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These Loving Eyes posted:This thread is just the thing I've been looking for! Sadly, the first movie I watched based on your recommendations was Frailty and my god, that movie could've been so much better. I said to my girlfriend around 20 minutes in that I hope the FBI agent isn't on the demon list and getting himself "destroyed" soon - that would be so cliche. The movie seemed quite captivating until the whole "BUT THEY'RE GOD'S WARRIORS AFTER ALL" part That was the best part though! You spend the whole movie thinking that A) this is the brother who didn't buy into it and B) the dad was loving insane, and then both of those things are flipped on you in the last five minutes. I really, really love Frailty.
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Jan 28, 2012 05:29
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Asterie posted:
Agreed, Martyrs is pretty much the definition of a psychological thriller, definitely seconding this one.
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Jan 28, 2012 06:22
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Technetium posted:Agreed, Martyrs is pretty much the definition of a psychological thriller, definitely seconding this one. I disagree. It just hides behind concepts of psychology to justify its unceasing cruelty against the protagonist. "Yes, we are showing this girl being stabbed, beaten, skinned, what have you but it's because we want to find out about this deeper psychology in victims." The film is still exploitative and, most definitely, stupid. It's not a wink to its audience like in Funny Games, for example; It is solely a failed attempt at justifying what it's showing. Dissapointed Owl fucked around with this message at 14:47 on Jan 28, 2012 |
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Jan 28, 2012 14:43
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The first part of Martyrs work pretty well as a psychological thriller. Then you reach the second part where all the cult members appear and suddenly it becomes both incredibly stupid and gory. The plot is literally written just for the gore factor. In order to discover what the afterlife is, crazy people need to repeatedly torture and skin a girl alive so that she can be put under as much torment as possible to have the eyes to see what lies on the other side. There is no pay off, no suspense, nothing.
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Jan 28, 2012 14:52
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I think Martyrs is an excellent film, but a psychological thriller it ain't.
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Jan 28, 2012 20:10
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The Saddest Rhino posted:The first part of Martyrs work pretty well as a psychological thriller. Then you reach the second part where all the cult members appear and suddenly it becomes both incredibly stupid and gory. The plot is literally written just for the gore factor. In order to discover what the afterlife is, crazy people need to repeatedly torture and skin a girl alive so that she can be put under as much torment as possible to have the eyes to see what lies on the other side. There is no pay off, no suspense, nothing. I may be one of Martyr's biggest detractors in the Horror Thread any time it comes up, but there is certainly a payoff to what unfolds in the film.
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Jan 28, 2012 22:59
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Yes, but it involves [klaxon]Religion[/klaxon]
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Jan 28, 2012 23:02
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Asterie posted:
Yes! Martyrs is hands-down THE most disturbing movie I've ever seen. Of course, I haven't watched most of the movies in this thread... yet!  I think it definitely counts as a psychological thriller. At the same time, however, it is unashamedly gory. But the gore is not handled in a way that's pornographic or exploitative. You're not meant to go "gently caress YEAH! RIP HIM APART!!11!" like with Hostel or Saw. You're meant to feel hopeless, beaten-down, and full of despair, just like the protagonist/victim, Anna. It's a brutally nihilistic film, but it has multiple layers beyond that. There is subtle commentary regarding the dynamic between the French upper class and working class immigrants, as well as the religious themes that have already been mentioned. And the most fascinating thing is that the ending can be interpreted in multiple ways, making it different for every viewer. For me, the moment when Anna wakes up in the chamber and fully comprehends how painful and inescapable the rest of her life will be was absolutely soul-crushing. This is followed by the brutal beatings, systemic dehumanization, and horrific flaying. By the end, I was completely emotionally worn down. This movie literally bothered me for days after I first watched it. The bad thing is that Hollywood's making a remake with Kristen Stewart. The director has already shown he doesn't care about the themes of the movie, saying "You don't have to shoot yourself when it's over." I can't wait to see the upbeat, watered-down, American Martyrs!  Do you think that in this version Lucie will rise from the grave and kill all the cult members to save Anna?
