The Horror Thread - Part 3

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

Wes Craven's name has a lot of pull though. If Wes were to write, direct, and executive produce the movie, WB/New Line would likely jump at the chance to release another Nightmare On Elm Street movie. The less work they have to do, the more likely they'll be to say yes.

I take it that you don't keep track of what Craven's said in recent years of the Nightmare franchise, other than the fact that he's been done with it since New Nightmare and has no interest in any way shape or form in any further sequels, or remakes.

The man is still getting royalty checks every other day for his work on the franchise, he has no need to be involved at this point, and whoever said that the studio wanted him back, he hasn't directed a hit in many years.

 

[Thundarr]

I take it that you don't keep track of what Craven's said in recent years of the Nightmare franchise, other than the fact that he's been done with it since New Nightmare and has no interest in any way shape or form in any further sequels, or remakes.

The man is still getting royalty checks every other day for his work on the franchise, he has no need to be involved at this point, and whoever said that the studio wanted him back, he hasn't directed a hit in many years.

George Lucas said the exact same thing about the Star Wars franchise back in the 1980's. Then in 1999 we end up getting The Franchise Menace.


I think Wes might be through with the franchise and character when it comes to sequels. But a prequel? He might come back to it once more for that.

 

[Ant-manic]

Are we saying horror reached it's peak?

Or with the Internet and cell phones that things seem less scary?

Idk why more horror movies arent time pieces lately.

well that's bound to happen, eventually. and it will be trendy and overused like found-footage horror or 3D horror.

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i would never say that horror has reached its peak. but, every week, i look for a horror movie; in order to impress my family. and it has gotten significantly harder, as time passes. i think the progress of technology has made it more difficult to scare audiences. that sounds counter-intuitive. technology should allow for better special effects and whatnot. but i think tech has actually made us feel a bit safer, as a society. we're scared by different things now (terrorists, for example). a lot of the good horror that i remember from my childhood simply wouldn't hold up in this time period. so it's all down to the individual experience. studios are still putting out horror movies that people love. it's just stuff that i don't love.

 

[Thundarr]

You describing Freddy makes me want to see a movie where it's all about Freddy this time around (not like the others, which focus stronger on the kids), his murder, his time in hell and learning how he would later become a Dream Master but on a grander-scale (like a comic-book origin story). Imagine if a Freddy movie was made with the same level of conviction as a comic-book film, the focus would be around Freddy for a reason, other than having to kill people, so it may be scarier seeing this guy live through a normal day in hell for a change. I wish remakes didn't mean exact copies of the original as much as Hollywood thinks that they should be, I wish they meant that they were more so expansions of the original to the powers that be instead, so that the higher-budgeted films would add more depth to the original movie, it allows you to see new insights, to witness what couldn't be done visually back then. Now, anything is possible.

Even if a Freddy movie was brought straight-to-DVD, I think it would still be a good movie (just look at the last Chucky movie, for instance, which is either my second or third favourite of the series). A direct-to-DVD Freddy film, with Robert Englund especially, would be much better than the middle-of-the-road remake they did. Watching True Detective like crazy now makes me want to see a detective-based Jason Voorhees film with the same level of filmmaking and craftsmanship that is displayed on that show. Seriously, the season finale alone is the scariest thing I've watched in the past 10 years or more. It's the slow-build displayed structurally in a show or movie that makes the reveal of the monster so much more satisfying and yet terrifying all at the same time.

Nothing about his time in Hell. No supernatural stuff throughout the movie. Maybe a post credits teaser at the end, but the movie itself should be completely about his mortal life. Not necessarily his early years, being adopted, being abused, torturing animals, etc. We already know all that, we don't need to see it. Just Freddy's day to day life as The Springwood Slasher. His attempts to appear normal (volunteering to help search for missing children, going to work every day, developing "friendships" with neighbors & coworkers, etc), his stalking and abducting children, his torturing (possibly raping) and murdering them (implied but not shown), and so on. How the police caught on to him (this was years before profiling, and over a decade before DNA was discovered). His trial. How come he was released. Then end it with his being burned alive.

They could possibly do a second prequel. One about Freddy's time before Part 1, but after his death. Maybe explain why it is he waits so damn long to start killing people in their dreams. As well as why he switches from being a pedophile (a sexual preference to children ages 4 to 10) to hebephilia/ephibophilia (hebephilia is a sexual attraction to children age 11 to 14, ephibophilia is a sexual attraction to teens aged 14 to 18). I have a couple of theories, but it would be interesting to see what Wes Craven has to say.

 

[Thundarr]

well that's bound to happen, eventually. and it will be trendy and overused like found-footage horror or 3D horror.

