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Hey there. A while back, I found a thread with a load of great psychological horror films, and I rediscovered my love of weird movies. The thread is closed now, so I figured I would restart it with mod permission. The emphasis of this thread is on mind-bending psychological horror/thriller, with a particular point to avoid senseless gore and torture that is all too common in horror movies. A thread for films that use slow, creeping tension to produce spine-tingling discomfort and horror. Also, Psychological Sci Fi is welcome as well. I was also told to discourage PYF posting, which I can’t complain about. I wanted to make this thread to share some fantastic movies with the community here, and hopefully get some great suggestions back. If you have a good movie that fits into any of these genres, or if you know of a film that you think I would like considering what I’ve posted here, please post it. All that I ask is that you include a summary, a note explaining why it fits the categories and if at all possible, please include a picture of the poster. Thank you very much! LET THE RIGHT ONE IN  “Oscar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire.” Nothing is more touching than the romance of two children too young to understand what romance is. Oscar and Eli make an adorable, awkward pair in this surprisingly dark and touching film about abuse, compassion and sacrifice. Make sure you watch “Let the Right One In” and not “Let Me In”, the bastardized American version. THE LIVING AND THE DEAD  “A descent into Hell is triggered when "Ex-Lord" Donald Brocklebank finds that he must leave Longleigh House for London to find a way to pay for the medical treatments for his wife Nancy. Alone, his over-protected, delusional, adult son, James, fancies himself in charge of the manor house with his terminally ill mother, and barricades the two of them into the house for a series of ever more panicked home treatments, mistakenly protecting her from the arrival of Nurse Mary and any outside help” This is the only movie that truly scared me since I was a young onion. Despite its poor(ish) rating of 5.8 on IMDB, I found it to be far more profound and disturbing than many of the classic horror films like Rosemary’s Baby or Silence of the Lambs. There is something wildly perverse in the depiction of James’ delusions and derangement that makes me feel ill and uncomfortable. I don’t want to turn this into some kind of blathering about my own issues, but I think my fear of becoming retarded or brain injuries is what makes this movie so particularly intense. It’s a must see. THE CONVERSATION  “A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered.” There is nothing wilder, more primal than watching a man’s fears destroy everything he holds dear. The Conversation is a thriller about a man who slowly comes to realize he has no one left to trust. It’s a spectacle to behold. EVENT HORIZON  “A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned...with someone or something new on-board.” With a tagline like ‘Infinite Space, Infinite Terror’ I don’t blame you for clenching your buttocks in fear of another campy sci-fi slasher with an alien made of super sculpy. However, Event Horizon actually ended up being a very successful thriller-horror film set aboard a spaceship with a gravitational drive designed for faster than light travel. The depictions of horror and sadomasochistic death are, surprisingly, nuanced and very effective at creating an atmosphere of hopelessness. I watched this movie with my friend, and we both agreed that the first half was Dead Space: The Movie. SUNSHINE  “A team of astronauts are sent to re-ignite the dying sun 50 years into the future.” Let your scientific mind go for a second before you sit down to enjoy this one, but be ready for weird. It’s hard for a movie to really have a twist that surprises me, but this one has multiple. You really get a sense of the claustrophobia and intense dread the crew of the Icarus II. The visual effects are expertly executed and the way that the horror is never fully revealed on the screen. There is something very otherworldly (no pun intended) about this movie. I highly recommend it. I watched this with the same friend, and we both agreed that the first half of this film is Dead Space 2: The Movie. VALHALLA RISING  “1000 AD, for years, One Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness.” This isn’t really a horror film at all, but it certainly fits into the place of psychological film. The violence is brief, but intense. If you are looking for a 300 style movie, but with Christian missionaries in the place of Persians, look elsewhere. The movie is long, slow and kind of dragged out, but it’s so beautifully shot that you can easily lose yourself in the scenery. THE MIST  “A freak storm unleashes a species of blood-thirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole-up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.” The movie is weirder than the summary lets on. Just like Psycho and Sunshine, the true identity of the monster isn’t shown at all, or it’s held until the very end. I’m not going to say something tacky about the real