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

thought triangle was... OK. not a fan of 'recursiveness' on the whole tho

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.

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.

Watching this dead set thing Darin mentioned on IFC right now, and it's pretty ok!

house came out on dvd about three days ago. You're gonna love it.

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.

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.

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.

"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...

"...is a horror staple going back to..." duh

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.

Behind = being.

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.

Really didn't dig "Splinter" as anything more than a minor distraction. Now "Slither," on the other hand, I can really rep for.

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.

haven't seen slither, I guess I should huh

i think its the only horror comedy from the last 10 years that really nails it, tbh

meaning horror first w/comic elements. shaun of the dead is pretty great, but its a comedy w/horror elements if you get me

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.

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.

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.

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.

i dont know anything about sexykiller, but am curious - not on dvd yet?

"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.

Nathan Fillion is currently starring in his own police procedural on ABC

only R2 PAL, jj.

'Slither' was only necessary while 'Night of the Creeps' was out of circulation.

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.

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.

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...

think ahma try Cropsey tonight, which looks pretty odd/horrific/verite

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.

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

pretty accurate description of cropsey there, unfortunately.

I dig del toro's list

xp

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.

K guys you have abt 10 minutes to tell me which of these is the scariest/goriest/most disturbing (most intense, basically)

• Deadgirl
• Shallow Ground
• Below
• Antibodies
• something else, new or old, that I can find on Netflix Streaming

Deadgirl hands down

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

I mean if you want super fucked up there's always aftermath or visions of suffering

ha, that del toro list is unsurprisingly a solid one

yeah the del toro stuff is quality canon

2nd jjjusten on deadgirl, and yeah, the del toro list is excellent

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

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.

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.

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.

PA seemed like one of those films where a sequel would just ruin the magic of it. Like, how do you repeat that again?

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.

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.

Watched Deadgirl this morning, was ok, that is all.

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.