The Horror Thread - Part 7

[CaptainWagner]

31 Days of Halloween

1) Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Such a great movie to kick off the season. A pure homage to the iconic Hammer films, this is Burton's gothic sensibilities at their best. And he hasn't managed to recapture the magic since. The lead performances are great and Christopher Walken proves he doesn't even have to talk to be terrifying. But the real star is the production design - delightfully haunting by day or by night, and the ultimate rendering of the Headless Horseman. The pacing is off in parts, the age gap gets a bit uncomfy in the more overtly romantic moments and there are scenes where they needlessly insert some ridiculous CGI "Large-Marge-style" eye-popping effects that doesn't fit at all. But in the end, it's a darn-near perfect Halloween flick (4.5/5)

2) As Above, So Below (2014)

I'm not angry, just disappointed. I was familiar with the basic concept going in, and was very interested by it. But then... nothing. It's certainly not a BAD movie, the acting, writing and directions are all perfectly fine. It just kind of...exists. A full-horror Indiana Jones is a great idea, but it takes what should be a fascinating and terrifying premise and ultimately does nothing with it. It comes and goes with a scarce handful of scares and barely leaves an impression. (2.5/5)

3) The Evil Dead (1981)

This is the part where I shamefully admit to having never seen the original Evil Dead before now. All I can say is... bizarre. Raimi really shows off the brilliant director he was growing into with the way the film is shot, and it really makes me want to see him return to smaller budget fare. I feel like there's two different movies being made - a prestigious, somber thriller (the long tracking shots, eerie and isolated setting) and then pure camp (some of the dumbest ever horror movie decisions and the "You think it was an animal?" moment, which has to be one of the strangest line deliveries I've ever seen) So it's kind of a tonal mess for me, and Ash is the only memorable character out of the five. That said, its influence on the genre is undeniable, and as far as ground-breaking movies go, this one was plenty of fun to watch (3/5)

 

[Broseph44]

31 Days of Halloween

1) Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Such a great movie to kick off the season. A pure homage to the iconic Hammer films, this is Burton's gothic sensibilities at their best. And he hasn't managed to recapture the magic since. The lead performances are great and Christopher Walken proves he doesn't even have to talk to be terrifying. But the real star is the production design - delightfully haunting by day or by night, and the ultimate rendering of the Headless Horseman. The pacing is off in parts, the age gap gets a bit uncomfy in the more overtly romantic moments and there are scenes where they needlessly insert some ridiculous CGI "Large-Marge-style" eye-popping effects that doesn't fit at all. But in the end, it's a darn-near perfect Halloween flick (4.5/5)

2) As Above, So Below (2014)

I'm not angry, just disappointed. I was familiar with the basic concept going in, and was very interested by it. But then... nothing. It's certainly not a BAD movie, the acting, writing and directions are all perfectly fine. It just kind of...exists. A full-horror Indiana Jones is a great idea, but it takes what should be a fascinating and terrifying premise and ultimately does nothing with it. It comes and goes with a scarce handful of scares and barely leaves an impression. (2.5/5)

3) The Evil Dead (1981)

This is the part where I shamefully admit to having never seen the original Evil Dead before now. All I can say is... bizarre. Raimi really shows off the brilliant director he was growing into with the way the film is shot, and it really makes me want to see him return to smaller budget fare. I feel like there's two different movies being made - a prestigious, somber thriller (the long tracking shots, eerie and isolated setting) and then pure camp (some of the dumbest ever horror movie decisions and the "You think it was an animal?" moment, which has to be one of the strangest line deliveries I've ever seen) So it's kind of a tonal mess for me, and Ash is the only memorable character out of the five. That said, its influence on the genre is undeniable, and as far as ground-breaking movies go, this one was plenty of fun to watch (3/5)

Love Sleepy Hollow and Evil Dead so much.

 

[Broseph44]

Tonight’s film for me. The extended directors cut. One of my all time favorites.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

No joke Sleepy Hollow is still my favorite Tim Burton film and Evil Dead is still my favorite Sam Raimi film. As much as I've enjoyed those guys later movies they were at the top of there game in the 80's and 90's.

 

[Asr]

Agree with you on Sleepy Hollow, it's easily my favorite Tim Burton movie too. I still haven't seen any of the Evil Dead movies. I'll probably be rectifying that this month at some point.

 

[NDX]

31 Nights of Halloween has fallen behind already.

01. Repulsion
02. The Cabin in the Woods
03. Night of the Creeps


Needed to get back to it with something simple. And follow that up with something even more fun than the first. Scream Factory version is real nice. Finding a balance between this, wrestling, comics, movie themed Inktober and JackTober is hard.

 

[Mani-Man]

Agree with you on Sleepy Hollow, it's easily my favorite Tim Burton movie too. I still haven't seen any of the Evil Dead movies. I'll probably be rectifying that this month at some point.

Yup, loving Sleepy Hollow...it is imo the perfect Burton movie.

I have to admit that i havent seen the Evil Dead movies too.
Mainly because here in Germany they werent allowed to be sold.

Anyway...i try to take part in this halloween marathon tradition too, its hard here in Germany to get into the mood...but i manage.

01. Scarecrows Revenge

Thank the heavens i got it for under 1€, because the cover of this is the best thing about it.
Why this got the M rating here in germany, i dont get it.
The Movie is really tame in terms of gore and violence.
Other than that, its a cheap amateur movie.
I love the idea of a Murdering Scarecrow, but i cant remember if there ever was a good movie about that.