monster being fundamentalist Christians, but most of the tension and anguish is fueled by man’s panicking, hateful nature. This film has one of the most intense and brutal endings of any film I’ve ever seen. Watch it. SHUTTER ISLAND  “Drama set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding nearby.” This is what mysteries are all about. Shutter Island is a perfect film for portraying reality through the eyes of multiple people. The feeling of doom and suspicion is rich, and DiCaprio was a fantastic choice for the role of Teddy Daniels. Just like The Conversation, there is a real thrill in watching a man at his wit’s end. MOON  “Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.” ‘Moon’ is another space film that succeeds at creating tension between man and his environment. Sam Bell is alone on a spacecraft, and he’s been waiting to go home for what seems like ages. His loneliness is only compounded when his only companion is a semi-sentient computer named GERTY. In his searching across the surface of the moon, he makes a profound and bizarre discovery and witnesses the heartless nature of his mission. MONKEY SHINES  “A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master.” Monkey Shines isn’t a brilliant, horrifying or psychologically breathtaking piece of artwork. It’s just a weird, weird movie. That being said, it’s very good at what it does. Find a man who has invested a great deal of his time and passion into his body, a true athlete. Take away everything that he worked for and give him a helper monkey. A psychic one. Go watch it. THE SHINING  “A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.” I’m not going to spoon feed you this one. If you haven’t seen the shining, you need to do this. Go watch it. Now. It’s a goddamned classic. Stanley Kubrick directed it. Jack Nicholson is in it. Go watch it. SESSION 9  “Tensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back.” This is an excellent movie in all regards. Sure, there is a bit of overacting, but the pacing and the incredibly potent feeling of dread and pain is enough to power through any gently caress YOU’s that might throw you off. Also, it lent one of the most incredible interesting visuals to Silent Hill 3:  There is just something about the excitement of urban exploration and the thrill of being essentially alone in such a strange place that creates a great sense of fear and the itching, jerking feeling of oh-gently caress-did-that-thing-just-move-I-gotta-IGOTTAGETHEFUCKOUTTAHERE. THE MACHINIST   “An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.” Profoundly dark and beautifully shot, The Machinist displays an incredible propensity to generate a sickening sense of discomfort. Maybe it’s the fact that Christian Bale went from the hulking mass of manflesh to a featherweight machine-shop worker just for this film that makes watching it seem so much more surreal. REPULSION  “Left alone when her sister goes on vacation, a sexually repressed young beauty goes insane with surreal fantasies of seduction and rape.” Artfully shot and deeply perverse, Repulsion is the first of Polanski’s loosely tied trilogy of the horrors of city/apartment living. Being shot entirely in black and white, the lack of color lets the viewer experience the more nuanced signs of fear, loathing and wild, sexual delusions. The pain of beauty is the nemesis in this classic film. I highly recommend it. JACOB’S LADDER  “A traumatized Vietnam War veteran finds out that his post-war life isn't what he believes it to be when he's stalked by horned, tentacled creatures, men in suits and an apparition of his dead son.” This is easily one of my favorite films ever. It was the first film to ever use the ‘body horror’ technique of blurred, shaking heads. As noted on IMDB: ‘All SFX were filmed live, with no post-production. For example, to achieve the famous 'shaking head' effect, director Adrian Lyne simply filmed the actor waving his head around (and keeping his shoulders and the rest of his body completely still) at 4fps, resulting in an incredibly fast and deeply disturbing motion when played back at the normal frame-rate of 24fps.’ You can see this in Marilyn Manson’s music videos for Tourniquet and The Beautiful People and the rapid head-shaking is used throughout the Silent Hill series, particularly after the 3rd installment. I can’t quite pin down what it is about this imagery, but it is certainly more frightening than any other type of effect I’ve seen. Jacob’s Ladder truly changed the way I view horror films, and relit my love of the genre. I honestly can’t recommend it highly enough. ERASERHEAD  “Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.” Eraserhead is, without a doubt, the most bizarre film I’ve ever seen, followed closely by BEGOTTEN. It’s incredibly difficult to accurately describe what makes this film so stark and depraved, so all I can say is that you need to watch this movie with an open mind. No, you won’t finish this movie and feel good. You’ll feel like your brain just ate something rotten. You’ll be confused and disturbed. The symbolism isn’t clear; the metaphors aren’t spelled out for you. This movie is on the verge of being complete chaos for the sake of