Horror

[Banky]

i wrote the arrow from joblo.com giving him props for all the good work he does and he wrote me back thanking me which is pretty fucking cool

[Just Withnail]

1982 or not, Carpenter is (was?) smart enough to know there's no need to show the monster, or at least the need to show it that much, or for it to be that overblown and baldy designed.

[Ghostboy]

That's what ruined In The Mouth Of Madness for me, too.

[modage]

That's what ruined In The Mouth Of Madness for me, too.

aww, i love that movie.  its creepy as hell.  it sucks you into this world that starts out normal and ends up totally insane.  banky wasnt too impressed with it either when he watched it recently.  whens the last time you saw it ghostboy?

[MacGuffin]

Pangs have eye on indie 'Scarecrow'

Hong Kong horror maestros Oxide and Danny Pang are set to make their English-language debut directing "Scarecrow" for Blue Star Pictures and Ghost House Pictures, a joint venture of Senator International, Sam Raimi and his producing partner Rob Tapert. Written by Stuart Beattie ("Collateral") from an original script by Todd Farmer, "Scarecrow" is a horror tale that follows the lives of a family moving into a run-down sunflower farm. As the farm begins to revive after years of disrepair, the family begins to notice uncomfortable and alarming changes in their father's behavior. Principal photography is slated for the spring. "I'm thrilled that the Pang brothers have agreed to direct 'Scarecrow,' " Raimi said. "I've been a big fan ever since 'The Eye.' Danny and Oxide have an exciting and unique vision and are at the forefront of the neo-horror movement in Asian filmmaking."

[modage]

okay, apologies to everyone in advance to everyone for the immense spamming of this thread for the next 30 days.  i know i'm not a very good reviewer, but hopefully my enthusiasm for the genre will inspire some people to join in and see some movies this month.





last night i started my Halloween Horror Month with 2 films i'd never seen before, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Freaks.  while neither seemed much like a horror film as you would imagine it today, there were traces of things that were undeniably horror elements that would go onto create a genre.  

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is usually credited with being the 'first horror film', and with the images i'd seen from the film over the years, my expectations were pretty high.  the story is basically that of a Dr. Caligari who claims to have a sleepwalker who can tell the future and ends up sending him out to commit his heinous crimes.  but all is not as it seems...

the movie, while being incredible visually, was just too (for lack of a better word) old.  by comparison the buster keaton films i watched a few days ago seemed as brand new as the latest brett ratner vehicle!  so, while i could admire the film for its set design, and its attempt at telling a story as complex an idea as this in 1919, i could not ever fully engage in it as a viewer.  unlike say, metropolis or nosferatu, which i could still watch and really enjoy, this felt like something that i should've seen in a museum (or a class in school).  but maybe its because i watched the Image version when i know i should've gotten the Kino....  damn you netflix!

Freaks, director Tod Brownings infamous follow-up to Dracula, banned in several countries, and recently available on dvd...  when the studio asked for a film more terrifying than dracula, i'll bet they didnt expect this.  while not really a horror movie, the film is still shocking because they used 'real freaks'.  the movie is about a traveling sideshow and a midget who falls in love with a (normal) woman who marries him because she learns of his fortune and plans to murder him.  the bulk of the film is just a drama between these characters who are portrayed surprisingly human despite their abnormalities.  it isnt until the film starts winding down that a real sense of terror is brought about.  bizarre, but interesting.

so, overall two mild recommendations.

[modage]

well, unfortunately tonight was a couple of duds.  i watched The Old Dark House and White Zombie, both of which i'd heard some good things about and neither of which is worth ever re-watching.  both of which were released in 1932, a year after those involved had made Dracula & Frankenstein (!)  old dark house was interesting as it was probably (one of ) the first movies to take place on a dark and stormy night as a bunch of strangers gather in an old house with weirdohs living there.  it was actually decent, and i thought the end built a decent amount of tension but overall not great.  white zombie was pretty bad though.  supposedly it was filmed in 11 days on the leftover sets from dracula and frankenstein  and it shows, because it seems like a cheapie, hastily thrown together with not much of a story.  why the hell did someone name their band after this?  but, at the very least seeing these gave me even more appreciation for how good the big Universal Monster movies are.  neither of these are recommended.

