Horror films

I've decided to visit and re-visit some classic horror films and on at least two films my personal opinion seems to contradict that consensus.

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Is it me or is this just incredibly silly? I was laughing the whole time. Well I generally laugh at these movies but had I never heard of this movie and someone asked me what genre to call it, my answer would be "comedy."

2. The Amatyville Horror
I really enjoyed this one. I don't understand why it's so heavily criticised. Sure it's kinda cheesy but no more so than any other movie of its genre and time. Other than the corny Gates of Hell sequence, the film delivered some genuinely good spooky situations.

Other films watched so far:
Night of the Living Dead
Day of the Dead
Friday the 13th

next up: Friday the 13th part 2

GKE, both Texas Chainsaw and Amityville Horror have very good remakes out on DVD, the originals were good, but, I like the remakes better. Texas Chainsaw, original, I think it's the hammy acting more than anything that makes it seem comedic.

Night of the Living Dead, try the Patricia Tallman/Tony Todd version, it's got some different twists, and George Romero is involved, and it's truer to the original script. This is the movie that JMS "discovered Pat Tallman in and had to have her for his teep, because she has "Telepath eyes".

The fourth movie in the Night of the Living Dead Franchise comes out on DVD today "Land of the Dead". George Romero finally revisited the franchise this year.

As a Long Islander, I obviously have a certain affinity for the Amityville Horror. It was always good for a road trip on a drunken Saturday night (not that I'm condoning that). I have to disagree about the remake. It's total ASS - an amalgam of the new Jap-o-horror flicks (The Ring) and their imitators (Boogeyman), with the flash editing style of 13 Ghosts, a creepy Preacher a la Poltergeist 2, and an unhealthy dose of The Shining thrown in. The original book was (face it) probably a hoax, and the first movie added some story elements I didn't like at the time (Ron DeFeo looks just like James Brolin?), but SHEEEYIT!, the remake goes into full blown Jack Torrance mode. It goes soooo far from the actual accounts as reported. Not to mention, there is not one even slight creep or scare in the film. Just totally useless.
So there.

Even the house has an only vague resemblance to the real house or the one used in the first film. Both movies made portrayed the house as being somewhat isolated, whereas in reality the lots were so small you might not even recognize the house as you pass by. The house in the remake is as big as the friggin' House on Haunted Hill. It's MASSIVE, with both Dutch Colonial and Victorian sections.

The only improvements in these remakes are typically aethetic ones. Better music, better production value, a higher budget... but the story goes to hell. Same thing with The Fog, so I hear. Slick production but awful, awful story.

There is, in my mind, no greater horror character than Jason Voorhees.

Michael Myers (from the Halloween films) always comes off as a cheap imitation.

A) He was a "wronged child" just like Jason was.
B) He never died, no matter how many bullets were put in him.
C) Jason was alive in the first 2 or 3 Fridays, but after that he became reanimated flesh, which is so much creepier.

Freddy Krueger started out wonderfully cruel and evil, but as the Nightmare movies went on, Freddy took a more cartoonish role, and even got to the point where he was more comedic than scary. Thankfully, the remedied that for Freddy vs. Jason.

I would agree that Saw is rather comic, but certainly can't endorse the remake. The original is a cultural icon.

GKE, you might want to check out Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, definitely a comedy!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095312/

Two of my favorite horror films:

Dead of Night, a very strange 1945 British film
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037635/

And Audition, a strange and bloody Japanese psychological horror film. I do know of one stranger, but can't remember the title.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt235198/

I'll have to admit that I find most modern horror films pointlessly mean and gruesome.

I've actually seen Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers.
The woman I watched it with is no longer my girlfriend.

Though I've watched Friday the 13th, I of course do not know how Jason could be alive. All I know at this point is that he "drowned" in 1957 and his mother has been murdering camp counselors since in order to prevent the camp's re-opening.

Part 2 came in the mail so I'll hope to view it this week.


