Any body else a horror movie and horror fiction fan? I'm a admirer of H.P. LOVECRAFT, BRIAN LUMLEY, CHARLES L. GRANT, etc. I love the old classic horror flicks, especially any thing with BORIS KARLOFF & VINCENT PRICE. The original 1963 "the haunting" is the greatest horror movie ever. what's your favorite?
Definitely Boris Karloff and Vincent Price, I am that old, but not as old as some here. How about Abbott & Constello Meet Frankenstein (1948) ;-) Watched a lot of B&W movies on Saturday as a kid, mostly pre 1950s. I have seen the first modern Frankenstein (1931) and the first The Mummy (1932). Always a syncophant for the Mummy (including the modern ones). The newer stuff seems to be too close to sadism for me.
Lost an interest in classic horror by the time I went to college, but before that I ate up the real history of Transylvania/Wallachia and the occult of the Tarot. Did you know that Prince Charles is a direct descendent of Dracula?
It's hard to pick a favorite today. It seems like horror was better when I was 10. I would judge the quality of a horror movie by the number of months it kept me awake at night. Recent horror doesn't do that to me, but it's probably my age. There is one exception, a recent mostly under the radar movie called BONE TOMAHAWK gave me nightmares for a couple of nights, along with that yucky feeling of, "I shouldn't have watched that movie. It may have damaged my brain."
Quote from: SGOS on October 22, 2020, 03:04:50 AM
It's hard to pick a favorite today. It seems like horror was better when I was 10. I would judge the quality of a horror movie by the number of months it kept me awake at night. Recent horror doesn't do that to me, but it's probably my age. There is one exception, a recent mostly under the radar movie called BONE TOMAHAWK gave me nightmares for a couple of nights, along with that yucky feeling of, "I shouldn't have watched that movie. It may have damaged my brain."
That is why I won't watch the deSade stuff.
I enjoy creepy, suspenseful thrillers but I don't typically like horror. I won't watch movies where people are being tortured, such as Saw or Hostel-- I don't want to vicariously experience that. Horror movies I have enjoyed include The Shining, Silence of the Lambs and Alien. Some television shows have freaked me out. There were a couple of X-files episodes that disturbed me, such as Squeeze where a guy can contort his body into tight spaces and eats people's livers, and Home which involves a homicidal inbred family. As a kid, my friends and I used to watch the creature features on television with movies like The Monolith Monsters, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Frankenstein.
Even those I emotionally react badly to. Never have seen Alien for that reason. Saw a comic book version in a store window after it was out, that comic book scared me! I think some people are adrenalin junkies, and they get high this way.
I've lately realised that watching horror movies is fun when you do it with people. I have two reactions when watching by myself, either I get scared and don't go on or I fall asleep. Then I thought it wasn't like this before. I mean, I have witnessed the whole genre make a few leaps growing up and watching horror movies was a hobby I enjoyed besides all other movies when I was younger. I belong to the generation who couldn't get scared of The Blair Witch Project but got freaked out by The Ring at the same time.
Though the country I live in is going somewhere worse than Japanese or Korean horror right now, that might be the case. Breathe.
The monster/supernatural movies aren't scary, but the ones about horrible people that can really exist scare the hell out of me. I don't like watching them, but some, like Misery, are really well done. I liked The Night Visitor, with Max von Sydow.
Quote from: Unbeliever on October 22, 2020, 12:43:03 PM
The monster/supernatural movies aren't scary, but the ones about horrible people that can really exist scare the hell out of me. I don't like watching them, but some, like Misery, are really well done. I liked The Night Visitor, with Max von Sydow.
So you have ... seen Jesus in action (Max von Sydow) ;-)
Quote from: Unbeliever on October 22, 2020, 12:43:03 PM
The monster/supernatural movies aren't scary, but the ones about horrible people that can really exist scare the hell out of me.
