ok lets all shit our pants to something old: pre-2006 horror film thread

Another odd thing, I saw this on the Movies4Men channel which mostly shows action and military trash.

the film i saw after that which used the multiple panel thing was greenaway's Pillow Book. It's probably been used all over the place but I'm not a very good cineaste.

Evil Dead series and Braindead/Dead Alive have nothing to apologize for because they are great. Probably Society too. Mixed feelings on Stuart Gordon's Reanimator, From Beyond.

love all these movies unreservedly, personally

The Gate, Spookies, Fright Night series, House series, Ghoulies, The Burbs, Monster Club, Return Of The Living Dead

these uh, yeah less so. Return of the Living Dead is good fun, probably the best out of all these.

My rewatch of Night of the Creeps was only so-so.

Society would be one of the all-time greats if it had a decent ending.

Society is really odd tonally. It's so weird how the peeping tom who knows the truth is treated so lightly by everyone for most of the film. All the dynamics between characters are so odd and I don't know how intentional it is.

Can anyone comment on Yuzna's output? Apparently that Mena Suvari film he did was good.

Society would be one of the all-time greats if it had a decent ending

wtf the ending is the best thing about it

or are you referring to something else besides the SHUNT

I'm sure everyone loves when the boy says "fuck you butthead" to his dad.

If I had a physical copy of SOCIETY I'd shunt it, that's how much I love it.

I've always wanted to see Parents. Saw 15mins of it and it seemed similar to Society.

Parents is a strange movie - it doesn't have the marxist undercurrent, it isn't funny, and it's closer to a disturbing Freudian family drama in tone. iirc it was marketed as something of a comedy but the tone of it is all wrong.

holy shit looking at the credits I had no idea that was a Bob Balaban movie, what a weird thing for him to do

it's closer to Lynch than Yuzna

FYI, Balaban wrote/directed a few epidsodes of Tales From The Darkside/Monsters and was initially supposed to direct Creepshow 2. Dunno how much of a horror pedigree that gives him, but it's not totally outside his wheelhouse.

huh I had no idea

just read some career retrospective interview with him, what a random career that guy has had. I had no idea he directed some episodes of Strangers with Candy, or was responsible for Gosford Park, for ex.

BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (Coppola)

Haven't seen this in 15 years and it's way better than I remembered. I'm certain this film is generally considered a letdown, but aside from Keanu's infamous performance and being too long (especially the end), I don't think there's a whole lot wrong with it. I think it's actually a favourite of mine now, which I never expected.
I wish there were way more horror films as beautiful and detailed as this, there's just so much to see. I never realised it taken bits from the Murnau Nosferatu and Caspar David Friedrich paintings. Totally forgotten Jim Steranko did concept art for this.

Unfortunately I heard that Universal is planning to ape the Marvel universe movies and have loads of interconnected films that join together in a new Van Helsing. So I think they'll all probably be dumbed down more than they'd usually be.

I revisited the Coppola Dracula not long ago myself, and also found it way better than I'd remembered.

Along those lines, you know what I've been meaning to revisit for 20 years? "Nadja."

Actually one thing that seems a bit hard to believe is How Keanu fully trusts Winona in the situation at the end, even after everything that happened.

Actually it was Stuart Gordon who directed Stuck with Mena Suvari, not Yuzna.
I had no clue that Gordon and Yuzna did the story to Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. I get their films mixed up because they collaborated often and made similar films.

I'm saying "actually" too much.

Anyone seen the original "Elm Street" any time recently? Worth re-watching? The Fresh Prince's "Nightmare on My Street" just popped up and I thought, huh, maybe I should give it a fresh viewing.

I watched it a couple years ago, its okay/entertaining in a trashy way. II is better.

re: Coppola's Dracula - totally fun film, albeit one I do not take at all seriously. Looks great and full of strange stylistic choices, hammy acting and Winona's heaving bosom.

original elm street is always worth watching

II is better/

Definitely weirder/gayer! It and "Jeepers Creeper 2" pretty much corner the homoerotic horror sequel market.

all part of that 80s tradition of sequels being better than the original - Superman II, Wrath of Khan, Empire, Friday the 13th Pt II, I'm sure there's others

Interesting, I actually prefer the second Elm Street too but most people seem to think it's redundant, and even though I prefer it to the first, maybe it is still redundant.
I never saw the third one. For some reason Now TV is loaded up with all the big slasher series except Nightmare On Elm Street and Halloween.

Friday the 13th Part 2 is terrible. The first several minutes or so are just clips from the first movie, then barely anything happens after. I tried watching a few years back and it was a snooooooooooze.

Nightmare films are p good up through IV iirc. The Freddy vs. Jason movie is really stupid (predictably) but I recall enjoying it in the theater. The Friday the 13th series is kind of unbearable after part IV.

