Sangre, cuchillos, y tetas --- Horror Film Discussion

[The Mike]

The Evil Dead is the '80s?

I thought it was like '79.

That would be no.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/

Filmed in 79, I think.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The Evil Dead is the '80s?

I thought it was like '79.

They started shooting in November of '79, so you weren't far off.

[megladon8]

I was really pissed off when I saw that, cause that type of zombie (ancient, rail-thin, and fast) is extremely reminiscent of a sequence I wrote in a screenplay back in '05.

But once I got over myself, yeah, it was creepy as fuck.


Did you not think that...

...the whole idea of possession as a virus was really interesting and original? I'd never seen anything like that before, and I thought the film really gave us the perfect balance of answers and questions by the end.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Horror of the '80s, you say?

1. Gremlins
2. The Evil Dead
3. The Thing
4. Fright Night
5. The Shining
6. The Monster Squad
7. An American Werewolf in London
8. Dead & Buried
9. Re-Animator
10. Evil Dead II

Respectfully:

01. Evil Dead II
02. The Thing
03. Re-Animator
04. The Fly
05. An American Werewolf in London
06. Near Dark
07. Poltergeist
08. The Vanishing
09. Gremlins
10. Hellraiser

[Dead & Messed Up]

Did you not think that...

...the whole idea of possession as a virus was really interesting and original? I'd never seen anything like that before, and I thought the film really gave us the perfect balance of answers and questions by the end.

Oh yeah. In a way, it took me back to how Romero gradually alluded to voodoo zombies more and more in the Dead trilogy. It's a very smart way to allow a scientific disease to have some supernatural resonance. The situations are explicable, but those religious details force you to ask some fundamental questions about the world.

Also, how about that setting? It was like John Doe's apartment as rendered in a Resident Evil game. Terrifying shit.

[The Mike]

I totally had Poltergeist on my original list, and Hellraiser and Near Dark were fighting for #10.

I'm still confused as to what everyone sees in The Fly, but that's a different story for a different day.

[MadMan]

Horror of the '80s, you say?

1. Gremlins
2. The Evil Dead
3. The Thing
4. Fright Night
5. The Shining
6. The Monster Squad
7. An American Werewolf in London
8. Dead & Buried
9. Re-Animator
10. Evil Dead IIGremlins as #1? And The Evil Dead was released in 1981, if I remember right. Its great, but Evil Dead II is better. Haven't seen Fright Night, Monster Squad or Dead and Buried yet. The Shinning demands a rewatch.

My list:

1. The Thing (John Carpenter)
2. Re-Animator (Stuart Gordon)
3. Evil Dead II (Sam Rami)
4. An American Werewolf in London (John Landis)
5. Day of the Dead (George A. Romero)
6. The Evil Dead (Sam Rami)
7. Gremlins (Joe Dante)
8. The Return of the Living Dead (Dan O'Bannon)
9. Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper)
10. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)

HM: Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter), Altered States (Ken Russell), The Howling (Joe Dante), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (Joseph Zito)

[The Mike]

10. The Shinning (Stanley Kubrick)Are you trying to not get sued? ;)

[MadMan]

Are you trying to not get sued? ;)Yep :P :lol:

My spell check also said it was correctly spelled, so I didn't bother to look at it again. I'll just blame it on that and move on, heh.

PS: I'm now encouraged to go on and make Top 10 (or Top 5, based on how much I've seen) horror lists for the other decades.

[Dead & Messed Up]

A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven)

Shit, I knew I forgot one:

01. Evil Dead II
02. The Thing
03. Re-Animator
04. The Fly
05. An American Werewolf in London
06. Near Dark
07. A Nightmare on Elm Street
08. Poltergeist
09. The Vanishing
10. Gremlins

[MadMan]

Well you guys reminded me that I had seen Poltergeist, and thus it made my list. But I think that A Nightmare on Elm Street is a tad overrated, and that Scream is better.

[The Mike]

Yep :P :lol:

My spell check also said it was correctly spelled, so I didn't bother to look at it again. I'll just blame it on that and move on, heh.

PS: I'm now encouraged to go on and make Top 10 (or Top 5, based on how much I've seen) horror lists for the other decades.
It's cool. I'll do anything to make a Simpsons joke. :lol:

[The Mike]

I considered ANOES 3, but not the original. :twisted:

[megladon8]

1.) The Changeling
2.) The Evil Dead
3.) Videodrome
4.) The Thing
5.) An American Werewolf in London
6.) Evil Dead II
7.) The Shining
8.) A Nightmare on Elm Street
9.) From Beyond
10.) Return of the Living Dead

[MadMan]

It's cool. I'll do anything to make a Simpsons joke. :lol:I'm down with that :pritch:

[Dead & Messed Up]

I considered ANOES 3, but not the original. :twisted:

Speaking of which, how's your brain damage treatment going?

Seriously, how is it going?

:pritch:

[The Mike]

Speaking of which, how's your brain damage treatment going?

Seriously, how is it going?

:pritch:
It makes me make this face a lot. :D

Also, drool.

[The Mike]

Honorable Mentions no one's mentioned yet (because I'm the only one that loves them, no doubt): Waxwork and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Also, Videodrome rules. Shoulda had that on mine.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I actually saw this for the first time this year, and although it was hardly perfect, Jonathan Pryce makes it something special. He is evil.

[Raiders]

1980s horror:

1. Dead Ringers (1988)
2. The Thing (1982)
3. Near Dark (1987)
4. Opera (1987)
5. The Fly (1986)
6. Paperhouse (1988)
7. Santa sangre (1989)
8. Prince of Darkness (1987)
9. Videodrome (1983)
10. Day of the Dead (1985)
11. The Company of Wolves (1984)
12. The Shining (1980)
13. The Stepfather (1987)
14. Return of the Living Dead (1985)
15. The Vanishing (1988)

[Ezee E]

Yeah, that final sequence in [REC] is what confirmed it for me. I thought that it would end with everyone becoming a zombie, no real explanation, simple as that. Would've been fine, but that final sequence basically answers any question you may have had, as well as being the scariest moment of the movie, which shocked me.

I also loved the use of lighting here. While it was all shot on handy-cam, the use of backlighting, or the arrival of the doctor, the narrow hallways with darkened rooms. Pretty much perfect.

[Rowland]

and I do love Hooper's oeuvre.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - 85
The Funhouse - 68
Poltergeist - 62
Lifeforce - 60
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - 36
Toolbox Murders - 53

So yeah, I'm mixed. It's interesting how the two polar opposites are his TCM pictures. How is Eaten Alive?


Escape from L.A. - Hahaha, now that was a cool movie. Not particularly art house cinematic excellence, yes, but a damn cool, smart, and exciting film that sets out with very ambitious, far-reaching social sights. Outrageously inspired, reaching its heights with Pam Grier as a SPOiLER transsexual gangster, and the rockin' resolution.Indeed. Your score is too low. Even the often-tacky special effects work in a meta way

[Rowland]

'70s horror >>> '80s horror

[Bosco B Thug]

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - 85
The Funhouse - 68
Poltergeist - 62
Lifeforce - 60
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - 36
Toolbox Murders - 53

So yeah, I'm mixed. It's interesting how the two polar opposites are his TCM pictures. How is Eaten Alive? Like each and every one of Hooper's films, terribly uneven. Eaten Alive is even more so because the film essentially consists of nothing but mood - it's plotless, arc-less, and mean-spirited, without an emotional or thematic through-line outside of presenting a varied tableau of perversity... which fails to cohere into a film with a singular statement, very much like TCM 2.

But it has the exquisite visuals and cinematography of a Hooper film, and I dubbed it the most Robert Altman-esque horror film I ever saw when I finished it. So I think it's very worth watching.

My thing with Hooper is that, with the possible exception of Romero, I feel as if he is the only Golden Age American horror auteur who approaches directing like a poet.


Indeed. Your score is too low. Even the often-tacky special effects work in a meta way Yeah, maybe it deserves a six because I'd watch this again in a second over Escape From New York. It's just EfNY is more artsy and refined, and I just need some artsy refinement.


'70s horror >>> '80s horror I don't think anyone's gonna argue with you there.

[megladon8]

Dead Ringers would be my #1 as well (Cronenberg's best) but I really have a hard time calling it a horror.

[Bosco B Thug]

John Kenneth Muir wrote a very persuasive blog essay on Prince of Darkness here (http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision .blogspot.com/2009/07/cult-movie-review-john-carpenters.html) that makes me want to think it was better. The section entitled "Let’s Talk About Our Beliefs, and What We Can Learn From Them…" is the particularly good part.

I love his attempt to imbue meaning in the light character work, character details, and character interaction presented early in the film. He makes the film sound like The Birds, especially in reading into the odd blandness of the two romantic leads. I still think it's all too weak, though.

[megladon8]

Prince of Darkness >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Birds

[Bosco B Thug]

Prince of Darkness >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Birds
Oh, low blow. :sad: Not cool!

[The Mike]

Prince of Darkness >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Birds
So true. And I love Hitchcock more than my penis.

[Bosco B Thug]

Two dozen greater-than signs? "So" true? Thanks people, thanks for caring about my health. ;)

Random opinion regarding Prince of Darkness: Yay to Donald Pleasance's groveling priest character, Nay to Dennis Dun's comic relief character.

[D_Davis]

TCM2 > TCM

[Qrazy]

Two dozen greater-than signs? "So" true? Thanks people, thanks for caring about my health. ;)

Random opinion regarding Prince of Darkness: Yay to Donald Pleasance's groveling priest character, Nay to Dennis Dun's comic relief character.

As someone who cares about your health. The Birds > Prince of Darkness.

The Birds - B-
Prince of Darkness - C

[megladon8]

The Birds is by far the worst Hitchcock movie I've seen.

It's one of the few instances where the poor effects killed the experience for me.

[Raiders]

The Birds is by far the worst Hitchcock movie I've seen.

It's one of the few instances where the poor effects killed the experience for me.

Aren't you a big fan of Godzilla? What's the difference that makes the effects of Hitchcock's film that much more crippling? Not to mention I don't really think the effects are that bad in the least and there's not that many where it would seem such a problem.

[Winston*]

Hey Raiders do you still have your review of Martin from your top 100? I want to read it. Interesting film.

[Raiders]

Hey Raiders do you still have your review of Martin from your top 100? I want to read it. Interesting film.

No, but I do have this from the thread meg started challenging our opinions:

http://www.match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=133807&postcount=2

[megladon8]

Aren't you a big fan of Godzilla? What's the difference that makes the effects of Hitchcock's film that much more crippling? Not to mention I don't really think the effects are that bad in the least and there's not that many where it would seem such a problem.


Are you asking me about the original film, Gojira, or the series as a whole?

The original film had great effects. I'm a big fan of stop-motion, Ray Harryhausen type stuff, and I still think it looks great.

However, the series grew self-aware quickly, and also became an action/sci-fi franchise over being a horror franchise. The guys in rubber suits weren't meant to evoke fear, they were supposed to be exciting and fun when you had a giant robot Godzilla fighting the giant lizard Godzilla. It was spectacle entertainment.

With The Birds, the titular creatures are meant to frighten us. But I just couldn't reach that when I was constantly distracted by the stiff, stilted, and quite frankly ugly effects work. Composite images, black hunks of feather flapping up and down from suspension wires - while some of this may have been technically marvelous at the time, I find it too distracting when the purpose of the film is to scare me.

It could be forgiven if I didn't also find the script lackluster for a Hitchcock production. When you have a horror film whose scares rely solely on the villainous creature(s), if the effects are poor, it really kills it.

[The Mike]

Aren't you a big fan of Godzilla? What's the difference that makes the effects of Hitchcock's film that much more crippling? Not to mention I don't really think the effects are that bad in the least and there's not that many where it would seem such a problem.
I would say that Godzilla's effects are being unrealistic while portraying an unrealistic event, while The Birds' effects are unrealistic while portraying an event that's supposed to be realistic. It's easier to forgive a giant monster than a flock of crows.

BTW, back on topic: I'm a fan of The Birds. Just love my Prince of Darkness too much.

[Raiders]

I think the mere concept of killer birds and the unpredictability of it is really what is supposed to be the terror in Hitchcock's film, not that the birds themselves are meant to be frightening. The scene in the attic is terrifying for the way Hitchcock edits, cuts and essentially rapes Hedren's body with the camera. The mastery of his filmmaking perseveres through limitations in my opinion.

For Gojira (yes I only meant the first film), the effects are pretty primitive even for 1954 and the monster himself is meant to be frightening and he looks rather silly. I love the film, probably almost as much as Hitch's film, because of the way it links itself to the world at the time period, to the nuclear disasters and the ugly evil and monsters they essentially inhabit. But, I don't think we can honestly call its creature effects "great" (and I don't really see the Harryhausen comparison--in fact, that level of stop motion would have been brilliant for the creature).

