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Guys, I'm....broken. Immune to horror.  My hobby is watching horror movies. I've seen them all, and while most are terrible, I keep watching; I'm never sated. I've been looking forward to The Conjuring like the rest of you, but I watch movies at home, in the dark. I go to the actual theater maybe 1-2 times every two years. I had planned to wait to watch The Conjuring on my couch, but last night some friends called and said they had an extra free ticket to the advance screening, would I like to go. So of course I said yes. ....I was mostly bored and annoyed. I knew exactly when all the scares were going to happen (and when they weren't going to happen), and being in a room full of screaming idiots took away the magic of the movie for me. My friend had her head buried in my shoulder, and the rest of the theater was filled with nervous chatter interspersed with screams at the scary parts. I can't yet judge how well I liked the movie. I'll have to wait until I can watch it alone, in the dark. I think my second viewing will be much more satisfying. I can see why people who go to the theater say it was terrifying, so there's that.
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Jul 20, 2013 01:04
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SubG posted:if so-and-so says some film is misogynistic and we accept that, then we're forced to declare the film anathema and cast it in fire or something. Well considering that the author of that article actually wanted people to do just that... The Salon article seemed to be trying to raise more indignant rage than actually critiquing the film. Here are a list of grievances it brings up after dancing around the sexism angle for almost the entire article: - Demons aren't real and it said it was a true story - The film apparently focuses heavily on married life (it only has a couple scenes regarding this to show that the couples love each other/their kids) - The Catholic Church was used as a story element to fight evil - The demon is a woman - It said the Salem witches were real and That's Bad The only real questionable parts in that list are the last two, and he tries hamming it up by going, "I'm a 9th generation descendent of a witch, I hate this movie it is unforgivable!!" He doesn't try dissecting any subtle misogyny in the film or the films its paying homage to, he picks the easy targets of the Catholic Church and Salem witches, declares these elements terrible without elaborating, and declares the film anathema and that it should be cast into a fire. It's a lovely article. Also the movie was good, the biggest strike against it is that it doesn't have an original bone in its body.
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Jul 20, 2013 02:18
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CobiWann posted:The Conjuring is the best 1970's horror movie made in the 2010's. Little blood/gore, lots of atmosphere, VERY tense, and the jump scare with the policeman and the maid got me drat good. Quoting this for truth. Just got back from it, and I VERY much agree. James Wan really nailed the 1970's style, and kept up the tension with well don cinematography and musical cues. What you didn't hear and see was as effective as what you did, and that was awesome. As for the politics behind the whole thing, well...I didn't really see it as misogynist, but I see how other people could see it that way. I also am highly ambivalent about the portrayal of the paranormal investigators, but not so much so that I was taken out of things. So I'm not going to argue with those complaints... but if they're looking for movies that buck this trend, they might try Frailty (2002).
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Jul 20, 2013 02:29
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Silly Hippie fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Aug 21, 2018 |
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Jul 20, 2013 02:33
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Control Volume posted:Well considering that the author of that article actually wanted people to do just that...
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Jul 20, 2013 02:40
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I'm trying to find some good slasher movies from the 70s or 80s that I haven't seen yet. I know there HAS to be some more great ones out there that have somehow slipped by me. Can you all throw out some recommendations? Assume that I've seen all the obvious stuff (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc).
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Jul 20, 2013 02:41
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SubG posted:I think you're misreading the article, but that's probably not really relevant because I wasn't trying to defend it; I was commenting on CobiWann's response to it---or I suppose his insanely liberal high school English literature teacher girlfriend's response to it. "I call down a terrible malediction upon the people who made this entertaining but indefensible movie." But yeah I guess I'm not really debating your viewpoint, I'm just pointing out the article was lovely and pandered to reactionary internet SJWs.
