The Horror Thread: Did the whole US throw up?

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Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

MacheteZombie posted:

I miss everything these days

That's what you get for having a life

# ¿ Feb 12, 2019 19:07

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:38

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Neo Rasa posted:

I haven't seen them in forever, but IIRC Scarecrow (2002) and its followup Scarecrow Slayer (2003) are pretty bad. But the latter stars Tony Todd so I'll have to re-watch it to make sure.

Wait

I didn't see this post when I was writing that, are they, uh, good?

No

No

Noooooo

No

Oh my no. Oh no. My GOD no.

The first one is kind of cute especially for when it came out, during a drought of slasher-y villains and the like

But the second one just looks awful, is boring, and ruins its own set up of kung fu fighting scarecrows

# ¿ Feb 12, 2019 19:36

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Neo Rasa posted:

Not trying to pick at you but it just cropped up that you mentioned that Scarecrows Gone Wild raised the stakes, yet it now seems like Scarecrow Slayer was the last straw for you.

Oh don't get me wrong, Scarecrow Slayer is the worst of the three

What I said was that Scarecrow Gone Wild (Not Scarecrows, there is only the one...sort of) brought it back a little

In that it was more like the first movie and less awful looking like the second.

They're all Z grade trash, but you gotta have some standards when it comes to that

# ¿ Feb 12, 2019 19:54

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Fart City posted:

Does Chucky have normal human strength, or doll strength? Cause he beats a teacher to death with a ruler, but gets slam dunked by Andy�s mom no problem

He only gets the edge on the teacher because she was old as gently caress and he caught her by surprise

Chucky is consistently a weak rear end little bitch who gets owned super hard in any 1 V 1 that isn't against a literal child or a physically disabled person

# ¿ Feb 12, 2019 22:49

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Apollo 18 is a saint compared to other alien found footage films

# ¿ Feb 14, 2019 17:56

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

What the *gently caress* was the new Predator movie

What the actual hell was that even

If it was just like, a comedy about a bunch of bumbling idiots and a bumble lord failure Predator, that would have been one thing

What the Christ did they do

# ¿ Feb 15, 2019 06:53

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

s.i.r.e. posted:

That's a trope?

What, the evil lesbian thing?

To put it mildly yes

# ¿ Feb 17, 2019 05:25

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Deadguy2322 posted:

The word �problematic� is a sign that the speaker should not be taken seriously.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2019 05:34

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Coffee And Pie posted:

If you ignore the sequels, Sleepaway Camp almost works as pro-trans if you take the message to be "forcing someone to be a gender they aren't is bad for their mental health."

Hey, if you DO take the sequels, you get the uplifting message of a very happily transitioned young woman who also happens to enjoy killing people

Horror is about equality

# ¿ Feb 17, 2019 06:53

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Evil Dead on home media release has never made sense and always been recursive and confusing

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 16:21

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Or, it could be Clint Howard's sex tape with Gilbert Godfrey

Is this something you really want to risk?

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 22:35

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Hollismason posted:

This tape is like more than 20 years old. So...

How dare you make newborn porn

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 01:22

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Scream the TV series only started getting good in the very last movie where it morphed from Idiots Being Stupid In Overwrought Soap Opera poo poo to "Every single one of the surviving main characters are jaded as gently caress to serial killer gently caress heads, and they're all onto your poo poo and they can and will kick your rear end."

And then the show got rebooted and I don't think the supposed third season has aired?

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 04:25

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Bluedeanie posted:

I like how they reattached the titty skin.

It's a cenobite

I'm shocked more of them don't have tits grafted on

# ¿ Feb 22, 2019 05:20

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Pomp posted:

I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow, what's the best movie that isn't Mandy to watch while the drugs wear off

Dead Ringers

# ¿ Feb 22, 2019 18:27

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

DeimosRising posted:

I mean even just alcohol. I feel like a lot of this was probably dare based

Whatever you won�t drink that 4 week old gourd of juice you�re scared like a little baby

We had a lot of free time to eat and drink and snort all manner of things over the last few thousand years.

