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

yeah i agree the catholic stuff is pretty straightforward in a context of demonology / possession and as far as this is based on an actual "case file" i guess it needed to adhere to some basic conventional tropes

also it's rhode island & you can't really escape catholicism in this place.

There were some good scares, like what carl posted about SPOILER thekidseeingthethingbehindthedoor /SPOILER, which was a nice, extended creepy moment. And a couple that could have been standard shocks: the woman on top of the wardrobe and the pictures falling. They were special b/c they extended the scare a few beats beyond the initial startling jump.

I'm sure my fear was heightened by having carl agatha shrieking and trying to duck for cover under my torso.

yea agree, the rhythm was pretty slow to start but the i thought it was to good cumulative effect. also the period costuming & set dressing was pretty well done without being overdone or distracting imho. i appreciated all of the dramatic collars of vera farmiga.

Yes, me too. Some dumb Slate writer criticized Farmiga's outfits. As if a clairvoyant working in an evil-fighting duo in the 70s wouldn't wear ruffles. and IIRC, she dressed like that IRL, too.

her outfits were great and totally reminded me of some of my earliest teachers (who weren't nuns)

Has any horror movie ever addressed what happens if you've dealing with a classic (classical?) demonic possession and you're, you know, Jewish or something? Like, do demons just go for the Catholics? If you're Jewish, do you have to worry about vampires? Can you still wield a cross against vampires if you're Jewish? Or are there different demons that prey on different religious denominations? Just the cliche of all the religious iconography and all that gets a little campy to a non-Catholic like me.

Thinking (a tiny bit) more, doesn't the presence of demons or whatever in a Catholic god vs. the devil context invalidate all the other religions in these fictional worlds?

I seem to recall the vampires in Buffy, and the demons and other stuff, being sorta of unrelated to religious stuff. They're just there, like aliens or interdimensional monsters. Because Willow was explicitly Jewish, but neither her religion nor anyone else's religion played a part in the show, iirc. And Whedon is an atheist.

That's what I was getting at - religion isn't really a part of the show, but sometimes they still casually use crosses without commentary. Or maybe that was just in the early seasons?

There have definitely been movies in which the demonically affected were atheists or nonbelievers. One of the rules in Stephen King's TV's Salem's Lot (or maybe it was the book?) was that if you didn't believe in the power of the cross, the cross had no power, which is why Barlow ate the priest.

I'm sure my fear was heightened by having carl agatha shrieking and trying to duck for cover under my torso.

Hush you screamed, too. Do you remember when we were watching I think it was Friday the 13th Part II and something scared me and I poured beer over both of us? That was funny.

also everybody OTM re: Vera Farmiga's collars.

Oh, LL, I was watching The Legend of Hell House the other day and if you have not seen it, I think you would really appreciate medium Florence Tanner's wardrobe. It made me think of you as I was watching it.

we were watching I think it was Friday the 13th Part II and something scared me

Probably wasn't Friday the 13th Part II, then. Now, if you said you fell asleep, then yes, it could have been that one.

The Possession (2012) was, if I recall, a Jewish exorcism movie. Shares the same traits as the rest of these films: good acting, fine production, a few creepy sequences, some jump scares... and then some forgettable flailing before the end credits.

It's kind of like comic book universes. When Jews are dealing with this demon over here, Catholics are dealing with that demon over there, Spider-man is dealing with this villain here, X-Men that villain there ...

Probably wasn't Friday the 13th Part II, then. Now, if you said you fell asleep, then yes, it could have been that one.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, July 29, 2013 7:43 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You are just too cool for me. I can't keep up.

It was some goofy jump scare, to which I am particularly susceptible having, as LL said so well upthread, glass nerves.

Legend of hell house is fucking obligatory!!!!

Ah, the De-Ghostulator machine. Who could forget that?

The novel of The Keep dealt with the issue of a Christian monster and a Jewish protagonist. I can't remember if Mann's film carried any of that over...

Has any horror movie ever addressed what happens if you've dealing with a classic (classical?) demonic possession and you're, you know, Jewish or something?

not really a horror movie but "this is the end" does kind of

The Possession was mildly interesting for the Jewish angle (and Matisyahu) but disappointing otherwise. There is also a famous 1970s Turkish rip off off The Exorcist called Seytan I've been meaning to watch.

In other news, know what's scarier than demons? Angry off-leash dogs. Just now, not 5 min ago, I was walking my dogs and this big froth-mouthed monster came barrelling at us and attacked my dog (not the little one, but she was caught in the middle). It was one of the most terrifying things I've experienced in SOME TIME and I screamed at the top of my lungs for help because I was pretty sure that this dog was going to eat all three of us there in the alley.

Fortunately, we are ok but holy shit. Talk about what's scary? That's scary. This dog was real (compared to a demon).

FYI we are all ok physically, though the dog has a little blood in his fur. I'm scared to touch him.

Dogs are fucking scary.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7f/Devil_Dog-_The_Hound_of_Hell_FilmPoster.jpeg/220px-Devil_Dog-_The_Hound_of_Hell_FilmPoster.jpeg

hope you & your pups are ok, LL

All I know, is that if I were a non-believer, and I saw a vampire, and I saw that the vampire did not react well to crosses, then watch me become a believer pretty quickly. Like, if that won't solidify your faith, nothing will.

