Horror Show

[kensei]

... Then please don't forget "Duel", starring Dennis Weaver, as the driver of a sportscar who is besieged by an early case of (then unknown) "road-rage" as personified by a huge truck rig and the never-seen truck driver. The pursuit winds up and down California highways and back roads for ninety minutes.
I saw it again recently on TV, and it holds up very well.

"Duel" is a very early Spielberg movie and he has stated that when he signed on to direct "Jaws" he saw a kinship between the two, since both have four letter titles and are about "leviathans preying on everyman." There is also a sound effect- a roar from some old B-grade dinosaur movie- that he used in both films, both for the truck and the shark.

[Pcdunn]

Well, if we're talking horror movies with vehicles...

How about Killdozer!?

... Then please don't forget "Duel", starring Dennis Weaver, as the driver of a sportscar who is besieged by an early case of (then unknown) "road-rage" as personified by a huge truck rig and the never-seen truck driver. The pursuit winds up and down California highways and back roads for ninety minutes.
I saw it again recently on TV, and it holds up very well.

[Scorpio]

Enough about King Kong, and fricking Godzilla, please.

[sdreid]

I've always considered King Kong a science fiction movie.

[Scorpio]

Well King Kong has always seemed more like an adventure story than a horror one to me. By the way, which version do you mean? The original?

Yes, the original; it did scare me a little as a very small child.

[Ginger]

Anyway, all in all I thought (Godzilla) was well worth two hours of one's time for any lover of giant Japanese monsters.

Oh, YES! A friend talked me into going to see this one, and I loved it! This was a proper Godzilla movie, not like that dud from ten years ago. The MUTO monsters, Godzilla's opponents, were grotesque and frightening, and the entire look and feel of the film was just absolutely spot-on. If you like old-school Japanese monster movies, this will please you.

[kensei]

I like Alien, The Thing, The Fly, and the Mothman prophecies; but otherwise find monster movies unengaging. King Kong is also good film but i dont find it scary.

Well King Kong has always seemed more like an adventure story than a horror one to me. By the way, which version do you mean? The original?

[Scorpio]

I like Alien, The Thing, The Fly, and the Mothman prophecies; but otherwise find monster movies unengaging. King Kong is also good film but i dont find it scary.

[kensei]

I was bringing up the latest "Godzilla" reboot a few posts back and I never came back to it once I'd seen it, so better late than never I guess.

The focus was supposed to be on modern FX giving us a realistic looking Godzilla but still remaining true to the upright stance that fans are loyal to from the days of the guy in the rubber suit, and it definitely delivered! This Godzilla looked and sounded amazing, commanding instant respect and awe from the moment his mere act of emerging from the ocean caused a tsunami that drowned a city. My only complaint would be that for a movie called "Godzilla," one would think that the title character would actually be on screen a bit more than he actually was. Don't get me wrong, what you see of him you will never forget, but there should've been at least a little more. The two other monsters that he fought- which are called MUTOs and have been described as looking like a cross between a preying mantis and a staple remover- were given more attention.

Also, I'll avoid spoilers here for anyone who hasn't seen it but Brian Cranston turned out not to be the actual star of the movie as he was kind of implied to be. That distinction goes to Aaron Taylor Johnson who played his son. Anyway, all in all I thought it was well worth two hours of one's time for any lover of giant Japanese monsters.

[John Wheat]

To Scorpio

I've seen the Descent. I don't rate it, it takes far too long to get going.

Cheers John

[Scorpio]

Has anyone scene a horror film called descent ?
Its about some women who encounter a homicidal subterranean species on a climbing trip.

[Scorpio]

Not sure where the horror heroine originated.
Perhaps it was 'Texas chainsaw massacre', but it quickly became a cliche.
Only ' The Evil dead' stands out in memory as bucking the trend.
Bruce Campbell was Sam Raimi's pal, so it figures.

[kensei]

Is misogyny a real problem in horror movies?.
Off the top of my head, two of my favorite films, The evil dead, and Friday the 13th seem to have fallen onto this trap, excuse the phrase.
Its not just a fault of the Z graders, either;Even great directors working in the genre offend sometimes. Kubric's The shining, and Peckinpah's Straw dogs both earned loud criticism for the portrayal of violence against women.
Human foibles are the soul of good horror and i suppose misogyny needs to be included under that banner, but we have all seen horror movies where female directed violence is used to titillate the audience.

I don't think of it as actual misogyny, I think it is just that women are considered the weaker sex and so in fiction they often fall into the role of "damsel in distress." Plus there are so many real world examples in history to draw on like Jack the Ripper. But although women do often end up as victims in horror movies, you have to admit that they often get to turn the tables and triumph in the end as well. How many "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" films had Jason and Freddy defeated in the end by women? Most of them.

[Scorpio]

Misogyny

Is misogyny a real problem in horror movies?.
Off the top of my head, two of my favorite films, The evil dead, and Friday the 13th seem to have fallen onto this trap, excuse the phrase.
Its not just a fault of the Z graders, either;Even great directors working in the genre offend sometimes. Kubric's The shining, and Peckinpah's Straw dogs both earned loud criticism for the portrayal of violence against women.
Human foibles are the soul of good horror and i suppose misogyny needs to be included under that banner, but we have all seen horror movies where female directed violence is used to titillate the audience.

[kensei]

I think one of the few things the Matthew Broderick Godzilla of a few years back got right was the pointing out of how the monster was actually called Gojira originally, but when the western press aired footage of a frightened Japanese sailor who'd seen the beast saying that name his thick accent sounded to western ears like he was saying "Godzilla," so that's what it got called in America.