It is pretty horrible how dark the sky gets by the end.
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:18 (twelve years ago) link
If I did 50, The Sixth Sense wd certainly make ballot
however, I have a Big Poll project due 2 days after this one, so even 20 will be hard.
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:19 (twelve years ago) link
people can vote for whatever they want on the list ... and i haven't seen testament so i can't judge. it just seemed a bit odd to be included on a horror film poll, and i was curious as to why it was so included!
― onibaba o'reilly (Eisbaer), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:19 (twelve years ago) link
at least come and see isn't on our list
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:19 (twelve years ago) link
the beyond is kind of like suspiria's slow brother, it tries to leap over yr aesthetic concerns by going for a similar pervasive atmosphere of terror, which translates to an almost poetic surrealism in some scenes, and a final sequence that is truly haunting. but it is a deeply stupid movie.
Yes, joining in the OTM fest on this. I love The Beyond, particularly the ending, but overall it is silly silly silly. Also gonna OTM carl agatha on the ludicrousness of the dub in The House by the Cemetery.
Please, please, anyone who is thinking of voting for Testament, make sure you watch Threads before you vote. It is far superior, and far far far scarier.
― emil.y, Monday, 16 April 2012 18:22 (twelve years ago) link
also as eric pointed out on the nom thread, "scary" is a terrible barometer for what is a horror film, since he's only ever been frightened by a handful of films
I wish scary movies scared me more. I LOVE being frightened in a controlled context, but the emotional callouses one can develop indulging in such things have long since dulled any actual sense of visceral fear I once got from horror. Every once in a while, though. something will genuinely give me the heebie-jeebies. I've found that it usually has just as much to do w/ the context in which something is seen as it does the film (or book etc.) itself.
― picture jean rollin (Pillbox), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:23 (twelve years ago) link
i don't mind the inclusion of films that have almost no relationship to horror as a genre, hell i nominated a bunch of them, but i'll be disappointed if they dominate the results. can't imagine they will, though, so no need to worry about it.
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:25 (twelve years ago) link
Exactly, if enough people think they're horror films for them to feature in the countdown, they're probably going to be horror films.
― Une semaine de Bunty (ShariVari), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:26 (twelve years ago) link
I do intend to see Threads before I vote. I somehow doubt, though, that British nuclear panic could possibly compare to good ol' American nuke-yoo-lar panic.</arrogantpatriotism>
― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:31 (twelve years ago) link
another film that everyone should see before voting: ingmar bergman's hour of the wolf (vargtimmen). it's a real-deal horror movie in every respect: atmospheric, imaginative, dread-ful and haunted. plus lots of fun, intellectually rewarding and beautiful to look at. the perfect after-dark movie.
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:32 (twelve years ago) link
So out of curiosity I checked the list and have seen 73 of them, almost exactly 10%. I'm surprised!
― improvised explosive advice (WmC), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:33 (twelve years ago) link
Having only just watched it, I enthusiastically second that recommendation. xpost
― emil.y, Monday, 16 April 2012 18:34 (twelve years ago) link
Odds I'll extend the ballot window another week are pretty high.
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:34 (twelve years ago) link
Threads is easily one of the most harrowing movies I've ever seen.
― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:36 (twelve years ago) link
Actually, I believe I was thinking of The Day After, not Testament when I posted that, don't think I've seen the latter one. TDA is also a good film, but totally doesn't compare to Threads.
― emil.y, Monday, 16 April 2012 18:38 (twelve years ago) link
threads > testament > the day after
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:39 (twelve years ago) link
Day After is practically a joke next to Testament imho
― Jilly Boel and the Eltones (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:40 (twelve years ago) link
i will also stan for hour of the wolf. good news, it's available on Netflix Instant and it's only 90 minutes so if y'all have nothing else to do y'all should watch it.
i've only seen a few parts of threads -- the parts immediately before, during and immediately after Sheffield gets nuked. the day after doesn't hold a candle to those scenes.
― onibaba o'reilly (Eisbaer), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:41 (twelve years ago) link
add some more >>>>>'s then
xp
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:41 (twelve years ago) link
on the subject of Ingmar-horror, i'll also stan for the virgin spring ... you get to see a young, buff Max von Sydow uproot a birch tree, rip off its branches and flog himself before doing his ass-whuppin'. it's also available on HuluPlus.
― onibaba o'reilly (Eisbaer), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:43 (twelve years ago) link
The Day After was like a soap opera with some mild sadness in it.
With Threads, I felt like some of the actors actually died making the movie
― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:46 (twelve years ago) link
the day after shook up RonaldRreagan to the point where he thanked the director after he signed a missile treaty with the Soviets. but not even threads could melt Margaret Thatcher's cold reptilian heart.
― onibaba o'reilly (Eisbaer), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:49 (twelve years ago) link
i thought that the day after, while soapy, eventually managed to be quite powerful. haven't seen threads for comparison.
