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Rageaholic Monkey posted:OH. Right. I saw Silent House in theaters and thought the concept was pretty cool but the execution was fairly lame. I don't really remember much of what happened in that movie. Was the whole thing in Elizabeth Olsen's head ? If not, then I have no idea. Must not have been all that interesting if I don't remember what happened at all. You made me realize I totally forgot Silent House ever happened. What happened: Elizabeth Olsen was molested and photographed at a very young age by her father and uncle, which comes back to bite them in the rear end when this childhood trauma manifests as a teenage Olsen hunting them through the house and torturing/killing them. She doesn't realize she's the one doing it, though, until the very end — when she 'snaps out of it,' so to speak. It was really well put together, but ultimately fell flat because the ending became painfully predictable with a half hour to go. I wouldn't say it was a bad movie, but there was a tremendous gap between 'what it could have been' and 'what it was.'
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May 29, 2012 03:16
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For a movie with a very bare setup, it tips what's "really" going on almost right away. I was astonished that they set up that way because if they had done it slightly differently, it would have been kind of surprising.
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May 29, 2012 03:23
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Toaster Beef posted:You made me realize I totally forgot Silent House ever happened. Uhhh, I forgot all of that  Oops!The "shot in one take" aspect was pretty drat neat, though, and I remember wishing when it was over that someone else would take that idea and use it to make a much better movie.
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May 29, 2012 03:26
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Rageaholic Monkey posted:The "shot in one take" aspect was pretty drat neat, though, and I remember wishing when it was over that someone else would take that idea and use it to make a much better movie. Oh, absolutely. It's perfect for a horror setting. I think if Silent House were made any other way, it'd be a painfully boring film. As it stands, it's an okay film that could've been so much more. Film a unique, interesting story the same way Silent House was filmed and you've got a classic on your hands.
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May 29, 2012 03:31
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Just watch La Casa Muda - which owns a lot, and is far less reductive and simplistic.
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May 29, 2012 08:53
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I was remarkably bored the other day and gave Deadgirl a shot and I regret it completely. None of the characters in it even remotely resembled real people.
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May 29, 2012 12:03
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Rageaholic Monkey posted:The "shot in one take" aspect was pretty drat neat, though, and I remember wishing when it was over that someone else would take that idea and use it to make a much better movie. There was a slasher movie that came out in 2001 called Slashers that had the "Shot in one take" aspect going which I tought was pretty good. It's really easy to tell where the cuts are though. It's possible the beginning and end might change angles, I can't remember to well.
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May 29, 2012 12:12
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Buzkashi posted:I was remarkably bored the other day and gave Deadgirl a shot and I regret it completely. None of the characters in it even remotely resembled real people. We turned this off when the guy started loving bullet wounds. I don't want to start a big ole argument about "torture porn" or the original intent of the film, but that poo poo was gross and seemed (to my wife and I) to be so only for the sake of being shocking. We had just watched Funny Games, and even though it made us uncomfortable, we finished that. It at least had some commentary on the horrible poo poo happening on the screen.
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May 29, 2012 12:15
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:Just watch La Casa Muda - which owns a lot, and is far less reductive and simplistic. This is actually the one I was talking about, I didn't see the remake.
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May 29, 2012 14:31
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I'm not gonna say that Deadgirl is a good movie but if you don't think some lovely, redneck, teenage little shits would gently caress and torture a barely conscious undead girl and that this might escalate to worse things, you're either pretty naive or I'm pretty jaded by life. (It's been a while since I saw it though)
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May 29, 2012 15:50
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Dissapointed Owl posted:I'm not gonna say that Deadgirl is a good movie but if you don't think some lovely, redneck, teenage little shits would gently caress and torture a barely conscious undead girl and that this might escalate to worse things, you're either pretty naive or I'm pretty jaded by life. I grew up with a bunch of lovely redneck teenagers, and I don't think any of them would do that. Maybe all that has changed since meth has hit, though. Either way, it doesn't make mean I have to watch it! 
