Horror Movies

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ My recommendations: Child's Play franchise (especially first two and Bride of Chucky but stay away from the remake), You're Next, High Tension (except for the ending, lol), The Midnight Meat Train (same as before), The Hills Run Red, Trick 'r Treat and of course the fabulous Texas Chainsaw Massacre (first movie and maybe the two remakes).

[Bear 1817]

Recommended slasher films? I've seen the staples such as the Halloween, Nightmare on Elm St., and Friday the 13th Franchises along with Black Christmas, My Bloody Valentine (remake and original), The Burning, and Sleepaway Camp.

 

 

Any lesser known that are also worth checking out?

 

That would depend on what kind of slashers you're looking for, but there's a lot to pick from. Maniac, The Prowler, The New York Ripper, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, April Fool's Day, The House on Sorority Row, Graduation Day, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Prom Night, The Slumber Party Massacre, Slaughter High, The Mutilator, Pieces, Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon and more. Lots of good, lesser known slashers. I am also talking about the originals, not any remakes.

 

 

You could also check out the italian giallos, a genre which had a massive influence on slasher films, and the films from the 60's and early 70's are simply proto-slalshers. Or, (proto-)slashers to be honest. Profondo Rosso, Blood and Black Lace, Tenebre, A Bay of Blood, Torso, The Cat o' Nine Tails, and so on. Must sees for any fan of slashers.

 

And if you're into way older films, you've got proto-slashers such as Thirteen Women, House Of Wax, M, The Lodger, The Student Of Prague, Psycho, Cover Girl Killer among others. Nothing wrong with calling these slashers either.

 

 

 

 

Bead, you're making my October the best I've ever had yet.

 

That is very cool to hear.

[Bear 1817]

Ringu 2 - Ringu 2 isn't a bad film, but it's a weak atempt at improve on certain things from the first films, in which it does not succeed in any way.

 

Ringu 2 is better as far as the technical aspect goes, but overall it is a much weaker film. It lacks the suspense, the terror, and most of all, the mysticism and the atmosphere of the original film. Yes, the storyline is in fact a bit richer, but it doesn't really add anything important to the table, other than a handful of odd moments. There's so much here that should've been left out. What's the point of making a sequel, and a continuation, when you'e going in a whole different direction than the original and leaving pretty much all the qualities of the original film behind? I don't get this at all. And Sadako.

 

I also think Nakata adds too much to the cinematography here, which totally spoils the creepy moments. He's simply being too technical, without actually being very technical. Boring camera movements, annoying angles and itt looks way too clean. Yeah, no, I don't know. It's not awful, just not very good either. Coud've done without this.

 

[Bear 1817]

Blood Feast - Blood Feast is often credited as being the first splatter film ever, and the director, Herschell Gordon Lewis, are known as the Godfather of Gore. Well, one of two Godfathers of Gore. The other one is Lucio Fulci.

 

With Blood Feast Herschell Gordon Lewis took things to a whole new lever as far as blood and gore went. There's a lot of blood and gore in this film, and you get limbs seperated from the body and everything. Yes, it's a very bad and amateurish film, and everything from the direction to cinematography to the acting and so on are pretty bad, and the "plot" is just an excuse to be able to have fun with blood and gore. But the positive thing with this is that the film is just as charming and fun as it is amateurish and bad, and that says a lot.

 

This film is great fun, and it is recommended to fans of both blood and gore and splatters and for people who are interested in cinema in general, because this film proved to be really, eally important for the evolving of horror cinema.

 

[Bear 1817]

Tremors - I am pretty sure I included this on my favourite horror films from the 90's, and that was well-deserved. This film is absolutely genius and even though I rated it before I rewatched it yesterday, I rate it even higher now. This film's like a good vine, it just gets better and bette with time. Perfectly paced, and it's very well balanced between horror and comedy, and even though it's hilarious at times, it doesn't rely on dumb characters or anything like that. It comes off as a very serious film. Imagine some of the classic big monster flicks from the 50's, like Godzilla, Them! or something, being made in the 90's with the current trends of humour. The cast is good, the plot is better and the characters are best. Very diverse cast and characters, and they all do well. I love the weapon maniacs. Beautiful! Another great thing about this is that it never goes over the top, except for the monster of course, and that's some of the reason why this is magnificent. And the monster's one hell of a beauty. Looks fantastic, just like the special effects.