[Dukefrukem]

Gremlins as #1? And The Evil Dead was released in 1981, if I remember right. Its great, but Evil Dead II is better. Haven't seen Fright Night, Monster Squad or Dead and Buried yet. The Shinning demands a rewatch.

My list:

1. The Thing (John Carpenter)
2. Re-Animator (Stuart Gordon)
3. Evil Dead II (Sam Rami)
4. An American Werewolf in London (John Landis)
5. Day of the Dead (George A. Romero)
6. The Evil Dead (Sam Rami)
7. Gremlins (Joe Dante)
8. The Return of the Living Dead (Dan O'Bannon)
9. Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper)
10. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)

HM: Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter), Altered States (Ken Russell), The Howling (Joe Dante), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (Joseph Zito)

I like your list.

[Bosco B Thug]

As someone who cares about your health. The Birds > Prince of Darkness.

The Birds - B-
Prince of Darkness - C You're a B- friend.

TCM 2 disclaimer: TCM 2 is one of Hooper's more consistent and endearing films, but even his sloppy and embarrassing films - Eaten Alive, Spontaneous Combustion, and Night Terrors - probably have more of interest in them formally.

[Rowland]

I like Prince of Darkness (upper 50s for me, subject to change since I haven't seen it in over half a decade), but superior to The Birds, one of the most elegantly mounted, artfully portentous thrillers of all-time? Ain't happening.

And preferring TCM 2 to the original defies all reason or sense.

[Rowland]

My thing with Hooper is that, with the possible exception of Romero, I feel as if he is the only Golden Age American horror auteur who approaches directing like a poet.

TCM 2 disclaimer: TCM 2 is one of Hooper's more consistent and endearing films, but even his sloppy and embarrassing films - Eaten Alive, Spontaneous Combustion, and Night Terrors - probably have more of interest in them formally.I was going to say, I didn't see much in TCM 2 that struck me as all that poetic. Granted, his work was hardly that of a hack either, the camerawork being particularly notable during the second half when his employment of gliding tracking shots ably makes great use of his sprawling sets, one of that segment of the film's few details of genuine interest.

[Dukefrukem]

This reminds me of Die You Zombie Bastards!


http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s36/Dukefrukem/Movie%20Posters/TheGraves.jpg

Remember this I posted a while back?

Well it's part of the 8 Films to Die For, Afterdark Horror Fest 4 (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16799).

Yay!

[Grouchy]

Horror in the '80s:

1. Dead Ringers
2. The Shining
3. Videodrome
4. Evil Dead 2
5. The Thing
6. Hellraiser
7. The Fly
8. The Evil Dead
9. Re-Animator
10. Tetsuo

Honorable Mentions:

11. They Live
12. Possession
13. Predator
14. Pumpkinhead
15. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
16. Brain Damage
17. The Company of Wolves
18. Dressed to Kill
19. From Beyond
20. Night of the Creeps

21. Prince of Darkness
22. Q: The Winged Serpent
23. Angel Heart
24. Day of the Dead

[MadMan]

'70s horror >>> '80s horrorWell duh :P


Prince of Darkness >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The BirdsPrince of Darkness (88), The Birds (85). Both are good movies.


I like your list.Thanks man. I still have much more to see from the 80s in terms of horror, however.

[The Mike]

Remember this I posted a while back?

Well it's part of the 8 Films to Die For, Afterdark Horror Fest 4 (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/16799).

Yay!
I feel like they could have fit a few more cliches in that poster. :lol:

[megladon8]

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage was a little disappointing. Not that it's bad by any means, but I feel I did myself a bit of an injustice by waiting so long to see it, and having seen so many other Argentos and giallos of the time before seeing it. What was probably quite original and shocking in this film at the time felt kind of old-hat after having seen Deep Red, Suspiria, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, and others.

[Rowland]

The Bird With the Crystal PlumageThat's a shame. I know the film has a mediocre reputation around here, but I remain firm in my stance that it's arguably Argento's most all-around competent picture, and thus hugely enjoyable as a sterling example of genre fare executed with flair, humor, fleetness, and intelligence. That said, it's certainly nowhere near as ambitious or awe-inspiring as his more outre later works, but as his most straight effort, it's seminal.

[megladon8]

That's a shame. I know the film has a mediocre reputation around here, but I remain firm in my stance that it's arguably Argento's most all-around competent picture, and thus hugely enjoyable as a sterling example of genre fare executed with flair, humor, fleetness, and intelligence. That said, it's certainly nowhere near as ambitious or awe-inspiring as his more outre later works, but as his most straight effort, it's seminal.


What did you find so exemplary about it? And sorry I forget - what were/are your thoughts on Four Flies on Grey Velvet?

I particularly found the scene in Bird... where the murderer is trying to break into the apartment to get the girlfriend (happens in the last 20 minutes) to be terrible. Not just the logic (Argento certainly isn't a man known for making logical movies about intelligent characters) but the filming and direction of the scene. It was ugly and had very little of the visual style apparent in the rest of the film, to the point where it feels like it doesn't even belong.

It's strange, because despite this being his first film, it somehow feels like a greatest hits montage of his other films. Ideas, dialogue and entire scenes were cleaned up and given more sophistication, grace and even flare in his later efforts.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Couldn't get to sleep Saturday, so I popped in Cthulhu, intending to watch maybe twenty minutes, and I went through the whole thing again.

Not *quite* as good as the first time, due to a couple of awkward edits and Cottle's occasional overreliance on method (using a cat as a prop, busying himself with a sandwich in one scene), but still one hell of an atmospheric, involving story.

[Rowland]

What did you find so exemplary about it? And sorry I forget - what were/are your thoughts on Four Flies on Grey Velvet?
Well, for starters, it plays the least like unintentional camp, in that I imagine it working better for a modern audience than almost any other Argento film. The acting is very solid, the violence is still there but more tastefully wrought, the plotting and thematic material is easier to follow and more coherent in their particulars, the attempts at humor are funnier than usual, it's fleeter than many of his later epics and thus has less downtime, and its score is magnificently atmospheric, its pop-jazz experimentation arguably suiting Argento's vision over some of Goblin's later, disco-inspired scoring, let alone that crappy metal Argento sadly favored for a short period. Granted, there is less here that wows, and it certainly plays like a blueprint for Argento's later experimentation (and the giallo explosion to follow), but as his most conventional film, I feel it also works best in the most conventional sense, which isn't anything to sneeze at.

As for the scene to which you're referring, it has been too long since I've seen the picture to take part in an analytical dialogue over the particulars of how any individual scene is executed.

Four Flies is a lot of fun, and a great deal more audacious in its formal dexterity and indulgence in humor, but it's also messier and far less convincing as a straight murder mystery, arguably on purpose of course as the jam session that opens the picture suggests.

[lovejuice]

I particularly found the scene in Bird... where the murderer is trying to break into the apartment to get the girlfriend (happens in the last 20 minutes) to be terrible.
hmmm....i happen to think it's very tense.

and you are right that it plays out like the best of argento's from his later work.

[Spun Lepton]

TCM2 is to TCM what Evil Dead 2 is to The Evil Dead. When watched as a crazy, over-the-top horror-comedy, it takes on a different light.

[The Mike]

TCM2 is to TCM what Evil Dead 2 is to The Evil Dead. When watched as a crazy, over-the-top horror-comedy, it takes on a different light.

Agreed, as long as we agree that both originals are better than both sequels. If not, disagreed.

[Rowland]

When watched as a crazy, over-the-top horror-comedy, it takes on a different light.I knew ahead of time to expect as much, and found it terribly lacking even in those terms. *shrug*

[Rowland]

Agreed, as long as we agree that both originals are better than both sequels. If not, disagreed.Indeed, even though I watched Evil Dead 2 first (by happenstance no less) and was immediately blown away, I've considered The Evil Dead the more arresting and viscerally satisfying of the two since my first viewing. Hell, it remains my favorite Raimi picture.

[Grouchy]

Agreed, as long as we agree that both originals are better than both sequels. If not, disagreed.
I agree with TCM, not with Evil Dead.

http://mlleomphale.files.wordpress.co m/2008/12/wolfen3.jpg

I don't know which one of you guys was singing the praises for this little werewolf movie called Wolfen a while back. I'm not 100% enthusiastic on it, but it was very entertaining and thematically interesting. The director is the one who shot the Woodstock documentary and this is the only other thing he ever did. Albert Finney stars as one of those tough but smart cops partnered with Gregory Hynes and a psychologist chick. The movie cuts between the gruesome "wolfen" (and not werewolf, for reasons that would be telling) murders and the police procedural. For the first half things remain fairly uneventful as the investigation goes on and Finney's superiors try to tie pin the murders on a communist/terrorism group that they want to bring down. The second half is where all the goodies are, when the Indian lore side of the story kicks in (Edward James Olmos does some incredible naked dancing) and we finally see the monsters. The movie even anticipates Predator in using thermal vision from the point of view of the stalkers! Not all of this is good - the gore is a little funny-looking and, like I hinted, the movie could easily lose some weight in the first hour and be swifter and more to the point. But it's an unusual take on werewolves and it would make a cool double feature with another solid movie that came out the same year - The Howling.

[Rowland]

I'll post this here too:

My first viewing of Argento's Tenebre in several years reveals what I once considered a mid-upper tier effort as one of his very best. His use of color here, while obviously (and purposefully) not as ravishing as efforts like Suspiria and Inferno, is nevertheless ingenious and astonishingly controlled in its washed out shades of blue, brown, and blinding whites spiked with sudden bursts of deep red. Everything clicks here, from the knotty (and amusingly cheeky) self-reflexivity to the performances and even Goblin's score, which I once found overly campy, now sounds entirely suited to Argento's vision, making for an all-around remarkable picture.

Perhaps a revisit of Opera, my first in almost half a decade, is in order.

[Spun Lepton]

Agreed, as long as we agree that both originals are better than both sequels. If not, disagreed.

The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 are two of my favorite movies. I would rank one higher than the other depending on my mood at the time. :)

[Spun Lepton]

Den of Geek's article Modern Horror: a call for core values

I agree with pretty much everything the article has to say. Although, his claim that only modern horror is misogynistic is wrong -- there has been a streak of misogyny running through horror since around the end of the 1960s, beginning of the 1970s.

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/287383/modern_horror_a_call_for_core_ values.html

[The Mike]

The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 are two of my favorite movies. I would rank one higher than the other depending on my mood at the time. :)

Yeah, I should add that there are multiple times I can remember where I was defending each part of the trilogy as the best of the three, so I hear ya there.

In fact, I don't know why Army of Darkness isn't in this conversation. Because it also rules.

Also, Grouchy really made me want to finally watch my copy of Wolfen. If Watchmen hadn't already claimed tonight....

[Dukefrukem]

Anyone think Resident Evil: Extinction is the best of the three?

[megladon8]

Anyone think Resident Evil: Extinction is the best of the three?


I've only seen the first two.

I found Apocalypse to be utterly retarded, but also incredible fun. In terms of sheer entertainment, I think I liked it more than the first.

[Scar]

Anyone think Resident Evil: Extinction is the best of the three?

If thats the third one, then thats the one I actually shut off. There was a horrifically shot shoot out in the desert that had me frothing at the mouth.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Anyone think Resident Evil: Extinction is the best of the three?

There are a few striking images I liked. The swarm of crows, and the shots of the solitary desert outpost completely surrounded. Mulcahy has more of an eye than Anderson.

But even then, they're just so aggressively dumb. I can't support that. Especially when Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4, the games, are so much more involving, atmospheric, and intense than any of the RE movies.

[Scar]

Oh yeah, [REC] was pretty good. Pity I had watched Quarantine first.

[Rowland]

Anyone think Resident Evil: Extinction is the best of the three?It's the most competently made, no doubt in part because of Mulcahy's veteran directorial hand, but it's also missing some of the gonzo cheesy-cool charm that defined the first two's best moments. Still, while I gave it a slightly negative score, its pulpy pastiche of The Road Warrior, Day of the Dead, and The Birds is more diverting than most Hollywood action/genre fare. I also liked how it was the first entry in the series to conclude with a Tyrant fight similar to those that conclude the games.

[Rowland]

Especially when Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4, the games, are so much more involving, atmospheric, and intense than any of the RE movies.Only those two? REmake is my favorite entry in the series, that game is atmospheric as fuck.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Only those two? REmake is my favorite entry in the series, that game is atmospheric as fuck.

Forgot that one. Should have included.

[Rowland]

FFC's Walter Chaw has written a rather positive review for The Ruins (http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/ruins.htm). Maybe I was too hard on it...

[Raiders]

Perhaps a revisit of Opera, my first in almost half a decade, is in order.

Indeed it is. It's my favorite of all his films.

[Rowland]

Indeed it is. It's my favorite of all his films.Yeah, I believe it's Sven's too, and I gave it four stars back in the day, so I hope it holds up for me.

[megladon8]

Indeed it is. It's my favorite of all his films.


Really? That's interesting. I think you're the first I've ever seen who stated that was their favorite Argento.

