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Post by DSR on Apr 18, 2009 19:25:53 GMT -5
I may have to re-watch the film one of these days. As I recall, I rather liked the first half being a bit less plot-intensive, and just overall eerie. And I wasn't really bothered by the dubbing, but then I've got lots of Godzilla movies from the 70s, so I'm desensitized to awful dubbing. God bless Rob Zombie. We're going to have conversation fodder from now until August and beyond with this thing. So says you. I haven't seen the remake/reimagining/whatever yet, I have no plans to do so, and I sure as hell don't care about the sequel to it. Oh, and as an aside, the other day I had a wisdom tooth taken out. So, as a "reward" for my own suffering, I went on a bit of a dvd buying splurge on Amazon. I ordered Bride of Re-animator, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, and Dentist 2: Brace Yourself (because I love irony, apparently). I may start throwing some more reviews on here in the next couple of days, depending on my mood. *shrug*
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Post by Sir Woodrow on Apr 18, 2009 19:30:59 GMT -5
Can I just say I love reading these threads?
They really have given me some good recommendations for DVD's to hire.
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Post by ThereIsNoAbsurdistOnlyZuul on Apr 18, 2009 21:03:06 GMT -5
Harken Fellow Oregonian Crappers!*
*okay... tehboobz and Rorschach.
This upcoming Wednesday at the DIVA center in Downtown Eugene, we've got a local indie horror movie getting screened. Called Earthday.
A year after the death of a leader of a ground of environmentalist/hippies, they start getting offed. on... Earthday.
It's rated R or NC-17 for nudity violence and drug use, it's low to no budget, directed by Mister Ooh La La.
Sweet mother of all that is good and slasherific this might be awesome.
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Post by Rorschach on Apr 18, 2009 21:12:00 GMT -5
Harken Fellow Oregonian Crappers!**okay... tehboobz and Rorschach. This upcoming Wednesday at the DIVA center in Downtown Eugene, we've got a local indie horror movie getting screened. Called Earthday. A year after the death of a leader of a ground of environmentalist/hippies, they start getting offed. on... Earthday. It's rated R or NC-17 for nudity violence and drug use, it's low to no budget, directed by Mister Ooh La La. Sweet mother of all that is good and slasherific this might be awesome. DAMMIT! I have a History test on that day.... *Weighs options of ditching the test or staying and taking it* I kind of HAVE to take this test though. What time is it showing?
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Apr 19, 2009 8:17:03 GMT -5
It's been a while since we've had a good "Holiday-based/tragic anniversary" slasher flick. Earth Day sounds amazing.
Believe it or not, I'm actually kind of burned out on movies in general, at least for a while. I'm so damn tired all the time that it takes me 3-4 days to watch one. Dug out my old X-Files season DVD's last week, and it took me (I kid you not) five days to watch a single episode. As an aside, the first season of The X-Files is pretty quality horror, as every episode was a straight-up Monster-of-the-Week stand-alone story as opposed to the amazingly convoluted and unnecessarily complicated ongoing mytharc that produced more "WTF?" moments in its last few seasons than the last four Halloween movies. ;D
Only bought one new horror movie recently - the original Dentist from 1996. Haven't seen it since 1998, so it'll be very fresh.
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andrew8798
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Post by andrew8798 on Apr 19, 2009 17:12:25 GMT -5
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Post by Rorschach on Apr 19, 2009 17:41:50 GMT -5
What the f***? I am pretty sure Lionsgate is just about the stupidest studio on the face of the planet, at this point.
Lionsgate: Because if it isn't SAW....f*** it!
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Post by Welfare Willis on Apr 19, 2009 17:58:26 GMT -5
What the snork? I am pretty sure Lionsgate is just about the stupidest studio on the face of the planet, at this point. Lionsgate: Because if it isn't SAW....snork it! Also let's treat our dvds like ****...you know, just cause!
