films we just saw

[iateabee]

Saw a few horrors films this week:

Wake Wood - Neither brilliant nor terrible: a workaday Monkey's Paw derivative with some nice old-fashioned Hammer gore and a strong, if overtheatrical, performance from Spall. Some of the transformational/body horror visual effects were very convincing, both in concept and execution; I particularly liked the baked cocoons of mud and straw that served as necromantic resurrection vehicles. Overall, I quite liked it—and it's piqued my interest in Hammer's revival in a way that Let Me In didn't.

Paranormal Activity 2 - Much better than expected; I'd heard such terrible things. Admittedly, it's not at all scary (neither is the first one), and it's essentially the same trick done twice—but I rather enjoyed the naturalistic performances and the way the sequel recontextualised the original film's storyline. I'm almost embarrassed to admit I'm looking forward to the next one. [Caveat: I watched this while surfing the internet, which helped me deal with the long, dull stretches of narrative downtime. If I'd watched this in the cinema, I'd probably have hated it.]

The Last Broadcast - I've been meaning to see this for ages as I'm a sucker for Found Footage horror films and this represented a gaping hole in my collection. I'm glad to have seen it, but doubt I'll ever watch it again; it's poorly executed and it's impossible not to compare it to the infinitely superior Blair Witch, which uses similar narrative techniques to tell a very similar story (and came out only a year later). The dodgy pulled-out-of-the-air ending only emphasises what a wasted opportunity this film is.

[DoctorKaren]

[quote="iateabee"]
The Last Broadcast - I've been meaning to see this for ages as I'm a sucker for Found Footage horror films and this represented a gaping hole in my collection.
quote]

What do you reckon is the best 'found footage' horror?

[Kris]

Blair Witch by a mile

[Maniacal]

If it can be classed as "Found footage" than I would personally say Noroi: The Curse, that film wigged me out for weeks.

[streetrw]

What do you reckon is the best 'found footage' horror?

I'd recommend The St Francisville Experiment as much better than Blair Witch.

[iateabee]

I'd recommend The St Francisville Experiment as much better than Blair Witch.

Interesting, I've not heard of that one. I'll have to find a copy!

In terms of found footage horror films, I'm hard pressed to find one I prefer to Blair Witch. Although it suffered from over-hype at the time of release, it's really held up over the years. Part of its success comes of course from the vérité shooting style (i.e. give three kids a couple of cameras, set them loose in the woods, and scare the shit out of them) combined with an almost documentary-style editing ratio (19 hours of footage edited down to 90 minutes). But aside from the realism, there's just a magic to the film; it works better than it has any right to. The occult imagery is effectively unsettling—twig figures dangling from trees; gruesome parcels of cloth and human remains—and the performances are compelling: Heather is a terrific flawed hero, charismatic and insufferable all at once. The pacing of the film also has the right balance of tedium (to add realism and suspense) and hair-raising horror. As you can tell, I rate it highly. It's one of the few films I find genuinely scary, and it continues to delight me.

I also rather enjoyed Cloverfield, though I concede there are huge problems with the film, and I know lots of people hate it. In my head, I like to imagine a version where the characters don't resemble the cast of Felicity.

[Kris]

Rio

Very bright and very colourful and it looks amazing, from the opening shots to the closing scenes. It has been done before and you could say it has been done better but on it's own merits it's worth seeing, it's a lovely story, well told and a good selection of songs although I would like to have seen more of them.

Scream 4

Not great, not terrible. Kinda continues the story somewhat but loses something by dropping from an 18 to a 15. The first hour plays out like a parody/homage to what has gone before and then it's as if they realise they were supposed to be writing a horror film and the last half hour is where most of the action takes place. Not as good as the original, on a par with Scream 2, miles better than Scream 3, this is just an ok film.

Killing Bono

Great fun, very well acted, nice story, last film with Pete Postlethwaite too. I really enjoyed this and you don't need to be a U2 fan to appreciate this. An under rated gem this year.

I spit on your grave remake

Pure nastiness and evil, it messes with your morals for despite knowing her ordeal, is her revenge justified or certainly it asks you to question the level of brutality on show. A difficult viewing experience, very graphic and well deserving of its 18 rating but its shows that remakes can be done, certainly where they do justice to the original or in this case, stomp all over it.

