It's not all that bad after all... (Recent Horror films that are good.)

Karl Hungus

It's been noted that in this day and age, the Horror genre has suffered more than any other. Whether it's been the overly rampant remakes, original films getting a raw deal like The Woods, or just outright bad film-making, it definetly seems like Horror is getting shafted.

But with all the fist shaking going on, might we be overlooking something? Perhaps all the collective vitriol is making horror films lose sight of the fact that good films can sometimes find a way? So I'm dedicating this thread to recent films in the Horror genre that haven't been crap.

First of all, I have to say that The Others is well worth seeing if you want to see a proper ghost story, filled with atmosphere. Horror films that don't rely on shock tactics and cheesy jump scenes (That damn cat must have a great agent) are a rarity these days, and The Others is a film that uses mood and tension to create a genuine feel of fear. Likewise, a seemingly overlooked gem is Session 9, which again builds up it's mood slowly and subtly. It's well worthing seeing, and has a great cast with interesting characters, making a very refreshing change from the constant teen fodder of more mainstream films.

The Devil's Rejects is a far superior film to it's predecessor, and I honestly think it's one of the best films in the Slasher vein. As much of a fanboy pleaser it is to see favourites like Ken Foree and Michael Berryman, and brutal gore, it's an entirely gripping film with a very good story. William Forsythe's preformance is fantastic. While we're talking Slashers, Haute Tension is another brilliant one, and I think what makes this such a special film is it's absolutely relentless pacing.

Personally, I loved Land Of The Dead. Quite a few people hated it, and I can't blame them for that, but there's just something about Land that made it an instant classic in my eyes, it had that special Romero magic. I don't know quite how to put it into words, but it really just clicked with me. While we're on the subject of zombies, another film I loved was Dawn Of The Dead, which is a complete shock what with it being a remake, but I think what made this film work so well was the fact that aside from the name and general premise, it was a vastly different film to the original and as such could well and truly be judged on it's own merits. 28 Days Later was another fantastic modern zombie tale, and needs little introduction. And of course, Shawn Of The Dead was an absolute masterpiece, which accomplished what most Zombie movies failed miserably with; characters you actually cared about rather than simple fodder.

Silent Hill was a film I really loved for a few reasons, mainly being an adaptation of a game that didn't suck, aswell as being one of the few Horror films made today that didn't rely on suprises and sudden, loud noises. Tension, atmosphere and disturbing, jarring imagery that was all very faithfull to the game experience. Granted, every time Sean Bean was onscreen was grating because of his horrible American accent, but apart from that, I thought Silent Hill was a real winner. It's also worth checking out Director Christophe Gans' previous film Brotherhood Of The Wolf, which isn't strictly Horror, but a cracking good film filled with adventure and mystery reguardless.

On the subject of wolves, Dog Soldiers is an excellent, action-filled werewolf film which follows the old Night Of The Living Dead formulae of main characters baricading themselves up in a farmhouse, fighting for their lives. There's plenty of dark humour involved, and a running theme of football related jokes. Yes, sounds odd, but it works very well, especially with the rather sinister Liam Cunningham as the nasty Captain Ryan.

So, there's a handfull from me. Thoughts? Anything to add?

spooky donkey

I almost totally agree with ya there KH apart from the films I havent seen on that list. Session 9 I almost forgot about, fantasitc now I fear water. Silent hill fantastic ( Baring SB, i hate brits doing US accents, even Michael Cain ) and all them zombie flicks we re good, i aint seen 28 days yet though, shock horror.

Dog soliders was another good one an if ya like it check out Severance, much the same thing but with out the Ware wolf and soilders, but other than that similar and a little more intresting than yer normal slasher.

Other recomendations for me had to be the remake of hills have eyes ( same director as High tension AkA witch Blade romance.. Also creep from the same director as Severance.

Unfortunatally whats to come seems to be all remakes and sequals with halloween, chainsaw masacare and grudge 2 on the way , heres hoping.

