Horror movies: discuss away

bigtrev503 · Feb 23, 2014

I love the horror genre. I have a lot of the "classics" on VHS for nostalgia.

What I love about the "classics" (Freddy, Jason, Child's play, Hellraiser, chainsaw, etc) is that they were epic in their time. Freddy 5 got a music video for MTV. Merchandising out the wazoo. Video games and more. I was a bit young in the 80's, being born in '86. I was hoping some of the more seasoned guys could bring up more examples of horror franchises in pop culture when they came out. Also, teh stories had depth. Freddy was the neighborhood child molester, Jason was picked on and tossed in a lake, Pinhead was a real guy and accidentally opened a puzzle box. The movies bulit on the storyline as the movies progressed, giving depth and development. These movies would get 8 sequels! Those would not get greenlit if they didn't see potential for big profit.

I'm starting this thread because I'm wondering what happened. Where did the love go for these movies? It's not like 7-11 runs promos for current horror movies.

My opinion is that practical effects have all but died. Whenever I see a cgi blood squirt, I just think "why?" I think it was the practicasl effects that killed the genre. I love watching older horror movies and wondering "How the hell did they do that ?" Some of the crappy CG i've seen looks like it came straight out of a PS2 game and pasted into the scene.

I can't choose a favorite, but, I have been having a Hellraiser marathon. All 9 of them are on netflix righ now BTW :love

Birdie · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

I think PG-13 has done more harm to horror movies than CG effects (which I hate as much as you). I'm a huge fan of the genre, but I think slashers are totally played out, and the studios know they are going to make more money from bloodless, jump-scare crud.

I also don't see any maverick genius' of the genre coming through to take the place of Carpenter, Romero, Rami et al.

The last horror flick I flat out loved was The Mist, and that was six years ago

rodneyfaile · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Alien
Halloween
Halloween 2
The Thing
Jaws
28 Days Later
Let Me In
Jeepers Creepers
Event Horizon

bigtrev503 · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

I swear I heard that Clive Barker was coming back to do personally write a Hellraiser reboot. I can't even type the word without cringing but, if the rebooted script is being written by the original creator, it could be amazing. Plus, I heard he's pushing for a lot of practical effects.

bigtrev503 · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

rodneyfaile said:
Alien
Halloween
Halloween 2
The Thing
Jaws
28 Days Later
Let Me In
Jeepers Creepers
Event Horizon

Why are these your favorite?

Also, MERCHANDISING! Remember when these films had action figures, video games, and cartoon spnoffs? Tales from the crypt comes to mind, although not technically a movie. It did have spinoff movies.

bigtrev503 · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

OOOOH! I forgot Trick 'R Treat! That movie was soooo awesome!! I loved it so much. My mom bought it and decided she didn't like it. Knowing what a horror buff I am, she gave it to me. I tossed it on the stack, and thought it would be one of those cheesy ones you turn off half way through, so I ignored it for a while. One day, for some reason, I decidede to look it up on rotten tomatoes to see if it's even worth watching. I wsa surprised to see it had an awesome rating. I put it on and holy moley it was so good. I recommend it to anyone who likes horror movies.

Also, Cabin in the Woods. One word. DUUUUUDE! This movie has so much respect for the classics, it's stupid. If you have no schema for the classics, you'll love it. If you do, you will poop yourself at all the references to they make. Plus the badass twist ending.

Plus, Thor is in it, so yeah.

Both of thos movies I mentioned have that "Have to watch it multiple times to get it" quality like Fight Club had.

Flagg · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

bigtrev503 said:
I swear I heard that Clive Barker was coming back to do personally write a Hellraiser reboot. I can't even type the word without cringing but, if the rebooted script is being written by the original creator, it could be amazing. Plus, I heard he's pushing for a lot of practical effects.

