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

The Invisible Man:

Good - opening scene, restaurant scene, Elizabeth Moss, some style, jump scares.
Bad - wild improbabilities (not in general, you just go with the premise, but specific scenes and points of logic), too long, zero attempt to ruminate on invisibility (like Cronenberg's The Fly ruminates on decay--too much to ask, I know), too-cute ending, jump scares. Also didn't like the way there isn't even a hint of sexuality in Moss's relationship with her cop friend.

I've never read the book or seen the original, and suspect this has little or no connection to either. I do love Elliot Gould's Invisible Man joke in The Long Goodbye.

I don’t check this thread too often so forgive me if it’s been discussed ad nauseum, but I finally caught the Suspiria redo and was enthusiastic about it. I really thought it paid tribute well and stood its own ground. I was nuts about the dancing and the color/photography.

I can understand negative reactions but I really liked it a lot

Not sure if it's cos i went to the cinema in a bad mood but i found color out of space quite disappointing. seemed to mush together tropes and ideas from a ream of existing films (The Shining, Society, The Thing, Slither) without really offering anything new, nor anything to really think about. It ended up being a sequence of loosely-linked events that seemed designed to show off some quite nice but OTT special effects, but it all felt a bit empty and inconsequential.

I enjoyed how it messed with everyone in different ways, but it seemed a little less than well thought out. Some of the things that it seemed to suggest simply went nowhere. It seemed like the kind of movie they ran out of money making. Still, I'm glad to see that Stanley got work again.

Also caught the Suspiria remake this weekend, too, and agree with your comments, particularly the dance scene with the audience. Wonderful. Was thinking the final dance scene could have ended with more than dancers somewhat whirling in place, but guessing choreography driven by safety concerns given the slippery floor. Leaps and slides probably not a good idea.

Also watched Girl on the Third Floor. Don't feel the time was wasted, despite many, many medium close-ups, plus a seriously 'meh' ending and epilogue. Was rooting for the evil house.

color out of space quite disappointing. seemed to mush together tropes and ideas from a ream of existing films ... a sequence of loosely-linked events ... inconsequential.

this is not an unfair reaction to the film or to Lovecraft in general, but the movies you cite were all made 55-80 years after The Colour Out Of Space

Story is a tad too long but my favorite thing is the bit they'll never get onscreen: the farm and "blasted heath".

Hey y’all, I’m quietly sneaking back into a few beloved threads after an...extended absence. Looks like I have some catching up to do here.

:D

welcome back, friend

the new black christmas was so riotously good i was freaking out the whole time

the script is simultaneously a lot on the nose and a lot hopped up on goofballs but respectively 1) it's on the nose in ways that are... correct, so i was never mad about it 2) some of the more ridiculous moments make the movie seem like it's operating according to a weird private sense of humor shared among a group of friends, which is great in a film explicitly about sisterhood. looked great (again everyone should watch always shine), enormously cathartic and cool and fun and wildly different from the original and the 2006 remake, i couldn't have been happier

any Shudder recommendations? been burning through stuff so I can bounce before I get charged lol

highlights so far:

Luz: probably would have annoyed me if it was any longer but at 65 mins before credits, this was just the right length. almost more of a demo reel than a movie, but a very good demo reel.

Daniel Isn't Real: son-of-Schwarzenegger makes an excellent imaginary Patrick Bateman. this was way more solid than I expected.

Black Coal, Thin Ice: not horror - Chinese neo-noir - but really good, sort of a deeply fucked new take on Sea of Love. made me eager to check out Wild Goose Lake.

Dogs Don't Wear Pants: also not really horror, just an exceptionally violent BDSM romantic tragicomedy. Had some really great moments and fine performances, but would have really benefitted from fleshing out the other characters besides the protag. Leans into some cliches the BDSM community would frown upon, I kinda suspect, though I'd be lying if I said I was an expert of any kind.

Slumber Party Massacre: somehow had never seen this. A riot, though would have been a first-tier slasher classic with a less lame killer.

what! the driller killer in slumber party massacre is terrifying!

I found him pretty effective till he started talking

These both sound interesting but I don't think I'll bite yet. There's a few spoilers.
https://thebedlamfiles.com/film/the-platform/
https://thebedlamfiles.com/film/swallow/

Heard v good things about the latter.

is that a horror movie about Bush's meteoric rise in the 90s

Essay from Mike Flanagan about watching horror ... well, now:

https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3611821/facing-fear-times-uncertainty-guest-essay-filmmaker-mike-flanagan/

as I mentioned on the Streaming thread, Shudder just added the first eight Friday the 13ths, so that's my weekend sorted

Re: Flanagan piece, I also hated horror when I was a kid but loved monsters, it was intensely uncomfortable.

There was a lot of horror writers on twitter promoting their virus stories, some people saying that is screwed up and some people saying it's completely appropriate to the function of horror.

I've seen a lot more trends about comfort reads/viewing though.