I think it's wonderful. Not my favorite, but brilliant nonetheless.

[Dead & Messed Up]

FFC's Walter Chaw has written a rather positive review for The Ruins (http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/ruins.htm). Maybe I was too hard on it...

It's an awfully lovely film, and kudos to Smith for managing to make the ludicrous antagonist plausible and occasionally quite unnerving.

It learning their voices and duplicating them was the stuff of nightmares.

[Rowland]

I just discovered that the new scary child movie Orphan was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who was responsible for the underestimated House of Wax remake. Maybe I'll give it a chance after all.

[megladon8]

I just discovered that the new scary child movie Orphan was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who was responsible for the underestimated House of Wax remake. Maybe I'll give it a chance after all.


Adoption advocates and agencies are urging people to boycott the movie. (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090717/entertainment/us_orphan_controversy)

[Dead & Messed Up]

Adoption advocates and agencies are urging people to boycott the movie. (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090717/entertainment/us_orphan_controversy)

I've been waiting for this since I heard the title. Awesome.

[Scar]

Did they boycott The Omen or its remake?

[Dead & Messed Up]

Technically, it's reverse discrimination. Can't orphans be just as capable of evil as any other kid? Really, this movie is imperative for the equality of all evil kids.

[Dukefrukem]

If thats the third one, then thats the one I actually shut off. There was a horrifically shot shoot out in the desert that had me frothing at the mouth.

The tanker overturning?


I've only seen the first two.

I found Apocalypse to be utterly retarded, but also incredible fun. In terms of sheer entertainment, I think I liked it more than the first.

Yeh Apocalypse was pretty bad. Worst of the three.


It's the most competently made, no doubt in part because of Mulcahy's veteran directorial hand, but it's also missing some of the gonzo cheesy-cool charm that defined the first two's best moments. Still, while I gave it a slightly negative score, its pulpy pastiche of The Road Warrior, Day of the Dead, and The Birds is more diverting than most Hollywood action/genre fare. I also liked how it was the first entry in the series to conclude with a Tyrant fight similar to those that conclude the games.

This is how I feel. It attempts to rid itself of the silliness and try to make something of the first two. It probably does a lot better than we give it credit .

[Dukefrukem]

Adoption advocates and agencies are urging people to boycott the movie. (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090717/entertainment/us_orphan_controversy)

Almost every Dark Castle film has been a remake. Funny.

[Scar]

While watching RE3, I was trying, trying to give it a chance. Then this scene happened, and I said FUCK IT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj_zwtqM0OY

[Rowland]

While watching RE3, I was trying, trying to give it a chance. Then this scene happened, and I said FUCK IT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj_zwtqM0OYLOL, I remember that scene being the worst in the movie. Awful action direction/editing, and every running zombie looked exactly the same.

[Dukefrukem]

While watching RE3, I was trying, trying to give it a chance. Then this scene happened, and I said FUCK IT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj_zwtqM0OY

Hahaha. Yeh that's a pretty bad scene. But it's no worse than Mr. X vs Alice in RE2.

[Scar]

Hahaha. Yeh that's a pretty bad scene. But it's no worse than Mr. X vs Alice in RE2.

'Cept I was laughing while watching RE2, and I was cringing during RE3.

[Spun Lepton]

While watching RE3, I was trying, trying to give it a chance. Then this scene happened, and I said FUCK IT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj_zwtqM0OY

Heh, is it because they had plenty of opportunity to mow down these zombies, but because they weren't aiming for the head, the zombies got the upper hand?

[Scar]

Heh, is it because they had plenty of opportunity to mow down these zombies, but because they weren't aiming for the head, the zombies got the upper hand?

Editing, editing, editing, TACTICS, editing.

It just felt and looked like utter shi-ite.

[Spun Lepton]

Editing, editing, editing, TACTICS, editing.

It just felt and looked like utter shi-ite.

I'll need to watch it again when I can pay more attention to the editing.

[Scar]

I'll need to watch it again when I can pay more attention to the editing.

The movie had put me in a foul mood, and the shoot out was the icing on the cake. I'm sure there's more than just the editing that was 'wrong' with it, but it felt horrifically put together.

Maybe then it is the editing. Fuck, I'm tired. :lol:

[Rowland]

I've decided to be impulsive tonight and rewatch The Cat o' Nine Tails for (again) the first time in a solid half decade, when it was perhaps the biggest disappointment I've had with Argento. Ed Gonzalez and Raiders both like it a great deal, so I'm hoping to warm up to it now.

[Bosco B Thug]

FFC's Walter Chaw has written a rather positive review for The Ruins (http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/ruins.htm). Maybe I was too hard on it... Cool. Although that was more a confusing and odd Chaw read than an on-the-nose, insightful one (not wanting to be critical, though, I love Chaw's insistence on subtext in films he likes, and when he does get it, he gets it), but he's right that it's the film's restraint that is its most surprising asset.

[Rowland]

Cool. Although that was more a confusing and odd Chaw read than an on-the-nose, insightful one (not wanting to be critical, though, I love Chaw's insistence on subtext in films he likes, and when he does get it, he gets it), but he's right that it's the film's restraint that is its most surprising asset.Yeah, he can sometimes go overboard, but I agree that he gets at the heart of what works best about the picture, being its sober approach to potentially campy material.

I really dig how serious Chaw takes genre work and how willing he is to go against the grain. The last published collection of FFC reviews featured writing specific to the anthology, including positive reviews for The Abandoned, Silent Hill, and TCM: The Beginning, which were really refreshing reads after I enjoyed all three but found their critical reception largely dismissive.

[MadMan]

Something about this post is very funny.Late last Halloween I was trying to watch The Shining for the second time, late at night. I fell asleep during the movie, and woke up to the part where Nicholson enters 237, and encounters the woman who turns into a freaky ass old hag. Needless to say, my sleep was seriously disturbed soon afterwards. Oh and watching Poltergeist and TCM '74 before hand didn't help matters, either.

Oh and I think that Evil Dead II is better. But you can't go wrong with any of the movies in the Evil Dead series. They are all awesome.

TCM: The Beginning had its moments, and R. Lee Ermey is hilarious in a performance that is over the top, and pretty brutal. But it fails to understand what made the original such a frightening, nightmarish experience, and doesn't deliver anything really scary. Gross, sure, but even that wasn't really done particularly well, either. More medicore than anything else, though.

[Ezee E]

All the Resident Evil movies are awful. RE3 showed potential, but was ruined because by the direction as already mentioned. RE2 just had no chance to begin with.

I considered watching the animated movie. Anyone see this? Duke?

[Dukefrukem]

FFC's Walter Chaw has written a rather positive review for The Ruins (http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/ruins.htm). Maybe I was too hard on it...

The ruins was actually quite a surprising movie. It was well crafted and included some very intense and graphic scenes. There was very little I didn't like about it. I may need to watch it again to up my rating.

[Dukefrukem]

All the Resident Evil movies are awful. RE3 showed potential, but was ruined because by the direction as already mentioned. RE2 just had no chance to begin with.

I considered watching the animated movie. Anyone see this? Duke?

Yes. I gave it a grade in the 50s. It's got some cools scenes but the script written very close to how the video games play. Not like the live action movies at all. An Example of trademark silliness would be:

Resident Evil 5: At one point early in the game, Chris finds the key to a certain room and just as he's about to use it, a boss materializes behind him. Instead of using the key, opening and door and locking the boss on the other side and moving on....Chris runs down a branching corridor to fight the boss.

Same idea in the movie. Bosses and enemies randomly appear and people look like they're stuck to the floor instead of turning around and running. There's even a bullet time sequence.

But now the positives, it's better than Mirrors, Final Destination 3, Dead Snow, Shutter (2008), S. Darko, Cursed and AvP: Requiem.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I considered watching the animated movie. Anyone see this? Duke?

It's awful. Terrible dialogue. Unscary situations. Garbage. Worse than the live-action movies.

[lovejuice]

not the movie but the twist in the orphan seems to get quite a good review. anyone plan on seeing this? i don't mind being spoil by the twist.

[BuffaloWilder]

Late last Halloween I was trying to watch The Shining for the second time, late at night. I fell asleep during the movie, and woke up to the part where Nicholson enters 237, and encounters the woman who turns into a freaky ass old hag. Needless to say, my sleep was seriously disturbed soon afterwards. Oh and watching Poltergeist and TCM '74 before hand didn't help matters, either.


I woke up during the scene where Danny is riding over the floor on his big-wheel. I don't know what it was, but that repetitive 'thump-thump' sound got into my dreams.

[megladon8]

I'm looking forward to Richard Kelly's The Box - an adaptation of Richard Matheson's story "Button, Button".

[Spun Lepton]

I'm looking forward to Richard Kelly's The Box - an adaptation of Richard Matheson's story "Button, Button".

WHAAAAT?!

Kelly? Adapting Matheson?!

Kelly?? Somebody who believes that every single blink, burp, and fart that he has needs to be crammed into his stories somehwere, adapting Matheson, a master at simple, straight-forward prose? Can you say "car wreck"? I hope Matheson got paid well, at least.

[Rowland]

Argento's The Cat o' Nine Tails is a great deal better than I gave it credit for after my first viewing. I suspect that ill-suited expectations had something to do with it, as well as confusion over the convolutions of the narrative, which I was able to follow this time around. Great lead performances led by Karl Malden, whose character Arno, or "Cookie", may be one of Argento's most engagingly written protagonists; a slew of clever red herrings designed to distract in such a manner as to enhance the picture's subtext; an unsettlingly discordant Morricone score; a surprising (and most welcome) strain of humor that I'm discovering is more of a recurring virtue in Argento's work than I previously gave it credit; and typically stylish camerawork used to often-subtle effect to heighten several diabolically tense scenarios. The pacing is off, as some of the tangential plot threads are lingered over slightly longer than necessary, the climax of the picture sacrifices some of its impact with a marginally disappointing reveal, and Argento's idea of a sex scene (as well as the ostensible scenes of mutual attraction that surround it) are rather devoid of heat. Still, this is very good stuff for the most part.

[Pop Trash]

WHAAAAT?!

Kelly? Adapting Matheson?!

Kelly?? Somebody who believes that every single blink, burp, and fart that he has needs to be crammed into his stories somehwere, adapting Matheson, a master at simple, straight-forward prose? Can you say "car wreck"? I hope Matheson got paid well, at least.

Boooooo! Richard Kelly is the future of cinema. The Box will blow yr narrow little mind!

[Spun Lepton]

Boooooo! Richard Kelly is the future of cinema.

Perhaps in Bizarro World.

[Dead & Messed Up]

WHAAAAT?!

Kelly? Adapting Matheson?!

Kelly?? Somebody who believes that every single blink, burp, and fart that he has needs to be crammed into his stories somehwere, adapting Matheson, a master at simple, straight-forward prose? Can you say "car wreck"? I hope Matheson got paid well, at least.

I think it'll be interesting to see if Kelly can rein himself in. He's always been good at atmosphere/tone.

[Spun Lepton]

I think it'll be interesting to see if Kelly can rein himself in. He's always been good at atmosphere/tone.

Yes, all right. He gets points for style. I still have yet to see the Donnie Darko director's cut, but I'm wary. Aside from the creepy rabbit mask, I didn't get the appeal of Darko. Too convoluted.

I'm also a fan of giving directors I don't like three chances. I'll probably end up seeing The Box, if only because it's a Matheson story.

[Spun Lepton]

Wow, I'm looking through some of the other posts I made yesterday and realize I was a rampaging dickhead. I was in a foul mood and now I'm pretty angry that I let it leak out on to the message boards. I mean, I *try* to be confrontational here, just to keep things interesting, but I was just being an all-around prick yesterday.

(*shame*)

[Ezee E]

Wow, I'm looking through some of the other posts I made yesterday and realize I was a rampaging dickhead. I was in a foul mood and now I'm pretty angry that I let it leak out on to the message boards. I mean, I *try* to be confrontational here, just to keep things interesting, but I was just being an all-around prick yesterday.

(*shame*)
Look out your window and enjoy that view.

[Spun Lepton]

Look out your window and enjoy that view.

(*sees a drab parking lot*)
(*is depressed*)

:D

[Cult]

I watched Black Christmas. It was okay, but suffers from being quite dated and silly at times. I was mostly meh on it.

[Raiders]

Wow, I'm looking through some of the other posts I made yesterday and realize I was a rampaging dickhead.

Hm. I noticed no difference.

:twisted:

[Boner M]

I watched Black Christmas. It was okay, but suffers from being quite dated and silly at times. I was mostly meh on it.
I actually loved all the scenes of witty banter between Kidder and co. and didn't much like all the slasher hijinks. I can't think of any other horror film I've felt that way about before, so it has that going for it.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Black Christmas is among my two favourites horrors, and among my favourite films. Sooo unsettling.

[Spun Lepton]

The ending of Black Christmas is a real masterstroke. I think that's what elevated it beyond a regular slasher flick for me.