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:52 (twelve years ago) link
threads really is in a class by itself, not sure if I'd vote for it in a horror poll tho
I mean it is trying to disturb and horrify, and is wildly successful in doing so, but there's a social conscience aspect to its intent that doesn't really jive w/ my conception of horror
that said SEE THREADS
repeat if you have not seen threads SEE THREADS
this will be your final warning
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
The Day After is like having your mom give you a long lecture about being careful when walking through the park by yourself at night
Threads is like walking through the park at night and being jumped by three muggers who kick you in the face until all of your teeth are knocked out, jump up and down on each of your limbs until they shatter, then strip you naked, drag you out to the sidewalk and throw your battered body in front of a speeding bus
― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Monday, 16 April 2012 18:58 (twelve years ago) link
that makes me never want to see threads. it's a fitting description of stuff like funny games and kidnapped, my single least favorite approach to "horror".
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
xpost I'd vote for a movie that actually depicted that, provided the muggers were backwoods, incestuous triplets.
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
i mean, threads is supposed to be more moving that just brutal and despairing, right?
― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:01 (twelve years ago) link
do plan to watch it no matter what
There's a heavy Italian bias to the things i nominated. Along with the big names like Argento, Bava, Fulci and Martino, i'd definitely recommend catching something by Aldo Lado. A lot of his films (Night Train Murders, for example) aren't all that good but the first two he directed, Who Saw Her Die? and The Short Night Of Glass Dolls, are excellent.
Who Saw Her Die? is an obvious riff on Don't Look Now, as George Lazenby rushes around Venice trying to work out who murdered his daughter, but i prefer it in a lot of ways. The Morricone score is one of his best too.
The Short Night Of Glass Dolls is arguably even better. Jean Sorel is found "dead" in the street and carted off to a mortuary. He's actually only paraylsed and has to work out, from his mortician's slab, what happened to him. It has one of the most memorable endings in the genre.
― Une semaine de Bunty (ShariVari), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:03 (twelve years ago) link
Testament is like discovering that your dog just finished eating an entire box of D-Con.
― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:04 (twelve years ago) link
Except instead of your dog IT'S YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY.
― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:05 (twelve years ago) link
see, this is partly why I'd never rep threads as a horror film. it's drama, or maybe heavy dystopian sci-fi. it takes the concept of nuclear winter and extends it out to its logical conclusion in a very matter of fact way. it's harrowing in the same way holocaust films are harrowing. there's nothing gothic or grand guignol about it.
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:06 (twelve years ago) link
A lot of straight horror films could stand to be more 'matter of fact' and less 'grand guignol'.
― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
I'd actually argue that, in a lot of cases, the extent that a horror film veers away from 'matter of fact' is the extent to which it pulls its punches. I enjoy a great deal of stylistic variation within the genre, but the pulled punches are the reason I find very little of the genre legitimately scary.
― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:10 (twelve years ago) link
I sort of agree with that, though I do think the ending takes it close to horror. But I am making an exception for its inclusion by voting for it on how much it makes me TERRIFIED, which I'm not going to judge many of the other films by.
Also, I know what DJP's getting at with his analogy (it's brutally intense) but I find it is more the deep dark futility of all action that gets to me, rather than any overt display of brutality.
― emil.y, Monday, 16 April 2012 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, I want to second ShariVari's recommendation of Short Night of Glass Dolls, too. Probably won't be high up on my ballot, but is pretty likely to make it in.
― emil.y, Monday, 16 April 2012 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
Given that The Day After more or less ruined my childhood, I don't think I'm going to watch Threads.
On my first pass through the nominations list, I've already got 53 yeses, 56 maybes, 22 movies to revisit, and 36 that I want to watch before voting.
lolsob
― Polly biscuit face (carl agatha), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
I just culled it down to the 60 I'd actually seen and plan to weed out from there
― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
OH BTW y'all really need to watch Apaches, too
it will ruin your life
― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:18 (twelve years ago) link
Now Apaches has the bluntness and random, wonton death I've come to expect from great horror.
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
I wonder if they'll let me take a three-week sabbatical from work to get this all sorted out.
― Polly biscuit face (carl agatha), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
I have a shortlist of 80 or so that I might conceivably vote for(including the five or six movies I'd like to try and watch before voting) pared down from a list roughly three times as long of movies I've seen (and largely wouldn't dream of voting for).
― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
the only apaches i could find on Netflix was some East German propaganda film from 1973. although Stalinist propaganda and life behind the Iron Curtain were quite awful, i'm assuming that this isn't the horror film apaches that people are talking about now?!?
― onibaba o'reilly (Eisbaer), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
this is also something horrible & european from the 1970s and it's also about apaches:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo4glASbEh4
― onibaba o'reilly (Eisbaer), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:32 (twelve years ago) link
apaches was a public service type flick from the UK to convince kids not to play on farm equipment
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:33 (twelve years ago) link
here ya go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0GyRz_lOQA
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
*thread goes silent as everyone watches apaches*
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
I think the thing that pushes Apaches firmly into the realm of horror is the aparent nonchalance of the adults. Oh, three of your playmates have died on that farm in as many days? Well, pay it no mind, dear. Run along and play now. It's infanticide by proxy, I tells ya.
― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
more discussion of Apaches here: Public information HORROR film.
― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Monday, 16 April 2012 19:42 (twelve years ago) link