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Jul 20, 2013 02:50
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caiman posted:I'm trying to find some good slasher movies from the 70s or 80s that I haven't seen yet. I know there HAS to be some more great ones out there that have somehow slipped by me. Can you all throw out some recommendations? Assume that I've seen all the obvious stuff (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc). Control Volume posted:"I call down a terrible malediction upon the people who made this entertaining but indefensible movie."
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Jul 20, 2013 02:55
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SubG posted:Are you saying you're reading that straight? Like, really? You read that article and your takeaway is that the guy is actually saying he's casting a witch's curse on the filmmakers. He's pretty obviously using the malediction in a joking manner but bringing up his heritage of a ~9th generation descendent~ is pretty clearly meant to showcase his outrage. But you're right I should have quoted this instead, "It’s reprehensible and inexcusable bullshit, less egregious but somewhat akin to making a movie that claims, in passing, that slavery was OK or that the Holocaust didn’t happen."
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Jul 20, 2013 03:09
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SubG posted:Calibrate `obvious' and `good' for me. You listed the big franchises, so I assume the Sleepaway Camp films are also obvious. But are, I dunno, Alone In the Dark (1982) or The Burning (1981) obvious? Is Pieces (1982) `good'? How about slasher parodies like Psychos In Love (1987)? I could rattle off '80s slasher flicks all day but I seriously don't know how to rank or prioritise them for your needs. Like I really dig Psychos in Love for what it is, but I don't know that it's something I'd give as a blind recommendation in general. "Good" is just that. If you like it, let me know. The Burning is great and very close to what I'm looking for (only problem is I've seen it). I've not seen Alone in the Dark or Pieces - would you personally recommend them? Don't over think it.
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Jul 20, 2013 03:22
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The Alone in the Dark movie with Tara Reid was hilarious.
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Jul 20, 2013 03:22
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Watched War of the Dead on Netflix because I'm a Weird War II nerd, and.... it was surprisingly competent in a lot of regards. Like I knew it was a low-budget movie, but from a cinematography and action standpoint, it didn't feel like one. The acting is no great shakes and it's got a lot of pacing problems, but it certainly didn't feel like I'd wasted an hour and a half or anything like that.
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Jul 20, 2013 04:40
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caiman posted:I'm trying to find some good slasher movies from the 70s or 80s that I haven't seen yet. I know there HAS to be some more great ones out there that have somehow slipped by me. Can you all throw out some recommendations? Assume that I've seen all the obvious stuff (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc). English Language, Some of these are not spectacular but are at least with in the criteria. I liked them, they're all kind of cheesy but brutal in some parts. Yes, I put Terror Train on the list. Fade to Black The Toolbox Murders Sorority House Massacre Maniac Cop Prom Night April Fools Sleepaway Camp Maniac (1980 version) The Slumber Party Massacre Schizoid My Bloody Valentine Terror Train What I'd recommend is really checking out Giallo films these are all in Italian and are pretty much the birth of the "Slasher" genre. All of these are loving great. Except for Slaughter Hotel but it's more on there for being the kind of start of "scantily clad women get murdered by a killer wielding specific weapon, trope". Everything else is awesome poo poo done by Fulci and other amazing Italian directors. Twitch of a Death Nerve Don't Torture A Duckling Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I hold the Key (suggested for title alone it's just okay) Torso Slaughter Hotel The New York Ripper Tenebrae (sort of more murder mystery than straight up slasher) Delerium Also, Torso has like the best poster. 
