Horror Films.
 

What's the deal?

In the thread about good movies, people suggest horror films. Ok, that's fine. Sometimes horror films are excellent.

But Hostel isn't. The Saw movies aren't. The movies are cheap slasher crap with no real plot or substance, and the acting is literally laughable.

What happened to good horror?

hostel was fucking awful. so are most horror movies I've been forced to watch like 'the hills have eyes' and 'dark ride'. bleh. (although i tend to ruin them also by laughing at the really tense moments- can't help it)

i saw the last 20mins of nightmare on elm street and the 3rd one - that was good. hilarious special effects and actually slightly scary. and when i mentioned Freddie Kruger to my mother you could suddenly see actual fear in her eyes - so it must've been good then too.

old school black and whites are the most fun - like the blob. i was actually looking for those in borders bookstore, but 2/3 of the way through i realized it was 50s porn or something - still want to buy it thou - if it's as funny as 50s horror movies anyway....

Considering myself a fan of the genre, I watch a lot of horror movies, and tend to differentiate between those I expect to be actually good, and those that are merely entertaining.
As long as I keep that in mind going in, and avoid the really crappy straight to dvd shit, I actually enjoy even the pretty dodgy flicks. (Like Hostel;))

But it is true that the really good ones are few and far between. I think the last one I thought was really good is Shadow of the Vampire.

i know this is rather loosely related, but what do you think of the 3rd underworld movie coming out?

Repulsion.

Yes, great movie. Easily my favourite Polanski.


I think I'll pass on that one, didn't even see the second one. Kate Beckinsale isn't THAT hot.

...Chinatown?

Anyway, good horror is still around, one just has to look slightly harder for it than one did in the age of Suspiria, before the advent of the gore-porn phenomenon.

Check out Let the Right One In, a Grade A horror movie in theatres right now.

Haven't seen that one yet, but I'll keep it in mind. Based on the IMDB summary I don't think I'll prefer it to Repulsion, and there's always Tess too, so it'll probably have to come in third, but you never know.

Sounds really promising, I'll definitely check it out.

Sweet mother of fuck, go watch the movie. :P

As per the orignal topic... I like horror movies. Partially because I find them entertaining, but also because I like seeing what the crew can whip up. Call the Saw movies what you will, but the sets alone would make many designers go mad trying to whip it up.

That's one of the things that I like about horror movies: production value. Or, as the case may be, "production value for the dollar".

They're not for everyone, but no movie is. There are plenty of movies out there than I know full well are decent and well-made, but I would honestly rather get another root canal than watch some of them.

The best horror lately hasn't been coming out of America, thus it doesn't get shown in regular theatres and no one bothers watching it.

Frontiers, Inside, Black Water and REC are four of the most intense I've seen lately, but that being said 'intensity', of course, doesn't always equal 'good' according to some horror fans. To me they were all brilliant though, nothing short of scary, and leagues beyond Saw or Hostel.

For something a little older, Jacob's Ladder just popped to mind. Bloody good film.

i wouldn't really class that as a horror movie. i mean, it has most of the ingredients but the scare factor really wasn't there - i don't think it was supposed to anyway. (oscar was a creepy kid though) calling it a horror movie in my eyes, would be a gross understatement.

did you notice how the vamp chick's face kind of changed i think when she drank blood or something? why do you think that was? ( someone said oscar was imagining her begin old, but i doubt it)

i though the CGI cats where hilarious, and the old guy's deformed face looked great - waaay better than expected.

really sad ending if you think about it.

The fact that slasher movies are so comically bad is usually the reason I watch horror movies.
If you listen to my mom's commentary while watching Friday the Thirteenth
you'll see what I mean.

But you're right. Saw and Hostel sucked.

Why? Attributing something to the horror genre isn't an insult. Sure, it evokes emotions other than fear, but all good horror movies do.

You... watched the movie right?

