Rate the latest movie you've seen.

[Hydra009]

For argument's sake, let's take it as a given The Blair Witch Project was meant is a supernatural horror movie and the titular witch is indeed real in-universe.

Let's say you're the director trying to pitch this movie to film executives.  Can you imagine the look on their faces when you tell them that there are no shots of the witch, no obvious magic or curses or anything, and 90% of the movie is just people hiking through the woods and having arguments.  What kind of sense does that make?  Imo, that would be a pretty awful film and definitely wouldn't stack up to its big-budget counterparts, so the executives probably wouldn't sign off on that.  What were they actually pitched that got their attention?

Conservation of detail would suggest that the arguments about the map and being lost would be significant in some way.  Instead, they're just a dull preamble to a very brief and intense few final scenes.  And bear in mind that editing this film was already a huge pain in the ass.  Why bother to keep that in?  Why didn't that end up on the cutting room floor in favor of more scares and gore?  It makes no sense.

Honestly, if I was doing a straight supernatural horror movie, I would at the very least give definite hints of a supernatural presence - if not directly, then indirectly through corrupted wildlife or magical flora or possession.  All we get are bundles of sticks and piles of rocks - indistinguishable from human handiwork.  Why?

And the existence of the witch makes for some odd logic in the plot - the Witch kills people who enters her woods, except for the search party who found the film the trio left behind packed under some rocks (aren't they too busy being dead to do this?  Who placed it there?).  This famously territorial witch is hostile to the trio and yet surprisingly hospitable to the search party that found the film.  Sounds legit.

Imho, if I wasn't pitched a mediocre/bad supernatural film and wasn't instead pitched a fake-out - something that on the surface looked like a supernatural horror film but was actually a psychological thriller, and especially if it was shot in a new and fascinating way, that might be just enough to pique my interest!

[Blackleaf]

For argument's sake, let's take it as a given The Blair Witch Project was meant is a supernatural horror movie and the titular witch is indeed real in-universe.

Let's say you're the director trying to pitch this movie to film executives.  Can you imagine the look on their faces when you tell them that there are no shots of the witch, no obvious magic or curses or anything, and 90% of the movie is just people hiking through the woods and having arguments.  What kind of sense does that make?  Imo, that would be a pretty awful film and definitely wouldn't stack up to its big-budget counterparts, so the executives probably wouldn't sign off on that.  What were they actually pitched that got their attention?

Conservation of detail would suggest that the arguments about the map and being lost would be significant in some way.  Instead, they're just a dull preamble to a very brief and intense few final scenes.  And bear in mind that editing this film was already a huge pain in the ass.  Why bother to keep that in?  Why didn't that end up on the cutting room floor in favor of more scares and gore?  It makes no sense.

Honestly, if I was doing a straight supernatural horror movie, I would at the very least give definite hints of a supernatural presence - if not directly, then indirectly through corrupted wildlife or magical flora or possession.  All we get are bundles of sticks and piles of rocks - indistinguishable from human handiwork.  Why?

And the existence of the witch makes for some odd logic in the plot - the Witch kills people who enters her woods, except for the search party who found the film the trio left behind packed under some rocks (aren't they too busy being dead to do this?  Who placed it there?).  This famously territorial witch is hostile to the trio and yet surprisingly hospitable to the search party that found the film.  Sounds legit.

Imho, if I wasn't pitched a mediocre/bad supernatural film and wasn't instead pitched a fake-out - something that on the surface looked like a supernatural horror film but was actually a psychological thriller, and especially if it was shot in a new and fascinating way, that might be just enough to pique my interest!

I think the arguments amongst themselves was meant to show that they were breaking down. Their trust in each other was failing, making them vulnerable. As for the search parties, part of the lore states that the witch is only active once every 50 or so years. And not everyone who enters her forest are victims. Sometimes, they're vessels. Like the hermit who built his home there. He lived there for years without incident, but then he started hearing a voice speak to him, telling him to bring children to his home and slaughter them. The victims were also made to stand in the corner to wait their turn, just like we see Mike doing at the end of the film, before Heather drops her camera. There is a lot of witch lore like that, which are odd details to include if she's just supposed to be a myth.

