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Post by Ol' John Brown on Nov 8, 2003 0:13:27 GMT -5
I just watched three fairly new horror films on Halloween weekend and here are my impressions to give you some idea of what they were like . . .
(The New) Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's a remake so I was hesitant to spend the extra money to see it on the big screen, but I'm glad that I did. It was a lot of fun with a little humor here and there and several things to make you jump.
So how does it compare with the original?
Well, it doesn't
But I don't mean that in a bad way. This film was made in an entierly different style than the first; the story was simmilar but if you saw the original, you still won't be bored.
How scary was it? Well, I'm known to be really tough on this aspect of films; I don't scare easily so look upon my ratings in this catagory as conservative at best. Anyway, I would give it 3 of 5 hats for being scary.
Overall, it was fun and worth about 3 1/2 of five hats.
The House of a Thousand Corpses a Rob Zombie film. Sure I expected something twisted from Rob Zombie and I got it. The clown in the intro. on the DVD is funny and lewd; the film is very disjointed and bizzare, but that's where the good points end. Sure, there is a good amount of gore and there is . . . well, did I mention the clown was okay? Truth is, though disjointed, the film was predictable to me and it fell apart from there.
Scary? Uh, 1 out of 5 hats as I see it. Don't even ask for an overall rating, I don't want Mr. Zombie to sue me for slander . . . Sorry Rob.
Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. As always, King weaves a great story. It's a great film with some nice twists and turns. Okay, part of it is pretty predictable but very enjoyable nonetheless.
As I said, King most always weaves a great story.
Scary? Well, with the exception of The Shining, Salem's Lot and Pet Cemetary, I haven't found King's films to be very frightning. Sorry King fans, I still enjoy them though. So, this one I would give 2 hats for being scary but 4 hats overall because the story was great.
Think you know of a film that will scare me?
PLEASE let me know; I am on a quest to find a film that will truley give me a good fright . . . here's a hint if it will help the quest, the only film that has REALLY given me a-lay-awake-at-night chill was (of course) The Excorsist.
For the first MENBER to find a film that can equal or top that one (I am all eyes and ears) gets dinner is on me!
This offer extends every MEMBER of the board including Gary himself.
If you are not a member and wish to have a shot at a free dinner, sign up and do your best. You have nothing to loose, sign up is free and we won't spam you.
Do your best (er, or worst?) to give Ol' JB a scare . . . he needs a good one!
No, I won't take you to the local fillin' station for old, shriveled, dry, red hot dogs and a bag of chips, it will be your choice of any place in Sylva, Dillsburo, Waynesville or Franklin*.
Remember, I find The Excorsist a very hard act to follow, but I promice to be honest. If the film you suggest gives me a good scare, dinner's on me. It's worth it!
Now, let's get this board to rolling!
Ol' JB
*P.S. If you don't live anywhere near Sylva, NC are you out of luck!?
No!
If you are the first to meet my challenge and you are from "way out of town" I will gladly mail you a gift certificate to a Ryan's Steakhouse.
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Post by The Folks @ TanneryWhistle.com on Nov 8, 2003 14:05:55 GMT -5
Well, John, I've told you this before and I'll repeat it. You need to see the last twenty minutes of the Japanese film, "Audition." No, you don't have to watch the whole film, although it has a nice sense of impending disaster all the way through the story...I especially liked the scene with the "jumping sack." No, you are just interested in being made uncomfortable or uneasy. Maybe just a tad jumpy. So, that is my offing. It may leave you totally unmoved. If so, then maybe you are like the guy in the old Grimm fairy tale called "The Boy Who Could Not Shiver." The boy wastes a lot of time confronting monsters and sleeping in haunted houses to no avail. He just isn't impressed. Ho-humm, says the boy. Then, his new bride made him shiver by pouring a bucket of cold water (laced with minnows) down his back on his wedding night. I think it was the water that did the trick. At any rate, he shivered on his wedding night.