[Rowland]

I found Black Christmas, which is essentially a Canadian giallo, remarkably tense, with a surplus of creepy imagery, a welcome absence of cheap Boo! moments, and a graceful attention to the interpersonal dynamics of its characters, displaying a far greater degree of compassion for its characters than the typical slasher.

[megladon8]

Have any of you ever cranked the volume during the creepy phone calls in Black Christmas?

It's some pretty sick shit.

[Cult]

Black Christmas is among my two favourites horrors, and among my favourite films. Sooo unsettling.
I actually watched it because you had it so high on your list. :P I agree with Boner--I liked the dynamics of the characters and the performances, but I didn't find it scary in the least. The ending is neat, however.

[Bosco B Thug]

Oh yeah, the Tenebre love. Most of his films (including Tenebre) need re-watches, but I think it's my favorite Argento...

I don't like Suspiria as much as I used to, Deep Red's very long, Four Flies in Grey Velvet is technically impressive but wasn't too interesting, I hardly remember much about the other two 'Animal Trilogy' films, Phenomena and Inferno are silly, and I really need to see Opera again.

Typing that out, I'm impressed by his filmography and his ability to go from contempo-slasher films to wild baroque fantasy/supernatural horror films.

[megladon8]

Cameron Diaz publicly spoiled the ending of The Box.

Good job, Cameron.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Have any of you ever cranked the volume during the creepy phone calls in Black Christmas?

It's some pretty sick shit.

I did when the whole family was watching. That's a "d'oh" moment, let me tell you.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I think Black Christmas is still the scariest film I've ever seen. The phone calls are a masterwork, some of the best voice work ever.

I have to also agree on the ending.

What I really love is how the whole film builds up the police's useless/carelessness, especially in relating to sex crimes, or crimes against women. Even the other female characters espouse fairly misoginistic/dismissive ideas about female sexuality, placing blame on the girls as the most obvious answer to all strange events. It's part of why "killing the virgin" first, works so well thematically for the rest of the film. On one hand, she isn't heralded as the hero, but since her purity is continually questioned or ignored, it sets up the malcommuncation between the sorority girls and the police. IT's only when bodies start popping up that the police become involved, and they effectively use Hussey's character as bait. Move forward a bit to when the boyfriend has been killed and Hussey is in bed, there is a brief sense of relief. A man is supposed to watch her, but he's called outside, then everyone else leaves the house and there is the reveal that the killer is still in the house. The movie ends there. It's sooo goood.

[Philosophe_rouge]

As far as more recent horror goes, I saw the British film The Children (2008), last night. It was a decent take on the evil kids syndrome, playing on fears of infanticide, disease and abandonment quite well. I think the film's greatest strength are the visuals, has some beautiful match-cuts (a favourite of mine was a close-up of a multiplying virus, cut to a snow-globe... the film is set during Christmas). The story is pretty average, two families come together to celebrate Christmas in the country. One of the children is sick and starts behaving strangely, then slowly the other children seem to catch whatever he has. Then the violence starts as the children start lashing out against their parents, and an older teenage girl. The film has some pretty creative/disgusting kills, and it's play on our instinctive inability to harm/bear to see a child harm, motivates the parent's inability to handle or reason with the situation. It's handled surprisingly well when it could have easily inspired in the audience the belief that the characters were simply stupid, you understand their motive and mixed emotions. The acting all around is very strong, and it raises interesting issues about family structure and authority. It's definetely worth checking out, though it's not too high priority I don't think... still interesting/fun.

[Bosco B Thug]

What I really love is how the whole film builds up the police's useless/carelessness, especially in relating to sex crimes, or crimes against women. Even the other female characters espouse fairly misoginistic/dismissive ideas about female sexuality, placing blame on the girls as the most obvious answer to all strange events. It's part of why "killing the virgin" first, works so well thematically for the rest of the film. On one hand, she isn't heralded as the hero, but since her purity is continually questioned or ignored, it sets up the malcommuncation between the sorority girls and the police. IT's only when bodies start popping up that the police become involved, and they effectively use Hussey's character as bait. Move forward a bit to when the boyfriend has been killed and Hussey is in bed, there is a brief sense of relief. A man is supposed to watch her, but he's called outside, then everyone else leaves the house and there is the reveal that the killer is still in the house. The movie ends there. It's sooo goood. Very cool. Hussey's controlling boyfriend fits in well with this subtext, also.
Looking forward to watching this one again.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Very cool. Hussey's controlling boyfriend fits in well with this subtext, also.
Very true, and I didn't even think to mention it.

[Rowland]

I hardly remember much about the other two 'Animal Trilogy' films
The Cat o' Nine Tails has what may be one of the single most provocative throwaway moments in an Argento film. Early on, a character is killed by being pushed in front of a train as it's stopping at the station. Men swarm around the body to take photos, only to be revealed as paparazzi who are immediately distracted by a young starlet exiting the train one car down. As they document her cheerful vanity, one reporter is overheard muttering under his breath, "That's right. Smile. Smile. A man is dead." What a fascinating capper to an otherwise straightforward (albeit impeccably executed) murder sequence, as autocritical as it is outwardly admonishing. I'm beginning to discover that accusations of poor writing on Argento's part are perhaps misguided, at least in relation to his best work.

[Rowland]

Yeah, Black Christmas has rather prominent feminist subtext, and by no means in the cheap, hypocritical "virginal final girl" way that so many cruddy '80s slashers ground into a pulp.

[Bosco B Thug]

The Cat o' Nine Tails has what may be one of the single most provocative throwaway moments in an Argento film. Early on, a character is killed by being pushed in front of a train as it's stopping at the station. Men swarm around the body to take photos, only to be revealed as paparazzi who are immediately distracted by a young starlet exiting the train one car down. As they document her cheerful vanity, one reporter is overheard muttering under his breath, "That's right. Smile. Smile. A man is dead." What a fascinating capper to an otherwise straightforward (albeit impeccably executed) murder sequence, as autocritical as it is outwardly admonishing. I'm beginning to discover that accusations of poor writing on Argento's part are perhaps misguided, at least in relation to his best work. I think I agree with your last sentiment, in regards to how easy it is to value Argento for his style only, when in terms of writing, he is - comparatively - some league ahead of the lump group he's put in with of dour Italian horror stylists, like Fulci and typical giallo writers and stylists. He's definitely game to throw in random humor and personality into his films. That 'Cat' moment seems a bit too throwaway.

[Chac Mool]

Argento's The Cat o' Nine Tails is a great deal better than I gave it credit for after my first viewing...

Thumbs up.


As far as more recent horror goes, I saw the British film The Children (2008), last night. It was a decent take on the evil kids syndrome, playing on fears of infanticide, disease and abandonment quite well. I think the film's greatest strength are the visuals, has some beautiful match-cuts (a favourite of mine was a close-up of a multiplying virus, cut to a snow-globe... the film is set during Christmas). The story is pretty average, two families come together to celebrate Christmas in the country. One of the children is sick and starts behaving strangely, then slowly the other children seem to catch whatever he has. Then the violence starts as the children start lashing out against their parents, and an older teenage girl. The film has some pretty creative/disgusting kills, and it's play on our instinctive inability to harm/bear to see a child harm, motivates the parent's inability to handle or reason with the situation. It's handled surprisingly well when it could have easily inspired in the audience the belief that the characters were simply stupid, you understand their motive and mixed emotions. The acting all around is very strong, and it raises interesting issues about family structure and authority. It's definetely worth checking out, though it's not too high priority I don't think... still interesting/fun.

I saw this yesterday as well (Fantasia?), and it might be the best movie I've seen this year (save Sion Sono's "Love Exposure", which is not really a "movie" anyway...)

I found it phenomenally intense, and not just because of the obvious scares or bursts of violence. The film maintains a constant sense of dread through shots held just a little too long for comfort, and through little events which indicate that things might just be a little off.

It's also bracingly smart, and remarkably subtle in both approach and execution. The characters are human, their qualities and flaws sharply drawn, and their actions consistently believable. Not a single choice feels written in for dramatic effect, and the various character arcs evolve without being overly emphasized. Suggestion rather than outright exposition is also representative of the themes and direction -- both plot points and the larger implications of the events that occur are present but left ambiguous, to be dissected and argued.

I may not be as savvy a horror afficionado as some other members here, but I know both good horror and good movies when I see them, and The Children is not just good, but pretty close to perfect.

[Rowland]

Hmm. I still like Re-Animator, but it continues to strike me as a "good" effort by Gordon, hardly the peak of his career that so many have canonized it as. It's a better film than Fortress (even if that picture may be more entertaining as high-concept B-movie camp), but otherwise, I prefer Stuck, King of the Ants, Dagon, and possibly even his Masters of Horror short The Black Cat, which is certainly a more artfully directed and disturbing effort.

[megladon8]

Hmm. I still like Re-Animator, but it continues to strike me as a "good" effort by Gordon, hardly the peak of his career that so many have canonized it as. It's a better film than Fortress (even if that picture may be more entertaining as high-concept B-movie camp), but otherwise, I prefer Stuck, King of the Ants, Dagon, and possibly even his Masters of Horror short The Black Cat, which is certainly a more artfully directed and disturbing effort.


I totally agree. I've always liked Re-Animator, but I rank several of his films above it, including its follow-up From Beyond - also a very loose Lovecraft adaptation, but I consider it better in every regard.

I also really like Dagon a lot.

I purchased Stuck the other day, and hope to see it soon.

From what I've seen of Gordon, I'd rank/rate his films like so...


1.) From Beyond - 8.5
2.) Re-Animator - 7.5
3.) Dagon - 7
4.) Castle Freak - 6
5.) Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch-House - 5.5
6.) Fortress - 4

[Philosophe_rouge]

I saw this yesterday as well (Fantasia?), and it might be the best movie I've seen this year (save Sion Sono's "Love Exposure", which is not really a "movie" anyway...)

I found it phenomenally intense, and not just because of the obvious scares or bursts of violence. The film maintains a constant sense of dread through shots held just a little too long for comfort, and through little events which indicate that things might just be a little off.

It's also bracingly smart, and remarkably subtle in both approach and execution. The characters are human, their qualities and flaws sharply drawn, and their actions consistently believable. Not a single choice feels written in for dramatic effect, and the various character arcs evolve without being overly emphasized. Suggestion rather than outright exposition is also representative of the themes and direction -- both plot points and the larger implications of the events that occur are present but left ambiguous, to be dissected and argued.

I may not be as savvy a horror afficionado as some other members here, but I know both good horror and good movies when I see them, and The Children is not just good, but pretty close to perfect.
Fantasia all right, and so far, Love Exposuyre is hte only film better than it I've seen at Fantasia. You summarized much better then I have why it's so good. I'll probably get around to writing a full review for it in the next few days, it's certainly smart, and definetely a "good" horror film.

[Rowland]

I totally agree. I've always liked Re-Animator, but I rank several of his films above it, including its follow-up From Beyond - also a very loose Lovecraft adaptation, but I consider it better in every regard.

I also really like Dagon a lot.

I purchased Stuck the other day, and hope to see it soon.

From what I've seen of Gordon, I'd rank/rate his films like so...


1.) From Beyond - 8.5
2.) Re-Animator - 7.5
3.) Dagon - 7
4.) Castle Freak - 6
5.) Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch-House - 5.5
6.) Fortress - 4You consider it your second favorite of his, so that's still not too bad. I need to check out From Beyond, while you need to catch up with more of his recent work. ;) I loved Stuck in particular, it remains one of my favorites from last year.

[megladon8]

You consider it your second favorite of his, so that's still not too bad. I need to check out From Beyond, while you need to catch up with more of his recent work. ;)


Absolutely. I really want to see King of the Ants, and (to a lesser extent) Edmond.

I'm not a big Mamet fan.

[Rowland]

(save Sion Sono's "Love Exposure", which is not really a "movie" anyway...)I'm glad to here this. I've been a supporter of the guy since his underrated Suicide Circle began to gain notoriety, after which Strange Circus blew me away and Exte: Hair Extensions discovered a worthwhile approach to worn J-Horror tropes. I still need to see Noriko's Dinner Table.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Love Exposure is one of the most unique and exciting films I've ever seen, I loved it to pieces. I recommend it right, left and center. Even if someone ends up hating it, it's worth the experience.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Hmm. I still like Re-Animator, but it continues to strike me as a "good" effort by Gordon, hardly the peak of his career that so many have canonized it as. It's a better film than Fortress (even if that picture may be more entertaining as high-concept B-movie camp), but otherwise, I prefer Stuck, King of the Ants, Dagon, and possibly even his Masters of Horror short The Black Cat, which is certainly a more artfully directed and disturbing effort.

I dunno. I watched it again recently, and I'd still give it high praise. I love how it's horror with a hint of comedy, and how Gordon's theatrical background results in strong, extended takes with actors who do a much better job than this kind of story requires. You get the feeling Gordon actually gives a damn about this story. Every time I watch it, I'm surprised by how engrossed I am.

