Horror

Started by TenseAndSober, April 22, 2003, 05:01:56 PM

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MacGuffin

Quote from: modage on May 11, 2006, 08:21:53 AMso a 2nd trilogy?  like 4,5,6?  as long as they're morel like the first two and less like the ODIOUS Beyond... then thats cool.

President Macy vs. Herbert West!

Just one week ago, we shared some news about an all-new Re-Animator trilogy that producer Brian Yuzna seems pretty darn psyched about, and today Fangoria brings us some even cooler news:

William H. Macy, one of the most talented, admired, and gosh-darn likable character actors in the known universe, has been signed to play the President of the United States in Stuart Gordon's House of Re-Animator! Returning for the third trilogy are director Gordon, producer Yuzna, screenwriter Dennis Paoli, and Dr. West himself: Jeffrey Combs. (Someone get Bruce Abbott's agent on the phone ... or his wife if he doesn't have an agent anymore. And please don't forget the lovely Barbara Crampton...)

Ready for the plot? The U.S. President dies, so one high-ranking moron calls Dr. West in to bring the Commander-in-Chief back to life ... and if you've ever seen, say, 5 random minutes of Re-Animator, then you know precisely what happens next.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

Quote from: MacGuffin on May 17, 2006, 03:13:03 PM
and if you've ever seen, say, 5 random minutes of Re-Animator, then you know precisely what happens next.

He fixes the cable?
My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

Scared for life
As the spawn of the devil returns to our screens in The Omen, top horror directors reveal their favourite chilling movies to Jon Bentham
Source: The Guardian

Eli Roth, director of Hostel
Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)

Takashi Miike makes around seven or eight films a year. Nobody knows how he does it, not even Miike (I've asked him: I gave him a cameo in Hostel as an excuse to talk to the guy). He claims he's like a shark, always moving forward, and will direct absolutely anything. That is evidenced by the unevenness of his films; some are total misfires, while others like Audition are masterpieces.

Audition is the story of a man who, after losing his wife to cancer, holds an audition for a non-existent movie as an excuse to meet women only to be caught up in a surreal living nightmare. It's a slow-burn horror film and brutally sadistic, so when the violence finally arrives, you ve completely let your guard down. Even the most jaded horror fans have to watch the last 10 minutes through the cracks of their fingers.

Audition is a horrific film you have to commit to, but if you can make it to the end, you'll probably wish you'd never seen it.

Robin Hardy, director of The Wicker Man
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

Horror is the oddest genre in all moviemaking. For the most part it relies on rearranging visual, verbal and musical cliches. Only X amount of time must pass before shock, blood, pain and screams all proclaim that a horror film is up there on the screen. The music and sound effects slither ahead of the action, sounding the alarm that ever more horror is on the way. Do we really believe in the people involved or care about the plot? Not the point. The scary images are old friends, the terror they induce appalling but welcome.

Hitchcock's Psycho breaks all these rules. We are introduced to down-at-heel characters whose adulterous, near hopeless lives are all too believable. And we believe there is hope for Marion (Janet Leigh) until the famous shower scene. Until the knife and sheer Hitchcockian genius slash the shower curtain into the most horrifying, shocking 30 seconds in any horror film that will ever be made.

(Robin Hardy's new novel Cowboys for Christ is out now on Luath Press).

Hideo Nakata, director of Ringu and Dark Water
The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)

An American fan wrote to me last year, saying how much he liked Ringu. He described my work as quiet horror a phrase I like. The best example of quiet horror has to be Robert Wise's The Haunting about a group of people investigating a haunted house.

The Haunting proved to be a big influence on Ringu my scriptwriter at the time insisted I see it, and it absolutely intrigued me. I must have watched the film at least five times before we started shooting Ringu: it reminded me of some excellent advice Alfred Hitchcock used to give about how to draw an arc of anxiety and fear. He said you must slowly, slowly, slowly build up the tension until it's unbearable, then suddenly bring it right down. And then just when your audience is feeling a sense of relief that's when you must really shock them. The Haunting employs this extremely effectively. You never actually see any ghosts or blood, but you experience the fear and anxiety through the psychic protagonist Eleanor, who can sense the ghosts herself. This idea of building up gradually, then dropping quiet before a sudden bang is quite common in classical music I think about that sometimes when I m listening to Bach or Mozart.

