago) link
skipped snowtown cuz i guessed it'd be pointlessly nasty & depressing. maybe i'll give it a shot after all...
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:31 (ten years ago) link
it's really notit's depressing, but not pointlessly
― Untt (La Lechera), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:31 (ten years ago) link
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 6 October 2013 20:50 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, it's definitely worth watching.
― carl agatha, Sunday, 6 October 2013 21:06 (ten years ago) link
Wait, did the Rob Zombie movie even come out yet?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 6 October 2013 21:15 (ten years ago) link
Lords of Salem? I forgot to mention that I enjoyed the male friend role in that one quite a bit. He was a quality male friend to the female lead.
― Untt (La Lechera), Sunday, 6 October 2013 21:17 (ten years ago) link
lords of salem came, went, and is on home video
I started a thread dedicated to snowtown cuz I thought folks outside this haunted house should get on it, not sure how successful that ploy was
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Monday, 7 October 2013 02:50 (ten years ago) link
just watched snowtown as well. god, the ringleader guy was incredible in this. perfect horrible manipulative psycho bully. he made me so uncomfortable every second he was on screen.
― original bgm, Monday, 7 October 2013 04:16 (ten years ago) link
i think it is worthwhile to mention that he LOOKS like he could possibly be a warm cuddly caring person, which is why it's so alarming that he is not that at all. When everyone was describing what a psycho he was, I was imagining him looking way way more gnarly than he does in the movie. Hence, effective.
― Untt (La Lechera), Monday, 7 October 2013 13:42 (ten years ago) link
Yes! I was documenting my viewing of this movie somewhere on ILX (here? Maybe Ed's thread?) and I noted how handsome I found that actor, which made the movie all the more jarring.
I think we decided to focus on this picture of him to help me get past the dissonance:
http://www.boudist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Daniel-Henshall-Snowtown-209-590x885.jpg
― carl agatha, Monday, 7 October 2013 13:45 (ten years ago) link
awww
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Monday, 7 October 2013 13:51 (ten years ago) link
I know! He would never make a boy wear a dress and hold bricks. :(
― carl agatha, Monday, 7 October 2013 13:57 (ten years ago) link
ha!! he's all smiles until you see the earring and remember that he is a TOTAL FUCKING PSYCHO
(j/k that actor is v cute)
― Untt (La Lechera), Monday, 7 October 2013 13:58 (ten years ago) link
SNOWTOWN is amazing. Deserves a wider, mainstream audience.
What I really want to talk about is THE ATTIC (1980), an absolutely fantastic movie we watched last night with the strangest female horror lead since CARNIVAL OF SOULS. Also it co-stars a chimp in a sailor suit. But it's great! I guess it falls outside of our post-2005 thread parameters, though.
― The Thnig, Monday, 7 October 2013 14:09 (ten years ago) link
For real, that woman was a masterpiece! I'd call it hag horror except it wasn't all that splashy, well, except for when she would sneak out her flask and drink from a little paper cup behind her librarian's counter.
― Untt (La Lechera), Monday, 7 October 2013 14:15 (ten years ago) link
Also I guess the monkey was kind of splashy.
― Untt (La Lechera), Monday, 7 October 2013 14:16 (ten years ago) link
here's that other thread
have you seen SNOWTOWN aka the snowtown murders aka the grim indie bleakathon that's so worth it
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Monday, 7 October 2013 14:59 (ten years ago) link
Why do the Paranormal Activity movies scare me so much??? It's 1 in the afternoon on a beautiful sunny fall day and I'm watching this PA3 while I'm working and I cringe in fear every time that stupid fan camera pans into the empty side of the room and the Bloody Mary scene just about sent me over the edge.
Seriously I think I need to explore this in therapy. Maybe I was haunted by a demon as a child and these movies are bringing up repressed memories.
― carl agatha, Monday, 7 October 2013 18:10 (ten years ago) link
Ask Scalia.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 7 October 2013 18:14 (ten years ago) link
I curse too much for him to want to talk to me. Thank fucking god.
― carl agatha, Monday, 7 October 2013 18:19 (ten years ago) link
They scare me too!! Also I have discovered that "male friend" from Lords of Salem is the Geico caveman.
― Untt (La Lechera), Monday, 7 October 2013 18:55 (ten years ago) link
I have lords of Salem and paranormal activity 4 at the house tonight. Just picked lords of Salem, let's see how this goes.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 04:18 (ten years ago) link
Looks like there's going to be a lot of Sherri moon zombie in this, which is a bad sign because she has never not been terrible ever
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 04:23 (ten years ago) link
sherri boobs zombie
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 04:46 (ten years ago) link
Paranormal Activity 4 is abysmal, and i say this as a fan of the series.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 07:54 (ten years ago) link
There was a fourth one? Oh, wait, was this the one with the haunted Facebook page or whatever?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 11:57 (ten years ago) link
There was a fourth and will be a fifth next year, though they keep pushing back the release date (a sure sign of quality).
I'm pretty content with the story arc of the first three and will probably quit while I'm ahead.
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 12:32 (ten years ago) link
I'm a big fan of PA 1-3, but 4 is sadly a big notch downward. Still basically does well what the others do but the "narrative" (as it were) is much weaker. I had kind of hoped that each film would continue being a prequel of the previous, and by now we'd be watching 8mm footage or slide shows of daguerreotypes or something.
In other news, SPLINTER is a decent newish flick. It's basically the monster from THE THING terrorizing a group of people caught inside of a gas station (a la THE MIST). Plus there's running body parts like EVIL DEAD 2. A nice mix.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 13:38 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, I saw Splinter a few years ago, I want to say. Pretty novel take on the usual trapped in a cabin scenario.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 13:41 (ten years ago) link
dug splinter. fun, fast paced, definitely worth a watch, if nothing great.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 13:51 (ten years ago) link
I think the Paranomal Activitys were always on a downward slope but 4 was where it flipped into two-star "man i wish i had the strength not to watch the next one" territory. but the basic BOO format is so durable.
watched the evil dead remake last night. even with all the bad buzz on here, that was pretty disappointing. i wondered how they could make me not like a film where Jane Levy is Ash, and the answer is (SPOILER) "don't make her Ash until the last ten minutes."
― da croupier, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 15:44 (ten years ago) link
could totally imagine the sequel being better though. i mean, they did it the first time.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 15:48 (ten years ago) link
yeah, was ass movie.
started watching american mary last night, during a power outage. made it about 2/3 of the way through before my laptop conked, but really enjoyed what i saw. fun central character/performance (rowr), good balance of suspense and black humor, offhand amorality, mod fetishists, and a novel point of view. some iffy decisions, but nothing egregious. looking forward to the rest, so thanks for the rec, carl agatha. doesn't remind me strongly of may, but i can see why you'd draw the connection.
on the same tip: excision (i'm repeating myself, i know). don't think it got much support here, but i LOVED that movie. similar enough to may to be accused of ripping it off, but so good i don't care. annalynne mccord is great in it, and the surgical horror angle ties it back in to american mary. more like this, please.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Tuesday, 8 October 2013 15:58 (ten years ago) link
tbf it's been a long time since I've seen May and some of the connection I'm drawing may just be "weird brunette does bad things."
Central character is super pretty, isn't she???? I definitely came away with a crush on Katharine Isabelle.
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 16:55 (ten years ago) link
The real question, though, is what should I watch on Netflix streaming today?
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 16:56 (ten years ago) link
Poultrygeist
― Jeff, Tuesday, 8 October 2013 17:00 (ten years ago) link
Wait. Save that for me.
Any strong recommendations for recent horror movies that aren't heavy on the blood/gore?
― Immediate Follower (NA), Wednesday, 9 October 2013 17:58 (ten years ago) link
The most recent one from me would be "magic magic" but like I said upthread a bit, I imagine it's going to be a bit divisive. Also arguably not horror per se.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 October 2013 18:10 (ten years ago) link
Btw dug lords of Salem a lot, weirdo hallucinatory strangeness, minimal scares, whiffs of cremaster style strangeness but filtered through rob zombie bong water junk aesthetic. Def less brutal and more paced than all his other stuff, with way way less schtick. Except for the parts where it is all schtick. Sort of. That will make sense if you see it, honestly.
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, 9 October 2013 18:14 (ten years ago) link
finished and liked american mary, but it does lose some steam and begin to wander in the second half. business with the club owner seemed underdeveloped, and the conclusion came out of nowhere. still, i liked it a lot better than most horror films i've seen recently (though it's tangential to the genre).
started snowtown murders. style and characters are great, but i'm dreading the drop.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Wednesday, 9 October 2013 19:16 (ten years ago) link
NA, you could do a lot worse than The Lords of Salem -- low blood/gore, pretty strong movie.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 10 October 2013 15:07 (ten years ago) link
We watched COME OUT AND PLAY last night, which is an almost shot-for-shot remake of WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? It was totally solid, though I don't know why you wouldn't just watch WHO CAN KILL A CHILD. By the way, if you like CHILDREN OF THE CORN and haven't seen WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? you're really missing out, it's great, provided you can get past the bizarre concentration camp opening credits.
Sorry for all the capital letters.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 10 October 2013 15:10 (ten years ago) link
Simmer down, buddy.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 10 October 2013 15:36 (ten years ago) link
paranormal activity 4 really wasnt that bad imo, huge drop in quality from 3, but i would rank them pretty much 3>1>4>2
really does seem to be a totally dead end road now tho, theyve exhausted just about all the tricks at this point
― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Thursday, 10 October 2013 16:23 (ten years ago) link
three had some good BOOs but the ending ticks me off so much. How could it logically lead to the first movie?
― da croupier, Thursday, 10 October 2013 16:46 (ten years ago) link
Watched most of Lords of Salem. So far ... it seems sort of like had Rob Zombie made a really good contemporary witch movie, then had it take away from him by a different Rob Zombie who demanded a third Rob Zombie cut some 25 minutes out of it. As much as I appreciate his literal-mindedness as a director, I wish there was more suspense/mystery to it. Bits reminded me (so far) of "The Fog" and, of all things, "Halloween 3."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2013 17:09 (ten years ago) link
yeah, it's way more reminiscent of carpenter than his halloween films (i dunno, i only saw the first)
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Thursday, 10 October 2013 18:32 (ten years ago) link
kind of psyched for this escape from tomorrow movie. hadn't heard a thing about it until this morning, but maybe just cuz i haven't been paying attention.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Thursday, 10 October 2013 18:34 (ten years ago) link
xp Curb your skepticism and SEE THE SECOND!
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 10 October 2013 18:35 (ten years ago) link
You mean Zombie's Halloween 2? I want to say I never made it past all the backstory at the beginning.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2013 18:42 (ten years ago) link
Some decent convo about Halloween 2 upthread. I'm mixed on it but love that it has its defenders.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 10 October 2013 18:45 (ten years ago) link
yeah one of the more interesting things abt LoS was the way that all the exterior shots are super dread infused, has a very carpentery vibe in those spots in particular
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 10 October 2013 18:58 (ten years ago) link
One of the other more interesting things was that it's called Lords of Salem, and I barely recall so much as an establishing shot of Salem, MA.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2013 19:00 (ten years ago) link
I didn't get any dread, though, since there is no mystery. When you start your film with writhing, cackling naked witches, it sort of plays your hand a little early.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2013 19:01 (ten years ago) link
I liked the main Satanic theme in LoS. I wish there were more to the song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZKg6NZoVXk&list=RD02zPmyFWDo8so
― The Thnig, Thursday, 10 October 2013 19:05 (ten years ago) link
Zombie's Halloween 2 recommended if you always thought Michael Myers dreamed of the director's wife and ponies
― da croupier, Thursday, 10 October 2013 19:58 (ten years ago) link
I'm no zombie fan, never really enjoyed one of his films tbh, tho I've got some grudging respect for what he's accomplished (cut to teenage me jamming pre-metal scumrock-era white zombie in '87... successful hollywood director didn't seem like it was in the cards for this guy).
but I realllly liked lords of salem, and would've been nudged into total love if the coda was more satisfying. it reached for some phantasmagorical jodorowsky wtf extended climax, but without a real commitment to per/subversion it devolved into 90s metal music video hijinks. for 3/4 of the runtime I enjoyed the lazy drift of its horror-movie-as-tone-poem style, before it decided to become a nu-metal inland empire. yr moves gotta be real sharp if yer gonna drive off the edge of the page like that, and all the promise of that stately lushness ended up delivering more rick rubin than rubens.
all that neg aside, anybody who gives me a beautifully shot & designed well-acted goth-out with that eerie surreal/quotidian vibe is pushing my buttons bigtime. was pretty impressed w/ ms zombie's perf too. her take on a single middle-aged tatted-up ex-junkie (er, spoiler?) who just really wants to get thru the day and hang with her dog, well, there weren't a lot of false notes there. and, as somebody noted above, refreshing to see that person as a central character. I mean we all know someone kinda like this, right? she nailed it.
I can see some of the carpenter ref's others noted above, but lynch is who I kept thinking of during all the interior creepy apartment / foreboding hallway sequences, also in the charmingly-polite/foulmouth-psycho binaries of the landlady and her coven (shit more spoilers). I guess a bit of polanski apartment trilogy in there too. and I dug the comedy intertitles obv swiped from kubrick - horrific sting cue / jump cut / MONDAY - that shit never gets old.
so, lots to like in there, would recommend.
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 10 October 2013 21:50 (ten years ago) link
The Conjuring is worth a watch, good couple of jumps in there, had me kinda creeped out in a few parts. Little bit predictable, but still enjoyable.
― not_goodwin, Thursday, 10 October 2013 21:52 (ten years ago) link
Watched REC 3 last night. What a total waste of time! The first two are so good, and this one seems to be heading in a good direction until about ten minutes in when the filmmaker abandons the effective found-footage angle and just goes for a regular movie -- a boring zombie movie, as it turns out, with a (sigh) blood-spattered bride with a (sigh) chainsaw. A day later, I'm still pissed off about it.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 15 October 2013 15:38 (ten years ago) link
Right there with you, that movie made me furious.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Tuesday, 15 October 2013 15:39 (ten years ago) link
I am planning on watching 'You're Next' tonight :D
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 16 October 2013 23:21 (ten years ago) link
Rec 3 was silly. One of those situations where the first two movies did everything so right I guess they felt they had to go a totally different direction.
Lords of Salem has stuck with me, despite its shortcomings. I sort of wish, again, that there was more mystery to it, that it would be more like the Salem witch "2001" or something. Though I guess it comes close at times.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 17 October 2013 03:33 (ten years ago) link
You're Next more like bore next :(
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 17 October 2013 04:01 (ten years ago) link
I had 0.0 interest in seeing you're next until I found out the lead from upstream color was in it, guess she couldn't save it singlehandedly huh
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 17 October 2013 07:31 (ten years ago) link
I hated RZ\s Halloween flicks but pretty much unabashedly loved Lords of Salem.
― Simon H., Thursday, 17 October 2013 07:53 (ten years ago) link
That lead from "Upstream Color" & "You're Next" (dug that one) is also in Ti West's new movie "The Sacrament" (along with the rest of the cast of "You're Next," actually) which I saw last night at the London Film Festival. The movie starts off with real promise and has some really tense bits until - for me, and several people in the audience, it seemed like - the penny drops about 20/25 minutes in and you realize you've figured out exactly what's going on and all interest disappears. I feel like I shouldn't say more than that, but it's enormously disappointing.
Also saw Lucky McKee & Chris Sivertson's "All Cheerleader's Die," which is a lot of fun.
― Walter Galt, Thursday, 17 October 2013 08:05 (ten years ago) link
it's enormously disappointing.
Spoiler alert!
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 17 October 2013 12:09 (ten years ago) link
Watched MANIAC last night, the remake with Elijah Wood. He's solid in it, the staging is great (90% of the movie is from the first-person perspective of Wood, an interesting technical feat), and the score is awesome. It's impressively made but keeps to its grindhouse roots via lots of nudity and gore. And yet... I found myself wondering how many women I need to see scalped and killed. The answer, as it turns out, is not very many. So I guess I'm left cold by it. Would love to hear your thoughts (it's streaming on Netflix, FYI).
― The Thnig, Thursday, 17 October 2013 13:59 (ten years ago) link
# of women I need to see scalped/killed = 0i did not watch this movie
― Untt (La Lechera), Thursday, 17 October 2013 14:52 (ten years ago) link
I liked "You're Next" but will do the annoying horror film thread thing of saying it's "not really a horror movie." I mean it's set up as a horror movie but ultimately it's more like a low-budget action/revenge movie. It's never scary and it's not really trying to be. The lead actress is great and I enjoyed Joe Swanberg as the douchey brother.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Thursday, 17 October 2013 15:02 (ten years ago) link
It's a little more horrory than Straw Dogs (which often gets lumped into the wider nets of horror).
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 17 October 2013 15:06 (ten years ago) link
NA otm
― da croupier, Thursday, 17 October 2013 15:40 (ten years ago) link
If that's the case, Last House on the Left and I Spit On Your Grave aren't horror, either.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 17 October 2013 15:51 (ten years ago) link
They're not horror, just horrible or horrific, a lineage that extends from those start points through the torture porn boom. Just because it makes you close your eyes or turn away or turn it off does not make it scary.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 17 October 2013 19:14 (ten years ago) link
when I was 9 I was taken to a drive-in triple feature of the amityville horror/dawn of the dead/last house on the left. the ghosts and zombies didn't scare me but last house sure as hell did.
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 17 October 2013 21:06 (ten years ago) link
also where is the horrible/horrific section located and do we need a thread for it
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 17 October 2013 21:07 (ten years ago) link
Where do they file "Irreversible?" Next to "Hostel?"
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 17 October 2013 21:11 (ten years ago) link
arty eurotrash prolly
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 17 October 2013 21:13 (ten years ago) link
Sorry, guys.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Thursday, 17 October 2013 21:13 (ten years ago) link
I don't really have a dog in the fight about whether revenge movies are horror. I've never even seen I Spit on Your Grave and don't particularly want to (although I have seen and actually own Last House on the Left - I won it in a trivia contest at the first Music Box 24-hour horror movie marathon event). I mostly bring them up because they're generally considered horror cannon.
Plus if they aren't horror, then American Mary isn't horror, and that puts me behind on my 31 horror films in 31 days endeavor.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 17 October 2013 22:50 (ten years ago) link
i am strongly opposed to the idea that horror movies have to scare people to be horror movies, esp as a strident proponent of the dread/creepy based horror film. im down with a well-executed jump scare every so often, but its hardly the be all end all of horror.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:03 (ten years ago) link
Has nobody watched The Conjuring yet?
― not_goodwin, Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:07 (ten years ago) link
we already talked about the conjuring! i didn't like it.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:08 (ten years ago) link
i assumed NA put "not really a horror movie" in quotes to avoid people taking the line too literally, more referring to the idea that film circumvents expectations to the degree that those expecting a simple masked home invasion thriller might be disappointed.
― da croupier, Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:08 (ten years ago) link
no i get that, i was just having a more general reaction to "i didnt jump out of my seat once" as a measure peeps use for horror success.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:14 (ten years ago) link
the dread-fear is so much worse/scarier than the jump-feari have cried through movies because of the former, while the latter just kinda makes me vocalize at a loud volume (but not actually feel fear)
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:16 (ten years ago) link
even though i knew it had great raves from film festivals, i was totally suckered by the vague mediocrity of the first half of you're next, so the change in perspective was really amusing and impressive. though i totally get why it flopped with audiences following an ad campaign that was really "it's like the Strangers SQUARED!"
― da croupier, Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:25 (ten years ago) link
LL OTM about dread fear. I like jump scares, too, but honestly most of why they get to me is that I know they are coming and that gives me the dread fear.
As noted above, I really liked The Conjuring. I think it's on Amazon streaming and if it's Prime and not cash, I think I will watch it again to see how it holds up for me the second time.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:40 (ten years ago) link
I have little interest about arguing genre, I was just trying to figure out why someone who was expecting a "horror movie" might find "You're Next" boring/lame. But maybe some people just don't like it! I didn't think it was amazing but I did enjoy it.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Thursday, 17 October 2013 23:42 (ten years ago) link
Oh no. You brought up genre and we are going to argue genre.
― carl agatha, Friday, 18 October 2013 00:03 (ten years ago) link
I felt like You're Next didn't know how to interwine its comedy and its more horrific moments. plus it lost a lot of steam when the main *plot twist* happened, as it was a bit of a lame reveal.
I didn't hate it, but I've utterly forgotten it already.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 18 October 2013 00:04 (ten years ago) link
If you're referring to the plot twist I'm thinking of, wasn't it in the last 10 minutes of the movie?
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 18 October 2013 00:07 (ten years ago) link
WARNING SPOILERS COMING
that was the final tenth of the plot twist that had been unraveling since about the midway part of the film, when it was obvious that
.
the one son was in on the killings, which was too telegraphed and not too interesting. When I found out the other was involved it was sorta like "oh hey, why not". felt like the film would have been better if we never knew who the invaders were (or why they were picking off family members right and left). I appreciate a film that has the cojones to kill off an entire family of that size, but it didn't move me.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 18 October 2013 00:13 (ten years ago) link
the film would have been better if we never knew who the invaders were (or why they were picking off family members right and left).better? dunno. scarier, definitely. i liked it pretty well the way it was because i am legit afraid of masked intruders who want to kill me and require no extra scaring in that regard.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Friday, 18 October 2013 00:17 (ten years ago) link
It did do a good job of creating an ugly atmosphere for about half of the movie, I'll give it that. but then I got bored midway through.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 18 October 2013 00:18 (ten years ago) link
ha i like how this is a movie where some people will be bored for the first half, others bored for the second
― da croupier, Friday, 18 October 2013 00:24 (ten years ago) link
I liked you're next well enough anyway but couldn't agree more w/neanderthal about how the reveal cheapened things
― original bgm, Friday, 18 October 2013 04:01 (ten years ago) link
Going to watch the maniac remake tonight or American Mary unless someone talks me out of it
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 18 October 2013 04:07 (ten years ago) link
Also have some soviet movie called cargo 200 which is supposed to be p fucked up as an option
I had read some interviews with Simon Barrett about how he was going hard for a black comedy/horror kind of thing which got me really interested from the start, so I think my expectations were a little high going in? idk. The 'funny' beats weren't pulled off that well, and they got kinda lost in the more stylish look of the whole movie somehow. Maybe. I'm still rattling it round in my head.
And yeah, the movie pretty much rolled to a stop after the reveal, you were just waiting around to see how they wrapped it all up.
I like those animal masks though.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 18 October 2013 04:29 (ten years ago) link
yeah i bet my experience would have been totally different if i'd gone into it knowing there'd be dark comedy, instead of that being a pleasant surprise after a lot of sub-strangers stuff
― da croupier, Friday, 18 October 2013 04:33 (ten years ago) link
yeah, felt the same way. was expecting something grisly and bleak and was actually pretty OK with the comedic bits! but man, that ~twist~ urrrgh. could you still make it funny without doing any kind of reveal and just keep having animal mask guys try to off family members and write "you're next" on a couple more walls? sure, I think so. it'd be scarier for sure too.
― original bgm, Friday, 18 October 2013 04:43 (ten years ago) link
yeah the twist undercut it's effectiveness for sure
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 18 October 2013 04:56 (ten years ago) link
Ok just started maniac and within the first 5 it sure seems that if nothing else this is worthy for the horror movie soundtracks thread
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 18 October 2013 04:57 (ten years ago) link
I have mixed feelings abt this movie for sure, and at least on first reaction mostly bad. But srsly, holy shit, the soundtrack.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 18 October 2013 06:41 (ten years ago) link
pretty boring remake
― da croupier, Friday, 18 October 2013 06:46 (ten years ago) link
I should maybe load all messages and check properly next time.
― not_goodwin, Friday, 18 October 2013 07:40 (ten years ago) link
Who did the score for Maniac that you guys are flippin on?
― play on, El Chugadero, play on (Jon Lewis), Friday, 18 October 2013 12:36 (ten years ago) link
On a related note, I really did enjoy the Carpenter-esque cues in You're Next.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Friday, 18 October 2013 12:46 (ten years ago) link
Cripes, I so quickly forgot about The Conjuring that the only movie that kept coming to mind was "The Missing" with Cate Blanchett and "The Forgotten" with Julianne Moore, both of which I had also forgotten about.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 October 2013 13:19 (ten years ago) link
The Conjuring wasn't bad, but I felt like it was being hella overrated by critics that were jaded on horror after having to suffer for years of torture porn in the mid-00s. For one, I felt like I had just seen many similar elements in the previous year's Sinister, and they weren't exactly original then. I liked that it had the feel of a 70s horror flick, and the characters were likable and fairly well developed, but I dunno, I'm kind of growing tired of the "some ancient demon is haunting this house, now watch as a whole bunch of random crazy shit happens to a new family that just moved here" cliché.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 18 October 2013 13:41 (ten years ago) link
it did make me think of the MEgadeth song though so props for that
― Neanderthal, Friday, 18 October 2013 13:42 (ten years ago) link
It didn't help that he preceded it with Insidious, which was more or less the same with one of the same stars, and then followed it with Insidious 2. Maybe no shock that the guy behind the Saw movies is all about doing the same thing over and over again.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 October 2013 13:46 (ten years ago) link
I liked Insidious, but never wound up finishing it (used to fall asleep if I watched any movie after 10). I thought the setup was neat. but yeah - he's run out of demonic ideas at this point.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 18 October 2013 14:21 (ten years ago) link
got Lake Mungo waiting for me when i get in. hoping for some of that uncanny atmosphere that the Aussies seem to do so well.
― ewar woowar (or something), Friday, 18 October 2013 14:45 (ten years ago) link
Lake Mungo was strangely moving.
― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 18 October 2013 15:51 (ten years ago) link
You guys are going to make fun of me but we watched "House at the End of the Street" last night. Pretty solid acting from Jennifer Lawrence and the main creepy dude but otherwise not notable except for *SPOILER SPOILER* a lame attempt at a PG-13 version of the Sleepaway Camp twist at the very end.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 18 October 2013 15:54 (ten years ago) link
Lol just read the Wikipedia plot cuz I didn't get that far when I tried to watch it. Gotta admit I didn't see that coming
― da croupier, Friday, 18 October 2013 16:00 (ten years ago) link
I'm glad they had it bc without it there were some pretty massive plot holes.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 18 October 2013 16:04 (ten years ago) link
Who did the score for Maniac that you guys are flippin on?― play on, El Chugadero, play on (Jon Lewis), Friday, October 18, 2013 12:36 PM (4 hours ago)
― play on, El Chugadero, play on (Jon Lewis), Friday, October 18, 2013 12:36 PM (4 hours ago)
totally unhelpfully the only credit is to "Rob". Some rumors that it's one of the guys from Air, which seems odd and unsubstantiated.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 18 October 2013 17:19 (ten years ago) link
JUG FACE
This is a 2013 release but available streaming through Amazon prime. Costars Johnny from Deadwood. I liked the main character (and the actress who played her). I like movies with backwoods hillbilly religious zealotry. Everybody was a little too reasonable, though, and I didn't like the ending. There's also one element of the movie that is suuuuuuuper cheesy that ruins it a little. I would say that it is overall okay. I wouldn't avoid it, but probably wouldn't get too excited about it, either.
― carl agatha, Friday, 18 October 2013 19:45 (ten years ago) link
They really missed the chance to have a horror movie called "Jughead." :(
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 18 October 2013 19:53 (ten years ago) link
Huh, lead actress (Lauren Ashley Carter) and Johnny from Deadwood were both in The Woman.
― carl agatha, Friday, 18 October 2013 19:53 (ten years ago) link
Yeah I was pretty underwhelmed by Jugface. It was pretty light on scares and heavy on interpersonal drama -- not that in itself is a bad thing its just when there's a supernatural hole in the ground that demands human sacrifice I felt like the movie should have focused on that a little more and maybe a little less about a dysfunctional family... but I'm a big nerd who loves tons of exposition. Also those people would totally be growing weed instead of making moonshine.
― Viceroy, Friday, 18 October 2013 20:17 (ten years ago) link
OTM re: weed.
Yeah, I would have liked a little more exposition on the pit as well. Or maybe seen it do something other than bubble muddily.
― carl agatha, Friday, 18 October 2013 20:32 (ten years ago) link
Alright u fuckers, I'm going to give this American Mary thing a try.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Saturday, 19 October 2013 04:08 (ten years ago) link
Haha ok so horror movies need to stop using ave Maria so much. Twice in maniac, opening credits in American Mary. Weird
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Saturday, 19 October 2013 04:27 (ten years ago) link
Ok wait. 3 times in American Mary. Eaht
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Saturday, 19 October 2013 06:24 (ten years ago) link
Lake Mungo weirdly felt less like a horror than many films with far less creepy moments in them.
― ewar woowar (or something), Saturday, 19 October 2013 07:24 (ten years ago) link
seems like there's something worthwhile at play here?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J39iyK_aqDE
― there's no camera to capture that yelping moment! (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 19 October 2013 23:35 (ten years ago) link
Oh yeah, that remind me that I watched Grave Encounters the other day and I really liked it! It's probably the pinnacle of the whole found footage "real haunting" sub-genre imo. Is the sequel really as silly as it looks?
― Viceroy, Saturday, 19 October 2013 23:44 (ten years ago) link
Has anyone seen We Are What We Are or the new remake?
― hewing to the status quo with great zealotry (DavidM), Monday, 21 October 2013 12:33 (ten years ago) link
saw the original, pretty decent imo.
― My god. Pure ideology. (ey), Monday, 21 October 2013 12:50 (ten years ago) link
We watched Lovely Molly last night and it was...alright. Not bad. Better then the cover would suggest. I was distracted by the casting and it really should have been filed under "personal demons" rather than straight horror. But there were some memorable scenes involving some pretty severe biting and a deer (different scenes). The score, apparently by Tortoise, wasn't really noticeable except for the moments when you noticed oh yeah, there's Tortoise.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Monday, 21 October 2013 13:49 (ten years ago) link
Catching up...
MANIAC -- Yes, I've had the soundtrack on heavy rotation for nearly a year! So great.GRAVE ENCOUNTERS 2 -- Definitely check it out. Really solid sequel, takes the idea in an interesting new direction.
New business...
TROUBLE EVERY DAY -- Claire Denis flick starring Vincent Gallo. It is, of course, weird, but has possibly *the* best cannibalism scene I've ever seen.LOVELY MOLLY -- Speaking of cannibalism, indeed this has a highly effective biting scene. Solid flick but nothing to write home about.
It's interesting how LORDS OF SALEM is emerging as this thread's overall October favorite. Who would've thunk it?
― The Thnig, Monday, 21 October 2013 14:32 (ten years ago) link
Saw The Devil's Business over the weekend. Synopsis makes it look like a Kill List dupe (two hitmen, one from the South East, one from Northern Ireland, get sent on a job and wind up accidentally involved in the occult) but it's sufficiently different. It's low key and low budget with a TV look but diverting enough until the hokey ending.
― Ramnaresh Samhain (ShariVari), Monday, 21 October 2013 20:04 (ten years ago) link
the wife says she wants to watch a bunch of horror flicks between now and Halloween. not sure what the local shop has that we haven't seen, but putting American Mary on the list thx to this thread
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 October 2013 20:16 (ten years ago) link
world war z - lol
excision - really liked this tho I could've done without some of the indie wrinkles (wink wink cameo by john waters, wistful n twee folk singer soundtrack), but the brutally weird dream sequences were ace, and annalynne mccord holds down the film singlehandedly - pretty much a requirement for this kind of off-center character study to be successful. may's an appropriate touchstone, perhaps a more grand guignol secretary or welcome to the dollhouse?
also I love trouble every day but it's from 2001 plus every time I bring it up me and mr hal jam get in a big fight so forget I said anything
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 03:25 (ten years ago) link
We do? I like (not love) TED and do dust it off every few years to see if my appreciation has deepened.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 12:32 (ten years ago) link
Watched it the other night, I liked it. Haven't seen the original though so can't compare.
― not_goodwin, Tuesday, 22 October 2013 12:51 (ten years ago) link
is the audio on netflix' maniac in mono for anyone else? annoying
― cozen, Tuesday, 22 October 2013 12:52 (ten years ago) link
VHS2 last night. It's a lot less cRaZy than the first one. The tales were disparate, the wraparound story simple, and it was usually pretty clear what was going on. I haven't read reviews of it but I'm sure the consensus is that the first two stories are throwaways, the third story really great, and the fourth decent. Majorly worth it for the third story alone--batshit in the best of ways.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 22 October 2013 13:32 (ten years ago) link
things I learned from maniac: it's really easy to scalp someone
― cozen, Tuesday, 22 October 2013 15:26 (ten years ago) link
Ed III, I think I'm the TED hater around here
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 15:56 (ten years ago) link
100 Bloody Acres is good fun, similar puerile gore humour to Tucker & Dale but with a good/bad redneck Aussie duo who collect human road-kill for their fertiliser business.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Tuesday, 22 October 2013 16:20 (ten years ago) link
I was engaged by the filthy depravity of the original Maniac, not surprised to hear the remake is balls. original Maniac felt very much of its era.
― Neanderthal, Tuesday, 22 October 2013 19:15 (ten years ago) link
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, October 22, 2013 8:32 AM (8 hours ago)
I'm thinking our dispute stemmed less from yr opinion of trouble every day as a film and more from me positing it as a primary influence on the 00s extreme french horror scene. in my mind it's an early entry which set a style precedent (exquisitely shot blood drenched bodies), as important as ringu was for j-ghost horror, but less trumpeted as an influence. the imagery was pretty startling in '01 and I can still feel its faint echoes in arty atrocity fare like the human centipede, or in the stuff that was subsequently influenced by haute tension, frontiere(s), inside, etc. TED was a marketing fail since it was too arty for the horror crowd and vice versa, don't think it was ever commercially available in the US on DVD aside from a cheap HK import. but it contained a gnarly kernel of an idea that others built upon imo and, regardless of my personal fondness for it, I can't help but think it doesn't get the props it deserves. ah well better luck next time claire denis!
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 21:01 (ten years ago) link
Anybody here seen "hidden in the woods" (Spanish I think)? Found it today at my local library and it looks suitably fucked up and creepy.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 21:07 (ten years ago) link
Actually, scratch that, it appears to be Chilean. Dumb library.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 21:08 (ten years ago) link
HITW is truly fucked up, but more incompetent than creepy.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 21:15 (ten years ago) link
still unconvinced, EIII. TED is not as primary an influence on the French Extreme Horror scene as, say, Seul Contre Tous. i will agree that it's a film that misses its mark as either art-house fare or as horror, though it is reasonably successful as an transitional Denis film. maybe comparable to Weerasethakul's flirtations with genre (i.e. ghost) tropes en route to pure auteurism.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 21:21 (ten years ago) link
Artsploitation is an interesting imprint. Anyone following their output? HITW and Wither being most relevant to this thread; Vanishing Waves and Gandu being better movies, etc.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 21:25 (ten years ago) link
you see! but anything that lures you back into our midst is worth it...
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 21:59 (ten years ago) link
LOL
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 October 2013 22:00 (ten years ago) link
Trouble Every Day is the best movie. Most people are wrong about this.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 04:39 (ten years ago) link
ed3 excepted
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 04:41 (ten years ago) link
maniac remake hit the sweet spot between bad and unpleasant. maybe not such a sweet spot after all. sad area, maybe. did like a few sequences and the ho-ho visual nods to the original. great soundtrack, yeah.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 04:43 (ten years ago) link
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Monday, October 21, 2013 8:25 PM (Yesterday)
otm x1000. love that movie, was raving about it upthread. agree that the star (analynne mccord) and dream sequences are head and shoulders above the rest of the film, but i even dug its may-like indie vibe.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 04:46 (ten years ago) link
Early impression of hidden in the woods is that this director can't decide between his love for overwrought melodrama and incest and his hatred for people keeping their appendages.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 05:16 (ten years ago) link
This is just stunningly terrible
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 05:41 (ten years ago) link
Ok having said that and then hitting a sudden total fucking turn, I don't even know what to think any more. I rescind judgement until I have a little more time with this one.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 05:54 (ten years ago) link
is the title sequence of TED terrible on purpose or something? i loledhttp://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q686/tinyservants/Screenshot2013-10-23at20936AM_zps5213dc82.png
― slam dunk, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 06:11 (ten years ago) link
Think of it as a warning about what to expect
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 06:45 (ten years ago) link
yeah, hidden in the woods is a total mess, nonsensical but not in the likeable grindhousy exploitation way, just incoherent and mediocre and frankly super gross while being mind-numbingly stupid. the turn i was talking abt up there had some momentary "huh is this about to get interesting" and then is followed by another 45 minutes of drudgery, terrible terrible acting, and a very bizarre semi-telenovelo soundtrack that is just so so wrong.
one to avoid.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 15:44 (ten years ago) link
huge warning: megan is missing is extremely disturbing. i'd go into it, but maybe this will clarify -- unless you need to watch dea+hdr0ne: the movie, i would strongly recommend not watching it on account of several memorably horrific scenes. truly horrifying. bravo, i guess? i wish i had never seen it. yet, i did.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 15:48 (ten years ago) link
maniac remake soundtrack is on spotify btw
not too interested in watching it tbh but cool soundtrack dude
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 15:51 (ten years ago) link
I had no idea Maniac had been remade. I'm gonna pass, but I needed a new dn so
― The sweet spot between bad and unpleasant (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 15:55 (ten years ago) link
Sorry to pipe in, but can I suggest the next rolling ILS fashion thread be titled "ok lets all shirt and pants to something new"
― Fiddler on a hot tin roof (ed.b), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 16:06 (ten years ago) link
Yes, Megan really sticks with you.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 16:34 (ten years ago) link
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Wednesday, October 23, 2013 11:48 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
heavens! *downloads furiously*
― slam dunk, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 20:34 (ten years ago) link
maniac was terrible. great soundtrack tho
grave encounters was alright
the devil was lol
― cozen, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 20:40 (ten years ago) link
The one about the elevator? I'm watching that now.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 20:49 (ten years ago) link
Ha, the internet went out and when it came back on, I tried to return to the movie but it was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. Clearly the work of... THE DEVIL.
Also I read the wikipedia summary for Megan is Missing and I wish I had not done that.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 20:53 (ten years ago) link
I didn't read anything about it, I only knew "internet predator" which sounded...not that scary but turned out to be horrrrrrrrific.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 20:54 (ten years ago) link
can't see myself getting less enjoyment out of a premise than that, like that kind of horror in the first place isn't my favorite type (though if it's good i'll give it props) but when it's horror of that type being visited upon 14 yr old characters it's a bridge too far.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 21:02 (ten years ago) link
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 21:12 (ten years ago) link
yeah, no thanks
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 21:37 (ten years ago) link
I only posted about it to tell you NOT to watch it!! I feel bad enough already. Don't need shame on top of the intrusive thoughts.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 21:42 (ten years ago) link
Nobody's trying to shame you!
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 21:57 (ten years ago) link
Sorry, that sounded accusatory. Any criticism I have is about the movie, not about people who watch it. Also I pretty much always read the Wikipedia summaries of the movies mentioned on this thread that I am pretty sure I won't watch.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:00 (ten years ago) link
likewise read the synopsis and just .... yeah what is the point of that
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:00 (ten years ago) link
I pretty much always read the Wikipedia summaries of the movies mentioned on this thread that I am pretty sure I won't watch.
lol me too (cf Martyrs tetc.)
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:01 (ten years ago) link
DUMPLINGS!, Human Centipede etc
Ha, yes, all of the French "new wave of horror," A Serbian Film, the Woman...
They are not my scene but I am usually too curious to leave it alone entirely.
xp!
I've seen both DUMPLINGS! and Human Centipede! Human Centipede is surprisingly tame, actually. I liked it!
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:04 (ten years ago) link
DUMPLINGS! was more gross in concept than execution, I thought.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:05 (ten years ago) link
But everybody has different tolerances. jjjusten and Hal Jam and EIII are probably like "WTF wouldn't you watch Martyrs?"
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:06 (ten years ago) link
This is one of my favorite threads though I know I'm too much of a wimp to watch like 80% of the films on here. I'm one who reads the wikipedia entries as well, but I was so taken aback by the one for Martyrs I decided to stop that as well.
― "Turkey In The Straw" coming from someplace in the clouds (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:15 (ten years ago) link
I feel some discomfort/shame about having sat through the whole thing, but tbh the first part was pretty well done. The two girls had a charming unconventional (yet totally familiar) friendship and were convincingly early teenlike. I have to give the actors props for that. The rest of the movie was sick in the worst way and I wish I hadn't seen it. I'd be ok never talking about it again!
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:15 (ten years ago) link
Human Centipede 2 is basically everything people were afraid the first would be but wasn't.
In many ways, reading the Wiki description of "A Serbian Film" - a movie I am torn about, but largely supportive of, in the abstract - is an experience in and of itself, because as you read it you think no fucking way, but then you see it and it turns out to be both beat by beat accurate but also nowhere near as horrifying as you imagined it to be. Which introduces its own conflicting feelings. Would I prefer it was harder to take? Why? Is there anything that would be truly too hard to take? Why? Etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 23 October 2013 22:20 (ten years ago) link
I have so many things to say right now
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 03:10 (ten years ago) link
Human Centipede 2 was boring me so I turned it off.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 24 October 2013 03:30 (ten years ago) link
About to start "Twixt", expecting a show down between modern Roman Polanski and modern Val Kilmer to see who can fuck this up more.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 October 2013 05:19 (ten years ago) link
God damn it, I mean Francis ford coppola
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 October 2013 05:22 (ten years ago) link
Hold on, could this actually be...awesome?
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 October 2013 05:33 (ten years ago) link
Nope, never mind, the brief what the shit greatness that happened in the first half hour has sunk into a mire of dumb as dick garbage.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 October 2013 06:46 (ten years ago) link
Even Bruce Dern mowing down on the scenery and a totally awesome cameo from Don Novello (!) can't save this from itself.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 October 2013 06:50 (ten years ago) link
I too have read Wikipedia summaries for movies that sounded too torturey -- for example, I've read about Martyrs and A Serbian Film and have not sought either of them out. But I had no idea going into Megan is Missing what I was getting myself into. So while I would have avoided it had I known better, I didn't know better, and I'm ultimately glad that I saw it. It brings up the old dilemma of how to react to a piece of art that is deplorable in a number of ways but also really well made and effective and emotionally genuine in others. One of the things that often signifies true "horror" to me in either movies or books is that sense you get, at some point during it, that the filmmaker or writer is not to be trusted, that his or her moral compass may be off and you're being led to a seriously bad place. (Classic old-school example: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.) Usually, though, by the end of the movie or book, you are either returned to a point of relative safety or are given enough evidence of sensitivity and intelligence throughout that you let the artist off the hook, or even admire them for what they've done.
Megan is Missing does have those moments of sensitivity and intelligence to differentiate it from truly redeemless crap like Captivity -- but the last 22 minutes of the movie let go of all that good work, abandoning us without warning into apparently pointless terror. This could be seen as brave or inexcusable and I don't know which one it is. But here I am still thinking about it, and I like that, even if I can't like the film.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 24 October 2013 14:48 (ten years ago) link
That's really interesting. I think there's something positive to be said for a movie (any creative product) that does not take you back to that safe space at the end, although I think brave overstates it a little.
As with so many things, it's subjective and what it boils down to for me is that I don't want to go to a seriously bad place. Coming from someone who styles herself a fan of horror movies (and books and comics and whatever else) that makes me sound like a big phony, maybe, but it's the truth. From what I've read, I wouldn't want to see Megan is Missing even if it did have a (relatively) happy ending (a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example, which only ends happily by the most miserly definition of happy).
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 15:18 (ten years ago) link
That doesn't mean I think it shouldn't have been made (or even if I think so that I would seriously espouse that argument), or that people are bad for watching it or wanting to watch it. Just that I think with movies that go off the rails and fail to return, it is very valid to say, "Nope. Not for me."
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 15:21 (ten years ago) link
well see now i have to watch it
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:22 (ten years ago) link
Ditto.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:25 (ten years ago) link
Ha! This would have been the moment where I pointedly avoided it!
― The Thnig, Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:29 (ten years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/Diffrentstrokes.jpg
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:54 (ten years ago) link
― carl agatha, Wednesday, October 23, 2013 6:06 PM
actually I'm like "wtf wouldn't *I* watch martyrs" but everybody else can make their own decisions abt what they can handle
the thnig expressed most of my thoughts on the subject. avoiding disturbing content when it comes to horror movies seems like a fools errand and can result in missing out on some powerful + thoughtful aesthetic experiences (eg snowtown), or even just an entertaining one - if you read a description of a film where the coda involved a man's decapitated head being used to rape a naked + bound college coed you might say no thanks, not for me, but I don't think re-animator is an exceptionally disturbing experience to be avoided. the human centipede is a great example of a movie that's far less graphic than ppl expect, and I love it in part because the *idea* is more horrifying than anything displayed onscreen. martyrs on the other hand *is* exceptionally grueling, for me there are redeeming meta aspects in there but many here have found their mileage varying on that front.
either way there's no reason for anybody to endure needless psychic trauma, the irl world is traumatizing enough
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:55 (ten years ago) link
I mean, not that there's anything wrong with staying on the ground-level floor of things like The Conjuring, but I like heights.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:56 (ten years ago) link
Human Centipede is surprisingly tame, actually. I liked it!
― carl agatha, 2013年10月24日 星期四 上午9:04 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
the concept was so deeply horrifying that i couldn't sleep for weeks just thinking about it. by the time i got around to seeing it i was pretty much over the visceral reaction, and the women's acting was so bad that in execution it was just silly.
myriad comments upthread re favouring wikipedia over actually watching some of these movies is wholly otm. like hell i'm sitting through child rape, jesus christ.
― Autumn Almanac, Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:58 (ten years ago) link
The "bad place" argument is sort of fascinating to me. Someone pointed out recently how so many revenge movies spend as much or more time on the inevitable rape or other violation as they do on the revenge. So how should I feel sitting through that stuff? Obviously, I am meant to be disturbed (or titillated?), to some extent. But how am I supposed to feel during the revenge? Relieved? Excited? Thrilled? Entertained? That's why "Irreversible" provides such a strangely unique vantage, seeing as it gets both rape and revenge over with, so a degree, pretty early on, taking them out of the equation. And then also, because the movie has such a more overtly "arty" pedigree, does that put it above your more gormless, typical torture porn? Or does its pedigree provide me a moral "out" while I'm watching it, because I'm doing so in the name of Art? Haven't seen "12 Years a Slave" yet, but I imagine it introduces a similar conflict. Slavery was an outright horror, an atrocity. Do I need to see a movie to emphasize something that really needs no further emphasis in my mind? Am I a coward for not wanting to see its horror confirmed again? Am I a fool for subscribing to a recreation as a legitimate substitute for a horrifying reality I can never know? Is the fact that this particular movie depicts this particular horror in apparently greater detail/verisimilitude something to be praised? Enjoyed?
All sorts of stuff to think about that I honestly rarely think about, even though it's always swimming around up/in there all the time.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:59 (ten years ago) link
I don't watch them as much as I used to but I went through a very big slavery/racism epic phase that was partially informed by wanting an entertainment-based hook into some of the horrific back channels of American history and how it directly impacted my forebears, but mostly because I wanted to support movies that cast African-Americans in lead roles or cast a lot of African-Americans is supporting roles; in 2013, this means you are either watching a lot of Tyler Perry (or Tyler Perry-influenced) movies or a lot of slave movies. In that landscape, something like "Think Like A Man" comes across so much better than it would if there were still movies like "Eve's Bayou" and "The Inkwell" to challenge it.
― up up up to heaven (DJP), Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:12 (ten years ago) link
I wanted to support movies that cast African-Americans in lead roles or cast a lot of African-Americans is supporting roles; in 2013, this means you are either watching a lot of Tyler Perry (or Tyler Perry-influenced) movies or a lot of slave movies.
This is OTM and super frustrating.
Yes. Like, I don't really need to see rape scenes, at least not the way they are done in 99% of horror movies (American Mary being a notable exception). The scene you mentioned in Reanimator, which I otherwise like a lot (I'm a bit of a Jeffrey Combs partisan anyway) comes close to ruining the movie for me.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:27 (ten years ago) link
Does it matter that the scene in Reanimator is so blatantly going for shock to the point of camp?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:30 (ten years ago) link
josh do you know what a trauma trigger is
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:33 (ten years ago) link
it can ruin the whole camp angle for some ppl
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:34 (ten years ago) link
that's the one scene in Reanimator (a film I love unabashedly) that really goes close to the "OMG I don't want to see this" line, but it dances along it pretty artfully. and the disembodied head is much more comical than horrifying in general (yelling at his body, etc.)
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:35 (ten years ago) link
ymmv
as with most of this really
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:36 (ten years ago) link
rape scenes are weird, it's not that it's a subject that shouldn't be addressed on-screen (of course it should) it's just that the depictions can vary so widely. there are right ways and wrong ways to approach it, but I can't really say which is which until I'm watching it. it's true that textual plot summaries don't really do it justice. although fwiw I can't really imagine how I would be cool with the depiction of the rape of a 14yo a la Megan is Missing, that is just some imagery I don't want in my head.
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:39 (ten years ago) link
In some ways, playing a rape scene for camp is even worse than playing it seriously. The tied-up co-ed, who remains helpless and without any agency during the scene, is definitely traumatized by sexual violence but oh look, it's a disembodied head so it's funny. It minimizes rape into something we can all brush off as hilarious!
I can think of ways to make that scene funny without being potentially movie ruining. Don't have the woman totally naked, bosom heaving on the table in a way that sexualizes the violence, for one. If she were wearing a dress, you would still get the point without feeling like her assault is used as an excuse for a titillating (lol?) boob shot. Instead of having the guy rescue her, have her rescue herself and maybe soccer kick the head away, then she gets some agency and we get to see the headless corpse bumbling around looking for his head some more, which is always funny. Two small directorial decisions would take that scene from cringe inducing to pretty great, IMO (with the acknowledgement that making it great for me would not necessarily make it great for everybody).
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:47 (ten years ago) link
agree the nudity/boob shot is totally gratuitous
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:49 (ten years ago) link
another thread fave w/ big warning stickers is deadgirl. it's got a lot to say abt objectification and there's zero titillation but def not for the squeamish.
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 18:54 (ten years ago) link
yeah I've been thinking of watching that but dunno if I could sell it to my wife
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 19:14 (ten years ago) link
y'know, based on the description
The issue with Megan is Missing that was messing with my head relates directly to my first post about it -- the rape is not just in the movie, but it is being filmed for the titillation of others. In the movie, Megan's photo was identified on a fetish porn site, and you can imagine where it goes from there. So there were multiple layers to the rape --1) the fact that it was happening at all 2) the fact that the viewer is subsequently watching it as a viewer of the movie "Megan is Missing" and3) the fact that in the movie "Megan is Missing" it was intended to be used in a titillating fashion for people (who?) to presumably pay for and watch on the internet for their own pleasure
The combination of those three things was what sent me over the edge into intrusive thoughts and general mental upset.
That said, it's not that it was gratuitous or played for titillation for the viewer of "Megan is Missing"; it's that it was horrifically violent and played for titillation for the viewer of rape porn, which is not the same thing as the movie Megan is Missing.
Does that clarify what bothered me a little better? I wasn't prepared to really go into it in that much detail, but it's much more complicated than "yuk child rape."
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Thursday, 24 October 2013 19:30 (ten years ago) link
yo, that makes perfect sense, yo.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 24 October 2013 19:42 (ten years ago) link
Yes, it totally does.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 19:53 (ten years ago) link
I also watched THE BASEMENT, a super-fun 8mm movie shot by a bunch of dorks in 1989 (but I can post it here since it didn't get released until 2011). It's an anthology film, so you get 4x the stupidness. All the dialogue is dubbed in, of course, and it's really foul-mouthed, which is amusingly incongruous with the squeaky-clean we-made-this-in-high-school vibe. Highly enjoyable.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 24 October 2013 20:24 (ten years ago) link
No, I totally get it. I wasn't asking to be snide, just asking if it mattered. There's a whole strain of the campily horrible stuff - Gordon Lewis, Peter Jackson, Troma, et al. - stuff that just goes so extreme it gets ridiculous, by design. But it's a tricky road, why any/all portrayals of rape in film are bad (even though more often than not I find it extremely troubling, too, no matter the context) but the myriad other violations in horror movies are somehow quantifiably less offensive. Like, a fake rape riles, but a fake beheading or disemboweling or cannibalism or flaying? Eh. You know? There is so much tangled up psychologically with sex and violence and their depiction that I suppose it stands to reason their combination in the most visceral, unpleasant sense would be exponentially harder to unpack.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:09 (ten years ago) link
Man, I totally forgot about Deadgirl. I'm not sure that movie is ultimately any good, but there's definitely something going on there.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:12 (ten years ago) link
Like, a fake rape riles, but a fake beheading or disemboweling or cannibalism or flaying? Eh.
Real rape happens often to a lot of people, or to people that we know and often are close to. Beheading and disemboweling and cannibalism... not so much.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:15 (ten years ago) link
Beheading videos are such the rage that within just the last week Facebook went back and forth on allowing them, no?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:15 (ten years ago) link
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/22/facebook-allows-beheading-videos-graphic-content_n_4143244.html
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:16 (ten years ago) link
That does not make beheading something that happens more often or to more people than rape.
In case it needs to be said, I am in no way saying that rape should never be depicted in movies (just as I don't think rape jokes are categorically off limits), but I am absolutely saying that it is important to criticize depictions of rape that portray rape as sexy, or positive, or hilarious at the expense of the person being raped. Mostly just that these conversations are important.
My other point is that there's nothing wrong with drawing boundaries about what you will and won't see, really for any reason.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:21 (ten years ago) link
Agree on both points. But my point was that the simulated depiction of horrible acts, no matter how horrifying or how often they do or don't happen in real life, is a moot debate. It's all horrifying. What's intolerable for one may not be for another, yes, but I can't pinpoint one fake transgression as necessarily worse than another. One of the most frightening things I've ever seen in a film was in "Schindler's List," seeing the faces of those little kids hiding in a pool of raw sewage, caught in the beam of a flashlight as they were discovered. Real kids, fake shit, recreating something that really happened. Haunts me to this day. Is it fair to say the scene was played for thrills, in at least one definition of the word? I think so. Where would I put it on a tier of "horror?" Dunno. How would I feel if it was played for laughs? Likely offended.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:35 (ten years ago) link
But my point was that the simulated depiction of horrible acts, no matter how horrifying or how often they do or don't happen in real life, is a moot debate. It's all horrifying. What's intolerable for one may not be for another, yes, but I can't pinpoint one fake transgression as necessarily worse than another.
congrats
― a dessicated quasi-tsunami of gut-busting cosmic - tech (DJP), Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:39 (ten years ago) link
Spielberg, so much to answer for
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 21:41 (ten years ago) link
Oh, you know what I mean. I mean, it's so surreal to even offer the dialectic, but is watching a zombie perform oral sex with a disembodied head in a self-consciously OTT movie harder to watch than a slave being beaten or whipped into a bloody pulp? They're both horrible, but the latter is based in history and not intended as transgressive, whereas the former is totally invented and intended to shock. Does the fact that the first is played as twisted comedy make it worse, or harder to watch than the latter simulated act? Obviously different eyes and brains will have different reactions, but as much as I understand why that is, I really can't say one is qualitatively "worse" than the other.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:13 (ten years ago) link
Why are you even making that comparison? I mean, my original point was that it's important to have discussions about rape scenes in movies. Is it also important to discuss beheading, et al? It's not important to me, but I wouldn't begrudge someone else doing it. Is it important to discuss a movie in which someone beats a slave into a bloody pulp? Hell yes it is - context, intent, perspective, the race of the people involved in making the movie, just to name a few things.
It's silly to set up that dichotomy and not what this conversation has even been about, other than my initial response to point out (correctly) that rape has a real life impact on quantitatively more people than beheading and cannibalism do.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:31 (ten years ago) link
One of six U.S. women has experienced an attempted or completed rape.[146] More than a quarter of college age women report having experienced a rape or rape attempt since age 14.[147] Some types of rape are excluded from official reports altogether (the FBI's definition, for example, used to exclude all rapes except forcible rapes of females), because a significant number of rapes go unreported even when they are included as reportable rapes, and also because a significant number of rapes reported to the police do not advance to prosecution.[148]
yeah we're not really talking abt qualitatively ranking the horrific, the point is that rape is still a sickeningly common epidemic, so there's going to be a heightened sensitivity towards it, especially in a genre that has had a historically problematic relationship with the depiction of woman as it is. I brought the reanimator up because it's such a goofily surreal movie but ms carl is right to point out that that makes it worse in many ways.
on a related note, I didn't like the evil dead remake much anyway but retaining the woods rape scene was pretty o_O - that was like the first plot point on the list they should've given an overhaul
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:34 (ten years ago) link
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Friday, 25 October 2013 09:34 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah, that pissed me off on a grand scale, doubly so the apparent 'oh it's just a headnod' blitheness about it
― Autumn Almanac, Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:39 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, of all the things to keep from the original ...
I was just reacting, honestly, to the way some, including me, find certain things more offensive or horrific than others, often for deeply personal reasons. But trying to be objective about it, I found/find it really hard to say one incredibly gruesome, horrible thing to be worse than another, even when I'm as guilty as the aforementioned as anyone else. Murder is far more common than rape, but that doesn't make the rampant depiction of murder in movies less horrible. We've just all been more systematically inured. Which is in and of itself disturbing. The fact that rape doesn't find its way casually into many films, horror or otherwise, shows how seriously it is (and should be taken), but the fact that gruesome murders pervade cinema - man, the glut of serial killer films alone - shows how far we've been shifted as a society.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:42 (ten years ago) link
also: when a man is writing/directing a scene in which a woman is being raped for cheap horror thrills (which ime is the usual permutation) there are just so many levels to that which are ferociously and fundamentally indefensible xp
― Autumn Almanac, Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:44 (ten years ago) link
Murder is far more common than rape
uh, are you sure about that
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:44 (ten years ago) link
especially in a genre that has had a historically problematic relationship with the depiction of woman as it is
Yes yes, a very good point. This stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum. Back to my initial comments, a lot of my reluctance to watch a movie like Dead Girl is that I don't trust the genre.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:46 (ten years ago) link
based on those stats above it seems like 30 million women in this country have dealt w/at least an attempted rape
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:46 (ten years ago) link
The fact that rape doesn't find its way casually into many films, horror or otherwise
Are you sure about that?
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:47 (ten years ago) link
yeah josh, i'm trying very hard to not engage in a typical ilx pile-on here, but i don't think i've known or met anyone who's been murdered xxxp
― Autumn Almanac, Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:48 (ten years ago) link
yeah I don't think 1 in 6 american women have been victims of murder or attempted murder
I'm not calling you out man cuz I'm guilty in this area as well, but there's a lot of male privilege encoded in yr posts, it's shit we don't have to worry abt on a day to day basis, so we don't
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:50 (ten years ago) link
the murder rate in the US *is* insanely high, and is more readily reported/easier to quantify than rape ("oh hey look there's a dead body!"), making statistical comparison a bit tricky. I can't authoritatively say that Josh is wrong but I dunno if the numbers are really that clear.
RAINN says someone is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes in the US. Dunno if the murder rate is quite that high.
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:57 (ten years ago) link
this says 1 murder ever 34 minutes
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:58 (ten years ago) link
i don't think i've known or met anyone who's been murderedi have! but i've known a lot more people who have been raped. either way, i'm not trying to rank which is more horrifying. that's a waste of time.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:58 (ten years ago) link
and one rape every 6 minutes
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 22:59 (ten years ago) link
I too have known victims of both crimes.
aaaaanyway
what else should I get at the store this week besides American Mary?
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:00 (ten years ago) link
I watched Grave Encounters last night and that was fun as hell.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:01 (ten years ago) link
Somebody upthread said it was the natural evolution of the found footage genre and I can agree with that. It had the same kind of eerie creepiness of the best parts of the PA movies, but felt more dangerous, probably because it didn't wait until the last ten minutes of the movie to cram in all the complete batshittery. Like you know early on that whatever's haunting that asylum means serious business. Also I love haunted asylums as settings for movies!!!
― carl agatha, Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:03 (ten years ago) link
I'm still so angry at Twixt for totally squandering its initial fantastic batshittedness
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:04 (ten years ago) link
I've pretty much avoided the entire "found footage" subgenre, I hated Blair Witch Project so much. That and my wife hates watching too much shakey handheld camera work. I realize these prejudices are perhaps unfounded.
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:05 (ten years ago) link
stable mo collier
― Autumn Almanac, Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:05 (ten years ago) link
I love that I just xposted you and yet both of us used expanded versions of "batshit"
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:05 (ten years ago) link
excision was good, lords of salem was surprisingly good but not everyone feels the same
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:08 (ten years ago) link
xp to shakey
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:10 (ten years ago) link
Ray Wise AND Traci Lords I'm there
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:10 (ten years ago) link
Let's just say that murder is plenty prevalent and leave it at that. If you all want to play semantics/statistics police, that's cool. My whole point was this stuff as depicted in movies can't be qualified/quantified, or per the near above
I'm not trying to rank which is more horrifying. that's a waste of time.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 October 2013 23:36 (ten years ago) link
All right, fine, VHS 2 is streaming on Netflix, let's hope it sucks less than the first one
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 25 October 2013 05:01 (ten years ago) link
Infinitely better, might do a poll for best segment but I think I know which one will win
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 25 October 2013 07:03 (ten years ago) link
A neighbor of mine is really into horror movies, and he recommended one particular segment from V/H/S 2. Something about a cult?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 October 2013 11:43 (ten years ago) link
BTW, I want to re-rup my support for "The Tall Man," a movie that totally took me by surprise on several levels. Seems to be back on Netflix after a bit?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 October 2013 11:44 (ten years ago) link
Excellent film, but no more "horror" than Mary Higgins Clark.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 25 October 2013 12:18 (ten years ago) link
Well, it starts out like a more traditional horror film ...
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 October 2013 13:13 (ten years ago) link
OK, first V/H/S 2 segment, with the eye, was stupid. One down ...
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 October 2013 13:55 (ten years ago) link
Second segment basically Rec 3 ish, though I'm not sure I've ever seen the zom-cam before. Writing and acting uniformly awful so far.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 October 2013 14:09 (ten years ago) link
I'm not sure what people who call V/H/S 2 "vastly superior" to the first were watching. They're both equally mediocre anthologies, with exactly one stand-out segment each. The only advantage the sequel has is its shorter running time.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 25 October 2013 14:40 (ten years ago) link
Or "infinitely better," as it were.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 25 October 2013 14:41 (ten years ago) link
But wow, segment three - A+!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 October 2013 14:47 (ten years ago) link
Alien segment lame, but better than Super 8. Wraparound segment makes no sense.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 October 2013 15:00 (ten years ago) link
Watched RESOLUTION last night. It's about a guy who visits his crackhead buddy at his place in the woods and handcuffs the buddy to a pipe for a week so that he can get clean. It's far less intense than it sounds: the two do not have an antagonistic relationship, and the crackhead is a really funny and interesting character. Very slowly, things in the woods get weird, sort of leaking into the realistic plot in the manner of something like I CAN SEE YOU or THE OREGONIAN.
Cool movie, though what is lacks (hence the title??) is resolution.
― The Thnig, Friday, 25 October 2013 15:04 (ten years ago) link
So this annual fest at Lincoln Center has a lot of recent stuff which means absolutely nothing to me (on the retro side I might check out Let's Scare Jessica to Death). And uh, Bobcat Goldthwait has made a horror film. Anything you would care to recommend to a non-genre person whose taste runs toward Kiyoshi Kurosawa and (non-early) Cronenberg?
http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/scary-movies-7
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Friday, 25 October 2013 15:10 (ten years ago) link
I love Let's Scare Jessica to Death.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 25 October 2013 15:20 (ten years ago) link
Let's Scare Jessica!! So good.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Friday, 25 October 2013 15:20 (ten years ago) link
hal jam, it was infinitely better to me because i completely hated all of the first one, and thought the segments in this one ranged from serviceable to actually really good - which is a huge improvement. also the wrap around was eh this time instead of being actively terrible.
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 25 October 2013 15:22 (ten years ago) link
i would prob watch all of that NYC thing, but yes lets scare jessica is moody and decent, and i would def check out the bobcat thing thx to loving "world's greatest dad" but with a little worry thx to hating "god bless america"
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 25 October 2013 15:26 (ten years ago) link
I'll always remember the '83 curtains as the film I saw because the box office wouldn't sell me a ticket to the evil dead (it was rated X!)
curtains was terrible aside from this surreal slo-mo sequence...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz3BOMrsV5g
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Friday, 25 October 2013 16:21 (ten years ago) link
I would watch the Bobcat one just out of curiosity - his track record is erratic, but enough to be interesting. Jessica is like the only film I know on that list lol
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 25 October 2013 16:28 (ten years ago) link
oh and Cemetary Man
Synapse Films is restoring Curtains from the original camera interpositives. i was never a fan. creepy but dull. the clip above is all you really need. it may even be better out of context, since it's such a slog to get there.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 25 October 2013 16:29 (ten years ago) link
Patrick should be fun, since it's done by the Not Quite Hollywood guy. i expect it to have more spunk than the stodgy original, and to be less rote than the perfunctory Long Weekend rehash.Death Weekend is a stunningly nasty post-LHOTL grindhouse R/R'r. would play great with the right crowd.
i have high hopes for the McKee and Cheap Thrills; less so for Roth. López-Gallego's King of the Mountain was a tense stunner. but Apollo 18.
Zack Parker isn't as clever or talented as he thinks he is.
Nothing turns me off quicker than the words "found footage."
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 25 October 2013 16:38 (ten years ago) link
let's scare jessica is fantastic but kind of moody and slow, cemetery man is a hoot, and I'd be curious about all cheerleaders must die since lucky mckee co-directed. I'm a fan of rituals but it's kind of a poor man's deliverance, good if you have a hankering for some 70s 4:30 movie style action on the big screen I guess...
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Friday, 25 October 2013 16:39 (ten years ago) link
i'd recommend Jessica to a Kurosawa K. fan. it traffics in dread in a very American way semi-analogous to the way something like Kairo or Loft subverts genre tropes.
Across the River has potential. Bianchini caught my attention with Custodes Bestiae. if he's gotten better...
man, a late-late Rituals/Death Weekend double-feature is the stuff of grindhouse-revival dreams.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 25 October 2013 16:48 (ten years ago) link
can't recommend 'cheap thrills' enough. beyond my personal connection to the film documented on 77 previously, it's twisted and demented and hilarious.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 25 October 2013 17:21 (ten years ago) link
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 25 October 2013 17:21 (ten years ago) link
Could it have been just last week I mentioned my boredom with Let's Scare Jessica to Death?
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Friday, 25 October 2013 20:09 (ten years ago) link
It may be years, or decades, or centuries, but APOLLO 18 shall have its day of glory, and on that day I, its prime minister, shall sitteth on its right-hand side.
― The Thnig, Friday, 25 October 2013 20:17 (ten years ago) link
how many viewings did that take, Eric?
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Friday, 25 October 2013 20:31 (ten years ago) link
Thnig i would like a cabinet spot, nothing fancy, just a honorarium for my service
― ACA: not bad, needs more death panels (jjjusten), Friday, 25 October 2013 20:46 (ten years ago) link
Just finished The Bleeding House. That seemed to get pretty middling to negative reviews, but I liked it. I guess I could see how some might find it slow, but I liked the pacing. Gore levels were right about where I like them, too (blood blood everywhere but easy on the loving close ups of pain infliction) and I definitely liked the slow reveal of all the dark secrets and the ending. Also - cool movie poster:
http://dlylovell.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/bleedinghouseposter.jpg
Watched Grave Encounters 2 earlier today. That one was a little too goofy, I thought, plus the dudes were such jackasses, plus the undercurrent (and eventual overcurrent) of misogynistic meanness they exuded had me smdh. I didn't hate it, but I didn't think it was as fun as the first.
― carl agatha, Friday, 25 October 2013 22:21 (ten years ago) link
xp One and a half.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Friday, 25 October 2013 22:34 (ten years ago) link
I thought The Bleeding House was something special.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 26 October 2013 00:04 (ten years ago) link
For real or are you being sarcastic?
― carl agatha, Saturday, 26 October 2013 00:24 (ten years ago) link
For real!
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 26 October 2013 02:28 (ten years ago) link
Well movie store was out of the more recent ones I was looking for. Went with fuller's White Dog and Office Killer. White Dog is basically Ol' Racist Yeller.
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 26 October 2013 16:16 (ten years ago) link
Has there been discussion here about Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh?! (it's on netflix streaming)
Because it was soooooooooo goooooooood (and scary!!!) I still don't even know if I understand what happened, but I know that 1) the camera work and set dressing were beautiful 2) the one actor in it was really good and there was lots of ambiguity 3) angel cult!! 4) i screamed 3 times (at least). Good movie!
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Sunday, 27 October 2013 17:50 (ten years ago) link
Yep. See upthread. One of the year's finest.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 27 October 2013 18:05 (ten years ago) link
Oh ok. Well I finally watched it and it was really good!!
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Sunday, 27 October 2013 18:06 (ten years ago) link
Yeah I watched that abt a month ago on Hal jams say so and I was v v into it. Will totally rewatch at some point.
― Admin is dead, e/t is permitted (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 27 October 2013 18:33 (ten years ago) link
Awesome. Looking forward to checking this out.
― carl agatha, Sunday, 27 October 2013 18:46 (ten years ago) link
LAST WILL is also notable for having nearly no blood or violence. It could almost be rated G if not for the constant mind-numbing terror.
― The Thnig, Sunday, 27 October 2013 19:56 (ten years ago) link
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Sunday, October 27, 2013 12:50 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
We watched this last night and yeah it was good. I wish they had a little bit more explicit plotting - I'm ok with open-ended but it was pretty unclear what exactly had happened. Also kept getting distracted by the lead looking a lot like Aaron Paul. But yeah, solid non-gory horror.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Tuesday, 29 October 2013 17:01 (ten years ago) link
christ rosalind leigh was terrifying
― cozen, Tuesday, 29 October 2013 18:43 (ten years ago) link
happy for their success but kill me now @ mumblegore
http://www.laweekly.com/2013-10-24/film-tv/mumblegore-horror-movies/
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Tuesday, 29 October 2013 19:32 (ten years ago) link
― Immediate Follower (NA)
also the lead actor's name is aaron poole!
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Tuesday, 29 October 2013 20:52 (ten years ago) link
ha! that is too weird. he didn't remind me of aaron paul but looking back, i can see how he would. what's next, they're both in a movie directed by Paul Poole?
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Tuesday, 29 October 2013 22:44 (ten years ago) link
Ok fine, I'm giving this last will and testament thing a shot
― Y KANT LOU READ (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 04:36 (ten years ago) link
Fucking amazing
― Y KANT LOU READ (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 07:11 (ten years ago) link
Like seriously my best discovery of the year. Total magic.
― Y KANT LOU READ (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 07:13 (ten years ago) link
Point one: if you can make a horror movie that hits all the dread buttons and is still somehow emotionally devastating, well holy fuck, good on you
Point two: we might not be in 100% agreement all the time, but when mr Hal jam tells you to watch something, you probably should.
You should watch all my dumb shit too, but still
― Y KANT LOU READ (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 07:33 (ten years ago) link
awwww, you guys! i wish there were a lot more Rosalind Leigh's to recommend. special movie.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 13:34 (ten years ago) link
One reason I love "The Orphanage" so much. Gut wrenching rather than gut churning.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 14:33 (ten years ago) link
Just watched "Last Will...": quality low budget tale of horror, like a good short story. Didn't think it was terribly scary or tense, but it was made with love, and did a great job with the cheap steadicam/crane work and single location. Not sure what was going on, though, not exactly.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 16:48 (ten years ago) link
I generally prefer horror films where I don't know what's going on.
― Fetchboy, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 17:42 (ten years ago) link
i think last will is a pretty clear narrative, actually! figuring out what is really happening is just held back until the final moments, and its what makes the movie really profoundly touching and sad. in its own weird way.
― Y KANT LOU READ (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 18:06 (ten years ago) link
Wait, so what is happening? I couldn't figure out why he was so chipper at the end.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 18:40 (ten years ago) link
well im trying how to give you my take on it without going monster spoiler on everyone, but im kind of drawing a blank on how to do that.
― Y KANT LOU READ (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 18:52 (ten years ago) link
there's a monster?!
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 18:53 (ten years ago) link
Assuming, for the same of argument, that there is a monster - no spoliers, just talking hypothetically here - then what the hell was up with the totally for the sake of argument monster?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 20:25 (ten years ago) link
There's just so much ambiguity, but I'm totally lost as to what it's supposed to add up to.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 20:26 (ten years ago) link
It's a 2001 movie, so forgive me, but you've got to check out SUSPENDED ANIMATION. Starts out like MISERY, then becomes a DePalma-esque obsession thriller, except it's directed and lit and scored like a Lifetime movie. It takes the strangest plot turns I've seen in a while and has perhaps my favorite teen delinquent of all time. Words fail me. It's streaming on Netflix.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 31 October 2013 13:40 (ten years ago) link
from the director of Let's Scare Jessica to Death. i didn't care for it, but it's definitely different.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 31 October 2013 15:12 (ten years ago) link
I made a sort-of related listed thread:
Can you name 10 "great" horror-comedies?
― An Android Pug of Some Kind? (kingfish), Thursday, 31 October 2013 15:13 (ten years ago) link
http://mediamaps.esri.com/geography-of-horror/
― Jeff, Thursday, 31 October 2013 15:56 (ten years ago) link
Just watched Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh and yeah, that was really good! It skillfully employs one of the horror tropes that always scares me that I won't mention because it may be a spoiler but gah. GAH.
In a very early scene there is a mysterious creepy noise that in another movie would probably resolve in a jump scare of sorts, but doesn't here, but right about where that jump scare would be, the baby gave me a HUGE KICK and I made a ridiculous screaming yelp noise. In summary: LW&TofRL: so much tense atmosphere, my own fetus scared me.
Oh - that house was amazing and I would totally let Rosalind Leigh decorate my home and landscape my yard. I'd get someone else for pool maintenance, though.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 31 October 2013 20:20 (ten years ago) link
yeah RozLee is really good, very heavy on the tension like everyone says and that ending is heartbreaking. I was like "Damn, I should really call my mother."
― Viceroy, Thursday, 31 October 2013 22:40 (ten years ago) link
I have Lords of Salem to watch either tonight or this weekend :D
They showed the first half of The Conjuring at lunchtime today at work -- I enjoyed it! Corny, but I had fun.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 31 October 2013 22:45 (ten years ago) link
made rosalind leigh our halloween watch. found the end a little deflating when it came but enjoy it more as I let it sit. like it went from whatever it was to something else entirely, but that something else wasn't bad either. sadder and sweeter and less scary but not bad. or pretty much: jjusten otm.
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 1 November 2013 05:54 (ten years ago) link
ps josh if, just speaking hypothetically, this had been the kind of movie that would involve monster, imo it would also be the kind of movie where that monster's presence would be accounted for unambiguously.
but hey i thought mulholland drive was pretty straightforward so what do i know.
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 1 November 2013 05:56 (ten years ago) link
When everybody in the world sees this movie I want jjjusten to post his take bc I too have a take (also thought it was unambiguous) and I want to see how wildly different all our takes are.
― carl agatha, Friday, 1 November 2013 12:21 (ten years ago) link
Also there is one part near the end that nearly put me over the edge (not a jump scare. LL knows the part) that I could not stop thinking about as I was trying to go to sleep last night.
― carl agatha, Friday, 1 November 2013 12:23 (ten years ago) link
the bit where she says his name in the garden
had me like >>>>>>>
― cozen, Friday, 1 November 2013 16:04 (ten years ago) link
xpost I thought said hypothetical monster was totally unambiguous. Is that the wrong take? Had it been more clearly ambiguous, imo, I might have gotten more out of this flick. I guess I wasn't sure what the monster was supposed to be/represent? Because there was enough spooky supernatural shit at work that I wasn't sure what I was meant to take from the guilt trip side of the film. Or, for that matter, why the guy kept waking up on the floor. Or what pills he was taking. It was all very elliptical, I though, which can be good, but I wish I knew if I actually missed something vs. whether I'm looking for something that isn't there.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 November 2013 16:16 (ten years ago) link
that's what made it good!!the pills? the slime-licking? the guilt? his confident cooking skills? i don't really care to try to figure out what it all means. all of it was there for the viewer to interpret. it beats being bonged on the head by skinny angry witch ghosts.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Friday, 1 November 2013 16:20 (ten years ago) link
I can't really get with that at all. If leave too much to interpret then there's nothing actually there. I guess it all depends on how much you trust the perspective of the camera in this, though I tend to think what's shown to us, especially absent the presence of the protagonist, is "real." It's lame if you just show, say, a ghost floating around, and then try to argue it's all in the head of someone not present.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 November 2013 16:25 (ten years ago) link
the person who wielded that camera did a really great job, imo. i trust that person!
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Friday, 1 November 2013 16:26 (ten years ago) link
Like, is what he sees, and rewinds on the VHS supposed to be up for interpretation? How about the manner of death of his mother? The neighbor talking about the animal? The hypothetical monster creeping around while he sleeps? All that stuff. It's too concrete to be ambivalent, but too confusing to be concrete, especially once you toss in pills and passing out and things going growl in the dark.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 November 2013 16:28 (ten years ago) link
The camerawork was cool.
Yeah I dunno, none of that bothered me much. The camerawork was really cool, the set dressing was cool, it was scary, the actor was good, Vanessa Redgrave A+ choice, I didn't feel insulted or disgusted by anything, that alone would have been enough for me. Maybe I have low standards? (I don't think so, but maybe I do)
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Friday, 1 November 2013 16:33 (ten years ago) link
I don't think so. I have low standards, but I would not say that you do.
I actually just took everything that happened as literal in the world of the movie and metaphorical in the world of making the movie (kind of like how we are to take the events of the Exorcist as literal, but also understand there are metaphors for Father Karras's loss of faith and guilt over his relationship with his mother). So these things happened to Leon, but they also were meant to represent his emotional issues about his strained/estranged relationship with his mother.
― carl agatha, Friday, 1 November 2013 16:38 (ten years ago) link
yes, and her possible delusions that came real?
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Friday, 1 November 2013 16:42 (ten years ago) link
OK if we're just straight up talking about it ... there was something at the end that made me think that maybe the whole story of Leon visiting was all in the mind of Rosalind as she was dying - like she was imagining a redemption for Leon that allows him to be happy, and forgiving him for his lack of religious belief. But I don't remember specifically where that interpretation came from - I guess because a literal interpretation wouldn't be as satisfying without a little more explanation? But either way, I enjoyed the movie and am OK with it not totally making sense.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 1 November 2013 16:44 (ten years ago) link
Oh that actually makes a lot of sense w/ the voiceover at the beginning.
― carl agatha, Friday, 1 November 2013 16:48 (ten years ago) link
I kinda thought it might be dementia?
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Friday, 1 November 2013 16:48 (ten years ago) link
My feeling was similar to NA's. A story Rosalind is telling herself.
― Linda Darmstadt (Jon Lewis), Friday, 1 November 2013 16:52 (ten years ago) link
i am also in NA's camp
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Friday, 1 November 2013 17:04 (ten years ago) link
some slight differences in interpretation but the key thing being that Leon never goes to that house at all. There's a clear exterior shot that establishes this at the end of the movie.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Friday, 1 November 2013 17:08 (ten years ago) link
I figured that was just "later" since on the way out he said to sell it all. But nope, you are all making even more sense.
Now I want to watch this again.
― carl agatha, Friday, 1 November 2013 17:27 (ten years ago) link
YES I AM A FUCKING GENIUS YESSSSSS
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 1 November 2013 17:48 (ten years ago) link
okay so if we're doing this jjusten otm. this is a ghost story in the most literal sense. QED.
and it's not about forgiving Leon for lack of faith, it's about mistakes and regret and learning too late that love (which = god after all) is more important than belief.
if what the purely hypothetical monster was supposed to be/represent was unclear you definitely missed something in the final voiceover.
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 1 November 2013 17:51 (ten years ago) link
Just say it. Come on. Say what the monster represented.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 1 November 2013 17:55 (ten years ago) link
CAPITALISM
― Linda Darmstadt (Jon Lewis), Friday, 1 November 2013 17:56 (ten years ago) link
DEMENTIA
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Friday, 1 November 2013 18:15 (ten years ago) link
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Monster/Theories
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 1 November 2013 18:17 (ten years ago) link
PRIDE, duh.
― Viceroy, Friday, 1 November 2013 18:18 (ten years ago) link
http://smollin.com/michael/tmonstr/mon011.jpg
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 1 November 2013 18:19 (ten years ago) link
I DARE some young aspiring horror filmmaker to pull off what Grover did there.
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Friday, 1 November 2013 18:22 (ten years ago) link
M. Night, eat your heart out.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 November 2013 19:45 (ten years ago) link
Again, not post-2005, but for those who enjoy low-low-budget stop-motion horror (like the original EVIL DEAD or EQUINOX), you gotta check out WINTERBEAST. So much stoopid fun.
― The Thnig, Friday, 1 November 2013 19:50 (ten years ago) link
I liked "Magic Magic." Really well-acted and effective and depressing.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Sunday, 3 November 2013 02:20 (ten years ago) link
Finally watched 'My Amityville Horror'. Felt like the director cheesed it out a bit much with the overdone sound effects/music cues. But I found Daniel really fascinating and a v sad protagonist. The part where he was talking about constantly having to play the role of protector *for himself*, that he was never really able to enjoy much of a normal childhood, that really got to me. George really did a fucking number on him, jesus.
The stuff with Lorraine Warren was ! and O_o
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 3 November 2013 06:11 (ten years ago) link
finally saw stoker last night (the american debut of Park "Oldboy" Chan-wook), which has its own thread but only one post from someone who's actually seen it, so posting here. Highly recommended to old-school auteur theory types, as you can really see the director chafing against the material. First half of the movie is loaded with abstract portent, shit like Mia W creepily a hard boiled egg on a table so that the shell crackles after a funeral, people can't open a door without signaling "that ain't right," and it seems like its going to build into a grotesque peak when suddenly exposition comes barreling forth and all that ambiguity goes out the window. So whether you see it as a self-indulgent director fruitying up a strong Hitchcock homage or a visually striking director hampered by a b-movie thriller script, it's one of the clearest examples i've seen recently of the two being at odds.
Some would debate whether it's horror but there's death, lotta modern dark "gothic" shit and the title made everybody think it was a vampire movie, so
― da croupier, Sunday, 3 November 2013 16:51 (ten years ago) link
Finally saw Lords of Salem tonight. SUPER into it. Definitely a new fave.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 4 November 2013 07:19 (ten years ago) link
you are all high. that rosalind leigh movie was bogus. protagonist didn't have to do anything but wander around gazing at stuff, and wasn't even credible (or interesting) doing that. house looked like someone barfed a "spooky props" warehouse all over the place, silly & distracting. final explanation seemed to dispel the subtler aspects of the mystery in favor of a blaokboard-erasing cheat. not scary. boo.
did like stoker, tho. agree w da croop (croopsy?) that the style seemed at odds with its somewhat underwhelming substance, enough so that it fizzled somewhat in the 2nd half, but i dug the style enough to enjoy it overall.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Monday, 4 November 2013 11:55 (ten years ago) link
Rosalind Leigh was great - thanks for the recommendation! It seemed unambiguous to me that Leon was never at the house and the movie was a story Rosalind was telling herself, either just before death or as a ghost. The monster seemed to me to be a manifestation of Rosalind's loneliness, no?
― bizarro gazzara, Monday, 4 November 2013 12:03 (ten years ago) link
I watched the Innkeepers and V/H/S over the weekend. Innkeepers did the horror comedy genre really well, although I preferred the comedy to the horror. Great sense of tension and humour but the false-starts were scarier than the final payback. Did enjoy this though. V/H/S was disjointed. The first story (cat demon lady) was by far the most impressive while the rest of the stories seemed to riff on similar themes and some of them were a bit difficult to follow. I didn't think the whole thing held together so well and a lot of the stories could have taken more time to develop. That said, it did give me some pretty creepy dreams so obv something worked.
― Pingu Unchained (dog latin), Monday, 4 November 2013 12:10 (ten years ago) link
Calvaire was good though - a nicely done take on an old favourite, beautifully shot too.
― Pingu Unchained (dog latin), Monday, 4 November 2013 12:28 (ten years ago) link
OTM! love that movie. since i don't see many belgian movies, i'll lump it in with france and say, with trouble every day, it's one of my favorite horror films from "that region" in the last decade or so. so strange and, yeah, beautiful.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Monday, 4 November 2013 12:40 (ten years ago) link
speaking of rosalind leigh, it's interesting how central the idea of belief has become to tales of the supernatural. so many possession & ghost films in semi-recent years that make a huge point about the tension between skepticism and faith. TLW&TORL primarily stresses belief in the divine over things that go bump in the night, but both are in play (and the latter sometimes stands for the former anyway).
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Monday, 4 November 2013 12:42 (ten years ago) link
xpost that bit in the bar was amazing.
― Pingu Unchained (dog latin), Monday, 4 November 2013 12:42 (ten years ago) link
If we're talking monster (since so many have seen "Rosalind") I think the film's own literal-mindedness worked against it. For example, I find it really hard to believe that ghost or real Rosalind imagined her son sitting at a desk reviewing security footage. That's what I meant by its hinky POV: there was so much that happened that I could not imagine from the POV, real or imagined, of "Rosalind." I will reserve judgment as to whether that is sloppiness, shortcuts or just sort of hail-mary (so to speak) fingers crossed obfuscation. There's omniscient, and then there's multiple POV, and I thought the movie walked the line in a really confusing way, like, I dunno, cameras breaking the 180 rule.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 November 2013 12:51 (ten years ago) link
Calvaire! The bar scene is legendary. It is worth the price of admission 10x over.
― The Thnig, Monday, 4 November 2013 15:12 (ten years ago) link
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Monday, 4 November 2013 19:51 (ten years ago) link
another way to view rosalind might be to suppose that leon /really did visit the house, and was haunted by his mother - in the form of the monster. she has been so consumed by her loneliness that its monstrous form is all that remains. she doesn't recognize her son when he does return, and he (of course) doesn't recognize her.
not sure that works any better than "it was all in her ghost-head."
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Monday, 4 November 2013 20:25 (ten years ago) link
I like anger-regret demon on the loose better than "it was all in her ghost-head."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 November 2013 20:27 (ten years ago) link
not my idea, but yeah, i like it too. still don't like the movie tho.
― pervilege as a meme (contenderizer), Monday, 4 November 2013 20:41 (ten years ago) link
I liked stoker a lot, def dark + weird + gothy so would appeal to a lotta folks here
ending falls apart big time but being a fan of s korean and/or horror films I'm used to that
it gets almost 3/4 of the way in before losing the plot so that makes for a good amount of gorgeous design & aggressively virtuoso camerawork
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Tuesday, 5 November 2013 03:52 (ten years ago) link
Ok you all should watch Tony on streaming Netflix so we can talk about it. Unless we already have upthread. Absolutely loved it,
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Tuesday, 5 November 2013 07:11 (ten years ago) link
Note - it's super refn-ish in tone (although not so much wrt on screen gore) so if you hate moody lonerism feel free to avoid.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Tuesday, 5 November 2013 07:19 (ten years ago) link
But also funny (but not comedic) which refn is basically not, so idk.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Tuesday, 5 November 2013 07:22 (ten years ago) link
saw mama last night - not perfect but really enjoyed it. loved how it morphed into pure fairytale for its extended climax; loved how driven by interesting female characters it was (useless brother character gotten safely out of the way swiftly); loved how the monster was ultimately emotionally resonant as well as scary (i'm no horror aficionado but this struck me as pretty original - any other examples of this?). the scene during the climax of the ghost cradling her baby's remains was genuinely quite moving. the child actors were pretty amazing too.
chastain's rock chick character was a bit on-the-nose but i thought it worked ultimately - refreshing to have that sort of character as female lead, liked the implied parallel between her and the ghost being "bad women" of their eras - and when she found out the back story, i felt like her empathy/understanding was crucial to the resolution.
psychiatrist guy going to the woods at night was a bit "oh horrorpaws" cliché though.
― lex pretend, Monday, 18 November 2013 11:36 (ten years ago) link
oh and i thought it looked really fantastic, the use of the children's drawings and dream sequences especially, which lessened the negative impact of the dodgy cgi when mama herself was shown in the climax
― lex pretend, Monday, 18 November 2013 11:37 (ten years ago) link
Lex, if you haven't seen it, I recommend "The Orphanage," another similarly tonally ambitious horror flick that at the end leaves you more sad than scared.
"Mama" is just an unusual movie all around, which helps make up for its flaws. It's certainly memorable and well-made, and it's always refreshing to see a spooky movie with virtually no blood and gore.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 November 2013 15:12 (ten years ago) link
Picked up a copy of Berberian Sound Studio for £7. Been looking for it for ages but now I fear my TV and sound isn't good enough to do it justice.
― Pingu Unchained (dog latin), Monday, 18 November 2013 15:31 (ten years ago) link
I have been watching The Following recently. It is pretty daft, in a 24-with-serial-killers way, but oddly grisly. Kevin Williamson is behind it and there are echoes of Scream in parts. It is a long way short of the mark set by Harper's Island but better than a lot of TV horror.
― Ramnaresh Samhain (ShariVari), Monday, 18 November 2013 15:53 (ten years ago) link
Someone mentioned the American Horror Story series - is it any good at all?
― Pingu Unchained (dog latin), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:08 (ten years ago) link
nope
― adam, Monday, 18 November 2013 16:10 (ten years ago) link
Yes
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:12 (ten years ago) link
First season started promisingly but declined into corny soap opera. Second session is meant to be better.
― Ramnaresh Samhain (ShariVari), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:12 (ten years ago) link
Second season is a completely ott throw everything in the horror genre in a blender and hit the button fun fest, so I would start there and if you dig it, give the first season a shot, it's not bad, just not as willfully "holy crap how is this on network television" batshit in tone. Probably the best horror show on television in recent memory, although Hannibal is also in the running if you let the border of thriller in the gate.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:17 (ten years ago) link
Fair warning: underneath the camp lies a nasty unpleasant heart, so be prepared for some difficult moments, particularly wrt treatment of women (as discussed earlier itt)
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:20 (ten years ago) link
i was dubious about the first one, hated the second, stopped watching. too color-by-numbers for me. the posters for the new season did nothing to convince me otherwise. some people like it but i am not one of them afaik, which is midway through season 2.
― sweat pea (La Lechera), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:20 (ten years ago) link
Oh hey, watched Grabbers last night (boozy Irish horror comedy) and it is basically an ok background movie but nothing more.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:57 (ten years ago) link
I'm about 1/4 of the way into the second season of American Horror. I'm trying to settle into the OTTness but I keep having serious 'ok why am I watching this' moments
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 18 November 2013 18:00 (ten years ago) link
IMO American Horror Story is ok, but the best part about it is it's theme song. It's definitely cheesy, cliched and OTT, but it is really fun to watch Jessica Lange. I would say start with season two and see what you think... it's pretty lowbrow but it's not terrible (usually).
― Viceroy, Monday, 18 November 2013 23:39 (ten years ago) link
It's certainly nothing compared to Hannibal, which I think might just be the best horror-genre TV show ever.
― Viceroy, Monday, 18 November 2013 23:40 (ten years ago) link
http://24.media.tumblr.com/528fa659ef00d0fa3808829aeb0ee867/tumblr_mwnkpeUMHr1r3gb3zo1_400.gif
― hewing to the status quo with great zealotry (DavidM), Monday, 25 November 2013 00:36 (ten years ago) link
Alright y'all, been flicking through my back log on streaming and decided on The Bleeding House. How will it turn out? Who knows?
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 06:44 (ten years ago) link
Never mind, I have a crying baby to tame. Soon though! Unless someone has a must see netflix streaming suggestion
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 06:48 (ten years ago) link
I really liked the Bleeding House so that is my suggestion.
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 26 November 2013 13:01 (ten years ago) link
Uh oh, perennial laughing stock fave "Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead" now on Netflix streaming. Wish me luck!
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Sunday, 8 December 2013 06:36 (ten years ago) link
ok, i manage to make my way through some pretty terrible stuff, but even I couldn't get all the way through zombie ass. not because it was gross (which uh it def is), but because it was just incredibly bad. I think it's time to just accept that I can't stand the Japanese Splatstick stuff at all.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Monday, 9 December 2013 16:09 (ten years ago) link
basically it's the stunningly awful "F is for Fart" from abcs of death (same director) drawn out to 90 minutes. so yeah, if you liked that, go for it. also if you liked that, you suck.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Monday, 9 December 2013 16:12 (ten years ago) link
watched "Deadgirl" Saturday night (after narrowly avoiding an accidental rental of "The Dead Girl") - pretty good, def interesting, and sustained a good tone throughout. Felt like the weak link was the acting, wasn't really into any of the leads. also did the annoying soundmixing thing of whispered/mumbled dialogue INTERSPERSED WITH INCREDIBLY LOUD BANG SOUNDS, cut that shit out plz. it never felt titillating, instead going for this uber-creepy proto-feminist examination of male desire, which is a tough trick to pull off.
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 9 December 2013 17:22 (ten years ago) link
I watched Open Grave the other day, had very low expectations (b-movie from the director of Apollo 13) and ended up thoroughly enjoying it. The story is; a character with amnesia wakes up in an open mass grave near a house with other people with amnesia, character starts suspecting he may have committed atrocities prior to losing his memory and shit starts getting weird.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Monday, 9 December 2013 19:12 (ten years ago) link
Not even sure if this will be horror, but just started Sightseers (Ben Wheatley) and I have a good feeling about this.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Saturday, 14 December 2013 05:36 (ten years ago) link
Good feeling will dissolve pretty quickly in my experience but YMMV.
― Ramnaresh Samhain (ShariVari), Saturday, 14 December 2013 07:19 (ten years ago) link
Not horror, but yow that's a lot of gore. I loved it actually.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Saturday, 14 December 2013 07:27 (ten years ago) link
I think I saw about half of Sightseers before I got bored. I "got it," I guess, but didn't feel the need to watch more of it.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 December 2013 17:39 (ten years ago) link
Idk man it's a pretty good build and pretty great payoff
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Saturday, 14 December 2013 19:49 (ten years ago) link
Do they get murdered by other serial killer tourists?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 December 2013 20:30 (ten years ago) link
Just kidding, will watch the rest.
Resolution is on Netflix instant and i thought it was quite good. the ending is maybe a little pat but otherwise a fun ride and maximum bang for a microbudget
― Strangers look on with a discernible, barely contained ‘wow’. (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 03:31 (ten years ago) link
About to watch Jug Face, going in blind
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 03:33 (ten years ago) link
Byzantium. wow.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 06:08 (ten years ago) link
what did you make of Jug Face, jjj?
― Viceroy, Wednesday, 18 December 2013 07:44 (ten years ago) link
Pretty lame honestly, seems like there's something there but it never really goes for it at all.
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 19:45 (ten years ago) link
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 18 December 2013 19:49 (ten years ago) link
i enjoyed Jug Face. it has the flavor of an Edward Lee or Jack Ketchum story, with the nastiness toned down but not entirely siphoned off. fine acting, good atmosphere. could it have done more to develop its backwoods mythology? well, sure.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 21:03 (ten years ago) link
my sentiments exactly Hal Jam. The lack of backstory and more attention to the mythos of the hole made it kinda meh. But the acting was pretty great.
― Viceroy, Wednesday, 18 December 2013 21:42 (ten years ago) link
but I didn't hate it.
Didn't take much from Byzantium at all tbh.
― ewar woowar (or something), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 22:03 (ten years ago) link
really? it was ... sumptuous. the story was both sweeping and very intimate - something Neil Jordan handles especially well. I loved the way it was structured around narratives both oral and written, recalling Atonement (no coincidence). If I had one quibble it's that the pace of the storytelling sped up towards the end, wrapping up a potentially sprawling Gothic tragedy just a bit too tidily. another half hour would have helped. but, like no movie since Park Chank-Wook's Thirst, Byzantium salvaged vampirism from the banality of Twilightization. i went in with low expectations, and just found myself enchanted. not a perfect movie, but a riveting, ravishing one.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 22:28 (ten years ago) link
*Chan-wook
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 22:29 (ten years ago) link
So tired of vampire stories, maybe I didn't pay it full attention because of that. I thought the performances were decent though, Saoirse Ronan is great in p much everything though.
― ewar woowar (or something), Wednesday, 18 December 2013 22:43 (ten years ago) link
that Jim Jarmusch vamp flick sounds pretty cool
― Number None, Wednesday, 18 December 2013 22:56 (ten years ago) link
We succumbed to Netflix, have now seen and enjoyed both The Mist and Pontypool. That is all.
― emil.y, Saturday, 4 January 2014 17:18 (ten years ago) link
Has anyone watched david arquette's horror movie?
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 4 January 2014 17:33 (ten years ago) link
the one where he's a murderous tenant of a guest house with a harem of teenage girls? if so, yeah. don't remember much beyond the first lady from Scandal having one of those thankless "best friend of the female lead to be murdered mid-film" roles.
― da croupier, Saturday, 4 January 2014 18:02 (ten years ago) link
Eight Legged Freaks? Or did he make another one?
― Viceroy, Saturday, 4 January 2014 22:12 (ten years ago) link
Referring to "The Tripper" from 2006. Some slasher film he directed. I think Paul Reubens pops up in it?
― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 4 January 2014 22:49 (ten years ago) link
The tripper is totally fucking terrible, avoid it at all costs
― Wendy Carlos Williams (jjjusten), Saturday, 4 January 2014 23:26 (ten years ago) link
watched 'you're next' last week. it was ok, and kinda "sadly" might actually be my fav wingard flick - 'home sick' and 'pop skull' were interesting but uneven, and 'a horrible way to die' bored me with such a mopey atmosphere. he's been trying to do something different, but i feel he never quite made a good movie out of those ideas. which wasn't the case with 'you're next' but at least that was fun.
early in this thread there was some very brief talk about thai horror becoming increasingly relevant, but apart from a few posts there wasn't much discussion afterwards. i only saw 'shutter', 'coming soon', 'alone' and '4bia'. any other recommendations?
― rusty_allen, Sunday, 5 January 2014 15:49 (ten years ago) link
FYI I was apparently referring to The Cottage, re Arquette, now on Netflix.
― da croupier, Sunday, 5 January 2014 15:55 (ten years ago) link
Saw Blood Glacier and The Apparition today.
The former is clearly superior but isn't exactly essential. The plot - a bunch of scientists in the German Alps being terrorised by mutant animals - owes a clear debt to The Thing and it doesn't do anything particularly interesting but there are only so many opportunities you get to hear someone say very seriously "I think it's a cross between a fox and a woodlouse" in films.
The Apparition was watchable but lacked any features of note. Not scary, dramatic or clever in any way.
― Ramnaresh Samhain (ShariVari), Sunday, 12 January 2014 19:47 (ten years ago) link
For some reason, despite its colorful title this thread is a bitch to search for.
Anyway, saw "You're Next." While it could have been scarier, funnier, better acted and bothered to feature an actual ending, I thought it was OK. Would have been more fun if it just went the full "Home Alone."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 January 2014 17:31 (ten years ago) link
watched it recently and had the same thought. I'm surprised someone hasn't done an adult gorefest version of HA at this stage
― Number None, Thursday, 16 January 2014 17:35 (ten years ago) link
"The Collector" is like a horror Home Alone. Not particularly funny, though.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 16 January 2014 17:38 (ten years ago) link
The Aggression Scale = gorefest version of HA.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 16 January 2014 19:22 (ten years ago) link
Or maybe "Panic Room."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:00 (ten years ago) link
I just search for "shit our pants", works fine.
― emil.y, Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:09 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, you probably get this one and the other 30 threads about shitting your pants.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:19 (ten years ago) link
I like (not love) TED and do dust it off every few years to see if my appreciation has deepened.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, October 22, 2013 8:32 AM (2 months ago)
I guess you're going to get another chance, trouble every day is (finally) getting an official US release this year...
― a hard dom is good to find (Edward III), Thursday, 16 January 2014 20:43 (ten years ago) link
wau cool. love that movie. why now tho?
watched the bay yesterday. good, especially in the area of pants, but ultimately a bit anticlimactic. perhaps a strength? some iffy acting, but not to enough to wreck it for me. much heebie jeebs.
i dunno, what else ... oh, i liked insidious 2, which is weird cuz the first was a drag. still haven't seen the conjuring, which is s'posed to be good. dunno what else to watch. maybe you're next
― CANONICAL artists, etc., etc. (contenderizer), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 10:12 (ten years ago) link
the Horror Europa documentary with Mark Gatiss was good I thought.
― doglato dozzy (dog latin), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 10:18 (ten years ago) link
PA5 was pretty good, I thought. Kinda surprised I liked it so much but the characters were really well done.
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 14:44 (ten years ago) link
man i havent seen a horror movie i liked in months
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 16:24 (ten years ago) link
hated The Bay
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 16:48 (ten years ago) link
some of yall should come to my town later this month
I'll be taking tickets on the Saturday I think! this festival slays and is fun and our theater kicks so much ass
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 17:43 (ten years ago) link
omg i would fucking kill to go to that
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 18:21 (ten years ago) link
Kind of a lame trailer (the voiceover and the bad CG bloody mirror thing are NOT part of the movie) but I'll be v surprised if Oculus won't end up as the best mainstream horror movie of 2014. James Wan-style supernatural horror done way better than he's managed so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTcD1TVupzs
― Simon H., Tuesday, 4 February 2014 18:39 (ten years ago) link
And I have no idea why WWE films is involved.
That certainly looks up my alley.
Did anybody else read about the alleged demonic possession in Gary, IN? The whole time I was reading about it I was turning it into a James Wan-esque movie in my head.
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 18:52 (ten years ago) link
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/01/25/the-disposession-of-latoya-ammons/4892553/
very excited for Flanagan's Oculus. unless it's a possession movie. blerg.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 20:51 (ten years ago) link
Not really. But to explain further would be to spoil the fun.
Right now, nobody can touch Flanagan for fleshing out characters you actually give a shit about.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 4 February 2014 21:04 (ten years ago) link
Ok, whew.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 21:10 (ten years ago) link
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis)
:(
thought it was a better piranha remake than aja's (or, well, piranha/humanoids hybrid)
― CANONICAL artists, etc., etc. (contenderizer), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 23:16 (ten years ago) link
amazing dn though
I didn't HATE it tbh, I dug the creature threat, but it underachieved so fuckin hard though. And I couldn't see any reason it needed to be a found footage film. Felt like that was not exploited in any fruitful way.
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 23:53 (ten years ago) link
Did no one else see PA5 yet? In addition to being a perfectly ok horror movie, the footage angle made (enough) sense, the characters were so charming and pretty well written for a mainstream horror movie tbh. It's not perfect, but I liked it and would recommend it once it winds up on netflix.
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 00:09 (ten years ago) link
FYI - word from an buddy of mine that Synapse films (http://synapse-films.com/ "> http://synapse-films.com/ ) has rights to a healthy portion of Argento films - they'll get a nice package worthy of re-discovery fo sho...
― BlackIronPrison, Wednesday, 5 February 2014 00:25 (ten years ago) link
I can't remember whether I've seen up to pa 3 or 4 but amazingly I have liked them all
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 00:27 (ten years ago) link
4 was kinda weak iirc but 5 is really enjoyable! I don't know why I like them so much, but at least part of it is the dull suburban vibe. This one has that same dull/unremarkable set decoration only this time you're in an apartment building that's full of latinos -- and the setting itself is totally different but the feel is the same. Just kinda normal goofy kids doing normal goofy kid stuff. There's a part in the beginning where one of the kids is dancing with a dog that kinda sets the playful/fun/friendly/everything's normal tone in the beginning really well, and it's just a kid dancing with a dog.
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 00:35 (ten years ago) link
Synapse has Suspiria and Tenebre. Expect their release/restoration of the former to be definitive, but priced as exorbitantly as their Demons 1 & 2 steelbooks. Because now they know that crazy fans are willing to (over)pay. I don't see any need to double dip on the latter. Arrow Films' second stab at it (using Wild Side FR's gorgeous print) is absolutely fine.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 05:09 (ten years ago) link
Synapse also has Curtains and Prom Night. The teaser stills that Don has dropped are exciting indeed. And I don't really care for either film.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 05:13 (ten years ago) link
Oh! And Popcorn!
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 05:46 (ten years ago) link
itunes store should break movies out into tracks so I could just buy the skating scene from Curtains.
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 16:04 (ten years ago) link
That's an amazingly good idea!
― Eric H., Wednesday, 5 February 2014 16:06 (ten years ago) link
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TvHCgH1XoYE
Curtains is on iTunes?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 16:10 (ten years ago) link
right? there are not that many movies I need to own but plenty of scenes/sequences I'd love to own.
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 5 February 2014 16:12 (ten years ago) link
no it's not on itunes of course, I was just thinkin'.
Evil Dead remake. fucken gash.
― the undersea world of jacques kernow (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 22:11 (ten years ago) link
Does "fucken gash" mean "total shit?" Because if so I could not agree more. It's as if someone saw the original and the only thing they got out of it was sadism and ugliness and decided that's what both needed to be kept but also amplified.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 22:56 (ten years ago) link
yes that's exactly what i meant. my son really likes it, kept playing up Raimi's involvement. alls i can say is that Raimi mustn't think much of his own legacy.
― the undersea world of jacques kernow (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 22:59 (ten years ago) link
still, i guess every 80s movie needs a vacuous, humorless remake in HD before we're done
― the undersea world of jacques kernow (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 23:00 (ten years ago) link
Did they run out of the '70s already?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 23:05 (ten years ago) link
I really loved the moment the clueless nerd character kept reading from the book after all the warnings not to. They really needed a lot more of that tone.
― Fetchboy, Thursday, 20 February 2014 07:27 (ten years ago) link
They were, like, literal warnings, too! "Do not read this book." And it was wrapped in barbed wire! And he had to figure out how to translate it from ancient whatever! I honestly couldn't tell if that was supposed to be funny, because the tone was soooooo off. Tone-deaf.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 February 2014 14:35 (ten years ago) link
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QX9IXylEm4A/UWxF2Ai4XBI/AAAAAAAACz8/THNv_FKfzu4/s400/Evil-Dead-wallpaper-13.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 February 2014 14:36 (ten years ago) link
As we were driving home after the movie, I couldn't help but point out the similarities I saw to a book that is one of our family's favorites, "The Monster at the End of this Book" with furry, loveable, old Grover.
LOL!!!
http://accordingtomags.blogspot.com/2013/04/evil-dead-for-scaredy-cats.html
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 February 2014 14:38 (ten years ago) link
Wait so you are saying a character in a horror movie made some ill- advised decisions that is a damning criticism
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Thursday, 20 February 2014 15:54 (ten years ago) link
The next thing you'll tell me is that those decisions were based on a dogged, possibly even stubborn refusal to believe in the seemingly impossible, like the supernatural/serial killer in your midst/demonic possession/cannibal family in the woods
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Thursday, 20 February 2014 16:02 (ten years ago) link
saw 2 at nevermore last night: Almost Human, which was ok - had its moments - but had some super-clumsy reveals, and Last Days, from Spain, which was 1/2 interesting post-plague survival flick and 1/2 cornball in the extreme. both fun though. Might see 2 more tonight - Big Bad Wolves and Grand Piano - not sure, life getting in the way of my horror movie attendance
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 20 February 2014 16:07 (ten years ago) link
The Bay and Europa Report both complete wastes of time.
― Ian from Etobicoke (Phil D.), Thursday, 20 February 2014 16:13 (ten years ago) link
Hey, I watched Body Melt the other day. Just the thing if you love over-the-top gross-outs like Dead Alive and Street Trash. (I do not.)
http://facemeltingfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/vlcsnap-2011-09-07-15h43m52s247.png
― The Thnig, Thursday, 20 February 2014 17:40 (ten years ago) link
yeah i know but a) in a post-Scream world i think you owe the audience at least a nod to how stupid this is and b) in The HD Dead the character wasn't established well enough to be read as stubbornly disbelieving, it was just "dum de dum dum, oh look here's a barb-wire wrapped book with STAY OUT written all over it, dum de dum dum, think i'll read this shit out loud for no obvious reason, dum de dum dum, cue the special effects"
i am ALL ABOUT no-brain rollercoasters but to do one of those you've got to wink just a little at your audience. getting Campbell into repeat his catchphrase after the credits finish really doesn't count as that imo
― we sold our Solsta for Rock'n'Roll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 20 February 2014 17:50 (ten years ago) link
i mean yeah you could read the whole thing as being knowingly dumb but only if you read every dumb movie ever made as knowingly dumb
― we sold our Solsta for Rock'n'Roll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 20 February 2014 17:51 (ten years ago) link
Haven't watched it but presumably dude was under the influence of the mind-altering mist drugs used by the Cabin In The Woods guys.
― Ian from Etobicoke (Phil D.), Thursday, 20 February 2014 18:25 (ten years ago) link
That's some gooooooood shit.
― Eric H., Thursday, 20 February 2014 18:41 (ten years ago) link
Oh, come on, we're talking beyond "don't go in the spooky woods" or "they say her ghost still haunts this house." This is a character who goes down into a basement (which moments before was discovered as the site of dozens of rotting slaughtered animals), finds a weird booked wrapped in barbed wire, written in a weird language, with writing on it (in English) saying "do not read this! danger! turn back!" then taking the time to painstakingly translate the text, word by word - I mean, come on! - from ancient whatever. If this was meant to be funny it would have been funny. In the original, they just turn on the damned tape recorder.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 February 2014 22:54 (ten years ago) link
See also: the woman, drooling, snarling, dragging a gun, approaching the group. "Cindy (or whatever the fuck your name is), are you OK?" Again, would have been funny if it was meant to be funny.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:02 (ten years ago) link
seeing this one later tonight - had hoped to make the 7:00 of Big Bad Wolves but hopefully I can get to it later this week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTetpEr74xc
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:22 (ten years ago) link
That looks kind of awful, but it's from the director of The Birthday which means I absolutely must see it.
― Simon H., Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:23 (ten years ago) link
i saw that trailer a week or so back - it's like Speed with a piano, lol
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:28 (ten years ago) link
this film i've mentioned before (once or twice??? <<<??) is on-demand starting tomorrow, i mean it's not exactly horror but...
http://www.rentmoviesondemand.com/movie/432408
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:31 (ten years ago) link
I was really not impressed with that, esp given the hype.
― Simon H., Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:35 (ten years ago) link
sorry to hear that. veggie, you'll want to check it out imo.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:41 (ten years ago) link
Big Bad Wolves is absolutely fantastic.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:45 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUsJXwE73QU
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 February 2014 23:46 (ten years ago) link
xxpost al leong: I can't pull that link atm, but is it the babby omar movie? :D :D
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 February 2014 00:02 (ten years ago) link
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 21 February 2014 00:06 (ten years ago) link
hooray!
