Whatever happened to the horror movie?

[Jay232]

lol.. don't be sorry. The japanese film is Ringu.... haven't got to see it yet. I heard that the Grudge was the same, I mean made from a japanese film.. but that's all I heard. I never heard the name or seen it anywhere yet. Ringu is available to rent in blockbuster.... just haven't gotten around to it yet.
I'll have to look up the trailers for the Ring sequal.. could be interesting. I hope.

Edit: The Sequal to the Ring is scheduled to release on March 18. And as for the Amityville remake, they're saying April 15th 2005.
Hmm.. I can't wait.

[Gregorius_H]

I've seen the japanese version of the ring and, although it was slightly more confusing, I did like just a little bit better. Probably because it didn't use the stock-standard hollywood ways of eliciting fear, and it felt like an actual ghost story, not something about a killer video tape. (Although it was.... I don't really understand what i mean there... ...).

I read some of those articles on Amityville, gotta hate legal shenanigans. Hopefully it will be good...

[Jay232]

Has anyone seen the Exorcist's Beginning or whatever it was called that came out last summer? I've only seen the first one.. I'm going to buy the third one when I go back to Walmarts this weekend. I was just wondering what the sequals were like

Has anyone heard of Clownhouse? It's a movie I think from the 80's. I used to watch it alot as a kid, and I finally found it on DVD earlier this year. It's not so much scary anymore, but I guess it made some people scared of clowns :P

[Gregorius_H]

Although i haven't actually scene the exorcist sequels, i haven't heard particularly good things about them. But then again, critics don't seem to like horror movie sequels, no matter how good they are. (Am I the only one who actually liked Blair Witch 2, despite its terrible acting?)

[Jay232]

No, you're not the only one who likes the Blair Witch 2. I bought it on VHS a long time ago. I thought it was interesting and I liked the music and the story it told. As a movie is was good. As a sequal to The Blair Witch it went completely off of the topic lol. But I still liked it
I have Exorcist 1 and I think 2 on VHS. It might be #3. Haven't watched it yet and I dunno why :P I'll pop it tonight and let you know what it's like tomorrow
All I know is Walmarts has #3 on DVD for $5 and I'm gonna buy it lol!
Horror movies are horror movies

[Eurytus]

I love horror films and I think that like all genres they go through cycles. I mean you had a great era during the black and white era with Lugosi's Dracula, Karloff's Frankenstein (I know that is the doctors name but in the film its used for the monster too), Lon Chaney in numerous parts, M and not forgetting Nosferatu (perhaps still the most frightening looking vampire in film history).

Following this golden period the films began to cross genres resulting in horror comedies (Abbot and Costello) and Horror Teen movies (I was a teenage werewolf et all). I believe this caused the first death of horror movies.

For a time horror movies were simply cheap thrills for the drive in movie theatres. There were some gems like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers and the incomparable Haunting of Hill House but a lot of dross.

Then you began to get regrowth. Much of it caused by Hitchcock's films. This was horror as art. Films that warranted consideration alongside Oscar winners. Many of the kids entranced by these films caused the next big boom in Horror through the late 60's and 70's when they grew up and became directors. Much of it driven by the culture of the time and world events. Things like the Vietnam war got incorporated into the horror films and the sudden interest in serial killers in the States helped too. From this era you got many of the films that horror fans still consider classics. Romero's trilogy, Chainsaw Massacre, Black Christmas, Halloween, The Exorcist, The Omen, The Shining, The Whicker Man, Don't Look Now, Bodysnatchers remake (even better than the original I think), Suspiria, Alien, too many to note.

It continued into the early eighties with some great films like Poltergeist, The Fog, The Thing, The Howling, American Werewolf in London etc Even the first Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elmstreet films were good. And you had odd gems like Hellraiser.
But as in the first golden era the seeds of destruction were starting to appear. The later Friday the 13th's relied on cheap shocks and gore and the later Freddy films became more comedies than horrors.
It is possible that the fate of films like The Thing did not help. A great film and considered by many horror fans to be the best ever it was released straight after ET when Aliens were supposed to be nice. Result, comparative failure.