Also love the credits, soundtrack, and zombie makeup. It's doing some remarkably proficient work on its meager budget.

That said, you're right on with the love for Stuck and The Black Cat. Right now Combs is doing a theatrical show in LA where he plays Poe, as written by Paoli and directed by Gordon. I have to go see it before its run ends.


I totally agree. I've always liked Re-Animator, but I rank several of his films above it, including its follow-up From Beyond - also a very loose Lovecraft adaptation, but I consider it better in every regard.

I also really like Dagon a lot.

I always think to myself that Dagon isn't that good a movie, but then I keep thinking of all the images I liked and the atmosphere of the whole picture. There's something about it...

01. Re-Animator
02. The Black Cat
03. Stuck
04. Dreams in the Witch-House
05. Edmond
06. Dagon
07. From Beyond

[MacGuffin]

I'm glad to here this. I've been a supporter of the guy since his underrated Suicide Circle began to gain notoriety, after which Strange Circus blew me away and Exte: Hair Extensions discovered a worthwhile approach to worn J-Horror tropes. I still need to see Noriko's Dinner Table.

That doesn't sound like a positive criticism to me... But yeah, this looks interesting.

[Chac Mool]

Love Exposure is one of the most unique and exciting films I've ever seen, I loved it to pieces. I recommend it right, left and center. Even if someone ends up hating it, it's worth the experience.

It was very positive criticism. Love Exposure isn't a movie in that at 237 minutes of length, it's more like 2-3 movies -- but it's really an experience, very crazy, funny, joyful, occasionally shocking, often disturbing, and ultimately moving and memorable in a way few films are.

[Grouchy]

Damn, I missed Love Exposure when it showed at the film fest here. Really wanted to catch it.

I've also seen everything Sion Sono has done except for Noriko's Dinner Table. My favorite by far is Strange Circus.

[Derek]

I highly recommend Noriko's Dinner Table. It's a great film and even after outright disliking Suicide Club, that one's more than enough for me to dig deeper into Sono's filmography. I know, I need to see Strange Circus.

[megladon8]

Why the hate for From Beyond, DaMU?

[MacGuffin]

I Walked with a Zombie shows that Jacques Tourneur is capable of composing impressive imagery on a frame-by-frame basis, but unlike like Mario Bava or even Dario Argento, he is unable to use the montage of these frames to create any sort of atmosphere. To make matters a little worse, the dialogue in the movie is stale to the most irritating extent: the point in which the entire first thirty minutes barring the boat scene — which is the best not only the best night sequence in the movie (followed by the scene where she first meets the zombie; I'm a sucker for scenes with boats beneath the starry night sky), but the best sequence in the movie in general except for the hilarious part with the man walking towards them singing a song with his guitar — is almost entirely dialogue based, so everything feels, outside of some decent lighting and sets, extremely pedestrian. I do have to give credit where credit is due and praise the mild, but nonetheless evident tension towards the end of the movie, where we can hear the drums off in the distance, but this is too little (even when there is tension, it is tampered by the cutting back to the voodoo ritual, sacrificing any mysteriousness gained by the soundtrack) too late (it doesn't appear until the last three minutes). Not necessarily a bad movie overall when you weigh the pros and cons, but certainly a mediocre one.

[Rowland]

Another repeat viewing tonight, this time of Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, which I found myself enjoying a great deal more now than I did some 6-7 years ago. Really cool stuff, and probably the best along with Escape from LA of Carpenter's post-Big Trouble in Little China work. I love the thoughtful-pretentious attempt at fusing religious and scientific horrors into one, married to another Assault on Precinct 13 redux, with plenty of coolly composed atmospherics to lend it credibility.

And I Walked with a Zombie is among the most literate and atmospheric horror pictures of all time, so of course it's a masterpiece.

[MacGuffin]

And I Walked with a Zombie is among the most literate and atmospheric horror pictures of all time, so of course it's a masterpiece.

It's hardly atmospheric like The Mask of Satan or Suspiria. He may make potentially atmospheric images, but they don't go together to create any unease.

[Rowland]

It's hardly atmospheric like The Mask of Satan or Suspiria. He may make potentially atmospheric images, but they don't go together to create any unease.The Mask of Satan... oh, you mean Black Sunday. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that one. I Walked with a Zombie is a much more interesting, resonant picture. Maybe not as unnerving in the conventional horror sense, but it's really more of an ambiguous gothic romance with evocative horror trappings. Comparing it to those pictures, particularly Suspira, isn't really appropriate. In its way, Tourneur's picture is more graceful with its visual and sound design than either of those movies.

[MacGuffin]

The Mask of Satan... oh, you mean Black Sunday. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that one. I Walked with a Zombie is a much more interesting, resonant picture. Maybe not as unnerving in the conventional horror sense, but it's really more of an ambiguous gothic romance with evocative horror trappings. Comparing it to those pictures, particularly Suspira, isn't really appropriate.

Why not? All of them attempt to use atmosphere to generate their "horror", but only two of them succeed.

[Rowland]

Why not? All of them attempt to use atmosphere to generate their "horror", but only two of them succeed.I've always found Black Sunday a rather mediocre entry in the Bava canon, while Suspiria has never really horrified me so much as inspired awe, so I'm already on a different page than you. Of the three, I Walked with a Zombie is easily the most graceful and subtle in its intimations of "horror," fusing its lush visuals with a carefully calibrated soundscape to evoke an aura of dread befitting the horrors of intolerant legacies and emotional turmoils.

[MacGuffin]

I've always found Black Sunday a rather mediocre entry in the Bava canon, while Suspiria has never really horrified me so much as inspired awe, so I'm already on a different page than you. Of the three, I Walked with a Zombie is easily the most graceful and subtle in its intimations of "horror," fusing its lush visuals with a carefully calibrated soundscape to evoke an aura of dread befitting the horrors of intolerant legacies and emotional turmoils.

Yeah, but that's just the thing. For me, it didn't evoke an aura of dread and I blame it on the awful dialogue, which constantly took me out of whatever Tourneur was trying to build. It may work with Black Sunday (I'm only saying this not because I think that it has bad dialogue, but because I think other do), but that's only because that movie is consistently atmospheric thanks to the awesomely designed sets and the truly epic soundtrack: the sounds of the cooing wind are what was missing here, or maybe the ocean off in the distance would have created a much deeper, inner dread, especially subconsciously, going off the things Paul said on the boat about the water.

[Grouchy]

http://unextrano.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/asia-argento-4.jpg

Well, Mother of Tears isn't exactly a GOOD movie - but it's a helluva lot of fun. I know Argento has never been famous for his script writing skills, but if there's something that sinks this picture is the need to halt the action every other minute for an exposition scene from some vintage actor in a chair. It's the last of the three mothers - very powerful, very evil witch. I get it. Say no more. Aside from that, some awesome kills and pretty much the goriest gore you could hope for, including a drill through the jaws. There's an overabundance of jump scares that doesn't gel well with the Argento atmosphere - including one with a corpse that's so gratuitous it achieves its own brand of brilliance. The bottom line is that even if this movie could use more coherence and restraint, Argento is still an original voice in the world of Horror and anything he does rises above the level of supposedly more "competent" studio fare, remakes, movies with evil orphans and the like. I'd rather watch something as free-spirited and loosely put together as this, flaws and all than any of the Saw and 3D slashers Hollywood has in store for me. By the way, if you guys get the chance (I didn't) watch it in Italian, because the English dub really doesn't help the performances.

[MacGuffin]

Would it be redundant to watch The Body Snatcher taking the above comments into consideration? The two are a double feature on the disc, so I figure I might as well.

[Ezee E]

Somehow, Grouchy easily captured my attention.

[Bosco B Thug]

I Walked with a Zombie Not necessarily a bad movie overall when you weigh the pros and cons, but certainly a mediocre one. Hrmmm... so you think this, eh?


Another repeat viewing tonight, this time of Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, which I found myself enjoying a great deal more now than I did some 6-7 years ago. Really cool stuff, and probably the best along with Escape from LA of Carpenter's post-Big Trouble in Little China work. I love the thoughtful-pretentious attempt at fusing religious and scientific horrors into one, married to another Assault on Precinct 13 redux, with plenty of coolly composed atmospherics to lend it credibility. I'm bumping Prince of Darkness up to a 6, because They Live is getting a 6, and I can't give the much more routine They Live a 6 without giving Prince of Darkness at least a 6.

I'm aware of your mehness on They Live.


Well, Mother of Tears isn't exactly a GOOD movie - but it's a helluva lot of fun. Mmmmmewwww. That's the sound of me glimpsing the Argento picture and then realizing it's attached to a review of The Mother of Tears.


Would it be redundant to watch The Body Snatcher taking the above comments into consideration? The two are a double feature on the disc, so I figure I might as well. You might enjoy this one as a well-told, well-written piece of engaging classical storytelling - unlike IWWaZ (in your opinion), but I can't imagine you being much more impressed with it technically and formally if IWWaZ didn't do it for you. Maybe a little, because it's more focused on being sharply made instead of giving in to any unconvincing poetic whims like IWWaZ.

Man, gotta sleep. Hopefully more thoughts on They Live and I Walked With a Zombie later.

[Rowland]

I'm aware of your mehness on They Live.Its placement within Carpenter's body of work is interesting, as it's clearly the most blatant evisceration of Capitalism he has made. Big Trouble in Little China ('86) and Prince of Darkness ('87) both appear to be two his most personal movies, and both bombed at the box office, forcing him to make They Live ('88) with almost no budget, after which he took a four year "vacation" and returned with Memoirs. Within that context, it's certainly a telling sign of Carpenter's mindset. Indeed, Prince of Darkness, for all its flaws, feels like the last really vigorously directed movie the man made.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I love the Val Lewton films, The Body Snatcher being a favourite. Karloff being in it gives it an edge over I Walked with a Zombie, at least in the acting department, so I doubt you'd be quite as annoyed with the dialogue. Zombie is a gothic romance though, it's based on Jane Eyre afterall! I think it's great though it's on the lower end of my favourite Lewton films.

[megladon8]

I love the Val Lewton films, The Body Snatcher being a favourite. Karloff being in it gives it an edge over I Walked with a Zombie, at least in the acting department, so I doubt you'd be quite as annoyed with the dialogue. Zombie is a gothic romance though, it's based on Jane Eyre afterall! I think it's great though it's on the lower end of my favourite Lewton films.


I heart Philosophe Rouge.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Why the hate for From Beyond, DaMU?

This is going to sound like a juvenile criticism, but I kept getting distracted by how cheap everything looked. The third-eye effects looked cheap, people's "visions" looked cheap (wasn't that just infrared vision or something?), the basement monster looked cheap. Additionally, I thought the movie's pace was awfully slow. Combs and Crampton put in good work, and I cannot hate a film that contains Ken Foree, but From Beyond, as a whole, feels rushed and borderline amateurish.

[Rowland]

This is going to sound like a juvenile criticism, but I kept getting distracted by how cheap everything looked... feels rushed and borderline amateurish.I sorta feel this way about Re-Animator, which I think may be one of the main reasons the film doesn't work as well for me as I'd like.

[The Mike]

Discussion here inspired me to finally pull out my copy of Gordon's Castle Freak. And I just don't know what to think about that movie. Except "uck".

On the one hand, I thought the setting, tone, music, and characters were all set up for something interesting....so when it drained off into a festival of depravity, I was pretty disappointed.

Granted, I should know what to expect from Gordon by now, so the fault's definitely on me. Oh well.

[Pop Trash]

[Rec] was a mild disappointment after hearing all the praise for it. It wasn't bad, but I think after seeing the superior Cloverfield and (I'll probably get crap for this but whatever) the slightly better Diary of the Dead, it seemed too little, too late in the subjective, first person perspective horror canon (and yes I realized it was technically released a few months before those two, but I didn't see it until today).

It managed to keep my attention and there wasn't anything that wrong with it per say, but I kept waiting for it to turn into the great movie people have been talking about and it never really happened. I also liked Cloverfield's more ambiguous explanation (ie not really having one) about what the Cloverfield monster was or where it came from. [Rec]'s ending where they go upstairs to the apartment where everything is explained about the disease in a convenient five minute way seemed pretty contrived to me. All in all, it wasn't bad but I'd really like to hear why people loved this so much.

[Dead & Messed Up]

[Rec] was a mild disappointment after hearing all the praise for it. It wasn't bad, but I think after seeing the superior Cloverfield and (I'll probably get crap for this but whatever) the slightly better Diary of the Dead, it seemed a little too little, too late in the subjective, first person perspective horror canon (and yes I realized it was technically released a few months before those two, but I didn't see it until today).

It managed to keep my attention and there wasn't anything that wrong with it per say, but I kept waiting for it to turn into the great movie people have been talking about and it never really happened. I also liked Cloverfield's more ambiguous explanation (ie not really having one) about what the Cloverfield monster was or where it came from. [Rec]'s ending where they go upstairs to the apartment where everything is explained about the disease in a convenient five minute way seemed pretty contrived to me. All in all, it wasn't bad but I'd really like to hear why people loved this so much.

