The Horror Thread - Part 5

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I just got done watching May with Angela Bettis. Such a great little film that really falls through the cracks it seems. But I consider it one of the best of the 2000's.
 
Watched The Drownsman (2015) which was one of my top 5 most anticipated movies of the year. It's basically an attempt to create a new iconic Horror villain...like a water-themed Freddy. Michelle Mylett (who I think is insanely gorgeous) stars as a girl who almost drowns, which causes her to have a severe case of hydrophobia associated with a terrifying entity.

I'm going to get into some SERIOUS spoilers here, because I feel like the biggest flaw in the film is the concept. Do not click unless you want important story details spoiled. I am not kidding.

They develop the story of The Drownsman early and through-out the film. I really do appreciate the attempt to create a new iconic slasher type villain. There are too many modern slasher rip-offs that don't bother to give their killer any back-story or anything resembling an iconic look.

The problem is in the execution.

As I mentioned, The Drownsman is essentially the Freddy of water. If you are near water, he can appear and strike. COOL! Everyone has to sleep, and everyone has to be near water. So, I was envisioning a film where a character would drink some water, only to be ripped apart from the inside as the water went down their throat. Or maybe someone cries and a tear cuts it's way down her face. Unfortunately, he just uses water to get a hold of you, then pulls you into another dimension where he drowns you so he can hear your heartbeat echo through the water until you die. That means that the tension that should be building for the "kill" is just a transition, and then the actual kill is boring, as the victim just drowns while he listens.

Another problem is that his powers seem to change. In the real world, he is only able to be where water is. However, he is capable of making water appear by the gallons, turning on sinks or making refrigerators leak etc . So, why does he only do that occasionally? I would have preferred it if he had no power over water at all, and instead relied on people naturally being near water in order to make his move. It's kind of like Final Destination...I prefer for the deaths in those films to be insanely improbable accidents, and don't like when it is clear that death is actually "chasing" them. And why is a killer who has power over and can create water afraid of small fires?

Also, there is a plot point that comes out of nowhere and ends up being very important, when they really hadn't built up to it well enough. More time should have been spent on developing Madison's phobia and life, so that what comes later might mean something, rather than rushing straight into it. For instance, she sure does look like she's had a shower recently...so...is her shower somehow inaccessible to The Drownsman (again, it could have showed her getting attacked in the shower, then go the rest of the film without bathing)? The added plot point I mentioned seems like something that could have been saved for a sequel (and in fact is generally something we could expect from a franchise out of ideas but trying to justify another sequel). This film rushes into the second act within minutes of the opening credits, so we miss out on what would be vital world-building. What should be the event that leads to THE climax of the film is actually one of the first scenes in the movie. There is one character who leaves her wedding to have an argument with Madison, then stages an intervention the next day, then spends the rest of the film with Madison dealing with The Drownsman. Her husband is never referenced again, which is fine since they apparently had no plans together for after the wedding.

Other stuff is just stupid. The lead character watches one of her friends die...just stands there watching her drown...and then...once dead...she THEN frees her from the trap.

What a massive disappointment. It has a cool idea, a cool poster, good production values and a star in Michelle Mylett who really should be a hot property in Hollywood. It's just betrayed by the script/story to the point where I can't recommend it.
 
Checked out Spring. Pretty well put together movie with some interesting ideas. Available from Amazon streaming.
 
Check out Maggie, it's one of the better zombie flicks out there.
 
Aussie Science Fiction Horror film Infini was disappointing. The film started off good but then got dull and bring.

I would describe it as a cross between Event Horizon, Doom and Sphere.
 
There's a movie called Spring that I recommend. It's not perfect, but it's shot beautifully with an interesting premise.
 
Octoberist said:
There's a movie called Spring that I recommend. It's not perfect, but it's shot beautifully with an interesting premise.
Click to expand...

In case anyone missed my post on it...Spring is currently my favorite movie of 2015, by a long shot. It's a beautiful fantasy/romance/horror movie with only one really stupid scene, which is a bigger achievement than anything else I've seen this year.
 