I remember reading this somewhere as well and he was lobbying to get Doug Bradley back as pinhead as well. The last 3-4 Hellraiser movies weren't even written as Hellraiser movies. They were generic horror scripts that were bought and had the puzzle box and pinhead jammed in to them for sake of using the franchise name to drum up business.

bigtrev503 · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Hellraiser was easily the "scariest" of that golden age of horror. (the 1980's) Anyone agree?

howlingwind13 · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

The Thing (carpenter) Just a great movie.
Texas Chainsaw (74) realistic, perverse feel...the dinner scene feels like the actors are really crazy
Jaws nuff said
Alien
28 days later

I used to be huge into the slasher flicks, when I was younger, but watching them now...man are they bad...still love them. For once I wish they would write a script for a Jason movie that was actually scary and good. I recently heard the next Friday the 13th movie will be a "found footage" film. UGH come up with something new...that's not reinventing the legend or character, just stealing a format that has been done by dozens of other movies and you are just adding your character.

I don't really know why I love horror movies, they usually disappoint, but I'll keep watching.

bigtrev503 · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

I feel like I like the good ones because of the character development. Jason being one of them. I mean, you don't even see him in the first movie except for a short moment at the end. How is that for build up? A whole movie just to introduce the main character? That's epic!

The 2D ones that just have a gereric maniac or demon, or ghost or whatever, those are boring. I always watch them and ask "why?" Why do they kill? What motivates them? Is it justifiable? Does it make sense? I love the sci fi aspect of the well made ones. You can really immerse yourself in the fictional world the story is being told in. The Hellraisers were great, in that, it was telling the story of the journey the puzzle box. I love that they used a whole movie to explain the origin of the box. I ate it right up. I loved the development.

Another good one like that is the Puppetmaster movies. It keeps going deeper into the origins of the puppets and the puppetmaster.

While we're on the subject of motives, just what was the Saw guy's motives?

Curmudgeon · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Off the top of my head I can only come up with the same ones as everyone else :lol

Alien
Jaws
28 Days Later
The Thing

I'll also add..

The Shining
The Exorcist
Poltergeist
American Werewolf in London

I'm not big into slashers, but I do enjoy watching the Halloween series around the Halloween time.

Mola Rob · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Jaws because it's Jaws. If you need an explanation too bad it's freakin Jaws.

Halloween because it's creepy with the amazing music and Michael Myers in that ghostly Shat mask.

Halloween II because they actually concluded the story and killed Myers...yes he died don't talk to me about any of the other sequels with Meyers they just sucked. Not anywhere near as good as the first and too bloody but I have a soft spot for it.

Alien because the alien was actually alien and the movie is drenched in a claustrophobic and oppressive atmosphere.

John Carpenter’s The Fog because it’s a good old fashioned ghost story.

The Changeling because it’s a good old fashioned ghost story.

John Carpenter's The Thing just because it's perfect.

Creepshow because it's just so damn fun.

A Nightmare on Elm Street because Freddy started off scary and the dream sequences are awesome and twisted. The series went downhill after the first one.

Hellraiser because it didn't pull any punches and gave us a glimpse of a very terrifying other reality where dark wishes came true. Pinhead is also an awesome antagonist played wonderfully by Doug Bradley. The series went downhill after the first one.

Event Horizon because it’s disturbing as hell and doesn’t hold back.

Poltergeist and The Shining are also favorites.

To answer your question I don’t think the love for the franchise films died the quality of the sequels assured that most of the series would end because they deserved to end. They could have done so much more if they wanted to but they maintained the status quo, watered down the characters, and overexposed the franchises with too much merchandising including music videos. True fans wanted good movies not late night crappy shows hosted by Freddy.

cayman shen · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Two of my faves are the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Descent (British ending). Well crafted, well directed, memorable films. Genuinely unsettling. I'll give props to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer as well. What an unsettling flick. Felt like a home movie. Of course I love the cheesy NOES and F13 films, but frankly they aren't actually overly GOOD from an artistic point of view. Neither has a moment to rival the room of bones or eyeball close up of TCM, or gives a fraction of the scare simple claustrophobia evokes in the Descent.

The Mist resonates, as does The Devil's Rejects. Love them or hate them, the stick with you, and disturb. I love Antichrist for the same reason, but hesitate to call it horror, per se. For classics, I'm a Creature From the Black Lagoon man myself. Couldn't say why. It just has a vibe.