The novel of The Keep dealt with the issue of a Christian monster and a Jewish protagonist. I can't remember if Mann's film carried any of that over...

― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, July 29, 2013 7:57 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think it was very explicit that the monster was Christian, but it's such a weird weird movie that I may be misremembering.

Yvette Mimieux!

Yeah dogs are seriously scary. My poor baby, I wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to go into the alley again. He let me touch his head and chin. I think he's ok?

All I know, is that if I were a non-believer, and I saw a vampire, and I saw that the vampire did not react well to crosses, then watch me become a believer pretty quickly. Like, if that won't solidify your faith, nothing will.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, July 29, 2013 3:28 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but maybe all this would prove is that vampires hate cliches

yeah i mean real demons aren't scared of the vatican
that much i know

The novel of The Keep dealt with the issue of a Christian monster and a Jewish protagonist. I can't remember if Mann's film carried any of that over...

― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, July 29, 2013 7:57 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think it was very explicit that the monster was Christian, but it's such a weird weird movie that I may be misremembering.

― Lawyer... SUAVE... (carl agatha), Monday, July 29, 2013 4:31 PM (9 minutes ago)

iirc the nazis mistakenly thought the symbols embedded in the walls of the keep were crosses, so they started wearing crosses to ward off the evil, but it turned out the symbols represented the hilt of the sword the protagonist carried w/ him. pretty sure there's a scene in the movie where the SS commandant tries to pull a cross on the evil spirit and he just crushes it and the hand in which it is held.

weren't the two powers battling supposed to be older than christianity? read the book 20 years ago so I'm a little foggy.

I was thinking of the scene where the bad monster (who's really nice to Ian McKellan in the movie, plus I think he stops Ian McKellan's daughter from getting raped by a Nazi, so how bad can he be) was unimpressed by the cross-wielding Nazi.

But yes, I do recall that it was an ancient battle between the Keep monster and the dude on the motorcycle.

I read the book when I was a kid (part of the "steal age inappropriate horror novels from my aunt" years) but I did rewatch the movie in the last couple of years, although the weirdness of the movie has obscured my memory.

Xpost I meant to say 'Christianity-derived'. Obv the vamp in the keep does not accept jc as his personal l & s etc.

I hope Carl (dog version) is ok!!! We used to get attacked all the time in this neighb before the trend changed from pits to chihuahuas and yorkies.

The Keep (novel) is quite good. I just read it a couple of years ago.

Legend of hell house is fucking obligatory!!!!

― Spot Lange (Jon Lewis), Monday, July 29, 2013 12:55 PM (2 hours ago)

Ah, the De-Ghostulator machine. Who could forget that?

― The Thnig, Monday, July 29, 2013 12:56 PM (2 hours ago)

just cuz yeah

read the keep as a kid. thought it was great, though i hardly remember it now. my clearest memory of the book is my sense of of disappointment at the demon in the film. iirc, he was supposed to be made of congealed but never quite solid smoke, so the seemingly solid skeleton monster was a bit of letdown. film is interesting on its own merits, if awfully slow.

Hell House is the book with the sauna scene? That was really scary. We're at the 911 vet now btw, just to be sure.

mann was pressured by the studio to make severe cuts to the keep, can't remember the details but more than 1 hour was removed and mann essentially disowned the film. I would love to see a director's cut, there are some great stately sequences but the pacing is awful. clearly a broken film.

now that I think abt it, I'd love to see del toro take a run at the keep. mann definitely didn't get the monster thing.

good luck LL!

The opening sequence with the trucks rolling into the town is herzogian dreamy but yeah broken film.

Movie's got lots going for it, and so much going against it. Score is cool, but the atmosphere is a MTV misstep in a way that Mann doesn't usually manage. Fantasy is not his forte. He's a master of stylized hyper-realism, not make-believe. "The Keep" is like his "Legend," minus the Rob Bottin make-up effects.

Yep about to watch the nightmare on elm street remake. why? Well basically because its here so I might as well.

As you can tell I am super optimistic and really stoked.

I wish that had been done well, because Jackie Earle Haley was a truly inspired bit of casting. It's really, really bad, unfortunately.

Wow this is really really bad

Hands down absolutely the worst of the remakes. I'll probably poll that, but if you vote for anything else you are wrong.

I liked it slightly more than Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D, tbf.

Or rather, disliked it slightly less.

Watching "Sinister" right now. LOL at Hawke's Post-It notes. One says "Box of films - where did it come from?" and next to it is another Post-It Note with a scribbled picture of a box. Gotta love his diligence!

This movie is ridiculous, but so far probably better than "The Conjuring." Btw, in "The Conjuring," wow, did that family of 7 get over the mysterious, horrible first-night death of the family dog fast.

OK, Ethan Hawke. Stop watching snuff films and taking pictures of evil stuff - get out of the house! I'm serious, just get out. Don't you love your family? Nothing good will come of your half-assed investigation.