All these films you get now.Sequals ,remakes , etc. you know the drill . For instance : The hills Have Eyes 2 . i am just not interested in seeing this film . Its like opening a can of drink. You know exactly what you are going to get. Just the same as the one you had earlier. Always the same faceless 20 something american actors.I have all but given up on the horror genre.
It seemed to start with the remake of The texas Chainsaw Massacre.nothing wrong with that .I enjoyed it enough to buy a copy of it.Theres some great scenes in it like the shots of the house with the very ominous dark skies over it.The guy who played the cop who was the drill instructor in full Metal jacket. The whole film had a very real air of wierdness about it.
The first Saw film was enjoyable but i ignored the sequals.
Hostel i watched and sort of enjoyed it but i wouldnt consider watching it again.
Descent i enjoyed a lot as well.
There was a remake of The hitcher recently.Why would i waste time and money watching that ?
Once something becomes a formula creativity and imagination just go out of the window.
Is anyone else finding this a problem ?
They do have all the satisfaction of a reheated leftovers.
The Hills have Eyes wasn't a bad remake, it just didn't have the characters and the drama of the first one (nice scene with the craters though!) Not going to touch the second one, or any prequels and I only watched it based on a couple of recomendations.
Someone will always come along and sweep away the worst tedious excesses of the old, and bring in some new ideas only for them to eventually be sapped in turn by less original talents, and the cycle will go on. You can't kill horror.
I would tend to agree with your contention Peter. Of the 55 cinema visits I've had this year only one has been an original non-sequel horror film - 'Vacancy' and that was at best OK.
As a lad I loved my horror with Zombie and Cannibal films the first picks at the video store. I think the problem is one of familiarity. Once you've seen every possible disembowlment or face eating scene there is little left to enjoy.
Last night I watched 'Dead Silence' and was bored rigid. The tale of a killer dummy and small town legend was reminicent of so many films it was hard to stay the course.
When I'm drawing up my rota for the week it's on the priority criteria of : comedy, action/adventure, rom-com, documentary, bio-pic, porn, drama, period romance, Police Academy sequel then horror.
Come back Cannibal Ferox all is forgiven.
Thats the problem with Horror films today, there is just not enough Horror in them any more.
Most modern movies, which call themselves horror, tend to rely on gore and cheap thrills.
The last decent horror film I can remember watching was The Thing.
a movies gotta do alot to actually scare me though if I'm creeped out its not done too bad. One thing I think is that what people call HOrror these days just isn't, this gore porn stuff while nice and brutal just doesn't have the same impact or fear factor as the older horror movies, it makes you look away from the screen in revlsion rather than hide behind your hand and peak through your fingers in fear, last movie to make me do that was the original Ring however the whole Jhorror thing is pretty stale too. I must say the Decent scared me a bit and then the little monsters showed up, what a waste the movie could've coasted on what had gone before. As far as remakes go, if the original was awsome your better gouign for a different tone Like the Dawn of the Dead which seems to be to be more an action movie than the original.
CU Radbqacker
The best way to watch horror is on Pirate DVD so that if the first 10 minutes are shite you can fast forward to the deaths.
I used this method on that Dead Silence turd of a film earlier this morning. It lasted about 20 minutes all in all.
lol
Hi Peter,
Have you seen "Slither" ?
It really is a homage /throw back to the 80's "Splattermania" days. Nathan Fillion is is spot on with his usual deadpan delivery. It MIGHT restore your faith........
Cheers
Mark
IMDB is showing a re-make of Near Dark for 2008 ...
For the of love all that's holy, why would you re-make Near Dark?
Cheers
Jim
I forgot to say dont bother with the remake of the Wicker Man.Stay away from it.But i did hear quite good things about 28 weeks later.
The Wicker Man is worth watching for another of Nick Cage's wonderfully bad performances.
I watched a film called Wilderness on dvd recently.I would recommend it.Its english not american.Thats always a good thing.
If anyone hasnt seen the People Under The Stairs then see it if you can. One of the best and funny in places.I remember going to see the Evil Dead when came out first at cinemas.Everyone must have seen that.
Wilderness: was that the one were our hero's accidently shoot the plane down.
If so that was quite a good old laugh!
Give me the uneasy eeriness of something like The Others over gorey near-comical over the top violence any day
Though I liked 28 Weeks later- not great, but good fun
I'm sick of martial arts vampire goths too
Martial arts involving a guy dressed as a bear kicking the crap out of teenage girls now...
The Wickerman Remake is astoundingly bad- so well worth a look
"you broke my legs" "Bitches!"
Recently I liked The Descent and Switchblade Romance.
Switchblade wasn't any particularly new but it was a real roller-coaster ride (though the twist ruins repeat viewing).
-Hex
"For the of love all that's holy, why would you re-make Near Dark?"
Just watched it again for the first time in years it's a big dissapointment.
"Just watched it again for the first time in years it's a big dissapointment."
I watch it every couple of years, and I bloody love it. Horses. Courses. YMMV and all the rest.
(Honestly - not looking for a fight on this ... they're only bloody movies. I'm not going to try and convince you to like a movie if it doesn't press your buttons.)
Cheers!
Jim
Not at all. I should have added more explanation, or just shut up, one of the two.
I remember really enjoying it when I saw it on video the fist time around and it was on my list of dvd's to pick up. But it just didn't do it for me this time round. There are other movies from the same time that I hated, which I now quite enjoy (Phantasm Films!).
I have made a note of that. thanks.
Oh and while I'm here, the BBC has a British film season on at the moment, and there is a good horror section due. Some classics on.
Commando - You're thinking of Severance - which was ace.
As to Horror being stale - we just need to wait for the next cycle. Horror films always seem to do this, one formula makes a buttload of money (right now cheap shocks and splattertastic) and so the crank them out.
Then someone will do something different - think how it was all J-horror before the current crop.
And we'll get lots of those.
We just need to wait for the next "reinvention of the horror genre" as it will no doubt get called.
Well I'll be watching Grindhouse tonight and if that turns out shite then I'm giving up on horror films. These days they're all rated 15 and filled with stupid people in their 20's kidding on they're teens.
Oh and Hostel is still utter wank. Nothing to do with this but I still haven't got over that one and its prob my major turning point with the genre as a whole.
Land of the Dead was pure pish as well.
***sigh***
"Give me the uneasy eeriness of something like The Others over gorey near-comical over the top violence any day"
This reminded me - have you seen 'A tale of two sisters' Johnny?
It's a Korean effort,a retelling of a folk tale.It's understated and eerie.Might be right up your street...
Link: linky
Oh I forgot The Host. I really enjoyed that. Anyone seen?