Not a big Kwaidan fan. Lovely but rather inert, imo.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
According to DVDBeaver the Criterion DVD has fucked-up colors and 20 minutes of missing footage :(
― Time, a group with Jam and Lewis (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
Not enough missing imo. (just kidding. I don't hate that movie. I just think its no ugetsu. Or creepshow.)
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
Creepshow otm
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
Yes, inert is a good word.
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
I LOVE Ugetsu-it is one of my favorite movies-but it never would have occured to me to nominate it in a horror poll.
― MrDasher, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
re Kwaidan:
•A 163 minute version is now available on Region 1 DVD as a part of the Criterion Collection. The (Region 2) Masters of Cinema DVD is the first video release to contain the full 183 minutes of the original Japanese cut of the film.
•Originally a four-episode anthology released in Japan at 183 minutes. The USA version removes the second episode, starring Keiko Kishi and Tatsuya Nakadai, in order to shorten the running time to 125 minutes.
So really, at the time the CC was released I guess they couldn't get their hands on the original material. It was enough that they restored the fourth episode that had been completely excised from the US release.
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:23 (twelve years ago) link
well Ugetsu is nominally a ghost story, like The Uninvited.
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:24 (twelve years ago) link
From what I remember, Ugetsu was mildly freakier than Kwaidan.
But I'll stop, since it's bad manners for the poll host to engage in politicking.
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:28 (twelve years ago) link
A ghost story may or may not be horror, I would say.
I never found Ugetsu horrifying or freaky, maybe in part because I identify with the ghost.
― MrDasher, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
Just previewed the first couple minutes of "Dementia." Wow, that does look amazing. Soprano in the credits music is Marni Nixon!
― Advanced Uncle Meat recovery system (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
Not that you can't be horrified while identifying with the source of horror...or even because you identify with the source of horror...(xpost)
― MrDasher, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:41 (twelve years ago) link
I don't think netflix has Dementia on disc does it? I really don't want to watch it on youtube. I think the half hour, public service film Apaches is about as far as I'm willing to go down that route.
― MrDasher, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:47 (twelve years ago) link
Have been thinking about the relationship of "ghost story" to "horror" ever since I first saw The Devil's Backbone (which I will be seriously voting for, btw). It's in many respects a straight drama, and the ghost is more a figure of sympathetic pity than fear, but I nonetheless consider it one of the best horror movies of the last decade or so. The combination of supernatural elements, gothic atmosphere, creepy suspense and occasional jolts of real terror are enough to convince me that it belongs on my ballot.
The ghost story is one of the most basic and essential "scary story" models, and tbh, I'm inclined to consider almost any at least moderately creepy movie featuring ghosts part of the horror genre.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
It had copies of the Kino edition a few years back. Haven't checked recently. And yeah, it's gonna suffer for the low tube quality a lot more than Apaches.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:51 (twelve years ago) link
there are plenty of movies with ghosts I wouldn't consider horror, anything from ghost to fanny and alexander
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:58 (twelve years ago) link
harry potter
etc
Speaking of things that are on youtube in fairly poor quality, I would like to rep once more for The Signalman. It's a 40-minute film, so possibly bearable in this format, but I haven't watched it through myself. Almost certainly my favourite Ghost Story for Christmas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmBkK7N3Hhc
― emil.y, Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:59 (twelve years ago) link
I think "fantasy" is a suitable label for non-horror films featuring ghosts
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:59 (twelve years ago) link
...harry potter
yeah, that's why i threw in "almost" and "moderately creepy" as qualifiers. like if creepiness and scariness seems to be a substantial part of the point, and if it's got non-comedy ghosts, then i'll probably a horror movie. of course it's arguable that creepiness and scariness are "a substantial part of the point" in the later harry potter films, so it's a judgement call more than a hard-and-fast rule.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:05 (twelve years ago) link
"seems"
ugh
"...then i'll probably consider it a horror movie"
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:06 (twelve years ago) link
I did cut Pan's Labyrinth cuz it feels more like "dark fantasy" than horror to me, so the distinction I'm observing is obviously vanishingly thin.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:11 (twelve years ago) link
Courtesy of my lurker, these movies were ;_; missing from the nom list (I take responsibility for not participating, just answering the question from like a zillion posts ago)
Wicked, WickedI Can See YouFrom a Whisper to a ScreamJust Before DawnWho Can Kill a Child?Wendigo
― two overweight dachshunds with three eyes (La Lechera), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:12 (twelve years ago) link
never seen any of those, and three of the first four are completely unfamiliar to me. i'm curious, though.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:17 (twelve years ago) link
Ugetsu, along with a few things on the nomination list that I also excluded because I don't really consider them horror, would probably, if I were to include them, displace items in my current top 5-10. I would probably be more willing to consider them if they would occupy lower positions. I guess I don't want to have my top horror movies to be things I don't strongly feel are horror. But I will think about it some more.The stuff that is at the top of my list is not all stuff that is unambiguously considered horror either so I am also not sure what distinction I am using exactly. It's just intuitive I suppose.
― MrDasher, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
ok who can kill a child? is a big oversight. crap.
― Badu and a sax run hand-in-hand (jjjusten), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
Who Can Kill a Child?
