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

wow the last 30 minutes of martyrs are just so brutal. i dont think id really put it in the horror category (as weird as that seems considering, well, everything about it) - idk what to call it. it isnt scary per se (uh certainly disquieting dont get me wrong).

really having trouble working my way around it. really good though.

was talking w/a friend of mine about these sort of characteristics of new foreign (to me) horror films. there is def a totally different thing going on depending on whether yer talking about france/UK/spain/aussie, but all of them are simultaneously blooming, whereas the american stuff is sort of flailing around and retreading, and the asian extreme stuff seems to be caught in a rut.

god i hate the term asian extreme but at least its a placeholder (and works better than j-horror).

asian X-TREME

The Strangers is effective but forgettable and completely contentless.

Got The Woods waiting on my hard drive, hadn't heard of it before this thread, but I'm quite excited about it now. Also, Bruce Campbell!

oof. that was rough.

― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, October 29, 2009 2:29 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark

yep.

wow the last 30 minutes of martyrs are just so brutal. i dont think id really put it in the horror category (as weird as that seems considering, well, everything about it) - idk what to call it. it isnt scary per se (uh certainly disquieting dont get me wrong).

First 2/3 def. has enough (fucking freaky as shit) traditional macabre elements to qualify it as trad horror imo. Last bit is def on its own arthouse thing, tho. Absolutely loved this btw.

okay so I just read about Inside and um... yikes

there is a reason I don't watch these but tbh I love reading about them

there is def a totally different thing going on depending on whether yer talking about france/UK/spain/aussie, but all of them are simultaneously blooming

Any recommendations? I've already added Inside and Martyr to my queue, but haven't seen any mention of specific Aussie or Spanish movies yet.

aussie: wolf creek obv.

for aussie/NZ stuff you should prob start with Wolf Creek

spanish - maybe rec? i have to think about this one a little more tbh

xpost hah yep

lots of peeps rep for "the nun" on the spanish side, but i havent seen it so

there is a reason I don't watch these but tbh I love reading about them

― ADVANCED CHORD CHANGES (HI DERE), Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:46 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OTM

Here is generally how it breaks down for me:

Brilliant, worthy of canonization: The Descent, The Devil's Rejects, Martyrs

Almost there (great, but terminally flawed): Strangers (first half is the most awesome, scariest shit - second half, not so much); Haute Tension (that fucking twist - ugh); The Mist (Marcia Aspie Harden)

Highly Watchable: Drag Me to Hell (maybe this deserves top rating - on the fence about this), Hostels 1+2, The Hills Have Eyes (this & Dawn of the Dead are the only remakes worth watching), Dead Snow (boring as shit until the zombie freakout occurs; is hence thoroughly entertaining), Trick R' Treat, 28 Weeks Later, Slither

In a class of its own: Inland Empire

Shitbox: Saw movies, most remakes, most horror films (sad but true)

Have not seen: Paranormal Activity, Inside (will have seen both by weeks end), Rec, The Children, Home Movie, The Orphanage, Voice, Deadgirl, The Woods, Les Revanants

Inside is way better than I'll ever be willing to give it credit for.

inside is one of those movies that's totally riveting but you watch the entire time with O_O that expression on your face. i think the thing with the cop at the end was especially O_O

Drag Me to Hell (maybe this deserves top rating - on the fence about this) - I'd grant Grindhouse this same status (both features + trailers)

Highly Watchable - also, add to this: Hatchet, a thoroughly entertaining bit of self-aware slasher-camp

Hard Candy, with Ellen Page, is more of psychologicall thriller than horror, but I liked it a whole lot. Basically a two-character movie.

When done well, which sadly is not often, horror is my favorite genre. From the above recs I added Martyrs, Woods, Wolf Creek, Them, Deadgirl and The Strangers to my Netflix queue.

I enjoyed The Mist (it's better in B&W if you have a choice). Agree the ending would have been better if left after running out of gas/seeing the monster thingy walk by, etc.