It's not that I'm against the idea of what you're suggesting. It's just that it seems to me like the more complex explanation. These two guys take a girl into the woods with the intention of killing her, knowing they're being filmed. After getting her out to the middle of nowhere, they intentionally get themselves lost and use hidden sound equipment to make Heather think they're being stalked by something. Josh wanders off, but doesn't have any difficulty keeping up with them, despite having no fire or lights at night to give away their position. Then, despite being totally lost, they end up finding an abandoned house, where Mike runs around before intentionally dropping his camera at an angle where you can't see what's happening. Then he stands in the corner while Josh sneaks up on Heather and...does something to instantly incapacitate her. She drops her camera, again at an angle where we can't see what's happening. There's no sounds of a beating or of Heather being dragged away. It's just silence. Then after completing this murder, the victims burn down the house, leaving the tapes unharmed for a search party to find. And the two disappear, hungry and without transportation (their truck was left behind), to never be seen or heard from again.

[Hydra009]

Fair point, though the witch thing has its share of problems as well and gets just as convoluted.

The witch stalks these people at night, cackling and apparently throwing stones at other stones in the distance.  Doesn't harm a hair on their heads.  After a while, she ransacks the campground for some reason.  After another while, abruptly abducts Josh.  Then waits yet again and leaves a bloody present, presumably from Josh, so he's either dead or hurt badly.  Then leaves them alone for yet another while, then the witch uses Josh's screaming to lure Mr Cautious into the murder house.  Mike races ahead of Heather for some reason, loudly announces that he's headed upstairs, doesn't find anything, sprints away the instant Heather catches up to him, loudly announces (to who?) that he's headed downstairs, puts as much distance between him and Heather as possible, get incapacitated, presumably by the witch.  Then the witch moves Mike into the corner, lies hidden, then ambushes Heather, then finally finishes off Mike (why not off Mike immediately?).  Then the witch disappears the bodies, buries the footage under some rocks, and apparently doesn't bother the search party that comes looking later on.

That's one weeeird witch.

After another viewing, I noticed that Josh early on pointedly asks Heather if she believes in the witch, says "someone is fucking with your mind" (singular, not plural), mentions Deliverance, extremely casually - almost in passing - mentions a cackling last night.  All while very intensely measuring her response.  He clearly is trying his hardest to implant the idea that this is a supernatural stalking to Heather.

If neither of these guys were suspicious, if there was obviously some supernatural stuff going on, and if everyone involved seemed scared, I would totally believe this is 100% the handiwork of some outside threat.  But the way this film is shot, it's intentionally ambiguous who's doing the haunting or if there even is a witch.  If everything is as it appears, if there's not some twist, why the ambiguity?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

For people who hate remakes: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805647/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[Hydra009]

I saw Knives Out.  Not good, 5/10 if that.

I kinda like murder mysteries.  This is not truly a murder mystery, since most of the mystery is revealed in the first 15 minutes.  It does have a twist, but it's a very weak and uninteresting twist, imo.

And there's a part at the end that I found absurd and inexcusably inept:

[spoiler]After the killer is revealed by the dashing detective (this movie is cliched AF, not gonna lie) and the detective tells the police to take him away, the police stay back and for some reason, let this guy approach someone.  He walks right up to her and says that he's going to try to kill her right in front of the cops (dafuq) then reaches for a weapon (the cops react too slowly to intervene, which is quite something) and absolutely could have killed her.  Look, I know the cops aren't super competent in murder mysteries, but damn, that's a new level of inept.  That's Chief Wiggim inept.[/spoiler]

[SGOS]

Honestly, if I was doing a straight supernatural horror movie, I would at the very least give definite hints of a supernatural presence - if not directly, then indirectly through corrupted wildlife or magical flora or possession.  All we get are bundles of sticks and piles of rocks - indistinguishable from human handiwork.  Why?

