Mike's comments (member since Apr 25, 2008)

Mike's comments from the (good) Horror Films group.

That sounds pretty good.

The last one I saw was Inferno, which is Argento's sequel to Susperia. Though there are some effects which don't work too well (one towards the very end, which could have truly brought the movie up tremendously had it been a little more believable) there are a couple of fantastically good scenes. I've been interested in getting up to date with a lot of the giallo stuff recently, so I'm trying to fill myself in on Argento's extended work a bit.

Phillip,

I think your readings of LHotL are pretty accurate--it becomes muddled by lots of extraneous elements, diluting the effect the core of the story could have. The "who thought this was a good idea?" music, the Abbott and Costello routine with the bumbling cops, even some of the revenge elements at the end...it is all very poorly organized and makes the whole thing come off as a bit callow. "No atmosphere" is a good description. It also makes the brutalizing of the girls much less human, and carry much less weight as an effective exploration of brutality. It really does only seem to have survived due to infamy.

As to Hour of the Wolf, I have only seen it once but I had some mixed feelings on it. There are some great ideas in it, but its definitely not for those who can't handle a slow film. I usually have a pretty high tolerance for slow movies, but I was getting a bit droopy by the end.

Album sales for bands are still really strong at live shows. I think the explosion of downloading has effectively rubbed out the middle man (the retailer), though it hasn't made the album a thing of obsolescence. Bands just have to tour, now more than ever, if they want to make money or expose people to what they're doing.

Also, I think places like Best Buy and Borders are part of the reason why the middle man has been almost entirely cut out--horrible selection and insane prices have driven people further towards the free download.

That's too bad--it's such a good store. The music retailing business just seems to have entered a terminal nosedive.

Phillip:

I'm glad you liked it! Generally good film, huh?

And good ol' Amoeba. I think we're a little spoiled in California.

I'm glad to know this is finally getting a US release. I still haven't seen Quarantine, though hearing that it was a shot-for-shot remake made me lose all desire to see it.

Alex, I don't remember the ending credit song being quite as disruptive as you describe. It probably would have been a bit more effective had it been left out, but in my mind it didn't detract from the movie at all.

Requiem for a Dream is a great great film. The building nausea as it develops is pretty palpable.

I wouldn't necessarily count this as horror per se, but I watched Picnic at Hanging Rock last night, which should be, if nothing else, a strong influence for those interested in making good horror. The movie does not deign to explain itself one bit, has very fitting music (horror directors should take note), is well acted, and is fairly eerie for quite a bit of time. A good film, though by no means terrifying.

I haven't seen any of Night Gallery but I think I'll have to look out for it now. For whatever reason I tend to be a bit of a torch-bearer for uneven products, so (on top of Sterling, and your recommendation Rob) it sounds like something I might be into.

Didn't see the LHotL remake, nor did I really have much desire to. Same goes for the Friday 13th remake, the Hills Have Eyes remake, and all the swath of American remakes of Asian horror films after the Ring (The Eye, Pulse, Shutter, One Missed Call, etc etc).

As to the Descent, I saw that in theaters and had mixed feelings about it, though I've heard that the original ending was much more effective than the theatrical one. I wouldn't mind giving it another look.

Rob, did you like Sheitan? I think you said you had seen it.

No problem at all, Phillip. I do understand where you're coming from. I think we're all pretty willing to expose ourselves a little in this group without judging each other (at least I hope).

On a different note: this thread seems to have slowed down, huh?

That's an interesting take. I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable positing how Tsukamoto himself felt, but I do see where you're coming from. There is something holding it back, whether that's because the director didn't fully believe in it (or maybe believed in it too much?), or from some general inability to take it to the next level is hard to say for certain. I had hoped that Nightmare Detective would color Tetsuo brighter in retrospect, but for me the jury's still out on Tsukamoto.

Last horror movie I saw now was Nightmare Detective. Tsukamoto also directed the perennial cult/mecha-BDSM fav. Tetsuo: the Iron Man, which, though I don't love, I found full of interesting ideas and a good beginning for a promising director. Nightmare Detective, however (despite comparisons in reviews to David Lynch and Seven), didn't come together as well as it should have. All the favorable and curiosity piquing comparisons may have some accurate grounding as far as content goes, but the delivery just sinks the movie. The camera work is often pretty bad (with some very good shots here and there), and the titular detective doesn't strike me as a particularly good actor. And the main problem with most horror movies: bad music. Directors should realize that music can often make an otherwise decent movie near unpalatable (see: Day of the Dead).

This is unfortunate because there are some very good things in Nightmare Detective, and because Tsukamoto has some other movies which seem possibly interesting that I may now skip (A Snake of June being one). Anyone else seen this or any of his others?

It sounds interesting, and I don't think I'm familiar with it...have to check it out.

Yeah, Blood of the Beasts...very difficult film. I actually didn't make it all the way through it. Seeing the horse's neck punctured was just too much for me. I don't eat meat because of taste issues, not moral ones, but after watching that I can completely understand all the ethical problems with being an omnivore.