James Gunn, director of Slither
Night of the Living Dead (George A Romero, 1968)

Vampires, Frankenstein's monsters, and werewolves are all really remnants of an older generation of horror films. The one truly modern classic monster is the zombie. And no other film was more important in defining that monster than Night of the Living Dead. Horror films scare us at three primal levels our fear of predators, disease and of being betrayed by loved ones. Night of the Living Dead burrowed to the core of all three: we're afraid of being eaten by the zombies, of being bitten and catching whatever it is they have, and we're afraid of those we love and trust turning against us.

In addition, the movie features the scariest scene of all time (the little girl eating her father in the basement) and has a bleak, shocking and sadly powerful ending. All done for roughly $100,000 by Hollywood outsiders. It made me believe that with a few bucks, a camera, a house in the country, and some Kayo syrup and red food dye for blood, maybe I could make a classic, too.

Christopher Smith, director of Creep
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a raw, almost snuff-movie quality that gives the impression that it has been made by a twisted film student. This feeling of being in unsafe hands of knowing that anything might happen gives the first act, as they approach the house, an incredible sense of foreboding.

What follows are some of the most powerful horror images ever put to the screen, not least when a girl is placed on a meat hook to watch her boyfriend's head being chainsawed off. And yet that scene doesn't feel exploitative. It has a strange sensuality that pushes it to a place where the actions feel almost poetic a kind of pure savage horror that transcends itself. The movie finishes with Leatherface throwing the chainsaw around his head in a dance of death, followed by a hard, mute cut to black. I am always left speechless. It's the ultimate slasher movie.

(Christopher Smith's Severance is released on August 25).

Rob Green, director of The Bunker
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)

On paper this film shouldn't work, but Polanski really makes us believe. The build-up is masterful brilliantly sustained and very Hitchcockian, with an incredible sense of dread. The casting of Mia Farrow as Rosemary was inspired; we see everything from her perspective she's so fragile, vulnerable and trusting that you're immediately drawn into her character and feel hugely protective towards her. She has this thing growing inside her, and we watch her gradually change from loving it, to beginning to hate it, to then fighting desperately to protect it.

The climax features one of my favourite lines ever. When Rosemary sees the baby for the first time, she cries: What have you done to its eyes? And Roman, head of the witch's coven, replies proudly, He has his father's eyes. And Polanski never shows us even a glimpse of the baby just the cradle and the upturned crucifix. Chilling.

John Moore, director of The Omen (2006)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

In 1966, Stanley Kubrick supposedly told a friend that he wanted to make the world's scariest movie. It only took him 14 years. It's the mastery of atmosphere and location that Kubrick uses to elevate the piece to the pressure cooker it is. The film chills you right from its opening aerial shot, which seems to go on forever as the camera tracks the Torrances' car through the frozen waste that leads to the Overlook Hotel a delightful wordplay itself. The shot tells the audience without whispering a word: You are alone now, you are far too far away from anything that can help you.

And it gets worse from there. Although Jack Nicholson's character does indeed turn into a monster, it's hard not to feel a tinge of pity for him as he sits dead, frozen at the end of a fatal game of hide and seek, grinning into camera, offering himself up as a mirror we have all looked into at some point.

(The Omen is out now).

Neil Marshall, director of The Descent and Dog Soldiers
Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)

I 've always loved films about monsters, and Alien is the perfect monster movie. It's the darkness of the piece that's so enthralling its twisted nature, its explicit sexuality. There's the life cycle, the impregnation by the face hugger, the obvious phallic nature of the alien somebody's taken the trouble of working out an entire biology for this creature. But Scott knew not to show us the alien in its entirety until it is unveiled towards the end; for most of the film we just have back-lit shots or close-ups of it hissing steam or dripping mucus.

Crucially, Scott managed to create an utterly believable environment for the action to take place in; he establishes this atmosphere of reality, then places on top of it a fantasy creature. None of it would have worked if you didn't believe the environment could be real.