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May 29, 2012 17:39
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Just saw The Pact which is on VOD now and will get a small theatrical release in the next few weeks by IFC. Not terrible, but a total lack of originality save for a neat/dark twist in the final act. For some reason the trailer tries to portray it as some 'inspired by a true story' bullcrap at the beginning even though it's a conventionally made horror movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjBT7z3lhf8 I'd like to see the short that this was based on though, anyone hear of it?
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May 29, 2012 19:20
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I bought House of the Devil due to glowing reviews and was disappointed. Nothing really happened until the end which I thought was more silly than scary. The only mildly uncomfortable parts for me was the bizarre protagonist rooting through a stranger's house for no reason. It really did seem like it was a movie from the 70s though. I only rented the Innkeepers because it was from the same director but I ended up loving it. I actually liked the protagonists this time. They were funny and had good chemistry and actually had a decent reason to explore the place. Nothing "horrific" happened until later just like in HOTD but I thought the banter and building suspense was more than enough to keep me entertained.
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May 29, 2012 20:07
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BobKnob posted:I bought House of the Devil due to glowing reviews and was disappointed. Nothing really happened until the end which I thought was more silly than scary. The only mildly uncomfortable parts for me was the bizarre protagonist rooting through a stranger's house for no reason. It really did seem like it was a movie from the 70s though. I liked the Innkeepers a lot more than House of the Devil as well. House of the Devil was very slow-burning, which I love if there's a payoff of some sort. My favorite part was when they were hanging out and talking and drinking out of the red papery Coca-Cola cups. For some reason that scene massaged the nostalgic pleasure center in my brain. That's really all I remember other than the silly looking satanists at the end. edit- Tried to find a picture of the scene, found http://gastrocinema.com/ instead. I don't understand what's happening. Ariza fucked around with this message at 20:29 on May 29, 2012 |
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May 29, 2012 20:11
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Am I the only one that really liked Deadgirl?
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May 29, 2012 21:44
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ravenkult posted:Am I the only one that really liked Deadgirl? I did. It was off-putting and made me feel pretty gross, but that's pretty much exactly what it was going for, and it really clicked.
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May 29, 2012 21:46
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It's really hokey and silly, but I think it works. A similar movie that's more recent is The Woman, which is also very corny but fascinating.
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May 29, 2012 21:49
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LtKenFrankenstein posted:This is actually the one I was talking about, I didn't see the remake. Oh. Welp, there's no accounting for taste. Casa Muda cements itself as a classic in the very first scene, where the protagonist slowwwly approaches a fence as the camera follows behind her. If you've bought the DVD, you already know about the 'one take' gimmick, so you're like "okay, how are they going to get the cameraman through the fence? They have to cut eventually, because there's no way to continue this shot." But she just keeps heading towards the fence, and the tension mounts - because they don't have a budget to insert a fence with CG. They don't have a crane, so what are they going to do? And the shot effortlessly segues into a POV shot: it's the protagonist's POV shot as she climbs through the fence. You barely even realize until it's already happened. The cameraman becomes the protagonist, merges with her, and that's how he gets through the fence. This is genius, and pure cinema. What the remake didn't get, with its literalminded 'psychological' explanation, is that this is straight-up supernatural. The camera is a ghostly character that floats about with a distinct dream logic: the logic of cinema. The camera is diegetically invisible, and yet it interacts with the characters and navigates through the environment. It 'possesses' people, and obscures details by leaving them offscreen. It is the silent house, and this 'ghost' isn't freed until the film finally cuts, at the end. Chronicle did something similar with its camera-as-character, but Casa Muda is on a whole other level. SuperMechagodzilla fucked around with this message at 08:36 on May 30, 2012 |
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May 30, 2012 08:33
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ravenkult posted:Am I the only one that really liked Deadgirl? User-Friendly posted:I did. It was off-putting and made me feel pretty gross, but that's pretty much exactly what it was going for, and it really clicked. I like horror films that challenge the audience, that play with their notions of what a horror film can do, and Deadgirl is a smart, provocative film. I'd place it up there with Funny Games on a list of films that successfully gently caress with their audiences and punish viewers for watching. (On a side note: This is probably going to sound really weird, but I always admired the restraint with which the filmmakers handled the depravity in Deadgirl. It could've been a lot worse, and if it had gone any further than it did, I probably wouldn't appreciate it as much.)
