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Origami Dali
Jan 7, 2005

Get ready to fuck!
You fucker's fucker!
You fucker!

COOL CORN posted:

Can someone help me confirm that I understood the ending to The Wailing please?

So the shaman was in league with the Japanese man the whole time, who turned out to be the devil. And the ghostly woman was actually a GOOD spirit trying to defeat the evil spirits, but the cop didn't believe her and since he went home before the 3rd rooster crow, he ruined everything and evil won?

loving incredible film

I just watched this last night and it rubbed me the wrong way, so here's a wall of text.

I was expecting some lesson to happen where the town has to face their hatred and mistrust of Japanese people, but in the literal reading, it turns out in the end the sneaky foreigner was truly the devil himself. So the angry mob and dirty cops who hosed with him the entire movie were actually right. That's on the surface, at least.

Another way to interpret the movie is that the village is being punished for harboring that mistrust in the first place (they suspect him for no reason, so then he becomes what they fear as a means of punishing that suspicion). The final scene in the cave is telling, because he doesn't become the devil until the priest tells him he already believes he's the devil. "You see me as you want to see", he says, "and you've come here to confirm your suspicions, and nothing I say will make you see any different". But if it's purely symbolic, then how is the younger shaman dude in cahoots with him (the supposedly good lady shaman confirms this), and clearly evil according to the ending? When the metaphor becomes literal, the logic of the movie breaks down. So if it's actually supposed to be a film about divine punishment against lovely cops and xenophobes, then it's clumsily told.

It also felt both random and at times oddly specific in it's superstitions. It's got zombies, possessions, and sacrificed goats, but also some things that seemed more localized (I'm not familiar with Korean folk tales or local religions, but I got the feeling there were some things being referenced that I don't know about). Anyway, it seems to validate those superstitions, even more so than The Exorcist might validate Catholicism. The ending is the equivalent of someone saying "whatever you do, don't step on the crack in the sidewalk or your family will die", and then it happens because the protagonist has no reason to believe it. "Just believe, and your family will be saved". Is the lesson not that superstitions themselves are bad, but it's rather just a matter of honoring the right ones and not honoring the wrong ones?

Hell, I'm still not sure the lady shaman wasn't in on it, regardless of how dejected she looked in the end. She says that the daughter is being punished by the Japanese man because of "the sin of her father suspecting another", meaning... the father suspected the Japanese man for no reason and is being punished for it. But the father then says, "no it's not the Japanese man, it's you!" and is punished for that too apparently. Hell, she was helping spread the idea that the Japanese man was a bad dude early on in the film too, saying he drinks blood and poo poo. If this were supposed to be about acknowledging ones prejudices, and admitting fault, I would imagine lovely cop dad realizing he was wrong would be a good thing, but here it's treated like a lack of faith that prevents his family from being saved. It's a drat mess.

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PeterCat
Apr 8, 2020

Believe women.

Basebf555 posted:

Feels like a good day to finally check out VFW.

VFW was OK, but they needed to bolt the camera down, and I feel like it's harder to get authentic punk rock hordes now than it was in the 80s.

The villain really wasn't on the same acting level of the vets, and has the Cobra Kai guy ever been any good?

Alhazred
Feb 16, 2011




Watched Midsommar and it is really funny how Christian and Josh witness all the horrible things that are happening and all they can think of is "this will be great in my thesis!"
Also, were they eating Connie in those meat pies?

FreudianSlippers
Apr 12, 2010

Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

Alhazred posted:

Watched Midsommar and it is really funny how Christian and Josh witness all the horrible things that are happening and all they can think of is "this will be great in my thesis!"
Also, were they eating Connie in those meat pies?

I like that the scene before the suicide of the olds Pelle literally tells Josh that they're having a Ättestupa ritual and Josh, knowing exactly what he's referring to, asks how real it will be and Pelle playfully answers "Pretty real.". Josh probably wasn't expecting it to be that real but he knew what Pele was talking about and didn't tell the others that an Ättestupa is, allegedly, a cliff the pagans used to throw themselves off when they're too old. .

The film does that a lot. Shows or tells us what is going to happen before it happens.

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

PeterCat posted:

VFW was OK, but they needed to bolt the camera down,

The camera must be spinning and moving at all times

AKZ
Nov 5, 2009

Is letterboxd app not working for anyone else right now?

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Peak Performance.

Buglord

AKZ posted:

Is letterboxd app not working for anyone else right now?

It's been up and down for the past couple days

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Is Midsommar gonna gently caress me up the way Hereditary did? Because I'm leaning towards watching it tonight but I'm in no head space to go through that again.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

STAC Goat posted:

Is Midsommar gonna gently caress me up the way Hereditary did? Because I'm leaning towards watching it tonight but I'm in no head space to go through that again.