I don't think I've really responded at all to the situation in my entertainment habits.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I'd never considered the tacit appeal of horror and other challenging stuff is that it has an *end*. It's not just make believe, it's finite.

earnestly cannot tell at this time if I am genetically predisposed to defending Damon Lindelof or if The Hunt is legitimately really good, but I am at least comfortable asserting that Betty Gilpin is stellar in it.

The Head Hunter - Surprised to find there is no Bluray version of this, only DVD. I wanted this to be much better than it was. It's very short and the story is very simple, not much dialogue. Special effects are really weak and the music unwisely tries to wring emotion out of what little story there is. The only things it really has going for it is the scenery and costume.

And those are worth every penny of the paltry budget.

They were definitely impressive and enabled a trailer that promised a much better film.

Tried to watch the director's cut of Doctor Sleep to see if it would result in a more satisfying overall movie, but instead mainly seems to add the last thing you'd ever want or need: more lengthy, detailed explanations of the lore and the powers. I bailed half an hour in.

mainly seems to add the last thing you'd ever want or need: more lengthy, detailed explanations

Steven King's job description, innit?

yeah I'm gonna continue to blame Flanagan's blind fealty to King for sinking that movie

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I'd never considered the tacit appeal of horror and other challenging stuff is that it has an *end*. It's not just make believe, it's finite.

Besides making the cash grab nature of horror films overt, that's the main reason I hate the "it's not over" ending. I'm all for sequels, but there's no pleasure in watching 90 minutes of say, Wishmaster, Freddy, or Leprechaun, kill a bunch of folk and be defeated/killed/banished, only to have a "wink wink, they're back" coda. I already assume that a new film is coming. The coda kills that vicarious satisfaction.

The only coda I remember liking was Friday the 13th Part II's last shot.

If you're craving new monster makeup, this is the place. Some stunning work here, if only they had more films to work on.
https://www.instagram.com/monsterpaloozaofficial/

Plus Danny Devito and Brad Pitt masks
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2hgQeXBzva/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B27QDaPhxZt/

Crazy motherfucks
https://www.instagram.com/spiderzero/
https://www.instagram.com/sazenlee/

Has anyone (don't know if Frederik B is still around) seen Amat Escalante's The Untamed? I seen some monster sex people saying it's the best thing ever; oddly it's in Arrow's arthouse line rather than their cult line but it goes full-on tentacle porn in one scene. I had seen the cover lots of times but never really knew what it was. Seen somebody say it's very obviously riffing on (or ripping off) Possession but I'm curious.

Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor is a nasty, NASTY piece of work. And a big step up from Antiviral.

meanwhile I pretty much hated The Lodge, which I assume is the movie Hereditary haters see in Hereditary.

can't wait to love that movie

I had that thought lol

I liked it, but like Hereditary, feel like it's not a movie you "love" in the conventional sense. it was ugly

Hereditary at least had some pitch-black humor and distinctive style, and some great performances. This had little to none of any of that, and despite being considerably shorter felt empty and draggy as hell throughout. (Not to knock Keough who I've seen be totally great in stuff like The Girlfriend Experience series, though I'm beginning to wonder if she has a nudity-required clause in her contracts.)

Both movies probably equally preposterous but it grated on me much more in The Lodge cause it was all so po-faced about it.

anyway in better news I'm halfway through Blood Quantum and really digging it so far

xpost definitely no humor to be found here, that's for sure

my personal concerns with Platform on Netflix have less to do with the sociological intentions or hazy (if nicely executed) sci-fi concepts and more to do with the execution. As a whole, it's too heavy on the gore and torture porn if it's not meant to be titillating and too obscure and sprawling if you're looking for a taste of the ol' ultra-violence. A bit too much chocolate in the peanut butter and vice versa for my taste but still well worth a watch.

funny that you mention Platform (as yet unseen by me), since it beat out Blood Quantum for the TIFF Midnight Madness award

I ended up just about loving BQ, which came the closest to generating the feel of an actual Romero zombie flick of anything I've seen in a very long time, while also very much doing its own things. a few incredible effects, too

oh yeah i totally fucking loved the lodge. it beats no resemblance to hereditary

bears*

for one thing it was very scary

lmao I did not find one frame of it even properly unsettling beyond some of the kids' praying, but kids praying is an easy shortcut to creepytown for me

imo they are aesthetically super similar and both heavily feature (and exploit, I think in both cases tbh) mental illness as the potential vehicle of untold violences

yeah i don't think they're aesthetically similar, hereditary doesn't have a found footage scene from hell! or a dream sequence as powerful and lonely as the dream sequence in the lodge. and they tell different stories about ptsd differently. hereditary is way more about family-inherited unbroken cycle trauma with a satanic cult edge. the lodge is... well, it's hard to talk about the lodge without spoiling it, but it's not about family or demon shit! i would say they both have miniatures as framing devices, and in one the miniatures are an artistic discipline and in the other they're just creepy ass dollhouses

some of the kids' praying, but kids praying is an easy shortcut to creepytown for me

this isn't even what's scary

the scenes of her wandering/sleepwalking(?) through the cabin's shadows not even sure what reality is real, the recurring scene of her approaching that opaque door... THAT'S scary