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Citizen Carrier
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
322 Posts |
 Posted - 02/04/2007 : 10:35:32 PM
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Saw it Friday evening with a theater full of teengers (oh...goodie).
Overall impression is, "eh".
After the introductory scene of chaos in the house that hinted that the movie held promise, it cut to the new family in their SUV driving to the house to take up residence.
As soon as the camera shows the teenage daughter, I think to myself "mother/daughter conflict relationship" cliche.
[groan]
And my prediction was right. Daughter didn't like moving away from big city, yada, yada.
Just once, wouldn't you like to see a horror movie where the mom and the teenage daughter have a kick-ass bond of trust and companionship?
And then there was the suspension of disbelief. I just couldn't do it.
Sorry, but if a half dozen hands try to drag me down into the basement and I somehow miraculously survive and escape...I'm burning down the damn house.
I sure as heck wouldn't set foot in it again. Worst case, I'm sleeping in a tent out by the mailbox at the roadside until such time as my parents see the same stuff I saw.
And I don't go "exploring" and investigating odd noises. I KNOW what the cause of the noises is. I don't need to confirm it.
The movie seemed to be a litany of predictable "gotcha" moments. As she's reaching for the toy tractor in the cupboard, you know it is either going to move or a hand is going to grab her. And it does.
When she's reaching to touch the dead crow (why the need to touch the crow anyway?), you know it is going to jump up and fly around. And it does.
Too many gimmicky, cliched "gotcha" moments like that. Started to feel like a crutch for mediocre storytelling.
Then there's the "My Name is Earl" farmhand. Gosh, I didn't see that coming! That he'd be the villain.
Ripoff from "An American Haunting". No, the bad guys aren't the terrifying spirits plaguing the living and driving them to brink of insanity. Oh no!
It's the traditional, partriarchal head of the family. The white male authority figure. Naturally.
And when he's chasing the girl around the house with the pitchfork, I so wanted him to say, "Here's Johnny!" That and the scene where the little boy in the beginning hides in the cupboard were obvious ripoffs of "The Shining".
Oh, the humanity!
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jackspencerjr
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
262 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2007 : 2:42:36 PM
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| It's MessengerS, isn't it? The Messenger is that flick about Joan of Arc. |
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Citizen Carrier
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
322 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2007 : 5:57:25 PM
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| Oh yeah. And it was a better movie too. |
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Kit Rex
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
294 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2007 : 6:13:59 PM
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Sounds like this movie has developed an acuter case of mediocreitis. Not to mention an advanced cliche tumor.
Typifies everything that's wrong with today's Hollywood product. Nothing's great, nothing's crapola. It's all just corn flakes bland, no matter how shiny the package is.
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"Time. Time. What is time? Swiss manufacture it. French hoard it. Italians squander it. Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist. Do you know what I say? I say time is a crook." |
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twitterpate
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
1026 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2007 : 10:20:39 PM
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Well, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, there is one scene that plumbs a new sort of horror (SPOILER ALERT):
quote:
Advisory: This film contains profanity, violence and a few loud scares. There's also a scene where Roy tries to feed his toddler whole carrots, which is a serious choking hazard for a 2-year-old.
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2007 : 12:39:33 PM
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| What's with this latest trend of horror movies? They suck big time. Yesterday I saw Pulse, and if it wasn't for Kristen Bell's cuteness I would have fallen asleep within the first 10 minutes. |
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hbrennan
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Philippines
1455 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2007 : 6:42:21 PM
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If you want "suck", the big money is on "Hannibal Rising" which opens on Friday.
"...yet it hadn't destroyed his brain."
re: Charles "The Butcher" Benton (1956)
http://www.henrybrennan.com/
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twitterpate
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
1026 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 4:33:32 PM
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Why do they suck? Good question. Several answers I can think of:
1. Horror is still not a respected genre (although, nowadays, virtually nothing except the "nothing happens for a whole movie, except the cast and the audience both get really depressed" genre is respected). What does the typical "starting out with a dime and a dream" director/producer create? That's right, a zombie movie (all you need is some greasepaint and some chicken guts), or even cheaper, the "invisible ghost" movie, where everyone gets killed by a POV shot. Apparently, they're considered "easy to do", and therefore easy to do badly. I think a lot of directors fail to learn from their initial forays into the genre.
2. Horror is a genre that is essentially visceral, not intellectual. It makes you feel scared, not "think" scared. So, the writers figure they don't actually have to make anything make sense, as long as they have a spring-loaded cat and a bucket of fake blood.
3. "Torture porn" is the trend of the moment, and filmmakers are concentrating more on making people throw up than on actually scaring them. |
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Kit Rex
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
294 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 5:10:44 PM
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I would just like to add that producers and directors these days don't seem to get that their expensive CGI effects aren't scary. Take, for example, the ending of Boogeyman (2005): did anyone on the production end really think that thing was going to frighten anyone? Or that those overblown production values really equal atmosphere?
But then, we're talking about Hollywood filmmakers, and let's face it, the scariest thing they can imagine is having to get a real job. How can you expect them to know how to scare the common folk?
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"Time. Time. What is time? Swiss manufacture it. French hoard it. Italians squander it. Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist. Do you know what I say? I say time is a crook." |
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Matrixprime
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 5:49:19 PM
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Just want to be fair here; Boogeyman's craptacular end sequence was not the fault of the producer. I'd read an interview with the creator (dont recall where)
It was originally all psychological; as I recall, his father was a child killer and he had suppressed the memories. All seen in the movie were hallucinations....and I think it was found that he was taking part in the modern dissappearances.