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May 30, 2012 09:17
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Well Apollo 18 was fairly terrifying. I mean, holy poo poo, gently caress the space. gently caress being 400000 km from a remotely inhabitable ecosystem, relying on crummy tech that you know barely works as it is. They really drive that poo poo home in this one. Lo-fi image and sound help build the terror nicely while not feeling out of place for once, and even enhancing the immersion. Such an unpleasant film to watch, in the best possible way.
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May 30, 2012 13:14
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:Oh. Welp, there's no accounting for taste. True dat. One man's pure cinema is another man's gimmicky bullshit.
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May 30, 2012 15:46
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I watched Videodrome yesterday for the first time. I guess that'd be classified horror? Sure felt pretty horrifying. I thought the weird grimy-ness the film had really succeeded in making me uncomfortable for the duration. James Woods has this ability to be both charming and scummy at the same time and really sold me on the unlikeable protagonist thing. I'll be really honest and just admit I don't really understand the last third of the film and I came away pretty "what the gently caress did I just see?" Anything else like Videodrome I can watch?
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May 30, 2012 18:58
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Levantine posted:I'll be really honest and just admit I don't really understand the last third of the film and I came away pretty "what the gently caress did I just see?" Anything else like Videodrome I can watch? Any Cronenberg from that era if you liked Videodrome. I love The Fly and Naked Lunch, although I'd recommend doing some homework on William Burroughs before watching the latter or else it's incomprehensible and it's not necessarily horror, but it's pretty gross in places. Crackerman fucked around with this message at 22:18 on May 30, 2012 |
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May 30, 2012 19:53
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The Woman In Black was really boring and lacked any tension.
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May 30, 2012 21:21
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Levantine posted:I watched Videodrome yesterday for the first time. I guess that'd be classified horror? Sure felt pretty horrifying. I thought the weird grimy-ness the film had really succeeded in making me uncomfortable for the duration. James Woods has this ability to be both charming and scummy at the same time and really sold me on the unlikeable protagonist thing. Body horror, and Cronenberg is a loving pro at it 
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May 30, 2012 23:19
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woodenchicken posted:Well Apollo 18 was fairly terrifying. Yeah, it gets a lot of poo poo, but I really appreciated what it was doing and I thought it was a very clever take on the found footage technique. More could've happened to ramp up the tension throughout, but I give them credit for a wholly original premise and some genuinely creepy scenes.
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May 30, 2012 23:28
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jeremy oval office posted:You guys aren't alone, although I wouldn't use the term "liked." It's a very uncomfortable watch, and it's supposed to be. This is how I'd say I feel about it. "Liked" isn't really a good word for it- it was gross and depraved and made me feel weird and kind of icky after watching it, but I thought it was effective at being provocative and making you feel sleazy and gross for perhaps not "enjoying" the movie but being intrigued enough to watch what these hosed up kids do next. Like watching a train wreck, I guess. I watched The Innkeepers last night because I liked House of the Devil, but I thought it kind of just trudged along and didn't really have enough scares or tense scenes to justify how much time was spent not doing too much. Red Lights looks interesting, it's directed by the guy who directed Buried and it's got Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy!
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May 31, 2012 02:52
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Jesus poo poo was Chernobyl Diaries a stinking fuckin turd or what? I could almost see the movie cramping up and drowning in its own wasted potential.
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May 31, 2012 10:26
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Cubone posted:Jesus poo poo was Chernobyl Diaries a stinking fuckin turd or what? I could almost see the movie cramping up and drowning in its own wasted potential. Yeah pretty much. The first 45 minutes or so were pretty good, but the second half of the movie was just horribly boring, and came off as really low-budget. It's one of those movies that I hate more and more as time passes.
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May 31, 2012 13:15
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Levantine posted:I watched Videodrome yesterday for the first time. I guess that'd be classified horror? Sure felt pretty horrifying. I thought the weird grimy-ness the film had really succeeded in making me uncomfortable for the duration. James Woods has this ability to be both charming and scummy at the same time and really sold me on the unlikeable protagonist thing. In addition to what others have mentioned, Cronenberg's own "existenz" has some of the same elements and is, in my opinion, pretty drat good despite having done like zero box office when it came out. Bonus for young Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law. "Videodrome" is a pretty nice discovery. I felt like "why the hell did I go all these decades and not watch you" when I finally saw it a year or two ago on Netflix streaming.
