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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 12, 2015 13:34:15 GMT
There hasn't really been a decent horror movie since the 80s. Just running my eye along my DVDs (yes, they are arranged alphabetically) - Absentia, The Awakening, The Babadook, The Borderlands, Byzantium, Cabin In the Woods, The Descent, Deliver Us From Evil, The Devil's Backbone, The Devil's Rock, Dog Soldiers, Drag Me To Hell, Dust Devil, The Evil Dead ( yes- the remake!), A Field In England, From Hell, Ginger Snaps, Grave Encounters, Jeepers Creepers, Kill List, Lake Mungo, Let The Right One In (and also the US remake!), Mama, The Orphanage, Pan's Labyrinth, The Ring, Sinister, The Skeleton Key, Sleepy Hollow, Solomon Kane, Stake Land, 30 Days of Night, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later,... That's averaging about one a year since the end of the 1980s. OK, they are not all brilliantly ground-breaking (and some of them even have teenagers in them!), but they are all (IMO) decent horror films. And I don't even go to the cinema much, or buy that many DVDs, so it is safe to assume that I've missed many more than I've seen.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 12, 2015 13:39:42 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. Nor mine - if there isn't a big audience for horror films, why do they make so many of them?
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Post by persephone on Jul 12, 2015 22:49:20 GMT
It cannot be denied that horror films these days have made a rapid decline and cannot possibly hope to live up to films of the late 70s - 80s, which were believably the golden ages of horror films; consider the quixotic beauty of John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ and Romero’s ‘Creepshow.’ Films that did not hide behind the banal architecture of today’s clichés: boozy, drug infused teenagers being stalked and staked by knife/axe/machete/dagger wielding maniacs. It began perhaps with Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’ franchise, and from there began to thrive like a weed, it is a plot that has become the kernel of most films today. I cannot say that there haven’t been a few recent films that have come through and broken this mold, arguably Babadook contains one of the most original ideas I have seen for a while, and Digging up the Marrow, although somewhat reminiscent of Nightbreed, provided a most pleasant surprise. The horror genre has become much more open and accepted than what it used to be, teenagers have become much more interested; whereas in the past I have been almost shamed for my interest in these viscera veneered slashers, now it is something customary to arise in everyday chit chat.
Because of this, teenagers have seemingly become the target audience for most horror films, with little regard for the original audience, who undoubtedly are cosy and familiar with many of the directors, producers, and screenwriters, i.e. people that our new callow audience have little knowledge nor concern for. This is what results in this constant distribution of films like ‘It Follows’, which must have resulted in the biggest disappointment I have felt for a film in a long time. The reviews will tell you something else, but ‘It Follows’ is just a prime example of ‘horror’ films today relying on the cliche of libidinous teenagers to reel in a younger audience, who cannot fully appreciate what a horror film really is. Meanwhile, movies like Afflicted, and even foreign films like Martyrs, Inside, Frontiers, The Horde (and many, many others) just barely get the attention and credit that they deserve. Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of films out there that can include a teenage cast without being as vapid as what we are commonly seeing today, but most recently, I have certainly seen an increase in these ‘irritating, sex-mad, utterly moronic teenagers now in horror films’.
Sadly it seems that this trend is certain to continue.
And in response to Erebus’ comment about horror fans being rare today, this is indeed true. Just because there is a big audience for these films does not mean that all of those making up the audience are horror fans. You ask any of those viewers to name the director of that specific film, 9 times out of ten, they will be unable to.
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Post by pulphack on Jul 13, 2015 5:16:41 GMT
True, there is a difference between the 'horror fan' and someone who just watches horror movies along with other stuff because they go in a group to the cinema or whatever. But I don't think teenagers are ruining horror films, or anyone is, come to that. They just are what they are... they key here is when you mention the late 70's-early 80's as being the 'golden age'. Not to me. Not to a lot of people. There is no real golden age, only the one from when you started watching, or the period you love.
First horror movies I loved were the Hammer generation - Amicus, Tigo, et al - as they were the ones with which I discovered the genre. Then I read some books in which they were dismissed, either as rubbish by those who loved the Universal era, or as tame by those who loved the later slasher years. And when I saw some of THOSE movies I thought some were good and some not; but none replaced the 'golden age' that I'd first fell in love with, as you can't replace that first rush of discovery. In anything - 'Damnmed Damned Damned' is still the best punk album for me because it was the one that I fell in love with; I still prefer Caravan to Soft Machine as I discovered Caravan first; I still prefer Lovecraft to Machen purely because Lovecraft arrived first on my bookshelf (even though Machen is far superior).
Bear in mind, too, that it's easier to cherry pick the past and just cite the 'good' stuff in anything - actually living and wading through the good and bad reminds you of how much crap there is you don't like. A few years, and you forget the stuff you hated - just watch any old chart show on satellite TV to see this in action: how many 'hits' have you blotted from your memory? Same applies to anything.
In 20 years there will be forty and fifty year olds saying that the movies of today were the golden age and the new stuff is shite. And they'll be partly right. In many ways, this is an interesting but spurious discussion.
(Though I suppose that's most stuff on here and the net in general...)
