The Horror Movie Thread

[TAFKA Castroneves]

I guess i'll see no love in here for the fact SAW V is out this month? I must be one of the only SAW marks left around.

[DFF]

Whilst I was over in China me and a mate of mine had a bit of a horror/psychological horror/similar films fest. We watched all three Cube films as well as Frank Darabont's recent effort Mist.

Cube was pretty good I thought and kept me entertained throughout, even if it did tail off somewhat towards the end.

Cube 2: Hypercube had great potential, is a massive mindfuck, but is, ultimately, disappointing.

Cube Zero was a refreshing angle on the story, and had the potential to be the best of the lot, but the last 1/3 seems rushed and, well, lacking in ideas.

Mist was pretty fucking good. I'm not a big horror film go-er, but I do like the odd film now and again. The acting is decent (Tom Jane is good in the lead), and the plot is perfectly fine. I like how they build up the film slowly and don't just throw the mist (or, moreover, it's inhabitants) in your face from the get-go.

And most of all the end kicks ten shades of shit out of anything I've seen for ages. Seriously, it had a great 'makes you feel uneasy' finish.

[Gabriel]

I guess i'll see no love in here for the fact SAW V is out this month? I must be one of the only SAW marks left around.

The Saw films are still an enjoyable watch, to see how they think they can fuck with people's ideas or what kind of killings their will be... but in the end, I only really watch it because I know their will be gore. With that said, there are films out there will more gore, and much better stories. I'm really getting sick of "Who's the killer? Watch these people meet their ends in ironic ways that tell you a story about what kind of people they are... and then when there's like two minutes left, we'll totally swerve you and go with someone that doesn't really make much sense as the killer, but we'll tie it together with a montage and we'll make a shitload of money, and get ready for next year."

[HailtotheYo]

That said, those movies are still the best "mainstream" horror films to come out in quite a while. Personally, I'm up for Saw V

[JStarr]

Mist was pretty fucking good. I'm not a big horror film go-er, but I do like the odd film now and again. The acting is decent (Tom Jane is good in the lead), and the plot is perfectly fine. I like how they build up the film slowly and don't just throw the mist (or, moreover, it's inhabitants) in your face from the get-go.

And most of all the end kicks ten shades of shit out of anything I've seen for ages. Seriously, it had a great 'makes you feel uneasy' finish.

Seconded. That was one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever. Just goes to show that his novellas/short stories need to be mined a lot more than his novels do. The novels are just too damn big to do in two hours.

[HailtotheYo]

Mist fucking owned, and the ending fucking owned your ass. That is all.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I still need to see Mist, it was a good short story. How different is the ending from the book's ending?

[Gabriel]

I still need to see Mist, it was a good short story. How different is the ending from the book's ending?

I personally haven't read the novella, but I can tell you that the film's ending is definately not a "Hollywood" ending... they didn't pull any punches, and it left a lot of people uneasy and unsure of what they thought of the film because of it.

I loved it... it hits you pretty hard, you realize the irony of it and maybe chuckle a bit, and then all you can do is feel it. It's something I never thought I'd see pulled off in a major motion picture like that.

[TheRyno]

I'm pretty much done with Saw, unless they decide to make another movie that's nothing but a compilation of all the deaths in the movies before them, because that's pretty much all they're good for anymore. I liked the concept of the first one and the second one had some sweet deaths. But when I watched Saw 2 and they had to employ the "LOUD NOISE" scare just for someone walking up behind someone else, I knew it was time to stop.

LOUD NOISES =/= scares.

[Essa]

For whoever asked, the ending of the Mist short story is completely different from the movie ending.

[Captain Kirk]

The Mist was excellent and the end was IMO definetely better than the short story version.

Just watched Diary of the Dead for the second time and it seemed better than the first time perhaps because my expectations weren't as high.

[- Trips -]

Any love for Outpost? I picked up the DVD a couple weeks ago and I love it. No stars in the cast but it all comes together as an ensemble. Ray Stevenson (Rome) and Richard Brake (Doom / Batman Begins) would probably be the two most recognisable actors in it. Overall a very slickly done UK action horror, quite reminiscent of Dog Soldiers.

[TAFKA Castroneves]

I'm pretty much done with Saw, unless they decide to make another movie that's nothing but a compilation of all the deaths in the movies before them, because that's pretty much all they're good for anymore. I liked the concept of the first one and the second one had some sweet deaths. But when I watched Saw 2 and they had to employ the "LOUD NOISE" scare just for someone walking up behind someone else, I knew it was time to stop.

LOUD NOISES =/= scares.

To be fair in SAW 3 and 4, i thought they improved upon the deaths. I don't believe the films to be strictly horrors now though, you do know what you are going to get with a twist or twists at the end of the film, but I enjoy watching them and trying to work out the twist before the end. In SAW 4 there were enough clues if you knew what you were looking for.

[Maxx]

The Saw franchise had loads of potential, but really losts its way after the first film. I mean the second film was fairly convoluted, becoming just one big mindfuck for Wahlberg's character. I mean I get the whole trap was to see if he could get over his anger and impatience, but it seemed to needlessly kill alot of people along the way. Most of the people trapped in the house never had the reasoning behind their being captured truly explained. Okay, they all go arrested by Wahlberg at one point, but how exactly does that qualify any of them to be put into one of Jigsaw's traps.

