*From Hell* and other discussion on the modern horror genre.

Karl Hungus

Now, as I'm eagerly awaiting to see this film tomorrow, I thought it would be a great time to have a topic.

What are peoples expectations for it?

I've personaly never read the graphic novel, which I probably should have, seeing as I was told quite often how brilliant it was.


Now, with this in mind, I am reminded of the quite sordid state of Horror as of late. And the few gems that seeped in to the cinemas without hollywood knowing about it.

Over the last few years, we've been pretty much drowned out by rather stupid teen horror films. 3 Scream films, 2 I know what you did last summer films, and a number of quite mind numbing copies of scream.
Anyone have the misfortune of seeing Cherry Falls?
Or the abysmal Urban Legend? I haven't even seen the sequal, and I don't plan on it any time soon.

I ask, is the movie industry finaly coping on?
We've been quite fortunate that films like Sleepy Hollow have come along, and reminded us of the brilliance that was Hammer Horror.
The Others was brilliant! A truly scary film that brought back the suspense of old.
Anyone see The Ninth Gate? Fantastic Roman Polanski film that just oozes 70s mystery/horror brilliance.

So, enough of my ramblings... What do you all think of the whole horror genre as of late?
And I shall surely post my rantings on From Hell tomorrow. Should be brilliant.

Lex_Diamonds

Well there has been somewhat of a revival of horror of late. Sure there is your main stream horror like Long Time Dead, Jeepers Creepers etc, but we still get good material from Japan and other places. Proper horror is undead!!!

ObeyGiant

As lex_diamonds points out, the horror genre is currently experiencing a rather significant and well-deserved revival. The origins of this can be hypothecized upon for months, so this is probably best reserved for another topic, another time (although if you decides to go down this path, and I'm not around, I'd like someone to investigate any correlation between the recent resurgence in the horror genre, and cheesy heavy metal's current wave of popularity). So, instead, let me just focus on your question : "Is the film industry copping on?"

If, by "the film industry", you mean "Hollywood", I would say no. Without a doubt, there has been an increase in the amount of horror films coming out the doors of the major studios, but for the most part, these have been little more than demonstrations in bandwagonning. The "slasher" movie made a comeback, thanks to the popularity of "Scream" - which prompted not only a host of imitators, but two absolutely pointless sequels, whose very existence demonstrates the fact that Hollywood knew it was onto a winning formula, and was keen to cash in on it. Fortunately though, the "generic teen slasher movie" is no longer en vogue - as seen by the fact that both Rebecca Gayheart and Neve Campbell have almost completely disappeared from our screens (hurrah!)

Instead, now we are being fed the "twist" movie. These are the movies where something odd happens, and suddenly, at the end, you realise everything you thought was completely wrong! The cute little kid? He's just a ghost! The successful lawyer? He was in a coma, and the whole film was just a dream! Their growing similarity to the "shock revelations" on Jerry Springer is now becoming quite frightening. I thought the world's collective groan after Bobby's death, and indeed series seven in it's entirety of Dallas being written off as just a dream was enough to convince any studio executive that these kind of "twists" have no place in the world of popular entertainment. M. Night Shyamalan and Cameron Crowe obviously don't think so.

So instead, we are being forced to look elsewhere for new, genuine horror experiences. Some of the most genuinely terrifying films I have seen recently have been from foreign directors, such as Alejandro Amenabar (The Others, Tesis), and Guillermo Del Toro (Cronos, Devil's Backbone). Although, without a doubt, the best horror movies of the past few years have been coming out of Asia - films such as Ring, Battle Royale, and Junk have opened many people's eyes to the fact that, well... Hollywood is out of ideas.

And it knows it.

How else can one account for the piss-poor remakes of such horror films as "The Haunting", or "Carnival of Souls"? More importantly, how else can one account for the near-delusional hyping of the FUCKING AWFUL "Jeepers Creepers" (which, I'm told, is going to be joined by a sequel). If I remember correctly, they were going overboard at the fact that someone had called Jeepers Creepers "The Best US horror movies of the past 10 years". Well... that may be, but that's not really much of a commendation - a bit like saying "best RTE news bulletin of the past 10 years". When people aren't really trying, anyone with a modicum of an idea is king.

As for "From Hell" - good movie, bad ending.

Horror films you should look out for in the next little while:
Dagon (probably won't get a cinema release) - a story based on HP Lovecraft's story of the same name. Looks a little cheesy, but I loved the story, so I'm definitely going to see it.
House of 1000 corpses - Rob Zombie made a horror film. He's having trouble finding a distributor. Either that means it's fucking terrible, or too risque, either way it'll be interesting to see.
8 legged freaks - Did Arachnophobia scare you? Even a little? Go on, admit it, we're all grown ups here. Well, imagine Sam Raimi doing Arachnophobia, and you're coming close to this film.

