Scary movies

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  • Tonight on IFC they are showing a bunch of horror films. I saw the last 45 minutes of "Strangeland," a worthless piece of crap. I guess if you are into torture this is for you.

    But the ORIGINAL "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is on, not that crappy remake (which stole its ending from "Blair Witch Project," which in itself was inspired by "Cannibal Holocaust"). What made the first "Texas" film so electrifying when it came out was NOT blood and guts, but the implication of what was happenning.

    So, I turn your attention away from the current bickering to what horror films still give you the creeps. These are just a few films that still give me the willies:

    The Exorcist
    The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
    The Blair Witch Project
    Cannibal Holocaust
    Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead (ORIGINAL versions)

    Again, there are others. This is a partial list. I have not addressed the classics. As a kid I saw a LOT of the Lon Chaney silents, like "The Monster," "The Unholy Three," and "He Who Gets Slapped." Good stuff.

    So, chime in!

    Mere
    Still thinking about reviving the movie quiz
    You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant.
      January 25, 2008 3:56 AM GMT
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  • This is interesting, Mere, because most horror films don't actually scare. They may be gory and gruesome but not necassarily frightening. I agree that the original Psycho is a genuinely scary movie and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is really disturbing and actually funny which is what makes it unique because just what exactly am I laughing at. The one plays on the trepidation and fear of the viewer, the other displays that loss of reason and total abandonment to terror that we all dread. The scariest films are those that depict my own fears. The horror of being stranded or being in a confined space, the fear of deep water ( A Night to Remember, the finale to The Perfect Storm, not horror films but horrifying to me ). Not being able to say goodbye, anything with a large spider in it. I struggle to watch what truly scares me, and bizaare though this may sound, it scares me to write about it.
    Porscha
      January 25, 2008 9:59 AM GMT
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  • Don’t you just hate that feeling that there might be someone horrible who is hiding waiting to get ya. The number of times I’ve had to check the cupboards, wardrobe and under the bed lol
    Just an ordinary girl finding her way in this strange life. - What will it take to get everyone to realise that everyone else is also a human being that deserves just as much respect? - How does someone tell their doctor they have hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia? - When I was a student I specialised in Alcopology. It always starts with Alco and always ends with pology. - Waiter! There's a hare in my rabbit pie!
      January 25, 2008 12:17 PM GMT
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  • Don't look you might find someone, best to turn out the light and hide.
    Porscha
      January 25, 2008 12:28 PM GMT
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  • I agree that most of these horror/slaher films are not to scare but to present the audience with unique ways to die. I also do not care for the mysoginist horror films where women are the object of cruelty.

    "Texas" played with your mind, especially when that film, along with "Psycho," were inspired by an actual person, Ed Gein, AKA The Butcher of Plainfield.

    As much as I like it, I never considered "The Perfect Storm" a horror film. I see your point, though, in the fear of deep water.
    You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant.
      January 25, 2008 1:50 PM GMT
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  • 2 2627
    No horror movie has ever scared me other than a sudden shock that makes you jump.
    I did see a documentery on the haolocaust once that gave me nightmares for days.
    When the exorcist came out I went with a friend. We were told to leave because we kept laughing. (a little pot will do that)
    I don't think I have a favorite. But I do watch a lot of them.
    <p>Karen Brad</p>
      January 25, 2008 1:58 PM GMT
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  • I agree the Perfect Storm is not a horror film. It is, however, the story of 'ordinary' working people trying to scratch a living in a dangerous job in difficult circumstances. So really it is a story of heroism. It also has an ambivalence at its core which makes it a more interesting film that might otherwise be the case. The thought that these people are going to drown but have time to reflect upon their lives, think about the ones they love, the things they wish they could say but will never be able to, is truly horrifying. I am a working class girl, circumstances dictate my life, I don't dictate the circumstances. In a different time and place, it could have been me. But the best horror is that which we as individuals can relate to. I watched a film called The Descent recently about a group of female potholers, trapped and attacked by some strange feral carnivores. Entertaining enough but not scary because, lets face it, it's not likely to happen to me. Horror films are often deeply contrived, the conceit being to scare. As such they are unrealistic. Many of the scariest scenes in movies are not from horror films at all. I remember the famous Joe Pesci bar scene from Goodfellas, which was the last time I viewed a scene with sweaty palmed anxiety. Or Lee Marvin in The Big Heat, he didn't do much but he scared me. What truly scares is the depiction of scenes where I could be the victim. Random arbitrary violence in a bar or on the street. And that movie about the Columbine Massacre, that cold unfathomable desire to kill anyone they felt like.
    Karen, you mention the Holocaust. Like Meredith, I'm a historian, and have viewed the newsreels and watched the documentaries many many times. It is genuinely stomach churning and never gets any easier to watch. I always feel sick, weak and degraded when watching it. The strange thing is the more you study it the less you can truly believe that people can do that to other people. But they did, and these were educated people not ignorant savages. Again I can watch and study and try to understand these things from the safety of my home. But I don't forget I'm gay and could have been a victim of the Nazi's, just as I'm Catholic and could have been a victim of the Ku Klux Klan, and because of who I am I could be a victim of anyone at any time. Films that portray that vulnerability are the truly scary ones. I'm sorry, Mere, I didn't mean to go on like this, and didn't mean to stray from the point quite so much.
    Porscha
      January 25, 2008 6:03 PM GMT
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  • I dont tend to watch horror films tbh. I hate all that SPLAT stuff. I dont enjoy seeing but mostly hearing peeps being torn apart limb by limb.Or the breaking of bones!!!! If I have ever been persuaded to watch such a film, not only do I cover my eyes but my ears too! I kid you not!!!!