I have a few Horror DVD ordered from some dodgy web site and I havent heard of any of them before so hopefully they will be low budget and cheasy, witch will be a good thing, cause hollywood is doing the horror fan no favours atm.

Necronomicon

Ooh, finally a thread that doesn't revolve around bashing modern day horrors.

As for your list KH, the only movies I haven't seen are The Woods and Session 9, might just keep an eye out next time I'm on a dvd-buying bender.
I was pretty underwhelmed when I saw The Others, although having said that, I was younger when I saw it and perhaps too impatient.
I agree fully with Land of the Dead. It took me ages to get around to seeing it when it came out, by which time I had read more negative reviews than positive. But something just grabbed me in it, and I've watched it a couple of times since I bought it on dvd as well. Dawn was also a fantastic remake. (And while we're on Romero, definately looking forward to "Diary of the Dead").
My opinion on Silent Hill has turned completely on its head. I saw it in the cinema and I wasn't too impressed at all. While I thought it had good effects and was aesthetically pleasing, I felt it alienated those of us who had never played the game before. However, I gave it another chance when it came out on dvd and didn't turn back. Instead of worrying about its faults I just admired its strengths; incredible effects and set pieces and a sound that will blow you away if you have a home cinema system.

As for my own suggestions, well, I thought The Descent was absolutely terrific. I loved the way it built up gradually. Just when you're wondering if you're really watching a horror film, you are thrown into the deep end.
I also have a good bit of time for Alexandre Aja who directed Haute Tension (or Switchblade Romance) as you pointed out. He also did a very credible remake of The Hills Have Eyes (Haven't seen the original mind you, but thoroughly enjoyed this one).

This might not be a popular one, but I'm also a fan of Eli Roth. Sure, he's a bit of a cocky bastard and someone who seems to be only loved or loathed, but I'll be damned if his movies aren't entertaining. Cabin Fever had a terrific blend of dark humour and gore, a formula he carried into Hostel.

I thought Saw was brilliant, on its own I think it could have been a classic. Even with the rumors that there will be 7 or 8 sequels, I think it had the premise to be a really successful franchise. However, I thought Saw II was a bit of a let down and I hope Saw III picks up the pieces.

That's it for the moment, might edit if something pops into my head later. While we're talking about modern horror, here are a few I'm looking forward to in the near future:
Grindhouse: The double feature directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez. Tarantino's flick has Kurt Russell as a serial killer and Rodriquez's flick has a protagonist that has a machine gun for a leg in a zombie-infested town....how can you lose??

There are also a couple that I'm not so much looking forward to, but I'm more curious about. Namely, remakes of The Eye, Don't Look Now, The Hitcher and the film adaption of classic horror book I Am Legend.
There are also unconfirmed or unofficial projects like a remake of Evil Dead and a sequel to the Dawn of the Dead remake.

Holy crap that was long-winded

Tusky

Good post Karl... I would add 'The Descent' & 'Wolf Creek' to the list. Also, 'Ravenous' ( although its 7 years old at this stage, does that count ? ) is an absolute classic. Dont know why people are praising 'Hills have eyes' remake, I thought it was cliche ridden muck. Terrible.

spooky donkey

Well I hadent seen the orignal so I had no preconceptions before I watched it. And the bit at the start with the pick axe was class.

CrazySka

I would have liked land of the dead except for the end "Lets go to Canada", ruined it for me, just too simplistic.
Agree on all the others though.
Land of 1000 corpses which i thought was just as good as devils rejects.

TCamen

I think that list is pretty damn good -- Love Session 9, nice to see some love for it

I've seen all of 'em apart from Brotherhood and Dog Soldiers. I like or really like all bar Devil's Rejects, which I just hated. I didn't enjoy House of 1,000 Corpses, but I was willing to give Zombie another chance .. unfortunately the improvements were too small and too few for me in the end. I couldn't even consider watching it a second time to see if it improves, I just didn't get the appeal at all!