Drag Me to Hell was OK (not scary at all, though). The CGI was at times cartoonish. But it doesn't take it self to seriously either. Don't think I'd recommend it to someone who's not already a big Raimi fan.

I only saw The Descent once a few years back. I thought it was great, and one of the scarier movies I've seen. I didn't find the CGI monsters to be that bad.

Trick R Treat was a solid movie. Again, not really scary, but it was entertaining and well made. It captured Halloween well (if that makes any sense).

As far as older films go, I saw David Cronenberg's The Brood last week. Some of the acting in that movie is subpar, but there were scenes that creeped me out, so if you haven't saw it yet, I'd recommend it (especially for Cronenberg fans). Not sure how popular this film was when it came out.

Was Scanner's good?

I guess Dead Snow isn't out yet in the States as a DVD. But will check that one out as well.

Patrick McGoohan RIP is excellent in Scanners. Also there is head exploding.

One last thing: I can't believe Land of the Dead got positive reviews. Pretty much one big waste of time (and I'm a huge fan of Romero's). Diary of the Dead was better, but not really that good either. There's a new one out (or soon to be out anyway) called Island of the Dead. I don't have high expectations but I'll probably end up checking it out on Netflix.

I watched Drag Me to Hell only yesterday. About as scary and as clunky as a fairground ghost train, but it gets by on sheer enthusiasm and a likable performance from the lead. Forgettable though.

All this Mist love mystifies me. No atmosphere to it at all, just dead.

The Brood is maybe Cronenberg's best, outside of The Fly.

LOL I finally watched Devil's Rejects last night expecting i dunno what and it was mostly a comedy right? With some awesome tunage that gave me renewed respect for Rob Zombie's collection of 70s LPs. Terry Reid!

About as scary and as clunky as a fairground ghost train - see, this is what I loved about it. It totally felt like a relic from a bygone era that probably never existed to begin with. For that, it succeeds on style points alone imo.

Saw Saint Ange (Martyrs director's earlier film) on Netflix instant watch last night. It's quite slow & remarkably similar to Orphanage in places which is interesting since it came out earlier. Can't really recommend it though it does have another bizarre 3rd act switch involving subterranean lairs.

The Brood is maybe Cronenberg's best, outside of The Fly.
― cough syrup in coke cans (Eric H.)

I love The Fly, but if you're in the mood for a horror movie, I think The Brood's better. I always thought The Fly was a tragic love story (with a few gross parts peppered in).

There's one scene in The Brood that was pretty shocking. I won't give it away for those who haven't seen it. But for those who have, it's the one in the school with the teacher. I don't think they'd be able to film that scene in front of kids today. My jaw hit the floor.

trick r treat was pretty rad - kinda o_O that it went str8 2 video on demand considering. wrt to martyrs idk - the more i thought about after watching the more vivid and terrible some of those images were the last half hour of them finally breaking her will probably be one of the lasting cinematic moments from this decade 4 me

the end of martyrs has a truly horrifying clarity to it~~~

also watched antichrist which made me think of martyrs which i guess revels in the obliterating rather than the purifying nature of pain. it has some pretty amazing images too but its dreamy and cheap. i really disliked it

I read the Wikipedia synopsis of Martyrs--I don't think I can sit through it. As much as I want to love horror movies, I am a wuss when it comes to gore. I think that's why I like ghost movies best, though they are more rare among horror flicks it seems.

I'd def add Wolf Creek to my list, somewhere near the top. For some reason, I thought that came out in '04.

i'll always rep for this flick, it's a good spooky ghost flick with little gore (ok it's from '02 but still..)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyJcIgmi8Qs

The Brood is one of the best horror movies ever! Everybody should see it. Agree that the acting's wooden, but it's Cronenberg: what do you expect. Plus it suits the tone.

Drag Me to Hell is fantastic, one of the best horror flix I've seen in forever. Not at all scary, but a blast from beginning to end. Plus second Pillbox on Slither (goofy but fun) and The Hills Have Eyes remake (suprisingly great). Also loved Haute Tension and had no problem with the twist. And Wolf Creek. Grim as shit, but very well-made and genuinely unsettling.