So much knowledge, gained through simple boredom and incompetence.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2019 21:29

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Hollismason posted:

That bird is known as a rear end in a top hat.

that's most birds tho

# ¿ Feb 22, 2019 22:38

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

It's totally going to be a loving murder tape of where there's a body buried in your basement

# ¿ Feb 24, 2019 03:17

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

I want to be nice to Slice

I'm not nice to Slice. Froid and Holls got to hear my running commentary on the first two thirds of that wreck of a boring film

# ¿ Feb 24, 2019 06:22

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

K. Waste posted:

RE Korean horror, Bunshinsaba (2004) is on YT and is so drat good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWvrwXIPsxc

*Squints eye*

Why does this open with Korean Disney logo

# ¿ Feb 25, 2019 16:00

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Arivia posted:

I�m glad to have added �genital inversions� to the horror thread�s lingo.

...we talking about the Ring again or

# ¿ Feb 25, 2019 20:34

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Irreversible if you want something ugly and mean

Otherwise, we really need to talk about Kevin

# ¿ Feb 25, 2019 22:29

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Me, James Brown and Sugar Ray Robbison are going to style and profile over all the horror bitches

# ¿ Feb 27, 2019 02:00

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

mikeycp posted:

i watched Tales From the Hood 2 the other night and uh...that's quite the thing.

as one of my friends who watched with me put it "the purge is looking at Tales From the Hood 2 and saying "Yikes, dude"

So what exactly is wrong with it

I was looking forward to it coming out and then EVERYONE recoiled when it did

# ¿ Feb 28, 2019 16:57

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

HOW DID I MISS THE GODZILLA CHAT

gently caress it, posting it again anyways

Burkion posted:

So you know what ultra mega successful and popular franchise is secretly a horror series, just no one ever talks about it in that context because it tends to hide/ignore that fact very well?

Godzilla. Some of you will get this immediately and already be nodding, indeed indeed. A lot of you however, when you think of Godzilla, you're thinking of one of three things.

One of the two American Godzilla films- which have mild elements of horror but in the same way that a disaster movie does.

Maybe Godzilla 2000, the last Japanese Godzilla to be released in American theaters nationwide.

Or this

First, this is the pinnacle of cinema and all naysayers are denied. This singular moment would cure any number of ills and put to rest the numerous woes of the world if it could only be accepted as the brilliance that it is.

The brilliance being, the movie just not giving a gently caress and doing whatever it wants and gently caress you for caring. But that's a whole other discussion for another day. Right now, we're going to focus in on Godzilla: Horror. To understand exactly how this franchise enters the horror frame of mind, beyond just the tangential connection of monster movies that are shared universally, we have to take a step back. We have to take the context of the time, and what informed it.

Actually we don't, so I'll be brief. World War 2, it was a poo poo. Atrocities, racist fuckheads, dogma, and a changing of civilization that swept the world over. WWI was the coming of the modern age of war, where classical ideals clashed with terrifying technology. WWII was the superior sequel with a greater depth of horrors yet unthought of, where instead of just the soldiers getting torn into, we got even more casualties involved. We're not giving a Japan a pass on this either- the Godzilla franchise itself has made note of their culpability in the war crimes they commited, the people they killed.

But Japan didn't do these things in a vacuum and get away with it. Of course there were the atomic bombings which broke the camel's back and ended the war- in the pacific at least. Poland got REAL hosed over but we're not talking about them right now. Before those though, were the fire bombings. Something that tends to be overlooked, how many air strikes were raided on Japanese civilian towns. More damage and more loss of lives are attributed to those events than the atomic bombs themselves. Basically, World War 2 was a poo poo and no one walked away happy.

World War 2 is incredibly important for this discussion because the horrors of it are mundane and depressing, and those are some of the very same horrors that make up Godzilla. Because Godzilla IS a product of World War 2, a response to it and what it had done to the nation of Japan. The people of Japan. To the creators of the work itself. Tsuburaya, the man who gave Godzilla life, was and is one of the most renowned and acknowledged special effects artists in history. His work helped define Japanese culture as it is today, and had a fair bit of influence over seas as well.

