A Different October Movie Challenge (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

I was thinking about what movies I would watch this October, when a certain movie quote kept coming to mind, which made me think about a different type of "Horror".

The quote is, "The real hell is your life gone wrong."

So, I started compiling a list of movies to watch with this kind of horror in mind. This approach appeals more to my taste in movies than conventional horror, which has always been a bit of a struggle for me to fill a month with. I also decided to start it early, with the autumnal equinox.

I was planning to start with the movie the quote above is from, but I jumped the gun with some others. Anyone who wants to participate, please jump in.

Please keep in mind, these are mostly not going to be conventional horror movies, so please refrain from comments like "That's not a horror movie." If you want monsters and psycho killers, I'm sure there'll be a thread with those in mind.

As far as the movie the quote that inspired this thread is from, it's "What Dreams May Come." Here's a scene from it, as Chris (Robin Williams) visits his wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra) in hell.

 

[JohnRice]

I jumped the gun a little on the marathon, but one of the first movies I watched was the little known, 2006 Australian movie "Candy" starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish. In this case, the "hell" is drug addiction. In a lot of ways, "Candy" is a pretty standard story of drug addiction, but it has some unique aspects I appreciate, especially some decisions a main character makes in the final minutes.

It also has some particularly excellent scenes, like this one. I love the line "We lived on sunlight and chocolate bars."

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Well, I definitely find the ghosts, goblins, devils, demons, witches, monsters, zombies, stuff fun. Horror films of this type, to me, are all about a fun night of cinema.

However, pictures like the ones you are talking about I tend to find much more disturbing or frightening. Some I could not in good conscience recommend to anybody...like Requiem for a Dream. Outstandingly made picture but wow, did I feel put through the ringer watching it. Never had an urge to revisit it.

Here's one I would highly recommend though, The Killing of a Sacred Deer. This is a great film. Very...well...I would say Kubrickian. Boy, does Colin Farrell's life go wrong in this. Twisted and brilliant film that will leave a long time impression.

 

[JohnRice]

Requiem for a Dream is on my possible viewing list, as well as some other Aronofsky flicks. Last night I watched The Wrestler, and I also might watch mother! I actually have The Killing of a Sacred Deer. It wasn't on the list, because I haven't seen it, so I didn't know it fit the theme. So, I'll add it.

I don't recall if I've seen Requiem more than once. Twice at most, and that would be over a 20 year period. I could make an entire list of addiction movies, but I'm trying to keep them to a limit and find a variety of films that qualify. I already watched Candy and currently only have two more addiction movies on the list. Requiem and Leaving Las Vegas.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Requiem for a Dream is on my possible viewing list, as well as some other Aronofsky flicks. Last night I watched The Wrestler, and I also might watch mother! I actually have The Killing of a Sacred Deer. It wasn't on the list, because I haven't seen it, so I didn't know it fit the theme. So, I'll add it.

I don't recall if I've seen Requiem more than once. Twice at most, and that would be over a 20 year period. I could make an entire list of addiction movies, but I'm trying to keep them to a limit and find a variety of films that qualify. I already watched Candy and currently only have two more addiction movies on the list. Requiem and Leaving Las Vegas.

"Requiem For a Dream" is a great film, but it's one film that I never want to see again. My theatrical viewing of it during one of our HTF Meets in LA was quite enough for me and a few other HTF members. The film is just too depressing for me.

 

[JohnRice]

Last night I watched The Wrestler, which I hadn't seen since it came out ten years ago. I didn't recall it being so minimalist, or that the main character continues to be quite as hopelessly and consciously self-destructive as he is. I did remember the interesting symbiosis between the main character, Randy "The Ram" Robinson, and Mickey Rourke, who portrayed him. The character and the actor are essentially the same person. I recall Rourke believing this film would return him to his early success, only to start engaging in the exact type of behavior that ended his career in the first place. The fact is, The Wrestler was never going to change his future. It was only going to give him a swan song with a tiny bit of dignity. Probably like the character he portrays.

 

[JohnRice]

The first movie I watched for this challenge was Martha Marcy May Marlene, a movie about Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), a twenty something woman who suddenly calls her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) after vanishing for two years. It turns out she has spent most of the time at some kind of commune run by the passively creepy Patrick (John Hawkes). Martha is seriously messed up. Her connection with reality is virtually gone. Her perception of time is severely fractured, as moments in the present constantly throw her back into traumas of the past. the most challenging aspect of the movie is time is shown as it is perceived by Martha. This makes her seem downright insane, especially to her rather cold, detached sister and her husband (Hugh Dancy). In reality, I think what has been created here is one of the most effective portrayals of PTSD ever put on film. The viewer is pulled into Martha's fractured mind, with little to nothing to help indicate what is what and when is when. There's a particularly spectacular moment late in the film, after Martha attacks her brother in law, seemingly to them for no reason, when shaking with fear, all she can say is, "I was confused."

