do you like scary movies? (DO NOT READ IF YOU HATE WIMPS)

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Lots of whining about ILX's cotinuing enstrangement from Freaky Trigger, so I figured I'd dig up this old comment from "Do You See?" and make a thread out of it:

This was the film that made me realise I don't like (through wimpishness not aesthetics) horror movies. I was scared by it, even as I realised it was an over-the-top comedy romp. And if Theatre Of Blood can scare me there is little hope for me. Great film though.
Tom | Email | Homepage | 06.14.04 - 8:26 am | #

I was really happy when I read this, because it meant that I wasn't the only person over sixteen to feel this way. Basically, I just don't "do" horror - the thrill of watching a good horror movie never seems to be worth the awful hangover of not being able to sleep because certain images haunt my mind. And the movie doesn't even have to be GOOD - even the cheapest of cheap b-movies will frighten me to death, despite knowing how hokey and (un)intenionally hillarious it all is. Last night I ended up sleeping with the light on because I saw a clip from "Chuckie" on VH-1. I'm quite convinced that if I ever say "Leprechaun Goes To The Hood" even that could provide me with sleepless nights.

It's an odd thing to admit, because of course adults aren't supposed to think that way. Thing is, kids don't, really, either. I mean, I guess there *was* a time when I actually WAS afraid of monsters in my closet and whatnot, but I have very clear memories of being about 8 or 9 and lying awake in my bed after some vampire movie, fully aware that I was in no sort of danger, but unable to get the feeling of dread out of my head. And that's the feeling that still accompanies me when I watch horror movies today.

Oddly enough, I do all right with all sorts of scary stuff that isn't horror - I've no problem with monsters of supernatural beings when they're in sci-fi and fantasy contexts, for instance, or certain amounts of tension and/or gore in gangster movies. Hell, I love David Lynch, who objectively speaking is a hell of a lot scarier than some of the straight cheapo horror movies that i've seen...it's almost the premise of the genre that does it for me more than the execution, i.e. "this movie is supposed to scare you" as opposed to Lynch's "this movie is supposed to fuck with your mind" or "The X-Files"' "this is supposed to make you feel all paranoid an' shit".

So, how do you feel about the genre? Do you enjoy being scared by horror movies? Which ones have affected you the most? Or are you a hardened Tuff guy/gal who watches horror movies purely for aesthetic pleasure/comedy value?

(this post is by no means trying to imply that Tom shares my mentalist syndrome of not being able to sleep after watchin' horror movies, just nice to know that I'm not the only one who gets scared by crappy horror.)

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 21 August 2004 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm pretty inert to most of it, which is why I can't watch most of them - if they ain't scary, I usually don't enjoy the schlocky-ness enough to justify my time.

That being said, I did somewhat get a thrill out of the fact that The Thing scared the shit out of me a few weeks ago. It's not so much the OMG-that-might-happen-to-me factor as much as it is the I-really-fucking-hate-nightmares factor that accounts for the post-watch freakout, though.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 21 August 2004 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Lots of people get scared by horror movies. even crappy ones. that's there job. to plant the seed of doubt, fear, and paranoia into your unconscious mind. they are primal and it doesn't really matter if they are well made.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

But you are a big wimp too.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

hahahahaha, just kidding. not!

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

but for the record: i heart horror.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I like horror, but the only one that's given me a good scare recently was the American Ring.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Saturday, 21 August 2004 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

but for the record, people who don't like to watch lots of horror movies are probably saner and more well-adjusted than those who do.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

There were parts of 28 Days Later that scared me, and I'm pretty hardened when it comes to horror. I really enjoyed that movie. I wish it were a t.v. series. but then i just love zombies so much. i'm beginning to really love digital video too.

You know what are really good are all those recent gay horror movies. straight to dvd cheapies with hunks in fancy underwear turning into demons. they even sell them in gay bookstores. If you are squeamish about horror you can watch these and just laugh and laugh and laugh. and then find out you are gay. or at least partial to gay demons. I know I am! They're the best!

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

But the standard response from horror fans to people who are squeamish about horror or who say they don't like it and think it is all kinda stupid and juvenile is: "yeah, but have you ever seen Suspiria?" It's like a mantra or something. justification in one arty (brilliant and wonderful and one of the greatest films ever) italian package. I just tell them they are all wrong about horror and then suggest that they rent Maniac.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost) You're gay or partial to gay demons?

― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:14 (twenty-one years ago)

(Scott currently pwns this thread, with 7/12 posts, btw.)

― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, just partial to gay demons. i'm too lazy to become gay now. it would be too much effort.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

In fact I would love a "I Heart Gay Demons" t-shirt.

I also want one that sez "Carpe Poon, Dude!"

(the latter being something someone posted on that jon williams thread and which i just thought was the silliest thing i had ever read. this week.)

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I like horror movies - even quite poor ones are reasonably entertaining, to me. They make me jump and feel scared for a few seconds, here and there, but I can't recall any staying with me and scaring me after the film is over.

I've seen Suspiria, and I didn't think it was a particularly great film. Less good than Ring (either version), Dark Water or various other Japanese films I've seen, for me.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Horror movies are almost always worth a rent, even the shit ones, because those are so hilarious. But even some well-crafted mediocre horror films have jumps, like Event Horizon.

― Gear! (Gear!), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:26 (twenty-one years ago)

People also forget how much scarier these things can be in the theater. Event Horizon and Wes Craven's New Nightmare are two films that work really well with a cinema audience but do nothing for me on video.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Event Horizon isn't a well-crafted film, or even that scary.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

fite

― Gear! (Gear!), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I dunno, it just seemed hokey to me.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:41 (twenty-one years ago)

don't really have that much of a conviction beyond that, though, so you can win if you want.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I choose not to win this time friend but be warned I can turn the win switch on at any given moment.

― Gear! (Gear!), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

knowing that is scarier than Event Horizon, dude.

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Can't get a picture to load for some reason, but the gay demon guy, David DeCoteau, is some sort of weird genius or simply a really horny straight-to-video gay horror movie director.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

He's both!

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, a truly frightening film i saw was a straight to video movie based on the life of jeffery dahmer that was shot, lit, filmed (on video) and acted exactly like a gay porn movie. it was creeeeepy. came out in the early 90's. plus, the lead looked a lot like jeffery dahmer which just added to the seedy authenticity.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

it isn't the matthew bright one.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 21 August 2004 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I dig atmospheric thrillers (though usually the last act erases the majority of what makes the movie interesting), but slashers are for the most part just pointless and gross.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 August 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

though I usually only call something a slasher if I don't like it.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 August 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I wish I had Pauline Kael's quote about movies that only work due to dread. She nails it on the head pretty well.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 August 2004 00:51 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, slasher just makes me think "failed thriller" (and thriller doesn't make me think horror, all of the time. Feels more like a separate genre that just has a lot of overlap with horror. But maybe I'm drawing up distictions that only work in my brain.)

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 22 August 2004 01:03 (twenty-one years ago)

like, thriller immediatley makes me think of murder sprees and psychopaths and stuff, which *can* be horror, but sometimes it feels so mundane (as in, they're just doing stuff I see Tony Soprano do all the time) to me that it's hard to put it in the same category as zombie movies and vampires and demons and murderous dolls. Not saying horror movies have to have something supernatural in them to make them legit (or even that thrillers never do), just that some movies that I've seen described as thrillers focus so much on the whodunnit part of things that they almost become straight detective stories with a macabre bent, and then there's some Hitchcock type stuff that almost feels like action movies. In either case the dread sort of disappears, it becomes more just suspense.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 22 August 2004 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)

...or is this all a bit Calum-in-that-thread-about-Hong-Kong-action-movies on my part?

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 22 August 2004 01:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually enjoy talking to calum about horror movies even if i hardly ever agree with him. and no daniel, your posts are nothing like c-man's hong kong arguments. calum was right about Ginger Snaps though! Great movie.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 01:36 (twenty-one years ago)

eh, most horror movies don't really effect me much. cheap looking ones do though. the smell of latex halloween masks is something i associate with dread.

which is why i come to this movie called troll 2. for me it's the weirdest film; it's a horrible, poorly made film but somehow becomes disturbing because of its surreal awfulnes.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I still own the original Troll soundtrack on vinyl. Latebloomer, if you enjoy surreal awfulness, then by all means pick up a copy of Cathy's Curse.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Or: Don't Look In The Basement. Or: The Legend Of Boggy Creek.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i've seen boggy creek 2, but i don't know if that counts. i will definitely check those suggestions out though.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I'm the only one that thought this movie was awesome
http://images.killermovies.com/c/cabinfever/poster.jpg

― Joseph Pot (STINKOR™), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I wish I could give everyone in the world a copy of The Baby. The story of a demented family and their man-sized baby in diapers and the social worker who dares to come between them (for her own nefarious purposes!). But, alas, I am only one person.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I still haven't seen Cabin Fever. I keep putting it off for some reason. But it's on my to-do list.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:21 (twenty-one years ago)

The great thing about it is that it's practically a comedy... about a flesh-eating virus.

