Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 177 total)
  • Horror Films.
  • trailwagger
    Free Member

    +1 for The Ring, its the first film I remember using that fast/slow motion effect thing…

    mikey74
    Free Member

    +1 for Event Horizon. Now that is a horror in space.

    Ooooo and how could I forget, one of my favourite films: The Masque of the Red Death. Vincent Price at his best.

    hodgynd
    Free Member

    Not into horror films at all..
    I saw the Exorcist as a 16 year old in Newcastle with two different girlfriends which at the time was the ultimate in horror / scary movies ..why the hell I went back a second time is beyond me as I was scared shitless the first time ..

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    mikey74
    Free Member

    Yes, there can’t be a horror film thread without mention of The Exorcist. I’d also throw The Exorcist III out there as well, albeit not as good as the first one.

    BigDummy
    Free Member

    I’ve always avoided the genre like the plague because I thought horror films were (1) fairly rubbish and (2) stressful.

    My partner watches them constantly. I think I’m right, but she only gives whatever she’s watching a fraction of her attention so she doesn’t notice. 🙂

    rone
    Full Member

    A lot of the classics don’t age well despite my affection for them.

    It’s hard to argue with the French Horror new wave though such as Martyrs and Haute Tension.

    I did quite enjoy the Conjuring and its sequels though.

    johndoh
    Free Member

    Yes, there can’t be a horror film thread without mention of The Exorcist

    I agree, that’s exactly why I mentioned it last night 😉

    kimbers
    Full Member

    Love Hellraiser and even Nightbreed, flawed as it is.

    The slasher stuff never really grabbed me

    As I love sci-fi films like a
    Alien much better.

    Event horizon is brilliant.

    I think what makes it scarier is that you only see flashes of the other dimension- full scenes there were shot but the studio cut them, that left almost subliminal glimpses of detailed & well realised horror that your mind can easily be extrapolate out.

    I suppose it’s stuff like that gets into your imagination.

    Sometimes With horror less is more
    The scene in the mostly pants Fire In The Sky is a great one [video]https://youtu.be/uWVv_98qdGQ[/video]

    I think I like this the best, no model perfect young starlets & hunks,just a bunch of bearded blokes in long John’s at the bottom of the world unable to trust anyone
    [video]https://youtu.be/EX9ZpsEg6Mc[/video]

    James Gunn just put his list of 50 fave horror films on Facebook, worth a squiz, all good

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    Similarly, Cape Fear (the remake) only starts becoming farcicalhorror towards the end when he almost seems indestructible.

    FTFY 😉

    But to make a point about subjectivity and genre – to my mind the ‘true horror’ of Cape Fear (for me) was captured best (by both Gregory Peck and De Niro) much earlier in the story. ie the horrifying smarmy-sociopathic/amoral surety with which Max Cady openly stalked the lawyer and his family. The slightly twisted, falsely- smiling look in his eye. The grandiose pseudo-politeness that foretold his intent. A look that said – ‘I’m not ‘threatening’ you and your family. I’m inevitable. Your safety is an illusion’. Chilling.

    So, for me, those early sunny scenes on the lawn and in the neighbourhood were far more horrific than the murderous raging-muscle-fest-in-the-rainstorm ending of the remake. ymmv.

    mrmonkfinger
    Free Member

    Torture porn films I find boring.
    Comedy horrors have potential, Final Destination, Evil Dead type of thing.
    The best horror films work psychologically.

    Either way I don’t watch many these days. The most recent good one I’ve seen is Let the Right One In.

    Event horizon is brilliant.

    I think what makes it scarier is that you only see flashes of the other dimension- full scenes there were shot but the studio cut them, that left almost subliminal glimpses of detailed & well realised horror that your mind can easily be extrapolate out.

    Event Horizon was so very very nearly genius. The single flaw was that it should have left the short cuts of the ‘other place’ out entirely. It worked really well on the suspense level alone.

    IIRC it got critically panned on release. But one of my most watched DVDs.

    johndoh
    Free Member

    One that really got to me but shouldn’t have (given it was on rated 12) was The Others with Nicole Kidman. Saying that, the BBFC did admit to getting it wrong by rating it 12 and it should have been a 15.

    redthunder
    Free Member

    The Fog (old one)

    Bunch of us watching the film late at night and it was really fogging outside. Just as the fog started eveloping the house and pirates bashing on the window scene a real life fox decided to crash into the patio window, then started pawing it….that scared the shit out of us.

    Zombie Fox

    Looking back, what a bunch of wimpey pansies.

    Ps My Dad reckons he heard our girly screaming….we did’nt btw…. but it was a long time ago ………..

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    Just reminded me of watching Cannibal Holocaust at a friend’s house. 14-15yrs old. His older brother and friend ambushed me from a hiding-place in the bushes on my way home in the dark. They got me to the ground bit my neck and I subsequently stank of tom sauce. How I laughed! It was a weird sort of laugh IIRC, with a rising tone that was almost indistinguishable from terror. 😆

    jimjam
    Free Member

    I’ve only watched Event Horizon once, when it came out. I don’t imagine it’ll have aged well but I did think it was good at the time – I liked the premise and the haunted house in space scenario works when it’s done well.

