Horror Movie Discussion Thread

At the urging of several members participating in this year's Scary Movie challenge, I've decided to start up a horror movie discussion thread. Scott has a pre-existing thread that will be devoted to discussion of upcoming releases (release dates, trailers, new info, etc) that can be found here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=193729

This thread will be used to discuss films already released. Feel free to post about the good, the bad, and the ugly in gory detail. But, since it's only a general discussion thread, make sure to use spoiler tags.

If you guys want to post reviews of films in here, I can update some sort of master-list linking to the reviews. If not, no biggie, but be sure to let me know what you want me to do.

Good Luck!

Anyone play an Xbox game called The Suffering?? I wanna write a screenplay based on this game!

From your description, I'm going to have to find a way to play it.

...even though I don't have an X-Box.

Yeah, great stuff. I love the killing of the cop via the gas chamber.

I played the demo The part where you look at the security monitor and see a guy coming towards your back, only to turn away from the monitor and see no one there: creepy

I didn't really watch any horror movies this Halloween. I guess I'd already seen a few in the weeks beforehand so I just couldn't get in the mood again. I did watch that 100 Scariest Movies thing on A&E, which was fun except for the VH1-style idiots making comments on the film clips (Upright Citizens Brigade, you die now).

Hey Matt,

Thanks for being the Horror Bandleader around here and opening up the thread. I'll be dropping by from time to time when workflow permits. Nice thoughts on Cabin Fever in the scary movie challenge - not enough to change my mind, but well spoken regardless.

Cheers,

Jason

Thanks for the nice thoughts, Jason!



Amen! I watched it too, and after the first night I was thinking "Why the fuck does this sound like I Love the 80s?" I would have expected it on VH-1, but they had the crappy comedy stuff intercut with insightful comments from critics, Eli Roth, Wes Craven, etc, so it felt really uneven. Pretty interesting seeing what moments they picked, though.

Anyone wanna discuss Dario Argento's films? I just want to add a few thoughts on Inferno.

Dario Argento's Inferno is like watching a nightmare on screen. Anything can happen at anytime and anything goes. Nothing in this movie is remotely positive or uplifting and there is zero resolve with any of the characters. However, it is one of the best looking and well shot movies ever and has an atmosphere that is totally un-matched. It's probably my most watched horror DVD that I own and I watched it twice last month alone. It takes all the best attributes of Suspiria and takes them further and in a different (much darker) direction. Suspiria has brutal deaths but is a much more light hearted look at the Italian style of filmmaking. Inferno is like a dark, urban maze in which nobody is safe no matter where you venture. Part of the reason the feel of the movie is so much more evil is the piano score by Keith Emerson as opposed to the louder, more driving soundtrack on Suspiria. You never have a clue where the camera is moving or where the character is going and it definitely adds to the dreary tone of the film. It's one of my favorite horror films and one of the more underrated films ever made.

Has anyone here ever seen a movie called Carnival of Souls? I picked this up in a 2 pack at Walmart. I had just bought Romero's Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead and while looking though the $5.50 bin I saw Night of the Living Dead in a 2 pack with this movie. I haven't watched it yet and was wondering what to expect (or if it's even worth watching).

Depends on which Carnival of Sould you bought.

1962 =

1992 =

Cool, it's the 1962 version. I'll have to give it a spin sometime soon. Thanks Scott.

I've only seen INFERNO once but I really hated the thing. Most Euro films don't have strong stories but I thought what little story here was very bad and boring. The lighting was great however. Since I've only seen it once I'll certainly go back for a second viewing but I'm going to wait a few more years.

As for the rest of Argento's work, I personally think TENEBRE is his best film followed by OPERA and SUSPIRIA, although I find it a bit overratd. THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is probably his most underrated with THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA being his worst film as well as one of the worst ever made. Not even the naked Asia Argento could save this one.


In other news, I haven't seen THE GRUDGE yet since I refuse to go to theater but I did receive my copy of JU-ON today, which I'm going to watch tomorrow. I spent too much time with Live Aid today so I've got a pretty big headache. I'm also trying to get my expectations down since they're pretty high for this movie.

I'm glad to see Lions Gate is buying up these "smaller" films for release. They've got several coming this year including OPEN WATER, which I'm dying to see. SAW and THE TOOLBOX MURDERS will be released next year as well and I'm looking forward to them.

I haven't seen Inferno, but I've heard it's strong. I really like Suspiria, but I need to work on seeing other Argento stuff.

I like Inferno a lot. Not as much as Suspiria, mostly owing to the soundtrack, but both movies do a great job of creating the sense of a nightmare, being trapped in a world where the "boundaries" are constantly shifting and you're powerless to affect any of it.

Inferno has to be the biggest disappointment I've had with Argento. I had heard so many good things about it and read the comparisons with Suspiria (my favorite Argento) and it didn't live up to the hype. Then again, isn't that the way it often is - a movie not living up to the hype? I'll have to revisit at some point in the future.

It's hard to avoid the hype in order to not go in with preconceived notions...you have to hear about the film somewhere...however I found Inferno without knowing much about it at all, I had seen the LD of Suspiria at a friends house & loved it so the next day I found Inferno at Best Buy and decided to get it blind...I was slightly disappointed at first for some of the reasons given above however it stayed with me afterwards & upon second viewing it was a much better film and I appreciated the atmosphere the film just has dripping off of it.
The opening underwater sequence with Irene Miracle is a classic.

My "love" for Argento and Fulci has slipped quite a bit the past couple of years. I really started to love their films because of the so called "dream/nightmare" like feel they had but then I discovered Jess Franco and went that direction. There's no doubt Argento and Fulci were the better directors but I find their nightmares a bit too fake and too pretty to really be nightmares. Franco on the other hand delivers ugly films that really do appear like dreams/nightmares.