― Joseph Pot (STINKOR™), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Have you ever seen The Flesh Eaters, Joseph? 1964. Scared the hell out of me as a kid. People trapped on an island that they can't leave beacause of the flesh eating bacteria in the water. Gross special effects too for the time. But a hoot overall.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)

it's so funny that people brought up event horizon because i was gonna post about how that movie completely terrified me

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:55 (twenty-one years ago)

the first hour or so of that movie's pretty good, but it just sort of gives up by the end.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 22 August 2004 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I couldn't live in a world without The Legend Of Hell House, Frogs, Bugs, Ticks, Audrey Rose, Opera, My Bloody Valentine, Breeders, Phantasm, The Howling, Scanners, The Fog, Black Cristmas, The Thing, Candyman, or Deranged. You know?

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 03:23 (twenty-one years ago)

oops, i meant Bug, not Bugs. Bug is truly creepy and doom-ridden. And slightly sickly. I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Cronenberg was inspired by Bug. And when the radioactive bugs have their way with Bradford Dillman in the end and he has his breakdown the result is gripping.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 03:45 (twenty-one years ago)

nah, I'll have to keep a lookout for Flesh Eaters, sounds good.

I didn't see the first Phantasm until last year, don't know how I managed to overlook it for so long. The Tall Man and his flying orb is classic, but the movie overall is just decent (there are some very choice dated elements to it though). I just wish I had seen it when I first heard about it as I probably would've loved it then. I've heard Phantasm 2 is worth seeing as well.

Amityville Horror, Exorcist, and Poltergeist creeped me out when I saw them as a young'un. Not sure what it is about horror movies, I'm typically interested in the effort/budget (or lack thereof) put into special effects. I don't get scared by them these days, at most it could gross me out. It's a great genre though in the sense of how it can tackle extremely taboo themes. Also the way a horror flick can so easily turn into an endless series of sequels can be very amusing.

I could add to scott's list: Creepshow, Basket Case, Gore Gore Girls, The Keep, Wolfen, C.H.U.D., Re-Animator, Silent Night Deadly Night, Chopping Mall

― Joseph Pot (STINKOR™), Sunday, 22 August 2004 04:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Cabin Fever has a couple of the most disgusting sexual scenes I've ever seen in a mainstream film.

What say ILX about Scream?

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 22 August 2004 04:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 10 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

The gay demon movies I was talking about ARE NOT porn. Just wanted to make that clear.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 11:07 (twenty-one years ago)

(oh yeah suuuure they're not)

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Sunday, 22 August 2004 11:08 (twenty-one years ago)

oh and i so totally didn't mean to post that porn review twice, my bad.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Sunday, 22 August 2004 11:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I highly recommend Voodoo Academy:

http://www.littleman.com/movies/films/6/000161586.html

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I really want to see Wolves Of Wall Street:

http://www.littleman.com/movies/people/5/000044205-David-DeCoteau.html

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 11:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I never thought I'd find a thread that would make me want to seek out gay demon movies.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Sunday, 22 August 2004 11:46 (twenty-one years ago)

These testimonials will make you want to see them even more:

http://www.rapidheart.com/inreview/inreview.html

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I love this especially:

"Your choice of the cast, and your choice to
reverse the clichés from young naked women to young naked men is a
great idea."

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 12:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Brotherhood 2 was awesome! So much fun to watch. and the boys were CUTE! I may be wrong, but after watching a
few of your films, I've noticed the main bad dude wears black boxer briefs. Maybe coincidence, but a nice subliminal
nod to the "black hat" villains from western movies. Keep up the great work! Chris in Indianapolis

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 12:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"While in Best Buy I happened to pick up the Brotherhood DVD and I thought I would take a chance and buy it because I love horror films. That was one week ago. I now own Brotherhood 2 on DVD as well as the widescreen special edition of the two films. I just received Voodoo Academy via express mail from TLAvideo.com. These are awesome. Voodoo Academy is entertaining as hell. The Brotherhood films on the other hand are absolutely art. Just as David Lynch or Stanley Kubrick films are art."