Lex_Diamonds

Excellent post ObeyGiant!!

ThreadKiller

Saw "From Hell" a while back, it's good, not great don't get your hopes up, then you should be pleasently surprised

koneko

Horror films. The genre itself is a little mixed up now. I don't consider sh*t like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer horror. They're teen flicks that happen to have some blood and knives in them. Horrible film making. Jeepers Creepers strayed away from it for a second and seemed to go back to the old style of horror (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th), but fell right back into the modern horror film by getting all cliched on the monster front (I like my bad guys to be just a little human, makes it scarier). I had high hopes for that film, it started off promising.

Have to agree that Japanese horror films are much better at the moment. Ring was absolutely brilliant. It actually scared me, and I can't think of another film I've seen within that last 10 years that has done that. Another fave, though technically not a horror film, is Audition. Anything that can make me cringe like that is worth watching. Battle Royale, wow. I've ordered a few more Jap horror films, I'm hooked!

Usually end up watching older horror films anyway. Dawn Of The Dead (or any zombie flick really) is absolutely classic.

Lex_Diamonds

Whats that one that came out fairly recently about a haunted asylum, Session 9 or something? That looks rather good.

Karl Hungus

Fantastic discussion...


I've personaly not seen Ring yet, but I intend to when I find it.

Anyway, I'm back from seeing From Hell.
All I can say is "WOW!"
I though it was excelent!

It was an extremely dark and brooding film. Right up my alley!
I was not dissapointed in the slightest.

And I dissagree with you ObeyGiant, about a bad ending.
I'm not going to blubber and spoil it.
But I will say that it fitted in perfectly with the fact that they never 'Found' Jack The Ripper. So I was very satisfied.

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by koneko
Another fave, though technically not a horror film, is Audition. Anything that can make me cringe like that is worth watching. Battle Royale, wow. I've ordered a few more Jap horror films, I'm hooked!.

ive heard this is an absolute cracker and i really want to see it.
also a spanish movie set during the civil war, but i cant recall the name is suppose to be good. i think its about ghosts.

i enjoyed the scream series. they werent too serious, but there was still some good tension scenes there.

most enjoyable horro that had me wetting myself was event horizon. now that scared me to death.

Karl Hungus

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan

most enjoyable horro that had me wetting myself was event horizon. now that scared me to death.

Ah, yes! Brilliant film Event Horizon.
Pity some ****er legged off with my copy.

Winning Hand

Event Horizon is the only really good horror film of late that had my heart racing.
liberate te me des infernis

Cant wait to see from hell, johnny depp owns all.
I suppose sixth sense could be classed as a horror/thriller, but seeing as i was told the twist before I saw it I wouldnt know.

plastic membrane

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan



ive heard this is an absolute cracker and i really want to see it.
also a spanish movie set during the civil war, but i cant recall the name is suppose to be good. i think its about ghosts.
.

The Devils Backbone. Could be a good one alright.

Im still one of those who thought the first Scream film was a scorcher of a film. The other two were just rehashes. I wouldnt even consider them horror films, suspense/thriller would be more like it. Im looking forward to From Hell, but only because i want to see how they adapted the brilliant comic its based on.

As for horror, the only thing ever to scare the living faeces out of me was Twin Peaks. David Lynch movies are scary. You may not have a clue whats going on but you know its pretty damn bad.

As for Shyalaman and Cameron Crowe, i enjoy a good twist in a movie, its the old pulp novel staple. The Usual Suspects and The Shawshank Redemption would'nt have been half the movies they were without those crafty twists that make you smile and shake your head, wondering how you missed it.

The Sixth Sense twist, i guessed before i even saw the movie, the twist at the end of Unbreakable did feel a little gimmicky, and kind of spoiled what was a great film until i saw it again, and realised it all made sense as a whole.

A twist works in a movie if it makes sense in the context of the movie. The end of Vanilla Sky didnt do mich for me, it wasnt the big revelation i thought it would, but it gets points for trying. something different.

Karl Hungus

I quite liked Unbreakable.
I was told it was quite ****e, but I watched it anyway (Being the stuborn git that I am) and I was very nicely suprised.

I do like a good twist movie, if it's a good twist in the end.

The worst of what I've seen in that sense though, was The Hole. Anyone else seen that peice of crap? You could see it coming a mile off... But the thing is, the entire film was built around that twist at the end, so there's nothing else in the film to satisfy.
I mean, The Others. Fantastic film, but you could guess the ending a mile off, yet that didn't ruin it, because it was fantastic in every other sense.

Although, nothing Horror at all, Memento was truly amazing! Definetly one of the best films of 2001.