@Ralizah I generally don't bother with horror any more. Nothing will ever inspire genuine fear in me like Hellraiser, The Entity and Poltergeist did when I always a kid - coupled with the usually awful representations of chatacter and behaviour I'm always left disappointed.
Was curious about A Quiet Place though. As I say - a couple of genre standard plot holes, but - it's a beautifully shot film in places, the sound design and presentation is excellent and brilliant performances all round. What a lot of modern horror lacks I think is the fear of the characters you're on the journey with. They really nail it here.
If you're of the disposition, there are a couple of 'jump scares' that aren't completely telegraphed too.
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Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
@KratosMD when you're in the territory of remakes of remakes produced solely to jump on an expected genre cash cow, there's very little good to come of it.
When you're remaking a decent film, that itself was a remake of an iconic film... you should expect no-one to care.
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
@KALofKRYPTON I don't mind jump scares either way, but I crave atmosphere, great direction, interesting themes, and, when possible, an emotional connection to the characters. I would hold up the original Halloween as an example of effective horror direction, Kairo as a brilliant mood piece and meditation on themes of loneliness and alienation in an increasingly technological landscape, and The Babadook as a wonderful look at the crippling effects of grief and depression on the human psyche and also as a film where it's easy to empathize with the leads.
Yeah most horror films these days rely too much on quiet quiet BANG BANG moments and not enough on building tension correctly. Can't think of anything recently that has beaten my faves of Alien, The Thing and The Shining.
What did you guys think of IT last year? And not strictly a horror imo, Get Out? The latter is certainly a marmite type of film.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
@Ralizah It's a critically acclaimed horror anthology. A man specialised in debunking "paranormal" hoaxes receives an invitation to investigate three cases: a night watchman haunted by the spirit of a young girl, a teenager whose obsession with the occult apparently backfired and a financier who started being plagued by a poltergeist during his wife's pregnancy.
It should come out on April 20th in the USA. Out now in UK. The always very good Martin Freeman is in it.
@JohnnyShoulder I liked both of them but didn't love either for different reasons. What about you?
I was dragged to see A Quiet Place earlier this evening. It's the first time I've been to the cinema since Rogue One, and my anxiety was already through the roof before being told that everybody else had selected a "horror-thriller" to watch...
...but, despite one particular moment where I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to inspect my shoes, I managed to make it through. It was very well made, kept a sustained level of tense interest running throughout (after a few early scenes of character-building, the entire second half just takes off and doesn't stop) and had the benefit of genuinely good adult and, perhaps more importantly, child actors. It reminded me of Signs, but for all the right reasons. I think genre fans (of which I'm not one, but I've seen enough to have a general idea of what's considered effective) will enjoy it.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@JohnnyShoulder IT was a bit of a shame. Nicely produced mostly, but the very cg 'monster' moments really spoiled the film I thought. It lacked tension throughout, but the cast all did a great job.
The Thing is a masterpiece! If you like a nice bit of body horror, check out Zygote from Oat Studios (indie set up by Neill Blomkamp - who really should have been given his shot at an Alien film rather than Ridley Scott being given shot after shot at making really disappointing Alien films). Should still be free on YouTube.
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
@JohnnyShoulder When you mention The Thing, I take it you're talking about the John Carpenter version in the '80's? As a gory body horror flick, it's arguably unparalleled (practical effects are queen), but as a film? I was surprised by how poorly paced it was. And a lot of the acting is iffy.
The recent IT adaptation is a great spiritual successor to The Goonies. But, seriously now, it wasn't bad, but divorcing the child and adult storylines alters the tone of the narrative. Also, the film simply isn't scary, and the special effects scare moments were really disappointing. tl;dr it's a decent coming-of-age film, but mediocre as horror.
Get Out... I didn't care much for it. I think you really need to appreciate the racial satire to get the movie, though. It's not a bad movie, but I wouldn't watch it again.
@Feena That actually sounds fantastic! I'll do some digging and see if it's premiering anywhere near me.
Yeah its the John Carpenter The Thing. That scared the beejus outta me when watching it as a teeneager!
I enjoyed IT. I think they got lucky in a way coming off the back of Stanger Things. I always thought the adult story line was the weakest in the tv series so didn't mind the split. The actor that played IT, what a performance and certainly more menacing than Tim Curry.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
@JohnnyShoulder I do disagree with the Tim Curry comment. His portrayal of Pennywise was a lot creepier I thought.
His genuinely spiteful delivery of his lines sold it completely, juxtaposing the standard clown look. The newer version, while looking pretty good, largely relied on looking creepy and effects work.
On Get Out, still not seen it. Trailers looked OK but I wasn't about to race (Boom, Boom) to see it.
@Feena "The always very good Martin Freeman is in it." Is that a joke?
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
@Th3solution LOL I can understand. I had the same problem with him...but with his character from "The Office". Sherlock and The Hobbit and Fargo and Richard III (stage production) took care of the issue and then some. I just love the guy. He's going to be on Graham Norton's tonight btw, probably promoting "Ghost Stories."
@Feena Being in NA, my first exposure to him was The Hobbit and now in the Marvel movies. I guess in The Office he plays the counterpart to Jim Halert in the U.S. version, which is portrayed by none other than... (*drumroll) John Krasinski, who stars in ... A Quiet Place! So now we’ve brought this whole discussion back around again! It’s like playing the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon! It all connects.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
He is just Martin Freeman, as Martin Freeman, much to the detriment of almost every role he's had since the office as Tim - the actually quite dislikeable loser.
I'd like to see him as Richard III as I have heard good things - but he is absolutely 4th wall breaking otherwise.
@Th3solution The Marvel movies is a prime example of Freeman being miscast!
@Feena I've wanted to see I, Tonya for a while now. Not least because of Allison Janney, who nobody can dislike if they've ever even just glimpsed her in the background of The West Wing.
Earlier, I watched The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 and, for the first time ever, didn't immediately follow it with Part 2. I'll likely watch that tomorrow or even next week, because I wanted to space them out and give each time to sink in. Before, they've just blended together in my brain, but the narrative themes and character arcs do benefit from the break.
This weekend, my partner and I will reach the correct stardates in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where we'll pause for Star Trek: First Contact. Always one to look forward to.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
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