being complete chaos. It’s a classic unlike any other. It must be seen to be believed. ROSEMARY’S BABY  “A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life.” The beautiful, fragile Rosemary, pregnant and glowing, is trapped in an incredibly bleak, spiraling abyss. Her husband might have impregnated her with less than loving intentions, her doctors are frauds and there is the persistence of the deathly mysteries of her apartment. Something is amiss, and it’s not until the birth of the child that she discovers how deep the rabbit hole goes. BEGOTTEN  “God disembowels himself with a straight razor. The spirit-like Mother Earth emerges, venturing into a bleak, barren landscape. Twitching and cowering, the Son Of Earth is set upon by faceless cannibals.” Okay, I’ll admit it. I used to be a huge Marilyn Manson fan. I still think he’s a genius and a talented artist, but after he shut down the fansite that I logged 7k+ posts on, I’ve held him in contempt. While he may be a flagrant rear end in a top hat, he’s shown me some really incredible movies. BEGOTTEN is one of them. The film is shot in black and white, but not like any The Wizard of Oz black and white. According to IMDB, ‘Approximately eight to ten hours of optical work - re-photographing, visual treatments, and filtering - was required to produce one minute of film. The total postproduction period for the 78-minute movie was eight months.’ The opening scene of God’s death is so drawn out, so astonishing and so wicked; it might turn off most viewers. If you can press on through some of the darkest and most densely symbolic images of the death of God, you’ll be rewarded with one of the strangest movies ever made. Go watch it. Whew, that was a lot. Okay, that’s all I have for you! Tell me what you think!
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May 1, 2011 22:25
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There is a great tradition of ghost stories on Christmas Eve on British television, and although you have to appreciate the limited budget and outdated special effects, these made-for-TV movies have moments of genuine terror.  There are two versions of M.R. James' classic ghost story Oh, Whistle and I'll Come To You, My Lad; one from 1968 with Michael Hordern, and one from 2010 with John Hurt. Both are excellent, the 68 version is more true to the original story, where as the 2010 version takes a few liberties of its own. There is something extremely chilling about the distant presence following the protagonist at twilight on a forgotten English beach. Who is this who comes?  The Woman In Black will be seeing a remake starring Daniel Radcliffe this year, but the one from 1982 could have only been an inspiration for the creators of movies like The Others. Once again nothing owns more than distant malevolent presences moving inexorably closer to the protagonist against the setting of a desolate rural place.  Based on the Dickensian short story, The Signalman (1976) is another classic. The atmosphere is oppressive, the train tunnel with its singular red light still haunts me to this day.
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May 1, 2011 22:57
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Ringu So there's this urban legend about a cursed vhs tape. If you see it you get a phone call and after seven days you die. One journalist decides to investigate this legend. What is great about this movie is how good it builds the tension. Take the opening scene for example. First the girls casually talk about the legend, then it's revealed that one of the girls actually saw the tape and finally that this is her final day. Then tv turns itself on.. The remake is considered one of the good remakes of Asian horror movies but I think it loses a lot in the translation. It's not so subtle, everything (including how the people look after death) is exaggerated. The original movie also touches on the maybe ambiguous relationship that the Japanese have to their technology that American don't.
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May 1, 2011 23:09
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Candyman we dare you to say his name five times Helen Lyle is a student writing a thesis on Urban myths who comes across the story of The Candyman. Following the stories to a run down housing project, Helen becomes increasingly embroiled in a series of disturbing events surround this legend I'm no horror officianado, but I always really liked this film. There were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing, but more than that it always came across as a pretty dignified and thoughtful take on the "supernatural monster gonna kill you!" genre. The housing project is a fantastic setting as the everyday horror of poverty and violence is juxtaposed with the supernatural horrors of the Candyman. It also brings in the classic move of the protagonists sanity being questioned both by her and those around her, distrust and paranoia really ramping up the tension. Props have to go out to Philip Glass for a marvellously atmospheric and haunting score that plays on a strange melancholia and wistfullness rather than just crashing in with bombastic thriller type music.