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Sunday, 22 August 2004 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I too thought Cabin Fever was awesome.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 22 August 2004 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

i can't remember where i read it, but i remember a really interesting comment someone made about the original night of the living dead - that it was the first american film to answer the old "what we don't show you is scarier than what we do" rule that most horror films had (necessarily) followed up until that time with the obvious rejoinder: "actually, we can show you stuff that's a HELL of a lot scarier than ANYTHING you could have imagined." that film probably ended up wrecking the genre, just by encouraging horror filmmakers to make their movies grosser and grosser (thus turning a genre that had been accessible to everyone into an increasingly closed-off one for fanboys), but it must have had a stunning effect on its first audiences.

thing is, my appreciation for Night Of The Living Dead isn't necessarily about not leaving things to the imagination. Maybe it was gorier than the standard but the gore isn't what makes that film noteworthy, nor was it the point of the film, which is what the quote implies.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

now DAWN of the Dead definitely goes headlong into the gore, but I have mixed feelings about that film

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

you gotta see the long-version, anthony. not the theatrical cut, not the argento euro-cut, the looooong version. it's a masterpeice. a touching, sad, wonderful masterpiece. Now, day of the dead, that's got some serious blood in it!

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

um, what version was on IFC? I assumed that would have been the long one. It sure felt long. What's in the long one that isn't in the other ones I might have seen?

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

So, I was talking about Open Water with someone today, and I was reminded of the comment someone made here on ILX about it basically being The Blair Shark Project, which in turn got me thinking about The Blair Witch Project. I remember reading some interview with the gents who did that and they cited a film called The Legend of Boggy Creek, which blew my mind. I had remember seeing The Legend of Boggy Creek (which came out in 1973) at a friend's house as kid (probably under the age of 9 or so) and remembered that it scared the bejesus outta me. For a lark, I went and tracked it down today (surprised that it exists on DVD) and now about three-quarters of the way through it.

Man. Don't you hate it when something you seem to vividly remember as being really great turns out to be abject crap? There are MUSICAL INTERLUDES in this fuckin' film, for pete's sake. It really is like an MST 3K episode without the `bots. Ugh.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

sometimes it really is better to let those remembered movies one's youth remain memories!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Man. Don't you hate it when something you seem to vividly remember as being really great turns out to be abject crap? There are MUSICAL INTERLUDES in this fuckin' film, for pete's sake. It really is like an MST 3K episode without the `bots. Ugh.

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), September 7th, 2004.

there was an episode of mst3k with boggy creek 2.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 08:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I rented the George C. Scott film the Changeling once and my downstairs neighbor was like "OMG that movie scared me sooo much when I was 9."

Needless to say he was profoundly disappointed when we watched it. Basically anytime somebody tells me a movie rocked their prepubescent mind BUT they haven't seen it since, I assume its crap.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I was about to say a personal exception would be Scrooged but to be honest I didn't really care for it as a kid (and I love it now).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i saw that movie during some weird lunchtime movie thing in high school! (the changeling)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Hitchcock's The Birds creeped the bejeesus out of me when I was 11 or so, and the last time I saw it it was still effective.

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 06:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Check it out, I got so scared by 'the frighteners' starring Michael J. Fox that I had to pretend I was watching when really I was staring at the side of the screen.

― anon., Wednesday, 8 September 2004 07:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I was about to say a personal exception would be Scrooged but to be honest I didn't really care for it as a kid (and I love it now).
-- manthony m1cc1o (anthonyisrigh...), September 7th, 2004.

the part with the frozen homeless dude scared me more than anything else.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 10:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I was freaked out for over a week after seeing the trailer for "Let Them Die Slowly" (Cannibal Ferox)
http://www.kadathdeath.de/index-Dateien/ferox2.jpg

Maybe the movie itself was cheesy and fake-looking - but the trailer, which only showed glimpses of the torture ... yikes!

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 11:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I was scared out of my wits of Nightmare on Elm Street when I was a kid. Tbh I probably watched it far too young. Not as scary now, but the concept of it stills scares me a little. Blair Witch continues to scare me to the point of being unable to sleep, as I swear I can see that dude standing in the corner of my bedroom! *shivers* you see??? argh!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 11:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Why would someone have to go anon to talk about the Frighteners? It's not so bad.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 11:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I never enjoyed (nor was scared by) any of the Nightmare on Elm Street films. They just seemed stupid and silly. Still do.

