The Horror Thread is Dead & Buried

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Darko: Dec 23, 2004

Slasherfan posted:

Anyone see Final Destination 5?

I saw it.

It's technically as good as the second one; the only issue being that nothing can really recreate that feeling of first seeing the second one because you're expecting the misdirection/surprise now, whereas when you saw that one, you really didn't expect what's coming.

It also tries to have a couple of (not a real spoiler, but if you want to keep things COMPLETELY fresh, don't read), really clever twists scattered through the story, but if you're really observant, you'll expect one, just because you know how assholeish the series is, and you'll probably pick up the larger one just by dialogue and actually paying attention to stuff in the film. It has a completely silly tone, too, pretty much like 2, and is worth a watch if you're a fan of the series.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 14:37

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 13:53

ZombieParts: Jul 18, 2009; ASK ME ABOUT VISITING PROSTITUTES IN CHINA AND FEELING NO SHAME. MY FRIEND IS SERIOUSLY THE (PATHETIC) YODA OF PAYING WOMEN TO TOUCH HIS (AND MY) DICK. THEY WOULDN'T DO IT OTHERWISE.

Nemesis Of Moles posted:

Some more Found footage/POV stuff;

Man Bites Dog - Film crew follows a sociopath and eventually gets wrapped up in his vile life. Actually a black comedy/Horror
The Last Horror Movie - A serial killer uses THIS TAPE to talk about himself and find new victims
Zero Hour - A kind of Columbine remake thing.
Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America - Insanity in a film. not scary in the traditional sense but definitely disturbing, a documentary about an alien race that rises from the ground.
In Memoriam - A guy with cancer decides to document his last days and captures ghosts on film.
Ghostwatch - A BBC produced mockumentry following a little girl supposedly possessed by a ghost named Pipes.

I'm watching a found footage film called Haunted Changi. It's from Singapore but they're speaking English for the most part. So far it's really good. It's got some style to it so it feels pretty fresh.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 16:02

Whispering Machines: Dec 27, 2005; Monsters? They look like monsters to you?

Dan Didio posted:

I--

I'm trying to think of a more tactful way to put this, but...

...they have to change the loving ending, right?

I haven't seen the movie adaptation of The Stand in a while, what happened in the ending? Was it different from the book? In the book I remember Franny was all LETS MOVE BACK TO MAINE blah blah and Randall Flagg ended up in South America or something, presumably to party with his mullet and create new evil armies.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 17:09

Dukket: Apr 28, 2007; So I says to her, I says “LADY, that ain't OIL, its DIRT!!”

Dan Didio posted:

I--

I'm trying to think of a more tactful way to put this, but...

...they have to change the loving ending, right?

No need to be tactful. The whole blue hand of God thing is just awful. Why are the endings to nearly all of books SO drat BAD? The Stand probably being the worse offender of them all.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 17:24

Crackerman: Jun 23, 2005

The Stand was the worst example of King making poo poo up as he went along I can think of. It all starts great that completely unravels into "oh god I don't know where I'm going with this!"

It, while it suffers the same problem, is a lot better and I'm way more interested in seeing a proper adaptation of that.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 17:32

Twin Cinema: Jun 1, 2006; Playoffs are no big deal,
don't have a crap attack.

I don't think it's been mentioned in this thread, but I have been becoming increasingly interested in seeing "The Silent House." Has anyone seen it? Apparently it's the first horror film done in one continuous shot, which is surprising, because it seems like something that horror should have done already.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 17:36

a_gelatinous_cube: Feb 13, 2005

Slasherfan posted:

Anyone see Final Destination 5?

It's definitely better than the last one, but that's not hard because 4 was just a giant pile of steaming poo poo. I don't think it is quite up to the level of 1-3, but I still enjoyed it a lot. And the end to 5 is absolutely amazing. I it dawned on everyone in the theater what was happening at the same time, and it's a huge 'Ohhhh shiiiiit!" moment.

edit: Did it bug anyone else that one of the actor's looked really like Tom Cruise?

# ? Aug 13, 2011 22:17

Whispering Machines: Dec 27, 2005; Monsters? They look like monsters to you?