Part VI is great fun. On purpose.

Totally read this when I was younger:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51p55wzphNL._SL500_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Unfortunately I have seen Freddy vs Jason. You could teach that in a class of how not to make horror films. I think it had a silly nu-metal soundtrack too.

Man, Jason Takes Manhattan is like a class in how not to make a movie, period.

almost all of them are terribly made, just really sloppy. IV is easily the best due to having a coherent plot/central character and decent casting plus this http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ani2.gif

Not to mention Corey Feldman in a surprise role as Billy Corgan.

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/568726/thumbs/o-COREY-FELDMAN-FRIDAY-THE-13TH-570.jpg?4

I think all the Nightmares, except Freddy's Dead, are worth a look. Part 2 is actually the least redundant--it goes in a different direction than the other movies, becoming a pretty straight-up possession movie (a la Amityville 2). (Actually, wasn't Amityville 2 another gay-ish sequel to put next to Nightmare 2 and Jeepers 2?)

As I mentioned in the Halloween shit yer pants thread, I just rewatched Nightmares 2-7 weekend before last. My past opinions were confirmed: 1-4 are varying levels of good (I still think 4 is my favorite, certainly the most entertaining), 5-7 are varying levels of bad (although Freddy's Dead is the only outright piece of shit in the bunch). People still rep for New Nightmare but I feel like that's gotta be more because of the concept than the execution.

3 and 4 are the most Hollywood. Competent directors, good FX.

new nightmare is fucking garbage

Totally. I'd take even the worst of the first six movies over New Nightmare.

That's so meta.

New Nightmare is the limpest wet noodle of a supernatural slasher movie that just happens to also feature actors playing themselves. And it's soooooo interminable. Aside from the meta element, it's easily the least creative entry in the franchise.

What if it was all a dream and it was never actually made, like the reboot?

Skipped through Nightmare 2, since it is the only one on Netflix, and it was stupid and dull and about as scary as "Zapped!" As a metaphor for repressed homosexuality, sure, it works OK, because otherwise this dude had no demons beyond Freddy. He had a girlfriend, even the bully was his buddy and called him "bro." He dressed OK, got invited to parties, had a car. Though of course when the door was closed he dressed up and danced to Fonda Rae and mimed masturbation with a pop gun.

You take that back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjfAy917gHg

vs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_f0ELRcgCo

Been wanting to talk Tobe Hooper for a while. Poltergeist discussed above.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
One of the few films that's really worth the hype. I really love it.

EATEN ALIVE/DEATH TRAP
I often see reviews saying this is one of the worst horror films ever made but I think it's very far from that. There's a lot to admire but I have to keep in mind that Hooper did not finish this film by himself, or so I've heard.
I like that it sticks to one night and never strays far from the one location. It's a misty, creaky old hotel with a crocodile in the waters next to it.
Many films are said to be inspired by 50s horror comics but this film has that same dark and lurid colored aura more than any other film I've seen, though the similarity may be accidental. It has a real atmosphere.
The portrayal of the deranged hotel owner fascinates me, especially the quiet whispering scenes. The crazy dad makes it more interesting too.
By the end it gets too straightforward and a bit dull, which is a shame. But I still recommend it as a nice little mood piece.

SALEM'S LOT
I like this mainly because it has several fantastic scary bits, a few of which traumatized my younger self. The vampires looked great.
I can't remember how well the whole thing strings together, partly because there are edited down versions that cut out some important scenes altogether, who knows why? My main complaint is the scenes that freeze still at the end, it just didn't look right.
I feel that this film (really a televised two parter) is important for its striking images and I don't like when it gets left out lists.

THE FUNHOUSE
Another film which is too straightforward in some ways but has some odd aspects and an overall dark, sad and dirty mood I really enjoy. Elizabeth Berridge (from Amadeus) is gorgeous in a really unusual way.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2
The idea of the director of the original film returning in a radically different style appealed to me. The early scene on the road is amazing and the mad Dennis Hopper intent on revenge seemed so promising. But it turns into a slog that suffers partly for the increasing similarities to the original. If you didn't know Hooper was the director you'd think it was a fan doing a clumsy homage for an ending. Huge disappointment.

THE MANGLER
Some people had recommended this strongly and said it was very underrated. It was on tv and annoyingly I kept falling asleep (which I only seem to do when watching films I care about) but it was indeed very strange in places but I'm not sure I'd buy it to give it another shot.

A lot has been said about Hooper's decline but I haven't seen enough to comment (worried I'll just agree with most fans) and some people say that he is still a great director but has had extraordinarily bad luck. His book was quite well recieved. I really hope he makes some good stuff again.
I've heard Kiyoshi Kurosawa wrote an in-depth study of Hooper's filmography and I've saw Tsukamoto photographed with him. Perhaps Hooper is considered more of an important director in Japan?