Cinematic Confabulation v2

[dayraven]

so, in light of the upcoming season of damnation that follows the harvest, i'd like to do a series of movie chats on the most beloved of topics, horror movies!!

tonight, i'm listing my five favorite anthology horror pictures. feel free to chat or present your own, or give any thoughts on the topic:

1) Trick r Treat- a great intro to the genre, one of the newer entries into the genre. this one is almost kid friendly, but it gets the idea across of what the genre can do for you.
2) Tales from the Darkside- based on the TV property of the same name, a great execution, one of the best casts ever put in any horror movie... seriously, look this one up.
3) Creepshow 2- great entry, not as good as the maiden voyage, but certainly still a load of fun. beware the ooze!
4) Tales from the Hood- one of my favorites in part because the stories aren't the same stupid white people doing something ignorant, this time black folks get their come-uppance! plus, the various stories are fun and different, the FX aren't great, but very good for the budget
5) Creepshow- top of the food chain, the best and brightest fo the anthology style horror. the FX are dated, the stories predictable, and evey ounce of them is fun and wonderful. plus, it holds the record w/ the last story segment being probably one of the most uncomfortable horror tales ever put on film.

[dayraven]

for this week's entries, my top 4 horror directors.

1) wes craven- a library of really good horror movies, some ok movies, and a few duds, but on the whole, the guys excellent, and has struck lightning more times than any director ought to have.

2) john carpenter- did he update some classic horror movies and make them better than the originals? yes. how often does that happen? bout as often as republicans vote yes on gay marriage. plus, he entered one film that really established the criteria for the slasher sub-genre. that's double tough.

3) tobe hooper- get the hell out. go on, just git. nobody tops tobe hooper for scaring the balls off you, except maybe...

4) william friedkin- gave us what i think most people even today would identify as the scariest movie ever shot. let's be real here, the exorcist is almost next level starfruit. friedkin was to horror what kurosawa was to adventure. not to mention, just to prove he's still got it, he goes and does BUG in 2006. if you sat through bug and didn't start squirming in your seat and get uncomfortable, you have no pulse, and have in fact died watching bug.

[Lay Ze-Man]

Trick R Treat was tons of fun! Will have to watch that this season again!

And gotta say, the original Hooper Chainsaw is pretty hard to beat for me in terms of messing you up psychologically.

I prefer more "ghost story" kind of scary/horror movies because I'm not really into extreme gore (when it's supposed to scare you...if it's comedy a la early Peter Jackson I'm game!!) or when they just try to "startle" you the whole movie, which I don't find all that noteworthy.

For me the more "let YOU fill in the blanks with what YOU think is scary" movies work way better.

Chainsaw surpasses that because before my first viewing of it, there's no way I would've ever considered what's actually going on.

[manekochan]

I will preface this with a bit of a disclaimer: everything scares me. That being said, whether it stays with me or not and continues to scare me throughout the day/night/week/whatever, varies. Movies like Lazy was talking about, jumpy movies that just go for that sudden shock, don't stick with me as much as things that are ill-defined, emotional, or realistic. Except zombies. And for some reason, the blob.
The New Daughter creeped me the hell out. That ending.... I stayed up for hours because of that movie and rushed through the dark for days on end.
I won't watch Bug (though knowing the ending, I think I could probably do it now), I WON'T watch the Strangers. I refuse to. The previews alone are enough to terrify me. I know stuff like "I Spit on Your Grave" etc are not my thing so I won't watch those, either.
That terribly bad movie (badly written; ugh; the plot was transparent from the freaking previews) The Unborn. So bad... so bad...... -_- At any rate, the shaky ghosts and weird imagery in this movie creep me out despite it being a terrible movie. Shaky ghosts in general and Japanese spirits kind of wig me out. They move so strangely. The Japanese ones in particular. Japanese horror stories are so futile. In an American ghost story there's always a formula or a way to get out. In Japan, you're just screwed if you get haunted. It's not fair. You may as well just go to a well lit area (outside in daylight) and kill yourself.

[dayraven]

***SPOILERS****

i can't believe i typed that, but just in case one has not seen the movies we're talking about... well, GO already! lay-ze and DR are not wrong when it comes to movies!







yeah, the jump scares get old for me as well. TCM succeeded where so many others failed because of many factors, one of which was they kept the gore very realistic. there weren't buckets of blood or 85 feet of pig entrails strewn about. the gore was believable. then, they gave you a solid cast of weirdos... to put this another way, when the guy wearing someone else's face and running around w/ a stihl at full throttle isn't the weirdest guy in town, you've walked into hell. the last thing that i thought was brilliant was the casual cruelty of leatherface. when he hangs that kid up on the meat hook, it's done in this really casual gesture, as if the big man was packing for a weekend at sandals. that was just mind-numbingly violent, and he cared about the kid less than you or i do an action figure. brilliant scene man, beautifully shot, acted, and directed.

trick r treat was great, the dylan baker story was my fav, but on the whole thing was well executed. i loved the way they integrated the stories, that was innovative for the anthology movie, and innovation is sorely lacking in all films these days. the nice thing was, as a horror movie goes, it was fairly ungory and not really crazy violent, and thus my earlier statement about it's general kid-safety. kid's need a good scare, and halloween is that time... and trick r treat is a safe entry into the genre, from where i sit.