Yet it almost all went south because of World War 2. One of his biggest projects before he came back to the limelight in the 50s, was a recreation of Pearl Harbor. The studio he was working for had been tasked by the government to create propaganda films, and he was one of the many cogs in the machine caught in the middle. So he did his work, and reportedly did it so well and meticulously that it was mistaken for actual footage shot of the event.

After WWII, you can well imagine how this was received. When his blackballing was done, he quietly returned to Toho Studios with a full team on his side. He helped craft the visual story of Godzilla in his own way, working with Ishiro Honda and Tanaka hand in hand. Though, a huge element to what makes the original Godzilla so unsettling is his roar. The original roar is very different than what would become popularized, rougher and less warm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRYq58QPTk8

Especially his chilling death cry from the end.

So for a group of men to make a movie that was about a giant monster rising from the ocean, which itself was based on the atomic testings on the Bikini Atoll and the sailors who were killed by it- long, sad story there- you really couldn't have asked for a better line up.

This brings us directly to the original movie. It is a masterpiece of filmmaking, yet because it was released in 1954 it had to share the stage with Rear Window and Seven Samurai, so you know. 1954 was kind of a big year for movies- and horror, as it turns out. From the jump, there is a quiet dread that hangs over the film, especially if you keep in mind the then extremely recent atomic testings and what had happened to Japanese sailors during them. A quiet dread that immediately takes a turn for the violent, ship after ship vanishing in atomic fire within the ocean.

Like any good horror film, the monster is built up. The moment you meet the monster is a monumental moment, but unlike the Universal Horror of old, the angry mob with torches run away from the beast that they had hoped to chase back to the sea. For Godzilla is quite the unique threat- invincible, unstoppable, unknowable. Emerging larger than a mountain, impervious to any and all of man's weapons, able to unleash nuclear fury from his mouth at a whim, Godzilla towers over all other cinematic monsters before him.

Here is the easiest place to find the horror elements of Godzilla, as he systematically eradicates Tokyo, burning it to the ground one block after another, crushing men, women and children alike. Imagery of the firebombings in Japan are evoked, explored, and even referenced. One of the most memorable moments is a widowed mother clutching her children as Godzilla's horror approaches ever closer, promising that they will soon be with their father.

We later find her corpse in one of the many crisis centers, 'hospitals overflowing with the maimed and the dead', to borrow from Raymond Burr in the American version King of the Monsters. More on that in a moment. We find her dead, her children orphans, and possibly doomed themselves to a much worse fate. Because in the aftermath, we find that Godzilla truly is just as vicious and awful as the nuclear fire that awoke him- he leaves radiation in his wake. Dangerous, deathly radiation, that has taken hold of many of the 'survivors' of his wrath. Including, notably, children.

Because the horror of Godzilla's attack isn't his direct actions, but all of the consequences after. Godzilla does not care for individual humans, does not notice them as such. He passes by and all goes to ruin in his wake. Not out of malicious intent- nothing he does is malicious, which is possibly the worst thing of all. Simply because of what he is, devastation follows. He is a horror that cannot co-exist with humanity.

What heightens this tragedy is the reason why I brought up, if only obliquely, Japan's own crimes in the war. Namely, all were victims in the end. There were no victors in war, not when the individuals were concerned. One country that terrorized others would then become victims themselves of another power. Japan and Germany are the most obvious examples, though others exist as well. The reason this paralel is important is because Godzilla is also a victim.

Godzilla's design in the original movie is that of a survivor of nuclear bombing. As in, someone who was directly exposed and is suffering accordingly. Unique to this Godzilla, obscured until the end by darkness, are radiation scars that cover him head to toe. His behavior is also patterned off of those unlucky individuals in the wake of the blasts, walking in a daze, bright lights and noises bothering them, sudden fits. Everything about him is intentionally, by the creators, patterned off of the victims of the very act that he embodies.