    As for Se7en I wouldn’t consider it a horror at all. Certainly as a black as a cop thriller could go, and it used plenty of horror tropes. I think it’s more horrific because it’s set in a recognizably real world. There are other films that are also set in the real world that kind of step over the line and are more “horror” than not. I think Green Room does that quite well. Calvaire would be another, Haute Tension maybe straying further across the line. I guess it’s a blurry line sometimes.

    rone
    Full Member

    Broader question: When do you think a thriller becomes a horror?

    At which point?

    I would’ve put Se7en in the horror category for instance. It’s just that it’s plot is very much thriller.

    I think Sicario is almost horror too. The feel of the film and the dread; the outcomes are pretty awful. Again, sits in the thriller camp by plot.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    rone – Member

    Broader question: When do you think a thriller becomes a horror?

    At which point?

    I would’ve put Se7en in the horror category for instance.

    Well aside from obvious ques like supernatural or monstrous elements I think it would have to be when the horror, either through violence, gore or sustained terror becomes a primary theme or driving force of the narrative. There’s obviously a lot of subjectivity involved there, and to further muddy the waters there’s an issue that our real world can be as horrific or even more horrific than a fantasy when accurately depicted.

    Seven is a good example of this because it never focuses on gore or ever really shows you anything gratuitous or horrible (sloth scene aside and even then, that’s just a guy). All of the horror is built up in your mind, and then flashed at or hinted at. People will tell you about the horrific things they saw in Seven that simply aren’t in the film.

    Same with Silence of the Lambs, Manhunter etc.

    The real drive of Seven is the relationship between Pitt and Freeman and their investigation – that is the film.

    If you compare Seven with something like Haute Tension/Switchblade romance it’s also set in the real world but the it’s a constant an relentless escape/pursuit with a very murderous and implausibly persistent killer.

    Or another good film which skirts that line is Green Room. A group of friends trapped in a room by bad people. But the tension and the assualt on the main characters is constant, the violence is extreme and the depiction of it in some instances is incredibly graphic and explicit. It’s 90 minutes of tension, pain and suffering basically, although it’s all (almost) realistic, plausible and based in our world.

    imo

    jon1973
    Free Member

    The original Japanese versions of The Ring, & Dark Water are good. (Not the Hollywood remakes)

    I actually thought they did quite a good job on The Ring remake. Dark water was OK as well.

    rone
    Full Member

    There’s obviously a lot of subjectivity involved there, and to further muddy the waters there’s an issue that our real world can be as horrific or even more horrific than a fantasy when accurately depicted

    Absolutely.

    I also think the correct ending says a lot about a horror film. Too many films (for commercial reasons) tie things up far too neatly. Seven is great example of why, in my book – it’s true horror.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    rone – Member

    Seven is great example of why, in my book – it’s true horror.

    Well here’s a thought, the most horrific book I ever read was a documentary account of real world serial killers who were cannibals (I can’t remember why I was reading it, I think part of a film script I was writing). An even more horrific book which my wife read was a book about Fred and Rose West. I tried to read that book and the sheer bleak, mundane ordinariness of it horrified me so much I couldn’t read the book. There’s no way I will go back and try to read that book.

    And yet it’s not a Stephen King, or a Clive Barker.

    Malvern Rider
    Free Member

    ^ I thought about just this a fair bit.

    ‘True’ horror – defining example of the movie genre
    True horror – real life horrific events.

    Long may they stay apart.

    I’d maybe happier in a world that chose to contribute to/enjoy neither, And say that as a long-time fan of ‘horror’ films.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    Malvern Rider – Member

    ^ I thought about just this a fair bit.

    ‘True’ horror – defining example of the movie genre
    True horror – real life horrific events.

    Long may they stay apart.

    Yes agreed. I think that’s why I have zero interest in Hostel or similar. While they aren’t exactly real, they are based in our reality and offer nothing other than the worst real things imaginable.

    I’d of course be happier in a world that chose to contribute neither, And say that as a long-time fan of horror films.

    For drama you need peril, and for peril to be real you need the threat of violence and to contextualise that violence you need, well, violence. So I don’t mind fantastic depictions of violence. It’s also what makes something like Pan’s Labyrinth so compelling. There are monsters, and there are horrors but obviously, the real monsters are very real humans and the violence they commit.

    schrickvr6
    Free Member

    I grew up on a diet of horror and things like The Fly and the Thing when my age was in single digits and do have a thing for a good horror, two things that really freaked me out back then although not horror were The Elephant Man, and The Invisible Man series on BBC1.