Gary
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Neal
Greenhorn
Posts: 18
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Post by Neal on Nov 9, 2003 14:59:40 GMT -5
This is a fun challenge, but I'll probably put forth some losers. I must scare easily, because many films I find frightening just don't cut the butter for other folks. In fact, I didn't want to see the new Chainsaw Massacre because I thought it would be too scary! Okay, no one want to hear that kind of pitiful talk, but I had seen the original (a film with a lot of merit I think) and some of it is really terrifying to me still. On another note, a worthwhile and haunting film I was reminded of recently is called Eyes Without A Face (1959) by director Georges Franju. I think it was released in this country as The Horror Chamber of Doctor Faustus, but its much better than that title implies. Not dinner-worthy, but definitely worth seeing. Back to dinner plans-try The Evil Dead. I remember finding that film really scary. I need to look at it again though, to see if it still has the Power.
Another challenge we might tackle as a group-does anyone think they could write a truly scary movie?
Neal
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Post by The Folks @ TanneryWhistle.com on Nov 10, 2003 22:00:12 GMT -5
Neal,
I once wrote a script for a film that was meant to be sexy and frightening. I guess it is still in a filing cabinet in the attic. I wrote it for Tom Davenport, but he chickened out when it came to actually casting and filming it. It was a turn-of-the-century version of "The Robber Bridegroom" and I simply pulled together all of the variations, including "Bluebeard" and put them in one plot. Do you remember this one? This guy kills teenage girls and eats them. He has barrels of pickled arms, legs and torsos. He and his cohorts entertain themselves by forcing the girls to dance naked for them before they are killed (part of the original story) and they usually dance themselves to death while the robber bridegroom and his cohorts clap. It is a terrifying story since it touches on a familiar, current themes: missing teenagers. I love the final scene and consider it worth the whole film. it is the dinner/banquet at which the killer is revealed. the people attending the banquet are the fathers of the numerous missing girls.
You want to make this one?
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Neal
Greenhorn
Posts: 18
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Post by Neal on Nov 12, 2003 22:11:54 GMT -5
Gary,
That is frightening, and yes
I would love to make that one.
I think I always expected someone to give me a truckload of money to make a real movie. I am still hoping and I will contact you as soon as the truck arrives.
Neal
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Post by The Folks @ TanneryWhistle.com on Nov 12, 2003 23:37:32 GMT -5
There is an Appalachian version of the Robber Bridgegroom called "Mr. Fox." At the end of the story, Mr. Fox is placed in a barrel or hogshead and 49 spikes are nailed into the barrel. Then the barrel is rolled down a steep hill. Wheeeeeee!
Gary
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Post by Ol' John Brown on Nov 15, 2003 1:21:33 GMT -5
Gary,
I would love to to see the last twenty minutes of the Japanese film, "Audition" is there a copy for rent locally? You may be right about the fish and water down the back thing . . . if someone jumps off the screen and does it, now that WOULD be scary! A new step forward in 3-D too!
Neal,
I will keep an eye out for Eyes Without A Face /The Horror Chamber of Doctor Faustus. 'The Evil Dead' is an excellent movie! I saw it back in 1987 and it is still in my top ten favorites.
I like the idea of making a scary film, I've written a tiny bit of super short horror stories. I'm new in writing in this genre so I don't know if it's scary or not and I can't really scare myself but anyhow this super short might make a film idea of some sort or may scare someone . . . .
BLEACH
Rick rushed wild-eyed into the library carrying newborn twins. He tossed them with disgust into the deep, open stairwell as his wife, sobbing desperately pursued him.
He jumped, almost floating to the bottom of the pit of the stairwell after the twins. From nowhere, he was wielding a croquet mallet that he began pummeling the newborn bodies with.
Newborn blood covered and splattered the stairwell walls as his wife screamed for him to stop but he turned and his crazed shouts of indiscernible words literally tore her apart. She exploded limb-from-limb, arms, legs and head littering the carpet at the bottom of the landing.
An elderly gentleman, of times past, appeared too late to warn him of the force that had overtaken him.
The old man looked pretty normal at first.
Then his head nodded forward, almost in a reassuring gesture.
But, he noticed that the top of the old man’s skull was not there and that the head was now hollow as if a giant spoon had scooped out its contents.
He had somehow done this to the wary entity.
The head continued tilting forwards, until it broke free of the crumpling torso and tumbled wide-eyed to the ground.
Poor Rick had caused all of this, but he didn’t know how . . .
The housekeepers would be furious in the morning –
Did they have enough bleach??
---END
By the way all, just saw 28 Days left . . .
I was very dissapointed.
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Post by The Folks @ TanneryWhistle.com on Nov 18, 2003 17:24:05 GMT -5
In the current idiom of youth, 28 Days Later sucked.