Dukket posted:

No need to be tactful. The whole blue hand of God thing is just awful. Why are the endings to nearly all of books SO drat BAD? The Stand probably being the worse offender of them all.

OH! I forgot about that! Yeah that was terrible.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 22:25

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

Zyklon B Zombie posted:

It's definitely better than the last one, but that's not hard because 4 was just a giant pile of steaming poo poo. I don't think it is quite up to the level of 1-3, but I still enjoyed it a lot. And the end to 5 is absolutely amazing. I it dawned on everyone in the theater what was happening at the same time, and it's a huge 'Ohhhh shiiiiit!" moment.

edit: Did it bug anyone else that one of the actor's looked really like Tom Cruise?

I think you should spoil that like I did. it's so telegraphed that if you (light plot progression spoiler)know something is coming at the end, you can't help but figure it out.

Actual big spoiler: As soon as the guy said he was going to France, I figured out it was a prequel immediately. It was super solidifed when the gymnastics tournament only had posters from the 90s in it. The rest of the movie, I was just waiting for it to tie into the first one; once his girlfriend said she was coming with him to France, I predicted the end to the film, including the "take a life away" fakeout. Also, when the plot point was brought that you could earn someone else's life, I figured that someone would have had heart disease or something. However, if you go to it blind, not expecting any plot twists and turns, you may be pleasantly surprised, which is why I say you should spoil that.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 22:49

Mr.Graves: Jul 23, 2007; by T. Finn

If you have no expectations and go into it with the same mindset that I did (thinking I was about to watch a standard SyFy flick) The Bunker was reaaaaally loving good. Obligatory comment about anything being better than SyFy, of course.

For doing what they did without being a Hollywood level production, it pulled off being the type of movie you could watch unedited on TV and still find some genuinely good stuff in it. Outside of a couple forced jump-scares, I couldn't find anything to complain about.

Basic plot: Seven Nazi soldiers are retreating from the Americans at the end of WW2. They gain access to a fortified bunker manned by an old man and young boy. Beneath the bunker are tunnels that are rumoured to have an exit to safety, but the construction and completion is unknown... because there are a lot of shadows down there.

The soldiers aren't just running from the Americans, however, and the old man explains to them why the bunker has basically been deserted for so long; in the time of the plague the nearby villagers drove the sick, the weak, the elderly into the woods around them and slaughtered them all in one night to purify themselves.

Anyways, like I've said- you can't expect to fairly compare this to a Hollywood level production- but it is worth a watch. Compared to Hollywood, though, it still kicks the poo poo out of Outpost (which I have heard is getting a sequel) and had some genuinely claustrophobic 'Das Boot' vibes. I just finished watching it, and think it deserves a couple fond words.

# ? Aug 13, 2011 23:15

Rageaholic: May 31, 2005; Old Town Road to EGOT

Slasherfan posted:

Anyone see Final Destination 5?

Saw it earlier today in 3D.

I enjoyed it, but it definitely wasn't the high point of the series for me. That'd be 2 and 3. The deaths in this one were cool, but a couple of them felt like stuff I'd already seen (like the acupuncture death was like something I'd seen on 1000 Ways To Die and the laser eye surgery gone wrong death was like that one part in Dead Space 2 where if you didn't successfully complete a minigame, your character would die an agonizing death), so it wasn't as innovative or goofy as previous installments in the series.

And the 3D wasn't anything to write home about. It wasn't as cool as, say, My Bloody Valentine 3D or Piranha 3D as far as 3D horror movies go.

The ending was loving cool, though. I hadn't had it spoiled for me beforehand so I was kinda surprised when it happened.

Rageaholic fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Aug 14, 2011

# ? Aug 14, 2011 01:15

Juanito: Jan 20, 2004; I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?; Hell Gem

Twin Cinema posted:

I don't think it's been mentioned in this thread, but I have been becoming increasingly interested in seeing "The Silent House." Has anyone seen it? Apparently it's the first horror film done in one continuous shot, which is surprising, because it seems like something that horror should have done already.

I saw it, I enjoyed it, it definitely creeped me out a bit. It won't blow your mind or redefine the horror genre, but I still liked it okay.

I'm not 100% convinced that it is actually one continuous shot. There are several moments in the film where they could have easily changed, but it's clear that it was very few continuous shots, if not only one.