I do plan on seeing all the Living Dead movies but after the first two I needed a change of pace. I started to get numb to zombies...


B5_Obsessed, I'll share a toast with you when ALL of Twin Peaks is properly released on DVD.

Return of the Living Dead was a pretty cool zombie movie. A nice mix of zombies killing people, and dark humor. And some other weird bits. Can't recall much of the second one, and the third was okay as well. Parts IV and V, though.... meh. Of course, being debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel probably wasn't a good sign anyways, though I had hoped for good anyway.

The Hellraiser movies have also been favorites of mine, though I've actually seen very few of them completely. Mostly just the first two, and I think the fourth. Anyhoo, the FIRST is good stuff, at least.

And then there's Wishmaster. Not so much the sequels. Again... I'm sensing a pattern!

And yes, Audition was some good stuff too. I did a project in my Intro to Film class back in late 2003, I think it was, on the film's director, so I eventually showed some footage from this. Even though most of the others in the class were horror fans (it was a small class, though, so this basically meant everyone in there), when I showed them the final part of the movie, most of them didn't quite find it to be... let's say "normal." Fun times, fun times.

ALSO, Dog Soldiers was a pretty keen werewolf movie. Yep.

The Thing is probably my favourite horror movie ever in terms of scare factor.

Dog Soldiers was also great, The Exorcist also lost me a few nights sleep, but whilst I find slasher movies a good laugh they rarely scare me.

Watched George Romero's new one last night "Land of the Dead". If you were disappointed by the change in tone of Day of the dead, which was more politically motivated and more of a war, than a chaos, than you probably won't enjoy Land of the Dead. LotD makes the natural progression you would expect after Day of the Dead. There is a head zombie who seems to be in charge (no actual talking by the zombies, but, he does communicate a bit). Bub in the Day of the Dead, showed that the Zombies are capable of learning and adapting. In LotD the zombies are still the slow lumbering creatures, but, it is a war, and there's quite a bit of politics in it.

Saw (Not Texas Chainsaw Massacre, just Saw) was an incredibly disturbing movie, if you're into disturbing horror flicks. Saw 2, I guess is being released at theatres very soon.

For truly brutal ways to die, and some really good dark humor, the 3 Sleepaway Camp movies are all very good.

Yea, the Scifi channel's Return of the Living Dead part 4 and 5, were awful. The first one is some pretty good dark humor, but, the zombies are after just the brain, and they howl "Brains" as they come after you(Makes it extremely difficult to take it seriously). Fans looking for the seriousness of the first 2 George Romeros would see the Return of the LIving Dead series as cheezy. Haven't seen part 2, it seems to be really rare, and all reviews I've seen of it, are not in the slightest bit favorable. PArt 3, isn't bad if you really watch it, but, watching it half-assed, is a big turn off.

There is, in my mind, no greater horror character than Jason Voorhees.

Michael Myers (from the Halloween films) always comes off as a cheap imitation.

A) He was a "wronged child" just like Jason was.
B) He never died, no matter how many bullets were put in him.
C) Jason was alive in the first 2 or 3 Fridays, but after that he became reanimated flesh, which is so much creepier.

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Them's fightin' words, Hair. I've never been able to sit through the Friday the 13th movies without MST3K-ing 'em.

Michael Myers is the winner here.

Freddy Krueger started out wonderfully cruel and evil,

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There's just something unnerving about being killed brutally in reality, by something from the nightmare side of things. Remember the one being pulled down through his/her mattress and the blood shooting up into the room from the hole where the person was pulled?

but as the Nightmare movies went on, Freddy took a more cartoonish role, and even got to the point where he was more comedic than scary. Thankfully, the remedied that for Freddy vs. Jason.

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Never watched any of those.

The waterbed guy, was Johnny Depp, I believe.

I've decided to visit and re-visit some classic horror films and on at least two films my personal opinion seems to contradict that consensus.