Michael J Bassett, director of Deathwatch
The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)

Forget Halloween, John Carpenter's true horror masterpiece is The Thing about a team of scientists in the Antarctic stalked by an alien life-form with the ability to take over other bodies. It has the perfect combination of suspense, extravagant gore, compelling story and pitch-perfect acting, with an intelligent and meaningful subtext played out to one of the best endings ever. The threat to the characters and the wider world feels genuine, the paranoia palpable, and the monster brilliantly realised.

I was stunned when I first saw the movie on video as a teenager, but as an adult revisit it frequently, simply, to remind myself how a visceral and very serious-minded horror movie should be done.

(Michael J Bassett's Wilderness is released in August).

Robert Pratten, director of London Voodoo
The Excorist (William Friedkin, 1973)

What sets The Exorcist apart is a unique plot and an absorbing style of storytelling and characterisation all taking precedence over special effects. The plot centres on a priest who doubts his faith because God won't cure his sick mother, but is called upon to exorcise a young girl. The movie can claim some of the most iconic scenes and images in film history: the older priest's residence wallpapered with the Bible, the priest standing outside the young girl's house and, of course, the possession the girl floating above the bed, her head spinning 360 degrees.

By today's standards, the special effects feel dated. But compare the original to the recent remakes and sequels and there's all the evidence you need that when you're making a horror film, it's the story that's king.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

grand theft sparrow

This would have been a better article if they had interviewed some better directors (like who?) or if these directors hadn't given largely stock answers.


MacGuffin

'Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film' on Starz!
Source: Bloody-Disgusting

Today we received an official release on the film. Read on for more details...

Official release:


FREDDY'S DEAD?
STARZ ENTERTAINMENT GROUP PRODUCES SLASHER DOC
GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM

Original Production Traces the History, Popularity and Resurgence of Genre

Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers - oh my! Starz Entertainment Group has produced an original new film entitled GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM. The film provides a comprehensive and original look at the importance, prominence, and newfound legitimacy of the horror film genre and, more specifically, the sub-genre of the "slasher film." The feature-length documentary contains an abundance of clips from classic films of the genre, as well as many current hits, and interviews with pre-eminent actors, directors, and producers, many of whom are themselves founders and masters of the genre. Based on the book of the same title by Adam Rockoff, the film premieres on Starz in October (EXACT DATE TBD).

Rockoff's book studied and lauded such seminal films as Halloween, Friday The 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Psycho, Prom Night, When A Stranger Calls, Sleepaway Camp, Last House On The Left and Black Christmas. The film includes clips from many of these seminal films, as well as interviews with icons, filmmakers and cultural critics.

GOING TO PIECES is executive produced by Michael Ruggiero, vice president of programming for SEG. "Slasher films have always been extremely popular with audiences," said Ruggiero. "Everyone has their favorite film with each having a fan base. These films are intricately explored for every nuance in magazines, websites and blogs. But there has never been a stand alone tribute documentary until now. It's also interesting to note how the socio-political climate at the '80s had it's affects on the genre. Truly a sign of the times, everything from Reaganomics to the AIDS epidemic found its way into these films in one form or another."

Those appearing in GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM (alphabetically) include John Carpenter (dir. Halloween), Bob Clark (dir. Black Christmas), Wes Craven (dir. The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream trilogy), Sean S. Cunningham (dir. Friday the 13th), Amy Holden Jones (dir. Slumber Party Massacre), Jeff Katz (prod. upcoming Friday the 13th sequel and exec. producer Snakes on a Plane), Henry Manfredini (composer Friday the 13th and all sequels), Armand Mastroianni (dir. He Knows You're Alone and Friday the 13th television series), Gregory Nicotero (special effects/makeup Day of the Dead, Evil Dead II, A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Child, Scream, Kill Bill Vol. 1-2), Betsy Palmer (actress Friday the 13th - "Mrs. Voorhees"), Tom Savini (special effects/makeup Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th, Maniac, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II), Robert Shaye (Chairman and CEO of New Line Cinema - prod of A Nightmare on Elm Street and its sequels), Joseph Stefano (screenwriter of Alfred Hitch****'s Psycho), Anthony Timpone (editor of horror magazine Fangoria), Stan Winston (dir. Pumpkinhead, special effects/makeup Friday the 13th Part III, Aliens), Joseph Zito (dir. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Bloodrage) and Rob Zombie (dir. The Devil's Rejects, House of 1000 Corpses).