# ? Aug 14, 2011 01:21

Xenomrph: Dec 9, 2005; AvP Nerd/Fanboy/Shill

Mr.Graves posted:

Anyways, like I've said- you can't expect to fairly compare this to a Hollywood level production- but it is worth a watch. Compared to Hollywood, though, it still kicks the poo poo out of Outpost (which I have heard is getting a sequel) and had some genuinely claustrophobic 'Das Boot' vibes. I just finished watching it, and think it deserves a couple fond words.

'The Bunker' is cool, but I definitely prefer 'Outpost'. And yeah, it's getting a sequel - we're supposed to have the first trailer for the sequel at the end of this month. :woop:

# ? Aug 14, 2011 01:48

Doomsday Jesus: Oct 8, 2004; Doomsday Jesus we need you now.

Just watched Night of the Living Dead, the original version, and have to say how much I love that movie. Truly a classic. It frustrates me how lovely the latest living dead movies have been.

# ? Aug 14, 2011 06:44

Zwabu: Aug 7, 2006

Doomsday Jesus posted:

Just watched Night of the Living Dead, the original version, and have to say how much I love that movie. Truly a classic. It frustrates me how lovely the latest living dead movies have been.

It's very intense, but the deadpan humor is great too. "Beat 'em and burn 'em, I say!"

# ? Aug 14, 2011 11:15

Shirkelton: Apr 6, 2009; I'm not loyal to anything, General... except the dream.

Crackerman posted:

The Stand was the worst example of King making poo poo up as he went along I can think of. It all starts great that completely unravels into "oh god I don't know where I'm going with this!"

To be fair to King, he's always freely admitted this. There's been an interview or two where he's flat-out stated that the book gets boring about halfway through and the bomb in the closet at the meeting that kills half the cast was the simplest, quickest solution to get things going again.

# ? Aug 14, 2011 11:18

Slasherfan: Dec 2, 2003; IS IT WRONG THAT I ONCE WROTE A HORROR STORY ABOUT THE BUDDIES? YOU KNOW, THE TALKING PUPPIES?

I came up with a way to tie Final Destination 3 to part 1 and 2.

In Final Destination 2 Eugene says that a teacher that replaced him got stabbed to death because he was transfering with Val Lewton. I was thinking what if the teacher that got stabbed to death had a mental problem that got worse over the years and one day he was going to bring a gun in and shoot the students. The students he would have killed would be the ones that die in the rollar coaster crash in 3. Since he ended up getting stabbed death had to come up with a new design for the students and gets them on the rollar coaster.

# ? Aug 14, 2011 15:20

User-Friendly: Apr 27, 2008; Is There a God? (Pt. 9)

Slasherfan posted:

I came up with a way to tie Final Destination 3 to part 1 and 2.

In Final Destination 2 Eugene says that a teacher that replaced him got stabbed to death because he was transfering with Val Lewton. I was thinking what if the teacher that got stabbed to death had a mental problem that got worse over the years and one day he was going to bring a gun in and shoot the students. The students he would have killed would be the ones that die in the rollar coaster crash in 3. Since he ended up getting stabbed death had to come up with a new design for the students and gets them on the rollar coaster.

Wasn't "the teacher who got stabbed to death" the teacher from Final Destination 1?

# ? Aug 14, 2011 16:43

Silver Newt: Jun 8, 2007; Happiness is being famous for your financial ability to indulge in every kind of excess.

Dan Didio posted:

To be fair to King, he's always freely admitted this. There's been an interview or two where he's flat-out stated that the book gets boring about halfway through and the bomb in the closet at the meeting that kills half the cast was the simplest, quickest solution to get things going again.

Any idea where you read that? I'd be interested to read King's take on the book, especially discussing all the negatives.

# ? Aug 14, 2011 18:33

Call Me Charlie: Dec 3, 2005; by Smythe

Silver Newt posted:

Any idea where you read that? I'd be interested to read King's take on the book, especially discussing all the negatives.

It was in his book, On Writing.

