Horror Movies!!!

[bigsleepj]

The Manga and the movie is very different. The original manga (which I read partly) is just a very strange crime story. The director of the movie, Park Chan-Wook, took the core idea and took it in a pretty bizarre direction.

[Rocketshipper]

Old Boy is on my Netflix instant watch queue. I should be seeing it pretty soon. I heard that Will Smith was interested in starring in an American remake.

As horror fans what's your opinion on the trend of remaking horror movies, both foreign ones and older American movies? Personally, my feelings have changed quit a bit on the subject. I used to be one of those people who hated the idea of any of my favorite movies being remade, But now I'm a lot more casual about it. Even if a remake is completely horrible, no one is forcing me to watch it, and I can still watch the original any time. Remakes can get new people interested in seeing the older films, which is good. And sometimes I think remakes *can* be better. (hides)

Some remakes that I think are better than the original or good in their own right:

-The Blob
-John Carpenter's The Thing (yeah, its a remake. Havn't ever seen the original though)
-Texas Chainsaw and Friday the 13th (NOT a recommendation at all; they really aren't that great, but I still think they're better than the originals, which I disliked a lot)
-Amityville Horror
-Last House on the Left
-David Chronenburg's The Fly
-The Ring
-Dawn of the Dead

I really look forward to the Child's Play remake, if it ever gets off the ground. I heard both Brad Dourif and Catherin Hicks are involved, and also apparently...Johnny Yong Boch O_O, according to imdb.

[GrubbTheFragger]

Yeah the old boy remake was canceled thank goodness. I like will smith and all but not for that role.

As far as other remakes go I have actually enjoyed most i enjoyed
The Texas Chainsaw remake
Dawn Of The Dead
Nightmare on Elmstreet
Amityville
The Crazies

I am frightened that these are getting remakes
Martyrs (It is by no means a theater movie if you know what i mean. The original garnered the rep for being one of the most brutal films ever)
Let the right one in (yep this too should not be remade with hitgirl from Kick A@# in it as the lead)
Hellraiser (director of martyrs was the director for a while then i am pretty sure he bailed so *shrugs* who knows on this one)
Candyman (Not sure about this one either it could really go either way)
Suspira (NO! especially with Natalie Portman as the lead i am officially worried)

[bigsleepj]

Yeah the old boy remake was canceled thank goodness. I like will smith and all but not for that role.

Park Chan-Wook actually said he was looking forward to the remake and was kind of disappointed that it fell through (Empire Magazine, May 2010). As for the remake, they would have stuck closer to the original manga's story and characterization, which Will Smith could have actually done pretty well.

[Rocketshipper]

I'd still like to see a Battle Royale remake. But I highly doubt it will ever see the light of day without massive changes to the premise (9th graders killing eachother would just be too much for America). And besides, we already have "The Condemned" (which I thought was pretty good)

Any recent news about the Death Note remake? I still think it would be hilarious if Zac Efron got cast as Light, like the rumors were saying. He does fit the body type, and It would be fun just to watch all the parents and PluggedIn whine about how "Troy from Highschool Musical" is playing a supernatural serial killer.

I think the Child's Play remake has a good chance of being good; besides the fact that Dourif is attached, its also being written and directed by the same person who wrote the original.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Anyone here happened to have seen "The Midnight Meat Train".

That's the one I always see in the store! No one ever buys it.... <_< That's convinced me not to get it, even if I did like super-gory movies.

Okay, well, I like horror movies, but I don't watch too many, because I think gore is gross rather than horrifying most of the time, and because I don't want to become jaded and unable to feel the thrill of a good scare anymore. Plus, I don't really like horror movies that exist only for the scares]still[/i] freaked me out! I especially love how Shyamalan didn't show the aliens until the very end, because sounds and brief glimpses are scarier than when you know exactly what it is you're facing. The reflection in the TV was pure genius, if you ask me.

1. The Grudge (American remake, thinking about seeing the original Japanese)
I get the feeling that a lot of hard-core horror fans don't think much of this movie, but I can't really see why. This thing freaked me out of my skin! I couldn't take a shower or look under my bed covers for a month without shuddering. I had to watch it at night so my little sisters wouldn't see it, and the only way I could get to sleep was by listening to the Narnia audiobooks so I could hear Aslan's calming voice But yeah, I really like The Grudge. It was very engaging, I thought. The scariest movie I've ever seen.

[Wolf-man]

[quote="Rocketshipper (post: 1399653)"]Old Boy is on my Netflix instant watch queue. I should be seeing it pretty soon. I heard that Will Smith was interested in starring in an American remake.