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May 1, 2011 23:55
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I'm not entirely sure how much it counts, but since Eraserhead's in the OP... Mulholland Dr. is a beautiful movie about identity and false façades. I'm pretty sure the majority of CineD has seen this movie, and I'm reluctant to describe the plot because I think the act of describing the plot is a spoiler. In any case... A woman (Laura Harring) loses her memory in a car accident, whereupon she wanders away from the scene and into the home of Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), a too-perfect, infectiously bubbly actress just starting her Hollywood career. Meanwhile, in a far wealthier part of town, bigshot director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) is having one of the worst days of his life, losing his wife and control of his film. In what follows, everything is called into question, including the characters, their identities, their circumstances, their feelings, and what is and isn't really happening. This is my favorite Lynch film, although it took me a while to realize that. Probably the scariest thing I've ever seen in a movie happens a short while in, in broad daylight, in high-key lighting, outside a full restaurant. The way Lynch does dolly shots here is amazing; you never know if what he's about to show is horrifying or benign, but it's hard not to get a pit in the stomach every time (even on rewatches). The movie has such a pervasive and intense aura of fear that even when it's sexy, funny, sad, frustrating, or dramatic, it's still scary above all. What's more, it doesn't come with easy answers. In short, Mulholland Drive stuck with me and scared me more than any horror movie I've ever seen.
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May 2, 2011 02:11
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 Kairo (or as its also known Pulse) is an interesting horror movie in just how nihilistic it is. The ghosts can't be fought or stopped. There are really only two options, you kill yourself or give in to the despair. Another thing is how nobody in the movie has any answers as to what's going on. A couple of the character have theories but the film doesn't present these as correct. Whatever you do avoid the American remake as it is chock full of missteps, including a bizarre scene where Brad Dourif appears out of nowhere and explains exactly what's going on and what the main characters can do to survive. While the Japanese version used computers and the internet as a metaphor of how technology alienates us, the American version goes with the much simpler "Ghosts are haunting the internet!" This article sums up stuff better than I can.
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May 2, 2011 04:14
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I guess it's more thriller than psych/horror... I don't even want to reveal anything because this movie is so awesome. "A man confesses to an FBI agent his family's story of how his religious fanatic father's visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed "demons." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frailty Massive spoilers, obviously. But seriously, this movie is loving amazing.
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May 2, 2011 19:51
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^^^^Frailty owns. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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May 2, 2011 21:08
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 WHAT IF... a fledgling documentary maker sought out and found the approval of an up and coming serial killer in a world where Jason and Freddy were real? What if all it took to become a seemingly magical, bigger-than-life icon of death was careful planning and lots of prep time? What if you were given the chance to watch one of those killers set up and pull off the stunts like a behind-the-scenes magic show? And what happens when it all goes very, very wrong? I love this movie. It's brillaint, well-plotted, and all the elements come together in just the right way.
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May 2, 2011 22:12
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Angel Heart A private detective is contacted by a mysterious man named Louis Cyphre who wants to find a crooner named Johnny Favorite. Apparently Johnny Favorite broke a contract. This is movie that slowly let's you know that something is very hosed up. How there is some evil forces lurking beneath the streets of New Orleans. No one is really innocent and everybody has an ulterior motive. As a result you don't know who to trust, not even the protagonist. So great atmosphere and some great acting. Plus Lia Bonet's tits.
