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

But it is also an unraveled baffling mess.

^ mostly the latter. the opening wasn't at all promising, but i gave it a fair shake on phantasm's behalf. it has moments and, yeah, a kind of dunderhead charm, but it's ultimately a trainwreck. done in by charisma-free lead performances, gratingly wacky dialogue, and lazy plotting that seems driven by nothing so much as a desire to seem "random".

i'm not the biggest rubber booster, but i enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than this.

I watched Resolution last night and although I wasn't too happy with it's own resolution it was a very unsettling, freaky ride. Excellent film for a low budget debut and if the ending had been handled differently it would be A+.

JDATE

Lol, I hope this is intentional.

110%

Need to see Resolution. And It's in the Blood.

watched the Criterion of Goke: The Body Snatcher From Hell (okay it's from 1968 so not post 2005 but whatever) - campy as fuck but some great really arresting imagery too

If any of you have the chance, see Upstream Color while it's in the theater. The sound stuff is amazing, and it's basically a horror movie, what with the worms and the surgery and the plants and the mind control stuff.

what if I hated Primer

I don't know because I honestly can't remember if I saw it or not. Pretty sure I didn't.(I know it's a cult favorite but I'm not a member of the cult is what I'm saying.) Anyway, I thought Upstream Color was scary and good fwiw.

but this threads for good and scary.

That's why I mentioned it!

i mentioned it on the appropriate thread but y'all should be made aware that Upstream Color is really just a horror movie at heart.
― gr8 tr∞lls i have known (forksclovetofu), Friday, April 12, 2013 4:22 AM

i dunno if i would recommend this if you hated primer

So, Resolution. I had such high hopes for this one. Nope. It's never quite boring, and generates a good amount of uneasiness at times, but the story is underdeveloped and ultimately very unsatisfying. It just doesn't add up to quite enough. a curio with a high YMMV factor. for me, Dawning did this sort of ultraminimalist character-driven genre-"ish" thing more effectively. and of course Absentia, which remains the gold standard. I should add Lovely Molly and The Pact, with reservations.

The shadow of Ti West's inflence grows e'er longer.

I finally saw Evil Dead. I was kinda happy to find that I really dug it! Definitely in the spirit of the original, even if it pales in comparison. I was kind of frustrated that there wasn't any one character to take you through the whole thing, it was like the brother, the sister, and Lou Taylor Pucci sort of had their interchangeable Ash moments throughout the thing. The brother/sister backstory was layed on waaaaaay too thick, the song and the mom and the ugggh stop.

But, I mean, like aero said upthread...once they get in the cabin and they find the demony stuff and then there's the book and the kooky music it's like your favorite horror movie blanket. I liked the uber-gore, and there were a few little humorous moments, like Lou Taylor Pucci slipping on the tongue like it's a banana peel was p lol

I enjoyed that it looked like a lot of it was done with practical effects. It was a nice reverential touch, I thought. Oh, and the rusted out Classic in the backyard <3

Watched Mama, was ok with a few jump scenes. Only gripe was the "mama", cgi face was ridiculous.

Always excited to make fun of "Evil Dead" some more. Like the scene where the sister, drooling and limping, walks into the room dragging a shotgun and they're all, sister, are you all right? What's wrong sister?

And then she shoots him.

Ha ha. What a moronic movie. Sound and fury signifying etc.

i completely cant get behind that critique/style of critique but maybe thats more of a general topic for the horror films why do we/don't we like them thread more than this one since it isn't specific to this movie.

It's In the Blood another disappointment. well-made but unremarkable. getting frustrated.

rob zombie's new one: predictably dumb as fuck, but without evil rednecks (!) and has at least one weird demonic midget thing (!!). dunno if i'd call it good, but i wasn't bored really. his wife really shouldn't act ever again, though.

a friend also loaned me a dvd-r of the Maniac remake, which i'm real skeptical of obv but what the fuck, i'm sure i'll end up watching it

I concede it's a pretty fickle standard. Obviously people being stupid shouldn't invalidate horror films, because otherwise I would dismiss some of the best horror films ever made. I suppose somewhere in my calculations I consider style/originality/effects/general effectiveness/wit/surprise/shock/scares/mood, etc.. The "Evil Dead" remake was an example of a film that failed on all of these levels save perhaps effects, which is why I guess stuff that doesn't usually bother me really bothered me. Also, the characters were really, really stupid, which reduced it to the level of an exercise for me, both as a film and as a filmgoing experience. Especially coming just a year after "Cabin in the Woods," "Evil Dead" was like watching a children's balloon animal fart out all its air and flutter aimlessly across the screen.

xpost

i think part of the problem was that the remake brought character to the fore in a way the original never did, spending all that time building up the protagonist's tragic backstory, the strained relationships, etc. it attempted to be roughly "realistic" in the manner of most contemporary commercial horror films (and failed, imo), while the characters in the '81 version are distanced and framed by weird naive-but-knowing stylization of that era. the latter approach is much more forgiving, since the audience is never really asked to believe in what they're seeing.