I did find The Blair Witch Project effectively spooky. I count myself lucky, though, as I managed to see it upon the first week of its release, before all the hype snowballed out of control (a syndrome which no movie can live up to). I still think its genuinely well-done.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 13:50 (twenty-one years ago)

"I never enjoyed (nor was scared by) any of the Nightmare on Elm Street films. They just seemed stupid and silly. Still do."

OTM. i hate those movies, that's why i liked 'freddy vs jason'. it just treated the whole thing as the joke it's always been.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

the first nightmare movie was really scary! i still think it's a really good horror film and a great conceit

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Dumb conceit, you mean.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

you really think so? i think the whole "can't go to sleep" thing is great!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

well yeah but the wise-cracking cartoon vllain prevented the series from becoming scary.

the first nightmare is ok, but not a classic.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Sleep in itself, yes....but the whole bit about how the child-murderer is able to "jump" inside someone's dream and kill you....it's just silly, to say nothing of implausible (and very poorly explained in the film). I know, I know,....arguing about plausibility on a horror film thread seems ridiculous, but the fact that Elm Street's conceit is so sloppily patched together renders it absolutely not-scary-at-all to me. Also, the character of Freddy Krueger is too cartoony to be scary. And the wise-crack element only makes him more so. It's horror with the depth of a soap dish. I've seen scarier things at Burger King.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

latebloomer beat me to it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

i agree that the later movies definitely tempered the idea's scariness, but i think the first film on its own has a great idea behind it (implausibility be damned! when was the last time a horror film was plausible?) and scared the shit out of me for years. (alex when will we agree on '80s genre films?)

i mean this is kinda like arguing about a comedy--either it made you laugh or it didn't, and with horror movies either they give you the chills or they don't.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I know, it's not like you or I are going to convince each other of its scariness. It just didn't happen for me. With the exception of films that deal with the occult in a serious manner, I generally require a bit of plausibility in my horror in order to be scared. And gore doesn't count (which is why I find movies like, say, Hellraiser to be gross, but not scary).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

what horror movies really do it for you?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

(i mean obviously my view of nightmare is coloured by the fact that i saw it when i was pretty young and impressionable--it was probably one of the first horror movies i ever watched--but i still like the idea, there's something terrifying about not being able to sleep, and i like the way the characters would nod off and not even realize they were sleeping, as their dream environments would initially be the same as the environments in which they passed out)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

(like that scene from labyrinth where connelly wakes up and is in her room, she assumes it was all a dream, and then she realizes it's just a mock-up of her room in the middle of the labyrinth! that always freaked me out!)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Films that scare me....hmmmmm.....

The Shining still does it for me, likewise The Exorcist. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is still mighty unnerving (and so deliciously done in a grainy low-budget sorta way). As hokey as it is, the FIRST installment of Halloween remains genuinely scary (and is not nearly as gorey as people seem to remember). The Last House on the Left is still unsettling...though not as much as it used to be. It's been a great while since I've been genuinely creeped out by a film, though.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

texas chainsaw massacre (the original) is truly one of the most horrifying films i have ever seen! (and yeah, the shining is totally scary and creepy and unsettling)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I know I'm forgetting some. I love Silence of the Lambs and the other films in the "francise" (to a much lesser degree), but I wouldn't necessarily call them strictly horror films...nor am I as effectively "scared" by them (not so much as creeped out) as I am by moments in the afore-mentioned films like The Shining and Exorcist.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

"francHise"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

the fran-cee-say!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I've still never seen the Exorcist.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree that Nightmare on Elm Street stopped being even remotely scary once Freddy started talking and cracking jokes--oh and also his methods for people just started getting really dumb. Like in "Freddy's Dead" when he kills that dude by putting him in Super Mario Brothers. Or something. But the first one is pretty spooky, and I always thought the third one was pretty spooky as well (but I haven't seen either in about 10 yrs).

― Towelette Pettatucci (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I've still never seen the Exorcist.

You're missin' out, man.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

dream warriors was pretty awesome i must admit (not so scary tho)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

five years pass...

Saw "Paranormal Activity" today. How will I sleep again?

― peter james, Sunday, 11 October 2009 05:57 (sixteen years ago)

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