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 February 2014 00:20 (ten years ago) link
i really liked rabies. hence, high expectations for big bad wolves
― rusty_allen, Friday, 21 February 2014 01:46 (ten years ago) link
big bad wolves looks p good
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 February 2014 02:35 (ten years ago) link
grand piano - absolutely top shelf directing, some really good performances and a weird but maybe great one from the lead (he acts with his face like he was something out of the silent era), totally is Speed On A Piano, and goes almost completely to shit in the last five or ten minutes. whoever wrote the script has maybe never been to the orchestra? the conductor is, like, from somebody's imagined version of how a conductor might behave.
really fun watch but seriously the song-reveal in the last ten or so minutes is just fucking excruciating, like throw-shit-at-the-screen wretched
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 21 February 2014 04:10 (ten years ago) link
so, I was gonna skip this one, because the copy made it sound like it was Saw In A Pit of Bodies and I'm sick to death of that shit. But I worked taking tickets in the afternoon and when you do that you're free to check out a movie between shifts so I missed the first ten minutes but caught the rest of this and fucking A. best of the festival so far, just great storytelling and great acting, super-clever but not cloyingly so...A+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ZX7jw3CFY
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 22 February 2014 04:12 (ten years ago) link
then tonight because somebody told me it was amazing I saw The Human Race. It was Saw As A Footrace and had one of the most absurd endings ever. The ending was kinda awesome in that if you're gonna deus-ex-machina why the fuck not go big but the movie itself was basically mindless torture-porn-plus-aren't-we-all-really-monsters stuff of the sort that just isn't that interesting imo.
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 22 February 2014 04:13 (ten years ago) link
Holy crap open grave + your endorsement looks like movie of the year shit for me
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Saturday, 22 February 2014 07:08 (ten years ago) link
Cool. I was looking up Big Bad Wolves the other day, thanks to this thread, and at the bottom they had the poster for this, so I clicked on it and yeah, like you said, it did not read promising, but now I'm curious!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 February 2014 13:06 (ten years ago) link
Both The Human Race + Open Grave have great endings and are fucking great b-movies.
― xelab, Saturday, 22 February 2014 13:23 (ten years ago) link
Didn't expect much from Open Grave as I loathed Apollo 13, but it is excellent and has a decent cast.
― xelab, Saturday, 22 February 2014 13:28 (ten years ago) link
absolutely top shelf directing
aero you really must see this guy's corey feldman movie. It's kind of stunning.
― Simon H., Saturday, 22 February 2014 13:33 (ten years ago) link
ok Open Grave kicks fuckin ass make no mistake but I Saw The Devil is basically a perfect movie imo
holy fucking shit that movie holy shit holy shit see it now
nb its pace is very slow and the scares are spaced out and the character development and building of dread is pretty distinct, like there's a blandness to the buildup that's very much in its own zone but holy shit holy fucking shit this movie
best fucking movie.
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, 23 February 2014 02:42 (ten years ago) link
I love I Saw The Devil as well, I don't think it has been mentioned on this thread thus far but it is great. Best revenge movie I have ever seen.
― xelab, Sunday, 23 February 2014 02:48 (ten years ago) link
It is pretty much the apex of a genre I am completely uninterested in. As far as pure aesthetic indulgence goes, though, the taxi sequence is tops.
― Simon H., Sunday, 23 February 2014 02:49 (ten years ago) link
was a fair bit of i saw the devil discussion itt a couple years back (including talk of a dedicated thread). reposted from jan 2012:
― contenderizer, Sunday, 23 February 2014 06:55 (ten years ago) link
I wonder if this is a new edit or something - the antagonist is barely even onscreen? like, there's an assault in the opening bits but the other antagonist is always offscreen. there's no actual "abuse" - there's a guy who's thought to have abused the children, but that turns out to be a red herring: they were not abused, and the presentation of how the family deals with the possibility that something happened to them up in the mountains seemed really realistic: the husband and wife fight, the mood in the house darkens, the children aren't themselves -- like, there's a case to be made for the supernatural elements as the red herring and the human story within the movie as the real story
idk I think it's a fuckin A+ movie
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, 23 February 2014 12:51 (ten years ago) link
wait! hold the fuck up! the movie I saw was Here Comes the Devil! the other one's one of those ultra-sadistic Korean horror deals, right? This is from Mexico.
http://www.magnetreleasing.com/herecomesthedevil/
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, 23 February 2014 13:00 (ten years ago) link
I haven't seen that one, but apparently it is a very faithful remake of an earlier film.
― Simon H., Sunday, 23 February 2014 13:49 (ten years ago) link
Phew, thanks for correcting, I hate ultra-sadistic Korean films.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 February 2014 14:21 (ten years ago) link
Poster is A+
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Here_Comes_the_Devil.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 February 2014 14:23 (ten years ago) link
^^ true. another good entry to the respectful roster of adrian garcia bogliano. don't feel he always manages to deal with the sexual subtext throughout the whole movie, but as a sort of homage to 70's possession movies - with echoes of 'picnic at hanging rock' - it's a very noble effort. his heart is in the right place. 'habiaciones para turistas' and '36 pasos' are still my favourites. haven't seen 'cold sweat' yet.
― rusty_allen, Sunday, 23 February 2014 15:24 (ten years ago) link
and 'open grave' was great - probably the best horror movie i saw from 2013, on par with 'the last will and testament of rosalind leigh'. haven't seen that many tho. going to see 'big bad wolves' today.
― rusty_allen, Sunday, 23 February 2014 15:33 (ten years ago) link
I am too! do I know you?
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, 23 February 2014 15:37 (ten years ago) link
oh, i saw it at home. i'm from portugal, so i doubt it :)
― rusty_allen, Sunday, 23 February 2014 18:43 (ten years ago) link
ha. there's a big three-day festival here in NC and big bad wolves at 2:30 is the last one I'm going to get to although there's two others ("beneath" and "the haunt") I was hoping to make
― joe perry has been dead for years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, 23 February 2014 18:49 (ten years ago) link
oh, and really enjoyed 'big bad wolves' - such a twisted sense of humour throughout.
― rusty_allen, Sunday, 23 February 2014 19:23 (ten years ago) link
I dont know if there is a rule to talk about only the very latest releases but I just saw Byzantium and liked it quite a lot. I wish there were a bit more points in history of the characters. All the film's creators were very wary of this being too much like Interview With The Vampire (and vampire films in general) but I thought it was a lot like Jordan's earlier film with regards to the older vampires and the bastards/the past that the main characters were trying to escape. Loved the beach and mountain parts, thought that long haired ginger boy was really good. I've never seen a Sam Riley film before, he is soooooo beautiful!
Watching the dvd interviews there was an intense wariness of being too much like other vampire stories. I dont get why the very concept of vampires is apparently so tired for so many people.
Some guy:"I so tired of vamp-"Me:"FUCKING ZOMBIES! SHUT UP!"
ZOMBIES- old Voodoo types that rarely get used now.- revenge from beyond the grave style zombies (kinda like ghosts but more physical).- Romero zombies (with varying abilities, possibly running, occasionally talking or using weapons).- unhappy rotting characters, often sentimental.
The third type accounts for the majority of modern zombie stories.
VAMPIRES- old folklore vampires with terrible breath and more likely to prey on your farm animals than you.- old folklore shapeshifting deceivers, possibly taking the form of someone you know. Wurdalaks too.- vampire animals and monsters- Bram Stoker, Polidori, Le Fanu. Murnau's Nosferatu (less attractive variant). These leading into classic Universal/Hammer style.- Near Dark, Lost Boys.- vampires that could almost fill in for zombies. Dusk Til Dawn.- Anne Rice.- Poppy Z Brite's punk/goth bi-sexuals.- delusional people. Romero's Martin, Vampire's Kiss (Nicholas Cage).- Twilight.
Vampires as a basic concept are far more varied.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 February 2014 19:44 (ten years ago) link
Vampires more often/likely co-opted for non-horror purposes (teen romance, gothic cosplay etc)
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 February 2014 19:48 (ten years ago) link
That makes sense that a lot of fans would be irked by that aspect but I dont think horror fans should have a right of ownership of the vampire concept.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 February 2014 20:28 (ten years ago) link
yeah nobody "owns" anything really but to me its understandable that horror fans would be irked by the most popular iterations of a particular concept having little to no relation to the genre
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 February 2014 20:33 (ten years ago) link
Looking foward to Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears (from Amer directors). I hear the Berberian Sound Studio guy has a new horror film coming out too. Maybe things are looking better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYXXpT11WtM
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 February 2014 21:13 (ten years ago) link
exactly 50% of that is good news
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 24 February 2014 21:14 (ten years ago) link
will watch the shit out of whatever the Berberian Sound Studio guy does next
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 24 February 2014 21:15 (ten years ago) link
that would be the other 50%
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 24 February 2014 21:22 (ten years ago) link
Amer and Berberian were my two favorite horror films of the last... I dont know how long. Probably since Pans Labyrinth and Inland Empire.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 February 2014 21:27 (ten years ago) link
lol the new one from the Berberian guy (Peter Strickland) is co-produced by Ben Wheatley, because of course it is.
― Simon H., Monday, 24 February 2014 21:43 (ten years ago) link
I searched Night Of The Devils (1972, Italy) and it came up with nothing. I think it is obscure enough to be treated almost as a new film release. Very little writing about it before the recent dvd release.
From director of Mill Of Stone Women. It feels like a Bava film. Vampires in an old abandoned forest town. It has a soundtrack by Gaslini (La Notte). It has two of the most unconvincing causes of death ever. Not a masterpiece, but has a satisfying aesthetic and atmopshere, a little creepy. Probably deserves a place above plenty of other overrated 70s horror films. I'd strongly advise most people on the thread to get it if you like things like Bava's Kill Baby Kill.
Warning Shadows is a silent film that also seems to have resurfaced from even more obscurity. It was fine. Kind of a murder mystery made interesting by having no text dialogue at all.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 February 2014 21:49 (ten years ago) link
not so sure that The Duke of Burgundy will be a horror film. but it does sound intriguing.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 February 2014 21:52 (ten years ago) link
maybe because Mario Bava took a stab at the same story in Black Sabbath?
Looking foward to Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears (from Amer directors). I hear the Berberian Sound Studio guy has a new horror film coming out too.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, February 24, 2014 1:13 PM (45 minutes ago)
okay, 2014, you can coast from here on out
― thuggish ruggish brony (contenderizer), Monday, 24 February 2014 22:01 (ten years ago) link
Strange Color was inspired by Satoshi Kon, according to Cattet/Forzani. cool. tho the reviews i've seen so far have been fairly toxic.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 February 2014 22:05 (ten years ago) link
Duke of Burgundy?
re Black Sabbath and Night Of The Devils both during Wurdalak stories, I dont think variations of the same story really hurts another horror film's chances to this extent.
Which brings me to another film which is extremely neglected (at least outside of Japan), has been done loads of times and will be done again: the late 50s color version of Ghost Of Yotsuya is one of the best japanese horror films I've seen. Yet another film inspired by the success of Hammer that is better than anything Hammer ever done (also 60s Corman films, 60s Bava films, Lemora and Japan's Lake Of Dracula). It starts off a bit slow but the end really makes up for it. Dont know why you can get Kwaidan, Onibaba, Kuroneko, Hausu, Jigoku (Kumashiro's version still hasnt come out on english dvd though), Lake Of Dracula and Blind Beast but not Nakagawa's Yotsuya. Takashi Miike is doing his own version soon and I really hope this will get Nakagawa's version on english dvd. I watched it and the less good black and white 1956 version on youtube. Go for it guys. You wont regret it unless you're against watching films on youtube.
There are loads of versions of Yotsuya/Oiwahttp://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-yotsuyakaidan.html
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 February 2014 22:28 (ten years ago) link
all i said was that Ferroni's film probably "feels like a Bava film" because Bava had already filmed the same Aleksei Tolstoy story. who said anything about one adaptation diminishing the other?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 February 2014 22:49 (ten years ago) link
Oh, sorry. I still cant figure out the Duke Of Burgundy thing.
Miike's version of Yotsuya is called Kuime. Coming out in autumn.
In thinking of films since 2005, Shinya Tsukamoto's Haze is really underrated. Less than 50mins and like bad dreams everyone has had but for some reason nobody ever makes films of. Tsukamoto is a contender for my favorite director ever, he deserves so much more; I was happy when Mark Cousins put him in Story Of Film. I think he is readymade for a far bigger cult but it just hasnt happened yet. Everyone knows Tetsuo but I dont know why that doesnt lead onto Tokyo Fist, Vital and Kotoko for these viewers.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 February 2014 23:09 (ten years ago) link
Looking around this thread more, Love Exposure is one of my all time great films. Not a horror film, but the sort of film horror fans will watch. Easily one of the top5 most powerful film viewing experiences I've ever had.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 February 2014 23:18 (ten years ago) link
lol I am the only person I know who's seen Love Exposure and doesn't love it, or even find it all that memorable
― Simon H., Monday, 24 February 2014 23:19 (ten years ago) link
Ha! I hope so. Actually, I have seen quite a few reviews from people who couldnt get past the unskirt photography gang or found the whole thing a bit too crazy.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 00:07 (ten years ago) link
Sono has been sorta unbearable since he started buying his own hype. Tsukamoto remains brilliant.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 25 February 2014 01:16 (ten years ago) link
Tetsuya Nakashima is a much stronger storyteller than Sono.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 25 February 2014 01:18 (ten years ago) link
The Duke of Burgundy is Peter Strickland's next film.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 25 February 2014 01:19 (ten years ago) link
... about a lesbian love riven by obsessive lepidopterology? Sure why not.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 25 February 2014 01:24 (ten years ago) link
Tell me about Nakashima please.
I still havent seen Tsukamoto's Nightmare Detective 2 and his Female segment.
Sono for a while was becoming one of those "I'll see everything they put out" guys for me but Himizu and Land Of Hope made me lose interest quite a lot even though they were not bad really. I worry that he goes too much in the "socially relevant" direction, I dont think that is his strong suit; he had plans to remake Noriko's Dinner Table for American audiences because he felt there was an important message, I hope he doesnt do it. I'm also hope he doesnt do Lords Of Chaos, I read interviews with him and I heard his theories about that time/place and I dont think he knows what he might be getting himself into. It sounds like he might be doing it for his own preferred reading of the situation and doesnt really care about representing what really happened and even after Varg's death threats, I dont think he realises how pedants could sink this film and damage his reputation.
Looking forward to see his contribution to ABC's Of Death 2. He has a full on action film coming out too.
I havent seen all his films but from what I have seen I dont think he has fallen from grace because it seemed uneven from the start; many of his films arent available to me. He has 38 director credits on imdb back to 1985 (I've heard he filmed lots of gay porn too). Here's what I have seen and what I think of them...
2001- Suicide Circle/Club((Interesting, quite weird, but I dont think there is anything real behind all the mysteries. Sadly this seems to be his most widely seen film. Although I understand why it was notorious in japan))
2005- Noriko's Dinner Table((Quite similar to Love Exposure in the structure/length. It does make an interesting critique of old fashioned family obsessions but it probably didnt manage the profundity it was going for, or maybe I'm missing some japanese context. His idea to remake it for america was that many american viewers told him that it was a good critique for western conservative ideas of the family too))
2005- Strange Circus((Some great visuals and ideas. Appealingly screwed up but the big revelations at the end felt too forced in their climatic loudness))
2007- Exte((Pretty good. Quite funny. Ending is totally bizarre in a cartoonish way that might be too much for most audiences, it made me laugh. Seriously weakened by bad cgi))
2008- Love Exposure ((Should be racing up among top spots of film canons everywhere. After I seen it I really wanted to hand copies out in the street)) 2010- Cold Fish((Great twisted fun. The madness at the end is probably a tad forced but I'd still recommend it strongly))
2011- Guilty Of Romance((Gorgeous photography. Also appealingly twisted. Good central performance. Pretty good film))
2011- Himizu((The main story just didnt interest me that much. The tangent about the thieves was probably the most interesting part but I dont know why it was in the film. I did find the very end quite moving but the whole thing just didnt hold together))
2012- Land Of Hope ((Seems to me it was mostly a critique of the handling of the Fukushima radiation. Characters do not trust the official rules/advice and the film shows how they deal with it. It was okay, but it didnt really grab me))
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 02:36 (ten years ago) link
On the topic of a similar director: Gakuryu/Sogo Ishii; I was amazed to find that japanese film expert Tom Mes thought Isnt Anyone Alive was a career low. I can understand why people would think Burst City, Labyrinth Of Dreams, Gojoe and Electric Dragon were more special but I honestly thought Isnt Anyone Alive was more consistently enjoyable than any of those. It made me laugh quite a bit and despite being very very quiet my attention never wandered.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 02:51 (ten years ago) link
He changed his name from Sogo Ishii to Gakuryu Ishii. I just read that Gakuryu means mountain dragon.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 02:55 (ten years ago) link
Pretty sure it hasn't been released outside australia yet , but has anyone seen wolf creek 2 yet ? thought the first one was one of the better australian films of the last decade and while i imagine the second will be something of a rehash am still interested in seeing it.
― TheMenzies, Tuesday, 25 February 2014 23:56 (ten years ago) link
undead thread
― bnw, Wednesday, 26 February 2014 18:43 (ten years ago) link
Finally saw The Conjuring yesterday and really enjoyed it. The second half was less impressive but the first was probably the best haunted-house stuff I've seen from Hollywood in a while.
Also looking forward to Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears, even though they clearly got stuck five sixths of the way through constructing a new film title from old Edwige Fenech movies.
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Wednesday, 26 February 2014 19:31 (ten years ago) link
seriously. why not All the Bloody Keys of the Nude Dolls?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 26 February 2014 19:50 (ten years ago) link
The Photogenic Nun and the Phantom Tigers?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 26 February 2014 19:52 (ten years ago) link
Does anyone keep up with martial arts films? I'm just curious if anything good in the last 10 years has came out in the vein of Chinese Ghost Story, Boxer's Omen, Spooky Encounters, Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain, Spooky Bunch and Mr Vampire. I think Chinese Ghost Story was remade recently but it didnt look very interesting and reviews didnt seem encouraging.
I read a book about this subgenre a few years ago (I think it was called Spooky Encounters too) and it seems these films died out apart from the occasional hopping vampire film.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 26 February 2014 22:25 (ten years ago) link
Amer was so good and despite its clear influences pretty singular, the trailer for The Thingy Whatsit Of The Crying Corpse or something looks pretty great. I'll say 'further developing a distinctive visual cinematic language' rather than 'looks similar and the last one was good' 'cause I'm looking forward to it.
― Slight damage to cover on top corner (chewed by a kitten) (Craigo Boingo), Thursday, 27 February 2014 02:26 (ten years ago) link
Juno Mak's RIGOR MORTIS (2013). it's an update of the Mr. Vampire films and even features some of the actors from that series. I haven't watched it yet - waiting for the forthcoming release of the director's cut on BD - but it looks very promising.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 27 February 2014 04:15 (ten years ago) link
the other modern fantasy wuxia have tended to overrule in chintzy CGI to the point of distraction. Even Tsui Hark's films haven't been immune from this blight.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 27 February 2014 04:18 (ten years ago) link
Over-indulge, not overrule. Stupid autocorrect.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 27 February 2014 04:19 (ten years ago) link
I think what I see of hong kong films in general shows bloated shiny Hollywood epic disease. The humour of the older films seems to have vanished. Apparently Hark complains about the Hollywoodization but some people blame him for it. I saw Green Snake recently and it bored me quite a bit despite some lovely visuals. After watching several wire-fu films with people who aren't great martial artists, you get the feeling you are often watching mostly people jumping very high towards/above the camera or being knocked away from the camera.
I don't know much about the political state of Hong Kong but I've heard they are suffering a bit from being with mainland China (it was only after I read that book that I realised many of the Hong Kong superstars tried to be make it big in America in the late 90s, with varying degrees of success). I wonder how much this affects the film industry there. I've seen clips of their modern tv dramas and they look like really lovely wuxia epics without any(?)martial arts.
Also heard there are still good screwed up films in Catergory III coming out(things like Untold Story, Red To Kill, Ebola Syndrome).
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 28 February 2014 01:19 (ten years ago) link
Dream Home!
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 28 February 2014 01:52 (ten years ago) link
I saw a trailer today for Rigor Mortis, something like a Chinese vampire movie (though tbh I couldn't quite follow everything in the trailer)...looks kinda promising?
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 28 February 2014 02:23 (ten years ago) link
yes, a true goeng-si movie. and the credentials are good. i'm very excited.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 28 February 2014 02:39 (ten years ago) link
Dream home is fucking fantastic
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Friday, 28 February 2014 03:51 (ten years ago) link
I think Dream Home is one of the ones I heard about recently. I'll put it on the checklist.
The trailer and reviews for Rigor Mortis don't look promising to me. Looks like there might be too much cgi again. They say the film has a dedication to two of the dead stars of Mr Vampire and has several actors from it but if this really is supposed to be a tribute, why take out the slapstick (cant remember if the trailer had any martial arts either)? To be honest, I don't think Mr Vampire is as good as a lot of those other supernatural martial arts films. It's really weird that the prank vampire at the start looks totally convincing but the real vampire at the end looks as if he is supposed to be fake, like some guy just wearing a mask. One of the laziest makeup jobs I've ever seen, I wonder I they were on so tight a dealine and had no eye makeup to make it look less like a mask.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 28 February 2014 23:28 (ten years ago) link
Mr. Vampire is one of my favorite movies, so i think i might disagree with you there.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 1 March 2014 00:05 (ten years ago) link
Could you wax lyrical about it for me? I'm interested.
I always thought Spooky Encounters was much better. The movements/choreography of the vampire/corpse are amazing. It has one of the best laugh out loud endings I've ever seen. I just wish it had more horror stuff and didn't go for the long magic battle. I think the start of both Spooky Encounters and Mr Vampire promise more horror than they end up delivering. The chandelier scene at the start of Spooky Encounters 2 is classic.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 March 2014 00:24 (ten years ago) link
The Mr. Vampire, Spooky Encounters, and ACGS series are blessedly true to their own cultural roots, and it's strange to me that you expect these movies to deliver Western-style horror. There's no shortage of HK films that draw/crib from the Western horror-film canon. The best of them are able to infuse a distinctly Eastern sensibility (The Imp, Bewitched/The Boxer's Omen, Hex, Killer Snakes, Devil Fetus, Seeding of a Ghost- to name a few favorites) that keeps them from being merely derivative. So why not just enjoy the purity of these series?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 1 March 2014 13:35 (ten years ago) link
Admittedly, the most entertaining IMO HK movies come from the random collision of Eastern mysticism and mimicry of Western blockbusters. Like the Terminator-styled precinct rampage in Evil Cat, and the HK-styled retelling of The Witches of Eastwick in An Erotic Ghost Story.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 1 March 2014 13:50 (ten years ago) link
I'm not complaining about eastern or western styles of horror. Mr Vampire and Spooky Encounters both get less and less dark at the showdown even if they are still supernatural, regardless of regional styles. They lose the macabre edge of the end. The openings of both films seem to suggest more macabre spookery than is delivered for the remaining time.
Boxers Omen and Devil Fetus both have macabre showdowns.
I haven't seen Devil Fetus yet(I seen youtube clips) and few of those others. Never heard of Hex.
I read a lot about Hong Kong films stealing music from western films and parodying parts of other famous films.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 March 2014 20:30 (ten years ago) link
I am giving In Fear a shot tonight, a low budget British horror movie that has garnered rave reviews. It looks very promising from the reviews and has a 100% rotten tomato rating for what that is worth.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Saturday, 1 March 2014 20:42 (ten years ago) link
Finally watched Monsters on Netflix and can't believe anyone enjoyed that POS melodrama.
― bi-polar uncle (its OK-he's dead) (Phil D.), Monday, 3 March 2014 13:43 (ten years ago) link
Ty damo suzuki's parrot - saw trailers for In Fear just before Xmas but since forgot what it was called and have been fruitlessly googling 'British horror 2013' or variations thereof for the past couple of weeks. Report back pls!
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 3 March 2014 14:50 (ten years ago) link
It isn't very good I'm afraid, they run out of ideas after the first 40 minutes and as much as they pile on the creepy atmospherics it isn't very scary or convincing, even if it was a film student effort I would consider it below par. That Scottish kid from Agents Of Shield is in it.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Monday, 3 March 2014 17:49 (ten years ago) link
the problem with "monsters" is a surprising lack of uh monsters
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 3 March 2014 18:07 (ten years ago) link
^^^ this
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 3 March 2014 18:19 (ten years ago) link
Well there's that, but there's
- Starting your movie with three screens of text that have to do all the setup. Some movies can do this, some can't, this one should've found a way to cover the infodump in dialogue. It seems too much like setting up an improv class scene: "Here's your scenario - there's a crashed space probe that brought aliens from space to the US/Mexico border region, and GO."
- Having one of those screens of text have a grammatical error. ("US and Mexican military" instead of "militaries.")
- Lead actor was a charisma vacuum on a level with the guy in Birdemic.
- Lead actress has giant rock on finger, doesn't want to get on phone with fiance, WILL SHE STILL BE ENGAGED AT END OF MOVIE WHO KNOWS AM I RIGHT?
- Charisma vacuum hits incessantly on his employer's daughter, who he knows is engaged, can't get invited into her hotel room, goes out drinking all night. Cut to charisma vacuum waking up in bed next to a woman whose face we can't see -- IS IT LEAD ACTRESS? IT ISN'T! BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT SHYAMALAN TWIST COMING!!!
- "A photo of a child killed by an alien gets me $50,000. [ed.- shyeah, RIGHT.] A photo of a happy child gets me nothing." WILL HE BE FORCED TO CONFRONT HIS WARPED VALUE SYSTEM? WHO KNOWS, STAY TUNED!!!
Just ham-handed nonsense in nearly every scene. The only thing I liked was the official at the ferry dock who was all "Sucks to be you, that'll be $5,000 please."
― bi-polar uncle (its OK-he's dead) (Phil D.), Monday, 3 March 2014 19:02 (ten years ago) link
huh I guess I liked its melodrama over most movies', let alone horror movies' (which Monsters, ironically, is not) total lack o' drama.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 March 2014 19:06 (ten years ago) link
the monsters were the best thing about the movie hence my annoyance that they were barely in it
they could have at least eaten skip la doo or whatever that actor's name is to make up for all that wandering around
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 3 March 2014 19:15 (ten years ago) link
Has that movie gotten the Rifftrax treatment yet? It nearly outdoes Manos for aimless wandering. (THRILL TO THE OUTBOARD MOTOR REPAIR SCENE!)
― bi-polar uncle (its OK-he's dead) (Phil D.), Monday, 3 March 2014 19:16 (ten years ago) link
i dont really get how you can feel like a genre based on people avoiding getting killed is generally drama free.
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 3 March 2014 19:18 (ten years ago) link
I dunno, I love horror, but "who will survive?" isn't enough to hold my attention in more than the most rote way. Start throwing "how" and "why" in there and yeah, things get more interesting. But how and why is not always horror's strongest suit (or point).
Man, there's a bit in the new Liam Neeson movie where the bad guy, after the massively implausible/impossible scheme is revealed, declares "it was easy!" My wife and I had a blast with that line, like the filmmakers just did not give a fuck about the "how" part.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 March 2014 19:26 (ten years ago) link
lol phil otm, definitely had manos-levels of aimlessness
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 4 March 2014 01:44 (ten years ago) link
Oh, come on now.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 4 March 2014 01:51 (ten years ago) link
sorry dude but that shit was BOOOOOOOOORING
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 4 March 2014 01:58 (ten years ago) link
and pointless
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 4 March 2014 01:59 (ten years ago) link
I ain't afraid of no boring.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 4 March 2014 02:00 (ten years ago) link
it felt really mumblecore iirc
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Tuesday, 4 March 2014 04:38 (ten years ago) link
yeah
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 4 March 2014 04:41 (ten years ago) link
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Thursday, February 27, 2014 7:51 PM (5 days ago)
― Danity Faxath (contenderizer), Tuesday, 4 March 2014 08:06 (ten years ago) link
just finally got around to watching the american remake of shutter and wow, i think it takes the title for worst remake i have ever ever seen
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 10 March 2014 20:27 (ten years ago) link
Maybe if The Fog didn't exist.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 11 March 2014 00:08 (ten years ago) link
Just watched In Fear, not bad at all!
― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Tuesday, 18 March 2014 23:19 (ten years ago) link
How do you defend the last hour of that movie Chap? It is terrible.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 23:23 (ten years ago) link
What after matey turns up in the back seat? The tension definitely drops after that point, but it remains unsettling. I thought his performance was great. I like how it's not really explained fully what's going on.
― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Tuesday, 18 March 2014 23:36 (ten years ago) link
Come off it, the back seat guy is a dreadfully conceived villian and as for the finale .. oh words cannot express how shit that is.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 23:47 (ten years ago) link
Agree to disagree. Wasn't mad keen on the denouement, everything up to that point was fine.
― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Wednesday, 19 March 2014 00:10 (ten years ago) link
Children of Sorrow. Slow-burn found-footage autopsy of a desert death cult that coceals a character study of pure evil. Didn't love it, and was frustrated by how often the simple story loses focus, but i think it's still well worth seeing for Bill Oberst, Jr.'s ferocious star turn as the cult leader. Should be interesting to compare this one, the work of new director Jourdan McCloure, with Ti West's forthcoming FF Jonestown riff, The Sacrament.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 19 March 2014 12:53 (ten years ago) link
I have heard almost nothing good about The Sacrament.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 19 March 2014 13:13 (ten years ago) link
he certainly has his fans. i'm not really one of them. i'll see it for Seimetz, Swanberg, Bowen, Reeder, etc.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 19 March 2014 13:47 (ten years ago) link
make that Sheil. don't know where i got Reeder. i always enjoy West's casts.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 19 March 2014 13:48 (ten years ago) link
(glowingly) positive review here: http://movierehab.com/sacrament-movie-review/
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 19 March 2014 13:52 (ten years ago) link
Anyone seen We Are What We Are or Contracted? Both just appeared on Netflix.
― Darin, Wednesday, 19 March 2014 17:50 (ten years ago) link
i thought Contracted was terrible. the director has something to say, but no idea how to say it. characters and situations are also totally unbelievable. the WAWWA remake is worth watching. an interesting companion piece to the original. very Americanized, though the techniques and themes are true to the Mexican original.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 19 March 2014 18:25 (ten years ago) link
Cool - thanks!
BTW, someone on Facebook just shared this little two-minute horror short:
http://vimeo.com/82920243
It scarred the crap out of me!
― Darin, Wednesday, 19 March 2014 18:35 (ten years ago) link
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-feminist-power-of-female-ghostsworth a glance
― We hugged with no names exchanged (forksclovetofu), Friday, 21 March 2014 20:43 (nine years ago) link
A FIELD IN ENGLAND: I still don't know exactly what was happening in a few parts but I liked it; it had some really beautiful sequences, great music and impressive techniques. I was lukewarm on Kill List and his overly straightforward ABC segment but I'm more enthusiastic about the potential of Wheatley now.
UNDER THE SKIN: I know this book/film has two threads but I'll put it here. I saw this film in the same location as the early parts of the film and that was quite strange. I think Glasgow people nervously half expect to see themselves in the film. Even though I knew I shouldn't set my expectations too high, I was slightly underwhelmed because some people built this film up as an eternal mighty masterpiece. Although I wouldn't urge people to see it, it is a good strange atmospheric film with some really striking moments.
ANTICHRIST: I'm amazed this film was from 5 years ago, it feels like much less. I'm finding myself lured to things I wasn't interested in at the time they came out but start to really desire in a change of mood. I have no problem with extreme violence but it puts me off when I hear about endurance test style violence, which makes me wince and squirm and that tends to be closer to annoying than harrowing (like somebody pinging your ear and fingering your belly). Maybe loads of horror fans really do get turned on by violence because drawn out scenes that somehow bore, annoy and wincify me would make sense in that light. I think the violence in this film was exaggerated by the media. I really liked this, especially in the aesthetics but the level of craziness of the woman escalating that much seems like too much of a jump for me; I know she had horrendous grief but it didn't really account for how extreme it goes, am I missing something? I'm sure there is lots of discussion online and probably on this forum but I'm not sure I can be bothered.
These 3 films above are making me increasingly of the opinion that a lot of the best films don't entirely add up /make a coherent whole. For me, a film being a unique and interesting experience is the most precious and rare thing. It's amazing how much I swing so far in and out of enthusiasm about films. I've seen a lot of really stimulating stuff recently and it's hard to see why I was so unenthusiastic a few months ago. Maybe I used to be too intent in getting certain types of films.
Anyone else see that French film Livid from a few years ago? Pretty decent, some were saying it was a bit like a new Jean Rollin film but there were several computer and sound effects that significantly spoiled the whole thing. I hope the director goes on to better things because I liked the general approach of the film.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 23 March 2014 01:49 (nine years ago) link
The directors of Livide Bustillo & Maury also made Inside. I definitely have both eyes on their next project, Among the Living.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 23 March 2014 04:24 (nine years ago) link
^^ high expectations for 'among the living' too. and this movie called 'starry eyes' seems promising from what i read.
speaking of cults, 'faults' seems to be something along the lines of 'sound of my voice' or 'mmmm'. might be of interest.
loved 'a field in england'. still, i'm something of a wheatley stan - didn't care much for his 'ABC's' short and never saw 'down terrace' tho. he already proved he knew how to tell a story on 'kill list' and 'sightseers', 'a field in england' shows he can deal in more abstract waters with impressive results. he manages to pull some great performances from his casts as well.
― rusty_allen, Monday, 24 March 2014 00:52 (nine years ago) link
I finally saw Big Bad Wolves...I think I wasn't in the right mood for it? like it wasn't really that much of a twist. idk, I was bummed, I'd been looking forward to it.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 24 March 2014 03:03 (nine years ago) link
I continue to find those guys really overrated
― Simon H., Monday, 24 March 2014 03:16 (nine years ago) link
tonally it kinda bothered me too
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 24 March 2014 03:37 (nine years ago) link
BBW's brilliance isn't in the delivery of big plot twists, but in the utter unease generated by the skilled juggling of deadly serious and darkly comic scenes. Even if you thought the plot predictable, you can't tell me that you were able to anticipate the relentless tonal shifts. I thought they made for an exceptionally tense and entertaining watch.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 March 2014 03:42 (nine years ago) link
But i don't think Simon and i have agreed even once in this thread. So i am not shocked.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 March 2014 03:43 (nine years ago) link
fwiw I love Inside so we agree on that probably?
― Simon H., Monday, 24 March 2014 03:47 (nine years ago) link
I found the folksy levity during the torture irritating, all that shit with the grandfather etc... I get the juxtaposition etc but it's not really new? it just felt like padding to me
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 24 March 2014 03:49 (nine years ago) link
I don't know how Livide slipped by me, can't wait to watch it!!! Especially since the last horror movie I watched was The Returned. It started out with a great idea, but then they made the love story the central plot with no horror. I wanted a zombie outbreak at the end.
― JacobSanders, Monday, 24 March 2014 03:54 (nine years ago) link
We're apparently bound to disagree on this one, VG? The tonal shifts kept me on edge and felt fully functional. It was one of the more effective uses i've seen for this particular dramatic device. As for the grandfather,, maybe i'm more forgiving because I've known Israelis my whole life and, yeah, they're just like that.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 March 2014 04:04 (nine years ago) link
The line must be drawn here, etc
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 24 March 2014 04:06 (nine years ago) link
Am I supposed to know what you mean by that? Because I really do not. Not an inkling.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 March 2014 04:10 (nine years ago) link
re: tonal shifts + torture; The Loved Ones did it better.
― Simon H., Monday, 24 March 2014 04:13 (nine years ago) link
xpost forget it. picard line from a star trek movie, my materialis wasted itt ;)
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 24 March 2014 04:15 (nine years ago) link
Never got into the Star Wars.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 March 2014 04:20 (nine years ago) link
The Loved Ones has not held up all that well. Diminishing returns with each re-viewing. I suspect my admiration for BBW will only deep with time and familiarity.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Monday, 24 March 2014 04:22 (nine years ago) link
*deepen
t's possible I would like BBW better had I not seen Rabies.
― Simon H., Monday, 24 March 2014 05:04 (nine years ago) link
Was decidedly nonplussed with "the lived ones"
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 24 March 2014 07:12 (nine years ago) link
Loved ones
Going to sleep, but just watched you're next and need to unravel my thoughts on it tomorrow
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 24 March 2014 07:13 (nine years ago) link
Was disappointed in that one after a bunch a friends talked it up
― Darin, Monday, 24 March 2014 14:04 (nine years ago) link
Easily my favourite moment in Livide was when the girl walks through the garden along with some really enchanting guitar sounds at that brief moment. It stuck out in my memory. It's funny that often the best moments in horror films are just people walking around places (Lynch and Argento in particular) It had a lot of good things but the animal sound effects for the scary people sounded like cheap videogame stuff. There is also too much of that jerky editing of movements to make someone look twisted/fucked up, the sort they used to use in nu-metal era music videos, maybe even that Christina Aguilera video. If it weren't for a few ill advised effects it would have been much better. It's really annoying how many good films are spoiled by special effects scenes that could easily been avoided.
The 13 Assassins bull scene was a great idea and obviously they couldn't have done it without cgi but they really should have left it out because it just looked far too fake.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 March 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
the most illuminating thing for me abt you're next is watching the special features making of (yeah i know) and having a bunch of the involved dudes talk about how funny it was intended to be and how they were trying to revamp the home invasion thing, and thinking that they really failed on both accounts. I didn't dislike the movie, but there was a def feel that they were trying to do something and missed the mark pretty completely, esp knowing what that something was. also the twist was a no brainer through the entire movie. i think wingard is an interesting dude, and i do like pop skull for what it is, but yeah, a little too inside his own head about how surprising he thinks this movie was.
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 24 March 2014 17:36 (nine years ago) link
yeah I did an interview with Simon Barrett before you're next came out and everything he said he was trying to do with it, comedy-wise, made me really psyched to see it...and then I watched it and I was like, okay wtf happened
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 24 March 2014 17:39 (nine years ago) link
I liked You're Next, but wow, has it faded from my mind. I don't remember shit about it now. Except how awesome Joe Swanberg's character was.
― The Thnig, Monday, 24 March 2014 17:49 (nine years ago) link
I was surprised youre next didnt do well at the box office but then again it makes sense, lionsgate originally planned for a Halloween release when they acquired and I think releasing it when they did was a bit of a mistake.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Monday, 24 March 2014 17:55 (nine years ago) link
I liked Livide although it was a little hard to follow near the end. I enjoyed how dark much of the film was and like Inside I was actually scared and didn't know what was coming. I didn't mind the jerking movements since the girl was broken. I'm excited to see what they do next.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 26 March 2014 07:31 (nine years ago) link
The thing i liked best about You're Next, is that it continued the trend of Ti West as supporting actor in mediocre independent films. Not sure if anyones seen the trailer for his next film, about the Jonestown style cult, but it looks kind of interesting.
― JohnSock, Wednesday, 26 March 2014 15:19 (nine years ago) link
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/03/27/phantasm-5-ravager-trailer-exclusive/
― how's life, Thursday, 27 March 2014 16:36 (nine years ago) link
http://mashable.com/2014/03/27/oculus-rift-facebook-horror-movie-social-media/#:eyJzIjoiZiIsImkiOiJfZTk1bWF5OWh3bXozM3BrdHprM2JydDJvd2RfIn0
― how's life, Thursday, 27 March 2014 19:39 (nine years ago) link
I seen Dream Home a few days ago and it was okay; some of it really nasty.
Not really a horror film but this 8min video is great...http://vimeo.com/83390470
Allison Schulnik done some Grizzly Bear videos, an unofficial Scott Walker video and she's a great painter. I think she's one of the best artists alive today. I really wish there was more opportunities for more expressive animation like this.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 28 March 2014 22:32 (nine years ago) link
Insidious 2 is a big ol waste of time, fyi
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Friday, 4 April 2014 06:09 (nine years ago) link
Watched that and the conjuring recently and man how did James wan remember which ghost hunters help tormented family haunted by serial killers movie he was working on - at least Patrick Wilson switched roles.
― da croupier, Friday, 4 April 2014 06:17 (nine years ago) link
I am watching The Borderlands tonight, it looks pretty solid from the reviews. It's a found footage account of some Vatican paranormal team sent to investigate a haunted West Country church.
― xelab, Saturday, 5 April 2014 14:07 (nine years ago) link
I would thoroughly recommend The Borderlands, definitely the best British horror movie I have seen in a long time.
― xelab, Saturday, 5 April 2014 22:56 (nine years ago) link
Afflicted is decent as well, it is a fucking Canadian found footage vampire film. As appalling as that sounds it actually is a very decent low budget horror movie.
― xelab, Tuesday, 8 April 2014 20:51 (nine years ago) link
Just watched 100 Bloody Acres, Aussie comedy horror starring Damon Herriman, the bumbling nazi buddy from Justified, and I absolutely loved it.
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Thursday, 10 April 2014 05:22 (nine years ago) link
Like srsly watch this immediately if you want to see Wolf Creek channelled through the coen brothers with one foot in blood simple and the other in raising Arizona.
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Thursday, 10 April 2014 05:38 (nine years ago) link
It isn't bad at all is 100 bloody acres, it reminded me of early PJ with all the bawdy humour and severed limbs etc.
― xelab, Thursday, 10 April 2014 22:16 (nine years ago) link
On the other hand, "all the boys love Mandy lane" is complete fucking dreck
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Friday, 11 April 2014 04:49 (nine years ago) link
^^ cosign the hate for this. tries so desperately to convey some sort of hazy atmosphere ('virgins suicides' much?) but fails completely.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 11 April 2014 11:13 (nine years ago) link
Saw that about 5 years back at a fastival. I find it amusing how in the meantime it's developed a mystique by not being released; it's not good. Levine is such a hack.
― Simon H., Friday, 11 April 2014 12:01 (nine years ago) link
Just watched Sokurov's Faust. It has really nice visual effects and some great images but I didn't care for the constant rambling talk and Constance of characters stumbling around, weakly struggling against each other.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 11 April 2014 23:29 (nine years ago) link
By Sean O'Neal Apr 15, 2014 1:35 PMAs teased by that final, surprise shot of a hand bursting out to sign an agreement relinquishing all of Warner Bros.’ financial rights, Friday The 13th is set to rise again, again, at Paramount, with a reboot of the reboot of the long-running franchise last rebooted in 2009. Hoping to reboot the story of Jason Vorhees for a newer, younger generation of five years later, the studio is reportedly in talks with director David Bruckner, whose “Amateur Night” segment was a standout in the horror anthology movie V/H/S. As The Wrap suggests, Bruckner’s involvement could mean producers are interested in employing a found-footage approach to Friday The 13th, as “found footage” is among the few remaining gimmicks yet to be applied to a franchise that’s already employed 3-D multiple times, had crossovers with other horror movies, and sent its character to New York, Hell, and outer space. The remaining options would therefore be found footage or sending Jason to “Da Hood.”Like the 2009 reboot of Friday The 13th, the new Friday The 13th reboot will also be produced through Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes, where even the most recent of horror movie reboots are soon swallowed by the wind-whipped sands of time. While most of the details are still being decided, the release date has long been set for Friday, March 13, 2015, which is, frankly, the only detail that has ever mattered to Paramount.
Like the 2009 reboot of Friday The 13th, the new Friday The 13th reboot will also be produced through Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes, where even the most recent of horror movie reboots are soon swallowed by the wind-whipped sands of time. While most of the details are still being decided, the release date has long been set for Friday, March 13, 2015, which is, frankly, the only detail that has ever mattered to Paramount.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 15 April 2014 19:40 (nine years ago) link
photocopy of a photocopy XXIV: the recopying
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 19:45 (nine years ago) link
I've seen an animated gif several times of a film that I don't recognise. It looks quite slick and modern with production values that suggest it isn't totally obscure. It has a woman unknowingly lying in bed next to a scary looking sharp toothed guy who is facing the camera. Does this ring any bells?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 21 April 2014 02:39 (nine years ago) link
sounds like the last few secs of this short?http://vimeo.com/82920243
― original bgm, Monday, 21 April 2014 02:58 (nine years ago) link
Hey, heads up, H6: diary of a serial killer/assassin, despite some positive reviews is hot fucking garbage and a waste of time
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 21 April 2014 03:05 (nine years ago) link
Xp to Robert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z6xGU2_g9s
― circa1916, Monday, 21 April 2014 03:12 (nine years ago) link
That "Lights Out" short was really good. Sweaty palms towards the end.
― jmm, Monday, 21 April 2014 03:18 (nine years ago) link
Just watched "Lights Out" and "Bedfellows." So basically they're both just variants of the stare at the screen and then Regan from the Exorcist pops up gag? "Lights Out" was done really well, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 21 April 2014 12:07 (nine years ago) link
Lights Out was OK, but the payoff wasn't up to the build.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Monday, 21 April 2014 12:28 (nine years ago) link
I'm assuming Circa1916 linked to "Bedfellows", but for some reason linked videos on this forum don't show up on my kindle. I looked for it on vimeo and it is indeed the film I was looking for. I think the rock music in the credits was a bad idea and with a few changes it could have been a lot scarier.
Thanks.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 21 April 2014 12:35 (nine years ago) link
so i also saw the conjuring and while it was way, way better than insidious 2 (low bar there) and had some nice moves in it, theres just this weird patina of unbelievableness to the whole thing that i cant really put my finger on. and i am a huge suspension of disbelief type wrt to horror, as has come up many times on this thread, but it sorta felt like the writers/director/actors all couldnt get past their skepticism abt psychic detectives or whatever even while the movie was being filmes, and it really seemed to show through, especially for the last 15-20 minutes somehow.
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 21 April 2014 15:24 (nine years ago) link
Or maybe they just realized they had made a feature length version of Friday the 13th the Series and fell into a deep funk.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 21 April 2014 16:27 (nine years ago) link
the original "compact of doom" episode from Friday the 13th: The Series was kind of good
― Wahaca Flocka Flame (DJP), Monday, 21 April 2014 17:01 (nine years ago) link
Bedfellows was a hundred times scarier as a screen shot, to the point where it still creeps me out now.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 21 April 2014 17:02 (nine years ago) link
I feel that way about the animated gif
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 21 April 2014 17:49 (nine years ago) link
Has anyone seen The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears? It's the follow-up from the directors of Amer and one of the only good segments in the mostly-shit The ABCs of Death, but it doesn't seem to have gotten much of a US release, if any at all. There's no DVD or stream yet, either...
― CAROUSEL! CAROUSEL! (Telephone thing), Monday, 21 April 2014 18:24 (nine years ago) link
I watched it in a bit of a sleepy haze, but I would rank it significantly lower than Amer.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Monday, 21 April 2014 18:26 (nine years ago) link
I've heard good things from film buddies, but they're more art film types than horror nerds.
― emil.y, Monday, 21 April 2014 18:35 (nine years ago) link
been trying to catch up on recent stuff...
A Field in England (2013, Ben Wheatley)Battlefield deserters in search of a pint get dragooned by an alchemist who may possess magical powers. (Great Britain) A strange, hypnotic and stunningly beautiful slice of magic-realist historical psychedelia. Funny, baffling, wonderfully well-written & entirely satisfying. Instant favorite.
Frankenstein's Army (2013, Richard Raaphorst)Found-footage horror about a WWII-era Soviet reconnaisance unit that falls afoul of the mad doctor's madder descendant. Kind of loved this. Obviously made on a meager budget and prizing lunatic monter mayhem above all else, it never lets practical limitations get in the way of unhinged imagination. A blast.
Moebius (2013, Ki-duk Kim)Said to be wordless, abstract & quite violent (S. Korea). Again, that description right on the money. It's hard for me to rate this one. It's a brave and gorgeous film, exquisitely well crafted and obviously the product of a singular and deeply personal cinematic vision. On the other hand, it's relentlessly unpleasant and almost absurdly on-the-nose. Admirable in its way and obviously bound for infamy, but I can't say I enjoyed it much.
Oculus (2013, Mike Flanagan)Supernatural thriller about a haunted mirror. Not a bad movie by any means, but a bit bland and underwhelming. I quite enjoyed the first hour or so, but as the mysteries resolved themseves, my interest dissipated. Dull conclusion, too.
Open Grave (2013, Gonzalo López-Gallego)Existential mystery about a man who wakes up in a pit of human bodies without any memory of his identity or past. Easily spoiled, so I'll just say it's a fairly clever and suspenseful variation on a well-worn horror theme. I can see why many praised this film, but it didn't do much for me.
Rigor Mortis (2013, Juno Mak)Update of the 80s "Mr. Vampire" series (Hong Kong). Though I've never seen any of the films to which it pays tribute, I loved every minute of this action-packed supernatural drama. Atmospheric cinematography and striking special effects are certainly welcome, but it's the phenomenal ensemble cast and emotionally resonant storytelling that really stand out. Entirely satisfying, if a bit darker than necessary.
Under the Skin (2013, Jonathan Glazer)Alien in human guise seduces hitchhikers in Scotland, said to be quite abstract (UK). WONDERFUL MOVIE! In the running for the best I've seen this year. Extremely eerie and at times disturbing, often as a product of its coldly dispassionate, successfully alien tone. Great soundtrack, too.
Adam Chaplin (2012, Emanuele De Santi)Italian "bloodiest movie ever", said to be in the vein of Rikki-Oh (prod. by Necrostorm). A stupendously violent demon-as-superhero revenge story, simple as can be, but equipped with memorable villains, knockout gore effects, and go-for-broke pacing. Bad by any conventional measure, but distinctive, inventive and never less than entertaining. Suprisingly decent production values for such a low-budget effort, too.
Byzantium (2012, Neil Jordan)Said to be a non-traditional vampire tale featuring two blood-sucking sisters holed up in a small Irish town. A character-driven movie with a rich sense of place, more gothic drama than horror. Could be accused of a romantic sentimentality not uncommon to Jordan's films, but strong performances and melancholy atmosphere kept me engaged. Not a great movie, perhaps, but one I enjoyed a great deal.
Stitches (2012, Connor McMahon)Ghost clown horror comedy, going in w/ low expectations. Though it's quite gory, Stitches puts the comedy first at every turn. On that level, it easily outclasses most films of its ilk. Helped by a charming cast, good character & gag writing and some surprisingly inventive camerawork. Too facile to sustain interest all the way through, but consistently better than it has to be.
Taeter City (2012, Giulio De Santi)Sci-fi gore epic set in a dystopian future metropolis (prod. by Necrostorm). Superficially quite similar to Adam Chaplin, but nowhere near as successful. The pacing is more breakneck still and the lovingly depicted gore becomes nearly constant, but the genre context switches from spooky demonic horror to blackly comic dystopian sci-fi. Pointless, incoherent and numbingly repetitive.
Thanatomorphose (2012, Éric Falardeau)Canadian, a woman rots away from within (expect bleak, slow, gruesome). And yeah: bleak, slow, gruesome. Not much more than that. To be commended for making the most of obviously limited resources, as it features one location and, for the most part, one actor. Still oppressively dull and unpleasant, undone by poor performances, murky lighting and heavy-handed thematic underlining. Great gore effects, though...
Wither (2012, Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wiklund)"The Swedish Evil Dead". An attractive group of young stranded at a cabin in the woods endure standard zombie flick trial-by-trauma. Though well-executed, suspenseful and cinematically "professional", I found this an almost entirely empty viewing experience. No ideas or personality, just a competent handling of overly familiar material.
Masks (2011, Andreas Marschall)Giallo homage about a girl enrolled in a mysterious acting school (Germany). A nice surprise after the promising but lacklustre Tears of Kali. Owes a huge and undisguised debt to Suspiria, with enjoyably expressionistic visuals and a wonderful layering of sound & music. Atmospheric, oddly romantic and, like Marschall's earlier film, based around some novel ideas & interests.
The Road (2011, Yam Laranas)A lonely stretch of road connects three independent stories with shared characters (Phillipines). An ambitious and involving supernatural mystery spanning three decades, concerning the persistence of past in present. The conclusion comes as no suprise, but I suspect the filmmakers were more interested in tragic resonance than pulling a fast one on the audience. Liked the way each story layer deepened the last.
Tomie: Unlimited (2011, Noboru Iguchi)Reboot of the long-running ghost girl franchise (Japan). Wallows in deliberate cheese & low-budget cruddiness, tries for Hausu-style psychotronic oddity & occasionally succeeds. Lacks that film's visual flair and sugar-buzzed energy. Still quite entertaining.
Tormented (aka "Rabbit Horror") (2011, Takashi Shimizu)Supernatural mystery (Japan), linked companion piece to Shock Labyrinth. Enjoyable, if overly melodramic in the spirit of its predecessor. Chris Doyle's cinematography & some wonderfully weird, rabbit-themed pop surrrealism help elevate this installment a notch above Shock Labyrinth.
Visible Secret (2011, Ann Hui)The budding relationship between two young people is complicated by her ability to see ghosts (Hong Kong). Much more digressive and zany than I anticipated, and stressing the romantic and comedic aspects of the story over its horror trappings. Took me a while to orient myself, but once I got the hang of the film's loopy rhythms, I enjoyed it well enough.
The Last Circus (aka "Balada Triste de Trompeta") (2010, Álex de la Iglesia)Two deranged clowns compete for the affections of a beautiful trapeze artist (comingling of drama, comedy & horror). There's something rather obvious about de la Iglesia's self-indulgent weirdness, and he can't tell a story to save his life, but I enjoyed this film's colorful oddity and constant tonal shifts enough to keep me on board all the way through.
Shock Labyrinth (2009, Takashi Shimizu)Supernatural mystery, linked companion piece to Tormented (Japan). Slick, commercial and fairly ambitious, but the convoluted narrative is a good deal less interesting than the filmmakers seems to think. And too bathetic by half. Still "watchable", and I did enjoy the old-fashioned, haunted-house atmosphere.
Sick Nurses (2009, Piraphan Laoyont and Thodsapol Siriwiwat)A vengeful ghost pursues a philandering doctor and his staff of comely young nurses (Thailand). Truly terrible but somehow charming in its screwball ineptitude and go-for-broke nuttiness. I admit the possibility that my opinion may have been swayed by the near-constant (though quaintly chaste) cheesecake parade. Perfect junk food cinema.
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (2009, Yoshihiro Nishimura and Naoyuki Tomomatsu)Transfer-student vampire and spare-parts vixen compete for the affections of a timid young man (Japan). Utter garbage. Boorish, witless pandering of the saddest sort.
Dorothy Mills (2008, Agnès Merlet)Mystery thriller about a possibly possessed girl, looks great. Wound up a big disappointment. Sleepy, low-intensity gothic mystery about a seemingly possessed girl and a small island town's dark secrets. Initially interesting in that it could be described as an inverted version of The Wicker Man, but descends quickly into soppy melodrama. No pulse, no style, might as well have been a TV movie.
Gutterballs (2008, Ryan Nicholson)Ugly, irritating bullshit.
Midnight Ballad for Ghost Theater (2006, Gye-soo Jeon)Korean fantasy about a young girl's encounter with the ghostly inhabitants of a decrepit movie theater. A bit overlong and heavy on both gratingly wacky spirit hijinks and at borderline maudlin sentimentality, this film's inventiveness and good cheer manage to see it through. Memorable songs, atmospheric sets and an appealing cast certainly don't hurt.
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 05:52 (nine years ago) link
Contenderizer- I've been enjoying your arguments and contributions to many threads recently, so much so I can almost forgive you for not liking Tideland. Keep it up.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 13:00 (nine years ago) link
xpost But what did you watch the next night?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 13:13 (nine years ago) link
That is a good and useful list.
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 14:29 (nine years ago) link
hi dere contenderizer!
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 15:23 (nine years ago) link
got plague town coming tomorrow, i predict it will be great or crap, thats def what the imdb reviews seem to suggest
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 15:25 (nine years ago) link
this just in - imdb reviews for horror movies are 100% useless discuss
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 15:26 (nine years ago) link
i mean, not that they are great across the board on films in general, but i pretty much just mentally add 2 points to anything in the horror genre since that site is clearly full of would be movie critic horror haters
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 15:27 (nine years ago) link
re: Gutterballs, "he made it a parody so he could make the hateful scumbag movie he wanted to make."
ladies and gentlefolk, i give you Ryan Nicholson's latest, Dead Nude Girls. cumming soon.
have we talked about Dustin Mills? Toledo-based, brimming with ideas, enthusiasm, and adorably warped sensibilities. he has enough technical chops to surmount his microscopic budgets, and an impressively deep bag of tricks. started strong, keeps improving. currently filming Snuffet, an all-puppet snuff film. Kill That Bitch, Night of the Tentacles, The Ballad of Skinless Pete, and esp. Easter Casket all highly recommended. if you can get on his wavelength, you'll be a fan for life. The Puppet Monster Massacre, Zombie A-Hole and Bath Salts Zombies overstay their welcome a bit, but are still enjoyable.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 15:55 (nine years ago) link
I would have thought the opposite. The place is full of Fangoria readers who use the word "masterpiece" for anything that isn't totally useless. There are lots of "WORST MOVIE EVAR!" reviews but they don't really overwhelm the place. I don't see many elitists there unless you look at films squarely in arthouse territory. However, sometimes something like House Of Voices gets a bizarrely low rating (maybe because it was nothing like Martyrs).
I will say in these guys favour that at least they review loads of things that might have been ignored. Sometimes I imagine these are the same people as the metal fans who give loads of reviews even to the smallest bands. But occasionally I will find a horror film with hardly any reviews and not knowing why. It really sucks when I'm looking for reviews of a supposedly canonical book and I can't find even 3 reviews. Some genres of books, films and music somehow just don't have many online reviews.
The film section of Rateyourmusic is impressive sometimes.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:10 (nine years ago) link
or maybe because it's the WORST MOVIE EVAR! (HoV)
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:11 (nine years ago) link
I'm talking about imdb above; just in case of confusion.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:11 (nine years ago) link
i'm talking about House of Voices. a film i LOATHE.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:15 (nine years ago) link
House Of Voices is okay/leaning towards good. I felt about the same about the similar film The Orphanage. More than anything I find it interesting because it was filmed in two languages (I've never heard of anyone doing that in modern times). Laugier also got Simonetti to do the soundtrack but rejected the results. It's a pretty film with a nice ambience but I imagine a lot of people just found it boring and forgettable; so it's difficult to imagine why anyone could actually hate it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:18 (nine years ago) link
Hahaha Hal Jam, I assume you are joking but please explain away if you are serious.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:21 (nine years ago) link
it's such a wasted opportunity. Laughier had an amazing location and a decent story, and he proceeded to do precisely NOTHING with them for a butt-numbing 98 minutes. loathe, not hate.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:22 (nine years ago) link
*Laugier
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:25 (nine years ago) link
Don't you think that boring film/nice setting is a really common thing? Considering how many totally incompetent horror films with nothing going for them, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 16:41 (nine years ago) link
i do not, obviously.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 17:00 (nine years ago) link
loved house of voices. a huge & welcome surprise after the hated martyrs. fite!
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 18:21 (nine years ago) link
Loved Martyrs. Had no idea I was supposed to care about House of Voices.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 18:23 (nine years ago) link
seems to be pretty divisive, with plenty of outraged detractors, though i'm not sure why. relatively subtle gothic mystery. worked for me.
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 18:34 (nine years ago) link
Maybe the two versions of the film significantly differ in quality? Maybe THat's why people differ so much? I saw the English version.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 18:47 (nine years ago) link
Wow this plague town thing is pretty close to unwatchably bad, and that's coming from me, so
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 April 2014 03:54 (nine years ago) link
Actually, fuck it, this is unwatchably bad, I'm throwing in the towel halfway through, which I never do.
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Thursday, 24 April 2014 03:55 (nine years ago) link
^ did this w/ helldriver yesterday (post-2005). dunno why i keep giving nishimura another chance.
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Friday, 25 April 2014 02:49 (nine years ago) link
STAKELAND Frustratingly little of note happens. Why did this film climb the heap when there are so many similar stories?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 27 April 2014 14:44 (nine years ago) link
Oh man I hated that movie.
― carl agatha, Sunday, 27 April 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
I thought it was OK, iirc.
I still think the Indonesian (Phillipino?) cult section of VHS2 was one of the best, scariest and most inventive horror movies of the past several years.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 27 April 2014 18:32 (nine years ago) link
stakeland is terrible (and bad)
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Monday, 28 April 2014 06:24 (nine years ago) link
XpYeah that Evans/Tjahjanto one was insanely brilliant.
― xelab, Monday, 28 April 2014 06:55 (nine years ago) link
Executive Koala (2005, Minoru Kawasaki)Salaryman (who happens to be a furry-style koala bear) becomes enmeshed in dark doings. A real chore. The poker faced absurdity is initially beguiling, but quickly wears thin. Similar to a Troma or Nishimura movie in that it offers little beyond reflexively smirking cruddiness.
13: Game of Death (2006, Chookiat Sakveerakul)Hapless reality show contestant faces bizarre & increasingly dangerous challenges (Thailand). Don't generally care for the dark-thriller-as-horror genre, but 13 had me on the edge of my seat all the way through. Solid performances, gut wrenching tension, and a welcome streak of vicious humor. Recommended, but not one to watch over dinner.
Helldriver (2010, Yoshihiro Nishimura)Yet another kitschy Japanese splatter movie from Sushi Typhoon. I'm beginning to think I must have been about Tokyo Gore Police: Nishimura's work is otherwise abyssmal. Helldriver does manage a few moments of inspired lunacy, but I couldn't even finish the thing. Drek.
Alyce Kills (2011, Jay Lee)Young woman loses her marbles after accidentally killing her best friend. A tightly focused psychological character study in the vein of May and Repulsion, graced, like The Seasoning House, with an unforgettable protagonist. Unfortunately, while Jade Dornfeld is excellent as Alyce, she can't overcome the senseless screenplay. Okay, but best approached w/ low expectations.
The Seasoning House (2012, Paul Hyett)Cat and mouse revenge thriller about a mute girl enslaved in a truly hellish Balkan brothel (UK). An effectively tense and disturbing (if rather repellent) nail-biter held briefly aloft by a remarkable lead performance. Though I'm not inclined to condem The Seasoning House, I can't imagine recommending it to anyone, either. Just not my cup of human trafficking.
Hidden in the Woods (2012, Patricio Valladares)Chilean film about a feral family, said to be quite savage. And savage it is! Unlike many "70's style" retro exploitation flicks, Hidden never succumbs to kitsch or homage. It's a bracingly raw and lurid piece of work, often evoking a particularly dark (modern) fairy tale, but ultimately a bit too satisfied with gleefully crude brutality as an end in itself. Gah, and why so much rape in movies these days?
Big Bad Wolves (2013, Ahron Keshales & Navot Papushado)Rogue cop & grieving father put the screws to a schoolteacher who may be a murderous pedophile (Israel). Wolves is a tight and blackly comic mystery thriller, elevated by vivid characters and sharp cinematography. While successful on its own terms, it left me cold and never quite lived up to its wonderfully dreamlike opening scene.
Miss Zombie (2013, Hiroyuku Tanaka)Japanese drama about a high-functioning zombie employed as a domestic servant. Avoiding horror almost completely, Miss Zombie is a patient, rather mournful film about human cruely and the possibility of something like redemption. Lyrical, slow-paced (but never dull), and ultimately quite moving. A very pleasant surprise in a tired genre.
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Monday, 28 April 2014 07:28 (nine years ago) link
"All Cheerleaders Die" by Lucky McKee ("May," "The Woman") and Chris Sivertson ("The Lost," "I Know Who Killed Me") is a total blast. So much fun.
― Walter Galt, Monday, 28 April 2014 08:31 (nine years ago) link
Anyone seen Thale from maybe two years ago? It sounded interesting.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 28 April 2014 12:28 (nine years ago) link
That's the Norwegian guys discovering the fairy woman? I found it really slow. They work on building a sense of dread, but it seemed more like a fantasy than a horror film.
― Walter Galt, Monday, 28 April 2014 12:47 (nine years ago) link
from contenderizers list, im a huge fan of 13: game of death, didn't much like hidden in the woods, hated helldriver.
i remember liking stakeland quite a bit, but its been a while.
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 28 April 2014 15:11 (nine years ago) link
speaking of films with 13 in the title, and i know ive mentioned it before, but 13 Tzameti is really really worth seeing, but seriously DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER as it is a huge idiotic spoiler for the film. French iirc, but not cut from the same cloth as the french extreme stuff really. tightrope thriller with horror elements, remade as the absolutely terrible "13" with statham and mickey rourke in america which should be avoided entirely
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 28 April 2014 15:15 (nine years ago) link
― Walter Galt, Monday, April 28, 2014 4:31 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Cool, looking forward. I loved loved LOVED The Lost. McKee struck out with The Woman but I'm still into him.
Still really wanna see Thale. Thanks for the reminder.
― Khamma chameleon (Jon Lewis), Monday, 28 April 2014 15:21 (nine years ago) link
huh that is a split decision for sure, mostly love mckee, almost entirely hate sivertsons stuff. mainly this just makes me want to watch the woods and red again.
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 28 April 2014 15:27 (nine years ago) link
yeah, the woods is so good
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Monday, 28 April 2014 15:45 (nine years ago) link
red too, even better perhaps
jjj u did not like The Lost??? The lead psycho's performance, if nothing else...!
― Khamma chameleon (Jon Lewis), Monday, 28 April 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
honestly im trying to remember the lost, my memory is that it was sort of grimy in all the wrong ways for me, although that might just be a jack ketchum thing more than anything else
― Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Monday, 28 April 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
Thx to contenderizer for the Miss Zombie recommendation, that was good.
― Slight damage to cover on top corner (chewed by a kitten) (Craigo Boingo), Monday, 5 May 2014 12:29 (nine years ago) link
Has anybody seen Jack & Diane? I'm not sure if it even belongs in the horror thread, and reviews weren't too kind to it, but the Quay Brothers connection if nothing else makes me want to give it a shot
― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Monday, 5 May 2014 14:35 (nine years ago) link
I guess the new Ti West is available via VOD? I don't have any idea whether that means we'll get it because I never order anything on demand but I'll figure that shit out in this case because Ti West is the business
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/05/01/the-sacrament-ti-west-joe-swanberg/
― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 5 May 2014 14:45 (nine years ago) link
Moebius (2013, Ki-duk Kim)
well, I made it about halfway through this one. found it fairly silly, "almost absurdly on-the-nose" sounds about right. am I missing much if I don't wrap it up?
― original bgm, Monday, 5 May 2014 15:05 (nine years ago) link
My blog-thoughts on Moebius. Short version: Prefered it massively to Pieta, excatly because it's so silly. It does not takes itself seriously. I'm really surprised at contenderizer finding that it is a 'gorgeous film, exquisitely well crafted'. I thought it looked like ugly, cheap digital. However, this once again helped the off-the-cuff-ness of it all. I'd say check the last half.
― Frederik B, Monday, 5 May 2014 15:14 (nine years ago) link
thanks, and yeah, I found it sorta funny too. mostly dad's googling.
― original bgm, Monday, 5 May 2014 15:20 (nine years ago) link
I was massively disappointed by The Sacrament but to discuss why would spoil plot details.
Has anyone seen Proxy? Hearing very good things (my understanding is that it's closer to Repulsion than straight horror)
― Walter Galt, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 09:42 (nine years ago) link
couldnt make it past the first 30 min of executive koala.
― ohhhh lorde 2pac big please mansplain to this sucker (jjjusten), Tuesday, 6 May 2014 21:13 (nine years ago) link
Haven't seen any talk of Plus One on this thread but i thought it was creative and hilarious. I kinda wish they would've taken the concept a little but further but aside from parts of the poor-man's-Dawson's-Creek plotline I enjoyed every bit.
― Fetchboy, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 23:38 (nine years ago) link
Quite liked Magic Magic. Though I'm not really sure if the audience was supposed to know the cause of Temple's mental troubles.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 11 May 2014 00:13 (nine years ago) link
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:26 (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Sunday, 11 May 2014 21:29 (nine years ago) link
I too recommend Borderlands. They take a lot of conventions that could be annoying but worked it into something very good. Pretty creepy with an unsettling finish.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 11 May 2014 21:35 (nine years ago) link
It had some really good claustrophobic scenes. I don't know why more films haven't used claustrophobia more extensively; The Descent was disappointing in that respect, felt like a missed opportunity.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 11 May 2014 23:28 (nine years ago) link
I've always assumed it's simply because claustrophobia is hard to represent on film.
― The Thnig, Monday, 12 May 2014 14:01 (nine years ago) link
I'm not sure what way you are meaning. Tsukamoto's Haze is great for this. Obviously Buried did it.
I just wish Descent had more parts with people stuck in horribly tiny tunnels and get attacked by monsters.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 12 May 2014 15:02 (nine years ago) link
As the resident freak that loved "Rubber" and "The Oregonian" (because that disclaimer might be kind of important here) I really recommend that people give "Escape From Tomorrow" (the rogue Disney violating film) a shot. It's a glorious fantastic mess, and the horrendous awkward humor that people are so irritated by seems to magnify the creepy, and IMO intentionally so.
One of my favorite things I've seen this year. Not kidding. At the same time, I can see why people hate the hell out of it.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 05:54 (nine years ago) link
At the same time, I can see why people hate the hell out of it.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 11:37 (nine years ago) link
is anyone watching penny dreadful?
― just sayin, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 11:41 (nine years ago) link
2nd ep was dope
― just sayin, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 11:51 (nine years ago) link
I'm interested; it doesn't show in UK until next week I think. I thought any potentially big show would be kept closer on the international airing dates. When a thread gets made its just weird when some people are several weeks ahead of the others.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 13:54 (nine years ago) link
Ha Eric! Are you in the hated it camp? I'm always curious when we radically differ on stuff, since I think we have a pretty big taste overlap, esp within the horror stuff.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 14:58 (nine years ago) link
Definitely in the hated it camp. I was going along with it for a little while, but it eventually got so wrapped up in puerile-whiny-dad B.S. If I wanted that, I'd just watch more Judd Apatow thx.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 15:33 (nine years ago) link
been on a kiyoshi kurosawa kick lately. how's his horror stuff outside of pulse and cure? love both myself. I think I'm most interested in checking out his penance tv series next.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 15:34 (nine years ago) link
I've never seen that film and I know I've talked about this several times but it never ceases to amaze me how passionate people's film/tv responses are. There used to be a couple of films I hated when I was a teen insecure and dogmatic about how art/entertainment should be made, but after calming down about that, I can't think of a single film I hate. 93% of films range between annoyed, irritated, many different degrees of boredom but never hate.
I was actually laughing the other day imagining House Of Voices finishing on a cinema, most people saying either "that was boring" or "I actually kinda liked it" and Hal Jam still sitting down looking insane with fury.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 15:45 (nine years ago) link
I'm sure I only hate or love about 5% of the movies I see too.
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 15:48 (nine years ago) link
And then there's that select 0.05% of movies I love and hate equally.
The remaining 7% was for the range of like to love. Very few films I love.
I started the Penny Dreadful thread.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:02 (nine years ago) link
Have you seriously never been betrayed by a movie?
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:11 (nine years ago) link
Maybe, but you need to feel invested before you are betrayed and I am rarely invested in anything. A lot of people feel betrayed because they don't get the type of film they wanted but you can't criticize something for being what it never intended to be (although people constantly do).
However a general feeling of disappointment constantly hangs over films (and a lot of books and comics) for me most of the time in the sense that I always wish the general bar of quality was much higher. I even get furious about that, but not at specific films.
I don't hate Stakeland, I hate the fandom that fawns over it. But these days I'm more curious about how and why people adore things I was bored by.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:33 (nine years ago) link
There's Stakeland fandom? smdh
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:35 (nine years ago) link
Loved Escape From Tomorrow
― Walter Galt, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:37 (nine years ago) link
Stakeland seems to have been greeted very warmly by people who buy horror magazines and frequent the horror blogs.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:42 (nine years ago) link
I HATE people like that!
― Cronk's Not Cronk (Eric H.), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:49 (nine years ago) link
I try to replace my hate for horror, SF, fantasy, superhero fanboys with compassion because I am close enough in species to them that I feel sorry for their life of religiously hyped consumerism, tunnel vision and geeky trivialities because it should be spent pursuing things that evoke the qualities that made them a fan of this stuff in the first place.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 16:57 (nine years ago) link
I tend to find that fandom only problematic when it equates to "all remakes are terrible"/"wolverine would never have done that" sort of protective precious nonsense. If fandom makes you dismiss stuff out of hand, well, you suck imo.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 17:02 (nine years ago) link
cf: prometheus thread
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 17:10 (nine years ago) link
:)
Fandom is a great support structure that enables some great things to happen. For all its flaws, metal fandom is an incredible thing. But fan cultures often tend to be quite decadent and not have enough healthy criticism.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 17:12 (nine years ago) link
Horror and fantasy is in my blood, I feel like it's a large fundamental part of who I am, so I really care about the general health of the genre and it pains me to see people who are some of the biggest fans treat it so poorly.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 17:16 (nine years ago) link
I like horror blogs and have no problems with fandom. I just hated Stakeland.
― carl agatha, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 17:36 (nine years ago) link
I like some horror blogs (I'm a member of one) and magazines but I was just trying to convey the type of fan who loves virtually everything that isn't totally incompetent.
There used to be a great blog devoted to scenery in films, but it seems to have stopped.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 May 2014 18:38 (nine years ago) link
About to watch "Here comes the devil" per aeros emphatic recommendation upthread. Will report back. Streaming netflix, FYI.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Friday, 16 May 2014 03:39 (nine years ago) link
Experiment ruined 20 minutes in by baby, but so far 90% whoa awesome, 10% huh camerawork.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Friday, 16 May 2014 05:06 (nine years ago) link
I'm really surprised at contenderizer finding that it is a 'gorgeous film, exquisitely well crafted'. I thought it looked like ugly, cheap digital. However, this once again helped the off-the-cuff-ness of it all. I'd say check the last half.
― Frederik B, Monday, May 5, 2014 8:14 AM (1 week ago)
i thought it was lovely, sharp, beautifully composed digital, the latter not at all compromised by the loose, handheld approach. have never seen a bad-looking KDK film tho. re alan n: i often wondered while watching whether i should just bail on the thing, but an awful, rubbernecking fascination that held me through. it's really lingered in my mind, not just due to the yuk factor.
― katsu kittens (contenderizer), Friday, 16 May 2014 05:43 (nine years ago) link
^ on moebius
http://www.deadline.com/2014/05/cannes-stephen-king-novel-geralds-game-to-be-adapted-by-oculus-helmer-mike-flanagan-and-intrepid-pictures/
― how's life, Sunday, 18 May 2014 17:15 (nine years ago) link
thanks for weighing in, frederik & contenderizer. I'll give moebius another shot sometime soon.
― original bgm, Sunday, 18 May 2014 23:48 (nine years ago) link
THE CONJURING I disliked this. It has many of the flaws of Insidious but worse, another nauseating sentimental depiction of a nice dull American family being terrorized by spirits. It seemed like it was made for a conservative audience that is in the habit of being exploited by mediums who claim they can speak to ghosts. It does some things well enough and like Insidious, some of the music was good but all this got buried under bad cliches.
MAMA The visuals of the mother spirit are central and while there are quite a few images that are quite cool, they just aren't done well enough. There are moments where the face of the mother spirit is a real actress but a bit distorted and it looks better; I think they should have stuck with that more realistic technique because the more spidery images just make you think "the concept art for this is probably really good". The drama side is okay (certainly looks good next to The Conjuring) but not as moving as it was probably supposed to be.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 25 May 2014 20:54 (nine years ago) link
watched proxy --not dreadful, but it's way too dour, characters are not well-crafted, ppl behave unrealistically @ several turns, not enough is explained abt the first woman really or overall generally; there is also a really absurd slomo blood spurt in joe swanbergs face where u can't not scoff @ it
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 31 May 2014 19:42 (nine years ago) link
Just watched Triangle, thanks to this thread. Help me out here, those who remember it. * THAR BE SPOILERS*
The loop logic of it seems solid, except for the moment of the wreck. Had she survived it, crawled away, and then limped off to the dock, that would make perfect sense and lead to the beginning of the film. But instead, there's suddenly a second her gazing at the aftermath of the wreck. But at this point, unlike on the boat, there should be only one of her, not multiple hers. Ah, crap, you'd probably have to have seen this yesterday to be able to discuss this much detail. Pretty cool movie, flaws and all, with one fantastic reveal (she comes around a corner chasing the married woman and you see... well, you know).
― The Thnig, Friday, 6 June 2014 19:28 (nine years ago) link
***spoiler***I could totally be wrong here, but part of why I loved Triangle was because they did such a great job of keeping the overlapping timeline(s) logical up until the very end where they just seemed to say "fuck it, this is a much more entertaining ending than trying to have it make sense"
― Fetchboy, Saturday, 7 June 2014 05:21 (nine years ago) link
Ah, crap, you'd probably have to have seen this yesterday to be able to discuss this much detail.
― The Thnig, Friday, June 6, 2014 12:28 PM (10 hours ago)
yeah, had fun, but don't recall the details anywhere near well enough to really get into it
― sci-fi looking, chubby-leafed, delicately bizarre (contenderizer), Saturday, 7 June 2014 06:03 (nine years ago) link
I've watched some trash recently when it has been too hot to do anything else.
Paranormal Activity 5 has the advantage of being marginally better than Paranormal Activity 4 but is still very slight. The only thing that the series really has going for it is well-choreographed domestic scares and the latest essentially dispenses with any of that, leaving very little.
The Entity is another in the long line of films where mediocre actors wander around a disused light industrial unit in Romania insane asylum shrieking and filming things falling over. It's played completely straight and the back story about Russian MK-ULTRA experiments adds nothing. The whole thing looks like it could have been devised, written and filmed over the course of weekend. It's completely pointless.
In contrast Banshee Chapter, which also had an MK-ULTRA theme, looks quite passable. It's loosely based on Lovecraft's From Beyond and stretches a low budget a hack of a lot further.
Jug Face could have potentially been interesting to those who don't have an aversion to hillbilly stereotypes and hammy acting but it doesn't really gel together. Might have been ok as a 45m TV thing but doesn't do enough to sustain feature length. Sean Young is good value as a scenery-chewing backwoods matriarch though.
World War Z is exactly as you would expect it to be from the trailer.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Sunday, 15 June 2014 10:04 (nine years ago) link
considering the trashing WWZ got on its own thread, I was pleasantly surprised by it.
― lauded at conferences of deluded psychopaths (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 16 June 2014 18:51 (nine years ago) link
wow "Megan is Missing" caught me completely offguard. Not sure it's really good in almost any measureable way, but wow. Last half is stunningly unpleasant and difficult to watch.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Monday, 23 June 2014 15:55 (nine years ago) link
Oculus was a big disappointment after Absentia, quite ambitious in a way but actively irritating from halfway.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 23 June 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
Oh sweet Jesus "Megan Is Missing." I think I'm glad I saw it, but I'm positive I'd like to never see it again.
― The Thnig, Monday, 23 June 2014 16:21 (nine years ago) link
agreei just remembered what it is
and i dunno if A Field in England counts as "horror" but whooeeeey was it good! i think i loved basically every single thing about it.
― La Lechera, Monday, 23 June 2014 16:30 (nine years ago) link
oh hey I just watched that too! I got a bit frustrated with it while it was on but then reflecting on it later it's grown in my estimation. It's one of those things that seems simple on the surface plot-wise - not a lot really happens - but it has all these little details that tie the narrative in knots.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 June 2014 16:41 (nine years ago) link
I was thinking that Friend and Jacob are spirits that are trapped in the field, and Whitehead joins them at the end - but this leaves open why Cutler is there, what his role is.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 June 2014 16:43 (nine years ago) link
I'm sorry, the characters are named
the singing one with the beard and the hatthe alchemist's servantthe one with VD the guruthe rakish bodyguard
i think that was it? i really liked the bug segments too.
― La Lechera, Monday, 23 June 2014 16:47 (nine years ago) link
ok Friend is the singing one, Whitehead is the alchemist's servant, the guru is O'Neill ... I think Cutler is the rakish bodyguard and Jacob is the one with VD. At the end in the final shot (SPOILERS) Whitehead is standing in the field in between Jacob and Friend and wearing Cutler's hat (and other clothes iirc?)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 June 2014 17:42 (nine years ago) link
the implication being that Whitehead has assumed Cutler's role/replaced him... altho Whitehead didn't kill Cutler, it was O'Neill that blew Cutler's face off iirc. see I already need to see this again...
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 June 2014 17:43 (nine years ago) link
Man, none of that explanation makes any sense to me. Nevertheless, LOVED the movie.
― The Thnig, Monday, 23 June 2014 18:15 (nine years ago) link
Turned off Megan is Missing because I could not rid myself of the suspicion throughout that it was made for creeps to masturbate to, and the suspicion became conviction when the last bit of "found footage" was introduced, and life is too short and good horror movies are too enjoyable for that shit. "Torture porn" as a metaphor is bad enough, don't need the real thing.
― Three Word Username, Monday, 23 June 2014 18:23 (nine years ago) link
my interpretation is of A Field in England is not fully formed, but it does seem like there's some kind of magic/metaphysical underpinning to it. they all seem trapped in the field, deranged by it, and the stuff with the ropes and the dead returning and the hallucinations seem to require something more than any explicitly realistic interpretation.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 June 2014 18:30 (nine years ago) link
My interpretation of "a field in England" is that I haven't seen it yet so each of these posts throw me into an eye covering panic.
On worse news, I'm about to watch "Wolf Creek 2". Not optimistic, tbh.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 June 2014 04:24 (nine years ago) link
Jug Face last night (it's on Netflix instant now). I dug it a lot. It felt something from Creepy magazine drawn by Wrightson or something.
― shameless pureyors of slop-on-plate (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 June 2014 11:41 (nine years ago) link
I saw some of "World War Z" the other day (the unrated cut, whatever that means). I hated it sooooo much, it was such a turd. Basically every scene, every line made me groan. At one point I thought, well, at least it must be wrapping up, but there was an hour left! So I turned it off.
Seriously, it just stunk. Everything about it was so lame. Possibly hammered home by the scene with David Morse pulling out his tooth. I thought, huh, this is a movie about a mass zombie outbreak, and this is where the so-far more or less bloodless movie pulls out its try-to-shock chops? Except it was just stupid and funny, and totally nonsensical.
Movie is barely horror. Certainly not scary. Directed by algorithm and phony across the board. Every set looks art directed down to the cheap trash blowing around, a trend begun really early on when they escape from some NYC (I think?) traffic jam in this conspicuous late-model R/V that popped out as obviously as the Mystery Machine.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 June 2014 12:33 (nine years ago) link
Nothing we've posted will ruin A Field in England for you imo -- it's more of a full sensory experience type movie. Figuring out the plot is something I would care about maybe the 2nd or 3rd time I saw it. Get the soundtrack!! It's great.
― La Lechera, Thursday, 26 June 2014 13:53 (nine years ago) link
Jon Lewis- I've never heard of Jug Face but you've interested me greatly with that Wrightson comparison.
I picked up a DVD copy of Strange Color Of Your Bodies Tears today, but I had no idea it had even been shown at anything more than festivals, I thought it was going to come out at the end of the year or something! Although it's probably a sad thing that it didn't get shown at the cinema (maybe GFT shown it?) I love surprises like that at shops.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 26 June 2014 19:09 (nine years ago) link
Wasn't a huge fan of jug face, but it is streaming on Netflix for the interested
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Thursday, 26 June 2014 20:19 (nine years ago) link
any words yea or nay on Last Kind Words?
― OutdoorF on Golf (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 June 2014 20:22 (nine years ago) link
My friend made that. But I've only read the script thus far ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 June 2014 20:30 (nine years ago) link
This is a hard sell but Afflicted is a decent found footage vampire movie, honest. It is more like a low budget but superior Chronicle. I mentioned it on here before and fully understand people's antipathy for a found footage, vampire movie.
― xelab, Thursday, 26 June 2014 20:35 (nine years ago) link
Xxxp saw copies of Strange Color OYBT in Fopp, is it worth picking up? (how does it compare to Amer?)
― ewar woowar (or something), Thursday, 26 June 2014 20:36 (nine years ago) link
Haven't watched it yet, maybe tomorrow night.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 26 June 2014 21:15 (nine years ago) link
Is "Willow Creek" supposed to be any good? I generally like Bob Goldthwait's movies, which have all been pretty daring and original, but this one seems so much a straight-up "Blair Witch" retread that I wonder if there's something more to it.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 June 2014 01:11 (nine years ago) link
i'm keen to see it
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 27 June 2014 01:27 (nine years ago) link
Hmmm take this with my tastes in mind, but I enjoyed paranormal activity the marked ones/5 and wolf creek 2 WAY more than I expected to.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Friday, 27 June 2014 02:12 (nine years ago) link
OK, so "Willow Creek" is indeed exactly what you (I) expected, with really nothing at all added to the formula. Pretty weird that Bobcat would make it, in fact. That said, I guess it's done about as well as it could be done. Actors are pretty good, some long take intensity perhaps heightened by the relationship between the characters, and at least some of the requisite dumb behavior I can defend. Still ... I dunno. It's not "Grave Encounters."
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 June 2014 03:32 (nine years ago) link
Strange Color Of Your Bodies Tears was fantastic. Probably better than Amer, certainly way more violent. Loads of techniques, more direct references to Italian films (references tend to annoy me but it didn't here), lots of Art Nouveau. It's like they are determined to make every shot count.
My dad caught one of the more extreme scenes and was totally shocked and offended, saying that the filmmakers should be shot or put in jail. Every now and then I get a reminder that stuff I'm totally used to can really still shock people. Like when I bring up a topic into conversation that many people would rather not think about but usually doesn't bother most people you talk to.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 27 June 2014 23:12 (nine years ago) link
There's a really beautiful girl in this who looks familiar (maybe a model), but the cast list doesn't really describe much to know who played who.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 28 June 2014 13:24 (nine years ago) link
After a bit of research it appears to be model Aline Stevens.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 28 June 2014 15:17 (nine years ago) link
Wow, looking into it, a lot of people absolutely HATE "Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears." Perhaps largely for being totally indulgent yet utterly humorless? Regardless, I'm intrigued.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 29 June 2014 00:28 (nine years ago) link
People seemingly found it boring for all the reasons I found it exciting. Indulge away! More Incoherent nightmares! More! I want to get lost in the labyrinth sitting between Inferno and Inland Empire. Shove your nice Christian American families and cocky teenagers up your asses.
Yeah, I kept spelling the title wrong.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 29 June 2014 01:19 (nine years ago) link
Willow Creek was so inconsequential, nothing happens and annoyingly it is quite competent. I have better hopes for Oculus tomorrow night, which can't be that bad as is has Katee in it.
― festival of labour (xelab), Sunday, 29 June 2014 01:35 (nine years ago) link
Willow Creek was so inconsequential, nothing happens and annoyingly it is quite competent.
This is OTM. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, and aspects of it are way above average, and yet the movie is so inconsequential it's baffling, especially coming from Goldthwait. In fact, after I watched it I looked up some interviews, to see what was up. I guess he paid for it all himself, shot on location with a small crew, did a ton of research, and pretty much all the locals are real locals who may have thought they were being interviewed for a real documentary. Goldthwait was wary of going into a mode so played out (found footage), and even was very self-aware of its similarities to "Blair Witch," but uncynically just wanted to make this movie. I guess Goldthwait just really likes bigfoot.
One line he took repeatedly in interviews is that maybe critics and fans have seen a million movies of this sort, but he hadn't, so it was fresh for him. Also, he had a friend say, basically, that since he's working on a musical and a western, supposedly, and they are the most played out of all movie sorts, then why not found footage?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 29 June 2014 12:39 (nine years ago) link
I watched Strip Nude For Dark Drops Of Autumn Vice The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears last night and enjoyed it. It looks fabulous, the soundtrack (mostly culled from various Morricone / Nicolai works) is great and there are lots of nice homages to genre classics (down to one of the characters being called Edwige). Although there isn't really much attempt made to match Amer's build-up of suspense, visually there are lots of scenes that surpass their previous work. I do feel they need to do something different next time, though. As beautiful as Amer and SCOYBT are, it's not something they can get away with repeating endlessly. It would be interesting to see them applying the aesthetic to something a shade more conventionally structured.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 10 July 2014 07:13 (nine years ago) link
I agree about there being a danger in mining this territory too long but I think the unconventional structure is something they (and other directors) should keep going with.
I was thinking about this recently how I generally dislike the idea of very studied retro pieces, yet many of my favourite films of recent times have been like that to some extent. To The point where I'm starting to wonder if anyone will do a good Franco/Rollin style thing or any other types of revivals. Some people called Livid a Rollin type thing and it was a bit, but without the nudity. But I'd prefer people used the old influences as a springboard into something new that doesn't blatantly refer back.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 10 July 2014 12:04 (nine years ago) link
In a review of Strange Colour i read recently, there was a mention of a couple of Rollin-influenced films coming out soon but no details.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 10 July 2014 13:45 (nine years ago) link
Chris Alexander, the editor of Fangoria, did a studied Rollin/Franco homage, Blood for Irinia. it's not very good.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 10 July 2014 14:11 (nine years ago) link
Xan Cassavetes' Kiss of the Damned is too competently directed to be a tribute to Franco, but the Rollin-isms are pronounced and likely intentional. better than Irinia, though not much less derivative. i did like KOTD quite a bit.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 10 July 2014 14:21 (nine years ago) link
i finally saw insidious the other day. i was surprised how much i enjoyed it. between that & the conjuring, james wan is getting better & better at bringing on the oldhouse creeps
insidious 2 was a bit odd though. kinda collapsed in on itself with all the backstory, kinda sloppy
but i have such a big soft spot for whannell & wan together. i even dug the first Saw movie before it got beaten like a dead horse
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 11 July 2014 05:54 (nine years ago) link
Insidious seemed so promising at the start but with that scary lady in the darkness and the creepy music but it just taken all the worst things about Poltergeist and amplified them. Conjuring went even further to an infuriating degree.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 11 July 2014 23:33 (nine years ago) link
Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears is like a homage to giallo based on an oral description of giallo surmised by a screening of a giallo parody. Expertly silly.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 29 July 2014 19:38 (nine years ago) link
I've heard that Evil Dead 4 might be made as a tv series. Nightbreed tv series is also a possibility.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 30 July 2014 17:14 (nine years ago) link
Just saw trailer to a Dracula origin story that doesn't look great but what made the strongest impression is a bad cover of Tears For Fears "Everbody Wants To Rule The World" that tries to make the song dark and edgy.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 3 August 2014 20:16 (nine years ago) link
Lorde?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 3 August 2014 21:44 (nine years ago) link
I've no clue. I don't know what they sound like.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 3 August 2014 22:06 (nine years ago) link
Lorde
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Monday, 4 August 2014 06:26 (nine years ago) link
lol, i dialed that up on youtube to see what you're talking about and hooboy it's overwrought
― go ahead. make vid where u rap about this new TMNT movie. (forksclovetofu), Monday, 4 August 2014 06:36 (nine years ago) link
I do feel they need to do something different next time, though. As beautiful as Amer and SCOYBT are, it's not something they can get away with repeating endlessly.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, July 10, 2014 12:13 AM (3 weeks ago)
a tiny trace of amer's magic dissipated when i watched the filmmakers' earlier short films (included on the DVD release). crude little candy-colored retro fetish exercises about observation, leather gloves, female flesh, penetrative knives, etc. all of which is still present in amer but given a much broader and more interesting/challenging context. not sure how far they can go on "i am fascinated by the texture & trappings of this one particular pop genre," but it seems to be working so far...
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Monday, 4 August 2014 17:05 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I loved all their stuff so far but the danger is looming. I thought the screwdriver scene in one of the short films felt a bit too much for their style though.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 4 August 2014 17:53 (nine years ago) link
has anyone else seen argento's dracula 3d. it's really cheap looking. this happens in it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssE_6DmL_dk
― slam dunk, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 21:15 (nine years ago) link
Stage Fright is fairly entertaining. The first half an hour is substantially better than the rest and it suffers from the traditional horror-comedy complaint of not being tense or funny enough to fit into either genre well but it's likeable.
Also saw Mr Jones which wastes a moderately intriguing premise.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Sunday, 10 August 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
watched Oculus yesterday
it's interesting, but there is a lot of visual/atmospheric sleight of hand distracting you from the fact that the story is very halfassed
it gets kinda neat in the middle & goes crazy with timeline shifts, vaguely kinda sorta lynchian in places. better than expected.
awful lot of plate eating, mouths full of blood & teeth falling out. and choking. lots of choking.
side note: the dad is stonerdude Slater from Dazed & Confused :D
― SEEMS TO ME (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 10 August 2014 18:20 (nine years ago) link
Hey just in case found footage shit doesn't make you want to bang your head against the wall yet, 2 new flicks streaming on NF. "Alien Abduction" (which has got to be in the running for worst marketing and branding department this year) is a pretty effectively creep out tension pounder, certainly dumb in spots but man when it works it really works, and they actually wring out a few new and effective tricks i havent seen before.
"The Conspiracy" on the other hand is way slower and tenser, milking a great burn up to the end, way better than expected - more thriller than horror maybe but the piling of anticipation and dread is very well done. Dark hand behind the curtain secret society creeper shit here, but it works.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 17:46 (nine years ago) link
Proxy is up today. Will probably watch that over the next few days.
The Conspiracy was definitely watchable.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 17:51 (nine years ago) link
wait where is proxy streaming? not turning up on instantwatcher
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 18:20 (nine years ago) link
I'm watching it on US Netflix now.
http://us.whatsnewonnetflix.com
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 18:21 (nine years ago) link
hmm maybe instantwatcher is going on the retirement list, lots of stuff has been sorta slipping through the cracks there as of late
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 18:23 (nine years ago) link
The first half of Proxy is excellent - like the chilly Hitchcockian thrillers you used to get loads of coming out of France in the eighties and nineties. The second hour is pretty by-numbers.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 20:12 (nine years ago) link
I think once Netflix hid its expiration dates, instantwatcher lost its sense of purpose.
Speaking of Netflix, anyone watch The Reef, the Australian shark movie? People seem to like it OK.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 August 2014 20:25 (nine years ago) link
I found it very drawn out and uninteresting.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 12 August 2014 21:06 (nine years ago) link
that is a perfect review of Proxy, too.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 13 August 2014 00:07 (nine years ago) link
The realistic or semi-realistic shark horror film never really seems that promising to me, even though sharks are cool. All the Jaws films blend together in my memory, I'm not huge on them. I haven't seen Open Water, from the trailers it seemed very similar to Bruce Jones & Richard Corben's short comic "In Deep", which is amazing but I doubt that kind of story would be at feature length.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 13 August 2014 02:19 (nine years ago) link
Open Water was great -- at least it was in the theater, where the blackness/sound made it feel pretty suffocating. I saw Open Water 2 (a totally unrelated film) on a plane and actually liked it, which says a lot, cuz it's pretty hard to like anything on a plane.
Black Water is very solid crocodile horror film. Recommended.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 14 August 2014 16:30 (nine years ago) link
Open Water is the slow, based-on-a-true-story one with the abandoned scuba divers, right? That was great. But I keep getting it confused with things like Deep Blue Sea or Dark Water or Sharknado.
― emil.y, Thursday, 14 August 2014 16:37 (nine years ago) link
You are correct.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 14 August 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
Open Water was great. The Reef, while well acted, was a slog.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 14 August 2014 23:13 (nine years ago) link
"All Cheerleaders Die" isn't just the worst Lucky McKee, it might be the worst horror film I've seen this year. Fucking horrendous, I'll be mad about this for a while.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Sunday, 17 August 2014 05:20 (nine years ago) link
yeah, it's bad. watched it the other day and wanted to post something here, but i've been dragging my heels lately, no good reason:
Another in a string of disappointments from Lucky McKee, and arguably his first complete failure. Where his previous films have stuck with fairly serious horror, this one tries a different approach, blending snarky high school comedy with dark fantasy and supernatural horror. Heathers and Mean Girls are obvious touchstones, but All Cheerleaders Die lands closest to 2009's justly-maligned Jennfer's Body. McKee and his writing/directing partner Chris Sivertson show no flair for or insight into the adolescent milieux. They simply run stock character types through a series of absurd happenings, spiking the familiar teen melodrama with goofy magical claptrap and a few jolts of tepid mahem. In the manner of McKee's more successful past efforts, All Cheerleaders maintains a strong feminist perspective and attempts to build a compellingly conflicted complex central character. Those elements do add some interest to the proceedings, but they can't salvage the misbegotten whole. The comedy isn't funny, and the horror never bites. The film's tonal inconsistencies may be 100% intentional, but regardless of what the McKee and Sivertson intended, the end result is more irritating than involving.
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Sunday, 17 August 2014 05:52 (nine years ago) link
though i liked the woods and the woman, i say "string of diappointments" because may still towers over everything he's done since. the trend has been southerly since.
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Sunday, 17 August 2014 05:57 (nine years ago) link
I'm still most impressed by the woods and red, but I still hated this more than I can explain. So basically no matter which of his films you enjoy, you will hate this movie.
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Sunday, 17 August 2014 06:02 (nine years ago) link
So thankful for this thread, because I had "All Cheerleaders Must Die" ready to go for a while, with the weird understanding that it was supposed to be good (despite a scan of some reviews which basically said, um, no it's not)). Obviously, as we've determined again and again, horror can be pretty divisive, and there are some really problematic movies that are worth seeing, and prestige movies worth skipping. But the animosity toward this one is pretty convincing.
What happened to the dude who made "Absentia?"
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 17 August 2014 12:01 (nine years ago) link
He made Oculus and has another one coming soon.
― Simon H., Sunday, 17 August 2014 14:31 (nine years ago) link
More specifically, apparently he's adapting Gerald's Game.
― Simon H., Sunday, 17 August 2014 14:51 (nine years ago) link
ugh. really?
― SEEMS TO ME (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 17 August 2014 14:55 (nine years ago) link
I saw Jug Face over the weekend. Some good performances and generally strong direction, but really, I demand more when the entire film hinges on the worship of a malevolent hole in the ground. Bringing in a cheap looking ghost to deliver exposition and fill narrative gaps didn't help.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 17 August 2014 19:05 (nine years ago) link
I liked Jug Face a lot for what it did do well, but am under no illusions about its overall cohesion.
― before you die you see the rink (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 17 August 2014 23:30 (nine years ago) link
INSIDE
Nasty as fuck to be sure and very suspenseful. Dalle made a striking villain. Good soundtrack. BUT, just like Livid, the cgi really hurt it in a way that easily could have been avoided. The injuries the characters sustain makes their subsequent actions harder to believe.
Yes it was an extreme experience but I don't understand the praise placing it as a modern horror classic. I'd only recommend this to fans of miserable violent ordeals. I didn't get much out of it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 18 August 2014 01:51 (nine years ago) link
"miserable violent ordeal" is a viable niche these days, so..
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 12:24 (nine years ago) link
...and speaking of, I just watched You're Next, a home invasion thriller from director Adam Wingard. Though I'm not typically a big fan of the subgenre, I enjoyed this quite a bit. It's slick, fast moving, and nasty enough to sting without ever sinking into the pitiless sadism that so often comes with the territory. The plot is as simple as could be. A wealthy family gathered in a labyrinthine mansion get booglerized by a pack of masked marauders. Throw in a bit of upper crust sibling rivalry for color, and we're off to the blood-spattered races. Developments I won't spoil here do complicate that scenario a bit, but the basic dramatic engine remains unchanged: hooligans hool, and our plucky heroine chops back, hard.
The Straw Dogs-style home invasion thriller has become a tired cliche in recent years, and some may fault You're Next for playing things so resolutely straight. Wingard and writer Simon Barrett do nothing to expand or reinvent the genre. They even ditch the class conflict that stories of this sort so often rely on for a bit of thematic depth. Instead, they amp up the us-vs-us dynamics of the family unit in peril, focusing as much on characters and relationships as they do on machetes and crossbow bolts. Which isn't to say that they slight the latter.
This is by no means a serious film. It's a crowd-pleaser, as they say, simple and ingratiating. It reminded me more of films like Scream and Deathtrap than the soul-scarring likes of Eden Lake and Funny Games. Unlike Lucky McKee, Wingard does a fine job balancing black comedy with full-blooded thrills, and manages to keep the tension at a nice, rolling boil pretty much all the way through. Not perfect by any means, and some of the fumbles are worse than others, but I had a genuinely good time with this one.
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 13:34 (nine years ago) link
Wingard and writer Simon Barrett do nothing to expand or reinvent the genre
Well, I wouldn't exactly say they do nothing, as what little they do is no small part what makes this movie worthwhile and fun. I wish they had spent a few minutes on an ending, because the movie ... has no ending.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 13:40 (nine years ago) link
Strange Colour...is now up on UK Netflix.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:02 (nine years ago) link
Contenderizer says '"miserable violent ordeal" is a viable niche these days"
This makes it difficult for me selecting films. I had ignored Gaspar Noe for years because that's all I thought the films would be, but I found Enter The Void unexpectedly touching, so I'm hoping the earlier films will have some of that magic. I love harrowing films to be more profoundly emotional, like Watership Down and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. When I see the previews for new horror films, another problem for me is that too many are about ordinary people.
Sometimes I wish the horror genre had a different name and it would be easier to avoid stuff I didn't like so much. "Weird" is gaining some ground, "Dark Fantasy" is quite problematic and already has associations with other genres.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 18:27 (nine years ago) link
imo it's the same with metal/heavy musicit'd be nice to have a better distinction but w/e
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 18:33 (nine years ago) link
in both cases they keep trying to make "extreme" happen but then i just feel like an extra in a surge commercial which no thanks
― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 18:52 (nine years ago) link
Noe never bettered I Stand Alone imo.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 19 August 2014 18:58 (nine years ago) link
I mean I'm up for pretty much any genre but there are only a handful of realistic horror films I really like. It can be a tad frustrating reading horror anthologies looking for supernatural weirdness but mostly getting murder/serial killer stories.
I wouldn't have thought heavy music and metal getting lumped together presented much of a problem. People map the genres so precisely that there is less chance of walking into the wrong room.
But there's always going to be stuff that is difficult to describe. I'm not sure I could call Martyrs a realistic horror film, and doing so might be a spoiler because in places it plays with your ideas of what is happening.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link
horror is an awfully big umbrella, especially nowadays. i prefer the weird and surreal to brutal extremities, and "dark fantasy" is fine by me, so long as it's closer to the company of wolves than twilight. because i'm particular, i find i have to do quite a bit of reading and listening to get a sense of what might be worth pursuing. which isn't to say i avoid stuff like the human centipede and martyrs, but at least i know in advance what i'm getting into.
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Wednesday, 20 August 2014 00:42 (nine years ago) link
I used to never watch trailers because some great films have bad trailers (most modern big budget films have shit trailers) but now I'm trying to cut back I'd prefer to use the help of trailers regularly. I should probably do the same with track clips for albums.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 20 August 2014 13:12 (nine years ago) link
BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW
If edited down this could have been really amazing. About an halfway through I thought I wasn't going to see anything to make this truly worthwhile, then wham, those melting hot images were stunning. The second half is a big improvement, with more lovely stuff going on. I was totally not expecting the two really creepy bits and it was all the more unsettling for that. The second creepy bit was especially striking.
I was bored for most of the film (the early scenes in particular are way too drawn out) but those good moments were worth more than a lot of whole films I've seen recently.
Panos Cosmatos has got to be one of the most promising new directors out there. Keeping my fingers crossed he'll make tighter mood pieces in the future. As with a lot of the current directors I like, I hope he can let go of the retro stuff.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 24 August 2014 02:36 (nine years ago) link
goddam, just lost a response :(
like you, i realized about half an hour, 40 min in that it wasn't going anywhere, didn't have anything on offer but surfaces. thing is, i dug the vibe & design so much that i happily accepted it on those terms. such a gorgeous, immersive nothing of a film. has to have been deliberately styled as "altered zones: the movie", though, right? triangles, videotape, drones, telepathy, ossified futurism. freaking rainforest wall decal. which sounds horribly contrived, but ambition and attention to detail carried it through. and yeah, the creepy bits! gave the 2nd half a nice jolt of wtf energy.
if you mean to include cattet & forzani among the promising contemporary directors who need to "let go of the retro stuff", i half agree. they & cosmatos at least manage to present a distinctive, contemporary POV through the retro shag. tendency to emphasize style above all else might be the bigger limitation.
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Sunday, 24 August 2014 06:44 (nine years ago) link
Although I can fully appreciate retro works, I always feel as if carefully recreating an older style is not the best way to go. I think people should always try to extract the essential essences from the old things without trying to keep the era they were from.
So I have been very surprised that most of my favourite films of recent years have been retro works to some extent. Berberian Sound Studio and A Field In England were relatively light retro, they weren't just set in an earlier period, they borrowed some recognisable style elements from earlier films. But AFIE probably owes much less to past films than anyone of the crop. Amer and Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears carefully recreate a lot more. Refn using retro elements too.
I've heard that SCOYBT was advertised as "all style, no substance" but I'm taking that as a joke. I have a major axe to grind about the popular definitions of "content" and "substance". Most people equate plot/character with the only meaningful substance to the extent that something like Iron Man or Stakeland gets regarded as deeper than Beyond The Black Rainbow. Which of course is horseshit.
Visuals and sounds can have as deep a substance as anything can.
As dull as the film was at points, it has a richness, immersiveness and beauty that few films ever approach. Surface is not necessarily superficial.
I saw Kate Bush's video for "The Sensual World" recently for the first time and it really blown me away. That's what visuals and sounds can do. Yes it has lyrics but you don't have to understand English to love this video. Made me think I should be watching way more music videos. But it's hard finding good ones.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 24 August 2014 13:20 (nine years ago) link
I would have liked SCOYBT better if it was as long as "The Sensual World."
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 24 August 2014 13:58 (nine years ago) link
That's fair enough. I think it's too long as well. But it's still one of my favourites. I think Amer suffers more from being too long. The first segment is near perfect but the last two don't have as much to dwell on.
I really wish short films had a better platform to be seen from. Obviously there is YouTube and Vimeo and you can score a huge hit but rarely as big as a feature length film. Most of the really famous short films I can think of are animated.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 24 August 2014 14:22 (nine years ago) link
I finally saw Wolf Creek last night
idk I kind of feel like I separated into 2 people watching it.
On the one hand, it definitely did the Texas Chainsaw Massacre thing well - ie it's all hopeless, no there's no explanation, yes this guy's a giant creep and you better fucking run or you're going to die sorry we can't tell you why just runi liked the setting, I thought John Jarrat was great. He reminded me of my dad in a weird way which was kind of lol/kind of upsetting
but then there was the other part of me that found it kind of boring and stupid. And I hated that we spend so much time with both girls over and over in endlessly stupid perilous situations (like I'm going to climb into a pit full of dead bodies just because I dropped my gun jfc) and watch them get tortured in a fair amount of detail meanwhile the other dude is tied up ~somewhere~ the whole time with a few cutaway shots and oh nvm he got tortured off camera, he gets himself free, and off he goes. I really hated that. It just felt SO lazy.
― SEEMS TO ME (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 7 September 2014 02:31 (nine years ago) link
I think the campfire scene was good but I don't think there's a much to recommend the film. It is unpleasant but not in a way that really does anything impressive.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 7 September 2014 12:17 (nine years ago) link
Anyone see "Coherence?" Dunno if horror is the right category for this one, anymore than "Upstream Color."
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 7 September 2014 12:21 (nine years ago) link
Yeah I really liked it, it was very similar to the excellent Spanish sci-fi movie Timecrimes. I am always a sucker for movies that have multi-verse, time travel type ideas and this one didn't disappoint. The low budget movies of this type are often the best ones and the low budget approach actually makes them more like horror movies than say Looper.
― xelab, Sunday, 7 September 2014 19:58 (nine years ago) link
'so oculus was alright. Kind of muddy but effective and I jumped and gasped at the end. I watched this only because of karen gillan and was pleasantly surprised.
― akm, Sunday, 14 September 2014 08:59 (nine years ago) link
I watched a very bizarre and creepy Dutch movie tonight called Borgman about a bearded vagrant type who you first see living in a network of foxholes in a woodland area with other friends, who are getting hunted by a gang of killers lead by a priest. Then after fleeing he creepily imbeds himself into a wealthy household in a very insidious but horrifying fashion and steals the gardeners job and the surreal horror unravels slowly ...
― xelab, Sunday, 14 September 2014 20:50 (nine years ago) link
??? That sounds perfect
― Rand McNulty (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 14 September 2014 21:21 (nine years ago) link
It is very good, not perfect but definitely above average and worth your time.
― xelab, Sunday, 14 September 2014 21:31 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, Borgman seems very much a future cult classic.
― a guy named Christian White who represents the typical white Christian (Eric H.), Monday, 15 September 2014 02:54 (nine years ago) link
― Simon H., Sunday, August 17, 2014 10:31 AM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Simon H., Sunday, August 17, 2014 10:51 AM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― SEEMS TO ME (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, August 17, 2014 10:55 AM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post
http://deadline.com/2014/09/i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-remake-horror-movie-sony-834570/
― how's life, Tuesday, 16 September 2014 10:18 (nine years ago) link
...huh.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 16 September 2014 11:10 (nine years ago) link
I'm hoping his talent will outshine the questionable source material in both of these.
― how's life, Tuesday, 16 September 2014 11:17 (nine years ago) link
so The Guest is getting good 'quality' reviews.
(ie, it's a sea change from the V/H/S movies the guy did, i guess)
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 September 2014 04:54 (nine years ago) link
otoh, Sam Adams' complete L'box review:
I am not trusting any of you fuckers about Adam Wingard movies ever again.
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 September 2014 04:57 (nine years ago) link
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-horror-films-21st-century?utm_content=buffer27b32&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebookbfi&utm_campaign=buffer
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:49 (nine years ago) link
well all the ones on that list that I have seen are great, guess I should see the rest then
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:54 (nine years ago) link
The Descent and House of the Devil are both roughly 3/4 good (which I noted in the Halloween thread was also the case with Lords of Salem). I'm beginning to think I almost prefer horror movies that maintain a more mediocre consistency of tone to those that hit some serious heights for a good while only to stumble in the home stretch. It's as if some modern horror filmmakers grew up reading King and taking exactly the wrong storytelling lessons away from his stuff.
― Kick And They Slap A Friend (Old Lunch), Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:07 (nine years ago) link
I would say 3/4 great in the case of The Descent.
― Kick And They Slap A Friend (Old Lunch), Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:08 (nine years ago) link
I've seen May, Bug, and Berberian Sound Studio. The latter probably my favorite altho it's so meta I dunno if I would really call it a horror film. it's more like a film about horror films shot in the style of a horror film. May was great. Bug was a little one-note but solid.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:10 (nine years ago) link
To toot my own horn: http://www.slantmagazine.com/features/article/the-25-best-horror-films-of-the-aughts
― a guy named Christian White who represents the typical white Christian (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:19 (nine years ago) link
I thought "The Guest," like a lot of movies from this hipster horror crew, was a ridiculous, underdeveloped lark, but it had a lot going for it as a particularly brazen pastiche. It's like John Carpenter traveled back to 1984 with a copy of "The Terminator" and "Drive" and gave them to Wes Craven.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:29 (nine years ago) link
TOOT TOOT
(heeeeey)
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:30 (nine years ago) link
Also works as a less escapist take on "Captain America."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:31 (nine years ago) link
Saw The Quiet Ones and The Possession Of Michael King yesterday - the former very conventional but slightly above average, the latter with a moderately promising set-up but terribly executed and boring.