02. Alive

Its a movie from south Korea i think, i just found it randomly on Netflix the other day.
Was pretty neat i have to say.
Not overly brutal or so, but it had a good feeling to it and the zombies looked and acted fine to me.

03. Frankensteins Army

A weird movie i just cant escape from.
Something pulls me often back to it.
You could say i enjoy it, but at the same time its so badly done.

 

[DyeLorean]

Sleepy Hollow is the film that makes the best use of Tim Burton's skills and style.

On a side note, I think we need a renaissance of the slasher genre. I'm a bit tired of all the Conjuring-style horror from these later years. Hell Fest and Haunt are a good first step.

 

[Captain Tired]

And the revival of the Halloween series to relative critical acclaim.

 

[DyeLorean]

I'm pretty excited about Scream 5 too. I hope they don't blow it.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Yes we need way more slasher films and creature features IMO. I like The Conjuring films, but its time to change it up like they did all through the 80's and 90's. Halloween 2018, Hell Fest and Haunt were good steps going forward, but I hope Hollywood and the major studios becomes even more confident in the genre if Halloween Kills, Candyman and Scream 5 end up being really successful.

Also, I really hope Antlers does come out early next year, because man am I excited for that movie. Now, that looks like a proper, old school monster flick.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Halloween 2018 worked very well, and with the early acclaim Halloween kills is getting, along with the talented time that did Ready or Not directing Scream 5, I'd say things are looking very good for the return of the slasher.

 

[DyeLorean]

I also wish they could explore more the whodunnit aspect in future slashers, I think Scream is genius in the way the killer can be anyone. It makes the sequels more fun and less predictable. It is so tangible and realistic that I miss that type of mystery/horror. I like the Conjuring/Insidious stuff too but it can become too supernatural and fantastic. I miss the realness of the slashers.

 

[Mani-Man]

Yes we need way more slasher films and creature features IMO. I like The Conjuring films, but its time to change it up like they did all through the 80's and 90's.

Feels like in the last 10+ years we got mostly zombies and stuff like the conjuring.
Which is neat no doubt, but more slashers and monster movies would be neat.
More big budget horror movies with different themes etc would be really nice.

 

[chamber-music]

We summon the darkness, ready or not and the babysitter felt like slashers with a supernatural twist.

The appeal of scream for most people I know is that it is meta. The characters and audience are both aware of the genre tropes which makes it more interesting than your average slasher. Cabin in the woods was also a meta horror flick.

I think doing a normal slasher film for modern audiences is very hard to pull off without it feeling generic or reductive now.
The slasher genre was a victim of it's own success. The films were cheap to make so studios flooded the market with sequels , remakes and inferior knock off flicks.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Feels like in the last 10+ years we got mostly zombies and stuff like the conjuring.
Which is neat no doubt, but more slashers and monster movies would be neat.
More big budget horror movies with different themes etc would be really nice.

It’s all cyclical. They come in waves. I hated most of the slasher films of the late 90s/early 00s. All Scream ripoffs.

Thank God zombies got their moment. There was a time when the only quality zombie media were either Romero or Return of the Living Dead. That was it.

Horror fans don’t know how lucky they have it now compared to the 90s.

 

[Prison Mike]

I don’t know...I honestly can’t get scared by slasher movies. I always find them boring. Never got into the Halloween/Friday the 13th/Scream franchises.

 

[StarLord]

The early 00s were almost as bad as the 90s.

Just to name a few - Blair Witch 2, Dracula 2000, Valentine (I actually went to see this pile of dung at the cinema).

 

[Captain Tired]

I don’t know...I honestly can’t get scared by slasher movies. I always find them boring. Never got into the Halloween/Friday the 13th/Scream franchises.

I've never been scared by them (well, not since I was like six), but I do find them to be massively entertaining.

 

[Broseph44]

The early 00s were almost as bad as the 90s.

Just to name a few - Blair Witch 2, Dracula 2000, Valentine (I actually went to see this pile of dung at the cinema).

Love Valentine.

 

[DyeLorean]

I don’t know...I honestly can’t get scared by slasher movies. I always find them boring. Never got into the Halloween/Friday the 13th/Scream franchises.

I don't get scared anymore to be honest, in general. Some "creepy" imagery does touch some nerves from time to time, but the thing about slashers is that they could be A LOT of fun and entertaining. And some of that is a bit missing lately.

 

[Prison Mike]

Yeah I think that’s key...finding entertainment in them. I just don’t find them entertaining like I do with ghost or supernatural movies

 

[Broseph44]

Tonight’s film, another favorite of mine. And one of Carpenter’s best films. Again picture taken off my tv

 

[Captain Tired]

The Fog. A classic. I always thought it seemed to straddle that fine line between traditional horror and sort of kiddie, almost gateway horror like Poltergeist. That's not a slight against it.

 

[Fincher]

I just wandered into this thread, but the '90s slashers wave was preferable to me. Well, my favorite is Happy Death Day, and Identity may not strictly speaking be a slasher film but it's slasher-adjacent and I really like it, but I like Urban Legends, Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer and don't care for the classics like Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Horror in general can be great, but I don't get scared much by movies and don't care about the gore or the camp aspect, and that's so much of what goes into the film genre as it stands that I end up approaching the movies from an outside perspective and looking at them more like a breed of dark thriller, when they're not comedies or some sort of mix. So I look at Urban Legends and appreciate the character development and atmosphere even if it doesn't reach the level of, say, The Ring, whereas I look at Texas Chainsaw Massacre and it's annoying people getting murdered on a low budget. Bleh.