I've seen around 60 of his 175+ films and plan on seeing as many as I can. Very few actually get Franco but if you do you're in for one hellofa ride.


I'm not sure where I stand with hype. I think I usually go into movies people hate expecting to like them. I had heard so much bad stuff about the TCM remake that I was ready to bash the film in my review but ended up liking it. It can go the other way because I expected to love HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES but didn't. Then there's something like HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, which I saw for the first time during this challenge. I really didn't have any expectations on the film but didn't enjoy it.

I try to go into every movie expecting to love it. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I know my horror history pretty well as well as other classic films but when it comes to the films made today, I really don't follow them as closely as I used to. As I was telling Scott, having to watch 200-300 "new" films a year really wore me out and I quit going to the theater. The only new films I watch are the stuff the studios send me to review and this year I was pleasantly shocked to see that I've loved most of them. I got the typical garbage like LAWS OF ATTRACTION but the smaller, non-Hollywood films like DOGVILLE, BAADASSSSS! and WONDERLAND were really good films.

And yes, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW kicked ass but I love disaster movies (except for 10.5).

I saw both Inferno and Carnival Of Souls for the first time during this year's October Scary Movie Challenge and loved them both.

Inferno had that great atmosphere and beautiful cinematography that I found worked with the built up tension. Like Andy, I didn't actually think much of the music which I found forced. Granted the story leaves much to be desired, but as an experience I found the film great (though I prefer Argento's Deep Red).

Carnival Of Souls was a lot of fun. It's got its share of cheesiness and is quite low budget, but there is some simply fabulous black and white photography and spooky imagery. The Criterion edition has a gorgeous transfer and some nice extras about the making of the film. I'm curious to hear what you think of it Brian...

With all this Inferno talk I'm definitely going to have to rent it. It's going on top of my Netflix queue right now.

Good idea.

Like I said in the horror challenge thread, Inferno is a gorgeous film from beginning to end, possibly Argento's most visually stunning film to date, though that is disputable. The film is very bizarre, and makes little sense. Still, I do find myself enjoying most of the bizarre sequences. I like odd stuff, and like I said, the film is simply gorgeous. I love this film, but the lame Emerson score sounds terrible, and is a disappointment compared to Goblin's creepy Suspiria score. It doesn't seem to fit the film at all. Despite that qualm, and the film's tendency to be all over the map, I consider this a great film. I'm a huge Argento fan, and he certainly achieves what he set out to do with this one.

The events that unfold in Inferno's beautiful, surreal, yet dark world are truly a joy to witness, however bizarre they may be. Argento's style is at its very peak, and the film is very hypnotic. The imagery is just enthralling, and Argento's inspiration from the works of Bava is the most apparent here. Hell, Bava even directed the previously mentioned underwater ballroom sequence.

While I like Argento a lot, Fulci is mainly a guilty pleasure for me. For every thing Fulci does well in one of his movies, there's usually at least one thing that just makes me laugh, like almost everything involving the main guy in The Beyond And yeah, that Argento's movies are gorgeous to look at is definitely among the reasons I like him.

Somewhat related to Italian horror, did anyone see that Entertainment Weekly photo issue that came out a couple of weeks before The Grudge? They recreated a few notable murder scenes from horror films, including Italian movies, with Sarah Michelle Gellar as the victim. IIRC, one of them was from Inferno, for example. It was unusually interesting for EW

Yes, I would definitely suggest renting it first as it isn't a film made for everybody, it is also helpful to know a little about Argento's other early films before seeing this one.
I would say rent, in order:
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage
Deep Red
Suspiria
and then Inferno....but that's me.

looks like this turned into the italian horror thread....Im usually a fan of argento but the last film I watched was just lousy "The Card player"...his giallo (giallae)? such as Bird with Crystal Plumage and Tennebre I enjoy more than say Deep Red (Profundo Rosso?) or Suspiria although I think the direction and sets on suspiria are amazing...as for Fulci cant really dig him..Ive seen NY Ripper..Dont Torture a Duckling.House of Clocks (made for tv).The Beyond and a few more just dont get em although his Zombie is a masterpiece of zombie movies...no mention of Lenzi or Deodato yet?

Ok, here's a non-italian horror recommendation currently on DVD.....the German horror film Anatomie (2000)....Franka Potente stars in this interesting and hideous (if slightly unoriginal) thriller about medical students, underground societies, live autopsies and plasticized horror! With gore FX bound to make you squirm in your seat and obvious "borrowings" from many mid-to-late 90's american horror films such as Scream etc....it isn't original but it is very well done nonetheless......mmmm Franka Potente...

Gialli.

DJ

Just to throw my opinion into the hat, Keith Emerson's score for Inferno is my favorite score for any of Dario's films. Yep, my opinions truly do suck that bad.

I like Emerson's score for Inferno as well....just not in Inferno.

Here's another non-Italian horror/thriller, Night Of The Demon (1957) a very early satan worshiper conspiracy film from Director Jacques Tourneur who also did the wonderful Comedy of Terrors (1964).

And then of course there is the monstrous Japanese film Audition .....this is a one of a kind film that leads you along a deceptively quiet road until the ending....good lord...anyone who has seen this film knows exactly what i am referring to.

If you have a strong constitution then just rent it from Netflix blind, trust me....you will never forget this hideous film afterwards.

Speaking of Asian horror/thrillers you might just want to look into The Untold Story, a rather disturbing & supposedly true story of a serial killer in Hong Kong who "took over" ownership of a restaurant and began feeding his patrons "exotic" cuisine....warning: this film contains one of the more brutal rape scenes out there & is generally disgusting from start to finish....bring the KIDS!