[modage]

well looks like tonight was my SPOILER sadistic torture double feature.  Last House on the Left was a pile of turd.  but even worse than that, it WASNT A HORROR MOVIE!  dont be misled by the (misleading) cover, how this got lumped into the genre over the years is a mystery.  its no more a horror film than Irreversible or Straw Dogs, (not that its anywhere near as interesting as either of those), its more on the level with I Spit on Your Grave (which sucks HARD.)  the movie, really had little or no intentions of even being a horror movie.  (as evidenced by the score), it was an attempt at some sort of social commentary because the score undercut any possible terror that could've been witnessed.  (put that score ontop of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and you'd have the same result).  not that theres a problem with mixing horror and commentary, its just, it helps if you have the horror part and the movie part doesnt suck.  so DONT SEE THIS UNDER ANY TIME WASTING CIRCUMSTANCES!

Audition was my first takashi miike film, and it was interesting....  i've really only seen a few japanese horror films, so i'm really out of my league here.  it was interesting, and there was certainly some mounting tension towards the end (when everything started to go insane), but overall it just seemed okay.  so will someone who knows SPOILER was it a dream or not explain it to me?  or is it supposed to be unknown?  the guy in the bag ruled.  it too, was not a horror movie, more like a thriller.

[03]

i would like to recommend two for your next session:
Repulsion by Roman Polanski
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders by Jaromil Jires

[MacGuffin]

I Spit on Your Grave (which sucks HARD.)

While I will agree "Spit" is not a true horror film in the sense of the genre (although it is a horror what she does to the guy in the bathtub), it hardly "sucks HARD." I think it's a better revenge movie than "Kill Bill."

[Stefen]

I think it has a kind of charm that is lacking in most of those type of movies. I can't really put my finger on it, but I think the fact that it is so gritty and unaologetic has something to do with it.

[Ghostboy]

I agree that Last House On The Left was pretty disappointing. I guess I should see I Spit On Your Grave.

Me, I've just watched the second two installments of Romero's original zombie trilogy, and while there's surely an appropriate thread for me to comment on those, I figure I'll add to the seasonal fun here.

Dawn Of The Dead was everything I'd always heard it was -- I loved every minute of it. I was pretty shocked by the gore -- I forgot that these went out unrated back then. It was pretty exciting at times, which I hadn't expected -- I figured it would be simply horror and social satire, which there were plenty of, but I was getting all caught up in the action elements too. Ken Foree is awesome. While I really liked the remake, I think this is still superior; the shortage of characters made them stand out far more than the gaggle of survivors in the remake.

Day Of The Dead was pretty good -- not nearly as bad as I'd heard over the years. It was entertaining throughout, and it had some interesting ideas -- it seemed an intelligent direction to take the zombie concept (although the Bub stuff might have gone a little too far -- he's more human than the humans, we get it).  One big problem was that the characters were really hard to sympathize with (even the heroic ones). Also the score really worked against it -- something that I didn't find as much a problem with Dawn, where the cheesy synth stuff sorta worked with the setting. Savini outdid himself with the gore....although it actually got a bit repetitive after a while. It's worth seeing, but I think the last half hour of 28 Days Later (which definitely owes an enormous amount to this) improved the concept ever so slightly.

So between these and Shaun Of The Dead, I think I've decided I definitely like slow zombies best, although I do like the fast ones quite a bit too.

[Weak2ndAct]

Mod, so about Audition: First viewing I took it as face value, second I flip-flopped.  There are strong arguments to be made for both sides, but I say F it, it's just cool.

[modage]

i would like to recommend two for your next session:
Repulsion by Roman Polanski
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders by Jaromil Jires

i saw repulsion last year and liked it, (although its one of macguffins fav's), and i've never heard of the second one.  whats that like?

I Spit on Your Grave (which sucks HARD.)

While I will agree "Spit" is not a true horror film in the sense of the genre (although it is a horror what she does to the guy in the bathtub), it hardly "sucks HARD." I think it's a better revenge movie than "Kill Bill."

haha, okay. maybe i was extra annoyed while watching it last year because the dvd had 1000 scratches and kept trying to skip every 20 minutes.  so, to each his own, my friend...

Mod, so about Audition: First viewing I took it as face value, second I flip-flopped.  There are strong arguments to be made for both sides, but I say F it, it's just cool.

yeah it did seem cool.  i just wish more of the horror/tension stuff would've started before an hour in but i guess the movie had no intention of doing so and probably should be appreciated for going against convention and not giving any easy answers.  the guy in the bag was definitely cool though.

[03]

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders by Jaromil Jires

whats that like?

it's czech surrealism about vampires and budding sexuality. it's very beautiful; facets released it a little while ago, before that it was very difficult to find.