ok lets all shit our pants to something new: post 2005 horror film thread

I'm talking about imdb above; just in case of confusion.

i'm talking about House of Voices. a film i LOATHE.

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.

Hahaha Hal Jam, I assume you are joking but please explain away if you are serious.

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.

*Laugier

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.

i do not, obviously.

loved house of voices. a huge & welcome surprise after the hated martyrs. fite!

Loved Martyrs. Had no idea I was supposed to care about House of Voices.

seems to be pretty divisive, with plenty of outraged detractors, though i'm not sure why. relatively subtle gothic mystery. worked for me.

Maybe the two versions of the film significantly differ in quality? Maybe THat's why people differ so much? I saw the English version.

Wow this plague town thing is pretty close to unwatchably bad, and that's coming from me, so

Actually, fuck it, this is unwatchably bad, I'm throwing in the towel halfway through, which I never do.

^ did this w/ helldriver yesterday (post-2005). dunno why i keep giving nishimura another chance.

STAKELAND
Frustratingly little of note happens. Why did this film climb the heap when there are so many similar stories?

Oh man I hated that movie.

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.

stakeland is terrible (and bad)

Xp
Yeah that Evans/Tjahjanto one was insanely brilliant.

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.

"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.

Anyone seen Thale from maybe two years ago? It sounded interesting.

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.

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.

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

"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, 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.

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.

yeah, the woods is so good

red too, even better perhaps

jjj u did not like The Lost??? The lead psycho's performance, if nothing else...!

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

Thx to contenderizer for the Miss Zombie recommendation, that was good.

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

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/

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?

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.

thanks, and yeah, I found it sorta funny too. mostly dad's googling.

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)

couldnt make it past the first 30 min of executive koala.

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.

Quite liked Magic Magic. Though I'm not really sure if the audience was supposed to know the cause of Temple's mental troubles.

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 (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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.

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.

I've always assumed it's simply because claustrophobia is hard to represent on film.

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.

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.

At the same time, I can see why people hate the hell out of it.

is anyone watching penny dreadful?

2nd ep was dope