People tend to HATE the ending of this movie, but the ending is entirely what the movie is about. Just like the scene shortly earlier where Martha looks suspiciously at the young man sitting across the lake from her sister's house. This was my third viewing of this movie. The first had me kind of baffled, but the second made total sense to me. Every moment of it.

My one complaint about this movie is that it was not competently filmed. I'm sure it's in the spirit of Lars von Trier's "Dogme 95" movement, but the result is dark, flat and often completely lacks any image detail at all. The movie itself is pretty spectacular, and Elizabeth Olsen truly embodies her character.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

OK, so I'll throw a couple more out and remaining in the same vein as my first post here one film I recommend and one I can't recommend...not because it is a bad film but because it is so horribly harrowing to watch I can't tell anybody to watch it.

So, we'll start with the one I would say to Robert Crawford (since he felt the same way I did about Requiem for a Dream) "Avoid this picture, Robert! Avoid!"

This film is called Downloading Nancy and is about a married woman that has basically...well...lost all interest in her life or in life period. I don't know how much I should say beyond that but this is one horribly dark film. Here's the deal, all the performances here are excellent, the film is wonderfully made and this is what makes it so goddamn painful to watch. The one thing I wonder when I watch a film like this is "What made somebody want to make this? To act in it? To submerge themselves in this world?" because I would not make this film. I believe on this one they had to have psychiatrists standing by for the actors to make sure they did not lose it during filming. Maria Bello stars with Jason Patric and Rufus Sewell. This is in no way a fun night in the home cinema. Needless to say life in this film is hell.



Second film I do recommend. It is called Never Let Me Go and it is about the horrible moment when you discover the meaning of your life and basically what happens next...with a sci-fi twist.

 

[JohnRice]

I am a HUGE fan of Never Let Me Go. HUGE fan. One of the very best movies of the 21st Century.

 

[JohnRice]

Downloading Nancy reminds me a little of two movies on my list. The Rapture with Mimi Rogers and Safe with Julianne Moore. It also seems so share themes with Leaving Las Vegas. Maybe it shares some themes with Cronenberg’s Crash, a movie that’s always baffled me.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Downloading Nancy reminds me a little of two movies on my list. The Rapture with Mimi Rogers and Safe with Julianne Moore. It also seems so share themes with Leaving Las Vegas. Maybe it shares some themes with Cronenberg’s Crash, a movie that’s always baffled me.

Well, I can watch The Rapture, Safe, Crash and Leaving Las Vegas...and I think those are all good films. I can't bring myself to watch Downloading Nancy again and when I was watching it I kept asking myself "Why am I watching this?"

I'd love to see The Rapture get a blu-ray release. Good one for perhaps Shout/Scream Factory to handle. Crash also needs a blu-ray. Big fan of Cronenberg.

 

[JohnRice]

I'll give Downloading Nancy a try. I think I'm prepared, more or less. It appears to me there is a severely sadomasochistic theme to it that takes on some very unpleasant aspects. I'm sure I'll avert my eyes at times. Salo, anyone? Which I've never felt the need to watch.

 

[JohnRice]

The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Hmmm.

Definitely Kubrickian, and definitely a life that becomes hell. In that way, it's certainly effective and fits the theme of this marathon. I just didn't like the movie. I didn't care for the director's next film, The Lobster, either. Actually, I'm not much of a Kubrick fan, probably for exactly what people like about him. His movies are too cold and detached for my tastes. I found myself thinking about how I understood the "what" and "why" of what was happening, but wishing it said something about the "how", which tells me that I wasn't buying into the premise enough. I enjoy ambiguity in movies, so that's not the problem. It was an interesting watch, but I doubt I;ll visit it again.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Salo, anyone? Which I've never felt the need to watch.

Ha, well Salo is a film I really never wanted to see. I recall one friend telling me that "One of the worst things in life is that once seen things can't be unseen." after watching this. I've actually seen the film several times, most not by choice. In high school days this was a film that a friend had on VHS and so would put it on during gatherings and parties to see what people would say and how they would react. Personally, I felt he had an unhealthy obsession with the film. There are a lot of things in it that...well...you really don't want to see. There are things in it I wish I had not seen because I don't enjoy recalling them.

The film is sort of an epic of gross and disgusting. I would think long and hard about watching it. It did not upset me in the way something like Requiem or Downloading did but I think that is because I felt for the characters in those films. Salo I felt like there was some distance between me and the characters so...it was more just...gross.

 

[Ruz-El]

Considering how broad a definition of horror that is used, I'm pretty sure you could include these and have fun with the rest of us in the main thread when it kicks off...

 

[JohnRice]

Considering how broad a definition of horror that is used, I'm pretty sure you could include these and have fun with the rest of us in the main thread when it kicks off...