Same with Wolf Creek -- a total disconnect for me too, which was disappointing because I was really looking forward to it. The only horror from around that period last summer that I enjoyed was The Descent. It had some really nice ideas on a low budget and good set pieces!

I do quite like The Blair Witch Project and The St. Francisville Experiment for shaky-camera scares

From this year, I quite enjoyed the cheesy B-movie flavour of Slither, and while not strictly a horror, I saw The Night Listener this w/e and really enjoyed it -- the atmosphere and tension really worked for me. I was hooked into the story from the beginning, and I thought Robin Williams was very watchable in it!

TerrorFirmer

Firstly, I really have to add my by now tiresome views of the remakes - I love them, and who cares if they overly rely on jump tactics, I still find them great and doing what good horror films should do best - scaring people. Much more so then the "superior" originals, which in most cases good and all that they are, are not really scary at all. Ring being a prime example.

To what is a flagging genre to one person, is a relatively decent market to another - I think the horror genre is coming along fine and is, generally speaking, in a decent healthy shape.

Now, the films - Severance, Slither, Land of the Dead, the surprisingly good Saw II, Land of the Dead, when you really put to it there are plenty of great horror movies coming out these days. Of course again it all depends on what for you defines a good horror film but if I were to make my own list of "good" horror films it'd include alot of which some people think are what are watering down and ruining the genre.

And it has to be said - I thought Wolf Creek belongs solely on a top 10 crap films of all time list. Talked about rubbish. Not scary in the slightest, and filled with the most cliched scenes I've ever seen to the extent that it could have almost been a bad joke - "Oh no, the car won't start", "Is he really dead? Lets find out." amongst others. Think at the time more or less Tcamen was the only person to agree with me when I posted a review awarding that tripe a generous 1/10. Some people were even claiming that it was the sickest film in years, and people were - yes, seriously - saying it left some people in tears? Honestly I nearly thought for awhile I'd seen the wrong bloody film!

I have to give particular mention to Land of the Dead. Similar to what KH said, It just clicked with me from the get go, pure zombie-ism in the way it was always meant to be made. Dawn of the Dead was also excellent, but thankfully, a completely different experience to Land so comparisons between the two in my eyes weren't really necessary.

28 Days Later, personally found that weak. Nice to see it though, when films of its type are becoming pretty sparse these days, so that did set it apart, but overall, not great. Definately worth a watch.

Speaking of such, if you, like me, are a big fan of the Zombies, particularly those from the 80's and the "classic" formula, look no further then Bone Sickness. Its cheap, its tacky, but it's fantastic with a very similar style to the old Fulci classics like Zombie Flesh eaters. Which incidentally were dreadful films interlaced with brilliantly gruesome gore, the very same point which makes Bone Sickness so great.

Saw II while technically on its own merits not overly amazing was particularly great considering the expectations I had for it. Apart, of course, from that cheese laden ending that had me cringing in embarrassment in a dark cinema. Trailer for Saw III is awful - doesn't provide much information, in fact, provides no information whatsoever about the film other then random screens and seemingly terror inducing noises. Has me a bit suspect but hopefully I'll be surprised.

Eli Roth - His films canbe summarised as pretty simple and even at that its a generous summary but for that reason alone you have to love them. I thought Hostel was brilliant, a bit of let down in the sense that it wasn't quite as violent as I had anticipated but overall, pure mindless entertainment. Don't look too deep into it.

ciaran76

Have to agree on most films there except for Silent Hill which I thought was terrible. I heard almost no reviews about this film and when I watched it last week for the first time I was disappointed to be honest.

TCamen

Think at the time more or less Tcamen was the only person to agree with me when I posted a review awarding that tripe a generous 1/10.