As horror fans what's your opinion on the trend of remaking horror movies, both foreign ones and older American movies? Personally, my feelings have changed quit a bit on the subject. I used to be one of those people who hated the idea of any of my favorite movies being remade, But now I'm a lot more casual about it. Even if a remake is completely horrible, no one is forcing me to watch it, and I can still watch the original any time. Remakes can get new people interested in seeing the older films, which is good. And sometimes I think remakes *can* be better. (hides)

Some remakes that I think are better than the original or good in their own right:

-The Blob
-John Carpenter's The Thing (yeah, its a remake. Havn't ever seen the original though)
-Texas Chainsaw and Friday the 13th (NOT a recommendation at all]

I'm not sure how I feel about these. On one hand I don't like it because they end up screwing up a good film. However, I liked most if not all the platnum dunes remakes (the company that did the remakes to Texas chainsaw, Friday the 13th, NOES, etc... The problem is that they all seem to be good but not that good and not as good as the original.

The Blob - that was fun if not incredibly chessy...thereby being true to the original.
John Carpenter's The Thing - Not really a remake. More of a reinvention. It really doesn't have anything to do with the original from what I understand. Just a couple references but other than that it is his own original work. An amazing movie and an all around great Horror flick.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre - I liked it. Of course I liked the original as well. It was a little weird at times but still pretty cool. Though, I kind of wish we could have seen more actual chainsaw use. Though, there was no gore whatsoever in the original.
Amityville Horror - Never seen either
Last House on the Left - Haven't seen about it but read about it. Don't really want to see it.
The Fly - I really liked Chronenburg's remake. Much like The Thing it was more of a renvention than a remake. Great movie.
The Ring - This was an awful movie IMO. It wasn't that scary and [SPOILER]making a copy of a video tape to get an evil, vengful, ghost off your back? That's just...lame.[/SPOILER]
Dawn of the Dead - I enjoyed it. Not as good as Romero's far superior movie but still good.
Friday the 13th - I haven't seen it yet but I think it looks good. I mean as much as I liked the original movies I'm not going to lie to myself by saying that they had a deep plot.
A Nightmare On Elm Street - Definitely the best of the Plantum Dunes remakes. I loved it. Jackie Earl Haley was an excellent scary and evil Freddy Kruger.

[GrubbTheFragger]

Friday the 13th - I haven't seen it yet but I think it looks good. I mean as much as I liked the original movies I'm not going to lie to myself by saying that they had a deep plot.

Friday the 13th remake wasn't a remake as so much as another reimagining. It was awful IMO. No creative kills, to many naked girls

The last house on the left remake was good minus the rape scene that seemed to last forever (skip buttons are great XD)It was a pretty typical do what ever it takes to save your family

[Rocketshipper]

Seems to me the whole "remake vs Re-imagining" thing is just a distinction that was made so some movie makers could cast their films in a better light. To me, a remake is a remake.

[GhostontheNet]

Having been quite obsessed with horror for years now, it would be difficult to single out specific films without spending way too much mental effort. But in general, I really admire the work of the following directors:

Old-school Horror

F.W. Murnau
Fritz Lang
Tod Browning
James Whale
Jacques Tourneur
Terrence Fisher
Roger Corman

New School Horror

Tim Burton
Lucky McKee
George A. Romero
Dario Argento
Guillermo del Toro
M. Night Shyamalan

Clever observers will note my tastes include a strong affinity for Gothic horror, German expressionism, and fairy tale elements. This list doesn't, of course, include directors who schooled with this or that horror film, but didn't really stick with it on any sustained level.

[ich1990]

Hey Ghost, good to see you around again.

My interest in horror is mainly for the psychological elements. As I also have a low tolerance for gore or sexuality, my viewing of the genre is pretty limited. I do enjoy the following movies, however, which could be classified as Horror films:

The Ring
The Grudge
The Others
The Sixth Sense
The Village
Signs

[GhostontheNet]

Hey Ghost, good to see you around again.