Hollismason fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Jul 20, 2013 |
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Jul 20, 2013 05:05
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Control Volume posted:He's pretty obviously using the malediction in a joking manner but bringing up his heritage of a ~9th generation descendent~ is pretty clearly meant to showcase his outrage. I mean if you look at The Birth of a Nation (1915), the problem isn't just that the film lionises the KKK. It's that the twisted narrative world legitimises the KKK's beliefs by presenting freed Southern slaves as rapists hell-bent on subjugating the white South. And if I said that as a distant descendant of freed slaves I wish I could walk barefoot through D.W. Griffith's mansion eating fried chicken I'm not highlighting my rage at the film, I'm highlighting the offensiveness of the worldview advocated by the film, which presents my ridiculous claim as something which is actually true. caiman posted:"Good" is just that. If you like it, let me know. The Burning is great and very close to what I'm looking for (only problem is I've seen it). I've not seen Alone in the Dark or Pieces - would you personally recommend them? Pieces is one of those films that was absolutely something you would have had to see if you were into horror film when it came out, but I don't know that it's that great on its own merits---it kinda looks like hell and it's kinda a mess of a film. I don't want to do just a huge listdump of titles so I'll get back with more when I've got a few minutes.
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Jul 20, 2013 05:09
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The Conjuring really was a great 70's horror flick. I just got back from it myself. I really enjoyed the cinematography. A lot of the shots were really well framed. I too liked the characters. The girls sold it pretty well. I agree with the poster above about how organic some of the interactions in the movie were. Some of the makeup choices / design choices were a bit corny but actually make it feel a LOT like a 70's horror film. I got a HUGE Amityville Horror vibe throughout this whole film. I'd recommend people to see it but generally you know what scares are coming and it's not really "scary". The scenes build kind of an uneasy tension more than an outright scary moment I guess.
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Jul 20, 2013 05:09
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SubG posted:I disagree. His observation---in that very paragraph---is that the film grants credibility to the crimes of the witchhunters. We decry witch trials because we understand that they are the senseless persecution of innocent women. The film, by implication, grants legitimacy to the witch trials by suggesting that witches, or at least some of them, were in fact in league with/were literally daemons from Hell. By invoking one of the real women who were accused of witchcraft immediately before pronouncing a curse on the filmmakers he's not showcasing his outrage; he's showcasing the ridiculousness of the `based on a true story' film's position. The difference is that "The Birth of a Nation"'s racism was so blatant that it was literally the driving force behind the movie. The bad guys were bad because they were black. In "The Conjuring", however, the bad guys are bad because they are witches. It's just that witches happen to be female. And the whole "Salem witches were actually witches!" thing is such a staple in New England horror tropes now that it is hardly even worth commenting on at this point. And let's not forget that men were also persecuted as witches in the Salem Witch trials too- many of them. A "witch" was simply a gender neutral term for one who was in league with the devil, not necessarily the female spellcrafter we think of today.
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Jul 20, 2013 05:36
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I know it's been out for awhile, but I finally got around to watching Hatchet II. For a movie where the whole hook is "old school slasher flick cranked to 11," it sure was surprisingly slow to start and quick to finish. The best part of the flick was the nod to Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Where's that sequel?
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Jul 20, 2013 06:17
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Captain Mog posted:In "The Conjuring", however, the bad guys are bad because they are witches. It's just that witches happen to be female. These two bits seem to contradict each other. Witches just happen to be female, but witch is also a gender neutral term applicable to both men and women?
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Jul 20, 2013 06:20
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Captain Mog posted:The difference is that "The Birth of a Nation"'s racism was so blatant that it was literally the driving force behind the movie. The bad guys were bad because they were black. In "The Conjuring", however, the bad guys are bad because they are witches. It's just that witches happen to be female. So when you look at a fictional narrative and see a woman who `really is' a witch (or a Klingon who `really is' violent and sex-crazed because of his genetics, or a blue squid-headed bisexual stripper who `really is' from a race defined by being blue, squid-headed, bisexual, and full of strippers, or whatever) you're seeing this precisely from the viewpoint of the racist who saw The Birth of a Nation and bought into the narrative it presents. And I assume that you, like most people, do this without thinking `gee, I really hate women and think they're demons from Hell'. That's my point. You don't have to.
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Jul 20, 2013 06:42
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I guess this belongs both here and in the Blu thread but Shout Factory have announced they are releasing Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut and also Darkman at the end of the year. I can't wait to see what they do for both because so far their presentations have been stellar.