    Has anyone watched the Syfy Channel Zero series?

    mahalo
    Full Member

    I think ‘Disturbing’ as another genre all together, i love watching all the horror classics mentioned but stuff like Irreversible, Salò, or 120 Days of Sodom, or Martyrs etc are just horrible to watch. no fun at all.

    Funny Games (Haneke original) is another one that really had an impact on me!!

    I think when it boils down to raw human cruelty rather than ghosts and vampires, that reality can be chilling! Snowtown was another!

    trailwagger
    Free Member

    anyone mentioned blair witch yet?

    very original in its day and I cant think of any other horror flick in recent times that had such a huge media coverage (because it was so good)

    jimjam
    Free Member

    mahalo – Member

    I think ‘Disturbing’ as another genre all together,

    Psychological horror I guess.

    MTT
    Free Member

    Other than those mentioned:

    Drag me to hell – Comedy genius,
    The Descent
    The Cabin in the Woods
    REC
    Get Out
    A tale of two sisters
    The Conjuring – I love a horror but had to take a break during this one.

    funkmasterp
    Full Member

    Bone Tomahawk is an odd one. A standard western with a constant tension and building sense of dread with one truely horrific scene. I’d still class it as a western though.

    woody2000
    Full Member

    anyone mentioned blair witch yet?

    I hope not, cos it’s crap 😉

    fd3chris
    Free Member

    I liked Silent Hill. Even though it was based on a, very good, game I thought they did a fair job of it.

    rone
    Full Member

    Bone Tomahawk is an odd one. A standard western with a constant tension and building sense of dread with one truely horrific scene. I’d still class it as a western though.

    That’s a great example.

    By the end – I saw it more as horror than Western.

    trailwagger
    Free Member

    I hope not, cos it’s crap

    Would have to disagree on that one. As mentioned above the fact it shows you very little and all the “scary” stuff is built up in your own head makes it a good movie IMHO. Then the fact it created a new genre of “found footage” films. How many movies can you say have created an entirely new genre of film?

    jimjam
    Free Member

    trailwagger – Member

    I hope not, cos it’s crap

    Would have to disagree on that one. As mentioned above the fact it shows you very little and all the “scary” stuff is built up in your own head makes it a good movie IMHO. Then the fact it created a new genre of “found footage” films. How many movies can you say have created an entirely new genre of film? [/quote]

    I don’t think you can really credit it with creating an entirely new genre – the found footage premise wasn’t invented by Blair Witch. I think at best you could credit its success to the rise of a horror sub genre, something many films have done (and in the case of Found Footage I’m not sure what sort of legacy that really is).

    trailwagger
    Free Member

    I don’t think you can really credit it with creating an entirely new genre – the found footage premise wasn’t invented by Blair Witch. I think at best you could credit its success to the rise of a horror sub genre, something many films have done (and in the case of Found Footage I’m not sure what sort of legacy that really is).

    True, but its first one anyone has ever heard off.

    jimjam
    Free Member

    trailwagger – Member

    True, but its first one anyone has ever heard off.

    If Take That* had a massive hit with an obscure 60s B side no one had ever heard do you credit Take That or the original artist for the song’s qualities?

    I had certainly seen Cannibal Holocaust and Man Bites Dog, and other mocumentarys before Blair Witch. I think the real master stroke that Blair Witch pulled was its marketing campaign – iirc it was the first big online stealth marketing for a film and it used the medium perfectly to obfuscate whether the film was fiction or documentary. In that respect the style of the film and the marketing campaign were uniquely of their time and complemented each other perfectly.

    *I don’t listen to popular music so I couldn’t think of a more relevant example than Take That.

    mrmonkfinger
    Free Member

    Is Cannibal Holocaust the one where they have to buy back the film reels which turn out to be the film maker setting up the tribal war?

    mrmonkfinger
    Free Member

    I’m not sure what sort of legacy that really is

    Cloverfield. Unfortunately.

    woody2000
    Full Member

    Sorry, started an argument and then wandered off!

    Blair Witch (IMO) as a film was garbage, but it really managed to create this myth about whether it was real or not. That, and not the film itself, is it’s biggest coup.

    Anyway, fan of the foreign stuff myself. Spanish directors seem to be the fave at the moment. Recently enjoyed:

    Timecrimes
    Mama
    The Orphanage
    Sleep Tight

    Not really a horror, but The Similars was also pretty good.

    DezB
    Free Member

    The Babadouk is surprisingly good for a modern horror. No slashers just weird spookiness.

    Blair Witch was great when it came out. It trendy to dismiss it now, but it was very different and original.

    DezB
    Free Member

    Just noticed – the Babadook is on Film4, tonight 1:20am

    jimjam
    Free Member

    DezB – Member

    Blair Witch was great when it came out. It trendy to dismiss it now, but it was very different and original.

    Well I dismissed it then too, what do I win? It was 79 minutes of nauseating camera shake and 2 minutes of creepy cabin at the end. That part was pretty good. But jesus christ the rest of it.

    I haven’t watched since the cinema.

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