Inspector Hammer!

'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

I saw the preview for this before The Mist and this looks like it'll be the worst of the so called torture porn genre. I don't know what entertainment can be gathered from watching a lunatic stalk and kill innocent people in their homes and video taping it but more power to those who want to see that type of thing.

"There was that time I wanted to be an astronaut.
I wanted to be the first one to kill somebody on the moon."

Adam Lenhardt

Re: 'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

I think it fulfills the same impulse that drove people to watch gladiator battles in the Colosseum. The only good thing that can be said about it is that at least these deaths are simulated, not actual. It does raise serious questions about our culture, though...

Holadem

Re: 'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

I have a deep deep deep loathing for the very idea of this "genre". The closest thing thing to that I watched was Saw (which I will admit wasn't too bad in that regard, and a decent flick). But I refuse to see more of a genre where the point seems to be to revel in all kinds of human cruelty and suffering.

Minus the video tape, didn't you just describe the entire slasher genre? Except your description suggest the POV will be that of the perp.

I don't know... Gladiator bouts were about the physical contest than the suffering. Kinda like boxing with higher stakes. Men like to fight, always have. There is no physical contest in torture. There is a torturer, and an utterly powerless victim. I struggle to see the fun in watching that.

--
H

Scott Calvert

Re: 'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

Get ready for the inevitable replies filled with rationalizations and lame excuses for why people like these movies and how these movies are not harmful to society...."They make us confront the darker side of man's nature/provide a cathartic experience/voyeurism as art/etc etc etc"

Chuck Anstey

Re: 'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

Wouldn't you say most slasher films were unrealistic situations (zombies, undead, vampires, etc.) or killers with fantasy/mythical powers (unable to be killed with a simple axe to the head or shot). Sort of like the indestructible action hero that can get shot several times and keep going full strength.

These torture porns are getting much more realistic and in some ways could actually be done or have been done by the worst in society. Kidnapping a young girl, beating her, setting her on fire, and when she wasn't dead after all that, ran her over with a car. Oh wait, that was real.

The most sociopathic people in society will still do horrific things without extra influence but do we really need to watch a realistic portrayal of what happened. Of course in the end it is still just a movie and not reality but then I guess the movie wasn't very effective if you couldn't believe the reality of the situation since it isn't fantasy or all that improbable.

Lucia Duran

Re: 'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

I am not a fan of this new horror/torture genre. I do not find it the least bit entertaining to watch these realistic portrayals of people being tortured. I refuse to see the SAW series, Hostel, El Tortura or any of these new torure flicks.

I couldn't even watch the first 10 minutes of Rob Zombies Halloween. Even the sounds were too much for me. I think people are so desensitized when it comes to these kind of violent movies and although they may not think it has any effect on them it does. I felt so sick and disturbed after leaving the new Halloween. That is not how I want to feel after watching a movie.

I like being scared and getting freaked out, but I think some movies have gone too far.

Father: She didn't say, "I'm not in" She said, "We're not in" "We," you see, "we" Now what does "we" mean.

Bobby: I believe it's the plural form, indicating more than one. Do you want me to conjugate that for you, pop? Do you know what conjugate means, dad?

Inspector Hammer!

Re: 'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

The distinction, as Chuck pointed out, is that your average Scream-type slasher film features mostly unrealistic situations and is played for either laughs or fun, the more realistic a film gets with it's portrayal of violence and the context in which that violence is portrayed the closer to realism it gets and that's when I begin to have a problem.

I have never really become desensatized by violence in movies simply because when I see things like are depicted in this film I immediately begin thinking that the person about to be killed is someone's daughter, someone's girfriend, someone's friend, someone who is loved by others. I start to imagine that it's someone that I know about to be killed in cold blood for no reason and it hurts me as a person.

The next time you see a torture film imagine that it's your wife, son or daughter that's being killed and your heart will hurt, that's how these films make me feel. And what really gets me is that THAT'S how i'm supposed to feel during these films...don't need to feel that type of emotion on a regular basis thank you. Some would argue that these kind of films make you appreciate those in your life more...don't need to be reminded of how important those in my life are, either, especially not in this manner.

In short, movies like this serve zero purpose for me, zero, except to make me sick about how other people could do terrible things to other people for no reason but you know what? I can see that type of stuff on the news every night.

"There was that time I wanted to be an astronaut.
I wanted to be the first one to kill somebody on the moon."

TravisR

Re: 'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

It's a sad fact that every time that something is successful (especially in the horror genre), you can bet that there will be a slew of clones that water the original down, drag it down and allow the critics to lump the original movie into the same ghetto as its clones belong in. This time, it's Saw.

The cleverness of the traps and the twists and turns of Saw are absent in its clones. They just amp up the gore and depravity and if you look at the small box office grosses of movies like Hostel Part II and Captivity, people want more than gore and gross out violence. It's the same thing that happened with Scream in the late 1990's and Friday The 13th (itself a clone of Halloween) in the early 1980's. The clones quickly burn out and are forgotten by everyone but devoted fans of the subgenre.

Unlike most people in this thread, I've actually seen most of the movies being discussed. The ones that I've not liked has nothing to do with being too realistic or too graphic- I haven't liked them because they're junk. The good thing is that this cycle of clones is at an end.

Inspector Hammer!

Re: 'THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES' The last straw for me.

It's strange but despite my dislike of this perverse genre, I actually like the Saw films.

Even though they are very brutal and sick, the situations and traps depicted in them are so absurd that they can't be taken seriously, no one would go through the extreme lengths to kill someone as Jigsaw does and so that fantastical element allows my mind to distance itself from the proceedings enough for me to enjoy the films as very sadistic yet fun horror experiences, they remind me of funhouse rides at one of those Halloween attractions.

Now this new film, Hostel 1 & 2, Wolf Creek, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and The Hills Have Eyes films I avoid like the plague.

"There was that time I wanted to be an astronaut.
I wanted to be the first one to kill somebody on the moon."