The Babadook looks like it might be worth seeing,
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 18 September 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link
The Babadook looks awesome, just from reviews which are all very positive.
― xelab, Thursday, 18 September 2014 21:39 (nine years ago) link
The first two thirds of Oculus were really good. Fell apart a little at the end. Rory Cochrane bears a disconcerting likeness to Danny Dyer.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Saturday, 20 September 2014 10:25 (nine years ago) link
always happy to see Bug get props.
― Simon H., Saturday, 20 September 2014 18:05 (nine years ago) link
I just watched Borgman and for the most part I enjoyed it, but what exactly happened? I really enjoy the build up but when it was over I couldn't tell you what happened, aside from being very unsettled by the whole film.
― JacobSanders, Monday, 22 September 2014 02:43 (nine years ago) link
watched House of the Devil on Sunday. Was immediately taken with it just from the opening sequence and it was really strong until about 2/3rds of the way through when it just sort of... peters out halfheartedly. Really reminded me of the Strangers in that regard, where the setup and buildup of tension is really well done and then when it comes time to deliver it just fails. Too bad.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 25 September 2014 15:15 (nine years ago) link
yeah... on balance, though, I very much like it. Now what about The Sacrament? I've liked every Ti West movie I've seen up til now but something made me turn this off less than 5 minutes in.
― von Daniken Donuts (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 25 September 2014 15:26 (nine years ago) link
this was the first Ti West I've watched, would check out other stuff just based on his clear mastery of style - I kinda blame the script in House of the Devil more than anything else, just anti-climactic.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 25 September 2014 15:43 (nine years ago) link
The guy playing quasi-Jim-Jones in The Sacrament was excellent. Everything else was blah.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 25 September 2014 18:29 (nine years ago) link
More focus on that character / his motivations and less on the Vice crew hiding from gunmen would have made it approx twice as good.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 25 September 2014 18:33 (nine years ago) link
Shakey, the Innkeepers is pretty awesome
― von Daniken Donuts (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 25 September 2014 19:24 (nine years ago) link
Oops sorry for doxxing u
Yeah the innkeepers is the best thing he's ever done
― yarn (jjjusten), Thursday, 25 September 2014 22:59 (nine years ago) link
Again, tho, didn't stick the landing.
― Eric H., Thursday, 25 September 2014 23:39 (nine years ago) link
it makes me think up-and-coming horror guys should start with the ending and work backwards
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 25 September 2014 23:47 (nine years ago) link
Endings are for losers
― yarn (jjjusten), Friday, 26 September 2014 02:16 (nine years ago) link
Especially endings that lose me.
― Eric H., Friday, 26 September 2014 05:33 (nine years ago) link
Finally saw Absentia. That was really great. Non-loser ending, too. I got a little teary during the ending convo between the two detectives!
― OU281 (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 27 September 2014 14:11 (nine years ago) link
not strictly a horror movie but man THE GUEST was SO FUN
― Nhex, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 06:11 (nine years ago) link
Watched OPEN GRAVE. Despite great premise -- man wakes up in mass grave with no memory of how he got there -- that premise pretty much lasts five minutes and then it's a solidly made snoozer. Kinda reminded me of TRIANGLE but less good.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 2 October 2014 13:55 (nine years ago) link
Yeah that movie got a lot of love itt but I wasn't a big fan, either.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 2 October 2014 14:05 (nine years ago) link
Everything contemporary horror in the last couple of months of netflix streaming additions looks really really shitty. My queue is getting scant; I've run out of little gems like absentia. Halp?
(finished The Possession last night. Some nice riffs I'll keep in the databanks (the throat fingers!) but it was basically an empty vessel)
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 2 October 2014 14:44 (nine years ago) link
gonna watch the Descent tonight
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 2 October 2014 15:46 (nine years ago) link
The Demon's Rook just hit VOD.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Thursday, 2 October 2014 21:24 (nine years ago) link
ABCs of Death 2 for me tonight.
― xelab, Friday, 3 October 2014 16:58 (nine years ago) link
Does anyone know where the music that plays over the end credits of Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears comes from? It has been bothering me for months and Shazam doesn't know it.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Saturday, 4 October 2014 20:52 (nine years ago) link
This is what you are looking for.
Bruno Nicolai "Sabba"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxDF94LNCKA
― xelab, Sunday, 5 October 2014 03:19 (nine years ago) link
Bruno Nicolai was an Italian film music composer, orchestra director and musical editor most active in the 1960s through the 1980s. While studying piano and composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, he befriended Ennio Morricone and formed a long working relationship, with Nicolai eventually conducting for and co-scoring films with Morricone. Nicolai also scored a number of giallo exploitation films and wrote a large number of scores for director Jess Franco.
― xelab, Sunday, 5 October 2014 03:28 (nine years ago) link
You're a star! Thanks.
It's the theme from All The Colours Of the Dark. I was sure I knew it but couldn't place it.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Sunday, 5 October 2014 06:41 (nine years ago) link
So "Slaughter"
1. Terrible generic name2. Horrendous cover art3. Part of the after dark horrorfest 3 box set my buddy tony bought at a pawnshop for a dollar
Probably the best horror film I've seen this year, certainly in the top 5. Easily in the top 50 overall modern horror films. Hits that dark center in a way almost no american horror films do, honestly feels like something from the French extreme camp or the Aussie bleak nightmare period. I am so completely shocked by how good this was.
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Sunday, 5 October 2014 07:30 (nine years ago) link
Horror reviewers seem to hate it, which is sadly typical - if you understand why mid point refn or the reflecting skin are horror, and can get behind slow building bleakness, it's worth a shot.
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Sunday, 5 October 2014 07:40 (nine years ago) link
ABC's of Death 2? exponentially better than the first film. More mature, more ambitious, more director diversity, more thematic consistency. I was very impressed with all but maybe four of the shorts. U through Z are esp. OUTSTANDING. A, F, J, O, and S are also excellent.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 5 October 2014 13:29 (nine years ago) link
If you liked Slaughter, check out Keepsake.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Sunday, 5 October 2014 13:31 (nine years ago) link
Will do! Thanks for the rec.
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Sunday, 5 October 2014 15:37 (nine years ago) link
Looks like Miike's Over Your Dead Body is not just a new version of Yotsuya Kaidan but a film about people performing the play and being haunted by the Oiwa ghost. I just watched the trailer.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:06 (nine years ago) link
dug the Descent a lot w some minor quibbles (ambiguous ending felt unnecessary and tacked on, monsters were kind of stupid)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:33 (nine years ago) link
Pretty much exactly my take.
― Certified Genious (Old Lunch), Monday, 6 October 2014 17:36 (nine years ago) link
What's stupid about them? They just look like standard monsters from Buffy.
Personally I think it's pretty decent but I just wish they had focused on more extreme claustrophobia. It could have been way more nightmarish than it was.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:37 (nine years ago) link
like okay they're like bats, they're blind, that doesn't mean they can't detect you if you're quiet
― Οὖτις, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
The Descent's horror is almost self-contradictory because it's so scary and intense before they even add the monsters, so much so that the monsters actually deflate/decrease the scares.
Which ending did you see?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:39 (nine years ago) link
I personally think the monsters are kinda unneccessary, for the exact reason you mention. I would've prefered the movie if it were simply about a doomed spelunking expedition.
― Certified Genious (Old Lunch), Monday, 6 October 2014 17:40 (nine years ago) link
some kind of like super terrifying picnic at hanging rock scenario would have been more amazing.
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, 6 October 2014 17:42 (nine years ago) link
I think it's probably more the emphasis on action than the monsters that does it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:44 (nine years ago) link
didn't know there was more than one... the ending I saw she crawls out of the ground, runs away, steals a truck, parks by the side of the road > jumpscare w vision of her dead friend and then she's back underground w the vision of her dead daughter again. Would've been fine without the extra dead daughter bit, which implies she did not actually get out.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:46 (nine years ago) link
I would've prefered the movie if it were simply about a doomed spelunking expedition.
yeah the most terrifying stuff seems like it's all before the monsters reveal
obviously could've still had a pit of bones (nothing gets out of here alive!) and previous expedition signs and all that, monsters turn it more into an action gore-fest
― Οὖτις, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:47 (nine years ago) link
Borderlands kinda reminds me of it. That had a great ending.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 October 2014 17:52 (nine years ago) link
finally sucked it up and watched "the poughkeepsie tapes" on youtube, and wow. its got some flaws, but definitely rises to the top of the found footage pile.
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Monday, 6 October 2014 19:28 (nine years ago) link
I've been to Poughkeepsie. I should watch that.
I'm starting the thnig's 31 horror films in 31 days twitter challenge today (we were on vacation so I got a late start) with Maniac, which I see everybody here hated (and I suspect the number of women I need to see scalped is pretty low, too), so maybe I will abandon it and watch Apartment 143 instead.
― carl agatha, Monday, 6 October 2014 19:37 (nine years ago) link
No, Maniac is pretty good. If I recall, the women scalpees were really likable, which was good to see, but also, you know, bad.
― The Thnig, Monday, 6 October 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link
That sounds like my kind of challenge. My GF's out of town this weekend so I might binge pretty hardcore to make up the difference (I've shamefully only watched, like, two horror movies since the beginning of October).
― Certified Genious (Old Lunch), Monday, 6 October 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, October 6, 2014 6:39 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Certified Genious (Old Lunch), Monday, October 6, 2014 6:40 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, October 6, 2014 6:42 PM (2 hours ago)
Yeah, this stuff. I was ambivalent about it even from the beginning, as the characters didn't gel with me (which is a massive shame as primarily-female cast = fuck yeah), but was hoping that the intensity/claustrophobia would make me care about them more, and then in come some rubbish monsters and it goes actiony and boring.
― emil.y, Monday, 6 October 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
yeah the monsters sucked but i liked the cast and the first half was pretty scarythe girl with the beautiful eyebrows from the magdalene sisters was in it! (i just looked her up and her name is nora-jane noone)
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Monday, 6 October 2014 21:08 (nine years ago) link
the characters didn't gel with me
ha yes I also thought there was something off about it - my initial question was "wait, how do all these ladies know each other?", their relationships to one another seemed kind of tossed and ambiguously set up, as if the screenwriter was thinking "well, we need at least six kills in this, better have six characters um here goes"
― Οὖτις, Monday, 6 October 2014 21:11 (nine years ago) link
Not sure why a back story would be necessary.
Always thought she looked just like that Green Day frontman. Don't mean that as an insult or a compliment.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 October 2014 21:13 (nine years ago) link
ha she does kind of look like him, only prettier!
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Monday, 6 October 2014 21:14 (nine years ago) link
I really love Magdalene Sisters. It made me realise that miserable realistic British films could be good.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 October 2014 21:16 (nine years ago) link
well they bothered with the backstory for the first three (and the death of child/husband) and then quickly introduced three other randoms with little more than a sentence - which I wouldn't really have a problem with except that pretty much all the characters apart from the two leads ended up pretty indistinguishable
― Οὖτις, Monday, 6 October 2014 21:18 (nine years ago) link
like nothing they did or said throughout the rest of the movie developed any character whatsoever
jjj, thanks for the tip on Poughkeepsie Tapes. I watched it this evening. Riveting and pretty fucking upsetting.
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 01:54 (nine years ago) link
is "you're welcome" an appropriate response to that?
on the other side of the good coin, my continuing trip through after dark horrorfest got me to Perkins' 14, which is just (and remember, it's me saying this, I'll give a lot of illogic leeway to peeps getting chased by killers and such) totally incomprehensibly brain dead. avoid. avoid forever.
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 15:43 (nine years ago) link
The moment way toward the end of Poughkeepsie where the one victim dies with the plastic wrap over their face was really really horrifying
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 17:13 (nine years ago) link
Not a significant spoiler, in this movie abt a serial killer ppl are killed serially
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 17:14 (nine years ago) link
I almost checked out of the Poughkeepsie Tapes nine minutes in with his first victim, but I didn't, which is maybe too bad.
It was a good movie, but I didn't like watching it very much.
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 19:33 (nine years ago) link
i should have probably thrown in my typical "oh by the way this is super unpleasant to watch" caveat there
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 19:59 (nine years ago) link
It's okay! I should be able to figure it out from context clues, really.
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 20:19 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, there isn't generally a lot of wiggle room on the pleasantness scale with regard to pseudo snuff films, in my experience.
― Certified Genious (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 20:28 (nine years ago) link
I just saw The Descent on Sunday & loved it!
― example (crüt), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 21:33 (nine years ago) link
Anyone saw the sequel? I normally wouldn't care but it retained a lot of the cast and crew of the original. Kinda curious how they managed a direct sequel.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 00:26 (nine years ago) link
Supposed to be terrible.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 8 October 2014 00:44 (nine years ago) link
Bryan Bertino, writer/director of The Strangers, finally has a new movie that apparently just hit VOD. It's a found-footage movie called Mockingbird and I guess it's been in the can for a while? Bunch of bad signs there but I remain curious.
― Simon H., Thursday, 9 October 2014 01:54 (nine years ago) link
Descent sequel is absolutely terrible
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Thursday, 9 October 2014 02:49 (nine years ago) link
Anyone seen It Follows? We saw it tonight in Leicester Square and loved it. Intelligent with plenty of nods to suburban US teen horror from the 80s, dude obv loves his Carpenter (good synths ha) although it also feels fresh and original. And it's scary! Liked it a lot.
― kraudive, Sunday, 12 October 2014 00:44 (nine years ago) link
It Follows and The Babadook seem to be the low budget triumphs of this year, I really like the look of both of them.
― xelab, Sunday, 12 October 2014 22:18 (nine years ago) link
Cant find a trailer for It Follows.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 13 October 2014 13:19 (nine years ago) link
I'm not sure there is one yet! Too soon.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 13 October 2014 13:24 (nine years ago) link
There's loads of youtube talk on it from insiders and outsiders.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 13 October 2014 13:27 (nine years ago) link
Here's the Over Your Dead Body trailer I mentioned upthread.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPUObt-zPrM
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 13 October 2014 13:36 (nine years ago) link
Hey! We watched "Borgman" (on the advice of this thread, I think) and LOVED it. There's a movie you just can't get a handle on. Tone is perfect throughout.
― The Thnig, Monday, 13 October 2014 14:12 (nine years ago) link
Has anyone else watched "Exte: Hair Extensions"? J-horror about hair extensions that behave in the manner of The Thing or The Blob. It sounds ridiculous, and is a bit, but really some fantastic stuff in there, and some very creative effects. Highly recommended.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 16 October 2014 13:59 (nine years ago) link
It's not bad. Some funny stuff in it, mad ending. Not Sono's best but fun.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 14:30 (nine years ago) link
The Conjuring was about as good as those kinds of movies get. Looked great, some really nice shots/setups, good with the jump-scares, decent acting. All that being said, I find Catholic movies deeply silly, the conception of evil is so nonsensical and unexamined.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:46 (nine years ago) link
It was the cheesy tv movie sentimentality the bothered me more than anything.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:56 (nine years ago) link
eh that doesn't bother me. It's the requirement that you buy into Catholic mysticism/liturgy for it to have any kind of resonance that makes me roll my eyes at it (tbh I have a similar problem with the grandaddy of all these kinds of movies, the Exorcist). The references to the Salem Witch Trials, to things Satanists believe, to needing a Priest to yell latin to make bad things go away, it's all so deeply silly to my non-Christian sensibility.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:06 (nine years ago) link
I never know what you're supposed to do if you're Jewish and you face some threat based in Catholic doctrine. Are you just hosed?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:15 (nine years ago) link
Hey, you don't know the devil, the devil doesn't know you, it's all good brah
― Nhex, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:17 (nine years ago) link
Well this stuff bleeds into so many horror films that aren't particularly Christian, especially vampire film tropes. It still persists to a surprising degree. Even in that celebrity comedy This Is The End (can't recall if that's the right name) I was kind of surprised that it was a clearly Christian version of afterlife/apocalypse.
In some contexts I'm fine with treating religion in horror stories as just a fantasy mythology. I think Borderlands did a very good job of portraying sympathetic Catholics who were also sceptics.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:19 (nine years ago) link
Pretty sure THE POSSESSION was a Jewish exorcism movie. Plenty enough demons to go around.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:20 (nine years ago) link
If The Possession is anything to go by, if you're Jewish, you get possessed by your own evil spirits. Maybe the Catholic demons and Jewish evil spirits have an information sharing setup, like how if you file a complaint for Title VII employment discrimination with your state human rights agency, they send it over to the EEOC for processing.
XPOST
― carl agatha, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:21 (nine years ago) link
Even in that celebrity comedy This Is The End (can't recall if that's the right name) I was kind of surprised that it was a clearly Christian version of afterlife/apocalypse.
I *loved* this movie and totally lol'd at all the Jewish actors not giving a second thought to accepting the Xtian apocalypse
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:23 (nine years ago) link
lol carl
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:24 (nine years ago) link
would watch a movie where this happens and Jew makes a Golem to defend himself
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:25 (nine years ago) link
"you're who...? Satan? Never heard of you. Take it up with my big clay monster here."
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:27 (nine years ago) link
I would also watch that movie. Somebody make that movie so I can watch it.
― carl agatha, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:38 (nine years ago) link
In the Posession though it's goyim getting possessed by the dybbuk. Until matisyahu comes to the rescue.
(Half decent movie, about as worth watching but dumb as The Conjuring and with at least one riff much scarier than anything in The Conjuring.)
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:39 (nine years ago) link
I know I've said this several times before in other horror threads but I think The Exorcist handles this tendency much more gracefully than is the norm. Religion doesn't ultimately prove to be a much more effective framework to use in tackling the problem than medicine did, and I posit that it's possible that everyone in the movie/audience is operating under a misapprehension of what the entity's true nature is (i.e. maybe just a malevolent force and not a demon per se).
― Shed Your Nasty Jewelry (Old Lunch), Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:41 (nine years ago) link
I don't think I've seen this Posession movie, is it worth watching
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:41 (nine years ago) link
don't get me wrong I like the Exorcist and think it's a good movie, I just don't find the central premise scary. It does have enough other stuff going on - the priest with the lapsed faith, the pubescents=monsters metaphor, excellent shots/staging - to keep me engaged.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:48 (nine years ago) link
Oh, I don't know. The Possession is like The Conjuring and all other movies of that ilk: well shot, well acted, some good jumps, ultimately all blurring into the same pretty-good movie from the 2010s.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:49 (nine years ago) link
haha okay pass
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:49 (nine years ago) link
the pubescents=monsters metaphor
― Nhex, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:52 (nine years ago) link
I was getting a bit confused with the whole Possession/The Possession thing for a moment there.
― emil.y, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:53 (nine years ago) link
Lol yeah definite equal sign with a slash through it there
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:59 (nine years ago) link
It would help if there weren't, like, 47 movies named Possession. Do an IMDB search, screenwriters/producers.
― Shed Your Nasty Jewelry (Old Lunch), Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:00 (nine years ago) link
Dracula Vs. Golem movie, make it happen.
Liked how Cabin in the Woods introduced a pre-Judeo-Christian pagan apocalypse. Not enough pagan apocalypse going around.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:06 (nine years ago) link
I think a lot of my problem with these Catholic-centric movies is not necessarily the backgrounded theology/mysticism itself but that the movies usually take it as a given that the institution itself of the Catholic Church is literally constantly waging a universal battle against evil, that this is its very nature. which is only the sort of thing the most credulous true believers accept.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:33 (nine years ago) link
like in the Conjuring, it's explicitly spelled out that not just *anybody* can yell latin at a demon, it has to be a properly ordained priest, an official representative of the church.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:34 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I think even lots of Catholics would find the idea of the pope and his army battling evil spirits quite silly.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link
it's not so much the conception of the pope punching Satan in the mouth or whatever that bothers me as it is this assumed, completely ahistorical view of the church. yup, nothin but good folks working there for the past 2000 years - no murderers, rapists, lechers, sadists, greedy bastards involved there nope not a one. as long as all they all had some magic latin and crosses the Devil was runnin scared!
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:44 (nine years ago) link
I wanna see more movies where they bring in the priests to deal with the supernatural crisis and they just fail completely.
― Shed Your Nasty Jewelry (Old Lunch), Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:46 (nine years ago) link
Like.... the Exorcist?
― emil.y, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
haha yeah that is one of the better twists in the Exorcist
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
More movies. More.
― Shed Your Nasty Jewelry (Old Lunch), Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
I don't know, maybe I'm watching the wrong (for which read right) films or just making up endings in my head after the fact, but I can't think of any where priests/religious types *do* win.
― emil.y, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:50 (nine years ago) link
Maybe I just don't watch very many "priesty man kill demon" horrors?
― emil.y, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:51 (nine years ago) link
When did a horror film ever portray the whole history of the Catholic church as always good?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:52 (nine years ago) link
There's a good Manly Wade Wellman story about a travelling folk singer fighting a singing demon but it really shitted all over the story when he summoned George Washington to beat the demon. It was appealingly odd, but why did it have to be a guy like Washington?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:55 (nine years ago) link
the portrayal is implied in films like the Conjuring and the Exorcist. the Devil's the ultimate evil, what can possibly fight the Devil? why, the Catholic Church of course!
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:59 (nine years ago) link
it's the implied faith in the Church as an ahistorical institution, a counterweight to evil whose power is in its liturgy and rituals
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:00 (nine years ago) link
Just watched the original Amityville Horror for the first time the other night. Everyone affiliated with the church was rendered completely ineffectual pretty much right off the bat and they took the brunt of the supernatural punishment.
― Shed Your Nasty Jewelry (Old Lunch), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:02 (nine years ago) link
the lawsuits around Amityville Horror are pretty fascinating/lolzy
this is making me want to dig into some Satanic panic research-type books
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:10 (nine years ago) link
Not enough pagan apocalypse going around.pagans don't need the apocalypse to be scary -- they're scary enough as is ;)
strongly recommend debbie nathan's book about the satanic panic
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:17 (nine years ago) link
Ghostbusters is pretty non-denominational demon, too, right?
The best bit in the first Paranormal Activity movie is when they call in the first spiritual housecleaner, who walks into the house and is immediately basically, wow, this is so above my paygrade I need to leave right now, good luck with your demon.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:27 (nine years ago) link
It's true, pre-EXORCIST there used to be tons of impending pagan apocalypse of the HOUSE OF THE DEVIL sort. Lots of Hammer films featured various pentagrams upon which corseted bosoms would heave and ornamental knives would slash and demons would (almost) erupt.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:32 (nine years ago) link
That Paranormal Activity thing reminds me of Dan Akroyd as a Ghostbuster in Casper
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:35 (nine years ago) link
I basically want the group of kinky weirdos from the ritual scene in Curse of the Crimson Cult to be behind all evil doing in all films
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:46 (nine years ago) link
Any views on the 2011 Coppola film Twixt? I've mostly heard it wasn't good.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 18 October 2014 15:03 (nine years ago) link
It has some fans.
― Simon H., Saturday, 18 October 2014 15:44 (nine years ago) link
those fans are wrong
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Saturday, 18 October 2014 19:32 (nine years ago) link
one of the worst things ive seen in a long long time
on the other hand, in the netflix shovelware because otherwise you'll miss it category, "Mine Games" (yeah, I know) is surprisingly effective, falls somewhere between Baghead and Triangle. I really really enjoyed it. the basic concept gets all kind or ropey and confusing but they pull it off quite well.
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Saturday, 18 October 2014 19:34 (nine years ago) link
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/demons-of-the-modern-world-malcolm-mcgrath/1012496645?ean=9781573929356
This fascinating discussion of modern demonology focuses on our ability to differentiate the physical world, with its mechanical laws, from the inherently less predictable psychological realm of thoughts and beliefs. McGrath points out that this ability was a hard-won historical development, and today must be learned in childhood through education. Because of this historical background and our rich fantasy life in childhood, each of us unconsciously suspects, or fears, that supernatural forces may break through the borders of our everyday commonsense order at any time. Indeed, at times of personal stress or societal crisis, the modern boundaries between fantasy and reality begin to slip, and then a magical world of demons and other phantasms can come flooding back into our disenchanted reality.Through this innovative thesis McGrath goes a long way toward explaining both our fascination with fantasy entertainment, such as horror stories and films, and bizarre crazes such as witch-hunts, Satanism scares, and even claims of alien abduction. Despite our demystified culture the lure of childhood's magic kingdom with its monstrous shadow realm remains strong.
Through this innovative thesis McGrath goes a long way toward explaining both our fascination with fantasy entertainment, such as horror stories and films, and bizarre crazes such as witch-hunts, Satanism scares, and even claims of alien abduction. Despite our demystified culture the lure of childhood's magic kingdom with its monstrous shadow realm remains strong.
There's really no need for the lurid dustjacket; McGrath's analysis of the Satanism and recovered-memory scare of the 1980s, as well as many people's continuing insistence on the reality of alien abductions and other frightening phenomena, is chilling all on its own as a lesson on the dangers such beliefs still pose to society centuries after the witch trials. McGrath (doctoral candidate, political philosophy, Oxford U.) traces the origins and manifestations of the "strange fear," which is built into Western civilization: "that somewhere on the edges of our reality there is a world of demons that is trying to break into our world and wreak havoc." His history examines why such myths persist and how lives have been destroyed by them.
Sorry for butting in, esp. with walls of text. I enjoy this thread and have used it to navigate the flotsam-strewn swamps of modern horror movies (I doubt I would've looked into Magic Magic without having read about it here, for instance). It's also fun to see how my impressions match up against those of the other posters. Anyway, Demons of the Modern World was something I found at my local library and did not want to return. Pretty fascinating. I couldn't help but think about it while watching The Children, actually. The idea that our children can represent this horrifying "other" world, or maybe act as emissaries from it, thanks to our own vaguely supernatural outlooks as one time children ourselves, outlooks we've spent years shoveling over, is one that has stuck with me ever since reading it. You can probably find it cheap somewhere.
― tongues flowering (Devilock), Sunday, 19 October 2014 03:52 (nine years ago) link
I watched NZ comedy/horror Housebound tonight, funny as fuck in places but not as good as People Under The Stairs, which it rips.
― xelab, Monday, 20 October 2014 00:42 (nine years ago) link
The Taking Of Deborah Logan is on US Netflix at the moment, despite a supposed 2015 release date, and is much better than you'd expect from a low-budget direct to VOD title.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 12:13 (nine years ago) link
Irish driving-about-in-the-dark thriller In Fear and Vincenzo-Natali-produced Canadian portmanteau / vignette series Darknet are both on Netflix now, and both watchable.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Sunday, 26 October 2014 12:54 (nine years ago) link
Years after the litmus testing in this thread, I finally dipped into PONTYPOOL last week and ... I'm fully with jjjusten there. Well, maybe not quite fully. I thought the movie was pretty fantastic for the first half, and almost wish that it hadn't been a horror movie at all in the traditional sense but had, instead, stuck with the absurdism of its initial situation, small town reporting from inside a bunker with no actual confirmation of the big world event happening outside.
Once it went all semiotics lesson, the movie became a total lost cause. NOTLD had messages too, but they never became the text itself.
― Eric H., Sunday, 26 October 2014 15:46 (nine years ago) link
Wonder if that sequel is really happening.
― Simon H., Sunday, 26 October 2014 16:01 (nine years ago) link
Man, you make me want to watch it again. And again. I love that text itself (as such) is the vector, and semiotics the way the virus spreads! Just genius. When the professor breaks in, talks a bunch, and then escapes out again (iirc) ... so funny.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 26 October 2014 22:29 (nine years ago) link
Eric otm. Its great until the 2nd half and then it becomes ridiculous and unwatchable.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 27 October 2014 00:09 (nine years ago) link
Of all the crap we all big up on this thread, I love that Pontypool is the one that gets branded unwatchable. ;)
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 October 2014 00:50 (nine years ago) link
Speaking of which, anyone shocked how few of the usual suspect franchises are available to stream on Netflix, esp. c. Halloween? Is it because this is there bread and butter time to be bought/screened/paid for? Virtually nil when it comes to "Friday the 13th," "Nightmare on Elm Street," "Halloween" or the like on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 October 2014 00:53 (nine years ago) link
Lots of things get labelled unwatchable, it just happens to be the one w the most strident defenders
Xp
― Οὖτις, Monday, 27 October 2014 00:54 (nine years ago) link
I thought p much nothing of quality was availabke on netflix streaming. Perpetua even wrote a buzzfeed listicle abt it
― Οὖτις, Monday, 27 October 2014 00:55 (nine years ago) link
Must be true then.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 October 2014 01:15 (nine years ago) link
Lol
― Οὖτις, Monday, 27 October 2014 01:44 (nine years ago) link
If it helps, I didn't much like The Innkeepers either.
― Eric H., Monday, 27 October 2014 02:43 (nine years ago) link
Not sure if that was among the big upped.
― Eric H., Monday, 27 October 2014 02:44 (nine years ago) link
LOVED The Taking of Deborah Logan. Great acting and pretty damn scary.
― The Thnig, Monday, 27 October 2014 15:17 (nine years ago) link
Yes, i think i underplayed how much i enjoyed it. It's definitely worth catching.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Monday, 27 October 2014 15:21 (nine years ago) link
I think I big upped the Innkeepers quite a bit. Pontypool on the other hand.
Mr. Jones on streaming is a better than expected little diversion I thought. Suffers a bit from creeping "surreality will disguise that our ending isn't nearly as clever as we think it is", but I enjoyed it a bunch. Been digging a lot of the Darknet stuff, pretty impressive as anthology tv horror goes. THX CANADA!
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Monday, 27 October 2014 16:13 (nine years ago) link
The only way I'd watch a Pontypool sequel is if it's a silent movie.
― Eric H., Monday, 27 October 2014 16:35 (nine years ago) link
not even then
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Monday, 27 October 2014 17:00 (nine years ago) link
Just dropping in to say I watched 'Tampopo' last night and the food + sex scenes are more disturbing than any horror movie.
― festival culture (Jordan), Monday, 27 October 2014 17:09 (nine years ago) link
Two thirds of The Babadook were really great but as so often the final act unravels and I left disappointed.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 27 October 2014 18:33 (nine years ago) link
That's practially become a formula for near-classic horror movies these days (e.g. The Descent, House Of The Devil). Work on your endings, filmmakers!
― I Am A Very Important Businessman (Old Lunch), Monday, 27 October 2014 18:38 (nine years ago) link
Struggling to name one that doesn't fit the pattern, Absentia jumps to mind but beyond that...
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 27 October 2014 18:47 (nine years ago) link
I'm one of the few who liked the ending of The Strangers.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 27 October 2014 18:48 (nine years ago) link
Another measure by which Inside emerges as one of the recent greats.
― Eric H., Monday, 27 October 2014 18:59 (nine years ago) link
Seriously?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:03 (nine years ago) link
All I remember is a zombie policeman.
Cabin in the Woods sticks the ending. Um, "The Orphanage" sticks the ending. Erm ...
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:04 (nine years ago) link
Cabin in the Woods def sticks the ending. Ending of the Strangers really bummed me out, it was so anticlimactic.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:05 (nine years ago) link
I mean really all it needed was maybe a decent monologue from the killers and I would've been happy. but no.
Cabin In The Woods is probably the best horror film I've seen from the last ten years.
Forgot to mention in this thread that I watched The Mist last week. That's certainly up there, as well (although the ending, again, is problematic).
― I Am A Very Important Businessman (Old Lunch), Monday, 27 October 2014 19:08 (nine years ago) link
I liked The Mist a lot, save Oscar winner's horrible overacting. There was a really good fan ending I saw somewhere, set to Dead Can Dance, iirc.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:09 (nine years ago) link
Think you're remembering Les Mis or something.
― Eric H., Monday, 27 October 2014 19:11 (nine years ago) link
xpost Dead Can Dance played over the theatrical ending.
― I Am A Very Important Businessman (Old Lunch), Monday, 27 October 2014 19:12 (nine years ago) link
I'd argue that whatever one feels about the ending of The Mist, the movie definitely doesn't go out with a whimper.
― Eric H., Monday, 27 October 2014 19:12 (nine years ago) link
No, the film in general didn't pull any punches, which I loved.
― I Am A Very Important Businessman (Old Lunch), Monday, 27 October 2014 19:14 (nine years ago) link
Had it been an original screenplay, Welp You're Fucked would've made an excellent alternative title.
― I Am A Very Important Businessman (Old Lunch), Monday, 27 October 2014 19:16 (nine years ago) link
And, of course, Drag Me To Hell.
― Eric H., Monday, 27 October 2014 19:19 (nine years ago) link
Maybe it's just the Ti West movies have problems with lame endings.
― Eric H., Monday, 27 October 2014 19:20 (nine years ago) link
You're Next did a fine job
― Nhex, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:22 (nine years ago) link
Some fine examples but this is still a thing ok.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 27 October 2014 19:25 (nine years ago) link
Didn't like You're Next's ending because it's not really an ending, it just sort of ... stops. "Drag Me to Hell" is a great ending, though of course it (like everything else) is borrowed from Curse of the Demon.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:25 (nine years ago) link
That Mist ending really divided people but I liked it.
Honestly, I think good horror film endings have always been rare, I can't think of many satisfying endings. That famous double bill of Don't Look Now and Wicker Man must have packed a punch when nobody knew the endings, heads would have been nicely fucked for that night.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:31 (nine years ago) link
In fact I think it's a story thing in general that good satisfying endings are rare. I actually prefer abrupt endings that are a bit annoying than the general practice of the conventional comfortable wrap up which approximates the shape of a good ending but doesn't really manage it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:34 (nine years ago) link
I actually prefer abrupt endings
Yeah, nothing wrong with this, tbh. Anyone watch "Vertigo" lately? It and "Psycho" are obviously masterpieces, but I'll take the sudden ending of the former over the protracted ending of the latter any day.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 October 2014 19:38 (nine years ago) link
Ending of the Strangers really bummed me out
I think that is rather the idea.
― Simon H., Monday, 27 October 2014 19:42 (nine years ago) link
RAG otm, it's not a new thing. Endings are almost by definition anti climactic and most of the best ones leave some ambiguity or open-ness. Texas Chainsaw Massacre feels like one of the strongest.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 27 October 2014 19:46 (nine years ago) link
the 'you're next' ending was p great i thought, i like endings that are that type of exclamation point.
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, 27 October 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
yeah, they managed to throw together homages to Home Alone, The Shining and Night of the Living Dead within the space of two minutes!
― Nhex, Monday, 27 October 2014 20:29 (nine years ago) link
seeing the babadook tomorrow. it had better be great!
― Shepard Toney Album (dog latin), Tuesday, 28 October 2014 12:39 (nine years ago) link
Tall Man stayed solid all the way to the end IMO
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 28 October 2014 14:05 (nine years ago) link
'Scuse me real quick while I head to the ILX quoted out of context thread...
― I Am A Very Important Businessman (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 28 October 2014 14:49 (nine years ago) link
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 28 October 2014 15:28 (nine years ago) link
so darknet takes a serious downward turn by the end of the first season. 5th ep is pretty bad, last ep is pretty terrible. i think they were opening a second season path but yeesh, it's a harsh decline in those last 2.
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Tuesday, 28 October 2014 15:30 (nine years ago) link
"the woman" (2011) was excellent. a shame about all the bar rock stinking up the soundtrack tho.
― slam dunk, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 00:09 (nine years ago) link
Kimberley Pierce's "Carrie" remake = crap, tons of wasted opportunityTi West's "The Sacrament" = tasteless, pointless Jonestown pastiche
― bippity bup at the hotel california (Phil D.), Thursday, 30 October 2014 02:50 (nine years ago) link
otm re: both points on The Woman. McKee is an interesting filmmaker with terrible taste in music.
― Simon H., Thursday, 30 October 2014 03:03 (nine years ago) link
So the Babadook was flipping excellent.
― Shepard Toney Album (dog latin), Thursday, 30 October 2014 08:33 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, apart from the end. The mum and the kid are both fantastic.
― ewar woowar (or something), Thursday, 30 October 2014 11:25 (nine years ago) link
It's a shame you don't see more of Daniel Henshall too, just because he's so good in Snowtown, but also nice that they didn't feel they had to shoehorn a romantic subplot in.
― ewar woowar (or something), Thursday, 30 October 2014 11:31 (nine years ago) link
Yes! Mixed feelings about the ending - sort of anticlimactic but at least it made sense and resolved in a way best suited to the rules and tropes of the monster.
― Shepard Toney Album (dog latin), Thursday, 30 October 2014 11:36 (nine years ago) link
Don't know much about, but in passing the movie sound a bit like ... "Mama"?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 30 October 2014 13:38 (nine years ago) link
not seen Mama I'm afraid.
Babadook sounds on paper like it could be yet another haunted house movie with a wide-eyed little kid and lots of shadows and jump-scares, and to an extent, it is. But it's just done so much better and more originally than that. I'd say go and see it.
― Shepard Toney Album (dog latin), Thursday, 30 October 2014 14:04 (nine years ago) link
Really enjoyed, belatedly, "Oculus," even if I never quite understood what its central characters were trying to do. "We have to wait here by this cursed mirror to stop my contraption from destroying the cursed mirror, it's the only way to destroy it!" Flanagan clearly knows how to make a scary movie, much less hacky than James Wan.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 30 October 2014 19:20 (nine years ago) link
I always had this feeling that was gonna be horrible, but it's on my list for Amy Pond and Starbuck.
― Nhex, Thursday, 30 October 2014 20:21 (nine years ago) link
I'll never understand what people like about James Wan's movies.
― Simon H., Thursday, 30 October 2014 20:28 (nine years ago) link
Feeling cautious about Babadook because it does look a bit too familiar from trailers.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 30 October 2014 22:33 (nine years ago) link
Housebound. a keeper, though perhaps a reel or two overlong. draws from other films, but the parts are put together in a way that feels fresh. a distinctly Kiwi sense of humor helps. hard to do this sort of horror comedy well, and i think they pulled it off. tonally reminiscent of Murder Party, which is never a bad thing.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Friday, 31 October 2014 15:16 (nine years ago) link
American Mary. Not really my cup of tea but it was okay.
Why do so many films need a country, state or city name in them when it rarely seems like the location has much relevance? It's annoying.
Since Tokyo Fist is one of my all-time favorites I'd hope there was a good reason and I think it's Tsukamoto's view that Tokyo is a nightmarish energy sapping place. Texas Chainsaw Massacre seems fine too.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 November 2014 16:36 (nine years ago) link
MR. JONES was pretty good! The first half was really fantastic. When things started getting weird closer to the end, it sort of lost me. I feel like I've been seeing more of this, filmmakers abandoning logic for a last-act freakout, and though I generally appreciate the instinct, it was pulled off better in things like A FIELD IN ENGLAND and YELLOWBRICKROAD.
― The Thnig, Monday, 3 November 2014 15:01 (nine years ago) link
Oculus was really good. as an exploration of family trauma and its cycles I thought it was quite effective, even if it did borrow really heavily from the Shining. and of course why didn't they just smash the mirror right away etc. also lol at the deathtrap, was obvious what was gonna happen with that as soon as it was introduced.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 3 November 2014 17:17 (nine years ago) link
on the plus side, it *did* have an ending, and a quality one that didn't betray the spirit of the rest of the film.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 3 November 2014 17:18 (nine years ago) link
So this too many cooks thing scratches some of my short horror film itches. If you haven't well:
http://youtu.be/QrGrOK8oZG8
― Ass Tchotchke! (jjjusten), Saturday, 8 November 2014 07:19 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, Oculus did have an ending!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 8 November 2014 14:47 (nine years ago) link
For about 10 minutes I thought "Dead Snow 2" was an improvement on the original, just for being sillier, but that got tired fast. Unless you think the very presence of Martin Starr is enough to make anything good - and it usually is - all this one has going for it is some gleefully grotesque gags. Michael Bay wishes he could make a movie where a zombie Nazi uses a stretch of intestine to siphon gas from an RV into a tank to take a town in northern Norway.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 December 2014 20:34 (nine years ago) link
that... sounds great?
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 December 2014 20:36 (nine years ago) link
It has its moments.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 December 2014 20:44 (nine years ago) link
How long before the inevitable Babadook backlash begins?
― Eric H., Friday, 5 December 2014 20:50 (nine years ago) link
not yet plz I still haven't seen it!
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 December 2014 20:51 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I think more people need to see it. All the reviews went up, but then I couldn't find it playing anywhere!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 December 2014 21:31 (nine years ago) link
it's not even on DVD/Bluray yet
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 December 2014 21:33 (nine years ago) link
I downloaded it last weekend, it's really good and the ending, though fucking odd as hell, does not suck!
Cognitive dissonance warning, the terrifying lead sociopath from Snowtown Murders is in it and is not a psycho.
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Friday, 5 December 2014 23:19 (nine years ago) link
Babadook is pretty good (playing at IFC in NYC) but it has some drastic tonal missteps and, while i do understand why the monster is designed to look the way it does, it lost me everytime they put the baddie onscreen. As always, much more frightening when it's not shown. but the ending is excellent and adds a level of sophistication and complexity to the story. I'd like a list of horror movies where adults are the monsters... Shining, Night of the Hunter, Parents, what else?
A Girl Walks Home at Night Alone is not any sort of horror movie but it's as good or better than babadook and it's got vampires.
― a stupid red mute juggalo (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 6 December 2014 06:40 (nine years ago) link
babadook's biggest weakness is its overly auteuristic flair; there were a lot of shots where I just wanted the director to calm down... though child in the closet was shades of Devil's Backbone
― a stupid red mute juggalo (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 6 December 2014 06:41 (nine years ago) link
Babadook is great. Starry Eyes is good. Looking forward to catching A Girl Walks Home... and Housebouund soon.
― Simon H., Saturday, 6 December 2014 16:19 (nine years ago) link
I just did not like the Babadook (just got finished watching it.) I guess that's some backlash. I liked a lot of parts of it, but not the whole movie. I thought the ending was pretty clever though.
― Frobisher, Sunday, 14 December 2014 18:19 (nine years ago) link
Strange color of your body's tears (the amer follow up) now streaming on Netflix.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Sunday, 14 December 2014 19:11 (nine years ago) link
Yr man who did The Pact has a new film on US Netflix, At The Devil's Door. It's at least as good.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 21:22 (nine years ago) link
FOUND FOOTAGE TRIGGER WARNING ALERT
watched "Mockingbird" which from clown box art etc would not have ever been on my viewing list, but it turns out that it's done by the dude who did "the strangers" and it sits comfortably in that same zone themewise, yes yes it's FF but the explanation for why is at least sound and overall i was pretty knocked out by it. nice feel of being kind of a puzzle movie, despite knowing what pieces are sliding into place it still feels surprising and fresh. good stuff. you'll probably hate it.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 21:27 (nine years ago) link
I did!
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 21:28 (nine years ago) link
Partly because it was so obvious what was going to happen and partly because the route it took to get there was so silly. I did like The Strangers though.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 21:29 (nine years ago) link
haha that was meant as a general you, but point proven!
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 16 December 2014 21:30 (nine years ago) link
Strangers was great up until the last 5 minutes. good enough that I would watch other stuff dude did, although FF is def at the bottom of the pile in terms of horror tropes I like to watch
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 21:32 (nine years ago) link
Strangers I always thought was a remake of Ils/Them, but I guess not? Anyway, looked up the team that did Ils/Them, and their career has been - how you say? - not so hot.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 December 2014 22:43 (nine years ago) link
Saw Babadook at the cinema a few months back and I still think about it a lot. Haven't bought a DVD in ages, but I'm thinking of doing so with this one.
― dive inside water and you will know (dog latin), Wednesday, 17 December 2014 12:57 (nine years ago) link
Echoing ShariVari and the thign upthread, holy fuck you guys, the taking of Deborah Logan is stunningly good.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 08:09 (nine years ago) link
Sorry, the thnig
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 08:10 (nine years ago) link
YES, ITS FOUND FOOTAGE SHUT UP
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 08:11 (nine years ago) link
Also, in the not horror more thriller Primer vein, Coherence is very much worth the hype. Should scratch the thinky thinky itch for all you terrible Pontypool types without ruining it all by being Pontypool.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 08:22 (nine years ago) link
the taking of Deborah Logan is stunningly surprisingly good
Anne Ramsay and Jill Larson are fantastic. To the extent that the movie concerns their characters and interactions, it really is stunningly good. Problem is that it's at least equally concerned with the utterly vapid team of youngsters conducting the investigation and doing the filming. And the found footage conceit is completely unnecessary here. And it's taken to ludicrous extremes - there is simply no reason for them to place cameras in the house's hallways (and the elderly subject's bedroom for god's sake). And the "spookiness" is exaggerated for no good reason (your senile mother wanders naked around the house at night, you don't act all terrified by the non-diegetic soundtrack, you take her a fucking blanket). Then again, the mystery plot was more interesting and satisfying than is typical for films of this type. A mixed bag with, yeah, stunning high points.
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 15:35 (nine years ago) link
agree with all of the above.
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 15:56 (nine years ago) link
Totally disagree that this movie would have worked the same as a non ff/handcam pseudodoc - the movie (and the 2 lead performances) need to be personal and up close to work as well as they do, and the interview/investigation is the setup for that. FF isn't always about cheap jump scares, it's more about where you place the viewer, which I think this does near perfectly.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, agree that the found footage aspect added to the sense of immersion (and in some instances, realism). But it could have been dialed back quite a bit, and better thought through besides. At this point in the game, I think hybrid FF almost always works better. But that's just me.
― Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 16:22 (nine years ago) link
the Taking of Deborah Logan is stunningly surprisingly good mediocre.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Tuesday, 23 December 2014 17:19 (nine years ago) link
I'm really hoping Crimson Peak is gonna be good (saw a lovely photo from it last week) because I don't think I've heard about anything that looked intriguing this year, but I'm not sure horror films are anymore stagnant than usual.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 23 December 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
Thought this was dead on, for anyone who didn't see it. Totally reminded me of the end of "The Guest," with bits of "Saw" (obv.), but I thought it nailed it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCw-iEJoVfY
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 24 December 2014 00:31 (nine years ago) link
hehe yup
― Nhex, Wednesday, 24 December 2014 02:37 (nine years ago) link
The Soska sisters' most recent film, See No Evil 2, is on UK Netflix now. Stars Katherine Isabelle should any more inducement be required.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Wednesday, 31 December 2014 16:02 (nine years ago) link
^ ok, this was terrible - don't bother.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Wednesday, 31 December 2014 19:20 (nine years ago) link
How did you rate American Mary? It didn't do much for me but it was a little different.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 31 December 2014 19:24 (nine years ago) link
Yes, that's more or less what I thought. It wasn't a great film but did indicate that the Soskas had a potentially interesting vision.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Wednesday, 31 December 2014 20:15 (nine years ago) link
Babadook really held up on 2nd viewing. The things that seem genuinely scary (e.g. hating your child, and furthermore learning how to manage that hatred) manage to cut through the almost too-frequent scare setpieces.
― Eric H., Monday, 5 January 2015 17:10 (nine years ago) link
It's a solid horror film. Maybe not entirely deserving of the season's hype, but I personally loved the themes you just mentioned. The portrayal of the kid was a great, honest thing, I think, because children ARE beasts, even if it's not their fault.
― Nhex, Monday, 5 January 2015 17:15 (nine years ago) link
The overbearing director's eye took me out of the story regularly but that's first film problems i guess
― MAYBE HE'S NOT THE BEST THIGH SLAPPER IN THE WORLD (forksclovetofu), Monday, 5 January 2015 17:21 (nine years ago) link
maybe some day the babadook will be available to me in some viewing format and i can share my IMPORTANT OPINIONS on it
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Monday, 5 January 2015 17:23 (nine years ago) link
icefilms icefilms baby
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Monday, 5 January 2015 17:27 (nine years ago) link
i dont even know what that is? not to go all tuomas or anything
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Monday, 5 January 2015 18:13 (nine years ago) link
in 30 years when we're all old and incontinent there should be an ilx thread just called "ok let's all shit our pants"
― flopson, Monday, 5 January 2015 18:31 (nine years ago) link
I'm super looking forward to Babadook, still, but it really scans, at least loosely, very similar to Mama.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 5 January 2015 18:33 (nine years ago) link
it's not available on VOD in your area yet, jjjusten? It went day and date in the US I think
― Nhex, Monday, 5 January 2015 19:00 (nine years ago) link
huh i could check that i guess, im just baffled that netflix doesn't have it on disc yet honestly
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Monday, 5 January 2015 19:38 (nine years ago) link
Also, it's technically still playing in the Cities -- St. Anthony Main.
― Eric H., Monday, 5 January 2015 19:40 (nine years ago) link
it's still in theaters out here in NYC!
― MAYBE HE'S NOT THE BEST THIGH SLAPPER IN THE WORLD (forksclovetofu), Monday, 5 January 2015 19:40 (nine years ago) link
Can't say I outright loved The Babadook, but it's damn good, considerably better than (and not terribly similar to) Mama. Agree w/ Eric H. that the psychological elements are more interesting and better handled than the more overtly scary scenes, which aren't bad but do make the rookie mistake of giving too much away. I'd also have preferred a somewhat less thematically obvious conclusion, but of what I've seen, it's still the year's best traditional horror film.
― that last push creates an amount of pleasing froth on (contenderizer), Monday, 5 January 2015 19:52 (nine years ago) link
My friend the young widowed mother got blindsided by it but found non-horror elements very in line with her own experiences.
― Three Word Username, Monday, 5 January 2015 20:06 (nine years ago) link
Been reading some good reports about What We Do in the Shadows i.e a couple of people saying it is the best horrom/com since Braindead and Peter Bradshaw gave it a 5 star rave review.
― xelab, Monday, 5 January 2015 20:24 (nine years ago) link
horror/com
― xelab, Monday, 5 January 2015 20:26 (nine years ago) link
Housebound is my favorite recent horror comedy (good year for Antipodean chills), but I'm now quite curious about What We Do In the Shadows.
― that last push creates an amount of pleasing froth on (contenderizer), Monday, 5 January 2015 20:42 (nine years ago) link
Yeah Housebound was piss funny. I am not a fan of Clement/Waititi's previous work, but from the reviews this seems be very dark and funny.
― xelab, Monday, 5 January 2015 21:00 (nine years ago) link
Was it from this thread that I got the recommendation to watch BENEATH (the one where the teens are trapped on their boat by a devil-fish)? If so, damn you! So lousy!
― The Thnig, Monday, 5 January 2015 22:10 (nine years ago) link
Anyone seen the Iranian vampire movie, "A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YGmTdo3vuY
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 5 January 2015 22:14 (nine years ago) link
No, but I've been looking forward to it for some time.
― contenderizer, Monday, 5 January 2015 22:34 (nine years ago) link
it's good! virtually no horror elements to it at all tho'.
― MAYBE HE'S NOT THE BEST THIGH SLAPPER IN THE WORLD (forksclovetofu), Monday, 5 January 2015 23:50 (nine years ago) link
You mean other than it being about a vampire?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 6 January 2015 01:46 (nine years ago) link
yes! there's no suspense at all. it's more of a dybbuk movie of sorts i think; kind of a peek into a world i don't know anything about.
― MAYBE HE'S NOT THE BEST THIGH SLAPPER IN THE WORLD (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 6 January 2015 01:55 (nine years ago) link
I look forward to seeing it! Iranian cinema is so sneaky and subversive. This one in particular. In a society that targets women for being alone at night (under the pretense of prosecuting prostitution), it's pretty ingenious to have a female vampire wandering around at night preying on men.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 6 January 2015 02:27 (nine years ago) link
Or completely regressive, female sexuality as predatory threat etc
idk I havent seen it
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 6 January 2015 02:45 (nine years ago) link
It was filmed in LA fyi (tho it is in Persian and set in a fantastical Iran)
― Simon H., Tuesday, 6 January 2015 02:51 (nine years ago) link
What We Do in the Shadows is good fun with a few big laughs. It needed more of Rhys Darby's rival gang of werewolves, though. But yeah, if you liked Flight of the Conchords...
― painfully alive in a drugged and dying culture (DavidM), Friday, 9 January 2015 14:54 (nine years ago) link
so a (former) substitute teacher was just convicted of four felony counts for (inexplicably) showing The ABCs of Death in class.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/01/15/Verdict_in_substitute_teacher_trial.html
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Thursday, 15 January 2015 22:17 (nine years ago) link
wow
― Nhex, Friday, 16 January 2015 02:43 (nine years ago) link
http://www.fright.com/edge/2014YearInHorror.htm
Always unpredictable and a little bit baffling in places. Happy about his top 2 though.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 January 2015 04:05 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, it's an interesting list, though as you say, all over the place. To be honest, I'm somewhat disappointed by the preponderance of long-reach borderline horror, especially in the top 10: Nightcrawler, Blue Ruin, Sin City 2, Edge of Tomorrow, etc. The former two are excellent films, but it's not like 2014 was such a terrible year for genre horror that one has to push out into straight-up crime thrillers and "blockbuster" action pictures to fill slots.
My top 10 2014 favorites (many are no less stretched than the fright.com list):
1) Under the Skin2) Moebius3) The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears4) Rigor Mortis5) Only Lovers Left Alive6) Miss Zombie7) The Babadook8) Housebound9) What We Do In the Shadows10) Found
Five more I'd love to include, but which don't quite make the cut as 2014 releases:
A Field in England (Swedish DVD in Oct. 2013, but first played NY in 2014)Here Comes the Devil (limited US release in mid-December 2013)Byzantium (okay, this is a straight-up 2013 release I'm including just because I dug it)Dark Touch (apparently played NY in 2013, but no other non-festival showings or DVD release until 2014)We Are What We Are (US remake - another 2013 release I'm throwing in for no good reason)
The Worst:
ThanatomorphoseHornsCrawl or DieThe Devil IncarnateSeptic ManJudyHotel Inferno
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Friday, 16 January 2015 06:19 (nine years ago) link
dunno if this got discussed here but um:
Watch the eerie trailer for a horror film about a murderous EDM producer
― Ottbot jr (NickB), Friday, 16 January 2015 09:33 (nine years ago) link
i must check out more of your list contenderizer. only seen the Babadook out of that list (and most of Under The Skin), but I thought it was one of the best horrors I'd seen in years.
― this is just a saginaw (dog latin), Friday, 16 January 2015 09:37 (nine years ago) link
Great list, contenderizer. Lots of stuff to check out & reminds me to try to catch Strange Color of Your Body's Tears eventually somehow...
― the european nikon is here (grauschleier), Friday, 16 January 2015 10:53 (nine years ago) link
Is Under the Skin horror? Kind of funny to slot a movie of wobbly genre itself as your number one after listing all these movies with horrific elements as stretches.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 January 2015 14:16 (nine years ago) link
yeah i wouldn't have called it a horror personally.
― this is just a saginaw (dog latin), Friday, 16 January 2015 14:26 (nine years ago) link
This person's lists seem to always make room for entries in the extreme suburban fringes of the genre. Compliance showed up on one of them.
― Vulvacura (Eric H.), Friday, 16 January 2015 14:42 (nine years ago) link
speaking of which, is Compliance worth a watch or no?
― this is just a saginaw (dog latin), Friday, 16 January 2015 14:45 (nine years ago) link
Yes for Ann Dowd.
― Vulvacura (Eric H.), Friday, 16 January 2015 14:49 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uPK9Ov6Zd4
This looks fucking mental!
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 January 2015 14:51 (nine years ago) link
Kind of funny to slot a movie of wobbly genre itself as your number one after listing all these movies with horrific elements as stretches.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, January 16, 2015 6:16 AM (34 minutes ago)
sure, but i called myself out on it. and under the skin is, imo, extremely effective as a horror film (though it clearly isn't genre-bound).
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Friday, 16 January 2015 14:53 (nine years ago) link
Horror dilettantism is totally acceptable to me.
― Vulvacura (Eric H.), Friday, 16 January 2015 15:00 (nine years ago) link
also, the primary connection to the horror genre in the four films i singled out is a combination of violence and suspense. i just don't see that as sufficient (a matter of personal preference). under the skin adds elements of both the fantastical and the grotesque/macabre, an uncanny atmosphere of lurking dread, and a dreamlike sense of isolation in a strange and threatening environment. to me, that's more than enough.
kind of dying to see I now.
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Friday, 16 January 2015 15:09 (nine years ago) link
I think Under The Skin as a horror seems obvious. Especially considering how inclusive most fans, creators and critics are.
I didn't see much last year and I don't really care for the most part.
But allowing for films that many of us only got to see last year.
1. A Field In England2. Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears3. Under The Skin4. Borderlands
Probably should watch (from these lists, including even not so horrory stuff) the recent Kim Ki Duk films, Dance Of Reality, 300 Sequel & Sin City 2 (both on the strength of the reviews of Eva Green's hotness, and of the former films insane campness), Hard To Be A God, Beauty And The Beast (Gans), Badabook (I'm a bit reluctant because it seems like a lot of films I've seen), Nightbreed Directors Cut, I.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 January 2015 15:14 (nine years ago) link
I hated the first 300 more than I hate fascism, but the second one was probably last year's camp masterpiece.
― Vulvacura (Eric H.), Friday, 16 January 2015 15:59 (nine years ago) link
The thing that got me most interested was someone saying that Baz Luhrmann will feel threatened by its campness.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 January 2015 16:05 (nine years ago) link
I'm not into Baz Luhrmann but maybe if he made action films I'd like him more.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 January 2015 16:06 (nine years ago) link
i thought under the skin was more horrific than babadook or a girl walks home alone
― shmup....smug....shmub....shmug.... (forksclovetofu), Friday, 16 January 2015 16:08 (nine years ago) link
Eva Green deserves all of the trophies.
― Vulvacura (Eric H.), Friday, 16 January 2015 16:12 (nine years ago) link
you guys are making me wanna see 302 & the sin city sequel, which lemme tell you, is quite an accomplishment
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Friday, 16 January 2015 22:19 (nine years ago) link
Hard To Be A God
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, January 16, 2015 7:14 AM (7 hours ago)
been putting this off for the better part of a week. so long, so poop.
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Friday, 16 January 2015 22:27 (nine years ago) link
Don't do it contenderizer, sin city sequel is fucking horrendous
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Friday, 16 January 2015 23:04 (nine years ago) link
okay, thanks, some semblance of reality restored
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Friday, 16 January 2015 23:05 (nine years ago) link
Just watched 300: Rise Of An Empire. I'm just trying to get my head around this: some people recommended this as if it were silly to a pleasantly surprising, even sublime degree. But the film I just saw was every bit as dull as I would have expected if I had seen no reviews. There's a daft sex scene and some fights are pretty well composed in places but that's spoiled by the special effects and this film is really just boring. Not nearly silly enough to be worth watching. Even Eva Green's bare breasts seem to be compromised by the cgi.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 January 2015 00:24 (nine years ago) link
I too am sorry you watched 300
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 17 January 2015 00:27 (nine years ago) link
Badabook (I'm a bit reluctant because it seems like a lot of films I've seen), Nightbreed Directors Cut, I.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, January 16, 2015 7:14 AM (4 days ago)
Yeah, The Babadook slots in comfortably with the wave of slickly-produced, generally well-behaved, "things that go bump" style supernatural horror that's been cresting since Insidious. Films of this sort often feel rather generic even when they're quite successfully scary, but writing, performances and themes distinguish The Babadook from the subgenre. It's not perfect (like Oculus, it arguably fumbles at the goal line), but it's definitely worth a watch.
Disappointed by Clive Barker's Nighbreed remix, but I never dug the original. Strictly for the fans, I expect.
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 13:05 (nine years ago) link
As a sort of long stand-alone episode, I thought Oculus was one of the few to actually stick the ending (once you get past the fact that the whole setup doesn't make a ton of sense). Speaking of which, the lightbulb-eating scene in that movie has stuck with me and still makes me shudder on a regular basis.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 14:22 (nine years ago) link
Badabook from trailers reminds me of Mama, Orphanage, House Of Voices and lots of the J-horror wave, more than anything like Insidious. I prefer this style of film to a lot of things but I just wish they had a bit more going on.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 15:47 (nine years ago) link
i mentioned insidious cuz i see it as helping to kick off the recent flurry of housebound supernatural horror flicks, but yeah, the two don't have much in common
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 16:52 (nine years ago) link
I'd suggest paranormal activity did it.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 16:56 (nine years ago) link
I thought Oculus was one of the few to actually stick the ending (once you get past the fact that the whole setup doesn't make a ton of sense)
agree w this completely
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 16:58 (nine years ago) link
like there's no reason given that they don't just smash the mirror immediately but setting that aside everything else about it was v good imo
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 16:59 (nine years ago) link
i wanted, for no good reason, to distinguish the current haunted everything trendlet from the ongoing found-footage boom. have to concede that insidious took after the paranormal activity flicks, though. in a broader sense, 1999 was ground zero for all such stuff (the sixth sense, the blair witch project, ringu outside japan).
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 17:16 (nine years ago) link
i get you there
― Nhex, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 17:19 (nine years ago) link
my problem with the ending of oculus is that it was telegraphed so relentlessly and delivered so suddenly that it couldn't help but feel a bit anticlimactic. "o shit!", roll credits. didn't sabotage the film, but i enjoyed the build-up a lot more than the payoff.
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 17:20 (nine years ago) link
somebody tell me if we did this already, but do folks have a top 10 2014 horror films list?
I've got 13 sins, taking of deborah logan, big bad wolves and oculus as to be watchedAlready saw Babadook, Under the Skin, A Girl Walks Home at Night Alone
Curious what others would point out as high points for the year.
― Sounds like a forks display name (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 17:23 (nine years ago) link
(outside of contendo of course)
― Sounds like a forks display name (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 17:24 (nine years ago) link
Did you see that Fright link above?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 17:33 (nine years ago) link
Haven't seen 13 Sins (or Cheap Thrills, for that matter), but 13: Game of Death, the 2006 Thai film it adapts, is great white-knuckle fun.
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 17:38 (nine years ago) link
I still think Last Will & Testament of Rosalind Leigh rates as top 2014.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 19:59 (nine years ago) link
i have a field in england on my shortlist for netflix now
― Sounds like a forks display name (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 20:38 (nine years ago) link
Field in England is incredible. idk how much of it is horror really but it's something.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 20:50 (nine years ago) link
Field in England is topsWas Rosalind Leigh 2014?! Jesus that year went by slowly. Rosalind L > Deborah L, though the latter is well worth watching esp for the acting
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 21:51 (nine years ago) link
It Follows is great. One of my favourite horrors for a long time. It didn't have a flawed ending either, which I think is really notable for an exciting scary film in the last few years. I saw it in the cinema in 2014 but it's not getting a general release till later this year.
― kraudive, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 22:45 (nine years ago) link
awesome, been looking forward to that one for months.
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 22:50 (nine years ago) link
Other horror(ish) titles I'm anticipating in the one five:
Crimson Peak - Guillermo Del Toro directs a bunch of famous people in a spooky gothic period pieceHigh Rise - Ben Wheatley (A Field in England, Kill List) adapting J.G. Ballard, sign me the fuck upThe Duke of Burgundy - oddball relationship drama from Peter Strickland, who I'll follow anywhere after Berberian Sound StudioAmong the Living - latest from Bustillo & Maury (Inside, Livide)Harbinger Down - long delayed, practical-effects driven tribute to Carpenter's The ThingThe Editor - tongue-in-cheek giallo homage from the Astron-6 crew (Father's Day)Green Inferno - Eli Roth's 70s-style cannibal flick, almost certainly awful, but pushed back so long I'm now dying to see itA Girl Walks Home Alone at Night - still haven't caught this >:[It Follows - like kraudive saysFinal Girl - not much to go on, the but premise (hit girl vs murder boys) and word of mouth are promisingCooties - horror comedy about schoolteachers battling a pack of monsterized kids, can't miss!
― no Mmmmbob (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 23:26 (nine years ago) link
my favs from 2014. roughly in this order :
starry eyeshoneymoonhouseboundlate phasescoherenceabc's of death 2the babadook
'oculus' and 'among the living' were ok, and i didn't hate 'the sacrament' as much as most people here, i guess - same goes for 'mockingbird' until that absolutely dreadful ending. 'the purge: anarchy' was way better than the first one, but that doesn't really count for much, does it?
still need to see : it follows, man in the orange jacket, a girls walks home alone at night, der samurai, under the skin. is 'the canal' any good? story doesn't seem that appealing, but i've seen some people rate it highly
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 17:59 (nine years ago) link
i didn't hate 'the sacrament' as much as most people here, i guess - same goes for 'mockingbird' until that absolutely dreadful ending
^^ considering they're both ff, that is. something i find truly off putting these days.
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 18:02 (nine years ago) link
i thought Babadook was brilliant in its depiction of the mother's mental state, feeling alone and completely overwhelmed. it was very hard to watch! the horror elements, though, were pretty standard fare.
― rip van wanko, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 18:06 (nine years ago) link
What We Do in the Shadows is being released in Japan: http://t.co/GzTiH5NJZ2
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 21 January 2015 21:40 (nine years ago) link
put a bunch of these on netflix instant, thx
― Sounds like a forks display name (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 22 January 2015 06:07 (nine years ago) link
People shitting themselves over The Witch at Sundance.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 January 2015 21:56 (nine years ago) link
There's two films with that title this year. This sundance one is set in 1600s?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 24 January 2015 22:14 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I think? New England. People are saying it's like a Kubrick "Crucible" or something along those lines.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 January 2015 22:43 (nine years ago) link
Actually the titles are slightly different
The Witchhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt4263482/?ref_=rvi_tt
Witchhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt2936638/?ref_=rvi_tt
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 24 January 2015 23:21 (nine years ago) link
Which Witch is which?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 January 2015 23:31 (nine years ago) link
The first is the sundance one I'm sure
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 24 January 2015 23:39 (nine years ago) link
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/over-your-dead-body/
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 19:30 (nine years ago) link
I guess this isn't horror but this is pretty much the only film thread I follow - anyone heard anything about this? The trailer looks amazing: http://www.okayafrica.com/news/ethiopian-post-apocalyptic-sci-fi-film-crumbs-trailer/
(Or point me to a good thread to discuss it on.)
― emil.y, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 18:25 (nine years ago) link
that looks amazing and plenty horror enough for this thread. unfortunately, i have little to add to the discussion beyond "yes, please". and thank you.
― contenderizer, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 18:32 (nine years ago) link
will watch
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 18:33 (nine years ago) link
This is really, really good, and fits on this thread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK-gwgaR0QI
― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 18:46 (nine years ago) link
cast of that is great, nonetheless, couldn't make it past more than a couple minutes. Adult Swim is the worst.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 18:55 (nine years ago) link
^^ came across that trailer on fb yesterday. it looks amazing indeed.
― rusty_allen, Thursday, 12 February 2015 01:14 (nine years ago) link
Saw As Above So Below finally and. Well, I'm not really sure where I fall on it. So much almost good, nothing per se terrible. Still sorting it out.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Thursday, 12 February 2015 06:33 (nine years ago) link
Since I'm on zing I can't bump the lets shit something old thread, so happy Friday the 13th y'all.
Chi chi chi chi chi ma am ma ma
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Friday, 13 February 2015 13:56 (nine years ago) link
did anyone see 'the pact 2'?
im not invested in the pact franchise as it were, but the ppl involved in 'entrance' wrote & directed I believe so my interest was def piqued
― johnny crunch, Friday, 13 February 2015 14:57 (nine years ago) link
Crimson Peak trailer looks okay. Not much to say I suppose.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 14 February 2015 01:24 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zBlG8Lv01k
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 14 February 2015 20:21 (nine years ago) link
Finally saw Pontypool a few nights ago. My god what a dreadful, implausible film.
Housebound, which we watched last night, was pretty fun, although I wasn't sure about the big reveal in the last third which seemed a little bit overdone for my tastes *SPOILER* how to explain the teddy bear?
― oi listen mate, shut up (dog latin), Monday, 16 February 2015 10:41 (nine years ago) link
Honeymoon, with Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway, was decent enough. Breaks no new ground whatsoever but nicely executed and well acted.
― Rainbow DAESH (ShariVari), Monday, 16 February 2015 11:58 (nine years ago) link
Didn't the guy in the attic reprogram the bear? Thought Housebound was maybe an hour too long.
Wait, did you just call Pontypool implausible? that's pretty much the least controversial thing you can say about it.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 16 February 2015 15:27 (nine years ago) link
ah, that would make sense.
Pontypool, and the whole 'speaking disease' premise and how they dealt with it, just didn't make any sense, not even for a horror/zombie movie. Nice idea to try an make a single-room, no monsters, zombie movie but the whole thing got so hammy by the end I just couldn't deal with it.
― oi listen mate, shut up (dog latin), Monday, 16 February 2015 15:39 (nine years ago) link
I almost feel as though Housebound could have made for a more streamlined film if they'd either dispensed with the whole Eugene plot or introduced his presence a little earlier on.
― oi listen mate, shut up (dog latin), Monday, 16 February 2015 15:42 (nine years ago) link
Pontypool, and the whole 'speaking disease' premise and how they dealt with it, just didn't make any sense, not even for a horror/zombie movie.
it makes perfect sense. it's not in the least plausible, but i don't see how that's a problem.
― contenderizer, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 07:00 (nine years ago) link
Wait wait how would this even work? I don't want to spoiler Housebound, but that's a little like saying psycho would have been more streamlined if they'd thrown a shot of Normans mother in after the shower scene.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Monday, 23 February 2015 16:44 (nine years ago) link
The problem with Pontypool on the other hand is that it's terrible but we've been over that
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Monday, 23 February 2015 16:45 (nine years ago) link
I got so bored with Housebound I forgot what any of the characters had to do with anything.
Anyone seen "What We Do in the Shadows?"
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 February 2015 17:00 (nine years ago) link
Just watched Babadook. It's pretty much what I expected: very well made but too many overfamiliar elements from the past 15 or more years. Both the mother and Katherine Heigl as the little boy really put themselves through it so it's a shame it wasn't better. I think it needed a better story but they really did make it as well as could have been expected. Apart from the quibble of those also overfamiliar stock alien/dinosaur sound effects. Why do people use that stuff?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 28 February 2015 00:08 (nine years ago) link
looking forward to Katherine Heigl playing a little boy, seems like a stretch but
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 28 February 2015 00:12 (nine years ago) link
taking of debra logan is pretty horrible but i like the opening idea of alzheimers transforming grandma into a monsterthen snake people for no fucking reason
― the plight of y0landa (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 28 February 2015 02:44 (nine years ago) link
big monster reveal at the end of debra logan is all time, and the mother-daughter performances are great, but yeah, i've lodged my objections upthread.
have seen what we do in the shadows. it's pretty great. much more comedy than horror, but funny and smart, with strong writing and winning performances.
a couple nights ago, i watched one of the long list of horror movies that i'm anticipating in 2015: wyrmwood, an aussie hybrid of high-octane action and tongue-in-cheek zombie mayhem. was not worth the wait. it's an obvious labor of love with some nice ideas, but way too enamored of"badass", cgi-enhanced butt kicking and no-homo bro comedy. picks up toward the end, but leon burchill's benny really should have been the main character all along.
― describing a scene in which the Hulk gets a boner (contenderizer), Saturday, 28 February 2015 03:06 (nine years ago) link
Yeah I'm allergic to anything that sees itself as "badass" at this point.
― a date with density (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 28 February 2015 15:30 (nine years ago) link
so after massive hype around it follows, its actually not THAT scary, and more of an indie horror, i.e. teen character study with a few scary moments/horror premise arching over it. its basically another film like the guest, a semi-80s b-movie semi-homage, right down to the score. i liked it, theres some interesting ideas about sex/adolescence/flipping of genre tropes in there somewhere, but i didnt get as much as hoped out of it, though i think maika monroe might be my new favourite american actress. i can see why so many people have gone crazy for it follows though - its a bit sinister, but its not really a Horror movie. its more a horror for people that dont usually watch the genre.
― StillAdvance, Saturday, 28 February 2015 15:38 (nine years ago) link
When does that movie open? Does it open wide, or as wide as something like The Guest opened? Been waiting a while and don't want to miss it.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 28 February 2015 15:50 (nine years ago) link
not sure but its out in the uk this weekend
― StillAdvance, Saturday, 28 February 2015 16:49 (nine years ago) link
Have we talked about 100 bloody acres at some point? Because those peeps have something new going on, and I'm stoked.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Monday, 2 March 2015 04:50 (nine years ago) link
maybe, but it's news to me (100 bloody acres). intrigued.
watched 2014's town that dreaded sundown remake last night. owes a lot to the meta-cinematic likes of wes craven's new nightmare and the last couple installments in the scream series, but slick, tense and inventive enough to stand on its own. ending's ridiculously contrived, but it didn't ruin the film for me (as it seems to have for others). probably helps to have seen the original.
― describing a scene in which the Hulk gets a boner (contenderizer), Monday, 2 March 2015 05:34 (nine years ago) link
Anyone seen Italian film from last year called Across The River?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 2 March 2015 14:24 (nine years ago) link
Yes, it's not very good. Initially promising but really dull and disappointing.
― Rainbow DAESH (ShariVari), Monday, 2 March 2015 14:26 (nine years ago) link
xp hmm, i'll have to check out Sundown then
― Nhex, Wednesday, 4 March 2015 14:49 (nine years ago) link
Jesus, does Deliver Us From Evil ever end? It feels like I've been watching it since Thursday.
― Rainbow DAESH (ShariVari), Saturday, 7 March 2015 15:54 (nine years ago) link
one of the worst movies i saw last year
― Soylent News Service (contenderizer), Saturday, 7 March 2015 21:53 (nine years ago) link
As this year's 'breakout' Indie Horror (in the UK at least), thought It Follows was a much more satisfying and inventive movie than The Babadook. Genuinely scary in places - the film really whispers to dream logic fears of slow, inescapable pursuit by something sinister - and the 'sexually transmitted demon' aspect was a nice inversion of the usual have-sex-and-die trope (the film definitely takes some of its suburban setting and visual cues from Carpenter's Halloween). Interesting the way that both this and Only Lovers Left Alive use Michigan's crumbling homes and decayed buildings to conjure the eerie and unsettling - post-austerity horror; the sequence in It Follows set in the abandoned building actually called to mind the ending of Tsai's Stray Dogs!
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Friday, 13 March 2015 09:20 (nine years ago) link
I'm happy with the brightness settings on my TV, yet watching this, found minutes rolling by and forms barely distinguishable on the screen. Seemed like that happened throughout, as I fast-forwarded. Reminded me of the awful, also underlit "The Dark".
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Friday, 13 March 2015 16:04 (nine years ago) link
xp i can't wait for It Follows to play here
― Nhex, Friday, 13 March 2015 17:16 (nine years ago) link
I still can't figure out where and when it opens here.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 13 March 2015 17:58 (nine years ago) link
Oh, I see. Music Box next weekend. Kind of a bummer. How does a movie like "The Guest" get into big theatres and a massively buzzed about even more genre film like this gets sent to crappy screen and sound art-house purgatory?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 13 March 2015 18:00 (nine years ago) link
I don't know about you, The Guest was in exactly one theater in my area and didn't even make it a week sadly. I hear a rumor that this is actually going VOD very soon, which is probably why no theaters are taking it
― Nhex, Friday, 13 March 2015 18:08 (nine years ago) link
it follows looks up my alley
― Maybe in 100 years someone will say damn Dawn was dope. (forksclovetofu), Friday, 13 March 2015 18:39 (nine years ago) link
It's on VOD from the 27th
― Number None, Friday, 13 March 2015 19:20 (nine years ago) link
Don't watch the trailer btw. Ruins a couple of the best moments
― Number None, Friday, 13 March 2015 19:22 (nine years ago) link
I really enjoyed As Above, So Below but it definitely felt like it fell short of its potential. Devolved into fairly standard found footage horror at times.
― Rainbow DAESH (ShariVari), Monday, 16 March 2015 10:50 (nine years ago) link
^^^ just watched it last night with some friends. Way WAY better than I was led to expect. Not great, but more than good. I want an mp3 of the insane choral music!
― a date with density (Jon Lewis), Monday, 16 March 2015 17:09 (nine years ago) link
http://www.avclub.com/article/it-follows-getting-wide-release-wont-hit-vod-early-216832
― Number None, Friday, 20 March 2015 11:31 (eight years ago) link
That's what I'm talking about.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 20 March 2015 13:17 (eight years ago) link
Backcountry isn't badly filmed but it takes FOREVER to stop dropping misleading hints and finally get to the part where the shoe drops and by the time it does, neither of the main characters are well delineated enough for me to care about them. Then we get into bad camera work through an artsy concussion filter and more-or-less torture sequences. Worst of all, it succumbs to the cardinal sin of arthouse horror: it's boring.
― Maybe in 100 years someone will say damn Dawn was dope. (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 24 March 2015 04:53 (eight years ago) link
"It Follows" is excellent if a bit heavy handed. I'd kind of prefer that they played the subtext down just a tad (there's a character that's mostly there to read Dostoyevsky quotes for fucks sake) but the idea of sexual injury as a monster that violates us at or before puberty and that stalks us into adulthood is sharp and generally well-executed. The final shoe dropping of where the monster visualizations come from was well telegraphed and the scares were quite effective. Kinda wish they'd left off the HEY IT'S A HORROR MOVIE KIDS sequence at the film's start but I guess that's to be expected from a wide release. In sum, I'd recommend it highly.
― Maybe in 100 years someone will say damn Dawn was dope. (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 29 March 2015 03:39 (eight years ago) link
Honestly, there's enough to talk about in that one film to merit opening a thread but I'm too tired to do it just now. This made an odd double header with Whiplash, lemme tell ya.
― Maybe in 100 years someone will say damn Dawn was dope. (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 29 March 2015 03:40 (eight years ago) link
lol Whiplash. saw It Follows today too, very good work. glad it's getting a wide release and is doing decently this weekend.
― Nhex, Sunday, 29 March 2015 04:46 (eight years ago) link
Just watched ABCs Of Death 2, hard to believe but it's even several steps down from the last one. The only thing I liked was a Robert Morgan animation. There are a few that aren't terrible and there are some kinda interesting things (a women pregnant with a fully developed child, kids entering a world like Masters Of The Universe, a Bill Plympton animation with heads fighting) here and there but there's not much point going on about them. There is going to be a third one, and unless some really good directors are announced for it, I'll avoid. I could have swore this one had good directors initially attached who must have pulled out.
The tagline is "Some people never learn" and the end credits have a note stating that they love the internet hate. I feel stronger than ever about what I was arguing in the worst films thread: low budget horror films are often far worse than any blockbuster or prestige film. Regardless of inept craft, the stench of the banal lowbrow smugness is harder to stomach than mainstream stupidity and emptiness. What's particularly sad is that I'd even prefer a soulless, cynically made film to one made by people personally invested in their proudly shallow ambitionless fare.
Why have a little genre ghetto when it's used to nurture such crap? I like any sort of horror done well enough but there's so much shit in the gore/sleaze area that I think maybe it's actually necessary that the Weird Fiction/Dark Fantasy/Ghost Story area drifts away from the shared "horror" umbrella. I'm so sick of having to wade through that sort of Xtreme crap to get to what I want. If a different genre name had stuck, maybe things would be a lot better?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 3 April 2015 18:50 (eight years ago) link
It also makes me extremely uncomfortable thinking how I'd act around someone who made crap like that.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 4 April 2015 01:09 (eight years ago) link
Stuck at home watching rubbish on Netflix at the moment and caught the following:
Starry Eyes - unusually well reviewed for a low(ish)-budget horror film and clearly made by directors with ambitions towards quality but hampered by a paper-thin story. Alex Essoe is pretty good as lead actress. A turn towards basic horror cliches prevents it from capitalising on much of its promise.
Devil's Backone Texas - found-footage film with five idiots bickering in an RV while searching out a mysterious...blah, blah, blah. Pointless.
The Houses October Built - found-footage film with five idiots bickering in an RV while searching out a mysterious...extreme haunted house attraction. The underlying concept is actually a decent one and this could have been excellent in better hands. As it is, it's just effective in places.
― Ethnically Ambiguous / 28 - 45 (ShariVari), Sunday, 5 April 2015 21:56 (eight years ago) link
I caught As Above So Below recently. Mediocre, though considering I generally hate the found footage genre, better than normal. Not an entirely bad premise with the catacombs of the dead in Paris, alchemy and whatnot.
― Nhex, Monday, 6 April 2015 14:16 (eight years ago) link
not exactly horror, but since there was some brief talk about stuff like 'mmmm' upthread, i guess it fits the criteria. watched 'faults' the other day and really liked it - a bit all over the place tonally (some cohen-ish attempts at black humour included), but the impressive acting and pacing manage to carry the movie fwd quite seamlessly...
looking fwd to see 'the harvest' - michael shannon + mcnaughton seems like a killer combo. and i guess i might give 'spring' a try.
― rusty_allen, Thursday, 16 April 2015 10:50 (eight years ago) link
Trailers for Spring do look fairly interesting. Looks like it might even come to lots of cinemas.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 April 2015 11:29 (eight years ago) link
With its arrival on Netflix, finally watched Babadook. I was a little let down, probably because I'd read/heard so much hype about it. I thought it was really well made, she's an interesting filmmaker. Good performances and a great first half. But once the metaphor became clear, I thought it got less interesting, less scary, overly schematic. As far as grief-horror goes, a few pegs down from Antichrist, and not a patch on Don't Look Now. (Not surprising that she trained under von Trier.)
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 17 April 2015 12:49 (eight years ago) link
babadook was improved by knowing nothing about it going in... i'd say the more you know the lesser the returns. it's a first film after all!
― Premise ridiculous. Who have two potato? (forksclovetofu), Friday, 17 April 2015 14:41 (eight years ago) link
Agreed, minus the expectations I would've been impressed. As it is, I was impressed but not quite at the level I was hoping.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 17 April 2015 15:13 (eight years ago) link
I just watched it tonight and that was some full-on triggering shit in the second half, I think I was crying for most of it.
i liked it - LOVED the look, lynch/twilight zone.....but i cant objectively talk about whether it was good or bad, it really fucked with me emotionally
Davis went into her Mum character so hard, so much of her anger felt and sounded so real... I am really, really blown away by how they really poked around in some difficult stuff re motherhood/child etc but jesus fuck it was rough going, i feel wrung out
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 19 April 2015 06:35 (eight years ago) link
'spring' was bad. 'the harvest' is quite good overall, but some of its flaws are quite hard to ignore - especially how pointless the character played by peter fonda is.
― rusty_allen, Tuesday, 21 April 2015 16:38 (eight years ago) link
finally saw the Babadook. loved it, genuinely unsettling and with a thematic focus and empathy that feels rare to me in the genre. Also really appreciated that the film supports a psychological reading but not really a literal one - the monster is never "explained" in any realistic way, but is perfectly explicable as a reflection of the underlying psychological conflicts of the characters.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 April 2015 16:42 (eight years ago) link
probably the best horror movie about parenting & grief since the peaks in the 70s (Rosemary's Baby, It's Alive, Don't Look Now)
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 21 April 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link
Kotoko isn't really a horror but it might be quite harrowing for some parents to watch. It even used the two stars' (Cocco and Tsukamoto) own children
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 21 April 2015 17:51 (eight years ago) link
Ok I'm about to watch the Babadook but if this turns out to be some word virus crapfest I'm taking this whole thread down with me.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 22 April 2015 04:23 (eight years ago) link
http://eil.com/images/main/Laurie-Anderson-Language-Is-A-Vir-504906.jpg
― Eric H., Wednesday, 22 April 2015 04:24 (eight years ago) link
Babadook was phenomenal.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 22 April 2015 06:04 (eight years ago) link
glad to see some babadook love ITT after some backlash further upthread. i thought it was great.
― but then again, who really cares? I don’t. (dog latin), Wednesday, 22 April 2015 15:52 (eight years ago) link
lol jj you can trust me not to recommend any word virus crapfests I swear
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 April 2015 15:56 (eight years ago) link
I loved that the presence of the book is never explained, that there's a gradual (but significant) shift from the child being the threat to the mother being the *real* threat, that it captures the madness of sleep deprivation, that it doesn't devolve into generic haunted house tropes - so many great things about it
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 April 2015 15:58 (eight years ago) link
Babadook was fantastic. Reminded me of Repulsion in some ways. Also loved the casting of the little boy. He looked like a spooky little Shelly Duvall.
― Darin, Wednesday, 22 April 2015 16:00 (eight years ago) link
Yes he did! I straight up wanted to throttle him so many times in the front half of the movie
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 22 April 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
Also, I am totally cool with its non-normative yet non-nihilistic ending
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 22 April 2015 16:17 (eight years ago) link
loved his spring-loaded ball-throwing backpack
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 April 2015 17:17 (eight years ago) link
As I said above, he reminded me of Katherine Heigl a lot.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 22 April 2015 18:48 (eight years ago) link
babadook ending is a def high point; the suggestion that those hard memories still demand their pound of flesh but over time they find a kind of equilibrium and we learn to cope with the sadness and horror that is our life through routine, faith and patiencethought "It Follows" is very much in the same lane
― Premise ridiculous. Who have two potato? (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 22 April 2015 19:35 (eight years ago) link
I haven't seen It Follows yet, but it's on my list obviously
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 April 2015 19:42 (eight years ago) link
btw, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night just upped on netflix streaminghttp://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/A_Girl_Walks_Home_Alone_at_Night/70301280not too much horror but worth a watch for sure. some indelible images.
― Premise ridiculous. Who have two potato? (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 22 April 2015 20:10 (eight years ago) link
There might be a better place to put this but I can't think of one: the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark book series is getting a documentary film.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 23 April 2015 00:41 (eight years ago) link
xps yeah, good comparison b/w It Follows and Babadook endings
― Nhex, Thursday, 23 April 2015 07:02 (eight years ago) link
From a supernatural perspective, I like how the Babadook monster is too strong to meet a demise. There's no ectoplasmic ray gun or special chant which will make him go away.
― but then again, who really cares? I don’t. (dog latin), Thursday, 23 April 2015 09:13 (eight years ago) link
in both films, the monster is emotional (and/or sexual) injury: the darkest part of our soul's makeup given legswould support a bunch more of magical realism horror films; preferably with fewer hoary genre tropes
― Premise ridiculous. Who have two potato? (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 23 April 2015 14:25 (eight years ago) link
^^ i guess it's the kind of movie that horror buffs and arthouse freaks will hate while everyone else gets on board. great direction and photography and capable of conveying some sort of hopelessness and dread, but veers too much towards a pale indie-sensibility (how music is used, for example).
― rusty_allen, Thursday, 23 April 2015 15:15 (eight years ago) link
i wouldn't argue with that? it's not a world changing film but there are several great ideas, beautifully shot and that's good enough for me.wish it had something a bit more solid at its core
― Premise ridiculous. Who have two potato? (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 23 April 2015 16:17 (eight years ago) link
i actually liked the movie. there were a couple of moments where i couldn't quite stomach the romantic naivety, but not enough to ruin it.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 24 April 2015 14:07 (eight years ago) link
It Follows was dope
Unfriended made me glad not to be 18 anymore
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 26 April 2015 21:14 (eight years ago) link
the latter was maybe the first time I've ever seen the party game "Never Have I Ever" used as a horror conceit.
some of the more tense scenes involved furious mouse clicking
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 26 April 2015 21:15 (eight years ago) link
Please tell me the entire movie is shown through video chat windows
― Nhex, Monday, 27 April 2015 13:11 (eight years ago) link
watched 'Sleep Tight' last night. Solid and creepy as heck. Excellently made.
― but then again, who really cares? I don’t. (dog latin), Monday, 27 April 2015 13:20 (eight years ago) link
NhexPosted: April 27, 2015 at 8:11:02 AMPlease tell me the entire movie is shown through video chat windows
This exists btw, I just can't remember the name at the moment. Megan is Missing maybe?
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Monday, 27 April 2015 15:39 (eight years ago) link
I think that's literally what Unfriended is!
― Immediate Follower (NA), Monday, 27 April 2015 15:39 (eight years ago) link
Well not just video chat but it's all on a computer screen I think?
― Immediate Follower (NA), Monday, 27 April 2015 15:40 (eight years ago) link
yeah i think so
― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Monday, 27 April 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link
https://youtube.com/watch?v=e3hVmpGzl7A
Anyone else really excited by this trailer? I haven't been this impressed by a film trailer in fuck knows how many years.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 April 2015 19:02 (eight years ago) link
In case the link disappears it's Tale Of Tales by Matteo Garrone
Based on a 17th century collection of fairy tales by Italian author Giambattista Basile, the film weaves realistic and fantastical elements together into three different storylines, one of which involves Salma Hayek eating the heart of a giant beast. Vincent Cassel, John C. Reilly and Toby Jones also star.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 April 2015 19:07 (eight years ago) link
― Nhex, Monday, April 27, 2015 2:11 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
it is!
it's kinda a strange film - an embarrassing Youtube video of a high school girl having fouled herself appears at least four times with more footage each time.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 27 April 2015 21:36 (eight years ago) link
it should have been called "teenagers are horrible and should be killed pt 1"
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 27 April 2015 21:37 (eight years ago) link
Reilly Jones and Hayek is a promising cast
xxp
― Οὖτις, Monday, 27 April 2015 21:37 (eight years ago) link
For me it's most promising to see a fantasy film that seems to respect fully functioning eyeballs. A film that embraces visuals? What a great idea. Okay, yes there are lots of good looking films but rarely in the genres I want to see.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 April 2015 23:36 (eight years ago) link
looks pretty cool, rag
― Nhex, Tuesday, 28 April 2015 03:21 (eight years ago) link
"Robert Adam GilmourPosted: April 3, 2015 at 1:50:31 PMJust watched ABCs Of Death 2, hard to believe but it's even several steps down from the last one. The only thing I liked was a Robert Morgan animation. There are a few that aren't terrible and there are some kinda interesting things (a women pregnant with a fully developed child, kids entering a world like Masters Of The Universe, a Bill Plympton animation with heads fighting) here and there but there's not much point going on about them. There is going to be a third one, and unless some really good directors are announced for it, I'll avoid. I could have swore this one had good directors initially attached who must have pulled out.
Why have a little genre ghetto when it's used to nurture such crap? I like any sort of horror done well enough but there's so much shit in the gore/sleaze area that I think maybe it's actually necessary that the Weird Fiction/Dark Fantasy/Ghost Story area drifts away from the shared "horror" umbrella. I'm so sick of having to wade through that sort of Xtreme crap to get to what I want. If a different genre name had stuck, maybe things would be a lot better?"
I've been sitting on this for a while, but other than agreeing with the initial spark point of abcs of death 2 being pretty much crap (though I felt the first one was surprisingly good), the rest of this argument really frustrates me. I'm just tired of the self-loathing horror fan as archetype maybe?
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Thursday, 7 May 2015 16:57 (eight years ago) link
Maybe my rant unfairly characterises the audience and creators of some of this stuff but I think there is a portion that is roughly what I described. I don't know how much self-loathing comes into what they do. I generally try my best to avoid making fun of people or aggression but here I found it very difficult to say what I meant without being insulting.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 7 May 2015 17:48 (eight years ago) link
I have a feeling I've completely missed your point but please tell me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 7 May 2015 17:50 (eight years ago) link
Also, I really liked the Cattet/Forzani and Hardcastle pieces from the first film a great deal.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 7 May 2015 19:03 (eight years ago) link
i really was genuinely frightened by It Follows, it didn't help that I actually heard someone clattering about at the back of my house whilst I was watching it. One of my favourite moments was the debunking of this "electrocuting people" (or in this case an ill advised attempt to electrocute a sexually transmitted curse demon) in water motif, which has no credible place in any movie made in the RCBO era. [SPOILER] "It doesn't work!" No shit Sherlock, this isn't 1900 - the circuit breaker ain't a fucking nail these days! Sorry if this is a bit normish, but the qualified electrician in me salutes this electrical realism.
― xelab, Thursday, 7 May 2015 20:26 (eight years ago) link
i loved that bit because it was TOTALLY a horror film/teenager-concieved plan that backfires miserably. that scene was fantastic
― Nhex, Friday, 8 May 2015 03:54 (eight years ago) link
It Follows was terrifying. its conceit was clever - forced the affected characters to analyze benign movement and determine if it was friendly or hostile quite quickly, all without sounding insane to their friends.
for a guy who already has a phobia of being approached by strangers in public, it was even more terrifying.
also liked that the cast wasn't full of 'generic shitty people', and you could genuinely root for them all, for the most part.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Friday, 8 May 2015 15:24 (eight years ago) link
as opposed to Unfriended, where I was so fucking glad when characters were dispensed
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Friday, 8 May 2015 15:25 (eight years ago) link
latest stuff i saw. not a good run :
'lord of tears' was a somewhat interesting folk/ghost story almost ruined by tacky dialogue and some poor performances. props for the owlman, tho.
'kristy' is a sleep-inducing slasher/survival horror. basically the final girl running from a group of hooligans (wouldn't even call them a cult) for almost the whole movie. totally pointless. 'preservation' was slightly better, but the influence of 'ils' is becoming obnoxious.
'clown' seemed like it could be fun and tried a new approach to the clown mystique, but drags along in whole the family drama. starts good, just gets boring.
really liked 'what we do in the shadows' btw - it's a comedy, i know.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 8 May 2015 16:15 (eight years ago) link
I'm still raging for spending €30 on Lord of Tears. It looks amazing but the acting is truly painful
― Black Arkestra, Saturday, 9 May 2015 15:19 (eight years ago) link
I had to turn off Lord of Tears because of the lead actor, so bad I thought they were maybe taking the piss.
― ewar woowar (or something), Saturday, 9 May 2015 17:15 (eight years ago) link
At least when they were acting, they weren't dancing.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Saturday, 9 May 2015 17:39 (eight years ago) link
i don't know if i can watch it follows
i think i just need to watch the descent again
but like, alone
bc i can't be disturbed
bc it's so good
― surm, Sunday, 10 May 2015 03:37 (eight years ago) link
also it's been at least 2 months since i've watched black swan which is kind of like, a problem
alsohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_Vk5iloGrw
― surm, Sunday, 10 May 2015 03:38 (eight years ago) link
'it follows' is amazing
― rusty_allen, Monday, 11 May 2015 10:44 (eight years ago) link
ugh i know i rly should suck it up and see it
― surm, Monday, 11 May 2015 14:53 (eight years ago) link
Looking forward to watching the second instalment of Enfield Haunting tonight.
― p:s nerds know (dog latin), Monday, 11 May 2015 15:02 (eight years ago) link
Recently:
It FollowsLiked this a lot. It's not quite multiplex-slick in its pacing & construction, but I dig the rough edges, they help give it some character. Plus interesting contrast between hazy, Virgin Suicides-style teen languor and Detroit's (sub)urban decay. 8/10
Ex MachinaNot horror, but spooky at times and quite suspenseful overall. Definitely worth catching in the theater. 8/10
UnfriendedFucking awful. Hated everything about it. Just die already. 2/10
Lesson of the EvilTurgid drama/black comedy about a high school shooter. I don't think Miike's made a film I care about since Gozu. 4/10
SpringHorrible horror romance about star-cross'd love between a dull young American tourist and some kind of immortal fish woman monster thing. Spoiler alert. 3/10
As Above, So BelowNot bad! Inventive and energetic handycam horror wherein a daredevil archaeologist & her team spelunk the Paris catacombs in search of the Philosopher's Stone. Dopey but quite entertaining. 6/10
TaxidermiaBClever, visually spectacular and SO SO GROSS. One of the most revolting films I've ever seen. Hooray for gross things. 7/10
A Girl Walks Home Alone at NightA stylish and romantic coming-of-age drama about a skateboarding, hijab-wearing vampire girl. And a very good cat. I love this movie! It's everything Only Lovers Left Alive should have been but (mostly) wasn't. Slight in the best possible way. 9/10
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link
now I'm curious about what it takes to get 1/10 or 0/10
― Immediate Follower (NA), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 16:55 (eight years ago) link
Here I thought Unfriended was supposed to be the best of the last few months.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:00 (eight years ago) link
(Haven't seen it.)
I don't think Miike's made a film I care about since Gozu. ― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:46
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:46
Not even Great Yokai War? I think I enjoyed the tasteless deleted scenes to 13 Assassins more than the actual film.
I bought Izo recently and hope to watch it at the weekend. Over Your Dead Body hopefully someday.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:08 (eight years ago) link
Unfriended is like watching a building implode and thinking it was for the best
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:35 (eight years ago) link
Sold.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:43 (eight years ago) link
Oh, I thought you said watching a bulldog implode.
I'm Old Gregg
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:44 (eight years ago) link
Oh, and Headless.
I watched Headless last night, and I don't know quite what to think. If any of you caught 2012's Found (and you should, it's great), you'll probably remember Headless as the fictional video nasty with which the young protagonist's serial killer brother becomes dangerously obsessed. While Headless was heavily featured in Found, it seemed little more than a low-budget wallow in torture, murder and sexual depravity. It didn't strike me as anything particularly promising, but fans apparently set up a clamor, so now some of the same people who made Found have unveiled a feature-length version.
It's done in what I guess we'd now call a "grindhouse style", complete with a tongue-in-cheek fake trailer and lots of ersatz print damage, cigarette burns, etc. The title credit even claims 1978 as its year of release. As a piece of fondly recreated retro-exploitation, it's quite convincing. The score, script, costumes, locations, characterizations and even the filmmaking all feel true to era. The minimal synth score, consisting mostly of sickly, murky, repeating phrases is especially effective, lending Headless a quality of queasy mournfulness that it likely wouldn't otherwise possess.
The story follows a mute, nearly feral lunatic as he goes about the business of kidnapping and butchering women (big surprise). True to its remit, Headless leers at and fetishizes these revolting crimes to an uncomfortable degree. While framing the events onscreen as the toxic product of another era does soften the blow somewhat, I nevertheless had a hard time with the prolonged scenes of sexualized violence. That said, these scenes are used as punctuation and not (as Found suggested) the film's primary content. Perhaps the most surprising thing about Headless is that, despite its crude trappings and stomach-churning carnage, it eventually generates an atmosphere of forlorn, death-haunted hopelessness that's unusually resonant. The score deserves a lot of credit for this, and so does the presence of "Skull Boy", a hallucinatory masked figure that seems to guide the film's killer to his task.
It's not great, but nor can I easily dismiss it. Recommended to desensitized, fix-hungry gorehounds only.
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:50 (eight years ago) link
I did like The Great Yokai War and at least half enjoyed 2013's The Mole Song. Zebraman was kind of fun. But I wouldn't put any of them up there with Bird People in China, Visitor Q, Happiness of the Katakuris, Gozu and Audition. Agree about the hilarious shit sadly cut from 13 Assassins :)
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 17:59 (eight years ago) link
thx for the tips!
― surm, Tuesday, 12 May 2015 22:37 (eight years ago) link
I've realized that I only really like visitor q and happiness of the katakuris and thus maybe don't really like miike.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 12 May 2015 23:31 (eight years ago) link
He's done such a huge variety. He's not easy to sum up despite doing shitloads of violent yakuza films. My favourites are definitely Great Yokai War, Audition and Bird People In China.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 13 May 2015 00:22 (eight years ago) link
Surprised you saw Headless. Were you (also) part of the crowd-funding effort?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 01:24 (eight years ago) link
I'd switch your ratings for It Follows and Spring, BTW.
And she's not a (SPOILERS) fish woman monster thing. What she is is a lot more ingenious. I loved Spring. the occasional castration aside, it is also not a horror movie.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 01:28 (eight years ago) link
Happiness of the Katakuris was one of my favorite films for awhile; I need to rewatch it sometime soon.
― “audience participation” otherwise known as “touching” (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 01:59 (eight years ago) link
Not trying to throw shade, Mr. Hal Jam, but what was the last critically acclaimed, popularly beloved horror movie that did it for you?
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 04:22 (eight years ago) link
Katakuris was dope. Bird People and Zebraman good too. What I love about Audition is really the level of commitment it takes to being a completely cheesy, kinda inappropriate rom-com before turning hard into Lynchian horror. I probably haven't seen anything he's made in the last ten years besides 13 Assassins (which I thought was fine/entertaining) so I still largely remember him as the wacko that did gonzo hardcore stuff like Fudoh, Ichi, Dead or Alive, etc.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 13 May 2015 05:04 (eight years ago) link
"Robert Adam GilmourPosted: May 7, 2015 at 12:48:20 PMMaybe my rant unfairly characterises the audience and creators of some of this stuff but I think there is a portion that is roughly what I described. I don't know how much self-loathing comes into what they do.I generally try my best to avoid making fun of people or aggression but here I found it very difficult to say what I meant without being insulting."
I'm not talking about the filmmakers having self-loathing, I'm talking about horror fans compartmentalizing their vision of horror as the good kind and rejecting all the rest of it as crap or shameful. That cuts both ways, with people thinking that their mannered ghost stories are simply better than more extreme fare, or gorehound psychos fighting against subtle creepouts. I've staked my claim on my position on the shitty misuse of the term "torture porn" as a discredit to modern horror in general, so I won't go after that old saw, but sometimes horror fans are their own worst enemy.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 06:46 (eight years ago) link
that's easy, Eric: The Babadook. i thought it was nearly flawless. the list would be longer if you didn't specify "popularly beloved."
It Follows just DID NOT work for me. what i saw was a years-late American J-Horror that erred fatally by presuming that sexual activity is as much a source of existential dread for teens in the USA today as the depersonalization and isolation created by the Internet were for Japanese millennials. It so is not. IF had some positive elements - and i loved the music and cinematography - but the last act just did not work at all.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 12:37 (eight years ago) link
Fair enough. "Popularly beloved" was def the hazier qualifier of the two. Basically I meant "non-deep cut."
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 12:58 (eight years ago) link
I don't think of myself as a genre dilettante, but I do think that the bulk of my favorite horror movies overall are pretty canon.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 12:59 (eight years ago) link
'it follows' appears to inspire mostly deep hate and deep appreciation and i've been surprised by which pole people hew to
― “audience participation” otherwise known as “touching” (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 13:29 (eight years ago) link
the unshakable suspicion/impression that the production of It Follows was church-funded in some part was certainly off-putting.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 13:31 (eight years ago) link
I won't go after that old saw
Intentional, right?
― emil.y, Wednesday, 13 May 2015 13:33 (eight years ago) link
anyone who walked away from it follows feeling it was somewhat unjust or had a puritanical subtext had a less rocky and traumatic early sexual history than i did. to me, the film was a parable about sexual injury sustained in and around puberty with links (though somewhat underdeveloped and with indeterminate mission creep) to suburban classism and racism / neglect and THE DEATH OF THE AMERICAN CITY.
― “audience participation” otherwise known as “touching” (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 13:37 (eight years ago) link
and when are parables not religious?
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 14:01 (eight years ago) link
let me ask this: have you seen The Myth of the American Sleepover? Mitchell projects a lot onto his teen characters without quite understanding teenagers. the actors do their best to sell the material, but the motivations in both screenplays are disingenuous and highly suspect.
― silent ouzo eclipse (Mr. Hal Jam), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 14:05 (eight years ago) link
there's nothing about it follows that suggests sex is inherently bad and there is remarkably no slut-shaming; i'd rather not spoil the ending but the suggestion of parental abuse makes the film to me more about how we recover our sexuality from the injury and assault that all too often "follows" the early inexperience of being a sexual being
have not seen myth of the american sleepover
― “audience participation” otherwise known as “touching” (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 14:09 (eight years ago) link
i haven't seen Myth, but It Follows felt very genuine to me in its handling of teenage emotion, loneliness, sexual confusion good call that it evokes J-horror and Japanese teen malaise (actually I did think of Evangelion and its city of children and mysteriously absentee parents) - and I love that! and the unique approach to conflate it with this nebulously timeless but vaguely '70s horror setting
basically forks otm. very surprised at the thought that there's a puritanical subtext behind It Follows. but tbf i know nothing about the filmmaker's background. i didn't get that from the film at all, especially given the dark, depressing/ambivalent solution of the ending
― Nhex, Wednesday, 13 May 2015 14:24 (eight years ago) link
A lot of the best horror movies seem very flexible to contradictory liberal/reactionary reads.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 14:29 (eight years ago) link
there is remarkably no slut-shaming
at long last the legacy of the original Black Christmas bears fruit
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 15:17 (eight years ago) link
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 07:46
But I did state I didn't think there was an inherently bad subgenre and that I liked some stuff from every style. Several of my favourite horror films are serial killer films.
I like genre tags but I think they often need to keep changing to be useful. "Horror" as a genre tag is often either too vague or not vague enough to carry all the associated things the fans enjoy. The science fiction and horror magazines will cover each other's stuff plus fantasy and superheroes; I'd use these horror threads to talk about Dean Spanley or Donkey's Skin. I'd like it if a larger umbrella like "Speculative" or "Fantastic" caught on in films but it probably won't, especially as so many horror films are more or less realistic.
"Ghost Stories" covers all sorts of things, a large amount of the time not even involving ghosts but it doesn't fit enough modern horror. "Monster Movies" was Dracula, Frankenstein but also King Kong, Godzilla, dinosaurs, robots, giant insects, aliens and even Planet Of The Apes. A lot of modern horror fans couldn't be bothered with some of that stuff, including myself. Monsters sadly aren't in horror films as much today.
The "Weird Fiction" tag gaining popularity has changed things in the past few years. The books are still under the same horror section but with the presentation now and the way the writers, editors and publishers have organized, it's more difficult to buy a book looking for supernatural stuff and ending up with what is basically violent crime stories. I think this is a good thing.
I don't think you can successfully divide up a genre because there's always so much crossover but getting more specific with compartmentalization helps. It taken me ridiculously long to learn that maybe looking for acclaimed "horror" films in general probably wasn't going to help me find what I wanted; I'm more of a supernatural horror/dark fantasy fan than anything and I really miss monsters. I think a lot if not most horror fans are looking for very different things. I've seen "Horrorcore" used for modern gore/slasher stuff. I don't know if giallo and older slasher films are ruled out of that. Whatever the case, it shouldn't be surprising there's more crap films like this than there is of genres that require a lot more resources to pull off. Bela Lugosi films like Ape Man, Scared To Death and Black Dragons weren't gorey but they were surely easy to slap together. I think gore stuff is generally dumber than the rest of the subgenres but then there's probably more dumb fantasy than science fiction, yet I vastly prefer fantasy.
If horror fans are their own worst enemy I think that has little to do with policing the genre styles than general low standards.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 13 May 2015 17:07 (eight years ago) link
What I'm taking issue with is the approach of "I don't like this therefore it is not good, and is the product of people that know it's not good". Especially when it leads to more ideas like writing gore stuff out of the horror genre, or sticking it in its own derisive named sub genre. Horror works best as a big tent imo - that doesn't mean I can't dislike tons of it, but it also doesn't mean that I get to choose that things I don't like ought to be excluded from the genre, or Balkanized into some weird "lesser lazy horror for creeps" category.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 21:53 (eight years ago) link
To be fair I should have also quoted
"Robert Adam GilmourPosted: April 3, 2015 at 8:09:06 PMIt also makes me extremely uncomfortable thinking how I'd act around someone who made crap like that."
Which definitely raised my hackles a bit about what you're trying to say here.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 21:57 (eight years ago) link
https://youtube.com/watch?v=e3hVmpGzl7A Anyone else really excited by this trailer? I haven't been this impressed by a film trailer in fuck knows how many years.― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 April 2015 19:02 (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post PermalinkIn case the link disappears it's Tale Of Tales by Matteo GarroneBased on a 17th century collection of fairy tales by Italian author Giambattista Basile, the film weaves realistic and fantastical elements together into three different storylines, one of which involves Salma Hayek eating the heart of a giant beast. Vincent Cassel, John C. Reilly and Toby Jones also star.― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 April 2015 19:07 (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 April 2015 19:02 (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 April 2015 19:07 (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Gets a rave from P Brad at Cannes:http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/13/tale-of-tales-review-eat-your-heart-out-for-matteo-garrones-royally-nasty-fairytale
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 14 May 2015 11:34 (eight years ago) link
i tried to watch some movie recently called like 'everyone loves mandy lane' or some shit with some hot blond girl
it was ok but the filter was awful
― surm, Thursday, 14 May 2015 12:52 (eight years ago) link
Ha pretty sure I bitched heavily about mandy lane upthread - just junk across the board, pushed forward on a wave of unreleased "will we ever get to see it hype". It's awful.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 May 2015 14:14 (eight years ago) link
yeah i didn't finish it
― surm, Thursday, 14 May 2015 14:14 (eight years ago) link
who's the girl in it tho? is that Amber Heard?
― surm, Thursday, 14 May 2015 14:15 (eight years ago) link
"All the boys love Mandy lane" btw. And yeah, pretty sure that's her.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 May 2015 14:17 (eight years ago) link
right. yeah. she's hot.
― surm, Thursday, 14 May 2015 14:18 (eight years ago) link
Tale Of Tales by Matteo Garrone
dying to see this. probably the film i'm most anticipating this year, along with fury road and a pigeon sat on a branch doing whatever it is that pigeons do while sitting on branches.
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 May 2015 16:17 (eight years ago) link
Good to hear it's supposed to be great but this is a case of nothing being able to put me off seeing it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 14 May 2015 18:00 (eight years ago) link
That does look really awesome. I've never heard of Basile.
― jmm, Thursday, 14 May 2015 18:03 (eight years ago) link
What I'm taking issue with is the approach of "I don't like this therefore it is not good, and is the product of people that know it's not good". Especially when it leads to more ideas like writing gore stuff out of the horror genre, or sticking it in its own derisive named sub genre. Horror works best as a big tent imo - that doesn't mean I can't dislike tons of it, but it also doesn't mean that I get to choose that things I don't like ought to be excluded from the genre, or Balkanized into some weird "lesser lazy horror for creeps" category.― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 22:53 To be fair I should have also quoted"Robert Adam GilmourPosted: April 3, 2015 at 8:09:06 PMIt also makes me extremely uncomfortable thinking how I'd act around someone who made crap like that."Which definitely raised my hackles a bit about what you're trying to say here.― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 22:57
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 22:53
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 22:57
I didn't like Insides or Dream Home, but I thought they were basically solid and effective films. Just not for me. Chopper Chicks From Zombie Town and 2001 Maniacs are a different story.
"Horrorcore" is not a derisive label and I don't think it started outside fandom. Even "torture porn", "sleaze", "schlock" get used by fans who like all that stuff.
Again, I never said any genre is inherently bad, but some genres inevitably have way more bad than your average genre. If more Gore films were as good as Braindead and Insides, I wouldn't have been so harsh.
People are always excluding things from genres on this forum and on the comics section people mocked Avatar comics and Garth Ennis in a similar way. I probably sounded more dogmatic about it, so I guess that's why you responded.
I don't stand by what I said about purposefully separating horror. I like some venues to be as inclusive as possible but I think everyone draws the line somewhere in a certain context. And what constitutes exclusion?
Unless it's a democratic thing like a forum or a database or some expansive project with hundreds of contributors, nobody is obligated to include subgenres they have no interest in. If some styles of horror are not represented in the Year's Best genre anthologies, some might complain about being excluded, but editors can only go on their personal taste and judgement.
Here are several subgenres that horror fans have complained are ruining things. In some cases I think it's justified to have some degree of separation. Even the most inclusive horror buffs do not enjoy all these equally or want all this in the same place on a regular basis.
