The Haunt Of Fear: ILX Top 100 HORROR Movies Poll Results Thread

oh, I guess The Kingdom will count for this jonner, eh

I really don't get all the hate for the shift in the descent

― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 12:34 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I loved the first part. I was an enthusiastic spelunker when I was younger and I suffered from mild claustrophobia. Perfect!

And the transition to cave-dwelling not humans with sonar was great! The plausible lead-up of these spelunkers getting lost somewhere deep in the earth with no orientatation and no hope of finding their way out is the perfect set up for the terror of stumbling into the domain of these undiscovered and unknown monsters.

And what monsters! Some evolutionary offshoot of our acnestors, but totally alien.

I can see nitpicking over sense of smell in a few key moments, but I wasn't thinking about that as I was crawling over the back of my chair.

there's a big difference between the treatment (cinematic treatment that is) of the mentally disabled actors in the kingdom vs. that crispin glover movie.

i may be a jerk for saying this, but i think LVT is playing a cruel joke with the disabled actors in the kingdom. as he says in every episode, this is a place where we must "take the good ... with the evil." in the kingdom, christian good (as portrayed by the actors with downs syndrome) is simplistic and rather dull. evil, especially as portrayed by EH jaregard, is clever, fascinating and clearly the best thing about the show, the reason we watch.

So are we all agreed that Inland Empire is an extended metaphor for expanding consciousness through Transcendental Meditation?

yes

I confess that I have not yet watched Inland Empire.

Love inland empire but really happy to see it place this low.

well, it's gotta be a metaphor for something

seeing Inland Empire at the Castro theater was one of the best/most intense theater-going experiences I've had as an adult

"this low"

well remember, jjj thinks "The Straight Story" is going to be #1

i think trying to interpret deciding whether this film is horror or not is just a headache i don't want or need.

― by another name (amateurist), Wednesday, February 24, 2010 1:28 PM (2 years ago)

xxp - i think the cruel joke he is playing is that the smartest characters in the show (the ones with the most knowledge) have Downs Syndrome. i think it's more about LVT's misanthropy.

inland empire was my first-thought-best-thought #3, and this seems like a pretty reasonable placement for it. scary as hell, but probably not most people's idea of a "horror movie".

Congrats, Eric, for resisting the image that is burned into so many retinas.

lots of mine are showing up today, hoping this doesn't result in a barren top 20. especially happy to see black christmas (too low), possibly the highest rated straight-up unambiguous horror on my ballot(#4).

I don't even like horror movies and yet for some reason this is my favorite movie list thread. Amazing stills, lots of stuff I've never heard of.

oh, I guess The Kingdom will count for this jonner, eh

― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 11:06 AM (8 minutes ago)

pretty sure it doesn't count because it was tv show and not a movie.

xxp - i think the cruel joke he is playing is that the smartest characters in the show (the ones with the most knowledge) have Downs Syndrome. i think it's more about LVT's misanthropy.

yeah, i guess the question is how deliberately perverse we think he's being in his choices

Speaking of Kingdom, somebody tell me that Stephen King's remake was shit so I don't have to watch it. Thanks in advance.

it's Lars Von Trier, i'd be surprised if any of his perverse choices weren't deliberate!

Congrats, Eric, for resisting the image that is burned into so many retinas.

I chose one from 3 Pillbox submitted, and none of them were THAT image.

i'm happy just assuming it's shit. and that we won't see udo keir emerging from SPOILAR.

Well, that's three of my top five (Inland Empire, The Tenant, and Creepshow) that have shown up thus far. One of the others will be a no-show, but I certainly hope my #1 at least cracked the top 20.

I guess I can understand people dismissing other Lynch films as horror, but dismissing IE just feels reactionary.

there were a couple of movies I love that I voted for, despite their being on the borderline of horror

inland empire was one I just couldn't justify

movies that aren't scary can be horror films, so this is the converse example then - terrifying, but not necessarily a horror film

Will Wicker Man crack the top 20? I know we have an appointment, I just don't know what time it is.