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May 2, 2011 22:53
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Subscribed to this thread and very glad to come across it. After perusing the op it's occurred to me that this is pretty much my favorite genre of movie. Movies like Jacob's Ladder, Event Horizon, and The Shining are some of my all time favorite classic films while Moon, The Machinist, and Shutter Island are among the top newer movies to be released. My little addition (storylines copies from imdb): Altered States  Just read the poster. drat wtf right? I bought this movie for 5 bucks in a busted up and package taped case during a chance encounter with a singer for a local death metal band on his recommendation. "That's a hosed up movie" he said. And it was. imdb posted:An American researching different states of consciousness with the aid of mind altering drugs and an isolation chamber begins to experience disturbing physical changes in his body that point toward an evolutionary regression. Sphere  imdb posted:1000 feet below the ocean, navy divers discover an object half-a-mile long. A crack team of scientists are deployed to the site in Deepsea Habitats. What they find boggles the mind as they discover a perfect metal sphere. What is the secret behind the sphere? Will they survive the mysterious 'manifestations'? Who or what is creating these? While this movie doesn't have the greatest reviews, it's one of my cult favorites (not sure of it's "official cult status" but it works for me). The summary pretty much tells it all, no huge surprises. I like it enough to recommend it and to own on blu ray (it's like $8 on amazon.) 12 Monkeys  imdb posted:An unknown and lethal virus has wiped out five billion people in 1996. Only 1% of the population has survived by the year 2035, and is forced to live underground. A convict (James Cole) reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to 1996 to gather information about the origin of the epidemic (who he's told was spread by a mysterious "Army of the Twelve Monkeys") and locate the virus before it mutates so that scientists can study it. Unfortunately Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990, six years earlier than expected, and is arrested and locked up in a mental institution, where he meets Dr. Kathryn Railly, a psychiatrist, and Jeffrey Goines, the insane son of a famous scientist and virus expert. It's Brad Pitt acting like a total whack job, and Bruce Willis acting like a confused sunuvabitch. A large majority of the movie takes place in the past in a mental ward, or is it the future? NO ONE KNOWS... and some of the poo poo is almost as scifi weird like The Fifth Element. Preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBNMEwNx9x4 Pi  There will be no order. Only chaos. imdb posted:Max is a genius mathematician who's built a supercomputer at home that provides something that can be understood as a key for understanding all existence. Representatives both from a Hasidic cabalistic sect and high-powered Wall Street firm hear of that secret and attempt to seduce him. How has this movie not been added yet? It's a Darren Aronofsky flick, pretty much the one that put him on the map. It's so weird I don't know what to say. Anyways there are more on my list but that's all I have time for now. Looking forward to seeing what else you guys recommend. (Added several to my "poo poo to watch" list already). Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 22:59 on May 2, 2011 |
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May 2, 2011 22:56
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They may never live to find out.
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 "A middle-aged man, Aoyama, who lost his wife to an illness seven years prior, is urged by his 17-year-old son to begin dating women again. Aoyama's friend and colleague, a film producer, devises a plan to hold a mock-audition, in which young, beautiful women would audition for the 'part' of Aoyama's new wife, under the impression that they are auditioning for a new film. Aoyama is immediately enchanted by Asami Yamazaki. Aoyama's friend warns him about Asami, saying that he has a bad feeling about her; he couldn't reach any of the references on her résumé, and her job history is shaky. Aoyama is so enthralled by her, however, that he pursues the romance anyway." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audition_%28film%29 (HUGE spoilers, view at own risk) Fantastic, slowly-building psychological horror from Takashi Miike, a director that's perhaps best known for over-the-top unapologetic ultra-violence. While certainly not without its moments of extreme violence and grotesque images, the bulk of Audition is the build-up and the slow realization that things aren't quite right.
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May 2, 2011 23:00
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Asphalt Engine posted:Behind the Mask I've heard good things about this film, though I have yet to see it. I'm curious--does it distance itself from Man Bites Dog or does it acknowledges it in any way? Given the very similar premises and this movie's film-aware nature it'd seem almost suspicious not to address it in some way.
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May 3, 2011 00:14
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PateraOctopus posted:I've heard good things about this film, though I have yet to see it. I'm curious--does it distance itself from Man Bites Dog or does it acknowledges it in any way? Given the very similar premises and this movie's film-aware nature it'd seem almost suspicious not to address it in some way. It never directly addresses it, but while the plot is similar, it's way different in tone than Man Bites Dog. Honestly, it has more in common with the Scream movies; it's riffing more on the tropes of the Slasher genre than on actual real-life serial killers. It's pretty okay, but apart from maybe one 30 second sequence about halfway through the movie, it's never even close to scary. I mean, I don't really even think it's trying to be. It's a comedy above all else, I don't think it really belongs in this thread. The lead actor owns, though, and it's worth a watch if you're a horror fan.
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May 3, 2011 00:18
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Sphere I really got into "Sphere" when I saw the beginning of it one day, kept watching on the edge of my seat. Then the jellyfish attack kills Queen Latifah and it just kinda got lame and weird. I did buy the book though to see if it was any better, haven't read it yet. Also your name is awesome.  "An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational." This movie is loving amazing and again I don't want to reveal too much, but I will say that: Wikipedia posted:Carpenter considers The Thing to be the first part of his Apocalypse Trilogy, followed by Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. I've never seen "The Thing" or "Prince of Darkness" but I've heard very good things about "The Thing", and the other one pretty much has to be good.