Before long you had the second death of horror.
It was probably Scream (much as I think its over-rated) that turned the corner. Since then we've had some great horror from Japan and occasional pretty good stuff from the US. Some nice stuff from the UK too.

But yet again the generic bland stuff is starting to come in. The slasher flicks with generic pretty casts (Valentine anyone?) and we may soon see another bad period for horror.

BTW, the Japanese version of the grudge is really good. Slow build up but when things get going.......oh boy. Dark Water is meant to be good too.

[Jay232]

What's it like watching a movie in Japanese? People I know would probably get annoyed... but I thought about buying a set of both Rings and a set of both Grudges.

[Gregorius_H]

Yeah, I've seen dark water, it's pretty good. It's not that bad watching a movie in japanese, as long as you're not illiterate and can read the subtitles, otherwise you might have some problems .

[Jay232]

LOL... how sad would it be if there was an illiterate person on this site . I put subtitles on movies half of the time just for no reason so I'm used to them. Sometimes I even prefer them, hell I might learn a word or two :P I was watching a few nights ago a German movie called Anatomy. The language was german and you could switch the audio to english or french but when you did that the sound was off from the video and it just annoyed the crap out of everyone It kind of looked low budget and the acting was awful. Needless to say I was depressed for losing my $5 but oh well. The graphics were all right so I guess it's good, but I doubt I'll ever watch it again. What's this Dark Water movie????

[Eurytus]

Most of the time subtitles are fine, certainly much better than dodgy American accented dubbing. The problems I have found is when the subtitles either take up too much of the screen or are badly translated.

The biggest problem though is when a film uses unbordered white subtitles which then disappear when in front of a white backdrop. This was a noticeable problem early on in the Ring.

[Gregorius_H]

Another Japanese ghost movie, in fact I think the guy responsible for the ring made it as well. It's about this apartment where water keeps leaking through the roof from the apartment above it. It's pretty freaky.

[Jay232]

mm... Fun. I've seen that once or twice before. Subtitles are best on widescreen movies. that way the subs are in the black margin Guess my dad took the exorcist 2 to his house.... I'll just go buy #3 tonight if I can make it.
Edit: Hmm. That sounds pretty neat. Not that water is scary, lol. I guess I have alot of renting to do, hopefully my bf can get a couple of days off of work so we can go hang out at my dad's and watch some horror flicks now that I have a list of movies to rent

[Eurytus]

mm... Fun. I've seen that once or twice before. Subtitles are best on widescreen movies. that way the subs are in the black margin

Only trouble is that it doesn't work that way on a widescreen TV......

Have you seen Exorcist 3?
If you haven't you are in for one specific treat.
Hope you have a strong nerve.

[Jay232]

Hmm, good point. ~shrugs~ I guess that's why I don't have a widescreen TV? lol.
The only exorcist I've seen is the 1st one and Im not even sure I've seen all of it My mom wasn't too fond of the movie.......
So anyways, I'll hopefully make it to the store on my way home later tonight and if they have 1 I'll buy it but I'm sure they have 3. (My store is seriously ill with only having certain movies )
So is 3 that cool??? I hope so

[Eurytus]

To be totally honest I have never seen 3. I only know its reputation. I have been looking for it for ages but have only ever seen it in a boxed set with the other two. I don't want that because I have the first one and the second is one the worst films there is.

As for 3. Well it has a mega reputation on horror boards amongst those who have seen it. But I don't want to build it up too much. It is by William Blatty, the writer of the first one, and features a typically good performance as a nutter by Brad Dourif (Wormtongue, Billy Babbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest and the voice of Chucky).
In particular though there is one scene. I won't mention what it is obviously but it is often rated as the number one "jump" scene in horror movies.

So beware!

And have fun.

BTW if you find it as a single film and you are UK based let me know, because I am beginning to doubt that it is available.