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

oh, and really enjoyed 'big bad wolves' - such a twisted sense of humour throughout.

I dont know if there is a rule to talk about only the very latest releases but I just saw Byzantium and liked it quite a lot. I wish there were a bit more points in history of the characters. All the film's creators were very wary of this being too much like Interview With The Vampire (and vampire films in general) but I thought it was a lot like Jordan's earlier film with regards to the older vampires and the bastards/the past that the main characters were trying to escape.
Loved the beach and mountain parts, thought that long haired ginger boy was really good. I've never seen a Sam Riley film before, he is soooooo beautiful!

Watching the dvd interviews there was an intense wariness of being too much like other vampire stories. I dont get why the very concept of vampires is apparently so tired for so many people.

Some guy:"I so tired of vamp-"
Me:"FUCKING ZOMBIES! SHUT UP!"

ZOMBIES
- old Voodoo types that rarely get used now.
- revenge from beyond the grave style zombies (kinda like ghosts but more physical).
- Romero zombies (with varying abilities, possibly running, occasionally talking or using weapons).
- unhappy rotting characters, often sentimental.

The third type accounts for the majority of modern zombie stories.

VAMPIRES
- old folklore vampires with terrible breath and more likely to prey on your farm animals than you.
- old folklore shapeshifting deceivers, possibly taking the form of someone you know. Wurdalaks too.
- vampire animals and monsters
- Bram Stoker, Polidori, Le Fanu. Murnau's Nosferatu (less attractive variant). These leading into classic Universal/Hammer style.
- Near Dark, Lost Boys.
- vampires that could almost fill in for zombies. Dusk Til Dawn.
- Anne Rice.
- Poppy Z Brite's punk/goth bi-sexuals.
- delusional people. Romero's Martin, Vampire's Kiss (Nicholas Cage).
- Twilight.

Vampires as a basic concept are far more varied.

Vampires more often/likely co-opted for non-horror purposes (teen romance, gothic cosplay etc)

That makes sense that a lot of fans would be irked by that aspect but I dont think horror fans should have a right of ownership of the vampire concept.

yeah nobody "owns" anything really but to me its understandable that horror fans would be irked by the most popular iterations of a particular concept having little to no relation to the genre

Looking foward to Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears (from Amer directors). I hear the Berberian Sound Studio guy has a new horror film coming out too. Maybe things are looking better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYXXpT11WtM

exactly 50% of that is good news

will watch the shit out of whatever the Berberian Sound Studio guy does next

that would be the other 50%

Amer and Berberian were my two favorite horror films of the last... I dont know how long. Probably since Pans Labyrinth and Inland Empire.

lol the new one from the Berberian guy (Peter Strickland) is co-produced by Ben Wheatley, because of course it is.

I searched Night Of The Devils (1972, Italy) and it came up with nothing. I think it is obscure enough to be treated almost as a new film release. Very little writing about it before the recent dvd release.

From director of Mill Of Stone Women. It feels like a Bava film. Vampires in an old abandoned forest town. It has a soundtrack by Gaslini (La Notte). It has two of the most unconvincing causes of death ever. Not a masterpiece, but has a satisfying aesthetic and atmopshere, a little creepy. Probably deserves a place above plenty of other overrated 70s horror films. I'd strongly advise most people on the thread to get it if you like things like Bava's Kill Baby Kill.

Warning Shadows is a silent film that also seems to have resurfaced from even more obscurity. It was fine. Kind of a murder mystery made interesting by having no text dialogue at all.

not so sure that The Duke of Burgundy will be a horror film. but it does sound intriguing.

maybe because Mario Bava took a stab at the same story in Black Sabbath?

Looking foward to Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears (from Amer directors). I hear the Berberian Sound Studio guy has a new horror film coming out too.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, February 24, 2014 1:13 PM (45 minutes ago)

okay, 2014, you can coast from here on out

Strange Color was inspired by Satoshi Kon, according to Cattet/Forzani. cool. tho the reviews i've seen so far have been fairly toxic.

Duke of Burgundy?

re Black Sabbath and Night Of The Devils both during Wurdalak stories, I dont think variations of the same story really hurts another horror film's chances to this extent.

Which brings me to another film which is extremely neglected (at least outside of Japan), has been done loads of times and will be done again: the late 50s color version of Ghost Of Yotsuya is one of the best japanese horror films I've seen. Yet another film inspired by the success of Hammer that is better than anything Hammer ever done (also 60s Corman films, 60s Bava films, Lemora and Japan's Lake Of Dracula). It starts off a bit slow but the end really makes up for it. Dont know why you can get Kwaidan, Onibaba, Kuroneko, Hausu, Jigoku (Kumashiro's version still hasnt come out on english dvd though), Lake Of Dracula and Blind Beast but not Nakagawa's Yotsuya. Takashi Miike is doing his own version soon and I really hope this will get Nakagawa's version on english dvd.
I watched it and the less good black and white 1956 version on youtube. Go for it guys. You wont regret it unless you're against watching films on youtube.