And skip over all of this if you haven't read The Stand.

quote:

The book that took me the longest to write was The Stand. This is also the one my longtime readers still seem to like the best (there�s something a little depressing about such a united opinion that you did your best work twenty years ago, but we won�t go into that just now, thanks). I finished the first draft about sixteen months after I started it. The Stand took an especially long time because it nearly died going into the third turn and heading for home.

I�d wanted to write a sprawling, multi-character sort of novel�a fantasy epic, if I could manage it�and to that end I employed a shifting-perspective narrative, adding a major character in each chapter of the long first section. Thus Chapter One concerned itself with Stuart Redman, a blue-collar factory worker from Texas; Chapter Two first concerned itself with Fran Goldsmith, a pregnant college girl from Maine, and then returned to Stu; Chapter Three began with Larry Underwood, a rock-and-roll singer in New York, before going back first to Fran, then to Stu Redman again.

My plan was to link all these characters, the good, the bad, and the ugly, in two places: Boulder and Las Vegas. I thought they�d probably end up going to war against one another. The first half of the book also told the story of a man-made virus which sweeps America and the world, wiping out ninety-nine per cent of the human race and utterly destroying our technology-based culture.

I was writing this story near the end of the so-called Energy Crisis in the 1970s, and I had an absolutely marvellous time envisioning a world that went smash during the course of one horrified, infected summer (really not much more than a month). The view was panoramic, detailed, nationwide, and (to me, at least) breathtaking. Rarely have I seen so clearly with the eye of my imagination, from the traffic jam plugging the dead tube of New York�s Lincoln Tunnel to the sinister, Nazi-ish rebirth of Las Vegas under the watchful (and often amused) red eye of Randall Flagg. All this sounds terrible, is terrible, but to me the vision was also strangely optimistic. No more energy crisis, for one thing, no more famine, no more massacres in Uganda, no more acid rain or hole in the ozone layer. Finito as well to saber-rattling nuclear superpowers, and certainly no more overpopulation. Instead, there was a chance for humanity�s remaining shred to start over again in a God-centered world to which miracles, magic, and prophecy had returned. I liked my story. I liked my characters. And still there came a point when I couldn�t write any longer because I didn�t know what to write. Like Pilgrim in John Bunyan�s epic, I had come to a place where the straight way was lost. I wasn�t the first writer to discover this awful place, and I�m a long way from being the last; this is the land of writer�s block.

If I�d had two or even three hundred pages of single-spaced manuscript instead of more than five hundred, I think I would have abandoned The Stand and gone on to something else�God knows I had done it before. But five hundred pages was too great an investment, both in time and in creative energy; I found it impossible to let go. Also, there was this little voice whispering to me that the book was really good, and if I didn�t finish I would regret it forever. So instead of moving on to another project, I started taking long walks (a habit which would, two decades later, get me in a lot of trouble). I took a book or magazine on these walks but rarely opened it, no matter how bored I felt looking at the same old trees and the same old chattering, ill-natured jays and squirrels. Boredom can be a very good thing for someone in a creative jam. I spent those walks being bored and thinking about my gigantic boondoggle of a manuscript.

For weeks I got exactly nowhere in my thinking�it all just seemed too hard, too loving complex. I had run out too many plotlines, and they were in danger of becoming snarled. I circled the problem again and again, beat my fists on it, knocked my head against it . . . and then one day when I was thinking of nothing much at all, the answer came to me. It arrived whole and complete�gift-wrapped, you could say� in a single bright flash. I ran home and jotted it down on paper, the only time I�ve done such a thing, because I was terrified of forgetting.

What I saw was that the America in which The Stand took place might have been depopulated by the plague, but the world of my story had become dangerously overcrowded�a veritable Calcutta. The solution to where I was stuck, I saw, could be pretty much the same as the situation that got me going�an explosion instead of a plague, but still one quick, hard slash of the Gordian knot. I would send the survivors west from Boulder to Las Vegas on a redemptive quest� they would go at once, with no supplies and no plan, like Biblical characters seeking a vision or to know the will of God. In Vegas they would meet Randall Flagg, and good guys and bad guys alike would be forced to make their stand.