Damn it! That's such a good film and totally didn't occur to me.
― Une semaine de Bunty (ShariVari), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
Also missing, and not really obscure at all: Dementia 13.
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
^ was on my late nom list
wendigo's the fessenden film? I did nom his habit but I doubt it will make my ballot.
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
I thought of Who Can Kill a Child? but I didn't nominate it because I don't really like it. I guess I should have nominated it anyway. Oh well.
― MrDasher, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:26 (twelve years ago) link
I stopped compiling this list once the voting thread opened, but I would've nommed these in addition to some ones already mentioned above
awakening of the beast (1970)baby blood (1990)willard (1971)beware! the blob (1972)body snatchers (1993)castle of blood aka danza macabra (1964)children of the damned (1964)crawlspace (1986)curse of frankenstein, the (1957)dracula aka horror of dracula (1958)frakenstein created woman (1967)revenge of frankenstein, the (1958)
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:26 (twelve years ago) link
Children of the Damned is the only of the not-nominees mentioned so far that I'd have seriously considered, but I would have wound up cutting it anyway. I've avoided Who Can Kill a Child? because it doesn't sound like the sort of thing I'd like. Is it really all that great? Murderous moppets is a great idea, but I figure that Village of the Damned is hard to top on that score.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
The Curse of Frankenstein is nominated, isn't it?I could have sworn Castle of Blood was as well, but it doesn't seem to be on the list upthread. Odd.
― MrDasher, Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:39 (twelve years ago) link
Who Can Kill a Child gets extra points for being a super grim movie in a really pretty setting, so that is something I like about it.
― two overweight dachshunds with three eyes (La Lechera), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:41 (twelve years ago) link
It's really, really good. Quite different to Village Of The Damned - less of a sci-fi element.
― Une semaine de Bunty (ShariVari), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:47 (twelve years ago) link
what i mostly hear is that it is "disturbing"
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:53 (twelve years ago) link
when it comes to 21st century horror fandom, i find that "disturbing" is generally code for "do not watch this"
that a hard line to toe
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:56 (twelve years ago) link
Any film in which children kill and are killed is going to be a struggle for some people but it's not gratuitously shocking for the sake of it.
― Une semaine de Bunty (ShariVari), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:57 (twelve years ago) link
No, and when people can't stretch their imaginations enough to include the possibility of an island of evil children, I'm not sure I care what they think anyway.
― two overweight dachshunds with three eyes (La Lechera), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:59 (twelve years ago) link
contenderizer, you liked shankland's the children didn't you?
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:02 (twelve years ago) link
cool. i'm sort of itching to see it now.
as far as the "disturbing" thing goes, i don't mean it as a rule. i just think that the incorporation of super-transgressive, gutter-dwelling exploitation aesthetics into mainstream horror fandom has had a terrible effect on the genre. i mean, i'm a gorehound and a fan of extremes, but i am beyond sick of attempts to find and make "the most disturbing ever". not saying that who can kill a child? belongs in that company, btw, but i have seen it described in similar terms.
i hate to say this, but i think that horror, when taken as a form of pop-cultural entertainment, is inherently trivializing, inherently desensitizing. there's nothing really wrong with that, but i don't like the fact that films like salo and a serbian film have become an important part of pop horror's fan culture. personal taste, you understand.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:11 (twelve years ago) link
oh hell yeah! great movie. i'm not opposed to child-harm in films, and not opposed to grim and distressing content. i've just learned to be wary.
― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, 19 April 2012 21:12 (twelve years ago) link
I just wanna quickly stump for Images, which is probably Robert Altman's most overlooked film (like, I've literally never heard/seen anyone talk about it ever). It probably would've been another director's greatest film, but Altman had the poor judgment to make it in the midst of making some of the best movies ever, so it was a bit overshadowed. It's very much of a kind with Polanski and Lynch's "am I losing my mind?" films (although much more subdued), and it's really gorgeous to look at. And you can apparently watch the whole thing on YouTube.
― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 20 April 2012 02:11 (twelve years ago) link
as far as the "disturbing" thing goes, i don't mean it as a rule. i just think that the incorporation of super-transgressive, gutter-dwelling exploitation aesthetics into mainstream horror fandom has had a terrible effect on the genre.
twas always thus in the lifetimes of just about everbody posting in this thread. except maybe the good doctor.
― jesus christ (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 20 April 2012 02:17 (twelve years ago) link
i do think the search for "extremes" can easily lead to freebasing terrible torture gore nonsense in the horror fandom crackhouse. but i dunno if i want a horror movie to not "disturb" me on some level.
― jesus christ (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 20 April 2012 02:20 (twelve years ago) link
I dunno, I'd say extreme horror has produced more interesting films than the dozens of post-scream ironic bullshit outings
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Friday, 20 April 2012 03:13 (twelve years ago) link
Shit I just realized I forgot to nom "don't torture a duckling" goddamnit
Oh and also, another Netflix streaming recommendation - despite looking like it is going to be crap due to the box art, you should all really give "dead end" a shot
― Badu and a sax run hand-in-hand (jjjusten), Friday, 20 April 2012 03:21 (twelve years ago) link