I first saw the film when it was screened at Tribeca last year, and someone asked the director that same question. I believe his answer was "cool effect".
I personally accounted it to Eli's monstrous nature manifesting physically.

yea i though it was something like that.

of course i saw it - it's just that her name is written differently and i didn't want to go through all that trouble (it's like elih or something)

i guess i haven't seen many good horror movies then.
i LOVED the whole bathtub coffin thing - that was cute/clever.

You should apply Sturgeon's Law to Horror movies: If 90% of horror are crap, then 90% everything else outside horror is crap. But one shouldn't dismiss 'em just 'cuz of the 90%. What about the 10% that are NOT crap? Say what you will of the Underworld trilogy. I thought they were damn good. I'd most certainly pass on Hostel 1 and 2. I was not impressed with Eli Roth's first film, Cabin Fever. As for Saw, I thought it had a pretty interesting premise and succeeded in it. I've yet to see Saw 2 & 3. I read that Saw 4 didn't do too good. Saw 5? I've not heard or read anything on it. I liked three of the Blade films. As for the Blade tv series, eh, I dunno. The classics, I will always recommend:

The Haunting
The Innocents
Rosemary's Baby
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Lord Of the Flies
Suspiria
Deep Red
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Hills Have Eyes
Nightmare On Elm St. series
Hellraiser 1 & 2
Candyman
The Howling
American Werewolf In London
The Exorcist
Deliverance
Necronomicon
Out Of The Mouth Of Madness
The Fog
Halloween
Black Sabbath
Black Sunday
Blood And Black Lace
Night Of the Living Dead
Carnival Of Souls
Dawn Of the Dead
Blair Witch Project
Day Of the Dead
Don't Look Now
Halloween
Ringu 1 & 2 & 0
The Ring

The list is endless. I'm referring to most of these films in the above list as originals not the remakes. Most of those remakes sucked raw sewage IMHO. The American version of The Ring is not bad at all. But Ring Two sucked 'cuz some yoyo tinkered with the PG-13 version, changed it into the unrated version. The Dawn Of the Dead remake wasn't bad at all, except I had trouble believing that the zombies won't chow down that dog or any such animals for that matter.

Wanna know why?

blacktextbath

I'm surprised no-one mentioned the Subspecies series. They're direct-to-video B-movies but possibly the best vampire films I've seen in a long while.

Also, one can never go wrong with Dario Argento. :)

Not so good, but it`s not bad.
Do you mean the first movie? I would classify it as: go-to-sleep boring.
that movie was rather funny.

I need better.

My favourite horror films are (in no paarticular order) ...


The Bride Of Frankenstein

Dracula (starring Bela Legosi)

The Phantom Of The Opera (Starring Lon Chaney)

Frankenstein

The Mummy (Starring Boris Karloff)

Nosferatu (1925)

The Black Cat

The Wolfman

The City Of The Dead

The Devil Rides Out

Countess Dracula

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Theatre Of Blood

Dr. Phibes Rises Again

Blood From The Mummys Tomb

Lust For A Vampire

Twins Of Evil

The Plague Of Zombies

Dracula (1958)

Dracula Has Risen From The Grave

Witchfinder General

The Evil Of Frankenstein

Pyschomania

Requiem For A Vampire

Dracula AD1972

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

Bram Stokers Dracula (1992)

To name a few ... :)

Yeah, I know that.
You took what I said out of context.

Wow, Let the Right One In looks really really good.
It's not playing anywhere near me, though.

Horror movies suck.
Period.

And exclamation point.

I rather enjoyed Darkness Falls. The movie itself wasn't the greatest, but after watching it I didn't want to go remotely close to darkness for a while.

I think I'll make a little list, too...

"From Hell it Came!" (hilarious old movie)

"Psycho"

"Night of the Living Dead"

The "Evil Dead" Series

"Godzilla"

"King Kong"

"Beast from Haunted Cave"

"The Mummy"

"Village of The Damned"

"Frankenstein"

"Dracula"

"Jacob's Ladder"

"Invasion of the Saucermen"

"The Blob" (Both Versions)

"The Thing" (Both Versions)

More I can't think of at the moment...

They'reremaking Friday the 13th. Jebus.