Truegho
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 135
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Post by Truegho on Jun 5, 2014 0:48:18 GMT
Do any of you agree with me that there are far too many irritating, sex-mad, utterly moronic teenagers now in horror films? It seems that every horror DVD you watch now has yet another bunch of foul-mouthed, sex-obsessed, boozing teenage kids in it. And the same old plot: they go into the woods, their car breaks down, masked killer stalks from the shadows etc. etc. Boring!
I think that this superfluity of teens has totally ruined the appeal of horror films, and has diluted its fright factor. These teens act daft most of the time, and I have lost count of the times I have switched off the movie before I can be further irritated by the same old stuff over and over again.
I much prefer the old horror movies, like those that starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. They were the best. Good stories, great characters, and not an empty-headed, sex-mad, drunken, sweating teen moron in sight!
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Post by ramseycampbell on Jul 1, 2015 11:12:38 GMT
The trend really begins in the 1957 with the Herman Cohen teenage films, which are pretty fascinating. The Blob is a kind of Christian riposte, largely to the delinquent movies that had become popular. Corman's Poe films are a kind of compromise, I think, and pretty successful. I suppose Carpenter's Halloween can be seen as the genesis of the present trend, but its reticence and wit weren't much imitated, alas.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jul 1, 2015 12:08:34 GMT
Not quite on topic but am I right in thinking I Was A Teenage Werewolf isn't all that far away from Rebel Without A Cause and King Creole?
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Post by ramseycampbell on Jul 1, 2015 12:42:12 GMT
I think it certainly is very close, and Steve King is spot on about the teen themes of those Cohen films (hirsuteness, bodily change, acne...)
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 1, 2015 13:42:31 GMT
Do any of you agree with me that there are far too many irritating, sex-mad, utterly moronic teenagers now in horror films? It seems that every horror DVD you watch now has yet another bunch of foul-mouthed, sex-obsessed, boozing teenage kids in it. And the same old plot: they go into the woods, their car breaks down, masked killer stalks from the shadows etc. etc. Boring! I think that this superfluity of teens has totally ruined the appeal of horror films, and has diluted its fright factor. These teens act daft most of the time, and I have lost count of the times I have switched off the movie before I can be further irritated by the same old stuff over and over again. I much prefer the old horror movies, like those that starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. They were the best. Good stories, great characters, and not an empty-headed, sex-mad, drunken, sweating teen moron in sight! My recent experience is that supposed "adults" tend to behave in equally moronic ways in most horror films. As far as the teen genre goes - I watched the much-hyped "It Follows" last night, and thought it was just awful. I'd read a ton of reviews saying how "original" and "creepy" it was - and it turned out to be one of the most stupid and pointless and dull "horror" films I've seen in ages.
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Truegho
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 135
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Post by Truegho on Jul 1, 2015 15:22:23 GMT
I totally agree with you about that movie IT FOLLOWS. The cover looked so invitingly frightening, but this certainly was not reflected in the actual movie itself. It was total and utter garbage.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 1, 2015 16:29:23 GMT
Fools! IT FOLLOWS is a beautiful and poetic film in every respect---script, cinematography, music---a real breath of fresh air. Its teenagers are also very different from the standard ones.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 1, 2015 17:37:18 GMT
The teenagers in "It Follows" aren't even very different from each other...
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 1, 2015 18:38:16 GMT
In short: No.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Jul 2, 2015 20:55:53 GMT
I've yet to see It Follows. More generally, though, the authentic depiction of young characters can certainly produce great work - Golding's Lord of the Flies, say, or the novels of Alan Garner, The Owl Service and Red Shift above all.
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Post by bluetomb on Jul 3, 2015 12:24:22 GMT
I find slashers or general youth oriented horror pretty easy to avoid. Also, I don't think irritating, sex mad or moronic characters are by any means limited to teenagers in horror, nor generic plotting, or that these sorts of issues are new. I don't even find them problems necessarily. As long as a film is consistent in its approaches to characters and plotting, as long as it creates a sense of a world, I'm all set. Doesn't matter how stupid or shallow or depraved or whatever, if I can wander around in it I'm happy.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 3, 2015 14:47:47 GMT
Well, "It Follows" certainly isn't "a slasher" and I do seem to be in the minority when it comes to how good it really is. I suppose the most obvious comparison would be Japanese horror like "Ringu". At some point I will watch it again and see if my view has changed. There definitely are some good things about it (e.g. it is very nicely shot), but I do tend to get quite annoyed by plot holes, people behaving stupidly, and things that generally don't make sense or are left unexplained - and there is a lot of that.
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chuckg
New Face In Hell
Posts: 2
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Post by chuckg on Jul 9, 2015 19:01:18 GMT
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Post by erebus on Jul 10, 2015 10:21:11 GMT
There hasn't really been a decent horror movie since the 80s. I don't think we can class Silence of the Lambs as horror. A few slip through that are effective, Neil Marshalls The Descent being one, but sadly the films made today are not made by horror fans for horror fans, they are made by studios trying to make a quick profit and throw just about anything on the screen. The latest Texas Chainsaw film is a perfect example. And those multitude of ridiculous Paranormal Activity films will continue as long as the kids see them.
Back in the day we had Freddie Francis, Roy Ward Baker, Terence Fisher etc. Then Norman J Warren , Pete Walker and so forth. Ok not wonderful directors, but they made them for us....the fans.
Carpenter, Romero, and even Stuart Gordon kept the flow going later, but sadly age has caught up. And Dario Argento just went crazy.
The new breed of director like Eli Roth, Adam Greene and Ti West, although love the genre, seem to be being lured and pulled away by the smell of money and fame. Roth in particular.
So yes teens have destroyed our genre, and the sad thing is, they go watch these films ( talk through them on their phones ) and leave without having any knowledge or understanding of the film or its production.
A horror fan is very rare indeed now, in fact you are mocked and scorned for being one. We'll be the way of the dinosaurs before you know it.
Oh and I love dinosaurs too.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Jul 12, 2015 9:11:11 GMT
"A horror fan is very rare indeed now, in fact you are mocked and scorned for being one."
I honestly don't think that's so - certainly not in my experience.
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