My interest in horror is mainly for the psychological elements. As I also have a low tolerance for gore or sexuality, my viewing of the genre is pretty limited. I do enjoy the following movies, however, which could be classified as Horror films:

The Ring
The Grudge
The Others
The Sixth Sense
The Village
Signs

It's good to see you too. Thank you for reminding me of the work of M. Night Shyamalan. He's a sneaky auteur of a director, both in terms of the formal presentation of his films, and their subtexts. I keep wondering if he really is conservative, or whether he's really on the opposite side of the political spectrum, and exceptionally skilled at communicating with those audiences. I like how you're into the suspense terror side of horror, those kind of films have a strong aesthetic appeal. On that note, might I suggest you check out Session 9, which is an excellent contemporary example of this style. Personally, I actually prefer horror violence to depictions of violence in other genres, because horror doesn't shy from the human suffering attached to such violence. And as far as the old blood and guts, I have something of a different perspective because I worked in a haunted house back in the day, so I readily appreciate how very fun fake blood can be. Nothing beats something like an old Hammer horror film with all that pretty blood that just splatters beautifully. As far as sexuality goes, horror is strongly related to undergoing the turmoil surrounding rites of passage, which includes the sexual development of young men and women. Sartre and Beauvoir argue "sexuality is coexistent with existence", and in this regard horror can be very helpful in dealing with the existential issues that arise with being a sexuate being. The work of Lucky McKee, for example, deals with themes of isolation, loneliness, body image, idiosyncrasy, obsession, and the difficulties of finding love and acceptance.

[ich1990]

I like how you're into the suspense terror side of horror, those kind of films have a strong aesthetic appeal. On that note, might I suggest you check out Session 9, which is an excellent contemporary example of this style.

Will do. I have also lately considered The Mothman Prophecies, and Shutter Island which seem to also seem to be strong representatives of this genre, any comments on either?

Personally, I actually prefer horror violence to depictions of violence in other genres, because horror doesn't shy from the human suffering attached to such violence. And as far as the old blood and guts, I have something of a different perspective because I worked in a haunted house back in the day, so I readily appreciate how very fun fake blood can be. Nothing beats something like an old Hammer horror film with all that pretty blood that just splatters beautifully.

You have a point there. Unlike kill them all action movies, there is usually meaning in every bit of violence inflicted on a person. I hadn't thought of that.

Regardless, my main dislike of violence and gore in horror movies stems from the fact that it is often used as a crutch for directors who don't perform the do-diligence required to make a movie actually scary (and, really, is there anything more horrific than a murder shown just off screen, like in The Black Cat, where one's brain is left to fill in the violence?). Also, the quantities involved tend to break with realism so strongly that it throws me out of the movie entirely. Finally, some violence (such as, perhaps in Schindler's List and assorted war movies) feels too real to be enjoyable to watch.

As far as sexuality goes, horror is strongly related to undergoing the turmoil surrounding rites of passage, which includes the sexual development of young men and women. Sartre and Beauvoir argue "sexuality is coexistent with existence", and in this regard horror can be very helpful in dealing with the existential issues that arise with being a sexuate being.

Sexuality is an important aspect of life, but I feel that most Hollywood portrayals tend to exploit it and sell it rather than use it as a topic of discussion. Horror movies might be better in this regard, but they tend to also be more extreme in their depictions, as if they are after a lurid thrill rather than to prove a point.

[bigsleepj]

Shutter Island is closer to film noir, Alfred Hitchcock and psychological thrillers rather than straight-up horror, though it is technically a ghost-story without ghosts. Yuk yuk yuk.

[ShiroiHikari]

I liked The Sixth Sense a lot, but I think Shyamalan has become something of a parody of himself. Really, that's the only film of his I've enjoyed so far.

I really want to see more Hitchcock films.

[animefreak]

i really like all the halloweens by john carpenter but the ones by rob zobbie were had very explicit sex scenes just in the commercials so my mom said i couldnt watch it but i was ok with that^^

[the_wolfs_howl]

For those who are much more well-versed in horror movies than I am, I have a request. What are some good movies that focus on a slow buildup of dread, using things other than bloody monsters jumping out at you to convey the terror, like distant sounds or slight movements at the edge of the screen? Basically, movies in the vein of Signs or The Birds or something like that? (And preferably with as little gore and sexual material as possible.)

[GrubbTheFragger]

For those who are much more well-versed in horror movies than I am, I have a request. What are some good movies that focus on a slow buildup of dread, using things other than bloody monsters jumping out at you to convey the terror, like distant sounds or slight movements at the edge of the screen? Basically, movies in the vein of Signs or The Birds or something like that? (And preferably with as little gore and sexual material as possible.)

Check out the spanish horror film Shiver its a great film with little violence and no sex that i recall

Also the Orphanage is also a great one, another spanish film but well worth it. Again little violence and no sex

[Rocketshipper]

John Carpenter's Halloween is not gory at all, or hardly even has any blood in it. It builds the tension up for a long time, with Myers following the girls and watching them before finally acting, and the movie's score really keeps that tension high. It does feature two characters who have sex at one point, but from what I recall, they're mostly under the covers, and you only see the girl's uncovered breasts briefly (but it has been a while since I last watched it...)