[Maniacal]

Although I found the remake of I Spit On Your Grave to have a more brutal outlook on the revenge by the victim Jennifer Hills I found the originals rape scene much more vile and nasty.

[mamawaldi]

Chat Room - Talky, uninvolving mess from Hideo Nakata. It already seems a bit dated and the main characters are all rather unlikeable. Seems a very strange choice of film from the man behind The Ring. The only thing I liked were the Camden locations which allowed me to do much "ooh I've been there" finger pointing.

Humains - hilariously bad French hillbilly horror. This time 6 French backpackers have a car crash in a Swiss valley and end up in a forest populated by horny Neanderthals. Ludicrous "action", shonky cavemen and saddest of all Dominique Pinon wondering when Jean Pierre Jeunet starts his next film so he doesn't have to make more sh*te like this!

[daveroughcut]

What do you reckon is the best 'found footage' horror?

I'd recommend The St Francisville Experiment as much better than Blair Witch.

Are you taking the piss? That Charles Band produced junk. As bad if not worse than The Asylum's Paranormal Entity crap.

[streetrw]

What do you reckon is the best 'found footage' horror?

I'd recommend The St Francisville Experiment as much better than Blair Witch.

Are you taking the piss? That Charles Band produced junk. As bad if not worse than The Asylum's Paranormal Entity crap.

1. No.

2. I didn't actually know Band was involved - according to the IMDb he's not credited.

3. Even if he was, he's done a few decent or halfway decent films. Granted he's done a lot of rubbish as well, particularly recently.

4. I haven't seen Paranormal Entity, and I don't watch Asylum movies any more. (Incidentally, a really bad "found footage" horor movie is Danny Draven's Hell Asylum.) But I did see The St Francisville Experiment and I thought it was nicely creepy, whcih I didn't really get from Blair Witch.

[daveroughcut]

I'd recommend The St Francisville Experiment as much better than Blair Witch.

Are you taking the piss? That Charles Band produced junk. As bad if not worse than The Asylum's Paranormal Entity crap.

1. No.

2. I didn't actually know Band was involved - according to the IMDb he's not credited.

3. Even if he was, he's done a few decent or halfway decent films. Granted he's done a lot of rubbish as well, particularly recently.

4. I haven't seen Paranormal Entity, and I don't watch Asylum movies any more. (Incidentally, a really bad "found footage" horor movie is Danny Draven's Hell Asylum.) But I did see The St Francisville Experiment and I thought it was nicely creepy, whcih I didn't really get from Blair Witch.

Bandy and crews names were left off as they tried to pass it off as real. Each to their but as someone who has seen EVERY piece of Band produced junk I found this to be the worst. Plus everything Draven did.

REC would be best found footage horror for me.

[DoctorKaren]

What do you reckon is the best 'found footage' horror?

I'd recommend The St Francisville Experiment as much better than Blair Witch.

Fab - you're a star. Thanks )

[DoctorKaren]

Are you taking the piss? That Charles Band produced junk. As bad if not worse than The Asylum's Paranormal Entity crap.

[/quote]

For what it's worth, Charles Band's classics are definitely my guilty pleasure. Anyone who has a problem with Leech Girl has a problem with me ;-)

[Mr Bill]

The Last Broadcast - I've been meaning to see this for ages as I'm a sucker for Found Footage horror films and this represented a gaping hole in my collection.
quote]

What do you reckon is the best 'found footage' horror?

It has got to be Cannibal Holocaust

The blurred line between the fictional and actual exploitation of the indigenous people (and animals) makes this uncomfortable viewing, and to this day no other film has caused as much controvercy and genuine legal suspicion of actual misdeeds.
I still find this a brilliantly harrowing, albeit uncomfortably manipulative and morally dubious film.
Where the Blair Witch Project (which has always admitted being influenced by Cannibal Holocaust) merely generated some great method acting, camerawork and pre-release buzz, Deodato smashed through the fourth wall with the specific intention of poking Mary Whitehouse in the eye with a burnt stick.

The Last Horror Movie is worth a look, especially if you can rent a copy from somewhere, its one of the few that attempted to engage with the viewer, a bit like the BBC's Ghostwatch did back in 1992.