Horror Show

[louisa]

Hitchcock may be the master of suspense, but as far as terrifying movies go then I agree that Halloween was scary - a lot more frightening than Psycho, for instance.

[Scorpio]

On slasher films-

I love John Carpenter's original "Halloween"! It is simplicity at its finest as far as I'm concerned, the classic "Escaped Mental Patient" theme from urban legend treated with just the right dose of dark storytelling. It's helped strongly by the talents of Donald Pleasance and Jaimie Leigh Curtiss. Pleasance has several moments where his words deliver dramatic pronouncements that just hang ominously in the air. "Michael Meyers is the most dangerous patient I have ever seen." "You've fooled them, haven't you Michael? But not me." And so on. And the fact that Curtiss' mother Janet Leigh was the shower victim in "Psycho" is kind of a fun in-joke, but hardly just a novelty. "Halloween" was her first film but she turned out to have real solid acting chops. Her exchange with Pleasance at the end of the film, after they've both done violent battle with Michael, is heart wrenching. She sobs, "It WAS the Boogie Man." And he nods, "As a matter of fact, it was." When he then goes to the balcony from which Michael has fallen after having taken six bullets and sees that the body is gone, I'm perfectly willing to see that as the end of the story. Let's just conclude that there really was something supernatural about the guy and that he vanished upon death. But no, a whole series of inevitable sequels followed. And they all sucked.

As an exception, I reccomend Rob Zombie's remake of the original. I thought it was fascinating. Whereas the original took five minutes to tell Michael's backstory, Zombie took close to half an hour to really explain the psychology of what turned this little kid into a monster. Brutal, frightening stuff. I haven't seen his "Halloween 2" remake yet but it's on my list.

And then, let's give honorable mention to our old friend Jason Voorhees of the many, many "Friday the 13th" films. Let's face it, they are B-movies that lack real quality or class, across the board. But you know, they were a fun part of my teenage years and I remember them fondly. Every time one of them would come out it was a big event for all my friends to go to, enjoying the screams in the theater as the hockey masked freak slashed his way through victim after victim and endured punishment after punishment- machete to the heart, ax to the head, electrocution, whatever it was. And then finally, the inevitable happened- "Freddie Vs. Jason," bringing together Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. I think I read somewhere that it set a record for the most blood ever spilled in one movie. And it ended with Jason triumphant, carrying Freddie's severed head- but then the head winks at the camera as if Freddie's still in the game! Aaaah, schlock cinema.

Talking of lunatic movies, memories of 'Nightmares in a damaged brain'
have bubbled to the surface of my warped mind. It was a video nasty 1st class; It was up there with ' The Evil dead ' and had Daily Mail readers fulminating.

[RivkahChaya]

Does anyone remember when Twin Peaks was first on US TV? that show scared me. It's not the scariest thing I ever saw, but was an adult (albeit, pretty young-- still in college), and it had me checking locks on the doors an windows (and I didn't even live on the ground floor), checking closets, and such, before I went to bed. I think the first time I had a boyfriend just sleep over, without having sex, was after an especially creepy episode of the show. The one where Laura's mother sees the vision of the killer at the foot of Laura's bed.

I saw the 2-hr. movie that aired in the UK called Twin Peaks, with footage from the first season of the show cobbled together, with some ending that was stuck on by someone in sales and marketing, I don't know why. It's not the same thing at all as the two-season show in the US, just so you know.

[Scorpio]

Has anyone seen the new Evil Dead movie?. The reviews have been moderately positive.I hope the special edition CD shows up soon.

[Magpie]

I like 'The company of Wolves '. It is to easy to make a bad werewolf movie because Werewolves are more obviously monsters than Vampires are. A human who loses his humanity and becomes dominated by the id is a scary concept to many people but very attractive to others. To teenage boys who are suddenly expected to have wealth,status, good looks or social skills but do not have any of theses things, the werewolf with the power to satisfy their frustrations with such simplicity must seem a desirable thing.

For werewolf fans: have you seen Ginger Snaps? Excellent low-budget werewolf flick that uses a young girls first period as the trigger to become a werewolf.

There were a couple of sequels but I haven't seen them yet.

[RivkahChaya]

Remember those films you saw in the fifth grade about getting your period? "You may feel some slight cramping." "After a while, you will experience your period as normal, and 'that time of the month' won't feel different from any other time."

