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Franchescanado posted:Which day are we watching Salň, or the 120 Days of Sodom? I watch it every day before breakfast 
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Jan 2, 2019 23:00
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| # ? May 2, 2024 09:45 |
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Ugh I'll be out of commission for health reasons the next 2 days. I'll try to catch up on the weekend. Cheers.
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Jan 3, 2019 00:22
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The Birds sucked. No one even fought a giant bird.
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Jan 3, 2019 05:43
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It's called The Birds, plural 
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Jan 3, 2019 05:58
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Yeah but no one fought a giant bird that was controlling other birds. If you got bit by a bird you didn't turn into a bird. No one dressed up like birds to fool the birds so they could escape. Movie is a total loving failure and I don't see why people are like " Oh this is one of Hitchcocks best". Some lady drives 60 miles to try and romance a gay dude .
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Jan 3, 2019 13:27
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I don't like The Birds. While I love the shot compositions of the first act, it's such a slow burn that I never get the momentum from the build-up and the excitement from the titular Birds beginning their attack never wins me over. Tippi Hedren's Melanie is a fun protagonist, however. Her 'romance' with Mitch (Rod Taylor) is less charming than it is bizarre, but they still seem to have a nice chemistry. Jessica Tandy, the domineering mother Lydia, is also a spooky severe lady. The cast is great, really, making the horror of an environmental attack that is overwhelming grounded and believable (also thanks to Hitchcock's directing. Robert Burks's cinematography and the special effects team). I just don't find the film that scary or even interesting, outside of it's cultural significance. I know quite a few people that consider this the scariest movie for them, and has lead to their irrational fear of birds. It's a solid film, but I much prefer Vertigo and Psycho and other Hitchcock films. This is my third or fourth attempt at watching the movie, and I hit the same lull as last time. For me? This film is for the birds. I don't outright hate it. In fact, in a few years, I'd like to revisit this and see if it works better for me.
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Jan 3, 2019 13:30
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I have to agree that The Birds is not one of Hitchcock's best, even though it's often brought up in those terms. I guess it would look a lot different on anyone else's filmography, but with Hitchcock I have a hard time putting it in his top-10. Like Fran said, Vertigo and Psycho blow it out of the water. So do Rear Window, North by Northwest, and The Trouble With Harry. Really, I can't think of very many Hitchcock films that I don't prefer over The Birds. But yea it says something about Hitchcock that even with all that taken into consideration, The Birds is still essential viewing for any horror fan. There's a solid argument to be made that Hitchcock is THE best filmmaker who ever lived.
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Jan 3, 2019 14:55
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IIRC, Hitchcock himself once said that the audience is willing to forgive your film just about anything if the ending is good, and I think The Birds proves him right.
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Jan 3, 2019 15:04
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As always with Hitchcock though, the scenes that land are extremely harrowing and memorable. Tippi Hedren getting completely mauled by the birds in the house towards the end really is extremely effective, although Hedren certainly suffered for it, by all accounts that was not a fun scene to shoot.
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Jan 3, 2019 15:16
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 So, The Birds. Probably the first film in history to be scarier for the actors than the audience. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure in 1963 this was fantastic and terrifying. But the effects that had been nominated for an Academy Award have aged incredibly poorly, with the only convincing bird attacks being the ones where Hitchcock just let real birds loose to bite and scratch his actors (including children, who I'm sure came out very traumatized from what probably seemed like a great acting role when they auditioned). There's one huge masking job that's done well and still mostly holds up today, but there's also tons of sodium vapor "yellowscreen" tricks that look blatantly obvious. While the slow burn and initial impression of a romantic comedy aren't necessarily a problem, the bigger problem is that it tries to return to slow drama scenes after the initial big bird attacks and the infamous eyeless corpse. It's a weird pacing choice that throws off the film. Much of the rest of the film is unintentionally comedic, as the Discord server's records will show. Not even kidding, I liked Birdemic better. Both movies were unintentionally funny, but only one of them kept it going from start to finish. Basebf555 posted:As always with Hitchcock though, the scenes that land are extremely harrowing and memorable. Tippi Hedren getting completely mauled by the birds in the house towards the end really is extremely effective, although Hedren certainly suffered for it, by all accounts that was not a fun scene to shoot. I couldn't get past how all of the sounds she was making in that scene sounded more like she was shooting a sex scene, complete with a breathy "Oh Mitch...."