I've just had "That's not Horror!" yelled at me too many times. Not in the regular thread, just in general. I didn't even consider participating in the regular thread, because I'm veering so far from conventional horror.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Definitely Kubrickian, and definitely a life that becomes hell. In that way, it's certainly effective and fits the theme of this marathon. I just didn't like the movie. I didn't care for the director's next film, The Lobster, either. Actually, I'm not much of a Kubrick fan, probably for exactly what people like about him. His movies are too cold and detached for my tastes. I found myself thinking about how I understood the "what" and "why" of what was happening, but wishing it said something about the "how", which tells me that I wasn't buying into the premise enough. I enjoy ambiguity in movies, so that's not the problem. It was an interesting watch, but I doubt I;ll visit it again.

The Lobster was my introduction to Mr. Lanthimos and I found the film both interesting and entertaining. He does mix humor, extreme darkness, and the absurd in such a way that I could not stop watching.

When he followed it up with The Killing of a Sacred Deer I was excited to see the film. I think I expected another film like The Lobster but instead got...well...a film shot like somebody had watched The Shining many times and that was less absurd and more of a horror film. The way the camera prowls the hallways and locations and is often looking up at the characters, as in the still in the video clip you posted, really made me think of Kubrick. Also the performances seemed like the sort of thing Kubrick would draw out of his actors and then, of course, the presence of Kidman and her sexually charged and strange performance pushed me in that direction as well. I thought watching it "Kubrick would love this! And maybe think this guy had been studying him rather closely."

Also, of all the films I have seen that want to be "Kubrickian" this one really nailed something that I think others don't or kind of entirely seem to not be aware that Kubrick did. The coldness that people talk about really comes from the way Kubrick's camera observes the actors, seeming to watch them so closely as to almost be uncomfortable (some people say like bugs in a jar), and combines this with the way the actors are actually giving somewhat strange or off or sometimes completely over the top performances. Kubrick always strove for incredible realism in his settings, which were always gorgeous, but not in the acting. He was not looking for naturalistic acting. The acting was always about adding some sort of color to illicit an emotional response from the audience. You'd get line readings that were not at all about trying to show what the characters might really be feeling but instead they might be delivered in a way that would be odd and unexpected. Like delivering a key line very flat instead of delivering it with a lot of emotion. In other words he may have done a lot of takes with actors to beat out of them delivering a line like it would be delivered in any other movie and instead have it delivered in a more interesting way. Kubrick used to say that interesting is better than real when it came to acting.

Obviously, I'm a huge Kubrick fan so this film was a trip for me but I found it fascinating as well and thought the premise was a good one and Lanthimos held the tension and mystery throughout in a wonderful way.

 

[Detour (1945)]

The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Hmmm.

Definitely Kubrickian, and definitely a life that becomes hell. In that way, it's certainly effective and fits the theme of this marathon. I just didn't like the movie. I didn't care for the director's next film, The Lobster, either. Actually, I'm not much of a Kubrick fan, probably for exactly what people like about him. His movies are too cold and detached for my tastes. I found myself thinking about how I understood the "what" and "why" of what was happening, but wishing it said something about the "how", which tells me that I wasn't buying into the premise enough. I enjoy ambiguity in movies, so that's not the problem. It was an interesting watch, but I doubt I;ll visit it again.

First, gotta say, I love your idea for this thread. I've watched most of the movies mentioned so far, and find most of them fascinating.

But, I just wanted to throw in my two cents on THE LOBSTER and THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER. I thought both were excellent, sorry you didn't like them.

I don't think this one has been mentioned yet, but I feel this film fits your requirements perfectly:

 

[Detour (1945)]

Ha, well Salo is a film I really never wanted to see. I recall one friend telling me that "One of the worst things in life is that once seen things can't be unseen." after watching this. I've actually seen the film several times, most not by choice. In high school days this was a film that a friend had on VHS and so would put it on during gatherings and parties to see what people would say and how they would react. Personally, I felt he had an unhealthy obsession with the film. There are a lot of things in it that...well...you really don't want to see. There are things in it I wish I had not seen because I don't enjoy recalling them.

The film is sort of an epic of gross and disgusting. I would think long and hard about watching it. It did not upset me in the way something like Requiem or Downloading did but I think that is because I felt for the characters in those films. Salo I felt like there was some distance between me and the characters so...it was more just...gross.

My wife would love you guys. She still hasn't forgiven me for making her watch SALO (well, I didn't make her, but she was in the room).

I promise I'm not a sicko or something, but it was definitely a cinematic experience.

 

[JohnRice]

OK, on to movies I know.

Winter's Bone

This is a great example of the type of movie I love. It's raw, real, emotional and yeah, it's really ugly. JLaw before she was JLaw made a well deserved sensation, and her first Oscar nomination as Ree Dolly, a 17 year old girl coping with the kind of adult issues nobody should ever have to deal with. Searching for her absent, drug drug dealer father, so her messed up family doesn't lose their home. She is one gritty, determined girl.

This is one of the best movies of the 21st Century in my book. It's the second movie so far featuring John Hawkes, in probably his best performance to date.