The people who make those films are the first people I'd maul.

[Scorpio]

For werewolf fans: have you seen Ginger Snaps? Excellent low-budget werewolf flick that uses a young girls first period as the trigger to become a werewolf.

There were a couple of sequels but I haven't seen them yet.

As if her life wasn't complicated enough.
Teenagers get some wicked abuse in horror.

[kensei]

Remember those films you saw in the fifth grade about getting your period? "You may feel some slight cramping." "After a while, you will experience your period as normal, and 'that time of the month' won't feel different from any other time."

The people who make those films are the first people I'd maul.

Ooooh, my. This reminds me to mention that there is another remake of Stephen King's "Carrie" (not the first) coming out imminently, a story about a girl whose first period ends up destroying her own life and the lives of everyone around her.

She is played this time by Chloe Grace Moretz, a teenage actress who is so good she's been called the next Jodie Foster. She made her mark in another genre I love- comic book superhero movies- in "Kick-Ass" where she played an 11-year-old pint sized and foul mouthed killing machine called Hit Girl. The sequel "Kick-Ass 2" is out this August in which she reprises the role, now a teenager. When the first one came out Chloe talked about how the foul language made her uncomfortable. Now she's saying it's not so bad, "'Cause at least I know what the words mean now." Though not the main star, she stole the show in the first one and I'm sure she will do the same in the second. After the first "Kick-Ass" she ruled as a kid vampire in the brutal horror flick "Let Me In," as a forever-young bloodsucker who must kill to live but also longs for friendship. Then she played the young daughter in the Johnny Depp "Dark Shadows" movie, which was ok but not great. Her character actually ended up being a werewolf in the end, totally out of left field, in an "Oh yeah, I'm a werewolf, let's not make a big deal out of it" kind of way. What for? Absolutely LOVED her in "Kick-Ass" and "Let Me In," not so much in "Dark Shadows" but it wasn't that bad.

And now she is the new "Carrie." It looks like a pretty straightforward retelling without much changed as far as the story, and Chloe's such a good actress that I'm sure it will be at least acceptable. What really piques my interest though is the casting of Julianne Moore as Carrie's deranged psycho-religious mother. I think that's going to be killer!

[Scorpio]

Ooooh, my. This reminds me to mention that there is another remake of Stephen King's "Carrie" (not the first) coming out imminently, a story about a girl whose first period ends up destroying her own life and the lives of everyone around her.

She is played this time by Chloe Grace Moretz, a teenage actress who is so good she's been called the next Jodie Foster. She made her mark in another genre I love- comic book superhero movies- in "Kick-Ass" where she played an 11-year-old pint sized and foul mouthed killing machine called Hit Girl. The sequel "Kick-Ass 2" is out this August in which she reprises the role, now a teenager. When the first one came out Chloe talked about how the foul language made her uncomfortable. Now she's saying it's not so bad, "'Cause at least I know what the words mean now." Though not the main star, she stole the show in the first one and I'm sure she will do the same in the second. After the first "Kick-Ass" she ruled as a kid vampire in the brutal horror flick "Let Me In," as a forever-young bloodsucker who must kill to live but also longs for friendship. Then she played the young daughter in the Johnny Depp "Dark Shadows" movie, which was ok but not great. Her character actually ended up being a werewolf in the end, totally out of left field, in an "Oh yeah, I'm a werewolf, let's not make a big deal out of it" kind of way. What for? Absolutely LOVED her in "Kick-Ass" and "Let Me In," not so much in "Dark Shadows" but it wasn't that bad.

And now she is the new "Carrie." It looks like a pretty straightforward retelling without much changed as far as the story, and Chloe's such a good actress that I'm sure it will be at least acceptable. What really piques my interest though is the casting of Julianne Moore as Carrie's deranged psycho-religious mother. I think that's going to be killer!

I thought Dark Shadows sucked like the Brides of Dracula. Why cant Hollywood remake a rubbish horror film and make decent job of it this time.

[John Wheat]

To Kensei

The remake of "Carrie" could be an excellent film. The casting sounds good. Lets hope the don't **** it up. Thanks for the info.