No. I mean, it might gently caress you up but not in the same way Hereditary did.

RenegadeStyle1
Jun 7, 2005

Baby Come Back
I thought Midsommar was pretty good but it's no where near as haunting or stuck with me like Hereditary did

AKZ
Nov 5, 2009

STAC Goat posted:

Is Midsommar gonna gently caress me up the way Hereditary did? Because I'm leaning towards watching it tonight but I'm in no head space to go through that again.

For me it was a similar intensity but very different environment and pacing. Hereditary lurches and drops while Midsommar grows and blossoms. I enjoyed Hereditary slightly more.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

I can definitely handle trippy or generally messed up or whatever. I just got a little worried the filmmaker might tap into the same kind of deep tragedy and I need to be in a better place for that.

AKZ
Nov 5, 2009

In that case, I would wait.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

STAC Goat posted:

I can definitely handle trippy or generally messed up or whatever. I just got a little worried the filmmaker might tap into the same kind of deep tragedy and I need to be in a better place for that.

There's a bit of that at the beginning, but then the plot moves on and it's more of a background part of the main character's story. Nothing at all like how Hereditary was so focused on Collette's grief and the family tragedy element.

If anything I'd be more concerned about warning someone who might be triggered by emotionally abusive relationships. The movie is more about that.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Hmm. Might be best to play it safe and save it for another day. Thanks for the help, guys. I'm glad I asked and as always this is a wonderfully helpful and considerate community of horror lovers.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



you actually did yourself a favor bc it sucks

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

Kvlt! posted:

you actually did yourself a favor bc it sucks

Foul thoughts

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



it is neither stylish enough to be all style no substance nor substantive enough to be all substance no style. As I've said before, if you want a good daylight horror movie watch Doom Asylum

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

I’ll watch midsommar and anything by ari aster ty very much

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



CelticPredator posted:

I’ll watch midsommar and anything by ari aster ty very much

have fun watching the dad gently caress the son

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

I'm gonna watch it eventually, almost certainly this month. I'm just in a not ideal head space today. I'm not like in danger or anything I just definitely don't want to spend the night crying or anything.

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

I will

It’s a pretty wild rear end short

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



STAC Goat posted:

I'm gonna watch it eventually, almost certainly this month. I'm just in a not ideal head space today. I'm not like in danger or anything I just definitely don't want to spend the night crying or anything.

watch Motel Hell my friend it's like horror comfort food it's so charming and offbeat but in a really fun way

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Kvlt! posted:

watch Motel Hell my friend it's like horror comfort food it's so charming and offbeat but in a really fun way

Motel Hell is definitely never a bad recommendation. Is it on Shudder these days?

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Peak Performance.

Buglord

Kvlt! posted:

you actually did yourself a favor bc it sucks

No kvlt

Please

Not like this

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



now hereditarys pretty good but midsommar sucks and that shouldnt even be a hot take

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

It’s a take as hot as a poo poo

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

Sorry bro...

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



a captain sinks with his ship and he whispers as he slips into the briny deep

midsommar sucks

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

I’m watching 3 from hell

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
If you said Midsommar sucks compared to Hereditary, then I agree. I liked Midsommar but I did think it was a clear step down.

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Peak Performance.

Buglord

Basebf555 posted:

If you said Midsommar sucks compared to Hereditary, then I agree. I liked Midsommar but I did think it was a clear step down.

Empty quote

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

Free the three!

flashy_mcflash
Feb 7, 2011

Basebf555 posted:

I liked Midsommar but I did think it was a clear step down.

In execution, sure, but Midsommar aspired to be a bigger, more layered project I think. It didn't get there for me because there's no one with Toni Collette's chops in Midsommar and it was all over the place but it was more ambitious.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



CelticPredator posted:

Free the three!

jeremiah johnson knodding .gif

bygones
Nov 10, 2005

Can I take it home? Huh? Can I?
I just watched Horror Express for the first time and it was very illuminating as an influence for Carpenter's The Thing (don't know about the original so much as I haven't seen it... yet) Any more body snatchery type movies to find with the same idea, eg. you die a horrific eyeball boiling death and the beast/alien/whatever takes on your likeness/knowledge?

Stupid_Sexy_Flander
Mar 14, 2007

Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?
Grimey Drawer
There was that remake where the Invaders injected some kinda pencil thing into the back of the neck/brain. That looked painful.

the_enduser
May 1, 2006

They say the user lives outside the net.



Wasn't a huge fan of Midsommar either. It's a well made movie but the content was boring.

Hereditary had way more interesting elements.

MacheteZombie
Feb 4, 2007
Lol enjoying my late night viewing of Ticks.

The effects are nice and gooey

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Origami Dali
Jan 7, 2005

Get ready to fuck!
You fucker's fucker!
You fucker!
I liked Midsommar way more than Hereditary.

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