At one moment I had none of this; at the next I had all of it. If there is any one thing I love about writing more than the rest, it�s that sudden flash of insight when you see how everything connects. I have heard it called �thinking above the curve,� and it�s that; I�ve heard it called �the over-logic,� and it�s that, too. Whatever you call it, I wrote my page or two of notes in a frenzy of excitement and spent the next two or three days turning my solution over in my mind, looking for flaws and holes (also working out the actual narrative flow, which involved two supporting characters placing a bomb in a major character�s closet), but that was mostly out of a sense of this-is-too-good-to-be-true unbelief. Too good or not, I knew it was true at the moment of revelation: that bomb in Nick Andros�s closet was going to solve all my narrative problems. It did, too. The rest of the book ran itself off in nine weeks.

Later, when my first draft of The Stand was done, I was able to get a better fix on what had stopped me so completely in mid-course; it was a lot easier to think without that voice in the middle of my head constantly yammering �I�m losing my book! Ah poo poo, five hundred pages and I�m losing my book! Condition red! CONDITION RED!!� I was also able to analyze what got me going again and appreciate the irony of it: I saved my book by blowing approximately half its major characters to smithereens (there actually ended up being two explosions, the one in Boulder balanced by a similar act of sabotage in Las Vegas).

The real source of my malaise, I decided, had been that in the wake of the plague, my Boulder characters�the good guys�were starting up the same old technological deathtrip. The first hesitant CB broadcasts, beckoning people to Boulder, would soon lead to TV; infomercials and 900 numbers would be back in no time. Same deal with the power plants. It certainly didn�t take my Boulder folks long to decide that seeking the will of the God who spared them was a lot less important than getting the refrigerators and air conditioners up and running again. In Vegas, Randall Flagg and his friends were learning how to fly jets and bombers as well as getting the lights back on, but that was okay�to be expected�because they were the bad guys. What had stopped me was realizing, on some level of my mind, that the good guys and bad guys were starting to look perilously alike, and what got me going again was realizing the good guys were worshipping an electronic golden calf and needed a wake-up call. A bomb in the closet would do just fine.

All this suggested to me that violence as a solution is woven through human nature like a damning red thread. That became the theme of The Stand, and I wrote the second draft with it fixed firmly in my mind. Again and again characters (the bad ones like Lloyd Henreid as well as the good ones like Stu Redman and Larry Underwood) mention the fact that �all that stuff [i.e., weapons of mass destruction] is just lying around, waiting to be picked up.� When the Boulderites propose�innocently, meaning only the best�to rebuild the same old neon Tower of Babel, they are wiped out by more violence. The folks who plant the bomb are doing what Randall Flagg told them to, but Mother Abagail, Flagg�s opposite number, says again and again that �all things serve God.� If this is true�and within the context of The Stand it certainly is�then the bomb is actually a stern message from the guy upstairs, a way of saying �I didn�t bring you all this way just so you could start up the same old poo poo.�

Near the end of the novel (it was the end of the first, shorter version of the story), Fran asks Stuart Redman if there�s any hope at all, if people ever learn from their mistakes. Stu replies, �I don�t know,� and then pauses. In story-time, that pause lasts only as long as it takes the reader to flick his or her eye to the last line. In the writer�s study, it went on a lot longer. I searched my mind and heart for something else Stu could say, some clarifying statement. I wanted to find it because at that moment if at no other, Stu was speaking for me. In the end, however, Stu simply repeats what he has already said: I don�t know. It was the best I could do. Sometimes the book gives you answers, but not always, and I didn�t want to leave the readers who had followed me through hundreds of pages with nothing but some empty platitude I didn�t believe myself. There is no moral to The Stand, no �We�d better learn or we�ll probably destroy the whole damned planet next time��but if the theme stands out clearly enough, those discussing it may offer their own morals and conclusions. Nothing wrong with that; such discussions are one of the great pleasures of the reading life.

Although I�d used symbolism, imagery, and literary homage before getting to my novel about the big plague (without Dracula, for instance, I think there is no �Salem�s Lot), I�m quite sure that I never thought much about theme before getting roadblocked on The Stand. I suppose I thought such things were for Better Minds and Bigger Thinkers. I�m not sure I would have gotten to it as soon as I did, had I not been desperate to save my story.

King, Stephen (2000-10-03). On Writing (pp. 203-207). Scribner. Kindle Edition.