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May 3, 2011 00:34
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Dalai Lamacide posted:I've never seen "The Thing" or "Prince of Darkness" but I've heard very good things about "The Thing", and the other one pretty much has to be good. I'd rank Prince of Darkness as being decent-to-good, but The Thing is really loving amazing. Like, up there with the original Alien. Definitely see it. I gotta say, though, I feel like the only dude on the internet who wasn't into In the Mouth of Madness. It had a neat premise and its hard to go wrong with Sam Neill/Jurgen Prochnow, but it also just had, like, way too many jump scares to be effective as a horror movie.
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May 3, 2011 01:09
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I just loved the way everything culminated into him watching the movie of what just happened to him and laughing/crying eating popcorn.
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May 3, 2011 01:21
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Isn't Sunshine pretty much like Event Horizon? I might be a bit confused about them. Also, does Let the Right One In qualify as a Psychological Horror/Thriller? Not that I'm complaining, that movie is so drat good it can be featured in whatever list it feels like.
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May 3, 2011 01:24
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Elentor posted:Isn't Sunshine pretty much like Event Horizon? I might be a bit confused about them. The conceptual similarities are there, but the thematic ones aren't. Both involve space voyages taking a turn for the horrific, but they're both about very, very different things.
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May 3, 2011 01:35
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I like In the Mouth of Madness, but something about it is just... off. While it can be almost unnerving at times and the acting is solid, it's never genuinely scary, and often kind of silly. The finale is amazing and definitely worth watching the whole thing, though. "Haunted by recent events and on the run, a man finds himself at a seemingly derelict radio station and like the station's only inhabitant must ask himself whether it is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." A creepy-as-poo poo short film directed by the producer/director/editor of a TON of making-of/background documentaries for DVD releases. This guy's worked on DVD special features stuff for everything from The Fly to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Don't think for a second that that stops him from making effective original psychological horror though, AM 1200 is still an incredibly tense and well-acted film. Unfortunately, it's kind of hard to find. Best (legal) place I know of is the official site: http://am1200.com/
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May 3, 2011 01:36
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I would say The Village by M Night Shyamalan is a good fit for this thread. Nothing that will make you jump out of your seat but the atmosphere is just what it should be, oppressive. Not a great movie but still fun to watch.
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May 3, 2011 01:42
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Dalai Lamacide posted:
I'm sorry, but I really, really hated this movie. The acting was terrible, I found the monsters to be downright goofy and the overarching theme of an author with the powers of a God just didn't speak to me. I'd love for some real Lovecraft to hit the silver screen though, and with At the Mountains of Madness being filmed, I might just get my wish.
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May 3, 2011 02:41
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LtKenFrankenstein posted:I'd rank Prince of Darkness as being decent-to-good, but The Thing is really loving amazing. Like, up there with the original Alien. Definitely see it. I kind of agree. Prince of Darkness is a really cheaply-made movie, but it does a much better job of creating a really oppressive atmosphere than In the Mouth of Madness does. It's easy to see it as dumb and cheesey, but if I watch it alone in the dark it's just creepy as gently caress on some level.
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May 3, 2011 02:41
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sean10mm posted:I kind of agree. Prince of Darkness is a really cheaply-made movie, but it does a much better job of creating a really oppressive atmosphere than In the Mouth of Madness does. It's easy to see it as dumb and cheesey, but if I watch it alone in the dark it's just creepy as gently caress on some level. If you're talking about Prince of Darkness, the most disturbing parts to me are those scenes shot on grainy digital video that are supposedly transmissions from the future. That soft, static whisper of a voice that's telling you what's going on coupled with seeing that figure in the church doors...yikes. It's really unsettling. Kull the Conqueror fucked around with this message at 04:06 on May 3, 2011 |
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May 3, 2011 02:54
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Asphalt Engine posted:This is really, really NOT a psychological thriller. I have nothing against the movie but you might as well be putting up Shaun of the Dead or something.
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May 3, 2011 03:28
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Kull the Conqueror posted:If you're talking about Prince of Darkness, the most disturbing parts to me are those scenes shot on grainy digital video that are supposedly transmissions from the future. That soft, static whisper of a voice that's telling you what's going on coupled with seeing that figure in the church doors...yikes. It's really disturbing. I normally like Carpenter a lot, but I thought Prince of Darkness was pure wasted potential. Like there are a ton of great ideas, but it's shockingly poorly executed. On paper, it's a fantastic story though.