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Jan 3, 2019 15:53
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I really liked The Birds! I thought it did a great job of establishing the film as a pretty weird offbeat romantic comedy thing. Oh, to be an idle rich person, with enough time and resources to just take a weekend and follow someone home to pursue. Their banter was all weird, flirtatious lies, and then we find out he's gay but very slowly populating a town with unrequited lovers. At the same time there is a constant growing menace of birds in true horror movie style. I didn't find the movie particularly scary, but the attic scene was intense and I sure as hell don't want that rear end in a top hat throwing birds at me all day. As the heroine, I didn't expect Melanie to be broken so completely. The playground scene is wonderful, with just one crow turning into a full murder at the next glance, and the ending is just completely creepy and menacing. Honestly a large group of anything sitting quietly and staring at you is unnerving. Now someone watch The Bird's 2: Lands End and tell us how awful it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C0AdYOLpUA
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Jan 3, 2019 16:08
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If you like weird offbeat Hitchcock romances definitely check out The Trouble With Harry. Two people find love and get together by bonding over the disposal of the corpse of the woman's husband. Preferably watch the most recent restoration, which is absolutely jaw dropping and was shot in VistaVision. Top 10 Hitchock List: 1. Vertigo 2. Psycho 3. Rear Window 4. The Trouble With Harry 5. North by Northwest 6. Rebecca 7. Foreign Correspondent 8. The Man Who Knew Too Much 9. To Catch A Thief 10. Rope I haven't seen Spellbound or Notorious, two films that a lot of people probably would have in their top10. Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Jan 3, 2019 |
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Jan 3, 2019 16:12
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I think going into The Birds wanting to be scared is a mistake. There's some chilling images (the eyeless corpse is done so loving well) but I do think it's much more of a bizarre film than a particularly scary film. It's operating on so many layers of story telling to probe things like jealousy and paranoia (the scene in the diner where people start blaming Tippi Hedren for the bird attacks is a real tip of the hat to the Freudian implications for why the birds are attacking in the first place) but again there's also a postmodernist break in the film. The final act when they're boarded up in the house, the characters feel detached from the film itself, like I keep getting reminded of Six Characters in Search of an Author. It's five characters unstuck in their own story, existing outside of the narrative they were supposed to live in and undone by something inexplicable and irrational. The lack of a score, and relying on the ambient silence and the eeriness of the flapping wings really drives home how much the film is breaking from conventional Hollywood moviemaking and remaking the form. edit: Top 10 Hitchcocks 1. The Birds 2. Shadow of a Doubt 3. Vertigo 4. The Wrong Man 5. Strangers on a Train 6. Rebecca 7. Psycho 8. Frenzy 9. North by Northwest 10. The 39 Steps Underrated -- Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Torn Curtain, Topaz, I Confess, Sabotage, Waltzes from Vienna TrixRabbi fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Jan 3, 2019 |
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Jan 3, 2019 16:22
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Lurdiak asked other goons to pick today's flick, so here it goes: Day 3: Audition, aka オーディション 1999 | dir. Takashi Miike | based on the novel by Ryű Murakami Trailer | available on Shudder  Seven years after the death of his wife, company executive Aoyama is invited to sit in on auditions for an actress. Leafing through the resumés in advance, his eye is caught by Yamazaki Asami, a striking young woman with ballet training. I have never seen this classic. It was recently gifted to me by fellow goon FancyMike, so I have no excuse. Join me!
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Jan 3, 2019 16:28
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TrixRabbi posted:It's operating on so many layers of story telling to probe things like jealousy and paranoia (the scene in the diner where people start blaming Tippi Hedren for the bird attacks is a real tip of the hat to the Freudian implications for why the birds are attacking in the first place) but again there's also a postmodernist break in the film. Yeah, I think it's fair to say that people who like dissecting the social and sexual subtext in a Hitchcock film are going to have a field day with The Birds.
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Jan 3, 2019 16:31
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TrixRabbi posted:The final act when they're boarded up in the house, the characters feel detached from the film itself, like I keep getting reminded of Six Characters in Search of an Author. It's five characters unstuck in their own story, existing outside of the narrative they were supposed to live in and undone by something inexplicable and irrational. The lack of a score, and relying on the ambient silence and the eeriness of the flapping wings really drives home how much the film is breaking from conventional Hollywood moviemaking and remaking the form. I liked all these aspects, especially the lack of music and sound design. More horror films should embrace the spookiness of silence.
