The Horror Thread

[Rocketman]

His script is/was ****. It's a service we didn't get it in my honest opinion. Besides, going by Romero's resume since the time he was supposed to direct RE, we majorly lucked out.
I still can't believe the man who pretty much filled the mainstream film with the walking dead has come so low down.

I don't think the studios have any faith in him. Every movie he does nowadays is just a bonus for me. His new Dead trilogy is basically him coming out of retirement three times. And they're not giving him good budgets anymore (well, come to think of it, they never did). That makes a difference too. There comes a point where you're just making low-budget movies for 40 years, but the man's a genius. Imagine Christopher Nolan having to make Following over and over again for 40 years, when he knows he has an Inception in him, and he'll NEVER be allowed to make it. Land of the Dead is maybe the only exception, and even then, the budget was insulting for a 2005 theatrical release.

 

[Rocketman]

At this point I feel like I've seen every worthwhile horror movie ever made. It's been so long since I've been able to find another good one.

This is a tricky genre. Sometimes it feels like only 1 out of every 50 made is actually good, but then sometimes watching the crappiest obscure Horror films ever can be thoroughly rewarding and more enjoyable than watching the legitimate ones. The bad ones released in theaters with a big budget aren't worth watching (like Prom Night or One Missed Call), but then the bad ones released directly to DVD with no budget are highly watchable and entertaining. t:

That could just be me, though. This is the only genre where, depending on my mood that day, the worse it is the better.

Take this for example:

[YT]tooc16OrWPk[/YT]

^ I've seen this movie over 10 times. I own it. I can't get enough of it. Pizza, beer, and this movie is like the greatest Friday night.

 

[redhawk23]

I got to see "This is the End" tonight. I'll leave my thoughts below.

First, I must say I went in purposely blind into this film. I had scene only the trailer for the original "Jay and Seth vs the Apocalypse" short from a few years ago. Beyond that, I never watched any of the trailers or tv spots for this film. For a while I just never got around to seeking it out and then close to the release I just decided to take on the movie cold. I had read one small review that described nothing about the film except a clarification that it was more horror based than the early trailers let on.

All that said, I pretty well loved the film. I thought much of the humor played well and I think the film should please most audiences.

A few things will certainly help your enjoyment of the film.

As you probably know, this film features actors playing fictional versions of themselves. Nearly all of the actors in this film have been considered part of the "Apatow Crew" for many years. Most of them appeared in either Freaks and Geeks or the later series Undeclared, and in the steady stream of comedies that came out in the middle of the last decade. As a long time fan of the shows from these actors' early years and of many of the movies they later made together, I feel I was fully primed to enjoy this movie and to be entertained by these particular actors, who have been friends in real life and on screen for more than 10 years bouncing off one another. If you aren't a fan of these actors or at least some of the projects they've done over the years, then your mileage may vary.

This film plays like a cross between Wes Craven's New Nightmare and Tropic Thunder. Imagine if instead of spoofing hollywood through fictional characters if the cast of Tropic Thunder played versions of themselves, but then in a horror setting.

The public personas of these actors and their involvement in a steady stream of movies and shows provides a sort of backstory for the characters. In some cases the characters play into the public perception of the real actors, others purposely invert those expectations.

While the actors are playing versions of themselves, they do remember to allow their roles be characters. The various inter-relationships of who knows who, and various grudges and things while fictional, all do feel probable at the films outset.

All of this provides fuel for what really drives the film, which is character driven conflict. Since much of the film involves the cast attempting to ride out the apocalypse at James Franco's house, the actual plot and conflicts of the film is almost wholly dependent upon the interactions between the characters as they attempt to come together to figure out what is happening and figure out how to survive. Highly stressed and highly intoxicated, their struggles through the apocalypse are ripe with humor.

I was really impressed by how much focus there actually is on the characters in this film rather than a dependence on the actual action or really even the details of the end of the world.

But oh man is this apocalypse glorious. I'll spare the details but I must say, I was pleased with how horror based this film turned out to be beyond just the "possessed Johnah" scenes that have shown up in some of the trailers. The film effectively riffs on both modern and classic horror tropes. The nice thing though is that it never outright feels like it is a horror spoof or anything but rather just a presentation of how these particular people would act in a given situation.

This film is like a bizarre combination of Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express and Shawn of the Dead. Again, I may have just been primed due to my fandom of many people involved in the film but really I thought the film was very well put together, well acted and ultimately really well written. Some may feel that it meanders a bit in the middle, which features some obvious improv and most resembles scenes from East Bound and Down but these scenes are entertaining enough. I wasn't really looking forward to this film, it was really a matter that I would see when I would see it, but now I can definitely recommend to others to see it as soon as possible and with the best crowd you can.

9/10.

 

[Motown Marvel]

This is a tricky genre. Sometimes it feels like only 1 out of every 50 made is actually good, but then sometimes watching the crappiest obscure Horror films ever can be thoroughly rewarding and more enjoyable than watching the legitimate ones. The bad ones released in theaters with a big budget aren't worth watching (like Prom Night or One Missed Call), but then the bad ones released directly to DVD with no budget are highly watchable and entertaining. t:

That could just be me, though. This is the only genre where, depending on my mood that day, the worse it is the better.