Cheers John

[Scorpio]

Jason V Michael

Who is the better Slasher villain: Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers ?.
Both are similar off course; they are both male, physically imposing, masked, and murderous.
I find Jason the more interesting of the too for some reason. Jason was the victim of indifference from those supposed to ensure his welfare and has inherited a murderous legacy from his mother.This has a kind of logic, but Michael's behavior i find more vague. Perhaps someone could explain Michael to me.

[kensei]

Who is the better Slasher villain: Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers ?.
Both are similar off course; they are both male, physically imposing, masked, and murderous.
I find Jason the more interesting of the too for some reason. Jason was the victim of indifference from those supposed to ensure his welfare and has inherited a murderous legacy from his mother.This has a kind of logic, but Michael's behavior i find more vague. Perhaps someone could explain Michael to me.

I had to think back- weren't we just discussing them on the last page? But I guess it was over a month ago.

Both of these killers were the victims of indifference from people who were supposed to be taking care of them as children. With Jason it was camp counselors, and with Michael it was his older sister. Jason's story though, despite his greater number of movies and victims over the years, was taken in a non-serious and almost cartoonish direction. He became unambiguously supernatural, killed and resurrected numerous times. He even went into outer space, and there was constant dark humor injected into the story. Michael is more grounded in reality, with only a hint that there might be something supernatural in his nature, and not a bit of humor. As I said earlier, I would have been perfectly satisfied with the ending of the first "Halloween." He's shot six times, he falls off the balcony, and when the doctor peers over the side his body is gone. Poof. Guess he really was the Boogy Man, end of story. The lower quality sequels ruined it for me.

Michael wins for me as to the more compelling character, but you really need to check out Rob Zombie's remake of "Halloween" to fully appreciate him. Five minutes is spent in the original on what made him snap. Zombie's spends 20-plus on it. Kid Michael shows classic signs of being a future serial killer. He loves his mother but she is a stripper and married to a sleazy stepfather, and he has a promiscuous older sister. He is taking out his rage over all this by torturing animals. His first kill is a bully in school who taunts him about what his mother does for a living. It's one of the most brutal things I've ever seen on screen- Michael ambushes the kid in some woods after school and beats him to death with a tree branch as the bully cries and begs for mercy. Shortly thereafter comes Halloween night. Michael's mom has to work, but she tells the sister she has to take her brother trick-or-treating. But of course she'd rather spend quality time with her boyfriend, and Michael in his clown costume is left out in the cold. He snaps. And in this version, he kills his sister, the sister's boyfriend, and his stepfather in a blood-soaked massacre that his horrified mother comes home to. Once confined to the asylum, Michael grows into a hulking monster of a man who never speaks and when presented with arts and crafts as an activity becomes obsessed with creating nothing but masks, a huge collection of various styles of masks. Until the inevitable night of his violent escape.

Explaining Michael Meyers? His own personal world dealt him nothing but bad cards. Instead of attempting to play them, he threw them back in the world's face and said screw this, I don't want to play anymore. I only want to win.

[Smoking Joe]

Horror? I think that the viewing public has become so de-sensitised to blood spurting from arteries and heads being severed in glorious colour that nobody is frightened any more.Its more a fun thing now.laugh a minute as yet another victim is decapitated,squashed or torn asunder. Its a sad indictment ,or rather indicative of the state of humanity.We havent progressed that far from the eras of the Roman Games,throwing Jews down wells and **** fighting etc.Just for fun. No harm in it ,people say,its only virtual reality,and I suppose it is.My question is why would anyone want to watch it? and why would it be classed as entertain ment?
I dont class films like Psycho ,for one, amongst that number.Hitchcock made people use their imagination ,perhaps thats too much to ask for in present times.

[John Wheat]

I would say that Jason Vorhees is the better Slasher Villain. If your into Slasher films I recommend "Behind the Mask - The Rise of Leslie Vernon" It's an excellent slasher that plays on the genre's traits aka "Scream".

[RivkahChaya]

Over-the-top gore films with a predicable plot were fun before CGI, because it was like watching a magic act, trying to figure out how it was done, and if an individual effect was convincing, even if the movie itself wasn't, it was very cool, because someone had done something good, maybe with models, maybe with trick photography, maybe with judicious editing and forced perspective, maybe with animatronics, hydraulics, make-up, props. It was fascinating.

Now it's just CGI. The answer is always CGI. It has ruined gore-fest horror films for me.