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Jan 3, 2019 16:31
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Franchescanado posted:Lurdiak asked other goons to pick today's flick, so here it goes: now there's a movie that audiences should go into expecting a romantic comedy
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Jan 3, 2019 16:33
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drat I'm 0 for 3 so far, I just recently saw Audition in October. I think it's another one that might be divisive, it's going to be a little too slow and methodical for some. Should make for interesting discussion.
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Jan 3, 2019 16:34
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Basebf555 posted:drat I'm 0 for 3 so far, I just recently saw Audition in October. Of your list, I think these are excellent contenders for the thread: Maniac, The 'Burbs, Magic, Jacob's Ladder, and Alice Sweet Alice. Magic is so good. I haven't seen Night of the Comet, so I also hope someone gets to pick that.
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Jan 3, 2019 16:37
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I watched The Birds in full for the first time myself. I did not like it. Sure there were definitely some good parts to it, the birthday party, the school attack, the glass phone booth, the diner bits, and the end where they are boarded up. Those individual parts however do not make up the full 1h50m run time, and I spent most of the movie being pretty bored other than looking for the incredibly bad looking masking they used pre green screen. It seemed weird to me Melanie would stalk a man so very clearly gay that even his own mother alludes to him being gay. Not just stalk but break into his home an everything. Seems a little wild to me. Melanie was the highlight of the film and none of her motivations made any sense. Furthermore, who the gently caress lets a random women live in their home while they stalker pursue their ex? RIP School Teacher Annie, the most sane person in a world filled with insane people. I understand what supposedly makes The Birds so great is the subtext, but even with all the subtext and themes I still think it was not for me. Maybe I just don’t “get” Hitchcock because I also didn’t really care for Frenzy all that much and fell asleep during Psycho. Edit: I also did really enjoy the “interrogation” scene where Melanie and Gay Guy went back and forth like it was a courtroom shortly after mentioning he was a lawyer. That part was good too.
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Jan 3, 2019 16:40
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I thought that there was some weird reverse Oedipus stuff going on with Mitch and his mother. At least on her end. You're telling me if a woman broke into your house hours away from where you normally live to gift you some birds you told her you were lying about wanting during your very first interaction, you wouldn't invite her to dinner to meet your family?
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Jan 3, 2019 16:43
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I considered watching The Burbs last night as a substitute for The Birds because it gave me a chuckle but I decided against it.
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Jan 3, 2019 16:44
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Windows 98 posted:I spent most of the movie being pretty bored other than looking for the incredibly bad looking masking they used pre green screen. Yeah, that's part of the unreality of it all. Franchescanado posted:I thought that there was some weird reverse Oedipus stuff going on with Mitch and his mother. At least on her end. Yeah, I don't think he's gay (and Rod Taylor was certainly straight as far as we know), but there's some real incestual pathology going on. Anyway, you should all watch Zizek talk about it. "My god, I'm thinking like Melanie. You know what I'm thinking now? I want to gently caress Mitch." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAiQciRjerA
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Jan 3, 2019 16:49
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Audition is definitely more in line with what I watch, I am sure I am going to love it. Miike is fantastic. I loved Imprint and Ichi The Killer was mostly great even with the out dated CGI and even if it looks like its edited to be a 90s music video.
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Jan 3, 2019 17:34
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I still have never seen Audition but I have plans with my gf tonight and she can't even watch run of the mill horror so I think I'll try to catch this one sometime later this month.
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Jan 3, 2019 17:51
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I haven't seen Audition in probably almost 20 years so I think I'm due for a rewatch.
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Jan 3, 2019 18:01
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Windows 98 posted:Audition is definitely more in line with what I watch, I am sure I am going to love it. Miike is fantastic. I loved Imprint and Ichi The Killer was mostly great even with the out dated CGI and even if it looks like its edited to be a 90s music video. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts because in some ways Audition is not what you'd expect from Miike depending on what else you've seen of his work before now.