# ? Aug 14, 2011 19:04

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

User-Friendly posted:

Wasn't "the teacher who got stabbed to death" the teacher from Final Destination 1?

In the movie itself, but some backstory in two explaining how the people living from one butterfly effected to the ones from two stated that one guy avoided death from not going to school one day or something.

I honestly don't really see the point of tying everything together since the series is so tangentially connected.

# ? Aug 14, 2011 21:32

Mr Wind Up Bird: Jan 23, 2004; i'm a goddamn coward
but then again so are you

I noticed that The Ward comes out on DVD this week. Any impressions? It got pretty crummy reviews but argh John Carpenter! He made Halloween!

# ? Aug 14, 2011 22:51

Bonk: Aug 4, 2002; Douche Baggins

XIII posted:

So, I'm probably way behind here (I don't have cable, so I tend to be outta the loop) but I just saw a commercial for Straw Dogs and I wanna see it. I'd say it's more of a thriller than a horror, but I thought I'd get some opinions on it. I guess I should watch the original first.....

I keep seeing ads for the remake, and I guess I just don't get why remaking controversial 70s rape-and-violence films is the thing lately (Straw Dogs, I Spit On Your Grave, Last House on the Left, etc). In the 70s, these films were made against a sociopolitical backdrop of women's liberation, and the concept of extreme violence portrayed in cinema (especially against women) being a backlash of the more conservative decades before it.

But in an age where you have seven Saw films released in consecutive years and where "torture porn" is an actual recognized subgenre, I have a hard time believing these remakes come anywhere near matching that sentiment, or make any sort of statement. It seems they're just remade because they portray some ideas the directors thought were cool and edgy.

Darko posted:

I honestly don't really see the point of tying everything together since the series is so tangentially connected.

I actually really like the idea that this is all a ripple effect from one incident, and I'd love to see something that ties it all together. Causality stuff both fascinates and scares me. This video is a good example of the kind of stuff that trips me out.

# ? Aug 15, 2011 18:26

Darko: Dec 23, 2004

Bonk posted:

I actually really like the idea that this is all a ripple effect from one incident, and I'd love to see something that ties it all together. Causality stuff both fascinates and scares me. This video is a good example of the kind of stuff that trips me out.

I'm actually glad they dropped that because it just makes the series infinite, and it's best not to even think about it, at least in my opinion. Any tiny little change will spread outwards and eventually effect the entire world. Multiple people living that should have died would have effected the living and dying for most of the people from that point on as the causality wave would spread out really quickly. Death would be killing millions and millions of people at that point and would never catch up as each one spread outwards (so the series would never end!)

# ? Aug 15, 2011 18:57

Bonk: Aug 4, 2002; Douche Baggins

Darko posted:

I'm actually glad they dropped that because it just makes the series infinite, and it's best not to even think about it, at least in my opinion. Any tiny little change will spread outwards and eventually effect the entire world. Multiple people living that should have died would have effected the living and dying for most of the people from that point on as the causality wave would spread out really quickly. Death would be killing millions and millions of people at that point and would never catch up as each one spread outwards (so the series would never end!)

Final Final Destination: Everyone Dies Everywhere�

Come on, you'd watch it.

# ? Aug 15, 2011 22:25

lessthankyle: Dec 19, 2002; SKA SUCKS; Soiled Meat

Bonk posted:

I keep seeing ads for the remake, and I guess I just don't get why remaking controversial 70s rape-and-violence films is the thing lately (Straw Dogs, I Spit On Your Grave, Last House on the Left, etc). In the 70s, these films were made against a sociopolitical backdrop of women's liberation, and the concept of extreme violence portrayed in cinema (especially against women) being a backlash of the more conservative decades before it.

But in an age where you have seven Saw films released in consecutive years and where "torture porn" is an actual recognized subgenre, I have a hard time believing these remakes come anywhere near matching that sentiment, or make any sort of statement. It seems they're just remade because they portray some ideas the directors thought were cool and edgy.