- Paranormal romance. People who are in the horror book business complained about being suddenly swamped in paranormal romance. I think this stuff can legitimately be called part of the extended horror family but aside from Anne Rice and Poppy Z Brite, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of audience overlap. I think it's fair enough if people want the bookshelves separate.
- Domestic realist horror stories about bullying, mental health issues, rocky relationships, cancer and pedophiles. Sometimes there is a contrarian feeling about the inclusion of this stuff, as if to say "vampires and werewolves ain't scary, cancer is the real shit". I think these people miss the point about what attracts people to vampires and werewolves. I'm fine with people including The Hunt in their favourite horror films list but including these stories in horror anthologies along with the standard tropes is far too jarring for most people.
- Quiet obscurist horror with no ghosts, monsters, violence or even any clear indication or something supernatural or surreal. That sort of Aickman school of "What the hell happened? Did anything even happen?" is often taken away from the clear ghost story leanings of Aickman.
- Sadean porn. And then there are further divisions between aesthete decadence and stuff with more of a modern extreme hardcore porn sensibility.
If there was a fantasy/science fiction films thread here and all the superhero film discussion was there, I'm sure more than a few people would hate it.
You say horror works best as big tent but why not have a bigger tent with all the related genres? In some contexts I'd like that but in others it's just too much. Some pieces of horror have far more in common with non-horror genres than they do with the majority of horror. Reshuffling genres can be more productive to developing/following your interests and it creates new communities and possibilities.
The Weird/Fantastic resurgence is not actively rejecting realist horror because it's been around way longer than "horror" has and it never really included violent crime and even supernatural slasher stories probably wouldn't fit in.
There's a time and place for exhaustive inclusiveness. Like this thread, with the possible exception of superheroes, with the possible exception of Hellboy.
For whatever it's worth: Inception won an award for best film at a horror awards show.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 14 May 2015 20:12 (eight years ago) link
I didn't like Dream Home
You are a terrible, terrible person.
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Friday, 15 May 2015 02:38 (eight years ago) link
Also, re Hal Jam upthread: I was mean to poor little Spring, and for that I should be sternly punished. But it really does suck. Charisma-free lead killed any effective romance potential, and the SPOILER's mythology was dopey af ("internet slang" for "as a fish-woman monster thing").
It Follows, otoh, worked just fine to me because I don't have any closely-held opinions about the relationship of today's youth to sexual dread. Except I figure that some degree of confusion and anxiety where such things are concerned probably comes w/ your standard-issue human condition. And I didn't see any implied, crypto-Christian sex negativity in it. I saw it instead as a movie about young people existing in a transitional state on the edge of suburban American youth's sheltering idyll. Sex is alluring but destabilizing and with it comes intimations mortality and difficult questions about one's potential place in a less-than-idyllic adult world. Plus fun and clever spin on traditional slasher film survival rules.
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Friday, 15 May 2015 02:59 (eight years ago) link
Dream Home was mostly interesting about modern Hong Kong and quite funny at times but not liking it isn't very damning. Not dislike exactly.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 May 2015 03:11 (eight years ago) link
There are things that can never be forgiven.
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Friday, 15 May 2015 03:15 (eight years ago) link
horror is like fashion in terms of divisiveness tbh
― surm, Sunday, 17 May 2015 12:14 (eight years ago) link
Good of them to recognize the truly horrible.
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Sunday, 17 May 2015 16:57 (eight years ago) link
Clown is a surprisingly serious horror drama about a man who becomes possessed by a demonic clown suit. It is not very good.
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Sunday, 17 May 2015 16:57 (eight years ago) link
^ 2014
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Sunday, 17 May 2015 16:58 (eight years ago) link
I'm let down by hyped up horror stuff like 98% of the time, but I was kind of blown away by It Follows. Beyond the central conceit (which I think is deeper and muddier than the puritanical sex negativity angle mentioned above) the cinematography, music, mood were just so expertly and smartly handled. Loved the period ambiguity too. I imagine (hope?) Mitchell has a bright career ahead of him.
― circa1916, Monday, 18 May 2015 01:12 (eight years ago) link
o boy i bet it's scary
― surm, Monday, 18 May 2015 11:00 (eight years ago) link
Just saw It Follows today -- good movie, beautifully shot, good performances. I also didn't get any puritanical sense from it -- it struck me more like Buffy, where sex was a double-edged thing. (The whole scenario could have easily been a Buffy episode.) I liked that it didn't overexplain.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 26 May 2015 02:28 (eight years ago) link
Willow Creek. Actually pretty good but it needed more to differentiate itself from Blair Witch Project. I listened to a big Bobcat interview about this last year and I can't remember if he had seen Blair Witch Project before or after making this film (don't need to have seen a film to be familiar with it) but he did talk a lot about the similarities.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 29 May 2015 21:11 (eight years ago) link
Starring was the office douche from God Bless America and the teacher girlfriend from World's Greatest Dad.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 29 May 2015 21:27 (eight years ago) link
Finally watched The Babadook on Netflix. Damned good. Wears its metaphors on its sleeve, sure, but the tension building is terrific. And it's such a rare film that deals seriously with moms that not only don't like their children, they genuinely resent them.
Weird seeing creepy fuck from Snowtown Murders show up in that tiny nice-guy role. I expected something bad to happen, then he just disappeared from the movie.
― I might like you better if we Yelped together (Phil D.), Sunday, 31 May 2015 02:42 (eight years ago) link
my boo put it on recently; it seemed good, i didn't finish it tho
― surm, Sunday, 31 May 2015 02:56 (eight years ago) link
It Follows was a good, clever film. Kept me entertained. That same level of dread as when the hobgoblins used to come during ITV's Knightmare.
― p:s nerds know (dog latin), Monday, 1 June 2015 12:40 (eight years ago) link
*SPOILERS THOUGH*, again it's a good horror movie let down by a pretty unsatisfactory ending. Shooting it in the head did (but didn't) kill off the monster, fine, but you'd think there'd have been a smarter way to deal with it and the main characters wouldn't be so naive to believe that was the end?
― p:s nerds know (dog latin), Monday, 1 June 2015 12:44 (eight years ago) link
I think we talked about how the elaborate pool booby trap was sort of a another '80s callback. Then again, one of the film's most memorable touches is the way it shifts from the characters in total abject horror to just sort of chilling out in slumber party mode; for people in constant fear of death by relentless pursuer, they're pretty mellow, unlike, say, the characters in "Elm Street" popping caffeine pills and whatnot. What's stuck with me most about the movie is not all the metaphors but how all the metaphors sort of fall just short of metaphors. It's a very richly ambiguous movie.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 1 June 2015 13:14 (eight years ago) link
xp ...they don't believe it's the end. They've resigned themselves to the inevitable future trying to survive It for the rest of their lives, but at least, together. It's a pretty damn bittersweet ending IMO
― Nhex, Monday, 1 June 2015 13:57 (eight years ago) link
There was a real Halloween vibe to the street they lived on as well. Loved the John Carpenter-style music too.
― p:s nerds know (dog latin), Monday, 1 June 2015 14:07 (eight years ago) link
xp - i guess it makes sense. they're together, therefore they're both vulnerable, therefore they look out for each other
― p:s nerds know (dog latin), Monday, 1 June 2015 14:08 (eight years ago) link
i guess we're past the point of spoilers: imo (and this may just be a restatement of what you're saying) that they accept that the other is a wounded child at heart, as we all do when we engage in a relationship with someone who has dealt with sexual abuse or been sexually injured. the film's open ending feels like a suggestion that you never stop being afraid, even older or wiser or with a partner. the unknowable of disease, shame, mental blockades, unshakeable fear stays with you well past the point where it's reasonable to be afraid but it never really stops following.
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Monday, 1 June 2015 15:55 (eight years ago) link
and it's weird to me that reading isn't part of everyone's takeaway but i've found lots of folks for whom it isn't the case!i think it's a question of personal experience and how raw that spot is for you maybe
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Monday, 1 June 2015 15:57 (eight years ago) link
Anyone see "Late Phases?" I made it pretty far before I pulled the plug. I suppose an OK scenario squandered by being inept or unbalanced or ... just sucking?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 June 2015 19:24 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, I watched it a few months back. Like you, I was underwhelmed, though I'm loath to say it outright sucked. I'd rather call it a promising near miss, a slow-burn monster movie that, despite an interesting concept and a strong certral character/performance, never quite catches fire.
Perhaps I'm being too generous. Here Comes the Devil, Argentine director Adrian Garcia Bogliano's previous film, is a recent personal favorite I count among the best horror movies of the new millennium. It's every bit as wild, brave and cinematically adventurous as Late Phases is stoically drab. The latter is not only Bogliano's first English-language effort, it's also his first time directing from a screenplay he he didn't write (either alone or with his brother and frequent creative partner Ramiro).
Though I went in with sky-high expectations and came out disappointed, I'd rather anticipate his Spanish-language follow-up, Scherzo Diabolico (filmed, like Here Comes the Devil, in Mexico), than cry over spilt werewolfs.
― a faded dose from rays gone by (contenderizer), Saturday, 6 June 2015 02:04 (eight years ago) link
Cant think of an appropriate thread but this is weird and disturbing, MUST SEE clip of interactive outdoor theatre called Snuff Puppets. Amazing that they performed this in front of families.
https://vimeo.com/121001475
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 6 June 2015 20:38 (eight years ago) link
lol, that is astounding!
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 7 June 2015 03:56 (eight years ago) link
good lord!! on that snuff puppets
― Nhex, Friday, 12 June 2015 21:45 (eight years ago) link
HFS where is that from
― Οὖτις, Friday, 12 June 2015 21:55 (eight years ago) link
love how the audience (and kids!) are just laughing and clapping and running around through the whole thing
It's an Australian troop.
― nickn, Friday, 12 June 2015 22:07 (eight years ago) link
http://letterboxd.com/rabbitroom/list/favorite-horror-films-2000-2014/
― Immediate Follower (NA), Tuesday, 23 June 2015 17:29 (eight years ago) link
That video was amazing - like a body-horror version of Survival Research Labs.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 23 June 2015 17:37 (eight years ago) link
“Ash vs Evil Dead,” which is currently in production in New Zealand, is the long-awaited follow-up to the classic horror film franchise The Evil Dead and is set to premiere on STARZ in Fall 2015. The 10-episode first season of the half-hour series is executive produced by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, Bruce Campbell, the original filmmakers of the franchise, and Craig DiGregorio who will serve as executive producer and showrunner. Campbell will be reprising his role as Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons –personal and literal. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its “Evil” grip. The cast is led by Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, “Burn Notice”) in the role of Ash Williams, Lucy Lawless (“Salem,” “Spartacus”) as Ruby a mysterious figure who believes Ash is the cause of the Evil outbreaks, Ray Santiago (“Touch,” Meet the Fockers) as Pablo Simon Bolivar, an idealistic immigrant who becomes Ash’s loyal sidekick, Dana DeLorenzo (A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas) as Kelly Maxwell, a moody wild child trying to outrun her past and Jill Marie Jones (“Sleepy Hollow”) as Amanda Fisher, a disgraced Michigan State Trooper set to find our anti-hero Ash and prove his responsibility in the grisly murder of her partner.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 30 June 2015 18:18 (eight years ago) link
Just in case that isn't a standard press release, here's the sourcehttp://hellnotes.com/starz-to-release-the-ash-vs-evil-dead-trailer-at-comic-con-2015
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 30 June 2015 18:21 (eight years ago) link
timely
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 30 June 2015 18:47 (eight years ago) link
Timely?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 30 June 2015 19:47 (eight years ago) link
i just meant that the prime moment for an evil dead revival is probably not 3q 2015... maybe more like '95
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 30 June 2015 19:52 (eight years ago) link
don't get me wrong, i will tivo (and maybe even watch) it but still
― like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 30 June 2015 19:53 (eight years ago) link
I'm just quite sceptical about making it a tv series. At best the films built up the madness and went crazy but in a series that may last longer than one season, I don't see them being able to do that. I guess it shouldn't matter as long it's of high quality but I'll be really annoyed if it in any measure becomes a serious survival drama.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 30 June 2015 20:02 (eight years ago) link
After not watching a horror movie in what seems like forever, we finally saw It Follows last night. LOVED the music, and visually it was very engaging without devolving into a fashion shoot. After briefly scrolling up and reading what others have written, I can see how there would be multiple interpretations but basically forks otm. The pool scene was kind of goofy but otherwise I thought it was great.
Coincidentally, this morning when I was walking my dogs, a huge off-leash German shepherd ran out of nowhere and I started screaming and running away, so terrified that I was shaking. In my mind I could see my dogs being eaten alive, my legs chewed into ribbons of meat. It wasn't going to leave us alone, and the lady whose dog it was came over and grabbed it, assuring me that it was a nice dog and didn't want to hurt me or my dogs. I told her the truth, which was that 2 years ago a different off-leash dog did the same thing in the alley and almost killed my larger dog right in front of me. I told her as well as I could that I wasn't mad at her, that I had been traumatized by the incident 2 years ago and was just really scared. She was nice about it, and I hope she understood why my reaction was really disproportionate to what had happened (I know this) but man, trauma is real and it's way scarier than a monster.
― La Lechera, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 13:59 (eight years ago) link
you can't punch a feeling of helplessnessi've been working a job where i deal with lots of aggressive people yelling at me for hours at a time and that shit really DOES follow you long past any point of it being useful.
― you are extreme, Patti LuPone. (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 28 July 2015 14:35 (eight years ago) link
https://youtube.com/watch?v=645HCNXxx6I
CGI animated films are a tough sell for me but 10,000 Years Later is said to be bulging with ideas and the trailer seems to support that.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 11:03 (eight years ago) link
"charlie victor romeo" was talked about a lil on the netflix thread and belongs here. six vignettes with dialogue solely consisting of verbatim transcripts of black box recordings from planes that crashed. all done on a single, barely lit cockpit set. really unsettling."one of the most terrifying films i have ever seen" - ao scott
― slam dunk, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 18:45 (eight years ago) link
I think I unconsciously use some sort of inverted uncanny valley thing to judge whether I'll watch a particular horror movie or not. A thing like that sounds a little more real than I care to deal with in my horror cinema, so I'll probably pass. Although it certainly does sound unnerving.
― the lungs of either a horse or a human baby (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 29 July 2015 18:54 (eight years ago) link
(This is probably why I'm the only person in the world who thinks non-horror movie Testament might be the most horrifying movie ever.)
― the lungs of either a horse or a human baby (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 29 July 2015 18:55 (eight years ago) link
that is totally a horror movie!
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 18:58 (eight years ago) link
I can't watch it
http://www.fangoria.com/new/interview-brian-yuzna-talks-society-blu-ray-and-sequel/
Society possibly getting a sequel! But it's mostly him talking about the original film:“I always thought they should re-release SOCIETY with the tagline “the revenge of the 1%’.”
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 21:20 (eight years ago) link
Been looking around to see what the old special effects guys are doing. Tom Savini has his second feature length director film next year, called Nightmare City.
Difficult finding out about Screaming Mad George. There's footage of his 2014 exhibition with him being interviewed on YouTube. Maybe he's just painting now. Last film credits is a short film he directed a decade ago.
As crappy as the rubber age of horror films often looked, I miss it. Seems like all these type of guys just work on Walking Dead, whatever Del Toro is doing or bits of injury make-up here and there.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 22:25 (eight years ago) link
it was a golden age, true - a lot of those effects still look great imo
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 22:26 (eight years ago) link
Well, Walking Dead is headed by Greg Nicotero, right? And he was mentored by Savini, who sort of passed the practical torch. I think for budget reasons computers are the norm now, and they have their pluses (like not needed to clean up squib mess between takes). It used to be messy FX were all low budget horror had going for it. Now CGI offers a budget shortcut, and what practical stuff shows up here and there seems really slipshod, especially because it takes such pains to revel in its practical-ness, which will never rival the heyday of Savini, Bottin, et al.
I could be wrong, but it seems that CGI violence has an easier time with the ratings board than practical stuff, which comes off so much more grisly. Like, I didn't like the Hostel movies, but Nicotero is what gives them their wince factor.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 22:30 (eight years ago) link
I've got mixed feelings about Walking Dead (I think it's mostly good though) but those water bloated zombies from a recent season were utterly incredible and made me think about what horror and fantasy movies are really missing out on today.
As well as cost cutting, I feel that film studios probably put superficial newness ahead of other aesthetic considerations. I really hate those pointlessly textured superhero costumes but I've heard that the studios insist on costumes that look as three dimensional as possible. I was really pleased when I saw that funny review where some guy said "why is Superman's costume made of basketballs?".
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 22:50 (eight years ago) link
It Follows is less appealing the more I think about it. I'm not sure it was that scary really. It looked nice though
― tayto fan (Michael B), Wednesday, 29 July 2015 23:23 (eight years ago) link
i tried watching it follows but there was something about the story that felt v handwavey to me
idk i may need try again
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 29 July 2015 23:25 (eight years ago) link
screaming mad george is a genius. i wish he did more stuff. a master of gloopy body horror. his most famous thing is probably the cockroach scene in nightmare on elm street 4:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n4lVWFwFoM
― slam dunk, Thursday, 30 July 2015 01:13 (eight years ago) link
nightmare on elm street script and acting is outstandingly terrible but the cockroach bit is aces
― let's not get too excited w/ the ouches (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 30 July 2015 06:14 (eight years ago) link
It Follows is a pretty good movie that happens to also be a pretty bad horror movie imo
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Thursday, 30 July 2015 08:35 (eight years ago) link
I was also watching Screaming Mad George's music videos from when he was a frontman of his own rock band his videogame Paranoiascape.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 30 July 2015 09:15 (eight years ago) link
Screaming Mad George also did makeup effects in Freaked.
― the lungs of either a horse or a human baby (Old Lunch), Thursday, 30 July 2015 10:38 (eight years ago) link
No jokes, this is my nightmare.
― (no offence to people) (dog latin), Thursday, 30 July 2015 10:49 (eight years ago) link
It Follows was OK. Still doing the Suburban Girl and the Price of Sex thing tho, huh?
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 1 August 2015 14:34 (eight years ago) link
Pool scene seemed a quasi-hommage to Cat People, perhaps. There's a DVD extra on the music, and the composer is cuuuuuute. (If overly indebted to John Carpenter.)
http://ocremix.org/files/images/artists/disasterpeace-2549.jpg
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 1 August 2015 14:39 (eight years ago) link
finally catching the guest, this shit fuckin rules
― slothroprhymes, Thursday, 6 August 2015 18:11 (eight years ago) link
Never heard of this until catching up with this thread. What an effective trailer!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQJy1465NSU
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 6 August 2015 18:27 (eight years ago) link
I really enjoyed We Are Still Here last night, it is slightly pastichey and not terrifying but is very entertaining and it is nice to see a horror with a load of oldies in it for a change.
― xelab, Thursday, 6 August 2015 18:58 (eight years ago) link
Yeah The Guest kind of rules
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Thursday, 6 August 2015 22:45 (eight years ago) link
ya damn right it does.
― Nhex, Friday, 7 August 2015 04:26 (eight years ago) link
I need a night to digest it, but I think "Creep" (found footage, Duplass content) might be one of my top ten for the year. Streaming on Netflix.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Friday, 7 August 2015 05:25 (eight years ago) link
I mean, not found footage. Handcam? We need a new term for this.
Thanks for the tip, was totally gonna skip that one.
― Corn on the macabre (Jon not Jon), Friday, 7 August 2015 11:14 (eight years ago) link
Watched The Guest last night. Thanks for the recommendation. Solid and slightly goofy '80s/'90s-esque thriller. We watched it just after seeing the new Mission: Impossible, so it seemed like an interesting inversion on a certain character type that's become prevalent in action movies.
JacobSanders, I just noticed that you posted the Testament trailer! I must have stumped for it a dozen times on the board previously, but it honestly might be the most dread-inducing movie I've ever seen, if you're into that sort of thing.
― Those Jorts Are Upsetting (Old Lunch), Sunday, 9 August 2015 14:15 (eight years ago) link
Enemy a few hours ago. Really not understanding all the spider imagery but I liked it quite a bit.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 9 August 2015 14:40 (eight years ago) link
I've watched a lot of flops recently: Angel, Dead Rising Watchtower, Final Girl and Dark Places. Maybe I'll try Creep next.
― JacobSanders, Sunday, 9 August 2015 14:57 (eight years ago) link
It's completely generic and covers the exact same ground as every other English-country-house/boarding-school things-that-go-bump-in-the-night film but The Woman In Black 2: Angels Of Death is very solid and often beautifully shot. The 3* reviews from Jonathan Romney and Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian feel closer to the mark than the near-universal panning it received everywhere else.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/04/woman-in-black-2-angel-of-death-review
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/25/woman-in-black-2-angel-of-death-review
I had no interest in the remake of the original but might give it a go.
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Sunday, 16 August 2015 07:34 (eight years ago) link
yo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQXmlf3Sefg
― Number None, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 19:32 (eight years ago) link
Looking good. Lord knows there aren't enough goats in horror films.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 20:13 (eight years ago) link
Witch movies, on the other hand:
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view2/20141008/5119779/lords-of-salem-goat-ride-o.gif
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 21:31 (eight years ago) link
And dinosaur movies:
http://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2015/04/21/11/jurassic%20world%20goat.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 21:32 (eight years ago) link
And this horror classic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H6dD7X5_SY
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 21:34 (eight years ago) link
Not really enthused by The Witch trailer, but I've heard good things
― Nhex, Thursday, 20 August 2015 01:41 (eight years ago) link
i like the trailer, looks creepy af
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 20 August 2015 01:47 (eight years ago) link
Trailer is good enough.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Thursday, 20 August 2015 02:24 (eight years ago) link
someone upthread mentioned 'late phases' and while it's basically 'silver bullet' with a blind old man instead of a kid on a wheel chair, i still enjoyed throughout. bogliano's direction was quite assured considering it was his first time filming in the states and something he didn't wrote - good performance from damici as well. he's def one of my fav directors of the past few years - got both eyes on 'scherzo diabolico'.
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link
cosign the love for 'creep'. prob the only recent example i can think of where the ff framing really made some sense - making the whole thing way more unsettling in its proximity, flaws and all. it stuck with me in a way i wasn't expecting.
on a sort-of-side note, 'entrance' was kind of a bore - the mumblecore overtones surely didn't help - but i tend to remember it way more often that i should.
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 15:32 (eight years ago) link
i've asked on a couple of threads but i was kind of keen to discuss 'The Nightmare' a little bit. anyone seen it?
― canoon fooder (dog latin), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 15:34 (eight years ago) link
when you guys were talking about creep, i thought you meant the terrible UK mid-00s tube-train horror.
― canoon fooder (dog latin), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 15:36 (eight years ago) link
"creep" didn't work at all for me. (mild spoiler) i guess duplass' benign suburban dad-ness was supposed to work in its favor but he never seemed credibly threatening to me. though yeah i did appreciate that they didn't really fudge the found footage conceit too much.
"Starry eyes" from last year has a p rudimentary script-it hammers on its "hollywood is corrupt and corrupting" theme over and over in such a basic, tired fashion-but alex essoe gives a really fantastic lead performance. i found it surprisingly moving and pathos-laden for being a clumsy rosemary's baby with modern french body horror on top.
― slam dunk, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 21:10 (eight years ago) link
oh yeah and i watched "Clown" (by the director of the upcoming spider-man film) on youtube....it sucked but i still liked it. a man puts on a clown suit and can't take it off. because it is infested with a clown demon that needs to eat children. i do wish that modern directors of horror garbage would value conciseness more. if a movie only needs to be an hour...just make it an hour long, guy! you'll save money! you can pad it out with credits. follow the example of 'gingerdead man' (70 minutes).
― slam dunk, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 21:20 (eight years ago) link
the lead performance really transforms starry eyes from gross whatever into really skin-crawling gross whatever
thanks to shudder and my roommate i ended up watching deadgirl recently, i think that may be the worst movie i've ever seen
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Tuesday, 15 September 2015 21:26 (eight years ago) link
Oculus - despite being quite different and even having a spooky moment or two, it just didn't leave much of an impression.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 15 September 2015 21:27 (eight years ago) link
when animals dream - patient, somber and hypnotic take on lycanthropy. i guess comparisons to 'let the right one in' or 'a girl walks home alone at night' seem kinda inevitable, tho 'ginger snaps' would be the most obv prescient. coming of age.
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 23 September 2015 15:53 (eight years ago) link
ooh, that sounds good to me.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 23 September 2015 18:01 (eight years ago) link
Has any body else seen The Visit? I watched it last night and was very unsettled but it. At first I thought it was going to be old people weird habits viewed by kids, but it became a lot more brutal that I expected. I think it's one of his better movies.
― JacobSanders, Sunday, 4 October 2015 15:07 (eight years ago) link
yeah, it's decent. good for him to strip down and make it simple compared to his over-the-top shenanigans of the last decade
― Nhex, Sunday, 4 October 2015 16:38 (eight years ago) link
there is no TWIST: confirm / deny?
― Meta Forksclove-Liebeskind (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 4 October 2015 18:56 (eight years ago) link
i might watch it if there's no twist.
there is, but it's not as egregious as his others. it's more like, "oh ok, that's what's up, yeah."
― Nhex, Sunday, 4 October 2015 22:04 (eight years ago) link
well... ok i'm underplaying it a little bit. but it sure as hell isn't "water kills the aliens thanks to god!" level
― Nhex, Sunday, 4 October 2015 22:05 (eight years ago) link
Yeah the twist was more a reveal that for me made the whole plot more terrifying.
― JacobSanders, Sunday, 4 October 2015 23:13 (eight years ago) link
it's good. it's just that the whole movie you're thinking, well, something is wrong, and then you get to that point and it's like, oh a twist that makes sense, solid.
― Nhex, Sunday, 4 October 2015 23:36 (eight years ago) link
For an opposing view, I thought The Visit was absolutely dire - tho' the nadir isn't reached until right at the end, when the obnoxious grandson (who uses the names of pop stars as swear words) raps about having a shit-smeared diaper rubbed in his face(an effective metaphor for this mess.) The whole film is contrived in such a way as to make the twist 'work', but even so, as soon as you start picking away at it, the plot pretty much falls apart. The 'found footage' schtick is pretty tired by now, but it's so flagrantly abused here as to make it an especially redunant filmmaking choice.
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Monday, 5 October 2015 09:29 (eight years ago) link
a shit-smeared diaper rubbed in his face(an effective metaphor for this mess.)
An improvement on Lady in the Water then.
― AlanSmithee, Monday, 5 October 2015 09:41 (eight years ago) link
Finally watched Sinister last week, and while it has some good scares, some intermittently interesting ideas and a great hook in the Super 8 movies, I got really ticked off that nobody's behavior in the movie made a single lick of sense, and it left far too much for the audience to assume without at least alluding to it. (Did he really have to move his entire family to write this book, rather than, say, stay in a hotel or B&B, visit the crime scene and conduct interviews? Did his publisher not give him an advance? I guess it's implied that they couldn't afford their old house, but he makes a promise to the daughter that they'll move back if things don't work out. I guess he's just a bad father.)
The nonsense with the older son, too. Use a previously-unmentioned psychological condition for a couple of cheap scares, and when you're done, drop the kid off the map entirely until you need his unconscious body in the closing scenes. If the screenwriter and director don't care how many kids the family has, you shouldn't, either!
The 8mm movies were really good, though. And the soundtrack.
― I might like you better if we Yelped together (Phil D.), Monday, 5 October 2015 13:03 (eight years ago) link
the leadup was so good but then it got hella dumb towards the end
love love the 8mm stuff, and making a 70's ranch home creepy was p impressive
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 5 October 2015 23:47 (eight years ago) link
the scary figure in those 8mm movies was legit scary
"thanks to shudder and my roommate i ended up watching deadgirl recently, i think that may be the worst movie i've ever seen"
No. A million times no.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Monday, 5 October 2015 23:55 (eight years ago) link
CRIMSON PEAK
You may have heard Del Toro talking about how he does more commercial films to fund his personal projects (apparently the 3 Spanish language ones) and how he absolutely despises making compromises on films he's directing. Pan's Labyrinth was nearly a decade ago, so I thought this might be one of his passion projects. After seeing it I'd be shocked if it was because it feels very compromised.
The plot could have been serviceable but there's so many clichés layed on and things that stand out as quite silly (the father insisting his daughter have her heart broken, the spoon scraping really loudly against the plates in an attempt to increase tension).
Normally Del Toro's films use cgi far better than most but here you'd think they had a large quota to meet because it's used so many times unnecessarily. I constantly have this complaint but here I'm really surprised by the sheer amount of bad judgements. Most of the ghost appearances are far more cgi than they are actors/makeup/wax/plastic creations and it ends up looking too videogamey. I'm less sure about the dog because I was struggling to guess when it was real but it often seemed like it was moving too fast and seemed fake when it barked and yawned. They must have wanted the scenes timed precisely with the dog's actions but it wasn't worth it looking that unnatural (again, I'm not totally sure but it often looked false to me).
It also seemed like it was partially tailored to Tom Hiddleston fans.
What I actually liked was predictable: the set designs, the costumes, scenery, great colors and Mia Wasikowska looking great. The English mansion looked particularly good and the details about the winds was one of the few nice evocative things in the story. Not so different from what I take from gothic Hammer and Corman films.
I hope Del Toro makes plenty of self-indulgent films soon and leaves At The Mountains Of Madness well alone(the script looks bad, the budget will probably ensure crappy elements and Lovecraft is doing just fine), Frankenstein too.
At the cinema there was a bunch of bad trailers with varying amounts of horror and the overall effect was very bleak.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 October 2015 20:41 (eight years ago) link
Oh! and the serious injuries didn't do remotely realistic damage.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 October 2015 20:46 (eight years ago) link
But is the movie any fun? That's the saving grace of so much Hammer etc., just reveling in its cut corners and fake mist and stuff.
I heard this movie only cost like $50 mil or something, which implies almost everything but the actors might be fake. Man, what it up with Del Toro? It seems like he keeps talking up all these cool passion projects, then in between makes compromised/half-assed expensive movies no one really want, like Pacific Rim (and I liked Pacific Rim). Meanwhile time passes on, and "Pan's," "Hellboy" et al. were so long ago... Maybe we can blame Jackson for breaking him.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 October 2015 21:28 (eight years ago) link
Pacific Rim > Pan's Labyrinth
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Friday, 16 October 2015 21:36 (eight years ago) link
To quote Klaus Kinski: "Fun? There is no fun"
I don't find any Hammer films fun, even the ones I quite like. Crimson Peak has a surprising amount of action and violence but really, it's all about the style. There is actually a seamless integration of a giallo murder though.
I'm not actually that into Devil's Backbone but I think Pan's Labyrinth and Cronos are definitely his best films. I do kinda like the Hellboy and Pacific Rim films but it's difficult to care about the drama in them. Still never seen Blade 2, not that interested. Nor the directors cut of Mimic.
I have no idea what sort of project Pinocchio will be but it's comparatively promising to other adaptations of classics because it's harder to imagine in Hollywood fairy tale mode.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 October 2015 22:48 (eight years ago) link
Hmm, Tale Of Tales coming in March. Can't think of anything else on the horizon.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 October 2015 23:06 (eight years ago) link
Bought The Lords of Salem on Blu-Ray - am watching it for the first time now. It's definitely the best-looking Rob Zombie movie to date, and the one with the least egregious stunt-casting. Plot-wise, not sure yet.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 17 October 2015 00:44 (eight years ago) link
Lords of Salem is the best thing Zombie has ever done
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Saturday, 17 October 2015 00:56 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, I don't know. It's definitely exactly what you think it is, no surprises, but there are some really interesting beats that keep it a little ... offbeat. Plus, some nice feelings of apocalyptic dread. Not sure I saw Halloween 2, but I didn't like his Halloween or his first movie. Really liked "Devil's Rejects," though, which captured something ugly in what I thought (iirc) was a sort of novel way. Been years since I saw it, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 October 2015 01:35 (eight years ago) link
looooove Lords of Salem. So fkin good
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 17 October 2015 01:54 (eight years ago) link
Just finished it. I've found his previous movies literally unwatchable (tried to revisit Rejects the other day and lasted about 20 minutes, which is about as far as I got into Halloween 2), but this one is great. 75% of it is stolen from Kubrick or Ken Russell, but it's really meditative and beautiful, and the trio of elderly present-day witches are hilarious. I also liked the relative lack of explicit gore and jump scares.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 17 October 2015 02:18 (eight years ago) link
yeah it's that atmospheric horror like all those creepy ass British movies from the 70's
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 17 October 2015 02:35 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, I did love Lords of Salem. I only remember one jump scare, in a ... kitchen? Hallway?
Anyway, want to say Rejects is worth getting through, if only to see the bad guys get ... not quite sympathetic, but something changes. Also, "Freebird."
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 October 2015 03:34 (eight years ago) link
best thing about Devil's Rejects is the soundtrack
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 17 October 2015 04:47 (eight years ago) link
The Scream TV series is fitfully entertaining but suffers from the main problem you'd expect from a long-form slasher story, in that if you make it abundantly obvious half way through who the killer is (partly because they are a terrible actor) you have four more hours, rather than 40 minutes, to sit through with no suspense. It has its moments but it's not a patch on the excellent Harper's Island.
― Al Ain Delon (ShariVari), Saturday, 17 October 2015 06:19 (eight years ago) link
Anyone else see Macbeth? It looked pretty nice but I felt the Shakespearean dialogue with the quiet naturalistic acting was an awkward mix. Generally okay but I wasn't very engaged. Kind of bizarre when Fassbender makes a whooping sound. I thought I saw a lot of walking out the cinema, not that that's a measure of the film's quality, but I'd imagine a lot of people thought they'd be getting something faster and louder. I wondered if this would drag in the patriotic crowd (they'll surely complain about the accents but I didn't care much).
Not seen the whole of House of 1000 Corpses or Devil's Rejects (maybe 70% of both to the end) but I felt both tried to make you feel involved as if you're having a great time with the lovable crazy hicks. Found the "Freebird" bit quite cringey. Didn't want to see anymore. Unless there was hundreds of corpses at the start that I missed, House of 1000 Corpses didn't really deliver much of the title, I know the film was severely cut and apparently the missing scenes are lost or destroyed.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 October 2015 10:30 (eight years ago) link
I made it through Devil's Rejects once, when it was newer; this time out, it just seemed like Zombie wanted to rub as much grime and hickoid-ness in the viewer's face as possible, and I wasn't in the mood. Plus, the dialogue was overwritten to the point of wretchedness - it sounded like a heavily caffeinated, sociopathic teenager had written it.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 17 October 2015 12:15 (eight years ago) link
Do wonder if Zombie watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre and thought "I want to make films like that dinner scene and thoroughly enjoy their company".
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 October 2015 12:31 (eight years ago) link
Lords of Salem is part of a growing pantheon of recent movies that are amazing, slowly-expanding balloons of horror until they ultimately let all the air out in the most irritating fashion imaginable.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Saturday, 17 October 2015 12:44 (eight years ago) link
I never saw the film but I think the novel version was made to show what he would have done if he had more freedom or a bigger budget.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 October 2015 13:07 (eight years ago) link
I don't think Lords of Salem suffered from lack of budget so much as lack of suspense. Was it supposed to be a metaphor for drug addiction? Were you ever once supposed to believe what was happening is not happening? The brilliance of "Rosemary's Baby," its most obvious influence, is this crazy vibe of "this can't be happening!", which of course dovetails with the weirdness and horror of pregnancy. But maybe it's the flashback that gives it all away at the start (iirc), but Salem goes exactly where you expect it to, and in fact its total lack of development is its biggest surprise. Don't think it really hurts the film at all, since it is generally so chill and the Kubrick side of things succeeds far more than it should. But it's kept me from going back.
I need to revisit Rejects. I do think it's interesting how many upthread have only seen part of it but don't want to see the rest. It has been years, and the movie is most certainly unpleasant, but it's not nearly as ugly or insufferable as something like Martyrs or Insides or that kind of stuff. I think you're on to something (xpost) that he wanted to make a Texas Chainsaw more from the perspective of the family. If anything, I want to say it reminds me of Chainsaw 2 in that regard.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 October 2015 13:50 (eight years ago) link
Reading through the news on RueMorgue site, I don't know how seriously to take the film development news because these sites are known to extensively report things that never get out of development hell. But Richard Stanley is supposed to be making an adaptation of Color Out Of Space (an interesting choice). Also a Suspiria remake set in Germany with a strong focus on the generation divide in the 70s, with regards to WW2.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 October 2015 14:14 (eight years ago) link
Suspiria has been rumored for years, right? What a stupid idea for a remake. It'd be like remaking 2001.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 October 2015 15:01 (eight years ago) link
I have these to watch soon: Dark Places, Contracted Phase II, Hidden and Time Lapse. Any thought on these without giving away spoilers?
― JacobSanders, Saturday, 17 October 2015 15:49 (eight years ago) link
saw Crimson Peak last night. hugely disappointing. some nice setpieces and acting, but totally let down by OTT CGI, some terrible plotting, more clichés than you could shake a stick at, and general hamperedness all round.
― canoon fooder (dog latin), Monday, 19 October 2015 06:57 (eight years ago) link
Crimson Peak wasn't remotely scary, but it was constantly beautiful. I'll take that.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Monday, 19 October 2015 12:21 (eight years ago) link
i finally saw the guest last week. it is the best movie ever
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Monday, 19 October 2015 17:28 (eight years ago) link
Went to an annual horror marathon this weekend at a local theater, and it included a screening of the upcoming horror/comedy The Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. It was neither horrifying nor funny, but did include the greatest "a zombie getting its dick ripped off and thrown in another zombie's mouth" scene I've ever watched.
(Directed by Michael Landon's son and has, in a small role, Arnold Schwarzenegger's son. What a world, what a world.)
― Resting Bushface (Phil D.), Monday, 19 October 2015 17:30 (eight years ago) link
Finally convinced (tricked?) my wife into watching "The Descent" tonight. Then I thought, man, I wish Roger Ebert had reviewed this, he would have loved it. Then I thought, wait, he probably did review! And indeed, he did and did love it: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-descent-2006
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 00:36 (eight years ago) link
Wait! Wow, apparently despite the byline that review is ... not by Ebert? Jim Emerson? Mysterious.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 00:40 (eight years ago) link
"I have these to watch soon: Dark Places, Contracted Phase II, Hidden and Time Lapse. Any thought on these without giving away spoilers?"
Curious about Dark Places, based on a decent enough novel by the Gone Girl lady. Surprised that it didn't get a bigger release esp. with this cast hmmn maybe not a good sign actually... Wow critics hated it.
Original Contracted has a really unpleasant premise also descriptions of some of gross out bits--"maggots falling from vagina"--from first film are really (o_O)--not sure if that's too spoilery. Can't imagine sequel is worth watching here.
Time Lapse is decent Twilight Zone-ish fare. Not really much horror at all.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 12:39 (eight years ago) link
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Friday, October 16, 2015 10:18 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Huh guess I need to watch this now. I have never seen corpses but I think Rejects is fun and I love the ending. I watched his Halloween last weekend and it . . . wasn't good but I don't know why he would have wanted to touch that anyway.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 13:04 (eight years ago) link
I just watched Zombie's Halloween last night. Agreed that it was neither great nor entirely necessary, but I thought the first half (minus all of the WE ARE POOR WHITE TRASH DO YOU SEE HOW OTT TRASHY WE ARE garbage) fleshed out Michael Myers nicely. Gonna watch the sequel tonight and see what the limited hype is all about.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 13:26 (eight years ago) link
Since the horror polls never progressed this far, I'm curious if anyone has a top ten list of recommendations for the years that fall within the remit of this thread. I realized recently that the past decade is the most poorly-represented (aside from maybe the '40s) in my horror movie collection. There have been a lot of good recommendations in this thread but I wonder what stuff has really stuck with y'all.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 13:34 (eight years ago) link
1. A Field In England
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 13:59 (eight years ago) link
2. It Follows
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:06 (eight years ago) link
3. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Technically all three are 2014 though.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:09 (eight years ago) link
Nevermind saw that you asked for past decade.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:14 (eight years ago) link
MartyrsKill List
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:14 (eight years ago) link
The Strangers (Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler, 2008)
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:21 (eight years ago) link
Cabin In The Woods is just about the only unqualified recommendation I can think of (off the top of my head) from the past ten years.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:26 (eight years ago) link
Trying to remember if the Lucky McKee movies I've loved are all more than 10 years old. Oy the string of disappointments.
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:31 (eight years ago) link
InsideHalloween IIBugJoshuaAntichrist
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:35 (eight years ago) link
i suppose the overrated Babadook is still good enough to make the cut hereand both Swedish and American versions of Let the Right One In
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:36 (eight years ago) link
I just watched the Babadook and thought it was fucking ace. Though sadly I can't join in any previous conversation about it here as when I try to load all answers the thread seizes up. Maybe time to start a newer new film thread? Or just time for me to get a new computer?
― emil.y, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:39 (eight years ago) link
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, October 20, 2015 3:31 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
May is great, The Woman is cool, Red got taken away from him, the rest have been short films, right?
― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:45 (eight years ago) link
May and Red both make my cut if they're recent enough to fit the criterion. The Woman sucked. Another one he didn't direct by had a hand in, The Lost, would also make my list.
and both Swedish and American versions of Let the Right One In
Otm
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:02 (eight years ago) link
i am hard pressed to think of any other foreign genre movie remake that was as well served by its US version
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:21 (eight years ago) link
Tops from recent years:BorgmanLast Will and Testament of Rosalind LeighTrash Humpers (yeah I know it's just me)
Lords of Salem is 75% amazing. I have my doubts Zombie can ever close the deal on the last 25% though.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:23 (eight years ago) link
tons of great horror in the past decade imo, most already mentioned - Under the Skin, It Follows, Babadook, Kill List, A Field in England, Cabin in the Woods, Let the Right One In (original),
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:26 (eight years ago) link
May was v good. Can't wholeheartedly get behind the Strangers because the ending is botched so badly. Oculus probably deserves a mention.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link
Oh, yeah! Under the Skin and A Field in England -- both tremendous.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link
I gotta find my horror ballot and then I can answer this question probably. Despite some definite split opinions just upthread, I think "Deadgirl" is amazing.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:30 (eight years ago) link
Flanders
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:37 (eight years ago) link
"i am hard pressed to think of any other foreign genre movie remake that was as well served by its US version"
We Are What We Are supposed to be good no?
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:38 (eight years ago) link
xpostThe Bruno Dumont movie? I think it's possible to see all of his movies as horror movies, but Hors Satan is the one, if so.
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:38 (eight years ago) link
Woops I meant Dogtooth not Flanders (I saw them at same time and for some reason get the titles confused).
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:43 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, if Under the Skin counts then The Lobster would also quality (also: Hard to be a God)
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 15:47 (eight years ago) link
Hated Oculus. Super hated it. The only thing I've loved by those people is Insidious. And that for basically being an unabashed pastiche.
I think I'd like to throw in the paranormal activity installment with the witch cult which number was that?
Also
Fucking troll hunter yo
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 16:19 (eight years ago) link
I've seen quite a few surprisingly good found footage joints mostly thanks to the explorations of jjj but I'm having trouble remembering all of them now
Oh yeah (not found footage): The Woods
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 16:21 (eight years ago) link
Ohhhhhhhhh Home Movie was a good recent-ish found footage horror film.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 16:39 (eight years ago) link
a subgenre I will never support
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 16:50 (eight years ago) link
Home Movie might be my favorite found-footage flick.
And yeah, the witch-cult Paranormal Activity was really good.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 16:53 (eight years ago) link
There are a handful of good found footage horror movies, but I agree that I don't support it as a genre because most people have no idea of what to do with it. It's a facile go-to because it's cheap and quick. The conceit probably needs to go away altogether for a decade or so until someone has an idea that employs it effectively.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 16:56 (eight years ago) link
given how much I hated the Blair Witch Project I'm very disinclined to investigate its progeny
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 16:59 (eight years ago) link
I liked Resolution quite a bit.
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 17:06 (eight years ago) link
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1977895/
Home Movie is probably objectively better than Blair Witch (the latter of which was really only effective for me when I first saw it at a preview screening and had no idea what it was).
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 17:13 (eight years ago) link
I've heard of Resolution and want to check it out. Absentia, too. There's a good review of that one here.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 17:14 (eight years ago) link
Absentia was very good but not quite top 10 for me. Likewise yellowbrickroad. Both well worth watching and I'll probably rewatch both.
I've never seen Home Movie!
Looked super promising but sorely disappointed me: mama, thale, the woman, the reeds, that movie about the guy in the wilderness who mails haunted packages to ppl.
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 17:23 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, I saw yellowbrickroad. It was OK.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 17:49 (eight years ago) link
What's the movie that had the horrifying scene with a girl and a deer corpse? That was hard to watch.
― JacobSanders, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 17:58 (eight years ago) link
freddygotfingered.jpeg
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 18:12 (eight years ago) link
― Nhex, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 18:28 (eight years ago) link
yeah, i would agree on the ring
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 18:35 (eight years ago) link
Trying to choose a horror movie to watch on Netflix tonight. Has anyone seen The Canal, Creep or Starry Eyes?
― Darin, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 18:45 (eight years ago) link
Could swear there was a poll thread for this but this is what I would recommend within the thread's time.
A Field In EnglandAmer Strange Color Of Your Body's TearsBorderlands (very good found footage)Haze (Tsukamoto)Drag Me To HellPan's LabyrinthMartyrsThirst StokerBlack SwanBerberian Sound StudioInland EmpireBeyond The Black Rainbow (for a few great bits but it takes patience)Under The SkinBabadook (after the hype has faded I guess it's just good enough to list here)
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 18:46 (eight years ago) link
Berberian Sound Studio
yes def, this one didn't get enough love imo
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 18:52 (eight years ago) link
Slither too, that's 2006. so great
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 18:55 (eight years ago) link
berberian is great but the horror elements are virtually nil
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 18:55 (eight years ago) link
― Darin, Tuesday, October 20, 2015 7:45 PM (12 minutes ago)
You mean the new Creep or the subway one? I'm assuming new, which I haven't seen. Subway one is so-so (and I think possibly too old for the remit of this thread? Early '00s iirc).
― emil.y, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:00 (eight years ago) link
New creep is worth seeing. More than good less than great.
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:03 (eight years ago) link
The imaginary horror film being made inside Berberian Sound Studio is plenty spooky. It gave me a bigger dosage than most horror films so I think it has a substantial claim.
Teeth is a pretty good laugh.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:08 (eight years ago) link
yeah Teeth was p good
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:11 (eight years ago) link
Any love for Henenlotter's Bad Biology 'round these parts? I've been curious.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:14 (eight years ago) link
In addition to others already mentioned, I'd nominate The Mist, The Descent, Inside, The House of the Devil and Black Death.
― Darin, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:15 (eight years ago) link
Black Death hell yeah
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:22 (eight years ago) link
Bad Biology: my wife did the evil baby vocalizations in that movie
It is honestly too gross for me tho
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:23 (eight years ago) link
The Mist is pretty great, The Descent and House Of The Devil were about 3/4 great.
One of my favorites from the past ten years is the divisive, "hey, that's not horror!" Martha Marcy May Marlene. It's made it into my semi-regular rotation of Halloween-time go-tos.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:24 (eight years ago) link
xpost That's rad! It does sound pretty gross, though, yeah.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:25 (eight years ago) link
MMMM is a fun one, yeah. I'm always up for creepy cult stuff. And I loved The Mist when I saw it in theaters, especially the ending, which was perfect and hilarious.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:35 (eight years ago) link
Starry Eyes is a solid 6/10, hooked me in enough but not massively memorable.
― ewar woowar (or something), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:35 (eight years ago) link
I liked Starry Eyes. ersatz Lynch vibes, great lead perf.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 19:37 (eight years ago) link
Agree -- she was great and very committed to her part(s)
― La Lechera, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 20:15 (eight years ago) link
Been hovering over the watch button for starry eyes for awhile
What is up with The Djinn? Middle eastern cast, Tobe Hooper directing?
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 20:45 (eight years ago) link
Would add to the highlights recap
CalvaireExcisionEden LakeThe Children
― ewar woowar (or something), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 23:30 (eight years ago) link
Yes -- The Children
I've forgotten so many!
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 October 2015 23:31 (eight years ago) link
calvaire was excellent
― canoon fooder (dog latin), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 00:04 (eight years ago) link
google image search for calvaire makes me think i am not down to see that
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 00:45 (eight years ago) link
^^ that could be interesting, especially for the last 5 years - and considering how some ilx users might go for choices off the beaten track. might think of a bunch meanwhile...
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 01:50 (eight years ago) link
Oh shit wait, I did a recent horror ballot poll a while ago, give me a sec to go on computer not phone
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 03:53 (eight years ago) link
Calvaire is not that graphic compared to the nu-French extreme stuff iirc
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 03:57 (eight years ago) link
also it has one of the best musical sequences in the history of cinema imo
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 03:58 (eight years ago) link
oh whoops, it was just a 2011 specific poll i think
eh anyway, off the top of my head:deadgirlevil dead remakethe taking of deborah loganthe childrenbabadook100 bloody acresabsentiabagheadthe innkeepersthe guest
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 04:42 (eight years ago) link
Innkeepers was great
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 04:46 (eight years ago) link
ah shit, also eden lake. and lords of salem. and hostel 2. and 50 other things im not remembering right now.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 04:47 (eight years ago) link
innkeepers is the ti west movie i throw down for, as a dude who hates house of the devil
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 04:48 (eight years ago) link
of interest wrt to this topic, btw: Hey it's halloween, everybody should shit their pants - ilx horror crew top tens.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 04:50 (eight years ago) link
Sooooo...Halloween 2. That sure was brutal. Not sure I understand why people tend to over- or underpraise it, as it's roughly on par with its predecessor. Malcolm McDowell was pretty good in his inverted portrayal of Dr. Loomis as a pissy famewhore. Essentially, though, if you think Zombie's first Halloween was disappointingly bereft of graphic head smashing and visceral neck sawing, this is the film for you!
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 13:06 (eight years ago) link
Was it Halloween or the sequel that begins with an extended rape scene?
I have trouble slotting The Guest in as horror. It starts off like it could be horror, but it slowly morphs into "The Terminator" as directed by John Carpenter.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 13:22 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, The Guest isn't horror - it's a throwback action movie. And a great one.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 13:36 (eight years ago) link
Another vote for The Children. (Not to be confused with the kids-in-a-schoolbus-who-give-toxic-hugs The Children, which is also great, but in a different way).
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 14:11 (eight years ago) link
man it's been a slow year for horror, huh? I wanna catch The Witch and that's about it.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 14:16 (eight years ago) link
Did anyone see Cooties? I heard good things but the trailer seemed to negate the good things that I'd heard.
― Don't Call Me A Lunkhead, You Dingbat! (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 14:17 (eight years ago) link
My list would look similar to the others here, I'll add theseThe BatteryLa Casa MudaCitadelLovely MollyTriangleFound
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 14:30 (eight years ago) link
Lovely Molly was good yeah
Anyone seen the german thing this year with the mom that comes back from cosmetic surgery all sinister?
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 15:07 (eight years ago) link
Goodnight, Mommy. Yeah, it's very good. Goes in a direction I wasn't expecting.
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 19:55 (eight years ago) link
^^ loved it. truly disturbing.
some great choices around here. without repeating names (i hope)here are a few more :
end of the linegracehere comes the devil/penumbra/36 pasos red velvet388 arletta avenuesaunathe signal (canadian one)tears of kali
not quite horror, but still worth mentioning : blue ruin
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 22:04 (eight years ago) link
it was ok, i guess - a few good gags and rainn wilson. quite a number of horror comedies surfacing this year - bloodsucking bastards, deathgasm, the editor and that new one with zombies and boy scouts or something come to mind. but everything pales in comparison to 'what we do in the shadows' obv.
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 22:09 (eight years ago) link
i mean, is there any need for more zom coms? or even vamp coms for that matter?
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 22:10 (eight years ago) link
zombie comedies pretty well-worn territory at this point. I liked What We Do in the Shadows okay.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 22:12 (eight years ago) link
and also on a "is it really horror" type of situation, tho truly devastating and disturbing i need to add 'red, white & blue'
― rusty_allen, Thursday, 22 October 2015 05:30 (eight years ago) link
I was very impressed by Triangle and Kill List. In fact it's high time I saw these again.
― canoon fooder (dog latin), Thursday, 22 October 2015 10:37 (eight years ago) link
I caught Red, White and Blue at a genre fest some years back - maybe it was because it was kinda hyped in that context, but I was nonplussed by it.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Thursday, 22 October 2015 12:07 (eight years ago) link
Anyone care to vet this list of underrated horror films available on Netflix? Some of the selections have gotten a round of thumbs ups in this thread so I'm curious about the rest.
― I Was Picking Up A Teaspoon When Something Happened To My Spine (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 October 2015 20:10 (eight years ago) link
The Sacrament = Ti West = not to be trusted
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Saturday, 24 October 2015 21:10 (eight years ago) link
Mr Jones is watchable but not good in any meaningful sense.
I didn't like Creep at all but can see why it has its fans.
The Shrine is actively bad.
Taking of Deborah Logan is excellent and everyone should see it.
The Sacrament isn't really a horror film - it's Ti West's take on Jonestown by another name and although the lead Jim Jonesish performance is great, the film feels very shallow.
Let's not go over Pontypool again.
I gave up on The Canal after about half an hour, despite it being Irish.
I gave up on From The Dark after fifteen minutes despite it being set in my adopted obscure Irish county.
― Al Ain Delon (ShariVari), Saturday, 24 October 2015 21:54 (eight years ago) link
Stakeland is not worthwhile.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 24 October 2015 23:24 (eight years ago) link
Damn, Stake Land and The Shrine are the two I put on my Amazon watch list. (I'm a little bit of a Jonestown/Peoples Temple freak - I find the whole cult thing fascinating.)
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 24 October 2015 23:31 (eight years ago) link
I liked stakeland a lot.
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 25 October 2015 00:03 (eight years ago) link
Sacrament sucked but was the first Ti West dud I've seen
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 25 October 2015 00:04 (eight years ago) link
What's the deal with Cub? I've only seen the poster which is distinctive (am assuming it's horror)
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 25 October 2015 00:05 (eight years ago) link
What did you like about Stakeland? I don't think it's terrible, there are decent shots in it but I found it very bland.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 25 October 2015 00:08 (eight years ago) link
Just watched You're Next, which was a lot of fun. (It's on Hulu for free.)
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Sunday, 25 October 2015 01:22 (eight years ago) link
I'll also throw down for stakeland, but from that list taking of Deborah Logan is miles in the lead
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Sunday, 25 October 2015 03:31 (eight years ago) link
came across 'the taking of deborah logan' a bunch of times and it never piqued my interest. this couple of posts of support from credible sources made me give it chance. hope it holds up.
re: cub - liked it, but didn't love it. prefer to think of it as something of an arthouse european/detached take on some slasher tropes - take that as you will, i'd put the emphasis on the psychological aspect of it. beautifully shot and with a great soundtrack by steve moore.
― rusty_allen, Sunday, 25 October 2015 05:07 (eight years ago) link
also, from that list, 'creep' is this sort of unreasonable keeper for me. like it more everytime i think or talk to someone about it. and i found 'the canal' surprisingly touching.
― rusty_allen, Sunday, 25 October 2015 05:12 (eight years ago) link
Not sure if this is a problem now anymore than it has been for the last few decades but I find it difficult to care about most new stuff because there's so many generic characters who are probably supposed to be relatable. As much as I'm tired of scholars, horror writers, detectives, wry outsiders, priests, high society men visiting friends and relatives, it's often better than the modern incarnations of Person Peopleton and Manonymous McMediocre. I actually like somewhat anonymous characters but it's probably the blandly aspirational quality that is part of what is bothering me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 25 October 2015 10:52 (eight years ago) link
The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh is even better than Deborah Logan, though I love them both & often mix up the titles.
― The Thnig, Sunday, 25 October 2015 13:09 (eight years ago) link
"What's the deal with Cub? I've only seen the poster which is distinctive (am assuming it's horror)"
Isn't this the Belgian lost boy scout troop encounters crazy family in woods one? I've heard it's good, but it's not streamable AFAICT.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Sunday, 25 October 2015 13:20 (eight years ago) link
Let Us Prey, which was added to Netflix USA today, is deeply silly but mildly entertaining.
― Al Ain Delon (ShariVari), Sunday, 25 October 2015 14:26 (eight years ago) link
Deborah Logan fell apart when it got to the whole snake thing imo
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 25 October 2015 14:51 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, just watched that, and while it starts out OK it devolves into kind of incoherence. Like, were the snakes even poisonous? Certainly no one seemed to be afraid of getting bitten. And I was really put off by the brazen found-footage Mad Libbing. Cameras posted all around? Check. Security camera footage? Check. A sequence with night vision? Check. Running through the woods at night with only the camera for light? Check. Not to mention the usual by the books jump scares. Approaching a character facing the other way? Check. Things that go bump in the attic? Check. Also a little irked by how long they let it go with only a modicum of safety concerns, considering the protagonist was at her best tearing off her own skin and speaking in tongues, at worse prone to attacking/biting people.
Pluses: still well-made, well-acted, and featuring the rare character who literally says fuck it, I'm leaving. Plus a penultimate monster moment on par with the reveal at the end of "Rec."
Docked points for the way it finally ended, which is a whole 'nother lame cliche.
But still: worth seeing, I think!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 26 October 2015 18:24 (eight years ago) link
AV Club list of the 25 best horror movies since 2000
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Monday, 26 October 2015 18:54 (eight years ago) link
yeah, drag me to hell and ginger snaps are both excellent
― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Monday, 26 October 2015 19:09 (eight years ago) link
uuuuugh @ It Follows being so high / on that list at all, but not terrible otherwise.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Monday, 26 October 2015 19:15 (eight years ago) link
i loved It Follows, but you should know by now that overhyping a recent/controversial movie for a Top X list is a staple of the modern listicle
― Nhex, Monday, 26 October 2015 19:16 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, 10 months ago and Babadook would've been #4 at the lowest.
― thread of getting sw0le and lena jokes (Eric H.), Monday, 26 October 2015 19:23 (eight years ago) link
I watched Knock Knock last weekend. Is Keanu Reeves hurting for work?
― JacobSanders, Monday, 26 October 2015 19:24 (eight years ago) link
Tarantino was OTM when he described "It Follows" as so good you wish it were great. I think that's the best kind of backhanded compliment I've ever heard, because it's without a doubt a huge compliment. It's rare you encounter a movie so engrossing and so original you're disappointed that it's not perfect, especially in horror, where the standard is typically set so low we praise movies for not being terrible.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 26 October 2015 19:27 (eight years ago) link
Always thought Them was so much better than The Strangers.
― Darin, Monday, 26 October 2015 19:30 (eight years ago) link
Them is way better than Strangers.
― JacobSanders, Monday, 26 October 2015 19:34 (eight years ago) link
Was "The Strangers" officially an English language remake of "Them?"
Loved the home invasion inversion of "You're Next," that could have made it on that list.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 26 October 2015 19:45 (eight years ago) link
Not a remake, no. Not sure Bertino actually saw Them tbh
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Monday, 26 October 2015 19:49 (eight years ago) link
same premise - people wearing sacks on their heads terrifying a couple.
― Darin, Monday, 26 October 2015 20:04 (eight years ago) link
https://nbcprohockeytalk.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/unknown-comic.jpg
― I Was Picking Up A Teaspoon When Something Happened To My Spine (Old Lunch), Monday, 26 October 2015 20:06 (eight years ago) link
Speaking of remakes, did I read correctly that someone remade "Martyrs?" I didn't like the original but even I can say with some certainty that a remake was uncalled for.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 26 October 2015 20:50 (eight years ago) link
― JacobSanders, Monday, October 26, 2015 3:24 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lol this movie..i kind of liked it. it seems like it's going to be a pretty grim 'funny games'+'hard candy' but then the weird tonal shifts that creep into every eli roth movie start to happen. it's pretty stupid and bad but keanu's mega-acting in the second half is really something. recommended for fans of nicolas cage being tortured at the end of wicker man.
― slam dunk, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 00:28 (eight years ago) link
the new Guy Maddin film, The Forbidden Room, has multiple vintage horror pastiches; Poe, nosferatus etc
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 01:34 (eight years ago) link
kudos for including 2 kurosawa movies - had no idea 'cure' was only released overseas after 00 - and the exclusion of 'the mist' - seems to pop up everytime this sort of lists appears and yeah, it's not that great imo. and there's still really a lot of love for the '28 weeks/days...' thing innit?
also, innkeepers >>> house of the devil
― rusty_allen, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 02:33 (eight years ago) link
I was ready to complain about that list containing the Others (which is fine and all but nowhere near top 25) until I saw Trouble Every Day and just gave up on even trying to salvage the list. Also I'm sick of the automatic Audition #1 spot. Grump grump.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 03:01 (eight years ago) link
my personal fave that is usually missing from these lists: Frailty, which has taken on extra significance since it predicted the MacConaughssaince
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 03:08 (eight years ago) link
Frailty is great. Has Paxton directed anything since?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 03:20 (eight years ago) link
I finally got around to seeing "Triangle," which I knew I'd like, which is sort of why I took my time getting around to it. For some reason it had totally slipped my mind that it was the same guy that did "Severance" and "Black Death." I really liked "Severance." This one reminded me a lot of "Timecrimes," but obviously "Triangle" only makes sense sort of on its own terms. One thing I thought was really strange, though: literally the entire cast is Australian acting with American accents, and I think it was filmed in Queensland, but there's absolutely no reason for them to be American, since 90% of the movie takes place on a boat and the rest in an anonymous seaside community. So ... yeah, that's weird.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 03:41 (eight years ago) link
He only ever did Frailty, this, and the "Fish Heads" video. Weirdest director CV ever.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 03:46 (eight years ago) link
I watched the Green Inferno last night, I should've know better that he would do nothing surprising with the source material. I'm finished wasting time with Eli Roth.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 14:36 (eight years ago) link
"Goodnight Mommy" is Austrian and, although well made, gives the entire plot away in its German title (won't spoil it -- if I didn't know what the title meant, I'd have enjoyed the film more). This is a total Austrian art film/ theater school move which annoys the hell out of me.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 30 October 2015 10:58 (eight years ago) link
xp he's a super boring director.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Friday, 30 October 2015 12:49 (eight years ago) link
xp i don't see how the original title was a spoiler, am i stupid?
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, 30 October 2015 15:13 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, those Austrian folks clearly come from the Haneke school of cheerful pick me ups.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 30 October 2015 15:17 (eight years ago) link
Ich seh, ich seh was Du nicht siehst.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 30 October 2015 15:56 (eight years ago) link
Austrian title of the Sixth Sense is Memoirs of a Dead Child Psychologist.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 30 October 2015 16:07 (eight years ago) link
Kristy / Random is a fairly solid entry in the bunch-of-people-terrorise-another-bunch-of-people-for-no-obvious-reason canon.
It's a Weinstein film made in 2012 that nobody ever felt the need to release, but it has just surfaced on Netflix.
― Al Ain Delon (ShariVari), Saturday, 31 October 2015 20:05 (eight years ago) link
Thought I burned my bridges by making my wife watch "The Descent," which was so intense it unnerved her (fair enough), but I think "It Follows" won her back!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 31 October 2015 21:59 (eight years ago) link
I was into The Descent when it was about being lost and trapped underground, glimpses of weird things lurking nearby, not knowing whether you're hallucinating. When the threat was made clear and it became about fighting morlocks, it was kinda over for me.
― jmm, Saturday, 31 October 2015 22:11 (eight years ago) link
Just finished watching It Follows. A solid premise, with a few good moments. The rental was only 99 cents on Amazon, which seems about right.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Sunday, 1 November 2015 01:52 (eight years ago) link
It wasn't even remotely scary, but I think I liked "Unfriended," not as a horror movie but as a sort of PSA about how impulsive, self-centered, stupid kids and social media are a bad mix. The window novelty worked pretty well on TV - don't think I would have liked it in theaters - and something about the way the asshole kids were depicted seemed really accurate to me, both in the perennial sense (bullies be bullying, peers be pressuring; even the ghost was a dick) but also the way a lot of people (in my experience) live through social media. Anyway, not especially good but not bad.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 03:54 (eight years ago) link
I saw Unfriended in theaters and quite liked it. I was even more impressed with it after learning that it was mostly made of of rehearsed near-feature-length single takes.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 4 November 2015 04:11 (eight years ago) link
*up of
Last Shift, which is just up on Netflix, is quite good. It's by the guy who did Cassadaga, which I don't remember being much cop, but very well executed.
― Al Ain Delon (ShariVari), Friday, 6 November 2015 23:07 (eight years ago) link
Recently got around to watching "Calvaire." I'm not even sure it counts as horror, it's so surreal and fitfully (darkly) comic. It's more like some strange parody of torture porn/backwoods redneck horror, paced like molasses, shot neo-verite, devoid of scares/suspense, yet not because it's inept, just because. Not even sure what to make of it, to be honest. Probably more akin to Harmony Korine, maybe?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 November 2015 19:46 (eight years ago) link
It's pretty bizarre and nasty. Not sure how people would react if it was better known.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 9 November 2015 20:58 (eight years ago) link
i loved it, i'll never forget the pub scene
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, 9 November 2015 21:43 (eight years ago) link
Pub scene reminded me of the asylum dance party set to the Pet Shop Boys in "Bronson."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 November 2015 22:05 (eight years ago) link
I should say, by the way, that the reason I checked it out was first and foremost a few recommendations on the thread, but also some conspicuously positive reviews from mainstream critics.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 November 2015 22:06 (eight years ago) link
The Guest is so much fun. I had no idea why anything was happening but it didn't seem to matter. Really excellent soundtrack too.
― Al Ain Delon (ShariVari), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 11:20 (eight years ago) link
I thought it got a little silly when it went all b-movie action tropes, but I still liked it a lot.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 November 2015 14:30 (eight years ago) link
Finally got round to watching 'A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night' and was hm, maybe slightly underwhelmed by this Tarr-lite vampire-in-breton-stripes movie.Some quite striking and memorable moments (the bit where she threatens the little boy was chilling), but it could have done with a bit more something or other...Some very long hymnic-jerk inducing shots. Lots of incongruous arty bits where people just stand around ignoring each other. Great use of epileptic black-and-white.An oddity, but not quite the masterpiece its creator and many reviewers have made it out to be.
― canoon fooder (dog latin), Monday, 30 November 2015 10:21 (eight years ago) link
ups from a few weeks back. I adored Calvaire and yeah that pub scene. I wish I could find a clean copy of the music they used in that.
― canoon fooder (dog latin), Monday, 30 November 2015 10:23 (eight years ago) link
So yeah, "It Follows" is clearly the best horror film of 2015.
― a strawman stuffed with their collection of 12 cds (jjjusten), Sunday, 13 December 2015 06:19 (eight years ago) link
Yep. I was geared up for disappointment after all the hype but it's really great.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Sunday, 13 December 2015 06:26 (eight years ago) link
Universal are planning to use their classic monsters but taking them out of horror and putting them in connected modern action adventure films to compete with Marvel.
Universal can suck my hemorrhoids.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 18 December 2015 15:22 (eight years ago) link
lol, marvel already did that in the 70's.
― Does that make you mutter, under your breath, “Damn”? (forksclovetofu), Friday, 18 December 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link
They were partially redeemed by Gene Colan and Mike Ploog.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 18 December 2015 15:36 (eight years ago) link
wasn't that frankenstein movie with aaron eckhart from last year that no one liked supposed to be part of it? https://www.lionsgate.com/uploads/cache/ef/8b/ef8beb63d3c9713c311259d2737c2db3.jpg
― slam dunk, Friday, 18 December 2015 20:28 (eight years ago) link
that's him as frankenstein's monster btw
― slam dunk, Friday, 18 December 2015 20:29 (eight years ago) link
you can tell because he has scars on his face and is wearing denim.
― Does that make you mutter, under your breath, “Damn”? (forksclovetofu), Friday, 18 December 2015 20:30 (eight years ago) link
I'm not sure. But I don't think it's part of this latest attempt. Tom Cruise is supposed to be in one of them.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 18 December 2015 20:32 (eight years ago) link
a+ costume work
― circa1916, Friday, 18 December 2015 20:32 (eight years ago) link
Saw the Joel Edgerton The Gift last night maybe not really horror, but good suspense and super creepy ending.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Friday, 18 December 2015 21:49 (eight years ago) link
Finally got round to watching 'A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night' and was hm, maybe slightly underwhelmed by this Tarr-lite vampire-in-breton-stripes movie.
we watched this a few weeks ago and yeah I thought it was okay but not great. Honestly felt like a rip of Jarmusch's vampire movie to me, just in tone and spirit. Also idg why it was in Persian. It was financed and produced in America and shot in California and set in an unnamed, anonymous place (that bears no resemblance to modern-day Iran afaict). There was a bunch of good stuff in it but it felt a little slight.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 18 December 2015 21:54 (eight years ago) link
I had no such qualms about It Follows, which is def horror film of the year
― Οὖτις, Friday, 18 December 2015 21:55 (eight years ago) link
It was much better the second time around for me.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 December 2015 22:07 (eight years ago) link
Saw The Gift from last year with Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. Quite solid, great acting by all the leads. Recommended!
― Nhex, Friday, 8 January 2016 02:45 (eight years ago) link
Ahhhhh, I know I'm late to the party but It Follows is *great*. Taking the "you have sex, you get killed" trope of horror to its logical extreme. Obviously I don't think it was actually moralising about sex in any way, just a great idea born out of the trope itself.
― emil.y, Sunday, 24 January 2016 23:54 (eight years ago) link
Totally, it is like an organism rather than a thesis
I can't wait to watch it again
― major tom's cabin (Jon not Jon), Monday, 25 January 2016 02:24 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, it was much better for me the second time.
Wow, reviews of the new Rob Zombie have been haaaaaaaarsh.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 14:16 (eight years ago) link
Based on the Zombie films I've seen, I think he might need a co-director. Or at least someone to tell him when he's making poor decisions. Because he's mostly good until he suddenly isn't. And it seems like he suddenly isn't at least once per film. The transition is jarring.
― she pnuched me in my weinre when I was asleep (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 14:25 (eight years ago) link
The ending of Lords Of Salem was so bad that, if it wasn't clearly Zombie's style, I'd have thought the studio shoehorned it in against his wishes.
― she pnuched me in my weinre when I was asleep (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 14:27 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, but at least it looked OK and had some vision to it. From what I've read about the new one, it basically sounds like lazy House of 1000 Corpses territory again.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 14:32 (eight years ago) link
Is the 2015 Poltergeist remake worth watching now it's on UK Netflix?
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 18:38 (eight years ago) link
Question: what is the best it could possibly be?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 18:42 (eight years ago) link
Never heard a good word about it. Watch Son Of The White Mare on youtube instead, not horror but it does have monsters, it's gorgeous and highly imaginative.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 26 January 2016 18:57 (eight years ago) link
http://www.fright.com/edge/2015YearInHorror.htm
It's sad how much I look forward to this site's January roundup of the previous year. Always unpredictable.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 27 January 2016 15:18 (eight years ago) link
THE WITCH was really good, worth seeing in a theater imoBlack Philip for president
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Monday, 22 February 2016 14:01 (eight years ago) link
yeah my gf and i both both liked it.
― dynamicinterface, Monday, 22 February 2016 14:49 (eight years ago) link
really wanna seeit
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Monday, 22 February 2016 16:37 (eight years ago) link
So Unfriended is full on garbage just fyi
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Friday, 18 March 2016 05:50 (eight years ago) link
not even entertaining garbage huh
― Nhex, Friday, 18 March 2016 07:08 (eight years ago) link
not even close
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 18 March 2016 12:12 (eight years ago) link
paid money to see that shit at the the8er >:[
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 18 March 2016 12:13 (eight years ago) link
oh look, it's my favorite thread!
This was quite entertaining fwiw, but i'm not a devotee of the original.
― On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Friday, 18 March 2016 12:16 (eight years ago) link
The Witch is good. I saw it a couple weeks ago. Takes patience, is generally more creepy than outright scary, but pays off in a big way.
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 18 March 2016 12:29 (eight years ago) link
Black Philip says, "live deliciously!"
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 18 March 2016 12:32 (eight years ago) link
i thought Unfriended was entertainingi mean it wasn't good and i don't remember anything about it but i also didn't hate it enough for it to leave a bruise
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Friday, 18 March 2016 14:13 (eight years ago) link
I liked Unfriended, thought it was pretty cleverly arranged. I mean, it has no ending, but join the horror club, you know?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 March 2016 14:45 (eight years ago) link
I didn't like Unfriended, but didn't hate it either. At least it's short.
― AlanSmithee, Friday, 18 March 2016 15:32 (eight years ago) link
Great trailer, no idea how this can be a movie:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GJClahr_u0
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 March 2016 16:46 (eight years ago) link
What's unusual about it? I didn't really get much sense of what might happen.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 18 March 2016 18:14 (eight years ago) link
Looks like 'The Raft' from Creepshow 2. But with a shark instead of a blob and hopefully done well.
― Horse Throat (Old Lunch), Friday, 18 March 2016 18:17 (eight years ago) link
That Creepshow bit was just a few minutes long. If anything, this is a bit like the premise of The Reef, which takes forever to get there. But stranded wounded swimmer stuck on a rock with a giant shark between her and the shore? I am honestly not sure what to do with that. For more than 20 minutes. I guess that is part of what makes it a great trailer. How in the world can she possibly survive?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 March 2016 19:37 (eight years ago) link
Maybe it's one of those "takes place in real time" movies.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 18 March 2016 19:42 (eight years ago) link
So The Shallows is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, which immediately increases my interest in it about 1000%, since I now expect Lively to be saved by Liam Neeson showing up and punching the shark to death (Collet-Serra directed Neeson in Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night, all three of which I liked).
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 18 March 2016 19:53 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, I have no idea. Not sure how compelling this can be, unless the water is rising or something. I'm intrigued, anyway. Especially if Neeson fights a shark.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 March 2016 19:54 (eight years ago) link
Since I've been away a while...
Post-2010 Horror(ish) Favorites:
Attack the Block (2011) - 9/10 The Awakening (2011) - 8/10 The Babadook (2014) - 8/10 Berberian Sound Studio (2012) - 9/10 Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010) - 8/10 Black Swan (2010) - 9/10 Borgman (2013) - 8/10 Byzantium (2012) - 8/10 The Cabin in the Woods (2012) - 9/10 Crimson Peak (2015) - 8/10
Dark Touch (2013) - 8/10 Deathgasm (2015) - 8/10 Dream Home (2010) - 8/10 Enemy (2013) - 8/10 Excision (2012) - 9/10 Father's Day (2011) - 8/10 A Field in England (2013) - 10/10Found (2012) - 8/10 Frankenstein's Army (2013) - 9/10 A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - 9/10
Greatful Dead (2013) - 8/10 Guilty of Romance (2011) - 9/10 Here Comes the Devil (2012) - 9/10 Housebound (2014) - 8/10 It Follows (2014) - 8/10 Krampus (2015) - 8/10 Livid (2011) - 9/10 Lost River (2014) - 8/10 Machete (2010) - 8/10 Miss Zombie (2013) - 8/10
Piranha 3D (2010) - 8/10 Rigor Mortis (2013) - 9/10 Rubber (2010) - 8/10 Shutter Island (2010) - 8/10 Sinister (2012) - 8/10 The Skin I Live In (2011) - 9/10 The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2013) - 10/10 The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) - 8/10 Tale of Tales (2015) - 8/10 Trollhunter (2010) - 8/10
The Voices (2014) - 8/10 We Are What We Are (2013) - 8/10 What We Do in the Shadows (2014) - 9/10 The Witch (2015) - 9/10
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Saturday, 19 March 2016 20:34 (eight years ago) link
I really loved Amer but couldn't get as absorbed in the Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears. It felt somehow more sexploitative than "sensual" (a term which got bandied about a lot w/ both films), possibly because it is from a male perspective (male gaze male gaze male gaze) rather than a female one? And yes, I realise that as a fan of giallo I should expect exploitation tropes in a homage, but it seems different when being made today rather than ~in the past~. I also know that one half of the writing/directing team is female, but honestly that doesn't really make all that much of a difference (it definitely makes some, though). Both films are visually stunning and worth watching, but I would be much more cautious in my recommendation of tSCoYBT.
― emil.y, Saturday, 19 March 2016 21:44 (eight years ago) link
I've heard Cattet talk quite a bit about addressing sexism in giallo and trying to subvert it a bit. It's been a while but I don't remember a huge amount of sexy stuff in Strange Color. I mainly remember my dad shouting in horror at the guy getting torn apart from inside and out.
Contenderizer- your ratings seem a tad generous.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 20 March 2016 01:15 (seven years ago) link
I suppose the are. They're a measure of my affection more than an attempt to assess quality. Probably 5 or 10 of the 8s ought to go down to 7 though.
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Sunday, 20 March 2016 16:22 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, Amer's implicitly female subjectivity helped give its fetishized deconstruction of sexy giallo tropes a fresh, subversive spin. TSCoYBT's masculine POV does change things, especially where eroticism is concerned. Cattet & Forzani seem to employ familiar representations of the elusive, mysterious and sexually alluring/threatening woman in a relatively straightforward manner. I agree with you there.
I love TSC because I got lost in it. It's a fantastically complex tapestry of tiny, polished details. I watched it over and over for days, taking endless shot-by-shot notes in an attempt to unravel its structure. The more time I spent, the more densely interwoven it all came to seem (of course). Its fetishistic obsessions make an ideal vessel for obsessive fascination.
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Sunday, 20 March 2016 16:56 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, I just thought it was kind of boring. Don't know if I made it all the way through, so maybe it is worth another try.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 20 March 2016 18:03 (seven years ago) link
watched 'goodnight mommy' tonight. good gravy, what a film! not for the squeamish but good if you thought the Babadook was a bit silly
― draxx them sklounst (dog latin), Tuesday, 22 March 2016 01:32 (seven years ago) link
made me cross
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Tuesday, 22 March 2016 03:59 (seven years ago) link
well, my partner worked out the first 'twist' fairly early on although the other half-way twist was more unexpected. I really liked it.
― draxx them sklounst (dog latin), Tuesday, 22 March 2016 09:05 (seven years ago) link
noteworthy. from the last couple of months :
the invitation - worthy of all the buzz surrounding it. somber, paranoia driven thriller that manages to convey unbrearable tension throughout. brilliatly acted and directed.
hush - 'oculus' didn't really live up to the expectations after 'absentia', but it was still a noble effort and flanagan is def one to keep an eye on. interesting and nail-bitting efficient take on the tired home invasion theme. and again, with carachters you really care about.
intruders - speaking of home invasion, this one tries to put a fresh spin on the genre. it doesn't work all the way through, but it's still worth a shot.
baskin - expectations could never be fullfilled for this one i guess, but the first(?) turkish horror movie is a no holds barred take on satanism. twisted and demented.
man in the orange jacket - again, went with the biggest expectations. after such a brutal start, things tend to dwell too much on the psychological aspect when i prefered for it to stick a bit more with the slasher undertones. the arthouse tendencies prevail, but one can't ignore how beautifully shot it is. a promising start for latvian horror.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 15 April 2016 12:45 (seven years ago) link
zomg been anticipating this for months, fruitlessly checking sources, etc. and now it's out! thanks for the heads-up, rusty.
looking forward to the invitation, too.
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 15 April 2016 14:07 (seven years ago) link
Anyone seen or heard much about that Polish vampire mermaid in the '80s movie "The Lure?"
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 April 2016 15:57 (seven years ago) link
Sounds cool, you got any links?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 April 2016 16:12 (seven years ago) link
oh, and baskin isn't the first turkish horror flick. there's a turkish dracula from '53, and plenty of more recent examples. hasan karacadag's dabbe (2006) pulls some interesting twists on haunting, possession and j-horror tropes (and it's had 5 sequels so far).
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Friday, 15 April 2016 16:16 (seven years ago) link
oh, and 'southbound' is the best anthology i've seen in a long, long time. in light of some recent light-hearted, seasonal themed affairs like 'tales of halloween' or 'a christmas ghost story' the serious and dreadful tone is truly welcoming. overall it's really coherent and one of those rare occasions where the wraparound story makes sense.
also, there should be way more horror movies using the desert as scenery.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 15 April 2016 16:28 (seven years ago) link
^^ yeah, didn't seem likely, hence the (?). i guess i saw it promoted as such somewhere?
― rusty_allen, Friday, 15 April 2016 16:30 (seven years ago) link
There's a "Lure" trailer here, in Polish with no subtitles:http://cineuropa.org/vd.aspx?t=video&l=en&did=301711
NSFW wordless trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKBMAAqZ7no
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 April 2016 16:30 (seven years ago) link
Here's the Polish one from the first link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufjCgXPxKuc
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 April 2016 16:31 (seven years ago) link
Sorry, I think that's just a clip^
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 April 2016 16:32 (seven years ago) link
other than that, really want to see 'darling', 'february' and 'holidays'. and tho i didn't like 'cloverfield' that much, i might give this new one a try.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 15 April 2016 16:34 (seven years ago) link
re holidays : mostly because i want to see what the kevin kölsch and dennis widmyer tag team and sarah adina smith come up with.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 15 April 2016 16:45 (seven years ago) link
Darling was all right, a small-scale pastiche of Repulsion and The Tenant. A bit too many jump cuts and attack music for my taste, but if I'm gonna stare at an intense scary face for two hours I don't mind it being Lauren Ashley Carter's.
― Nhex, Friday, 15 April 2016 20:38 (seven years ago) link
Hush was pretty good. A decent exercise in crafting a near-wordless home-invasion horror, though even at 80 minutes it was getting to be stretched a little thin. A little more conventional, and not really a patch on either Oculus or Absentia, but another really effective horror from Mike Flanagan.
― painfully alive in a drugged and dying culture (DavidM), Saturday, 16 April 2016 12:58 (seven years ago) link
Caught the Innkeepers on Film4 last night, thought it was a pretty good low-key horror though when it actually got to the ghosts they were a bit "clanking chains and moaning". Didn't realise it was Ti West, who I assumed I hated but I haven't actually seen any of his full length films (I do hate basically all of ABCs of Death and don't like V/H/S, so those probably count).
― emil.y, Saturday, 16 April 2016 13:45 (seven years ago) link
House Of The Devil and Innkeepers are not bad. He's doing a western with some bigger actors now.
I generally disliked ABCs Of Death but Cattet/Forzani and Lee Hardcastle's segments were great.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 16 April 2016 14:01 (seven years ago) link
The Indonesian cult V/H/S was worth the series existing.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 April 2016 14:52 (seven years ago) link
^^ otm
― rusty_allen, Sunday, 17 April 2016 23:20 (seven years ago) link
watched baskin and the invitation last night. both quite good. loved baskin's full comittment to A) harebrained nightmare logic and B) spooky purple lighting. disappointed by the final act's extended torture wallow, but it didn't ruin the film for me. and though it's played a bit straight for my taste, the invitation is excellent. 2nd rusty's enthusiasm.
― Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Monday, 18 April 2016 02:59 (seven years ago) link
The innkeepers is the only good ti west full length.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Monday, 18 April 2016 03:40 (seven years ago) link
Mike Flanagan seems to be getting progressively less interesting with each film. Hopefully he can turn it back around soon because board fav Absentia was so promising.
― ewar woowar (or something), Monday, 18 April 2016 08:12 (seven years ago) link
I actually liked "Hush," which shares some similarly elegiac qualities with his other films and has a lot of other stuff going for it, not least making you care about the protagonist, which like 99% of horror movies fail at. Its flaws are forgivable I think because it looks like he filmed it almost as an exercise, a secret low budget film with a handful of people in a single location, straight to Netflix.
Actually, if you look at his timeline, Flanagan is kind of fascinating. The idea for "Oculus" came first, and he made it into a short film. Then he lost funding for the feature version, so made "Absentia" funded by a Kickstarter campaign. It did well enough that he got the go ahead to make the "Oculus" movie, which was supposed to be followed by "Before I Wake" until the studio went bankrupt, so instead he wrote and made this one, quietly. I guess "Before I Wake" was released in a few countries, and was supposed to be out here now, but got pushed back. He's doing "Ouija 2" and writing the reboot of "I Know What You Did Last Summer," no doubt as a mercenary gig, to pay the bills. (thanks wikipedia)
Anyway, it's all been a scramble, poor guy.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 April 2016 22:15 (seven years ago) link
That said, yeah, this one felt like a quick riff on you're next.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 April 2016 22:33 (seven years ago) link
I really, really couldn't hang with HUSH. Just was not able to suspend the requisite disbelief to get me through logic problems. Just a case of having seen that movie a half dozen times now, each other version much better.
But man - that LURE trailer!
And I'm pretty excited for the new Nicholas Winding Refn horror flick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cipOTUO0CmU
― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 18:08 (seven years ago) link
Speaking of "that movie," anyone remember "Mute Witness?" I thought that was really solid, way back when.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 20:59 (seven years ago) link
xpost Modeling world "Black Swan?"
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 21:01 (seven years ago) link
Oh man, Mute Witness was so, so killer. Genuinely terrifying. And when that key cameo happened it was SO leftfield I remember multiple nerds in the theater going "holy shit!"Whatever happened to Anthony Waller?! That guy should have made SO MANY more movies by now
― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Thursday, 21 April 2016 03:22 (seven years ago) link
Looks like he made a handful of overlooked or forgettable films, last one in 2009. But hey, how about this "American Werewolf in Paris" poster!https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/ParisWerewolf.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 April 2016 13:52 (seven years ago) link
OK, was watching "The Invitation" and I wasn't sure I could make it. It's super-uncomfortable, and so Los Angeles it's kinda insufferable. But then a character basically voiced my objection word for word (love it when that happens), and then ... the movie shifts ... Still super-tense and paranoid and uncomfortable - that's the point! - but thanks to the excellent direction, just great. Went in totally blind and it was worth it, even if I think I aged a few years. One of the best endings I think I've ever seen.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 April 2016 20:45 (seven years ago) link
Ha ha, it totally was Not Tom Hardy from Prometheus as the lead! Anyway, he was good.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 April 2016 20:46 (seven years ago) link
Can't decide if Green Room is gonna be great or trash.
― emil.y, Monday, 25 April 2016 20:51 (seven years ago) link
Oh come on, it's going to be great. It's the Blue Ruin guy!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 April 2016 21:09 (seven years ago) link
Mute Witness was way better than Hush although Hush was still okay.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Monday, 25 April 2016 21:09 (seven years ago) link
Yeah Green Room looks amazing.
It's got great reviews but I guess the 'fighting humans' genre of horror is less what I'm into, so I'm still a bit unsure about it.
― emil.y, Monday, 25 April 2016 21:19 (seven years ago) link
patrick stewart as a neo-nazi psychopath, is there any way that this won't be entertaining?
― Nhex, Monday, 25 April 2016 21:22 (seven years ago) link
Green Room is genuinely one of the most unsettling movies I've ever seen. I literally felt woozy in a couple of scenes (some GNARLY gore FX factored in there). Jeremy Saulnier is the real deal.
― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Tuesday, 26 April 2016 14:54 (seven years ago) link
'green room' is wonderful. lean, harsh, it's smart people against smart people..it will be under-appreciated as a thriller because it's so gross and mean. i hope saulnier makes a bunch of these but he shows so much craft and narrative skill in this movie that i fear he'll start making normal movies soon.. if you like 'fighting humans' horror or crime/suspense fiction in general i can't recommend it enough.
― slam dunk, Saturday, 30 April 2016 04:25 (seven years ago) link
agreed, definitely worthwhile. outstanding competence of direction in what, sensibility-wise, should be a skeezy '70s exploitation grindhouse film. loved it.
― Nhex, Saturday, 30 April 2016 04:48 (seven years ago) link
First trailer for "The Shallows" looked weirdly promising. This one looks "Deep Blue Sea"-riffic, which ... could go either way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgdxIlSuB70
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 4 May 2016 18:12 (seven years ago) link
Deep Blue Sea the super intelligent shark movie with Samuel L Jackson, Thomas Jayne, LL Cool J and a cast of some others.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 4 May 2016 21:09 (seven years ago) link
Gravity 2
― contenderizer, Wednesday, 4 May 2016 21:20 (seven years ago) link
Can I just say that still of Blake Lively in the video is like woah
― Nhex, Sunday, 8 May 2016 09:05 (seven years ago) link
Great piece for fans (or non-fans) of "Hush:"
https://www.facebook.com/notes/mike-flanagan/regarding-the-why/10153664900868087
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 May 2016 19:25 (seven years ago) link
I argued at the time that no matter what we said, it would not be satisfying. “The mirror frame was carved from a tree where they hung witches,” “the glass was made from sand from a beach where the devil played volleyball” - there simply isn’t an answer to the question “where does an evil mirror come from” that isn’t, frankly, stupid.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 May 2016 19:27 (seven years ago) link
paraphrased from elsewhere, but...
I remember hearing a story told by Ernesto Gastaldi, the screenwriter of The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock. He says the director, Riccardo Freda, threw away the last 10 pages of his script. Gastaldi asked, "But why? This is what ties it all together and allows it to make sense." And Freda replied, "Exactly."
― da vinci beaver testicles (contenderizer), Monday, 9 May 2016 19:44 (seven years ago) link
^^^anecdotes to live by imo
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Monday, 9 May 2016 20:44 (seven years ago) link
good points in that piece
I liked Oculus alright, haven't seen his other stuff
― Οὖτις, Monday, 9 May 2016 20:56 (seven years ago) link
Yeah that piece is so otm
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Monday, 9 May 2016 21:07 (seven years ago) link
oddly I totally did *not* care about the WHY of the mirror as much as I cared about WHY of the protagonist's elaborate plan in Oculus
― Οὖτις, Monday, 9 May 2016 21:10 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, I sorta agree, but I just figured it was a facet of the mania the mirror inspired. Like this crazy unnecessarily complex coyote plan that the roadrunner just totally subverts.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 May 2016 22:26 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMEgSLetjHw
Jeez, September?
Docked a point for spooky slowed down version of pop song in the trailer.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 10 May 2016 17:35 (seven years ago) link
^ from writer-director team simon barrett & adam wingard, on a hell of a roll lately w/ you're next (2011) and the guest (2014). excite.
― da vinci beaver testicles (contenderizer), Tuesday, 10 May 2016 18:44 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, hence my excitement. I thought "The Guest" was kind of dumb, but dumb in a really inspired way. And it certainly wasn't horror though because of "You're Next" I guess people slot it there.
Speaking of slots, "Green Room" isn't really horror either, but it's as much that as anything else, and maybe more that than straight thriller. Anyway, I liked it a lot. Felt very "real:" the scenario, the characters, the way your (and their) first instincts that nothing will end well more or less pays off. Very satisfying.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 18:15 (seven years ago) link
it certainly wasn't horror though because of "You're Next" I guess people slot it there.
horror's gotten to be an awfully broad & vague category lately. and i think the guest kind of slots itself into the genre with all the carpenter/80s horror nods, esp in the final act. but yeah, it's basically a home outvasion thriller.
dying the see green room
― da vinci beaver testicles (contenderizer), Wednesday, 11 May 2016 19:18 (seven years ago) link
Green Room is a straight up thriller at its core, but the amount of blood in it by the end of the film kinda tips it into horror
― Nhex, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 20:42 (seven years ago) link
"The Guest" starts like it's horror, sort of, but then turns in to this weird "Terminator"/b-movie riff. Which was harder for me to take seriously.
Ha, forgot "Green Room" had a slowed down "Bad Moon Rising" in the trailer. And yeah, it's a thriller, but it would not take much to make it horror. Maybe less incidental violence and more sadistic gonna get you stuff? To "Green Room"'s immense credit, there are lots of places it could have gone darker or goofier, either extreme, but it mostly stays right in the sweet spot. Also, its depiction of touring in a punk band was pretty spot-on, as was its way of avoiding telegraphing its various twists. Which weren't very twisty, just creatively off-kilter and unexpected yet completely within the character of the film.
Should say, was not nearly as intense or unsettling as I was expecting, especially compared to a time bomb like "The Invitation." I suppose if it was a horror movie it would have probably had no likable characters on either side - grim baddies, dumb and obnoxious heroes/victims - but I was pleasantly surprised at the range of behavior it depicts..
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 21:57 (seven years ago) link
Wow, just noticed how many of the leads were English! Nice accents all around, guys.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 May 2016 22:01 (seven years ago) link
Thought 'The Invitation' was really good. More psych-thrill than horror, but definitely suspenseful, tense, some great understated performances especially from Logan Marshall-Green.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Monday, 16 May 2016 11:32 (seven years ago) link
Huh. Just watched the witch, and man. Not at all into it.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Thursday, 19 May 2016 06:47 (seven years ago) link
don't let black philip hear you
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 19 May 2016 14:48 (seven years ago) link
Sometimes the films I want to see most are the movies I put off the longest, because I want to give them my full attention (finally saw Blue Ruin, for example, after seeing Green Room). Last night I finally started "What We Do In The Shadows" but I thought it was so funny I decided to save it for my wife. I did, however, at last see "The Babadook," which maybe for obvious reasons I'd been keeping from my wife. It was pretty good! Part of a small family of psychological horror rooted in real grief and loss and in particular the challenges of parenthood. In the former camp are films like "Absentia" or maybe "The Orphanage." In the latter a movie like "Triangle," which struck me as a really well envisioned metaphor for the challenges of raising a kid with special needs. But yeah, "The Babadook," not really scary, but occasionally intense in a really fresh way. The monster as depression/parenthood/mental exhaustion is both real and imaginary, metaphor and literal. Sticks with you.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 29 May 2016 13:45 (seven years ago) link
Viy 3D/Forbidden Empire/Forbidden Kingdom- a Russian film that's a mess but it still has a lot of good designs and set pieces which could have been really incredible in the right hands, most of the cast is Russian and Ukrainian but
Earlene Bentley, an actress, singer and composer known from the legendary Police Academy and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. The film also features the celebrated Charles Dance, recognized for his part as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones.Several actors were cast for the lead role of Jonathan Green: Vincent Cassel, Christian Slater, Tim Roth, Sean Bean, Keanu Reeves, Pierce Brosnan, and Jason Statham.[1] The producers had official negotiations with each of the actors. It was Jason Statham who recommended his best friend Jason Flemyng for the lead. Flemyng was soon approved by the director and the producers—they had found a perfect match. Christian Slater, after seeing the footage of the film, said: "I would have killed to appear in Viy! Who is that agent that failed to make me a deal?"[9]The lead actor Jason Flemyng talks about the film: "If Viy was made in Hollywood, its budget would have reached $200 million, no less. I am impressed by the scale of the production! I have developed a lot of good and friendly connections in the US movie business. I look forward to showing the picture to my close friends: Guy Ritchie, Tom Cruise, Jason Statham, and Brad Pitt. I am sure we will receive good feedback."
Several actors were cast for the lead role of Jonathan Green: Vincent Cassel, Christian Slater, Tim Roth, Sean Bean, Keanu Reeves, Pierce Brosnan, and Jason Statham.[1] The producers had official negotiations with each of the actors. It was Jason Statham who recommended his best friend Jason Flemyng for the lead. Flemyng was soon approved by the director and the producers—they had found a perfect match. Christian Slater, after seeing the footage of the film, said: "I would have killed to appear in Viy! Who is that agent that failed to make me a deal?"[9]
The lead actor Jason Flemyng talks about the film: "If Viy was made in Hollywood, its budget would have reached $200 million, no less. I am impressed by the scale of the production! I have developed a lot of good and friendly connections in the US movie business. I look forward to showing the picture to my close friends: Guy Ritchie, Tom Cruise, Jason Statham, and Brad Pitt. I am sure we will receive good feedback."
There's supposed to be a sequel set in China co-starring Rutger Hauer
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 29 May 2016 21:19 (seven years ago) link
finally caught "You're Next" - loved it. Are this guy's other films as good?
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 31 May 2016 16:22 (seven years ago) link
Go watch The Guest now.
― Nhex, Tuesday, 31 May 2016 16:23 (seven years ago) link
home sick - wingard's debut feature - is pretty uneven and flawed, but it's still an interesting and druggy take on slasher tropes. not brilliant by any means, but still special for me. on a druggy tip, maybe try pop skull i guess.
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 1 June 2016 15:31 (seven years ago) link
saw Baskin last night. Pretty good film on the whole. Loved the colour scheme and some of the performances were great. Fantastic use of an obviously low budget, although the last part, a grotesque Silent Hill-style torture fetish sequence went on too long and just came off a bit disappointing. So tired of gore being the conclusive raison d'etre of so many films. When primetime TV shows like Game Of Thrones show people getting stabbed in the face on a weekly basis, it's hard to be shocked by sicko schlocky stuff so much any more and I'd rather film makers tried to explore more nuanced ways of frightening or thrilling us.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Wednesday, 1 June 2016 15:38 (seven years ago) link
watched the Guest - thought it was okay, not great, a bit too by the numbers, although the big setpiece at the end had some nice De Palma + Lady from Shanghai nods. Was hoping the backstory for the villain was going to be more fleshed out/interesting than it was, as portrayed it felt thin.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 22 June 2016 17:02 (seven years ago) link
The Guest was bonkers and great but, yeah, pretty slight. And not a horror film even by any of the usually loose criteria I use.
Any thoughts on Conjuring 2?
― Manspread Mann (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 22 June 2016 17:33 (seven years ago) link
Green Room is the new film to beat, IMO. Unassailable good.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 July 2016 06:27 (seven years ago) link
Unassailably
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 July 2016 06:28 (seven years ago) link
Ah fuck I just realized the male lead is the guy that just got killed by his car.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 July 2016 06:37 (seven years ago) link
good movie, but nothing to do with horror, imo
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 July 2016 13:32 (seven years ago) link
I watched Jin Na's The Wailing the other night. It is easily the most deranged and entertaining horror movie I have seen in ages. It is about a village where people start becoming familicidal maniacs after a dodgy looking Japanese dude takes up residence nearby and when the hapless investigating cop's daughter becomes possessed he calls in a Bhuddist voodoo shaman for help. Some might find it a slog, but it certainly didn't feel 2 and half hours to me.
― calzino, Thursday, 14 July 2016 13:51 (seven years ago) link
yeah, its not a horror.
only horrors i see in cinemas now are either the conjuring and all those franchises (though have unfortunately not seen most of them), or art horror crap like the witch or to a lesser level of indie horror pretension, it follows.
i did love unfriended though. want to see friend request too :)
― StillAdvance, Thursday, 14 July 2016 13:56 (seven years ago) link
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/11/11906016/the-wailing-horror-film-review
Article bout The Wailing I saw a while ago.
Not getting why some people think The Witch is so arty farty, it's pretty straightforward. It's near the top of my favourite films of the last few decades and has many of the qualities I look for in horror.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 14 July 2016 15:44 (seven years ago) link
I know I cast a wider net than many, but I'm really not sure how people make these particular horror/not horror judgements. I feel like half of the 70s classics would fail the modern horror test.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 July 2016 15:46 (seven years ago) link
green rm is at least horror adjacent
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 14 July 2016 15:52 (seven years ago) link
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 July 2016 16:46
And a large amount of the horror book canon.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 14 July 2016 15:54 (seven years ago) link
witch felt like two films.
― StillAdvance, Thursday, 14 July 2016 15:56 (seven years ago) link
Green Room clearly horror.
― AlanSmithee, Thursday, 14 July 2016 17:32 (seven years ago) link
green room is horror, the witch was one film, sorry haters
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 14 July 2016 17:40 (seven years ago) link
i just don't get what might tie green room to horror, other than suspense & gore.
it's not scary, supernatural, spookily atmospheric, ghoulishly macabre, or obviously tied to horror tropes & traditions.
it's a tough, tense little siege thriller, like deliverance or assault on precinct 13.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 July 2016 19:48 (seven years ago) link
where borderline cases are concerned, i can usually see what might make someone class a film as horror, but here i'm at a loss. is it just desperate situation + gore = horror?
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 July 2016 19:52 (seven years ago) link
Well, all you would have to do is tweak the context a hair to make it horror. Like, pretty much keep it exactly as is, but instead of neo-Nazis they're vampires or werewolves, trying to keep it on the down low. Like Dog Soldiers or whatever. Does it need a supernatural or unusual (like serial killer) angle to be horror vs. merely horrible?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 14 July 2016 19:54 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, I mean "Ils/Them" wouldn't fit into horror by that measure, right?
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 July 2016 20:00 (seven years ago) link
Or "The Strangers". Or "Wait Until Dark".
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Thursday, 14 July 2016 20:01 (seven years ago) link
I guess there's a really fine line between a thriller and horror. Like, Last House on the Left/Hills Have Eyes are what?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 14 July 2016 20:11 (seven years ago) link
you want me to say what now, like I don't get it, is that it
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Thursday, 14 July 2016 20:20 (seven years ago) link
Does it need a supernatural or unusual (like serial killer) angle to be horror vs. merely horrible?
Not necessarily, but it needs something.
I mean, I can see why Psycho is considered a horror film. It's deeply macabre and clearly out to scare its audience to death, not just put them through a suspense wringer. Norman's madness sort of warps reality, lending the fundamentally mundane proceedings an edge of the otherworldly. The shower sequence, with its shrieking string stabs and frenzied montage, aims for the texture not of waking life but of nightmare. Similar things could be said of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Though neither film has any supernatural element, to enter the worlds they create is to plunge off the edge of the known into an imaginative space that feels darkly fantastical.
Again, there's none of that in Green Room. It's just a movie about some decent people in a bad situation. If it's a horror movie, then so is Full Metal Jacket. And sure, the case could be made...
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 July 2016 20:23 (seven years ago) link
Is Last House on the Left horror?
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Thursday, 14 July 2016 20:41 (seven years ago) link
I think it and most home invasion/people hunting people movies of that ilk are classed that way so I don't have a problem labeling Green Room as such. Agree though the line between these films and more thrillers is pretty blurry (I mean I don't often hear Deliverance classed as horror for example, but it's probably no less so than Green Room is.)
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Thursday, 14 July 2016 20:44 (seven years ago) link
I really dug The Witch but everyone I watched it with was like, ehhhhhhhhh whatevs. It really bugged me!
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Thursday, 14 July 2016 20:51 (seven years ago) link
no. it's a sleazy 70s rape-revenge thriller. like green room, there's no trace of horror in either the subject matter or the approach.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 July 2016 21:46 (seven years ago) link
arguments about what is or isn't horror are pointless, dumb by nature, and strangely hard to resist
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 July 2016 21:50 (seven years ago) link
I think you have a super narrow of definition of horror then.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Thursday, 14 July 2016 21:50 (seven years ago) link
i probably do. i consciously want my definition to be coherent and to express a sensibility. i'm curious about other definitions, though.
i mean, if last house is a horror movie, then is the virgin spring one too? why or why not? it seems to me that they both aren't for the same reason.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 July 2016 21:59 (seven years ago) link
I think the mood and aims of each film is uh slightly different. This is why some serial killer movies are horror and some are probably thrillers or even just straight dramas, ya know. :)
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Thursday, 14 July 2016 22:03 (seven years ago) link
I think we've discussed this a few times, but after films like Wake In Fright, I Spit On Your Grave and Last House On The Left have been either shelved in the horror section or mainly supported by that audience, there's enough of a consensus. Deliverance and Straw Dogs even show up in the guides and magazines. Experts and scholars cast the nets wider than anyone.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 14 July 2016 22:07 (seven years ago) link
war is the real monster
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Thursday, 14 July 2016 22:09 (seven years ago) link
i've always deferred to fangoria:http://www.fangoria.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/FANGO346UPDATECOVERNEWS.jpg
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 14 July 2016 22:13 (seven years ago) link
I think the mood and aims of each film is uh slightly different.
sure. one's a down & dirty exploitation flick, while the other isn't. careless blurring of the already vague lines between horror, exploitation and "shock cinema" (or w/e) makes me low-level ia.
i mean, i'd simply describe the films mentioned by RAG as "of interest to horror fans".
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Thursday, 14 July 2016 22:22 (seven years ago) link
xp - okay, fair point. i'm a fuddy-duddy.
I'm comfortable labelling as 'horror' any work featuring at least two or three of these elements:
-suspense-dread-psychological abnormality-physical monstrosity-the supernatural/uncanny/unknowable/unexplainable-gore
Some fairly standard thrillers might hit two of those marks and not quite make the cut, but I think that otherwise covers the bases for even the most tenuous cases of what I would personally consider horror.
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Thursday, 14 July 2016 23:12 (seven years ago) link
I'd say those are pretty safe criteria.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Thursday, 14 July 2016 23:53 (seven years ago) link
counterpoint: UNSAFE
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 03:15 (seven years ago) link
Confession: Among other things, I'm attempting to set up and enforce separate but overlapping Venn bubbles for "horror movies" and "films in which terrible sights are seen". As a fan, I'm troubled by the tendency to subsume any film that graphically depicts rape, torture, gory violence or "disturbing"/"shocking" subject matter into the horror genre. I push back against this because I believe the genre is inherently trivializing and deserves better than to become a catchbasin for grimy exploitation of every sort.
This kind of moralistic boundary policing is utterly futile, I know. Like the old school "Famous Monsters" fans who are said to have objected to the arrival of gory slashers, I'm clearly on the wrong side of history ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 04:53 (seven years ago) link
i watched Citadel the other night. Despite some absolutely nonsensical premise-points and a questionable approach to the 'hoodie horror' sub-genre, i thought it was nevertheless pretty good at doing the Babadook trick of juxtaposing mental anguish with a supernatural entity.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 11:05 (seven years ago) link
Don't really understand the need to gatekeep horror, any more than I understand the need to gatekeep jazz - nothing much to be gained by insisting on rigid formal boundaries, far as I can see. If people want to say it's horror, it's horror.
FWIW, some of the gore in Green Room was nasty enough to make me look away from the screen - as good a working definition of horror as any, I'd say.
― Foster Twelvetrees (Ward Fowler), Friday, 15 July 2016 11:18 (seven years ago) link
yeah sorry, i'm with contenderizer on this one. i think it's more useful to separate supernatural horrors and 'extreme thrillers' (as it were). Obviously there's overlap. I can't bring myself to think of Green Room as a horror. But something like Eden Lake or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I might do for some reason and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because in the former, the situation is very real and the bad guys are very human and fallible, whereas in Eden Lake the kids seem to have near-preternatural powers. And again, SAW though, is a gore movie but I'm not sure about the horror element despite the premise being firmly in the fantastical.
I guess there's a difference between films that make you flinch and films that make you want to go to sleep with the lights on.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 11:28 (seven years ago) link
contenderizer bang OTM
less rigid genre definitions are good, but when it becomes so loose as to become meaningless, i think it damages the genre.
this list for example - http://www.indiewire.com/2014/10/the-25-best-horror-films-of-the-21st-century-so-far-270790/
is good until it gets to the top 5.
under the skin is horror?mulholland drive is horror?
these kinds of choices to me ruin it for the real horror films to be given the credit they should get.
― StillAdvance, Friday, 15 July 2016 11:29 (seven years ago) link
here too -http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/why-mulholland-drive-is-a-great-horror-film.html
im not with this attempt to gentrify horror
― StillAdvance, Friday, 15 July 2016 11:31 (seven years ago) link
It's not gentrifying horror when Walter De La Mare, Oliver Onions, Henry James and Robert Aickman are foundational creators. If Mulholland Drive and Under The Skin were never mentioned it'd be a change for the worse, not in keeping with the longer history if anything.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 July 2016 11:55 (seven years ago) link
xp to be fair, Mulholland Drive is the only film I've watched in my adult life with my fingers over my eyes.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 12:02 (seven years ago) link
I like the Venn diagram approach because I do like some separation. I'm a weird fantasy fan primarily and I'm rarely in the mood for violent thrillers, so if I was running a horror magazine I wouldn't cover the latter even though it is horror. I can't explain how it works exactly but I think personally curating your ideal version of a genre goes in interesting directions and cultivates a more interesting scene. Forest J Ackerman's ideal had an influence on what gets made eventually.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 July 2016 12:08 (seven years ago) link
Personally I think I disagree with both the gatekeepers and the expansionists. I take the Wittgenstein road of family resemblances and overlapping traits and general consensus-forming through use, but then I also say that part of the fun is arguing about what fits and what doesn't. It's fun in itself, it makes you analyse the films better, it lets you work out what parts of the genre appeal to you (if you've never really reflected on that before), whether your preferences have meaning beyond 'it entertains me', etc etc.
If you are a critic attempting to put Mulholland Drive in the horror genre as pure horror, you probably took 'Star Wars is a western' type statements in your film studies classes far too literally. Or are scared far too easily. However, if you're a critic who is simply suggesting that people analyse Mulholland Drive as a horror, and laying out your reasons, then you're provoking thought. That is a good thing.
― emil.y, Friday, 15 July 2016 12:12 (seven years ago) link
I will say that sometimes boundary-blurring is a terrible thing. From some discourse somewhere (possibly here, possibly irl) I had got it into my head that Snowtown was a horror. It's not a horror, it is horrific. I mean, a great film, but I wasn't mentally prepared for it at all. Horror to me is usually fun of some sort, even if it's gruesome or thought-provoking or somewhat disturbing or even actually scary at the time.
― emil.y, Friday, 15 July 2016 12:21 (seven years ago) link
As a fan, I'm troubled by the tendency to subsume any film that graphically depicts rape, torture, gory violence or "disturbing"/"shocking" subject matter into the horror genre. I push back against this because I believe the genre is inherently trivializing and deserves better than to become a catchbasin for grimy exploitation of every sort.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 05:53
You can't control how people are going to watch your films but I don't think it's inherently trivializing. Some horror creators are primarily concerned with extreme suffering in a very serious way. Even though it's problematic, the horror audience is probably the best audience they're going to find for it. You've also got the hard lives/misery porn/child abuse memoir scene which is probably even more exploitative.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 July 2016 12:23 (seven years ago) link
Our household are big fans of creepy, uncanny and supernatural horror but have little time for gore and torture, so the problem with looking through lists of 'horror' films is you don't always know what is what really.
Reminds me of Boomkat (I think) whose website lumps footwork and drum'n'bass into the same category, probably because they're roughly the same tempos and can be mixed together, but if I'm looking specifically for footwork on that site it can be a bit of a headache.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 12:26 (seven years ago) link
but then I also say that part of the fun is arguing about what fits and what doesn't. It's fun in itself
― emil.y, Friday, 15 July 2016 13:12
There's a fun discussion between Clive Barker and Peter Atkins in CUT! HORROR WRITERS ON HORROR FILM in which they argue over why Night Porter is horror but Marathon Man isn't. Not particularly long or deep but fun.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 July 2016 12:29 (seven years ago) link
I think part of what makes classification difficult is that horror is sometimes defined by the way the material is framed. A particular directorial vision, for instance, might be enough to tip the scales on a movie that, in the hands of another director, might not be anything like horror.