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Jul 20, 2013 07:21
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whatshesaid posted:Guys, I'm....broken. Immune to horror. You're never sated because they're terrible and predictable. You go for the adrenaline, but if you're never startled or surprised you won't produce any. A few pages back I promised to name a few actually good horror movies that weren't American. I did compile a bit of a list, but it's all stuff you already know - Let The Right One In, REC, del Toro's stuff and so on. If someone's not yet seen Rare Exports or Troll Hunter I'll point you at those.
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Jul 20, 2013 10:21
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SubG posted:Elsewhere in CineD I once said that one of the central messages (if we want to think of it that way) of Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) was that the military sublimates the adolescent sex drive into violence, and cited various parts of the dialogue to support this. One of the responses was that Marines actually talk that way. Which is true, but it doesn't change the argument; it merely argues for the argument's plausibility. The chat about Jarhead in the Netflix thread reminded me of this - both in the book and the film, the Marines get psyched up watching Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. The denouement of Generation Kill is the platoon watching a movie trailer of Operation Iraqi Freedom as it unfolds.
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Jul 20, 2013 13:09
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Hollis posted:English Language, Some of these are not spectacular but are at least with in the criteria. I liked them, they're all kind of cheesy but brutal in some parts. Yes, I put Terror Train on the list. Thanks. I've seen most of these but I'll check out the rest.
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Jul 20, 2013 17:54
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Three things about The Conjuring: 1. Insidious Chapter Two will almost certainly be better. 2. What in the world could've possibly got this an R rating? There's like, one profanity in the movie, no sexuality whatsoever, almost no blood - what gives? 3. I was more entertained by this film doing The Evil Dead than the entirety of the remake. I can't help but be a little disappointed since this was my most anticipated movie of the summer but I still liked the hell out of it.
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Jul 20, 2013 18:28
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Hollis posted:Also, Torso has like the best poster. Torso like has the best teaser trailer as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4drx1p2at2o
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Jul 20, 2013 18:30
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:Three things about The Conjuring: This makes me really excited for tonight.
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Jul 20, 2013 19:11
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There's a lot of mirrors and reflections and doors and staging.
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Jul 20, 2013 19:21
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Jedit posted:You're never sated because they're terrible and predictable. You go for the adrenaline, but if you're never startled or surprised you won't produce any. I want to see this list if the films are any indication of what you believe constitute as horror. I was expecting to see stuff like Haute Tension, Inside, or Martyrs. I don't think Troll Hunter and Rare Exports are horror films at all.
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Jul 20, 2013 19:44
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:Three things about The Conjuring: It was rated R for 'Intensity'. Seriously that's a thing that they do. Curiously I'm interested to see how they rate it here in the UK.
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Jul 20, 2013 19:49
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Parachute posted:I want to see this list if the films are any indication of what you believe constitute as horror. I was expecting to see stuff like Haute Tension, Inside, or Martyrs. I don't think Troll Hunter and Rare Exports are horror films at all. Specially since you referenced these films being scary in the earlier posts. I like Troll Hunter a lot but I think you'd have to be mentally ill or a little kid to be scared by it.
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Jul 20, 2013 19:58
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The films for the sleepover turned out to be "Gremlins," "Monster Squad," and "Poltergeist." There was much screeching. I DID have "The Ring" handy, and per your suggestions, told them it was MUCH too scary for them, and they really ought not watch it. Of course they did. Then they started calling everyone they knew who had a cellphone and rasping, "Seven days...." into it. Thank you for all the recommendations; I have a list for the next sleepover now, as well!
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Jul 20, 2013 20:14
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DrVenkman posted:It was rated R for 'Intensity'. Seriously that's a thing that they do. Curiously I'm interested to see how they rate it here in the UK. Here in Canada I think it's rated 14A.