 

[Bear 1817]

Opera - While I do like some of Dario's films after this one, this is with no doubt whatsoever Dario Argento' last proper good film. And while not quite as good as masterpieces like Profondo rosso, Suspiria, Tenebre, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and a few more, it's still a fantastic giallo with great atomsphere, an awesome killer, a cool plot, fine visuals and damn cool soundtrack. It's very stylish in an Argentoesque way, which means it looks amazing throughout, it's well-acted and all in all it's a very good film. The kills? Top notch! Cold, gruesome and very well made. One just gotta love it if one's into this kind of things.

 

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Resolution - Just watched this interesting little movie, and I'm having a bit of a hard time whether I should mention it here or in the "general" movie thread... I read some praising remarks about it, watched the trailer and then the movie itself. Everything points to the fact that this should be some kinda horror flick (especially if you watch the trailer), and the end product... I dunno how to call it, maybe an anti-horror horror movie? XD So yeah, it was a pretty weird ride. I had a sense the overall theme and conclusion is very similar to The Cabin in the Woods but I actually liked this one, heh. If you're a fan of horror in general and wanna watch something different and eerie (but maybe don't expect too much) to make your mind bend a little, then I recommend this one.

[Bear 1817]

It's meta-horror, and it's not too long ago since I reviewed it meself. I really liked it, and I think I enjoyed it even more than The Cabin in the Woods too. The Cabin in the Woods had a better plot, but it really lacked on the visuals (low budget CGI-horror ain't my kinda thing) which ruined a lot for me, but I think both are great. Even better again would be Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which is absolutely fantastic.

[indigo 389]

I'm usually very picky about horror movies but I found some interesting ones in this thread and I'm going to watch them. Thanks, just wanted to say that

[Bear 1817]

A Nightmare on Elm Street - Feels like ages since I last saw this, so I picked this for today and this was even better than what I remembered, and I remembered it as a masterpiece. Top 3 as far as slashers goes, and to this day it's still a unique film that's different from other films within its genre. The way it deas with reality and dreams and makes sure yu never really know what's real and what's not. This film a big fucking nightmare, and even though there is a few laughs here, it's not done in the same way as The Slumber Massacre Party or Sleepaway Camp II. It always remains dark, creative and mystic, and it never loses its shock value. As far as slasher goes, this is probably the most wel-written and original film within the genre. I put Halloween a bit over it, and Friday the 13th at the same level, but it's still magnificent. A film of horror, terror and abusrdities that's just scary. And special effects just doesn't get any better than this Brilliant!

 

 

 

 

And while we're on the subject of A Night on Elm Street, here's a recommendatio I've done before, but deseves another mention: Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

 

Brilliant documentary. A must-see.

[Tokage 5930]

Skinwalker Ranch: I wasn't very impressed, to be honest... It's a somewhat recent found footage horror which is supposedly based on real events. My biggest gripe with the movie was that there's simply too much different shit going on at the same time. Although the movie's runtime is only just barely over an hour, there's UFO's, giant CGI wolves, time travel ghost kids and some other paranormal shit going on as well. All of these are based on paranormal phenomena witnessed at the site of the real Skinwalker Ranch, but I feel like the creators should've tried to tackle only one or two of these things instead of trying to jam everything into their movie. I felt like the way the movie built up its tension was sort of lackluster, especially compared to my other favs in the found footage genre, [.rec] and Grave Encounters. There were no real spooks. In fact, the sometimes just plain awful CGI (ESPECIALLY the effects used for the ghost kid and the wolf) simply made what was probably supposed to be scary rather laughable.

One good thing about the movie was that at least the characters were likeable to some degree and I didn't spend the majority of the film hoping they would just die already like I did while watching Grave Encounters 2.

[Elazmus 1873]

Hey I love that there is an expansive horror thread on here, I'm at work and have to be brief but I'd like to make it known that I am irresponsibly in love with the Hellraiser series, the first two movies being absolutely magical to me. The third and fourth are also favorites, although both are a bit flawed by comparison. Anyone else want to follow Doug Bradley to the grave ?

[Bear 1817]

Haven't seen the Hellraiser series in a long time except for the first one, but the first one is absolutely fantastic.

 

 

The Quiet Ones - I thought it was about time I finally watched something I haven't seen before, so this time I went for a new one from 2014. The Quiet Ones is another supernatural horror film made in the vein of 70's supernatural horror films, just like The Conjuring and The Woman in Black to mention a few other new ones. While never as effective and astmopheric as the two mentioned, it's still a good, memorable film with some great performances and nasty atmosphere. But it's very uneven, the CGI is awful and it just lacks that small touch of brilliance that made The Conjuring and The Woman in Black so good. The main problem is the PG-13 rating. Why limit yourself? Yes, I understand it is so that you can easily earn more money, but it puts such big limitations to your film making. This film could have done with more explicit language, more violent deaths and a more skin. The last one shouldn't really matter, and it usually doesn't, but here it did, because the whole film should've been a bit more nasty. But it's the language and violence that should have been a bit difference.