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 12:48 (seven years ago) link
Horror to me is usually fun of some sort, even if it's gruesome or thought-provoking or somewhat disturbing or even actually scary at the time.― emil.y, Friday, July 15, 2016 5:21 AM (10 minutes ago)
― emil.y, Friday, July 15, 2016 5:21 AM (10 minutes ago)
You can't control how people are going to watch your films but I don't think it's inherently trivializing. Some horror creators are primarily concerned with extreme suffering in a very serious way. Even though it's problematic, the horror audience is probably the best audience they're going to find for it. ― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, July 15, 2016 5:23 AM (8 minutes ago)
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, July 15, 2016 5:23 AM (8 minutes ago)
Point is, as a pop genre, horror's dark offering is, for its huge inbuilt fan audience, fun. It's entertainment, diversion, a 90-minute thrill. Anything offered in the name of horror, no matter how serious or transgressive, will eventually be consumed that way. A lot of what I've been saying here reflects my observation that, in the internet era, shock-hungry horror fandom has been pushing hard to expand the definition of the genre to incorporate basically anything that can be described as "disturbing".
I believe the taste for genuinely disturbing and/or shocking cinematic experiences is quite different than the taste for the scares, tropes, atmosphere and themes that characterize the horror genre. Movies like Snowtown (mentioned by emily.y and considered horror by many fans), The Last House on the Left, Salo and A Serbian Film appeal to the former, not the latter.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 13:03 (seven years ago) link
Another way to say that: horror is not simply "that which disturbs". It's a particular approach to disturbance.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 13:05 (seven years ago) link
xxxxp I think combining the two from a horror standpoint is pretty defensible (since people again have been doing it for 40 years or so) while from a dance music it only makes sense if you basically only have ONE electronic/dance music section.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Friday, 15 July 2016 13:09 (seven years ago) link
And thank you for the kind words, StillAdvance. Unfortunately, I'm the type who'd put Under the Skin and Mulholland Dr. on a list of my favorite horror films. Though not traditional genre exercises, they're atmospherically nightmarish and otherworldly enough to satisfy my demands.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 13:14 (seven years ago) link
xxxxp based on your latest explanation I fail to see how Green Room and Last House could not meet your criteria for horror as their primary offering is absolutely disturbance and approach is clearly exploitative (Green Room about 70 millions better in terms of overall quality than Last House but doesn't really change the base approach).
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Friday, 15 July 2016 13:16 (seven years ago) link
I'd say both of those are horror films as well. Mulholland Drive is about three or fifty other genres as well though (like Twin Peaks is) so I do get the confusion with Lynch.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Friday, 15 July 2016 13:18 (seven years ago) link
based on your latest explanation I fail to see how Green Room and Last House could not meet your criteria for horror as their primary offering is absolutely disturbance and approach is clearly exploitative (Green Room about 70 millions better in terms of overall quality than Last House but doesn't really change the base approach).― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF)
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF)
Well, like I said, horror and exploitation are similar but not identical. A big part of exploitation is the unapologetic and typically rather crass provision of forbidden sights and subjects: sex, gore, shock, misbehavior, transgression of whatever sort. In this, it satisfies desires the high-minded insist should be suppressed.
Horror, meanwhile, offers a very particular sort of funhouse thrill: the opportunity to be safely scared. To experience not just the exhilarating, vicarious thrill of danger (the realm of suspense thrillers and action films), but also a shiver of atavistic, nape-prickling dread. Both thrillers and horror films can be more or less exploitative, gory, violent or whatever, but they aren't intrinsically exploitative by nature.
I'd say that Green Room is a straightforward suspense thriller with some fairly mild exploitation elements (lashings of gore, basically), while Last House is full-on exploitation sleaze.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 13:37 (seven years ago) link
i tend to associate "suspense thriller" with a situation in which the protagonist is basically equipped to do something extraordinary despite the odds being stacked against them, e.g. espionage, whereas films like Green Room or Eden Lake have people who slip helplessly from a mundane situation into an extraordinary one in which there is a sense of dread because they are totally unprepared for what they're forced to deal with. that slide from the mundane to the extreme is one of the best horror movie tropes.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, 15 July 2016 13:50 (seven years ago) link
Well some of the difference here is that I don't watch horror primarily for "fun", which should shock nobody on this thread probably.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Friday, 15 July 2016 14:54 (seven years ago) link
what do you watch them for? ideas?
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 14:56 (seven years ago) link
I wouldn't use 'fun' as a blanket descriptor of horror. That's only part of what I like about the genre. And I know people who have zero time for fun horror.
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 14:58 (seven years ago) link
Pleasure feels like a more appropriate word than fun
― Foster Twelvetrees (Ward Fowler), Friday, 15 July 2016 15:04 (seven years ago) link
I can see what you're getting at Contenderizer, and I feel the same about a lot of these things but there's still probably loads of things that don't fit into that breakdown. If enough of the genre audience wants and expects a thing, it will become a part of the genre.
Some classics that don't fit in that well upon scrutiny: Bride Of Frankenstein (more of a dark Disney film), Freaks, Cat And The Canary, Invisible Man and Hunchback Of Notre Dame.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 July 2016 15:14 (seven years ago) link
I posited it in passing, but what if Green Room were exactly - exactly - as is, but instead of neo-Nazis they were vampires on the down low, who didn't want their vampire punk rock club to be discovered, and needed to clean up their mess before the sun came up? Horror?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 July 2016 15:16 (seven years ago) link
Or what if they were devil worshippers?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 July 2016 15:17 (seven years ago) link
xp That's p much Dusk Til Dawn
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 15:20 (seven years ago) link
If Green Room were a vampire movie, the action would have to change a bit in order to accomodate some vampirey stuff - blood sucking or whatever.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 15:21 (seven years ago) link
"TARANTINO! (dog latin)Posted: July 15, 2016 at 9:56:04 AMwhat do you watch them for? ideas?"
Uh.
Yes?
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Friday, 15 July 2016 15:31 (seven years ago) link
For reference:
Enjoying horror films - why do we (or don't we)?
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Friday, 15 July 2016 15:34 (seven years ago) link
i'd shorthand any hobby or cultivated interest as something one does for "fun". maybe that's too narrow for some, i dunno. "pleasure" works just as well, afaic.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 15:47 (seven years ago) link
I absolutely watch horror films for "ideas" - addressing difficult/taboo/controversial/subversive subjects through the lens of genre tropes is probably my favorite thing about horror
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 July 2016 15:52 (seven years ago) link
could say the same thing applies to my interest in sci-fi, noir, superhero comics
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 July 2016 15:53 (seven years ago) link
I posited it in passing, but what if Green Room were exactly - exactly - as is, but instead of neo-Nazis they were vampires on the down low, who didn't want their vampire punk rock club to be discovered, and needed to clean up their mess before the sun came up? Horror?...Or what if they were devil worshippers?― Josh in Chicago, Friday, July 15, 2016 8:17 AM (30 minutes ago)
...Or what if they were devil worshippers?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, July 15, 2016 8:17 AM (30 minutes ago)
Well, any useful definition of horror is always going to be, as emil.y suggested upthread, more a loose set of potential family resemblances than a single fixed formula. Among that set are the familiar devices and tropes of horror's cultural history. For that reason, if Green Room had occult or supernatural elements but was otherwise almost exactly the same film, I'd probably find it easier to call it horror.
Still, I'm obviously kind of narrow-minded about this stuff. I consider action/combat films with horror elements (Aliens, Carpenter's Vampires, Dog Soldiers, 30 Days of Night) kind of peripheral to the genre, where most others make no such distinction.
― oculus lump (contenderizer), Friday, 15 July 2016 16:04 (seven years ago) link
I think I'm similar.
In my head:
HORRORThe Wicker ManKill ListThe ThingBerberian Sound StudioMulholland Drive
NOT HORRORAlienDog SoldiersGreen RoomSAW
There's pretty much no rule to this.
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 16:27 (seven years ago) link
I excluded Alien from the recent 70/80s horror franchise button poll based on similar reasoning
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 July 2016 16:29 (seven years ago) link
is Jaws a horror?
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:00 (seven years ago) link
I excluded that one too! I don't really have solid reasoning, it just feels like more of an update of an outdated mode of horror (the monster movie, or idk the Blob) than something that fit in with the genre as it existed at the time.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:07 (seven years ago) link
Is Jurassic Park a horror
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:18 (seven years ago) link
are you a horror are you a lady
― nomar, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:21 (seven years ago) link
I would argue that, just as my chocolate is still chocolate after you get your peanut butter in it, so too is a horror movie still horror when it overlaps with other genres.
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:26 (seven years ago) link
well what is the chocolate:peanut butter ratio, cuz if it's more like 1:2 than I would argue really it's peanut butter
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:27 (seven years ago) link
xpost That's a good point, I don't necessarily consider Alien horror, but then again, I think I *would* consider the rampaging werewolf siege of Dog Soldiers horror. Because werewolves. But then ... not carnivorous aliens?
Some similar debate going on in the AV Club comedy thread. Lots of funny movies are not comedies, imo. Or are they?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:33 (seven years ago) link
If a boat is replaced plank-by-plank
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:33 (seven years ago) link
We have been having the horror and comedy arguments I think literally the entire time I've been on ILX. Can't believe we haven't solved the equation yet.
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:34 (seven years ago) link
Shark eats boat PROBLEM SOLVED
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:35 (seven years ago) link
Why haven't we just polled each individual film to determine whether it is a horror or a comedy
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:37 (seven years ago) link
The revenant: horror or comedy?
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:38 (seven years ago) link
Comedy when bear attacks, horror when bear fails to eat DiCaprio
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:41 (seven years ago) link
Been looking over Fangoria covers (why is there no database of them all?), some real surprises in there, but it's usually some sort of character or creature that required special effects or someone threatening (for Twilight New Moon they used an angry faced guy with red eyes), but they did also have characters like Spock, C3PO and R2D2 on occasion. In Book Of Lists: Horror, one of the editors listed the covers he regretted most.
I think if there was only the first Alien film more people would say it's horror. 1-4 certainly have quite powerful horror imagery.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:46 (seven years ago) link
How many posts before a new thread is required?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:48 (seven years ago) link
Fangoria didn't start as a horror-specific magazine so using their covers as a rubric might be problematic.
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:48 (seven years ago) link
I guess this is related, though I can't draw any conclusions from it: I recently started a goodreads account, and created two shelves that cover my horror books - 'horror and mystery' and 'speculative fiction'. Anything that's horror goes in both, but I'd look in them for different reasons. And I have to say that the few 'mystery' books I have seem far more out of place with horror than horror and sci-fi sitting together.
― emil.y, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:53 (seven years ago) link
Wonder why they called it Fangoria if they wanted to have broader coverage? They still feature superhero, fantasy and scifi films, especially if they have creatures.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:55 (seven years ago) link
It's a mystery, for sure.
"Hey, guys, I just realized that our magazine sounds like a horror rag. Maybe we should shift our focus?"
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 17:58 (seven years ago) link
Clearly it is a horror-comedy.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 July 2016 17:58 (seven years ago) link
i remember when the american trailer called John Woo's "The Killer" a "thriller/comedy that will leave you breathless!"
― nomar, Friday, 15 July 2016 18:05 (seven years ago) link
*its american trailer
― nomar, Friday, 15 July 2016 18:06 (seven years ago) link
I feel like everyone agreed that You're Next was a horror movie, so is the line whether people are wearing masks then?
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Saturday, 16 July 2016 18:45 (seven years ago) link
i don't think you're next is a horror movie, but i was more willing to indulge the consensus in that case. perhaps because it acts a bit more like a horror movie? in terms of music, suspense & scare setups, etc. also yeah, the mysterious masked "them" out there trying to get into our house and kills us.
― Best Beloved Trumppence (contenderizer), Sunday, 17 July 2016 04:25 (seven years ago) link
See, I barely thought of "You're Next" as horror (and certainly not "The Guest," which I've seen even more inexplicably categorized as horror). "You're Next" is sort of a clever twist on horror that takes horror tropes and turns them around.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 17 July 2016 04:29 (seven years ago) link
Horror is just a marketing term, everybody on the scene calls them "blood pictures"
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Sunday, 17 July 2016 07:57 (seven years ago) link
Or 'blood sausages' in the UK
― Foster Twelvetrees (Ward Fowler), Sunday, 17 July 2016 08:54 (seven years ago) link
"The Guest," which I've seen even more inexplicably categorized as horror
SPOILER WARNING
for most of its running time, the guest is nearly as far from horror as green room, but the third act turns into an extended love letter to carpenter's halloween. this is set up early with the holiday setting, but kept on the back burner for most of the film's running time. the climax, with the chase through the haunted house, however, is clearly supposed to push 80s horror nostalgia buttons. and the villain clearly turns into something like "the boogeyman" in the film's final moments.
― Best Beloved Trumppence (contenderizer), Monday, 18 July 2016 00:59 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, but this came after a long turn into the Terminator.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 July 2016 01:23 (seven years ago) link
speaking of, apparently the woods is now called....blair witch??????!??????
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 23 July 2016 10:22 (seven years ago) link
WTF? Why would they do that? I've even seen posters in theaters for the The Woods. So people looking forward to The Woods will ... never see it? Because it will be released as a Blair Witch reboot? Anyway, nice stunt, I guess, and I'm sure the film will be scary, but given that just about every found footage movie is to some degree a Blair Witch sequel, I don't see the point. Like Avatar, it's a movie I've never heard anyone truly want more of.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 July 2016 12:36 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, that's crazy.
Moving on, I saw Deathgasm. Was OK, just OK, as a vehicle for bad taste gross-out FX, but there are one or two good gags (in every sense).
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 July 2016 12:38 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girSv9UH_V8
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 23 July 2016 14:12 (seven years ago) link
ugh
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 23 July 2016 14:27 (seven years ago) link
idk as much as i'm shocked i'm kinda totally psyched
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 23 July 2016 14:30 (seven years ago) link
I am so all in on this one.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Saturday, 23 July 2016 14:49 (seven years ago) link
I AM SO ALL IN ON THIS ONE!!!
and i didn't even really like the blair witch project
― Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony said (contenderizer), Saturday, 23 July 2016 15:23 (seven years ago) link
deathgasm was not great, but cute and fun, way better than most of the recent splatter-comedy glut
― Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony said (contenderizer), Saturday, 23 July 2016 15:24 (seven years ago) link
but given that just about every found footage movie is to some degree a Blair Witch sequel, I don't see the point. Like Avatar, it's a movie I've never heard anyone truly want more of.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, July 23, 2016 5:36 AM (2 hours ago)
it's seriously loved by a lot of younger horror fans
― Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony said (contenderizer), Saturday, 23 July 2016 15:25 (seven years ago) link
Did they change it cause there's already a pretty fine The Woods by lucky mckee?
― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Saturday, 23 July 2016 15:57 (seven years ago) link
xpost I liked Blair Witch a lot and have no problem with the first movie. I just mean that nobody wanted *more* Blair Witch, in the form of a reboot/sequel.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 July 2016 16:31 (seven years ago) link
i watched book of shadows recently and it is almost unbelievably horrible
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 23 July 2016 17:08 (seven years ago) link
not even really enjoyably so, though there are parts
McKee's The Woods was terrific. The best kind of moody, and with one of my favorite performances from Patricia Clarkson. It wasn't as showy as May, so it never seemed to gain much traction, even among horror fans.
I'm game for the new Blair Witch. Book Of Shadows was damn near unwatchable, so this will at least have a very, very low bar to clear.
― jon_oh, Saturday, 23 July 2016 17:08 (seven years ago) link
There was once a great feature in a film magazine with quotes from film people before and after their film was out. For Book Of Shadows it was the director sayingBefore: I think people will be satisfied.After: People were not satisfied.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 23 July 2016 18:45 (seven years ago) link
watched the blackcoat's daughter last night, had a good vibe, i was into it
― just sayin, Saturday, 23 July 2016 22:17 (seven years ago) link
not super happy about The Woods turning into Blair Witch redux but eh i'm in anyway
― Nhex, Sunday, 24 July 2016 01:24 (seven years ago) link
really not looking forward to another nauseating found footage FPS theatrical experience tho
I met McKee once, super nice guy who I made laugh w a very corny joke
The Woman is my fave of his
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Sunday, 24 July 2016 01:49 (seven years ago) link
blair witch (the new one) does not actually seem like it's found footage/fps
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Sunday, 24 July 2016 05:50 (seven years ago) link
parts of the trailer seemed like it... but yeah, it's probably not gonna be the whole thing like the original Blair Witch (or Paranormal Activity, The Visit, etc.)
― Nhex, Sunday, 24 July 2016 05:54 (seven years ago) link
Mainly, the film is shown though ear cameras (basically Bluetooth headsets with cameras on them), drone footage, and a super HD SLR.
http://io9.gizmodo.com/movie-review-blair-witch-is-the-amazing-sequel-you-nev-1784170295
― just sayin, Sunday, 24 July 2016 06:07 (seven years ago) link
You guys. "The Boy" is really, really good. I'm as baffled as you are.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Wednesday, 3 August 2016 04:05 (seven years ago) link
saw "green room" -- it was engaging, well-made, but didn't really add up to much IMO.
although i watched it at 3 AM after having read a bunch of articles about rabid anti-immigrant groups in idaho and the combo made me really paranoid about some future dystopia where we are all on the run from neo-nazi punk rockers.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 August 2016 04:46 (seven years ago) link
i def. think green room is only marginally a horror movie -- by noel carroll's widely-embraced theory of horror it isn't a horror film at all. but even by a less rigid definition, the reliance on horror syntax is mostly limited to the second-to-last reel.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 August 2016 04:51 (seven years ago) link
the boy was not very good at all imo, but it was entertaining
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 3 August 2016 05:08 (seven years ago) link
What does that even mean?
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Monday, 8 August 2016 04:21 (seven years ago) link
uh that it was fun to watch even though it's super flimsy and the whole final act is real rough?
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 8 August 2016 04:26 (seven years ago) link
So flimsy because?
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Monday, 8 August 2016 04:59 (seven years ago) link
Also maybe I'm just getting jaded here, but the vibe of "I enjoyed this but it's not actually good" that keeps showing up in this thread is kind of a bummer. Not trying to single you out Brad.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Monday, 8 August 2016 05:06 (seven years ago) link
Combined of course with my complete rejection of bizarre gate keeping of what gets to be horror, which is the other recent topic.
― Here, let me Danesplain that for you (jjjusten), Monday, 8 August 2016 05:12 (seven years ago) link
what is it not possible to have fun with something while acknowledging its limitations? I get that it's sometimes frustrating when ppl do that (I felt a similar frustration with people going out of their way to call all that jazz "not great" in its thread, but idk this movie was kinda not great! also to get into why I'd have to prob talk about the tension-destroying twist
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 8 August 2016 06:56 (seven years ago) link
assuming this January comment meant "Rob Zombie's 31", I just saw an hour of it and am convinced the guy has brain damage and isn't telling anybody.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 2 September 2016 01:08 (seven years ago) link
it was on some Fathom Events thing. every gore sequence has shaky cam so you can barely see whose intestines are getting cut out, and for all of his hate of teenyboppers, this is basically Hunger Games with smelly ugly clowns and dwarf Nazis.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 2 September 2016 01:09 (seven years ago) link
fortunately I got in free with a gift card.
enjoyed Lights Out a lot.
thought Conjuring 2 was way more enjoyable than the first Conjuring
didn't think Don't Breathe was as good as it should have been - once it turned into "blind guy is omniscient megawarrior" type ridiculousness at the 2/3rds point it started to lose me
― Neanderthal, Friday, 2 September 2016 01:18 (seven years ago) link
http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/2016-upcoming-new-horror-movies.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=7zOoexfSyqk
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 4 September 2016 05:53 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1rMTHBSwuI
i like it!
― Nhex, Monday, 5 September 2016 05:06 (seven years ago) link
Don't Breathe got some of the most entertaining general-audience reactions I've ever witnessed.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 5 September 2016 05:34 (seven years ago) link
Don't Breathe was less terrible and had fewer plot holes than most other modern horror films I've seen but it was still pretty un-scary and un-interesting.
― laraaji p. henson (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 5 September 2016 21:16 (seven years ago) link
Like the nicest thing I can say about it is that it wasn't abysmal?
I didn't really get the hype either. it had decent atmosphere but as I said upthread, once it went from semi-grounded home invasion horror to SUPERBLIND HULK it lost me fairly quickly.
the dialogue about God towards the end reminded me of one of teh Joker speeches in TDK
― Neanderthal, Monday, 5 September 2016 21:22 (seven years ago) link
I've heard there's a horror film that's a big success recently, is it Don't Breathe?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 5 September 2016 21:24 (seven years ago) link
I think so, yeah. Also **SPOILER ALERT*** how bizarre that this blind dude (who one would assume would have keen hearing) would a) sleep through a break-in b) not notice someone like walking in the same fucking hallway he's walking through but then c) like hear someone across the damn house by the end of the film
― laraaji p. henson (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 5 September 2016 21:26 (seven years ago) link
I kept waiting for it to get so twisted or so scary and it didn't
― laraaji p. henson (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 5 September 2016 21:27 (seven years ago) link
They definitely seemed to handicap the burglars a bit too much to bring the thrills which kind of robbed it of intensity.
Moments where characters unnecessarily stay stationary or do very unbelievable thingsI mean lol "horror" but it felt like one of those "zombies are slow, just outrun them" films
― Neanderthal, Monday, 5 September 2016 21:55 (seven years ago) link
it was a solid B-movie imo. problem for was that they gave away over half the scares/twists in the damn trailer
― Nhex, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 02:45 (seven years ago) link
I love that the wannabe gangsta guy went by "Money"
― Neanderthal, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 02:46 (seven years ago) link
Just rewatched "Triangle" again. Not really horror, I suppose, but what a really effective thinky thriller. Lots of horror movies about parents and the unique stresses of special needs kids these days. "Triangle," "Babadook," "Finding Dory" ...
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 03:30 (seven years ago) link
It's definitely a good fear to mine
― Nhex, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 04:23 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, I liked Triangle. Would quite like to watch it again soon, which is unusual for me b/c I tend to have a low tolerance for rewatches. Though actually I guess horror does tend to be the exception to that rule so maybe not that unusual... Hm.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 12:53 (seven years ago) link
Shallows spoilers (not much to spoil, but ...)
I thought "The Shallows" started out fine. Not scary but serious enough to make up for its silliness. Then it's like at the end they realized they needed to end it, and happened to have some extra money lying around, and figured, fuck it, we'll light a just shy of good enough CGI shark on fire then have it vindictively race our protagonist to the bottom of the sea where it impales itself.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 September 2016 21:37 (seven years ago) link
I loved Triangle and Coherence and Primer. What other films are like those?
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 16 September 2016 22:22 (seven years ago) link
Timecrimes.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 September 2016 22:23 (seven years ago) link
Recently watched Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and talked about it in the "last movies you saw" thread. It's definitely more of a horror movie than an action movie, and extremely gory and violent. It borrows a lot from Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now, and even more from David Lynch (Lost Highway) and Gaspar Noé. Very bleak and disturbing, and repeatedly wrong-foots the viewer; highly recommended.
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 16 September 2016 22:34 (seven years ago) link
Timecrimes is p good, way better than Primer that's for sure
― Οὖτις, Friday, 16 September 2016 22:34 (seven years ago) link
Wait I thought you guys have been talking about a more recent Triangle itt lately but are you talking about the one from several years back by the Black Death director?
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Friday, 16 September 2016 22:52 (seven years ago) link
No, the Aussie co-production one with Thor's brother.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 September 2016 00:53 (seven years ago) link
I loved Day of Reckoning for pretty much the same reasons. There's also a decent chunk of Cronenberg in there- not in the usual obvious body-horror way but in the way everyday reality feels just horribly *wrong*, like everything from eXistenZ onward
― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Saturday, 17 September 2016 01:45 (seven years ago) link
Forgot to finish that thought: ...which is why I'm so excited about John Hyams' upcoming Maniac Cop remake. It's produced by Nicolas Winding Refn (I enjoy his films, but I cannot defend them), but it also has the blessing of Bill Lustig and Hyams seems like a much smarter director in a lot of ways than Refn- I get the impression that his days making documentaries and DTV work have served him well there
― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Saturday, 17 September 2016 01:47 (seven years ago) link
I was curious what he'd do next. I've never seen the original Maniac Cop but will definitely check out a Hyams version.
The only Refn movie I like is Valhalla Rising.
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 17 September 2016 10:42 (seven years ago) link
Damn, how u guys get me interested in Universal Soldier sequels in 2016
― ALL TACOE'S 1/2 HALF "OFF" (Old Lunch), Saturday, 17 September 2016 15:09 (seven years ago) link
I can safely not recommend Blair Witch. It had some moments/elements but ultimately did not capture much of what I liked about the first one. Some of the imagery was enjoyable but not nearly enough to save it.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 17 September 2016 15:56 (seven years ago) link
I just can't get over the weirdness of taking an about to be released movie that's unconnected to Blair witch and retitling it Blair witch at the last moment
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Saturday, 17 September 2016 16:16 (seven years ago) link
Well, it turned out it was Blair Witch all along, they just kept it secret for about two years and ultimately decided to just keep going with the secret until Comic Con.
― Nhex, Saturday, 17 September 2016 16:20 (seven years ago) link
And in those years they could have made at least three movies better than this one :(
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 17 September 2016 16:31 (seven years ago) link
I joked afterward that it should've been called Peter! Ashley! Lisa! James! (Heather) and it might have been slightly more interesting, like a throwaway catchy song with a goof title rather than something that required the highest possible security clearance.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 17 September 2016 16:34 (seven years ago) link
will no one stay awake with me?Peter...Lisa...James...
will none of you wait with me?Peter...Lisa....James
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 17 September 2016 16:39 (seven years ago) link
These are friends of mine, these are friends of mineAnd they've got something that's so hard to find James and peteyLisa and Ashley
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Saturday, 17 September 2016 17:05 (seven years ago) link
Thought there were glimmers of good ideas in the movie, but didn't push them far enough at all. Ultimately just OK. Disappointed in Wingard, considering how much I enjoyed his last two films.
― Nhex, Saturday, 17 September 2016 17:12 (seven years ago) link
Lane and Talia too
all these friends are in the woods and they've got nothin' to do
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 17 September 2016 17:13 (seven years ago) link
bummed to hear that about Blair Witch but I just realized I haven't seen the OG Blair Witch since I saw it in the theatre in 1999 so at least this film is inspiring me to do that congrats nu-Blair Witch.
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 17 September 2016 17:16 (seven years ago) link
Saw some indication that shifting perception of time or some such thing is a major component, but that was one of the coolest things about "Grave Encounters," which of course is directly derivative of Blair Witch, because of course it is because these things are all related.
Wonder if Wingard et al. were approached to make this as a sequel, or if it was their idea.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 September 2016 20:18 (seven years ago) link
i had fun at blair witch, and you can detect wingard/barrett pushing at the edges of the idea throughout, but i get why people are disappointing. my expectations were really relaxed after the dive it took on rotten tomatoes the day before i saw it lol
last 20 minutes are terrifying though
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 17 September 2016 20:55 (seven years ago) link
lol i get why people are disappointed*
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 17 September 2016 20:56 (seven years ago) link
i did like the final part too.haven't seen Grave Encounters, but Wingard did say one of the ideas he pushed (with the two different groups here) was how they could experience totally different aspects/timelines/stories in the same forest. again, wish he had gone even further with this idea, along with the Dream Warriors-esque puzzling the characters would do, knowing some of the rules set up from the first movie and new ones set up in this one.
― Nhex, Saturday, 17 September 2016 22:14 (seven years ago) link
Lol Blair Witch what the fuck was this movie.
― Neanderthal, Monday, 19 September 2016 02:20 (seven years ago) link
I just saw You're Next for the first time last week, and it was pretty good and ridiculous. And The Guest was, likewise, good and ridiculous. And I also realized last week that the dudes who made those movies were the guys who made Blair Witch and I was briefly excited but then I realized that their sensibility seems all wrong for a Blair Witch movie. I'll probably still see it, though.
― ALL TACOE'S 1/2 HALF "OFF" (Old Lunch), Monday, 19 September 2016 12:30 (seven years ago) link
I finally saw The Witch on the weekend, fucking great I loved it so muchCreepy as fuckHad to turn subtitles on to catch all the puritan-ese
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 19 September 2016 17:00 (seven years ago) link
Thank you! I don't know what people's problem is with that movie. You may not dig its aims, but said aims were flawlessly achieved imo.
― ALL TACOE'S 1/2 HALF "OFF" (Old Lunch), Monday, 19 September 2016 17:06 (seven years ago) link
"Wouldst thou like the taste of butter and pretty dress?"
― jmm, Monday, 19 September 2016 18:01 (seven years ago) link
The Witch was great, Black Philip for global emperor unless he already is acting emperor and in that case FOUR MORE YEARS!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 19 September 2016 19:47 (seven years ago) link
Thank you! I don't know what people's problem is with that movie.
― ALL TACOE'S 1/2 HALF "OFF" (Old Lunch), Monday, 19 September 2016 18:06
Their problem is they are pure jobbies who'd prefer shite like Insidious and The Conjuring.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 19 September 2016 21:03 (seven years ago) link
Just finished watching The VVitch myself (streaming for free on Amazon Prime). Highly recommended.
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 01:06 (seven years ago) link
BLACK PHILLIP BLACK PHILLIP DA DA DA DA DAAAA
those two little ones were so perfectly rad and annoying and creepy, i loved then
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:53 (seven years ago) link
*them
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:54 (seven years ago) link
A crown grows on his head
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 22:01 (seven years ago) link
Just watched The Witch. New classic. Not a false move in it.
― circa1916, Thursday, 29 September 2016 03:33 (seven years ago) link
Subtitles recommended. Good advice VG.
― circa1916, Thursday, 29 September 2016 03:57 (seven years ago) link
Babak Anvari's debut Under The Shadow sounds quite ace. It is a supernatural horror movie set against the backdrop of the Iran/Iraq war, it is getting rave reviews so far.
― calzino, Thursday, 29 September 2016 15:27 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHVFP80Upxw
― calzino, Thursday, 29 September 2016 15:56 (seven years ago) link
The Blackcoat's Daughter, which is definitely one of the better things I have seen recently, is on UK Netflix under the original title of February as of yesterday.
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Saturday, 1 October 2016 10:45 (seven years ago) link
cool! i downloaded that movie for some reason a month or so ago and have a v fond memory of it... great atmosphere
― just sayin, Sunday, 2 October 2016 07:27 (seven years ago) link
recommended to other ppl who like horror movies that have a great vibe
― just sayin, Sunday, 2 October 2016 07:28 (seven years ago) link
Starry Eyes did a whole, whole lotta things right, and Alexandra Essoe was great, but it ultimately fell into the distressing pattern I've noticed way too many times over the past decade of almost-great horror films that just don't know how to stick the landing. In that respect, the movie reminded me a great deal of The House of the Devil. But I think I still recommend it?
― Our Salads Are Now Almost Entirely Blood-Free! (Old Lunch), Monday, 3 October 2016 00:13 (seven years ago) link
I liked it way better than HOtD
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 October 2016 00:15 (seven years ago) link
I did, too. It just (imo) fumbles the ball in a similar way.
― Our Salads Are Now Almost Entirely Blood-Free! (Old Lunch), Monday, 3 October 2016 00:49 (seven years ago) link
Like, I get that you really dig the end of Rosemary's Baby, guys, but that type of ending has limited efficacy.
― Our Salads Are Now Almost Entirely Blood-Free! (Old Lunch), Monday, 3 October 2016 00:51 (seven years ago) link
february is a remarkable first feature for oz perkins - eager to see the upcoming i am the pretty thing that lives in the house. altough nothing quite matches the invitation imho, it's been a very decent year for these sort of slow build/paranoid/tense creepers, with stuff like the whitch, observance and even the polanski rehash of darling all worthy of mention.
or the yuppie horror stylings of the ones below - pacific heights meets hand that rocks the cradle? - aiming for that grey area. the gift was better on that front tho. and a part of me expected knock knock to go down that path.
― rusty_allen, Thursday, 13 October 2016 13:33 (seven years ago) link
Just saw ALL HALLOWS' EVE and liked it. Really reminded me of CREEPSHOW in tone, how it could be ridiculous and scary all at once. Appreciated its abandonment of logic in favor of terror.
― The Thnig, Friday, 14 October 2016 18:14 (seven years ago) link
Googling a quick description, scans like Rob Zombie doing "V/H/S." Yuck.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 October 2016 18:16 (seven years ago) link
Well, that sounds yuck to me too.
― The Thnig, Friday, 14 October 2016 18:17 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU0oW2UtiOs Rob Zombie gone a bit weird.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 14 October 2016 18:28 (seven years ago) link
i think my fav modern horror movie right now is the conversation, which i saw last week. it just leveled me
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Friday, 14 October 2016 18:30 (seven years ago) link
i'd also like to rep for they're watching which is the silliest found footage horror i've ever seen, last twenty minutes are sooooooooooooo awesome, but ymmv re: found footage directed and written by former spongebob writers
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Friday, 14 October 2016 18:31 (seven years ago) link
uh... i meant the invitation, i am very tired
to be fair the scenes in the adjoining hotel rooms are pretty horror
― nomar, Friday, 14 October 2016 18:32 (seven years ago) link
lol agreed
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Friday, 14 October 2016 18:35 (seven years ago) link
Loved the Invitation. v tense
― Spottie, Friday, 14 October 2016 18:35 (seven years ago) link
excited everybody is repping the invitation since iirc it is on NF streaming and I've had little luck finding more horror to watch in their portfolio
― still lists its address as the recently razed home of “Morris” the (Jon not Jon), Friday, 14 October 2016 18:42 (seven years ago) link
Also really liked THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE but I'm guessing this was discussed upthread somewhere.
― The Thnig, Friday, 14 October 2016 19:30 (seven years ago) link
i wish someone would do a killer-dog horror about Marmaduke and title it HE THINKS HE'S PEOPLE
― still lists its address as the recently razed home of “Morris” the (Jon not Jon), Friday, 14 October 2016 19:39 (seven years ago) link
haha!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 14 October 2016 19:51 (seven years ago) link
so I saw The Greasy Strangler the other day, which was touted as this John Waters-ish gross-out horror comedy.
it was really more like John Waters by way of Napoleon Dynamite, and the 'horror' was not even remotely presented as 'horror', and I was p bored with 20 minutes left to go, despite most of it being hilarious.
there were only so many non-sequiturs I could stomach.
― Neanderthal, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 21:49 (seven years ago) link
Anyone know anything about "Train to Busan?" Korean zombie thriller? Have we talked about it? Been hearing good things.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 21:55 (seven years ago) link
had a limited run at my local theatre but happened during Hurricane Week so I missed it :(
― Neanderthal, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 21:56 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyWuHv2-Abk
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 21:56 (seven years ago) link
Heard someone say it was fun but too melodramatic.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 21:57 (seven years ago) link
need more zombie flicks like Return of the Living Dead these days, not these dire things
― Neanderthal, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 21:57 (seven years ago) link
"Send ... less ... dire things."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 21:59 (seven years ago) link
So many zombie movies. I don't investigate any of them and just trust that one of you guys will tell me if there are standouts
― still lists its address as the recently razed home of “Morris” the (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 18 October 2016 22:33 (seven years ago) link
The Wailing is really good - not really a zombie movie - it reminds me more of Salem's Lot tbh.
― calzino, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 22:47 (seven years ago) link
Greasy Strangler was really impressive to me in being super funny and super disgusting in equal measure, but yeah, it's can only barely be counted as horror.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 19 October 2016 00:29 (seven years ago) link
I haven't been able to get "hooty tooty Disco cutie" out of my head for days.
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 19 October 2016 00:30 (seven years ago) link
I am not normally a horror person but I think this looks like it will be amazing:
https://youtu.be/sRfnevzM9kQ
― ¶ (DJP), Wednesday, 19 October 2016 01:35 (seven years ago) link
yeah it looks great
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 19 October 2016 04:02 (seven years ago) link
OK, I'll give it more time if someone will vouch for it, but I started "Train to Busan" and it sucks like "World War Z." Equal parts boring and stupid, and badly acted.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 October 2016 18:42 (seven years ago) link
Never been interested in seeing anything by Gore Verbinski but A Cure For Wellness looks like it could be genuinely distinctive. Looks like slightly eerie science fiction or something.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 20 October 2016 10:12 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mcVodJmBlU
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 20 October 2016 15:17 (seven years ago) link
Whoa. The Ouija prequel was actually really good. Was not even remotely like the over the top, boilerplate trailer.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 21 October 2016 03:52 (seven years ago) link
trailer makes it look like your typical jump-scare possession tale that is overly reliant on computer effects and jarring visuals, but this is more of an atmospheric horror flick with self-contained dramatic moments. not overstuffed with high-decibel setpieces like the Conjuring flicks (of which I really only liked the 2nd one).
thinking ILX might eyeroll a little at the aesthetic choices, ie the retro feel which felt somewhat like an Outer Limits episode, w/ the use of the fades to black after each scene, and the old-fashioned score. and that's fair. but the trailer looked like the worst crap imaginable and I only went to see it cos I liked Mike Flanagan's "Hush" and this got early favorable press and it turned out to be an enjoyable night out so....hey, I'll take it.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 21 October 2016 04:36 (seven years ago) link
I forgot Flanagan did this. I think he's great. I guess no surprise that a thoughtful horror filmmaker should do better than expected with a boilerplate sequel.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 October 2016 12:06 (seven years ago) link
yeah. his wife has a cameo too in the first ten minutes. I liked her in "Hush"
― Neanderthal, Friday, 21 October 2016 12:17 (seven years ago) link
The VVitch Playmobil playset
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 21 October 2016 16:34 (seven years ago) link
Been reading or hearing a lot of pieces about feminist horror films the last couple of days, but so far none of them have mentioned "Ginger Snaps." And some of them (like the NPR one) were just poorly researched.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 October 2016 17:54 (seven years ago) link
A poorly researched NPR piece? You don't say!
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 28 October 2016 18:08 (seven years ago) link
My interest in the Slumber Party Massacre series has recently been piqued by my realization that they were all directed by women. Don't know how that translates until I've seen them but I'll report back.
― I'm not a dummy. I'm not. (Old Lunch), Friday, 28 October 2016 18:18 (seven years ago) link
Not just that, the first one was written by Rita Mae Brown, author of Rubyfruit Jungle! I've only seen about 1/4-1/3 of it thanks to the decision to start watching it pretty much *immediately* before it was removed from Netflix a few years ago, but it certainly holds up to its reputation (namely, that it was written as a parody and filmed by a gun-for-hire director as totally straightforward genre trash).
― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Saturday, 29 October 2016 14:35 (seven years ago) link
Watched season 1 of Ash Vs Evil Dead yesterday. I always knew I probably wouldn't get the sequel I wanted but as soon as I saw the trailer for this I knew it wasn't going to be anything like the Evil Dead that I loved. They kept the humour, fun and gore but taken away the atmosphere and cool desgins, then added hard rock (a bad choice I think). It feels too fannish in places (repeats of things they did in the films), lots of weak special effects (cgi blood and a burned skeleton in particular) and Ash's schtick gets overplayed. The kickass fun they were going for just isn't fun or funny enough to be a success but later on in the series it actually gets quite entertaining and even though I wouldn't recommend it, I might watch the second series.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 29 October 2016 15:46 (seven years ago) link
I am the pretty thing that lives under the stairs did not add up to much of anything for me
Whatever the title is. The Netflix original with bob balaban in it.
― his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Saturday, 29 October 2016 20:01 (seven years ago) link
I just rewatched the Evil Dead trilogy and want to check out the show now. Is it worse than Army of Darkness? I see that as a much lesser film than the first two but still pretty entertaining.
― jmm, Saturday, 29 October 2016 20:14 (seven years ago) link
I'm very fond of Army Of Darkness, the tv series is definitely worse but just good enough for me to be interested in the second series.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 30 October 2016 01:28 (seven years ago) link
THE FALLING (directed by Carol Morley)
Stars Maisie Williams and Maxine Peake. A girl school in the late 60s where girls mysteriously keep fainting. It's got kind of a soft indie-ish soundtrack, autumnal atmosphere, it's quite pretty. I'd give it a non-urgent recommendation.
Disc version includes a short film of Maxine Peake giving a short history of mass hysteria.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 13 November 2016 22:54 (seven years ago) link
Ok, this is another one of those "is it really horror?" cases, but I say there's just enough in Park Chan-Wook's fucked up hot lesbian thriller The Handmaiden to barely qualify. Definitely recommended for fans of psychological twists, beautiful period production and great sex scenes.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 16 November 2016 05:38 (seven years ago) link
Watched Spring the other night. Too much cgi (tired of saying it but I won't stop) and the nature of the woman isn't completely convincing. But I enjoyed it overall, it's quite refreshing in some ways, the setting is quite nice.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 4 December 2016 23:54 (seven years ago) link
the invitation, february, the witch, scherzo diabolico, they look like people, under the shadow, observance...
^^ 2016, year of the creeper/slow burner?
(some of these might be 2015 oficially tho)
also the year mike flanagan def assumes his position as the 'go to guy' when it comes to pg 13 horror
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 14 December 2016 14:08 (seven years ago) link
should I subscribe to this Shudder horror streaming service (like Netflix but 100% horror)? Y/N
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 21:09 (seven years ago) link
oh by the way I watched The Falling the other day and thought it was really excellent
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 21:10 (seven years ago) link
shudder is great and their library is pretty big now
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 21:52 (seven years ago) link
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 21:10
Yeah it's pretty good
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 December 2016 21:56 (seven years ago) link
also it's on sale in HMV for £1.99 on DVD. bargain
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 22:20 (seven years ago) link
How much is shudder in the us?
― his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 22:57 (seven years ago) link
about $5 and I think there's an offer where you get a month free atm
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 22:58 (seven years ago) link
Since the first thing I do when assessing any streaming service is check the horror filter that is as close to a no brainer as it gets even in my straitened circs
― his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 23:06 (seven years ago) link
shudder roku app is garbage but that's my only complaint. otherwise best streaming service on earth rn
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 14 December 2016 23:10 (seven years ago) link
I recall someone here being underwhelmed by Across The River but I thought it was pretty good and creepy.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 19 December 2016 02:29 (seven years ago) link
Lucile Hadzihalilovic's Evolution was another incredibly quiet film. Beautiful and icky. Feels like a short film. Loads of mothers and sons in seaside town.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 01:12 (seven years ago) link
Anyone seen We Are The Flesh? Seems a bit too nasty and sleazy for me but a lot of critics have loved it and the aesthetic is an obvious cut above most nasty sleazy films.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 3 January 2017 00:07 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otYBglOyHtw
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 3 January 2017 00:08 (seven years ago) link
Huh.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 January 2017 00:56 (seven years ago) link
Watched some of "The Falling" but had to cut it. The original music was so terrible and the movie felt exploitive. I'd rather watch "Picnic at Hanging Rock" to which it seems to want to be.
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Tuesday, 3 January 2017 23:44 (seven years ago) link
Just gave it a watch, and, well, nasty and sleazy doesn't really get at whatever it is this movie is getting at. Like, "A Serbian Film," for whatever point it is trying to make, is nasty and sleazy. This is nowhere near that, or like that. This is ... well, I looked up some takes, and they are OTM:
"Did you ever see Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom? Yeah, We Are the Flesh is 100% an update of Salo from the viewpoint of a Mexican auteur."
"This finds some sort of weird middle ground between the contemporary extremism of Gaspar Noé and Catherine Breillat and the searing genre pulp of Sam Neil babbling about Hell in Event Horizon."
"We Are The Flesh feels like a meeting of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Gaspar Noe in the troll sewer from Holy Motors."
And, per Variety: "Curiously, in a film so clearly interested in the notion that humanity can be degraded to its constituent substances, there is very little scatological material."
These are all pretty accurate. I would throw in stuff like "Dogtooth" and "Delicatessen," too. There is some super striking imagery in this, some truly transgressive stuff, too, in the confrontational performance art sense. It's not really horror, per se, but it is horrific, and I've never seen anything quite like it (or maybe I have?). I wish I knew what it was trying to say.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 4 January 2017 19:08 (seven years ago) link
I'm intrigued but I'm not sure I'll go for it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 4 January 2017 19:40 (seven years ago) link
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Tuesday, January 3, 2017 11:44 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Why did it feel exploitative to you? I loved it! I thought the themes were sensitively handled and that whole woodsy occult vibe was executed perfectly. Even the soundtrack (which I imagine as kind of a continuation of songs by their 'alternative orchestra') felt charming enough in its simplicity.
Incidentally, does anyone have any recommendations for other occult-inflected films of recent years? Besides The Falling and Ben Wheatley I haven't really seen it done that well in contemporary cinema. (I did not like The VVitch, despite high hopes)
― dance band (tangenttangent), Wednesday, 4 January 2017 21:34 (seven years ago) link
I liked Rob Zombies Satan/witch movie
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 4 January 2017 22:06 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, second vote for Lords of Salem.
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 4 January 2017 22:20 (seven years ago) link
Hi dance band, I'm not sure I can articulate here why I felt it was exploitive. Perhaps I should finish it, it had most of the elements that I usually like..I normally love occult oriented films!
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Wednesday, 4 January 2017 23:31 (seven years ago) link
As far as occult oriented movies - Duke of Burgundy has that feel. It's very sublime.
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Wednesday, 4 January 2017 23:32 (seven years ago) link
I appreciate it's not for everyone - it definitely plays up to its coming-of-age tropes. Just looking at her list of influences she cited for The Falling - you called it with Picnic at Hanging Rock! Actually, the whole list is pretty amazing: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/carol-morley-films-inspired-falling
xps I'll check out Lords of Salem soon, thanks.
― dance band (tangenttangent), Wednesday, 4 January 2017 23:45 (seven years ago) link
^ That's a good list :)
Gonna check out Lords of Salem too
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Thursday, 5 January 2017 01:25 (seven years ago) link
+1 Lords of Salem
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 5 January 2017 02:35 (seven years ago) link
Lords Of Salem is certainly good in comparison to the rest of Rob Zombie's films.
I got Shudder a few days ago and have just finished the French mini-series Beyond The Walls. It's wonderful.
It seems quite heavily influenced by the kind of survival horror games where you are trapped in a big house and have to try to find your way out without bumping into something horrible but it's also a rather sweet ghost/love story.
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Friday, 6 January 2017 08:50 (seven years ago) link
i found Picnic At Hanging Rock a bit anticlimactic. Really liked The Falling.
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 6 January 2017 13:49 (seven years ago) link
Lords Of Salem definitely looked better than his other films from the trailer but I'm very sceptical.
Can't find the trailer for Shudder except some short films and a bad looking film from a decade ago.
Beyond The Walls looks good.
Picnic At Hanging Rock is definitely better than The Falling but I like both. Don't know why I'm surprised Paul Morley's sister directed The Falling.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 January 2017 14:09 (seven years ago) link
i'm gonna have to get shudder soon... as if I don't watch enough stuff already,
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 6 January 2017 14:18 (seven years ago) link
Lords of Salem is really pretty spooky/moody, with some striking Kubrick stuff at the end. It drops his white trash obsession/crutch and aspires to something ambitious and, for lack of a better word, classy. Totally/tonally unlike his other films. Which I think partly fueled the negative response to his most recent, which most dismissed as a terrible tumble backwards to House of 1000 Corpses crap.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 January 2017 16:16 (seven years ago) link
The main criticisms I've heard of Lords Of Salem is that Sheri Moon is surrounded by superior actors and the script is weak.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 January 2017 16:31 (seven years ago) link
She's fine, and the script isn't weak so much as pretty simple/straight-forward. But not objectionably so, imo. There's no real narrative arc, just a slow march toward the inevitable.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 January 2017 16:41 (seven years ago) link
Anyone seen The Wailing, Korean film? Caught it the other day. It's very long (nearly 3 hours) and teeters on the brink of being sublime, surprisingly hilarious in parts but maybe a bit frustrating/inconclusive considering the extended runtime.
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 6 January 2017 16:55 (seven years ago) link
^^ yeah. really liked it. kinda strange at first with all the tonal changes between humour and eerieness, but in the end those shifts worked to perfection. it never drags through its long runtime.
speaking of (dark) humour and in spite of such a dark subject matter - and i guess it's technically from 2015 - 'scherzo diabolico' is really worthy of attention. a great return to the roots from bogliano after the decent and brief stint with the states.
someone upthread mentioned 'they look like people' and i loved it. top 3 horror from this year for me.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 6 January 2017 20:33 (seven years ago) link
Baskin was on the tv tonight. Wasn't into it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 8 January 2017 02:03 (seven years ago) link
They look like people was good
― his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 8 January 2017 02:26 (seven years ago) link
so Shudder... I subscribed yesterday. Looks quite good so far - a lot of variety and plenty to wade through, although I must say I'm a bit underwhelmed in some places. Articles about the service from just a couple of months ago names films like Kill List, Room 237 but they don't appear to be on there. Lots of schlocky gore and 80s-style slashers, Cronenberg, Giallo etc which is good but not what I came to it for. Not a huge amount of new films to be honest. They could do with a section dedicated to folk horror. The search function is pretty random too. But it is a new service and I reckon it's worth having all the same.
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Monday, 9 January 2017 11:00 (seven years ago) link
They have not region-locked their accounts which means you can watch the US selection (which is around twice as large, has more categories and has guest curators) via VPN without any problems. Kill List and Room 237 are both there iirc.
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Monday, 9 January 2017 11:12 (seven years ago) link
oh... how the heck do i do that then?
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Monday, 9 January 2017 14:44 (seven years ago) link
I wouldn't necessarily endorse any particular tool but there are free VPNs or plug-ins that trick websites into thinking you are based in the US. Netflix got wise to this and blocked them but Shudder hasn't. If the site thinks you are in the US, you can just log in to your account as normal and will be able to watch anything.
I am not an expert on VPNs and which ones are good / reliable / trustworthy but any should work.
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Monday, 9 January 2017 14:54 (seven years ago) link
cheers SV - I'll take a look
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Monday, 9 January 2017 15:13 (seven years ago) link
i know everyone hates lists and it's already 2017 etc...but anyone willing to share a few favs?
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 01:48 (seven years ago) link
We Are the Flesh is coming out on DVD in the US in a couple of months.
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 02:03 (seven years ago) link
the bye bye man has a hilarious trailer
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 02:04 (seven years ago) link
i've mostly been watching the ID show Evil Lives Here lately for tr00-life horror kicks, though the show is only worthwhile for the people recalling the details, the show itself and its production values and framing is horrible as fuck.
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 02:05 (seven years ago) link
Beyond The Walls is definitely recommended. I quite enjoyed Coherence and They Look Like People.
Of the other stuff I've seen on Shudder in the last fortnight, Lake Mungo is a decent, low-key grief /ghost story, S&man is kind of dull and The Horseman is basically a bunch of Ockers knocking lumps out of each other.
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 19:27 (seven years ago) link
And Frontiers is grisly and stupid but quite entertaining if you like grisly, stupid films. It is like Green Room meets Hostel meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 19:30 (seven years ago) link
I thought this was really chilling, actually. Its dullness - its mundanity - is party what makes it so effective.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 19:55 (seven years ago) link
This would possibly be true for me if two thirds of it wasn't interviews with Bill Zeebub, Fred Vogel, et al. The set up, with the fiction embedded in fact, is fine but the fact is a huge drag.
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 19:58 (seven years ago) link
Anyone have any horror podcasts to recommend? Seems like there should be some really good ones at this point.
The Black Tapes is pretty entertaining.
― SA, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 21:04 (seven years ago) link
beyond the walls is fantastic!
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Thursday, 19 January 2017 01:00 (seven years ago) link
Anyone seen Creepy? I'm not that fussed by the trailer, a lot of people love Kiyoshi Kurosawa more than me and I couldn't finish Journey To The Shore. Still wanna see Loft and Seance.
Can't believe there's a Sadako Vs Kayako film. Or maybe that shouldn't be a surprise after the 3d film. Tina Tamashiro's little face is close to selling me though.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 19 January 2017 18:05 (seven years ago) link
Every festival near me has dropped Creepy for some weird reason. I'm hoping to see his Daguerrotype soon, though.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 19 January 2017 22:51 (seven years ago) link
I saw Creepy last summer, thought it had a promising beginning but it kinda lost me in the second half.
― JoeStork, Thursday, 19 January 2017 23:12 (seven years ago) link
still need to see 'creepy'. i hold kurosawa in a special place and seem to be one of the few people that liked 'loft'.
'beyond the walls' the series?
― rusty_allen, Friday, 20 January 2017 15:21 (seven years ago) link
Split sucked
― Neanderthal, Friday, 20 January 2017 15:28 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, Creepy was just OK (although Teruyuki Kagawa is indeed fabulously creepy in it)
― Bongo Herbert (Ward Fowler), Friday, 20 January 2017 15:31 (seven years ago) link
xxp yeah beyond the walls the series. reminiscent of stuff like Silent Hill but plenty nightmarish in its own right. a haunted house scenario done properly, without too many jump scares. my only issue was with the potentially problematic monsters but i don't want to give too much away
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 20 January 2017 16:20 (seven years ago) link
Hold up, the new "Halloween" sequel is being written and directed by David Gordon Green, with a co-write from Danny McBride? Wasn't DGG chomping at the bit to remake "Suspiria" for a while, which seems like an equally poor pairing of director and material?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 February 2017 22:08 (seven years ago) link
haha good god
― Nhex, Saturday, 11 February 2017 23:06 (seven years ago) link
Anyone seen The Profane Exhibit from a few years ago? It's an anthology film. Can't find a trailer.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 12 February 2017 01:36 (seven years ago) link
Just seen Prevenge. Awful title but it's quite funny. Especially the boxing scene.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 12 February 2017 20:41 (seven years ago) link
I like Alice Lowe, so I'll try to check that out if I can find a copy somewhere
― Nhex, Monday, 13 February 2017 03:44 (seven years ago) link
sounds like this will be popular amongst youse
http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/raw
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 20:36 (seven years ago) link
seen the trailer, definitely kinda disgusted and not sure if i want to see it
― Nhex, Tuesday, 7 March 2017 20:56 (seven years ago) link
yeah, sounds great, have been looking forward to it for months.
don't have much else to add as i haven't watched many movies lately. will say that i saw the okay-ish don't breathe in the theater last august. it reminded me of the big green room debate upthread, but i'm happy calling this one a "proper horror movie", despite the lack of supernatural trappings. the tight focus on setting up & dragging out white-knuckle suspense scenes helps. also the reliance on familiar genre tropes: jump scares, entrapment in a dark & scary place, ye olde body horror.
the blair witch sequel/reboot thing was awful, maybe the worst movie i've ever paid full ticket price to see.
dug shyamalan's split. it's definitely got flaws -- dopey exposition, insensitive handling of a tricky premise, leering camerawork (complete with winking authorial endorsement), the inevitable rug-pull -- but even on a relatively limited budget, he's obviously a master craftsman. great performance from macavoy, too.
get out is fun but more admirable than actually great. not complaining, cuz i'd love to see it inspire others.
― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 22:04 (seven years ago) link
Can't say this sounds good, but interesting that it's only being shown once, and that it was filmed in a single take.
http://bloody-disgusting.com/indie/3427453/adam-masons-pig-playing-sxsw-never-exclusive/
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 8 March 2017 20:14 (seven years ago) link
Apparently "Get Out" just topped $100 million, which is great news for all sorts of reasons.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 13 March 2017 20:11 (seven years ago) link
seeing raw tomorrow, will report back. everyone i trust is losing their minds over it
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 22:56 (six years ago) link
my friend made me watch Rampage which he insisted was great. I pointed out it was a Uwe Boll film and he was like NAH MAN EVERYBODY SAID THIS WAS THE ONE HE GOT RIGHT.
Man it was bad. so so bad.
― i am also Tombot (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 22:58 (six years ago) link
apparently he rampaged in a town with the worst law enforcement alive
― i am also Tombot (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 22:59 (six years ago) link
raw is AWESOME. it is also not really a horror movie at all
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Thursday, 23 March 2017 14:40 (six years ago) link
There seem to have been a number of arty neo-cannibal movies in recent months. "Eyes of my Mother," "We Are What We Are," "We Are the Flesh" ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 23 March 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link
I kept hearing/reading enough about We Are The Flesh for it to finally register in my mind as something to keep an eye on, but then I started actually reading stuff about it and it sounds like a horrifying endurance test a la A Serbian Film except also pointless and vapid? So I'm thinking no thanks?
― Ambling Shambling Man (Old Lunch), Thursday, 23 March 2017 15:39 (six years ago) link
It's nothing like A Serbian Film, which is cartoonish and standard horror, more or less. As I noted somewhere way above, it's more surreal and winky and strange and funny and subversive, and also sometimes cool to look at. But it is graphic and sometimes gross, just not in a cynical, horrific, horror-movie way, a la Serbian Film, which I can defend but which is on its face not unlike a Saw movie or something. We Are the Flesh is like a ... playful Gaspar Noe, if that jibes at all?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 23 March 2017 15:45 (six years ago) link
Adding that I am not sure if "We Are the Flesh" is ultimately any *good*, but it's not just another gormless gross-out.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 23 March 2017 15:46 (six years ago) link
omg Raw. that was fuuuuucked up.
almsot feel like it should get its own thread.
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 9 April 2017 04:21 (six years ago) link
I saw Raw tooDon't want a new thread necessarily but I'm interested in how other people saw it. I found it striking that there was SO much blood/physical gore and so little overt intentional cruelty (with one notable exception). Also their parties are totally bonkers even without the sisters there.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 9 April 2017 06:24 (six years ago) link
i was saying to myself that the first part of the initiation would have given me a full blown panic attack
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 9 April 2017 06:26 (six years ago) link
i also wonder how the older sister kept her secret for so long
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 9 April 2017 06:29 (six years ago) link
i think the thing about the gore is I don't actually think when you catalog it there was as many individual instances as in other movies, but that the context of the gore plus the realism of it made it more jarring than yr typical gore (there were definitely a few moments I squirmed uncomfortably).
also "you taste like curry" = lol
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 9 April 2017 06:33 (six years ago) link
spoiler alert:
The sister could keep a secret for sure but the real honor goes to mom (and dad).
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 9 April 2017 13:09 (six years ago) link
oh totally.
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 9 April 2017 14:03 (six years ago) link
Hmm.
http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/haunting-of-hill-house-series-netflix-1202027332/
Netflix is in the early stages of developing a series based on the Shirley Jackson horror novel “The Haunting of Hill House,” Variety has learned.The series is described as a modern re-imagining of Jackson’s novel. The novel, which has been praised as one of the best horror stories of the 20th century, follows four people as they spend a summer in a rented mansion. They soon begin to experience a wide range of supernatural phenomena. It was previously adapted into a feature film in both 1963 and 1999.The planned 10-episode series come from writer-director Mike Flanagan, who is no stranger to the horror genre. His previous credits include horror films “Hush,” “Oculus,” and the sequel “Ouija: Origin of Evil.” Flanagan will executive produce along with Trevor Macy, Justin Falvey, and Darryl Frank. Amblin TV and Paramount TV will produce.
The series is described as a modern re-imagining of Jackson’s novel. The novel, which has been praised as one of the best horror stories of the 20th century, follows four people as they spend a summer in a rented mansion. They soon begin to experience a wide range of supernatural phenomena. It was previously adapted into a feature film in both 1963 and 1999.
The planned 10-episode series come from writer-director Mike Flanagan, who is no stranger to the horror genre. His previous credits include horror films “Hush,” “Oculus,” and the sequel “Ouija: Origin of Evil.” Flanagan will executive produce along with Trevor Macy, Justin Falvey, and Darryl Frank. Amblin TV and Paramount TV will produce.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 10 April 2017 17:51 (six years ago) link
Tentatively excited. Even odds.
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Monday, 10 April 2017 23:07 (six years ago) link
Raw was interesting. Not amazing, but worthwhile, and very well shot/produced/acted. I tend to find female-created horror inherently intriguing (like Blood Diner, Ginger Snaps or last year's The Love Witch) so I'm probably the target audience for this kind of thing. Some of the... juicier... bits really made me squirm, I gotta say.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 04:46 (six years ago) link
Heads up on the Slumber Party Massacre series, which I only recently learned was entirely written and directed by women.
― Lipbra Geraldoman (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 08:27 (six years ago) link
Saw Raw at the local indie last night. MY. GOD. An absolute blinder of a film. The final line got a huge clap from the audience. So well done as far as I was concerned. Lots of skincrawling, claustrophobic moments. The horse being winched up; the nightlife scenes... It helped that I'd been to the gym, then got caught in the rain, had liver and onions for dinner, then didn't have time to get changed before leaving, so I was literally sitting in damp, sweaty, livery clothes while watching this grubby, entrail-strewn film. It was like a 4D experience
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 16 May 2017 13:18 (six years ago) link
Smell-o-vision.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 May 2017 13:21 (six years ago) link
There's a lot of gore, but it never feels like gore for gore's sake. The shock moments feel nuanced, earned.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 16 May 2017 13:23 (six years ago) link
Also, the decor/scenery - it reminded me of Ben Wheatley's High Rise, but somehow grittier and more believable. Basically this is the perfect horror movie. Great soundtrack too. I need that necrophiliac French EDM-hop track in my life.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 16 May 2017 13:25 (six years ago) link
Apparently it's called Plus Pute Que Toutes Les Putes by Orties
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 16 May 2017 13:28 (six years ago) link
the soundtrack is by Jim Williams who did A Field in England -- some of the tracks were almost identical! also i continue to be otm about the goreI found it striking that there was SO much blood/physical gore and so little overt intentional cruelty (with one notable exception).
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 16 May 2017 15:42 (six years ago) link
Both Raw and High Rise are kinda crap, but yeah, it's the same kind of architecture.
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 16 May 2017 16:13 (six years ago) link
I think it's grittier in Raw because it has aged for 40 years or so...
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 16 May 2017 16:14 (six years ago) link
?
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 08:49 (six years ago) link
It's the same seventies kinda brutalist architecture. High Rise recreates it as new, while Raw takes place in a real worn down version. So of course Raw seems grittier and more believable...
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 10:42 (six years ago) link
The Void is pretty decent. It is a bit like watching several John Carpenter films at the same time and doesn't quite hang together as well as it needs to but it is a couple of notches better than anything I have seen recently.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 11:28 (six years ago) link
Don't know if it's necessarily horror, but I thought "The Survivalist" was quietly devastating, a really frank accounting of post-apoclyptic desperation, where every character, at every moment, you can see in their eyes this constant calculation of what it will take to make it through to the next day.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 23 May 2017 17:27 (six years ago) link
Finally saw The Invitation. Peters out a bit but a great sustained mood.
― The Thnig, Tuesday, 23 May 2017 19:09 (six years ago) link
Basically my verdict too. I thought the ending (the shot where you see the rest of the canyon) was really good and yet didn't land quite right.
― twink peas it is happening again (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 23 May 2017 22:15 (six years ago) link
the ending shot was good but I think they fumbled w the buildup and reveal, which both took way too long and was not a surprise in any way.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 23 May 2017 22:19 (six years ago) link
'accidental exorcist' has the worst cover art and name, but it's really, really worthy of attention. might be my fav from last year. slimmy, disturbing and with shades of some really dark humour. not far from potrykus if he went further into horror tbh.
speaking of which, 'the alchemist cookbook' didn't left a deep impression when i first saw it a few months back, but i've been thinking about quite often, so it's up for a rewatch.
anyone here seen 'XX' ?
― rusty_allen, Thursday, 1 June 2017 12:45 (six years ago) link
The Invitation is a film I still think about regularly. As is The Visit.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Thursday, 1 June 2017 13:08 (six years ago) link
i was let down by the void. it's got some nice monster makeup & designs (to the extent we could see them), but the characters & story didn't interest me at all. felt more "inspired by" than inspired.
despite some flaws & obstacles, the autopsy of jane doe is pretty great. father & son pathologists investigate a mystery body's mysterious mysteries on a dark and stormy night. features a clever script elevated by moody cinematography, impressively grisly practical effects, slowly escalating tension & shocks, and a great central performance from brian cox. like the void, it owes something to early carpenter, but not too much. was also reminded of gary sherman's excellent dead & buried. directed by andre ovredal, who gave us trollhunter a while back. not perfect, but highly recommended.
― Balðy Daudrs (contenderizer), Thursday, 1 June 2017 14:10 (six years ago) link
Brian cox = will watch
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 1 June 2017 16:25 (six years ago) link
I have a dvd of XX waiting at home. I want it to be good.
― The Thnig, Thursday, 1 June 2017 16:59 (six years ago) link
XX is the anthology one right? Yeah...it's not great.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 1 June 2017 17:02 (six years ago) link
Agree on "Autopsy of Jane Doe." Reminded me a bit of "Occulus," plus a few other things swimming around in there. Definitely sustains itself pretty well, at least to the end, but it's a great midnight movie. Interesting that it's the Trollhunter guy, I was wondering what became of him. I just assumed he went to Hollywood and got lost in the shuffle.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 2 June 2017 04:21 (six years ago) link
OK XX was not good.
― The Thnig, Saturday, 3 June 2017 23:48 (six years ago) link
Noroi: The Curse is on Shudder now - and is pretty good.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Sunday, 4 June 2017 10:27 (six years ago) link
So I finally got around to the Love Witch. Really dug it in general, still turning it over in my head, such an oddly constructed movie. It treads a fine line between campy satire and meta-commentary about gender roles and sexuality in a pretty unique way, I can't really think of anything else like it. mid-period John Waters maybe? Minus his more overt comedy. (I would be really curious to hear what he thinks of this film tbh). It nails the period details/vibe so precisely I was genuinely taken aback at the handful of shots that include modern cars plus the one with a cellphone. Seemed like they could have avoided those, they were p jarring.
The politics/POV of it is a little inscrutable - does it reinforce the narrative that new age/hippie mysticism cloaking itself in sex-positive feminism was actually just as regressive/misogynist as traditional middle American patriarchy? Def a lot about how restrictive/destructive gender roles are for both men and women.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 June 2017 16:27 (six years ago) link
i loved it! first off just evoking that late '60s/early '70s technicolor sexploitation look so perfectly, but yeah - the politics and feel are just so weird. the lead performance is pretty amazing IMO, not sure how you can actually direct someone to act like that who doesn't already have the bizarre essence Biller had
the modern shots were hilarious! seemed to me like she was definitely sort of signalling early to not take the retro aesthetic TOO seriously - the ideas in it are still applicable today re feminism, and like you said, no easy answers
― Nhex, Thursday, 8 June 2017 16:44 (six years ago) link
I appreciated that it went beyond tongue-in-cheek homage/genre exercise. As lovingly as all the art direction was done, the subtler and more ambiguous twists in the acting, dialogue, and plot twists really take it to another level.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 June 2017 17:54 (six years ago) link
right down to the ending, which is very wtf. Shot and framed like a conventional "happy ending", except the protagonist is delusional/insane and her "ideal man" has actually just been ritually murdered
spoilidad I guess lol
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 June 2017 17:56 (six years ago) link
on the one hand the ending is a classic pro-feminist smash the patriarchy sorta thing, except that the woman isn't actually "liberated" in any meaningful way
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 June 2017 17:57 (six years ago) link
Hi there! Remember me? Turns out it's a lot harder to watch films with a new baby than I remembered.
Saw some stuff that was somewhere between "eh" and dreck mostly, but have we talked about "The Wailing" yet?
Also, Train to Busan must have come up at some point right?
― jjjusten, Thursday, 8 June 2017 18:02 (six years ago) link
I don't know either of those, what's the deal
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 June 2017 18:04 (six years ago) link
Both of them have came up months ago, maybe last year.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 8 June 2017 18:35 (six years ago) link
xp is the ending a classic smash the patriarchy thing? i mean, even discounting that wonderful fever dream ending, seems like she and everyone else paid a huge price for her "power", and the outside, "real" world is just as horrifically misogynist. if anything it's more of a nihilistic film noir ending where nobody wins
sorry to spoil ppl, Love Witch deserves to be seen for sure
― Nhex, Thursday, 8 June 2017 21:45 (six years ago) link
symbolically yes I think murdering Prince Charming is a p classic anti-patriarchy move, but yeah it doesn't liberate her, either literally or obviously mentally
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 June 2017 21:47 (six years ago) link
Well no reason not to talk about them again - Busan is a (yes I know) yet another zombie apocalypse flick, but stands up in its own right, some pretty amazing image moments, pretty tense throughout but like many Korean horror things oddly maudlin in spots that don't always culturally translate here I think, and long.
The Wailing (also Korean) is a very different thing. Plot rattles around a bit and feels like it might fall apart but sort of masterfully pulls itself together. Heavy themes of cultural identity and hate of outsiders, the typical odd moments played for laughs in a film that is deeply dark and unfunny at its heart. It's a weird one, but the first thing I've seen this year that I can happily throw my weight behind. It's also visually magnificent on pretty much every level.
― jjjusten, Thursday, 8 June 2017 21:50 (six years ago) link
Busan's definitely on my list, got a lot of attention last year. had a change to see it theatrically but missed the date
― Nhex, Thursday, 8 June 2017 21:55 (six years ago) link
Really didn't like Busan. Thought it was pretty cliched and repetitive and larded with unearned sentimentality.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 8 June 2017 22:15 (six years ago) link
Kind of relieved there's barely anything I'm interested in right now but Oz Perkins seems to be making a name for himself with February/Black Coat's Daughter and I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House. Anyone seen these?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 8 June 2017 23:24 (six years ago) link
heard mixed opinions on Blackcoat, nothing about the rest
― Nhex, Friday, 9 June 2017 04:34 (six years ago) link
Did not like I Am The Pretty Thing... at all
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Friday, 9 June 2017 13:07 (six years ago) link
think i already mentioned him upthread but oz perkins is def someone i'm keeping both my eyes on. really, really loved 'february'. 'i am the prteey...' was also good and absorbing, tho it didn't left such a deep impression.
― rusty_allen, Monday, 12 June 2017 18:00 (six years ago) link
It Comes at Night aws really good, albeit a depressing way to end an evening
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 12 June 2017 20:14 (six years ago) link
― jjjusten, Thursday, June 8, 2017 10:50 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
busan was about thirty min too long, i actually thought the part where they forced the half a dozen people who'd made it through alive into the front car, followed by the zombies being let in, was a good place to leave the story. my biggest issue was that terrible shoehorned in villain character, which is my exact least favorite type of villain: this craven, cowardly guy who thinks only of himself and gets everyone else killed. i mean there were literally three moments in the final act where he grabbed a character and pushed them into a pursuing zombie so he could escape. devoted way, way too much time to him, time i'd rather have spent watching the uneasy alliance between Seok-woo (the fund manager dad) and Sang-hwa (the working class dude.) nothing wrong with the performances whatsoever, the first couple acts are insane in the best way. but that last stretch, idk.
― nomar, Sunday, 18 June 2017 18:05 (six years ago) link
i mean i feel one of the cheapest and least appealing things in movies of any kind is where this kind of lame character gets a bunch of likable characters killed for dumb reasons that don't make much sense even in the context of self-preservation. it's a pretty common trope, one that immediately takes me out of the movie.
― nomar, Sunday, 18 June 2017 18:08 (six years ago) link
That actually is my main point of criticism too. (Both the 30 minutes too long and the villain I guess, so 2 points.)
― jjjusten, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 03:46 (six years ago) link
The crowd scenes where it was actual extras and not cg were enough to make me on the balance happy with it though.
― jjjusten, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 03:48 (six years ago) link
For totally unoriginal, disposable boilerplate, "Life" is surprisingly well made, from cast to direction to FX.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 05:07 (six years ago) link
Kuso, the body horror film directed by Flying Lotus, is going to be on Shudder from the 21st of July. Looks completely ridiculous.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Saturday, 24 June 2017 07:26 (six years ago) link
Gina Philips just popped into my head. Then I realised I knew her from Ally McBeal. Totally forgot she was the same person as the girl in Jeepers Creepers. She has a cameo in the third film coming out this year (she hasn't been in anything since 2012). Salva is still directing, kind of amazed his career has survived. I was never huge on the first film but it was a little different from what else was going on at the time.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 27 June 2017 00:26 (six years ago) link
Started The Void, it's pretty shlocky.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 June 2017 00:42 (six years ago) link
Finally saw "The Witch," which I thought was great and which totally helped (further) erase the half-assed stupidity that was "The Void" from memory.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 June 2017 18:52 (six years ago) link
For a change I feel about The Void exactly the consensus: uninteresting story but worth seeing for the visual effects and I hope their next film is more original because they show promise.
Also saw The White God recently. Again, impressive achievement in some ways but not a good script. Impressive achievement being the dog coordination. Highlights are seeing dogs waiting for a guy in his home and the timeless comedy of dogs making angry faces.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 28 June 2017 20:14 (six years ago) link
I was so bummed about The Void, but yeah, how it looked was the least of its myriad problems. Also some absolutely incredible boneheadery at work in the script. My favorites may be a guy stumbling into an emergency room with a knife wound and the doctor telling the nurse to "put pressure on it!" Well, duh. It's a hospital, she's a nurse! The other was a bad guy with a scalpel, and the doctor says "put the knife down." It's a scalpel, you're a doctor!
Anyway, "The Void" was like first draft of a very poor man's "Event Horizon" crossed with "Hellraiser." Which is just bad. It was so incoherent for a second I thought a missed a few minutes. Maybe I did? Who knows, who cares.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 June 2017 20:23 (six years ago) link
The most clear inspiration is Prince Of Darkness, with other Carpenter bits.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 28 June 2017 20:29 (six years ago) link
I thought of Prince of Darkness, and Mouth if Madness, but at least the former I had some inkling what was going on and why, and the latter kind of creepy and cool. This one was like hour-and-a-half of bad actor villain just pontificating about his power.Unburden yourself of your flimsy Earthly vessel and become all that you can be! Infinity calls to you with the promise of immortality and endless power. Be born again my child, rise up and blah blah blah blah blah blah.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 June 2017 21:04 (six years ago) link
Indeed
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 28 June 2017 21:40 (six years ago) link
Has anyone seen "The Transfiguration"? I really liked it. It featured at Cannes which is unusual for a horror movie. It's quite a low key slowburn horror, all filmed in Rockaway, Queens which lends it a gritty feel too. Reminiscent of movies like Martin and Let The Right One In
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Wednesday, 28 June 2017 21:46 (six years ago) link
Sold
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 28 June 2017 22:42 (six years ago) link
I watched this film Creep the other night. Only two characters, all done with handheld camera. I don't really know horror that well but it certainly creeped me out.
― Never changed username before (cardamon), Wednesday, 28 June 2017 22:50 (six years ago) link
That's the one with the wolf mask right? I like that and I'll say no more
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 28 June 2017 23:27 (six years ago) link
xps Yeah, I thought The Transfiguration was pretty cool and interesting. The kids were excellent.
― Nhex, Thursday, 29 June 2017 01:11 (six years ago) link
I thought Creep was really, well, creepy.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 June 2017 02:30 (six years ago) link
'the transfiguration' to the wishlist.
quite liked 'the void' even w/ all the explicit reference cartography - barker, lovecraft, anderson, fulci at the end - and extreme carpenter worship.
you were all right about 'XX' - kusama's was the only one that left some mark. and clark's was basically 'weekend at bernie's' turning into a videoclip imho.
― rusty_allen, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 18:56 (six years ago) link
Not strictly horror (although horrifying) but I wanted to note with pride that my great friend's debut feature KILLING GROUND opens in the US soon. Bias aside, it's absolutely brilliant. https://youtu.be/d3ePiwb0NxQ
― attention vampire (MatthewK), Thursday, 6 July 2017 10:20 (six years ago) link
I wanted to like the recent Irish rural horror Without Name a bit more than I did as thematically it's catnip for me. It's still pretty solid tho and really well shot
― i know kore-eda (or something), Thursday, 13 July 2017 17:36 (six years ago) link
Ooh!
Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani have a new film! It's called Laissez bronzer les cadavres! (Let the Corpses Tan!) Here's the gorgeous poster pic.twitter.com/0cMVFtDbKy— James Gracey (@jamesgracey) July 18, 2017
New Cattet / Forzani.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Tuesday, 18 July 2017 21:18 (six years ago) link
https://vimeo.com/202034757
NOVEMBER by Rainer Sarnet. Might not be totally horrory but looks like a must see to me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 19 July 2017 21:55 (six years ago) link
It stains the sand red was pretty good. Horror/comedy involving a woman trekking across the desert to avoid a zombie. Don't want to spoil much, but the main character's ability to positively approach the situation was refreshing and brought some levity. One scene in particular was hard to watch and brutal though.
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Saturday, 29 July 2017 07:21 (six years ago) link
Huh, intriguing, this is the "Grave Encounters" guys. Reviews I just read make it seem like a miss, unfortunately. Variety review brings up this, though, which I've never heard of: Richard Gale’s cult-favorite $600 wonder “The Horribly Slow Murderer With the Extremely Inefficient Weapon."
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 29 July 2017 14:20 (six years ago) link
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2017/07/28/when-authors-talk-on-twitter-slasher-movie-edition/
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 29 July 2017 14:41 (six years ago) link
haha that was good
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 29 July 2017 16:59 (six years ago) link
hah yeah
― Nhex, Sunday, 30 July 2017 18:22 (six years ago) link
Annabelle: Creation = more mediocrity from the overrated Conjuring universe. I think I'm just done w/ the resurgence of Catholic-guilt devil horror cos these films are just fucking interchangeable at this point.
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 16 August 2017 01:24 (six years ago) link
Split was just a hot mess - m. Night simply can not deliver dialogue or performances that don't number among the most wooden and embarrassing on screen. Unfortunately unlike the happening, where his ineptitude is magical and hilarious, this one is just dull and awful.
― jjjusten, Monday, 9 October 2017 18:24 (six years ago) link
November is showing 22 October 2017 at Chicago International Film Festival. Hope it comes to UK in some form soon. I'll probably have to wait for the disc release.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 9 October 2017 19:53 (six years ago) link
did that last Rob Zombie movie even get released?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 October 2017 20:05 (six years ago) link
Yea Split sucked. No idea why people were gaga over it, it was only slightly less clumsy than the rest of his ouevre
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 10 October 2017 03:46 (six years ago) link
cosign
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Tuesday, 10 October 2017 04:01 (six years ago) link
It was alright, nothing particularly special. People are over-/underrating it because of who made it.
Y'all know there's a sequel in production, right? And yes, it is also officially and explicitly a sequel to the other movie.
― the scarest move i ever seen is scary move 4 (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 10 October 2017 10:21 (six years ago) link
the only M Night film I've seen that I liked was The Visit
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 10 October 2017 10:25 (six years ago) link
Split was fine, but the surprise connection to *spoiler* and the upcoming sequel automatically bumped it up in my estimation
― Nhex, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 15:49 (six years ago) link
It Stains the Sand Red was ... I don't know. Better than I expected? Worse? I know at some point I looked at the time and thought, jeez, there's an hour left? How will they pad that out? And then they ... pad it out. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Ultimately felt like a slightly above average midnight movie, both more ambitious than it had to be but also still sort of disappointingly slight/lazy, especially the way it kept relying on stupid behavior to stretch out the solid premise. Also, for not committing one way or another to comedy or drama, with one foot in each but neither terribly convincing. I dunno, worth 90 minutes, I guess.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 October 2017 02:08 (six years ago) link
Happy Death Day wasn't much, had good humor and was more a drama than horror really. seemed to think it could get away with its shameless Groundhog Day pillaging simply cos it acknowledged it later in the film.
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Sunday, 15 October 2017 02:33 (six years ago) link
aw. gonna see it tomorrow
― Nhex, Sunday, 15 October 2017 05:48 (six years ago) link
I mean it's not bad or anything....
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Sunday, 15 October 2017 07:09 (six years ago) link
heh i figured it couldn't possibly be as good as that premise was
― Nhex, Sunday, 15 October 2017 09:11 (six years ago) link
It Comes At Night was really well made. Not necessarily horror, though close enough, and definitely pretty grim. I think I might prefer The Survivalist, which almost works as a sequel, or at least a companion.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 October 2017 01:58 (six years ago) link
I did eventually go see Happy Death Day, really liked it. Low expectations, but it did what I hoped it would do
― Nhex, Thursday, 26 October 2017 04:30 (six years ago) link
WE ARE THE FLESH
Haven't seen anything gross and nasty in a while because I've drifted away from that a bit, but this looked very very pretty so I gave in. It helps that Arrow gave it a kind of modern classic packaging (which the very good Villainess also got).
I was bracing myself a little bit, but actually it wasn't hard to watch at all, much sexier than I thought it would be too.
You might feel it doesn't really go anywhere but the two great performances, the sheer gorgeousness of the visuals and the hotness made it very much worth my time.
In the credits, all of Minter's influences for the film are named and it's a lot of the people you'd expect for an arty taboo lover. This is like a modern revival of the panic movement. I was surprised Cuaron and Inarritu were big supporters of this film.
Looking forward to anything else Minter does.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 4 November 2017 14:17 (six years ago) link
Watched Split - the Shyamalan movie - last night. It was surprisingly good; a tense thriller with a very early-Cronenberg (Brood, Scanners) vibe (lots of wood paneling and therapists with wild theories that prove to be horrifyingly correct).
― grawlix (unperson), Saturday, 4 November 2017 14:22 (six years ago) link
I watched “Them” last week - first half great, second half same as the first half zzzz there’s only so much running away i can stand
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 4 November 2017 18:56 (six years ago) link
that opening though was legit scary
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/9/9e/Top10_1950s_them.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20141129103318
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 4 November 2017 19:15 (six years ago) link
First 10 minutes are good but the rest were not, for me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 4 November 2017 19:40 (six years ago) link
Was "The Strangers" a flat-out remake? One of the reasons I liked "You're Next" so much is that it felt like a satire of both of those films.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 4 November 2017 19:41 (six years ago) link
watched hell house recently. pretty good. doesn't quite stick its landing, but those are often tricky with horrors so...
― ||||||||, Saturday, 4 November 2017 20:05 (six years ago) link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_House_LLC
― ||||||||, Saturday, 4 November 2017 20:07 (six years ago) link
re Them ... also I rolled my eyes @ the ending/“reveal”
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 4 November 2017 20:38 (six years ago) link
― grawlix (unperson), Saturday, November 4, 2017
ahahahaha no
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Saturday, 18 November 2017 16:30 (six years ago) link
yeah Split was fucking terrible.
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 November 2017 16:32 (six years ago) link
I'm with unperson, thought it was decent
― Nhex, Saturday, 18 November 2017 18:08 (six years ago) link
Antibirth - colourful stoner comedy with really gross horror bits. Feels so much like a Gregg Araki film. Nice to see Meg Tilly again.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 15 January 2018 15:44 (six years ago) link
i liked that one. Natasha Lyonne greatly used her naturally charming/gross ways
― Nhex, Monday, 15 January 2018 16:46 (six years ago) link
She's gross in other films?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 15 January 2018 16:59 (six years ago) link
But I'm not sure she was gross in this either, more her condition.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 15 January 2018 17:00 (six years ago) link
this seems to be getting attention
https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/mom-and-dad
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 16 January 2018 22:32 (six years ago) link
Does Craig Zahler's "Brawl in Cell Block 99" count as horror? The second half is a bastard of Riki-Oh and Martyrs.
― Wes Brodicus, Tuesday, 16 January 2018 23:27 (six years ago) link
Blue Ruin/ Green Room guy's next film "Hold the Dark" apparently about a guy rescuing a young girl from a pack of wild wolves in Alaska.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 January 2018 23:47 (six years ago) link
I thought "The Ritual" (on Netflix) was really quite good for all the reasons movies, but particularly horror movies, should be good. Well acted, well directed, great setting and in particular well written, with strong, believable characters that help it immensely despite it teetering on the brink of the ridiculous (which of course is something the best horror films pull off). While I don't know how well this one will age, I think it's at least as good as, say, "The Witch."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 March 2018 02:57 (six years ago) link
Not quite on the witch’s level for me. Very good, though.
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Monday, 19 March 2018 12:53 (six years ago) link
I'm looking forward to that coming to UK Netflix.
There seems to have been an incredible dearth of good contemporary horror films recently. In that context, i quite enjoyed Ouija: Origin of Evil and Veronica - both of which are slightly-above-average possession flicks that show flashes of real promise.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 19 March 2018 13:13 (six years ago) link
Really liked The Ritual AND the new Ravenous (not to be confused with Guy Pearce cannibal Ravenous), also on Netflix. Quebecois zombie flick. Watched those two back-to-back a week or so ago and my wife and I were really excited to be on such a roll of "hey, we're watching actually good horror movies that we can both agree on, subject-wise, and are being entertained and scared."
― how's life, Monday, 19 March 2018 13:14 (six years ago) link
I thought of "The Witch" because it was another one of those what you think is going on is actually going on horror films, with a similar sense of inevitable doom/dread and smart/judicious use of effects/blood. "The Witch" is better, but I think it's partly the period stuff that puts it over. This one, the presence of real characters and plausible behavior makes a big difference. Also, the psychological motivation of the main guy was pretty convincing, and as far as thematic metaphors go, it wraps things up pretty nicely.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 March 2018 13:17 (six years ago) link
Ouija: Origin of Evil
Flanagan is a pretty solid genre guy, and it looks like he might have some deal with Netflix. They released "Hush" and "Gerald's Game," which were both good, and provided a dumping ground for the rescued "Before I Wake" (which is not supposed to be good).
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 March 2018 13:19 (six years ago) link
I know this is an adjacent topic but the author of the novel THE RITUAL, Adam Nevill, is my favorite horror author. Expect more adaptations.
― The Thnig, Monday, 19 March 2018 14:14 (six years ago) link
Oh cool. Will try to check out.
― how's life, Monday, 19 March 2018 14:16 (six years ago) link
Yeah thanks! His name in the credits rang a bell but I have not read him. Now I will.
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Monday, 19 March 2018 16:38 (six years ago) link
Which book to begin with?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 21 March 2018 19:54 (five years ago) link
House of Small Shadows.
― The Thnig, Wednesday, 21 March 2018 21:24 (five years ago) link
Speaking of horror, what happened to Ti West? And did the last Rob Zombie movie even see release? What about Adam Wingard, wasn't he supposed to direct a Godzilla movie? I have a hunch his name won't make it to the screen, but hey, maybe he'll pull it off.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 21 March 2018 22:11 (five years ago) link
Zombie's working on a sequel to Devil's Rejects now.
― toblerone rasa (how's life), Wednesday, 21 March 2018 22:38 (five years ago) link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil%27s_Rejects#Sequel
I liked Creep 2, which is on Netflix now. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did - seemed like an infertile movie to sequelize. Like the first one, though, the performances carry it.If you’re just completely utterly done with found footage horror, it probably won’t win you over. Otherwise, well worth watching.
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 22 March 2018 00:38 (five years ago) link
Sweet Sweet Lonely Girl (2016) - Young woman looks after her hermit aunt in an old house. Autumn moving into winter in Vernon, Connecticut. It's set in the 80s but it feels way more 70s, the songs are almost exclusively from 60s-70s, so why did they set it in the 80s? Maybe they wanted the place and people to seem behind the times? Lesbian romance and some riffing on the third segment of Bava's Black Sabbath. I saw this on Shudder and it's pretty good. AD Calvo has made a few horror films and maybe worth keeping an eye on?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 25 March 2018 17:54 (five years ago) link
sounds interesting to me
― Nhex, Sunday, 25 March 2018 18:16 (five years ago) link
I think some people here would enjoy it but don't expect too much.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 25 March 2018 18:19 (five years ago) link
The Housemaid - Not to be confused with the 1960 and 2010 South Korean films of the same name. A French plantation in 50s Vietnam, but dialogue split between Vietnamese and English. The monster looks like a crowned ghost from Lord Of The Rings. It's marred by the sort of special effects you get in lots mid-budget horror films like jerky edited motion and too familiar scream effects but I was quite stirred by some of it and I'm sure it'll be on lists and studies of horror stories about colonialism.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 22 April 2018 20:49 (five years ago) link
Hello, horror thread - catching up with a few bits recently:
Bone Tomahawk is a mess, tonally (like it's not sure how much fun it should have) and I'd happily, uh, shave off twenty minutes or so, but damn, when it hits, fuck me it hits. I've found myself stopping in various places, reliving that scene. With regards to the 'is it racist?' argument, I guess I'm on the 'it's racist' side (the scalping alone is enough to tie it to a particular cultural memory).
Under the Shadow is properly terrifying in places, but it had too much on its mind and lost its way.
The Witch: shit me up in places (the boy's 'return' to himself and the incantations; the suckling witch), and I loved the total commitment of everyone involved. Loved the colours, which made me think of Witchfinder General. Wasn't enamoured with the ending - particularly the final shot. It made me think about how much I'm STILL annoyed by the ending of Kill List. Wasn't sure about Finchy.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 23 April 2018 15:15 (five years ago) link
I'm a big fan of enigmatic supernatural films where in the end what you suspect is happening but maybe expect is a fake-out turns out to be, yeah, exactly what you were suspecting. Curse of the Demon, Rosemary's Baby to Lords of Salem and The Ritual, so many in this awesome mold.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 April 2018 16:52 (five years ago) link
aka when the unreliable narrator turns out to be REALLY reliable
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 April 2018 16:53 (five years ago) link
(protagonists more accurate than narrator, I guess, but you get the idea)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 April 2018 16:54 (five years ago) link
the invitation!
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 23 April 2018 16:58 (five years ago) link
though wait nm i guess that's not supernatural at all
Still, that's a perfect example! You're expecting a twist, but the twist is that there is no twist!
Speaking of Bone Tomahawk, that dude apparently wrote the upcoming full grind house Puppet Master reboot, in which the killer puppets are also Nazis and the movie is apparently proudly and aggressively not PC.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 April 2018 17:00 (five years ago) link
so the Nazi puppets are the good guys?
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 April 2018 17:01 (five years ago) link
Go figure but I think they are bad.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 April 2018 17:10 (five years ago) link
Something about the whole Full Moon thing makes me...uncomfortable. I don't know that I've ever actually seen one of their movies, but I've seen enough clips and trailers to have some strong suspicions about their sociopolitical views.
― Across the You Never Her (Old Lunch), Monday, 23 April 2018 17:13 (five years ago) link
Their 2013 feature Ooga Booga, for instance (probably do not search for this at work).
― Across the You Never Her (Old Lunch), Monday, 23 April 2018 17:16 (five years ago) link
I watched the trailer and immediately regretted it
Crazy that a) It's actually a spinoff of a previous movie made by the same director, DOLL GRAVEYARD and b) it predates the Michael Brown shooting, and is not a reacton to it
― Nhex, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 00:23 (five years ago) link
proudly and aggressively not PC
If anyone connected with the movie described it that way, then they can get fucked forever.
― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 01:54 (five years ago) link
I often find myself wondering how prevalent strains of crypto-fascism/-racism are in the horror community.
― The year has been nicely like we say and the more of helping (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 02:38 (five years ago) link
(Based on the Ooga Booga trailer, I'm fairly comfortable dropping the 'crypto' altogether on that one.)
― The year has been nicely like we say and the more of helping (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 02:40 (five years ago) link
lol, here's Bone Tomahawk/Puppet Master dude's other upcoming, non-horror, film.
Two policemen, one an old-timer (Mel Gibson), the other his volatile younger partner (Vince Vaughn), who find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics become the media's cause du jour. Low on cash and with no other options, these two embittered soldiers descend into the criminal underworld to gain their just due, but instead find far more than they wanted awaiting them in the shadows.[1]
― how's life, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 09:42 (five years ago) link
wait so there were already three Nazi Puppet Master movies, and Zahler's writing an alternate universe reboot. huh
Dragged Across Concrete sounds pretty right-wing, but so did Brawl in Cell Block 99 and it was just more wacky and violent than actually political. Funny that he's reusing almost the entire cast, including Jennifer Carpenter, Don Johnson and Udo Kier
― Nhex, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 10:40 (five years ago) link
tbf if i was a director i'd cast udo kier in every movie i made
― Mahogany Loggins (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 10:41 (five years ago) link
Yeah, I was wondering one day if I should check out the Puppet Master movies and I noticed the arguable overemployment of Nazis in a series of movies about murderous puppets and I thought, y'know, maybe I don't really need to check out the Puppet Master movies.
― The year has been nicely like we say and the more of helping (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 12:16 (five years ago) link
They are pretty bad movies but I still find the puppets lovable. Anything past Pupper Master 5 (I might make exception to Curse of the Puppet Master if I re-watched it) was the worst kind of bad.
I hope the reboot is good.
― He said captain, I said wot (FlopsyDuck), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 13:34 (five years ago) link
Anyone else see The Housemaid?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 27 April 2018 18:29 (five years ago) link
I thought the (French-Canadian) Ravenous on Netflix was dull as dirt. Zombie movie, but not at all scary. Bits of humor, but not enough to make it a comedy. Some weirdness to make me think maybe more was going on but not enough to make me think. Just slow going, with characters inexplicably not taking their situation seriously enough to generate any suspense. Looks OK, but it felt like a HD camera was doing the heavy lifting for a super low budget. Oh well.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 May 2018 18:27 (five years ago) link
you guyssssssssssssssssssi just saw "It Follows"and not to get TMI but i made the (humbly) ingenuous decision to watch this after i got 2 shots of penicillin for a "gay male" issue and...it was THE BEST
― surm, Tuesday, 1 May 2018 22:05 (five years ago) link
The last two posts both otm
― when worlds collide I'll see you again (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 2 May 2018 01:32 (five years ago) link
xp lol amazing
― Nhex, Wednesday, 2 May 2018 04:07 (five years ago) link
got around to Raw last night. very good, subverts expectations nicely and agree w dog latin upthread that the gore/scares are v much earned and well-grounded in the plot + characters. It reminded me of Parents, which is a very different kind of film (partially because it's v American), but had a similar fatalistic adulthood = cannibalism theme, framed as a bildungsroman.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 15:40 (five years ago) link
had no idea the score was by the same guy as A Field In England. one to watch for, that guy.
Has anyone else seen "I Remember You"? More a mystery / ghost story than horror, with some beautiful visuals of Iceland, and decent acting. The ending left me puzzled for one character's motivation, so now reading the book (by Yrsa Sigurdardottir) to get clarification. Already getting some good backstory on the characters, which is helping, though I'm wondering if they have similar conclusions.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 15:49 (five years ago) link
Raw was scored by Jim Williams? Is there a soundtrack release?
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 16:21 (five years ago) link
stuff like Raw is always refreshing to me, reminding me why horror's one of my favorite genres, just so many ideas/issues dealt with in interesting ways
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 June 2018 16:30 (five years ago) link
JIM WILLIAMSthe most difficult man to google when A Field in England came out and I was obsessed with the scorehe really gets it
Colin Stetson apparently did the score for Hereditary, which comes out this weekend iircThis is a trend I can support with genuine enthusiasm
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link
yeah trying to research our man jim is basically impossible
who is colin stetson?
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 16:56 (five years ago) link
cool looping sax playerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJHr2DlRog8
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 6 June 2018 17:03 (five years ago) link
ooh neat thanks!
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 7 June 2018 15:55 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek1ePFp-nBI
Looks good. Looks like a mix of the first one + H20. I mean, they've told this story so many times, but I guess I have high expectations? Trailer is menacing enough.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 8 June 2018 16:22 (five years ago) link
so is this like the Superman Returns of the Halloween series, where they just pretend most of the sequels didn't happen (but some did?)
― Nhex, Saturday, 9 June 2018 03:44 (five years ago) link
I think it pretends that everything after the first one - all the sequels and reboots - never happened.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 9 June 2018 13:08 (five years ago) link
When can we talk about Hereditary?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!??!
I saw it last night. Haven't quite stopped thinking about it since. Toni Collette was amazing. I understood the plot on a surface level but wonder what it really ~means~, esp the song that played during the closing credits. Extremely incongruous and was a powerful emotional catalyst. I would see this movie again!
The score was, as predicted, well done.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 9 June 2018 14:12 (five years ago) link
I am going to try and see it next week. Whenever a movie is presented as the scariest thing ever, it is usually a boilerplate jump-scare movie like A Quiet Place, or a really well-made and acted film that is not terribly scary, like The Babadook. From what little I know about it this seems more like the latter, a psychologically scary art film, something to think about, usually about grief.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 9 June 2018 14:58 (five years ago) link
it's not scary -- it's intense (more so for some people than others) and it leaves a long-lingering creep that suffuses daily activities with ominous vibes. i wouldn't say "scary" tbh
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 9 June 2018 16:45 (five years ago) link
Hereditary is good stuff. Not perfect, for sure, not all the details quite fit together, but easily really good. Go see it.It's closer to the The Babadook, but significantly better crafted imo.
― Nhex, Sunday, 10 June 2018 02:03 (five years ago) link
A couple of shots/sequences definitely bordered on scary. All of it in the last half-hour.
It's definitely in that VVitch / Babadook zone but not *quite* as good as either (though significantly better than a lot of other recent horror flicks). I'd have lopped off 15-20 minutes.
OBLIQUE SPOILERS
While there's obviously still subtext to be drawn and all that, I actually appreciated that at a certain point it's like, no, this is why shit's going down and it's not a metaphor lol
― Simon H., Sunday, 10 June 2018 16:15 (five years ago) link
bummer that it's not as good as those others, it's been preceded by such high praise
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 June 2018 16:22 (five years ago) link
It's still pretty good! (Though I'm not surprised audiences hate it.)
― Simon H., Sunday, 10 June 2018 16:22 (five years ago) link
this is why shit's going down and it's not a metaphor lol
idk, i still think it's a metaphor -- it was comforting to movie viewers to know [spoiler about the certain point] because it got them through the harrowing nature of the situation, but i don't think of it as "a story" as much as a distillation of the horrors of heredity, which we all grapple with to some degreei certainly felt massive lingering horror as i looked at boxes of personal/family ephemera the morning after i saw it
like A Quiet Place was family-centered horror of a narrow scope with one family and clear monsters; Hereditary seemed to be a more all-encompassing look at the horror of family and things that are hereditary
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 10 June 2018 16:37 (five years ago) link
...or just a witch story with bonus family horror contentwhichever you prefer
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 10 June 2018 16:43 (five years ago) link
My wife has had multiple friends call it a hot mess, which surprised me.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 June 2018 16:49 (five years ago) link
idk people are going to recoil at what disturbs them, and there were plenty of disturbing ideas and images in this movie
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 10 June 2018 16:56 (five years ago) link
recoil *from rather
I had a suspicion this was less "scary" than it was "intense" (or some other more psychological equivalent).
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 June 2018 17:24 (five years ago) link
people in my theater were complaining about the ending on the way out but i think the last 10-20 minutes are what take it from very good to best horror film i've seen in a long time.
(vague spoilers follow)
while i see where they're coming from it's annoying when people bring up the horror respectability politics angle of "oh, it's really a kitchen table family drama disguised as a horror film" and i think the fact that they really Went There with the ending is so great, you CAN have a brilliantly acted and shot story about family and heredity and grief that also has an insanely metal climax
― oiocha, Sunday, 10 June 2018 18:30 (five years ago) link
oh yeah -- it's not disguised as a horror film, it is for sure a horror film
i think the fact that they really Went There with the ending is so great, you CAN have a brilliantly acted and shot story about family and heredity and grief that also has an insanely metal climaxagree, otm
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 10 June 2018 18:47 (five years ago) link
ha, yes, so metal! i liked that too.
― Nhex, Sunday, 10 June 2018 19:35 (five years ago) link
the first half is intense/upsetting, the (better) second half is scary
― na (NA), Sunday, 10 June 2018 19:59 (five years ago) link
Yeah I didn't find the Peter character to be reliable at all so the whole metal ending functions very well with the subtext of the film.
― Van Horn Street, Monday, 11 June 2018 00:33 (five years ago) link
honestly the movie should probably get its own thread - other recent horror flicks of note have
― Simon H., Monday, 11 June 2018 00:40 (five years ago) link
I don't watch much horror lately, haven't seen Babadook, Witch, Quiet Place, etc., but went to Hereditary with my aspiring filmmaker son last night and we were both very impressed. Certainly not "scariest thing ever" but also certainly not "a hot mess" either. Many scenes will linger with me a long time.
― even in your onion (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 15:07 (five years ago) link
Oh, and also, yes Toni Collette was amazing.
― even in your onion (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 15:13 (five years ago) link
i think i liked the vvitch more than anyone else did
― na (NA), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 15:34 (five years ago) link
The VVitch is V V high in my esteem tbh
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 15:41 (five years ago) link
Loooooooved VVitch!!!
So much that I followed a stupid Black Phillip account on twitter and attempted to make Black Phillip jokes irl lol
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:12 (five years ago) link
Yeah, The VVitch is great. I want to see Hereditary and Upgrade but will have to wait for Amazon Prime in both cases.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:31 (five years ago) link
can't think of a post 2005 horror movie i like more than the vvitch
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:33 (five years ago) link
hereditary was great though. both are much better than babadook et al
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link
i still want to make my The Marmadook parody
xpost i definitely tried to make black philip jokes irl
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:48 (five years ago) link
did yours land? mine did not. my friend asked me why i was talking in a weird accent and i had to explain it. lol
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:49 (five years ago) link
upgrade is really good (i liked it so much i started a thread about it) but i would not call it a horror movie (though it has some horror elements for sure)
― na (NA), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:52 (five years ago) link
still my fave of the nu-school US horror flicks
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:03 (five years ago) link
glad i am not alone in my appreciation for T H E V V I T C H
― na (NA), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:06 (five years ago) link
yeah it's definitely the best of recent years
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:09 (five years ago) link
Very last shot aside, big vote for the vvitch here, too.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:09 (five years ago) link
of the higher-profile supernatural horror flicks of the last few years I would go vvitch > babadook > hereditary > [enter Mike Flanagan movie of yr choice here] >> it follows
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:14 (five years ago) link
Also The VVitch fan.
But calling bullshit on that ranking. It Follows is also excellent. Babadook is the one that struck me as wildly overrated.
― circa1916, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:16 (five years ago) link
last shot is awesome imo
I guess I should see Hereditary
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:17 (five years ago) link
I should have added ">>>> IT" to that list
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:18 (five years ago) link
also why is everyone leaving Get Out off their recent greats lists
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:19 (five years ago) link
because no one likes it
― na (NA), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:32 (five years ago) link
Get Out is v good but it doesn't register as a horror film to me I guess? More of a satire with horror flourishes
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:34 (five years ago) link
lol NA
― circa1916, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 17:36 (five years ago) link
nothing against you Simon, but why do people always bring up the "it's not really a horror movie" argument. even for HEREDITARY! horror can be a lot of things
― Nhex, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 19:39 (five years ago) link
The Witch and The Invitation are both movies I loved that I want to see again with my wife just to watch her reactions.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 19:53 (five years ago) link
The VVitch isn't really horror it's historical fiction with some horror elements
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 19:54 (five years ago) link
thanking u for screen name
― a shomin-geki poster with some horror elements (WilliamC), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 20:27 (five years ago) link
the VVitch is definitely horror I'd say.
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 20:58 (five years ago) link
I wasn't trying to classify it, just explain why it didn't occur to me to throw it in that ranking. It feels too tonally different to compare to those other movies.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 21:00 (five years ago) link
I'm not at all into genre purism either
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 21:02 (five years ago) link
we've probably discussed A Quiet Place but I can't load up the whole thread to see. did ILX enjoy it? despite a few VERY OBVIOUS bits of exposition I did like it
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 21:03 (five years ago) link
planning on renting it but didn't get to see it in the theater
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 21:10 (five years ago) link
i didn't enjoy it much. it was too heavily reliant on traditional family values and monsters. i'm sure it was well made but the ideas themselves seemed pretty obvious (must protect my family!) and not interesting to me personally. comparatively, as far as family-themed horror, Hereditary is deeper/more interesting than A Quiet Place. they did both have weird looking girl characters though! i won a bet with my husband that they were not the same girl (before we saw Hereditary)
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 21:13 (five years ago) link
it was entertaining enough in the theater but it's not great - way more one-dimensional and not as well thought-out as the other movies we're discussing rn
― na (NA), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 21:23 (five years ago) link
i dug A Quiet Place a lot. very simple, low budget, b-movie type premise, super well executed imo. not much more than that, but for traditional jump scare/apocalypse land it got an A from me
― Nhex, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 22:22 (five years ago) link
I'm probably missing a bunch of stuff, but I think I'd have Kill List as my benchmark for horror this decade.
Get Out felt like a bit of a Robert Aickmann love letter to me, so definitely horror.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 07:16 (five years ago) link
Yes Kill List is how more horrors / creepy films should be
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 07:58 (five years ago) link
Loved The Witch, agree that Kill List is by far Wheatley's best film, and also thought Babadook was massively overrated and bad.
Avoided Quiet Place at the cinema because I was worried it was the kind of film that could easily be ruined by a chatty audience.
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 08:00 (five years ago) link
i think A Quiet Place kind of has to be seen at the cinema (unless you've got a great home system). Unfortunately, yes there was a couple right at the back having a full-on loud voice chat during one of the most intense scenes which is not only annoying but kind of unheard of in a UK cinema
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 10:04 (five years ago) link
Said it before, but The Quiet Place, despite its name, is the movie equivalent of having someone sneak up behind you and yell in your ear, again and again. That's not scary, that's annoying. The movie's not incompetent at least.
The Witch is so not historical fiction, it's totally horror, at least as much as Rosemary's Baby and, ultimately, more so. It's just got a novel historical-esque setting.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 12:19 (five years ago) link
i usually hate jump scares. didn't feel like this about Quiet Place. it was the scene with the steps that irked me the most out of the whole thing
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 12:42 (five years ago) link
yeah, fix that nail, you dopes! still think it would have been funny if every character stepped on it at least once, ending with a monster, who died of tetanus.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 13:02 (five years ago) link
i liked Kill List but to me A Field in England crushes it utterly
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 14:41 (five years ago) link
Kill List vs Field in England = Wicker Man vs Blood on Satan's Claw
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 14:46 (five years ago) link
fix the nail indeed! I'd couldn't bear it.
just thought Field in England was a bit of a mess (and I get that that's the idea) whereas Kill List had everything in it I like about the 'Folk Horror' genre
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
IDK if I have seen Kill List yet? I love all of these movies and it's the only one of the 4 I don't remember.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
Kill List = mercenaries get caught up in weird cult bizness
The scene w/ the hammer in Kill List is p unforgettable imho, whatever you think of the movie itself.
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:04 (five years ago) link
Kill List is the one I'd watch again tomorrow but aye, A Field in England has something otherworldly about it. I remember like a trip. nb Michael Smiley frightens the shit out of me. nnbb I hope Wheatley doesn't fuck off to Hollywood forever.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:09 (five years ago) link
moviepass is cheaper than amazon btw
― kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:29 (five years ago) link
Kill List has so much replay value. Lots of little clues and symbolism innocuously buried in it that you simply don't notice first time round
― My name is the Pope and in the 90s I smoked a lot of dope (dog latin), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:31 (five years ago) link
love Wheatley & Jump, Kill List and A Field in England are definitely their best but idk if I could pick one over the other. They do very different things.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:45 (five years ago) link
xp if you are writing in an internet message board about movies you should have Moviepass. really, everyone should have Moviepass before the company dies a horrible death
― Nhex, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 17:27 (five years ago) link
not available in Canada, alas
― Simon H., Wednesday, 13 June 2018 17:34 (five years ago) link
I fucking loved hereditary
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Thursday, 14 June 2018 14:33 (five years ago) link
Hereditary was great. Touched on so many of my childhood fears (& adult too I guess?), if I saw it as a kid I'd never sleep again
― badg, Thursday, 14 June 2018 15:44 (five years ago) link
was gabriel byrne meant to be american in it?
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 14 June 2018 17:22 (five years ago) link
I couldn’t figure that either. By the end of the film I’d decided no
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Thursday, 14 June 2018 17:23 (five years ago) link
I don't know, but I appreciated him as the most clueless/ineffectual/checked-out horror-movie dad since Peter Sarsgaard in Orphan
― Simon H., Thursday, 14 June 2018 17:24 (five years ago) link
Lol yeah. I really liked his performance in this, & even tho he was deliberately sidelined as someone outside of the hereditary mess looking in they gave him the breakdown moment in the car which I found really moving
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Thursday, 14 June 2018 17:30 (five years ago) link
Someone really should make a thread
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Thursday, 14 June 2018 17:31 (five years ago) link
the familial trauma chiller HEREDITARY
― Simon H., Thursday, 14 June 2018 17:33 (five years ago) link
it was too heavily reliant on traditional family values and monsters. i'm sure it was well made but the ideas themselves seemed pretty obvious (must protect my family!) and not interesting to me personally.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, June 12, 2018 10:13
As soon as I see a trailer to one of these things I think "fuck your family, I'll kill them myself".
A Field In England>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Kill List
Still haven't seen a lot of these films but I'm mostly not bothered.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 June 2018 20:28 (five years ago) link
saw hereditary. a straight 7/10.
was gabriel byrne meant to be american in it?― Philip Nunez, Thursday, June 14, 2018 6:22 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, June 14, 2018 6:22 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I was very confused by this too because there was a scene where Toni's chatting to some Irish guy on the phone and it took me a while to work out it was her up-til-then American husband
― Gâteau Superstar (dog latin), Monday, 16 July 2018 12:43 (five years ago) link
The First Purge is really an action film with some horror beats and aesthetic tics, but worth seeing just for the weight of some of its imagery. Too bad about the stiff acting, likely a result of a rushed production. Timeliness can have a price.
― Simon H., Monday, 16 July 2018 12:56 (five years ago) link
Upgrade was quite entertaining. Reviewers that seemed to focus on movie being “dumb” giving most of its influences much more credit for intelligence than I would. Definitely kind of movie I could stand more of being made.
A Quiet Place OTOH was well made but straight to fist pumping ending kind of left me cold. Also the kind of movie where stupid things happen (or people make stupid choices) to accelerate the plot and you are just supposed to accept them as occurring.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 13:02 (five years ago) link
Nu (new nu?) Halloween reviews pretty solid.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 13:22 (five years ago) link
Who recommended Lords of Salem here? That was some silly ass shit, a few cool images/setpieces aside
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 15:20 (five years ago) link
i remember enjoying it more or less. is that the one with the "freebird" scene? that scene was good.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 17:45 (five years ago) link
i dug it. it had a good vibe imo
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 14 September 2018 03:15 (five years ago) link
It's been a while since I've seen it, but I liked it at the time. Freebird was in Devil's Rejects though.
― how's life, Friday, 14 September 2018 08:24 (five years ago) link
ah, i get them confused. i loved that freebird scene!!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 14 September 2018 13:53 (five years ago) link
LoS is the only Rob Zombie joint I like lol
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Friday, 14 September 2018 13:58 (five years ago) link
I love movies like LoS, where what is happening is exactly what you think is happening, and the twist (as such) is that there is no twist. I suppose The Witch is like this, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 September 2018 14:05 (five years ago) link
I didn’t need a twist, I needed a reason to care about the main character, who is underwritten and poorly portrayed
― Οὖτις, Friday, 14 September 2018 14:36 (five years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, September 14, 2018 10:05 AM (thirty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I refer to this kind of story as a 'processional' and I too love this kind of thing
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:38 (five years ago) link
Lords of Salem was imo a classic of the increasingly-populated 'horror films which you should probably shut off 5-30 minutes early in order to consider them classics' subgenre.
― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:46 (five years ago) link
Pretty much just the very end of LoS, at the point where Rob abruptly decided he'd rather be filming a new video for 'Thunder Kiss '65'.
― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:48 (five years ago) link
xpostHeh, in a late essay Raymond Durgnat called Jancsó's Red Psalm 'processional cinema' and after reading it, the phrase has stuck in my mind - and yes, totally appropriate to horror cinema too (Argento immediately springs to mind).
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 14 September 2018 14:49 (five years ago) link
Watched "From Within" (2008) during a free horror movie search on Comcast and was pleasantly surprised. Somewhat in the "It Follows" range, though more straightforward. A mix of tropes (religious zealot teen villain, Adam Goldberg as a one-note follower) and surprises (subverted sympathies as the movie plays out, the finale). Worth a distracted watch.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:56 (five years ago) link
I thought the lead character is LoS was at least moderately compelling. Iirc she was a recovering addict, and the whole thing could be read (were it not literally Satanic witches on the loose - spoilers?) as a metaphor for her going off the wagon.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 September 2018 15:54 (five years ago) link
being-in-recovery was definitely her lone defining characteristic, but it was really only referenced twice, and I just didn't think she brought anything to the character, I felt like she was just a one-dimensional victim, without any depth.
the phantasmagoric-imagery sequences were definitely the best thing about the movie but it didn't feel like enough to me.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 14 September 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
Tbf, I only saw it once! Like most of his movies (at least the ones that I've seen).
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 September 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
Mega-challops: his Halloweens, while mostly just decent, were still better than the originals.
― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 16:21 (five years ago) link
His second one is one of his I never bothered with. His first one is mostly just significantly more brutal than Carpenter's, but otherwise, come on, inferior to the original 1 and even 2.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 September 2018 17:45 (five years ago) link
non-challops, both of his Halloween movies were garbage and all of his movies are bad
― circa1916, Friday, 14 September 2018 17:53 (five years ago) link
seriously i've given him several tries based on general ilxor praise and i feel like i've been tricked every time
I'm inclined to agree
― Οὖτις, Friday, 14 September 2018 17:57 (five years ago) link
The Devil's Rejects is good, for what it is (ugly). Lords of Salem is good (at least visually). 1000 Corpses is garbage, Halloweens are worthless, his music sucks, no idea if 31 even came out. I think I liked his fake Nazi werewolf trailer.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 September 2018 17:58 (five years ago) link
ah, i get them confused. i loved that freebird scene!!― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, September 14, 2018 2:53 PM
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, September 14, 2018 2:53 PM
I thought it seemed very amateurish and a bit cringey.
Kramer produced one of his albums so I've considered giving it a listen.
I agree. I didn't love it, not normally my kind of thing but it was a pretty solid b-movie with quite tight storytelling. Well constructed.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 14 September 2018 21:27 (five years ago) link
I'd have liked it more with a funnier lead
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Friday, 14 September 2018 22:25 (five years ago) link
Quite liked Endless (although end was perhaps a little hokey) although I'm not sure it would make as much sense without having first seen Resolution (which I also liked).
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Monday, 17 September 2018 12:21 (five years ago) link
Mandy is batshit, not sure what else to make of it
― i know kore-eda (or something), Monday, 17 September 2018 13:37 (five years ago) link
hoping to see that tomorrow. happy to see Cosmatos doing so well, Beyond the Black Rainbow was good fun
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 17 September 2018 13:41 (five years ago) link
Mandy was.. interesting. The good - a movie crazy enough to live up to the Cage at his craziest. The bad - it was really slow and kinda boring for a lot of it, to be honest
― Nhex, Monday, 17 September 2018 14:43 (five years ago) link
P much agree with that. Also nuts that that's Ken Barlow's son
― i know kore-eda (or something), Monday, 17 September 2018 17:42 (five years ago) link
johann johanneson score right?
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Monday, 17 September 2018 18:33 (five years ago) link
yup, his last one :(
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 17 September 2018 18:34 (five years ago) link
and how was it (to the extent it was audible)?
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Monday, 17 September 2018 18:37 (five years ago) link
Liked Endless a lot as well. Only knowing its brief plot description, I liked how the movie's pace allowed for "That doesn't seem right. I wonder if..." discoveries. Agreed on the hokey end, but still while happy with it, would have been just as happy if it'd ended in a different (or partially different) fashion. (Trying not to spoil anything here.) The extras were great on that - seemed like everyone on the crew had a great time hanging out and making the movie. Haven't seen Resolution yet, but it's in my library queue.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 17 September 2018 18:42 (five years ago) link
I was really down with The Endless as well; sadly my library doesn't have Resolution. Maybe I'll give Spring a chance.
― Nhex, Monday, 17 September 2018 19:36 (five years ago) link
So there is an entire subplot of Endless (the cabin) that I would think would be very confusing wo some of the context of Resolution but maybe it’s just well that’s how it is.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 18 September 2018 00:56 (five years ago) link
it is! but i understood it well enough, just that part took place in the far past
― Nhex, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 05:32 (five years ago) link
Should be worth a look.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1JdWOqc9Q8
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 24 September 2018 19:09 (five years ago) link
I'm kind of culted out but the prospect of a Gareth Evans horror movie (with bonus action flair!) is interesting.
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 24 September 2018 19:18 (five years ago) link
Watched "Wildling" this weekend. Not so much horror as tension, decent enough story of young girl maturing into ...? The actress was good in the role. Liv Tyler and Brad Dourif also star.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 24 September 2018 19:28 (five years ago) link
I need a good horror to watch. prefs one on Netflix. there's so much cheesy crud out there
― Scritti Vanilli - The Word Girl You Know It's True (dog latin), Monday, 24 September 2018 23:03 (five years ago) link
started watching the Terror (which is on amazon, not sure about Netflix) and it's quite good, although I may get bored of the "we are all gonna die in the arctic" plot dynamic
― Οὖτις, Monday, 24 September 2018 23:14 (five years ago) link
Watched Upgrade instead of Mandy this weekend and was very pleased with my decision.
I am probably the biggest Lords of Salem defender on ILX. I think it's great; I even own the Blu-Ray. (I also like Rob Zombie's music, but I hate all his other movies, especially The Devil's Rejects, which is the one everyone else seems to find defensible for some reason.) I very much like the processional aspect of it, and it looks better than anything else he's ever done. (He used the same cinematographer as Halloween II, but got much better results.)
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 25 September 2018 00:18 (five years ago) link
I read "The Terror" a couple of years ago I thought it a few hundred pages too long, though I did like the rigor and research behind it. I watched maybe half the series and just found it so turgid and ... boringly faithful to the book? Anyway, good acting, etc., total snooze, imo.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 00:24 (five years ago) link
yeah I was listening to it on audiobook but got a bit bored
― Scritti Vanilli - The Word Girl You Know It's True (dog latin), Tuesday, 25 September 2018 07:41 (five years ago) link
have you actually seen Mandy yet, because it's like several orders of magnitude better!
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Tuesday, 25 September 2018 07:44 (five years ago) link
but we're on exactly the same page re: LoS
I'm about 300 pages into the book The Terror at the moment. At this point I'm finding it to be a gripping read, but not sure how well it will sustain its story over the next 400 pages.
I somewhat agree with what calzino was saying on the another thread about this last week:
I don't know why they needed to add any HORROR, when the story already has a horrific blend of peak BE officer classes, cannibalism, pneumonia, scurvy, lead poisoning, the unremitting sub-zero winds etc...― calzino, Friday, September 14, 2018 1:56 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― calzino, Friday, September 14, 2018 1:56 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
At least in the beginning, I'd be cruising along through what seems like really well researched historical fiction when a vague monster appears, briefly. And let's be clear, I signed on for the monster! Didn't pick this up because it was on some list of Best Boat Books of the 2000s. Things do seem like they're picking up steam at the point I'm at anyway.
― how's life, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 08:35 (five years ago) link
I'm enjoying the show, although idk how many seasons they could really stretch this out for (things would have to get a *lot* weirder)
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 17:33 (five years ago) link
pretty sure it was a “limited series” yes?
― omar little, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 17:47 (five years ago) link
I have no idea. the season I'm watching is 10 episodes so maybe it will all be wrapped up with a happy ending lol
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 17:50 (five years ago) link
https://metvcdn.metv.com/aem5o-1481042125-6935-list_items-rudolph-02.gif
― omar little, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 17:52 (five years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 17:52 (five years ago) link
Someone here was unimpressed but Across The River (2013) is one of my favorites of the past decade. It's very quiet but I thought it was a good mix of old fashioned spooky and nasty.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 28 September 2018 18:43 (five years ago) link
Pyewacket - not bad for the most part. Mother & occult-obsessed daughter struggling with death of husband/father, at odds with each other, until a 'fresh start' move pushes the daughter to wish her mom dead and perform a demon-summoning ritual to make it happen. Good build of tension and interesting creature, but a predictable resolution (vaguely along "Bye Bye Man" lines) brings it down to a C+ for me. I find east coast sparse forests so much creepier than PacNW denser forests - those bits were well done. An empty forest behind the girl, then an unnoticed swath of black in the background suddenly hides behind a tree - love background stuff like that.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 3 October 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
Is this the main thread where ILX talks about Shudder? I subscribed yesterday and am impressed by the selection ... I wish it provided more information about when films rotate in and out of the collection, and title-only search is weak, but these are minor complaints when it offers so many movies I'm looking forward to seeing. Most of what I've added to my list is pre-2005, but I plan to step up my post-2005 horror game too.
Any recommendations? (I am in the US btw.)
― Brad C., Friday, 5 October 2018 00:07 (five years ago) link
Saw The Blackcoat's Daughter last week - it's another one of those "exactly what you think is happening is happening" slow-march-to-doom movies, this one revolving around demonic possession in a semi-abandoned girls' school. Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper from Mad Men) is quite good in it.
― grawlix (unperson), Friday, 5 October 2018 00:26 (five years ago) link
Shudder is one of the only services worth paying for (esp since it's not very expensive) -- the curated lists are pretty good, not a bad place to start if a general search is leaving you cold.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 5 October 2018 00:41 (five years ago) link
Saw Halloween.
Competent. Not that good tho
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Friday, 19 October 2018 03:05 (five years ago) link
So it's very much like the original film, is what you're saying.</challops>
― Extra Shprankles (Old Lunch), Friday, 19 October 2018 03:54 (five years ago) link
🙄
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, 19 October 2018 08:36 (five years ago) link
oh hey the Starry Eyes guys are remaking Pet Sematary w/ Seimetz (yay) and Lithgow (yay) and uh Jason Clarke (enh)
https://youtu.be/VllcgXSIJkE
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Friday, 19 October 2018 12:28 (five years ago) link
I knew about the remake but not the creative team. That renders me less entirely disinterested, I guess.
― Extra Shprankles (Old Lunch), Friday, 19 October 2018 12:48 (five years ago) link
Anything wrong with Jason Clarke?
I liked The Apostle but I've had enough of those grisly skinny masked guys in horror. The action is pretty good, the setting is convincing and the supernatural element quite interesting.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 21 October 2018 17:42 (five years ago) link
Nothing wrong with Clarke, just never found him particularly interesting
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Sunday, 21 October 2018 17:45 (five years ago) link
Halloween was much better than I expected tbh - unlikely to leave a massive impression but a strong claim to best Halloween sequel at least (it’s this or 2, the rest are dogshit)
― coetzee.cx (wins), Sunday, 21 October 2018 18:01 (five years ago) link
More violent than I expected. Last half hour mostly great
― coetzee.cx (wins), Sunday, 21 October 2018 18:03 (five years ago) link
I thought the third film was supposed to be good?
Quite liked Michael Sheen in Apostle.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 21 October 2018 18:15 (five years ago) link
I spent my whole life assuming I would love Halloween 3 from everything I knew about it, but it is absolutely not good
― coetzee.cx (wins), Sunday, 21 October 2018 18:18 (five years ago) link
Hooray hooray, UK screenings this year and bluray next year
https://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/news/eureka-acquire-rights-twisted-estonian-fairy-tale-november
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 27 October 2018 19:51 (five years ago) link
been going through the halloweens and: three is great come on. i also love four but i know i won’t convince anyone. h20 holds up remarkably well especially the ending. 5 and 6 are extremely damaged (i think 5 is terrible but not uninteresting and 6 is a fascinating barely coherent ‘90s horror about druidic murder cults starring paul rudd in heavy eyeliner therefore i love it)
i like most of them more than the new one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 27 October 2018 20:09 (five years ago) link
I've never seen a Halloween film in full. I've seen most of the first one though.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 27 October 2018 20:19 (five years ago) link
I watched the first one two weeks ago for the first time, and a staged version of it by drag queens last week.
― It bit the shaggy men. (sic), Saturday, 27 October 2018 20:48 (five years ago) link
I love Halloween 3! I'd watch it over the original. Probably.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Saturday, 27 October 2018 21:27 (five years ago) link
been going through the halloweens and: three is great come on. i also love four but i know i won’t convince anyone. h20 holds up remarkably well especially the ending. 5 and 6 are extremely damaged (i think 5 is terrible but not uninteresting and 6 is a fascinating barely coherent ‘90s horror about druidic murder cults starring paul rudd in heavy eyeliner therefore i love it)i like most of them more than the new one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
― coetzee.cx (wins), Monday, 29 October 2018 12:30 (five years ago) link
I love Halloween 3 too, though regret that they tinkered enough w/ Nigel Kneale's script for him to take his name off it - what might have been, etc.
― Ward Fowler, Monday, 29 October 2018 12:37 (five years ago) link
revisiting it last night confirmed it, i love zombie’s halloween ii
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 29 October 2018 12:48 (five years ago) link
i saw MANDY! loved itesp Mandy herself & the amazing soundtrack, which elevated what could have been a campy and ridiculous movie
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 29 October 2018 13:05 (five years ago) link
also forgot to mention when i saw it, but the Australian film BOYS IN THE TREES was a tender look at the horrors of young men and their emotions, would recommend. the 90s soundtrack will take you back whether you like it or not.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 29 October 2018 21:20 (five years ago) link
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, October 29, 2018 5:48 AM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this was the director's cut btw, which... i thought the ending seemed different, lol. anyway, bc i loved this so much i watched lords of salem last night, which FREAKING. RULED
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 5 November 2018 16:59 (five years ago) link
yes!! his best movie that I've seen
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 5 November 2018 17:04 (five years ago) link
i would implore anyone who loves lords of salem to watch halloween ii
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 5 November 2018 17:07 (five years ago) link
Marrowbone - Anya Taylor Joy and Mia Goth in a rural horror film, I'm instantly sold. Unfortunately the only bluray version is from Spain (director and crew is spanish), but not to worry too much as it's multiregion. Film works fine but the deleted scenes added a bit more depth, they look unfinished so maybe there was a deadline and they weren't unusable (couldnt understand the spanish commentary to deleted scenes). Goth reminds me a bit of Shelley Duvall in this.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 9 November 2018 23:49 (five years ago) link
Overlord any good?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 15 November 2018 17:20 (five years ago) link
Plan to see it soon, generally heard positive things.
― Nhex, Thursday, 15 November 2018 18:00 (five years ago) link
If you liked Marrowbone, you might check out The Lodgers. A few good jump scares and a similar atmosphere.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 15 November 2018 21:50 (five years ago) link
well... the new suspiria is a thing that exists
― single bed mentality (||||||||), Friday, 16 November 2018 16:21 (five years ago) link
the scene w the main dance performance of volk is really unpleasant
― single bed mentality (||||||||), Friday, 16 November 2018 16:51 (five years ago) link
what happened to Ty West?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 November 2018 17:00 (five years ago) link
Or Ti West, for that matter.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 November 2018 17:43 (five years ago) link
straight-up horror film of the year is the strangers: prey at night
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, 17 November 2018 18:59 (five years ago) link
the camerawork alone. the FOG alone
Hereditary - Interesting soundtrack with the low but fast throbbing and I quite liked the way some images with similar elements were cut together. It all seemed quite taut until toward the second half, which did contain memorable parts but just gradually decreased my interest as the witch tropes and Blumhouse manners increased.
The Invitation - Good. Logan Marshall Green is good in this and I'd only seen him previously in Upgrade. For a while I was expecting something similar to Alan Partridge saying "These are Sex People!"
It Follows - Good. This might seem like an odd highlight but I've been very amused by the way the young man responds to a joke about him humping the girl's leg.
Incident In A Ghostland - Surprised how little talk of this I've seen. It's the latest Pascal Laugier film but it looks nothing like any of his previous films. It often looks like a Blumhouse product and is marred by their clichés (also could have done without the slapping, sniffing and breathing sound effects) but it's ten tons heavier, nastier and a lot more compelling. I was surprised by how quickly the film starts, I was thinking "already? this is happening now?"The quality of the visuals varies, the house is very detailed but things like the tv interview look a little weak.I'm sure many will chuckle at the appearances of HP Lovecraft played by a heavily made up actor but also opening the film with a famous photograph. Laugier says that the film being very non-Lovecraftian is part of the point, the young writer is following a different path from her hero.Unsurprisingly there have been criticisms of transphobia but it only goes as far as having one of the reprehensible villains a trans woman but we never get to know much about them. French pop star Mylene Farmer plays the cool mom. Despite several complaints I like this better than most of the new horror films. Check it out.
A Cure For Wellness - I was prepared for this to be a bit of a slog but it actually paces itself well enough. Design is pretty good but there's just too many overfamiliar things (particularly the ballroom dance). Not sure what to make of the almost retro monster movie ending, but it could have been much more impressive if they hadn't resorted to the cgi face (the cgi deer near the start is even worse). Mia Goth's character is another over-familiar type but she does this kind of thing really well, my favorite part of the film easily. With a few changes this could have been really good but I still kinda like it.
November - The best film of this lot by quite some distance. I had heard it was funny but this could fairly be called a sort of comedy, people in the screening I went to were laughing regularly, the thing the father says about avoiding the plague is particularly funny. Lots of toilet humor.Rural squalor, people transforming into various animals, magic mechanical contraptions, all the wisdom of the world's water being gathered into a snowman. Lovely photography, black metal fans may enjoy. Something I particularly loved was the depiction of the devil (was he also the chicken in the woods?), that guy was fantastic, my new hero.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 November 2018 21:10 (five years ago) link
The Invitation might be the horror(ish) film I've recommended the most the last couple of years.
Ended up not seeing Overlord. Something about it just didn't feel right. It didn't help that I've been dealing with local Nazi shit, but the idea of Nazi medical experiments turned zombies, let alone the specifically idea that these were POWs being experimented on and turned into zombies, felt fine for a grind house exploitation film but nothing I feel comfortable enough sitting through at the multiplex right now.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 November 2018 21:14 (five years ago) link
I enjoyed Hereditary. I'm sure I wasn't alone though in laughing at the car/telegraph pole incident.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Saturday, 17 November 2018 21:34 (five years ago) link
Telegraph pole?
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 17 November 2018 21:37 (five years ago) link
What happens to the daughter.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Saturday, 17 November 2018 21:40 (five years ago) link
I loved the new Suspiria! I think it is my favorite film this year.
― daavid, Monday, 19 November 2018 20:51 (five years ago) link
Nothing to do with the original, in some ways the complete cinematic opposite. But still amazing.
― daavid, Monday, 19 November 2018 20:53 (five years ago) link
My sister said she laughed at the telegraph pole bit and couldnt stop and nobody else in her theatre did
― coetzee.cx (wins), Monday, 19 November 2018 20:58 (five years ago) link
there was quite a bit of unintentional comedy in Hereditary. Can't say I was laughing at that particular moment though...
― Number None, Monday, 19 November 2018 21:07 (five years ago) link
Evolution (french - strange island inhabited only by young boys and adult women) was a delightful surprise. Super fucking creepy and rather Cocteau-esque and arrestingly weird climactic reveal moments. Going to rewatch.
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 November 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
That's the one by noé's wife?
― coetzee.cx (wins), Tuesday, 20 November 2018 16:30 (five years ago) link
idk
serbian sounding name
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 20 November 2018 16:39 (five years ago) link
Bosnian! Lucile Hadzihalilovic. I have not seen Evolution but Innocence is a classic.
Cam on Netflix is not bad given the generally low bar for internet/tech horror films.
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Tuesday, 20 November 2018 17:45 (five years ago) link
i watched Sleep Tight (Spanish, 2012) the other evening. director of REC. delightfully disturbing psychology and so, so tense.
― meaulnes, Tuesday, 20 November 2018 20:14 (five years ago) link
Cam was written by a former camgirl -- haven't watched yet, but I assume that helped with the whole verisimilitude angle
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Tuesday, 20 November 2018 20:19 (five years ago) link
Yeah, CAM was ok. I saw a screening at the local theater. I love the concept and that it addresses more current porn/cam culture. As a horror film though, it dragged a bit and took too long to get to the good parts.
― Nhex, Tuesday, 20 November 2018 20:50 (five years ago) link
fuuuck me, It Comes at Night is possibly the most intense flick i've seen. and i've seen some shit. so claustrophobic, domestic, human.
― meaulnes, Thursday, 22 November 2018 03:36 (five years ago) link
Just watched that last night. Headshot the night before. Loved both.
― Spottie, Thursday, 22 November 2018 03:40 (five years ago) link
yes, the ending had me shook.
as an aspiring cyberpsychologist, it's always good to hear more internet/tech horror! recently watched Kairo (or 'Pulse', 2001 (yeah sorry i know this is post 2005 thread) - spirits leaking from the afterlife via the internet, or something. gorgeous, aesthetically - really interesting sound design that recalled early BBC radiophonic workshop/derbyshire editing. saw 'Unfriended - Dark Web' at the cinema recently, too. pretty silly, but i just loved how it was all set from the OS desktop. unfortunately computer-screen films don't seem to date too well, given the rate of tech progression -- original 'Unfriended', set over skype only four years ago looks pretty old already...
― meaulnes, Thursday, 22 November 2018 03:47 (five years ago) link
pulse rules
i would like to reiterate: the strangers prey at night is the best recent horror movie i’ve seen
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 22 November 2018 05:24 (five years ago) link
I thought it was pretty good but the swimming pool scene was incredible
― i know kore-eda (or something), Thursday, 22 November 2018 12:06 (five years ago) link
The Suspiria remake is a right old mess - some good moments (loved the scene when we spy on the witches taunting the naked policeman), but far too long and too many dance sequences, crappy effects, a near-disastrous last twenty minutes. I'm not, to put it mildly, a Radiohead fan, so for me the soundtrack was a real turn-off - Thom Yorke's usual ghostly or ghastly singing backed by some fairly routine creepy minimalist signifiers. The remake, perhaps wisely, doesn't even attempt to match the original's stunning first half hour in terms of intensity, sound, colour, décor - and is in fact almost totally not scary throughout.
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 22 November 2018 12:49 (five years ago) link
yeah it’s all over the place. the dancing was wicked though they basically spoiled the volk performance by making it really REALLY unpleasant to watch
― single bed mentality (||||||||), Thursday, 22 November 2018 13:08 (five years ago) link
It Comes At Night is definitely great peak prepper thriller, which seems to be a trend right now, but don't sleep on The Survivalist, which is equally intense.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 November 2018 14:21 (five years ago) link
ICaN did nothing for me tbh. Showcased all the "gentrified genre movie" stereotypes unfairly thrown at so many other recent American horror movies
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Thursday, 22 November 2018 14:24 (five years ago) link
Another thumbs up for Evolution.
Someone said November is on the American version of amazon prime but without subtitles.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 23 November 2018 17:13 (five years ago) link
New Suspiria is not good, aside from some nice cinematography and the odd pan and zoom. 'That' casting decision didn't work for me at all
― or something, Friday, 23 November 2018 17:58 (five years ago) link
And it's sooooo looooong yes, I was writhing in my seat
― or something, Friday, 23 November 2018 17:59 (five years ago) link
Jessica Harper?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 23 November 2018 19:00 (five years ago) link
No she was fine, I thought it would be obvious but Tilda Swinton as Father Merrin
― or something, Friday, 23 November 2018 19:09 (five years ago) link
Horror crew who have Shudder, what do you recommend? I signed up thinking I'd watch Mandy and cancel before my free trial is over, but it's cheap enough that I might keep it for a month or two, maybe watch the Argento and Bava films.
― WmC, Sunday, 2 December 2018 03:31 (five years ago) link
if you like mandy and haven't seen beyond the black rainbow imo do that. also: fulci's the beyond and zombie; one of my favorite slasher sequels ever hello mary lou: prom night 2; abel ferrara's feminist masterpiece ms. 45; gaspar noe's biggest influence which is 1000x better than any gaspar noe film, angst; all the phantasm movies (they're missing phantasm 2 unfortunately); starry eyes is a body horror that freaked me out so much i never want to watch it again; everyone has to watch death bed: the bed that eats at least once
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 2 December 2018 03:48 (five years ago) link
also my favorite movie the exorcist iii
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 2 December 2018 03:49 (five years ago) link
and one probably not for everyone but: tense dreamy identity crisis thriller always shine is one of my favorite movies of the past few years
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 2 December 2018 03:52 (five years ago) link
Thanks! I have a pretty weak constitution when it comes to horror but I want to check some things out. I watched Mandy this evening and liked it a lot.
― WmC, Sunday, 2 December 2018 03:57 (five years ago) link
ok then i take back starry eyes and maybe angst (less scary than stomach-churning) but the rest definitely
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 2 December 2018 04:01 (five years ago) link
omg there is so much to recommend on shudder -- it would be easier to recommend if we knew what you like/are looking for?! :)
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 2 December 2018 04:12 (five years ago) link
beyond mandy, i mean
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 2 December 2018 04:13 (five years ago) link
oh! i really enjoyed the channel zero series -- all three seasons tbh
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 2 December 2018 04:14 (five years ago) link
i've heard almost exclusively good things about channel zero, i should finally check it out
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 2 December 2018 04:15 (five years ago) link
each season has its charms so far -- 2 and 3 in particular (2 thematically and 3 visually -- the Return to Oz factor is very high iirc) i guess there are two more seasons that have aired but i haven't seen. i kind of can't believe this show was on tv?
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 2 December 2018 04:22 (five years ago) link
I'm more or less okay with gore, I like tension but I'm a little wary of jump scares. I'm still trying to figure out what I like after a lifetime of avoiding horror. I watched Audition many years ago and thought it was a terrific film but it left me a mess for a few days and I haven't sought out anything like it.
― WmC, Sunday, 2 December 2018 04:26 (five years ago) link
Things I have watched/plan to watch on Shudder, some of them familiar favorites: Bava and Argento, check; Carpenter's Halloween and The Fog; Ghostwatch; Re-Animator; Short Night of Glass Dolls; the Fulci movies BradNelson mentions; The Old Dark House; Daughters of Darkness; Lords of Salem
Shudder just added some King-related titles and I have watched/will watch Silver Bullet, Creepshow, and Salem's Lot
obv most of these are pre- rather than post-2005
― Brad C., Sunday, 2 December 2018 21:13 (five years ago) link
Does shudder as subcomponent of Amazon Prime have all the same selections as shudder standalone?
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 2 December 2018 22:14 (five years ago) link
Is that the original Old Dark House? I've probably seen 75% of the horror movies released in the '30s and that's probably top five from that decade imo.
Starry Eyes def recommended, but iirc it's more unnerving than like gory or whatever. If you can stomach Mandy, you can probably stomach that one.
― all lite up and very romatic (Old Lunch), Sunday, 2 December 2018 22:55 (five years ago) link
yes, Shudder has the 1932 Old Dark House with Karloff ... I agree it's one of the best 1930s horror movies
recently I read the novel it's based on, J.B. Priestley's Benighted, and was surprised to discover that the movie is a faithful adaptation
― Brad C., Sunday, 2 December 2018 23:07 (five years ago) link
Does the novel shed any light on the casting choice Whale made for the father?
― all lite up and very romatic (Old Lunch), Sunday, 2 December 2018 23:23 (five years ago) link
no, I think that was all Whale
― Brad C., Sunday, 2 December 2018 23:25 (five years ago) link
I didn’t think much of the Strangers sequel, unfortunately. Hendricks was wasted and it had very little of the first one’s menace and tension.
Let The Corpses Tan is on Amazon Prime Video, in the U.K. at least.
― ShariVari, Sunday, 16 December 2018 00:03 (five years ago) link
i suffered through Corpses. fun style, for a few minutes
― Nhex, Sunday, 16 December 2018 07:26 (five years ago) link
Switched that off after twenty mins, despite liking Amer and SCOYBT
― or something, Sunday, 16 December 2018 08:04 (five years ago) link
I think they’re onto an interesting thing but they’re never really pulling it off.
― circa1916, Sunday, 16 December 2018 08:13 (five years ago) link
That’s a shame, I’ll give it a go.
― ShariVari, Sunday, 16 December 2018 08:25 (five years ago) link
Rewatching The House of the Devil (2009), looking v crisp in BluRay, and I'm loving the early Cronenberg aesthetic (def. seeing why multipele reviews mention The Brood). Good, unsettling stuff.
Also, Greta Gerwig!
And this tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHYIGy1dyd8
― Your dad's Carlos Boozer and you keep him alive (fionnland), Tuesday, 8 January 2019 19:45 (five years ago) link
The creature and the performances in Mara aren't enough to outweigh its already-seen mixture of The Grudge / Ring / The Boogeyman / etc.
Unfriended Dark Web has a decent idea and cool resolution, but the visuals (pop-up windows for actors & info with small text) quickly lost my interest. The first one - supernatural plot - I thought was decent enough to keep me engaged.
Both library borrows, so less a dissatisfied feeling, more checkboxing the genre. Besides Mandy sticking with me, the last five minutes of Kin (sci-fi, not horror) is the best thing I've seen lately.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 8 January 2019 20:27 (five years ago) link
"Revenge" is super lurid, trashy, ridiculous, OTT stylized, and OK, not really horror or even remotely suspenseful but it is pretty gory and in the end probably perfect midnight movie fare.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 January 2019 22:13 (five years ago) link
watching Endless and Annihilation back to back highlighted all the things the former does right and the latter does poorly.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 24 January 2019 04:28 (five years ago) link
that's rough, but i get it
― Nhex, Thursday, 24 January 2019 05:14 (five years ago) link
rough in the sense that it's hard on Annihilation or that I'm not making my point clear?
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 24 January 2019 05:33 (five years ago) link
the first. though i also think that Endless is slept on (and like Annihilation, it being a messy, imperfect but ultimately cool mystery)
― Nhex, Thursday, 24 January 2019 06:49 (five years ago) link
I noticed there's a remake of blairw proj. Wtf. Is it as crap as I think it is?I'm reading the Devil's Advocates series. So awesome.
― nathom, Thursday, 24 January 2019 10:12 (five years ago) link
xp, yeah I get it. Annihilation's gender flip of the standard "four guys confront the horror" trope seemed the only interesting twist for me. Endless is definitely messy and features an unnecessary and poorly structured first fifteen minutes or so (also, due respect, but Justin Benson shouldn't be starring in his movies)... but it is far more evocative with far less in the same general field. TBH, the Resolution callback had me bouncing off the couch so my enthusiasm is at least partially due to the stylistic approach being more wry and self-aware but hooooo boy could Annihilation have used a dose of self-awareness. Made Interstellar look carefree.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 24 January 2019 15:43 (five years ago) link
The Blair Witch remake, which I haven't seen, was directed by Adam Wingard. People were psyched about a followup to You're Next and The Guest, and it was originally called The Woods. But then it was revealed to be a secret Blair Witch reboot, and it's supposed to be terrible, so terrible that even Wingard has seemed sort of apologetic about it and almost acts like he was blackmailed into doing it. I think he did a movie after that that no one saw/liked, but then they dumped a bunch of money at his house to do Godzilla vs. King Kong, so who the fuck knows what kind of favor he did or was owed.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:04 (five years ago) link
it's not a remake. It's a direct sequel to the first move
but it is crap, yeah
― Number None, Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:09 (five years ago) link
Or is it a ... soft reboot?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:29 (five years ago) link
it's a sequel. it's not "good" but i enjoyed it in the theater regardless
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:35 (five years ago) link
not entirely sure why you keep talking about things you haven't seen as if you've seen them
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:41 (five years ago) link
Blair Witch '16 was definitely a disappointment compared to Wingard's other films. It was... OK. I suppose if you were an fan of the original you'd be even more disappointed; he had one or two interesting ideas, the rest was pretty mediocre. I still haven't seen his Death Note movie for Netflix which is also supposed to be bad, but I'll watch it someday. Surprised he got the Kong gig afterwards, but he's definitely a capable director - I still love the hell out of The Guest, and You're Next was really fun.
― Nhex, Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:51 (five years ago) link
xpost Because it's not rocket science? Because when it came out and I saw some really negative reviews I read about the movie I was never going to see and learned why people didn't like it? I did see Blair Witch 2, that movie absolutely sucked and I have no idea why that guy made it.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:53 (five years ago) link
Also, the story of The Blair Witch reboot remake sequel whatever *is* the story, the movie itself came and went without a trace. It was pretty anti-climactic. But who made it and how it was made in secret is what people remember.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:54 (five years ago) link
they put out the first trailer as "The Woods" and gave up the beans a few months later
― Nhex, Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:58 (five years ago) link
btw - re: Endless - i was so into that, I went back to watch Resolution and was sorely disappointed; they waited WAY too long to get to the good stuff. Endless is a rare example of something retconning the ending of the original movie and making it way better
― Nhex, Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:06 (five years ago) link
Wingard got tabbed for G vs KK on the strength of The Guest, I think. The responsibility for helping turn Dan Stevens into a legit Hollywood contender didn't go unnoticed. And Maika Monroe, on a lesser scale.
― omar little, Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:12 (five years ago) link
― Nhex, Thursday, January 24, 2019 9:58 AM (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
still really wish i could see the woods instead
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:29 (five years ago) link
Death Note on Netflix is vomit inducing. Very very bad.
― nathom, Thursday, 24 January 2019 17:42 (five years ago) link
Godzilla (as we all remember like it was yesterday) came out in 2014, like The Guest. So you think (xpost) maybe Wingard got picked for Godzilla back then? Hmm. (Googles some more) OK, looks like the G v KK movie got announced in 2015, even before the release of KK and (clearly) the upcoming King of the Monsters, but Wingard didn't get named until 2017. My guess is like Marvel and Star Wars and Jurassic Park they were looking for any semi-competent and cheap genre director, but I think it's still weird, given his track record, that Wingard should even be in the mix. Maybe it'll be his comeback?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 24 January 2019 18:08 (five years ago) link
I think AW's track record is that of someone who has a distinct enough visual style who works well with a cast and he's shown he can do a lot with a relatively low budget, i mean The Guest wasn't El Mariachi but it was a mere $5 million, and people really love it. Not to mention You're Next was just shy of a million (it did flop, somewhat surprisingly...)
the Blair Witch reboot was decent enough but I think got a harsher rap than it deserved due to the fact that no one ever wanted to see a BWP film ever again.
― omar little, Thursday, 24 January 2019 18:15 (five years ago) link
Someone I kinda sorta trust said Hagazussa was better than The Witchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_last886efA
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 26 January 2019 19:05 (five years ago) link
As someone who really enjoyed the first <i>Happy Death Day</i>... I really enjoyed the new one!Yeah, it's dumb, somewhat indefensible as a unnecessary retread, but I love time loop gimmicks and you can just see the screenwriters having fun with this damn thing. Still surprised they didn't just completely abandon the first movie, <i>Butterfly Effect</i>-style, but then I sort of admire their dedication to HOW MUCH they stuck to the characters and setting of the original. I don't feel like Jessica Roche was the main draw of the original film (enough to do a whole sequel around her - so it does kind of spread out to the other characters more) but I'll give her credit, she gives her full effort in all of the slasher/soap/farce segments. (They went even broader with the comedy, leaning way into it this time, usually it worked...)
― Nhex, Saturday, 16 February 2019 18:42 (five years ago) link
you can just see the screenwriters having fun with this damn thing
is there info about ghostwriters out? based on the credited writer of the first one, I assumed all the good stuff came from Landon
― steven, soda jerk (sic), Saturday, 16 February 2019 19:30 (five years ago) link
https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/46501798_984474221756874_4122361747308806144_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_oc=AQkUpmaR0qc1-PaWg5P2C7JT0AZN6nJhX9v-AS6UT1LfwNNDLbDyY17_IcIlJakcJ7Z3V6m3TqtAzOmptGRriZ5u&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.xx&oh=294ae9eb6fdff95a90e4002291c77871&oe=5D261AA9
― nickn, Sunday, 24 February 2019 19:04 (five years ago) link
suspiria is a mess but is also pretty amazing I thought, one of my favorite films of the year.
can see that a lot of people would really hate it though
― Dan S, Sunday, 24 February 2019 19:13 (five years ago) link
I don't think low budget horror has the same presence anymore, pretty much never see or hear about the stuff unless we're talking high budget indie films. Wonder what happened?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 1 March 2019 18:26 (five years ago) link
Might have already posted this, but I changed my mind about Strange Color Of Your Bodys Tears. It's just okay, but I think I wanted something like that so badly at the time that I kind of overlooked it being a bit boring. First third of Amer is still great and the short films are very good.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 1 March 2019 18:55 (five years ago) link
early 2019 list of interesting looking horror films; outside of HDD2, anyone want to steer me one way or another?
Happy Death Day 2 Level 16The Hole in the Ground Escape Room Body at Brighton RockThe Changeover Rust Creek The Wind Us Ma
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 4 March 2019 20:37 (five years ago) link
Okay, these books are great and I was prepared to write this adaptation off, assuming they would wind up turning an OTT series of 'kids' books into a tepid film for babies, but...hey, it looks like they might actually be going for it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3J2k3Nhicw
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-poster-red-spot-768x1137.jpg
― WAS ACTING A FOOL AND FELL ON GRILL (Old Lunch), Friday, 29 March 2019 23:37 (four years ago) link
that poster is INCREDIBLE
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 29 March 2019 23:39 (four years ago) link
i’m in
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 30 March 2019 05:07 (four years ago) link
I love everything about that poster except for the actual special effect
― Simon H., Saturday, 30 March 2019 05:20 (four years ago) link
This reminds I just kicked my doctor pimple popper addiction. Usually I'm not horrified by posters, this one ...urgh. 😱
― nathom, Saturday, 30 March 2019 22:06 (four years ago) link
Saw The Mist again. Good gawd what an abysmal movie. Esp the ending.
― nathom, Saturday, 30 March 2019 22:09 (four years ago) link
We need to do a definitive "ending of the Mist: good/bad?" poll to settle this
― Simon H., Saturday, 30 March 2019 23:07 (four years ago) link
The Wind is terrible btw
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 1 April 2019 14:21 (four years ago) link
Just watched Troubled Water (which was Norwegian iirc) and it was really great. Reminded me of First Reformed only even more grim with themes of mother-grief and trauma vs religion and environmental decay. Also, some very good organ music!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 1 April 2019 15:26 (four years ago) link
First Reformed only even more grim
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 1 April 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link
Soooo ... multiple movies on their way about people trapped in small flooding alligator/croc infested spaces? Black Water: Abyss and Crawl? Hmm. Throw in some father/son body swapping and I'm there!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 24 April 2019 18:30 (four years ago) link
so i've now watched every rob zombie movie. two of them are pre-2005 but i figured this was the more appropriate thread
house of 1000 corpses: a pretty delightful texas chain saw pastiche, the effect of which is like the first and second movies combined (movie practically screams for dennis hopper to run in with a chainsaw to save the day, which kind of happens in devil's rejects). contains several echoes of his future films (the set design of the infinite catacombs beneath the firefly clan's house is very halloween ii), inherits a lot of stylistic tics from his music video work (degraded film stock/videotape, inverted, radioactive color filters) which never really appear in his films again. a first draft but a good one
the devil's rejects: i watched part of, maybe all of this ten or eleven years ago and haaaated it, found it mean and joyless and it put me off zombie's work for a long time. the first half is still pretty mean and joyless, it's undiluted grindhouse sleaze and i find it very hard to endure the extended motel hostage situation, but the rest of the movie almost feels like a reward for living through that horror: the ice cream scene, the reversal of sympathies when the cop starts torturing the torturers which somehow didn't feel manipulative or graceless at all... really remarkable film, surprisingly political in that it's both anti-torture and anti-cop. in almost all of his movies i think rob zombie wants us to witness dehumanization but he simultaneously refuses to dehumanize any of his characters. in doing so he made this, the anti-revenge revenge film. incredible
31: the only one i had left (quick run-down: zombie's halloween is a failure, his halloween ii is a triumph, and lords of salem is equally as good and features sheri moon zombie's best performance (ymmv)). this one has the reputation of being the rob zombie film that even rob zombie fans hate. but... it's great? most of zombie's movies are really beautifully shot, he has a great eye (which is very indebted to hooper et al), but this one is Ugly and 100 percent about being Ugly. shot almost entirely in digital handheld close-up, the kills practically illegible seizures of flesh and blood, it's mean, hopeless, and there's no light whatsoever in it. i get why people hate it; i find it uncompromising and inspiring, and i'm going to add it to the "trump films" thread even though it may not really fit. also zombie's music cues are always really unexpected and wonderful and he outdoes himself with the way he uses aerosmith's "dream on" in this film
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 29 April 2019 16:30 (four years ago) link
forgot to mention: 31 really lives up to the kafka epigraph at the start ("a first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die")
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 29 April 2019 16:32 (four years ago) link
I re-watched Devil's Rejects for the first time in a long time not too long ago, and iirc found the motel scene even harder to watch than before and the turnaround of sympathies ... less effective than I remembered it?
31 I never saw and always forget it was even released. 1000 Corpses I saw once and don't want to see again, Salem is the one I think about the most. Easily his best directed and, iirc, the only one that doesn't coast on grotesque white trash-ery?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 April 2019 16:49 (four years ago) link
correct that lords of salem is the only one that doesn't dwell in gratuitous white trashiness even though i think zombie's use of that is more complicated than coasting on its grotesquery, cf. the authenticity politics and class war going on in both 1000 corpses and rejects
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 29 April 2019 17:20 (four years ago) link
also if you like and think about lords of salem a lot, i highly recommend watching the director's cut of halloween ii, those movies feel very connected to me
Maybe I've seen it? It's possible it was so ugly (in every sense) that I just turned it off.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 April 2019 17:28 (four years ago) link
no no no it's shot beautifully! and is mostly just very sad!
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 29 April 2019 18:27 (four years ago) link
however if you remember a rob zombie movie that featured a white horse, you saw it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 29 April 2019 18:28 (four years ago) link
Maybe I didn't see it? Which is the one that began with a rape in a hospital? The first one? That one was certainly ugly, so maybe it made me skip the second one. Also, it was the second Rob Zombie Halloween, which would be another reason for me to skip it as well.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 April 2019 18:30 (four years ago) link
Which is the one that began with a rape in a hospital? The first one?
this happens about 30 minutes into the director's cut of the first one
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 29 April 2019 18:38 (four years ago) link
The Hole in the Ground is on Amazon now.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 29 April 2019 22:26 (four years ago) link
OK, I was weirdly excited for this, but a) it looks like garbage and b) the trailer gives away what must be most of the scares, so you've been warned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6MLJG0RdDE
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 4 May 2019 16:50 (four years ago) link
yeah don't watch that if yer spoiler-averse. also, briefly thought it was Frank Grillo as the dad and was stoked....but alas
― Simon H., Saturday, 4 May 2019 17:01 (four years ago) link
I keep hoping film trailers will change again but they haven't for a long time.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 4 May 2019 17:11 (four years ago) link
Someone I kinda sorta trust said Hagazussa was better than The Witch
Anyone seen this? I'm wondering whether to go tonight.
― jmm, Sunday, 5 May 2019 12:41 (four years ago) link
I just got it in the mail, so I might watch it tonight.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 5 May 2019 17:49 (four years ago) link
i liked it but not as much at the witch
― dynamicinterface, Sunday, 5 May 2019 20:00 (four years ago) link
Suspiria 2018 is on Amazon Prime now and its kind of a mess but enjoyable. It deviates from the original story but idk if you weren’t familiar with the original plot how much sense any of it would make.
At the other end of the spectrum, Unfriended: Dark Web was better than I expected.
― ShariVari, Sunday, 5 May 2019 23:02 (four years ago) link
I only made it 45 minutes into nu-Suspiria. Really didn't click for me at all.
The discussion above makes me want to take another run at Zombie's Halloween II. I bailed on that one early, too, but I love Lords of Salem so much (I own it on Blu-Ray) that I'm feeling generous.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Sunday, 5 May 2019 23:06 (four years ago) link
xpost The first Unfriended was good, too!
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 5 May 2019 23:35 (four years ago) link
the Unfriended movies rule
― Simon H., Sunday, 5 May 2019 23:53 (four years ago) link
the unfriended movies do rule, and nu-suspiria is unmitigated garbage
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 6 May 2019 00:46 (four years ago) link
I didn’t even finish the new Suspiria. Just seemed kinda grey and miserable, which is not exactly what I was looking for in a Suspiria movie.
― circa1916, Monday, 6 May 2019 00:53 (four years ago) link
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Sunday, May 5, 2019 4:06 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
really gotta emphasize director’s cut here, it’s, in many ways, a completely different movie from the theatrical (though i think the director’s cut is the one widely available for rent/streaming online). the footage zombie reintegrates is the stuff that really connects the movie to what he did in lords of salem
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 6 May 2019 01:35 (four years ago) link
really gotta emphasize director’s cut here, it’s, in many ways, a completely different movie from the theatrical
Interesting, because Vern, the only critic I trust, says the theatrical cut is the one to watch, and that's the version I can see on Showtime (through Hulu).
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 6 May 2019 02:32 (four years ago) link
i mean i like the theatrical too! there’s just much more laurie strode character work in the director’s cut
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 6 May 2019 02:53 (four years ago) link
but the preference legit baffles me, there’s so much more to chew on in the dc
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 6 May 2019 03:00 (four years ago) link
lol at shower gator fight
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 6 May 2019 05:58 (four years ago) link
I liked nu-Suspiria! It took a mighty long time to get cooking but once it did, I enjoyed it!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 6 May 2019 13:41 (four years ago) link
The dance scenes were memorable if nothing else
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 6 May 2019 13:42 (four years ago) link
I remain intrigued because reactions have been so polarized. But the very existence of the film introduces ... issues. That is, the only justification for remaking Suspiria at all is to jetison all the things that were worthwhile about the original, which is tbh overwhelmingly its visual style. Get rid of that though and what's left isn't terribly compelling imo. So I can only assume that the cast and running time portends something different, which begs the question, then why remake the movie at all?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 May 2019 13:55 (four years ago) link
It takes the spirit of the original and adds new elements -- it's a very weird remake and I was dubious/bored for a while but it delivered eventually! Why? Witches, that's why. :)
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 6 May 2019 14:06 (four years ago) link
The original is one of my favorite least suspenseful films ever. Student enters scary school run by apparent witches that is apparently ... run by witches. So they kill her. The end.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 May 2019 14:15 (four years ago) link
So they kill her.
Wait, what?
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Monday, 6 May 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link
I was gonna say.
― Simon H., Monday, 6 May 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link
Assuming you're not concerned about OG Suspiria spoilers ...
... that's how I remember it ending?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 May 2019 14:39 (four years ago) link
It's p much exactly the other way around
― or something, Monday, 6 May 2019 14:42 (four years ago) link
Huh? The stuff with the lightning and outline ... isn't that the head witch?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 May 2019 14:47 (four years ago) link
Yes, who the student then kills.
― zama roma ding dong (Eric H.), Monday, 6 May 2019 14:54 (four years ago) link
Oh! I think there was some confusion over who I meant by her. I meant her, the head which!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 May 2019 16:05 (four years ago) link
And they I admit was confusing, I meant she, the student. I was thinking of her and her friend as a they, but of course her friend was under the control of the witch. so she, the singular student, killed her, the head witch.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 May 2019 16:06 (four years ago) link
Hagazussa - Adam Groves (Bedlam Files) said this was better than The Witch, I don't agree but I can see why some would prefer this. Like The Witch it features an outsider family in the wilderness but I even saw (coincidental) similarities in Mandy, because it's a very quiet mood piece (soundtrack by drone/doom band MMMD) with some similar slow closeups of faces, a character going through a harrowing ordeal yet with an often spaced out feeling that stoners will appreciate. I looked at the sleeve notes (all in German, I think the only disc releases are German so far but I made sure mine had English subtitles) and there was an even better reference point which may have been a direct influence on this film: Valhalla Rising.
I enjoyed and recommend it, the woman getting incredible sexual bliss from milking a goat and the writhing mushroom were both quite striking. Parents and baby enthusiasts may be particularly disturbed by some scenes.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 May 2019 17:24 (four years ago) link
There's a US Blu-Ray edition. I loved Valhalla Rising and The Witch so am inclined to check this out.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 6 May 2019 19:19 (four years ago) link
I see it's on amazon prime too, but not in UK
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 May 2019 19:46 (four years ago) link
I finally watched nu-Suspiria and am sad I missed it in the theater. Saw the original in a showing right before it came out, though. nu-version hits some of the notes in the same way, not 100% sold on the historical backdrop and parts of the resolution, but overall it was an excellent experience
― mh, Tuesday, 7 May 2019 02:46 (four years ago) link
did not think the new Suspiria was grey and miserable, i really liked the visual style
― Dan S, Tuesday, 7 May 2019 03:31 (four years ago) link
Not sure about the very, very end, but I liked Creep 2.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 10 May 2019 20:19 (four years ago) link
I never saw Resolution or Spring, but I really liked The Endless
― Dan S, Sunday, 12 May 2019 00:10 (four years ago) link
Can anyone who's seen The Wind say why it was terrible? I liked the trailer a lot.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Monday, 13 May 2019 01:01 (four years ago) link
it's boring, predictable, poorly paced, and has delusions of depth that it doesn't achieve. I went in with no expectations and wanting to like it but would recommend skipping.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 13 May 2019 06:24 (four years ago) link
Thanks!
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Monday, 13 May 2019 21:13 (four years ago) link
if they could somehow take the dancing parts (the only good bits really) from nu-suspiria and transplant them into the old suspiria, that would bang
― ||||||||, Monday, 13 May 2019 21:28 (four years ago) link
New Peter Strickland! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SpAUPdKKe8
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 June 2019 13:30 (four years ago) link
!!!!!!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 1 June 2019 14:05 (four years ago) link
whoa, that looks phenomenal
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Saturday, 1 June 2019 16:20 (four years ago) link
it does; killer cast and a neat idea. US Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biHUTtV4K40
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 1 June 2019 16:57 (four years ago) link
yeah i cannot wait to see that
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 1 June 2019 16:57 (four years ago) link
Brightburn - Clumsy as fuck. Somewhat interesting premise ruined by Snyder-esque pacing, and not settling on whether it wants to be cornball or serious. One next level gore scene though.
Ma - This was fun! Felt like a throwback to 80s revenge slasher flicks.
On the one hand, I feel like Blumhouse's big knock is that they never strive for anything above a B plus effort, but this was a fun B-plus.
― Got your butt drank (Neanderthal), Sunday, 2 June 2019 19:16 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlya92LZqZw
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 June 2019 19:54 (four years ago) link
I've seen In Fabric. It's not bad, but don't get too hyped about it.
― Simon H., Monday, 3 June 2019 20:40 (four years ago) link
Yeah it's pretty good but inessential and definitely plays to his comic sensibilities more than anything before. I would rather he had either ditched the anthology theme and made the first story the whole film, or balanced the timings better - it was either 20 mins too long or 45 too short. And I really didn't understand what was happening at the end.
I think I actually enjoyed his segment in Field Guide To Evil more.
― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 10:20 (four years ago) link
Wait, In Fabric is an anthology of sorts?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 11:57 (four years ago) link
You'll see.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 4 June 2019 12:23 (four years ago) link
Quite.
― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 12:30 (four years ago) link
Berberian Sound Studio felt like a comedy to me
which is why I don't really like it
― Number None, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 12:38 (four years ago) link
i think the duke of burgundy is phenomenal, is why i was excited
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 13:09 (four years ago) link
I think both of his last movies played like really uneasy comedies, and some sense.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 13:49 (four years ago) link
made the first story the whole film, or balanced the timings better - it was either 20 mins too long or 45 too short
otm - the second section should have been shorter, with an even faster third movement wrapping up.
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 14:03 (four years ago) link
https://i0.wp.com/bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Midsommar.jpg?w=960&ssl=1
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 18:09 (four years ago) link
Duke of Burgundy > Berberian >> the new one
― Simon H., Tuesday, 4 June 2019 18:22 (four years ago) link
Can't disagree with that ranking.
― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 07:41 (four years ago) link
i'm sure the new child play will suck but i saw this poster at the train station this morning and it made me laugh:https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2019-04/30/14/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web-02/sub-buzz-12164-1556649988-1.jpg
― na (NA), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 14:18 (four years ago) link
there was another version with the slinky dog getting roasted over a fire
Reminds me of years and years ago when a band I was in was on tour and we stopped in a truck stop and bought a Redd Foxx concert cassette. Iirc it was one of the least funny things I've ever heard, but a bit about fighting a midget (his word) has stuck with me. He just kind of grumbled (in front of what sounded like a very small dinner club theatre): "If you ever get into a fight with a midget ... just stab them in the head!" It was so not funny.
Anyway, that's what I think about Child's Play.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 14:29 (four years ago) link
Escape Room was good dumb clean fun; really more an exercise in franchise building and action/adventure than horror tbh
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 16:09 (four years ago) link
Watched "Southbound" last night. a little uneven and certainly suffered from the "trailer gives everything away" problem, but did kind of enjoy the fact that some loose ends left a foreboding ambiguity to the thing as a whole.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 20:17 (four years ago) link
examples:
- what does the tall guy whisper to the wife in the home invasion sequence? what did the husband do?- what's the deal with the roughneck tattoo people, or the fat naked goblin types who are stripping the brother in the previous sequence?
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 20:19 (four years ago) link
"ma" was pretty entertaining for the first hour but fell apart badly in the climax
― na (NA), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 20:23 (four years ago) link
free ari aster conversation at lincoln center film on July 9... midsommar opens july 3 so you'd wanna see that quicklyhttps://www.filmlinc.org/events/film-comment-talk-ari-aster-on-midsommar/
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 20:31 (four years ago) link
Liked "Escape Room", primarily for the heroine, and appreciated the explanation for "how did they set all that up and with what money?" vs. house trap films like "The Collector" or the "Saw" films. And looking forward to seeing "Body at Brighton Rock" after liking "Southbound" a lot.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 20:55 (four years ago) link
escape room's villains being the 0l1g@rchy felt like less of a payoff than franchise building of the maze runner variety to me but i liked it even so.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 21:04 (four years ago) link
watched "Downrange" (is it obvious i'm moving through Shudder's offerings pretty snappily?).
fun, though the main characters were a bit too stupid for my taste. my partner watched with me and called the ending.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Thursday, 13 June 2019 01:36 (four years ago) link
This looks like it could be fun, in a very You're Next sort of way (warning: I think it gives away a lot):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYTwUxhAoI
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 17 June 2019 19:50 (four years ago) link
Hagazussa was really good -- will never forget that carcass-eating scene and the score was very appealing in that Alpine folk drone way
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 17 June 2019 20:12 (four years ago) link
i was going to watch Hagazussa tonight, but decided to re-watch Deep Red because i hadn't seen it since i was 16.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 01:56 (four years ago) link
Is Field Guide To Evil available only on Shudder? Cant find it anywhere else.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 21 June 2019 19:35 (four years ago) link
Child's Play remake is a blast. It's ba completely different animal and quite ridiculous.
P sure the screenwriters hate Jeff Bezos
― Got your butt drank (Neanderthal), Saturday, 22 June 2019 15:23 (four years ago) link
i've been v wary of it (and even more wary the more i learn about specific plot points) but a positive neanderthal post will prob get my ass in a theater
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 22 June 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link
The gore is p vicious too!
― Got your butt drank (Neanderthal), Saturday, 22 June 2019 15:30 (four years ago) link
Loved Hagazussa. Couldn't stop myself from screenshotting bits of it, it was just gorgeous, if harrowing.
Watched "Knife+Heart" ("Un Couteau dans le coeur") last night...parts of it were wonderful. Parts of it were terrible. Don't really know how I feel about it, though I will say that I've worked for cut-rate porn studios and some of the scenes are very....realistic.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Saturday, 22 June 2019 16:18 (four years ago) link
Hooray, I've got some people watching Hagazussa and Next Of Kin!
I think November is out on british bluray now so I also encourage that.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 22 June 2019 16:42 (four years ago) link
Count me in for Hagazussa as well! Looks great. Next of Kin ... is that the '80s Aussie Argento-looking thing? I could get with that.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 June 2019 18:31 (four years ago) link
new child's play was pretty bad. didn't mind the updated concept of chucky, but not scary, not funny, not well acted (aside from brian tyree henry, who is charming as usual)
― na (NA), Monday, 24 June 2019 16:00 (four years ago) link
knife+heart is PHENOMENAL
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 6 July 2019 04:32 (four years ago) link
Should be seeing that at Fantasia!!
― Simon H., Saturday, 6 July 2019 05:29 (four years ago) link
oh wait no that's Knives and Skin, d'oh!
― Simon H., Saturday, 6 July 2019 05:55 (four years ago) link
i mean i was immediately enchanted by the concept, which i knew going in, but in actual practice gay porn + giallo is... a perfect combination. it's a film that loves its influences yet forms something new out of them. i couldn't have been happier with it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 6 July 2019 14:48 (four years ago) link
i was very not into how the really disgusting incident between the main protagonist and her lover was settled— it seemed to brush off what struck me as a pretty obvious and horrible violation— but otherwise, i loved it.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Saturday, 6 July 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
**spoilers ahead**
idk i've got a weird read on the movie that i'm not sure is accurate. the main protagonist is def a hideous art monster who assaults her ex, and even though we're technically following her story and even though the killer is a distinct person from her... she *also* feels like the killer throughout, down to the end
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 6 July 2019 15:59 (four years ago) link
which is why i don't think that disgusting incident necessarily gets "settled." it hangs in the air
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 6 July 2019 16:00 (four years ago) link
interesting! yeah, there were moments where i thought it was her.
i also began thinking of it metaphorically in terms of the AIDS crisis, which is kind of inevitable tbh, and how her running of the studio could be seen as aiding and abetting it in some way.... but maybe that's a reach.
i did reference the film in my eulogy to my mentor, actually, who passed away a week before i watched it.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Saturday, 6 July 2019 16:06 (four years ago) link
knife+heart on mubi now
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 6 July 2019 16:18 (four years ago) link
dunno if it's been discussed anywhere on here (and the full thread is impossible to load) but the Japanese microbudget meta-zombie movie _One Cut of the Dead_ absolutely merits a watch if you can find a copy with subs. It'll be on Shudder sometime this year as a US exclusive, which means fewer people will see it than should I'm afraid. Worked for Mandy i guess! Anyways, the best way to go into One Cut is a little blind so all I'll say is that what appears to be a lot of really weird pacing is much more than it seems and make sure you sit through the credits!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 11 July 2019 16:00 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVOKQQ68NjM
i need to see this movie immediately
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 12 July 2019 16:19 (four years ago) link
yeah that looks good!
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Sunday, 14 July 2019 23:09 (four years ago) link
You know what movie I randomly think about more than I thought I'd think about it? "Yellow Brick Road." I thought of that one a lot during Midsommer, for some reason.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 15 July 2019 13:40 (four years ago) link
https://www.filmlinc.org/daily/scary-movies-xii-lineup-features-villains-ready-or-not-directors-cut-of-midsommar-more/
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 16 July 2019 19:56 (four years ago) link
xpost Yeah, man, "One Cut of the Dead" was such a clever, inspired, ultimately charming and funny low-budget horror(-ish) film.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 19 July 2019 16:01 (four years ago) link
For a movie that revels in familiar exploitation tropes, I thought "Overlord" was surprisingly well made, with some creatively gross prosthetics and fx. Solid stuff, at least up until the very last beats of the film (and that includes the inexplicable choice of a Nas song playing over the credits).
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 27 July 2019 05:56 (four years ago) link
I saw six movies at Fantasia this year and the best was Knives and Skin, not horror but definitely worth being on the lookout for from genre folks, sort of a queer(er) Richard Kelly riff with hints of a lot of other things plus a flavor all its own. Some great and super funny dialogue and performances, too.
― Simon H., Saturday, 27 July 2019 06:00 (four years ago) link
I have no idea why, but that 2007 Aussie killer croc movie "Black Water" popped on my radar. Watched it last night, was soooooo boring. Mostly people clinging to mangroves staring at rippling water.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 28 July 2019 16:11 (four years ago) link
What are you talking about?? That movie was tense af! I thought it was great for/on account of employing such a small concept.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 28 July 2019 16:16 (four years ago) link
Glad you liked it! I preferred "Rogue."
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 28 July 2019 18:14 (four years ago) link
You wanna talk about boring, let me (not) recommend “I Trapped the Devil”
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 28 July 2019 21:34 (four years ago) link
That's on Hulu and I was considering checking it out. What's bad about it?
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Sunday, 28 July 2019 23:47 (four years ago) link
SLooooooooooooW. Not scary in any way. Not engaging in any way. Gives away the whole plot in the title and then takes a half hour to get there. Acting is meh. No visual engagement. Dumb ending.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 29 July 2019 01:57 (four years ago) link
I quite liked They Remain with Rebecca Henderson and William Jackson Harper. It doesn’t entirely work in conveying a sense of unease, and could arguably function almost effectively as a two-handed play, but it’s well acted.
It’s based on a Laird Barron story. Hopefully the first of many to make it to the screen.
― ShariVari, Monday, 29 July 2019 16:15 (four years ago) link
Which one of you recommended "Next of Kin?" What a weird-ass movie that was, like Argento in slow motion.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2019 19:11 (four years ago) link
both me and robert adam gilmour have stanned hard for it iirc. it'd belong in the other thread but whatever
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 29 July 2019 19:14 (four years ago) link
Ha, I just posted there before I saw this.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 29 July 2019 19:16 (four years ago) link
Finally saw Spring and it's super good. I hope somebody gives those guys some money soon.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 29 July 2019 19:53 (four years ago) link
Benson / Moorhead followed Spring with The Endless in 2017, which is pretty great, imo. ILX somewhere, there are raves about it and connected Resolution (2012).
Synchronic wrapped in Jan, according to Dread Central. IMDB page here.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 29 July 2019 20:10 (four years ago) link
Resolution is v good microbudget fun, didn't care much for Spring.
― Simon H., Monday, 29 July 2019 20:18 (four years ago) link
And I much preferred Spring to The Endless. It was almost, and I don't like throwing this word around, Aickmanesque
― or something, Monday, 29 July 2019 20:57 (four years ago) link
following up ulysses' post above... in NYC this month
https://www.filmlinc.org/series/scary-movies-xii/#films
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 9 August 2019 19:52 (four years ago) link
"The Curse of La Llorona" - generally bland and tension-free. At least "Darkness Falls" had a few jump scares.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Friday, 9 August 2019 20:43 (four years ago) link
Xpost hmm I’d like to see Prophecy
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Friday, 9 August 2019 22:47 (four years ago) link
This probably doesn't fit the thread that well but did anyone see Thoroughbreds? Very quiet black comedy, tiny cast including Anya Taylor-Joy, Olivia Cooke and Anton Yelchin. It's pretty good. Just like with Marrowbone, there's more dvd versions of this than blurays, having to resort to a foreign multiregion version ("Nordic version" in this case) to get a bluray. I guess in both cases Universal don't want the expense of so many blurays and expect that people like me will import for a multiregion bluray anyway.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 11 August 2019 11:48 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I saw that on Amazon. It was pretty good.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Sunday, 11 August 2019 11:59 (four years ago) link
Another thumbs-up vote for "Hagazussa"'s imagery and pacing. Interesting comment in the IMDB reviews, thinking it's inspired by a 15th century syphilis outbreak. Explains the mother's death and the daughter's madness pretty well.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link
Eega: A Bollywood-styled sci-fi/horror film in which the hero is reborn as a fly and fights organized crimehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cw-n7VsOAc
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 15 August 2019 14:49 (four years ago) link
Wow, that looks awesome.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 17:52 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B6hjhP83ckfull film here, with subtitles even!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 15 August 2019 18:20 (four years ago) link
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 18:31 (four years ago) link
Started watching this and a big bluebottle keeps landing on the screen. I’m conflicted about killing it.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 21:35 (four years ago) link
is it inspiring a dance number? probably safe to kill if not.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 15 August 2019 21:41 (four years ago) link
It’s hard to tell when a fly is dancing. Also, the lead in this is a creepy stalker.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 21:43 (four years ago) link
135 mins!?
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 21:44 (four years ago) link
The female lead is very good at doing an ‘I’m hiding my amusement’ thing with her mouth.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 21:50 (four years ago) link
https://imgur.com/KZLMtD6
My favourite website. Also, not a horror, unless you consider Incredible Shrinking Man etc. to be horrors. It's fun though.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 23:04 (four years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/KZLMtD6.png
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 23:05 (four years ago) link
Just watched Hagazussa, so good... loved the guttering candle of a narrative, wish there were more 100-minute movies with 10 minutes of dialog. Sensibility is very appealing, like an inversion of all the tedious aspects of modernity, the evidentiality, identity, cleanliness. Just Albrun's consciousness expanding to fill the world, or the woods and mountains breathing her in and out.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 16 August 2019 01:55 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBYKY7NwB5Yhttps://www.blackgate.com/2019/08/13/fantasia-day-4-part-4-mystery-of-the-night/
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 August 2019 23:34 (four years ago) link
Ready or Not fucking ruled!
Margot Robbie Samara Weaving is hilarious. Social commentary wise, it's a bit on the 'obvious' side, but it has the feel of a off-brand 80s horror film. I mean obviously it's slicker and mainstream on the outside but it has a scuzzy heart, like a punk who wears a suit jacket with a t shirt and jeans.
― FUCK YOUR POTATO (Neanderthal), Friday, 23 August 2019 01:59 (four years ago) link
Psyched!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 August 2019 02:23 (four years ago) link
In case folk have 2019 library searches, "Luz" just popped up in my library's catalog, as a 2018 release.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 28 August 2019 14:21 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNFAMPDqdVA
black christmas is getting remade! again! but this time it's helmed by sophia takal who directed one of my favorite horror films of the last few years, always shine
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 19:34 (four years ago) link
honestly I don't like the look of that at all, and after getting burned by the Pet Sematary remake on the basis of a promising director attachment + cast I refuse to get my hopes up again
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 19:35 (four years ago) link
i like the look of it but i like blumhouse garbage
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 19:40 (four years ago) link
also i loved the last black christmas remake and i'm enjoying that it's turning into a franchise of remakes at this point lol
AGNES
― FUCK YOUR POTATO (Neanderthal), Thursday, 5 September 2019 19:41 (four years ago) link
THIS IS BILLY
Oh I recently watched Escape Room, which was...fine. Every single moment not spent in an escape room (incl flashbacks) was unwatchable
― Simon H., Thursday, 5 September 2019 19:42 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZgkHjpUM8w
also: here's the trailer for the new oz perkins thing
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 19:42 (four years ago) link
which looks amazing
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 September 2019 19:44 (four years ago) link
Watched Starfish the other day, and surprised myself by liking it a lot. The trailer sells it as a quirky apocalyptic film with monsters, but it's actually a slow-paced metaphoric meditation on grief and forgiveness. The monsters are an add-on - though there's a big monster that's gorgeous - and the plot doesn't always make sense. The director name-checks Gareth Edwards in the credits, so if you dug "Monsters", you'll appreciate the one scene the big monster shows up in. The film goes heavily meta at one point, but I was already swayed to its "understand the subtext here and appreciate the images" logic, and didn't mind so much. Good soundtrack and visuals, too.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 5 September 2019 20:43 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI8fjr4Va7QBliss (2019). Vampire film with drugs and painting.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 7 September 2019 17:53 (four years ago) link
I thought Ready or Not was some good, ridiculous and just mean spirited enough fun. Loved the ending.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 9 September 2019 18:59 (four years ago) link
I watched The Innkeepers last night. Jeez. I like an old-fashioned haunting but this felt like something from tea-time on BBC2, circa 1983. No peril, barely any story and shitty production values. Perhaps I was having an off night.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Sunday, 29 September 2019 18:55 (four years ago) link
nah i've seen it, it's rubbish
― Dominc Coombesings (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 29 September 2019 19:03 (four years ago) link
I thought it was fun
― frame casual (dog latin), Sunday, 29 September 2019 19:07 (four years ago) link
It was boring.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Monday, 30 September 2019 16:52 (four years ago) link
I agree w/ Eric and NV. aside from HotD, Ti West is pretty useless
― Simon H., Monday, 30 September 2019 18:00 (four years ago) link
I thought it was slightly better than HotD, but ultimately just fine.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 30 September 2019 18:45 (four years ago) link
Hotd is slightly better but they're both rubbish
― or something, Monday, 30 September 2019 19:29 (four years ago) link
They both feel a lot older than 10 years - like relics, and not in a positive, aesthetic choice kind of way.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Monday, 30 September 2019 19:36 (four years ago) link
Could've been made for TV tbh, and I mean pre HBO
― honk hunk blue (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 September 2019 19:38 (four years ago) link
that mini-wave of ghost movies when stuff like The Others was made was all at least more entertaining than this
― honk hunk blue (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 September 2019 19:41 (four years ago) link
posts way upthread otm about One Cut of the Dead, so much better than I expected it to be
― Brad C., Wednesday, 9 October 2019 01:34 (four years ago) link
Right? I'm glad it's got a US theatrical release.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 9 October 2019 03:23 (four years ago) link
I just read that it's made $30 million worldwide on a $25,000 budget!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 9 October 2019 12:52 (four years ago) link
I watched The Ghoul last night, a British psychological horror film from 2017, directed by Gareth Tunney, an associate of Ben Wheatley. The basic premise was interesting enough - an undercover detective investigates a double shooting and becomes embroiled in what appears to be an occult plot, involving two psychotherapists - but the execution was a bit of a mess. The logic was Lynchian dream logic at heart, using a Mobius strip as shorthand for the slow dissolving of reality but the reality was never real enough and the unreality never quite perilous or unsettling enough. I love elisions but this was more hole than substance.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Sunday, 13 October 2019 16:46 (four years ago) link
The Dead Center is an effective, moody little thriller w/ the bonus boost of Shane Carruth in the lead role
― Simon H., Sunday, 13 October 2019 17:11 (four years ago) link
this looks fun to me!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxIsI-EQ9Xs
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 14 October 2019 15:08 (four years ago) link
Well, it looks better than the Jarmusch movie and Zombieland 2, so there's that. But ... I think I'll pass on this one, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 October 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link
ma: destined to be hated by most but i loved every second of it. octavia spencer is wonderful and i appreciated what a solid high school movie it was and the dialogue is so often outrageous that i feel like whoever wrote it was having the time of their lives
creep: the mark duplass one, simple and excellent
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 14 October 2019 17:06 (four years ago) link
The sequel is pretty good, too! At least up until the very last shot, but the rest is solid and smart.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 October 2019 17:48 (four years ago) link
I enjoyed Ma. Some of the flashbacks reminded me of Happy Birthday to Me
― When I am afraid, I put my toast in you (Neanderthal), Monday, 14 October 2019 17:52 (four years ago) link
i had fun during the set-up but it fizzled pretty badly in the second half
― na (NA), Monday, 14 October 2019 18:33 (four years ago) link
Wounds by the guy who did Under The Shadow is on Netflix now. It’s not bad but a wasted opportunity with a decent cast and a promising central idea.
― Srinivasaraghavan VONCataraghavan (ShariVari), Saturday, 19 October 2019 20:45 (four years ago) link
the story it’s based on is not great but pretty good... seems faithfully adapted?
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Monday, 21 October 2019 04:32 (four years ago) link
Little Monsters is mostly nice enough garbage but mostly worth it for Lupita in full on badass mode
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 21 October 2019 04:52 (four years ago) link
xp, aha, that explains it.
I have never actually read any Ballingrud. It’s great that writers like him, Barron, etc are having their work adapted, but I wonder if the dominance of short / novella length fiction means that stuff like Wounds and They Remain are up against it when it comes to faithful adaptations also coming out as satisfying films.
― Srinivasaraghavan VONCataraghavan (ShariVari), Monday, 21 October 2019 11:44 (four years ago) link
I’ve been wary about They Remain just bc the story it’s based on is such a hothouse piece, like The Thing but with only two characters... just feels like it could go badly. Should I go for it?
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Monday, 21 October 2019 21:58 (four years ago) link
It's a very faithful adaptation - so any fears you may have are likely to be justified. It's done well enough but adds little / nothing to the story.
― Srinivasaraghavan VONCataraghavan (ShariVari), Tuesday, 22 October 2019 10:39 (four years ago) link
Little Monsters (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond) was great! The kids were very good and very cute. Breezy and wry.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Wednesday, 23 October 2019 15:08 (four years ago) link
Luz = more like Lame
High concept horror w great score but not a lot of ideas
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 26 October 2019 22:10 (four years ago) link
Also overly cryptic snd repetitive
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 26 October 2019 22:11 (four years ago) link
Glad to see some of the Hagazussa love here.
It might be about a syphilis outbreak, but I kind of took it more as a story about anti-Semitism? i mean, there are some pretty notable lines about "evil Jews," directed at Abrun? i feel like anyone not mentioning that when writing about the film is kind of missing one of its huge 'moral' points.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Tuesday, 29 October 2019 22:53 (four years ago) link
Caught up with some 2019 stuff in the last couple weeks and never would've thought I'd arrive at this ranking...
Child's Play > Ready or Not > Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
None of them are really very good, but the Chucky remake was at least bad-faith fun.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 04:10 (four years ago) link
Might fuck around and go see Doctor Sleep tomorrow.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 04:12 (four years ago) link
Early release? I thought it was coming out November 8th.
― mh, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link
but I kind of took it more as a story about anti-Semitism? i mean, there are some pretty notable lines about "evil Jews," directed at Abrun?
i did not catch any of this and i watched it twice
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:33 (four years ago) link
incredible movie though
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:34 (four years ago) link
Yeah, one-off screening tonight.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:39 (four years ago) link
Hey y'all, what would you say is like your top 5 from say the past decade? I watch old horror films like a madman but I've been sorely remiss when it comes to the nu-skool classics that everyone raves about. I saw and loved The VVitch, Mandy, Get Out, and Green Room, I have Us and the two Ari Aster joints sitting on my shelf at home, and I thought A Quiet Place was pretty much dumb as hell. What are the other musts?
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:39 (four years ago) link
i would say anyone who loves the vvitch and slow cinema needs to see hagazussa immediately. lemme see if i can put a top five together
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:41 (four years ago) link
I loved The VVitch and Green Room, and will still ride for Lords Of Salem. That's about all I got right now - haven't seen Mandy or either Peele movie yet.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:42 (four years ago) link
add Under the Skin to your list, OL
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:42 (four years ago) link
Yesss. Ones I know I need to see based on the praise I've heard: Under the Skin, It Follows, and A Field in England
I have seen Lords of Salem (damn fine until the maddeningly ill-advised final 5-10 minutes). Also Get Out (pretty solid).
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
Hereditary and Midsommar
― na (NA), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:48 (four years ago) link
It Follows and A Field in England, def. The latter is one of my favorite films of the decade, no question.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:49 (four years ago) link
i know this mainly just shows the stark difference in our priorities ol, but the final 5-10 minutes of lords of salem are the best part
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
I couldn't make it through Hereditary or A Field In England.
If The Guest counts as horror, add it to your list.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
xpost LOL, they might've been the best part of a very different movie. It's like tacking five minutes of Evil Dead onto the end of, I dunno, The Innocents.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:51 (four years ago) link
I did see The Guest! Loved that nutty thing.
Also need to see The Invitation, I know.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:52 (four years ago) link
but I kind of took it more as a story about anti-Semitism? i mean, there are some pretty notable lines about "evil Jews," directed at Abrun?i did not catch any of this and i watched it twice― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, October 30, 2019 8:33 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, October 30, 2019 8:33 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
Minute 52, when the neighbor woman and Abrun are overlooking the mountains, right before shit starts to go really wrong. I mean, mentioning that they don't have to be afraid of "those who don't carry God's light in their hearts," then immediately mentioning "the Jews," and conflating them with heathens...seems pretty obvious to me.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:52 (four years ago) link
(i've also watched it a few times. one of my favorite films of the past five years).
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:53 (four years ago) link
i really did not like A Field in England at all. and i don't consider it to be a horror movie. but i also don't want to have a discussion about whether it's a horror movie or not.
― na (NA), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:53 (four years ago) link
oh huh i guess i'm going to have to watch hagazussa again, oh no what a terrible fate xp
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:54 (four years ago) link
maybe i'd have liked it more if i had not gone into it expecting even a vague semblance of a horror moviexpost
― na (NA), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:54 (four years ago) link
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, October 30, 2019 8:52 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink
i was about to recommend the invitation but i know several people who loathe it because they think it's very stupid. it's the same situation with another movie i'm going to recommend: the strangers: prey at night
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:55 (four years ago) link
i don't understand why people think the invitation is stupid except that they guessed (?) the twist (?) (i don't think the invitation really has a twist)
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:56 (four years ago) link
i also don't really buy the syphilis argument because in the film, it seems like people are dying of plague-like symptoms...but there are some reasons behind this that give away major plot points, so i digress. i just don't think it's syphilis, as interesting as that historical interpretation might be.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 15:57 (four years ago) link
Has anyone seen the Turkish movie Baskin, or The Oregonian? Trying to come up with a spooky Halloween lineup for friends.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:02 (four years ago) link
Those are two different movies tbc, lol
I just got bored with the Invitation, it took way too long to build up to the conflict at the end, which was also predictable as hell.
You're Next is a much better recent "awful people trapped in a house" film imo
Lords of Salem sucked.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:05 (four years ago) link
You're Next also v funny, underscores class conflict - the kind of things that always keep me engaged when it comes to horror
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:07 (four years ago) link
oh yeah that's right people were mad because it's "predictable." imo: who cares
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:10 (four years ago) link
looking back over my personal top 10, this has been a helluva decade for the genre
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:10 (four years ago) link
I liked The Invitation but I'm a pretty easy sell. I would also recommend Veronica, Housebound (horror-comedy), Train to Busan (if it counts), and Creep (haven't seen the sequel).
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:12 (four years ago) link
i love the invitation bc it aesthetically and psychologically nails how trauma trains your brain to both 1) find suspicion and dread in everything and how that's horrible 2) respond usefully to actual new traumatic situations. never seen a movie do that before
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:12 (four years ago) link
imo: who cares
predictability in and of itself isn't a fatal flaw (MIDSOMMAR is very predictable, for ex.) but the film had nothing else going on in the design, the characters, the direction, just... anything. All it had was it's setup/premise, and that was not enough.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:12 (four years ago) link
... it's also really beautifully shot
never seen a movie do that before
in this case you really should see You're Next!
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:13 (four years ago) link
the invitation is great and has nothing in common with you're next other than people being in a house
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:13 (four years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, October 30, 2019 9:13 AM (twenty-six seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink
i've seen you're next, it's not the same thing
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:14 (four years ago) link
for one, the invitation isn't playing it for laughs
I don't consider that a fault
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:16 (four years ago) link
neither do i, i'm just that the approaches are profoundly different
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:17 (four years ago) link
i'm just saying*
fans of The Invitation and You're Next might also enjoy Monster House
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:18 (four years ago) link
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:19 (four years ago) link
main protagonists of both films are essentially able to survive only because of their past traumas iirc
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:20 (four years ago) link
I think I fell out of step with the current crop because I saw a few too many films with the House of the Devil template (very well-maintained buildup hampered by a fumbling, kinda shitty denouement) and was tired of getting burned by what seemed to be a trend.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
there were so many of those in the 00s. Oculus, The Strangers, etc.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:23 (four years ago) link
You're Next has a little in common with Ready or Not, but not The Invitation. Invitation (which I love) really gets a lot of mileage out of the lack of twist. You suspect something is going on early on, but you are so primed for a twist that you spend the movie wondering if that's what actually going on or if they are going to pull the rug out from under you.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:23 (four years ago) link
House of the Devil, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:24 (four years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, October 30, 2019 9:20 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink
can't argue with this without spoiling both films so:
the "past trauma" in you're next is that she grew up in a survivalist cult. this trauma does not destabilize her relationships with anyone in the family (who she's just meeting iirc), it just is extremely fuckin helpful when shit goes down. the invitation's central trauma is the much more visceral and mundane trauma of the main character's kid dying. there's also very little time spent *dwelling* on the actual nature of the situation they're in in you're next, so there's none of that self-doubt and feeling-like-you're-going-crazy energy, which is what gives the invitation its excruciating tension, *even if you know what's going to happen*
END OF SPOILERS
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
otm. in you're next, her background is like the punchline to a joke you didn't know was being told. But backgrounds in Invitation inform everything.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:34 (four years ago) link
OH: Starry Eyes is another recent one I saw and liked a lot. I understand opinions are mixed on that one.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:36 (four years ago) link
starry eyes is one of those movies i thought was great but it freaked me out so bad i’ll never watch it again
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:37 (four years ago) link
the "past trauma" in you're next is that she grew up in a survivalist cult. this trauma does not destabilize her relationships with anyone in the family (who she's just meeting iirc), it just is extremely fuckin helpful when shit goes down.
I thought there was more to it than that (isn't it implied that her family is dead)? Been awhile since I saw it and the wiki summary doesn't mention it, maybe I'm misremembering.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:39 (four years ago) link
Starry Eyes is great. Beautifully gross in a few unusual ways.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:45 (four years ago) link
Stuff that I loved from the last decade, in rough descending order:
Under the SkinLeviathanThe Killing of a Sacred DeerClimaxGet Outmother!You're NextThe Cabin in the WoodsThe CraziesIt FollowsThe Neon DemonLet Me In
Yeah, I stan "elevated horror" bullshit, I guess. Hell, throw Stranger by the Lake up there near the top, too.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:53 (four years ago) link
Watch Ready or Not if you want to see a You're Next where everything related to the protagonist is done much, much less effectively.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:54 (four years ago) link
Cabin in the Woods is great fun, yeah
that rounds out my top 10!
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:57 (four years ago) link
i watched mother! for the first time recently. most annoying movie i’ve ever seen
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:58 (four years ago) link
the crazies is def undersung and awesome
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:59 (four years ago) link
MIDSOMMARHereditaryYou're NextGet OutCabin in the WoodsIt FollowsThe VVitchA Field in EnglandUnder the SkinMandy
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:59 (four years ago) link
most annoying movie i’ve ever seen
I'm sure nearly every title in my list is that very thing to at least a few people.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:01 (four years ago) link
Re: mother! (and It Comes at Night, IIRC?), my curiosity is always piqued by (horror) movies about which there is absolutely no critical consensus.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:02 (four years ago) link
Look, I maintain that my all-time favorite horror movie is Possession and I'm certain I will eventually be slugged by someone for having suggested it to them/suggested that it was a horror film so I am onboard with divisive, lofty films of the genre.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:05 (four years ago) link
Agreed on Luz being a miss.
Watched zombie musical Anna and the Apocalypse yesterday. Refreshing body count for a movie that tilts more towards the musical than genuine peril (i.e. zombies are respectful of the choreography). Liked it more than Slaughterhouse Rulez, a Pegg/Frost comedy/horror that struck me as tonally off.
Good lists above. I'd include The Void maybe in my own list.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:08 (four years ago) link
I loved mother! and hated ICAN lol
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:09 (four years ago) link
Thanks for reminding me of Baskin's existence. I saw the trailer, wanted to check it out, then forgot all about it. I'll be renting that soon.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:18 (four years ago) link
Liked it more than Slaughterhouse Rulez, a Pegg/Frost comedy/horror that struck me as tonally off.written and directed by the lead singer of Kula Shaker!
― now let's play big lunch take little lunch (sic), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:27 (four years ago) link
Wut
I mean, you could also say 'the son of Hayley Mills' but still: wut
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:32 (four years ago) link
Where's the love for RAW? that movie was excellent. does Upstream Color count? I loved that one too.
idk about a "top 5" -- many of my faves from the last few years (memorable movies i remember liking) have already been listed. Us, Get Out, Under the Skin, Mandy, Field in England, VVItch, Hagazzusa, Midsommar, Hereditary
and I thought A Quiet Place was pretty much dumb as hellloathed this movie for a number of reasons, partially bc it was indeed dumb as hell
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:25 (four years ago) link
LL's short list basically contains my favourites too, except I'll add that A Field In England is absolutely incredible (and more of a pastoral exploration of magic and national identity than horror) and I really didn't think The VVitch was all that
― imago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:32 (four years ago) link
I worship Upstream Color but beyond the first 15 minutes I wouldn't consider it even horror adjacent
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:32 (four years ago) link
i would cosign the frontrunners recent mini-trend in horror/action-comedy films: Happy Death Day 1/2, Escape Room, Crawlthey're fast fun watches and tend to shy away from implicit misogyny
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:33 (four years ago) link
Oh and Green Room obv
― imago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:33 (four years ago) link
imago otm! i don't care if it's horror, i loved it and the soundtrack is perfection imo. forgot to add green room, loved that one too. i watched it twice!
i wasn't sure about upstream color, that's why i separated it. just a movie i liked then.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:34 (four years ago) link
xxp add Cabin the Woods and maybe Train to Busan to that list.
Also recommending A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night as a best of the decade
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:35 (four years ago) link
I wondered about A Girl Walks Home... too, hadn't heard anyone mention it in a while.
Final Girls, anyone?
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:38 (four years ago) link
i forgot about raw!!! it's so gross and perfect
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:39 (four years ago) link
I Am Not A Witch (which is not quite horror but contains palpable elements of it) is my 10s witch movie of choice.
Oh wait, PREVENGE! Maybe more slasher than horror but who's keeping score
― imago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:41 (four years ago) link
I believe perhaps Brad : Starry Eyes :: me : Green Room. I thought it was goddamn astounding but I don't know if I can put myself through that again for at least a couple years. Exceptionally rare that a horror film leaves me shook.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:41 (four years ago) link
I had totally forgotten about the existence of RAW. I'm glad I solicited recommendations!
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:43 (four years ago) link
the only movie that left me truly shook in the last few years that i can remember is Are We Not Cats, aka the movie where the woman eats her own hair
RAW is indeed super gross and also perfect
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:44 (four years ago) link
also the same guy who did music for Field in England did the score for Raw (Jim Williams). i love his stuff but have found him difficult to google bc his name is Jim Williams
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:46 (four years ago) link
RAW is great, would add to my list
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:05 (four years ago) link
Happy Death Day was slight but fun
i think happy death day 2 is a significant downgrade from the first. i still liked it but i feel like the opening 20 minutes promised a more interesting movie than the one i got
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:07 (four years ago) link
FWIW I'm even down with horror comedy recommendations that lean like 90-10 in favor of comedy (a la Tucker & Dale).
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:08 (four years ago) link
oh since i can't stop talking about the final destination movies, one of the movies on my decade list would be final destination 5. tony todd returns to the cast, all the deaths are excruciating, and the twist ending turns the franchise into an ouroboros, not that you need to be familiar with previous final destination movies to enjoy it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:13 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I'm all the time thinking about pulling the trigger on these budget-priced collections of horror series that have passed me by altogether. I'm just going to assume that running through all the Final Destination movies would probably be a better use of my time than Saw or oh say Leprechaun.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:24 (four years ago) link
yes they're so fun, even the shittiest one is fun
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:25 (four years ago) link
FD 2 I thought was novel, in that they're aware of, and involve, the first movie's characters. Also that having that knowledge doesn't help them survive.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:35 (four years ago) link
I bought a Blu-Ray set of all six Resident Evil movies for like $10 a few months back and by the time I got to the last one my brain was dribbling out of my ears.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:35 (four years ago) link
the fifth resident evil sequel, retribution, rivals event horizon for the best paul w.s. anderson film. i think it's brilliant
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:38 (four years ago) link
Sometimes this tack really pays off (as it did when I bought the Chucky set and slogged through those first three cinematic trash fires only to learn to my delight that the brilliance of the series lies entirely in the back half). But, yes, it's often a great way to underscore the essential futility of human existence.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:41 (four years ago) link
imo the only bad child's play movie is the third one. 2 is extremely fun. greatest horror franchise of all time next to phantasm imo
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:42 (four years ago) link
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, October 30, 2019 12:38 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
to expand on this, it incorporates a very video game-y concept (respawning) into the actual plot and it has incredible emotional impact
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:44 (four years ago) link
xpost I am being unfair inasmuch as, yes, 3 is the only really irredeemable entry, but the first two are rather perfunctory compared to what happened once they fully popped the cap off the can of batshit.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:45 (four years ago) link
there are few cinematic experiences that will ever compare to the first time i saw seed of chucky
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:46 (four years ago) link
Seriously.
― Feed Me Wheat Thins (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:48 (four years ago) link
I'm pretty sure The Loved Ones was this decade, distribution-wise. Unnerving Australian black comedy/coming-of-age horror with a delightfully twisted protagonist.
Echoing pretty much what everyone's said, but other favourites from this decade include: Under the Skin, Midsommar, A Field in England, Prevenge, Get Out, Creep, Mandy, Green Room, Killing of a Sacred Deer.
― tangenttangent, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:51 (four years ago) link
I never heard of Starry Eyes before this thread. I might watch that over the next few days, as well as The Wailing, which I've been meaning to get to forever.
― tangenttangent, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 19:52 (four years ago) link
Starry Eyes was really good, just not one of my personal faves.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 20:04 (four years ago) link
Loved Ones is fun for sure. His followup The Devil's Candy was OK as well
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 October 2019 20:08 (four years ago) link
Yeah, The Devil's Candy was pretty good. Great soundtrack (lots of metal, but used organically - the characters are into metal but that doesn't automatically make them evil).
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 20:17 (four years ago) link
oh that's the one with ethan embry! that was good.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 20:18 (four years ago) link
haha me too, I saw this in the theater with a bunch of friends in the middle of the afternoon (I had skipped out of work) and everyone was hooting and hollering along
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 20:29 (four years ago) link
Brad mentioning Resident Evil made my mind jump to a movie that is probably technically action but has strong horror elements: Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
I don't know that I've seen anything else in the series but knew the premise. Completely ott, begins with the murder of the main character's family, and does some pretty wild things mid-film
― mh, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 21:18 (four years ago) link
A Girl Walks Home Alone... is more of a curio than a great film. It has some interesting stuff going on for sure, but I wouldn't necessarily put it in a best-of-decade list. Honestly what I liked most about it was the setting/geography of it (central CA stand-in for Iran?) Felt a lot like a Jarmusch film, albeit not exactly Jarmusch's own vampire movie (which should also maybe belong here, although it is not particularly scary).
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 21:19 (four years ago) link
US:DoR is fucking bizarre and horrifying and brilliant - sci-fi action movie that swerves hard into body horror and Gaspar Noe-style shock. I love it.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 21:43 (four years ago) link
the psychological twist is kind of overshadowed by the stabbing and strobe lights but I completely agree
― mh, Thursday, 31 October 2019 00:53 (four years ago) link
Day of Reckoning may be the most viscerally violent movie I've ever seen.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 31 October 2019 01:27 (four years ago) link
Yeah, the fight scenes - I'm thinking in particular of the one in the sporting goods store - are insane.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Thursday, 31 October 2019 01:35 (four years ago) link
Doctor Sleep was....fine.
― Simon H., Thursday, 31 October 2019 01:50 (four years ago) link
xp the reviews that used phrases like “cronenbergian body horror” and “david lynch vibes” were a little ott but I would definitely buy the Gaspar Noe comparisons, if only for the fact that mf’er loves flashing lights 😏
― mh, Thursday, 31 October 2019 01:54 (four years ago) link
Day of Reckoning looks like the sort of thing I can watch with my partner and we will both be satisfied. Noe vibes, okay, but what about Uwe Boll? or is it simply not as nihilistic?
(i'm going to admit my great admiration for Boll, probably an unpopular opinion here as most places)
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Thursday, 31 October 2019 02:19 (four years ago) link
I haven’t watched a lot of Boll! But I’m rewatching now and wondering how the hell I questioned it was horror. It’s about a guy who (very minor spoilers, it’s the opening) sees his family killed, then wakes up from a coma and that is *the only memory he has of his life*Apparently Nicholas Winding Refn is a “devoted admirer of John Hyams” (director of DoR) and they’re collaborating for HBO now, if that endorsement counts
― mh, Thursday, 31 October 2019 02:36 (four years ago) link
Not sure if this is horror (...is Under the Skin horror?), but I loved Upgrade.
Re: Baskin - that movie is INSANE. I recommended it to some horror pals, not really out of a good faith rec, but more that I wanted to subject them to that totally batshit movie. Years later, they still text me about my horrible taste in horror movies. I finally had to give up the ruse and admit to them that I didn't actually think it was good and just wanted them to have it burned into their psyche. I didn't have the extreme reaction to it my friends had, but be warned.
― SA, Thursday, 31 October 2019 16:34 (four years ago) link
If we're being broad, I'd add Bone Tomahawk to the list of recent heavyweights. I've been put off Midsommar but will definitely check it out given its placing alongside so,many other great films in this discussion. Saw Green Room recently - some genuine gasp out loud moments.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Thursday, 31 October 2019 16:45 (four years ago) link
Bone Tomahawk is p horrifying - Western horror subgenre?
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 16:49 (four years ago) link
Anything else in that particular niche? Did Fulchi make any horror westerns?
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Thursday, 31 October 2019 16:51 (four years ago) link
Upgrade was fantastic. i started a thread for it that i don't think anyone else ever posted on. but it's more sci-fi/action than horror in my opinion.
― na (NA), Thursday, 31 October 2019 17:04 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I loved it (can the main dude please get all future roles that people might be considering Tom Hardy for?), but I wouldn't call it a horror movie really.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Thursday, 31 October 2019 17:41 (four years ago) link
strong body horror elements when he realizes he isn't the one driving
― mh, Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:50 (four years ago) link
There are Venom people and Upgrade people. I am a Venom person.
― Simon H., Thursday, 31 October 2019 19:27 (four years ago) link
Upgrade and Bone Tomahawk are both often weirdly funny.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 31 October 2019 19:59 (four years ago) link
I am a Venom person.
― Simon H., Thursday, October 31, 2019 12:27 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
same
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:05 (four years ago) link
it's the only good modern superhero movie
Ravenous
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:21 (four years ago) link
(not Fulci)
Near Dark!!
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:40 (four years ago) link
eh that's a stretch
(also not a good movie imo)
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:52 (four years ago) link
Offered 3 options for Halloween viewing: Crawl (alligators in a flooded house), Don't Breathe (dumbasses break into a wily blind man's house, things go badly), The Shallows (Blake Lively vs. shark). We're going with Don't Breathe.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:58 (four years ago) link
xpost What's your beef with Near Dark?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 31 October 2019 21:00 (four years ago) link
Don't Breathe is solid. Contains a moment that inspired a viscerally satisfying audience response.
― Simon H., Thursday, 31 October 2019 21:02 (four years ago) link
It gets pretty nasty.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 31 October 2019 21:10 (four years ago) link
ha I guess I've soured on it since my initial viewing: The Haunt Of Fear: ILX Top 100 HORROR Movies Poll Results Thread the regressive/conservative ending sticks in my mind, and my hatred of Bigelow's subsequent filmography must've colored my opinion a bit in the intervening period.
I know ppl around here love it.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 21:13 (four years ago) link
I saw Near Dark and Carpenter's Prince of Darkness on the same day back in 1987. One of the best days of my life (PoD still scares the shit out of me).
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Thursday, 31 October 2019 21:21 (four years ago) link
Lol at holding The Lost Boys over Near Dark, but more to the point holding The Lost Boys over anything really.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Thursday, 31 October 2019 23:36 (four years ago) link
I dont like the Lost Boys either
― Οὖτις, Friday, 1 November 2019 00:01 (four years ago) link
Did 30 minutes of that Universal Soldier movie last night you guys and idk. I mean I’m sure it’s surprising to see straight-to-video level action stuff competently directed and ripping Terminator, Robocop, Noe, and whatever else, but it all seemed like “I’m just gonna grab this bag of tricks” cheap mimicry without adding much else.Maybe there’s more later, but was bored enough to switch it off.
― circa1916, Friday, 1 November 2019 00:13 (four years ago) link
There's a lot more later. It gets really weird and dark.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 1 November 2019 00:25 (four years ago) link
the lost boys is a great movie
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 00:43 (four years ago) link
as is universal soldier day of reckoning, no time for this”i watched 30 minutes and idk” business
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 00:44 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I only saw it once but iirc it gets crazier and more and more hallucinatory.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 November 2019 01:28 (four years ago) link
People liked Bone Tomahawk? I thought it was super dopey, and not much more than a generic old-fashioned “townsfolk vs Savage Injuns” movie that disguises itself in the thinnest veneer.
― Una Palooka Dronka (hardcore dilettante), Friday, 1 November 2019 04:23 (four years ago) link
That's exactly what Bone Tomahawk is.
Watched The Lost Boys with my kids the other night - first time I'd seen it in years. It's dumb and great. I'd forgotten how ugly the feeding scene is.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Friday, 1 November 2019 09:40 (four years ago) link
Fulci did make a great, late Spaghetti Western called Four of the Apocalypse that's plenty violent but with no overt supernatural element:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_of_the_Apocalypse
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 1 November 2019 10:44 (four years ago) link
I think Bone Tomahawk is way more than "generic." The ornate dialogue, the pace, the flashes of humor, the shocking extremity of the unexpected (even when expected!) violence ... these all set it apart.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 November 2019 12:09 (four years ago) link
There was a time when I wanted to see Bone Tomahawk. That time was before I saw the dude's other movie, Brawl In Cell Block 99.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 1 November 2019 12:31 (four years ago) link
Now *that* movie is pretty generic, by design (I think), though entertainingly ridiculous and ott. Bone Tomahawk is much better.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 November 2019 13:37 (four years ago) link
Tale Of TalesThe WitchNovember A Field In EnglandMandyAcross The RiverUnder The SkinIt Follows Hagazussa
I regretted giving into the hype for Oculus, The Pact (which seems to be forgotten now), Hereditary, The Invitation and Get Out so I'm not seeing Midsommar or Us.
Baskin has its moments but not enough.
Incident In A Ghostland is not great but it deserved far more mentions than it got, pretty grueling and first film I'd seen in some time that really "went there" where other films would stop. Martyrs/Tall Man/House Of Voices director. Worth a try, some of you might really like it.
Green Room is solid but I didn't feel strongly about it. Climax is great but not quite my version of horror.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 1 November 2019 20:58 (four years ago) link
speaking of martyrs, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it yet. it's so unfriendly that it's hard to recommend without some kind of warning but it's unique and you'll probably get something out of the experience, for better or worse.
also -
here comes the devil - mexican horror notable for its goregrind usage, among other thingsdream home - well-made HK slasher with some really brutal kills
mandy is probably my favorite modern horror film by some margin tho. feels like a classic.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Saturday, 2 November 2019 19:52 (four years ago) link
the original Martyrs is amazing and one of my favourite horror films ever, don't think i'll ever bother with the remake
― Xia Nu del Vague (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 2 November 2019 19:54 (four years ago) link
yep, that one. I always forget that there even is a remake. seems bizarre!
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Saturday, 2 November 2019 19:56 (four years ago) link
God I hate Martyrs, I'm sure I went over this at some point.
― Simon H., Saturday, 2 November 2019 20:19 (four years ago) link
One I forgotten: We Are The Flesh.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 2 November 2019 20:34 (four years ago) link
We are the Flesh was weird and messed up and funny and nuts.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 2 November 2019 20:43 (four years ago) link
where are we discussing Doctor Sleep? Here?
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 15:40 (four years ago) link
nah this is the horror movies thread
― Xia Nu del Vague (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 15:45 (four years ago) link
missed the brief martyrs discussion upthread a couple of days ago, but it's an extraordinary movie that has stayed with me in a way that very few have since i saw it at least five years ago
i still don't really know what to make of it tbh
― Titanic was cliched Marxist crap. (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 15:51 (four years ago) link
If it's only a shaggy dog story leading you to the punchline it's still a tremendous punchline, it fucked with me in a manner I can only compare with "Oldboy"
― Xia Nu del Vague (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 15:55 (four years ago) link
will check it out
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
the french one, right?
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 16:23 (four years ago) link
xxxp I'd say if The Shining counts as horror then so does Doctor Sleep (PS I actually really enjoyed it FWIW)
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
xp yeah i've never seen the remake but let's assume it's shit like every other anglophone remake
― Xia Nu del Vague (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 16:26 (four years ago) link
Fairly certain this wasn't cleared through legal... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7446638/(trailer NSFW or for sanity)
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Friday, 8 November 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
For me the scary woman in the house is the best thing about Martyrs and then it moves away from that. Always surprised that many people prefer the torture.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 8 November 2019 17:51 (four years ago) link
i uh don’t think anyone here has said anything like that
― Titanic was cliched Marxist crap. (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 8 November 2019 17:52 (four years ago) link
Anyone else seen Tale Of Tales and November?
Across The River has some camera footage stuff but otherwise it's like a brutal MR James thing.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 8 November 2019 17:56 (four years ago) link
Here's a review of that KFC movie. Sounds NFM (Not For Me) but thoughtful and well crafted.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 8 November 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link
shit realized I left the Babadook off my decade list, would def add that
many xps
― Οὖτις, Friday, 8 November 2019 20:45 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agnpaFLo0to
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 9 November 2019 04:25 (four years ago) link
oh jeez that looks tight
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 9 November 2019 05:07 (four years ago) link
Man, what has Richard Stanley been up to? A career of bad luck?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 9 November 2019 05:58 (four years ago) link
I saw COOS. It's alright. The last 15 minutes is by far the best part, which makes it seem / feel better than it is.
― Simon H., Saturday, 9 November 2019 06:02 (four years ago) link
I enjoyed Doctor Sleep. The predators of the movie are one of the creepier vampire posses
― mh, Tuesday, 12 November 2019 02:14 (four years ago) link
Our Joel described it as a well-crafted entertaining rendering of a book that should never have been written
― The Man Who Was Thirsty (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 02:22 (four years ago) link
I described it as one of the spookiest Charmed season finales OF ALL TIMESeems like Flanagan is the guy if you want a polished realisation of a wholly misbegotten project for sure, this is probably the pinnacle of that. You could remove an hour of this film and it would just be serviceable glossy Netflix garbage (or just... a slightly above par Stephen King adaptation, the book is goofy King and Flanagan massively increases the schmaltz as is his wont) but the entire enterprise is so perverse it’s hilariousLike it’s one thing that (MILD SPOILERS) it’s this YA adventure with a psychic child doing battle with a Disney villain called “Rose the hat” whose catchphrase is “hi there” and who says shit like “curses! The brat’s powers are stronger than I feared!”but then at the same time it’s going out of its way to constantly remind you that this film — in which everything is explained and there is no trace of the uncanny — is a sequel to STANLEY KUBRICK’S THE SHINING. It’s fuckin wild. This isn’t a spoiler really since it’s present right from the beginning, but they have actors made up to look like characters/apparitions from the original film, but with performances & writing much closer to the 90s miniseries, and I’m sitting there like “it rules that someone thought this was a good idea”
― YouGov to see it (wins), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:33 (four years ago) link
i think King approves of it which is as damning as it gets
― The Man Who Was Thirsty (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link
Wait: does someone in this movie actually sincerely say 'curses!' because I didn't realize this movie was Hocus Pocus.
― Maybe you wanna lay off the Mountain Dew, there, Burt. (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link
I’ve seen ppl giving MF credit for his attempt to “reconcile” Kubrick’s vision with King’s, ymmv on whether this kind of puppyish eagerness to please all the people all the time makes for good horror but it certainly doesn’t seem like a trait that either of the SKs share
― YouGov to see it (wins), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:36 (four years ago) link
I’m paraphrasing the “curses” part but it kind of is hocus pocus yes
wins pretty much has it
I was joking with a friend that half the plot is the same as The Last Jedi, with a prospective teacher hiding his magic powers away for decades and spurning a young apprentice
― mh, Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:39 (four years ago) link
FWIW I thought the shot recreations were artfully integrated and way preferable to reused footage. And the astral projection sequence was cool.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:51 (four years ago) link
It's annoying that Flanagan is so respectful of King.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:53 (four years ago) link
On the marketing side, I'm pleasantly surprised that the execs didn't push hard for The Shining 2. Particularly since Doctor Sleep is and always has been a really awful title.
― Maybe you wanna lay off the Mountain Dew, there, Burt. (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:55 (four years ago) link
Having not been a Stephen King reader but having watched a number of film adaptations, I'm wondering: is the Overlook as a place that feeds on those with the shining something that was extrapolated on more in the books? It wasn't quite clunky, but as a parallel to these energy vampire people who also feed, it made me wonder why they didn't seem to know such places existed.
― mh, Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:56 (four years ago) link
The series is, like the book, much more about alcoholism than Kubrick’s version.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 14:59 (four years ago) link
(And the scene that would be the ‘here’s Johnny’ scene is completely trapped by the Kubrick version - it’s kind of interesting)
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 15:04 (four years ago) link
― YouGov to see it (wins), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 15:12 (four years ago) link
lol, this looks abundantly bad; somebody watch it and tell me if you diehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=1WbXAOBuo6A
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 12 November 2019 15:12 (four years ago) link
i can't find the thread wherein people post their favorite jump scares or scenes from horror films.. help?
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Saturday, 16 November 2019 02:06 (four years ago) link
Best and/or Scariest and/or Creepiest Scenes Ever (from horror films or TV shows or whatever, I don't care)
― Vernon Locke, Tuesday, 19 November 2019 02:46 (four years ago) link
There's really not much to it - medieval-ish monster hunter doing the rounds a la "The Witcher" - and I can see why the ending might be divisive (it also gives it an ironic horror anthology vibe), but I thought "The Head Hunter" was extremely well done, especially since it reportedly only cost $30,000. If that's true that's crazy, because it looks great, the props are great, the location shooting perfect, even the make-up an sound design is pretty good. Very impressed.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 November 2019 13:56 (four years ago) link
Never heard of this before.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 23 November 2019 15:59 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZqtRbifT6Q
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 November 2019 19:48 (four years ago) link
I was shocked to learn it was filmed in Portugal! I would have guessed Iceland, or someplace Scandinavian.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 November 2019 19:52 (four years ago) link
that movie was really well made, and imo also had a lot to say about masculinity, self-destruction, and self-preservation in an abstract/emotional sense. excellent movie if you like this sort of thing.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 23 November 2019 21:28 (four years ago) link
Also work/life balance!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 November 2019 21:44 (four years ago) link
Has anyone else watched the Channel Zero series on Shudder? I have now watched all four seasons and...enjoyed every single one! Would recommend. S4 was especially interesting in its treatment of coping with childhood trauma. A lot of the show has to do with that now that I think about it. Very relatable for a horror series!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 2 December 2019 18:35 (four years ago) link
will check it out; thanks for the recommend!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 2 December 2019 18:55 (four years ago) link
I saw all of s2 and s3 and parts of the other two - good production values and a few supremely creepy moments but neither of the seasons I finished quite came together for me in the end
― Simon H., Monday, 2 December 2019 19:30 (four years ago) link
I mean it's not the world's greatest or High Art or anything -- but I found each season compelling enough to watch the whole thing. That's pretty rare for me.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 2 December 2019 19:33 (four years ago) link
Oh it's def solid and watchable, it was diverting enough on a long train ride
― Simon H., Monday, 2 December 2019 19:45 (four years ago) link
I watched the Netflix zombie thing with Martin Freeman, Cargo last night. It's alright, really. Low-budget (presumably they spent it all on Tim) and has a central, largely under-conceptualised free-floating metaphor for the horror visited on the Aboriginal people, but it's pretty affecting, is well played (especially Simone Landers, playing a young Aboriginal girl) and it looks half-decent.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Monday, 2 December 2019 21:00 (four years ago) link
I thought "Bliss" was pretty disappointing, like if Gaspar Noe directed a low-budget movie based on someone describing "The Crow" to him.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 December 2019 20:28 (four years ago) link
I'll probably give it a go. I think Eureka are releasing it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 December 2019 18:40 (four years ago) link
this may be a case where the preview tells you the whole film or it could be a straight up disaster on contact or it could be a fun novelty flick but one thing is for sure: it took a lot of balls to go with that titlehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOn2-ZxiJgI
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 12 December 2019 01:12 (four years ago) link
Low-budget (presumably they spent it all on Tim)
the rest on gennies to recharge lighting and camera batteries for all-day bush shoots
central, largely under-conceptualised free-floating metaphor
it's pretty well-integrated tbf - makes the point strongly in a few different ways without over-egging* the metaphor, and resolves more closely than the narrative has hewn throughout. * six of 'over-egging', half a dozen of 'being even slightly close to the horrible reality'
― insecurity bear (sic), Thursday, 12 December 2019 02:14 (four years ago) link
ready or not: kind of poorly-made, kind of ugly, reminded me way too much of you're next at the outset, yet: too fun to resist
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 12 December 2019 18:51 (four years ago) link
Disliked it for almost the whole running time but enjoyed the final tableau.
― temporarily embarrassed thousandaire (Eric H.), Thursday, 12 December 2019 18:53 (four years ago) link
I've heard of and seen only two of these (One Cut and Climax). Anyone else? Most look pretty intriguing, imo.
https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3596045/best-2019-10-best-foreign-horror-films-2019/
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 December 2019 23:02 (four years ago) link
not yet but i'm gonna use that list for hunting, so thanks!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 19 December 2019 06:28 (four years ago) link
welp the reviews of the new Grudge are pretty much "meh" or worse across the board
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Sunday, 5 January 2020 04:58 (four years ago) link
pfft it’s a horror movie, you think i care about reviews
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 January 2020 05:15 (four years ago) link
although it seems like it was a victim of studio-mandated reshoots lol so i’m no longer excited
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 January 2020 05:17 (four years ago) link
anyway thanks for bumping this thread, i wanted to sing the praises of silent hill: revelation 3d
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 January 2020 05:19 (four years ago) link
which is streaming on netflix rn and is full of very ugly cgi and exposition dumps and functions exactly like a video game and the jump scares are just the sort of camera-shaking cheap shots that ruins the new it adaptations for me and yet.... there is something captivating about it. it’s shot really well, the aimlessness/pointlessness of the plot makes the collapsing meta-realties very effective in a hello mary lou: prom night ii way, and jon snow’s american(???) accent is all over the fuckin place it’s hilarious
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 January 2020 05:25 (four years ago) link
i went in expecting boring trash that would help me sleep and instead i got this hypnotic weird trash that kept me awake thinking about it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 January 2020 05:37 (four years ago) link
malcolm mcdowell is in it for five minutes and chews so much scenery it’s like he eats the movie whole. it’s awesome
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 January 2020 05:39 (four years ago) link
I really liked Antrum, I thought it managed a lot with its budget and quite silly ideas. Several extremely pant-filling moments.