Good memory

I thoroughly enjoyed both Alexandre Aja movies mentioned -- as KH mentioned -- Switchblade has such relentless pacing, and I find the same true of Hills...I watched both movies and felt like they were both edge-of-the-seat ordeals that just gripped me once the horror began. It was like once the credits rolled, NOW you can breathe! Maybe that's what some people got from Wolf Creek, I'm not sure, it just didn't *get* me like that at all

I loathed Cabin Fever, so still haven't gotten around to watching Hostel -- haven't heard the most favourable things about it tbh.

The trailer for Saw III played out before The Night Listener, so I looked at the floor and covered my ears Thankfully (for me, who doesn't want spoilers) there wasn't any plot details/spoken details in the trailer -- I quite enjoyed Saw II, so I'm willing to give the 3rd one the benefit of the doubt!

Karl Hungus

Tusky wrote:

Good post Karl... I would add 'The Descent' & 'Wolf Creek' to the list. Also, 'Ravenous' ( although its 7 years old at this stage, does that count ? ) is an absolute classic. Dont know why people are praising 'Hills have eyes' remake, I thought it was cliche ridden muck. Terrible.

I've not seen either The Descent or Wolf Creek. I'd say Ravenous might be worth mentioning, it is a very good film indeed.

HavoK wrote:

Firstly, I really have to add my by now tiresome views of the remakes - I love them, and who cares if they overly rely on jump tactics, I still find them great and doing what good horror films should do best - scaring people. Much more so then the "superior" originals, which in most cases good and all that they are, are not really scary at all. Ring being a prime example.

Who cares if they overly rely on jump tactics? Well me for one.

You think tactics like that are what make a good Horror? Hell, you don't even need a film for that, just click on a link to one of those 'scary' videos or flash animations, where something jumps onscreen unexpectedly. There you go, that's the best horror you can have so.

Honestly though, I think it's got more to do with having a laugh than it is to do with being scared. It's like when your mate would just out from behind a door and shout "Blah!" and you'd recoil, then just laugh about it. It's practically the same thing with movies I find, some lads might get a kick from their friend's, or girlfriend's reaction when the 'Jump' scene comes.

So that's grand if that's what you want, go see the latest ****fest with Sarah Michelle Gellar and have a laugh, but don't say that's what a horror film should be.

Maybe I'm alone in this, but when I think about great horror films, it's the ones that can make my skin crawl, the ones that make me uncomfortable, that make me edge back in my seat. It's all to do with tension, mood and atmosphere, it's that feeling of being wound so tight you can't breath, and you almost pray for something to happen just so it'll break the tension... That's fear!

As an example, I'll mention The Eye.

The scene in the elevator! ****ing hell that was unreal!

At best, these 'Jump' scenes just break the tension.

Necronomicon

Might want to fix that tag Karl (I agree though, that scene was excellent, as was the movie imo)

As much as I love films such as The Eye and A Tale Of Two Sisters that do rely on atmosphere and will make your hairs stand on end, I don't think there's anything wrong with switching your brain off and watching the Jason's and Michael's of this world. I don't always mind when horrors are entertaining more than actually scary.

Karl Hungus

Necromomicon wrote:

Might want to fix that tag Karl (I agree though, that scene was excellent, as was the movie imo)

Sploops! Fixed...

Necromomicon wrote:

As much as I love films such as The Eye and A Tale Of Two Sisters that do rely on atmosphere and will make your hairs stand on end, I don't think there's anything wrong with switching your brain off and watching the Jason's and Michael's of this world. I don't always mind when horrors are entertaining more than actually scary.

I've got nothing against some good old B-movie Horror, and likewise there's plenty of films out there that aren't about scaring people as much as they are about revulsing them. Take any gore or zombie film for example, might not be particularly scary, but they can be very horrific in their own way, and I can appreciate that too.

That's true of films that rely on "Jump scenes" too, they do their thing and I appreciate that, but I just don't like it. I'm sure it's all great popcorn fodder, but those the very idea of a jump scene often equates to poor film-making in my opinion, it's the most tried and tested cliche, the sure-fire cheap and chearfull way to get a reaction.