There are loads of versions of Yotsuya/Oiwa
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-yotsuyakaidan.html

all i said was that Ferroni's film probably "feels like a Bava film" because Bava had already filmed the same Aleksei Tolstoy story. who said anything about one adaptation diminishing the other?

Oh, sorry. I still cant figure out the Duke Of Burgundy thing.

Miike's version of Yotsuya is called Kuime. Coming out in autumn.

In thinking of films since 2005, Shinya Tsukamoto's Haze is really underrated. Less than 50mins and like bad dreams everyone has had but for some reason nobody ever makes films of. Tsukamoto is a contender for my favorite director ever, he deserves so much more; I was happy when Mark Cousins put him in Story Of Film. I think he is readymade for a far bigger cult but it just hasnt happened yet. Everyone knows Tetsuo but I dont know why that doesnt lead onto Tokyo Fist, Vital and Kotoko for these viewers.

Looking around this thread more, Love Exposure is one of my all time great films. Not a horror film, but the sort of film horror fans will watch. Easily one of the top5 most powerful film viewing experiences I've ever had.

lol I am the only person I know who's seen Love Exposure and doesn't love it, or even find it all that memorable

Ha! I hope so. Actually, I have seen quite a few reviews from people who couldnt get past the unskirt photography gang or found the whole thing a bit too crazy.

Sono has been sorta unbearable since he started buying his own hype. Tsukamoto remains brilliant.

Tetsuya Nakashima is a much stronger storyteller than Sono.

The Duke of Burgundy is Peter Strickland's next film.

... about a lesbian love riven by obsessive lepidopterology? Sure why not.

Tell me about Nakashima please.

I still havent seen Tsukamoto's Nightmare Detective 2 and his Female segment.

Sono for a while was becoming one of those "I'll see everything they put out" guys for me but Himizu and Land Of Hope made me lose interest quite a lot even though they were not bad really. I worry that he goes too much in the "socially relevant" direction, I dont think that is his strong suit; he had plans to remake Noriko's Dinner Table for American audiences because he felt there was an important message, I hope he doesnt do it.
I'm also hope he doesnt do Lords Of Chaos, I read interviews with him and I heard his theories about that time/place and I dont think he knows what he might be getting himself into. It sounds like he might be doing it for his own preferred reading of the situation and doesnt really care about representing what really happened and even after Varg's death threats, I dont think he realises how pedants could sink this film and damage his reputation.

Looking forward to see his contribution to ABC's Of Death 2. He has a full on action film coming out too.

I havent seen all his films but from what I have seen I dont think he has fallen from grace because it seemed uneven from the start; many of his films arent available to me. He has 38 director credits on imdb back to 1985 (I've heard he filmed lots of gay porn too). Here's what I have seen and what I think of them...

2001- Suicide Circle/Club
((Interesting, quite weird, but I dont think there is anything real behind all the mysteries. Sadly this seems to be his most widely seen film. Although I understand why it was notorious in japan))

2005- Noriko's Dinner Table
((Quite similar to Love Exposure in the structure/length. It does make an interesting critique of old fashioned family obsessions but it probably didnt manage the profundity it was going for, or maybe I'm missing some japanese context. His idea to remake it for america was that many american viewers told him that it was a good critique for western conservative ideas of the family too))

2005- Strange Circus
((Some great visuals and ideas. Appealingly screwed up but the big revelations at the end felt too forced in their climatic loudness))

2007- Exte
((Pretty good. Quite funny. Ending is totally bizarre in a cartoonish way that might be too much for most audiences, it made me laugh. Seriously weakened by bad cgi))

2008- Love Exposure
((Should be racing up among top spots of film canons everywhere. After I seen it I really wanted to hand copies out in the street))

2010- Cold Fish
((Great twisted fun. The madness at the end is probably a tad forced but I'd still recommend it strongly))

2011- Guilty Of Romance
((Gorgeous photography. Also appealingly twisted. Good central performance. Pretty good film))

2011- Himizu
((The main story just didnt interest me that much. The tangent about the thieves was probably the most interesting part but I dont know why it was in the film. I did find the very end quite moving but the whole thing just didnt hold together))

2012- Land Of Hope
((Seems to me it was mostly a critique of the handling of the Fukushima radiation. Characters do not trust the official rules/advice and the film shows how they deal with it. It was okay, but it didnt really grab me))

On the topic of a similar director: Gakuryu/Sogo Ishii; I was amazed to find that japanese film expert Tom Mes thought Isnt Anyone Alive was a career low. I can understand why people would think Burst City, Labyrinth Of Dreams, Gojoe and Electric Dragon were more special but I honestly thought Isnt Anyone Alive was more consistently enjoyable than any of those. It made me laugh quite a bit and despite being very very quiet my attention never wandered.

He changed his name from Sogo Ishii to Gakuryu Ishii. I just read that Gakuryu means mountain dragon.

Pretty sure it hasn't been released outside australia yet , but has anyone seen wolf creek 2 yet ? thought the first one was one of the better australian films of the last decade and while i imagine the second will be something of a rehash am still interested in seeing it.

undead thread

Finally saw The Conjuring yesterday and really enjoyed it. The second half was less impressive but the first was probably the best haunted-house stuff I've seen from Hollywood in a while.