I play guitar in a couple bands, but I know a lot of other people from high school etc. who just constantly want to tell you about their band, so I just haven't really mentioned it. I am struggling, though. That part is true. But, yep. I just started a blog dedicated to posting the journal I kept while we were on tour if you want to check it out.

couldibedespised.blogspot.com

Now back to horror.

I still haven't seen Ils or Sheitan (haven't been able to find them), but I did think that Frontier(s) was well done. That scene when Yasmine is just staring at herself in the mirror, shaking, while all her hair is being cut off, is hugely powerful. You can feel her complete emotional breakdown which is, I think, totally understandable. She seems just barely capable of walking without falling over for the rest of the film. The one problem that I had with it (and I think I may have mentioned it before) is just the whole quasi-moralizing thing, where if the one guy wasn't talking shit and trying to have sex so obviously at the beginning then the rest of the movie probably wouldn't have happened. I always feel like horror should have no respect for the boundaries between good and bad people. Martyrs was more like that. The conversation that Anna has on the phone with her mother sort of problematizes whether or not she is a complete innocent, but there is no clear cut, Friday the 13th, horny-kids-get-killed sort of thing going on.

And the "creature"--Lucie's demon--is awesomely scary. The scene in the bathroom, and the one where it is at the top of the stairs, are both completely nuts.

Yes on both fronts: I got the Criterion release of Eyes Without a Face (and it is quite good), and, yes, Martyrs is very much multi-layered, and enormously disturbing (rented it tonight).

There is something about the French story-telling process which really latches onto what it is to be human, while simultaneously kicking Humanity to the curb. That's how Martyrs felt. Frontier(s) is somewhat similar in that sense (though not quite so deeply torturous as Martyrs). Both films feature very moving female-hair-cutting scenes. In the case of Frontier(s) I had hoped that the movie would end there. In the case of Martyrs, its the crux of the movie when it transitions from one act to another. Both very interesting, difficult films.

How has everyone else been? Any other recent discoveries for horror?

I heard the word Chav a decent amount. In Scotland they're called Neds (Non-Educated Delinquents), but its pretty much the same thing. Not really so much anti-Chav/Ned propaganda, but I do think that the whole thing is indicative of a strange sort of classism, since mostly its just blue collar kids. And everyone talks about Neds like they'd stab anyone who walked near them, but I didn't really see any of that. The trip was actually a tour with a new band I've been playing in called Classics of Love. It was a lot of fun and really went well!

Haven't seen Martyrs yet, but a friend of mine just saw it and said it was pretty disgusting (which isn't necessarily a condemnation). Unfortunately there aren't many good places to rent/buy movies around here and I don't have a Netflix account, so there's a few like that that I haven't gotten to yet. I want to see Sheitan and Ils pretty badly, too. Would you recommend Martyrs?

Hey everyone,

Just got back from the UK and the first thing I see when I return is a discussion of Chavs. Nice! Sorry I've been so absent as of late, I've had horrible internet and have been a bit preoccupied with other things.

As to horror, the last two I saw were Frontier(s) and Eyes Without a Face, which are quite different films from each other. Frontier(s) is part of the "new-extreme" French movement, and is certainly pretty extreme. Very rough, but much more stirring than, say, Hostel. Well shot and acted, and seems just as involved in the presence of racism against Muslims in France/Algeria as it is about horror.

Eyes Without a Face is much slower and more deliberate. Still very strong, though, and has some pretty shocking scenes for its time.

French horror seems to be quite strong these days (Frontiers, Inside, Ils, Sheitan, etc [haven't seen the last two yet:]), and reading the essay that came with the EWOF it seems like that may have single-handedly got horror viable to French filmmakers. Cool stuff.

I think that's just the thing with Shyamalan though--he's made his career on being the guy who does twist endings. So because everyone knows going into it that there's going to be a twist its almost impossible to just let the movie happen and not predict the twist. I agree that one should just let the movie "happen," but its difficult if its the director of the "happening." Sorry...I had to!

I just watched Frontier(s) last night, which Ubik mentioned above. Overall I have some mixed feeling, though it was very effective. Its similar to Texas Chainsaw in the way that it develops, and in the way that the family of neo-Nazis resembles Leatherface's backwoodsy family (down to the forced agency of the extremely elderly family member), but it was also too similar to the Texas Chainsaw remake in the way that it mired itself in pain and playing all its cards (instead of implying some). There are some really strong scenes, and all around the acting is quite good--camera work is great most of the time but kind of hacky at others. As Ubik said, though, it is pretty unconventional in delivery, which worked in its favor.

One problem I have, however, is the near implication of a moralizing of violence. One character gets most of the rest of them into trouble by being, more or less, "bad." Admittedly, most of the other characters aren't as flagrant about their shadiness but it almost seems to take a "you're judged by the company you keep" lesson. If-A-hadn't-done-B-this-wouldn't-have-happened sort of thing. By the end, this problem kind of goes out the window as it develops into an all out clusterfuck, but I did have that early reservation in my mind throughout.

So, its a mixed bag. But a really strong, dehumanizing mixed bag.

I still need to see Seventh Seal. Hour of the Wolf, and Persona are the only Bergman I've seen so far.