The Horror Thread - Part 4

[Goshdarn Batman]

Wait...there's only five Paranormal Activity movies?

 

[Mysteryman]

Yes .
Four with the original family,
I heard that the fifth one involved a hispanic family.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

I am actually sad that Paranormal Activity 5 got pushed back into next year instead of being out in time for Halloween. I mean the movies aren't that good and the only REALLY good one is Paranormal Activity 3. The Marked Ones was decent enough and is the second best. Paranormal Activity 1,2,4 are garbage in my opinion. But seeing the paranormal activity movies opening night or opening weekend with a packed crowd was some of the funniest times I had at the movies. The crowd really adds something to the movies for me, watching them at home on netflix is lame in comparison.

While I disagree and think 1 is really good, I agree with the rest of this post. There's nothing quite like seeing these in theaters opening weekend. Its sort of an opposite Saw, where people were grossed out but not scared, here everyone is screaming and getting into it. I was so happy and how decent "The Marked Ones" turned out, because PA4 was really lackluster with my audience, and I personally hated it. But between random Mexican gangsters blasting witches with shotguns, and the genuine surprise and wtf factor of it's ending, it works, and also shows me the people in charge aren't taking this so seriously anymore.

 

[def28]

Watched V/H/S Viral (2014) the third movie in the franchise (and for the record, I did not enjoy either of the first two). Meanwhile, this movie is getting trashed by fans of the other two. I'm a fan of some of the contributing directors, so lets see how this goes...

I'll give the basic concept behind each short, and give my opinion of it, but wont actually reveal any story spoilers.

Spoiler

The wraparound story is from the director of Deadgirl. I really liked Deadgirl, so I was looking forward to this. It seems like too many of these shorts are about a guy videotaping a female's body parts and then Horror happens. That is not a story. However, it soon gets weird, then it gets stupid, then bad voice acting turns it to crap and it ends really stupid. The wraparound story sucked on the last one too. This was all over the map and seemed to be mostly filler (not a good idea when its a short). I really wish they'd knock it off with these wraparound stories because they have to really reach to get where they want to go.

The first complete short is from director Gregg Bishop, who I'm not really familiar with. It's a mockumentary about a loser who becomes a famous magician. This was goofy (and predictable), but entertained me more than the vast majority of segments from this series. Because the idea was that the magician had people filming him, they were able to take a more traditional filming style with the climax scene. It felt like some of the old anthology tv series in that it wasn't "horror" in the sense that VHS stories usually are...just a stand alone story that deals with a Horror concept.

The next story is from Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes, Open Windows). It's a sci-fi story about a guy trying to invent something. I can see where the people who loved the first few would hate this one now...but I actually liked the concept behind this story as well. It kept my interest. This gets pretty crazy, and really kind of stupid...but again...I was intrigued by the beginning and I smiled at the absurd end...so that counts as entertainment.

The next story is from the directors of Resolution...one of the best Horror movies in years (and my favorite film of ANY genre last year). It's about skateboarders filming their stunts. This is the most similar to the previous VHS films...introduce some people we don't like, then have a Horror genre type event happen to them. Yeah...I tried to like this one but didn't. It's just a dud.

This question comes up a lot for me in found footage...but who in the heck edited these shorts? They are supposed to be evil tapes or whatever...did Satan take the time to switch camera shots etc?

So...a mixed bag. There is definitely less of a focus on Horror this time, so I can see where people don't like it. At least a few of the shorts kept my attention this time...but the wraparound story keeps ruining it, and the last short is forgettable.

Thanks for the review. Have not heard too many opinions about this one. Gonna check this out tonight.

I really liked VHS2 overall. Gareth Evans segment was weird and all kinds of ****ed up. The Alien one was fun.

 

[Hellion]

My favorite of the classic Universal Monsters films...

 

[Heretic]

Thanks for the review. Have not heard too many opinions about this one. Gonna check this out tonight.

I really liked VHS2 overall. Gareth Evans segment was weird and all kinds of ****ed up. The Alien one was fun.

That Gareth Evans segment from VHS2 (I think it's called Safe Haven) is the one segment that people will think of 20 years from now when people are reminded of this franchise.

 

[Astro13Zombie]

I was actually really looking forward to this movie,but after reading Radcliffe's comments here....I'm not sure what to think.
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=42522
“The creation of the monster isn’t right until the end"

 

[Naked Shia]

I've watched Colour From The dark. It's an adaptation of Lovecraft's short story that goes by the same name. The story is not exactly the same, the movie deals with religion, which was not the case in the short story. Also, Lovecraft later referenced it in the cthulhu mythos.

The cast is mostly bad. It feels like they aren't professional actors, and that includes Debbie Rochon. Visually, it kinda looks cheap, including the sfx. But the story is interesting, there is a constant feeling of dread, like in the short story. Some scenes are really intense. The last part has some interesting visuals, and it gets creepier. Not as creepy as I imagined while reading the short story, but creepy enough.