I don't think it's quite fair to lump them all together like that, especially when those three films differ quite a bit in some of their base themes. While they all have the common theme of examining what pushes a person over the edge (all three use rape as the final straw, as well), Straw Dogs examines changing attitudes in masculinity, Last House family, and I Spit--I've never seen this one, so this is based on what I've read--covers feminism. Three pretty broad and common themes, but I it's also important to keep in mind the stories themselves are just as common (e.g. Last House even being inspired by The Virgin Spring, which in turn is based on Swedish lore).

You could argue that it's boring to see these themes revisited with the same story, but there are vast differences in the end product that are heavily influenced by when they were made. Just look at the two releases of Last House nearly 40 years apart. It was widely banned then, but opened freely in 2009 (with "nitpicking" by the ratings boards, another, totally separate issue). Wes Craven was even eager to see what kind of movie would come out of a bigger budget, highlighting that the brutality of yesteryear pales in comparison to what is possible now (although I'm sure you could find some interesting examples to the contrary).

Also, I think that in someways, these remakes are a commentary on the original movies. Consider that most of the directors/writers working on these new versions grew up when the originals came out.

Is rape/murder the tipping point for our society now? Probably not, since the remakes barely attracted the same attention as the originals (but if they were truly reflecting updated mores and limits, they should have). But the fact that that kind of violence and revenge became so run-of-the-mill in such a short time speaks volumes about society. Comparing the critical reception of those older films to newer ones like Saw is interesting, but comparing them to their remakes can be equally enlightening.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning how awful some remakes tend to be, but I think it's good to keep an open mind about them. Simliarly, I'm very excited to see how Spike Lee handles his version of Oldboy.

# ? Aug 15, 2011 22:52

weekly font: Dec 1, 2004; Everytime I try to fly I fall
Without my wings
I feel so small
Guess I need you baby...

Bonk posted:

Final Final Destination: Everyone Dies Everywhere�

Come on, you'd watch it.

So is 2012 basically a Final Destination spinoff?

# ? Aug 15, 2011 23:19

The Cameo: Jan 20, 2005

Mr Wind Up Bird posted:

I noticed that The Ward comes out on DVD this week. Any impressions? It got pretty crummy reviews but argh John Carpenter! He made Halloween!

I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again: it's not the golden, perfect return that people wanted from John Carpenter, but it's a serviceable "girls in haunted asylum" movie with the sort of creeping dread that Carpenter can do in his sleep - that then falls apart with a terrible, terrible twist. But up to that last third or so of the movie, it's pretty enjoyable.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 02:44

faustcf: Jun 1, 2004; My beard! I broke my playoff beard!!

Home Movie is a pretty good "found footage" film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267319/

# ? Aug 16, 2011 05:45

flashy_mcflash: Feb 7, 2011

Bonk posted:

I keep seeing ads for the remake, and I guess I just don't get why remaking controversial 70s rape-and-violence films is the thing lately (Straw Dogs, I Spit On Your Grave, Last House on the Left, etc). In the 70s, these films were made against a sociopolitical backdrop of women's liberation, and the concept of extreme violence portrayed in cinema (especially against women) being a backlash of the more conservative decades before it.

But in an age where you have seven Saw films released in consecutive years and where "torture porn" is an actual recognized subgenre, I have a hard time believing these remakes come anywhere near matching that sentiment, or make any sort of statement. It seems they're just remade because they portray some ideas the directors thought were cool and edgy.

I can only speak on "I Spit" but I find that the remake is simultaneously a much more nuanced, careful handling of the source material while being far more brutal. The original "I Spit" is a terrible commentary on women, and the main character does things that no woman would ever consider doing with someone that's just violated her. The remake definitely goes into torture porn territory but the main character's performance is much better, and the rape itself is sufficiently brutal without being exploitative. Of the recent batch of remakes, I think it's one of the only ones that improves on the original, if only because the original is a pretty terrible film when you look at it objectively.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 14:35

flashy_mcflash: Feb 7, 2011

The Cameo posted:

I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again: it's not the golden, perfect return that people wanted from John Carpenter, but it's a serviceable "girls in haunted asylum" movie with the sort of creeping dread that Carpenter can do in his sleep - that then falls apart with a terrible, terrible twist. But up to that last third or so of the movie, it's pretty enjoyable.