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Post by ThereIsNoAbsurdistOnlyZuul on Apr 19, 2009 18:00:19 GMT -5
Harken Fellow Oregonian Crappers!**okay... tehboobz and Rorschach. This upcoming Wednesday at the DIVA center in Downtown Eugene, we've got a local indie horror movie getting screened. Called Earthday. A year after the death of a leader of a ground of environmentalist/hippies, they start getting offed. on... Earthday. It's rated R or NC-17 for nudity violence and drug use, it's low to no budget, directed by Mister Ooh La La. Sweet mother of all that is good and slasherific this might be awesome. DAMMIT! I have a History test on that day.... *Weighs options of ditching the test or staying and taking it* I kind of HAVE to take this test though. What time is it showing? I believe the showings are 5pm, 7pm and 9pm.
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Post by thwak is T.hawk on Apr 19, 2009 18:13:37 GMT -5
well speaking of lionsgate screw overs....
THE BURROWERS COMES OUT ON TUESDAY!!!
I haven't been this excited for a direct to video horror movie ever... ok that's not saying much, but still!
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Post by Welfare Willis on Apr 19, 2009 19:11:36 GMT -5
Well kiddies since we are speaking about dvds I'm here to announce Anchor Bay is porting over the Lament Configuration box set (minus Hellraiser 3 which is owned by Paramount here) to American shores! The set contains Hellraiser, Hellraiser on Blu ray, and Hellraiser 2. Here's a review of the set: www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/36900/clive-barkers-hellraiser-lament-configuration-box-set/I'm not sure why someone needs the Blu Ray and dvd of the same movie, but you may remember Anchor Bay did a similar move with their Halloween set. Now that I've got that news out of the way... TENEBRE (1982) You know doing these reviews it's amazing the info you can pick up researching the films. The most popular one seems to be this: critics know nothing. Yeah, real insight there huh? What I mean though is no matter how bad a critic may hate something eventually some films find their audience. Diverse titles such as Office Space, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Army of Darkness, and Plan 9 from Outer Spacefor whatever reason all now enjoy sizable fan bases. It's also fair to say these films were not well liked by some critics. Being a horror fan we are all well versed in this fact. Thanks to huge burst of dvd sales that happened in the late 90s we have been exposed to some films that until now only came in extremely edited forms. Such is the case with tonight's review, Tenebre. Peter Neal is a Stephen King-esque horror writer whose books have a huge following in Europe. We meet Peter as he's getting ready to leave for Rome being trailed by his ex-wife Jane. Barely after Peter's plane hits the tarmac in Rome we see that a mysterious killer has taken a shine to Peter's newest novel, Tenebrae. What follows is a maze of murders, mayhem, and revelations that made this reviewers (notice I didn't say critic ) head spin. Coming near the end of the giallo era the film is really a fine example of the sub-genre. While the colorful dream like atmosphere used in Suspiria and Inferno isn't present, the film is still incredibly stylish and intense. Kills are grisly, gruesome and thanks to the digital age we live in have never looked better. It's funny this is also one of the few Argento's film I've seen that is somewhat erotic. It does my heart proud when even an auteur can see fit to throw me a couple nipples in a movie. Interesting trivia: Goblin had broken up before the making of Tenebre but three members came together to work on the soundtrack. A hallmark of Argento's films, the soundtrack hightens tension and never becomes annoying. Seriously what happened to soundtracks? Now it seems we can't get through one horror film without some heavy metal distracting from the film. Well as you can tell I enjoyed the film. It's really a enjoyable hour and thirty something minutes of your time. **** out of five. Recommend. Two side notes: The film has been called Tenebre and Tenebrae. I went with the dvd cover of the american release just for consistency. The Anchor Bay release is not the complete release of the film and is missing twenty seconds of footage not central to the plot. To read further: www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=2464
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Apr 19, 2009 19:34:59 GMT -5
Since I already own Hellraiser 1-3 on DVD, that Lament Configuration boxset seems like kind of a jip, and there's little there that makes me want to consider a double dip. Same thing with the Halloween set - I did a double-take and looked at it when I saw it in Best Buy recently since it's basically my favorite movie of all time, but the items contained in said set that bump up the price point about four levels (most notably the fact that it contains Halloween 4 and 5 but not II) didn't exactly convert me.