The film is produced by Candy Heart Productions' Rachel Belofsky and Rudy Scalese and directed by Emmy®-nominee Jeff McQueen. Rachel Belofsky has come to prominence in the industry as the Founder and Director of LA's Screamfest Horror Film Festival, arguably the world's most important horror festival. Scalese joined Screamfest and Candy Heart Productions in the summer of 2004. As both an expert and an ardent fan of slasher films, Scalese brought the project to Belofsky, who also produced the award-winning women in racing documentary Fast Women. They both felt the time had come for a comprehensive study and tribute to the films that had made such an impact upon them, their colleagues, and their festival participants.

"There's such a rich history of film to cull from, we started to make a short list of seminal films to draw upon," said Belofsky. "That short list quickly became very long, as did the list of interviews. It's a real testament to the significance of these films." Scalese adds, "To look at the body of the work of the Slasher films is a reminder of what began as a tiny group of films that became the little engine that could and left a significant imprint on the history of American cinema."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

modage

WELCOME to another year of Mod's Halloween Horror Marathon.  For the next 31 days I'll be watching as many Horror films as I possibly can and reviewing them briefly on this site.  For those of you who do not remember, this thread will be for all the Horror films I'm checking out for the first time while Best Horror Movies will be reviews of favorites I'm rewatching.  While I wont be having the same Marathon 46 films like I did last year, there are atleast a dozen gems I havent reviewed the past two years that I'd like to get to, as well as countless films I still need to see.  So for recommendations beyond this you can always scroll back through the pages to see what has already been reviewed.  As always I encourage everyone to join in and watch some Horror movies if you can, whether its checking out one from my lists or recommending something of their own.  And on with the show...





i lucked out because this was a pretty great way to kickoff my marathon.  a few years back i saw the original and enjoyed it but this film was really a surprise.  like John Carpenters update of The Thing, The Blob has taken a 50's scifi premise as the jumping off point for an 80's horror film.  from a really smart script by director Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont, (also the team behind the 2nd best Nightmare on Elm Street film), the film economically introduces us to a townfull of likable characters and then begins to dispense with them.  what makes this so different is by giving each character a couple scenes to make you like them, its all the more shocking when they're killed off.  and the film takes no prisoners, characters that would probably end up heroes in another more predictable film are the first to go here, even young kids arent off limits.  even the special effects are surprisingly good, moreso when you consider the film was made almost 20 years ago.  since there is almost no way to actually make a blob of goo scary, the film does its best atleast making it fun.  there was a wave of 80s directors who grew up loving the films of the 50s and ended up making films that were remakes of or paid homage to those films with sometimes mixed results.  i guess it shouldnt surprise me that now in the 00's there are so many remakes of 70s horror films.  but somehow these 80's films feel different, like the work of filmmakers who genuinely loved their goofy 50's originals and thought there was really something they could offer to update them for todays audiences. while todays remakes seem to be generated by the studio execs picking films that have a brand and recycling them for mtv kids.  one look at the horror offerings in theatres this month only goes to prove that: TCM: The Beginning (a prequel to a remake), The Grudge 2, (a sequel to a remake) and Saw III (a sequel to a sequel, but hey atleast the original was original).  oh, it was a simpler time.   :yabbse-undecided:

THE BLOB: RECOMMENDED
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

RegularKarate

(sorry, I had forgotten the difference between this and Best Horror Movies... moved now)

RK's Low Rent Horror Movie Marathon



BELOW

I hadn't seen this and had heard very mixed things about it.  Pitch Black made me sleepy and I didn't like that it was riding on the whole Aronofsky thing so I avoided it for a long time.

It's almost a spoiler to put this in the Horror Movie thread, but since it's just a so-so film, I don't feel bad about it.

This had some good scenes that built suspense well enough and the camera work was decent enough to stay on board.  Where it fails is that it takes way too long to get around to anything very interesting.  It assumes that we'll enjoy a cliched horror mystery enough to just sit through an hour and twenty minutes of set up for a pay-off that barely pays off.
The lighting is like bad television in a lot of the scenes, pushing painful gels on us in a non-campy way, but in other scenes, it really works.  This makes it feel a little disjointed in parts.