getting to your point about ghost story kind, now i like a well executed gorefest... but the line between well executed and retarded is a fraction of a hair's width. for example... saw, the original, i loved that. the ending especially made that film. the collector was excellent, that it required a greater suspension of disbelief. but like, the marcus nispel redo of TCM was a complete waste of time. the new freddy was worse... so far, all the franchise slashers have disappointed. all of them missed what made the original scary and memorable. the freddy one in particular, i couldn't help but think they needed to go further. i know, i usually agree w/ you, that less is more, but in that case, they really tip-toed WAY around the issue, and tried not to offend anyone w/ the fact that he was a kiddie diddler... he's a kiddie diddler!!! he's the worst possible kind of monster, friggin make me uncomfortable!! if i'm not on the couch, rooting on the parents who burned him alive, you didn't do your damned job in making the film. he's a villain, i'm supposed to hate him in life, and fear him in death. god that was disappointing. there are times when some of the modern horror films seem to forget that point is to make he upset, disturb me, SCARE ME! the last one that really did the number on me was the human centipede and i'm DYING to see how you top that w/ full sequence (HC was was subtitled "the first sequence" and the sequel is full sequence, and the third entry will be final sequence for those not in the know) that movie left me traumatized, like i'd just blown myself.

[manekochan]

I enjoyed "the Collector" much more than I thought I would. It was pleasantly surprising.

[dayraven]

the sequel sounds like it's going to be a huge letdown, but i liked the first one enough that i'll see it.

on the subject of the horror movies designed for hilarious schlock... well, that's next monday's list, for me at least. but i sure love those too.

yeah, the collector was great. the scene (and any collector viewers know what i'm referencing) when our hero becomes the hero, i have to admit, i was kind of "dude, just go." cuz DAMN! but do you see what i'm saying about the collector, and the required level of suspension of disbelief? exactly how many guys set that place up? cuz holy CRAP there was stuff everywhere! i think the secret of the sequel will be that there's a team of guys, not one dbag in a mask.

[dayraven]

my favorite overblown horror comedies... there are two subdivisions not officially designated, but i like to make the distinction, the super-juicy sub genre, and the horror comedies. there are horror comedies, like stan helsing, dead and breakfast, gingerdead man, feast, these kinds of movies, that play on horror cliches for laughs. those are great... and i've just listed 3 of my faves (stan helsing was cute, but it was no fido) shaun of the dead was very good, but not my fave. i include gremlins here and those were both great movies, and i include the various works of bruce campbell here, and honestly, he's almost his own category.

there, there's the super-juicy films, like dead alive, evil dead, and tokyo gore police who take the schlock of special effects and ramp them up in the juiciest way possible for semi-comedic effect. i liked all three of those films, but my fave super-juicy was less purposefully funny and more silly homage funny and that was planet terror. the film had some bizarre gags, some of the biggest splooshy kills i've ever seen, and was just awesome from start to finish. great stuff.

last mention here, i recently saw "hobo with a shotgun" a grindhouse movie based on a fanmade trailer from the release of that movie... i know, the pedigree is bizarre. the film starred rutger hauer and no one else you've ever heard of... there is some bizarre, goofy over the top violent gags, the kind of stuff you usually find in the super-juicy sub genre... but it's not super-juicy. it was weird and violent as hell (seriously, gleefully, mindlessly violent... like makes a clockwork orange look like on golden pond) but enjoyable only in the sense of a movie to be laughed at. and there were indeed laughs to be hard, if you have the kind of sick sense of humor required.

[manekochan]

I recently watched Planet Terror and there were some creepy things in there... Pretty cool for such an old, silly movie. I think I may have watched Hobo with a Shotgun the same night, so, odd little coincidence there. I enjoyed both, though Hobo was just mangosteen silly. There was WAY more blood and gore in it than I thought there'd be and OH MY GOD!!! WHEN SHE LOST HER ARM AT THE END?!? Holy CHRIST, I didn't see that coming!.
As for Horror comedies, I'm going to have to go with Severance (understated, the Office-type fun), Doghouse (bitches be zombies, yo!), Fido (definite fave so cute) , Shaun of the Dead, and ... ha ha ha... Vampire Effect... Heh heh. Which really only falls into the horror-comedy category by virtue of having vampires in it and isn't scary in the slightest. It really ought to be in just the regular old comedy or action category. OH! And Slither. I love me some Bill Pardy.

[dayraven]

hobo w/ a shotgun was a hilarious movie, if only for the relentlessness of the imagery... but for reals, the last half an hour takes a deep and swift dive into the weird pool and it's got swimfins and a rebreather in tow... i have to say is... giant tentacles y'all.

slither was excellent and a lot of fun. i'm really psyched to see the new fright night once that hits DVD (DR learned a while back that colin farrell movies are best enjoyed at less than theater ticket prices). i was just at best buy today and apparently the feast movies are now available in bundle format (they may have been for a while, but i just now found them) and that franchise was damned funny. also, if you saw "teeth" and didn't laugh, you don't have a soul.