Well, I'll bite.

I think it's the equal of (and possibly better than) Cloverfield in its precise rendering of suspense from its premise. The claustrophobic location has a very logical geography and sense of space to it, and as different sections are progressively closed off, the film becomes more despairing and frightening. Cloverfield manages sequences of suspense through the size and shock of its beast, but there are considerable patches where the threat is minimal. This makes for a more mannered, less immediately visceral experience.

I find it the superior of Diary in its refusal to be didactic. It is what it is, unapologetically, and that simple form serves it well. While Diary offered a few reasonable sequences, I felt it was too constantly "on message" about its media criticism to function as a horror film. To say nothing of the voice-over narration and relative boredom inherent in its antagonists (slow zombies ain't doing much for me these days).

The ending is convenient, yes, but it's set up at the beginning of the film, and I accurately predicted that information would be key to the events of the picture. So when it's explained in the final reel, I found it plausible. And with the addition of that terrifying iteration of the virus...wow. However, I will concede that the information available to them reminds me of Witwer's comment in Minority Report about an "orgy of evidence."

As I said in my original review, there's not much to the picture, but it's so viscerally intense and satisfying that I figure, screw subtexts and grand ambitions. This thing is fucking scary, and that's great too.

[Bosco B Thug]

It's hardly atmospheric like The Mask of Satan or Suspiria. He may make potentially atmospheric images, but they don't go together to create any unease. I have to agree with Rowland that that's an odd calibration, to put IWWaZ up to expectations set by Suspiria - would there even be a horror film quite up to Suspiria's standards back in the 1940s?

Well, I understand you weren't impressed by IWWaZ's traditional beats and occasional stiltedness (and even I'll admit the "mindblowing-for-film-theorists" wizardry and innovation of Suspiria or Black Sunday being traded in for IWWaZ's classicism is a negative one), I can't find it in me to fault it its old-fashionedness due to it's virtues as one of the most subtle and meaningful horror films we've got.

And that Calypso singer scene is the beeest.


Its placement within Carpenter's body of work is interesting, as it's clearly the most blatant evisceration of Capitalism he has made. Big Trouble in Little China ('86) and Prince of Darkness ('87) both appear to be two his most personal movies, and both bombed at the box office, forcing him to make They Live ('88) with almost no budget, after which he took a four year "vacation" and returned with Memoirs. Within that context, it's certainly a telling sign of Carpenter's mindset. Indeed, Prince of Darkness, for all its flaws, feels like the last really vigorously directed movie the man made. Makes sense. I've been very impressed with Carpenter recently, even if his films don't quite elate me emotionally. He's such a political filmmaker, and his films are consistently grand in that sense. They Live feels a bit lackadaisical as opposed to forceful, perhaps due to it all being too blatant (all that pretty imagery of poor America at the beginning should have lent themselves to continuous emotional stimulation, but the effect for me struck me as diffuse and actually a little dull), but it nevertheless was the stately, smart, well-executed film I've come to expect from Carpenter. But I'm starting to feel as if Prince of Darkness is his most artistically ambitious film, though. Agree/disagree?

What are your thoughts briefly on Big Trouble in Little China, on it being particular personal a project of his? I like the film well enough, but I haven't caught on to any claims of its meaningfulness.

[MacGuffin]

I have to agree with Rowland that that's an odd calibration, to put IWWaZ up to expectations set by Suspiria - would there even be a horror film quite up to Suspiria's standards back in the 1940s?

Nosferatu may come close — it may not be in color, but I think there are plenty brooding compositions in there to create a strong atmosphere throughout the movie (it's not Nosferatu who is scary, it's how he is filmed after all; that's why those two famous shots are as famous as they are). [Addendum: I realize I said that I Walked with a Zombie is well-filmed, but I don't think that the editing in the movie works to its advantage. Furthermore, I don't think the soundtrack is as good as it could have been.]

I know that stylistically, the two movies up for comparison are very different, both stylistically and technologically, but again, I am more concerned with atmosphere.


And that Calypso singer scene is the beeest.


Half-star for that alone. Great scene(s).

[Dukefrukem]

I watched the remake of the Reaping last night. Looked great on Blu-ray. The movie isn't terribly done on a technical level as I was expecting, and you're getting solid performances from the leads, but the story is the main problem. The 10 plagues are not as shocking as they should have been, and the ending conclusion was weak. This is def. a step up from previous Dark Castle productions. I found it funny that during the opening sequence they were boasting; from the creators of Gothika and 13 Ghosts!

[DrewG]

I just started posting again so I'm sorry for x-posting this from the "I Spit On Your Film Discussion Thread" but I figured it's a post that is more at home in this thread. My fault.

The Ruins

I think it went down a notch or two on the 2nd viewing considering the shock value of the sudden gore was not as profound, but I still found the entire experience to be rather unnerving and claustrophobic. A lot of the complaints leveled towards the movie were that it's not really that scary and doesn't have any kind of social metaphor or allegory apart from the "YOUNG AMERICANS! PLACE THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND! BAD SITUATION!" that is being bludgeoned to death in recent years. However, I think it does a lot of things that deserve appreciation in their execution. The aforementioned sudden gore isn't overkill but it isn't too little either; but apart from that the gore is creative...

The leg amputation still gave me the heebie jeebies and the vines coming out of the legs and skin still made for uncomfortable viewing.

Back to those complaints that the movie isn't scary...I never really found it nail biting in terms of terror but rather in terms of watching the group slowly deteriorate mentally and physically specifically with the help of the 4-5 young actors really pulling their weight with the material. I still found Stacy to be haunting and sympathetic as her anxiety gives way to insanity, eventually giving us what may be the best scene of the movie as Jeff is forced into a unenviable decision as the plants howl and scream. Now THAT was still scary to me.

Granted, some of the relationships may be underdeveloped and the whole Mattias angle only lends itself to really be a valuable emotional factor in 1 or 2 scenes but apart from this small gripe I think this was definitely an overlooked little movie. Really an incredibly simple concept with an interesting, almost singular setting (I love "one-room" kind of movies) that has good acting, good gore, an atypical "villain" and some really unnerving scenes.

Also; forget the theatrical ending. Gimmie the Unrated version (which also includes the inexplicable hand job scene...someone wanna help me out there?).

[Dukefrukem]

I agree with your spoiler, and I agree with the scare tactics. After the initial viewing, most of the shock value is lost... but the vibe and environment is what intrigues me. The acting isn't too bad also which you would probably expect.

I actually have not scene the unrated version yet. I have it on DVD and I'm waiting to take care of some other movies in the mean time.

[megladon8]

Duke, The Reaping isn't a remake.

[Dukefrukem]

Duke, The Reaping isn't a remake.

I thought it was. Well then.

[Grouchy]

[Rec] was a mild disappointment... after seeing the superior Cloverfield
This sentence made my head hurt. In my mind, everything that Cloverfield failed miserably at [REC] achieved with excellence. Being actually scary, developing character and emotion, mantaining the documentary look, and a million other etc.

[Pop Trash]

This sentence made my head hurt. In my mind, everything that Cloverfield failed miserably at [REC] achieved with excellence. Being actually scary, developing character and emotion, mantaining the documentary look, and a million other etc.

Srsly?? How is [Rec] any better at this?

[Grouchy]

Srsly?? How is [Rec] any better at this?
Well, the characters in Cloverfield are idiots who make nonsensical choices just to keep the plot moving and who fit the stereotypes of Horor movies to a "T" - there's the lead, the comic relief, the damsel in distress, etc. The attempt to create some "natural" backstory with the overlong party scene failed because the whole premise of them rescuing the girl is so flawed and ridiculous.

In [REC] I feel the dudes not only have more charisma, are genuinely funny (like the gay dude in the building), but are real characters instead of TV ad models with assigned roles. Also, their job as a TV crew and firemen adds the whole reasoning behind them wanting to follow the action (at first) instead of just running for their lives as every normal human would.

[Spun Lepton]

I showed Slither to a friend this weekend. Damn shame that movie didn't do better at the box office.

[D_Davis]

I showed Slither to a friend this weekend. Damn shame that movie didn't do better at the box office.

You got that right.

Such a blast.

[Pop Trash]

Well, the characters in Cloverfield are idiots who make nonsensical choices just to keep the plot moving and who fit the stereotypes of Horor movies to a "T" - there's the lead, the comic relief, the damsel in distress, etc. The attempt to create some "natural" backstory with the overlong party scene failed because the whole premise of them rescuing the girl is so flawed and ridiculous.

In [REC] I feel the dudes not only have more charisma, are genuinely funny (like the gay dude in the building), but are real characters instead of TV ad models with assigned roles. Also, their job as a TV crew and firemen adds the whole reasoning behind them wanting to follow the action (at first) instead of just running for their lives as every normal human would.

It sounds like you just liked the characters in [Rec] better. I thought the Cloverfield peeps were sufficiently douchey as yuppie Manhattanites. So either movie didn't seem better or worse for "character development" IMO.

[Grouchy]

It sounds like you just liked the characters in [Rec] better. I thought the Cloverfield peeps were sufficiently douchey as yuppie Manhattanites. So either movie didn't seem better or worse for "character development" IMO.
Maybe you're right and the characters in [REC] just seem more familiar and believable because I don't live in yuppie Manhattan. I don't live in Madrid either but I'm a lot closer to that world.

Still, I maintain the whole logic behind going after that girl (and an army soldier allowing them to do it) is very flawed.

[Dukefrukem]

I showed Slither to a friend this weekend. Damn shame that movie didn't do better at the box office.

+ rep

[Bosco B Thug]

Also; forget the theatrical ending. Gimmie the Unrated version (which also includes the inexplicable hand job scene...someone wanna help me out there?). Oh damn, there's an Unrated version! I should've watched that. I was waiting for that bit, but it didn't happen. It's in the novel.

What happens in the alternate ending?

[Spun Lepton]

"Praise *Jesus*? That's fucking pushing it! This shit's about as far from God as shit can get! Either of you ever seen anything like that? You even heard of anything like that? Huh? Me neither... and I watch Animal Planet all the fucking time!"

*thanks to IMDB for helping me word that correctly* :)

[jenniferofthejungle]

I highly recommend Noriko's Dinner Table. It's a great film and even after outright disliking Suicide Club, that one's more than enough for me to dig deeper into Sono's filmography. I know, I need to see Strange Circus.

I'm third on the library wait list for this movie.
-------------
Spun, his delivery on that line was what made it. Gregg Henry is awesome. I have loved him in every movie of his I've seen, save for Mamba, which was garbage.

[Bosco B Thug]

The Sentinel is occasionally beguiling - Chris Sarandon's two-sided, ultimately prosecutable lover, the moment where Cristina Raines insists a book is inscribed in Latin when it's not - but this is quite the woefully misguided film, that only deals with its rather implicative religious tale like a cheesy horror movie would. Less outrageous, more bland than I expected, but my expectations were probably too "high" - it's still pretty odd.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The Sentinel is occasionally beguiling - Chris Sarandon's two-sided, ultimately prosecutable lover, the moment where Cristina Raines insists a book is inscribed in Latin when it's not - but this is quite the woefully misguided film, that only deals with its rather implicative religious tale like a cheesy horror movie would. Less outrageous, more bland than I expected, but my expectations were probably too "high" - it's still pretty odd.

Its wonkiness is its sole asset, but I liked it more than you did, mostly for the huge cornball factor, thanks mostly to the ridiculous assemblage of has-beens and not-quite-yets. Jeff Goldblum and Ava Gardner? Yes. More.

[Rowland]

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Fuest, 1972) 64

Obvious reference points for Saw and Seven here, with outrageous art-deco-cum-'70s art/costume design picking up much of the slack from often flat, if hardly incompetent, direction. Given its reputation as a comedy-pitched horror film, I was pleasantly surprised by how seriously it often took itself, with a tragic ending that borders on touching. That said, it's most successful as grand guignol, as we anticipate what diabolical murder method related to the Nine Plagues of Egypt Dr. Phibes will dream up next. An air of predictability does begin to saturate the proceedings around the mid-point, but this is made up for by the magnificently baroque climax. My favorite touch? Almost no typical horror scoring is used here, the soundtrack instead comprised of classical pieces that imbue the picture's off-kilter tone with a touch of class.

[Grouchy]

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Fuest, 1972) 64

Obvious reference points for Saw and Seven here, with outrageous art-deco-cum-'70s art/costume design picking up much of the slack from often flat, if hardly incompetent, direction. Given its reputation as a comedy-pitched horror film, I was pleasantly surprised by how seriously it often took itself, with a tragic ending that borders on touching. That said, it's most successful as grand guignol, as we anticipate what diabolical murder method related to the Nine Plagues of Egypt Dr. Phibes will dream up next. An air of predictability does begin to saturate the proceedings around the mid-point, but this is made up for by the magnificently baroque climax. My favorite touch? Almost no typical horror scoring is used here, the soundtrack instead comprised of classical pieces that imbue the picture's off-kilter tone with a touch of class.
64 is way too low. Scratch that, anything short of 100 is too low. This is one of my favorite movies, and for me, the highlight of Vincent Price's career.