So yeah, there's a place for films like Final Destination, Scream, Urban Legend, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and all the other films of their ilk, just like there's a place for Sandra Bullock movies. But I don't have to like it, I can rant about it, and I certainly don't agree that "Jump scenes" are how a horror is supposed to be done thank you very much.

TerrorFirmer

Karl Hungus wrote:

So yeah, there's a place for films like Final Destination, Scream, Urban Legend, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and all the other films of their ilk, just like there's a place for Sandra Bullock movies. But I don't have to like it, I can rant about it, and I certainly don't agree that "Jump scenes" are how a horror is supposed to be done thank you very much.

Well, primarily, my point was that as such there's nothing to outright define any particular formula as the correct one for the horror genre. If I think movies like The Grudge are the best examples out there, and you pick The Eye, then so be it, but regardless of opinion neither of us can conclusively say "Well, that's not a true horror", or whatever.

Anyway, while on that topic, I cannot stress enough that I do not count the likes of Final Destination, Scream and that stuff as horror - at least, not in the sense that horror appeals to me, and obviously yourself as well. Don't make the mistake of tying imy particular fondness of remakes with an overall disposition to any sort of horror marketed jump fest like Scream, I know what you Did Last Summer, and similar mentioned above. I like those movies, but as with all those movies like Necrominican mentioned, but would never consider them true horror movies in the way that I consider something to be a genuine horror experience. But again, each to his own.

I liked the Grudge remake, The Ring remake, for actually the very exact reasons you mentioned - they honestly did make my skin crawl, and the unexpected shock tactics, while predictable and rather tiring at this stage, still only served to highen the fear rather then actually dilute it for me. I know there's a big difference between being shocked, and actually scared, but even shocks aside, I still found the Grudge and the Ring creepy films based on tension and atmosphere alone. In my opinion, even the sudden shocks, while sometimes rather tiresome and predictable, have their place in these films and are often quite successful in both breaking and creating tension.

So even if our taste in movies somewhat varies, I think what we look for in a movie to define horror is actually fairly similar if not identical....but what actually compromises those values is where we disagree.

spooky donkey

well I got a great expierence from the ring 2, all those badly done CGI rain deers made me feel all christmassy.............

abetarrush

The Descent

Severance

Ginger Snaps

Jeepers Creepers

Texas Chainsaw Massacre [original]

Carrie

Halloween [original, and H20]

N O Elm Street [1, 3 and New Nightmare]

Wolf Creek [this movie traumatised me for weeks!]


good call with The Others - great ghost story

Karl Hungus

HavoK wrote:

Well, primarily, my point was that as such there's nothing to outright define any particular formula as the correct one for the horror genre. If I think movies like The Grudge are the best examples out there, and you pick The Eye, then so be it, but regardless of opinion neither of us can conclusively say "Well, that's not a true horror", or whatever.

Anyway, while on that topic, I cannot stress enough that I do not count the likes of Final Destination, Scream and that stuff as horror - at least, not in the sense that horror appeals to me, and obviously yourself as well. Don't make the mistake of tying imy particular fondness of remakes with an overall disposition to any sort of horror marketed jump fest like Scream, I know what you Did Last Summer, and similar mentioned above. I like those movies, but as with all those movies like Necrominican mentioned, but would never consider them true horror movies in the way that I consider something to be a genuine horror experience. But again, each to his own.

I really don't know how you can say jump scenes are a great thing, then dismiss the likes of Final Destination. Especially when the aforemention film in particular is probably the most inventive and successfull when it comes to jump scenes. Everything in that film happened so suddenly, I mean

the dude that gets hit by a bus![/url] That just came out of nowhere.

