The Horror Thread

[Heretic]

I didn't say they were, Heretic did. A hipster is someone who likes something ironically and does so to be different while missing the fact they are themselves following a trend. I genuinely liked the movies and I never followed the trend. I meant I liked them before the hipster fad came about, not "before the movies were cool" since the movies came out when I was an infant.

Boo hoo if I said the remake failed to live up to the originals.

Get off your defensive high horse before you fall off it, seriously.

Exactly. The reason why I didn't watch the original Evil Dead films until recently is because every person I knew who went on and on about how it was the greatest horror franchise ever was a "hipster" type person who wanted to like things that other people didn't know about and...importantly...were not even Horror fans. When I'd ask questions about the movies, they seemed unable to give any actual details beyond "Bruce Campbell is THE MAN!!"

 

[Teelie]

I think Bruce is great and he is a good actor but he was only part of why I saw the movies. More like a bonus than an impetus. Sort of like how Bill Paxton is in Aliens, The Terminator or Predator 2. He's someone I like watching act on screen but he's not the only reason to see those movies either.

 

[redhawk23]

I just found it somewhat funny to criticize hipsters by commenting that you were in on the trend before them as that is one of the basic hallmarks of hipster.

"before the trend" and "before it was cool" are basically the same thing.

Personally I'm not real big on the Evil Dead films, save for maybe Dead by Dawn. My best friend though is several degrees past obsessed with them, so I've seen the first 3 several times.

I made some deadite makeup for him last Spring.

 

[Piper Maru]

The original or remake? I liked both although I haven't seen either in years. The original is usually held up as the better one though.

I'm referring to the original, of course.

 

[Teelie]

I just found it somewhat funny to criticize hipsters by commenting that you were in on the trend before them as that is one of the basic hallmarks of hipster.

"before the trend" and "before it was cool" are basically the same thing.

You can call it what you like, I didn't jump on a hipster bandwagon so I could care less what your opinion is about me being a hipster. Though ironically actually responding to your claims is itself making it appear so.

 

[Thundarr]

Alright, what's the Best Horror Series/Franchise of all-time?

Remakes count. And try your best to judge them by being somewhat consistently good in terms of the sequels being good. It's easy to say that Freddy and Michael and Jason are the best/biggest franchises, but do their sequels make them the best series?

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Halloween
Friday the 13th
Hellraiser
Child's Play
The Exorcist
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Evil Dead
George A. Romero's "Dead" Saga
Children of the Corn
Alien
Psycho
Saw
Hostel
Final Destination
Paranormal Activity
Scream
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Re-Animator
Amityville Horror
Poltergeist
Lepracaun
Candyman
The Omen
Resident Evil
Hatchet
Jeepers Creepers
The Howling
From Dusk Till Dawn
Urban Legend
Pumpkinhead
Puppet Master
Wishmaster

That's a very interesting question. My personal favourite Horror Movie, and arguably the greatest of its genre, is Halloween. However, it might not be the greatest franchise of all time simply by the fact that the only really good movies in the entire series are Parts 1, 2, and H:20, with an honorable mention to Part 4

By following your criteria, I'd say the franchises rate something like this:

1) Friday The 13th (Parts 1 through 3 were really good, with The Final Chapter being not quite as strong as its predecessors. Part 6 was fun, and Part 7, while technically not nearly as good, at least had Kane Hodder as Jason and some cool visual effects. Everything else, including the remake, was subpar.)

2) A tie between Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street. (Both franchises only had three really good films and a single honorable mention to their respective names. For Halloween it was Parts 1, 2, and H:20 with an HM to Part 4. For ANOES it was Parts 1, 2, and 3, with an HM to New Nightmare. All other films, including the remakes, were rather abysmal.)

3) Paranormal Activity (I felt the first two movies were really well done, and then started to slip with Part 3. I haven't seen Part 4 yet, so I'm reserving judgement on that one. I'm hoping it'll be at least on par with Part 3.)

4) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Of the original films, I liked Parts 1 & 3 the best. Part 2 was too silly to be scary, and I still haven't seen TCM 3D yet. The remake and its prequel were both okay. Not great, but not as bad as the Halloween, ANOES, and F13 remakes.)

5) George Romero's "Dead" Films (I really enjoy watching Romero's zombie movies. I don't find them particularly scary, but they're fun to watch. Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Day Of The Dead are all great. Even Diary Of The Dead, War Of The Dead, and Land Of The Dead are really fun. Honestly, the only thing keeping this series of films so low on my list is I don't find the zombie sub-genre particularly scary. If I did, the large amount of quality sequels, spin offs, rip offs, and remakes would put this series at the top of the list.)