-----
i would never say that horror has reached its peak. but, every week, i look for a horror movie; in order to impress my family. and it has gotten significantly harder, as time passes. i think the progress of technology has made it more difficult to scare audiences. that sounds counter-intuitive. technology should allow for better special effects and whatnot. but i think tech has actually made us feel a bit safer, as a society. we're scared by different things now (terrorists, for example). a lot of the good horror that i remember from my childhood simply wouldn't hold up in this time period. so it's all down to the individual experience. studios are still putting out horror movies that people love. it's just stuff that i don't love.

I certainly see your point. I mean look at the recent remakes of When A Stranger Calls and Black Christmas. Back when the originals were made, tracing phone calls was incredibly difficult. Remember the scene in Black Christmas when the guy from the phone company had to run through a maze of machines just to figure out where the killer was calling from? Today all you have to do is hit *69. Plus there's call display on virtually all modern phones. You can do a reverse number search to find the name and address associated with it. Then there's webcams, spycams, high tech security systems. You can be safer in your own home than in a police station full of cops these days.

Blinky Productions has a series of short, original slasher films that they've produced called iPsycho. You should certainly check them out on You Tube or at www.blinkyproductions.com and check them out. They're very well done, and the killer uses modern technology to HIS advantage. Definitely worth a look.

 

[PalmerTheThing]

I like this Freddy talk guys. Kept me reading for a bit.

What is the update on the newest Friday film in production.

Isn't it supposed to have Tommy Jarvis reprised by Corey Feldman?

 

[Ant-manic]

I certainly see your point. I mean look at the recent remakes of When A Stranger Calls and Black Christmas. Back when the originals were made, tracing phone calls was incredibly difficult. Remember the scene in Black Christmas when the guy from the phone company had to run through a maze of machines just to figure out where the killer was calling from? Today all you have to do is hit *69. Plus there's call display on virtually all modern phones. You can do a reverse number search to find the name and address associated with it. Then there's webcams, spycams, high tech security systems. You can be safer in your own home than in a police station full of cops these days.

Blinky Productions has a series of short, original slasher films that they've produced called iPsycho. You should certainly check them out on You Tube or at www.blinkyproductions.com and check them out. They're very well done, and the killer uses modern technology to HIS advantage. Definitely worth a look.

yeah, they used that joke at the beginning of Scream 2, iirc. Neve Campbell star 69'd the ghostface prankster. and there are cameras everywhere now. i'm not sure how anyone becomes a successful criminal anymore.

 

[Thundarr]

I like this Freddy talk guys. Kept me reading for a bit.

What is the update on the newest Friday film in production.

Isn't it supposed to have Tommy Jarvis reprised by Corey Feldman?

I don't think there has been anything new on that front since Part 2 of this thread.

 

[Thundarr]

yeah, they used that joke at the beginning of Scream 2, iirc. Neve Campbell star 69'd the ghostface prankster. and there are cameras everywhere now. i'm not sure how anyone becomes a successful criminal anymore.

Well for every high tech safety device there seems to be nearly as many high tech devices to get around them. A tech savvy killer like Ghostface might still be successful, but someone like Jason or Michael Myers would have a harder time. Of course, Jason's a bit easier writing wise. Just say that there's no cell reception out by Crystal Lake. It only becomes an issue if he tries to bring his killing spree into town.

 

[Hobgoblin]

Nightmare in Badham County was an interesting made for TV movie. It is based on a true story, about two college women in the 1970s driving to California. They stop in Texas and end up in jail after refusing the advances of a local sheriff.

There is no blood or much clear cut violence. The implied sexual violence and racial bigotry was pretty awful though.

 

[redhawk23]

Let's see here, the best Friday and Freddy movies came from the 80's. Why? There is a charm associated with the 80's.

Now that the Freddy remake came out and went to it's darker roots, and it still came off as boring, it made me believe that the only way Freddy or Jason works is with that 80's setting.

You'd be lying if you said you would not see this film.

-New NOES set in 1986 (between part 2 and part 3).
-Robert Englund
-Wes Craven
-Same High school and references to other characters from Part 1 and 2.
-Filmed with 80's equipment (film, no digital, to give it that grainy 80's look)
-Everyone dressed with 80's wardrobes and the likes to make it authentic.
-Serious tone like the first ANOES
-No CGI of any kind.

And because if the above was all done but in present day, I bet you the film would not do as well in theatres because of the charm associated with the culture behind the 80's. When you go that theatre to see the film you WILL feel like a teenager who saw the first ANOES in theatres.

There would be nothing to be gained. The movie you are describing exists. Its called Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and it is awesome.