Also looking forward to Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears, even though they clearly got stuck five sixths of the way through constructing a new film title from old Edwige Fenech movies.

seriously. why not All the Bloody Keys of the Nude Dolls?

The Photogenic Nun and the Phantom Tigers?

Does anyone keep up with martial arts films? I'm just curious if anything good in the last 10 years has came out in the vein of Chinese Ghost Story, Boxer's Omen, Spooky Encounters, Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain, Spooky Bunch and Mr Vampire. I think Chinese Ghost Story was remade recently but it didnt look very interesting and reviews didnt seem encouraging.

I read a book about this subgenre a few years ago (I think it was called Spooky Encounters too) and it seems these films died out apart from the occasional hopping vampire film.

Amer was so good and despite its clear influences pretty singular, the trailer for The Thingy Whatsit Of The Crying Corpse or something looks pretty great. I'll say 'further developing a distinctive visual cinematic language' rather than 'looks similar and the last one was good' 'cause I'm looking forward to it.

Juno Mak's RIGOR MORTIS (2013). it's an update of the Mr. Vampire films and even features some of the actors from that series. I haven't watched it yet - waiting for the forthcoming release of the director's cut on BD - but it looks very promising.

the other modern fantasy wuxia have tended to overrule in chintzy CGI to the point of distraction. Even Tsui Hark's films haven't been immune from this blight.

Over-indulge, not overrule. Stupid autocorrect.

I think what I see of hong kong films in general shows bloated shiny Hollywood epic disease. The humour of the older films seems to have vanished.
Apparently Hark complains about the Hollywoodization but some people blame him for it. I saw Green Snake recently and it bored me quite a bit despite some lovely visuals. After watching several wire-fu films with people who aren't great martial artists, you get the feeling you are often watching mostly people jumping very high towards/above the camera or being knocked away from the camera.

I don't know much about the political state of Hong Kong but I've heard they are suffering a bit from being with mainland China (it was only after I read that book that I realised many of the Hong Kong superstars tried to be make it big in America in the late 90s, with varying degrees of success). I wonder how much this affects the film industry there. I've seen clips of their modern tv dramas and they look like really lovely wuxia epics without any(?)martial arts.

Also heard there are still good screwed up films in Catergory III coming out(things like Untold Story, Red To Kill, Ebola Syndrome).

Dream Home!

I saw a trailer today for Rigor Mortis, something like a Chinese vampire movie (though tbh I couldn't quite follow everything in the trailer)...looks kinda promising?

yes, a true goeng-si movie. and the credentials are good. i'm very excited.

Dream home is fucking fantastic

I think Dream Home is one of the ones I heard about recently. I'll put it on the checklist.

The trailer and reviews for Rigor Mortis don't look promising to me. Looks like there might be too much cgi again. They say the film has a dedication to two of the dead stars of Mr Vampire and has several actors from it but if this really is supposed to be a tribute, why take out the slapstick (cant remember if the trailer had any martial arts either)?
To be honest, I don't think Mr Vampire is as good as a lot of those other supernatural martial arts films. It's really weird that the prank vampire at the start looks totally convincing but the real vampire at the end looks as if he is supposed to be fake, like some guy just wearing a mask. One of the laziest makeup jobs I've ever seen, I wonder I they were on so tight a dealine and had no eye makeup to make it look less like a mask.

Mr. Vampire is one of my favorite movies, so i think i might disagree with you there.

Could you wax lyrical about it for me? I'm interested.

I always thought Spooky Encounters was much better. The movements/choreography of the vampire/corpse are amazing. It has one of the best laugh out loud endings I've ever seen. I just wish it had more horror stuff and didn't go for the long magic battle. I think the start of both Spooky Encounters and Mr Vampire promise more horror than they end up delivering. The chandelier scene at the start of Spooky Encounters 2 is classic.

The Mr. Vampire, Spooky Encounters, and ACGS series are blessedly true to their own cultural roots, and it's strange to me that you expect these movies to deliver Western-style horror. There's no shortage of HK films that draw/crib from the Western horror-film canon. The best of them are able to infuse a distinctly Eastern sensibility (The Imp, Bewitched/The Boxer's Omen, Hex, Killer Snakes, Devil Fetus, Seeding of a Ghost- to name a few favorites) that keeps them from being merely derivative. So why not just enjoy the purity of these series?

Admittedly, the most entertaining IMO HK movies come from the random collision of Eastern mysticism and mimicry of Western blockbusters. Like the Terminator-styled precinct rampage in Evil Cat, and the HK-styled retelling of The Witches of Eastwick in An Erotic Ghost Story.

I'm not complaining about eastern or western styles of horror. Mr Vampire and Spooky Encounters both get less and less dark at the showdown even if they are still supernatural, regardless of regional styles. They lose the macabre edge of the end. The openings of both films seem to suggest more macabre spookery than is delivered for the remaining time.

Boxers Omen and Devil Fetus both have macabre showdowns.

I haven't seen Devil Fetus yet(I seen youtube clips) and few of those others. Never heard of Hex.

I read a lot about Hong Kong films stealing music from western films and parodying parts of other famous films.