 

Jared Harris, Erin Richards and Olivia Cooke impressed me a lot. Three very good performances. Watch Jared Harris outside the school in Oxford. That is an exceptional scene. So much passion and character in his action that it is totally believeable.

 

There is nothing new here, and if you've seen a fair share of 70's horror films, or 70's imitations, you know exactly what's going on here. But if you, like me, love 70's horror and supernatural horror, then this should entertain you. It sure did entertain me, despite its many flaws.

 

[Bear 1817]

Deliver Us from Evil - Scott Derrickson manage to impress me enough with the first half of Sinister to look forward to this film, even though the second half of Sinister was poor. But he was onto something great, so I had hoped he could bring that with him to this film. Did he? Well, yes and no. This film never reaches the hights of Sinister's first half, but unlike Sinister this doesn't suddenly turn into a joke. The film is a mix of gritty police thriller and horror, and it does well in blending these two genres. However, despite being atmospheric, it never reaches the hights it should've reached, and there's a few elements here I don't like.

 

They picked up a demon in the middle-east and use go(od)ness to drive it out. I wish they'd gone for another solution. It felt way too easy and cheap. I wish they would've used middle-eastern exorcism or something like that. Just something a bit less predictable. But the exocism scene alone was fantastic, though. Really well-made and done.

 

 

But at the end of the day this ain't much more than a Ghostbusters dressed up in a Halloween-constume, aimed at grown ups.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ I was severely let down by Deliver Us from Evil... tho I didn't much like Sinister either. Deliver... had some nice moments but all in all it got kinda lost in what it was really trying to be (cop thriller or mystical horror). Some of the visuals were nice tho, but shame about the endless annoying jump scares.

[Bear 1817]

I liked the mix of gritty thriller and supernatural horror they went for. Those two fits very well together. But the story was a bit of a mess. Both this and Sinister have great potentia. Should be re-written and remade.

[Bear 1817]

Poltergeist - I haven't seen this film in years, so I couldn't really remember exactly how it was. It wasn't close to being as overall intense or creepy as I remembered, but it was actually even better than I remembered, and I remembered it as being a very good film. Lots of great humor, but it never takes anything away from the atmosphere, and there is a few genuinly scary scenes here, and at times it is also incredibly intense. But it's got great atmosphere, acting and plot, as well as fantastic special effects, and everything comes off as very credible which certainly helps the film. Great film overall. A few of the scenes just takes the cake. Incredible stuff.

 

 

There's a few very annoying cuts, though, but I can look past that as everything else is fantastic. But I really wonder what happened there. Those cuts makes no sense what so ever.

 

 

 

 

They're here!

 

 

[Bear 1817]

The Cat o' Nine Tails - Dario Argento has said himself that he considers this to be among his worst films, something which is just insane. The Cat o' Nine Tails is Argento's second film, and while not as good as his first or many of the films made later, it is still classic Argento and classic giallo. Argento proved himself worthy already with his first film and already then could you see he was a genius film maker.

 

The Cat o' Nine Tails is not as stylish as some of his later films, and it does therefore lack a bit of the Argentoism that we've gotten used to, but it's still a very Argentoish film and it's beautifully diected, as well as well-acted, well-shot, and topped of with a fantastic soundtrack by none other than Ennio Morricone that helps creating a great atmosphere. The plot is also very, very good, which could be said about the awesome killer too.

 

[Bear 1817]

The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears - If you're familiar with giallos, then I'm sure you'll notice that even the title here is very giallo-inspired. The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears is the second feature lenght from Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, the French/Belgian(?) couple/friends behind 07's awesome neo-giallo Amer. They also directed a segment in The ABCs of Death. I was very impressed with Amer, an interesting and challenging neo-giallo which takes a lot from the genre, but also adds a lot more to it which made it to more than just another giallo homage. With The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears they go even more complicated and surreal, and I'd say less straightforward than Amer, and Amer was anything but straightforward in my eyes. The cinematography is great and it's beautifully shot, but there's a lot of weird dream sequences and flashbacks (sometimes with an altered frames per second rate), some violence and sexual perversion. And the soundtrack is as 70's as it gets and considering this is a neo-giallo with a of late 60's and 70's in it, it's fits perfectly.