No, I doubt that you can get "Audition" locally. What I am finding out with good movies, be they horror and thrillers or documentaries, is that you have to go to a little extra trouble. I find that it is worth it. You can get "Audition" from Video Library on the internet. That is where i got it. I kept it a week and returned it in its own mailer. The new video club on the internet, Netflex, also has it and an extensive collection of everything! I highly recommend Netflex. That is where I ordered "Into the Mouth of Madness" which is on the way. So is "Versus" which must be damned good judging from the horror reviews that I have been reading. Let me give you the magic words to say when you watch "Audition." They are, "kitty, kitty, kitty."
Gary
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Post by Ol' John Brown on Nov 20, 2003 2:12:09 GMT -5
Alright, I'm sold.
Just signed up for Netflix (they are having a free trial promo by the way) and it looks like a super service!
'Audition' is on its way as well as the 'Final Destination' movies. I look forward to seeing them and thanks for tip on Netflix.
This could save me a fortune on rentals and a bigger fortune on late fees since their are none!
Ol' JB
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Post by The Folks @ TanneryWhistle.com on Nov 21, 2003 21:14:34 GMT -5
I agree. In fact, I just finished watching "In the Mouth of Madness." Netflix sent me a jazzed up DVD, and yes I liked it. It was heavy-handed and overly dramatic, but that is probably a basic requirement for a good horror film. I liked the in-your-face approach. The resemblance to "Land of Laughs" was only superficial, although both tales got a lot of milage out of the desperate attempts to leave the town that wasn't on the map. If you haven't already done so, you might want to order "Versus" which is already available on Netflix.
Gary
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Post by Ol' John Brown on Nov 22, 2003 1:15:41 GMT -5
So glad that you liked it!
I will be buying myself a copy of it as soon as I can find it for sale; to me, it's a keeper. I agree that it was heavy handed, dramatic and 'in your face' but I liked the mix with the subtle and unexpected such as the picture in the hotel lobby. I didn't see that coming and that gave me more chills than the "monster clerk.'
'Verses' as well as 'Audition' is on the way; I look forward to seeing them.
I remember Neil making mention of "The Evil Dead' have you seen this one? It's one of the great ones. The first 20 - 30 minutes leaves you wondering if anything is going to happen, but when it does the tension never lets up! I saw it in 1986? with a bunch of college buddies and by the time the film was over, when we turned the lights back on, we were all sitting up straight and sweating.
The sequels are interesting in that the same folks that made the film used Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness to poke fun at themselves. I got a big kick out of them.
By the way, Neil, I am still looking for 'The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus ' Nteflix doesn't have it yet but I bet they will as soon as (or if) it is released on DVD.
EVERYONE:
Yes, folks, the offer of a dinner on me still stands! I'll even make it a little easier, as I said the scare factor of 'The Exorsist' is hard to beat, so, if we can't do that, (I still have hope) how 'bout finding a movie that equals or surpasses either 'In the Mouth of Maddness' or 'Evil Dead?'
To make things more interesting, since I have made the offer on films only "almost as good as 'The Exorsist'" I'll put in an extra goodie. If you find a movie with what I consider to be a greater chill factor than 'The Exorsist' you not only get dinner, but I will throw in your favorite 'after dinner' beverage such as a bottle of spirits/cider?, 12 pack of beer/cola? or even buttermilk -- I'm easy to get along with, if you request 'spirits' you of course must be 21 or older -- ($20 limit, since I'm not rich or anything, I work for The State.)
Remember, you must be a member (it's free to become one) to win.
Ol' JB
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Post by The Folks @ TanneryWhistle.com on Nov 22, 2003 7:37:12 GMT -5
Back in 1973-74, a writer named Rovert Marasco or Morasco ?? did a book called Burnt Offering. It was a horror/thriller novel about a house that was a thinking, reasoning, evil thing. It lived on pain, violence and bloodshed. It could be looking a little run-down, but a bit of gore could revitalize it. Things like a stray cat killed in the basement, or a violent arguement between a husband/wife (potential buyers) and it (the house) would perk right up. Perhaps it was only a single improvement like the flaking paint would become glossy, or the broken gutter would repair itself. The house was filled with pictures. Essentially, they were all of the previous owners or victims, and they would occasionally change. Postures would alter and the faces would suddenly become alert and inquiring...as though looking at the "new arrival."