That is what was so frightening about
Cape Fear with Robert De Niro. It was completely believable and De Niro was scary as hell.
Quote from: Baruch on October 22, 2020, 12:26:08 PM
Even those I emotionally react badly to. Never have seen Alien for that reason. Saw a comic book version in a store window after it was out, that comic book scared me!
I confess I haven't wanted to watch Game of Thrones because after reading the books I know how violent it is. Too much rape and torture.
I loved watching creature features on saturday afternoons, and later watched elvira,mistress of the dark on saturday nights. I forgot about the "old' horror comedies like abbott and costello meet frankenstein and vincent price in the comedy of terrors. If you like 'real" horror movies about things that are genuniely disturbing,then watch "the witch" and "hereditary". As far as literature is concerned, stephen king is overrated, his stories go on forever and always have cliche' endings. This is just my opinion, and I know the old saying, but I prefer brian lumley or charles l. grant. I think the 2 greatest american horror writers were edgar allen poe and h.p.lovecraft.
Quote from: GSOgymrat on October 22, 2020, 02:54:41 PM
That is what was so frightening about Cape Fear with Robert De Niro. It was completely believable and De Niro was scary as hell.
After my divorce and I was dating, I was 'forced' to see that movie. I absolutely hated it!!! It is all too believable, which is why I hate it. Criminal Minds is a good TV series--but some of the episodes are unwatchable for me for the same reason. I'm a lightweight when it comes to movies like those--and all the Texas Chainsaw type movies, as well.
I never watched that chainsaw movie, knew I'd hate it.
When Cape Fear was out, it was completely new because there had never been anything like it in the American main stream before. But in a world of directors like Haneke or Gaspar Noe, Kargl or Lars von Trier, Cape Fear is kindergarten. What was the name of that Japenese director from 60s? (Could be later, not sure.)
Haneke made an American version of Funny Games years later. Maybe you have seen it? Don't, if you thought Cape Fear was bad.
I had to watch about all that artsy horror shit while I was a student-res asst, because my prof kept up with the European contemporary stuff in full schedule. Yeah, you enjoy it when you are young, it is all really new/shocking...blah blah, also because you really witness a real change; an evolution, but now? Nope! For example, Lynch's Lost Highway scared the hell out of me when I saw it in the theatre 25 years ago. Again, new, the usage of ambiguity was scary dead on for me. I haven't seen it since. AAAAAA!
I wonder what do kids today think about them? I mean, it wouldn't look shocking or traumatic to them I guess. Culture has changed so much...
Traditional ones are OK. The worst one makes me uncomfortable for a couple of weeks at most. People were cheering about a movie called Hereditary, I didn't get what was so good about it. It was pretty ordinary.
"Cape Fear is a 1991 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese as a remake of the 1962 film of the same name which was based on John D. MacDonald's 1957 novel, The Executioners." ... 1962 film stars Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Both actors were in the remake 29 years later.
Quote from: Baruch on October 23, 2020, 10:33:48 AM
"Cape Fear is a 1991 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese as a remake of the 1962 film of the same name which was based on John D. MacDonald's 1957 novel, The Executioners." ... 1962 film stars Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Both actors were in the remake 29 years later.
I didn't know the old movie or I don't remember. Does it have the same realism?
[spoiler]For example, the law secretary's rape scene and after, the dialogue she makes why she won't file a complaint or the Juliet Lewis' after school scene...do they have the same effect? You know what Scorsese is talented and famous for as a director. Because we are not talking about the book.
Scorsese always has his feet on the ground the whole time. There is closure, there is catharsis in the end. His scenarios are the same and so the violence has a reason, we see it, and we manage to distance ourselves from it. Max is a horrifying piece of shit but he is doing all that for revenge. He has a reason and a plan. He thinks his lawyer didn't really defend him and he got more punishment than he deserved. If I remember correctly, he studies law in the prison and finds out there were more he could have done but he's made a judgement and decided his punishment before the court. that's his point of view.