I don't know, but this may have been the best part of the story for me.  Maybe there's a witch, maybe it's a psychopath, but whatever it is, it's unknown.  I would call it genius if it wasn't the first time I had seen this scare device, but genius or dumb luck, this was the limit of the special effects available to them, and they used the little sticks wisely.  Also, there weren't any jump scares that you know are coming. The duration of the trip is just a low level of creepy, with no scare followed by a relief like, "Oh, it was just a cat!"  There is never any resolution or explanation for the creep, and you have to endure it.  It even remained with me for a while after I left the theater.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I saw Knives Out.  Not good, 5/10 if that.

I kinda like murder mysteries.  This is not truly a murder mystery, since most of the mystery is revealed in the first 15 minutes.  It does have a twist, but it's a very weak and uninteresting twist, imo.

And there's a part at the end that I found absurd and inexcusably inept:

[spoiler]After the killer is revealed by the dashing detective (this movie is cliched AF, not gonna lie) and the detective tells the police to take him away, the police stay back and for some reason, let this guy approach someone.  He walks right up to her and says that he's going to try to kill her right in front of the cops (dafuq) then reaches for a weapon (the cops react too slowly to intervene, which is quite something) and absolutely could have killed her.  Look, I know the cops aren't super competent in murder mysteries, but damn, that's a new level of inept.  That's Chief Wiggim inept.[/spoiler]

Boss Lady sat through the entire thing going "It can't be him, it's too obvious."

[SGOS]

Devil's Advocate. I have seen it on the big screen for the first time when it came out. I have seen it more than a few times I guess. What I like about this movie is that among all 'the moral of the story' stuff this one is probably one of the shortest cuts to the point because of the poet its lines. I don't like that it's covered with sugary religious coat while it actually has nothing to do with it because very interestingly enough this movie is also designed to point out that religious side of it all is just a fantasy with good visual effects and nothing more, while it pokes in the eye that the evil is just what people choose to do. I think that's why it doesn't get old. It hits the nail on the head. Yeah it is over the top, corny, lame... but The Law. It's the only thing stands between the darkness and the civilisation on a cotton thread. It's also done with very little budget, I always like that.

[spoiler]But maybe because they focused too much on Milton and his lines although it is a rip off from Milton -I mean the real one- there is always the secretary's weird outburst that ruins it a bit for me. Why would she get back to him like that even if she didn't know the answer to his question -Is he circumcised?- while Lomax is coaching her for the trial. That wouldn't happen. She would be too scared and laugh it off the most. [/spoiler]

Also they use the word Vanity and carefully avoid the word Pride. LOL In short, it is still good. The Eddie Barzoon conversation is fucking brilliant.

I remember seeing that 22 years ago, but I couldn't remember what I liked about it, who was in it, or what it was about. So I got the disk and watched it today.  I didn't remember any of it.  Nada!  It's a good one to watch cold, because it takes you where you're not expecting.  It's kind of a mind blower.  Thanks for bringing it up.

[Hydra009]

The Lost Boys

Still pretty good, even after all these years.  Afaik, it introduced us to punk vampires, helping to update vampires from their nosferatu roots to something more akin to the Buffy vampires.

It had some memorable shots of wild California with amusement parks filled with hooligans of every stripe rockin' fly threads and constantly partying and surfing.  I know it's just a movie with no bearing on reality whatsoever, but that's my mental image of California.

Also, I'm convinced that The Lost Boys and The Craft are the same basic movie, just from the other sex's perspective.  Impressionable teenage boy/girl get pressured into joining all-male/all-female gang with supernatural abilities.  After being inducted, he/she has a change of heart, turns against the gang and a fight ensues.  It's like poetry.  And imho, both films take place in a shared universe.  Take that, MCU!