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 13, 2015 11:37:34 GMT
But (and it is a very big but) - the vapid teen/slasher franchise, with endless recycling of the same plot and concepts, is a product of that supposed Golden Age of the late 70s and early 80s (Halloween, Friday 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc, etc), which suggests it really wasn't such a Golden Age at all. If anything it was where the rot started. And the idea that someone who chooses to watch horror films isn't a "horror fan" unless they take a trainspotter approach to studying the minutiae of the production, cinematography, soundtrack, and appreciate the director's oeuvre and place in the history of the art form, and so on - just seems like elitist bull to me. If someone enjoys watching horror films enough to pay for a cinema ticket or DVD to watch one, then they are a fan of horror film - and they are also the reason that horror films continue to get made.
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Post by bluetomb on Jul 13, 2015 12:35:11 GMT
Also, the fundamental "stuff" of slashers was coming together from at least Psycho onwards. Halloween and Friday the 13th codified the genre, but proto-slashers were hardly rare for a while previous. Stuff like Savage Intruder, The Headless Eyes, Scream Bloody Murder, Black Christmas and so on.
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Post by andydecker on Jul 15, 2015 8:21:01 GMT
It cannot be denied that horror films these days have made a rapid decline and cannot possibly hope to live up to films of the late 70s - 80s, which were believably the golden ages of horror films; Because of this, teenagers have seemingly become the target audience for most horror films, Sadly it seems that this trend is certain to continue. I don't see this. There is a wealth of horror movies out there. Just take a look at John Probert's movieblog. So many small productions. A lot don't work, but that is nothing new. These are just not movies made for a big cinema release. And btw, most 70s-80s horror movies are awful when they reach part 3. A few movies which made a franchise don't make a golden age.
Teenagers are not the target audience for most cinema horror films today. It is the PG-13 crowd. Frankly I rather watch an episode of Penny Dreadful, Hannibal or even the tired Supernatural than most of this crap.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jul 22, 2015 19:57:36 GMT
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. I watched It Follows yesterday and thought it lived up to the hype. If I had any doubts, they were dispelled when I awoke at three in the morning, started thinking about the film, and had a difficult time falling back asleep. Just running my eye along my DVDs (yes, they are arranged alphabetically) - Absentia, The Awakening, The Babadook, The Borderlands, Byzantium, Cabin In the Woods, The Descent, Deliver Us From Evil, The Devil's Backbone, The Devil's Rock, Dog Soldiers, Drag Me To Hell, Dust Devil, The Evil Dead ( yes- the remake!), A Field In England, From Hell, Ginger Snaps, Grave Encounters, Jeepers Creepers, Kill List, Lake Mungo, Let The Right One In (and also the US remake!), Mama, The Orphanage, Pan's Labyrinth, The Ring, Sinister, The Skeleton Key, Sleepy Hollow, Solomon Kane, Stake Land, 30 Days of Night, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later,... That's averaging about one a year since the end of the 1980s. OK, they are not all brilliantly ground-breaking (and some of them even have teenagers in them!), but they are all (IMO) decent horror films. And I don't even go to the cinema much, or buy that many DVDs, so it is safe to assume that I've missed many more than I've seen. And I agree with Dr. Strange here. Of the films on his list, I’ve seen Cabin in the Woods, The Descent, The Devil’s Backbone, Drag Me to Hell, From Hell, Ginger Snaps, Jeepers Creepers, Let the Right One In (original only), The Orphanage, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Ring (both versions), The Skeleton Key, Sleepy Hollow, and 28 Days Later, and I’d agree that all are at least decent. Most are good to excellent. Also, for those who like horror films with a 70s aesthetic, I'd recommend The House of The Devil and We Are Still Here, both of which seek to capture that style. Neither is flawless, but I enjoyed them both.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 23, 2015 6:13:48 GMT
I forgot to mention the imaginative set design. The incongruous ebook reader is a stroke of genius.
I have no idea why some people dislike this film so vehemently. It is almost as if they are offended by it.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 23, 2015 10:44:41 GMT
I have no idea why some people dislike this film so vehemently. A quick scan of the negative reviews on Am*z*n suggests that the main complaints are: (1) It is boring, (2) It doesn't make any sense, and (3) the ending is rubbish.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 23, 2015 17:09:32 GMT
Could the problem be that the film is somewhat "arty"?
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 23, 2015 18:47:44 GMT
Could the problem be that the film is somewhat "arty"? I'm not sure how to answer that, I can only describe my own reaction to the film - I very quickly became bored while watching it, and then I got really annoyed by the ending. I just... don't think it's very good, because it just didn't work as a "horror film" for me. I am going to watch it again, but I don't think it will be any time very soon.
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Post by jamesdoig on Jul 23, 2015 21:13:28 GMT
Could the problem be that the film is somewhat "arty"? Talking of arty, I've just been watching Penny Dreadful - great production values, and some nice touches by someone who seems to know the genre, like Van Helsing's shelf of penny-part numbers of Varney the Vampire. It's brought down occassionally by some pretentious dialogue, but that's forgiveable.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Jul 28, 2015 8:19:02 GMT
Well, I caught up with It Follows, and I found it genuinely frightening and extremely well made. I look forward to seeing it again. I thought it was about as far removed from the standard teen horror film as it's possible to get, given its intelligence and that of its characters. It's very much my sort of horror film, and I hope to see more from its maker.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 28, 2015 13:53:51 GMT
Well, if you think the characters were behaving intelligently... {Spoiler}{Spoiler}I sincerely hope you don't own a swimming pool!
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