Then the finished product was screened for the Suits, and they decided that the movie would sell better if 'the monster was real'. So they demanded he put a monster in there. They threw some money at him and gave him a short period to insert a monster.
That's why the blue screen is so bad, and why the explanation doesn't match the tone of the whole movie. I'd rented it after reading the article, and you can see where something was shoehorned in.
For Pulse, I actually enjoyed the American version (though I've only seen the unrated version). I also loved the original japanese movie. I felt that both kept the same basic story while adding the cultural influence of the culture it was prepared for.
I personally have given up on watching most movies in theatres; suits see more money in PG13 for obvious reasons, so its now a standard to let someone make a movie, then hack it to pieces to get it down to PG13. For example, my brother hated the American Grudge, but I enjoyed the heck out of it; of course, he saw it in the theatre and I saw the unrated version, which added significant information to the original family.
To tie in to the comment about how idiots populate these movies, thats why I enjoy movies like the Grudge or Ring/Ring 2. When Buffy sees the ghosts, she douses the house with gasoline. When the mother finds another tape in Ring2, she sneaks into the house, takes the tape, and torches it. I even enjoy Saw (havent seen the sequels yet) because while gross at moments, I enjoyed the psychological twists and turns.
Bah Weep Granna Weep Ninny Bahn - Universal Greeting
Est Solarus Oth Mithas - Solamnic Knight Pledge
And now its me too:
http://matrixprime.blogspot.com |
Edited by - Matrixprime on 02/08/2007 5:52:28 PM |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 1:17:48 PM
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I tried to enjoy Saw, and did for a while. I let the questions like "where the hell is he getting the time and money to set up these death traps in decrepit, out-of-the-way places?" and "how does he get his victims there without anyone noticing?" just slide away, and found myself enjoying the sheer, insane spectacle of a modern-day death trap slasher film.
Then, after a brutal but cathartic climax, they went and pissed away every nice thought I'd had about the film by sticking on an ending so ridiculous and unbelievable that it permanently soured me on the film, and the series as a whole. I hadn't been that mad at a movie since Final Destination 2. I imagine some day I'll check out the sequels, but I'm in no hurry.
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Game over indeed, Jigsaw. |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 3:36:18 PM
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No hurry indeed, #2 wasn't even supposed to be a Saw entry, and it shows, and #3 ditches all that was good in #1 and substitutes it for tons of gore.
I did enjoy #1, although I never understood if the whole thing was supposed to be taken seriously or not. Anyway, after watching the villain make his entrance a la phantom of the opera in front of the cops I couldn't take it seriously even if I tried.
About the problem with horror movies I'd say it's not a problem that comes from the filmmakers, no matter how inept many of them are, but from the studios. As far as these somber-looking, not-scary, PG-13 films populated with teenagers perform well at the box office they won't greenlight anything else, and as the example of The Bogeyman shows, they'll even manipulate other films to fit into the trend. |
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RossM
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
427 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 4:48:49 PM
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Movie producers today mistake "torture porn" and slasher with horror. In the 1930 and 1940s the top studios made true horror movies with great artistry and care. Just watch the origional Frankstein or Cat People or The Mummy or The german expressionist Nosferatu or the Hollywood origional Dracula to see what I mean. Exactly how these fine movies decended into cheap blood porn i don't really know. My guess is that the origional Black Christmas started the trend. it was cheap, scary (I guess) at the time, and made money. The only scary movie I have seen in 30 years that is truly scary is Susperia.
rossM |
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Citizen Carrier
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
322 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 10:29:23 PM
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Never been interested in torture porn horror.
Why would I want such images "on my hard drive", so to speak?
I guess "scary" is too hard to do. Some of the recent Americanized Japanese horror was visually stimulating, but I haven't seen a whole lot from Hollywood proper.
Gosh, there used to be a lot of good stuff out there. Remember "The Changeling", with George C. Scott? When that antique wheelchair chased his girlfriend down the stairs? Man, that got me as a child. My stepfather had an old wheelchair like that in the basement.
Hated that wheelchair.
George was good again in "The Exorcist III". That was a cleverly done horror movie.
I always liked "The Shining".
Maybe, just maybe...as I get older and my accumulation of firepower has reached ridiculous levels I'm just really not that easy to scare anymore?
Kind of a disappointing thought.
"The Haunting of Hill House". Wasn't that some good stuff? The more recent CGI version with Catherine Zeta Jones just didn't have it.
And I remember watching "Session 9" last year with some friends. That was a good one. The various websites pertaining to the Danvers State Mental Institution make you wonder why more movies aren't filmed there. I'd be disappointed if the place wasn't haunted. |
Edited by - Citizen Carrier on 02/09/2007 10:33:22 PM |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2007 : 08:04:06 AM
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I kind of wondered that too. I thought I was getting desensitized to scares. I remembered Alien scaring the living crap out of me, and Jaws and the Exorcist gave me a few good jolts in my youth. One scene in Seven, parts of Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, and the opening sequence of Scream spooked me in college. Then I went several years withouth a movie scaring me, and I feared I'd hit the desensitization level you speak of.
Then a couple of years ago I saw Halloween for the first time, and sure enough got a few chills, and one scene even, yes, scared me. (The scene just after Laurie finds the bodies, and stumbles back toward a dark, open closet. They let it linger just long enough that I doubted my original "oh he's gonna be in there" thought...and then his mask just slooooowly materializes behind her from the darkness. I about jumped out of my skin.) Other films that have given me true jolts since then include Ringu and The Sixth Sense.
I think it's all a matter of the talent of the people making the movie. Someone who truly knows what they're doing can scare even the hardened horror cinema veteran. Sadly, it seems to be a rare talent, especially today.
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I wanna rewatch all those films now. |
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