I tried to give a few example of the directors, who do not give a damn about reason or rhyme or catharsis. As far as I remembered. Been years I haven't followed this line and I have no idea how they are viewed right now. I haven't watched Noe or Trier for years. They carry the audience to that point of madness where you know everything is real and really really out of control the worst possible way. They do not apologise or punish. That's horror in the very sense.
But of course, yeah Scorsese is not comparable to the those directors in any way because their understanding of cinema is completely different.
My point of view is about what makes us really scared. People have made a good point that the real life ones are the only scary ones. When watching the Ring, we are not scared that it is going to happen in real life, we physically get uncomfortable because visual effects and it is also very sad. [/spoiler]
Mike is right, Cape Fear is very disturbing because it could happen tomorrow, somewhere. The thing is, so could
Funny Games. But while the former is a traditional crime movie with specific fetaures, even social issues, the criminal and the victims have a direct relationship an end, the latter is about where the lever is broken with the understanding of basic human violence.
I think because they have made so many movies and series, documentaries about serial killers, horrifying real cases of this kind of crime, it is almost 'normalised' or at least we got used to it. But actually it is bullshit, it can never be normalised, noone can get used to it, there is nothing scarier than that kind of crimes. First, mostly they cannot be solved because there are no natural relations between the perpetrator and the victim and the real life is not like Criminal Minds.
Anyone remember a movie called Faces of Death? I've never seen it, too real for my taste.
Do you guys know the movie, Open House? This is a movie everyone hated in general. People didn't find it scary and also thought it was stupid, badly made...etc. We have discussed this with quite a few people.
[spoiler]You know why? Because they think it doesn't have an end; that it is full of clichés that arrive to a no end. I think it was brilliant and it just says' that a 6' 2", 200 pounds male who knows what he is doing -as in violence and organised crime- can very easily kill a woman and a teenager boy -randomly picked (?), father gets hit by a car, a little time ago, maybe the same man we don't know- like killing two domestic animals and nobody can stop him or catch him later. And in the end he walks away.
To me, the movie was obvioulsy designed to mock all the other movies of its kind with this specific theme because almost in all of them, 90 pounds women kick men more than twice their size at the right moment when down and neutralise them, reach for a random object around and use it perfectly as a weapon, defend themselves as if they have mastered krav maga for 10 years, use any kind of weapon professionally AND in the end the bad guy almost always get what he deserves; gets caught or killed. Preferably, falling from a high place.
This movie includes all those scenes -which led me to my interpretation in teh first place- and we can't even get a peek at the murderer during the movie. The best scene - I think it was brilliant- was the one that when the teenager boy accidentally knives his mom in that chaos in a deliberate way. Because that's what would happen in 99% of the time in real life, when someone alien to a weapon like that tries to use it with panic. They have a neighbour, an old lady who is mentally has gone so far, she wouldn't notice if the WWIII broke out, that was a nice touch. Because there is no help around as there is in many movies. Noone to run to, no ring bell at the right moment...etc.
Long story short, the movie is very good but very boring and lame because it is very realistic and scary in the end with its every element. But it doesn't scare people and they think it is stupid, very badly done. LOL Some agreed with me, but I was booed mostly. It isn't giving a social message, it is about the physical reality of violence. This is my interpretation, I have no idea what the director really had in mind. I think the name Open House is lame but a realistic pun too, because they do visit one and move after the dad is killed and their house is an 'open house'. [/spoiler]
But with all that, now I'm really sure that most people moronically think -although they agree on the great difference of the physical power between a teenager and an adult; male and female- it is very easy to hit another person and give damage. People think violence is very easy and comes naturally just like that when necessary. LOL
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote ;-( 1967 movie starring Robert Blake ... eek! In Cold Blood (TV mini-series) 1996.