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Jan 29, 2012 10:34
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I'm pretty sure what you're describing there is exactly what people mean by gore porn.
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Jan 29, 2012 23:16
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Craig Spradlin posted:
One of my all time favorites and I believe Denzel's finest film. The villain was incredible.
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Jan 30, 2012 01:26
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a foolish pianist posted:I'm pretty sure what you're describing there is exactly what people mean by gore porn. No, what people mean by gore/torture porn is when a movie is violent or gory for the sake of it, or it inexplicably tries to scare you with graphic footage of people being tortured. None of this applies to Martyrs and tossing it off as torture porn is unfair to the movie.
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Jan 30, 2012 02:31
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^^^^Exactly, thank you a foolish pianist posted:I'm pretty sure what you're describing there is exactly what people mean by gore porn. FourLeaf posted:I think it definitely counts as a psychological thriller. At the same time, however, it is unashamedly gory. But the gore is not handled in a way that's pornographic or exploitative. You're not meant to go "gently caress YEAH! RIP HIM APART!!11!" like with Hostel or Saw. You're meant to feel hopeless, beaten-down, and full of despair
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Jan 30, 2012 02:41
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"gently caress yeah rip him apart!" sounds like a really unhealthy response to gore in a film.
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Jan 30, 2012 04:21
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a foolish pianist posted:"gently caress yeah rip him apart!" sounds like a really unhealthy response to gore in a film. When I saw Saw XVIII or whatever in a theater I heard the loudest cheers when a car ran over a woman's face while simultaneously ripping a man's limbs off. With movies like Saw or Final Destination you're supposed to cheer louder when the deaths get more convoluted and bloody. I liked the first Saw, but over time it's gone from "Look at these people trapped in a horrible situation, what will they do to get out?" to "We've devised even more grisly and ridiculous ways to dismember people! This new trap is so gruesome they wouldn't let us put it into the last movie!!  "So to add some content, here's a good psychological thriller:  Natalie Portman did a great job in the lead role. This movie really played on one of my personal fears, which is being so psychotic that one never knows if anything that happens is real or not. And the soundtrack is incredible.
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Jan 30, 2012 05:36
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FourLeaf posted:^^^^Exactly, thank you You're not supposed to have that reaction to Hostel. At all. Ever. There's nothing remotely good about any of the Elite Hunting people. They're just rich assholes paying shitloads of money to torture and murder people.
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Jan 30, 2012 06:10
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FourLeaf posted:Natalie Portman did a great job in the lead role. This movie really played on one of my personal fears, which is being so psychotic that one never knows if anything that happens is real or not. And the soundtrack is incredible.
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Jan 30, 2012 06:12
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Dickeye posted:You're not supposed to have that reaction to Hostel. At all. Ever. There's nothing remotely good about any of the Elite Hunting people. They're just rich assholes paying shitloads of money to torture and murder people. Obviously the Elite Hunting people are evil bastards. I'm not saying you're supposed to sympathize with them instead of the protagonists. I'm saying that IMHO the entire appeal of goreporn movies is how bloody and gratuitous the deaths are. The bloodier they are, the better they've fulfilled their purpose. You don't watch them for deep characterization or even to be scared. You basically go to watch people being tortured. Hostel is the quintessential goreporn movie. It had stupid, hateful protagonists and a ridiculous plot, and when it came out, everyone was hyping how DISGUSTING and GRAPHIC it was and how it was making people faint in the theater. Here's another decent psych thriller/horror movie:  The Butterfly Effect: A college student whose childhood was filled with traumatic experiences finds he has the ability to go back in time. He tries to use his new power to fix the lives of his friends and family but only succeeds in unwittingly creating new, terrible problems (hence the title). FourLeaf fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Feb 1, 2012 |
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Jan 31, 2012 03:05
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FourLeaf posted:Here's another decent psych thriller/horror movie: To anyone watching this movie, please note that there are two endings: The director's cut ending was creepy and disturbing in a way I really didn't see coming and I believe was taken out due to test audience feedback (This was also the ending I saw first). The theatrical ending, comparatively, is toothless and dull as dishwater and not really challenging on any level. Disturbing as I found it, the Director's cut ending is probably the better of the two. I like the story overall, but I'm a sucker for any kind of decent time travel movie. The time travel gimmick borders on magic, but once you get past that, the movie becomes much more entertaining.