The eroticism of Hellraiser added an element of violation that was unforgettable. Candyman brought horror out of the suburbs and confronted the middle class with its fear of the urban.

Cabin in the Woods is the best horror comedy in memory, but wasn't scary at all. A fun mind eff though.

I'm more or less alone in this, but damn I liked the Ruins. The whole jungle temple thing really felt like a thirties xenophobic throwback, added a bit of nostalgia. Great book too.

Horror isn't dead. Good stuff can be found outside the mainstream. If you're cerebral, try Pontypool. Not scary, but thought provoking.

Let the Right One In is one of the best films ever made imo. Horror with heart.

bigtrev503 · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Mola Rob said:
To answer your question I don’t think the love for the franchise films died the quality of the sequels assured that most of the series would end because they deserved to end. They could have done so much more if they wanted to but they maintained the status quo, watered down the characters, and overexposed the franchises with too much merchandising including music videos. True fans wanted good movies not late night crappy shows hosted by Freddy.

I agree the swquels were crappy, but you still watched them, right?

I think the real reason the genre is suffering is like waht someone said earlier about cheapening it with jump scares. I look at these movies as EXTREME sci fi. I want to know WHY! The point is missed when we get these generic movies that show 5 seconds of a girl crawling up a wall (using bad CG) then take an hour of some mom saying "there's something wrong with my daughter!" Well, no ****, woman. She just climbed up the wall and leaked black stuff from her mouth! Then after a lot of jump scares, and running around, the demon crawls out of the girl's mouth and everyone goes home happy. The end.

Where did the demon come from? How did it get into her? Is she the chosen one? Did she play with a ouija board? Is there history of this happeneng before? Give me something!

Does that make sense?

anamorphicWayne · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Jaws - Because of the book cover
Alien - It was my first R rated horror film I saw in the theater underage
Prophecy - It was my second R rated horror film I saw in the theater underage
The Fog - An excellent campfire ghost tale
The Thing - It blew my mind
The Changeling - Good old fashion ghost story without the gore
The Exorcist - It totally cusses with your head
Poltergeist - The Tree, The Afterlife and a Clown
An America Werewolf In London - Beware of the Moon

Wes R · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Alien
the fog
the thing
the original nightmare series
poltergeist still gives me the creeps.
Sadly between pg13 and torture porn like the Saw series horror's just gone to hell.
I hate to admit this but i do like the resident evil movies (live action and cgi)
i liked Silent hill even though it wasn't all that scary
event horizon just because it's a good blend of horror/scifi
Just about any of the older stuff George Romero did
The old 30s,40s, 50s horror movies.

Birdie · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Mine would probably be:

Dawn of the Dead (original)
Alien
The Thing
Near Dark
Blair Witch Project
The Wicker Man
28 Days/Weeks
Ringu
Hellraiser
The Mist
Dog Soldiers
The Descent
Sean of the Dead
Evil Dead/Evil Dead 2
Quatermass & the Pit

Many, many others. I have no interest in Slasher movies at all, don't get the appeal. I generally don't go for franchise horror, seems to be the same formula repeated over and over, usually with a bunch of retcons thrown in.

I mostly enjoy horrors that really play on primal fear and leave you thinking aftewards. I also love me a good survival horror & a rampant gore-fest

On PG-13, I must admit, I did really enjoy The Conjuring, despite it's lack of originality, I thought it was very well executed. Mostly with those movies they don't even make an effort.

Raza Crew · Feb 23, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

Don't know if I'd call it a horror movie per say, but I thought Fraility was a pretty good movie.

Shadow345 · Feb 24, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

A lot of Hammer Horror movies would be on my favorites list. From all the Christopher Lee Dracula movies through to occult movies like The Devil Rides Out and sci fi horror like Quatermass & The Pit.

AJK001 · Feb 24, 2014

Re: Horror movies. What's your favorite and why?

I think the 2 movies that scared me the most as a kid and became my favorites in later years were a couple 1950's classics.

Them - with the giant ants.

The Thing - the original because they did so much with so little and you had to use your imagination, which can scare you a heck of a lot more than blood and guts on the screen.

Horror movies: discuss away

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