Second of all, I understand your disposition with reguards to Horror being something supernatural, rather than a serial killer, but again it puzzles me how on earth you can have anything against Final Destination, because that was most certainly a supernatural themed film and to say otherwise would be ridiculous. A kid gets a premonition of dying in a planecrash, then him and his friends get kicked off the flight only for the plane to crash just like the kid saw, only for them to start dying mysteriously... How could that not be supernatural?

Besides that, how on earth can you say at first that we can't conclusively say what's a true horror, then in the very next paragraph say the likes of Final Destination and Scream aren't true horror. Naughty tbh.

HavoK wrote:

I liked the Grudge remake, The Ring remake, for actually the very exact reasons you mentioned - they honestly did make my skin crawl, and the unexpected shock tactics, while predictable and rather tiring at this stage, still only served to highen the fear rather then actually dilute it for me. I know there's a big difference between being shocked, and actually scared, but even shocks aside, I still found the Grudge and the Ring creepy films based on tension and atmosphere alone. In my opinion, even the sudden shocks, while sometimes rather tiresome and predictable, have their place in these films and are often quite successful in both breaking and creating tension.

So even if our taste in movies somewhat varies, I think what we look for in a movie to define horror is actually fairly similar if not identical....but what actually compromises those values is where we disagree.

How on earth can any jump scenes possibly create tension? They are by their very nature something that will destroy tension, especially considering that their cliché usage will simply make audiences at ease once the "Scare" has happened. It's the unresolved tension that really makes a person's skin crawl.

I'll give you an example...

The Eye,

The elevator scene. There was no "Jump" at all

Final Destination,

The scene where the guy unexpectedly gets hit by a bus.

I can tell you which scene chilled me to the bone and which made me piss myself. Can you guess?

abetarrush wrote:

The Descent

Severance

Ginger Snaps

Jeepers Creepers

Texas Chainsaw Massacre [original]

Carrie

Halloween [original, and H20]

N O Elm Street [1, 3 and New Nightmare]

Wolf Creek [this movie traumatised me for weeks!]


good call with The Others - great ghost story

Dude, I think you might've missed the point of this thread, because the original Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare on Elm Street and Carrie are anything but recent. Recent being the key word here, like since 2000 or so.

Although a rather good call yourself on Ginger Snaps, I've all 3 films, and I loved them. I even enjoyed the 3rd film, the frontier setting reminded my a lot of Ravenous.

TerrorFirmer

I think you misunderstood again - I clearly said:

Anyway, while on that topic, I cannot stress enough that I do not count the likes of Final Destination, Scream and that stuff as horror - at least, not in the sense that horror appeals to me

would never consider them true horror movies in the way that I consider something to be a genuine horror experience. But again, each to his own.

Implying my own personal taste dictates for me what I consider a horror, but each to his own. So when I say we can't conclusively say either way what consitutes a horror, I offer what I find clearly defined as outright horror for myself, but I emphasized a few times that its my own opinion and ultimately each to his own.

Again the Final Destination VS The Eye comparison doesn't hold much in the context of which I was suggesting it had its uses. Final Destination, whilst supernatural, is not exactly scary, and the jumps, while unexpected, are mere shocks and thereafter are forgotten about. The shocks in the likes of The Grudge, and to a lesser extent the Ring, while equally as sudden, created dread and tension for the simple reason you knew they were inevitabely coming. The build up, at least in the Grudge, was done well in so far as the tension kept climbing to a point where you knew it simply had to explode and quite frankly I was on the edge of my seat thinking "God, just get it over with!"

That sort of "Jump" certainly beats the pants off the likes of Final destination where we go from everythings-a-ok to omg-our-friends-just-been-whacked-by-a-bus.

Ah now, look what you've started. Not content with sub branchings of horror we've descended into variations of the classical "Jump" formula.

Enough Karl!! Just let it be...:D

PS - Yes, Ginger Snaps was great. Forgot about that one. Course, thats probably applicable to dozens of movies I've seen of late that I can't remember unless reminded elsewhere.