Fright Night 1 & 2 (1980s) are underrated films and deserve deluxe re-releases. Too bad that Roddy MacDowell is not with us anymore.
 
I post a lot of reviews in this thread, and honestly just type whatever I happen to be thinking at the moment. However, I just started doing reviews for a site that is launching soon...and doing real reviews is kind of hard! I never took a day of writing or English outside of high school (where I barely paid attention), and I have no knowledge of the technical side of making a movie, so this isn't as easy as the pros make it seem!

EDIT: I'm going to be doing interviews as well...which I actually am pretty good at (used to run my own music site). If anyone has suggestions on cool Horror people to interview, let me know!
 
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The Lazarus Effect sucked. The film is only an 1 hour 19 minutes long including credits.

The film was really cheap. Only about 9 characters in the movie of which 5 were the main ones. The other people were glorified extras. The film only used two of tree locations which were indoors as well.

Oliva Wilde wearing black contact lenses doing a Carrie 2 impression isn't scary. Donald Glover probably only did this film so that he could kiss Oliva Wilde. Evan Peters played a guy who you have seen in a hundred movies before. The trailer features every thing in the movie. The ending twist you could see coming from a mile away.
 
I have a thing for found footage films, I will pretty much watch anything that is FF just to see if they managed to pull it off effectively.

So I watched Area 51, its made by the dude that did the first Paranormal Activity which made me think it might be half way decent as I found Paranormal Activity to be an enjoyable FF movie...I was wrong..this movie ****ing blows!. It was just nothing, no pay off..no character development or anything to make me care or think about them as more than just human tripods.

I had this thought whilst watching it and it kinda goes back to something Edgar Wright said about SPACED when it was nearly remade for America. I feel that FF movies don't work very well with American actors because we already see them in every other action movie that has come out.

It ruins the illusion that we are watching FF of some crazy ass event when Americans are running around screaming cliches just like in their non FF movies. I think FF films to be affective need to be done based in countries lesser known for OTT action movies.
 
A bit of cross-posting here about the Friday the 13th reboot:

Next "Friday the 13th" Won't Be Found Footage

"That was a road that we went down and tried to figure out. Ultimately, I think Michael [Bay], Andrew [Form] and I felt that we couldn't figure that out, so we kind of jettisoned that whole notion and we had to start over. We're in the latter phases of that starting over and hopefully we're getting a script in the next month or two, and we'll go back to Crystal Lake.

At the end of the day, those movies are so fantastic because Jason Voorhees is such a dynamic presence and people love to see him do what he does wel. We hope to put Jason in a situation where he's able to do that again, and it doesn't feel like you're seeing the same thing over and over"
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STYD
 
I just recently watched The Blair Witch Project. A good ominously atmospheric film and also quiet film. Anyone know of any good horror films similar to it?
 
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I've seen Trollhunter but not the rest... Thanks Kane :up:. I'll be sure to check those out.
 
I recently watched Sennentuntschi for the first time. Loved it.
 
So Afflicted is good? I'm gonna sound so lame but sometimes I have a habit of blind buying things, especially horror films. But then I take forever to watch them. I picked up Afflicted six months ago I believe and still haven't gotten around to watching it yet.
 
TheDreamMaster said:
So Afflicted is good? I'm gonna sound so lame but sometimes I have a habit of blind buying things, especially horror films. But then I take forever to watch them. I picked up Afflicted six months ago I believe and still haven't gotten around to watching it yet.
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It's my favorite horror film of last year. :woot:
 
I watched 'Joy Ride' for the first time, cowritten by JJ Abrams.

Very..underrated. It stinks of the early 2000's, but overall it's a well made horror film, that pays homage to 'Duel' without being a copycat.

And Leelee Sobeski was a hottie!
 
Octoberist said:
I watched 'Joy Ride' for the first time, cowritten by JJ Abrams.

Very..underrated. It stinks of the early 2000's, but overall it's a well made horror film, that pays homage to 'Duel' without being a copycat.

And Leelee Sobeski was a hottie!
Click to expand...



Joy Ride was an awesome, well-crafted B-movie. Not ashamed to say I own it.
 
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