 

But you know what? Fuck trying to put this into words. Imagine Dario Argento, Satoshi Kon and Brian de Palma making a film together, and from the moment they start writing it and until the film is finished, they've had nothing more to eat than magic mushrooms and LSD.

 

I think I will place it even with Amer at 8/10, but I will have to watch it a couple of more times to decide on it. This, just like Amer was, is a film that deserves a few rewatches before one decides on the quality of the film. Anyway, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzan's among most interesting filmmakers out there today, and I am waiting eagerly to see what they come up with next.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

^ This has piqued my interest, gonna seek this movie out~

 

Amer was pretty nice.

[Bear 1817]

Since I am gonna get busy with concerts tomorrow and satuday I had to watch two films today, so I started early.

 

The ABCs of Death - I've been wanting to watch this for a long time as some of the more impressive newcomers of the horror genre takes a part of this, and it was a bit of everything within the genres of horror and comedy. I love the concept and gathering lots of newer faces within the genre of horror is a cool ide, but 120 minutes is a bit short and it should've been doubled and released in two parts IMO. I'll just go through each letter and say what I thought about them.

 

A is made by Nacho Vigalondo, best known for his fantastic sci-fi film Los Cronocrímenes. While it is a well-made short, I just can't help but feel as if it's just the climax to a full-lenght film. Cool enough, but it's just not enough.

B is made by Adrian Garcia Bogliano, someone I know of but probably haven't seen a film by. This is one of my favourites of the lot. Despite being short it feels like a proper film. Well-made and entertaining.

C is made by Ernesto Diaz Espinoz, someone I'm not familiar with. It's a decent enough flick, but deserves to be bigger film.

D is made by Marcel Sarmiento, again someone I'm not familiar with. This is a very good one, and one of the better on this film.

E is made by Angela Bettis, best known for her role as May in the horrorfilm May and Carrie in the film Carrie (2002). This was pretty boring IMO. Not awful, just not entertaining either.

F is made by Noboru Iguchi, best known for his work with the new wave of Japanese splatters such as The Machine Girl and Robo-Geisha. I really like some of the films made by Noboru Iguchi so I had high expectations to ths one, but this film is just awfully lazy, and it comes off as a disrespectful joke towards the people behind The ABCs of Death. This is an abomination and should never have been included. Among the worst shit I have ever seen.

G is made by Andrew Traucki, another one I am not familiar with. This isn't as bad as Noburu Iguchi's F, but it's stilla simle and lazy film. There's abosolutely nothing of value here.

H is made by Thomas Malling, known for his action comedy Kommandør Treholt & ninjatroppen. Not seen that film myself, but I've got high hopes for it. This segment however is another abomination. There's nothing of value here. Not quite as bad as F, but not too far away.

I is made by Jorge Michel Grau, another one I am not too familiar with. I've only seen a remake of one of his films. Cool enough without being too exciting.

J is made by Yûdai Yamaguchi, best known for his great Meatbal Machine. Uh, interesting, but a bit of a joke to be quite honest.

K is made by Anders Morgenthaler, unknown guy for me. This is another abomination. Nothing of value here.

L is made by Timo Tjahjanto, another one I know of but haven't seen anything by. This is a pretty sick, but entetaining short.

M is made by Ti West, best known for the masterpiece The House of the Devil and the fantastic The Innkeepers. This is obviously made for shock value only, and it's absolutely dreadful. Lazy shit. A huge disappointment.

N is made by Banjong Pisanthanakun, best known for the amazing Shutter. This was very funny, and well-made. Good stuff.

O is made by Héléne Cattet and Bruno Forzani, known for Amer and The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears. This is a very typical film for them. The giallo and Argento influences are clearly shown as always, and while it doesn't offer much as far as a story or anything goes, it's one of my favourites. A pleasure to the eye.

P is made by Simon Rumley, another one I know of but haven't seen anything from. This was pretty meh. Didn't do nothing for me, and it was cut to death IMO.

Q is made by Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, who's best known for the fantastic The Guest. This was an original and funny short, and one of the best here. This was really impressive.

R is made by Srdjan Spasojevic, known for A Serbian Film. A huge step up from the dreadful A Serbian Film, that's for sure. Original and cool.

S is made by Jake West, best known for the decent Doghouse. This was a decent one, but it feels a bit like an anti-drug commercial to be honest.

T is made by Lee Hardcastle, unknown guy for me. Pretty fun short, though not very impressive. But pretty fucked up in a good way.

U is made by Ben Wheatley, someone I known of but haven't seen anything by. This is a well-made film, but it didn't do all that for me.

