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

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

harrumph

The Wild Goose Lake earns a mention on this thread for most gruesome deployment of an umbrella

I'm not a fan of the style/tone of this type of video essay but this is pretty fascinating all the same. Hadn't heard of The Evil Within before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXHRdfLnktU

Anyone mention or see "Z" yet? Seems like "The Babadook" redux, at least on paper, but reviews I've seen have been consistent in citing its apparently legit shocks/scares.

In the meantime, I started Blood Quantum, and ... I dunno, so far (25 minutes, maybe) I think it's not great. Digital cameras at least help a lot of low budget movies look good, but the acting and writing are pretty crappy; there's no app or filter that can help that. Inspired setting, though. I suppose I'll go back and finish it this afternoon.

keep at it, it goes places imo

then again I had no problem with the writing/acting so

OK, it was rich with metaphor, clever echoes of history and dramatic irony (linked to that history), but it also relied way too much on genre cliches (the zombie hunter with the samurai sword! the pregnant girl!) and dumb action sequences that tried for badassery (yeah, pop in that 8-track before you wheel your car into battle, maaan) but (imo) fell way short. A couple of good gore gags, but also a few too many moments that went for shock or comedy but also fell short of both. Oh, and it was never scary, to such an extent that I just assumed it wasn't going for scary. It was going for dramatic, but said writing/acting didn't sell that well enough for me.

I bet it would have made a great book, or series, or even (yes) comic. Like I said, the setting/material/story is full of ideas begging to be better fleshed out.

I never find anything scary so those first few points were more than enough for me. I agree the setting would easily support expansion.

"the deeper you dig" sounds interesting: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-deeper-you-dig-movie-review-2020

oooh neat, Phantasm comparison....

I don't remember which of you recommended "Hagazussa," but thanks, it was very good, if very grim. RIYL: The Witch, Ari Aster, erotic goat milking, eating babies, The Sound of Music, black metal album covers ...

I know I recommended it and obvs I like all of those things lol

i definitely rec'd it last summer or fall, i believe.

also hi, been thinking about this thread recently, so popped in to see what's up.

turns out, not a whole lot!

but, I do want to say that I feel like Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Barnaby's film before Blood Quantum, is actually a better flick, even if it isn't as strictly bound to the horror genre. i'm also looking at the both from someone who teaches and reads a lot of Indigenous lit and Native Studies stuff, though, so Rhymes might just be more complex and rich for interpretation along those lines.

Has anyone watched Blood Machines?

Arrow's releases of old films are still fine but I think their new films have been getting worse, all these weak looking horror comedies.

You know what movie hits different in 2020, and also while high? Pontypool

I love that movie. His new movie sounds like a mess.

Huh, this is where I learn that Pontypool isn't on any streaming service right now, and can only be rented, apparently exclusively, on Apple TV. To the torrentmobile!