Karl Hungus

HavoK wrote:

I think you misunderstood again - I clearly said:

Implying my own personal taste dictates for me what I consider a horror, but each to his own. So when I say we can't conclusively say either way what consitutes a horror, I offer what I find clearly defined as outright horror for myself, but I emphasized a few times that its my own opinion and ultimately each to his own.

Fair enough, but it did sound like you were making contradictory statements.

HavoK wrote:

Again the Final Destination VS The Eye comparison doesn't hold much in the context of which I was suggesting it had its uses. Final Destination, whilst supernatural, is not exactly scary, and the jumps, while unexpected, are mere shocks and thereafter are forgotten about. The shocks in the likes of The Grudge, and to a lesser extent the Ring, while equally as sudden, created dread and tension for the simple reason you knew they were inevitabely coming. The build up, at least in the Grudge, was done well in so far as the tension kept climbing to a point where you knew it simply had to explode and quite frankly I was on the edge of my seat thinking "God, just get it over with!"

But don't you see? The built up and the tension is something completely seperate to the jump. It's not the jump that's creating the tension, and even though the scene might culminate in a jump, that's not what is making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, which brings me to your next point:

HavoK wrote:

That sort of "Jump" certainly beats the pants off the likes of Final destination where we go from everythings-a-ok to omg-our-friends-just-been-whacked-by-a-bus.

Ah now, look what you've started. Not content with sub branchings of horror we've descended into variations of the classical "Jump" formula.

Right then, so you'd probably admit that a good "Jump" isn't all there is to it, there's other elements at play. You say that in Final Destination they're just "Shocks" and quickly forgotten about, but you seem to indicate that when there's a tension and build up at work that the shock, the jump is much scarier in your opinion.

So there's no two ways about it, it's not the jump that's scary, it's the tension and that's acheived by firstly engrossing you in a movie, creating an atmosphere, a mood, and truly evoking a feeling. Hell, you say that the example in Final Destination isn't even a proper scare, so how much clearer can it be?

HavoK wrote:

Enough Karl!! Just let it be...:D

NEVER! RAWR!!! :mad:

koneko

I like the Final Destination movies. It's best not to take them seriously on any level. They're fun in a horror-popcorn kind of way. People dying in horrible funny ways. They're like comedies to me.

Haven't seen The Woods but it's one for my list now.

I loved Devils Rejects too, a lot of people didn't. When I saw that in the cinema, there weren't many people there, a few walked out, and some others moaned afterwards ("well that was a pile of ****e"). Same with Land of the Dead. Didn't get it myself because I loved both of them.

Actually reading over your list I agree with pretty much all of it. Someone else mentioned Wolf Creek but I'd disagree on that. Really didn't think that was good at all, people have been raving about it and I thought it was quite bad, very dull film, anti-climactic, nothing about it was scary.

I liked Silent Hill, and some of it was just soo faithful to the games (1 mostly), even down to small things that a lot of people won't notice, like when she's walking down the alley at the start and it's the same angles, same setting, props, as the first game.

I thought The Ring remake was awful. It wasn't scary in the slighest. The scares were obvious, they were "gross face on dead girl" type of thing, none of it scared me. I jumped at the gross face, but not because it was scary or a good film. I jumped and immediately thought "That was so lame". Ringu is disturbing, that's something The Ring never captured. The cinematography was nice, but that's about the only positive thing I have to say for that film.

The Grudge remake, that I did like. Some very disturbing bits in those. The remake was nicely done, obviously had a higher budget, but still kept a lot of the things that I thought were scary about the originals (yes, seen them all). It is one of the scarier films I've seen in a while, and some people I know (not wussy people!) were disturbed by it. I like making the creepy sound they do over the phone

TCamen

I thought The Ring remake was awful. It wasn't scary in the slighest. The scares were obvious, they were "gross face on dead girl" type of thing, none of it scared me. I jumped at the gross face, but not because it was scary or a good film. I jumped and immediately thought "That was so lame". Ringu is disturbing, that's something The Ring never captured. The cinematography was nice, but that's about the only positive thing I have to say for that film.

