The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Chat here about anything horror related. Be it movies, news, remakes or events.
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MaxRenn
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by MaxRenn »

Hey! I like Wrong Turn 2 ;)
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by Pukka »

streetrw wrote:Is CENTURION's distribution that bad?.
Never heard of it.
I don't wanna sit though another futuristic/apocalyptic mad max/13th warrior/Doomsday type film anyway. Will probably catch it on dvd.. you know the four for a tenner rental at Blockbuster? Centurion (God get a name change! It sounds like something Asylum would churn out) will probably be my fourth choice...after I've stuck Drag me to Hell or some other muck back on the shelf :)
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by xLeft For Deadx »

sherbetbizarre wrote:
streetrw wrote:Is CENTURION's distribution that bad?
Given the director and cast, I'd say yes, it is!
Pretty sure its the poorest for any of his four films. I don't think its too much of a surprise though given that his last film was given a pretty big budget and wide distribution, but absolutely tanked at the box office. Doomsday cost £17 million to make, but only grossed £12 million worldwide.
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by Marlin »

MaxRenn wrote:Hey! I like Wrong Turn 2 ;)
Me too! Simply saying that rather than "progressing" from there to the likes of Pig (or, even worse, Wrong Turn 3), it might be better to look at the films that helped bring that sub-genre to where it is today.

At the mo everything seems to be more more more nastier nastier nastier - sometimes taking a step back and looking at what is scaring you, rather than what is making you vomit most, isn't a bad plan.

:)
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by MaxRenn »

Marlin wrote:...sometimes taking a step back and looking at what is scaring you, rather than what is making you vomit most, isn't a bad plan.

:)
Well I completely agree with you Marlin on the importance of looking at waht is actually scaring us, personally as I've said in my response elsewhere to Voor's latest blog, I am actively looking for the films that genuinely unsettle me. On a personal level, a film like Wolf Creek (IMHO a genuine genre classic) scares me far far more than, say, Hostel because Roth's film is to me a fantasy, whereas I could imagine the events of Wolf Creek actually happening, and happening to me. That made it hurt so much more. Frozen really worked for me on this level too (even though the chances of my getting on a sky lift anywhere are slim to nonexistant). Which inevitably brings me to think about Jaws and my childhood fear of dipping a toe in Aboyne's swimming pool for fear of shark attacks, despite Aboyne being a) 50 miles from the coast, and b) a swimming pool.
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by krispyg »

Hmmm so a good horror is based on what could genuinely upset or frighten you.

I could subscribe to that theory and may explain my love of slashers and paranormal horror over most others, both of these could realistically happen.

That said why could the events of Hostel not actually be true...?
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by MaxRenn »

krispyg wrote:Hmmm so a good horror is based on what could genuinely upset or frighten you.

I could subscribe to that theory and may explain my love of slashers and paranormal horror over most others, both of these could realistically happen.

That said why could the events of Hostel not actually be true...?
I was really speaking subjectively about the kind of horror I like, and the kind of horror that scares me. I'm most certainly not trying to argue that is the only type of good horror. Evil Dead 2 is a great horror film, but it's not a upsetting it's fun.

Hostel to me is a foolish fantasy based on American xenophobia, I didn't find it convincing at all.
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by krispyg »

I like the fact that many people believed such places exist, maybe that was the selling point for the films concept??

Let's open this debate up even more then....

What is a horror film?

Wether for you personally, or key features or what you feel makes for a succesful one?
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by MaxRenn »

krispyg wrote:I like the fact that many people believed such places exist, maybe that was the selling point for the films concept??

Let's open this debate up even more then....

What is a horror film?

Wether for you personally, or key features or what you feel makes for a succesful one?
A very good question, I think we all know instinctively if something is horror, but defining the genre is notoriously difficult as it covers a very broad church and is quite subjective as opposed to say the western of musical genres that have very specific modes and tropes that have to be present.

I will come back later with some considered (possibly drunken) ideas ;)
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by krispyg »

Is this man a politician?? :D

Good question though, you could say that horror is something that sets out to scare, disturb or to frighten and maybe from there it can have sub genres or other things attatched to it ie comedy horror?

That said Martyrs was a disturbing film but as I said when I lent it to someone the other day, it's not strictly horror, not by any means. Same with Audition, a very twisted tale which draws you in with it's warm undertones befores pending the last 20 minutes ripping you to shreds visually.
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by MaxRenn »

krispyg wrote:That said Martyrs was a disturbing film but as I said when I lent it to someone the other day, it's not strictly horror, not by any means. Same with Audition, a very twisted tale which draws you in with it's warm undertones befores pending the last 20 minutes ripping you to shreds visually.
Interesting, both Martyrs and Audition are for me very much a horror films. I would like to hear why you think they lie on the fringes of the genre Krispy.

I've always found it difficult to find a satisfactory definition of horror, certainly there is a broad mainstream of classic horror sub-genre's that generate little argument; the gothic tradition of vampires, ghosts and werewolves; the slasher film; post NOTLD zombie films.

But then there are films on the fringes of the genre. Take Se7en not generally classed as a horror film by mainstream critics, but to me it is totally a horror film. The key thing that tips the hat is that the cops never, ever, get the upper hand (even when you think they do). Their powerlessness in the face of John Doe and the hideous snap of that mantrap of an ending slides the film out of the police procedural genre and into something far more nightmarish. Of course the stunning visual style screams horror as well. And the clear influence of Fincher's modern classic is all over the Saw films.

Or take the films of Cronenberg. His themes have been consistent throughout his career, but are not bound by genre limitations. He's done horror, Sci Fi, Sci Fi Horror, a neo-Western, Gangster films, and whatever the hell The Naked Lunch is. All these films couldn't be the work of anyone else, but he hasn't made a film that could comfortable be called a full-on horror film since The Fly.
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by streetrw »

You want real horror? Spend five minutes on chatroulette. I may never sleep soundly again.
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by krispyg »

Martyrs and Audition are very disturbing visually and in terms of content but for me horror is typically based around slasher, paranormal, werewolves, vampires, monsters, cannibals etc

Hence why I enjoyed the likes of Hostel but for me I wouldn't bundle it in as horror as such. That's not to say you wouldn't feel totally opposite.

This could be a good late night drunken discussion for a later date...?
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Re: The Horror Movie Genre is Dead!!

Post by MaxRenn »

streetrw wrote:You want real horror? Spend five minutes on chatroulette. I may never sleep soundly again.
Have you seen the recent South Park episode You have zero friends, Cartman on chat roulette "hold on Kyle, this is seriously an amazing gathering place where people from all over the world can share their thought's and ideas..." click "...okay that's a dude j***ing off" click "j***ing of" click "p****s" click "p****s" click "p****s, p****s, p****s".

You get the idea.
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