That could be it. If you're going to fill your film with real people rather than punching bags, they have to act like real people.

I have Sinister to watch this weekend, yay

It's so good

it was yr raveups that convinced me :)

I started Sinister with the lights out...1/3 of the way through I got up and turned the lights back on. Jeeeeezus it made me jump like 90 times!
I really enjoyed it, except towards the end. *spoilerish* the kids took me right out of the movie, so the ending ended up feeling kinda dumb. But the rest of it was fun! And JAMES RANSONE Sergeant Ziggy at yr service <3

Has anyone caught anything good on Netflix streaming recently, other than Grave Encounters, Lovely Molly, JDATE, etc?

I've just installed a chrome plugin that gives me access to the whole US catalogue, which is pretty huge but looks mostly terrible. I'm sure there are some hidden gems though.

About to watch "we are what we are" will report back.

Not streaming on Netflix, but should be on fear.net if you have on demand cable or whatever

Sadly mediocre at best

Thanks. Might give it a miss then.

to expand, it just seems really painfully aimless? and man, for those of you that don't like big leaps of anti-logic, the lead up to the climax is crazy crazy stupid and totally beyond belief.

watched the maniac remake last night. repellent and rather dull. not recommended, but gorehounds will appreciate the effects work.

then i watched sinister. almost the opposite: disturbing, but not inclined to wallow, and a hell of a lot of fun. loses some steam when it goes ott in the 2nd half, but i loved the build-up. clever play on the "found footage" genre, too.

Watched Dead Europe tonight. It's about an Australian/Greek photographer guy taking his father's ashes back to Europe and he starts seeing dead people and starts realising the folk nonsense his family talked about curses wasn't strictly bollocks. It is flawed but worth your time.

Man, I'm kind of struggling with "Mama" right now. Seems good, but all the ancillaries are bothering me: Chastain's wig/character, the horrible acting of the psychologist, Jaime Lannister ...

Hmm: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/maniac/

yeah, mentioned it a couple posts back. did not enjoy.

Sorry, missed it. Had to rebookmark a bunch of threads when they were getting out of control.

Saw Mama on a flight and I have a question for horror buffs. The feel of the movie is very similar to dozens of others, including the US remake of The Ring, right down to certain motifs: autumnal setting, sleuthing in spooky libraries/archives, aerial shots of cars driving through woods/mountains, solemn orchestral score, Oscar-nommed actress slumming it, clear if misplaced sense of its own classiness. I feel like I've seen so many so-so horror movies in the past decade that look like this and I wondered what the first was. Does it pre-date The Ring?

Mama was OK but I couldn't even begin to buy Jessica Chastain as a tattooed goth bass-player.

It sounds like you're referring to this hyper-styled, filtered look, which casts everything in perpetual blue shadow. It's a good question. There is a lot of "The Ring" in this movie, and a million other movies, too. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of movie in this movie, which is what lets "Mama" down. Just nothing happening when everyone already seems to know what's happening, for no good reason.

I seem to recall a precursor to the look being Neil Jordan's "In Dreams."

Really wanted to love Black Rock, but with a movie this stripped-down, the execution needs to be pretty much perfect, and key aspects were a little lacking.

intrigued by a field in england, new movie from the guy who did kill list, which got "eh" to "amazing!" responses itt. trailer makes it look like it might scratch the same itch sauna did for me....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRvzjkzu2U

totally dig the 70s paperback style of the movie poster too

http://cdn.bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/a-field-in-england-poster-1.jpeg

ooh that looks good but i think i would instinctively like it based on the title and poster alone :-/

That dude needs to slow down.

some weird ass remakes coming out too, of 70s aussie sleeper patrick and hated-by-jjjusten mexican cannibal flick we are what we are (the latter by the guy who did stake land).

tho I do believe remakes should be made of small imperfect movies instead of fucking up what was fine to begin with. wish somebody would remake the 70s telekinesis pic the medusa touch. great premise poorly executed.