I guess I can understand people dismissing other Lynch films as horror, but dismissing IE just feels reactionary.

i dismissed Inland Empire because for me, it was a literal snoozefest ... i did manage to see almost 2 hours of it though!

it doesn't count because it was tv show and not a movie.

nah, it was shown in theaters in 'Murrica, that's all that should count! Plus there's already been at least2 made-for-TV things, Threads and Duel.

that said, I don't complain about IE's placement here and expect there is another lynch in our future

Inland Empire was the only Lynch film i really considered 'horror' enough to vote for and was my no.4, i think. I'd say it's comfortably my favourite American film of the last fifteen years, or so.

I don't think the second half of "The Descent" is that bad, but the first half is intense that when things go horror movie it seems totally unnecessary. One of those movies where the original ending is absolutely essential, and it also helps to have seen it in a dark theater with people, new ending or no.

I grew up watching "Freaks," never thought it was scary. And in fact, it wasn't even until much later in life that I even considered it at all exploitative, let alone controversial. The "freaks," as such, are so sweet and sympathetic. And when they're played for revenge scares, you get the feeling the freaks are themselves playing it up for effect. And damn does their victim deserve their vengeance.

Somehow never seen "Inland Empire," even though I've seen everything else by the guy!

xp - i would've voted for the Kingdom had it been nominated.

I completely lost interest in Lynch after "Lost Highway" and have seen nothing since. And the only things I really liked from that were Robert Loggia beating up the tailgater, and Robert Blake.

it doesn't count because it was tv show and not a movie.

nah, it was shown in theaters in 'Murrica, that's all that should count! Plus there's already been at least2 made-for-TV things, Threads and Duel.

― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 2:22 PM (23 seconds ago)

you missed the long debate about how TV movies are allowed, but not TV shows or miniseries

however, if salem's lot places....

I completely lost interest in Lynch after "Lost Highway"

High Five!

it's Lars Von Trier, i'd be surprised if any of his perverse choices weren't deliberate!

yeah, that's what i mean. sure, they seem to know a lot, but that only encourages us to speculate about how much they really understand (whether or not we wish to), draws attention to their relatively flat line readings. it seems a subtle barb aimed at the "simplicity" of goodness, relative to more entertainingly complex evil.

i've made only one attempt to watch inland empire and barely made it a half hour before throwing up my hands in exasperation. fuckin' rabbits.

Lost Highway is garbage but Mulholland is good fun. You're missing out.

xxp - or to speculate that "God is retarded"

inland empire much better in a theater where you are trapped for the duration, turning it off after 30 minutes is like ending yr shroom trip cuz yr stomach got upset

OTM

I don't think the second half of "The Descent" is that bad, but the first half is intense that when things go horror movie it seems totally unnecessary. One of those movies where the original ending is absolutely essential, and it also helps to have seen it in a dark theater with people, new ending or no.

og ending is SO much better, even tho I quite like the iconic image of the lead actress emerging from the gopher-hole.

are there rabbits in the first half hour of IE?

there's already been at least2 made-for-TV things, Threads and Duel.

― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 7:22 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

TV movies count, TV series don't count. Though I have a couple on my ballot that could be considered borderline, I strongly count them as short-ish films, not just shows.

see, I am totally on-board w/ a committed viewing of IE, but I think alone in a dark room might actually be a more appropriate setting than a crowded theatre.

og ending is SO much better, even tho I quite like the iconic image of the lead actress emerging from the gopher-hole.

i thought that the OG ending had that bit, but also had other bits after

xpost So long as it's at night and you ate the key to your couch.

xxp - or to speculate that "God is retarded"

well yeah, that too

contenderizer, on second thought, you are totally otm re: descent ending(s).

Wait, wasn't Inland Empire an expansion of Lynch's web shorts? Isn't that where the bunnies come from?