Descent and Devil's Rejects are both solid, interesting films, but I didn't love either. Descent is crippled by bad story logic in the second half (why are things that depend on scent and sound so completely incapable of smelling or hearing ANYTHING, EVER?), and Rejects by horribly annoying dialogue that becomes insufferable long before the film ends. And, man, that final shot/scene is such a botched opportunity. Just shoot it all in slo-mo, blast Free Bird and run to credits as the splatter flies. How fucking hard is that?

Will also poo on Inside/A l'interieur while I'm here. Fun to watch, in a hands-over-the-eyes grossout kinda way, but man that shit was silly! Cheezeball politics, half-baked satanic symbolism, big reveals that come as no surprise at all, wooden & obvious delivery of everything. It's kinda fun, but the combination of deadly serious & grimmm tone plus the bonka-bonk goofiness of the material just didn't work for me. Final scene is marvelous, though.

Did like the French Frontier(s), which is similar in many ways (especially WR2 knucklehead political subtext), but better simply because it doesn't take itself half so seriously.

Speaking of taking shit way too seriously, anybody see that English chav-horror flick Eden Lake? Very well done, great acting and cinematography, but damn that pissed me off to no end.

Haven't seen Martyrs (I think I've had enough of the pure suffering/annihilation of beautiful women as fetishized aesthetic spectacle). Or Trick 'r Treat, which I guess I should rectify immediately.

I'll check it out, thanks for the rec. (xpost)

Haven't seen Martyrs (I think I've had enough of the pure suffering/annihilation of beautiful women as fetishized aesthetic spectacle). - it goes so far beyond the usual parameters of "torture porn" as to be securely in its own category. I can understand wanting to avoid this film, but you should not do so b/c you see it falling into easy genre trappings.

below!!!! lol it took me most of that movie to understand it was supposed to be set during wwII

I thought Them was a lot more effective than The Strangers (pretty similar plots).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAWEvZh8flg

all that talk about sinking german ships and the british sailors and american subs can be misleading...

I'll give Martyrs a shot eventually. Intended to watch it earlier this year as a part of a catch-up session on "endurance horror", but got burned out after watching Frontier(s), Imprint, Inside, Singapore Sling and Eden Lake in a couple days. Only so much a man can take.

P.S.: You've seen Singapore Sling, right?

I mean, it's reaching back a ways (1990), but it doesn't get talked about or seen anywhere near enough.

yah no obv im retarded its just thats the only thing i really remember abt that movie - realizing it was supposed to be ww2 - that and trying to remember what other movie i saw that one chick in before

xxpost

singapore sling is greek right? have not seen, will check out

it's got half the main cast of lock stock and two smoking barrels and zach galifiniakkis (sic) also

whoa waht

yah the cast of below is pretty great but i <3 bruce greenwood so

Speaking of taking shit way too seriously, anybody see that English chav-horror flick Eden Lake? Very well done, great acting and cinematography, but damn that pissed me off to no end.

there's a bit of talk upthread about that one, I called it xenophobic but nobody took the bait.

Haven't seen Martyrs (I think I've had enough of the pure suffering/annihilation of beautiful women as fetishized aesthetic spectacle).

I dunno, that's kind of like saying "I'm sick of japanese horror movies so I'm not watching audition"

martyrs transcends any torture porn label and takes things to a whole other level. yes, a large part of the final third involves torture, but so does the final third of 1984. in a similar way, martyrs' aesthetic isn't fetishized, it's just bleak as hell.

oops thread is moving too fast nevermind

P.S.: You've seen Singapore Sling, right? - nope. Will add, along w/ Them, to the queue post-haste. This thread is making me realize how much has passed me by in recent years, being ostensibly a horror stan & all.

Singapore Sling isn't horror, exactly, it's just ... something. Something that everyone should see. It's kind of a sequel to Otto Preminger's Laura, but with more torture. And porn.