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Post by Lily Ariel Linders on Sept 24, 2012 12:11:11 GMT 1
I hate gore for the sake of it. I saw Hostel 2 with a guy at the cinema and I was just disgusted. Not by the gore - I'm hard to disgust phsically - but sort of morally, and artistically. It was just a movie about people being tortured, with the intention being genuine, simple sadistic pleasure in watching it. No scares, no character, no plot really, no peril, just people being tortured. It bothers me that this stuff is popular. That people can spend two hours fantasising about torturing young people and then get up and get on with their day. Anyway. I don't like excessive blood in horror. It seems silly to me. I have no objection to a very violent or crazy death scene - but for the sake of surprise (or comedy), not just 'blood is frightening'. Blood does nothing for me. I agree with you there, Buch - I never did like gratuitous gore and torture simply for the sake of torture. I never did watch the Hostel movies, or the Saw movies, just for that reason. It's just people being tortured and killed for no real reason aside from the killer's sick desire - and even then it seems to be more for audience appeal, which frightens me. Now, for Horror movies I like, as I mentioned before I loved " Stigmata" and " End of Days", and I really seem to have a liking for Religious / Supernatural Horror... or, alternatively and possibly less squicky, Religious / Supernatural Mystery. And Zombie movies, but only if they're done right. There was one movie I saw once which was the only movie that ever managed to truly gross me out - and I saw it in theater with my best friend, and it made us both sick to see it - we almost walked out, and only stayed in order to justify spending the money. It was called "Untraceable", and was about a killer who would kidnap people and set them in elaborate death-traps and make it so that the victim's death was being broadcast on a website, and the more people who viewed the site, the move views the site got, the faster the victim would die. It was terrible. And there was one scene where the killer was testing his apparatus out on a kitten, and my friend and I both love cats, and I actually covered my eyes at this scene and almost started crying in the theater. It was a disgusting movie that did not deserve the Horror genre. I noticed once that these types of movies, Hostel, Saw, etc. are part of a sub-genre called "Torture Porn", and that's pretty much it - it's just gratuitous blood for the sake of blood... and gore... and torture... without real plot. Ick.
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Sept 24, 2012 12:20:59 GMT 1
Reminds me of the Human Centipede.
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Post by Lily Ariel Linders on Sept 24, 2012 12:29:37 GMT 1
Reminds me of the Human Centipede. What's that?
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Post by Battlechantress on Sept 24, 2012 12:31:04 GMT 1
Dear God, Lily, it's best you don't know. I needed brain bleach for a week just reading details about it.
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Post by Lily Ariel Linders on Sept 24, 2012 12:33:20 GMT 1
That bad, hm? Ok... then, for the sake of my delicate sanity (also since I have an eye appointment in half an hour and don't want to have gross horror on the brain while some eye doctor is poking around my eyeballs) I think I'll take your advice and not look it up on Wikipedia.
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Post by jklinders on Sept 24, 2012 12:36:58 GMT 1
Rest assured she will later though...
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Post by Mr. Glow on Sept 24, 2012 12:44:58 GMT 1
Reminds me of the Human Centipede. What's that? Some guy kidnaps three people and sews them all up, arse to mouth, I think.
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Post by Mister Buch on Sept 24, 2012 13:09:10 GMT 1
My two favs are The Shinning (Kubrick's best film) and John Carpenters The Thing. If you haven't seen The Thing From Outer Space, the original that Carpenters is loosely based on, its a great piece too even if Carpenters is superior. Hey - well said. I have seen all three of those in previous Octobers, and I agree completely! --- Thanks for the suggestions so far, peeps. I found a free copy of Stigmata already. And Cali, I'm not necessarily looking for a Slenderman, but some ARG in general. In the past yu gave me Marble Hornets and Ben Drowned, and they both rocked my socks. I will try Everyman Hybrid think. Cheers. And I've never heard of Behind the Mask, but I'll be checking that out too. Sounds strange, but strange is good and I don't really have any serial killer films on my list this year, so - good to rectify that.