― glumdalclitch, Sunday, 5 January 2020 06:07 (four years ago) link
i had never seen the original silent hill so i put it on last night and imo it's one of the most beautiful-looking films ever made
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 January 2020 10:50 (four years ago) link
It nicely recreated a lot of the settings but some of the cgi is terrible (a recurring problem with Gans, which is a shame because he has talent) and the ragged people looked a tad goofy. That's only the visual problems though. Am curious to see his segment of Necronomicon.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 5 January 2020 12:35 (four years ago) link
i kinda liked the ropey creature cgi, it added to the unreality of the film for me. also i gotta say this again: the cinematography is staggering. done by the same guy who did the last two john wick films and crimson peak/shape of water
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 5 January 2020 19:17 (four years ago) link
finally caught In Fabric - mixed feelings about it. It looks (and sounds) fantastic but the writing is half-assed and perfunctory. There's no real story or characters per se, just a bunch of strung-together moments and ideas. It's more like a very detailed sketch of a film than a proper film itself.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 6 January 2020 16:24 (four years ago) link
Admission: The US remake of the original Grudge and the original Silent Hill film are both flicks I enjoy immensely despite feeling as though I shouldn't.
― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Monday, 6 January 2020 16:29 (four years ago) link
I haven't seen Silent Hill in a long time but I remember being really impressed by its darkness and weirdness at the time. Some real nightmare-fuel visuals in that movie.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 6 January 2020 16:34 (four years ago) link
iknow fans of the game weren't as enthusiastic but I think they nailed it, aesthetic-wise.
― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Monday, 6 January 2020 16:36 (four years ago) link
fucking loved in fabric
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 18 January 2020 06:06 (four years ago) link
SPOILERS: didn’t even mind that it was two interconnected stories, in fact i really liked that bc the dress/shop are the main characters. the overwrought dialogue of the shop clerk! the hilarious bank clerks! the fugue of pleasure everyone goes into when that guy describes how to repair a washing machine!
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 18 January 2020 06:15 (four years ago) link
I felt a bit frustrated by there only being two stories, like we should have seen at least another short's worth of the dress doing its thing to really tie the thing together cinch the narrative's waist
― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Saturday, 18 January 2020 06:29 (four years ago) link
slender man: people really hated this movie! i liked it a lot
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 20 January 2020 02:39 (four years ago) link
one of those movies that answers the question "is this movie really atmospheric and cool or is it just poorly lit" with a resounding "yes"
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 20 January 2020 02:43 (four years ago) link
"Colour out of Space" was ... I dunno. It does a lot right. It looks cool, the mood is surreal and spooky. It also does a lot wrong, like letting Cage go full-Cage, which undercuts the mood, imo. Also has a bad habit of characters on screen saying stuff the film has already visually answered. Like, if you see two people fused by space lightning into a melted mess of a being, and they're moaning, you don't need to have someone ask "why are they making that sound!?" Or if you've seen all sorts of crazy things and mutated animals and other horrific shit and the horse is acting strange, you don't need someone asking "why is he acting that way?" For a movie partly about something making people behave in odds ways, it still made me constantly question choices people were making. Like, if there's a well, and there's been strange shit going on with the well, and your dog has gone missing (see: all the weird animal shit), and you think you hear the dog at the bottom of the well, and you stupidly decide to climb down the well (who does that?), and *then* halfway down you exclaim "ugh, it smells like something died down here!", like, don't go down the well!
The well was part of the problem with the way the story was told, too. As I understand it in the Lovecraft it's something in the water, but this movie has a meteorite crash to earth and implies it's the source of it all. (Including, inevitably, characters saying again and again "it's that thing that came from space, it's the source of it all!") But the movie still implies the water is the root of the problem, and ... I dunno. Maybe they should have had the meteorite crash and vanish in a prologue? Regardless, the story has been referenced or borrowed from so many times, from "The Blob" to "Annihilation" to "The Thing" (which this movie explicitly echoes) but mostly in a bunch of Stephen King stuff, like "The Mist" and "The Tommyknockers" and "Weeds"/"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill," so I guess in the end it's so surprise it comes off as just another average King movie (with some better than average visuals).
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 25 January 2020 17:52 (four years ago) link
^^(Some spoilers, obviously)
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 25 January 2020 17:53 (four years ago) link
Nicolas Cage is a very bad actor and I don't trust the taste or opinions of people who claim that he's good.
Richard Stanley is a placeholder of a director and people who claim he's some major creative voice who's been stifled by The System are full of shit. I've seen Hardware, I've seen Dust Devil, and I've seen The Island of Dr. Moreau; the latter movie isn't good, but all the offstage drama ensured that there was basically no chance it ever could be; given the choice between Richard Stanley and John Frankenheimer, no sane person is gonna choose door #1.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Saturday, 25 January 2020 18:49 (four years ago) link
letting Cage go full-Cage
he goes 1/5 Cage at best
― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Saturday, 25 January 2020 20:17 (four years ago) link
Unperson OTM (about Cage, haven’t seen this yet).
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Saturday, 25 January 2020 21:32 (four years ago) link
His line readings hover around 3/5 on the Cage scale. There were lines that seemed built to be "bees!" like memes.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 25 January 2020 22:09 (four years ago) link
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/tommy-chong-interview-color-out-of-space-weed-and-joker
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 26 January 2020 17:35 (four years ago) link
one of the bummers about CooS (which I did like on balance) is that it seemed too aware of Cage-as-meme whereas in Mandy the extremity seemed intrinsic to the world and the character
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Monday, 27 January 2020 14:32 (four years ago) link
Exactly. That's why I blame the direction as much as Cage. They leaned into his Caginess too much in a movie that really didn't need it. It has plenty going for it otherwise.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 January 2020 14:46 (four years ago) link
Tommy Chong is good but a few of the other supporting actors are.....really not great.
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Monday, 27 January 2020 14:47 (four years ago) link
Yeah. This was very much a stoner cult film.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 27 January 2020 14:53 (four years ago) link
I kept thinking of (for lots of reasons) Stuart Gordon's From Beyond.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 January 2020 15:34 (four years ago) link
I'll probably check it out when it makes it to the theater here (if it does) but my one question: Does the Colin Stetson soundtrack slap or nah?
― babu frik fan account (mh), Monday, 27 January 2020 15:42 (four years ago) link
(re: COOS)
The soundtrack is pretty good! Lots of stuff about the movie is classy and well done, just the tone is a mess and the acting is all over the place.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 January 2020 15:47 (four years ago) link
sounds like my kind of movie
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 27 January 2020 15:49 (four years ago) link
the best thing about it is the artfully blended CGI+practical effects, especially in the last 20 minutes.
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Monday, 27 January 2020 15:50 (four years ago) link
I liked From Beyond a lot when I saw it in the theater, but I was 14.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 27 January 2020 16:28 (four years ago) link
i saw from beyond for the first time a few months ago, it fuckin rocks
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 27 January 2020 16:29 (four years ago) link
TBH as a big Stetson fan i was deeply unimpressed with the soundtrack for Color Out of Space and the sound design was just unpleasant and boring! I was surprised!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 27 January 2020 16:53 (four years ago) link
But I didn't think the score was bad. It didn't take me out of the movie, so there's that. I assumed a lot of the high pitched sound cues were him blowing through a mouthpiece of sorts.
xpost Yeah, From Beyond is pretty bonkers but it's got a better hook than this one, I think (because I think this one was muddled). In From Beyond there's an aphrodisiac addiction/attraction to the power/being/other dimension, which explains why they keep hanging around/going back for more. In this one (mild spoilers?) they don't get anything good out of it (except, fleetingly, quality produce?), and it's vague whether it's a meteor that brings it on, polluted water, whether the water preceded the meteor and what was in it (aliens? cosmic power?) was activated by the meteor, and so on. Which is fine, but also people keep talking about being unable to leave ... except for the people that are able to leave? And then there's stuff about cancer, and witchcraft, and ... politics? Social satire? I definitely wavered back on forth on whether it was being darkly funny on purpose. I dunno, just kind of muddled all around. Def. worth seeing, though, imo. Just disappointing.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 January 2020 16:56 (four years ago) link
I was hoping "Crawl" would be better than it looked. Like "The Shallows," which was also better than it looked (but still not that great). Well, this one was about as lame as it looked. So much dumbness. From a filmmaking standpoint, if most of your movie is set in a flooding basement during a hurricane, then it kind of ruins the effect when the basement is somehow lit brighter than the flashlight beams you're thinking around. And from a fucking zoological standpoint, while it's definitely not unique to this movie it does get pretty silly when you have a bunch of alligators so ravenous it's like they haven't eaten in a year. And from a stupid human standpoint, if your choice - after getting bitten, and stalked, and terrorized by a team of alligators while trapped in a flooding basement and then finally escaping - is to swim a couple of hundred feet across water absolutely teeming with more alligators (that you can see, because the water is swimming pool clear) hoping to make it to a boat rather than climb up to the fucking *roof*, then you deserve to get eaten.
Contriving to pad the body count in what is essentially a bottle episode narrative was particularly desperate in this one, since you knew that anyone that showed up was going to be quickly killed. Especially when the protagonists (and dog, natch) are apparently indestructible. Compound fractures, getting their legs chomped down on, arms chomped down on ... they just take a licking and keep on ticking, however cool it might be to see someone empty a gun's clip into an alligator *from inside the alligator* as it chews on their forearm.
(Pour one out for the idiot sticking around to further loot the flooded convenience store not for money, like his pals, but for snacks, cheap sunglasses and a hot dog. Playing Supermarket Sweep in a 7-11 must be some swamp dude's idea of heaven.)
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 21:16 (four years ago) link
I liked Crawl a lot!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 00:11 (four years ago) link
I tried!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 01:57 (four years ago) link
i sympathize!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 02:33 (four years ago) link
I just saw Cabin in the woods for the first time a couple of months ago and I was thinking that I really liked it except for the ending. I see now that the ending is what people really loved about it.
The Shallows was really disappointing. xpost
― Yerac, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 02:35 (four years ago) link
Crawl offended me from a hurricane realism standpoint. Nobody in FL wakes up unaware they might get hit by a fuckin category 5 hurricane. A 1, maybe.
― ... that's Traore! (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 02:54 (four years ago) link
But really the reason i hated it is I hate most Floridians
except for the ones with scales, they don't fare very well in Crawl
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 05:28 (four years ago) link
tbf the movie works pretty well as a "what not to do if there's a huge hurricane" PSA. 1) Don't drive *into* the hurricane. 2) Don't go down to the basement to work on ... what was he doing down there, anyway? Fixing the cable? 3) Stay out of the water; they could make a sequel to this called "Cholera." 4) If the house and entire street is flooded with famished alligator-infested water, get on the roof.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 13:01 (four years ago) link
do they address that houses in florida don't have basements
― na (NA), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 15:12 (four years ago) link
They might elide over it. I think at one point they call it a crawlspace, but ... it's a basement. Anyway, Aja (whose track record is pretty shitty) is predictably full of shit:
Aja, however, would like to clarify that it is not a basement featured in Crawl, but rather a crawl space. Which, given the movie’s title, makes sense.“We looked into a lot of houses in Florida and there are indeed a lot of crawl spaces. Most of the crawl spaces are usually not higher than two to three feet,” he said.Smaller, submerged crawl spaces — defined as an area of limited height under a floor or roof — can be found in Florida. But what about Crawl’s Florida? The movie’s fictional setting of Coral Lake, which is said to be about two hours southwest on I-75 from the University of Florida in Gainesville (my alma mater), is likely a bit south of Tampa, Florida. Quick research indicates that houses in the Tampa area can indeed have crawl spaces, judging by the numerous “Crawl Space Repair” services that populate Google. But like Aja said, most of the crawl spaces in the Tampa area appear to be about three-feet tall.The one featured in the movie seems to be a bit taller, enough so that the movie’s 5’6” lead actress Kaya Scodelario can comfortably crouch and not bump her head.“A lot of people now are digging the crawl space to double the space,” explained Aja. “It’s very common to dig your crawl space. So we went up to like four or five feet. But it’s not a basement. We did research. We found this house that had a deeper crawl space.”Are there many houses in southwestern Florida with four- to five-foot crawl spaces? Probably not. Are there giant alligators on the prowl during hurricanes? Also not likely. It’s all part of that hyper-real tone and hey, if we can buy the hyperbolic alligators, maybe we can buy the hyperbolic crawl space.
“We looked into a lot of houses in Florida and there are indeed a lot of crawl spaces. Most of the crawl spaces are usually not higher than two to three feet,” he said.
Smaller, submerged crawl spaces — defined as an area of limited height under a floor or roof — can be found in Florida. But what about Crawl’s Florida? The movie’s fictional setting of Coral Lake, which is said to be about two hours southwest on I-75 from the University of Florida in Gainesville (my alma mater), is likely a bit south of Tampa, Florida. Quick research indicates that houses in the Tampa area can indeed have crawl spaces, judging by the numerous “Crawl Space Repair” services that populate Google. But like Aja said, most of the crawl spaces in the Tampa area appear to be about three-feet tall.
The one featured in the movie seems to be a bit taller, enough so that the movie’s 5’6” lead actress Kaya Scodelario can comfortably crouch and not bump her head.
“A lot of people now are digging the crawl space to double the space,” explained Aja. “It’s very common to dig your crawl space. So we went up to like four or five feet. But it’s not a basement. We did research. We found this house that had a deeper crawl space.”
Are there many houses in southwestern Florida with four- to five-foot crawl spaces? Probably not. Are there giant alligators on the prowl during hurricanes? Also not likely. It’s all part of that hyper-real tone and hey, if we can buy the hyperbolic alligators, maybe we can buy the hyperbolic crawl space.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 15:41 (four years ago) link
I was just reading a couple of reviews tearing apart all the egregious unforced error Florida inaccuracies. Like, this seems like a big one:
One day after swimming practice, she suddenly finds out that Category 5 Hurricane Wendy is bearing down on the area and an evacuation order is in place. This by itself is weird because hurricanes are named alphabetically at the start of the year. W means there would have been a whopping 23 hurricanes already that season. There would have been no surprise hurricane at that point, and the real horror story would have been remaining Floridians fighting for limited water and food resources.
Like, give the hurricane a different name, problem solved! But no.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 15:47 (four years ago) link
i'm not saying it's not dumb, i'm saying i enjoyed it!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 15:49 (four years ago) link
I enjoyed the first half, honestly, before the dumbness accelerated. Like, I enjoyed most of the aforementioned "The Shallows," too, before she was being chased underwater by, iirc, a flaming shark.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 15:51 (four years ago) link
I was convinced she was going to find a snake while she was crawling around under the house, that's what I would have been most scared of.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 15:52 (four years ago) link
before she was being chased underwater by, iirc, a flaming shark.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, January 29, 2020 8:51 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
this sounds fucking awesome
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 16:18 (four years ago) link
It is innately awesome. Just perhaps not in a movie that otherwise traffics in survival realism.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 16:48 (four years ago) link
Hardware, Dust Devil― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Saturday, January 25, 2020 6:49 PM
I wasn't crazy about what I seen of them either (I stopped Hardware half an hour from the end and couldn't finish Dust Devil because the disc was fucked) but he's done a whole lot more and I've heard plenty good about White Darkness and The Otherworld.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 31 January 2020 19:11 (four years ago) link
How is William Friedkin's "Bug?" I've never seen it, but we just saw a new staging of it here (with Carrie Coon), and it was ... just OK. I wonder if it makes a better movie.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 31 January 2020 20:10 (four years ago) link
it's kind of interesting but also a bit one-note. It's color pallette is really harsh.
Not as good as Killer Joe.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 31 January 2020 20:12 (four years ago) link
The issue my wife and I had with the play is that there's not a lot of ambiguity, so it's basically 90 minutes of watching a paranoid schizophrenic behave like ... a paranoid schizophrenic.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 31 January 2020 20:17 (four years ago) link
that is the movie as well
― Οὖτις, Friday, 31 January 2020 20:17 (four years ago) link
It kind of goes without saying that a "Saw" sequel should be shitty, but this looks particularly shitty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWiUQp0yM34
As in, seriously *looks* shitty. Filters, relentless Dutch angles, sweaty faces.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 5 February 2020 15:28 (four years ago) link
the book of saw
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 5 February 2020 15:28 (four years ago) link
A popup book
― ill fuckin put a paste on those (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 5 February 2020 15:30 (four years ago) link
p disappointed at Rock following up two of the best things in his career (Top 5 and his recent standup) with this inexplicable piece of garbage
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 5 February 2020 16:33 (four years ago) link
he also came up with the idea for the movie: https://deadline.com/2019/05/chris-rock-to-reboot-saw-franchise-with-lionsgate-twisted-pictures-1202616185/i don't know, i'm curious
― na (NA), Wednesday, 5 February 2020 16:36 (four years ago) link
Bug and Killer Joe are both nasty and great
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Wednesday, 5 February 2020 16:37 (four years ago) link
so is color out of space worth seeing
― na (NA), Sunday, 9 February 2020 17:06 (four years ago) link
I saw Bug so long ago I had no idea who Michael Shannon was, but I remember it being pretty good in a highly claustrophobic way. I should get around to Killer Joe one of these days.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 9 February 2020 17:37 (four years ago) link
Killer Joe's great but the stage version's even better. something about being in the same room as that maniac just raises the stakes.
― ill fuckin put a paste on those (Neanderthal), Sunday, 9 February 2020 17:44 (four years ago) link
I missed the point of Bug when I saw it, due for a rewatch
― ill fuckin put a paste on those (Neanderthal), Sunday, 9 February 2020 17:46 (four years ago) link
watched Ready or Not last night, one of the worst films I've ever seen
― or something, Sunday, 9 February 2020 17:57 (four years ago) link
Wow, I guess see more movies? At the very least it's competent.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 9 February 2020 19:52 (four years ago) link
not sure how it's competent when it fails at being a horror, a comedy, a satire or anything else one would assume it's going for
― or something, Sunday, 9 February 2020 22:00 (four years ago) link
colour is fine? i wouldn't get too excited but it does what it says on the wrapper.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 10 February 2020 00:12 (four years ago) link
i didn't hate ready or not but i did think it was mediocre and squandered some game performances. i agree it was weak satire and not particularly funny or scary. everybody exploding at the end did make me laugh.
― na (NA), Monday, 10 February 2020 15:46 (four years ago) link
ready or not is definitely ugly-looking and never gives you a sense of the mansion as a coherent space which is like basically inept filmmaking. but i had fun so who gives a shit
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 10 February 2020 15:52 (four years ago) link
Its horror and satire are weak but I've seen enough shitty horror/comedy-ish movies to recognize it as better than average, if only for the goofy ending. It's not going in the Library of Congress or anything, but it's definitely not inept, come on.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 10 February 2020 15:58 (four years ago) link
Like, I have a pretty low tolerance for inept, I have no qualms walking out of movies.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 10 February 2020 15:59 (four years ago) link
no i just mean that a movie having no sense of the space it takes place in is bad filmmaking 101. the layout of the mansion and where characters are situated in it at any given time is pure randomness and confusion. i enjoyed the movie despite this
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 10 February 2020 16:04 (four years ago) link
Heh, I think I appreciated the mansion and its passages and stuff as just, like, a production design McGuffin. That is, in "Knives Out" - or even "Clue" - where things are matters. In this one, not so much. Just need to be doors and cabinets and whatnot to pop in and out of, the how and where of it didn't matter much to me. For example, no matter how many times I've seen, say, "Evil Dead 2," I have no idea how that cabin works as a space.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 10 February 2020 16:09 (four years ago) link
Imo, having a likable, charismatic lead made a huge difference, and if that was all the film did well, that's enough for me these days.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 10 February 2020 16:10 (four years ago) link
that's the one thing it did have going for it admittedly, unfortunately everyone else in it bugged the shit out of me
― or something, Monday, 10 February 2020 16:34 (four years ago) link
Just saw Color Out of Space and thought it was dull af, crummy CGI & acting out of a SyFy original movie, and Cage does not deliver nearly enough of teh crazy to make it worthwhile imo
― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 11 February 2020 05:05 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoJc2tH3WBw
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 February 2020 18:56 (four years ago) link
Brad otm about Ready Or Not and the mansion. For a film that is almost entirely about playing hide and seek, it has basically zero tension as well. Samara Weaving is always good value though.
I’ve seen to much trash recently on planes. Annabelle Comes Home and La Llorona suggest that the people making the Conjuring universe stuff, while never high art, have basically stopped trying. Just a dull slog with a cobbled together script and a handful of jump scares. McKenna Grace, despite being about ten, is vastly better than the former deserves.
Fantasy Island, which has a very strong vibe of a film Paris Hilton would have starred in circa 2004, is at least watchable.
― ShariVari, Friday, 14 February 2020 07:06 (four years ago) link
Oz Perkins’ Gretel & Hansel looks like it might be legit good, from the trailer.
― ShariVari, Friday, 14 February 2020 07:10 (four years ago) link
Samara Weaving is always good value though.
I thought she was a big reason why the movie didn't work tbh.
― 🚶♂️💨 (Eric H.), Friday, 14 February 2020 13:49 (four years ago) link
Green Knight looks cool but fuck that cgi fox.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 14 February 2020 20:17 (four years ago) link
I thought "Doctor Sleep" was pretty silly, and sometimes strange, and not at all scary, and I'm surprised it got a theatrical release rather than live on Netflix with most of Mike Flanagan's stuff. But I like him, and he did about as well as he could with the material, I suppose. I saw the director's cut, fwiw, so can only imagine the theatrical version was even more confusing.
It's a weird thing, though, this movie. "Doctor Sleep," the book, was (I guess? I didn't read it) a sequel to "The Shining" (the book, which I've also never read), but of course "The Shining" (the movie) is apparently pretty different from the book. So I suppose this this movie is trying to be both adaptation of "Doctor Sleep" (the book) and sequel to "The Shining" (the movie).
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 15 February 2020 14:46 (four years ago) link
It retreads a lot of familiar territory for King; the redemptive alcoholic etc. And it kept some of his worst traits - his anti-zigianism, the predictable buddy death. And it just felt too fantastic. Sucking a soul from a flask? It just didn’t work.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Saturday, 15 February 2020 20:30 (four years ago) link
I'm no King stan, but while there did seem to be tons of familiar stuff ... it's a sequel. Regardless, a more interesting story could have been told without those "Near Dark" leftovers, since it has all those themes of abuse (alcohol and child) to explore. But like I said, probably did about as well as it could with the material.
(Had to google antiziganism)
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 15 February 2020 20:45 (four years ago) link
Also: de-gloving and tendon cuts, King seems to like those.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Saturday, 15 February 2020 20:49 (four years ago) link
I watched Splice (2009), and it’s been a while since I disliked a film so strongly. I don’t think a single thing anyone did in this film is believable, the characters are wildly inconsistent, clumsy dialogue. Stupid and ugly.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Friday, 28 February 2020 10:13 (four years ago) link
$4 Comcast stream of "Haunt" was worth the money. Kids out driving in country see "Haunted House" neon sign, decide to visit house run by masked people. Final girl was a decent character. Not original, but done well, with a few things I didn't expect, and a satisfying ending.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Friday, 28 February 2020 15:13 (four years ago) link
The Invisible Man:
Good - opening scene, restaurant scene, Elizabeth Moss, some style, jump scares.Bad - wild improbabilities (not in general, you just go with the premise, but specific scenes and points of logic), too long, zero attempt to ruminate on invisibility (like Cronenberg's The Fly ruminates on decay--too much to ask, I know), too-cute ending, jump scares. Also didn't like the way there isn't even a hint of sexuality in Moss's relationship with her cop friend.
I've never read the book or seen the original, and suspect this has little or no connection to either. I do love Elliot Gould's Invisible Man joke in The Long Goodbye.
― clemenza, Monday, 2 March 2020 02:46 (four years ago) link
I don’t check this thread too often so forgive me if it’s been discussed ad nauseum, but I finally caught the Suspiria redo and was enthusiastic about it. I really thought it paid tribute well and stood its own ground. I was nuts about the dancing and the color/photography.
― justice 4 CCR (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 2 March 2020 04:09 (four years ago) link
I can understand negative reactions but I really liked it a lot
― Dan S, Monday, 2 March 2020 04:13 (four years ago) link
Not sure if it's cos i went to the cinema in a bad mood but i found color out of space quite disappointing. seemed to mush together tropes and ideas from a ream of existing films (The Shining, Society, The Thing, Slither) without really offering anything new, nor anything to really think about. It ended up being a sequence of loosely-linked events that seemed designed to show off some quite nice but OTT special effects, but it all felt a bit empty and inconsequential.
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Monday, 2 March 2020 15:01 (four years ago) link
I enjoyed how it messed with everyone in different ways, but it seemed a little less than well thought out. Some of the things that it seemed to suggest simply went nowhere. It seemed like the kind of movie they ran out of money making. Still, I'm glad to see that Stanley got work again.
― justice 4 CCR (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 2 March 2020 16:17 (four years ago) link
Also caught the Suspiria remake this weekend, too, and agree with your comments, particularly the dance scene with the audience. Wonderful. Was thinking the final dance scene could have ended with more than dancers somewhat whirling in place, but guessing choreography driven by safety concerns given the slippery floor. Leaps and slides probably not a good idea.
Also watched Girl on the Third Floor. Don't feel the time was wasted, despite many, many medium close-ups, plus a seriously 'meh' ending and epilogue. Was rooting for the evil house.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 2 March 2020 17:46 (four years ago) link
color out of space quite disappointing. seemed to mush together tropes and ideas from a ream of existing films ... a sequence of loosely-linked events ... inconsequential.
this is not an unfair reaction to the film or to Lovecraft in general, but the movies you cite were all made 55-80 years after The Colour Out Of Space
― Fantastic. Great move. Well done (sic), Monday, 2 March 2020 17:57 (four years ago) link
Story is a tad too long but my favorite thing is the bit they'll never get onscreen: the farm and "blasted heath".
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 March 2020 19:48 (four years ago) link
Hey y’all, I’m quietly sneaking back into a few beloved threads after an...extended absence. Looks like I have some catching up to do here.
― jjjusten, Saturday, 7 March 2020 02:04 (four years ago) link
:D
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 7 March 2020 03:32 (four years ago) link
welcome back, friend
the new black christmas was so riotously good i was freaking out the whole time
the script is simultaneously a lot on the nose and a lot hopped up on goofballs but respectively 1) it's on the nose in ways that are... correct, so i was never mad about it 2) some of the more ridiculous moments make the movie seem like it's operating according to a weird private sense of humor shared among a group of friends, which is great in a film explicitly about sisterhood. looked great (again everyone should watch always shine), enormously cathartic and cool and fun and wildly different from the original and the 2006 remake, i couldn't have been happier
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 11 March 2020 02:26 (four years ago) link
any Shudder recommendations? been burning through stuff so I can bounce before I get charged lol
highlights so far:
Luz: probably would have annoyed me if it was any longer but at 65 mins before credits, this was just the right length. almost more of a demo reel than a movie, but a very good demo reel.
Daniel Isn't Real: son-of-Schwarzenegger makes an excellent imaginary Patrick Bateman. this was way more solid than I expected.
Black Coal, Thin Ice: not horror - Chinese neo-noir - but really good, sort of a deeply fucked new take on Sea of Love. made me eager to check out Wild Goose Lake.
Dogs Don't Wear Pants: also not really horror, just an exceptionally violent BDSM romantic tragicomedy. Had some really great moments and fine performances, but would have really benefitted from fleshing out the other characters besides the protag. Leans into some cliches the BDSM community would frown upon, I kinda suspect, though I'd be lying if I said I was an expert of any kind.
Slumber Party Massacre: somehow had never seen this. A riot, though would have been a first-tier slasher classic with a less lame killer.
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Monday, 30 March 2020 12:25 (three years ago) link
what! the driller killer in slumber party massacre is terrifying!
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 30 March 2020 12:42 (three years ago) link
I found him pretty effective till he started talking
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Monday, 30 March 2020 12:48 (three years ago) link
These both sound interesting but I don't think I'll bite yet. There's a few spoilers.https://thebedlamfiles.com/film/the-platform/https://thebedlamfiles.com/film/swallow/
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 31 March 2020 00:42 (three years ago) link
Heard v good things about the latter.
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Tuesday, 31 March 2020 05:26 (three years ago) link
is that a horror movie about Bush's meteoric rise in the 90s
― narcissistic sleighride (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 31 March 2020 05:29 (three years ago) link
Essay from Mike Flanagan about watching horror ... well, now:
https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3611821/facing-fear-times-uncertainty-guest-essay-filmmaker-mike-flanagan/
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 3 April 2020 21:22 (three years ago) link
as I mentioned on the Streaming thread, Shudder just added the first eight Friday the 13ths, so that's my weekend sorted
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Friday, 3 April 2020 21:28 (three years ago) link
Re: Flanagan piece, I also hated horror when I was a kid but loved monsters, it was intensely uncomfortable.
There was a lot of horror writers on twitter promoting their virus stories, some people saying that is screwed up and some people saying it's completely appropriate to the function of horror.
I've seen a lot more trends about comfort reads/viewing though.
I don't think I've really responded at all to the situation in my entertainment habits.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 3 April 2020 21:49 (three years ago) link
I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I'd never considered the tacit appeal of horror and other challenging stuff is that it has an *end*. It's not just make believe, it's finite.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 3 April 2020 21:52 (three years ago) link
earnestly cannot tell at this time if I am genetically predisposed to defending Damon Lindelof or if The Hunt is legitimately really good, but I am at least comfortable asserting that Betty Gilpin is stellar in it.
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Sunday, 5 April 2020 03:33 (three years ago) link
The Head Hunter - Surprised to find there is no Bluray version of this, only DVD. I wanted this to be much better than it was. It's very short and the story is very simple, not much dialogue. Special effects are really weak and the music unwisely tries to wring emotion out of what little story there is. The only things it really has going for it is the scenery and costume.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 18:51 (three years ago) link
And those are worth every penny of the paltry budget.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 19:02 (three years ago) link
They were definitely impressive and enabled a trailer that promised a much better film.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 19:06 (three years ago) link
Tried to watch the director's cut of Doctor Sleep to see if it would result in a more satisfying overall movie, but instead mainly seems to add the last thing you'd ever want or need: more lengthy, detailed explanations of the lore and the powers. I bailed half an hour in.
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 14:10 (three years ago) link
mainly seems to add the last thing you'd ever want or need: more lengthy, detailed explanations
Steven King's job description, innit?
― Album Moods: Rambunctious; Snide (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 15:44 (three years ago) link
yeah I'm gonna continue to blame Flanagan's blind fealty to King for sinking that movie
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 15:45 (three years ago) link
Besides making the cash grab nature of horror films overt, that's the main reason I hate the "it's not over" ending. I'm all for sequels, but there's no pleasure in watching 90 minutes of say, Wishmaster, Freddy, or Leprechaun, kill a bunch of folk and be defeated/killed/banished, only to have a "wink wink, they're back" coda. I already assume that a new film is coming. The coda kills that vicarious satisfaction.
The only coda I remember liking was Friday the 13th Part II's last shot.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 16:30 (three years ago) link
If you're craving new monster makeup, this is the place. Some stunning work here, if only they had more films to work on.https://www.instagram.com/monsterpaloozaofficial/
Plus Danny Devito and Brad Pitt maskshttps://www.instagram.com/p/B2hgQeXBzva/https://www.instagram.com/p/B27QDaPhxZt/
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 21:34 (three years ago) link
Crazy motherfuckshttps://www.instagram.com/spiderzero/https://www.instagram.com/sazenlee/
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 21:50 (three years ago) link
Has anyone (don't know if Frederik B is still around) seen Amat Escalante's The Untamed? I seen some monster sex people saying it's the best thing ever; oddly it's in Arrow's arthouse line rather than their cult line but it goes full-on tentacle porn in one scene. I had seen the cover lots of times but never really knew what it was. Seen somebody say it's very obviously riffing on (or ripping off) Possession but I'm curious.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 24 April 2020 21:56 (three years ago) link
Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor is a nasty, NASTY piece of work. And a big step up from Antiviral.
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Thursday, 30 April 2020 02:04 (three years ago) link
meanwhile I pretty much hated The Lodge, which I assume is the movie Hereditary haters see in Hereditary.
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, 2 May 2020 22:34 (three years ago) link
can't wait to love that movie
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 2 May 2020 23:04 (three years ago) link
I had that thought lol
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, 2 May 2020 23:27 (three years ago) link
I liked it, but like Hereditary, feel like it's not a movie you "love" in the conventional sense. it was ugly
― genital giant (Neanderthal), Saturday, 2 May 2020 23:44 (three years ago) link
Hereditary at least had some pitch-black humor and distinctive style, and some great performances. This had little to none of any of that, and despite being considerably shorter felt empty and draggy as hell throughout. (Not to knock Keough who I've seen be totally great in stuff like The Girlfriend Experience series, though I'm beginning to wonder if she has a nudity-required clause in her contracts.)
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, 2 May 2020 23:53 (three years ago) link
Both movies probably equally preposterous but it grated on me much more in The Lodge cause it was all so po-faced about it.
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, 2 May 2020 23:54 (three years ago) link
anyway in better news I'm halfway through Blood Quantum and really digging it so far
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, 2 May 2020 23:58 (three years ago) link
xpost definitely no humor to be found here, that's for sure
― genital giant (Neanderthal), Saturday, 2 May 2020 23:58 (three years ago) link
my personal concerns with Platform on Netflix have less to do with the sociological intentions or hazy (if nicely executed) sci-fi concepts and more to do with the execution. As a whole, it's too heavy on the gore and torture porn if it's not meant to be titillating and too obscure and sprawling if you're looking for a taste of the ol' ultra-violence. A bit too much chocolate in the peanut butter and vice versa for my taste but still well worth a watch.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 3 May 2020 00:43 (three years ago) link
funny that you mention Platform (as yet unseen by me), since it beat out Blood Quantum for the TIFF Midnight Madness award
I ended up just about loving BQ, which came the closest to generating the feel of an actual Romero zombie flick of anything I've seen in a very long time, while also very much doing its own things. a few incredible effects, too
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Sunday, 3 May 2020 00:55 (three years ago) link
oh yeah i totally fucking loved the lodge. it beats no resemblance to hereditary
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 10 May 2020 00:38 (three years ago) link
bears*
for one thing it was very scary
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 10 May 2020 00:49 (three years ago) link
lmao I did not find one frame of it even properly unsettling beyond some of the kids' praying, but kids praying is an easy shortcut to creepytown for me
imo they are aesthetically super similar and both heavily feature (and exploit, I think in both cases tbh) mental illness as the potential vehicle of untold violences
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Sunday, 10 May 2020 03:53 (three years ago) link
yeah i don't think they're aesthetically similar, hereditary doesn't have a found footage scene from hell! or a dream sequence as powerful and lonely as the dream sequence in the lodge. and they tell different stories about ptsd differently. hereditary is way more about family-inherited unbroken cycle trauma with a satanic cult edge. the lodge is... well, it's hard to talk about the lodge without spoiling it, but it's not about family or demon shit! i would say they both have miniatures as framing devices, and in one the miniatures are an artistic discipline and in the other they're just creepy ass dollhouses
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 10 May 2020 04:01 (three years ago) link
some of the kids' praying, but kids praying is an easy shortcut to creepytown for me
this isn't even what's scary
the scenes of her wandering/sleepwalking(?) through the cabin's shadows not even sure what reality is real, the recurring scene of her approaching that opaque door... THAT'S scary
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 10 May 2020 04:10 (three years ago) link
harrumph
The Wild Goose Lake earns a mention on this thread for most gruesome deployment of an umbrella
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Sunday, 10 May 2020 04:27 (three years ago) link
I'm not a fan of the style/tone of this type of video essay but this is pretty fascinating all the same. Hadn't heard of The Evil Within before.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXHRdfLnktU
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 11 May 2020 20:01 (three years ago) link
Anyone mention or see "Z" yet? Seems like "The Babadook" redux, at least on paper, but reviews I've seen have been consistent in citing its apparently legit shocks/scares.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 May 2020 20:57 (three years ago) link
In the meantime, I started Blood Quantum, and ... I dunno, so far (25 minutes, maybe) I think it's not great. Digital cameras at least help a lot of low budget movies look good, but the acting and writing are pretty crappy; there's no app or filter that can help that. Inspired setting, though. I suppose I'll go back and finish it this afternoon.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 May 2020 17:00 (three years ago) link
keep at it, it goes places imo
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Tuesday, 19 May 2020 17:09 (three years ago) link
then again I had no problem with the writing/acting so
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Tuesday, 19 May 2020 17:12 (three years ago) link
OK, it was rich with metaphor, clever echoes of history and dramatic irony (linked to that history), but it also relied way too much on genre cliches (the zombie hunter with the samurai sword! the pregnant girl!) and dumb action sequences that tried for badassery (yeah, pop in that 8-track before you wheel your car into battle, maaan) but (imo) fell way short. A couple of good gore gags, but also a few too many moments that went for shock or comedy but also fell short of both. Oh, and it was never scary, to such an extent that I just assumed it wasn't going for scary. It was going for dramatic, but said writing/acting didn't sell that well enough for me.
I bet it would have made a great book, or series, or even (yes) comic. Like I said, the setting/material/story is full of ideas begging to be better fleshed out.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 May 2020 20:43 (three years ago) link
I never find anything scary so those first few points were more than enough for me. I agree the setting would easily support expansion.
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Tuesday, 19 May 2020 21:18 (three years ago) link
"the deeper you dig" sounds interesting: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-deeper-you-dig-movie-review-2020
― na (NA), Thursday, 4 June 2020 16:54 (three years ago) link
oooh neat, Phantasm comparison....
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Thursday, 4 June 2020 17:09 (three years ago) link
I don't remember which of you recommended "Hagazussa," but thanks, it was very good, if very grim. RIYL: The Witch, Ari Aster, erotic goat milking, eating babies, The Sound of Music, black metal album covers ...
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 June 2020 20:42 (three years ago) link
I know I recommended it and obvs I like all of those things lol
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 10 June 2020 20:53 (three years ago) link
i definitely rec'd it last summer or fall, i believe.
also hi, been thinking about this thread recently, so popped in to see what's up.
turns out, not a whole lot!
but, I do want to say that I feel like Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Barnaby's film before Blood Quantum, is actually a better flick, even if it isn't as strictly bound to the horror genre. i'm also looking at the both from someone who teaches and reads a lot of Indigenous lit and Native Studies stuff, though, so Rhymes might just be more complex and rich for interpretation along those lines.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Wednesday, 17 June 2020 17:29 (three years ago) link
Has anyone watched Blood Machines?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 20 June 2020 18:48 (three years ago) link
Arrow's releases of old films are still fine but I think their new films have been getting worse, all these weak looking horror comedies.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 6 July 2020 20:27 (three years ago) link
You know what movie hits different in 2020, and also while high? Pontypool
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, 11 July 2020 17:05 (three years ago) link
I love that movie. His new movie sounds like a mess.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 July 2020 17:20 (three years ago) link
Huh, this is where I learn that Pontypool isn't on any streaming service right now, and can only be rented, apparently exclusively, on Apple TV. To the torrentmobile!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 July 2020 17:22 (three years ago) link
kind of intrigued by Dreamland cause it unites a lot of the Pontypool people but yeah his recent output is pretty bad. the Hard Core Logo sequel looked like a particularly bad idea. maybe it's for the best if we never get Pontypool Changes Everything
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, 11 July 2020 18:23 (three years ago) link
Weirdos looked kinda promising tho
― k*r*n koltrane (Simon H.), Saturday, 11 July 2020 18:27 (three years ago) link
Couldn't find the trailer for a while.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyRkoL45JGk
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 July 2020 20:42 (three years ago) link
it rules
― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Monday, 27 July 2020 20:45 (three years ago) link
Looks kinda eXistenZ-y...
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 27 July 2020 20:45 (three years ago) link
definitely shares some DNA (as you'd guess) but several orders nastier
― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Monday, 27 July 2020 20:54 (three years ago) link
I still haven't seen Antiviral, but it's on Hulu so maybe I'll get around to it soon.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 27 July 2020 21:06 (three years ago) link
Watched Color out of Space (2020) last weekend. Really liked it for the most part. Having never read any Lovecraft, was relying on the husband to point out references but also constantly picking up on stuff like the entity changing its environment to the one it came from (one of many Lovecraft things Grant Morrison stole for The Invisibles), so that was good on both counts. You obviously do not need to be a philistine like me to enjoy this film, but it’s not going to matter very much if you are.Anyway, the body horror in this is fairly gruesome, the kitchen scene really spooked me although it’s relatively mundane - it’s the disconnect as much as the, well, literal disconnection that follows as much as anything. The colour itself infests the landscape til it dominates and smothers. The score is excellent. All very good stuff.I didn’t really feel they did enough with all the references to Gardner’s father, like either go all the way there or just cut it, I don’t think the film would have suffered without it tbh. The mayor plot seemed unnecessary for the amount of time that was spent on it.Obviously the best/worst scene was the attic post transformation and the preceding ones were bad enough.Pretty solid stuff, Nic Cage is fine for the most part (but does The Thing a few points which is always hilarious lol). Joely Richardson also very good.
― let them microwave their rice (gyac), Monday, 27 July 2020 21:07 (three years ago) link
Antiviral is...ok. It feels like a student film by comparison to the new one xp
― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Monday, 27 July 2020 21:07 (three years ago) link
Color Out Of Space has a fantastic Colin Stetson soundtrack as well. Some of the people slagging this excellent movie off only did it because Cage was in it and has become synonymous with garbage!
― calzino, Monday, 27 July 2020 21:13 (three years ago) link
Idk why anyone would say that after Mandy tbh
― let them microwave their rice (gyac), Monday, 27 July 2020 21:16 (three years ago) link
an ex-film student on my twitter linked some people slagging it off and was saying wtf is wrong with these people! but that was the impression I got.
― calzino, Monday, 27 July 2020 21:23 (three years ago) link
I don't think Cage made anything in this movie better, but there are parts of it he definitely made worse, imo.
I asked a while ago if anyone had seen or knew anything about "Z." Any news?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 27 July 2020 21:30 (three years ago) link
not conventional horror but would recommend Bertrand Bonello's Zombi Child. it's not as memorable as Nocturama but is still worth watching and has stuck with me. It has themes of human zombie slavery and witchcraft in 60's Haiti in flashback form and a posh girls school in modern Paris where a descendent of the victim is.
― calzino, Monday, 27 July 2020 21:34 (three years ago) link
an ex-film student
― let them microwave their rice (gyac), Monday, 27 July 2020 21:38 (three years ago) link
oh no he's good not bad and was defending Color Out Of Space!
― calzino, Monday, 27 July 2020 21:46 (three years ago) link
Several new things recently out on streaming and undiscussed on thread:Impetigore You Should Have LeftAmuletRelicWretchedThe Other LambGretel & Hansel
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 28 July 2020 17:47 (three years ago) link
Well looks like I have some work to do
― jjjusten, Tuesday, 28 July 2020 18:28 (three years ago) link
trailers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RfEwT2LI2Mhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw0-cV_J9q4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV_lUlOc4mQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sHbiv7J1xghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkyHLudSrCEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gjvyfjeJKMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZblQLhKcZQ
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 28 July 2020 18:34 (three years ago) link
we watched Relicit was solidly pretty good; idk how long it will stay with me. i found the generational female aging horror a little on the nose. Kind of tired of seeing movies that exploit trichotillomania to express the apparently universally-recognized horror of a bald/balding woman. zzzzzz
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 28 July 2020 21:45 (three years ago) link
I'm not going to complain that horror films are in a particularly bad rut because there's been some great ones in the last decade and for overall quality they might be better than ever, I hardly ever see trailers for anything that looks like total shit.
But something about the look and feel of a lot of them is bothering me. Is it color correction? Is it something else about the cinematography? Anyone know anything about the technical stuff able to say? There's some kind of flatness/blandness.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 August 2020 21:48 (three years ago) link
If anything I think a lot of newer horror films look almost distractingly sharp thanks to the digital cameras/drones so often enlisted for low budget horror. All these flying overhead shots of forests and whatnot, and gliding fake steadicam stuff, it's almost distractingly ... slick, for lack of a better word. Perhaps a lot of filters and other digital correction going in during post to synthetically class up something they didn't have the budget/equipment/crew/lighting to do during the shoot, too? I dunno.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 1 August 2020 22:09 (three years ago) link
FUUUUUUUUUUCK @ "Impetigore".
that shit was bonkers and intense. exactly what i was looking for. classic supernatural curse film.
― XVI Pedicabo eam (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 August 2020 05:36 (three years ago) link
"Impetigore" was pretty good! I mean, there were a few choices I didn't like, like the way the flashback/information dump happened, or the tag at the end, but the other 90% was ace. I was worried it was going to be all look at me, I am XTREME! But it was more folk tale-like than I expected. In fact, for much of it I was tempted to say RIYL "Midsommar" (despite my misgivings with that one).
What's with the title though? "Impetigore" seems a much better name for the awesome but XTREME Indonesian segment of "VHS 2."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 18 August 2020 01:42 (three years ago) link
folks I trust tell me this is excellent, presumably heading to streaming sometime this year
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7026488/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3
― unpaid intern at the darvo institute (Simon H.), Monday, 7 September 2020 01:58 (three years ago) link
Sweetheart /2019/ is hidden somewhere in the Netflix library and quite enjoyable. The name doesn't suit the movie at all, a breezy reimagining of the LOST pilot with good scares, good visuals and a very non-annoying lead.
― vpn hoodbaby (mahica), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 09:47 (three years ago) link
Yeah, she's really good. Only misstep is the creature design.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 8 September 2020 13:20 (three years ago) link
https://www.vulture.com/2020/09/antebellum-movie-review-i-am-tired-of-films-like-this.html
In the wake of Jordan Peele’s success with his first two films — the exploratory Get Out and the beguiling but messy Us — Hollywood has realized that horror is an apt venue for excavating the grooves of Black identity and the mellifluous, dynamic experience of what it means to be Black throughout the diaspora. There is Misha Green’s overwrought Lovecraft Country currently airing on HBO, as well as Justin Simien’s Bad Hair and Nia Dacosta’s upcoming reimagining of the 1990s Tony Todd classic Candyman. The genre, at its best, lets us explore cultural taboos and fears with an unvarnished alacrity. I still think it’s possible to do a horror film that explores slavery in this country’s history, but that requires a sure hand, a strong point a view, and an even stronger sense of history — none of which is demonstrated in Antebellum. It’s hard to create any tension when the characters are so poorly drawn and the world they inhabit has little internal logic. Sure, there are scant moments of tension, but they fizzle out quickly thanks to the inert dialogue and rank stupidity of the story.White people in particular are rendered as caricatures who seem to get an erotic charge from the violence they inflict, including Jack Huston as the leering Hugo Meadows, a Confederate solider of great standing who supervises the plantation — which isn’t necessarily a misguided approach so much as improperly executed, flattening rather than revealing anything about the nature of whiteness and its emptiness in America. Whiteness is an oft-told lie that powers much of the world, yet Antebellum is neither cunning enough nor intellectually ambitious enough to explain such a truth. So the white people have no internal logic, no gravitas. They evoke neither fear nor overwhelming hate, mostly just boredom, except for Jena Malone, who comes the closest to striking the necessary chord by foregrounding white women’s toxicity. But her performance is undone by the odd dishonesty of the film — the N-word is never uttered, for one.The effect is wholly distancing. It’s worthwhile to explore the pain and grit of moving through America while being Black, but that exploration shouldn’t come at the expense of the humanity of the characters. Janelle Monáe is entirely miscast; she has been charming in supporting roles like that in Moonlight, but here she lacks the gravitas and precision to make Veronica feel real. But I can’t blame her for not bringing to life what obviously didn’t exist on the page. Antebellum is ultimately a travesty of craft and filmmaking with a perspective that hollows out the Black experience in favor of wan horror.
White people in particular are rendered as caricatures who seem to get an erotic charge from the violence they inflict, including Jack Huston as the leering Hugo Meadows, a Confederate solider of great standing who supervises the plantation — which isn’t necessarily a misguided approach so much as improperly executed, flattening rather than revealing anything about the nature of whiteness and its emptiness in America. Whiteness is an oft-told lie that powers much of the world, yet Antebellum is neither cunning enough nor intellectually ambitious enough to explain such a truth. So the white people have no internal logic, no gravitas. They evoke neither fear nor overwhelming hate, mostly just boredom, except for Jena Malone, who comes the closest to striking the necessary chord by foregrounding white women’s toxicity. But her performance is undone by the odd dishonesty of the film — the N-word is never uttered, for one.
The effect is wholly distancing. It’s worthwhile to explore the pain and grit of moving through America while being Black, but that exploration shouldn’t come at the expense of the humanity of the characters. Janelle Monáe is entirely miscast; she has been charming in supporting roles like that in Moonlight, but here she lacks the gravitas and precision to make Veronica feel real. But I can’t blame her for not bringing to life what obviously didn’t exist on the page. Antebellum is ultimately a travesty of craft and filmmaking with a perspective that hollows out the Black experience in favor of wan horror.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 15 September 2020 18:07 (three years ago) link
I see there's a horrorish sounding new John Hyams thriller, Alone, set for VOD imminently.
― unpaid intern at the darvo institute (Simon H.), Tuesday, 15 September 2020 18:16 (three years ago) link
omfg possessor
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 18 September 2020 00:24 (three years ago) link
it's so good!!!!
― Simon H., Friday, 18 September 2020 01:35 (three years ago) link
finally someone made a perfect movie
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 18 September 2020 01:37 (three years ago) link
somehow manages to feel like a '90s industrial cyberpunk body horror film without ever completely looking like one. i bet the films syncs up really nicely to a skinny puppy record
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 18 September 2020 01:38 (three years ago) link
dissociation cinema
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 18 September 2020 01:40 (three years ago) link
That trailer looks excellent.
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Friday, 18 September 2020 01:42 (three years ago) link
there's a reason I was hyping it up back when it first leaked....it's roughly 10x as good as Antiviral which looks and feels like a student film by comparison
― Simon H., Friday, 18 September 2020 01:59 (three years ago) link
Not sure if this is horror but I'm intriguedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74axp18cK3I
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 25 September 2020 22:41 (three years ago) link
It was 5 years ago but did anyone see WE Are Still Here? Just thinking that I need to see more things with Lisa Marie in them. She hasn't been in anything since that year, sadly.
I wonder how she managed to sell warehouses full of Tim Burton's stuff without his permission. Story is that she had the keys and just sold it off quickly, maybe it was just one buyer.
Kind of forgotten how strong an impression she made on me in her Burton films.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 29 September 2020 19:31 (three years ago) link
Saint Maud was worth the wait. Didnt think i had much time for slow burn psychological horror right now but the performances are great and it nails the run down English seaside town psychogeography vibe i assume it's going for
― or something, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 13:00 (three years ago) link
House That Jack Built recently added to Shudder....might be time for a revisit
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 14:01 (three years ago) link
Once was more than enough with that
― or something, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 14:29 (three years ago) link
I'm a huge horror fan and have slogged through my fair share of Von Trier miseryfests but I preemptively nerped the eff out on that one after reading some detailed plot descriptions. No can do.
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 14:36 (three years ago) link
its saving grace is that it's frequently pretty funny, and the ending is kind of wonderful. lots of pretty pointlessly ugly sadism in between, of course.
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 14:54 (three years ago) link
The Lodge - liked its pacing and felt it earned (and stuck) the ending. The Wretched - decent low-budget flick and performances. I like endings, though, vs. "it ain't over!" endings.Underwater - better than I thought. Kristen Stewart in a Dr. Christmas Jones role - ymmv. Good Lovecraftian monsters, reasonable ending, though I question the last station's safeguards.Black Christmas - hokey premise, but appreciated the #metoo inversion. Thought the end fight veered slightly over the top, and glad they didn't go with the alternate "it ain't over" ending.
Waiting to borrow The Hunt, Relic, Vivarium, Train to Busan 2, Save Yourselves, and Fantasy Island from the library. Love my library.
Is Sputnik worth a $6 rental? Expecting that to be Underwater-grade.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:05 (three years ago) link
I sorta hated The Lodge, almost came off as a parody of "elevated horror" at times
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:09 (three years ago) link
I can see that. It's definitely aiming for The VVitch territory. I thought Keough did a good job, as did the kids.
Speaking of sorta hating and "elevated" parody, how I'm feeling watching "The Third Day".
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:20 (three years ago) link
the lodge is great once you put all notions of “elevated horror” out of your head. singular lonely misanthropic vibes and actually scary! no wonder people hated it
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:24 (three years ago) link
I wish I could find movies scary again, I blame my years covering Fantasia Fest for completely desensitizing me against both psychological and more demonstrative forms of horror (I still enjoy the movies of course)
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:27 (three years ago) link
xpost the suicide in that movie was horrifying
― LaRusso Auto (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:28 (three years ago) link
i don't really find horror movies scary anymore either but usually if they penetrate my defenses it's got something to do with the strength of the atmosphere, which the lodge has in spades
speaking of being scared, i watched host the other day and for an hour-long horror movie filmed in zoom it has a bunch of quality jump scares
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:49 (three years ago) link
Yeah, I find the funhouse aspect of horror movies still scary. Like, do they stick with me and keep me up at night? No. But a jump is a jump, and as simple as the movies are I don't know anyone that liked turning off the lights at home at the end of the day after seeing Paranormal Activity.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:51 (three years ago) link
actually, the midsection of Hill House did sort of get to me, I think as a result of prolonged exposure to the characters and the OTT howling despair. but that was a pretty special case.
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:03 (three years ago) link
Looking forward to Possessor, Green Knight and I might give Blood Machines a try but more than ever I never know how and when I'll see a film.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 18:27 (three years ago) link
everyone's raving about possessor but i assume from the cronenberg connection that it's gory/gross ... is that correct?
― na (NA), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 18:41 (three years ago) link
yes it has its moments
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 18:42 (three years ago) link
Wolf of Snow Hollow is a weird one - some compelling moments, lots of iffy ones, but mostly worth seeing just for Jim Cummings, who's an incredibly compelling guy to watch. (Also, features Robert Forster's final role :( )
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Thursday, 15 October 2020 22:48 (three years ago) link
so ... how violent is "possessor uncut" exactly?
i'm really not crazy about gore, was able to make it through "ichi the killer" and "martyrs" but i think that's about my limit
― the late great, Friday, 16 October 2020 18:03 (three years ago) link
if you made it through ichi the killer i'd say you're doing pretty well for gore in general, tho idk about this film
― Dinglebarista (Neanderthal), Friday, 16 October 2020 18:04 (three years ago) link
Well, those two are about as gory as it gets, so I imagine (having not seen it) that you're probably ok.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 October 2020 18:04 (three years ago) link
I recced that movie to a friend and he got angry at me and couldn't get past the spooge on the plant 2 minutes in
I've never seen that film but Shinya Tsukamoto used his own jizz for that scene. What a legend.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 October 2020 18:29 (three years ago) link
mess-od acting
― Dinglebarista (Neanderthal), Friday, 16 October 2020 18:30 (three years ago) link
I truly hope that is the only real bodily fluid used in that movie.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 October 2020 18:45 (three years ago) link
Don't know where else to post this paintinghttps://beauwhiteart.blogspot.com/2016/09/thirst-oil-on-canvas-2016.html
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 October 2020 21:28 (three years ago) link
Possessor is very violent but not quite ichi level
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Friday, 16 October 2020 21:44 (three years ago) link
also the violence is pretty spread out iirc, comes out in these sudden bursts
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 16 October 2020 21:53 (three years ago) link
seeing host made me seek out unfriended (fine but i hated literally everyone and they deserved to die) and unfriended: dark web (profoundly upsetting on a level i rarely get from horror at this point)
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 16 October 2020 21:54 (three years ago) link
(profoundly upsetting on a level i rarely get from horror at this point)
does this count as an endorsement?
― or something, Friday, 16 October 2020 22:12 (three years ago) link
i would feel weird recommending it to people but yes i absolutely loved it
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 16 October 2020 22:27 (three years ago) link
That'll do for me
― or something, Friday, 16 October 2020 22:54 (three years ago) link
Ana Lily Amirpour (Girl Walks Home At Night) doing Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (sounds like dark urban fantasy or something) and.... a remake of Cliffhanger!??Maybe this film will explore why Frank was smiling?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOW1rhZCTmg
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 October 2020 23:03 (three years ago) link
Unfriended Dark Web is great fun imo
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Friday, 16 October 2020 23:21 (three years ago) link
Posted on the movie thread, but I guess it's horror, so I'll just say "Save Yourselves!" was great and very funny.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 18 October 2020 02:41 (three years ago) link
We are watching an UNCUT version of Possessor tonight! It's part of an online film fest thing. I didn't know Andrea Riseborough is in it, she's awesome. We also watched a bunch of horror shorts and most of them were pretty good. One called "Selfie" was picked up by Netflix iirc for a full length film!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 18 October 2020 22:04 (three years ago) link
Anyone seen Butt Boy?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sRvZ8siWLY
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 24 October 2020 18:38 (three years ago) link
two of my good friends have. one of them watched it twice in two days.
i need to uhh see it
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 24 October 2020 19:51 (three years ago) link
Sounds like one of those Quentin Dupieux/Mr. Oizo movies.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 October 2020 20:42 (three years ago) link
Has the been any films with really fun ultraviolence in the recent past? I noticed that slow intense wincey violence seems to have faded away (I never cared for it much).
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 25 October 2020 21:20 (three years ago) link
I really enjoyed His House, quite unique I thought and extremely accomplished for a debut.
― chap, Monday, 2 November 2020 13:35 (three years ago) link
xpost That's a good question. I wonder if it's a coincidence that films have perhaps toned things down while conventional TV, like "The Walking Dead" (I assume) and "Stranger Things" (season 3 for sure) have made blood and guts pretty standard. Even a movie like "Impetigore," which features dead babies and people without skin, does both about as tastefully as possible. The last truly ott thing I can remember, in fact, was the Indonesia sequence of "VHS 2," which also makes me think of ott action movies like "The Raid" (or even "John Wick"), and the way perhaps action movies have picked up the blood and gore mantle.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 November 2020 13:52 (three years ago) link
Yeah the level of gore that's pro forma in the tv of today would've had parents picketing outside theaters if it had been present in the horror films of thirty years ago.
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Monday, 2 November 2020 13:58 (three years ago) link
finally watched nu-suspiria last night. guadagnino is, imo, a very annoying director, but it ended up winning me over gradually bc the dance sequences are incredible and the dream sequences are very '70s horror cinema in the friedkin/blatty tradition. the climax kinda verges on '90s vhs trash, idk if it was wrong to get a full moon vibe from it but i was very happy
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 2 November 2020 16:39 (three years ago) link
it could have been passable if it had been a full hour shorter
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, 2 November 2020 16:42 (three years ago) link
it was also sooooooo pretentious but i also ended up kinda liking that it was so pretentious? guadagnino essentially made the first darren aronofsky film i've enjoyed in ages
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 2 November 2020 16:42 (three years ago) link
the length didn't bother me, like at all
the dance sequences are incredible
oh yeah I don't agree with this at all, other than the gore-assisted bits, the actual choreography was frequently embarrassing
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, 2 November 2020 16:44 (three years ago) link
well idk i found the first dance of death absolutely breathtaking, willing to admit i don't know anything about dance i guess
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 2 November 2020 16:46 (three years ago) link
Yeah, I still haven't seen it because the first movie (like Halloween or Texas Chainsaw, say) really didn't need a remake, and certainly while the original is flawed, the way it looks is all-time, and even then I didn't want another hour of it.
How do they compare to the dance sequences in "Climax?" Because those were cool, too, and also the best part of the movie, which I'll probably never see again. (Though would likely see again over any of Noe's other films.)
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 November 2020 16:47 (three years ago) link
i haven't seen climax! now i want to bc i can endure any kind of annoying garbage if there's dancing
the suspiria remake has basically nothing to do with the original, the only overlap is "dance school run by witches." guadagnino could've just called it something else
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 2 November 2020 16:55 (three years ago) link
I am not firmly anti-Noe but Climax bored me silly tbh
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, 2 November 2020 16:57 (three years ago) link
I forgot to mention my favorite joke in Possessor: subjecting Sean Bean to his grisliest "death" yet but then announcing via newscast that he is still alive
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Thursday, 5 November 2020 15:40 (three years ago) link
Has this been mentioned anywhere here? A student recommended it. Looks good!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYY0QJhlXjc
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Sunday, 8 November 2020 17:10 (three years ago) link
If you like yr horror humorless, hopeless, and oppressive, Bryan Bertino's The Dark and the Wicked, recently added to Shudder, is for you.
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Sunday, 8 November 2020 17:26 (three years ago) link
His House was very good.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Tuesday, 17 November 2020 16:06 (three years ago) link
Triangle Spoilers!
I watched Triangle last night. I didn't think it was entirely successful but I think it worked as a free-floating metaphor for the difficulties of single motherhood and the tortuous guilt of simultaneously wanting to die for your kid and (un/subconsciously) wanting them dead. I don't think it really earned it's 18 certificate and kinda wish it had spent more time on the kills and I've only got a certain amount of patience with an actor being asked to pull essentially the same face for an hour and a half but I had fun with it. I liked the 'Room 237' nod.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 22 November 2020 11:13 (three years ago) link
Is that the Melissa George Triangle? She pulls that face for the duration of every film she's in
― or something, Sunday, 22 November 2020 12:51 (three years ago) link
Aye, Melissa George. I think that's unfair: she had two faces in The Limey.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 22 November 2020 14:16 (three years ago) link
Holy shit, we watched Triangle last night, too! Or I should I say, I watched it for the third time, with my daughter, who was seeing it for the first time. She had a blast reading internet theories afterward. It's held up great for me on multiple viewings.
But wait, 18 Certificate? Is that the equivalent of X or NC-17? No way does Triangle come remotely close to that. Where was this rated 18+?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 22 November 2020 14:46 (three years ago) link
Has this been mentioned anywhere here? A student recommended it. Looks good!
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Sunday, 8 November 2020 17:10 (two weeks ago)
― chap, Monday, 2 November 2020 13:35 (two weeks ago)
― chap, Sunday, 22 November 2020 14:54 (three years ago) link
Triangle is an 18 on Amazon Prime UK - I was expecting/hoping for more gore! It's definitely got under my skin. Will try a rewatch at some point.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 22 November 2020 15:05 (three years ago) link
Weird, I just looked at its UK listing and it's on there twice, once as 18+ (which is nuts) and once as 15+, which seems a lot more accurate. Dunno if it works, but here is a link to the 15+ one I saw:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Triangle-Melissa-George/dp/B00H36HENK/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=triangle+movie&qid=1606057641&sr=8-2
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 22 November 2020 15:09 (three years ago) link
(If you want a bit more gore, his movie Severance is loads of fun.)
15+ definitely makes more sense. I'm convinced it was 18+ but I'd had a couple beers so... Te last five minutes of this were so good. Love the theory that the taxi driver is Ares and she Sisyphus being punished for cheating death ('you will comeback, right?' )
I'm going to try and find Timecrimes, which I've read is similar but the better film.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 22 November 2020 15:18 (three years ago) link
Time times is tremendous, have put Triangle on my watchlist. Viewer ratings also mention Coherence which I enjoyed too.
― pedantly admonishment (aldo), Sunday, 22 November 2020 15:45 (three years ago) link
Triangle I think is better than Timecrimes, but Timecrimes is more fun, iirc.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 22 November 2020 15:46 (three years ago) link
Severance and Coherence on this list, cheers. Timecrimes is basically unavailable (legally) in the UK.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 22 November 2020 17:15 (three years ago) link
Anyone watched any of the new Blumhouse line-up on Amazon? We watched Black Box, it was pretty well done, the twists in the story were effective.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 22 November 2020 18:05 (three years ago) link
Kind of hate blumhouse but also interested to know whether any of these are worthwhile
― or something, Sunday, 22 November 2020 18:54 (three years ago) link
So Possessor gets a UK release on 27th. I don't really want to go to the cinema but this is the best excuse I'm ever going to have to break that.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 22 November 2020 19:05 (three years ago) link
Just watched Koko-Di Koko-Da, which I thought was very good. Is it folk horror? I'm going to say yes.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 3 December 2020 06:17 (three years ago) link
not yr question but general attn: saw the Blumhouse "Freaky Friday The 13th" flick FREAKY at the drive-in last week, by the Happy Death day dude. totally recommended if the description sounds of interst, and if Vince Vaughan's irl MAGA-ness won't stop you enjoying him play a bodyswapped teenage girl with mild flouncing. Like last year's April W0lfe Black Christmas reversion, it's mainly aimed at teenage girls, but also at a family (that's open to horror/comedy)(and queer teen) audience.
― huge rant (sic), Thursday, 3 December 2020 07:11 (three years ago) link
xp to Koko-Di Koko-Da
the twee rabbit puppetry was a bit much and it sometimes spins off the rails but Koko-Di was genuinely unsettling and slowly opened up into something much more complex than it seemed. As far as surreal Swedish meditations on loss and shattered identity told through horror tropes go, it would be a good back-to-back with Persona.I caught it at a late-night pre-release free screening in the city and the woman next to me clearly thought she had come to a standard horror movie and spent the third reel loudly opining out loud variations on "THIS SHIT CRAZY" and "What the fuck GOING ON in this movie?"― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, February 22, 2020 4:55 PM
I caught it at a late-night pre-release free screening in the city and the woman next to me clearly thought she had come to a standard horror movie and spent the third reel loudly opining out loud variations on "THIS SHIT CRAZY" and "What the fuck GOING ON in this movie?"
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, February 22, 2020 4:55 PM
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 3 December 2020 18:43 (three years ago) link
‘Freaky’ might even be halfway okay if Vince Vaughn were not so immensely fucking terrible in it. Female lead is great tho!
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 5 December 2020 06:48 (three years ago) link
Vaughn’s continuous “OMIGAWD I AM A GIRRRRRRRRL” mincing is offensive and poorly executed, even if the genderflip romance stuff is pleasantly transgressive
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 5 December 2020 06:55 (three years ago) link
the stereotypiness in Vaughan's performance is way more to the silly fun side than the egregious side imo. though yes, it would read worse if the rest of the film wasn't so casually queer.
also I took the disparity between his tone and Newton's as a way of heightening the fact that she was the lead, and/or an homage to Face / Off.
― huge rant (sic), Saturday, 5 December 2020 08:04 (three years ago) link
Watched Possessor last night. It's one of those movies about a Magical Technology that exists in the two hours between the invention of the technology and the moment the general public learns about its existence, at which point it can never be used again. The performances were all really good, though, especially Jennifer Jason Leigh as the creepy-predatory boss, and the main male actor. The scenes where he was walking around in a stroke-face mask (I don't want to say much more) were creepy as hell.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 5 December 2020 13:30 (three years ago) link
Freaky was OK, would have been 75% better if it had been 25% less dumb
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Saturday, 5 December 2020 14:50 (three years ago) link
That's about right.
― huge rant (sic), Saturday, 5 December 2020 18:34 (three years ago) link
i'm open to different takes on if/how offensive vaughn's performance is but it feels undeniable that he's just BAD; the parts where he's onscreen are straight up boring. and yes, the whole package needed to be considerably less stupid in general.
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 5 December 2020 22:29 (three years ago) link
I think Vaughn is a good actor who was coaxed into doing too broad a performance
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Sunday, 6 December 2020 02:15 (three years ago) link
new on Shudder: Stephen Lang, William Sadler and Fred Williamson(!!) as elder asskickers in VFW and uhh Bertrans Bonello's Zombi Child. OK then!
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, 7 December 2020 15:19 (three years ago) link
*Bertrand
anyone seen the VFW guy's previous movie Bliss? looks wild
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, 7 December 2020 15:20 (three years ago) link
in fact I am midway through and pausing to say holy shit this movie
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 00:24 (three years ago) link
dora madison...incredible
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 01:00 (three years ago) link
wow VFW rules so far too....if he makes it a hat trick he's getting a thread
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 02:01 (three years ago) link
hobo with a green room
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 02:09 (three years ago) link
Possessor was great even if jon snow seemed to be struggling playing the Iago. Cronenbeg fils definitely trained at the school of his father.
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 06:05 (three years ago) link
Wasn't crazy about Possessor. Seemed like a few interesting ideas and good images strung together but lacked much coherence. I haven't liked Christopher Abbott in anything I've seen him in yet either
― or something, Tuesday, 8 December 2020 09:46 (three years ago) link
Chris Abbott is real good y'all tripping imo
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 15:00 (three years ago) link
keep thinking about Bliss and its accidentally Verhoevian sense of sleaze
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Thursday, 10 December 2020 05:12 (three years ago) link
Watched the uncut Possessor tonight. Not entirely convinced it held together and it felt very televisual in places (not a criticism; I'm not even entirely sure what I mean) but the impact was considerable. Cronenburg senior is everywhere, but it's as much a homage to Cronenburg's influences, I guess - Ballard, Philip K. Dick. I liked the commentary on the hellscape of corporate work (Sean Bean quoting Walter Benjamin under a mock-up Sistine Chapel roof), and the sound design was excellent - particularly the grunge and glunge of bodies. I want to watch it again already!
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 12 December 2020 22:50 (three years ago) link
Cronenberg, ffs.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 12 December 2020 22:54 (three years ago) link
I've woken up thinking about Possessor and specifically why I wasn't 100% convinced (and why I want to watch it again to check) I think it comes down to Abbot's central performance and what Cronenberg's tasking him to portray: essentially to exteriorise an interior drama - that of the battle for control for a consciousness. It's basically trying to reify a metaphor and it resulted in lots of close-ups and mid-shots of Abbot looking bewildered/in mental torment. I loved it when it switched to more concrete portrayals of this drama, for instance, the whole sequence with Abbot in a Riseborough mask will stay with me forever (was it a deliberate nod to the Myers mask from Halloween?) and the beautiful latex orgy of the transformation scenes. Anyway, I'm sounding really negative and I had a blast with it.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 13 December 2020 10:09 (three years ago) link
I think that's a fair complaint
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Sunday, 13 December 2020 15:57 (three years ago) link
that said he's better than a few of the leads in early D. Cronenberg movies lol
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Sunday, 13 December 2020 16:01 (three years ago) link
Agreed on all points. A better actor could have made this a great movie, but it works nonetheless.
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 13 December 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
pull quote for the resume
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Sunday, 13 December 2020 16:43 (three years ago) link
Posted this to detritus, but probably best here.
The Zoom movie was absolutely unwatchable to me
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Saturday, 12 December 2020 00:27 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
Watched this ('Host') today and thought it was fantastic. I've rarely rooted against an entire cast so much, which I'm sure was intentional. Seriously technically impressive, tense, and a necessary externalisation of all the universal fears that have surfaced during a time of intense claustrophobia. That feeling of indoor spaces stagnating with dread. But way more fun than that sounds. Also an hour long.
― tangenttangent, Sunday, 13 December 2020 20:14 (three years ago) link
Host freaked me out more than any film has in a long time but I watched it on my tablet with the phones in in a very old hotel room in the dark, which I guess is a fair sized caveat
― or something, Sunday, 13 December 2020 20:23 (three years ago) link
I've skimmed enough spoiler free stuff about "Hunter Hunter" to make me pretty intrigued.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 17 December 2020 16:34 (three years ago) link
host is good as hell!!! not quite unfriended: dark web quality but so good for what it is
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, 17 December 2020 16:40 (three years ago) link
"Hunter Hunter" had an ambivalent review today in the L.A. Times. Sounds like an interesting premise. Reviewer's mention of disturbing / gory elements probably are positives for folk here.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 17 December 2020 17:45 (three years ago) link
finally watched We Are the Flesh - as grotesque as promised but almost funny as well. I hope the performers were well compensated.
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 00:56 (three years ago) link
It's definitely super weird and surreal and funny and gross.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 23 December 2020 03:43 (three years ago) link
this looks fun and dumb!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thcQFXC5sKY
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 16:49 (three years ago) link
co-written by max landis lol
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 17:15 (three years ago) link
Somebody upthread mentioned Dorothy Mills (2008) as kind of ho-hum, but the gf & I just watched it and really liked it - were talking about it the next day. It's Irish, has some classic tropes - an outsider upsets the balance of a quiet, reticent island community that would "rather just let the past stay in the past!" kinda thing, but it has some unexpected twists and is pretty bleak overall. Very gothic atmosphere, and the Irish horror I've seen (not that much, to be honest) has been consistent in quality...it's almost a relief when you get an unknown film and see that it's funded by the Irish Film Board; it's probably going to at least be watchable.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 23 December 2020 17:44 (three years ago) link
xp, whoops didn't catch that.
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 18:06 (three years ago) link
ha well I wasn't trying to chirp you out, it's just sad that he keeps getting paid
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 18:14 (three years ago) link
i agree wholeheartedly! that film will only be interesting if it's not in the vein of "look at us being sexist but really we're NOT being sexist it's old times DO U SEE?!?!?!" which it could well be.
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 23 December 2020 18:15 (three years ago) link
The Thai flick "The Pool" has such a great high concept b-movie hook - man trapped at the bottom of a deep drained pool with a big crocodile - that I had high expectations, but it is so larded down with grade-z melodrama (including one of the most horrible and horrifying on-screen pet deaths I've ever seen) and an obnoxious pro-life (as in, explicitly anti-abortion) message that by the end I could barely give a shit.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 2 January 2021 20:31 (three years ago) link
Hunter Hunter was like an ominous version of Leave No Trace but with a wolf and then holy fuck the ending
― or something, Sunday, 3 January 2021 22:27 (three years ago) link
I watched Makeup last night, a British debut from Caroline Oakley. It's set at an out-of-season holiday park in Cornwall and is broadly about sexual awakening and I won't say too much else. It's only horror-inflected really, but it's got a great atmosphere and uses the potential of the landscape and the inherent bleak horror of an abandoned caravan park to good effect. It's definitely growing in my imagination. Good central performance, too.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 10 January 2021 14:47 (three years ago) link
Impetigore: Kind of a coup for Shudder that they now have Indonesia's Academy submission on there. Wild movie! Some cheap scares and a way overcomplicated backstory, but I really loved the way this movie toys with just how intense/violent or cruel it's willing to get, right up until, well, anyway. You'll see. Very likeable lead and above-average acting and writing in general. Could definitely have been tightened up a bit. It's cool that Indonesia submitted a legit, balls-out horror movie to the Academy. (It will receive no votes, I imagine, but still)
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Sunday, 10 January 2021 15:14 (three years ago) link
I thought the title was really misleading and almost unfortunate. There's some horrific stuff in this movie, yeah, but it's a lot more interesting and ambitious and artful than the typical gore hound might expect. The general fable-like vibe definitely made the most horrible stuff easier to handle, imo.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 January 2021 15:16 (three years ago) link
I don't know why I'm feeling squeamish but is it Bone Tomahawk levels of mental scarring?
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 10 January 2021 16:36 (three years ago) link
No, not really. There's stuff you might read about the movie that scans like, I dunno, Martyrs level carnage, but it's really handled in a very different way, iirc.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 January 2021 16:37 (three years ago) link
Like, I was expecting something akin to the Indonesian installment of V/H/S/, which is insanely over the top, but this is not that.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 January 2021 16:38 (three years ago) link
yeah it's a lot less violent than a lot of other movies I've seen lately. they hold back on a lot of stuff.
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Sunday, 10 January 2021 16:42 (three years ago) link
I revisited Evil Dead 2013 recently and man there is some underrated practical-effects gnarliness in that movie
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Sunday, 10 January 2021 16:43 (three years ago) link
it's a "horror" movie only in the most abstract but i saw Spontaneous last night and it's highly recommended. Meanders when it hits the third reel but the script is tight until then and the lead actress is a treat.
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 10 January 2021 18:24 (three years ago) link
Missed that not only is the PGA pulling their golf tournament from Trump, they have implemented a lifetime ban on ever holding any events at any of his properties ever again. Still think one of the most OTM things I've ever read about this asshole is that he will be the first president in history to end with fewer things named after him than when he started.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 January 2021 21:42 (three years ago) link
lol whoops President Horror Film.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 January 2021 21:44 (three years ago) link
more of a horror movie than what I posted tbh
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 10 January 2021 22:27 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K5sRggO8QoAnyone seen Dogs Don't Wear Pants? It's a Shudder film so I guess it is horror, but it mostly looks like a comedy but I've heard there are truly brutal sequences. On dvd but no bluray forfucksake.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 23 January 2021 20:13 (three years ago) link
That...doesn't look like a comedy at all?
― The return of our beloved potatoes (the table is the table), Saturday, 23 January 2021 23:28 (three years ago) link
Totally looks like a comedy to me, the director said it was a sort of romantic comedy.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 23 January 2021 23:45 (three years ago) link
There's probably one scene of a dog comedically dragging his ass on the carpet and 89 minutes of entrails
― if Spaghetti-Os had whammy bars (Neanderthal), Sunday, 24 January 2021 00:02 (three years ago) link
Wait can't be a romantic comedy with a dog
I initially thought this was a joke, but it's realhttps://thebedlamfiles.com/film/grizzly-2-revenge/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ESXMnn3FY
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 30 January 2021 16:17 (three years ago) link
I'm not a fan of really bad movies, but I did use to watch the original all the time on TV. "Jaws with Claws!"
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 30 January 2021 16:58 (three years ago) link
Man, I wish I could justify subscribing to both Shudder and Arrow, but I just don't have the stomach for another service, let alone two. Something like Arrow looks especially cool. Given its cult/esoteric nature I have a feeling at least a chunk of its content can be found scattered out across my other streaming services, but for the same reason would be exhausting to find and track. I more or less have to maintain a cross-referenced list of what movies I want to see and where they are as it is, and even those take me forever to get to.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 February 2021 14:42 (three years ago) link
Are Arrow and Shudder in the US that much better than the UK? I suspect so because there's no way you could justify a monthly subscription to either here, nowhere near enough worthwhile content
― or something, Friday, 5 February 2021 14:50 (three years ago) link
shudder is cheap as hell
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 5 February 2021 14:51 (three years ago) link
...in the US. It's £4.99 over here which isn't exactly going to break the bank but I'd watched everything I wanted to watch within a week on the free trial and they don't seem to add new stuff too often. Maybe it's worth it over there but looks like you guys get a lot more for your money. I just wish it was better here, not their fault I guess
― or something, Friday, 5 February 2021 15:00 (three years ago) link
Shudder is ... $6 here? That's pretty cheap, but I can't imagine I'd watch two things on it a month. Of course, it's all hypothetical at this point. I pay a lot more than that for Criterion, which has enough stuff for me to watch for a lifetime, and even that I barely get to as much as I'd like. I used to have a huuuuuge DVD collection (and CD collection, etc.), and if I'm being honest the same collector bug is at work with these streaming services. It's as if the *option* of watching something is what's ultimately proving hard to resist, even if I know I won't get the most out of even $6.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 February 2021 15:04 (three years ago) link
yeah i suspect there may be differences in what content is available in both regions.
I love Shudder cos it's filling my blind spots fast
― he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Friday, 5 February 2021 15:08 (three years ago) link
Shudder is my fave streaming service and it's not close
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Friday, 5 February 2021 15:33 (three years ago) link
every other week they add some genuine "oh fuck yeah" films I've been meaning to get to, as if by telepathy
nothing was funnier than pulling up a random horror film (can't recall if it was on Shudder or off, something like Bubba, the Werewolf or some shit) and seeing two friends of mine were in it cos it was shot in FL, including one I hadn't seen in 8 years.
― he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Friday, 5 February 2021 15:34 (three years ago) link
it was really bad and my friend was doing his stage mannerisms and it was weird to see in a film
I got rid of Shudder because most of it seemed like crap or stuff I'd already seen a billion times, and I wasn't utilizing it except when exclusives like "Blood Quantum" would show up.
― The return of our beloved potatoes (the table is the table), Friday, 5 February 2021 17:20 (three years ago) link
I finally watched Paranormal Activity last night and really enjoyed myself - to the point that I was awake at 4am this morning, hearing all sorts of shit in my house. Once I'd thrown my lot in with the characters and abandoned any sense of logic or sanity, I really loved the simplicity of the premise and the simple fact of watching the main frame of the action for movement and shade. I mean, it totally shits itself in the final 5 minutes, in its (erroneous) desire to escalate but I can forgive it that. They should have ended with the appalling screams from downstairs, with something unutterable emerging quietly from the hallway.
Are any of the others in the series worth watching?
I'm reading the collected M.R. James at the moment too. Christ alive is my mind active. It's like I can feel my deep workings being altered. I love/hate that feeling of going to bed with your blood singing.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 12:48 (three years ago) link
I bought a collection of M.R. James a couple of years ago. When you're in the right headspace for that stuff it can really get you.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:57 (three years ago) link
I remember 3 being pretty effective? xp
― or something, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:10 (three years ago) link
The first three Paranormal Activities are pretty good, iirc. Each adds a tiny twist or evolution of the formula (like the rotating fan cam), and if they start to lean into mythology a bit too much, it doesn't really matter. The movies might be gimmicks, but I don't know a single person that felt entirely comfortable turning off the lights at the end of the night after watching them.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:42 (three years ago) link
Paranormal 1 definitely stuck in my mind. Mostly the videotape of the sleeper standing over the bed. good nightmare fuel, that.
― That's not really my scene (I'm 41) (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 15:11 (three years ago) link
Yep. I put drawing pins around the bed last night, just in case.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 16:33 (three years ago) link
Watched Kindred the other night... good performances, a little gothic, good film overall.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 17:31 (three years ago) link
yeah the first three PAs are good but with diminishing returns each time. each one slightly more disappointing if not 'good'. never got around to the others.
― he said that you son of a bitch (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 18:49 (three years ago) link
45 minutes in and already comfortable recommending the empty man (2021)
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 22:57 (three years ago) link
oh btw it’ll be easy pickings for the ppl tired of a24 horror or whatever but i really liked saint maud
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 00:36 (three years ago) link
I've heard only bad things (and not only from a24 haters) so you have me curious
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 00:46 (three years ago) link
this horror movie about twitter was incredible
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:01 (three years ago) link
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, February 9, 2021 5:46 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
i'm not really sure what's to hate tbh unless ppl find the end a little hokey. it's creepy and gay and the cool dying lesbian plays esg at her parties and the major jump scare rocks
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:11 (three years ago) link
people have a lot of inner obstacles that keep them from having a creepy good time with a movie tho so i get it
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:15 (three years ago) link
it may not be entirely responsible with its closeted queer themes but idk, felt a little similar to thelma to me, in both the closet especially the closet of religious repression actively destroys your life and relationships
i have seen thelma three times now and it does not belong in this thread bc it's not a horror film, and it's not perfect, but god it's fucking great imo
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:19 (three years ago) link
I never actually write anything real on letterboxd but I did feel compelled to write a little "about" the empty man. no real spoilers but also won't make much sense till you've seen it.
https://letterboxd.com/suckerhowell/film/the-empty-man/
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:26 (three years ago) link
I actually did a quick google of it, because I hadn't heard of it, and ... it was really poorly received?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:34 (three years ago) link
by dummies!
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:43 (three years ago) link
most of the ppl i follow on letterboxd love it and i implicitly trust them
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:46 (three years ago) link
yeah seeing @d@m n@yman and j0sh lew1s both rave about it tipped me off
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:47 (three years ago) link
for me it was a five star review from albert pyun scholar and total genius sydn3y
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:49 (three years ago) link
i was so annoyed that the most popular (somewhat positive) review was by sean fennessey that i almost started a thread where ppl can post the writers they think are so bad
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:53 (three years ago) link
does anybody think that's a necessary thread or am i asking for a fight
necessary? not at all. fun and funny? probably
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:54 (three years ago) link
actually I would just love a thread about letterboxd and its weirdness
oh whoops i started the stupider thread
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:58 (three years ago) link
simon you should start a letterboxd thread so i can go on and on about the genius of nathaxnne
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 02:59 (three years ago) link
letterboxd, the vexing and sometimes OK film logging website
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, 10 February 2021 03:08 (three years ago) link
joe bob did a valentine's day special. first film is tammy and the t-rex, which is not really a horror film. still, it's the best movie i've ever seen
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 13 February 2021 03:50 (three years ago) link
oh wow paul walker is just a tiny baby boy in this!
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 13 February 2021 05:17 (three years ago) link
man with a better script (a much better one) I would have loved the hell out of ready or not
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 13 February 2021 22:04 (three years ago) link
The Empty Man is terrific! A strange, almost-avant cosmic horror masquerading as a conventional creepypasta flick. Really well-directed. And as someone mentioned on Letterboxd, the first movie to be set in the Twin Peaks The Return extended universe
― glumdalclitch, Sunday, 14 February 2021 02:41 (three years ago) link
yeah I yelped when he turned that piece of paper around
also I gotta say, I've been enjoying James Badge Dale as a low key character actor for a long time and it was nice to get to see him cut loose in this
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Sunday, 14 February 2021 04:25 (three years ago) link
oh, i updated this thread with a pre-2006 movie bc the other film in joe bob's marathon was the love witch, which i'd never seen. impressively crafted to the point where the aesthetic was ultimately kind of distancing, but i also spent the better part of this afternoon thinking about the depiction of gender roles in the film and feel like it was a valuable experience just for that
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 15 February 2021 20:59 (three years ago) link
I liked it a lot for that reason. it could have been a legit classic with significantly tighter editing
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Monday, 15 February 2021 21:35 (three years ago) link
brad u were right about thelma, although the "yass thelma slay dad" stuff I see in reviews is making me wonder if I watched the same movie
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:12 (three years ago) link
lol i mean that's letterboxd for you
what a good movie right? i have very specific qualms with it (flashback scene comes out of nowhere; overriding metaphor of the film potentially a little too neat) but they all disintegrate against its portrayal of both intense closetedness and queer desire
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:17 (three years ago) link
also it's just stupid beautiful
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:18 (three years ago) link
The underwater and dream sequences were some of the most genuinely disorienting I've seen in a long time (and also tie the movie to Let the Right One In, intentionally or not, I'm guessing not)
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:24 (three years ago) link
the fate of thelma's little brother one of the meanest fakeouts I've seen in ages as well
D@v!d 3hrl!ch wrote in IndieWire that Thelma was a "an ominous, unnerving, and strangely powerful thriller about the most devious of human desires" and "consistently keyed in to the persuasive power of the female body."
I might have never cracked it as a film critic but maybe that's fine if this is the result lol
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:29 (three years ago) link
... most devious of human desires??? the persuasive power of the female body???? men have got to be stopped
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:52 (three years ago) link
the most devious of human desires: having a huge lesbian crush on your cool friend and being unable to deal with it bc of your repressive religious upbringing
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:53 (three years ago) link
i read the full review to make sure the excerpts weren't enormous distortions bc of the nature of being excerpted
Lust is just the tip of the iceberg, though “Thelma” is consistently keyed in to the persuasive power of the female body, and how the strength of physical attraction can sometimes be complicated by its shallowness.
wHAT
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 February 2021 15:59 (three years ago) link
lmao whyyyyy
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 20 February 2021 16:16 (three years ago) link
see people think thelma's dad is the bad guy but then I think "what if this is how dav1d erl1ch's dad feels"
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 20 February 2021 22:02 (three years ago) link
thelma’s dad held her hand over a candle, he’s bad. but the real villain is repression
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 21 February 2021 04:50 (three years ago) link
Watched Come Play, and liked it. Bloodless, jump scares, plot is divorced parents of a special needs boy whose phone brings up an app story monster who's lonely and wants a friend. Appreciated how they worked the cliche 'bully beats up challenged kid' angle, and ending was better than I expected.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 1 March 2021 17:49 (three years ago) link
Dogs Don't Wear Pants - This really isn't a horror film (but I just thought I'd follow it up here), just a slightly dark (Finnish) romantic comedy and the tooth pulling scene isn't as bad as I had heard. This isn't trying to be be realistic about the BDSM scene or convince anyone it's a healthy place, the characters cross the line into criminal territory quite regularly. It's enjoyable and it looks good, but by the end I felt it was just a bit too simple, like surprisingly straightforward. I didn't remember Krista Kosonen in Bladerunner 2049 but she was pretty cool in this.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 3 March 2021 19:04 (three years ago) link
Watched Come Play, and liked it
Been hearing about this one since last Fantasia in July!
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Wednesday, 3 March 2021 19:18 (three years ago) link
Has anyone else watched His House? Really liked it, it managed to avoid nearly every horror movie cliche of the last 40 years and still stay scary.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 3 March 2021 19:35 (three years ago) link
There seem to have been a few movies (relatively speaking) in the vein of "Come Play" lately, haven't there been? "The Babadook" a couple of years ago, "Z" last year or so ...
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 3 March 2021 19:39 (three years ago) link
watched Errementari last night. A Basque-language fantasy-horror steeped in Catholicism. It was okay, kind of ridiculous in places. Watchable though
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Wednesday, 3 March 2021 21:54 (three years ago) link
we watched Saint Maud last night. It was alright, not the greatest movie I've seen. I wish people would just stop using balding/bald women as shorthand for horror. Why not pick on people who need prosthetic limbs or false teeth for a change, where are the scary female characters without noses, without ears?
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 4 March 2021 00:05 (three years ago) link
(i am not serious about picking on those people, just tired of lazy shorthand)
saint maud was scary at points, mostly pretty slow... idk. i didn't really get the point of it, or what it was trying to say, if anything - like, in the sense that hereditary was a meditation on trauma. it just felt like watching a superhero movie or something to me.
goodnight mommy (2014) was gruesome and gripping and rewarding
the wailing (2016) was loooong but so much fun
other favourites of the decade: rawswallowhostcreepyberberian sound studiothe killing of a sacred deer
― maelin, Thursday, 4 March 2021 09:38 (three years ago) link
Lucky (just added to Shudder) is one of the most unique and unsettling movies I've seen since, uh, The Empty Man. what a gutsy little movie.
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 6 March 2021 04:00 (three years ago) link
really? i found it extremely confused and unsure of how to clarify its story. Several great ideas floating around but none of them ever fully arrived at, muddied by poor acting and wooden dialogue imo.
― G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 6 March 2021 22:48 (three years ago) link
I didn't have a problem with the performances or dialogue! But I'd like to rewatch before I say anything more.
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:00 (three years ago) link
i suppose i would too if i planned to rewatch it! I think there were at least three good films worth of ideas in there but this couldn't follow anything through to the point where it clarified its aims. Was it a self-reflective comment about how media terrorizes women through constant depictions of brutality? Was it a kafkaesque horror story about how capitalism and monogamy locks us into a cycle of violence against women? Was it a critique of the women's movement and the lack of common interests across generations and willingness to support one another? It felt like it was trying to do all that but it couldn't quite decide how to land a punch one way or the other so there was tons of meandering from idea to idea. Like, yeah: i see the echoes in the tableau of lovers in bed and murderer and victim splayed out on the floor. Congrats but to what end are you presenting those images? Needed more time in the oven imo.
― G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:14 (three years ago) link
I'm fine with presenting those ideas as an unresolved mess because that's how they feel IRL - the confusion/conflation/whatever felt like a knowing and purposeful feature rather than a bug, to me. Certain specific moments in the script gave me the distinct impression that they knew exactly what they were doing here.
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:18 (three years ago) link
there's an argument to be made there i suppose but this didn't feel to me like some sort of Lynchean fever dream where there was an underlying logic to everything. It just stacked absurdity on absurdity until it started breaking and falling apart. That they decided to make that falling apart a feature and not a bug in the final reel didn't make the intent any clearer as far as i could see.
― G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:25 (three years ago) link
the intent felt crystal clear to me but I'll refrain from saying any more for now. hopefully this little discussion will tempt others into checking it out!
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Sunday, 7 March 2021 00:06 (three years ago) link
Shudder was such utter shit for a while that I cancelled my sub. Oh well.
― it's like edging for your mind (the table is the table), Sunday, 7 March 2021 00:36 (three years ago) link
tbf most horror movies ARE shit. idk, lately whenever I take a chance on something new / new-to-me on there, I more often than not end up vibing with it.
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Sunday, 7 March 2021 06:06 (three years ago) link
yeah it's a genre with a very low hit rate for me too.
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Sunday, 7 March 2021 14:44 (three years ago) link
in a way that's why I like horror, cos finding a good horror film = like discovering an artifact on an archaelogical dig
I have a low base of expectation and a love for the genre which means even a half decent horror feels like a personal favourite
― or something, Sunday, 7 March 2021 14:59 (three years ago) link
This is probably discussed somewhere in this thread but I’m not going to load the whole thing looking for it — last night we watched The Wailing (2016, Na Hong-jin), and it was super long for a horror film but also pretty engrossing, very vividly made and with enough twists to keep it interesting. As I often find with K- and J- horror, I’m still trying to sort out its various strands, but its quasi-incoherence didn’t detract from the experience.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 7 March 2021 15:35 (three years ago) link
horror movies are very good, even the bad ones (not speaking for modern low budget shudder exclusive horror here, i feel like that's probably bad bad)
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 7 March 2021 15:36 (three years ago) link
currently watching a screener for the QC horror-satire Slaxx, with a Dupieux-ish premise involving killer jeans, and it's pretty funny so far. and the correct length at 70 mins.
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Sunday, 7 March 2021 15:44 (three years ago) link
70 mins
Dag. And I thought it impressive that "She Dies Tomorrow" came in at just under 90 minutes.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 7 March 2021 15:56 (three years ago) link
I watched Dead Snow last night. It was pretty bad but I had a good time except for the what the fuck scene in the outside toilet.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 8 March 2021 10:17 (three years ago) link
I mean, I like a lot of crap horror— I'm not some "Artsy Horror" stan.
but for a while, Shudder was just stuff that looked unbearable, stuff I'd already seen a million times, or stuff that I'd seen once and never care to see again lol.
― it's like edging for your mind (the table is the table), Monday, 8 March 2021 21:50 (three years ago) link
they just added two larraz films, vampyres and edge of the axe, plus amityville ii: the possession which i've always wanted to see
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 8 March 2021 21:56 (three years ago) link
they go through fallow periods but i've never regretted spending $5/mo on it or whatever
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 8 March 2021 21:58 (three years ago) link
they were very useful when i challenged myself to watch all of the ring films a few months ago (project still incomplete)
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 8 March 2021 21:59 (three years ago) link
They also just added Ali Abbasi's Border which I've been meaning to see for years!
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 March 2021 11:51 (three years ago) link
We enjoyed the Irish slow-burner Without Name over the weekend... a strong little eco-folk horror with a small cast and a brooding landscape. The film began with a warning for epileptics, so there's some wild visual stuff.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 9 March 2021 17:37 (three years ago) link
whoah, 'unsane' (2018) was mega. surprised it's had such little attention... i'm quite desensitized and jaded after growing up watching years of dark horror, but this still managed to get me on the edge of my seat and surprise me and make me yell at the tv at points. shot on an iphone, too? so cool. top performances.
― maelin, Sunday, 14 March 2021 21:18 (three years ago) link
About Richard Stanley being an abuser.https://sharedhallucination.blogspot.com/2021/03/777-truth-will-out.html
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 17 March 2021 20:26 (three years ago) link
We stand with victims of abuse. We believe those who speak out. We believe women. https://t.co/bq0llzZ8t7— SpectreVision (@_SpectreVision) March 16, 2021
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 17 March 2021 20:43 (three years ago) link
Maybe 2016 is getting to old for this thread but I watched The Untamed. There's a tentacle sex monster in a cabin that people go to and its unpredictable if it will hurt you or not. There's a lot about homophobia, the director said it was partially inspired by an openly homophobic headline in mexican newspapers. There's a crater with lots of animals having sex and it all looks real enough that I imagine they just digitally spliced them together in the same place. It's quiet film for the most part and mostly about a family (but not in a boring way), I didn't understand a couple of things the characters did but I mostly liked it, the ending wasn't anything special.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 22 March 2021 18:24 (two years ago) link
Ben Wheatley's In the Earth trailer just dropped this morning.. looks right up my alley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lqkfo7IymU
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 25 March 2021 17:07 (two years ago) link
that looks dope!
― it's like edging for your mind (the table is the table), Thursday, 25 March 2021 17:26 (two years ago) link
Anyone seen Koko-di, Koko-da yet?
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, 25 March 2021 18:21 (two years ago) link
I really dug it
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 25 March 2021 18:26 (two years ago) link
― G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 25 March 2021 18:55 (two years ago) link
one of the last films i saw in theaters, sigh
Can we talk Possessor spoilers? Really well done film, and educational for the behind-the-scenes stuff. I'm curious about a few things. . The first question, the ending, is fairly obvious, given the overlay of Vos over Colin when she kills her son. What seemed somewhat a conflict about returning to her home life, as evidenced by Vos' initial forgetting she and Michael were separated, then visiting them at home, was actually her desire to leave him and her child entirely. Yes? Second question, why did she disguise her possessing glitches? Was it as simple as she wanted to continue her jobs, avoiding her personal life?
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Friday, 26 March 2021 00:49 (two years ago) link
I haven’t seen it yet but I’m excited that Jim Williams (A Field In England) did the score
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Saturday, 27 March 2021 03:45 (two years ago) link
That Ben Wheatley movie looks great. It also looks *remarkably* like this other movie on its way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9HYegwSw1s
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 28 March 2021 19:33 (two years ago) link
good article slash interview re empty man which was discussed upthread https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/the-empty-man-david-prior-interview
― just sayin, Monday, 29 March 2021 08:16 (two years ago) link
I had a brief email exchange with him, suuuuper nice guy by all appearances
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Monday, 29 March 2021 12:33 (two years ago) link
It hadn't occurred to me it might be the last movie ever with the 20th Century Fox logo. that's pretty wild.
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Monday, 29 March 2021 12:48 (two years ago) link
loved loved loved the empty man. i have a few complaints (maybe i'm the only one who found it visually kinda flat and drab in spots? yet in others it was incredible) but otherwise it was made just for me. script was completely in the richard kelly register
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 16 April 2021 03:00 (two years ago) link
it was so scary! even the stupid jump scares were scary
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 16 April 2021 03:01 (two years ago) link
yesssss
it's definitely very grey, which both helps/extends the mood and flattens things visually somewhat
there are so many weird little details I still think about regularly
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Friday, 16 April 2021 03:02 (two years ago) link
I loved a LOT of images and sequences in Come True......shame the actual plot and characters don't come together and the ending is student-film awful.
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 April 2021 12:07 (two years ago) link
but seriously, those dream sequences. truly eye-popping at times.
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 April 2021 12:09 (two years ago) link
Okay, finally watched the Australian film Relic this weekend - anyone seen it? What a great, genuinely scary film, tackling a real-life subject with heart and emotion. Mostly female cast, creep old house, creepy forest... a seriously well made film chock full'o metaphor.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 3 May 2021 19:39 (two years ago) link
Really want to see The Empty Man — James Badge Dale is a great, underrecognized actor.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 3 May 2021 19:48 (two years ago) link
xp If you liked Relic, you might check out "The Taking of Deborah Logan". Similar dementia/horror vibe though different causes.
Read Cullen Bunn's The Empty Man graphic novels this week from Hoopla, now interested to see how that translates to visual.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 3 May 2021 19:53 (two years ago) link
@ unperson: that movie has some great moments for all the Daleheads out there
@alpaca: the film and comic have almost nothing in common
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Monday, 3 May 2021 19:56 (two years ago) link
Thanks, good to know. The comic has a Suicide Club / Pulse / Pontypool / Clive Barker vibe, so assumed it did, when someone mentioned the gore factor.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:07 (two years ago) link
I feel like I watched Relic, but can't remember it at all
― it's like edging for your mind (the table is the table), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 20:53 (two years ago) link
Oh wait, I did not. I watched the trailer for it and it looked quite good.
― it's like edging for your mind (the table is the table), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 20:58 (two years ago) link
Took advantage of Comcast Watchathon to catch up on some Shudder cheese.
Impetigore, 2019 Indonesian, woman returns to home village, people want to kill her to remove curse. Mentioned earlier itt, pretty good. Lots of throat cutting f/x.The Furies, 2019 Australian, 8 women kidnapped for 8 masked killers to hunt on camera. Nothing novel, but the lead actress did a good job, and they stuck the ending, imo.Feral, 2017 US, 6 campers in woods with virus-infected humans. Again, not novel, but Scout Taylor-Compton's character, refreshingly competent throughout.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 5 May 2021 13:00 (two years ago) link
Empty Man was ok but the real star was sasha frolova's bowl cut
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 6 May 2021 14:19 (two years ago) link
that haircut was very divisive in my household
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Thursday, 6 May 2021 14:21 (two years ago) link
personally i am a fan bc she reminds me of a friend who also had a very bold bowl cut. it's a sign of confidence and dgaf style imo.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 6 May 2021 14:22 (two years ago) link
110% on boardhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hEhhcdAIVM
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 May 2021 18:44 (two years ago) link
Ha.. I wrote a college paper on that story, I'll definitely check it out
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 11 May 2021 18:47 (two years ago) link
probably not really horror but it looks sorta dope
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 May 2021 19:28 (two years ago) link
I watched a couple of horror films over the weekend. Trick 'r Treat, an anthology film that was trash but good fun and Coherence which has fucked me up a bit. About twenty years ago, I had a dream in which I found someone had been living under my bed and had been all my life. It was like a glimpse of psychosis. It's become part of a suite of scenes and images that I've seen and stored over the years (the dumpster in Mulholland Drive is most prominent among these). Anyway, this awoke that zone in my poor brain and made it hum for 90 minutes and I was quite close to turning it off more than once - in a way than say Triangle or Timecrimes didn't quite manage. Primer is close but there was something about the febrile nature of this and the people involved. This might be simply the light it throws on my second biggest fear: that there might well be 5 million versions of my life and in each of them, I'm an awful, directionless middle-class cunt with a toolbox of pointless neuroses, none of which add up to anything.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 16 May 2021 19:34 (two years ago) link
There was an okay film about a guy living in the walls for years and years, had a blind girl, can't recall the name.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 16 May 2021 21:13 (two years ago) link
Looks promising:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRrhXjH1M70
Echoes of Berberian Sound Studio?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 May 2021 13:19 (two years ago) link
Nice
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 20 May 2021 19:39 (two years ago) link
Cool:
'When you're alone and life is making you lonelyYou can always go...'Watch the first trailer for my new film: #LastNightInSoho. Can’t wait for you to see it in cinemas this October. pic.twitter.com/hA2wR2Ukl0— edgarwright (@edgarwright) May 25, 2021
Someone's been doing their homework on Polanski and (esp.) Argento.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 15:29 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvlUHSoa8H4
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 15:34 (two years ago) link
i finally watched the empty man. it didn't make any sense at all and i loved it
― na (NA), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 15:41 (two years ago) link
it's so good
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 15:42 (two years ago) link
lately I'm beginning to think it's the only movie that makes sense lol
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 17:40 (two years ago) link
Wow, that Last Night in Soho looks great
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 18:09 (two years ago) link
I think Edgar Wright is a big old bag of wind and I've decided, after Baby Driver that enough is enough, but that does look quite good...
I watched Insidious, which I'd managed to miss until now. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 45 minutes and thought, well, this has aged rather well, but then the frog brothers turned up and it went to shit. Oh well.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 18:16 (two years ago) link
Apologies for the random usage of commas. In all my posts. I'm so tired.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 18:17 (two years ago) link
Two of the best actors working today, too. Not sure if even Wright could mess that up.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 18:26 (two years ago) link
It'll be Edgar does Giallo and he will have done literally hundreds of hours of research and everything will be in the right place and it will annoy me.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 18:31 (two years ago) link
Why?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 18:49 (two years ago) link
This one looks fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpj1VOJWf98
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 27 May 2021 13:48 (two years ago) link
"based on the video game"
aaaaand I'm out.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 27 May 2021 14:10 (two years ago) link
I was wondering about the Ubisoft logo.
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Thursday, 27 May 2021 14:12 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC1DQsaKdgw
Trailer gives away any "is / isn't he?" mystery, but the movie has some neat additions to the genre with some daylight action and a non-standard werewolf look.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 27 May 2021 14:27 (two years ago) link
Cross-posting with the "last movies you saw" thread:
Signed up for HBO Max and finally watched The Conjuring, which I've been meaning to check out for a while. James Wan speaks the language of horror cinema better than almost anybody around right now; I expected lol70s cheese, but this thing is no-fucking-around scary. If you're in the mood for old-school horror (I strongly suspect more of the effects were practical than digital) with really good performances all around, especially Lili Taylor, it's kind of a must-see. The most genuinely frightening horror movie I've seen since Prince of Darkness.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 28 May 2021 23:56 (two years ago) link
I love the Conjuring - it's taken everything that worked from lots of haunted house movies and stuck them together.
Watched The Unholy (which was fine) and The Corruption of Divine Providence; which was nearly as good as it's title! I understand complaints that it wsa too crowded/busy, and I'd love a bit more Tarr to it, but what it did it did well.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Monday, 31 May 2021 21:16 (two years ago) link
Finally got around to The Dead Don't Die and In Fabric. The former was exactly what I expected from a Jarmusch zombie film, and enjoyable as such. In Fabric I kinda loved even though it was ridiculous. So many great images and scenes.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 15:21 (two years ago) link
in fabric is so so so good. i'm a strickland stan at this point
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 15:30 (two years ago) link
Yeah I dug Berberian Sound Studio too. I still need to see Duke of Burgundy (which I guess doesn't qualify for this thread).
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 15:49 (two years ago) link
it doesn't but it's still creepy and kinda scary at points
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 15:55 (two years ago) link
also his best imo but i love lesbians
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 15:56 (two years ago) link
Duke could probably pass as psychological horror.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 June 2021 16:27 (two years ago) link
I really disliked The Conjuring, goofy melodrama, it treats mediums with an annoying reverence and it doesn't help that it has two real life frauds as heroes
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 1 June 2021 18:27 (two years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, June 1, 2021 9:27 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
it could also pass as a comedy, movie really has everything
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 18:30 (two years ago) link
It is pretty funny, tbh.
The Conjuring ... iirc it relied sooooo much on loud scares, not just jump scares but *loud* jump scares, which I think are an extra kind of cheating.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 June 2021 18:42 (two years ago) link
The Conjuring 2 >>>>>>>>>>> The Conjuring
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 00:26 (two years ago) link
I don't care about the real life frauds being the 'heroes', I just pretend the film takes place in a world where they're real and actually saw what they claimed to.
the first Conjuring was just mediocre Catholic-guilt horror. second one was better just by going bigger and actually killing people.
Sinister was better than both
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 00:27 (two years ago) link
I keep meaning to watch Sinister. The crappier the movie around him seems to be, the better Ethan Hawke's performance turns out to be, IME.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 00:59 (two years ago) link
I didn't know the characters were real people until a couple of years after I saw it, but I still really disliked it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 2 June 2021 17:14 (two years ago) link
I knew cos basically they're the Amityville Horror looney toonie investigators.
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 2 June 2021 17:16 (two years ago) link
Iirc, Sinister may be the only of these sorts of movies to address the "why don't they just leave!?" conundrum.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 June 2021 17:45 (two years ago) link
Great trailer, like Cronenberg's "Crash" meets ... I dunno no. Noe?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYm2RETn_oQ
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 21 June 2021 17:40 (two years ago) link
^^^ from the director of raw btw
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 21 June 2021 17:54 (two years ago) link
the images are astonishing, and julia ducournau doing something that's at least partially industrial horror.... it's already got my ticket
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 21 June 2021 17:56 (two years ago) link
hmmm
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Monday, 21 June 2021 18:13 (two years ago) link
Looks good thanks
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 21 June 2021 18:30 (two years ago) link
Superdeep got terrible reviews but I quite enjoyed it. It’s not particularly innovative but it’s pretty fun.
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 28 June 2021 12:20 (two years ago) link
Good soundtrack too.
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 28 June 2021 12:21 (two years ago) link
Thelma was the first film I've seen by J. Trier and it's certainly worth a watch but I found the pacing somnambulant and its need to overexplain everything tedious. Great acting and a fun take on Firestarter with a "kill the patriarchy vibe".
― burly crafty woodsman (James Harden) vs tall ethereal phantom (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 8 July 2021 15:44 (two years ago) link
I just watched Host and really enjoyed it. Loved the formal invention, which managed to deal with the 'just turn the fucking thing off!' conundrum quite neatly, and I totally fell for the cast and was invested in them, which is rare for a horror film. I was properly scared in a few places - to the point where I actually roared at one point and one of my kids came down to see if I was alright!
I've signed up for a month of Shudder as well, so will be enshittening myself for most of July and August.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 10 July 2021 12:43 (two years ago) link
you'll find plenty of shudder recs if you go back thru this thread
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Saturday, 10 July 2021 13:01 (two years ago) link
Nice one cheers. I'll have a dig around.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 10 July 2021 13:10 (two years ago) link
Watched The Hunt last night on HBO Max. I knew it would be dumb as shit, but it was actually OK, a few suuuuuper on-the-nose/this-film-was-made-in-2019 lines of dialogue aside. It's a Hostel/The Most Dangerous Game knockoff with "political" overtones, some decent fight scenes (it's often more action movie in the Scott Adkins/old-school Van Damme vein than horror, exactly), and (digital) gore. The biggest surprises come from who turns out to only have been hired for a single day of shooting, if you know what I mean.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 10 July 2021 13:40 (two years ago) link
I actually enjoyed "Werewolves Within," which features a lot of familiar funny faces in the cast, even if it's more fitfully amusing. If you liked "Ready or Not" (I did) you'd probably like this, too. Got some of its own on-the-nose political jokes, but I thought they mostly worked.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 10 July 2021 13:42 (two years ago) link
I liked the hunt. some amusing elements and Betty Gilpin rules
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Saturday, 10 July 2021 14:13 (two years ago) link
Following some of the Shudder recommendations, I watched Beyond the Walls over the last 3 nights and loved it. I'm a sucker for a 'house as symbol of the unconscious' and I loved how the house was rendered. It did lose its way a little in the final act but held its nerve and mercifully held off from 'chuck everything at the screen' rising climax approach. Great stuff.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Thursday, 15 July 2021 07:49 (two years ago) link
Empty Man is on Disneyplus now
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Thursday, 15 July 2021 20:08 (two years ago) link
In the uK, at least
Blood Born is pretty good, though it kind of comes apart a bit.
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Monday, 19 July 2021 20:15 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4unxjlKCpw
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Tuesday, 20 July 2021 17:26 (two years ago) link
Shudder's new one, Son, is pretty decent too, if you prefer you trauma post-partum instead.
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Friday, 23 July 2021 20:49 (two years ago) link
gah definitive no thanks!! that image is even a bit much for me. i don't like grisly pregnancy horror tbh unless it is The Brood. It's hard enough having these reproductive organs, I don't need any more horror :)
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 23 July 2021 21:09 (two years ago) link
Only just post-2006 but saw Lake Mungo this afternoon. Very affecting, expertly constructed and beautifully paced with the revelations slowly gathering momentum. It made me think of House of Leaves (most things do) but most obviously Twin Peaks (a bit on the nose to call the family the Palmers? Perhaps). It seems insane that the director has essentially disappeared but fair play: create something perfect and take your leave.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 24 July 2021 20:04 (two years ago) link
In The Earth is a nice addition to the psychedelic horror genre.
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Monday, 26 July 2021 14:16 (two years ago) link
So it looks like a couple horrifically anthropomorphized animal films on their way?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hleuhBW_lc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnEwJKVWjFM
I'm assuming the pig in Pig is just a pig, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 17:43 (two years ago) link
Love the cute wee sheepies
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 18:05 (two years ago) link
oh man, lamb looks awesome
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 28 July 2021 16:45 (two years ago) link
Mandibles is above standard Dupieux, definitely not a horror film but a good time.Lamb looks amazing.