The atmosphere was great.

It was an inetresting adaptation, and I mostly liked it.

 

[Pittman4Two]

Quick Halloween 2 question: Why did Michael kill Alice in the opening scene? It seemed like a waste of time. I watched the behind the scenes documentary and it mentioned that John Carpenter filmed this scene after the project wrapped.

 

[Verbal21]

Anybody know what movie this was from?

 

[Naked Shia]

no but it does look interesting.

Has anyone seen the poughkeepsie tapes?

 

[PalmerTheThing]

Anybody know what movie this was from?

It's from a haunted house. I don't recall where though. Reminds me a lot of Freddy Krueger eating Kristen in ANOES 3.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

Anybody know what movie this was from?

No, but I'm not going to sleep tonight.

(Looks familiar, though)

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Anybody know what movie this was from?

IT honestly looks to me like footage taken of a haunted house, it looks especially like an animatronic that was in one of the Universal Halloween Horror Night haunts a few years ago, then given a layer of grain to look like from a film or creepy video.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

While I disagree and think 1 is really good, I agree with the rest of this post. There's nothing quite like seeing these in theaters opening weekend. Its sort of an opposite Saw, where people were grossed out but not scared, here everyone is screaming and getting into it. I was so happy and how decent "The Marked Ones" turned out, because PA4 was really lackluster with my audience, and I personally hated it. But between random Mexican gangsters blasting witches with shotguns, and the genuine surprise and wtf factor of it's ending, it works, and also shows me the people in charge aren't taking this so seriously anymore.

I had fun experiences with a packed/ sold out crowd for every PA movie. However, PA 3 crowd was the BEST. The movie had some really creepy moments but there was this guy that said " O Hell Naw" when the fan camera started and then the ending got a huge reaction from the crowd.

 

[NDX]

My favorite of the classic Universal Monsters films...

Going to finally see this Friday as part of Nitehawk's Nite to Dismember. Can't wait!

 

[Loki882]

I liked the first three PA movies, but they should have stopped at three imo. We got a great first movie (seriously it scared the crap out of me when I first saw it), and two not as good but still decent films, one a sequel and one a prequel, that fleshed out/explained things. That was sufficient. I just wasn't able to get into the last two, both because they aren't particularly scary and seem just so pointless.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I liked the first three PA movies, but they should have stopped at three imo. We got a great first movie (seriously it scared the crap out of me when I first saw it), and two not as good but still decent films, one a sequel and one a prequel, that fleshed out/explained things. That was sufficient. I just wasn't able to get into the last two, both because they aren't particularly scary and seem just so pointless.

Paranormal activity 1 is boring. Nothing happens in the movie until the last 5-10 mins. PA 3 was slow but had better scares, atmosphere and actually fleshed out the story.

 

[Naked Shia]

I've only seen PA 1 and 4, and was bored by both.

I've watched the poughkeepsie tapes. It's basically Lake Mungo with a serial killer instead of a ghost. But unlike Lake Mungo, it sucks.

The killer's tapes were sometimes interesting, but you could see almost nothing. The score was ok. The acting was bad. The story was uninteresting.

I have to admit the tape with the english girl was quite creepy though. I can't say I enjoyed this movie, and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.

 

[Loki882]

Paranormal activity 1 is boring. Nothing happens in the movie until the last 5-10 mins. PA 3 was slow but had better scares, atmosphere and actually fleshed out the story.

It's called a slow build/tension-building. No, it's not true that "nothing happened" it just didn't smack you in the face with everything at once. It escalated things gradually, which was appreciated.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

It's called a slow build/tension-building. No, it's not true that "nothing happened" it just didn't smack you in the face with everything at once. It escalated things gradually, which was appreciated.

No, I'm sorry...but the man is right, it's boring. I have nothing against tension-building (I prefer it to silly jump scares), but Paranormal Activity is pure crap. Had it been a short movie, I wouldn't mind it.

I watched it in a theater. No one seemed to find it scary...not a single scream, no wet pants, no loud sharts etc. But I do remember people saying: "Okay? That's it? Haha!" and "maybe Nightmare on Elm Street is better (they showed the trailer before the movie)" etc. When the movie was over.

I respect that some people think it's one of the greatest horror movies of all time, but for me, it was a waste of time and money. Felt like I watched a long youtube video with disinterested strangers

 

[Kane52630]

Has anyone seen the poughkeepsie tapes?

I have, it's disturbing for sure, but I wouldn't call it a good movie.

 

[Naked Shia]

I have, it's disturbing for sure, but I wouldn't call it a good movie.

now that i've seen it, I agree with you.

 

[Donnie Darko]

I couldn't even sit through Paranormal Activity. I was just so bored by it.

There's nothing wrong with building tension. Look at Rosemary's Baby. That's all that damn movie did for like two hours, and it was captivating. Half an hour into PA, I was just like "why the hell should I even care?"

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

The best part about Paranormal Activity? The bottle of coke I drank.