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Jan 31, 2012 19:57
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CzarChasm posted:To anyone watching this movie, please note that there are two endings: The director's cut ending was creepy and disturbing in a way I really didn't see coming and I believe was taken out due to test audience feedback (This was also the ending I saw first). The theatrical ending, comparatively, is toothless and dull as dishwater and not really challenging on any level. Disturbing as I found it, the Director's cut ending is probably the better of the two. I agree with everything said here. The director's cut ending stays with you for a long time.
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Jan 31, 2012 20:24
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CzarChasm posted:To anyone watching this movie, please note that there are two endings: The director's cut ending was creepy and disturbing in a way I really didn't see coming and I believe was taken out due to test audience feedback (This was also the ending I saw first). The theatrical ending, comparatively, is toothless and dull as dishwater and not really challenging on any level. Disturbing as I found it, the Director's cut ending is probably the better of the two. I tend to agree, but the prison stigmata bit was really annoying to me.
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Feb 1, 2012 00:54
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NGL posted:I tend to agree, but the prison stigmata bit was really annoying to me. How so? I mean I didn't particularly like that scene, but I don't know in what way it would be "annoying". I could see how it could be offensive, or unrealistic, or really, even stupid...
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Feb 1, 2012 21:20
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CzarChasm posted:How so? I mean I didn't particularly like that scene, but I don't know in what way it would be "annoying". I could see how it could be offensive, or unrealistic, or really, even stupid... It's annoying because it breaks the rules of the movie in a huge way. The whole theme of the movie has been, till that point, small changes have long reaching effects that can not be accurately gauged. Till the stigmata scene. He needs this guys help, so to prove himself worthy of it, he decides to give himself stigmata. Ok, whatev, stupid but go on. So he pulls out one of his books, goes back in time and stabs himself in the hands, and WOOSH, back to present day, the guy he was talking to is like 'WHOA BRO' and our hero is like 'Dog I know right'. This fucks up everything. Ok, A) so the other dude remembers a time when Punk'd DIDN'T have stigmata? and B) You're telling me this kid stabbing himself in the hands doesn't cause some kind of big effect? His life plays out exactly the same? The scene is all of the things you said, but its annoying too because it destroys the consistency of the movie.
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Feb 1, 2012 21:29
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The director's cut ending felt so much more true to the events of the story. The first time I saw the movie, I watched the theatrical edition. Near the end, I thought "Okay, they're really going to go completely loving bonkers with the ending, aren't they?", and they didn't. Then I saw the director's cut ending, and they totally did with that one. It was even more than I was hoping for. The main character time-traveling back into the womb and strangling himself with the umbilical cord so that he's never born, the events of the movie never happen and his loved ones are better off is such a  concept, but I'm really glad they went with that.
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Feb 1, 2012 22:14
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Rageaholic Monkey posted:The director's cut ending felt so much more true to the events of the story. The first time I saw the movie, I watched the theatrical edition. Near the end, I thought "Okay, they're really going to go completely loving bonkers with the ending, aren't they?", and they didn't. Then I saw the director's cut ending, and they totally did with that one. It was even more than I was hoping for. Also, it's revealed in a scene cut from the theatrical version that Ashton's mother had had numerous similar, unexplained miscarriages, implying that there's a repeating cycle of Ashton erasing his own existence. There was also a bit where he sees a palmist and is told he doesn't have a life line.
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Feb 1, 2012 23:24
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NGL posted:Also, it's revealed in a scene cut from the theatrical version that Ashton's mother had had numerous similar, unexplained miscarriages, implying that there's a repeating cycle of Ashton erasing his own existence. There was also a bit where he sees a palmist and is told he doesn't have a life line. I thought it was implying that Evan's whole family line was cursed. He had older siblings who were born with similar time-travel powers, and they went through the same process; trying to fix everyone's lives, eventually realizing their very existence made things worse, then going back in time and killing themselves in the womb.