I'm afraid those are the only ones I can think of that I've seen enough of to be able to judge. I Know What You Did Last Summer only had two sequels, of which I've only seen one. Only the first Alien movie can really be classified has horror. Aliens was more of an action movie. Alien 3 was just "Meh". And Alien 4 was more of a comedy.

Anyway, that's my list and those are my reasons. Take it as you will.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Actually I made the first comment about not thinking ED was hipster-fodder. I didn't mean to start an argument, just staying my opinion. That said, I saw ED 13 years ago looking for good horror, not for any entitlement. They've just stuck as some of my favorites. And I thought Evil Dead the remake was pretty good, but a different sort of film than the others. The original relied on psychological horror where the remake was literally out for blood.

As for The Fog, I never saw the remake, but I like the original. It's a little weak, but it's a mostly solid film. It stands with Carpenter's better works.

 

[Thundarr]

I didn't mind the Zombie Halloweens that much because its the same basic story and pretty much the same mask. The thing that I didn't like about those movies was that it gave away to much about MM. I don't need to know everything about the killer. To be honest I think the more that gets revealed the less scary he becomes. Every single character was unlikable too.

I don't really like remakes at all. The Thing, Maniac and maybe the first ten mins of Ft13th are about all I really like. Does Cape Fear count?

Everything in bold print is exactly why I hate RZ's Halloween. Keeping the story and the mask "basically the same" isn't enough to save the film in my book. Had RZ left out all the stuff about MM being abused and bullied, etc, and just had him kill his sister on Halloween night, that's all the beginning needed. Then maybe a little bit of Dr Loomis trying to reach Michael, but Michael just sitting and staring. Then they could have spread out the kills more, built more tension and suspense throughout the movie. Make an effort for all of the characters to actually be likeable enough for us to NOT want to see them die. Then it would've been a pretty good movie. All that extra crap just ruined the whole damn thing.

(Golum Voice)
"Stupid fat Zombieses! They ruins it! RUINS it!"

 

[Heretic]

Obviously there are some "true" fans. Not everyone who listens to Mumford and Sons (who I've never actually heard, by the way) does so because they are the cool band to listen to. Some people actually like them and will be fans forever. However, you have the majority...who jump onto a trend because they like claiming that they aren't part of a trend (which makes absolutely no sense) and will abandon it for something else soon. With Evil Dead, it seems like the people who hyped that movie to me were people who claimed to love Horror Punk and Psychobilly...yet didn't actually own any cds of those genres...people who claimed to love female roller derby, yet never seemed to go to the events. Stuff like that. They knew that they loved Evil Dead, but didn't seem to actually know anything about the actual films.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Everything in bold print is exactly why I hate RZ's Halloween. Keeping the story and the mask "basically the same" isn't enough to save the film in my book. Had RZ left out all the stuff about MM being abused and bullied, etc, and just had him kill his sister on Halloween night, that's all the beginning needed. Then maybe a little bit of Dr Loomis trying to reach Michael, but Michael just sitting and staring. Then they could have spread out the kills more, built more tension and suspense throughout the movie. Make an effort for all of the characters to actually be likeable enough for us to NOT want to see them die. Then it would've been a pretty good movie. All that extra crap just ruined the whole damn thing.

(Golum Voice)
"Stupid fat Zombieses! They ruins it! RUINS it!"

If they'd cut all the early film, followed more on Loomis and his analysis (and not mention the cut stuff) of just Michael as a repressed little boy he eventually finds is just evil, I'd have been fine. McDowell could have done so much more with that role. Although that wouldn't have saved the rest from the near shot-for-shot remake the rest of the film became. Too bad the sequel failed so hard, it could have done thing differently (not the direction it went) and also not turned Loomis into the giant ass he became, and we might have gotten something halfway decent.
But we didn't, I only own the RZ films for my Halloween collection purposes.

 

[Teelie]

They knew that they loved Evil Dead, but didn't seem to actually know anything about the actual films.

This is what disappointed me with the remake (which I suspect is the problem for some fans; I said I felt disappointed by it). Even knowing the history behind the film and knowing Fede is a huge fan, it felt like there was next to nothing on the Deadites and their origin. In fact I don't remember if the name was even said in the movie more than once if even that. Other than "witch craft" being uttered and some otherwise throwaway lines about the evil coming I can't recall a lot being said on just what occured to them.

It's why I hope if there is a sequel it will flesh out their origins more instead of glossing over them.

 

[jonathancrane]

I finally saw the Evil Dead remake. I really liked it except for two problems.

1. Lack of consultation. They should have consulted someone for some of the sequences: duck tape on a stump (of a limb)? Blowing a cabin up by shooting a gasoline container? Really?