V is made by Kaare Andrews, best known for his works with Marvel comics. Cool idea, poor execution. Didn't do nothing for me.

W is made by Jon Schnepp, best known for Metapocalypse. A huge mess. An abomination. The worst along with F. Worthless piece of shit.

X is made by Xavier Gens, best known for Frontière(s) and Hitman. Cool enough short. Not the best, but worthy of your time.

Y is made by Jason Eisener, best known for the fantastic Hobo With a Shotgun. I wasn't too impressed with this. Was pretty boring.

Z is made by Yoshihiro Nishimura, best known for his involement in the new wave of Japanese splatter scene with the great Tokyo Gore Police, as well as being a make-up artist specialist. This was a huge mess as well. It's saved by some of the specialeffects and crazyness, but it's a mess anyway.

 

So there you have it. As I said early on; this is a bit of everything, ranging from fantastic to bloody fucking awful. But that's what you'll get when 26 different diectors/teams gets total freedom to do whatever they want as long as they keep it short. Is it woth seeing? Yes, I think so. Some of these were fantastic, and they make this woth seeing.

 

[Bear 1817]

V/H/S - This is a film that's gotten a lot of attention since its release, and people seem to either praise it or tear it apart. You either love it or you hate it. For most part, that's my impression at least. This isn't as ambitious as The ABCs of Death, but it works a lot better because it's shorter, with less directors and the directors are given time to do more than just making a trailer/teaser or a short shocker. You have a main narrative, and the other short films are linked together in that, and all films, from the main narrative to the shorts, are found footage. It's nto just a bunch of random shorts.

 

Tape 56/frame narrative is directed by Adam Wingard, the man behind You're Next. This is the main narrative that holds it all together, and it jumps from this to the other films then back to this and so on, but despite this it's an excellent film with lots of atmosphere and creepy moments. It never loses its way, despite being cut into several parts, and this shows some of Adam Wingard's qualities as a director. Not the best, but very good.

Amateur Night is directed by David Bruckner, know for The Signal. I didn't like The Signal at all, but this one is very good. Creepy as fuck, and just very well-made. Not my favourite of the lot, but very good.

Second Honeymoon is made by a favourite of mine, Ti West, known for The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers. Again he disappoints me with his shirt, but unlike on The ABCs of Death I'm not disappointed because he doesn't give a fuck and don't even try. This is a very good short, and I am just disappointed because of my extremely high expectations. But other than that, very good short.

Tuesday the 17th is made by Glenn McQuaid, someone I've heard of but not seen anything by. This one is my favourite of the lot. This is absolutely fantastic. Atmospheric, creepy and at times even scary as fuck. This is simply brilliant. Masterpiece!

The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger is made by Joe Swanberg, a man with a huge filmaography whom I don't know shit about. This is good, but pobably the weakest of the lot. While it does manage to be creepy at times, it's a bit uneven and not fucked enough. But it's a good one.

10/39/89 is made by a quartet of filmmakers known as Radio Silence. I am not familiar with them, but I thought this one was very good. The most amotspheric of the lot, and that's where it delivers. Very good stuff.

 

 

SO as you can see, I am one of the lovers. I thought this was fantastic. This is found footage done right IMO, but I can understand the negativism towards this film. Can't wait till I get to watch V/H/S/2 and V/H/S/Viral. Exciting.

 

[Bear 1817]

Oculus - This has gotten a lot of praise both by friends and randoms, so I had pretty high expectations to this one. But I am let down. It tries way too hard to be smart and original, and it just loses itself into nothingness. Every single time it's onto something, the atmosphere is getting there it just fucks up and has to start over again. Every. Single. Time. I didn't like this at all. I really thought it was poor as fuck.

 

[Tokage 5930]

I must say that V/H/S 2 is better, if only because of the last two shorts.

 

I watched Frankenstein's Army today. Very, very good practical effects. Innovative creature designs. On the other hand, the film's plot is rather flimsy and the big tveest didn't really serve much purpose IMO. Also the found footage angle didn't feel very believable, but I managed to get over that pretty fast and enjoyed the ride.

[Bear 1817]

Looking forward to both V/H/S films. The first one was great.

 

And Frankenstein's Army is fantastic. The monster designs are absolutely killer throughout the whole film. Original and unlike anything I've ever seen.

 

 

Shutter - Must be close to 10 years since I saw this with my brother and was scared shitless. Not as frightening now as then, but still a great film with thick atmosphere and a great story. There's a few jump scares which might feel a bit cheap, but they're not annoying and they don't take anything away from the atmosphere. The rest here is very good. There's not really much to say about this film. Great film!