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Feb 2, 2012 00:28
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I never got the love for this movie that a lot of people had around when it came out. It felt like a dumbed down version of a lot of other movies. HOWEVER, the DVD ending with fetus Ashton's self-imposed abortion via umbilicus has stuck clearly in my memory since I saw it. Great, ballsy (albeit cut) ending to a mediocre movie.
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Feb 2, 2012 01:08
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There you are Psychological Thriller thread, hiding away in the back pages. Let's dust you off: This is the second time that I've found an Australian thriller that takes place on a boat hiding away in the Redbox to be quickly forgotten. The descriptions of this movie that I've found are loving horrid at marketing the movie. For example: "Surfing charters are meant to be a trip to Paradise... With 7 male surfers stuck on a boat, there's bound to be some friction - but when two of the boys are replaced at the last minute with two gorgeous girls - the heat is turned way up! The one 'single girl' on board - SAM - enjoys the attention. She soon has them all wrapped around her finger, as she challenges surf legend "BULL" in being 'the Alpha Male' on board. But The Bull decides to make a forceful move on Sam. Archie's loyalty is torn - between Bull and the group, as the others beat and abandon Bull on an island, but soon the ever-determined Bull returns..! It's soon a life-and-death struggle on board the yacht, as the five imprisoned friends - Archie, Sam, Toobs, Rob and Alex - must survive the fury of the psycho at the helm" There's a lot in the plot that has been explored by movies like Dead Calm and Donkey Punch. What's remarkable is watching this guy:  go from being happy-go-lucky surfer dude to something much darker. It's a genuine transition and even when's he's crossed the line, you can still see his actions and behavior as something that a person that enjoys bullying is capable of. Give it a chance if you come across it, I'd hate to see these low-budget well-written movies disappear because of poor marketing.
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Apr 14, 2012 04:22
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I'd like to thank you guys for the great suggestions. I now have a massive queue of films lined up to watch, as this is my favorite sub-genre. Since there haven't been a lot of posts over the past few months, is there anything new that may have slipped under the radar that should be included?
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Jun 19, 2012 22:54
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Asterie posted:
That film just devolves into nihilistic torture porn and doesn't belong here.
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Jun 19, 2012 23:22
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Just read through the last 4 pages of this thread and, unless it was mentioned earlier, The Tenant is sorely unrepresented here. Say what you will about Roman Polanski, he can make drat creepy movies. Perfect pacing as the protagonist -- played by Polanski -- moves into a new apartment and things start to get weird. Still not sure what to make of the ending.
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Jun 20, 2012 00:10
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oiseaux morts 1994 posted:That film just devolves into nihilistic torture porn and doesn't belong here. It's too gory to qualify for this thread, but dismissing Martyrs as "just...nihilistic torture porn" is selling it very, very short. Topic: I really liked The Caller. It's...sort of a ghost story with no actual ghost, if that makes sense. Some violence toward the end, but relies much more on tension and the viewer piecing together what's happening for its scares.
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Jun 20, 2012 04:40
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Perfect Blue is an anime from 1997 that is kind of like Black Swan meets Jacob's Ladder. -A pop star decides to leave music for acting. Then she discovers the internet and reality unravels around her. That's a pretty poo poo description but it's hard not to give too much away. Dorothy Mills is very very Irish. -A psychologist is assigned to a disturbed girl in an isolated town that doesn't take kindly to strangers. The more the psychologist discovers about the girl and about the town, the more it becomes obvious this isn't just a psychological problem. Fallen was great. Go watch it.
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Jun 20, 2012 11:31
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Craig Spradlin posted:It's too gory to qualify for this thread, but dismissing Martyrs as "just...nihilistic torture porn" is selling it very, very short. I would go so far as to say it misses the point entirely.
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Jun 20, 2012 14:34
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What do you guys think of Audition?