 

[redhawk23]

i was having a discussion about this with my non-horror-fan brother; over the weekend. it's not just the charm. it's that things were scarier in the 80s. people didn't have cell phones to call up the police. abducted children were less likely to be found. things just seemed less safe. or maybe that's just how we percieved it as children. but i remember there being creepy old guys just like Freddy hanging around everywhere kids used to hang out.

By that logic the 1880s are even scarier, no phones at all. Often barely organize law enforcement. No cures for strange diseases.

 

[Thundarr]

By that logic the 1880s are even scarier, no phones at all. Often barely organize law enforcement. No cures for strange diseases.

And Jack The Ripper terrorizing London.

 

[Thundarr]

There would be nothing to be gained. The movie you are describing exists. Its called Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and it is awesome.

He clearly stated that the new movie would be set between Part 2 and Part 3. How could a new movie set between Parts 2 & 3 be the existing Part 3? Your logic makes no sense.

 

[Thundarr]

Your Favorite Friday The 13th Kills​

Here are mine:

1) Friday The 13th Part 1: The arrow through the bed.

2) Friday The 13th Part 2: The guy in the wheelchair getting the machete to the face and pushed down the stairs.

3) Friday The 13th Part 3: The girl getting stabbed through the hammock.

4) Friday The 13th Part 4: The girl getting stabbed through the rubber dingy.

5) Friday The 13th Part 4: The guy getting stabbed in the crotch with the spear gun, lifted up, then having the spear shot up into his body.

6) Friday The 13th Part 4: Jimbo getting the corkscrew shoved through his hand and the meat cleaver in the face.

7) Friday The 13th Part 5: The girl gets stabbed through the bed.

8) Friday The 13th Part 6: The last counselor at the camp gets killed, thrown through the window, then dragged back into the cabin and dismembered.

That's about it for me. After Part 6 (or more pointedly, Part 4) the movies REALLY went downhill. Parts 5 & 6 had their moments, but aside from Kane Hodder's performance as Jason, Parts 7 and up have very little going for them (IMHO).

 

[Heretic]

Speaking of technology...I wonder why none of the films I've seen (that I recall) have used the technology to add to the scene.

Some will make a throwaway comment like "cell phones dont work way out here" to get around the fact that college kids have cell phones. But one thing I've never seen is something like...
Naked blonde: Help, 911...I'm being attacked
Operator: What is your location?
Naked blonde: I dont know, I'm in the middle of nowhere
Operator: We need an address to send police to. Can you give a description of your surroundings?
Naked blonde: There's...uh...trees...and...AAAAARRRRGH!!!!!

 

[Teelie]

Intelligent horror is the best. It's all too rare though. Easier to make people either really dumb at convienent times or contrive a ridiculous story in which they can't see the obvious or are somehow unable to do common sense things.

 

[Heretic]

Intelligent horror is the best. It's all too rare though. Easier to make people either really dumb at convienent times or contrive a ridiculous story in which they can't see the obvious or are somehow unable to do common sense things.

Right...one recent example is Home Sweet Home, a movie from last year that starts out kind of interesting, but then just falls apart with stuff like:

The woman is being hunted by the killer in her house. She manages to reach the gun in her room...but it has a trigger lock...so...she sneaks around and finally finds the key to the lock in a closet (on the other side of the house) She puts the key in the lock. She realizes that the killer is upstairs. She is downstairs.
She could:
1. Try to get out the front door.
2. Wait for the killer...she has a gun, he doesn't.
3. Cautiously go up the stairs and hunt him down.

She chooses option 4: Run upstairs with reckless abandon WITHOUT TAKING THE LOCK OFF THE TRIGGER, running right into the killer. The gun useless with the lock on, she is easily overpowered.

The movie is ONLY able to continue because the woman who just spent a large portion of the movie going after the gun and then the key, decided not to use it against the killer.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

Usually stay away from modern horror movies. They always disappoint me...

I remember the trailer for Darkness Falls. It looked so interesting and scary...then I saw the movie. Horrible! anyone else remember the official website? "Create your own nightmare?". You could add scary pictures, text and music. Primitive crap, but anyway, at the end of the "nightmare", there was a loud scream. I didn't know where it came from, so I ran out of my room. I waited some minutes before I dared to enter the room again...t: too bad the movie wasn't as scary.

Dead Silence is also one of those movies that looks interesting and creepy, but stinks more than a sumo wrestler's rotten diaper.

 

[Majik1387]

Darkness Falls and Dead Silence were both failed opportunities; I'll even throw in Stay Alive.

All had good, semi-original plots and some decent scares, but overall just lost their way and went full on ridiculous.