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May 3, 2011 03:41
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Insomnia, starring Al Pacino, Hillary Swank, and Robin Williams. Really, really great crime thriller with strong psychological leanings. Also the best Carpenter movie is They Live. Yeah, I said it.
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May 3, 2011 04:56
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Hey, I don't know if this is hugely against rules or something, but I'm just starting out on the blog scene and I need help. I'm trying to do a movie/music/art/bullshit review site...and figuring that this is cinema discusso, maybe you folks could tell me if my site is ugly/not user friendly or something? Helpful criticism? http://snarlreviews.blogspot.com/ This is my site. Tell me what you think, please! and if this is considered spam, let me know and I'll gladly remove it.
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May 3, 2011 05:31
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 A History of Violence "A mild-mannered man becomes a local hero through an act of violence, which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core." Just finally got around to seeing this. I loved it, Viggo always kicks rear end. The pacing in this movie is great, I was never sure what the next scene would lead too. Real suspenseful, and when a scene in this movie pays off, it pays off big.
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May 3, 2011 06:13
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sean10mm posted:I kind of agree. Prince of Darkness is a really cheaply-made movie, but it does a much better job of creating a really oppressive atmosphere than In the Mouth of Madness does. It's easy to see it as dumb and cheesey, but if I watch it alone in the dark it's just creepy as gently caress on some level. That last time I saw Prince of Darkness was the ultimate way to watch that movie. I saw it at a midnight showing in a theater with a really good sound system. The movie actually has a bass line that plays through out most of the film. I never even noticed that the first time I saw it because I watched it on video. The movie is creepy enough on its own, but when you watch it in the middle of the night and hear the earth rattling thump of that bass, that's a whole other thing.
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May 3, 2011 07:19
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 Seconds is often tagged a science fiction film, but it more of a psychological horror film than anything. It's not over-the-top, but very unsettling. Oh, and the ending is unforgettable. Wizchine fucked around with this message at 17:41 on May 3, 2011 |
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May 3, 2011 09:25
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oiseaux morts 1994 posted:There is a great tradition of ghost stories on Christmas Eve on British television, and although you have to appreciate the limited budget and outdated special effects, these made-for-TV movies have moments of genuine terror. You are my hero. I'm going to track down The Signalman because I loving LOVE Vintage British Train Horror, which is a genre not exactly overpopulated in ANY medium, except lovely ghost story books which seem like high art when you're 14. Something about the foggy atmosphere, the huge iron machines of the era and that slightly nihilistic regard for life makes for an excellent horror setting. e: it's on youtube - of course - and ooh, it's a perfect thing. It looks exactly how I'd hoped, all single-pane glass and foggy indistinctness. And Elliott is the business, obviously. echoplex fucked around with this message at 12:08 on May 3, 2011 |
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May 3, 2011 09:44
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Kull the Conqueror posted:If you're talking about Prince of Darkness, the most disturbing parts to me are those scenes shot on grainy digital video that are supposedly transmissions from the future. That soft, static whisper of a voice that's telling you what's going on coupled with seeing that figure in the church doors...yikes. It's really unsettling. I worded that poorly but yeah, I was talking about Prince of Darkness. If that movie had things like a budget and actors and maybe some help with the writing it could have been amazing.  If nothing else that part you described and what follows it are a hell of a way to end a movie.