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Post by Welfare Willis on Apr 19, 2009 20:43:02 GMT -5
Since I already own Hellraiser 1-3 on DVD, that Lament Configuration boxset seems like kind of a jip, and there's little there that makes me want to consider a double dip. Same thing with the Halloween set - I did a double-take and looked at it when I saw it in Best Buy recently since it's basically my favorite movie of all time, but the items contained in said set that bump up the price point about four levels (most notably the fact that it contains Halloween 4 and 5 but not II) didn't exactly convert me. Agreed, this is the first time to my knowledge that the double dip is already in the damn package. I mean it has to be rough to be Anchor Bay. You can only get the rights to certain films, but not others. So you have to release crazy sets like this. Yet AB doesn't make things easier considering alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the editions they come out with. Someone just try and find all the editions of the evil dead films they've released. It's really friggin' amazing. Still I like Anchor Bay. They were the company on the edge of rare horror dvd releases. I just wish MGM will drop it's right to Phantasm II. For those of you without a region free dvd player your missing a pretty cool film! Plus the sphere the phantasm set comes in is darn cool.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Apr 19, 2009 22:58:30 GMT -5
Hey, Fulci, saw you edited your previous post. I really, really love Tenebre...it's probably in my top three Argento films, and easily my favorite pure giallo film that he's done. First and foremost, the movie's various surprises in the final thirty minutes LEGITIMATELY surprised me, and in this day and age of swerve overkill, the swerves in Tenebre felt natural and refreshing. Like you said, it's also a very nice erotic film where sex and death are intertwined, although not in the pure "morality tale" way that they are in slasher films. Tenebre is a study in the various perversions of serial sex murderers, and the "sex and death" motif becomes an artful ongoing theme of the film as, in the minds of so many serial killers, the act of killing is a sexual act. Of course, all of the usual Argento trademarks - fantastic score, innovative camera techniques, beautiful women and wild, over-the-top kills and set pieces (Jane's death is just incredible; SO brutal and out of left field) - are well intact. Tenebre is just a movie where a great film-maker is on the top of his game, and every horror fan should check it out. Jeez, here I came in here just to say a few words about the flick, and I did a mini-review. Obviously not going to win any awards, like you said, but in the realm of horror and giallo thrillers, Tenebre is most definitely a **** affair (and **** is my highest). Oh, and this movie features the most talented dog in the history of cinema. ;D A true unintentionally hilarious scene, to be sure.
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Post by Welfare Willis on Apr 20, 2009 7:19:49 GMT -5
Hey, Fulci, saw you edited your previous post. I really, really love Tenebre...it's probably in my top three Argento films, and easily my favorite pure giallo film that he's done. First and foremost, the movie's various surprises in the final thirty minutes LEGITIMATELY surprised me, and in this day and age of swerve overkill, the swerves in Tenebre felt natural and refreshing. Exactly, this movie was a mystery that actually surprised me at the end. It wasn't SWERVE~ for the sake of a swerve. The film just keeps you guessing until the very end. I couldn't have said it better myself. Agreed. That dog was the friggin' chuck norris of dogs. If it had more movie time I would have thought it was the killer.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Apr 20, 2009 7:56:14 GMT -5
Hey, quick question from someone who doesn't know much about the genre overall: in some of the more "slasher/gore" type movies, are the writers going out of their way to force the audience to root for the monster/killer?
Because it seems as if the killer usually goes after people that the audience can't identify with- often the victims are young, perhaps a little vapid, seem to have access to a lot of money and they're on vacation somewhere, etc- the Beautiful People, basically. Or they're just plan unlikeable, like in See No Evil, where the movie seemed to beat the message "CHEER FOR KANE" over my head. I don't see a lot of working-class joes or everymen targeted by the main threat.
Are there any notable exceptions?