Fitting as in universe, the whole reason he is awake is because of those atomic testings. A victim and victimizer of atomic war. We see Godzilla in his natural element at the end, where he is calm, peaceful. A pitiful creature. In the end, they kill him with an even worse weapon than the atomic bomb ever could be, only for the dread of another Godzilla appearing to hang over their heads.

We take a detour here to King of the Monsters. The original Gojira is a taught and tightly paced, almost modern in fact, film that builds and builds mounting horrors and terrors until reaching Godzilla. The American version, King of the Monsters, takes that and scratches the record. Instead, we get another horror film genre in its origins here.

The Found Footage Film. The movie opens with a noir-style narration of Raymond Burr, playing a reporter who happened to be in the area. But it specifically opens after Godzilla's attack, after the peak of his destruction, and we work backwards from Raymond Burr's perspective to build back to up that moment. This gives the movie an entirely different edge and tone, and brings it in line with the likes of Cannibal Holocaust as the progenitors of the found footage genre as we know it today. It is a fascinating film, and Raymond Burr's narration is top notch through out, though he tries to end the film on an optimistic note, one of the few missteps.

One line that is applicable here however, and it is one exclusive to the American version and superior I believe, comes from one of the characters convincing the scientist who made the super weapon to use it.

"You have your fears, which may become reality, and you have Godzilla. Which is reality."

All backed up by this- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SowvXSmiIXo&t=26s

If you can get into the dated effects- mostly the puppet work- it is a suspenseful, unrelenting classic, that draws on broader, more cultural terrors and horror, while never ignoring the individual victims that hold it up. It is a draining, serious, unapologetic film that pulls no punches.

And like any great horror film, it had a quicky cash in sequel that was rushed out with half the effort and relying more on gimmicks than craftsmanship. Raids Again, funnily enough, could have been even better than the original, but it was so rushed that the highest it could rise was 'mediocre'. Which, following an atomic bomb of a film like Gojira, stings ever more.

Following was Rodan, itself a mild blip on the horror genre as it played with the American trend of giant insect monster movies that were popular back in the day. Only with the twist of the insects merely being the food for a greater terror, which is so far from a spoiler that it's not even worth going into.

Godzilla itself would dip back into horror from time to time, even pulling the all time classic Roger Coreman into its circle to create the American version of Return of Godzilla (1984), Godzilla 1985. Featuring Raymond Burr again! And Doctor Pepper. Though Return of Godzilla itself has some horror elements, most notably the beginning of the film on the boat, with the sea louse. It's another film that emphasizes that Godzilla does not need to act maliciously to DESTROY your life, as well.

Since then, we have smatterings of horror here and there. Notably there is an extended ALIENS rip off scene in Godzilla VS Destroyah that is suitably bonkers and awful. Just a really stupid, bad idea that I'm so happy exists. Also there is GMK Godzilla, who is the embodiment of all the souls wronged by Japan from WWII, acting out of revenge for Japan denying their war crimes and culpability. He is one of the only really malicious Godzillas, accordingly.

Of course, when talking existential horror, Shin is pretty high up there. The, to date, newest Godzilla movie, Shin Godzilla, features one of the most unsettling Gojis out there, who is an abomination of nature and radiation. Constantly changing, mutating to match what harms him, a mistake in the eyes of man who has come to punish them for his very creation- whenever the film focuses on him, it takes a dark turn.

Never mind what his first use of his beam does, and how quickly he could obliterate the status quo of the world.

If you're a horror fan, and you haven't thought much of them, think about looking at the Godzilla franchise. From cheesy, to serious, to horrifying and everywhere in between, you may yet find exactly what you're looking for.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2019 01:05

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

My biggest issue with Halloween 2018 was simply that Michael was shot too plainly. He never got any really good moments of appearing out of the darkness or being in the background but out of focus.