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May 3, 2011 12:53
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Dalai Lamacide posted:I really got into "Sphere" when I saw the beginning of it one day, kept watching on the edge of my seat. Then the jellyfish attack kills Queen Latifah and it just kinda got lame and weird. I did buy the book though to see if it was any better, haven't read it yet. Also your name is awesome. For those that saw the movie version of Sphere and don't feel like reading the book: The book is probably more successful at conveying the concept of what the sphere actually is and how it works. It's still somewhat of an abstraction in that all we know of the sphere is that it was obtained by the people on board the crashed starship. It's not my favorite Crichton book by a longshot and it follows his typical tried-and-true formula of "people are stuck in an inaccessible location and menaced by some vaguely plausible sci-fi plot device". Still, when the book has the space and time to discuss its characters at length- how they think, what they feel- it fleshes out the sphere's purpose in a much better fashion than the movie did. When you deal with the manifestation of objects from thoughts in a movie, you can either 1)burn celluloid explaining it fully for the audience, 2)gloss over it, or 3)make it loving funny ("It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.") As a movie, I think Sphere probably falls under the "gloss over it" category. I think the movie, like the book, spent a great deal of time building suspense. Unlike the book, there wasn't enough room to completely get into the sphere's abilities, the significance of "Jerry", and fully develop the realization that the biggest threat on board the underwater station isn't the sphere, it's the station's own crew. The movie is cast very well and the actors they chose for the movie are very close to the descriptions given in the book, particularly Stone, Latifah, and Jackson. The jellyfish attack goes down in pretty much the same fashion in the movie as it did in the book. The squid is given a much greater role. Finally, the end of the movie doesn't involve the sphere flying off and there's a bit of ambiguity in whether or not one or more of the surviving crew members intentionally forgot about the sphere's "powers". But again, that's the screenplay putting the role of the antagonist directly onto the sphere itself, and not on the crew members. ElectricSheep fucked around with this message at 15:55 on May 3, 2011 |
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May 3, 2011 14:28
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echoplex posted:You are my hero. I'm going to track down The Signalman because I loving LOVE Vintage British Train Horror, which is a genre not exactly overpopulated in ANY medium, except lovely ghost story books which seem like high art when you're 14. Yeah, I saw it when I was about 7, and the scene where he calls out "hello below!" still sends shivers up my spine. If you're into that kind of spooky British TV horror, check out the stuff Nigel Kneale wrote in the 70's like "Beasts" (a collection of short tales) and "The Stone Tape". You can't really go wrong with abstracted, ancient evil. There's a guy on YouTube who has a collection of videos going through some of the best horror movies around the world. The best part is that he sets it to this amazing 70's horror soundtrack music by guys like Legowelt, and gives it the right kind of atmosphere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9M8_bFGt8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buaRWL1G_Eo I can't recommend the second video's series enough, I think there's about 7 parts, he covers underrated horror from all over the world, or deals with particular subjects like ESP, time travel, or witchcraft. Check out his channel for one of the best internet horror troves ever.
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May 3, 2011 14:54
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PateraOctopus posted:The conceptual similarities are there, but the thematic ones aren't. Both involve space voyages taking a turn for the horrific, but they're both about very, very different things. Yeah, a lot of the danger the crew of the Icarus 2 faces is that space around them is openly hostile to human life and their ship is so very, very fragile. Even before they get to the movie takes a turn, they've already lost half the crew do to irreparable damage to the ship.
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May 3, 2011 16:34
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oiseaux morts 1994 posted:Yeah, I saw it when I was about 7, and the scene where he calls out "hello below!" still sends shivers up my spine. If you're into that kind of spooky British TV horror, check out the stuff Nigel Kneale wrote in the 70's like "Beasts" (a collection of short tales) and "The Stone Tape". Ta for those links, I'll check them out. The Woman In Black is up in reasonable quality on youtube (make sure you select 480p) starting here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpl9pVHh8LA&feature=related She is a genuinely chilling screen presence. Wow.
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May 3, 2011 17:51
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oiseaux morts 1994 posted:There is a great tradition of ghost stories on Christmas Eve on British television, and although you have to appreciate the limited budget and outdated special effects, these made-for-TV movies have moments of genuine terror. I love these. Is there any reason you didn't mention A Warning to the Curious? I think it's my favorite. Also gotta second your Nigel Kneale recommendation - "After Barty's Party" and "Baby" are terrific. Holy gently caress Baby is some scary poo poo. The Quatermass stories are, of course, his best, but I've always loved his script for The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas. There's a lot of The Thing in it.
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May 3, 2011 18:01
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Wow, The Keep was on that list. There's an odd, odd film.
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May 3, 2011 18:02
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penismightier posted:I love these. Is there any reason you didn't mention A Warning to the Curious? I think it's my favorite. I haven't seen it but I'll check it out. I freakin' love M.R. James, and I'm glad they revived "A Ghost Story for Christmas".
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May 3, 2011 19:32
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