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May 31, 2012 13:27
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Zwabu posted:In addition to what others have mentioned, Cronenberg's own "existenz" has some of the same elements and is, in my opinion, pretty drat good despite having done like zero box office when it came out. Bonus for young Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law. "Videodrome" is a pretty nice discovery. I felt like "why the hell did I go all these decades and not watch you" when I finally saw it a year or two ago on Netflix streaming. That was my reaction too. I love The Fly but I've never seen Naked Lunch or Existenz. Is the latter on Netflix now or will I have to scrounge for it?
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May 31, 2012 13:47
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Levantine posted:That was my reaction too. I love The Fly but I've never seen Naked Lunch or Existenz. Is the latter on Netflix now or will I have to scrounge for it? Existenz is currently DVD only on Netflix. It was briefly on streaming when it was on Starz and Starz had their deal with Netflix still going, but alas, no more. Naked Lunch has been pretty consistently on Netflix streaming but is currently DVD only also, and I also have yet to see it, to my shame.
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May 31, 2012 13:53
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I can't get in to Naked Lunch because as fever dream and abstract as some of Cronenberg's films are, Naked Lunch makes zero sense and the visuals aren't interesting enough to hold up so much nothing.
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May 31, 2012 14:58
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As a counterpoint Naked Lunch is an awesome fever dream of a movie with a bunch of bizarre, horrifying stuff scattered throughout and is also my favourite of his films short of Videodrome. Benwaayyy... Shivers is an earlier Cronenberg film that plays on a body horror/contagion theme as well and despite it being lower budget than his later films he pulls it off really well. It's been awhile since I've seen it but basically some new disease/parasite starts spreading through people in this ultramodern hotel/condo and essentially transforming them into zombies/mutants. It's a cool movie. I haven't seen Rabid or the Brood though even though I've always meant to.
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May 31, 2012 15:34
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Get on that right now. Rabid first, then The Brood.
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May 31, 2012 15:36
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I still need to see Rabid, but both Shivers and The Brood are great. Also rewatched Scanners recently on the big screen and it was way better than I remembered.
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May 31, 2012 15:37
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Lack's non-performance is much less jarring when you watch Scanners a second time. Please watch Rabid, if only for the greatest Mall Santa gag in a film, ever.
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May 31, 2012 15:39
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LtKenFrankenstein posted:I still need to see Rabid, but both Shivers and The Brood are great. Also rewatched Scanners recently on the big screen and it was way better than I remembered. My favorite part of Scanners is the sculpture and furniture that one artist-scanner made. Shades of "gynecologic instruments for operating on mutant women" in Dead Ringers. I wonder how Cronenberg's own home is decorated?  Probably a bunch of dogs playing poker paintings, and those kittens with the really big eyes.
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May 31, 2012 16:40
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weekly font posted:I can't get in to Naked Lunch because as fever dream and abstract as some of Cronenberg's films are, Naked Lunch makes zero sense and the visuals aren't interesting enough to hold up so much nothing. It begins to make perfect sense after about the 19th viewing, analysing it to death and reading all of Burroughs' books and the biography Literary Outlaw. Maybe writing an essay about it to straighten things out for yourself too. Watch Dead Ringers, too. Again not "horror" in the strictest sense but loving hell it is a bleak film. I can't remember the last time I've felt so drained after watching something. I need to work back to his older stuff like Rabid and Shivers as well.
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May 31, 2012 20:20
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Levantine posted:I watched Videodrome yesterday for the first time. I guess that'd be classified horror? Sure felt pretty horrifying. I thought the weird grimy-ness the film had really succeeded in making me uncomfortable for the duration. James Woods has this ability to be both charming and scummy at the same time and really sold me on the unlikeable protagonist thing. Like others have said, go watch ExistenZ right now.
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May 31, 2012 21:58
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