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Post by Welfare Willis on Apr 20, 2009 8:18:16 GMT -5
Hey, quick question from someone who doesn't know much about the genre overall: in some of the more "slasher/gore" type movies, are the writers going out of their way to force the audience to root for the monster/killer? Because it seems as if the killer usually goes after people that the audience can't identify with- often the victims are young, perhaps a little vapid, seem to have access to a lot of money and they're on vacation somewhere, etc- the Beautiful People, basically. Or they're just plan unlikeable, like in See No Evil, where the movie seemed to beat the message "CHEER FOR KANE" over my head. I don't see a lot of working-class joes or everymen targeted by the main threat. Are there any notable exceptions? Good question. Generally, there is a morality tale within the slasher film i.e. if you have sex, do drugs, party too hard, you end up dead. Usually the hero is the young, upstanding female of the film. I think the rooting for the killer happens more for the well known icons: your Freddies, Jasons, and Michaeli of the genre. They tend to be rooted more because after so many films I think they come to sybolize this unstoppable force. They die, yet they can't seem to be stopped. The horror genre also has a base of people who are not just fanboys/girls, we're people who have a deep love and understanding for the genre. Those people on screen aren't just villains they almost represent anti-heroes to the establishment view of the world. That all there is to life is money and meanless sex like you mentioned in your post. One could go so far as to argue these slashers are a visual respentation of something most of us are afraid to face: death. Usually these films appeal to teenagers who are becoming adults. They are going to increasing face the reality that they are not immortal and maybe in some this helps cope with that realization. Others here may remember but I have a hard time remembering a slasher film that doesn't end with sweet virginal girl surviving. Sometimes a male will survive at the end, but usually they are not the main character of the film. Now this morality aspect is true more in the slasher genre then in horror overall. In Night of the Living Dead, Ben could be considered the protagonist yet as we watch the film no one, not even Ben himself, survives. Phantasm doesn't necessarily have this aspect to it. If you look at the end of Phantasm IV it seems Jody has come to the realization that he will be the next Tall Man. Although it's hard sometimes to tell what the hell Phantasm 4 is about.
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Lick Ness Monster
Dennis Stamp
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Post by Lick Ness Monster on Apr 20, 2009 10:12:53 GMT -5
Well, Radio Clash, tough one, but I'll answer as best I can. I actually believe that slasher movies, and the franchises in general, don't actually START OUT with their killer as the quasi-hero. All of the great horror franchises - Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street - began with bright, new, engaging ideas, or at least fresh new ways to tell them, since Halloween and Friday merely expounded on slasher templates that had already been established. Since all of these movies are also low budget, they also really go all out to create the one thing that can set their movie apart, namely a kickass villain. And to make their stories relevant and engaging, in all three cases, the FIRST movies in those franchises feature a stable of characters, or at least ONE character, that we, the audience, really get behind and genuinely WANT to survive and defeat the villain. The first two Friday films have excellent heroines, Nightmare has Nancy Thompson, and Halloween has, in my humble opinion, the most likeable, engaging last girl of them all in Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode. In reality, though, the success of the first entry in a horror franchise is both a blessing and a curse. Like Fulci said, horror fans are rabid; we want more, and Hollywood is usually quick to oblige with sequels, bringing the aforementioned kickass villain back for more installments. If I can compare it to one thing, it is like a heel who gets over in wrestling; when a heel gets over, it's really hard to keep them as a heel because the fans can tell how entertaining they are in the role, and begin cheering the bad guy because, in a way, he is what we wish to be. We wish that WE could do whatever we wanted with absolutely no regard for society's rules. The writers in horror franchises themselves realize this at some point, and begin making their protagonists less likeable as a result to get the heel/killer even MORE over, eventually landing the series in a "killer is really the hero" zone at some point. Of course, I also have to state that now things are MUCH worse. It's something we've hashed over in this series of threads, actually; we (well, at least me and Rorschach) have talked about what it was once like to root for the "last girl" in a horror film, because these days, that's at a premium for whatever reason. Nowadays, it does indeed seem like every horror film character (other than the killer) is a dislikeable prick or stereotypical slut, and there really aren't a whole lot of redeeming qualities in ANY of the protagonist characters. Call it the "Rob Zombie" school of thought.
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Post by DSR on Apr 20, 2009 13:13:57 GMT -5
I certainly can't top the things written by Fulci and TR above, but I thought I'd add a point to what they've said:
While it is true that slasher movies are often seen as morality plays, I do believe there is a certain basic level of sympathy to some of the killers in these movies. I mean, you could see how Mrs. Voorhees would snap after losing her son. You could see how Jason would deserve some retribution, considering the people that were supposed to take care of him weren't there for him in the first place, and then his mom gets killed. I sort of liken Jason to the Frankenstein monster, where they both aren't out-and-out monsters, just monsters because of circumstance.
I may be able to flesh out this idea a little more later, but I've gotta go.