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Jun 20, 2012 14:47
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FourLeaf posted:Natalie Portman did a great job in the lead role. This movie really played on one of my personal fears, which is being so psychotic that one never knows if anything that happens is real or not. And the soundtrack is incredible. Great movie. They did a really good job of making Nina sympathetic, despite being completely insane. Besides being genuinely frightening and tense, it's also a very sad and tragic movie, because with the possible exception of her equally insane mother, no one really cares about Nina, what she wants, or her mental state. All they care about, and thus, all that matters to Nina herself, is how well she dances. Everyone just keeps pushing and pushing not caring until it literally kills her. When it comes to psychological horror/thriller movies, my favorites are the ones of David Lynch. Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire being two very good ones (although Inland Empire is admittedly overly long). What really gets me about his work is that I usually feel terrified while watching them, but I have no idea why. I can just tell by looking at a scene that something is terribly wrong, and it always is. Granted, something is usually wrong in a thriller movie, but Lynch somehow makes the danger seem far more personal, as if the viewer themselves are in trouble. Blompkin fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Jun 20, 2012 |
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Jun 20, 2012 14:55
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:I would go so far as to say it misses the point entirely. Yeah I tend to agree. I'm not sure if any New French Extremity films really fit this thread because of the absolutely ridiculous levels of gore, but Martyrs really isn't gore for gore's sake at all. We Need to Talk About Kevin (IMBD) was a really excellent movie and was pretty soul crushingly depressing. It's in no way scary but is a really uncomfortable movie. Tilda Swinton plays a mother who slowly becomes more and more frightened of her son as he grows up and starts displaying more and more disturbing behavior. It's kind of hard to describe the movie more than that without spoiling parts of it but it's pretty creepy and a great movie. Also going to second the recommendations of Funny Games, that is one of my favorite movies of all time. Even though the American version is a shot by shot remake, the acting is way more effective in the original so if you haven't seen it, go with the Austrian version. escape artist posted:What do you guys think of Audition? I really liked it the first time I saw it but the replay value is almost nonexistent, mostly because of how incredibly slow it is. E: Just watched Triangle and Jesus Christ was that movie awful. Triangulum fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jul 20, 2012 |
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Jul 20, 2012 14:51
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I went to see Kill List last night and it's place is definitely in this thread. It builds up to a strong, unexpected ending so I advise not to read about it but if you like early Polansky or the unreliable narrator of the Machinist you owe it to yourself to check it out. As much as I like the Machinist this is even better actually. Just beware two couples walked out an hour into the movie, violence in it is fairly rare and worked into the story but it is graphic and intense as gently caress when it comes up.
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Jul 21, 2012 09:50
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I was really looking foward for any topic like this in which we could all share our thought and recomendations. Maybe it's not as good as any of the 90's movies and the actor may not give you the feeling of "this might be a good movie" but The Raven (2012) is my humble suggestion. It has nice touches of suspence and dark atmosphere on the 19th century.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1486192/ The ending may not be as glorius as the whole movie gets your attention on every new thing that appears but it's worth watching compared the poor quality of nowadays movies. Also for cinema fans, it's the "revival" of John Cusack finally doing a serious role on a serious movie.
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Jul 24, 2012 08:48
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Just watched Apollo 18 (IMDB) last night and really, really enjoyed it. I went in with pretty low expectations because the movie poster and tagline made it sound really cheesy but it seems like they took a card out of Alien's book and decided to go the "less is more (scary)" route. The movie does a good job building tension and a lot of the horror of the situation is "oh poo poo we're in a really hostile environment" instead of "OH poo poo LOOK AT THAT MONSTER!", which I dug a lot. Also lots of fantastic shots of the moon basically makes it space porn for space nerds, which is always a plus. Probably one of the only genuinely creepy movies I've seen in a long time. I also watched the first season of American Horror Story (IMBD) and dug it a lot. While not being scary in the slightest and going over almost every single horror movie trope imaginable, it's a cool little story and is also pretty funny. I really liked the idea of ghosts not being these weird supernatural monsters but just people who happen to be dead and who's personalities and behaviors in life carry over into death. I thought it was really cool how the various ghosts were constantly loving each other over and all had their own agendas they were trying to enact on the living. It's a really fun show 
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Jul 24, 2012 23:34
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I had a blast with American Horror Story. The second season is apparently going to have an entirely different cast from the first.
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Jul 25, 2012 01:22
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