When it started he was putting people who were wasting their lives or ruining their own lives for no reason. Since then he's just seemingly been throwing together a bunch of people who don't nessicarily deserve such a fate. I mean look at the third one, the main character gets to decide whether a bunch of other people live or die. None of them nessiciarily deserved to be in such a position though. I mean the guy that actually hit the kid had been torn up about it, why the fuck should he be put in a situation where he can die? Sure the main character can get him out of it, but there's no guarentee he will, so the poor guy had no control over his fate, which is a very un-Jigsaw thing IMO.

Loved the first one, but its been downhill since. Stopped watching after 3 and from what I've read 6 is going to be terrible

[TheRyno]

Just got done watching Day of the Dead 2008. I wouldn't say it was bad, just very "meh". The only connection it shares with the original Day of the Dead is the "Bub" zombie, who is now "Bud" but is less of a focal point like in the original and more like something the writers would put in as if to say "Hey, we actually did watch the original!" I think it's supposed to be more of a continuation of the Dawn of the Dead remake but since it has Ving Rhames in it playing a different character, I'm not so sure. Here, the zombies not only run (and badly as they seem to twitch and look like they have Tourette's instead) but they can also pull off wire-work jumps! Ugh. There's plenty of gore, but almost all of it is the cartoony made-for-Sci-Fi Channel movie CGI, which I've always hated. The characters aren't bad, but aren't good enough to make you care whether they live or die. I will say that going in, I didn't think I'd believe Mena Suvari as a soldier, but I believed her a lot more than I would Tara Reid as a scientist (Uwe Boll, I realize you don't think...but what were you thinking?). The only character that I would say is offensively bad is Nick Cannon's character, but considering he was probably written as a walkin', talkin' stereotype, I guess that means he did his job well.

The only real thing I would complain about is a plothole that probably doesn't even matter in the end. You see, the zombie outbreak comes in flu form in this movie. But the thing is, when the people "die" and become zombies, everyone that's infected all become zombies at the same time, creating a massive horde of them from the get-go. Yet, when they do the whole "handful of survivors trying to figure out who among them infected" cliche, why the hell didn't those select infected people become zombies with everyone else? Yes, they did establish that the virus could be transferred via old fashioned biting, but these people weren't bitten, just sick. That's about the only thing that I threw my hands up about and said "WTF?" but I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to that sort of thing.

In the end, Day of the Dead isn't horrible, it's just there. Personally, I ended up wishing that it actually was horrible so I would've gotten some entertainment out of it. If you really wanna see it, just wait until it shows up on Sci-Fi on a Saturday afternoon in a double-header with House of the Dead.

Edited October 6, 2008 by TheRyno

[Captain Kirk]

Day of the Dead 2008 was one of the worst zombie films I have ever seen! I would rank Zombie Strippers as better than that. A vegetarian zombie is bad enough never mind being a crap movie.

Ving Rhames character is meant to be the brother of his character in Dawn supposedly.

Second the love for Outpost, Tyres from Spaced is in it I'm sure. What ever happened to the Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat that was meant to be being made?

[TheRyno]

Like I said, I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to bad movies, at least compared to most genre fans, at least. Had I gone to the theaters to see this or paid more than $5 for the DVD, then yeah, I'd be pretty pissed off too. But I've seen worse. Still doesn't make it good, though.

When I first heard about the vegetarian zombie, I actually liked it and thought it'd make for a few laughs. Hell, I could probably write a whole movie about it if I really tried. But in this, it was just a 5 second explanation as to why he wouldn't eat people and then ignored.

By the way, I don't wanna see Zombie Strippers. Not because I think it'll be bad, but because Jenna Jameson actually looks like a zombie now and it makes me cry.

[HailtotheYo]

By the way, I don't wanna see Zombie Strippers. Not because I think it'll be bad, but because Jenna Jameson actually looks like a zombie now and it makes me cry.

QFE .... I miss the "glory holes days" of porn.

Ok, I need a shortlist. I've got THEM on my list and a few others, but I'm looking more towards some newer stuff (such as Diary of the Dead - Midnight Meat Train) to add to my shortlist.

GO ~!

[- Trips -]

Day of the Dead 2008 was one of the worst zombie films I have ever seen! I would rank Zombie Strippers as better than that. A vegetarian zombie is bad enough never mind being a crap movie.

Ving Rhames character is meant to be the brother of his character in Dawn supposedly.

Second the love for Outpost, Tyres from Spaced is in it I'm sure. What ever happened to the Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat that was meant to be being made?

Good question, I wonder if there's anything on imdb about it - Dog Soldiers was excellent. I've no idea how they're planning to make the sequel to Outpost but I do know I want to see it.

[Synjynpsychobitch]

I still need to see Mist, it was a good short story. How different is the ending from the book's ending?

As Essa said, the ending is different. In fact it is way different from the novella. The novella ended with a feeling of hope and the movie..........well................... not so hopeful. It was changed with King's blessing.

I agree it was one of the best adaptations of a King story. My favorite is still "Stand By Me" from his novella "The Body, though I've had friends argue that the Shawshank Redemption and the Green Mile are the best.