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 28 July 2021 19:49 (two years ago) link
Despite finding plane hijackings to be a horrible dramatic setting, Blood Red Sky on Netlfix was pretty good, fun.
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Sunday, 8 August 2021 09:57 (two years ago) link
do y’all think i should make a thread for the empty man
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 1 September 2021 16:16 (two years ago) link
I'd contribute! Just watched it and loved it.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 10 September 2021 22:19 (two years ago) link
Still processing The Empty Man. I loved it for all sorts of reasons. Some of them (most of these are themes/connections):
I'm glad I saw this knowing mostly nothing so *possible spoilers*
I winced at the run time but it didn't feel long at all. Too much happens; it's too well constructed.We're in a rich vein of films about disassociation - enough for it to be a signal of the times? This and Possessor feel like peaks. The film within a film referencing Candyman and Nightmare on Elm Street (among others). The film within a film of the prologue that I absolutely could have watched another hour of. The weird clicking whisper that permeates the whole thing made me think of the ""ki ki ki, ma ma ma" from Friday 13th.Jacques Derrida High School! (Kinda cheap, but I liked it).Cherry-picking and straight-up Orientalism in places but the references to the darkness at the heart of a lot of Buddhist thought are thoughtfully managed. The Alexandra David-Néel book they referenced is excellent. The Pontifex (bridge-building) Society embody that worst kind of syncretism and cheap folk-wisdom. Stephen Root as the Hubbard figure was fantastic. The 'dreaming into being' of Lasombra is straight out of Borges' The Circular Ruins. (Lasombra means 'shadow' 'phantom' - I'm a total sucker for (not so) buried references like this). I wanted more Ron Canada. 'We can't indict the universe'.Prior has worked with Fincher? This has something of Zodiac about it for sure.
I'll stop now.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 11 September 2021 09:40 (two years ago) link
Was enjoying Saint Maud but godammit the special effects really spoiled it for me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 16 September 2021 18:43 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xjAaO5NGy0
chucky show looks amazing
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Saturday, 2 October 2021 15:34 (two years ago) link
Who needs a house out in Hackensack? You'll get killed by a doll named Chucky
― I'm a sovereign jazz citizen (the table is the table), Sunday, 3 October 2021 16:59 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwpHlcb0G2s
looks really good :)
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 14:55 (two years ago) link
Was literally in the middle of writing this. I dunno, it felt very much like the new "Halloween" trailers. "And now, years later ... evil comes home ... to die!" (Not literally, that was just the vibe.) Also, just an aside, I'm in general not a fan of the "Scream" movies (in fact, if memory serves I walked out of the last one, because I was bored and it felt like bullshit), but I think I have seen them all. One thing I got from the first one, though, at least as I remember it, was a more heightened degree of sadism and cruelty that made me feel uncomfortable, esp. in the context of a movie with so many elements of self-awareness and comedy. And, for better or for worse, that queasy sense came back to me immediately in the first few seconds of this trailer. I like horror movies. Heck, I love horror movies. I usually have no problem with the stabby-stabby stuff. But the violence in "Scream" always felt ... not shocking but (if you pardon the pun) sharper, more visceral. No idea why.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 14:57 (two years ago) link
(btw, if someone in a very specific Halloween mask killed a bunch of people and then it happened again and again and again, you'd think they'd stop making that mask.)
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 14:58 (two years ago) link
Did we know this was happening? I don't think I knew this was happening.
― Donald Fhtagen (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 15:03 (two years ago) link
scream 4 is awesome, your loss if you walked out
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 15:04 (two years ago) link
i knew! the directors are radio silence, aka the ready or not ppl xp
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 15:05 (two years ago) link
I don't feel like I lost anything, just gained an extra 10 minutes of my day (since I think I almost made it to the very end).
I think I'd heard about the new one because it made news in all the Neve Campbell outlets that Neve Campbell was coming back.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 15:06 (two years ago) link
i would say all the scream movies are baseline good, with 2 being the best
3 is the weakest and yet cannot be read in the present as anything but the most anti-harvey weinstein movie ever produced by the weinsteins
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 15:07 (two years ago) link
It's just called Scream, but it's not even a reboot, obviously a sequel, why not just call it Scream 5? The earlier films seemed self-contained enough to be understandable to newcomers.
I thought the 3rd film seemed like they were pissing about, terribly lazy humor
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 17:26 (two years ago) link
They could have called it "Screams." "Scream, Too." "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream."
Not to mention the fact that the only people that would gaf about the return of Neve Campbell et al. to this particular franchise are old like me. Unless this is one of those franchises that has cross generational appeal?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 17:45 (two years ago) link
This is just the new naming convention. If you wait too many years after the previous sequel, you give it the name of the original so that people don't get confused. And then the sequel after that one gets 'Again' or '-s' or 'Bigger Longer and Uncut' appended to the name.
― Donald Fhtagen (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 18:04 (two years ago) link
yeah both halloween (2018) and candyman (2021) have already done this and i no longer care
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 18:06 (two years ago) link
tbh "halloween kills" is 100x worse than naming a direct sequel to halloween "halloween"
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 18:07 (two years ago) link
Should be "Halloween Slaps"
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 18:20 (two years ago) link
Halloween? Ugh, I Literally Cannot
― Donald Fhtagen (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 18:44 (two years ago) link
Halloween, Halloweezer, Hallowutang
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 18:51 (two years ago) link
hallowed be thy een
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 19:00 (two years ago) link
"Hallow, It's Ween""Hallowe'ens Vs. You'uns."'Ween
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 19:04 (two years ago) link
you give it the name of the original so that people don't get confused.
― Donald Fhtagen (Old Lunch), Tuesday, October 12, 2021 7:04 PM (one hour ago)
But how confused could they be? Is it because numbered sequels aren't as common as they were? They should still probably understand it. Definitely creates confusion when you're tracking down a film or series without knowledge or enough information to tell which one is the remake.
I wish somebody had the guts to add The Remake to their title (I know some low budget films do this). Like Black Christmas, Black Christmas: The Remake and Black Christmas: The Second Remake.
I've heard people talking about studios trying to bury their back catalogue but I don't get how that works with the nostalgia that propels the remakes and presumably you want to keep selling your back catalogue?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 19:45 (two years ago) link
Black Christmas (2006) was stylized as Black X-mas on the poster at least.
― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 19:50 (two years ago) link
Half those 00s remakes should have been subtitled The Shitty Remake
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 20:00 (two years ago) link
The new Batman should be called Batman 11: Sixth Reboot or something like that. Do you count the cinema serials and animated films
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 12 October 2021 20:07 (two years ago) link
i really think halloween (2018) should've been called "halloween 2 3"
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 20:08 (two years ago) link
Tangential to this fun goofery, I just learned recently that there's an entire book about abortive Halloween sequels. I had no idea they'd had that much difficulty making these things happens.
― Donald Fhtagen (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 October 2021 20:41 (two years ago) link
I adore the Scream franchise, particularly 2 and 4, and am really stoked about this! (Brad, you're absolutely right in that 4 is a great movie)
― I'm a sovereign jazz citizen (the table is the table), Wednesday, 13 October 2021 16:29 (two years ago) link
Are we talking about Titane anywhere? (I'm not sure if I have anything to say about it, but....)
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Wednesday, 13 October 2021 21:45 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M92WfkWy6fY
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 13 October 2021 22:10 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgv1P28anlc
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 October 2021 22:13 (two years ago) link
Heh, this is from last year but it's pretty funny. It looks like all the original locations, too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmtCycRHN8E
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 14 October 2021 02:15 (two years ago) link
Titane is definitely the new film I'm most looking forward to
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 14 October 2021 19:22 (two years ago) link
it's a trip!
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Friday, 15 October 2021 21:49 (two years ago) link
Just saw Titane. It’s busy and fascinating, very smart and very strange.The car pregnancy is sorta the tertiary plot point if you can believe it? If it has any grander point it seems to be a pathological desire to avoid moral or ethical judgment when it comes to desire, survival and/or self identification. The director’s post show comment was that “I set out to make a movie about love and I think I succeeded.”― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, September 29, 2021
The car pregnancy is sorta the tertiary plot point if you can believe it? If it has any grander point it seems to be a pathological desire to avoid moral or ethical judgment when it comes to desire, survival and/or self identification. The director’s post show comment was that “I set out to make a movie about love and I think I succeeded.”
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, September 29, 2021
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Friday, 15 October 2021 21:50 (two years ago) link
Story Of The Southern Islet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8sPiWBMLk0
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:00 (two years ago) link
Rewatched "Oculus." What a deftly made spooky movie.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 October 2021 02:56 (two years ago) link
Watched "Gaia" and liked it, once past the disliking the female ranger's embodiment of Ebert's Idiot Rule. Nice slow burn, cool visuals, creature comparisons to The Last of Us, would make a good double feature, following "In The Earth".
Also watched "Assimilate", a teen Body Snatchers retread with a good germ of an angle let down by script and F/X, along with "Son", another Andi Matichak horror film. She's the high school daughter in the new Halloween series, but mom to a five year old Rosemary's kid here. Liked the ending, even if the twist was expected.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 20 October 2021 01:00 (two years ago) link
Watched most of the latest "VHS" movie, and once again Timo Tjahjanto sets the standard for over the top body horror and gore in his segment. Not quite as batshit as "Safe Haven," but definitely tests your mettle.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 20 October 2021 20:14 (two years ago) link
Yeah i watched it last night too -- I liked all the segments but the last one was a bit much for me. The way it felt like a video game where the shooter was aiming at me was too ott after the day i had.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 22 October 2021 20:53 (two years ago) link
Chapelwaite has finished now, and it's very good! A strong Salem's Lot adaptation with touches of cosmic horror. It's on something called an 'EPIX' so alternative sources might be needed.
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Saturday, 23 October 2021 13:18 (two years ago) link
We watched Titane, not nothing anything about it, just that her first film was Raw. I can't recall the last time I was so tense watching a horror film. I'm still processing it but I think it was amazing in the most horrific way, it's almost two movies. I dunno
― JacobSanders, Saturday, 23 October 2021 13:57 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNFkcXrs_sk
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 23 October 2021 21:46 (two years ago) link
re titane: you'll believe a man can eat a stool
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 24 October 2021 15:29 (two years ago) link
The fireman’s performance was something else
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Sunday, 24 October 2021 17:43 (two years ago) link
he's apparently a huge star in francestrangely the lead woman is debuting in this and the director got her off instagram apparently?
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 24 October 2021 18:20 (two years ago) link
apparently apparently
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 24 October 2021 18:23 (two years ago) link
He was in La Haine
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Sunday, 24 October 2021 22:39 (two years ago) link
Just watched Saint Maud. That was an incredible film
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Monday, 25 October 2021 00:47 (two years ago) link
broadcast signal intrusion (2021)... what a disappointment. ive always loved the hauntology surrounding signal intrusions. total waste of a film.
― maelin, Monday, 25 October 2021 14:08 (two years ago) link
i dont know where to begin. i actually got angry over how bad it was. transitions from scene to scene made no sense, it was technologically anachronistic and incorrect (dialling up BBS boards on MS-DOS in 1999?). the mystery was entirely uncompelling and characters felt completely void of personality. avoid
― maelin, Monday, 25 October 2021 14:13 (two years ago) link
i watched Lords Of Chaos about the norwegian black metal scene and the church burnings and whilst all the people were portrayed as young kids doing things as if they were simple dares, the casual violence in it was quite disturbing and the kind of thing you'd see in a much more serious film, the suicide, the final stabbing.
(the 11th century stave churches looked wonderful though)
― koogs, Monday, 25 October 2021 15:21 (two years ago) link
i liked lamb btw but fyi it's not a horror movie
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, 25 October 2021 16:13 (two years ago) link
I am halfway through Broadcast Signal Intrusion and am waaaaay disappointed, what a thrown opportunity! It is like watching a student film, so poorly put together.
― Maresn3st, Monday, 25 October 2021 16:53 (two years ago) link
But I have this waiting, which looks more promising.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scm4N1s7OhI
― Maresn3st, Monday, 25 October 2021 16:54 (two years ago) link
w/ Kyp Malone from Tv On The Radio, no less
― Maresn3st, Monday, 25 October 2021 16:59 (two years ago) link
Looks interesting, but also looks like pure Sci-fi and not really horrific
― Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 25 October 2021 17:28 (two years ago) link
Hereditary - good movie to watch with your liberal Boomer mom or nah? She likes creepy horror but not too much gore or sex.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 26 October 2021 01:44 (two years ago) link
or the VVitch?
(I'm not sure I've seen a newish horror movie since It Follows tbh.)
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 26 October 2021 01:45 (two years ago) link
I watched The VVitch with my mom (and my gf and my sister). I think I was the only one who wasn't bored.
― (a picture of a defecating pig) (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 26 October 2021 02:05 (two years ago) link
Watched the 2011 Thing prequel tonight (also called The Thing). Decent cast but all I could do the whole movie was watch them tick off boxes. See, that’s how those two guys’ heads got melted together! That’s how that axe got stuck in the wall! And on and on like that. All the big action set pieces were straight reworkings of the big scenes from the Carpenter movie. They even used the same font for the credits. Depressing as hell.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 26 October 2021 02:51 (two years ago) link
i just saw house of wax (2005) and can't figure out which thread to post about it in
a total fucking masterpiece!!!!
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 26 October 2021 02:54 (two years ago) link
oh i guess it should be in the other thread
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 26 October 2021 02:55 (two years ago) link
I forget, anyone else see "Wolf of Snow Hollow." I ... think I liked it a lot? It's such an odd movie it's hard to say. If someone told me Jim Cummings would follow up "Thunder Road" with a werewolf thriller I would have called them crazy. What's even crazier is that he's more or less playing the same character from "Thunder Road," just in a werewolf thriller. Which is super weird. I wish it were a little longer and spent more time with its characters. I wonder if there was something about Robert Forster's health? I know this was his last film, but conspicuously he spends either the entire film seated or (subtly) literally being held under his arm by his cast. Maybe they had to cut some scenes? Anyway, too short but well made and worth seeing. There are a lot of ideas going through it, even if most aren' quite brought to fruition.
Oh, nice to see the central dude from "American Vandal" show up!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 30 October 2021 01:24 (two years ago) link
This was my Halloween viewing last night, and it was amazing
https://letterboxd.com/film/history-of-the-occult/
Please take a punt on this.
― glumdalclitch, Monday, 1 November 2021 23:25 (two years ago) link
Just saw Antlers. Verdict: Thoroughly whelmed by this aggressively average film. It was also unrelentingly bleak for a film about a killer moose
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Monday, 1 November 2021 23:36 (two years ago) link
Best bleak killer moose movie is "The Ritual."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 00:13 (two years ago) link
I watched Gaia last night and thought it was pretty unique... definitely the best psychedelic Conradian fungal horror in Afrikaans I've seen all year
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 2 November 2021 00:14 (two years ago) link
last night in soho was garbage and not even good garbage
waste of a cool premise
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 12:26 (two years ago) link
Thumbs up also for "Gaia", though the female ranger was a "let's hide behind the chainsaws" character to get the movie started.
Caught "The Devil Below" on Prime. Some leaps of logic, but liked the creature design, and Will Patton starring is a plus.
Has anyone seen "Risen"? The trailer's enticing. Have that and "The Superdeep" on my watchlist. Expecting B-movies, but "Risen" looks like it could creep into A- territory.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 14:16 (two years ago) link
Hulu's been pushing Gaia on me - might check it out. I enjoyed In The Earth enough that maybe I'm in a mood for woodsy planet-horror...
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 15:02 (two years ago) link
I really liked the first half of Last Night In Soho but then it turned out to be pretty straight forward genre exercise and the cgi really taken the teeth out of everything. Seemed like a much more interesting film to start with.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 7 November 2021 00:32 (two years ago) link
didn't love Gaia - got really into the resort
― surm, Sunday, 7 November 2021 00:33 (two years ago) link
Did people really introduce Cilla Black like that in the 60s or was that just a nod to her Blind Date years?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 7 November 2021 16:09 (two years ago) link
titane is the greatest movie ever made
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 7 November 2021 23:57 (two years ago) link
I'm very much anticipating it and also dreading it
― Dan S, Sunday, 7 November 2021 23:59 (two years ago) link
it is so good that i absolutely need to make a thread for it, or at least one for julia ducournau
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, 8 November 2021 00:24 (two years ago) link
definitely not a good one to watch if you are on a bit of a downer and not in the mood for graphic physical pain and murder etc. But maybe I'll watch it again when I'm in a better mood, because there was something about it.
― calzino, Monday, 8 November 2021 00:27 (two years ago) link
Re: Doors talk above, it's now free on Tubi. Four disconnected segments, no real throughline other than time passing after these doors appear around the world, absorbing people. Each segment would have been interesting fleshed out on its own, Kyp Malone's most of all, but otherwise, wouldn't recommend. The second segment, in an Annihilation vein, was cool for being filmed around Cannon Beach, Oregon. The local parks and Haystack Rock, beautiful on screen.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, 8 November 2021 14:08 (two years ago) link
i really need to watch Ducournau's other film and short.
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 20 November 2021 19:40 (two years ago) link
I watched Dead Snow and it was better than I expected. I don't see that kind of nasty slapstick practical gore much in modern films. Don't know what sort of budget but it hit the right level of not being too slick and just cheap enough to be a bit wrong but not shit looking. Not super exciting but a good throwback and a couple of decent disgusting laughs.
― feed me with your clicks (Noel Emits), Friday, 26 November 2021 12:27 (two years ago) link
Iirc the sequel is fun, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 26 November 2021 13:03 (two years ago) link
xxxp Titane - without knowing much about it i watched it when i was on shrooms ... do not recommend
― surm, Friday, 26 November 2021 13:57 (two years ago) link
lol, strong do not recommend agree
― calzino, Friday, 26 November 2021 14:13 (two years ago) link
😲😲😲 i mean damn
― surm, Saturday, 27 November 2021 03:39 (two years ago) link
malignant was outrageously fun and bonkers
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 04:18 (two years ago) link
Malignant would be amazing at 88 minutes.
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 06:03 (two years ago) link
y'all are obsessed with runtimes as gregg turkington
almost two hours but it felt short to me, which is what matters
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 07:17 (two years ago) link
for me it spent way longer than needed setting up the "regular" status quo. that was a whole 90-min movie in itself - go bonkers sooner, I promise I'll enjoy it even more
in Titane she's fucking the himbo car and getting knocked up with a human-skin truck baby like 9 minutes in, and that's feeling like my #1 of the year
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 07:35 (two years ago) link
yeah but you could argue that’s not the point of that movie either
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 12:59 (two years ago) link
the secret of titane is that the carfucking is a setup for the metaphor of the lead as the mary magdaline of postgender/posthumanityand isn't really the point of the film
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:40 (two years ago) link
yeah but the setup is at full rev nine minutes in, is what I'm saying!
vs 80 minutes of sad relationship drama setup abt ppl who live in a $4 million house isn't the point of Malignant, 20 would have got the job done
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:23 (two years ago) link
James Wan not being able to construct/pace a film but hiding it with escalating madness not that much of a shock.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:26 (two years ago) link
i'm confused i thought it was a really well-paced horror movie actually, and those first 80 minutes were spooky and varied between the kidnapping, murders, and visions, and contained at least one incredible chase scene
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:42 (two years ago) link
which i think makes it even cooler when things totally break down during the jail cell scene
also the camera angles!!!!
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:43 (two years ago) link
and the silent hill-ass melting walls
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:45 (two years ago) link
The jail cell scene made that movie. Like the first Terminator, when they go from a singular character's story perhaps not being believed by other people and ramp it to "Okay, now ignore or explain this bit" by involving a large number of people, actually changing the story's world, I'm surprised and happy. Also a reason why I liked "It Follows" pool scene, where her friends believe she's being stalked by an invisible being.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:48 (two years ago) link
I've not seen Malignant! Which is a dumb move I know, but I was basing my (withering lol) comment on the bunch of Wan films I've seen, all of which are fine but do tend to follow a pattern. And no one really goes to Wan for the 'build' sections, do they?
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:52 (two years ago) link
and then after an hour the film slows down to a crawl and becomes an entirely separate animal.but sure, it hits the ground running. then she hits her nose on the sink.
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 21:32 (two years ago) link
censor, on hulu, is fantastic
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Saturday, 11 December 2021 03:40 (two years ago) link
If you enjoyed The VVitch, I recommend Gretel & Hansel, which is on Hulu. The trailer (below) is somewhat misleading; it has an almost 70s Herzog feel to it at times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZblQLhKcZQ
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 12 December 2021 01:25 (two years ago) link
resident evil: welcome to raccoon city, more like resident evil: welcome to raccoon silly
i had a great deal of fun though, johannes roberts does his best to make something creepy and atmospheric out of the absolutely dumb lore of the resident evil games
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 12 December 2021 16:06 (two years ago) link
I still think people ITT have seriously underrated Saint Maud
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Sunday, 12 December 2021 21:50 (two years ago) link
For those who like such things, there’s a version of James’ the Mezzotint on bb2 at 10:30. And at 11 BBC4 has the Turn of the Screw, so something if you like old ghost stories
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Friday, 24 December 2021 15:33 (two years ago) link
And after Turn Of The Screw on bbc4 it's Whistle And I'll Come To You for those of you scared of tableclothes.
― koogs, Friday, 24 December 2021 15:48 (two years ago) link
Ah, I didn’t spot that!
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Friday, 24 December 2021 15:59 (two years ago) link
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Saturday, December 11, 2021 3:40 AM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
Just watched this, very much enjoyed it. Builds to one of the more clever takes on is it a movie/is it real.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 26 December 2021 14:16 (two years ago) link
Censor was awesome. If it had an A24 title card before it all yon critics would be all over it
― Aberdeen Thugs Kiss All Visiting Fans (Jonathan Hellion Mumble), Sunday, 2 January 2022 01:49 (two years ago) link
I was so-so on it. Thought it started nicely but tailed off unsatisfactorily
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Sunday, 2 January 2022 03:48 (two years ago) link
"The Superdeep" - good monster, decent movie, worth the $4 stream.
Thoughts on "The Night House"? Really liked the atmosphere, Rebecca Hall carrying the movie, and enjoyed reading the polarized IMDB reviews. Usually find films that mix objective (what the camera sees is reality) and subjective (what you're seeing is what one character sees, not necessarily the reality) views frustrating unless overtly called out by the film, but I liked this one. At the end, there's still room for debate. The subject (reason for husband's suicide haunts wife) becomes a metaphor that you could interpret the whole film behind. Not sure the mix is fully successful - would give it 4 of 5 stars - but I came out thinking about it, vs feeling I'd wasted my time.
Objectively, her interactions with other people are 'real': the totem and photos she finds and her friend sees, tracing the books to the bookstore and finding the lookalike who later visits. Both lend evidence to the plot that her husband was tricking a supernatural entity with the reversed house and killing the doppelganger women.
Subjectively, all the supernatural elements happen to her alone, while she's depressed and drinking: she's told the woods are empty but finds the reversed house by herself, the spooky events that end with her waking on the couch or floor, the footprints on the dock, the bathroom scene. Was that all hallucinated while sleepwalking? Also, when she finds the bodies under the reversed house's floorboards, why does she call her friend and then take a shower, instead of calling the police? That's the divisive bit for a lot of the IMDB reviews.
Coming to the last scene, felt the film played it coy and wanted it open to interpretation. I didn't mind so much. Though, if objective, she still has to deal with the dead bodies back at the reversed house.
What I really enjoyed were the f/x of the house in the final scenes, with the spaces morphing to a figure's outline, and the blurry shape at the end in the boat. Very creative.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 15:47 (two years ago) link
Whoops on the hidden text. Thought it could handle carriage returns. SPOILERS ABOVE.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 15:48 (two years ago) link
> Thought it could handle carriage returns
maybe the help text can be updated
― koogs, Wednesday, 12 January 2022 18:13 (two years ago) link
Don't know if it's discussed further up in the thread, but my wife and I (both folk horror aficionados) watched the folk horror doc Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched over the weekend and enjoyed all 3-plus hours of it. It's on Google Play right now for $1.99. It's hugely ambitious, spinning off of the "holy trinity" to explore the whole idea of folk horror. Sometimes the roster of talking heads feels a bit like Kier-La Janisse basically just recruited all her film-geek friends, and sometimes it wanders in a way that makes it seem like everything is folk horror, but overall it does a good job of returning to its key themes while attacking them from several different angles. Plus it's a ridiculously roster of movies, just dozens and dozens of them. Highly recommended if the subject matter intrigues you at all.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 19:29 (two years ago) link
Ridiculously HUGE roster of movies, that should say.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 19:31 (two years ago) link
we got the box set as a gift to ourselves for the hols! the first movie we watched was Eyes of Fire, which I hear has just been added to Shudder. super recommended, looks amazing & brings the vibe in the best way https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8_HDMaOMro
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 19:33 (two years ago) link
I think the other one we've watched so far (before our viewing was derailed by life events) was called Allison's Birthday. Also recommended.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 19:36 (two years ago) link
We're about halfway through the box so far, just about to start the Australian discs (of which Alison's Birthday is one).
Viy was a clear highlight buy I was very intrigued watching Tilbury, which felt like it was made by Dennis Potter. I've enjoyed everything though Lake Of The Dead was really tenuously folk horror.
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 19:43 (two years ago) link
We watched Viy somewhere last year — maybe on Shudder, not sure — and loved it.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 19:45 (two years ago) link
Count me as another disappointed Censor viewer. I was surprised to see Kim Newman's name among the producer credits; I'm guessing that he was partly there for genre scholarship and deep knowledge of video nasties, but the details all felt ersatz and not very accurately observed. Also found lots of the performances to be severely lacking (especially the sinister horror film director).
On the other hand, I absolutely loved Titane - seen in the cinema, a pure blast of energy. The first 30 minutes in particular are wonderfully intense and expertly sustained. And the scene where the 'son' dances in front of his co-workers is a pretty brilliant piece of filmmaking all by itself.
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 12 January 2022 19:47 (two years ago) link
I wasn't really sold on Censor either. I thought the first bits were fine but it really fell apart around the point she was trying to get the under the counter film and never recovered. By the end and the multiple (?) dream states it was just a mess but looking at the positives it made me realise a film of Studio of Screams has serious potential.
Thought Titane was great up to a point but in the end was simultaneously too crazy and not crazy enough, depending on what sort of film it was supposed to be. A whole film of the 'son' plot would have been fine, as would a whole film of the 'pregnancy' but both together ultimately felt a bit forced.
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 20:00 (two years ago) link
Titane spoiler:
was I the only one who thought she was going to give birth to a toy truck?
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Wednesday, 12 January 2022 20:09 (two years ago) link
Mentioned in a few posts back in September I’m the other thread, with 2006 in the title. Just watched the whole thing. Thanks for the recommendation, really well done.
― Presenting the Fabulous Redettes Featuring James (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 18 January 2022 05:39 (two years ago) link
we got the box set as a gift to ourselves for the hols! the first movie we watched was Eyes of Fire, which I hear has just been added to Shudder.super recommended, looks amazing & brings the vibe in the best waywe got the box set as a gift to ourselves for the hols! the first movie we watched was Eyes of Fire, which I hear has just been added to Shudder.super recommended, looks amazing & brings the vibe in the best way
Also recommended, but after I had watched it, I saw there was a directors cut also on the disc, so if you only want to watch once, then go for that one.
No idea of the differences, but some parts of the film were so atmospheric, I hope it leaned into that a little more.
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Tuesday, 18 January 2022 09:52 (two years ago) link
Not sure if it counts as a horror but Memoria definitely unsettled and startled me. Almost requisite you watch it on a cinema screen if you're going to.
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Tuesday, 18 January 2022 11:43 (two years ago) link
You can only see it (legally) in the cinema - it's not going to be made available on digital media or as physical disc.
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 18 January 2022 12:35 (two years ago) link
oh right that explains why I couldn't find it on the torrents/nzb servers!
― calzino, Tuesday, 18 January 2022 13:21 (two years ago) link
it's available on torrents just fyi
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 19 January 2022 03:09 (two years ago) link
Watched Censor tonight. It’s really fucking good. Don’t want to say anything else about it; go in as cold as possible.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 19 January 2022 04:17 (two years ago) link
I've looked again and it isn't!
― calzino, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 07:58 (two years ago) link
My last post was referring to Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, of course. Also just found this blog and the accompanying book: https://ayearinthecountry.co.uk/about/
― Tapioca Tumbril (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 22 January 2022 16:23 (two years ago) link
I really enjoyed Woodlands Dark. I think it sacrificed a critical through-line in service of the impossible dream of being comprehensive but it was clearly a labour of love and as a compendium of films to check out it was a fantastic guide.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 22 January 2022 19:40 (two years ago) link
i found scream or 5cream kinda disappointing. it hit all the beats but i feel like that's all it really did. even wes craven's most compromised films feel like they're about something, and this just doesn't have the thematic heft at all
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 23 January 2022 16:10 (two years ago) link
Wow, knowing your love for the series that's pretty harsh. So ... top 10 favorite film of all time?
;)
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 January 2022 16:29 (two years ago) link
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 23 January 2022 16:36 (two years ago) link
Re Memoria...there isn't a way on the official site to see about screenings?
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Saturday, 29 January 2022 22:10 (two years ago) link
I've downloaded it from my nzb site just now so I guess forks was right!
― calzino, Saturday, 29 January 2022 22:21 (two years ago) link
yah, it was streamed on some russian site somewhere about a month ago
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 29 January 2022 23:47 (two years ago) link
Sigh
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Sunday, 30 January 2022 00:26 (two years ago) link
i mean i'm not proud! but no, there's no way to watch it legally as a stream.
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 30 January 2022 02:56 (two years ago) link
been laughing at this all morning thank you very much. pic.twitter.com/VyjeHENRXR— RK Jackson | Atlanta 🛸 (@theerkj) January 29, 2022
"Woman Bites Dog."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 3 February 2022 20:03 (two years ago) link
I know most people were disappointed by In The Earth but I don't have any real complaints, pretty good. For a while I thought it might be a sequel to A Field In England and Reece Shearsmith had been wandering around the same location for hundreds of years getting crazier
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 7 March 2022 23:56 (two years ago) link
x was so so so so so good
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 23 March 2022 12:30 (one year ago) link
also probably the only post-credits sequence that made me like a movie even more for it being there
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 23 March 2022 12:31 (one year ago) link
! with friends and walked out before that, thanks.
― bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 14:59 (one year ago) link
!!
Skipping 6666 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.
― jmm, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 15:16 (one year ago) link
That should be the tagline for the horror movie based on ILX
― jmm, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 15:21 (one year ago) link
bracing myself for disappointment with X cos because of incessant Instagram marketing and also Ti West so I'm cautiously welcoming your enthusiasm
― ignore the blue line (or something), Wednesday, 23 March 2022 16:04 (one year ago) link
This looks interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt81CJcWZy8
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 23 March 2022 20:27 (one year ago) link
i am asking BradNelson in a polite, nonchallenging way to please expand on his enthusiasm for X, bc i thought it was meh. well-acted in general but not much else about it stood out to me - no surprises, no visual flair, etc. also the central premise seemed to be west trying to have it both ways (see spoiler below for more detail)
it felt like west would say the movie was about the sadness of aging and was intended to be sympathetic to pearl, but also 90% of the horror was based on "ew old people expressing their sexuality"
― na (NA), Monday, 28 March 2022 14:47 (one year ago) link
again - not trying to be a jerk - i appreciate Brad's general enthusiasm. i would just like to hear more about what you liked about it.
― na (NA), Monday, 28 March 2022 14:48 (one year ago) link
the movie is def trying to have it both ways in the sense that mia goth is playing the old woman and is made up to look consumptive as possible, but also the movie definitely knows that "ew old people expressing their sexuality" is a projection of the audience and of literally every character in the film, so it worked for me!
it was also a highly enjoyable hangout movie (with notes of dread) for the first hour. the characters are very charming! i loved the microdynamics of the crew, partic the film school dork and his "churchmouse" boom operator gf
also no visual flair? what amount mia goth in the lake with the alligator? i thought there was a ton to drink in visually!
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, 28 March 2022 15:03 (one year ago) link
i did like the lake bit.
― na (NA), Monday, 28 March 2022 15:06 (one year ago) link
also NA my pronouns are they/them (and you do not need to apologize)
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, 28 March 2022 15:08 (one year ago) link
OK thanks for letting me know
― na (NA), Monday, 28 March 2022 15:10 (one year ago) link
I loved X. it's not groundbreaking (Ti West rarely is, he just enjoys putting his own wrinkle on existing templates) but stylistically it's marvelous. I love all of the beautiful shots at the farm, the set pieces, and the overall ambience and mood, as well as how ugly things get by the ending.
not to mention that when the blood starts spraying, there are some brutal murder scenes that are visceral as all fuck. well staged on top of that.
really enjoyed Kid Cudi too.
― scientific method man (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 12 April 2022 21:33 (one year ago) link
That looks fun
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Friday, 15 April 2022 18:01 (one year ago) link
Censor didn't really do anything for me. Niamh Algar was great and Michael Smiley immediately ratchets up the tension in anything he's in, but ultimately I couldn't suspend my disbelief and found the conceit(s) clumsy.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 16 April 2022 09:51 (one year ago) link
Luz: The Flower Of Evil - Nutty christians losing their shit again. But it's set in the Colombian mountains and it looks really good, striking colors
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 20 June 2022 21:34 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5PW5r3pEOg
trailer for ti west's x prequel, pearl. imo fuck yeah
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 26 July 2022 15:03 (one year ago) link
Stories by Michael Shea and Henry Kuttner!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwVv6QEzqSs
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 15 August 2022 20:02 (one year ago) link
so excited for my october horror marathon this year https://letterboxd.com/unbornwhiskey/list/halloween-2022-dead-by-dawn/
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 2 September 2022 15:32 (one year ago) link
I have no idea why, but I saw the trailer for One Dark Night when I was, what, 8? Something like that. And it's stuck with me ever since. I've never seen the movie.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 2 September 2022 15:36 (one year ago) link
Do you lead up to the best budget/production films or intersperse them? Darkness was really satisfying, and I have hope for Halloween Ends, despite the last being a mixed bag. Just watched Black Cat. You could play a drinking game each time Bela flares his eyes or Boris has a spaced frozen expression, but it was still a fun watch.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Friday, 2 September 2022 15:49 (one year ago) link
honestly i just arranged the films by title/poster this year
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 2 September 2022 15:53 (one year ago) link
i am sooooo excited to see darkness
Oh man, I have never heard of Blood Theatre. That looks so bad/great.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Friday, 2 September 2022 17:16 (one year ago) link
good picks! Doing Winterbeast and Monster Dog back to back is heroic and bold. I love them both but they are real mind melters.
― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Friday, 2 September 2022 17:27 (one year ago) link
Thumbs up for The Shout and Boxer's Omen
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 2 September 2022 20:30 (one year ago) link
meant to report here on orphan: first kill and i'm not even gonna suggest it's "good" or anything on the level of the first orphan in terms of filmmaking (which makes the trashiest concept into a super stressful and effective thriller) but it IS fucking crazy entertaining and i was on the verge of hooting and hollering in the theater all through the second half. i think i prefer it to the first on every level except visually lol (but some shots are great! it's just lit like grey digital soup. but i don't even care!!!! five stars)
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 3 September 2022 01:02 (one year ago) link
saw Barbarian last night: not a horror connoisseur by any means but I think the hype is well-deserved
― Murgatroid, Friday, 9 September 2022 12:05 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I've kept myself in the dark about that one because I've heard nothing but good things (and also to keep myself in the dark).
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 September 2022 12:53 (one year ago) link
Meanwhile, looks like Ti West turned around that prequel to "X" impressively fast (maybe I read that he filmed some of it at the same time?). And from the trailer, at least, "Pearl" seems pretty different from its predecessor.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 September 2022 12:59 (one year ago) link
Would recommend Hellbender, if you run across it. Low-budget, family directed/acted as press says. Found it realized and focused, and thought the mom and daughter sold their characters.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Friday, 9 September 2022 13:35 (one year ago) link
I watched the Conjuring a couple of nights ago - the ending felt kind of limp, the exorcism wasn't that difficult?
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 10 September 2022 01:46 (one year ago) link
Film's kinda overrated, it's boilerplate Catholic guilt horror. Sequel is far better
― Mr Haaland's Opus (Neanderthal), Saturday, 10 September 2022 02:58 (one year ago) link
Saloum on Shudder was very enjoyable. It’s by the same guy who did the Senegalese cop show Sakho & Mangane for Netflix.
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Saturday, 10 September 2022 20:47 (one year ago) link
Seen so many horror trailers at cinema last week, everything looks competent and professional but nothing grabbing me at all. Is Two Witches any good?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 10 September 2022 21:19 (one year ago) link
Have you seen Barbarian? People love that one.
Two Witches ... is that, like Hellbender, another mother-daughter movie about, um, two witches?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 10 September 2022 21:22 (one year ago) link
I'll keep Barbarian in mind but I generally feel wary about the hyped ones if the trailer isn't grabbing me at all. Still haven't seen Titane, Bliss and Possum and some of them are getting a bit old now. These days I want a bit more allure and glamour, ideally artsploitation.
My reservation about Two Witches is it might be overdoing the scary face thing clumsily. I've went on at length about how much I like scary faces but I'm not sure about this one.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 10 September 2022 22:04 (one year ago) link
Earwig looks pretty good
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 10 September 2022 22:05 (one year ago) link
I really ought to keep track of cinematographers more because a good one looks downright heroic now
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 10 September 2022 22:11 (one year ago) link
At this point, I'm tired of possession or demon films. Haunt films are ok if they're not a visual-only "no rules" affair.
Zombie films only acceptable if they're approaching from an interesting angle (a la The Cured. Romero formula and winky comedy formula are played).
― Mr Haaland's Opus (Neanderthal), Sunday, 11 September 2022 02:39 (one year ago) link
Seems like there are pretty frequently good zombie films from new angles, even if those are still sometimes hit or miss. That Native American zombie movie (great idea, ok movie), One Cut of the Dead, Train to Busan (which I never made it through, but which people love) ...
Possession films are often pretty boring, imo, because they are so tied in to theology - do non-Catholics exist in the world of movie demons and exorcisms and evil nuns and whatnot? - but for some reason I feel like haunt movies have been explored less, or often only by way of spooky kid movies.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 11 September 2022 16:08 (one year ago) link
Train to Busan is great
― Mr Haaland's Opus (Neanderthal), Sunday, 11 September 2022 16:14 (one year ago) link
Okay, managed to go into Barbarian totally blind, per recommendations. It starts off pretty smart and well made, then it goes off the rails in a stupid and lazy way. Ways, really. There are a lot of similar movies I liked better and still didn't like that I would recommend over this, but I won't spoil any surprises this may have in store by mentioning them.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 15 September 2022 19:47 (one year ago) link
Men, nice building atmosphere of dread and the movie is gorgeous. Goes enough into metaphor that I lost connection with the protagonist, but still enjoyed the film overall. Bonus for the best analytical reviews of a horror movie I've read on IMDB.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 15 September 2022 22:50 (one year ago) link
SPEAK NO EVIL (2022)… pretty decent
― LaMDA barry-stanners (||||||||), Saturday, 17 September 2022 21:39 (one year ago) link
After the Maxxxine teaser, did anyone know this was going to be a series of (Mia Goth/Ti West) films? Just a trilogy?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 September 2022 23:45 (one year ago) link
Watched X and Jenna Ortega's wailing made me think of John Travolta's "it was a good scream"
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 19 September 2022 14:17 (one year ago) link
Iirc when they were doing press for "X" West and Goth said they had written a script for a prequel, maybe even filmed some stuff. But the third movie I think came as a surprise.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 September 2022 15:17 (one year ago) link
Okay, managed to go into Barbarian totally blind, per recommendations. It starts off pretty smart and well made, then it goes off the rails in a stupid and lazy way. Ways, really.
Yeah it was setting itself up to be a lot more interesting than it was.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 19 September 2022 16:30 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUlgwJNdu2I
casting jamie clayton as pinhead is such a fucking brilliant idea
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 17:56 (one year ago) link
Thank fuck it's a movie and not a series, so yeah, I'm probably in.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 18:40 (one year ago) link
Loved Barbarian, love when a video nasty shows up unexpectedly
― i eat ass with a knife and fork (Neanderthal), Thursday, 22 September 2022 04:30 (one year ago) link
Scream 2022 kind of sucked
― papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 22 September 2022 04:42 (one year ago) link
You prefer the Babadook?
― i eat ass with a knife and fork (Neanderthal), Thursday, 22 September 2022 05:14 (one year ago) link
5cream was bad, i was v disappointed
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 22 September 2022 05:44 (one year ago) link
I'm literally never going to see that Scream movie, but I must admit I am intrigued by Brad not liking it.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 September 2022 15:09 (one year ago) link
i kept being reminded throughout that even the least-good wes craven movie at least has something to fucking say
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 22 September 2022 15:11 (one year ago) link
actually i've never seen vampire in brooklyn so i have no idea if that movie has something to say
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 22 September 2022 15:12 (one year ago) link
about the only funny part is Kadeem Hardison getting bitten by Murphy and slowly turning into a vampire and having various body parts fall off and someone yelling "YO YOU BETTER DO A QUICK DICK CHECK"
that was the only laugh
― i eat ass with a knife and fork (Neanderthal), Thursday, 22 September 2022 23:18 (one year ago) link
I laughed at "flippery shit" but it was a long time ago
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 23 September 2022 19:42 (one year ago) link
SPEAK NO EVIL (2022)… pretty decent― LaMDA barry-stanners (||||||||), Saturday, 17 September 2022 22:39 (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink
― LaMDA barry-stanners (||||||||), Saturday, 17 September 2022 22:39 (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink
this left me even more bummed than Martyrs did but it's extremely contrived in its nihilism
― or something, Saturday, 24 September 2022 23:14 (one year ago) link
ffs
After years of trying to bring his remake to life, The Northman’s Robert Eggers finally has the backing needed to create his own version of Nosferatu. Officially in production with Focus Features, the film will star It’s Bill Skarsgård and The Idol’s Lily-Rose Depp....“It’s fallen apart twice ... " Eggers previously told IndieWire. “And I just wonder if Murnau’s ghost is telling me, like, you should stop.”
...
“It’s fallen apart twice ... " Eggers previously told IndieWire. “And I just wonder if Murnau’s ghost is telling me, like, you should stop.”
Yeah, no shit. This is like when Del Toro was wasting his time trying to make "Frankenstein." I don't care who's making it, who needs it? I still haven't seen the new "Suspiria" for the same reason. The only thing worse than all those slick big budget remakes of '70s and '80s horror movies is remakes of things that have been remade so many times they've been reduced to tropes and cliches. Though tbf I guess if ever there was a genre that has made great art despite/out of tropes and cliches, it's horror.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 30 September 2022 19:20 (one year ago) link
It's not Nosferatu, it's NosferaTWO, the sequel
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Friday, 30 September 2022 19:20 (one year ago) link
suspiria is a pretty thorough reinvention of the source material
i liked it! i can recognize why others found it unbearably pretentious. but it's hardly a retread of the original
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 30 September 2022 19:21 (one year ago) link
I never made it all the way through either version of Suspiria but having been to Berlin, I liked the atmosphere of the remake.
I can't imagine an Eggers remake of Nosferatu being any good unless he uses Willem Dafoe.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 30 September 2022 19:25 (one year ago) link
Who, of course, famously played Nosferatu already.
xpost Yeah, so I heard. So just make a new movie, then! I think the same thing when someone covers a song but changes basically everything but the lyrics.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 30 September 2022 19:26 (one year ago) link
let's get physical
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Friday, 30 September 2022 19:48 (one year ago) link
Eggers’ theatrical take on Nosferatu launched his film career, I’m interested in his version
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, 30 September 2022 20:49 (one year ago) link
i think retelling older stories in deeply idiosyncratic ways is an established storytelling tradition since the dawn of fucking time
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 30 September 2022 21:04 (one year ago) link
He should remake Nadja
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 30 September 2022 21:24 (one year ago) link
finally saw pearl and while i loved x i preferred pearl a great deal. just my kind of technicolor phantasmagoria of camp + maybe one of the best lead performances i've ever seen
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 1 October 2022 05:26 (one year ago) link
mia goth screaming "what did you see!! what did i do wrong!! why did you change!!!" at the projectionist hit a little close to home
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 1 October 2022 05:27 (one year ago) link
Mia was fucking masterful
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Saturday, 1 October 2022 05:32 (one year ago) link
the part at the end where she's slowly stalking her sister-in-law made my skin crawl
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Saturday, 1 October 2022 05:33 (one year ago) link
Feel like the film fell into some other category outside of horror, but I liked it and Mia Goth was fully committed and fantastic.
― circa1916, Saturday, 1 October 2022 06:56 (one year ago) link
I like the idea of Nosferatu having his own story because the biggest fault for me with Murnau's version is that Count Orlok really deserved better than being another version of Dracula. I think there were some comics that gave him his own stories.
Same goes for the vampire from London After Midnight, give him a story where he's actually a vampire. And keep the sidekick too.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 October 2022 16:54 (one year ago) link
barbarian was entertaining but the first 30 minutes ruled so much that i was sad when they pivoted from that (probably unsustainable) vibe
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 3 October 2022 14:17 (one year ago) link
i am definitely not a general audience because they could've just wandered down dark and increasingly fucked up underground tunnels and staircases and i would've been rapt. put me in the mood of those fmv horror games from the early '90s where you're compelled to make only the most doomed choices
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 3 October 2022 14:18 (one year ago) link
I enjoyed Barbarian throughout but the first 30 minutes were pretty special. I guess it's kind of like The Descent. that movie could have been just about being trapped in a cave, and I woulda been fine, and then they introduce bat-like predators and it's just a turn that I didn't need...even though I still love the movie.
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 October 2022 15:38 (one year ago) link
That first section was great and set it up to be far more interesting than it turned out to be (which is to say, another goddam troglodyte monster). I didn't like Don't Breathe, particularly, but this movie borrowed a lot from that movie, except the surprise reveal in that movie is truly fucked up and this movie is ... just another goddam troglodyte monster.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 October 2022 16:35 (one year ago) link
In fact, it bummed me out so much to have paid to see it in the theaters that it's kept me from seeing "Pearl" (which I know is better, because it has be).
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 October 2022 16:36 (one year ago) link
i liked the idea of a kidnapper secretly living in an underground lair in someone's actual home for 40 years
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 October 2022 16:38 (one year ago) link
it went into Smile thinking it'd be a middling affair and I liked it/was actually scared by it! it's weird because it is very, very obviously indebted to It Follows, and I found myself anticipating and successfully predicting all of the beats, but it outright didn't matter, as its execution was so nightmarish. nothing original about it, but they committed to the concept, the actors were game, and ultimately you couldn't help but empathize with the lead character.
with that being said, if you've experienced trauma, or have a rough time with any depiction of suicide, you might want to skip or go in prepared for this one...I am not affected by either and I started to have a spike in anxiety around the 45-60 minute mark.
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 5 October 2022 17:54 (one year ago) link
thought smile ruled. just the right amount of visual invention and mean-spiritedness keeping that bad vibe afloat and sending it home, god i loved the ending
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 6 October 2022 02:56 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it even if I don't want to see it again due to what it did to my anxiety throughout.
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Thursday, 6 October 2022 03:05 (one year ago) link
i wasn't reminded so much of it follows as much as the other v obvious comparison the ring (and the filmmaking reminded me of the u.s. ring 2 which is a huge compliment from me personally), though a trauma-forward version of it, which some people may read that and sigh and say "another horror movie about trauma wow" but ... idk, it pretty much made that tired trope wired, whole movie is a horrible, suffocating atmosphere that you can't escape
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 6 October 2022 03:18 (one year ago) link
ppl have criticized its overreliance on jumpscares but i gotta say outside of maybe three of them they were almost perversely not actual jumpscares
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 6 October 2022 03:22 (one year ago) link
the ones that were were also done effectively by diverting your attention to something else by playing on a genre expert's preconceived expectations
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Thursday, 6 October 2022 03:27 (one year ago) link
the first big one outright got me, hard.
thank god for that comma jfc
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Thursday, 6 October 2022 03:28 (one year ago) link
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 6 October 2022 03:31 (one year ago) link
Not new, but post-2005— we'd never seen THE VVITCH until last night. We both thought it was kind of awful and predictable, but that Harvey Scrimshaw and Anya Taylor-Joy were good in their roles.
― broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Friday, 7 October 2022 21:33 (one year ago) link
Terrifier 2 was gory disturbing fun but there was zero reason for it to be 2.5 hours (other than it was an uncut director's cut so it was filled w/ shit that should have been edited).
props for the director getting metal kid's room right. not only did he have King Diamond/Mercyful Fate/Slayer posters, he literally had a poster of a Slayer/Testament/Carcass tour that I went to from 2016.
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Saturday, 8 October 2022 00:35 (one year ago) link
Just watched Resurrection, which is a bit of a mess but Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth are both great. A lot going on conceptually, not all of it connects (for me anyway) but quite a ride.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 8 October 2022 03:00 (one year ago) link
lmao the munsters is fucking amazing
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 8 October 2022 22:50 (one year ago) link
Could someone help out, I'm trying to find a film from a very dim memory of its trailer.
A young girl in a barn in period costume, some sort of pilgrim-era perhaps, and a weird clanky contraption, like metal tumbleweed almost, that rolls past maybe patrolling the area to protect the people of a village?
Sorry I know that's super vague.
― MaresNest, Sunday, 9 October 2022 17:20 (one year ago) link
November(2017) ?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6164502/
― glumdalclitch, Sunday, 9 October 2022 17:33 (one year ago) link
Amazing. Well remembered, thank you!
― MaresNest, Sunday, 9 October 2022 17:56 (one year ago) link
Watching The Conjuring 2 this afternoon.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 9 October 2022 18:59 (one year ago) link
thought _smile_ ruled. just the right amount of visual invention and mean-spiritedness keeping that bad vibe afloat and sending it home, god i loved the ending
― barry sito (gyac), Monday, 10 October 2022 19:11 (one year ago) link
yeah, the Chekhov's cat, as soon as they didn't show her finding the cat and she got to the kid's birthday, I knew what was coming. In a way that made it worse, cos there was the hope that it would be a train set after all, before the kid's face gave it away. knowing nothing going in helped a lot with me, other than the brief time I was exposed to the trailers.
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Monday, 10 October 2022 19:17 (one year ago) link
the music was so good!
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 10 October 2022 19:26 (one year ago) link
i legit can't remember the last time a movie almost sent me into a panic attack. but this one got close.
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Monday, 10 October 2022 19:41 (one year ago) link
hence why i call it my "favorite movie of this year that I loved but never want to see again"
― barry sito (gyac), Monday, 10 October 2022 19:48 (one year ago) link
I just saw the trailer to M3GAN and I think Kim going to be laughing for the rest of the year
― castanuts (DJP), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 19:41 (one year ago) link
The new Hellraiser (streaming on Hulu) is pretty good though the heroine is seriously unlikable IMO.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 19:42 (one year ago) link
This looks hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRb4U99OU80
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 20:21 (one year ago) link
It would be awesome if that was not a horror movie.
They could save a lot of time and money at this point just making a movie about an evil picture of a doll.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 October 2022 20:32 (one year ago) link
New John Carpenter hit quote just droppedhttps://t.co/nfMFAe7lGE pic.twitter.com/CnC9OZxNuE— John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) October 12, 2022
― papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 02:08 (one year ago) link
Hellraiser was great (I’m a Barker Stan though, so)
― a hallan shaker loon (dowd), Saturday, 15 October 2022 11:47 (one year ago) link
The 2021 Candyman is showing free on Amazon Prime, so I watched that today and it's great. Visually it's fantastic, conceptually it's solid, and all the performances are really good. I particularly like the way the male protagonist is tied directly into the original movie (like the recent Halloween movies, or the new Hellraiser, this is one of those that ignores all the in-between sequels and just jumps forward 30+ years from the first story).
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 16 October 2022 20:44 (one year ago) link
The Descent still rules, but it looked a lot different than I remembered - shot on Super 35 but I would have sworn large parts (not the 'viewed through the camcorder' bits) were early '00s digital video ala 28 Days Later.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 16 October 2022 23:14 (one year ago) link
The 2021 _Candyman_ is showing free on Amazon Prime, so I watched that today and it's great. Visually it's fantastic, conceptually it's solid, and all the performances are really good. I particularly like the way the male protagonist is tied directly into the original movie (like the recent _Halloween_ movies, or the new _Hellraiser_, this is one of those that ignores all the in-between sequels and just jumps forward 30+ years from the first story).
― broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Monday, 17 October 2022 19:12 (one year ago) link
Rob is a good guy, he once brought a Matthew Barney live video in his hand luggage to a festival I was at so he could play it for half a dozen of us.
― Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Monday, 17 October 2022 19:39 (one year ago) link
very much enjoyed Hellbender. didn't realize that was a family making that movie!
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 18 October 2022 16:11 (one year ago) link
Not new, but post-2005— we'd never seen THE VVITCH until last night. We both thought it was kind of awful and predictable, but that Harvey Scrimshaw and Anya Taylor-Joy were good in their roles.― broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Friday, October 7, 2022
I think Eggers’ The Witch is really awesome! It is so much better than any of the recent horror films I’ve seen.
Films like The Cabin In the Woods and You’re Next are fun but forgettable.
― Dan S, Thursday, 20 October 2022 00:22 (one year ago) link
Cabin in the Woods ruled, You're Next couldn't decide what it was
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Thursday, 20 October 2022 00:36 (one year ago) link
Yeah, You're Next has its moments, just not in a row.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 October 2022 02:37 (one year ago) link
dark glasses is WONDERFUL
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 22 October 2022 16:05 (one year ago) link
Read a pretty positive review of Matriarch, which is new on Hulu; might check it out this weekend. And Barbarian is on HBO Max now.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 28 October 2022 01:51 (one year ago) link
Just watched Matriarch; can 100% recommend. Part Hereditary, part The Wicker Man, part Santa Sangre. Really good stuff.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 29 October 2022 00:01 (one year ago) link
My wife and I watched Barbarian tonight and liked it. I like when horror movies are good at making you guess what kind of horror movie it is. The politics of it are maybe a bit “Do you see?” But that also seems in keeping with horror tradition. Anyway, we thought it was well made — some really nice shots — and entertaining.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 29 October 2022 04:04 (one year ago) link
I suppose it's as much a horror film as anything else, but "Hunter Hunter" (from a couple of years ago) did not really earn its mean conclusion, though I probably won't forget it or the movie. It's definitely got a lot going for it.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 30 October 2022 03:04 (one year ago) link
I like when horror movies are good at making you guess what kind of horror movie it is.
Right up until his head got pulped I was wondering how the first white guy was going to be evil. The cut to black and then Justin Long bopping to soft rock was so good.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 30 October 2022 06:04 (one year ago) link
Yeah, that was a great cut, and so seamless that I just totally went with it. Like, oh this movie is doing something different.
Last night we watched We're All Going to the World's Fair, which we basically liked and thought was well done even if it kept frustrating expectations of what a "horror movie" should do or be. Lots of interesting stuff going on there.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 30 October 2022 15:18 (one year ago) link
The Justin Long subplot and character felt like filler to me, tbh. Though him measuring the secret scary room for extra square footage was pretty funny.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 30 October 2022 15:22 (one year ago) link
I think it depends on what you think the movie's up to. I think it's a quasi-satire connecting gentrification and #metoo in somewhat interesting ways, locating the villains of both in white male privilege. Justin Long is White Man Villain #2, after the actual guy who built the tunnels and raped and murdered people. (Bill Skarsgard is initially teased as the White Man Villain before being dispatched, obv.)
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 30 October 2022 16:11 (one year ago) link
I'm not entirely convinced the movie knew what it wanted to do at all. Lots of threads, not much weaving.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 30 October 2022 16:30 (one year ago) link
Huh, see I thought it was sort of brilliantly constructed. Every piece of it adds up at the end.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 30 October 2022 18:11 (one year ago) link
Even over constructed, but I think it's plenty coherent.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 30 October 2022 18:12 (one year ago) link
Though I don't mean to oversell its social conscience. I think this line from the NYT review is pretty otm: "Cregger isn’t as concerned with making bold political points as he is with orchestrating a snappy spectacle that goes a mile a minute. #MeToo, gentrification, the brutal underbelly of the Reagan era — all these elements fit like puzzle pieces into a broader nightmare that lets the context speak for itself."
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 30 October 2022 18:30 (one year ago) link
I guess I would have preferred it do one thing well than bits and pieces of other things that other movies did better.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 30 October 2022 19:33 (one year ago) link
I ... think it did? But again it really depends on your perception of what it was trying to do. I was getting pretty irritated with it until its first big gear shift, because I thought it was doing something that it wasn't actually doing (because it wants you to think that's what it's doing, until suddenly it's not any more). Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's genius or perfect. But I do think it has a very deliberate structure and strategy.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 30 October 2022 20:04 (one year ago) link
maybe I'm just tired of troglodytes, lol.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 30 October 2022 20:24 (one year ago) link
Fair enough, although I liked that even the troglodyte didn't turn out to be the real bad guy. She was more in the tragic-monster tradition.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 30 October 2022 20:30 (one year ago) link
Barbarian was great. Every twist was a surprise, and all earned. 10/10, no notes.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 30 October 2022 23:19 (one year ago) link
Still think it could have leaned in harder on the gentrification angle, frankly. I mean, THIS is a real horror story:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/18/detroit-house-free-property-tax
But it was well-constructed in general and just doing that wisely-never-hinted-at-in-trailers mid-movie shift alone was smart.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 31 October 2022 02:05 (one year ago) link
Meantime was taking advantage of that A24 Streaming Room deal to catch up on a few things I'd missed. Saint Maud, that was an awe-inspiring final shot that transforms the film and the film was already pretty damn sharp.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 31 October 2022 02:07 (one year ago) link
Saint Maud is either on Hulu or Amazon Prime, I forget which, but it's definitely on my to-be-watched list.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 31 October 2022 02:22 (one year ago) link
Rewatched Cabin in the Woods and Saint Maud the last two days. Enjoyed them both. I'm convinced Saint Maud is a mini masterpiece
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 01:30 (one year ago) link
Saint Maud is great, yeah. Tonight we finally watched Jennifer's Body, which I liked. It doesn't surprise me that it sort of fell through the cracks on its release, it's legitimately upsetting in some parts and funny in others. Fox and Seyfried were both good.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 02:33 (one year ago) link
Speaking of funny, we also just watched Tucker & Dale the other night, loved it.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 02:34 (one year ago) link
WE GOT YO FRAND
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 02:46 (one year ago) link
Heh. I loved that movie.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 November 2022 02:52 (one year ago) link
saw terrifier 2! lol
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 04:46 (one year ago) link
man, wtf barbarian first half scared the full shit out of me in the best way and then as soon as the nursing video & the bottle happened i was like, wut… and just stared stupidly as this great movie got progressively less scary & more dumb & then it was over like it started with one idea & ended with like twelve. and it just got too heightened, it totally took me out of it. there was a better movie in there somewhere if he’d coco chanel-ed a few of his ideas. oh well. “
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 05:20 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I mean, all the good themes that tipsy laid out are there in that first section, introduced with intelligence, subtlety and tons of suspense. And then either the guy ran out of ideas or had a crisis of confidence or had to deliver for the money people, because a la lots of disappointing horror movies, when the monster you see isn't nearly as scary as the monster you can't see, you've done something wrong. When the troglodyte burst through the wall and ripped the guy's arm off, I laughed, but not in a good way. Why do these inbred creatures in movies always have super-strength as well? You'd think they'd be vitamin deficient or something. Anyway, there are so many things you can do with a spooky basement or secret door, both of which are metaphor rich, but they went the literal route instead.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 November 2022 12:08 (one year ago) link
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, October 31, 2022 9:46 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
to expand: gross, not very scary (unless you're scared of clowns) (i'm not), takes place in a universe ruled by random cruelty and sadism (so our universe), but brings a lot of imagination and fun(?) to it. more impressed the more i think about it, can't think of a recent horror movie that more gleefully walks the line between ridiculous and upsetting. the story is very basic, practically a slasher writing prompt, but i didn't feel the 2.5 hour runtime at all (well except when the teens go to a boring halloween dance, my expectations for halloween party scenes are v high) and i loved whenever there was a dream sequence or a teen fantasy element bc i felt the film's narrow and cruel world expanding; also grateful the film spent zero time explaining the elm street-esque dreams and fantasy stuff, which would've made a good dumb movie bad dumb
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 16:42 (one year ago) link
https://letterboxd.com/unbornwhiskey/list/halloween-2022-dead-by-dawn/
i also finished my october horror marathon, which since it was all pre-2006 is maybe more appropriate for the other thread, but wow it sure was a brainmelter. mostly incompetent z-grade grindhouse/direct-to-video/might as well be shot-on-video even if it isn't-type fare. i had an amazing time. if you were to ask me "which of these movies were legit good" i would dwell on the british horror classics the shout and xtro, those movies will fuck you up for days, plus fulci's the psychic which had the increasingly rare effect of pulling me in with its story, it's such a good yarn. but also the new argento, dark glasses, was an utter delight, otherworldly, atmospheric, unsettling, yet ultimately...wholesome(?) at its core. watching the characters take such good care of each other made me believe in humanity lol
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 16:49 (one year ago) link
xpost I know it is sort of intentionally over the top, but I heard about a scene where someone is tortured and mutilated and nearly killed, then the magic clown leaves and comes back with salt and bleach just to torture her some more. and I thought, I get it, that's so ridiculous, but at the same time I thought really? *and* it's two and a half hours long? nah.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:20 (one year ago) link
i thought it was interesting that both barbarian and x both center around monsters that are grotesque naked women who are driven by stereotypically feminine concerns (feeling less attractive as they get older/motherhood) without anyone being offended by it (as far as i've seen). it bothered me more in x because of the whole "ew a gross old person wants sex" angle and bc the movie as a whole was not as good, at least in barbarian the monster is ultimately sympathetic, but it felt icky to me (not in a fun horror movie way) in both movies. i do agree barbarian suffered in the final chunk when they actually had to show and deal with the monster but that's true of like 85% of horror movies so i'm not going to ding it too hard for that.
― na (NA), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:29 (one year ago) link
pearl is totally sympathetic
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:32 (one year ago) link
i think the movie plays it both ways
― na (NA), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:34 (one year ago) link
cynically
― na (NA), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:35 (one year ago) link
i agree the movie plays on the characters' and audience's revulsion toward aging bodies but i don't think it shares said revulsion. fair to read it the other way i guess
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:38 (one year ago) link
but as a character she's totally as tragic a figure as the crone in barbarian. of course i'm a little informed by the prequel but i thought of x this way before i saw pearl
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:40 (one year ago) link
i'm not super upset about any of this, i've seen enough horror movies to know how stuff like this works, i'm just surprised i didn't see any discourse around it
― na (NA), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:41 (one year ago) link
i've seen it mentioned in a few letterboxd reviews, especially of barbarian, which tend to note it as an inadvertent 2022 horror trend lol
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:46 (one year ago) link
I think the stunt casting in "X" at least partially explained why a lot of people elided right over the "yuck, old people" angle. I haven't seen "Pearl," but there was this weird ambiguity to "X" that felt more ambitious than what the movie delivered, though not necessarily to its detriment.
Watching "Barbarian," I thought they totally leaned into the "ew" angle, but I thought it was mostly lazy, like much of the by the numbers end stuff.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 November 2022 17:59 (one year ago) link
man can't believe a horror movie featured a character with grotesque facial features
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 19:57 (one year ago) link
also Brad super otm re: Terrifier 2.
― stank viola (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 19:58 (one year ago) link
using a balding old naked woman to horrify people is one of the oldest dullest tricks in the book imo. honestly because it's so common i didn't think twice about it in Barbarian. i wouldn't have expected her to look any different tbh.
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 23:47 (one year ago) link
am I the only one here who thought Hatching was great? I am not a hardcore horror fan so it was just the right level of scary for me, also I love the sound of Finnish when spoken
I love Cabin In The Woods in all its meta glory
― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 00:25 (one year ago) link
Boy, "X" was OK but "Pearl" was utterly inspired. Martin Scorsese otm.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:19 (one year ago) link
prey for the devil: incredibly average possession/exorcism movie with more than a few anti-choice vibes? solid lead performance tho
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 5 November 2022 23:24 (one year ago) link
lead was jacqueline byers who has barely been in anything but i look forward to seeing her in a good horror movie maybe someday
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 5 November 2022 23:33 (one year ago) link
i saw two horror-adjacent-but-not-really-horror-movies recently and i don’t know where to post about them!:
1. the menu: maybe a little basic in some of its storyline choices but deliriously entertaining anyway
2. bones and all: this movie worked its way inside of me and did something to me and i’m different now
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 23 November 2022 23:37 (one year ago) link
Agree with the "Barbarian" reviews itt. The Justin Long "boop!" made me laugh.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Thursday, 24 November 2022 01:58 (one year ago) link
The Menu felt like a foodie Theatre of Blood
This is a good thing
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Thursday, 24 November 2022 02:43 (one year ago) link
I thought "The Menu" was great, like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by way of Peter Greenaway, with a dash of "Ratatouille."
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 26 November 2022 22:57 (one year ago) link
skinamarink: remember when you were a kid and you'd turn out the light to go to bed and the shadows in your room would collect into the shape of a face on the ceiling and if you were tired enough you could hear sounds like gnarled speech coming from its bottomless mouth
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 1 December 2022 06:27 (one year ago) link
^^^ I just came here to post about this, my son the horror buff sent me the trailer last night. Intrigued.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 1 December 2022 20:42 (one year ago) link
Getting some serious "Near Dark" vibes from "Bones and All."
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 December 2022 02:43 (one year ago) link
This was fine and there was more I liked about it than didn't, but at the same time it felt frustratingly half-baked, like a low-budget pandemic rush job, with limited time with the actors and locations (maybe it was?). Also count me among those that did not really like Mark Rylance's Clare Quilty as written (and directed) by Stephen King.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 December 2022 16:59 (one year ago) link
horror and horror-adjacent 2022:
crimes of the future dark glassesbones and allmad godpearlnopethe munstersorphan: first killyou won’t be aloneskinamarinksmilexterrifier 2halloween endsbodies bodies bodies
bitter disappointment:scream ‘22
best first 30 minutes of a horror movie:barbarian
not good at all:the invitationprey for the devil
still need to see:resurrectionwatcher
best horror movie from the past i saw for the first time this year:the shout (1978)
horror/horror-adjacent director i grew increasingly obsessed with over the year:shinya tsukamoto (tetsuo the iron man, kotoko)
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 24 December 2022 18:40 (one year ago) link
Tsukamoto and The Shout is my all-time stuff, have you seen Tokyo Fist, Haze, Vital and Gemini yet?
Rebecca Hall has been in at least 3 horror films and I haven't seen any of them yet.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 25 December 2022 02:20 (one year ago) link
Best Horrors from 2022/2021 that I saw this year
Top Tier:SkinamarinkFlux GourmetHatchingYou Won't Be AloneThe NorthmanLambThe FeastMemoriaWe’re All Going to the World’s FairHellraiserCensorStrawberry Mansion
Middle Tier:HellraiserDeadwareIncantionBlack PhoneShe WillBarbarianGaiaBroadcast Signal IntrusionThings Heard & SeenIn the EarthResurrectionPreyVHS 94NopeShepherd
Disappointing:XDeadstreamThe 8th NightMediumWatcherMidnight Mass
― glumdalclitch, Sunday, 25 December 2022 21:40 (one year ago) link
Lol I see I've put Hellraiser in 2 tiers, and that def reflects my indecisiveness over how good it is...
― glumdalclitch, Sunday, 25 December 2022 21:44 (one year ago) link
Did you see Pearl? I thought it was a lot better/more interesting than X.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 25 December 2022 21:55 (one year ago) link
still working my way through the filmography so no not yet! literally just saw tetsuo ii body hammer a few weeks ago (it’s insanely great and i should’ve bought the manga entertainment release back when it was constantly advertised to me on anime dvds when i was 12… wonder how i would’ve reacted to it, suspect i would’ve instantly been on its wavelength bc people transcending their bodies to become big guns is awesome)
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 25 December 2022 22:03 (one year ago) link
Your putting Hellraiser in both the top and middle tiers also reflects my feelings about it.
Things I saw this year (not all from this year) that I liked a lot:
BarbarianHellraiserCensorIn the EarthPreyBarbarian
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 25 December 2022 22:10 (one year ago) link
i have tetsuo ii on vhs... (and didn't like it as much as the first)
― koogs, Monday, 26 December 2022 00:29 (one year ago) link
it isn’t quite as singular or homosexual as the first but it still… rules
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 26 December 2022 00:37 (one year ago) link
nice to see another Hatching fan!
― sleeve, Monday, 26 December 2022 00:43 (one year ago) link
Watched Hellraiser at the weekend and still working out my final opinion, at the moment I feel it was very well done compared to all other horror remakes (Suspiria the exception), but compared to early Hellraiser it felt surprisingly smooth and didn't have the grime and suburban ennui that I associate with the first film and the franchise ethos.
Cant say there was anything wrong or lacking, just expected more ambition in the delivery.
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Monday, 26 December 2022 18:29 (one year ago) link
to clarify, well done compared to every remake in the last 20 years but I feel the Suspiria remake is a great example of well done and ambitious remake.
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Monday, 26 December 2022 18:31 (one year ago) link
I don't think anyone has posted this yet?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCt7Iq6wSUw
― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 7 January 2023 00:17 (one year ago) link
Evil Dead Rise, a sequel, I guess? Directed by Lee Cronin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smTK_AeAPHs
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 7 January 2023 00:36 (one year ago) link
well i have tickets for skinamarink, hope it's not boring
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 7 January 2023 07:18 (one year ago) link
Feeling super suspicious it's gonna be "cursed images the movie" and as online as I am i don't think i'm that online
that evil dead preview looks pretty good but i'm a sucker for injury to the eye motif
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 7 January 2023 07:22 (one year ago) link
sorry to say that it is kinda “boring”
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 7 January 2023 14:32 (one year ago) link
Going to see Enys Men a week on Monday, will try to remember to report back.
― emil.y, Saturday, 7 January 2023 16:33 (one year ago) link
Have to admit that looks right up my alley, but I do love impressionistic horror much more than others around here, it seems
― Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Saturday, 7 January 2023 18:58 (one year ago) link
from the camcordery thread:
Saw Skinamarink in theaters last night and, while I come equipped with considerable moviegoing patience and appreciate the commitment to the bit, this mostly missed me. As a Gen Xer, i think the vintage on this madeleine is a bit late for my taste. We like our mindfucks more explicit. That said there are certainly a few interesting moments, particularly the ending shot. The (rare) jumpscares felt pretty cheap and elicited giggles from my audience. In general, the star is the film grain so I can't imagine getting too much out of this on an ipad screen... if you're gonna see it, try it on a big screen but keep your expectations extremely small. Props to Ball for getting mainstream distribution for what is explicitly an experimental film tho! Sneaking this into the discourse is no small feat.
That said there are certainly a few interesting moments, particularly the ending shot. The (rare) jumpscares felt pretty cheap and elicited giggles from my audience. In general, the star is the film grain so I can't imagine getting too much out of this on an ipad screen... if you're gonna see it, try it on a big screen but keep your expectations extremely small. Props to Ball for getting mainstream distribution for what is explicitly an experimental film tho! Sneaking this into the discourse is no small feat.
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Friday, 13 January 2023 17:28 (one year ago) link
M3gan was fun, but it did feel an awful lot like Child's Play reboot. like the style is a bit darker (though it has plenty of jokes), but I seriously get annoyed when two movies this similar come out within a few years of each other.
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Saturday, 14 January 2023 02:34 (one year ago) link
i thought M3GAN was pretty CH3AP. there was nothing redeeming about it; the technology scenes were very b-movie, there was almost no atmosphere, no cool shots, no interesting sound design, no memorable lines, no 'whoa' moments... it's good for a silly laugh, but even the laughs are like 'heh'. such an empty, empty film... but maybe i'm just getting old...
― maelin, Saturday, 14 January 2023 12:02 (one year ago) link
Saw "The Menu" again, and it's even better the second time. And even funnier, too, so much so that I'd barely count it as horror. (Made me want to reassess "Midsommar" and its own debatably innate comedic angle.) Lots of little one-off mumbled lines and other details I caught in the background the second time.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 January 2023 15:03 (one year ago) link
Think I said up thread but it's very much Theatre of Blood for foodies. Many guffaws.
The first suicide made me gasp out loud though (trigger warning - there's two of them in the movie)
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Saturday, 14 January 2023 16:15 (one year ago) link
Is M3gan supposed to look like that Olsen actress who is in the Marvel stuff?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 14 January 2023 18:01 (one year ago) link
LOL that was exactly who I thought she looked like
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Saturday, 14 January 2023 18:14 (one year ago) link
She's supposed to look like the lead actress — Allison Williams, from Girls and Get Out and other stuff I've never seen.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 14 January 2023 22:26 (one year ago) link
The Watcher (movie, not the unrelated tv series) - Feel like there was a better movie here lurking beneath the surface, and then they went for the safe ending.
there's a lot of great things the film illustrates about the anxieties foisted upon women by an abusive society to where they are forced to constantly be on their guard, as well as how their rational fears are minimized by those around them.
it then appears to be playing against the usual 'stalker' trope, framing it very ambiguously as to whether the alleged 'stalker' is actually following the lead at all, or if pre-existing traumas and the anxiety of being alone in an unfamiliar culture have caused her to see patterns that were not there, resulting in her eventually stalking the accused.
and with that, there could have been an interesting discussion around where the line is drawn for when it is acceptable for women to act in these situations, especially when often law enforcement in many countries practically require a woman to be beaten half to death before they MIGHT intervene. but they destroy any possibility of that by then making the alleged stalker the serial killer everybody's been looking for, essentially repeating tired tropes from other, similar movies.
however, I still did enjoy it simply because the anxiety of the film came much more from the lead actress's facial expressions and the cinematography rather than dialogue. lots of great performances. the ending is just so abrupt and lazy.
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Sunday, 15 January 2023 00:57 (one year ago) link
Watching "Smile" right now and it's bad and stupid and badly written and I can't believe there's 45 minutes left. It's no "It Follows." ut my daughter wanted to watch it, so ... ugh.Anyway, it is kind of funny, but I wish it was a comedy.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 15 January 2023 02:57 (one year ago) link
Smile ruled fuiud
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Sunday, 15 January 2023 02:59 (one year ago) link
It really follows It Follows. But worse.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 15 January 2023 03:28 (one year ago) link
Malignant - the acting is reminiscent of an insurance commercial doing a fake movie… but it kind of works?
― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 15 January 2023 04:32 (one year ago) link
I enjoyed the total insanity of Malignant
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Sunday, 15 January 2023 04:41 (one year ago) link
Tbh, I had skipped it, but had been reconsidering based on how many reactions similar to that I've seen. There's "it's crazy and badly acted and ridiculous, skip it!" and then there's "it's crazy and badly acted and ridiculous and you have to see it!" The difference between the two can be pretty subtle, as David St. Hubbins once opined.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 15 January 2023 04:47 (one year ago) link
The antagonist is like The Crow but melted.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 15 January 2023 04:52 (one year ago) link
Malignant was my favorite movie of 2021.
Black Phone is now free on Amazon Prime so I think I'm gonna check it out. I watched First Reformed last night and need more Ethan Hawke.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 15 January 2023 11:55 (one year ago) link
you won’t get much more from the black phone
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 15 January 2023 13:48 (one year ago) link
loved m3gan btw. did exactly what it needed to do
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 15 January 2023 13:59 (one year ago) link
M3GAN was a lot of fun in the theater, everybody hooting and hollering. it's knowingly campy and not particularly scary so maybe that's why some horror fans aren't into it? but i enjoyed it a lot. plus it reminded me how big of a jam "toy soldiers" is.
i think i know what the person who called it cheap-looking is talking about (not a lot of sets, not much visual flair) but i thought the M3GAN effects were pretty impressive.
i feel about the same about malignant - there's also some intentional camp in there too. but it does function better as a traditional horror movie - it's a lot gorier and has some scares in it
― na (NA), Monday, 16 January 2023 15:08 (one year ago) link
I guffawed when she started playing "Toy Soldiers". nobody around me knew the song, so I said "it's the one Eminem sampled on Encore"
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 15:34 (one year ago) link
M3gan did have great comic timing too, like
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have laughed"
"do you think that boy is really in a better place?""(giggle) NO."
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 15:35 (one year ago) link
the sequel is going to involve Allison Williams's character facing 5 different lawsuits.
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 15:36 (one year ago) link
My daughter texted me from the theater yesterday and said "this is the perfect movie." But I'm not going to see it, seen enough killer doll/AI movies.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 16 January 2023 16:05 (one year ago) link
I think my problem with Blumhouse is that they rarely make outright 'bad' movies, but their ceiling seems to be 'pretty good' movies that are very safe, like....sure, I like those movies here and there, but it seems like all they churn out (I think "Invisible Man" was one of their better ones).
that's kinda why I was excited to see more oddball shit hit the theatres last year like Barbarian, X, Pearl, Terrifier 2, or Malignancy the year before, like, you might not like all of these, but they're at least leaving the lane a bit more.
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 16:08 (one year ago) link
I haven't heard a recommendation for Terrifier 2 that hasn't filled me with contempt for its very existence
― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 16 January 2023 16:38 (one year ago) link
(contempt for the movie, I mean ... and, yeah, the recommendation)
This is kinda how I feel too. Especially since I don't remember anyone raving about Terrifier — it's like both movies were all of a sudden The Thing You Gotta See and nah, sorry, they sound like shit to me.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 16 January 2023 17:34 (one year ago) link
i was into Terrifier before anybody was talking about it so there. my girlfriend at the time and I decided to watch it on a netflix and chill night
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 17:36 (one year ago) link
even then, like....I didn't think the first one was a masterpiece, thought the second was much more entertainingly trashy
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 17:37 (one year ago) link
"Terrifier" is the kind of movie advertised as featuring "twice the body count and gore!" of the original. Like those "Hatchet" films.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 16 January 2023 17:51 (one year ago) link
Terrifier was gross and juvenile with barely any redeeming features so the idea of watching a 2.5 hour redo with a bigger budget doesn't fill me with anticipation, despite the fairly positive reviews
― or something, Monday, 16 January 2023 17:55 (one year ago) link
it wasn't really all that terribly different from 70s exploitation horror, except animals weren't murdered
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 18:00 (one year ago) link
unfortunately it didn't have any of those films redeeming style. no animal murders is a point in its favour, I'll give you that
― or something, Monday, 16 January 2023 18:23 (one year ago) link
terrifier 2 was good, the overclocked kills are too funny to feel mean-spirited. still haven’t watched the first, not very interested knowing its a bunch of women getting brutally murdered and that’s it
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 16 January 2023 18:43 (one year ago) link
i bet it’s no angst
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 16 January 2023 18:47 (one year ago) link
I don't mind simple films but I'd really like something genuinely ambitious right now and not just "clever" in subverting the attitudes/expectations of absolute morons, not holding my breath. Admittedly it's not easy even think of many horror films from the past with lots or phases and complexity.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 16 January 2023 21:33 (one year ago) link
Horror is a visceral genre. It doesn't need complexity.
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 21:52 (one year ago) link
i bet it’s no _angst_
― pilk/pall revolting odors (wins), Monday, 16 January 2023 22:03 (one year ago) link
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, January 16, 2023 9:52 PM (twelve minutes ago)
Not always visceral. Complex could mean a lot of things but I particularly like horror stories with lots of phases like Kumashiro's Jigoku/Inferno and Inland Empire because there's no predictable trajectory. I'm sure there's more but struggling to think og them now.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 16 January 2023 22:13 (one year ago) link
I suppose it's not specifically a horror film problem as many films feel like they could have been better at an hour's length or even less but they probably wouldn't get made
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 16 January 2023 22:16 (one year ago) link
So now I just watched Angst out of curiosity and jeeeeesus christ
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Monday, 16 January 2023 23:41 (one year ago) link
The Menu was good fun
― the forces of darkness making making us laugh ourselves into DEATH?? (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 02:31 (one year ago) link
angst is excellent. nice klaus schulze score too. would make a nice double feature with henry: portrait of a serial killer or done thing like that if that’s your thing… sicko.
anyone else watch sick yet? had high hopes with john hyams directing and there is some excellent action-as-horror knife fighting and cool choreography but… the scream guys script stinks and i just couldn’t get past that.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 03:47 (one year ago) link
*or something like that
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 03:48 (one year ago) link
So, I did go to see Enys Men last night and I looooooved it. Unreserved recommendation from me. Almost no dialogue, lots of slow shots of Cornish nature, isolation, ritual, recursion, lichen lichen everywhere. It's a deeply atmospheric film and very beautiful. One of the people I saw it with didn't enjoy it, and their main complaint was that it was too full of folk-horror tropes, and I do see that perspective, but honestly imo there aren't anywhere near enough good folk horror films so more is great (and the end result is nothing like The Wicker Man or Blood on Satan's Claw even if it works in some of the same imagery).
― emil.y, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 15:41 (one year ago) link
oooh that sounds VERY appealing
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 15:43 (one year ago) link
I think you'd like it!
― emil.y, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 15:54 (one year ago) link
Speaking of, has anyone seen "The Feast," a (the only?) Welsh-language folk horror film from 2021? Has that been mentioned here yet?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlttcY8mprs
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 16:02 (one year ago) link
going to see Enys Men on Friday, felt it was one of those film you need to be immersed in with no distractions.
there aren't anywhere near enough good folk horror films
you need to check out the ALL THE HAUNTS BE OURS box set by Severin, some great folk horror films, really opened my eyes to the scope of stuff out there..
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 16:10 (one year ago) link
kier-la’s doc (which is included in the set) is a fantastic primer too. and it’s streaming on shudder.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 16:18 (one year ago) link
Oh, that does look like a good collection, I've seen Viy, A Field in England, Penda's Fen (the best of the best) and Robin Redbreast, and Alison's Birthday is ringing a huge bell in my mind, but most of the others I haven't even heard of.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 16:19 (one year ago) link
we have that set and i can confirm it is FULL of new-to-us folk horror. a worthwhile investment, esp for winter! Alison's Birthday was really good iirc
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 16:28 (one year ago) link
Have you seen In The Earth and/or Matriarch? Both semi-folk, the latter more so than the former, maybe more "nature's gonna getcha"-horror, but I liked both a lot.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 16:32 (one year ago) link
Oh, In the Earth is another Wheatley - I'd forgotten about it but it did sound interesting. Not heard of Matriarch so I'll look that one up.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 16:44 (one year ago) link
And ... Gaia?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 16:52 (one year ago) link
I'm not sure what to make of Enys Men. Think I'm partly with emil.y's friend in that it hit lots of familiar folk horror beats but with little substance. I'm kind of tired with every "horror" film these days being about processing grief or trauma. Plus the "who the hell is that person?" "oh it's all in their head" trope. It was ok, I didnt hate it but Jeanne Dielman-goes-folk-horror should be right up my street and this wasn't really
― or something, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 17:09 (one year ago) link
For me real horror always lies in existence, being-in-the-world, the human condition. Ghosts and ghouls are fun, but they're not actually horrific. Existing is the most frightening, painful, awful thing anybody can experience. Horror can be a very escapist genre, full of impossible things and frightening only on the surface, a cathartic blast and then you're done. I love that kind of horror, but I also love horror that reflects the deep fears, a quiet existential horror.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 17:27 (one year ago) link
absolutely agree with all of that
― or something, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 17:38 (one year ago) link
yes please
― Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 18:54 (one year ago) link
Lots to love in the Severin box, I think my favourite discovery was the Icelandic thing that looked like it was made by Channel 4 in the 80s.
I quite liked The Feast but it wrote quite big cheques that it didn't cash and I called the exact plot mechanism following one very specific scene and what appears to be a throwaway line.
― Hello I'm shitty gatsworth (aldo), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 20:32 (one year ago) link
Last of Us and Skinamarink have opened to wild success this year bc their style of horror doesn't rely on jump scares or gore but simply on showing audiences what it would be like to live in Alberta— Ibaka Shinji (@Cam_Oflage) January 18, 2023
― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 13:40 (one year ago) link
In The Earth was okay I guess considering it was a lockdown project but it felt a bit flimsy on the whole
― the forces of darkness making making us laugh ourselves into DEATH?? (dog latin), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 15:51 (one year ago) link
It's the only Wheatley movie I've ever made it all the way through.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 15:53 (one year ago) link
100%, the find of the box set in my opinion but the breadth of other stuff was great.
the Australian stuff was a great find... really loved the stuff around postcolonial guilt as a horror theme.
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 16:24 (one year ago) link
I think *Kill List* and *A Field in England* are the Wheatleys that will endure - that's even with the daft final act in the former.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 17:14 (one year ago) link
I thought In The Earth has some pretty good performances and was a bit underrated but I wouldn't urge anyone
I don't know if Sarnet's November counts as folk horror but it's definitely in my top5 from the past decade.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 18:06 (one year ago) link
I was hyped for Enys men (loved bait) and it did not disappoint I think once I might have had reservations about putting so much artistic energy into a kind of pastiche, to that earlier me I say: stfu nerd. Gorgeously composed, eerie vibe, great storytelling (NO CHANGE) - it recalls those earlier films but doesn’t really resemble them, the editing style & sound design are closer to bait. I kept thinking of underground short films & my friend said it reminded him of Czech animation which I can seeAnother riposte to both past-wins and emil.y’s friend is that in folk horror (folk anything) you might expect to see familiar tropes - that’s implied in the folk part no?
― pilk/pall revolting odors (wins), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 23:28 (one year ago) link
lol also I have not seen angst and my v enthusiastic co-signing of brad’s post was because I thought they were talking about ANGUISH the bigas luna slasher that apparently only I am obsessed with
― pilk/pall revolting odors (wins), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 23:32 (one year ago) link
i desperately need to see anguish
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 23:47 (one year ago) link
dammit i keep watching new movies impulsively due to this thread.
so uh, Angst is great because it, like some other films, dispenses with the idea of a 'brilliant' serial killer, with meticulous planning, long thought out rituals/messages, and puts you in the POV of someone who is merely fucked up by years of unchecked sexual and physical abuse from just about every family member growing up, treated only as a carceral concern and receiving zero help. how he'd act if they were released from prison with a ten year murderous itch that hadn't been scratched and spent an entire day acting out his fantasy on pure instinct. nothing he plans in his mind works out right, he kills the old woman too fast, the young girl doesn't get to see her dead mother, he doesn't get to continue his spree, he gets in a wreck, etc....and he changes his plans frequently, like he can't commit to one idea. he's just spiraling and treats slaughtering an entire family like scratching an itch in his brain
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 23:54 (one year ago) link
Everybody does! Preferably without knowing anything about it going in
― pilk/pall revolting odors (wins), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 23:54 (one year ago) link
― pilk/pall revolting odors (wins), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 23:55 (one year ago) link
not available 'in my region' on Amazon prime. lol I thought I found it but of course due to the common name it was some unrelated 2015 film.
― fentanyl young (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 23:57 (one year ago) link
Whoa, wasn't expecting an Enys Men trailer at AMC today (followed by one for The Quiet Girl... while seeing Saint Omer... AMC is good now?)
Though I still haven't found a way to see Bait, years after its one local screening
― fleeting art that floats! (geoffreyess), Thursday, 19 January 2023 01:41 (one year ago) link
just watched this, it's on iplayer until tomorrow for those of you in the uk (and with a tv licence)...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001dh75/host
"Host", a Zoom seance
― koogs, Thursday, 19 January 2023 20:45 (one year ago) link
I'm not 100% sure what "Bodies Bodies Bodies" was going for, so I can't really say how well it nailed it, but it was better than I expected. The cast was great, though they do seemingly spend half the movie running around in the dark screaming.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 21 January 2023 13:59 (one year ago) link
lol my girl was dozing on the couch and woke up to the scene early in Bones and All when Mark Rylance is eating a woman's belly and she had a full on fit
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 22 January 2023 21:51 (one year ago) link
lol my wife would do the same thing, I’m cracking up imagining this happening with us.
I wanna see Skinamarink and I’m thinking about taking my 13 kid. The scariest movies she’s seen are The Thing and Drag Me To Hell. We recently watched Meshes of the Afternoon which she enjoyed, especially the experimental aspect. Is it more unsettling than violent?
― Cow_Art, Monday, 23 January 2023 03:32 (one year ago) link
it's more boring than anything! There's nothing violent about it fwiw.
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Monday, 23 January 2023 03:37 (one year ago) link
no clue how a 13 year old would process that, being much closer to their own childhood. might really creep 'em out, might do nothing. in fact that's pretty much my review of the movie. it's not the only horror movie to have a creepy psychological aspect and it's not the only one to center around kids, but it is the only one where psychological horror is inflicted on the kids. it got to me but that's probably because my own kids are about that age
it's not violent but there are a few really loud jumpscares. kinda hated that fwiw, made the whole movie (most of which is really quiet and subtle) incredibly tense.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 04:18 (one year ago) link
just watched it last night, not been that unnerved by a horror movie since... ever?
― or something, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 08:35 (one year ago) link
ok, not taking the 13 year old. I'll watch it first. Kinda excited about this one.
― Cow_Art, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 12:23 (one year ago) link
it definitely freaked me out after thinking about it some, since there ARE some clues as to what's going on - in the beginning it's mentioned that Kevin fell down the stairs and got hurt, so most likely he's in a coma, reliving the few memories he actually has while his brain is slowly decaying. the "day 572" caption at the end implies he's been in it for a while and from the looks of it things are not going the right way. so what it makes me think of is The Caretaker's Everywhere at the End of Time, except it's happening to a 4 year old boy, which makes my stomach turn. also like that album it feels endless!!!
― frogbs, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 14:20 (one year ago) link
my take on that was that the kid got a concussion and then he fumbles into a subworld that evokes dreamtime.
I'm wondering how much of skinamarink is dependent on being young enough to be freaked out by creepypasta. excepting the (very awkward and gratuitous) jumpscares, i found nothing unsettling about it at all? it's like getting freaked out by a jonas mekas short.
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 14:35 (one year ago) link
it reminded me more of very bad dreams i had as a child than it did creepypasta. i’m glad you couldn’t immerse yourself in it at all, that makes you very cool
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 14:54 (one year ago) link
I'm in my 40s so possibly not qualified for your creepypasta demographic
― or something, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 15:06 (one year ago) link
i’m glad you couldn’t immerse yourself in it at all, that makes you very coolhow you managed to read "i'm above all this silliness and very pleased with myself" when i went out and saw this on opening night is beyond me, but go off
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 15:15 (one year ago) link
I'm in my 40s so possibly not qualified for your creepypasta demographicmaybe it's not an age thing then? the entire crowd when i saw this and the general online demo appears twentysomething.
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 15:16 (one year ago) link
it taps into some ageless existential fears. if it connects with you I think that transcends demographics, if it doesn't then yeah, I could see it being boring af
― or something, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 15:25 (one year ago) link
i was a kid prone to regular hallucinations and panic attacks but not really from this perspectivetrailer DID unnerve me tbh, that's why i was curious in the first place. i like the 30 second version.
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 15:39 (one year ago) link
yea it's an interesting film in that it would work just as well, maybe better, in a 30 minute version. even the trailer is sort of its own self contained thing. it doesn't really even have the basic elements of an actual movie. so much of it is just waiting for something to happen and I guess that makes it remarkably tense
― frogbs, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 15:45 (one year ago) link
I'd say it needs to be at least an hour, 70 mins. but they could've (should've?) easily trimmed it by 20 mins
― or something, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 16:01 (one year ago) link
anyone else see infinity pool? thought it was impressively fucked up, tho this might not really be the right thread cause it isn't interested in scares, per se
― sault bae (voodoo chili), Sunday, 5 February 2023 22:24 (one year ago) link
would really like to!
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 5 February 2023 23:48 (one year ago) link
I loved it, the obvious allegory was as subtle as taking a sledgehammer to the temple, but I don't really see that as a bug in this case.
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Sunday, 5 February 2023 23:51 (one year ago) link
yeah i’m with you. loved how mia goth grew more and more unglued as the movie went along
― sault bae (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 00:40 (one year ago) link
kind of annoyed i haven’t gotten to infinity pool yet! just wasn’t feeling like heading out to the movies recently but i’ve enjoyed what i’ve seen from brandon cronenberg so far
― mh, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 01:34 (one year ago) link
Well I went to see Baby Ruby so you don’t have to. So don’t.
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 03:43 (one year ago) link
Aw, my friend directed Baby Ruby
― castanuts (DJP), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 03:48 (one year ago) link
I'm familiar with her theater work which is what got me in the door.
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 04:01 (one year ago) link
She Came from the Woods was an incoherent mess.
Chief son being the piecemeal telling of the baddie's origins on three separate occasions, the longest of which occurs as people are actively being slaughtered in the woods, as if this is the right moment for story time.
Lol also at casting a marble mouthed male lead who mushes his words so bad you lose entire chunks of dialogue.
― waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Saturday, 11 February 2023 23:06 (one year ago) link
*sin
― waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Saturday, 11 February 2023 23:07 (one year ago) link
We haven't talked about this one, yet, I don't think? Could be shit, but it's been getting good reviews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Du7TvNqvY
― Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:46 (one year ago) link
That was the other one I considered seeing yesterday (theatre had both). Might be my next attempt
― waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:59 (one year ago) link
i saw the trailer for the outwaters before terrifier 2, looks dope
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 12 February 2023 18:08 (one year ago) link
The first time I heard of that movie was on Bloody Disgusting, which is a pretty run of the mill horror/genre site that often has news or trailers or whatever. Lately, though, they've really blurred the line between editorial and promotion as they've dipped into distribution. For example, they were among the first places I started hearing about "Terrifier 2." Lots of stories, lots of raves, but of course ... they distributed it, lol. Same with "The Outwaters." Bloody Disgusting was the first place I heard of it, and heard positive reviews, but Bloody Disgusting is now owned by Cinedigm, who ... distributed "The Outwaters."
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 12 February 2023 18:40 (one year ago) link
fwiw other places have also given it good reviews, not sure why this sort of inside baseball is shocking to anyone
― Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:20 (one year ago) link
yeah the aggregate is pretty good for it.
― waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:42 (one year ago) link
Speaking of trailers seen on that site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY2z3kasg0g
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 14 February 2023 14:50 (one year ago) link
Oh, and responding to the inside baseball stuff, I don't find it shocking, but I expect at least a little transparency when the site is literally invested in what it's promoting, whether or not the movie actually turns out to be good.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 14 February 2023 15:26 (one year ago) link
I watched The Night House. Eh, it was fine. The central premise was muddled and essentially unfilmable but the direction meant this didn't really become an issue until the final act. It was genuinely creepy in places and Rebecca Hall was really great.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 19 March 2023 10:09 (one year ago) link
My wife and daughter are out of town tonight, so I need to watch a horror movie they won't watch. I've only seen Pearl and X out of movies released over the past year (enjoyed both). What do I watch? Thought about Prey, but I'm much of a Predator fan. What about that new one Cronenberg's kid did? That's supposed to be good, right?
― bookmarkflaglink (Darin), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 02:33 (eleven months ago) link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatching_(film)
― obsidian crocogolem (sleeve), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 03:30 (eleven months ago) link
Totally forgot about that one. Thank you!
― bookmarkflaglink (Darin), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 03:41 (eleven months ago) link
I watched Barbarian and Ultrasound over a single weekend and they both went well together.
both start with 'a stranger knocks on a house at night and gets invited in' and then they both goes off in very different directions.
Barbarian was more straight up Horror,
Ultrasound was more like a Momento/Primer like thriller.
really liked them both, but Ultrasound edged it for me, haven't seen much talk of this film here or elsewhere.
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 12:28 (eleven months ago) link
I liked Pearl quite a bit, Mia's facial expressions were amazing
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 24 March 2023 20:31 (eleven months ago) link
scream vi was ok, which is better than 5cream. ladder scene, convenience store scene, subway scene: all really good. still looks like utter shit and is very stupid in its (mercifully brief) attempts at social commentary. “franchise rules” way cooler and more fun than the “requel” shit. still suffers from one of the most boring main characters of all time
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 25 March 2023 23:43 (eleven months ago) link
Infinity Pool reminded me a lot of that episode of Mad Men where Don is on business/holiday and he winds up with these rich eccentrics and faints by the poolside and there's a really sickly feeling about it all. Except this is way more nightmarish.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 26 March 2023 23:25 (eleven months ago) link
New A24 - shit, this almost looks too scary for me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLAKJu9aJys
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 11 April 2023 17:23 (eleven months ago) link
renfield fuckin sucks
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 16 April 2023 13:33 (eleven months ago) link
the new Evil Dead is getting suspiciously good reviews
― Number None, Monday, 17 April 2023 16:10 (eleven months ago) link
i thought evil dead rise was pretty wonderful
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 21 April 2023 04:48 (ten months ago) link
felt like getting bathed in a bath of blood
Yeah it was glorious. Going to go again
― Cthulhu Diamond Phillips (Neanderthal), Friday, 21 April 2023 04:53 (ten months ago) link
Intrigued! Couldn't take the last one, for lots of reasons, but this one seems to have righted the ship, as it were.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 April 2023 11:53 (ten months ago) link
the 2013 remake was pretty awesome imo, probably even gnarlier than this one
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 21 April 2023 14:30 (ten months ago) link
I just don't recall it being any fun, which is why I (and apparently others) got torture porn vibes from it, even though it wasn't.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 April 2023 14:34 (ten months ago) link
Can someone help me remember a film I know I saw, maybe over ten years ago, so my memory is super foggy. I think it was set either in South Asia, the Middle East or Eastern Europe (apologies, it literally only popped into my head and I'm almost wondering if it was real). It was set almost entirely at night, a lot of red lighting, urban setting, and it involved a group of five or six men with some prominent scenes outside cafes and in cars. That's pretty much all I have. I know that's really vague but if anyone has a clue, please say.
― Do I look like I know what a jpeg is? (dog latin), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 23:37 (ten months ago) link
do you remember the shadings of the storyline, even if just a tiny fragment?
only one I can think of is Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
― Qeq-hauau-ent-pehui (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 23:45 (ten months ago) link
I've done a bit of digging and I'm guessing it's probably the Turkish film Baskin. Weird, I haven't given this film a second thought since I watched it and just as I was falling asleep, it popped into my head
― Do I look like I know what a jpeg is? (dog latin), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 23:47 (ten months ago) link
Aaaand going back through this thread it seems I did watch it, 7 years ago, and thought it was quite good.
― Do I look like I know what a jpeg is? (dog latin), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 23:51 (ten months ago) link
Baskin is on Tubi now; I started watching it about a week ago but bailed when the serious torture began. Creepy as fuck until that point, though. Was thinking about recommending it to a fellow of Turkish background that I know; I don't know if he's a horror guy, though.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 23:54 (ten months ago) link
Yeah from what I remember it was a decent movie till it got to the torture pr0n, which was well on its way out as a thing by then
― Do I look like I know what a jpeg is? (dog latin), Friday, 12 May 2023 00:04 (ten months ago) link
renfield fuckin sucks― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, April 16, 2023 9:33 AM (four weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, April 16, 2023 9:33 AM (four weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
I thought it was entertaining, if not really worth a second watch. I mean, maybe if I was doing laundry or something though. It was aspiring to something higher than its reach, but it had heart. Some good laughs throughout (although definitely some misses). The gore and action were fun - memorable dismemberments. Awkwafina's performance was pretty stilted - she was obviously trying to do a "tough-guy emotionally-damaged cop" but it kinda ended up slowing things down. Ben Schwarz was a little distracting and over the top, but also delivered some great lines. Nicholas Hoult was great, Nic Cage was insane.
― peace, man, Monday, 15 May 2023 14:29 (ten months ago) link
that's about how I felt. honestly felt that Cage was the least entertaining thing about it, which is...weird.
― Qeq-hauau-ent-pehui (Neanderthal), Monday, 15 May 2023 14:34 (ten months ago) link
the two leads are great but the movie lost me instantly when awkwafina started acting (sitcom level acting and double takes in a movie! get outta here) and then renfield had a pinterest-ass apartment decorating montage (obv meant to be hilarious but just kinda hammered home how ugly and empty the movie is for me)
fights felt unimaginative except in the degree of (cgi, shitty-looking) gore. movie’s sense of humor peaked with ska jokes
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 15 May 2023 14:37 (ten months ago) link
think i might’ve been more forgiving if i half-paid attention to it on streaming but i went to the theater
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 15 May 2023 14:40 (ten months ago) link
it felt a little like one of those 90s piss take comedies where most of the energy was sunk into creating ridiculous set pieces for the leads and then everything else was filler. which is why it was 'good' but not 'great' for me.
I think it's more accepted by audiences due to the Family Guy-ification of comedy where only jokes/gags matter and not how you got there. heard the "who cares about the story, you're here for the JOKES" defense too many times, as if actually earning the humor through an engaging story is a bad thing.
that said, they did do that in some places here, I did like the support group angle and how they were grounded and not merely a setpiece for mockery. and Hoult does a very nice job of selling the 'familiar finally enforcing boundaries after many centuries of abuse' motif. but so many of the smaller details were stupid, like every single cop and FBI member openly supporting the mob family to where they let a mobster walk free after they try to murder a cop in broad daylight with multiple eyewitnesses. or every cop actively trying to gun down a NOLA cop in broad daylight in an apartment complex.
― Qeq-hauau-ent-pehui (Neanderthal), Monday, 15 May 2023 14:50 (ten months ago) link
but that said I still laughed a lot, which is a testament to my ability to find just about anything funny
― Qeq-hauau-ent-pehui (Neanderthal), Monday, 15 May 2023 14:51 (ten months ago) link
found the boogeyman very effective. creepy, great lead performance by sophie turner, great kid performance, great use of elliptical light, pretty creative from shot to shot, would double feature well with smile which it is much kinder and gentler than but i was super down for that
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 11 June 2023 22:57 (nine months ago) link
great lead performance by sophie thatcher* (not turner) (i'm so good at remembering the names of actors)
sophie thatcher aka young natalie from yellowjackets
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 12 June 2023 00:04 (nine months ago) link
I did enjoy Boogeyman. I liked the way it dealt with familial trauma, and the chemistry between the actors was great.
― the manwich horror (Neanderthal), Thursday, 15 June 2023 15:12 (nine months ago) link
I found "Evil Dead Rise" really disappointing for a lot of reasons, annoying or boring for others, but I think what bugged me most of all is that it's set in a tall apartment complex, yet does absolutely nothing with its vertical setting, and populates it with, like, five people. Like, why bother? They could have just set on a farm in Oklahoma or some shit. Hell, they filmed it in New Zealand, just set it in New Zealand. "We haven't heard from mom/dad/cousin/anyone in months, but I just got this weird message to meet them in Wellington, and these first class one-way plane tickets arrived in the mail ... "
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 June 2023 17:23 (eight months ago) link
I mean, it's supposed to be unpopulated because it's being torn down or something, right? And there was one set of neighbors. I think being trapped in a high-rise that you can't get out of is a good premise.
My complaint is that it just should have been more over-the-top. There was plenty of great, squicky, gory violence, but insufficient insanity.
― peace, man, Tuesday, 27 June 2023 17:41 (eight months ago) link
Yeah, there's a line about it getting torn down, but either it would be empty by then or there'd still be more than five people in the whole building, let alone part of that handful being a single mother with three kids. Hell, that woman from the (lame) bookend shows up to the garage in full-on vacation mode at the end! I'm happy to nitpick about that setting (which would have been great, if used well, or really at all) all day. Like the way the generic horror movie dark 'n' green look made it just as dim when the power went out as when the lights were on. Or the way lots of stuff still seemed to work with the power out. Or the way it was set in "Los Angeles," yet poured rain non-stop ...
I agree, though, being not insane enough was its biggest problem. I think that's because it took itself too seriously. Too many shots of scared shaking kids muttering "www ... wwhat's wrong with mmm ... mom ... !?" Imagine how much fun it might have been if it was like "The Raid" or something, or maybe "The Raid" meets "Poltergeist 3." This one reminded me of a more po-faced "The Gate."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 June 2023 18:02 (eight months ago) link
how you gonna do a blood elevator climax in something that's not a tall building
― ivy (BradNelson), Tuesday, 27 June 2023 18:03 (eight months ago) link
Fair enough, that is the most ott bit in the movie, they probably started with that and worked backwards.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 June 2023 18:05 (eight months ago) link
I could have sworn I heard that the latest "Scream" movie wasn't that bad, but it pretty much was, and was boring, too. "Infinity Pool," on the other hand, was incredible.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 25 July 2023 03:22 (seven months ago) link
talk to me was EXCELLENT. was so pleased with every decision it made
― ivy., Saturday, 29 July 2023 02:14 (seven months ago) link
dammit now you're making me want to leave the house again tonight.
― linoleum gallagher (Neanderthal), Saturday, 29 July 2023 02:23 (seven months ago) link
Against all reason I watched the new Texas Chainsaw on Netflix. So unbelievably stupid and bad, gory but never once suspenseful or scary. Avoid.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Saturday, 29 July 2023 02:42 (seven months ago) link
I almost did, I started trying to watch em all for completist purposes and god, after 2 anything interesting about this franchise just disappeared
― linoleum gallagher (Neanderthal), Saturday, 29 July 2023 03:19 (seven months ago) link
loved Birth/Rebirth
it's psychological, more of a prolonged discomfort. it takes swings at a lot of things - the sacrifices that American society regularly forces single mothers to make, a labor culture that is increasingly anti-worker, and how struggling civilians are forced to acquire what they have by stepping on the backs of other people. particularly how society pits women against each other as well and expects them to be at their best without regard for their wellbeing. moreso though it's pretty grounded in the way it presents the premise (resurrection), one which has been done to death in horror, but nicely avoids almost all of the usual cliches.
ending is pretty devastating.
― earosmith (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 22 August 2023 05:46 (six months ago) link
Earwig by Lucile Hadžihalilović. This is really good, I liked Evolution a lot and Innocence is pretty good too. Brian Catling (writer of the novel) said she could change as much as she liked so I'm not sure if the novel will help me understand the film more. Very quiet film.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 19 September 2023 19:31 (six months ago) link
I'll check it out.. I thought Evolution was fantastic, I often forget if I've seen a film but not that one.. it was very singular
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 19 September 2023 19:53 (six months ago) link
The film removes a lot of the context and specificity found in Catling's novel, especially around the title character and his history - probably in the interest of making everything more ambiguous - but otherwise hews pretty close to the overall plot. Would say the novel is quite a bit more coherent than the film, which has a fabulous atmosphere but seems just a bit too shapeless.
Catling was a really interesting person, would hope that as this film continues to make the rounds more people will check out his work.
― atonar, Tuesday, 19 September 2023 20:12 (six months ago) link
Finally saw Resurrection. Didn't like it at all. Thought Roth completely phoned it in.
Always love Rebecca Hall but this story was too bonkers even for me
― real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 3 October 2023 01:28 (five months ago) link
"Totally Killer" was so bad from the start we watched the whole thing convinced it was in on the joke and there would be some smart twist but no, it was just bad.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 22 October 2023 02:00 (four months ago) link
Bout to watch Slotherhouse
― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 22 October 2023 02:04 (four months ago) link
when evil lurks very creepy and perverse argentinian horror from the guy who made terrified. will be on shudder soon afaik
― ivy., Sunday, 22 October 2023 02:07 (four months ago) link
saw x was also super entertaining
argentinian horror
Read this as algorithm horror, lol, which is a good way to describe a lot of dreck that pops up on streaming services.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 22 October 2023 02:14 (four months ago) link
I really enjoyed the Shelley Duvall-esque mom character in When Evil Lurks. Good movie!
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Sunday, 22 October 2023 15:43 (four months ago) link
Some very small talk upthread but I watched The Outwaters last weekend..
really enjoyed it, as a good Cosmic Horror/found footage experience.
more like that please...
― my opinionation (Hamildan), Sunday, 22 October 2023 19:53 (four months ago) link
Slotherhouse showed some promise as a horror comedy for the first 40 minutes but then they completely half-assed the rest of it.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 22 October 2023 21:33 (four months ago) link
Not sure where to slot it, but I thought "No One Will Save You" was really well done. Very ambiguous, which can be risky, since people like answers, but I appreciated the ambition.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 28 October 2023 13:22 (four months ago) link
THANKSGIVING!!!!! god. it gave thanks. five stars
― ivy., Saturday, 18 November 2023 03:28 (four months ago) link
Fucking loved it
― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 November 2023 03:39 (four months ago) link
Felt like a love letter to the off-brand slasher flick thread
― a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 November 2023 03:40 (four months ago) link
Watched TALK TO ME last night (rentable on Amazon), thought it was well made and the cast was strong — Sophie Wilde in particular. Not a feel-good movie lol. Some plotting problems and even with necessary disbelief suspension some things were hard to buy. Reminded me at various points of Hereditary and It Follows, though not as stylistically striking as either.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 9 December 2023 15:13 (three months ago) link
I highly recommend Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor if you want to experience your heart stopping multiple times.
― glumdalclitch, Saturday, 9 December 2023 15:23 (three months ago) link
Really? Cool!
― STUPID CRAP FACE (Neanderthal), Saturday, 9 December 2023 15:28 (three months ago) link
It's great, matches the original. I skipped the two middle sequels based on reviews.
― glumdalclitch, Saturday, 9 December 2023 15:55 (three months ago) link
Loved the original so will check this out
― STUPID CRAP FACE (Neanderthal), Saturday, 9 December 2023 16:17 (three months ago) link
Hmmm...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puY9AthRUCQ
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 15 December 2023 13:40 (three months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF_J3-DmiS0
rose glass (saint maud) returns!!! this looks like a riot
― ivy., Friday, 22 December 2023 06:07 (two months ago) link
Evil Dead Rise - better than I expected. Has there been a movie based on the inevitable lifetime of therapy the young girl who survives would be forced to go through? Like a rom com about 20-somethings but our protagonist’s entire family was slaughtered 20 years ago.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 27 January 2024 04:22 (one month ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkcrNh9XSSw
― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 3 February 2024 00:05 (one month ago) link
whoa
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Saturday, 3 February 2024 00:25 (one month ago) link
Enjoyed Suitable Flesh a lot, but then I'm a sucker for Stuart Gordon films so that might not be surprising. Barbara Crompton is great in it.
― Hello I'm shitty gatsworth (aldo), Saturday, 3 February 2024 11:53 (one month ago) link
It was not bad but I think it could have looked a bit better and maybe a slightly better script but performances were fine.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 4 February 2024 01:50 (one month ago) link
Had to go to a cinema I've never been to before in the Phoenix chain. I think my brother said it was the only cinema in scotland showing it, oddly
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 5 February 2024 15:46 (one month ago) link
I just seen The Vourdalak. It's not like many other horror comedies I've ever seen because the sensibilities are very different. There's a corpse character created completely through puppetry and I don't think it works completely but it's a bold choice. Based on the same Tolstoy story that was in Mario Bava's Black Sabbath. It's pretty good.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOltHm9cloY
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 4 March 2024 01:35 (two weeks ago) link