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Jan 3, 2019 18:27
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You guys with your "do a marathon in October... now in May... now in January..." Its like you want me to watch nothing but horror. I've seen all the entries so far so I'm still waiting for a fresh one. I saw Birds just at the end of October so it feels early for a rewatch. I kind of hated Audition (the style) so I have no interest in a rewatch. And I've seen the Exorcist so many times, I considered a rewatch but I JUST cancelled my Hulu. So I'm still waiting to see one I can easily slip in and join in while saving my marathon energy for May. Franchescanado posted:Tippi Hedren's Melanie is a fun protagonist, however. Her 'romance' with Mitch (Rod Taylor) is less charming than it is bizarre, but they still seem to have a nice chemistry. One of my only "problems" with The Birds was that I couldn't figure if Tippi's whole romance behavior was purposely weird and creepy as Hitchcock having a laugh at the romcom or if that was just a modern interpretation I was projecting on Hitchcock. But I loved the Birds. I don't know if its "Hitchcock's best" because Hitchcock was a genius who had like 10 films you can reasonably argue as his "best". So its gonna come down to your own tastes and you'll have a lot of different reasonable arguments. But no, I don't think its particular "scary." Its definitely got tons of dread and discomfort but not "scary." But there's so much going on in that film and so many ways you can interpret the relationships and symbology of stuff that I think it stands out plenty. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Jan 3, 2019 |
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Jan 3, 2019 22:23
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I've already decided the next time I watch The Birds will be first thing in the morning with a fresh pot of coffee, so I can make sure I'm wide awake and open to it.
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Jan 3, 2019 22:26
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My version would have been wayyyyyyy better.
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Jan 3, 2019 22:38
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 Hoo boy. Here we go. A lot of people talk about this movie as if it's 10 minutes of auditioning and 90 minutes of excruciating torture. What you actually get is a masterful slow burn by Takashi Miike, gradually revealing the true depths of depravity that a strange girl at an audition will reach. What starts as a dramedy with one strange girl suddenly turns creepy, and builds up to a horrific conclusion. Eihi Shiina gives an incredible performance as a sociopath who only shows true happiness when she gets to cause pain. Miike freely engages in trippy, drug-induced sequences and hallucinations to further unnerve the audience. The final torture scene had me cringing, but the vomit eating had me nearly throwing up. Audition by far remains the scariest of all the horror films I've seen in the past year. It may not hit every mark perfectly, but it'll remain burned into your mind forever.
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Jan 4, 2019 05:19
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Audition was outrageously good. I’m too tired now but I will write more tomorrow. If you’re on the fence about watching it because you can’t do torture please don’t let that be a reason to stop you. The torture is actually quite short maybe less than 5 or 10 minutes of actual screen time and you can easily wince away if you’re sensitive to that stuff. The rest of the film before the finale is top notch film making.
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Jan 4, 2019 05:34
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Ok, this thread finally got me to watch Audition. Takashi Miike is an odd director, he can make legitimately good 'real' movies like 13 Assassins, absolute gutter trash like Sukyaki Western Djano, insane yakuza action like Dead or Alive, thoughtful and hearfelt drama/comedy like Dead or Alive 2 or straight up movies meant as a joke like Dead or Alive 3. Or extreme torture movies like Ichi the Killer and Lynchian mystery like Gozu. Point is, you really never know what to expect other than a very peculiar sense of humour that is sometimes very overt and sometimes only hinted at. Having seen all these, and of course having had the story spoiled a long time ago, I was expecting the long set-up to lead to a humorous and very gruesome punch-line. I was mostly wrong I'd say? I definitely did not expect to be legitimately scared! Really good, serious, David Lynch style horror, genuinely unsettling, too extreme in the end for my taste but I knew what I was getting into. I can not imagine someone watching this movie completely blind, what a complete mindfuck that must be. I also can't help to think that this movie has played a role in the demographic crisis of Japan.
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Jan 4, 2019 06:07
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married but discreet posted:I also can't help to think that this movie has played a role in the demographic crisis of Japan. I think it's definitely a movie that brings the Japanese demographic crisis and cultural weirdness around dating and gender roles to the forefront in a pretty horrifying way.
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Jan 4, 2019 15:12
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It's super hosed up the way he's basically " Yeah lemme just use my position of power and influence to find a wife". Also apparently on Tuesday commentary Miike says of the weird surreal sequence that "The Writer was on drugs".