Pretty much my take on it, though I didn't hate the twist quite as much as you did. An interesting aspect of the twist is that it's sort of surprising what they DON'T do.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 14:36

Grendels Dad: Mar 5, 2011; Popular culture has passed you by.

Bonk posted:

Final Final Destination: Everyone Dies Everywhere�

Come on, you'd watch it.

Final Destination: Domino Death. Three hours of people falling over and "accidentally" stabbing the person in front of them in the back with an umbrella.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 15:04

weekly font: Dec 1, 2004; Everytime I try to fly I fall
Without my wings
I feel so small
Guess I need you baby...

On the topic of Found Footage, it looks like this Apollo 18 flick is gonna be pretty bad!

# ? Aug 16, 2011 17:30

wicked-tribe: Jun 9, 2004

ZombieParts posted:

I'm watching a found footage film called Haunted Changi. It's from Singapore but they're speaking English for the most part. So far it's really good. It's got some style to it so it feels pretty fresh.

I just recently watched The Collingswood Story. Its a film made entirely with webcams. It had some mild creepiness to it and is worth a watch.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328720/

wicked-tribe fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Aug 16, 2011

# ? Aug 16, 2011 17:31

Juanito: Jan 20, 2004; I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?; Hell Gem

I saw Grave Encounters, I thought it was good. It definitely frightened me in a few situations. And the situation felt more believable than other similar movies that I've seen. I didn't think one of the actors was very good, but other than that, well done movie that I'd recommend.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 17:41

Xenomrph: Dec 9, 2005; AvP Nerd/Fanboy/Shill

weekly font posted:

On the topic of Found Footage, it looks like this Apollo 18 flick is gonna be pretty bad!

Could you elaborate? I was interested in that one.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 18:01

RichterIX: Apr 11, 2003; Sorrowful be the heart

It's been discussed fairly recently, but as far as the "found footage" movies go, I really loved Noroi. It kind of goes off the rails at a certain point, although I think SMG disagrees with me a little on that point, but the premise (the "found footage" is footage filmed for a SyFy Channel-style "Ghosthunters" TV show) works really well and it has some really scary moments.

My problem with found footage movies in general is strangely enough that I hold the actors to a higher standard. I believed that The Blair Witch Project could be found footage (even though I knew it wasn't) because the acting never tipped me off. In the Poughkeepsie Tapes, on the other hand, the acting was constantly shocking me out of the movie. Paranormal Activity's acting is kind of inconsistent but generally convincing, and Cloverfield actually seemed to work pretty well.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 19:32

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD: Sep 14, 2007; everything is yours

If you want to watch found footage with decent and "believable" acting (Incident at Lake County and the first Paranormal Activity may be the worst offenders), watch Lake Mungo and The Last Exorcist.

quote:

On the topic of Found Footage, it looks like this Apollo 18 flick is gonna be pretty bad!

Ah, who cares. My curiosity will not let me not see that movie. Whatever happened to that Area 51 found footage movie?

# ? Aug 16, 2011 19:56

Topper Harley: Jul 6, 2005; You have the whitest white part of the eyes I've ever seen. Do you floss?

I watched Noroi and Megan Is Missing based on things I read in this thread. Noroi was alright, had some good moments. It was nice to see a Japanese movie that wasn't all "Long black hair is the epitome of creepiness."

Megan Is Missing was total crap. There was one slightly shocking part in the middle. The rest was just jarring, godawful acting. At least it was relatively short.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 20:05

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 13:53

Nemesis Of Moles: Jul 25, 2007

Yeah Megan is Missing is pretty terrible. Acting is bad and then half way through it turns into weird loving paedophile snuff horror. Hell the whole movie has this weird creepy vibe throughout that was so bad I had to IMDB the actresses ages so I could even keep watching. Its not scary or unsettling in the conventional sense, its just pretty bad.

Watched Haunted Changi. Gets pretty good near the end but it took me a while to realise the bad acting was actually just their accents. I don't know why they spoke English, I don't know anything about Singapore, do they speak English primarily?

I really love these types of movies. But I don;t know if any have ever beat the Blair Witch for me. Maybe Indecent at lake county or lake mungo came close but I watch basically every single one that gets recommended.

# ? Aug 16, 2011 20:25

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > The Horror Thread is Dead & Buried

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