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

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

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.

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

needed mobile man-sized plant monsters running around

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.

(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)

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

house of the devil was pretty good... quite a slow burn

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)?

Just watched martyrs -- pretty good -- thanks for the recommendation! -- is consensus that sauna is the one to watch next?

the subs on my dl of sauna didn't work :*(

ha! i had to scroll through the subs for martyrs in a separate text file while running the movie in another window

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) Bookmark

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 (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.

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

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.

switchblade romance also known as haute tension and I see it ws mentioned upthread

just about to watch 'the woods'; psyched

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

agree w/jjusten, captivity ws enh; diet saw at best

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

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 file
but was very impressed by the effects/makeup by what seems like a low budget movie.

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)

btw should i just roll this over to 2010, or do people want to bother with a new thread?

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)

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.

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.

Number 23 is in my most hated movies ever go to list.

Watcher in the Woods which I did see at slumber parties when I was 10, is better than Number 23

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.

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)

new title - ought to work

Watched Quarantine this past weekend. What a waste of time.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I always watch movies on my laptop with headphones and it can be much scarier than a television.

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

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.

haha now that is a tradition i can get behind!

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.

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/

Rogue is showing up tomorrow and i am excited/a little worried its going to suck

i mean killer croc movie should be enough to pretty much dash any expectations of good, but yknow its the Wolf Creek dude, so ???

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

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.

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.

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).