2. Post Credits Cameo. As a film nerd, Bruce Campbell is one of my heroes. Having said that, his cameo in the film is one of the most underwhelming of all time. I wish they had stuck with the one that was (allegedly) in the original script: Mia encountering him on the road. Instead we have a few second shot of him in the shadows saying "Groovy." Groovy to what? Is this supposed to bridge the follow-up with the original trilogy, as they planned? Or was it a gag? Either way it was underwhelming, even though I was slightly tickled to see Ash again.

Having said that, I really liked the film. I'd rate it somewhere from 8.5/10 to a 9/10.

 

[Teelie]

"Groovy" was just a literal call out to the fans of the original movies and wasn't meant to imply anything about a sequel or a connection although those both have been discussed seperately.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

So, this loos....well despite my love of the films, this sounds awful:

http://scream-trilogy.net/2013/07/scream-tv-series-making-progress/

 

[Teelie]

I'm still a bit lost in how you turn that into a television series. The movie sequel franchise itself has had to stretch credibility more than once and that's only a 1.5-2 hour movie.

 

[Rocketman]

I'm guessing there's a new killer every week, and each one wears the Ghostface mask. So Ghostface appears in every episode, but it's a new actor/actress underneath, playing a new killer.

Or, a new killer every season.

Maybe the events of the four films have lead to dozens of copycats.

 

[jonathancrane]

At this point, I'd welcome anything Scream.

All of the major franchises have fallen into suspended animation: Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, etc.

And I am still impatiently waiting for a 'Trick 'r Treat' sequel, after listening to some of the sequences that Dougherty pushed back for it.

 

[Heretic]

Wasn't there some movement on Friday the 13th recently?

 

[Donnie Darko]

Speaking of the Scream movies, I finally saw Scream 4 a couple months back. Man, I they would've had te guts to just end the damn movie about 15 minutes earlier, it would've been so much better.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

Wasn't there some movement on Friday the 13th recently?

I think Brad Fuller said after TMNT and Transformers, they'd get the ball rolling for F13th.

 

[Thundarr]

Wasn't there some movement on Friday the 13th recently?

On the Friday The 13th Thread, it was announced that Corey Feldman has expressed interest in reprising his role of Tommy Jarvis in another sequel to the original timeline. I believe there was confusion on who owns the rights to the property (Paramount, New Line Cinema, or Platinum Dunes) which was keeping the project in Development Hell. I don't know if anything has been resolved with that or if it's still in the planning stages or what.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, I'd love to see a "Survivors United" Friday The 13th movie, with the actors from Parts 2 through 5 (or possibly 2 through 7 if you want to include some of the Zombie Jason movies) all reprising their roles from those films. They're all in group therapy together because they all have shared a similar experience with surviving the attacks by a hockey masked killer. They return to Crystal Lake in order to confront their demons. But when they get there, Jason is waiting.

 

[66 Face]

Just saw Frankensteins Army. I wouldn't say its for everyone but the gore is really good and the zombie robots are pretty freaking awesome.

The rest of the movie is kinda meh but I would say that horror fans should give it a shot. Its not bad by any means and an original idea... those don't come around that often.

 

[bullets]

I'm guessing there's a new killer every week, and each one wears the Ghostface mask. So Ghostface appears in every episode, but it's a new actor/actress underneath, playing a new killer.

Or, a new killer every season.

Maybe the events of the four films have lead to dozens of copycats.

That sounds ridiculous. Unless you mean the actors would take turns wearing the costume like they did while filming the original Scream movie.

I'm looking forward to the show and hope it really plays up the murder mystery element. Should be fun.

 

[bullets]

Regarding Evil Dead:

First, I have no real love for the originals. I didn't see them until recently and always viewed them as the hipster choice for Horror...mostly by people that probably never watched them.

I watched all of them in my early teens and still enjoy them to this day. However these films aren't obscure enough for the hipsters. Why don't they claim to like Dario Argento. I haven't watched his recent work , but that claim sounds more pretentious.

All that being said I enjoyed the remake. I didn't really care for the characters as much. That's with more character development in the new film. At least it delivered on the gore and horror aspects without holding back. However I still long for Evil Dead 4/ Army of Darkness 2 and the "stinger" didn't help any.

 

[Heretic]

I just saw Jug Face. I wish I liked it more than I do. Lauren Ashley Carter seems like a really good actress, and did well in this film, but I hope she starts getting work outside of the Lucky McKee circle someday (he produces Jug Face). I liked the movie well enough...but feel that there are a few needless subplots and some changes could have made the movie much creepier.