[MadMan]

64 is way too low. Scratch that, anything short of 100 is too low. This is one of my favorite movies, and for me, the highlight of Vincent Price's career.It gets a 90 from me, and is currently in my Top 20 Horror movies of all time, although when I revamp the list it may fall off. Still Top 30, at least.

Oh and I bought Eyes Without a Face on Criterion this week. Can't wait to watch it again, as its a prime example of how the genre can be elevated to a pure art form.

[Bosco B Thug]

Polanski's The Tenant is not as visually eloquent and crisply dynamic (in expressing visual ideas) as Rosemary's Baby, but it's much more expansive thematically with much to intimate about the selfsameness of experience, the experience here being alienation due to the pressures and hypocrisy of apartment-dwelling life. It reminds me a bit of Inland Empire, both being about psychotic emanations of shared emotional existences under specific circumstances (Inland Empire: acting, The Tenant: apartment living, both: Polishness).

The film plays it a bit broad sometimes, too, which accounts for my slightly-less-than-Rosemary's-Baby score.

[megladon8]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - read Roland Topor's "The Tenant" (the novel upon which Polanski's film is based).

It's one weird, weird book.

[Bosco B Thug]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - read Roland Topor's "The Tenant" (the novel upon which Polanski's film is based).

It's one weird, weird book.
Yeah, I'd definitely like to give it a try sometime. Especially if I can find it in a library.

Polanski so far:

1. Chinatown
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. The Tenant
4. Repulsion

[Dead & Messed Up]

Yeah, I'd definitely like to give it a try sometime. Especially if I can find it in a library.

Polanski so far:

1. Chinatown
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. The Tenant
4. Repulsion

The Tenant's coming up on my queue. I'm looking forward to it.

1. Rosemary's Baby
2. Chinatown
3. The Pianist
4. A Knife in the Water
5. Repulsion

[Russ]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - read Roland Topor's "The Tenant" (the novel upon which Polanski's film is based).

It's one weird, weird book.
Cool.

I didn't realize Topor wrote The Tenant. Impressive, given that he...

...adapted Laloux's La planète sauvage.

...cofounded the Panic Movement, along with Alejandro Jodorowski and Fernando Arrabal.

...played the role of Renfield in Werner Herzog's Nosferatu.

...had a cameo in Makavejev's Sweet Movie.


To only name a few accomplishments. He was quite a talent.

[Rowland]

1. Repulsion
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. The Pianist

It has been too long for Chinatown. I think I'll revisit that one soon.

[megladon8]

1.) Repulsion
2.) The Pianist
3.) Chinatown
4.) Frantic
5.) Rosemary's Baby
6.) The Ninth Gate

[Spun Lepton]

Believe it or not, I have not seen many of Polanski's movies. Chinatown seems to have a permanent place in my Netflix queue. It's managed to get to my house, but then it just sat around for weeks until I sent it back. I haven't seen Rosemary's Baby, either, but I had the ending for it spoiled for me a few years back, so I'm no longer in a rush.

I didn't much like The Tenant when I saw it, but that was almost 20 years ago, and I was trying to get into a girl's pants at the time. (No, I didn't. Shut up.) I did see The Fearless Vampire Killers and I did enjoy it, but I wasn't blown away. I also saw The Ninth Gate when it was in theaters -- not too impressed by that one.

[megladon8]

It's funny, I tend to have a reverse reaction to Polanski stuff when compared to popular opinion.

I was not too impressed with Rosemary's Baby at all.

Simiarly, while Chinatown is a good movie, I'm definitely not a supported of its legendary status.

I thought Repulsion was much better than either of these. As was The Pianist.

And while it is at the last place in my list, I actually kinda dug The Ninth Gate. I just haven't seen it in like 8 years, so I didn't feel comfortable rating it higher.

[MadMan]

1. Chinatown
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. The Fearless Vampire Killers

Haven't seen much from the man. The first two get 100s, the 3rd one a score in the 70s, but its also quite a fun, somewhat humorous movie.

[Scar]

Believe it or not, I have not seen many of Polanski's movies. Chinatown seems to have a permanent place in my Netflix queue. It's managed to get to my house, but then it just sat around for weeks until I sent it back. I haven't seen Rosemary's Baby, either, but I had the ending for it spoiled for me a few years back, so I'm no longer in a rush.

I didn't much like The Tenant when I saw it, but that was almost 20 years ago, and I was trying to get into a girl's pants at the time. (No, I didn't. Shut up.) I did see The Fearless Vampire Killers and I did enjoy it, but I wasn't blown away. I also saw The Ninth Gate when it was in theaters -- not too impressed by that one.

I may still have a copy of Chinatown. If so, you can long-term borrow it. Same with Rosemary's.

I do need to see Repulsion, though.

[Dukefrukem]

I haven't seen Chinatown either. :-\

[Pop Trash]

Polanski for me:

1. Repulsion
2. Chinatown
3. The Tenant
4. Rosemary's Baby
5. The Pianist
6. Frantic
7. Knife in the Water
8. The Ninth Gate

[Bosco B Thug]

Hmm, maybe I should give Repulsion another try. Can't imagine how it could be better than Chinatown, but I could see myself realizing it's better than the other two Apartment films, considering the flaws that I've come to see in both of them. I feel Repulsion may have fewer opportunities for missteps.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Hmm, maybe I should give Repulsion another try. Can't imagine how it could be better than Chinatown, but I could see myself realizing it's better than the other two Apartment films, considering the flaws that I've come to see in both of them. I feel Repulsion may have fewer opportunities for missteps.

Repulsion felt too arbitrary to me, but I suppose it did capture a state of mind with some success.

[Bosco B Thug]

Repulsion felt too arbitrary to me, but I suppose it did capture a state of mind with some success.
Yeah, right now I'd throw at it the word "one-note," if I weren't afraid of being wrong.

[Raiders]

Polanski (we did this in the FDT like a month ago):

1. Repulsion
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. The Tenant
4. Knife in the Water
5. The Tragedy of Macbeth
6. Chinatown
7. The Pianist
8. Tess
9. Oliver Twist
10. Cul-de-sac
11. The Fearless Vampire Killers
12. Frantic
13. The Ninth Gate

All but the last two are at least pretty good.

[Bosco B Thug]

Polanski (we did this in the FDT like a month ago): Heh, that was when I saw Rosemary's Baby, right? Too bad Polanski doesn't have any more vintage horror-horror films or I could've made this a serial act.

I have a strange lack of an urge to see his other, non-horror films, which is strange since I think he's a fantastic director.

[Rowland]

Heh, that was when I saw Rosemary's Baby, right? Too bad Polanski doesn't have any more vintage horror-horror films or I could've made this a serial act.I forgot that I've seen his Macbeth, which is pretty close to horror. In fact, I can think of few films that left me feeling dirtier.

[Pop Trash]

Hmm, maybe I should give Repulsion another try. Can't imagine how it could be better than Chinatown, but I could see myself realizing it's better than the other two Apartment films, considering the flaws that I've come to see in both of them. I feel Repulsion may have fewer opportunities for missteps.

The "apartment" trilogy is pretty even for me. It's more a matter of one might be slightly better than the other which might be slightly better than another. They all have their own individual but similar themes. Repulsion=sexual anxiety and paranoia. Rosemary's Baby=maternal anxiety and paranoia. The Tenant=hmmm maybe anxiety and paranoia about others and the self as it relates to feeling isolated from the world. Not positive about that one.

[Grouchy]

Believe it or not, I have not seen many of Polanski's movies. Chinatown seems to have a permanent place in my Netflix queue. It's managed to get to my house, but then it just sat around for weeks until I sent it back. I haven't seen Rosemary's Baby, either, but I had the ending for it spoiled for me a few years back, so I'm no longer in a rush.
Even if you know the ending the movie is very much worth seeing for the craft and actors. I've rewatched the movie countless times and love it to death.

1. Chinatown
2. The Tenant
3. Rosemary's Baby
4. The Pianist
5. Repulsion
6. Bitter Moon
7. Cul-de-sac
8. The Fearless Vampire Killers
9. Tess
10. Death and the Maiden
11. Macbeth
12. The Ninth Gate
13. Oliver Twist

I'd very much like to see Knife in the Water and Frantic.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Even if you know the ending the movie is very much worth seeing for the craft and actors. I've rewatched the movie countless times and love it to death.

I'd argue that it doesn't even become a great film until the third or fourth viewing, when one has time to fully digest the awfulness not only of Rosemary's titular child, but the family that helps her along. The film's a tragedy more than anything, with sympathetic viewers being drug toward an inevitable conclusion.

[Scar]

I may still have a copy of Chinatown. If so, you can long-term borrow it. Same with Rosemary's.

I do need to see Repulsion, though.

I have Chinatown, but now I remember that I rented Rosemary.

Like Grouchy said, even if you know the ending, its still definately worth watching.

[Rowland]

I don't care what anyone says, Tremors is a masterpiece of B-movie filmmaking. Some of the most convincing effects in all of monster-flick history combined with an altogether appealing ensemble, consistently funny and smart writing, and sturdy direction by Underwood make for a deliriously entertaining ode to a past generation of horror movies. Speaking of which, whatever happened to Underwood, seriously? Pluto Nash?

And for the record, while it doesn't nearly equal its resplendent forebear, Tremors 2: Aftershocks is one of the best DTV sequels of all-time.

[jenniferofthejungle]

Agree on everything you said about Tremors and the first sequel, Rowland. I found the second sequel tolerable, but that's only because I love Ward.
---------------------

I was bored last night so I took advantage of some On Demand service and revisted Rogue, the killer crocodile movie by Greg Mclean.

I really like this movie. Yes, I find the very ending a bit farfetched, but it's really enjoyable. I really liked Sam Worthington.


I hate Rosemary's Baby.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I hate Rosemary's Baby.

:eek:

Mostly just to try out the new "eek" face.

[jenniferofthejungle]

:eek:

Mostly just to try out the new "eek" face.


I liked the book. :D

[Bosco B Thug]

I forgot that I've seen his Macbeth, which is pretty close to horror. In fact, I can think of few films that left me feeling dirtier. I'll be sure to check it out sometime.

[REC] wasn't bad. It was better than I expected. It successfully becomes more intense as it goes along, and the climax is excellent. The religious stuff that's brought in all of sudden at the end is a bit too obligatory of Catholixploitation, and it's ultimately rather simplistic oogie-boogie backstory, but it provides undeniable atmospherics and it offers a nice little tale of the rose-colored exploitation of facts offered by religion morphing into terrifying science, with the final menace being a specter of disconcerting biological, anatomical decay.

Less ambitious than Cloverfield but makes fewer missteps (and Cloverfield's are often gigantic). Diary of the Dead is still the best of these type of films....

[MadMan]

Cloverfield note only features better scares (the tunnel scene alone is one of the most frightening moments I've seen in any horror movie in some time), but is also a better movie than Diary of the Dead. Both are quite good, however, and I favor "Diary" as evidence that Romero can still make a successful, creepy, and intelligent horror film.

And I haven't seen REC or its remake, yet. Quite honestly my favorite of the "As seen through the eyes of a hand held camera" horror movies is quite possibly The Blair Witch Project. But that may be because it achieves its scares without monsters or zombies.

[Pop Trash]

Cloverfield note only features better scares (the tunnel scene alone is one of the most frightening moments I've seen in any horror movie in some time), but is also a better movie than Diary of the Dead. Both are quite good, however, and I favor "Diary" as evidence that Romero can still make a successful, creepy, and intelligent horror film.

And I haven't seen REC or its remake, yet. Quite honestly my favorite of the "As seen through the eyes of a hand held camera" horror movies is quite possibly The Blair Witch Project. But that may be because it achieves its scares without monsters or zombies.

Wow, the rare post that I agree with completely.

[megladon8]

I agree with MadMan as well.

The Blair Witch Project was bloody terrifying. I couldn't sleep for about a week - I think only 3 other movies have done that to me.

I also committed quite a mean prank on someone who was also terrified of the film.

[Dead & Messed Up]

It was only toward the end of Blair Witch that I felt anything approaching engagement. The characters were just too stupid. They invited their own doom more than anyone else in horror history. More than that chick who masturbated to pictures of dead kids in Toxic Avenger.

[MadMan]

It was only toward the end of Blair Witch that I felt anything approaching engagement. The characters were just too stupid. They invited their own doom more than anyone else in horror history. More than that chick who masturbated to pictures of dead kids in Toxic Avenger.Bah, you could say that about most horror movies :P

But yes I did find them somewhat annoying. However I feel they added to the movie's realism, and I didn't mind that they ended up a bit unlikable. Getting lost in the woods can really turn someone into a complete cranky asshole.