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Jul 20, 2013 20:20
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Parachute posted:I want to see this list if the films are any indication of what you believe constitute as horror. I was expecting to see stuff like Haute Tension, Inside, or Martyrs. I don't think Troll Hunter and Rare Exports are horror films at all. They're great comedic movies based on norwegian/finnish folklore that use typical horror elements. Half the cast in troll hunter (everyone except the documentary team) are famous Norwegian comedians, and has a lot of references and jokes based on folk tales.
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Jul 20, 2013 20:22
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kjetting posted:They're great comedic movies based on norwegian/finnish folklore that use typical horror elements. Half the cast in troll hunter (everyone except the documentary team) are famous Norwegian comedians, and has a lot of references and jokes based on folk tales. Speaking of Finnish "horror", are there any good horror films from Finland? Anything I've seen has been a very poor attempt with nothing scary or very interesting at all (the only title I can remember translated to 'Body of Water' and was about a lake that in the movie looked more like a large pond).
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Jul 20, 2013 20:27
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I just want to say that Dead Silence has the most hilariously obvious and telegraphed twist in the history of cinema. I'm not a person that thinks that thinks knowing a twist will ruin a movie but man is it just glaring in that movie. Also, fun fact, I was watching it yesterday when half way through I remember I had already seen it and completely forgotten everything about it. Now you might be thinking that because I'd seen it is why I guess the twist but no, I can't imagine not being able to guess th twist the second it's presented.
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Jul 20, 2013 20:33
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The Conjuring discussion on the last few pages reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask: Does anyone in this thread have recommendations for good horror movies that are feminist-friendly or feature especially awesome female protagonists? I'm putting a couple of displays together for my campus Women's Center during the coming school year and I'm planning to do a horror-themed one for October with a selection of movies that visitors can check out alongside a few books like Men, Women and Chainsaws. I'd like to have 10+ movies if at all possible. So far my list is: Teeth The Descent Scream Alien/Aliens Ginger Snaps The Craft (I've debated including one of the Resident Evil movies as well. They're outrageously terrible and stop being horror pretty quickly, but Alice is undeniably a huge badass.)
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Jul 20, 2013 21:03
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axleblaze posted:I just want to say that Dead Silence has the most hilariously obvious and telegraphed twist in the history of cinema. I'm not a person that thinks that thinks knowing a twist will ruin a movie but man is it just glaring in that movie. Badass Digest recently ran a defence of Dead Silence and I have to say that I kind of like it. It's going for a very particular tone and sort of feels weirdly British. It's like an Amicus film or something. I heard there was some studio fuckery going on but still, it oozes atmosphere.
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Jul 20, 2013 21:27
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Is there a reason VHS 2 sucks so bad? I'm serious, there has to be an explanation.
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Jul 20, 2013 21:35
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Because it doesn't?
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Jul 20, 2013 21:43
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Rosa Gallica posted:The Conjuring discussion on the last few pages reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask: Does anyone in this thread have recommendations for good horror movies that are feminist-friendly or feature especially awesome female protagonists? I'm putting a couple of displays together for my campus Women's Center during the coming school year and I'm planning to do a horror-themed one for October with a selection of movies that visitors can check out alongside a few books like Men, Women and Chainsaws. My boyfriend and I were just having this discussion earlier about the first Silent Hill movie. Say what you will about it but the two leading ladies, Rose and Cybil are really great examples of strong women. Cybil is your stereotypical strong woman who maybe doesn't display a lot of your typical ideas of femininity but about half way through the film where she really does soften up and displays a more emotional approach, and in return, Rose (who you could argue is the more stereotypically 'feminine' character) toughens up quite a bit. I love that the movie (whether it set out to or not) showed this sliding scale of character traits (from soft, motherly, to hard, strict) that proves that femininity is fluid. I would never say Cybil is not feminine because she's tough, but a lot of society would say that you can't be. I dunno if other people here would agree with me but I definitely think in terms of strong female protagonists that are relatable because they're so different and from different walks of life, Silent Hill actually embodies that pretty well.
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Jul 20, 2013 21:44
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