I don't have skulls, but if I did, I would give this five out of ten just because there were some decent scenes of interest.

modage





surprisingly i'd only previously seen the first Halloween and Halloween H20 (during the post-Scream teen horror boom).  i had assumed that most of the sequels would be crap, though i do plan to get through them all oneday.  so i was surprised when this started out so promisingly.  it begins with the last several minutes of the first film and picks up right where it left off incl. a reprise of the famous titles.  and i have to admit there was a certain thrill there to think that the story really was going to continue, unfortunately after about 20 minutes the film settles into neutral is we are introduced to characters only to wait for their deaths.  the most interesting strand of the film is introducing the notion that myers and laurie are actually brother and sister (recalling the empire/jedi familial revelations makes me wonder if this was always an idea, or tacked on after the fact?).  unfortunately the film doesnt get much time to explore this because there is a bodycount to tend to.  myers gets inventive with his tools of death here (or maybe he was just jealous of the Friday The 13th series), and it gets a bit ridiculous.  cant hold a candle anywhere near the first film, and yet, my guess is it's probably the best of the sequels.  though carpenter did co-write and produce this i kinda have to give him credit for never directing a Halloween sequel, especially considering it would've always (and still would be!) easy money.  for a man whos films can be as AWFUL as his sometimes are, he does have his standards.  anyone more familiar with this series than i am?  are any of the sequels worthwhile or is this as good as it gets? 
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

RegularKarate

Quote from: modage on October 01, 2006, 10:23:41 PM
  anyone more familiar with this series than i am?  are any of the sequels worthwhile or is this as good as it gets? 

Stay tuned for my review of the franchise through H20.

If you're not already aware of the contents of Halloween 3, then you should just watch it.  You'll be all "huh?"

polkablues

Halloween 3 is one of the worst movies ever made.  You should definitely watch it.
My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

Halloween III is worth watching just for the catchy subliminal song. It works because you'll never get it out of your head.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

modage

Quote from: RegularKarate on October 01, 2006, 11:34:50 PM
Quote from: modage on October 01, 2006, 10:23:41 PM
  anyone more familiar with this series than i am?  are any of the sequels worthwhile or is this as good as it gets? 

Stay tuned for my review of the franchise through H20.

If you're not already aware of the contents of Halloween 3, then you should just watch it.  You'll be all "huh?"
ooh i'm interested.  a few years ago my dad and i watched all the Nightmare on Elm Streets and then all the Friday the 13ths and it got PAINFUL at times.  i've always planned on doing the same for Halloween, but have not yet gotten around to it.  i might just end up chipping away at them one at a time.  i'm aware that III tried to ditch Myers for a different Halloween themed story about a doll factory or something? 
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

MacGuffin

Quote from: modage on October 02, 2006, 08:13:24 AMi'm aware that III tried to ditch Myers for a different Halloween themed story about a doll factory or something? 

Masks. The plan is for the all the kids to have their faces turned into maggots after the chip in the mask is activated by watching the subliminal message on TV... Yes, I've seen it a few times and own the DVD. It's a guity pleasure of mine.

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

modage





i root for films like this, i really do, but while it was miles ahead of straight-to-video trash it is ultimately pretty forgettable.  the problem is that you can sort of see where its going too quickly so you wait for 40 minutes for the film to catch up with you, and thats never good.  it has some nice atmosphere, the acting is good, the special effects (though minimal) are flawless, and seeing bruce campbell (or patricia clarkson (for mac)) is always good, but it's not quite as unique as May was.  the finale was awesome though.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

RegularKarate





This is the original 2001 Japanese version, but I kind of want to see the remake just to see how much they stray from the original for an American audience because while this movie is a little boring, it does take an existential turn from "haunted internet" into something deeper.  I don't think it handles this turn very well, but I'm curious how they treated this in the remake (which is bound to be worse than this).

Overall, not a very good movie, it's starts out really well and has some very creepy scenes and cool imagery, but the final product isn't really worth sitting through in the end.