Take this for example:

[YT]tooc16OrWPk[/YT]

^ I've seen this movie over 10 times. I own it. I can't get enough of it. Pizza, beer, and this movie is like the greatest Friday night.

Oh, I've seen all the obscure ones. And I get what yer saying. And that's the thing, I think I've seen all the rewarding ones that exist. But I'm still looking and hoping....

 

[Rocketman]

So, who else knew that Henry Cavill, our new Superman, was in Hellraiser 8: Hellworld?

This got me thinking... What are some Horror movies from the 90's and early 2000's that when you look back at them, you're shocked to see a familiar face who's big now, but wasn't back then?

A couple off the top of my head:

Jack Black - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
Owen Wilson - Anaconda / The Haunting
Jesse Eisenberg - Cursed
Jeremy Renner - Dahmer

Another one that always cracks me up because I always forget about it is Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Halloween: H20.

 

[The Dark Defender]

I knew.

Awful freakin' movie and he's beyond annoying in it (as I'd imagine almost anybody would've been with that script).

Until the Weinsteins made that pathetic excuse for a Hellraiser movie sans Doug Bradley to keep the rights a few years ago, Hellworld was by far the worst of the series.

 

[The Dark Defender]

I don't think horror puts out any more bad movies than any other genre, btw, and I consistently enjoy horror films above all other genres.

 

[chamber-music]

I did't even know there were Hellraiser 8 films. I've only seen the first three I think.

 

[redhawk23]

I don't think horror puts out any more bad movies than any other genre, btw, and I consistently enjoy horror films above all other genres.

Besides maybe sequels to old teen comedies I really don't know of other genre that has anywhere near as many straight to DVD dumping ground offerings as horror.

 

[zeroapoc]

This got me thinking... What are some Horror movies from the 90's and early 2000's that when you look back at them, you're shocked to see a familiar face who's big now, but wasn't back then?

A couple off the top of my head:

Jack Black - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
Owen Wilson - Anaconda / The Haunting
Jesse Eisenberg - Cursed
Jeremy Renner - Dahmer

Another one that always cracks me up because I always forget about it is Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Halloween: H20.

Well this is going back even farther but, Kevin Bacon in Friday the 13th.

 

[Teelie]

Everyone probably knows Jennifer Aniston was in Leprechaun but that was also her first "big" break too.

I've seen most of the Hellraiser films (Hellseeker & Revelations the only two I haven't) but none of them can live up to the first two and maybe the third.

Looking at the number of straight to DVD's I've seen, horror is definitely a top contender for most crap dumped on the unwary. Horror's main appeal is when it's bad it's usually funny so it isn't always a total waste of money.

 

[PyroChamber]

Has there ever been a straight-to-video horror movie that actually was good?

 

[Figs]

Has there ever been a straight-to-video horror movie that actually was good?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think Trick R Treat never made it into theaters. That's a real fun horror film that I try to watch more than once a year.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Has there ever been a straight-to-video horror movie that actually was good?

Honestly, more than a few. Someone mentioned Trick or Treat, but honestly a few of the Hellraiser DTV sequels are good. Both Hatchet films are good, although the second technically got a theatrical release for about 3 days. I think you're vastly underestimating what some filmmakers pull off, because there are way too many Asylum films flooding the market.

 

[Teelie]

There are a few straight-to-video that are good but the majority varies from so-bad-it's-good to just so-bad-it's-bad.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Cube was straight to video, wasn't it? That was great. One of the great under-rated gems of the '90s.

 

[redhawk23]

More ore less, it was released on about 30 screens.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Cube was straight to video, wasn't it? That was great. One of the great under-rated gems of the '90s.

Oh yeah, Cube was awesome. The sequel sucked really bad though. The prequel was enjoyable though.

 

[Majik1387]

Yeah I remember loving when Cube was on the SciFi channel. I didn't really understand the point of the sequel. And I didn't quite understand how the blind girl was able to be what she was. I don't recall ever seeing the prequel.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

I haven't seen them but didn't the sequels bring in time travel and parallel universes, stuff like that? So lazy.

If Cube came out these days, with the general audience being so used to the so-called 'torture porn' thing, I think it would have been a massive breakout hit, but back in '98 I'm not sure most people knew what make of it.

 

[Victarion]

Has there ever been a straight-to-video horror movie that actually was good?

Dog Soldiers.

 

[StarLord]

Dog Soldiers.

That had a theatrical release in the UK. I saw it.

....God I'm old.

 

[The Dark Defender]

Several of the dtv Hellraisers were pretty good, Hellworld just wasn't one of them.

The Wrong Turn sequels are pretty fun also.

 

[Thundarr]

Has there ever been a straight-to-video horror movie that actually was good?

There are a few. I think Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon went straight to DVD.

There's another movie that was pretty good that I think went straight to DVD. I don't recall the name of it, but it's about a killer in a chrome skull mask with a video camera on his shoulder.

There are probably more, but those are two of the top ones I can think of.

 

[Majik1387]

Several of the dtv Hellraisers were pretty good, Hellworld just wasn't one of them.

Honestly, the last decent one was the 5th.

The Wrong Turn sequels are pretty fun also.

No


Dance of the Dead was pretty good, I think it was direct to DVD.