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Post by Rorschach on Apr 20, 2009 13:46:41 GMT -5
I certainly can't top the things written by Fulci and TR above, but I thought I'd add a point to what they've said: While it is true that slasher movies are often seen as morality plays, I do believe there is a certain basic level of sympathy to some of the killers in these movies. I mean, you could see how Mrs. Voorhees would snap after losing her son. You could see how Jason would deserve some retribution, considering the people that were supposed to take care of him weren't there for him in the first place, and then his mom gets killed. I sort of liken Jason to the Frankenstein monster, where they both aren't out-and-out monsters, just monsters because of circumstance. I may be able to flesh out this idea a little more later, but I've gotta go. Great topic of discussion, and my own two cents on it: I agree with DSR on the Jason aspect, as he really IS a monster of some sympathy value, especially at the outset. But as the series wore on, he became the babyface more out of virtue of the fact that the teens he was up against "had it coming to them" by going to Crystal Lake and engaging in the very same behaviors that scores of teens before them had lost their lives for. You play with fire, you get burned. Thus, the FRIDAY films were more the sort of "bodycount" or "dead teenager movies" Roger Ebert rails about in some of his writings. Then comes the NIGHTMARE series, where you had an explicitly EVIL antagonist in Freddy Kreuger who, though they lightened the character over the years, and he became, in the words of a good friend of mine, "Henny Youngman with claws", was still pretty hard to root for, seeing as to how he WAS a pedophile, and he had a worthy adversary in Nancy, and later, the Dream Warriors. And then we come to the HALLOWEEN series, where truly, you had an irredeemable antagonist in Michael Myers. There is no rhyme or reason to why Michael kills. He just does, and most times, his victims have done nothing more to him than get in his way, or be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The lone exceptions to this rule were Loomis (the Ahab to Michael's White Whale) and Laurie, the antithesis to Michael's absolute evil. Again, more than worthy adversaries. As far as TEXAS CHAIN SAW, Leatherface and family have faced worthy nemeses before, namely in the form of Ken Foree in #3, and before that, Dennis Hopper's Lefty in #2. But the thing about Leatherface is, he's really not the stone-killer that Voorhees, Myers, and Krueger are. With Leatherface, there IS a chance of escape; he's not magic or mystical or occult like those three, he's a retarded human being, and thus, chances are that you might be able to outsmart him and run away and thus survive. I actually think that in an odd way, writers have to kind of protect Leatherface in that sense, because if you give him TOO strong of an adversary, you're going to engender sympathy for him, and that is something that you DO NOT WANT. Ahhh, yes.....sympathy for the Devil. Why is Hollywood SO hung up on doing this to all of the great villians? Next thing you know, they're going to remake DIE HARD, and in the remake, Hans Gruber is going to be robbing Nakatomi Plaza to get money for a heart transplant for his dying brother. Seirously, let's look at some of the classic villains, and how Hollywood has "humanized" them: Leatherface: No longer a transsexual, deviant cannibal....now merely a retarded, inbred boy with skin condition, who takes his victim's faces to cover his own ugly mug. AWWWW! Feel sorry for the poor brute! Voorhees: Well, this one is actually a push, as DSR mentioned, Voorhees has always been kind of sympathetic. Myers: No longer the "shape of evil", now Michael comes from a family of white trash hillbillies, and he had a rotten childhood. Also, all of his victims are worthless human beings who, in some way, shape or form, deserve to die. FEEL SORRY FOR HIM! Kreuger: Word has it that in the remake, Platinum Dunes will include a subplot that will make it seem as though Freddy has been framed for the molestation that got him lynched. Awwwww! Feel sorry for the poor "alleged" pedophile! Hannibal Lecter: No longer simply a sick, though suave, cannibal...now, Lecter is, as the Foywonder put it "a man-eating Punisher" out to avenge the murder of his beloved sister Mischa. I know Thomas Harris is directly responsible for this, but it doesn't make it any less aggravating that he HAD to add that "sympathy" aspect to Lecter's character. I think it kind of speaks to society's new-found need to see EVERY side of the story that we CANNOT simply leave it at the fact that some people are EVIL anymore. There has to be MORE to the story....well, in my opinion, sometimes LESS is more.
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