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Post by Mister Buch on Sept 24, 2012 13:15:28 GMT 1
Some guy kidnaps three people and sews them all up, arse to mouth, I think. That is about the size of The Human Centipede, yeah. A mad german doctor kidnaps three people and sews their mouths to the others' bums. It was famous because the concept was so gross, and people watched it on a dare or just to see how gross it was (or maybe because they secretly just wanted to see - either way it was a surprisingly big hit.) I'm really surprised you've never heard of it, Lily. I watched it a year or two ago. Surprisingly, it's not really that bad. It's not Torture Porn at all, really. The concept is disgusting, no dount, but the movie doesn't show anything or even dwell on it - it's unlikely that the film would disgust you as much as the above summary. And aside from the ridiculousness of the idea, it's a decent thriller about a kidnapping. It's pretty well made and well acted. Also if you saw the movie, you should see this parody, which expertly points out the many, many plot holes:
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Post by Knightfall on Sept 24, 2012 23:42:26 GMT 1
I hate gore for the sake of it. I saw Hostel 2 with a guy at the cinema and I was just disgusted. Not by the gore - I'm hard to disgust phsically - but sort of morally, and artistically. It was just a movie about people being tortured, with the intention being genuine, simple sadistic pleasure in watching it. No scares, no character, no plot really, no peril, just people being tortured. It bothers me that this stuff is popular. That people can spend two hours fantasising about torturing young people and then get up and get on with their day. Anyway. I don't like excessive blood in horror. It seems silly to me. I have no objection to a very violent or crazy death scene - but for the sake of surprise (or comedy), not just 'blood is frightening'. Blood does nothing for me. I haven't seen Audition OR the Orphange, but I have heard good things. I'll try and get them for this month's thing. Cheers. I remember watching the original Hostel and hearing a lot about this deeper statement about... something. How everything the main characters did to people in that country got done to them. Not sure about that, though. I've seen Audition. The director, Takashi Miike, actually has a cameo in the first Hostel and directed the wonderful Sukiyaki Western Django and the (masterful, I thought) 13 Samurai. Audition was a pretty disturbing film, but it has a lot going on behind the scenes. I'd recommend it, but be prepared there. Also, I'm not sure if I'd recommend House of 1000 Corpses or The Devil's Rejects, but they're probably two of the more horrific movies I've seen. House of 1000 Corpses gave me nightmares the first time I saw it. xD
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Post by Mister Buch on Oct 2, 2012 2:12:28 GMT 1
All right, so October is now upon us and I've compiled a big list of horror movies and started watching them. Honestly, I think after I'm done with these films, I'll pretty much have achieved the original purpose I started with five years ago -- watch the classic horror movies I've missed out on, and earn a solid knowledge of the genre. After these ones, I'll have watched almost all the classics I've heard of. I really will miss this tradition after this year - now that there are very few classics left to see. Thanks very much for all yous who encouraged this silly, self-indulgent hobby over the years. And thanks for the recommendations this year! So here are my pompous, puffed-up reviews so far. Thank you Bella. I feel less self-conscious. ----------------------- 1) Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)I love the Elm Street series but I had never seen the finale, so I was really looking forward to this. Seems approproate to start my last Halloween Education month with the final Freddy. And I liked it a lot. It's much more serious than I expected - Freddy is frightening and menacing, and they even call him 'Fred' again at one point. I like that. Pretty cliched, obvious plot, honestly, but I loved it anyway. 4 hall passes out of 5.2) The Black Cat (1934)This isn't all that famous, but it's the first movie with both Boris Karloff (Frankenstein's monster in the old universal movies) and Bela Lugosi (Dracula) in it, trying to kill each other. I thought it was pretty good, they were both great, and it was just so cool to see them interact. Also features that Bach tune that everyone associates with horror in a cool set-piece. 3 extra-large flays out of 5.3) Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968)I've never seen a Hammer Horror movie (the old British films with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), so I picked the one with the most sacastic poster ever printed. Obviously. I liked it! not amazed, but liked it. Lee is great - creepy, violent, physical - a very cool take on the character. The hero is an atheist, too - he has to find faith to fight a vampire with a cross. I thought that was a clever take on the vampire story. Also the fast motion carriage scenes, with Lee frantically whipping horses while looking immensely confused, were unintentionally hilarious. Good movie, if quite dated. 