    Also I dont like the things that make me jump out of my skin and make me go all hot and cold!!!!

    I saw Poltergeist when i was 13.I int been the same since!!! LOL. I cannot tolerate the telly being left on the fuzzy screen for starters!!!

    I had me doubts about clowns since I was little. So watching IT werent a good plan LOL

    I totally agree with Porscha about some things playing on personal fears. The deep water thing I can relate to.





    E-J XX
      January 25, 2008 7:05 PM GMT
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  • 1195
    Mere et al
    The old black and white movies, in my humble opinion, are still the best. They didn't rely on living color just dark and gloomy places. I remember seeing "The Thing"(original) when I was in my formative years(nice term for pre-teen) and I had to leave I was so scared. When I was a kid there were the Mummy and Frankinstein movies with Boris Karloff and the Wolf Man with Lon Chaney - they were great. Bella Lagosi was a terrific Dracula . The Hammer movies were pretty good too but a bit overdone, more T&A than scary.
    I avoid movies and TV shows where someone is being hurt or animals are being killed. I don't consider that entertainment.
    I always wonder who puts up the money for some of the junk being made.

    Don't dump your popcorn!
    hugs
    Gracie
    <p>If it isn't fun - don't do it.</p>
      January 25, 2008 7:40 PM GMT
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  • Texas chainsaw....Jason, Friday 13th etc aren't horror movies in my book, just slasher flicks. I do like a good horror movie where you don't see much but the director has you in suspense half the time. Unfortunately these are few and far between and yes, some of the older ones were better in my opinion simply because they didn't have the technology to 'show' you anything that would be believable so it relied more on the music, acting and direction.

    Nikki
    Every woman is beautiful, some show it with their faces, others show it with their hearts.
      January 25, 2008 8:33 PM GMT
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  • i have to admit that "horror" isnt my first choice of film, but if pushed, i prefer the older style suspense thrillers, rather than the shock and gore films they call horror now.

    There are some images that i just dont want in my head.
    for me, its more scary to imagine what could happen, rather than see it in graphic detail.
      January 25, 2008 8:34 PM GMT
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  • I'm with Mandy, leave out all the blood and gore. give me a good psychological thriller anyday - It's what you don't see on screen keeps you awake nights.

    Hannibal is still out there...

    (The hand at the end of Carrie made a whole cinema gasp, but the film that preceded it was too graphic)
    Sue. X Psychiatrists are like the eunuch in the harem. They know what transvestism is, they can describe it, they can demonstrate it, but they cant actually explain it!
      January 25, 2008 10:05 PM GMT
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  • For me, my top 3 fav scary movies

    1. The Birds. Always knew those innocent birds were really dinosaurs.
    2. Signs - Aliens in a corn field.
    3. The 1st Aliens movie.

    HUgz,

    MichelleLynn


      January 25, 2008 10:36 PM GMT
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  • Hmmm, Mere, I thought you were into torture, hee.
      January 26, 2008 2:02 AM GMT
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  • Josie, you sure as hell know my torture levels.....................

    Again, the original "Texas" film is really not a slasher film per se. There is actually very little blood in it, and the violence never explicit, unlike the remake. It was a psychological film.

    People like Herschell Gordon Lewis were doing heavy gore films early in the 1960s. It was films like the original "Texas" and George A. Romero's first "Night of the Living Dead" that the market was broken open for heavy gore films.

    The Hammer films had a certain level of originality and atmosphere to them. As for the old monster films, I could never take the mummy serious as a symbol of fear. One good Bic lighter on him and that puppy would be toast. It wasn't until the Brendan Fraser "Mummy" films that the character could be seen as evil, and those were action/adventure films.

    I am with most of you in that the horror genre is not my favorite. But every now and then I like to see something spooky with all the lights off. One of the reasons I like to listen to old time radio shows is how the mind has to work. I love the old suspense and mystery shows.

    The horror genre can be improved.
    You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant.
      January 26, 2008 2:25 AM GMT
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