That is a good device, but it has been around in horror flicks since then....especially film versions of King novels.
Well, I broke down and rented "House of 1,000 Corpses," and I'm glad I did. I had a ball. It is crude, vulgar, offensive and funny. Still, there were times in the middle of a parody that this movie gave me a chill. It is a over-the-top spoof. I loved the Museum where you could buy chicken and gasoline and the smart-ass teenagers were all slaughtered with relish. I recognized Karen Black and a couple of all western stars. In spite of the humor, the landscape was sometimes disturbing. Think I'll watch it agian tonight.
Gary
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Post by Ol' John Brown on Nov 24, 2003 2:18:05 GMT -5
Gary,
Glad that you enjoyed the Rob Zombie film. Bizzare, disjointed and fun it was. I guess the thing that tuned me against it was that I found it predictable. But it was a pretty fun spoof now that you mention it.
Speaking of houses as plot devices, 'The House' by Bentley Little uses a simmilar idea to what you described of 'Burnt Offering.' This one has a good bit of disturbing imagery as well.
In this one, The House is several yet it is only one. It gets pretty complex and I could hardly put it down.
By the way, have you seen 'Evil Dead'? It plays a little on the house idea (a cabin in this case) but it plays even more on the forest, also a great device . . . esp. at night.
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Post by pegleg on Dec 8, 2003 10:49:03 GMT -5
My wife and I watched the video of Night of the Hunter. Some comments:
It had a very 1930s look to it. We were surprised that both the book and film were 50s.
Mitchum' acting is VERY overacted. At times he was good, but the scream/whines could have been so much better. It's almost as if the director was embarrassed to ask him to do that, so toned it down.
In some of the reviews, viewers are cautioned to "watch for the children finding Shirley McLaine's body." This never happens. The children (1) find an anonymous body at the beggining and (2) her body is seen by another character. Do the reviewers view these films?
We rated it 2-2.5 out of 5. No where near as powerful or well-done as The Sadist.
We also saw some DVDs and one that stood out was The Core, a recent "version" of Journey to the Center of the Earth, with some nice technical bells and whistles. And except for the ending (which pleased us, but wasn't as powerful as it could have been), still, it was about the best of the genre.
Pegleg
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Post by The Folks @ TanneryWhistle.com on Dec 8, 2003 16:51:03 GMT -5
Well, Pegleg, "Night of the Hunter" was directed by Charles Laughton. I believe it was his single effort. I don't agree, of course. I love this movie. I think maybe I love the "overacting," especially Mitchum. Thought the camera work was especially admirable, and I loved the strange angles, like the one from beneath the water when the two fisherman hook the windshield of the car.....and the "critters" like the frogs.... Of course, I was young and impressionable and went about talking about Mitchum's hands and the knife at the girlie show for years.
I'm also a big fan of the author, Davis (David?) Grubb who did another strange one starring Jimmie Stewart as a preacher with a glass eye who was given to removing it at inopportune times. Yeah, I agree about the 30's feel of the movie and I usually tell folks (mistakenly, of course) that it was made around '39.
You might like the new German thriller, "Anatomy," which stars that woman that runs all the way through "Run, Lola, Run" (also, a favorite of mine). It is a big hit in Germany and has its own MVM version with a lot of goth types crawling around in a morgue while they smirk and growl. I liked it. A sequel is already out, and I have ordered it.
Watched "The Eye" the other night. Do you know about this one? Japanese horror. The story is a lot better than the film. I love the idea of a blind woman receiving cornea imlants and then beginning to see "the dead," walking around the city. She goes on a search to find the woman (a suicide) who originally had her eyes (plural despite the movie's title) and ends up as a Cassandra type woman who "foresees" disasters before they occur. Great idea, but the strange pacing of the film ruined it. Loved the last scene in which the woman is stalled in traffic and begins to see hundreds of dead people streaming out of a tunnel in front of her. A combustible chemical is pouring through the tunnel and a fire is advancing through the stalled traffic while the woman runs from car to car attempting to warn everyone about what is coming. Nice scene in a movie filled with inept, dragging action.
Gary
P. S. I also loved "The Devil's Backbone," which is a Spanish horror film. Some of the best acting I have seen in a horror film.
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