3 red poster paints out of 5.4) Stigmata (1999)Not really a horror, but then again, neither are lots of films on my list. Thanks for the suggestion Lily, but I didn't like this one much. It just seems to have a confused purpose (it argues against the Vatican and in favour of the Gospel of Thomas) and makes the Stigmata seem more like demonic possession. I felt like the movie was kind of all over the place... and more importantly a bit dull and flat. Both of the main characters were well-played and easy to sympathise with, but not terribly believable, and the Jonathon Pryce seemed unrealistically evil as the Cardinal. I also found the movie a little sneaky in the way it pushes faith and Catholicism, although obviously that's just because of my own beliefs clashing. There was a funny thing - I looked up Roger Ebert's review since I like him. He complained that the movie was blasphemous, and I complain that it pushes religion. One or both of us is missing something. xD 2 gospels out of 5.5) Curse of Pirate Death (2006)I found this when I was looking for some of the other movies, and I couldn't turn that title down because I thought it was gramatically incorrect. As it turns out, the character's name is Pirate Death, so it is correct. That was the first of many disappointments. Aging porn curio Ron Jeremy is by far and away the best actor in it. The audio in outdoor scenes is constantly muffled by wind hitting the microphones. Bad, but not in a funny way - just bad. 0 undisguised pop guns out of 5.6) The Orphanage (2007)I've heard for years that this movie was amazing, so I was ready for disappointment here. As it happens I thought it was great. It scared me all right, and it managed to tell a real story about parents and children at the same time. I thought it was pretty hokey in parts and some scenes were either really forced or made no sense (that one scene where a medium chats with and records ghosts and then just leaves like nothing special happened, in particular). But the ending was really good, and not like anything you normally see in horror. It ends like a Spielberg movie. I was moved. 4 lost boys out of 57) EverymanHYBRID (2010-ongoing)Thank you especially Cali for this suggestion - I liked it a lot. I thought it was unique among the 'Alternate Reality Games' I've played/seen in that the characters and story are very carefully developed and planned, and well acted (except for that last episode, hoo boy). The main cast is so good that they fooled me into thinking they were rubbish at the start. But I was only scared a few times - unlike Marble Hornets, say, which had me scared to drive at night for a while. Maybe it's so well-made that it spoils it, because it's hard to get 'lost' in it? Maybe felt too much like a movie, or a game? But it is creepy and a good story. And there are Alan Wake refereces all over. I'm invested! 3 faulty electrical ite<<< out of %. /i]]]]]]]]
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Post by Lily Ariel Linders on Oct 2, 2012 2:56:15 GMT 1
All right, so October is now upon us and I've compiled a big list of horror movies and started watching them. ... So here are my pompous, puffed-up reviews so far. Thank you Bella. I feel less self-conscious. ... 4) Stigmata (1999)Not really a horror, but then again, neither are lots of films on my list. Thanks for the suggestion Lily, but I didn't like this one much. It just seems to have a confused purpose (it argues against the Vatican and in favour of the Gospel of Thomas) and makes the Stigmata seem more like demonic possession. I felt like the movie was kind of all over the place... and more importantly a bit dull and flat. Both of the main characters were well-played and easy to sympathise with, but not terribly believable, and the Jonathon Pryce seemed unrealistically evil as the Cardinal. I also found the movie a little sneaky in the way it pushes faith and Catholicism, although obviously that's just because of my own beliefs clashing. There was a funny thing - I looked up Roger Ebert's review since I like him. He complained that the movie was blasphemous, and I complain that it pushes religion. One or both of us is missing something. xD 2 gospels out of 5.Okay, first of all, I love that picture - it's hilarious! And wow - she knows how to really smile?? Colour me shocked! Second, I will admit it has been a few years ( quite a few) since I've seen Stigmata... and mostly, I remember liking the music, and the fact that it was a Religious Thriller of sorts - and I love Religious Supernatural films... also, Gabriel Byrne is hot. Sorry, Linders, you're still way hotter, and always will be, but... nostalgically, the main reason I'd watched Stigmata multiple times years ago was for Mr. Byrne. ;D I'm such a girl... *shrugs*Also, my dear Mister Buch, I do agree that it is a little odd that one reviewer called the movie Blasphemous, and yet you feel it pushes Catholicism... and if I remember correctly, the Stigmata phenomenon was portrayed slightly possession-ish, but... not really Demonic. It seemed to me to be more of a punishment thing - if I recall correctly, the main character was so afflicted because she received the Rosary that was stolen from the dead priest's casket - it seems to me as if there would not have been a 'possession' if the Rosary had not been stolen. To each his / her own, I guess - I recommended it because I thought it was good, sorry it didn't impress you the way it impressed me... ;D
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Post by Mister Buch on Oct 2, 2012 3:02:58 GMT 1
You failed me, Lily! Eh, movies are always subjective. I know that all right from working in a video shop. I find most of the customers I see wildly disagree with my views on films. And horror is especially personal - what people do and do not find frightening and strange varies like crazy. I guess adding religion to the mix makes that even worse - like with me and Ebert.One thing I did like about Stigmata was the romantic subplot. I thought that was really sweet.
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Post by Battlechantress on Oct 2, 2012 12:55:41 GMT 1
Huh. I remember the medium in "The Orphanage" behaving differently than the way you described it-- but perhaps I am confusing her with the medium in George C. Scott's "The Changeling" (which I saw after "The Orphanage").
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Oct 2, 2012 13:00:46 GMT 1
Dude, review Dawn of the Dead! The remake, before the director started to suck with slow-mo!
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