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Jan 4, 2019 15:30
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Here is today's horror essential. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9K2ARikYzE&t=5s Sleepaway Camp Please don't reveal the secret ending to your friends Don't spoil the big surprise You won't believe your eyes Coming off the heels of Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp follows the same basic structure of a whodunnit slasher at a summer camp, but unlike its predecessor, the reveal of the killer is a genuinely shocking twist and not just something the movie pulled out of its rear end. Spawning 4 sequels and with another currently inexplicably in production, this oft-overlooked slasher is disturbing, memorable, and creative. The film's ending is still talked about to this day, and with good reason, but the rest of the film certainly delivers on classic slasher mayhem and the fact that actual kids are in danger (as opposed to the horny teens played by 26-year olds of the Friday the 13th series) makes the whole thing all the more pulse-pounding. Streaming on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play and Youtube. Lurdiak fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Jan 4, 2019 |
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Jan 4, 2019 18:27
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Hollismason posted:It's super hosed up the way he's basically " Yeah lemme just use my position of power and influence to find a wife". I think it's important to point out that he doesn't decide to do this, his friend decides to do it for him. Just like his son tells him to start looking for a partner. He doesn't decide it himself, it's decided for him by others. Not that he's innocent. He's complicit with the idea and takes it as his own. Even when his friend tells him that they should stop the search and that he should stop talking with Asami, sensing danger and possibly feeling karmic regret. He hallucinates cruelty he has subjected women to for his own carnality, and even includes his son's romantic interest as one of these nightmares. I'm glad ya'll mentioned the issues Japan has had with dating, a gap which has only grown wider since this film's release. Young adults are now more interested in career less interested in romance and continuing their families. There are now government funded dating programs and a fear of population levels becoming too low within a few generations. Audition's paranoid take on the fear of dating, compounding by the many negative gender dynamics that are exhibited within the story, really hits a terrifying note of romance, sexuality and basic human interaction. The torture scenes freaked me out, but the foot special effects were fantastic. Kiri kiri kiri. Watched: Unsane | The Birds | Audition I've seen Sleepaway Camp already, so I'll have to find something else to watch tonight.
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Jan 4, 2019 22:30
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Still recovering from surgery with company but I'll try to catch up and rewatch birds and audition and try to watch related films, plus first watch sleepaway camp and handle other stuff as it comes. Not a lot of catchup really.
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Jan 4, 2019 23:27
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I've seen Sleepaway Camp almost a dozen times within the past few years, so instead, today, I watched for the first time Irreversible 2002 | dir Gaspar Noé | France | Amazon Prime because no one was going to watch it with me. This is my first proper watching of a complete Noe film. I've seen sections and clips, but I always find something else worth watching when I have the time. The man's reputation for the grotesque and disturbing is intimidating. This is a brutal, angry, nihilistic, cruel film. It is told through frantic nauseating cinematography (notably done with Benoît Debie, frequent Harmony Korine and Noe collaborator) on 16mm. The narrative's episodes are prevented in reverse chronological order. It is unflinching in it's portrayal of hopelessness, violence, hatred, bigotry, and cruelty. It's two most notorious scenes--a murder via fire extinguisher and the most famous sexual assault scene in modern cinema--are as shocking and horrific as they were over a decade ago. This film is painful to watch. And yet, while that is the film's reputation, it is quite misleading to the actual film, which is an expertly crafted example of life's cruelty, the hopelessness of the illusion of fate, the destruction of time, the idiocy and ultimate pointlessness of revenge, and that suffering is the human condition. Irreversible, while not a traditional horror film, is indeed a classic. Though not one that's easy to recommend, or revisit. 4 Watched: Unsane | The Birds | Audition | Irreversible
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Jan 5, 2019 03:35
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| # ? May 2, 2024 09:45 |
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Sleepaway Camp! I don't care much about American slashers, but I figured I'd have to close the Jason shaped holes in my horror knowledge sooner or later. This one was much better than expected. First thing I noticed is the baffling gayness of it all, until I realized that what I laughed at as accidental homoeroticism is definitely intentional, and denotes people who are not lovely. Everyone who gets murdered is straight, mean and has it coming, at least for horror standards. The last scene, JESUS gently caress. Like with Audition I knew it was coming, have seen a screenshot or two, but I was not prepared. The whole preceding movie was sort of silly even though the murders were gruesome, so then this horrifical body straight out of the uncanny valley comes up without warning and then it ends on that? Wow. Does any other movie do that? I'm not sure how it fits into the whole homosexuality angle, and I can't quite tell if it's supposed to work based on transphobia, but gently caress it works.
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Jan 5, 2019 04:30
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