Alien has one bloody scene (the famous chestburster part) but the rest of the violence in the movie is so quick that you can't really see too much, or else its just done off screen (and there is a fight with a robot that has white "blood"). Most of the movie is the tension of not knowing where the creature is, wandering a dimly lit spaceship corridor or airvent. Very atmospheric. For sexual contebt, all there is is a scene near the end where you see Sigourney Weaver in an undershirt and panties.

[rocklobster]

I'm not an expert of the genre, but I have seen a few I like:
The Shining (it does deviate from the book, but man Kubrick made a good movie!)
Carrie
Needful Things
do the Ghostbusters movies count?
do the Gremlins movies count?
Alien (just the first 3)
Quarantine
Cloverfield
The Blair Witch Project (1st one only)

[K. Ayato]

The first in the Alien franchise is definitely up there in my favorite horror movies. I'd also rank Brotherhood of the Wolf up there as well.

[Wolf-man]

For those who are much more well-versed in horror movies than I am, I have a request. What are some good movies that focus on a slow buildup of dread, using things other than bloody monsters jumping out at you to convey the terror, like distant sounds or slight movements at the edge of the screen? Basically, movies in the vein of Signs or The Birds or something like that? (And preferably with as little gore and sexual material as possible.)

Some of these people suggested already but I will suggest them anyway:
Halloween
John Carpenter's The Thing (this does have a fair amount of gore but it doesn't take away from the suspense)
Evil Dead (There is a lot of gore and a couple nude shots but it is good for what you want)
House On Haunted Hill (original)
The Fog (original)
Jaws
Pretty much all of the classic Universal Monster movies are good for what your looking for

[GrubbTheFragger]

Some of these people suggested already but I will suggest them anyway:
Halloween
John Carpenter's The Thing (this does have a fair amount of gore but it doesn't take away from the suspense)
Evil Dead (There is a lot of gore and a couple nude shots but it is good for what you want)
House On Haunted Hill (original)
The Fog (original)
Jaws
Pretty much all of the classic Universal Monster movies are good for what your looking for

I would recommend Evil dead at all. Sorry but there is a fairly graphic tree rape scene and the over demonicish (yet comical) theme is a problem

[Atria35]

For those who are much more well-versed in horror movies than I am, I have a request. What are some good movies that focus on a slow buildup of dread, using things other than bloody monsters jumping out at you to convey the terror, like distant sounds or slight movements at the edge of the screen? Basically, movies in the vein of Signs or The Birds or something like that? (And preferably with as little gore and sexual material as possible.)

Don't know if you've seen it already, but The Shining is pretty good about this- doesn't start the attacking fun until about 1/2 way-2/3 through the movie

[GrubbTheFragger]

Don't know if you've seen it already, but The Shining is pretty good about this- doesn't start the attacking fun until about 1/2 way-2/3 through the movie

Great movie there is one worrysome scene about half way through when jack nicholson is with the women in the bath tub. Other than that scene its a great film

[Atria35]

Great movie there is one worrysome scene about half way through when jack nicholson is with the women in the bath tub. Other than that scene its a great film

Considering that scene quickly turns into nightmare fuel, it shouldn't bother anyone for very long >.>" And it doesn't last that long, anyway, thankfully.

[rocklobster]

That woman freaked me out when she turned into a corpse and began laughing evilly!

[Wolf-man]

I would recommend Evil dead at all. Sorry but there is a fairly graphic tree rape scene and the over demonicish (yet comical) theme is a problem

I only saw the last half of the movie so I didn't see that part. I forgot that it was in there.

[ich1990]

For those who are much more well-versed in horror movies than I am, I have a request. What are some good movies that focus on a slow buildup of dread, using things other than bloody monsters jumping out at you to convey the terror, like distant sounds or slight movements at the edge of the screen? Basically, movies in the vein of Signs or The Birds or something like that? (And preferably with as little gore and sexual material as possible.)

I second The House on Haunted Hill, it is a classic (although it is more mystery than horror or even suspense).

Also, if you haven't seen them already, all of Shyamalan's movies, minus The Happening, fit your requirements, albeit to varying degrees. The Others is another, and I highly recommend it.

The Mothman Prophecies is of a very similar vein, but I didn't find it that interesting. Same with The Skeleton Key, although I liked it more than The Mothman Prophecies. I should warn that The Skeleton Key contains some witchcraft-type elements.

[GrubbTheFragger]

The Others is another, and I highly recommend it.

*smacks forehead* Forgot all about that! A great movie, one of the greatest ghost/suspense films ever. I second that recommendation its a fantastic film