Psycho was based (not) on a real psycho murder in the 1950s (that I saw a documentary on). The actual story is so horrific, that the Hitchcock story is completely different from the crime that inspired it ;-((
I'm taping the original 'the thing' right now. Never seen it before. Really stoked to watch it one of these days. Halloween, maybe?
If you go back and watch "hereditary" a second time knowing what's going to happen,you can look at all the subtle hints and clues that are in the background. The acting was superp,especially toni collett as the mother. should have been nominated for an oscar. The fact that it doesn't have a happy ending, their family was completely destroyed and there was no one left, doesn't fit the mold of most horror nowadays. I saw it a second time with my 2 younger sisters (we're all over 50),and I liked it even more. It freaked out both of them. Now we have grown-up up together, and they know how warped I am,and they still went to see it with me. Needless to say, that'll never happen again. I forgot to reccomend another excellent movie "midsommar",done by the same director as "hereditary". check it out.
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on October 23, 2020, 04:55:33 PM
I'm taping the original 'the thing' right now. Never seen it before. Really stoked to watch it one of these days. Halloween, maybe?
I saw that at the theater when it was originally released. I went with my friend who was a year older than me. I was eight and I was familiar with westerns, war movies, and Jerry Lewis type comedy. I had no concept of what a scary movie was. My friend tried to explain the concept on the way to the theater, but I was still unprepared. In retrospect, my parents should not have let me go. It disturbed me deeply for weeks. I remember looking at my friend during a scary part, and he was hiding behind the seat in front of him. I asked him why he wasn't watching. He said he didn't want to see it. I learned years later that the monster was played by the lovable Mr. Dillon, Marshall of Dodge City, Kansas in Gunsmoke.
Midsommar was reviewed earlier in this thread, you can search for it. I thought it was a unique idea (based on the previews only). People in Scandinavia aren't the same as the People's Temple of Guyana.
Quote from: bob nelson on October 23, 2020, 05:26:25 PM
If you go back and watch "hereditary" a second time knowing what's going to happen,you can look at all the subtle hints and clues that are in the background. The acting was superp,especially toni collett as the mother. should have been nominated for an oscar. The fact that it doesn't have a happy ending, their family was completely destroyed and there was no one left, doesn't fit the mold of most horror nowadays. I saw it a second time with my 2 younger sisters (we're all over 50),and I liked it even more. It freaked out both of them. Now we have grown-up up together, and they know how warped I am,and they still went to see it with me. Needless to say, that'll never happen again. I forgot to reccomend another excellent movie "midsommar",done by the same director as "hereditary". check it out.
*Please use the spoiler button (
Sp in the post menu) if you are going to talk about the details or esp. an end of a movie.
[spoiler]Actually, I liked that it has a bad ending. Because I find it unrealistic in itself when ordinary people win against big, evil demons worshipped as gods in movies. Honestly, I didn't guess the ending but it was there that it is tied to the granny and something she did from the beginning. They don't hide that she is a cold, uncaring character from the beginning. Thaty she had something bizarre in her life. They actually emphasize it. We are openly told that a granny, a woman you get that didn't care about her family or children was disappointed that it was a girl when her first grandchild was born BUT liked she had her condition and had a sepcial relationship with her, while she didn't care about the second male one. We don't witness anything about her with flashbacks, this info is given to us directly by lines. Her daughter is broken, angry. I didn't think it was a bad movie. I didn't think it was 'oh wow, it is good'. It's ordinary.
I also personally think a lot of people found it very good because while it ended badly, it is based on an alleged 'true story' and apparently, there are people believe in that mythology. [/spoiler]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs4spGb6LRc
Tree monsters get a raw deal. They are not all bad all the time. Sometimes we do good things.
Yours Truly,
Groot
B-movies encouraged a hive mind ;-)
Quote from: the_antithesis on October 26, 2020, 12:27:00 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs4spGb6LRc
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/08/74/3f/08743f91762b08bc08d0f8ee67a58cf0.jpg)