I agree with MadMan as well.

The Blair Witch Project was bloody terrifying. I couldn't sleep for about a week - I think only 3 other movies have done that to me.

I also committed quite a mean prank on someone who was also terrified of the film.While I didn't find the movie to be as scary as you or other did, it was certainly very creepy, and that ending is downright disturbing/frightening. Watching it on a cold, cloudy day in October didn't help matters much.


Wow, the rare post that I agree with completely.Success! :lol:

Thanks btw.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Bah, you could say that about most horror movies :P

That they have the most idiotic, doom-inviting characters ever? No, that's a complaint limited to this film.

Did they bring a compass? Did they follow the water, which would inevitably pour into a larger stream? Did they pack properly at all? Did someone throw away the map for no reason whatsoever? Have they ever camped before? I mean, Good God.


But yes I did find them somewhat annoying. However I feel they added to the movie's realism, and I didn't mind that they ended up a bit unlikable. Getting lost in the woods can really turn someone into a complete cranky asshole.

I made no comment on their likability, only on their idiocy, of which they had an overabundance. They were a collective cornucopia of dumb, a fountain of stupid.

[BuffaloWilder]

http://home.bellsouth.net/coDataImages/p/Groups/141/141946/folders/90328/603678clown1.jpg

Heeeeere's Clowny! Ha!

[Spun Lepton]

It was only toward the end of Blair Witch that I felt anything approaching engagement. The characters were just too stupid. They invited their own doom more than anyone else in horror history. More than that chick who masturbated to pictures of dead kids in Toxic Avenger.

I sat in the front row for this on opening weekend. I thought the experience was pretty terrifying, but, yes, the characters did some unbelievable things. Mike kicking the map into the river when he could've just lost it, well, bad decision on Mike's part. They improvised most everything. Heather was terrific. I was able to look past the fact that most people would've stopped filming long before any of them did, heh!

[Spun Lepton]

Did they follow the water, which would inevitably pour into a larger stream?

Yes, they did do this. It ended up bringing them back to their starting-point. :P

[Dead & Messed Up]

Yes, they did do this. It ended up bringing them back to their starting-point. :P

No, they give it a half-assed effort then leave the thing behind.

[jenniferofthejungle]

I would have set the woods on fire and damn it all to hell.

Blair scared the hell out of me, and was one of the few horror films I couldn't fall asleep to. I often throw on a horror film in order to ease myself into sleep, but the sounds were too crazy for me.

I'm completely helpless in the great outdoors (even ladybugs scare me when they fly towards me) so being lost in the woods is one of my big nightmares, add a crazy-witch-thing into the mix and I am done.


I tried watching a silly movie called Prey, but it was so poorly filmed and directed, not to mention stupid, that I had to shut the damned thing off.

I thought I'd give killer lions a chance, after loving a killer croc movie, but this was just lame.

[Grouchy]

http://z.about.com/d/horror/1/0/5/q/-/-/HomeMovie.jpg

I've just seen the worst attempt at a Horror movie I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing. And it belongs to this new "fly on the wall" trend you guys are discussing - Home Movie. Seriously, it's the most pathetic fucking thing I've ever seen. Directed by a guy who's a supporting actor in stuff like Charlie Wilson's War and Shutter Island... and that's where he should focus his career instead of deluding himself into making films. The thing goes that these two retarded parents film home movies of their twin sons (who are OBVIOUSLY creepy since they NEVER TALK) and gradually realize they're psycopaths when the kids KILL EVERY PET IN THE HOUSE from the fish to the cat nailed to a crucifix to the BEHEADED DOG. The father is some kind of Lutheran priest who is so ALCOHOLIC that he FILMS HIMSELF DRINKING for some reason. Seriously, the movie is the most stupid waste of time I've ever submitted myself to. That someone wrote this, someone else chose to produce it and a couple of actors decided to star on it is one of the most mistifying facts in recent history.

And if you guys think some of the stuff in Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield is implausible, these two monkeys film themselves escaping from their kids. The worst part is that you sit there, at least expecting that some carnage and torture is gonna happen on the protagonists. Instead, in the ending...

the parents are tied to the dinner table and the last shot has the kids approaching the table with knife and fork in hand.

It's not even played for laughs. This is one of the most inept movies of any genre ever made. I posted the cover so you guys can avoid it.

[Dukefrukem]

http://z.about.com/d/horror/1/0/5/q/-/-/HomeMovie.jpg

I've just seen the worst attempt at a Horror movie I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing. And it belongs to this new "fly on the wall" trend you guys are discussing - Home Movie. Seriously, it's the most pathetic fucking thing I've ever seen. Directed by a guy who's a supporting actor in stuff like Charlie Wilson's War and Shutter Island... and that's where he should focus his career instead of deluding himself into making films. The thing goes that these two retarded parents film home movies of their twin sons (who are OBVIOUSLY creepy since they NEVER TALK) and gradually realize they're psycopaths when the kids KILL EVERY PET IN THE HOUSE from the fish to the cat nailed to a crucifix to the BEHEADED DOG. The father is some kind of Lutheran priest who is so ALCOHOLIC that he FILMS HIMSELF DRINKING for some reason. Seriously, the movie is the most stupid waste of time I've ever submitted myself to. That someone wrote this, someone else chose to produce it and a couple of actors decided to star on it is one of the most mistifying facts in recent history.

And if you guys think some of the stuff in Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield is implausible, these two monkeys film themselves escaping from their kids. The worst part is that you sit there, at least expecting that some carnage and torture is gonna happen on the protagonists. Instead, in the ending...

the parents are tied to the dinner table and the last shot has the kids approaching the table with knife and fork in hand.

It's not even played for laughs. This is one of the most inept movies of any genre ever made. I posted the cover so you guys can avoid it.

This makes me really want to see it now.

[Spun Lepton]

No, they give it a half-assed effort then leave the thing behind.

Now I'm going to have to watch it again. :P

[Rowland]

The next stop in my slow-going Carpenter reassessment is going to be In the Mouth of Madness. My initial reaction to the film would have probably landed it in the 50-60 range with my current scale, finding it engaging but stilted, intriguing but underdeveloped, crisply made but formally generic. Here's to an improved second viewing.

[Bosco B Thug]

The next stop in my slow-going Carpenter reassessment is going to be In the Mouth of Madness. My initial reaction to the film would have probably landed it in the 50-60 range with my current scale, finding it engaging but stilted, intriguing but underdeveloped, crisply made but formally generic. Here's to an improved second viewing. Yeah, eh. It's probably my least favorite Carpenter that I've seen.

Lend Tobe Hooper's Night Terrors a moral vote of support at the TCM Movie Database as a film that deserves to be released on DVD (http://www.tcm.com:80/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=436513)! Come on, just for shits, giggles, and my satisfaction. Voter fraud! :D

[Spun Lepton]

The next stop in my slow-going Carpenter reassessment is going to be In the Mouth of Madness. My initial reaction to the film would have probably landed it in the 50-60 range with my current scale, finding it engaging but stilted, intriguing but underdeveloped, crisply made but formally generic. Here's to an improved second viewing.

I recently revisited it after several years away, and time was not good to it. Lots of great ideas and a pretty interesting progression of events, but some of the dialogue seemed stiff and many of the special effects weren't all that special, almost as if Carpenter had more ideas than he had money. Sam Neil is pretty damn good in it, though.

[Grouchy]

Huh, I really love In the Mouth of Madness. I see it as one of Carpenter's strongest '90s movies and an intelligent homage to Lovecraft and Horror fiction in general.

Plus, the lady walking backwards is awesome.

[Rowland]

almost as if Carpenter had more ideas than he had money.I'd say that has been true for many of his films.

[Spun Lepton]

Huh, I really love In the Mouth of Madness. I see it as one of Carpenter's strongest '90s movies and an intelligent homage to Lovecraft and Horror fiction in general.

Plus, the lady walking backwards is awesome.

There are many things to love in the flick, don't get me wrong. The image of Sutter Kane tearing himself open like a book to reveal a hole to another world ... that was made of pure awesome. Just, altogether as a whole ...

And, I agree, it's the best of his 90s output.

[Spun Lepton]

I'd say that has been true for many of his films.

I'd say you're talking out of your butthole, if you were to actually say this. :D

[Rowland]

I'd say you're talking out of your butthole, if you were to actually say this. :DReally? He rarely had big budgets to work with, unless you're implying he had no ideas. ;)

[Grouchy]

And, I agree, it's the best of his 90s output.
Yeah? Seen Vampires?

[Bosco B Thug]

Yeah? Seen Vampires?
So, if I liked Escape from L.A. and even Ghosts from Mars so much, this means I should definitely see Vampires then? I have so little interest in vampire movies...

[The Mike]

So, if I liked Escape from L.A. and even Ghosts from Mars so much, this means I should definitely see Vampires then? I have so little interest in vampire movies...Definitely. I'd say all three have the same tone, although Vampires is slightly less campy.

[megladon8]

Ghosts of Mars is undeniably awful, but fun as hell. It's a great time.

Vampires is less awful, but just as fun, brutally violent and gory, and Thomas Ian Griffith is actually pretty creepy as the lead vampire.

[Bosco B Thug]

Definitely. I'd say all three have the same tone, although Vampires is slightly less campy.
Less campy, eh? That's surprising, but it bodes well for me.

[Rowland]

I don't remember Vampires well enough to go either way, so it will be another I intend on revisiting. Same goes for Village of the Damned, though the rental store I frequent doesn't carry it. Ghosts of Mars is the worst Carpenter film I've seen, and it has only been maybe three years since my last viewing, so I'm a bit more weary about reassessing it so soon. Anyone post positive thoughts I can read?

Also, I'm going to be a bit of an iconoclast by posting some rather positive thoughts for the original, apparently underestimated When a Stranger Calls. Seems to me the biggest mistake people have made when evaluating it is to anticipate a slasher, when it proves itself a rather subversive social statement gussied up in horror trappings.

[megladon8]

I remember when I was a kid I had a sleepover at my friend's house and we watch Sphere and The Abyss.

His mom told us that if we wanted a scary movie, we should rent I Saw What You Did, and I Know Who You Are!. I could never find it.

Then in about 2002 I found a copy of the DVD for $6 at Wal-Mart alongside a copy of Suspiria which was also $6. I got them both.

Suspiria is now one of my favorite horror films and introduced me to a whole new world of horror.

I Saw What You Did was boring, unsuccessful in its attempts at humor, and I remember it being summed up perfectly with the word "lame".

[Grouchy]

Vampires is hardcore. James Woods in it is hardcore. The cigars he smokes are hardcore.

It's a wonderful movie. Much, much better than Ghosts of Mars, which isn't all that bad either.

[Rowland]

Sphere and The Abyss.Both underrated.

[Spun Lepton]

Really? He rarely had big budgets to work with, unless you're implying he had no ideas. ;)

I'm saying that he had a pretty good handle on his idea-to-budget ratio.

[Spun Lepton]

Yeah? Seen Vampires?

Not since the theaters, don't remember much about it.

[Bosco B Thug]

I don't remember Vampires well enough to go either way, so it will be another I intend on revisiting. Same goes for Village of the Damned, though the rental store I frequent doesn't carry it. Ghosts of Mars is the worst Carpenter film I've seen, and it has only been maybe three years since my last viewing, so I'm a bit more weary about reassessing it so soon. Anyone post positive thoughts I can read? My blurb, about a month ago: http://match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=178771&postcount=355.


Also, I'm going to be a bit of an iconoclast by posting some rather positive thoughts for the original, apparently underestimated When a Stranger Calls. Seems to me the biggest mistake people have made when evaluating it is to anticipate a slasher, when it proves itself a rather subversive social statement gussied up in horror trappings. I remember that

we follow the killer for the remainder of the film, who's super neurotic or something.

That's it, though.


Vampires is hardcore. James Woods in it is hardcore. The cigars he smokes are hardcore.

It's a wonderful movie. Much, much better than Ghosts of Mars, which isn't all that bad either. I just watched a YouTube trailer. Definitely looks lively... the opposite of Ghosts of Mars.

[Grouchy]

Village of the Damned is the worst Carpenter I've seen, closely paired with The Fog. Very few redeeming qualities on either one.

[Rowland]

Village of the Damned is the worst Carpenter I've seen, closely paired with The Fog. Very few redeeming qualities on either one.Boo! I love The Fog, don't understand the hate for it one iota.

[megladon8]

Both underrated.

Indeed. Particularly Sphere, which is actually an all-right sci-fi film.

The Abyss is better, but less underrated.



Boo! I love The Fog, don't understand the hate for it one iota.

Gotta disagree here. I found The Fog to be a boring mess of a movie. Similar to Escape From New York.

[Grouchy]

Similar to Escape From New York.
What the fuck? Are you implying that's a boring movie?

Define "fun". Or, better yet, don't.