 

[thejon93]

Darkness Falls and Dead Silence were both failed opportunities; I'll even throw in Stay Alive.

All had good, semi-original plots and some decent scares, but overall just lost their way and went full on ridiculous.

I kind of liked both of those films, but they were definitely missing something that could have added more.to the overall experience. Both of those films should get remade IMO, especially Dead Silence now that James Wan has become a much better filmmaker after Insidious and The Conjuring (which I really enjoyed, finally got to watch it recently on the Movie Network, it wasn't as scary as I had originally hoped, but it definitely did have more than enough scares to keep me invested all the way through).

 

[Majik1387]

Oh I liked both as well; honestly until recently, I had no idea how short a movie Darkness Falls was, maybe because I felt some parts dragged on. And Dead Silence mostly lost me with that stupid twist ending, but I loved the scenes of the show where the puppet goes off on the kid that tries to call out the woman, and even the morgue mini closet scene.
I definitely want a remake of all three movies.

 

[Thundarr]

Right...one recent example is Home Sweet Home, a movie from last year that starts out kind of interesting, but then just falls apart with stuff like:

The woman is being hunted by the killer in her house. She manages to reach the gun in her room...but it has a trigger lock...so...she sneaks around and finally finds the key to the lock in a closet (on the other side of the house) She puts the key in the lock. She realizes that the killer is upstairs. She is downstairs.
She could:
1. Try to get out the front door.
2. Wait for the killer...she has a gun, he doesn't.
3. Cautiously go up the stairs and hunt him down.

She chooses option 4: Run upstairs with reckless abandon WITHOUT TAKING THE LOCK OFF THE TRIGGER, running right into the killer. The gun useless with the lock on, she is easily overpowered.

The movie is ONLY able to continue because the woman who just spent a large portion of the movie going after the gun and then the key, decided not to use it against the killer.

That even happens in some older horror movies, including some of the great, all time classics.

In the original Friday The 13th, when Alice is attacked by Mrs Voorhees and she grabs the iron poker from the fireplace to defend herself. She hits Mrs Voorhees with it, then instead of finishing her off, throws the poker away and runs off. She runs to the supply shed and grabs one of the rifles for the rifle range, but can't find the bullets. When Mrs Voorhees catches up to her, Alice throws the gun at her! Then during their ensuing fight, she finally has the sense to pick the rifle up and use it as a club, knocking Mrs Voorhees down again. Again, does she finish her off? No. She throws the rifle away and runs and hides. Then Mrs Voorhees finds Alice hiding in the pantry. Alice cracks her in the skull with a cast iron skillet. Does she do anything to make sure Mrs Voorhees can't get back up? Tie her up to wait for the authorities? Keep hitting her with the skillet? Gouge her eyes out with a BBQ fork? Nope. She just heads down to the beach and assumes everything's fine. I mean, I understand that they wanted a prolonged chase scene. But did they really have to make Alice THAT stupid in order to get it?

There are other examples (shockingly from the same franchise). Like in Part 2, when Vicky is looking for Mark (the paraplegic) who Jason had just killed moments earlier. She can't find him, so she goes looking for him UPSTAIRS. In part 3, when Pepper realizes everyone's dead, she goes to run out of the house and the wind blows the door open. Rather than just running out the door, she turns and runs right into Jason, who shoves a red hot poker through her chest. In Part 4 (this is one of my favorite examples), when Trish is trying to get away from Jason, she goes to escape the house next door, but she can't because the body of one of the twins is lying on the porch just outside the door! Rather than stepping over the body, she runs to the back door only to find Jason had crucified Crispin Glover in the doorway. So instead of crawling under him, she decides to smash the window with a chair an crawl out that way. What would she have done if Jason had decided to nail her mother up over the window?

 

[Heretic]

In one of last year's worst movies...A Haunting At Silver Falls...

There are two bad guys, two good guys.

Bad guy 1 is taken out with a baseball bat by good guy 1, as good guy 2 holds a chain saw.

Bad guy 2, outnumbered by two people with weapons, grabs a mounted deer head off the wall as a weapon. Good guy 1 drops the bat and good guy 2 drops the chainsaw in fear.

 

[Ant-manic]

In one of last year's worst movies...A Haunting At Silver Falls...

There are two bad guys, two good guys.

Bad guy 1 is taken out with a baseball bat by good guy 1, as good guy 2 holds a chain saw.

Bad guy 2, outnumbered by two people with weapons, grabs a mounted deer head off the wall as a weapon. Good guy 1 drops the bat and good guy 2 drops the chainsaw in fear.

did the deer head fire bullets?