He was all Michael, no Shape. It was just very matter of fact about him being around

# ¿ Mar 6, 2019 19:53

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

hemale in pain posted:

There's a movie called The Incubus on amazon from 1982. I doubt I need to spoiler this but the monster rapes women to death. It's not extremely graphic but gently caress I've not felt that gross or uncomfortable watching a movie for awhile.

The cover art is loving awful in context with the tone of the movie

I think you undersell just how much rape there is in the movie. We're talking more rape than Humanoids of the Deep rape. Even when you don't see the rape rape is still happening somewhere in this rape movie about rape. That's how rape it is.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2019 17:07

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Speed Grapher

The one you want is Speed Grapher

# ¿ Mar 9, 2019 02:30

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

loving watch Speed Grapher

It's not exactly horror persay but it's absolutely horror and it ends on

Capitalism being the greatest evil of all, the main characters causing the downfall of all government, and everyone being happier and better off for it

# ¿ Mar 9, 2019 22:29

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

The best thing Hellsing does is imply an AMAZING adaptation of Dracula that we never get to see. It'd be like an extended, anime version of a Peter Cushing Christopher Lee thing, only Christopher Lee is ultra super powerful with stupid anime abilities and Cushing *CRUSHES HIM* despite that as just an ordinary man.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 00:41

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Grendels Dad posted:

I've only got the vaguest impression of Hellsing so please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Peter Cushing also have a rocking pair of tits in this?

nah, that's his great (great?) granddaughter.

It's a plot point in Hellsing that the original Dracula novel happened, with a few differences

The biggest one being after Helsing kicks the poo poo out of Dracula, he effectively enslaves and rehabilitates him into being a weapon against evil. Helsing kicks Dracula's rear end so hard that Alucard wears his loving coat and compares all other men to him as the standard bearer for what humanity can do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epol6eXdcnk

This is the only thing we ever see of the dude. Imagine Peter Cushing saying these lines

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 02:15

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Fart City posted:

What the gently caress, Dick Miller was thirty when he was in Bucket Of Blood?

Did that dude just come out of the womb looking like a surly townie?

Much like there was never a point in his life that Donald Pleasance didn't look 40

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 03:39

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

s.i.r.e. posted:

I assumed you were talking about it being a blatant rip-off of Alien, but Alien is ripping off Planet of the Vampires and It! The Terror from Beyond Space.

Also Dark Starr

Like, so much of Dark Starr

# ¿ Mar 11, 2019 03:11

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

DeimosRising posted:

Is this like a grimly revelatory ringo Starr biopic or what

How have you not seen Dark Star

# ¿ Mar 11, 2019 05:08

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Pomp posted:

It could be worse, I was console war posting on a legacy of kain fansite as a teen

My signature was farting love livestock

Dumb Godzilla forums over here

# ¿ Mar 12, 2019 22:05

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Hollismason posted:

All horror movies ever made are gay. I hope this guide helps.

I have no evidence to refute this

# ¿ Mar 13, 2019 06:20

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Coffee And Pie posted:

I feel like Robert Downey Jr would be a good Vincent Price type

You take that back right now

# ¿ Mar 14, 2019 20:34

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

I adore Vincent Price in all of his roles. Even the lovely movies. The man knew how to live it up.

He also had this amazing ability to be both the hero of the film AND ALSO THE MAIN VILLAIN and it was so beautiful. Even when he wasn't literally pulling double duty as two different characters, some times he'd STILL find a way to be both the hero and villain all at once.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2019 21:40

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

Here's how picking a best Price movie goes

"He's super good in X, Y, Z and OH RIGHT ALSO A! Here's why"

Some time later

"I FORGOT ABOUT C, D AND PHIBES!"

# ¿ Mar 15, 2019 01:31

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:38

Burkion: May 10, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

M_Sinistrari posted:

Currently catching up on my American Horror Story viewing since last season I sat through was Hotel. Any opinions on Roanoke

Watch Channel Zero instead

# ¿ Mar 20, 2019 01:14

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > The Horror Thread: Did the whole US throw up?

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