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Is it me or is this just incredibly silly? I was laughing the whole time. Well I generally laugh at these movies but had I never heard of this movie and someone asked me what genre to call it, my answer would be "comedy."

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You want dark comedy? Watch "Needful Things" or "Tales from the Crypt" (especially Leslie Nielsen's or Adrienne Barbeau's stories)

<u>For Horror, I go for:</u>
Ghost Story
Halloween
Halloween II
The Prophecy
The Prophecy II
The Thing (1982)
Salem's Lot (1979)
Night of the Living Dead (the remake with Pat Tallman and Tony Todd)
Alien
Aliens
Stephen King's "Storm of the Century"


<u>Drama with some ~horror~?:</u>
The Dead Zone (1983) - man, that soundtrack violin cuts like a razor blade.


<u>Just plain comedy with some of the trappings of horror:</u>
Scary Movie 3
Dracula - Dead and Loving It
Young Frankenstein

<u>New, Classic B-Movie Horror:</u>
Eight Legged Freaks

There is, in my mind, no greater horror character than Jason Voorhees.

Michael Myers (from the Halloween films) always comes off as a cheap imitation.

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OK, I'm not a fan of the slasher genre (or any other gross out horror flicks), however ......

Just based on the release dates of the first movie in each series .....

Describing anything in Halloween as being an "imitation" (cheap or otherwise) of anything from Friday the 13th strikes me as being a little like saying that The Seven Samurai is an imitation of The Magnificent Seven.

I can see how one could find that the later movie executed the concept better. I just can't see how the earlier one could be called an "imitation".

<u>For Horror, I go for:</u>

Alien
Aliens

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Hmmmm, I've never thought of Aliens as a horror movie. The orginal Alien was, but the second one always struck me more as WWII Pacific theater (island jungle fighting) war movie transplanted into space.

I would also throw the orignal Jaws onto that kind of list (good horror films, but not from the slasher or gross-out sub-genres).

<u>Just plain comedy with some of the trappings of horror:</u>
Scary Movie 3
Dracula - Dead and Loving It
Young Frankenstein

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What? No Love at First Bite?

For me, I would have to put Young Frankenstein as the clear #1 in this sub-genre (comedic send-ups of horror films). Of course, it may just be that the Scary Movie series doesn't appeal to me as much because I don't like the movies that it is spoofing.

And, of course, this another chance to quote Cartagia:

"Humor is so subjective; don't you think, Molari?"

B5_Obsessed, I'll share a toast with you when ALL of Twin Peaks is properly released on DVD.

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Make it a damn fine coffee... AND HOT!

Watched Friday the 13th part 2.

Cool ending with the dog and revelation of Jason's face... but then the chick survived? And what happened to the guy? WTF?!

<u>For Horror, I go for:</u>

Alien
Aliens

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Hmmmm, I've never thought of Aliens as a horror movie. The orginal Alien was, but the second one always struck me more as WWII Pacific theater (island jungle fighting) war movie transplanted into space.

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Why, because they fought back using military personnel? For me, the wiping out of the colony (an initial condition which we didn't see), the scene of the alien stowed away on the transport craft, the scenes with the aliens advancing on the humans on a different level, and the stalking of the little girl through the bowels of the compound make it a horror movie for me.

<u>Just plain comedy with some of the trappings of horror:</u>
Scary Movie 3
Dracula - Dead and Loving It
Young Frankenstein

Click to expand...

What? No Love at First Bite?

For me, I would have to put Young Frankenstein as the clear #1 in this sub-genre (comedic send-ups of horror films). Of course, it may just be that the Scary Movie series doesn't appeal to me as much because I don't like the movies that it is spoofing.

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No particular ranking order was intended. Young Frankenstein is #1 for me as well. Also, I'm a big Leslie Nielsen fan, which is how "Dracula - Dead and Loving It" got mentioned.

Notice that I said Scary Movie 3. Can't even remember the first two, but #3 really made me laugh.