[SGOS]

The Lost Boys
Also, I'm convinced that The Lost Boys and The Craft are the same basic movie, just from the other sex's perspective.  Impressionable teenage boy/girl get pressured into joining all-male/all-female gang with supernatural abilities.  After being inducted, he/she has a change of heart, turns against the gang and a fight ensues.  It's like poetry.  And imho, both films take place in a shared universe.  Take that, MCU!

There are certain scenarios that seem to draw people in.  I can think of a couple that always give me a flash of excitement.  I can see that the scenario above would have that appeal for many.  It's interesting and different, at least until it's overused and no longer different.

Stargate SG1 had a scenario that they use probably 10 times, and I fall for it each time:  Some key person is introduced to the wonders of the stargate.  Think Samantha's dying military father who is given a trip through the gate, but is also introduced to an alien culture that saves his life, so that he can play a critical role in saving the world.  Or the dying buddy of SG1's team leader who is given an alien device to experience the highly secretive aspects of his buddy's role in the Stargate Program.  Each time one of these show up, I'm waiting for it with excited anticipation.  Time travel experiences in other movies do that to me also.

For the last 10 years, superheroes in magical universes have captured the same titillating excitement in audiences so that you have to wonder what took Hollywood so long to get around to it.  Well, I guess they have been using it for decades, so apparently what's in and what's out is affected by something I haven't figured out yet.

Or 20 years ago the Romantic Comedy formula, where a couple meet by an accident of fate, fall in love, have an argument, and when all seems lost, they get back together.  THERE!  I just gave away the plot of hundreds of romantic comedies.  They always drew a crowd until Hollywood wore it out.  Did you ever wonder what happened to the couple in the movie after they get back together?  Do we assume they live happily ever after?  Or does their relationship experience a prolonged period of agonizing decline ending in bitterness and deep resentment?  We don't get to watch that part.  (Thank God!)

[Mr.Obvious]

John carpenter's the thing.
Brilliant. Very impressive.

[SGOS]

John carpenter's the thing.
Brilliant. Very impressive.

OK, that was not the original, but I saw that one too.  It wasn't as scary, but then I was 40, rather than 8. lol

[Hydra009]

Just watched The Crow.  Never seen it before in my life.  One of the best movies I've ever seen.  Certainly, a unique action superhero (halloween?) film.

I loved the visual style.  I loved the acting, Brandon Lee really went all in on this one.  I liked the story.  I liked the music.  I liked how absolutely insane a lot of the scenes were.  I practically giggled at some of the cheesy lines, like "our friend won't be joining us this evening on account of a slight case of death".  Heh, classic.  A lot of the scenes and lines are so tropey now (like showing up at the mobsters' meeting to do a little magic trick or disappearing mid-conversation) that I honestly don't know if this movie started them or if they were around previously.

Also, I have a theory...a film theory...that the mask in The Crow was originally owned by Arthur Fleck and made its way to Eric Draven and thus served as an inspiration for his manic facepainting and resulting crazed fearlessnes.  Hell, that might even be the same apartment.  So technically, The Crow takes place in Gotham.  The cities seem similar enough that it fits - urban decay, gang problem, largely incompetent cops, perpetually dark and rainy - it sure looks like Gotham.

[drunkenshoe]

Just watched The Crow.  Never seen it before in my life.  One of the best movies I've ever seen.  Certainly, a unique action superhero (halloween?) film.

Oh my gawd. I was at the last grade of high school, it was a cult movie. It was esp. popular among boys.

We said 'It can't rain all the time' to each other whenever feeling bad for a decade after that movie.

[Hydra009]

We said 'It can't rain all the time' to each other whenever feeling bad for a decade after that movie.

That's what started it.  I have plans with a friend and got a text that it might rain. So I searched for a gif in response.  That quote is what I went with.  Then I decided to check out the movie.