I like both versions of The Ring/Ringu -- I think that the story gets to a certain point in both, and then they diverge, making two different second halves to the same story (obviously both coming together for the climax).

I like the US one because I do think it is quite scary, and the "gross face" bit freaked me not only because of the sudden cut, but also because it was still way before we even knew what was happening (hard to remember a time when I didn't expect girls to crawl out of TVs..), so it was quite disturbing because we still had no idea what did that to her.

Ringu going after the origins of the child and the whole circus freak thing is also interesting, and I think makes for quite a different viewing of the bare bones of the story. Some of the slow burn chills of the original are quite freaky too, so I think sometimes it just comes down to what you're more in the mood for. But I definitely think there's serious merit in the US remake

I know this thread is supposed to be about NEW movies, my bad! Did anyone else even see 'The Night Listener'?

I'm quite glad nobody's mentioned 'My Little Eye' or 'Open Water' yet

senordingdong

Karl Hungus wrote:

Personally, I loved Land Of The Dead. Quite a few people hated it, and I can't blame them for that, but there's just something about Land that made it an instant classic in my eyes, it had that special Romero magic. I don't know quite how to put it into words, but it really just clicked with me

I was one of the people who were desperatly dissapointed by this film.
I'm not judging but could explain this a bit more?
I mean...I'd like to be able to see it's merits instead of focusing on it's flaws.


As for my own tastes...I can only agree with the movie being listed here, with special mentions to Silent Hill and DOTD 2004. Two of my all time favourite movies.
Although...one that I enjoyed alot was Signs. Maybe I'm alone in that.

Karl Hungus

senordingdong wrote:

I was one of the people who were desperatly dissapointed by this film.
I'm not judging but could explain this a bit more?
I mean...I'd like to be able to see it's merits instead of focusing on it's flaws.

Sorry man, but when I said I can't put it into words, I wasn't being superfluous at all, I just really don't know what the appeal was other than the fact that it just had that Romero magic and I loved it.

senordingdong

Okey dokey.

I'm still drawing blanks as to what movies I could contribute to this list, but one element that has helped me 'enjoy' a horror film as of that past few years is the idea that whatever is going on in the film, could actually be happening somewhere on the planet. Take 'Hostel' for example, (I didn't like it but it has merits in this area) to think that that could actually be going on adds a great deal to the atmosphere for me.

spooky donkey

True about Hostel. I rember watching it and thinking sh2t my Bro went there on a beering weekend. Could it have happened to him? That and serverance is giving eastern Europe back its horror reputation, after having it in the Dracula days.

senordingdong

True.
But apparently the governemtn of the country Hostel is set in, slips my mind at the mo, are furious and kicking up all sorts of fuss about it.

senordingdong

One I'd like to ad is Saw 1.
****ing excellent film.

TerrorFirmer

senordingdong wrote:

One I'd like to ad is Saw 1.
****ing excellent film.

Second one isn't that bad either, certainly much better then I had prepared myself for and the third one is rather excellent, just back from it now.

senordingdong

Really have to disagree with you on the second one but to each his own I guess.

Raekwon

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Pitch Black. I know Vin Diesel is cack at the best of times but this movie is a classic IMO. I also liked High Tension (directed by Alexandre Aja).

For the record I enjoyed House of 1,000 Corpses but I didn't fine The Devils Rejects all that interesting really (I hope Rob Zombie does a good job with the next Halloween movie! )

eamon234

Raekwon wrote:

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Pitch Black. I know Vin Diesel is cack at the best of times but this movie is a classic IMO. I also liked High Tension (directed by Alexandre Aja).

Pitch Black rocked! One of my favourite sci-fi/horrors ever even if it had Vin Diesel in it the whole concept was great
Another honorable mention would be Event Horizon