<u>For Horror, I go for:</u>

Alien
Aliens

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Hmmmm, I've never thought of Aliens as a horror movie. The orginal Alien was, but the second one always struck me more as WWII Pacific theater (island jungle fighting) war movie transplanted into space.

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Why, because they fought back using military personnel?

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Nothing that simple or tangible. It's the overall tone and feeling that I get from movie.

If I had to try to articulate why .... the biggest single thing is probably the prevalence of (comparatively) large group battles where the audiance-POV side is both heavily armed and trained in combat ...... as opposed to pick-em-off-one-at-a-time murders (which is a distinct concept from fatal combat).

Even in the last scene when casualties have reduced the fight to a one-on-one between Ripley and the queen, it still feels (to me anyway) more like a straight-up fight to the death than like a murderer and a victim in desparation.

As far as the approach through the ceiling:
That kind of stuff is why I specified Pacific Theater jungle fighting. It's the kind of warfare where can't see very far and often don't know where the enemy is, and therefore are open to ambushes. It's a distinct type of war movie from the more open terrain fighting that is generally depicted in movies in the European Theater, with armored units manuevering etc.; but that sub-set are still war movies.

For me, the wiping out of the colony (an initial condition which we didn't see), the scene of the alien stowed away on the transport craft, the scenes with the aliens advancing on the humans on a different level, and the stalking of the little girl through the bowels of the compound make it a horror movie for me.

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Obviously, "your milage may vary". Different people get different impressions of the same movie all the time. That's cool.

It's also interesting to me that the one scene that does come off as the most horror-ish to me is not among the scenes that you mentioned making it a horror movie in your view. Namely, the scene when Ripley and Newt are locked (unarmed) in a room with a pair of the egg-layers.

If I had to try to articulate why .... the biggest single thing is probably the prevalence of (comparatively) large group battles where the audiance-POV side is both heavily armed and trained in combat ...... as opposed to pick-em-off-one-at-a-time murders (which is a distinct concept from fatal combat).

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I see what you mean. However, from having seen Alien, from my POV, the heavily armed troops were definitely at a disadvantage, especially at the start of the movie. They went in all confident, but really didn't know what they were up against. Ripley tried to convey it to them, but they were too cocky to really hear it.

As far as the approach through the ceiling:
That kind of stuff is why I specified Pacific Theater jungle fighting. It's the kind of warfare where can't see very far and often don't know where the enemy is, and therefore are open to ambushes. It's a distinct type of war movie from the more open terrain fighting that is generally depicted in movies in the European Theater, with armored units manuevering etc.; but that sub-set are still war movies.

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The caves of say Guadalcanal or Vietnam? Yeah.

For me, the wiping out of the colony (an initial condition which we didn't see), the scene of the alien stowed away on the transport craft, the scenes with the aliens advancing on the humans on a different level, and the stalking of the little girl through the bowels of the compound make it a horror movie for me.

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Obviously, "your milage may vary". Different people get different impressions of the same movie all the time. That's cool.

It's also interesting to me that the one scene that does come off as the most horror-ish to me is not among the scenes that you mentioned making it a horror movie in your view. Namely, the scene when Ripley and Newt are locked (unarmed) in a room with a pair of the egg-layers.

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Those are just the scenes I remembered off-the-cuff. Of course, I remember the scene you mention above. It's just not one of the ones I remembered in the few minutes I took to comment before running out the door to work. Your scene does qualify as horror, though. So does the scene where Newt falls through the "hamsterwheel" fan and into the water and is stalked by the beast as Ripley and whatshisname try to get to her to save her.

Note: My comments about Aliens are from having last watched it in 1998, when I got it on Laserdisc.

Another really disturbing Psychological thriller from the 70s is "Last House on the Left" I've seen it twice, and that was more than enough, highly disturbing abduction and torture flick.

High Tension is a French Flick (Apparently?), that has recently been released in the US, and it too is quite disturbing. A really unexpected twist at the end (at least for me it was really unexpected)