Why is the horror genre so completely and utterly shit?

[copylight]

Would you call that a horror movie? It's an interesting movie, and a very nasty one, but it's never occurred to me that it could be seen as horror until now. It's a slippery old genre, for sure...

Psychological horror? It's more horror than thriller any rate. Actually Jem you said yourself that Black Death just scrapes into the horror genre so if that film makes it into classification then Antichrist is very much justified.

I think any film that (intentionally) draws you in and scares with you fits inside the horror bracket. There are films that are filed under ''suspense'' or ''thriller'', like psycho or Cape Fear that are a step down from Jason.

Is Irreversible a horror film? It's certainly horrific.

Torture porn? I dunno, alot of Cronenburg's output is taken for (body) horror, but it's more an emotional violence that is interesting and perhaps a bit erotic instead of horrific (Crash springs to mind). 

[glitch]

Has anyone seen The Poughkeepsie Tapes? It's one of my favourite horror films of the past decade. Like Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity it has an interesting "realism" gimmick suited to low budget indie film-making but it really really works. Instead of being film-found-after-the-event like those two, it's a documentary about film-found-after-the-event.

When police raid a house in a city north of New York, they discover a profoundly disturbing record of one man's ugly crimes. Investigators find over 800 videotapes shot by the killer which present a visual record of his murders in all their horrifying details. Both state and federal law enforcement teams sift through the gruesome images, looking for clues of the slayer's identity, the identity of his victims, and where he could possibly have gone. But repeated viewings of the material reveals little beyond the terrible facts of the crimes, and as the authorities comb through the madman's images, they find the tapes have had a disquieting effect on them.

Off the top of my head I don't think there's any graphic onscreen death but it succeeds in being very, very creepy. There's one definite shock moment and it works so well because they don't make a massive deal out of it, it's onscreen for only a few seconds. As the film is shot as a documentary it has interviews with FBI forensic psychologists and has an interesting spin on the approach used in Silence of the Lambs.

Oh and it's got the greatest post-credits shot ever.

[Famous Mortimer]

I thought everyone in that film were actors? Anyway, I watched it and didn't care that much for it, but your mileage may vary and all that.

[gloria]

Drag Me To Hell was fun but even that was just so fucking cheesy.  I can imagine people only really enjoying it in an indulgent, parodic way.

[glitch]

I thought everyone in that film were actors? Anyway, I watched it and didn't care that much for it, but your mileage may vary and all that.

Yeah, should have made it clear. It's a "mockumentary", not a genuine documentary.

[Niall Quim]

Am I alone in liking Paranormal Activity? I thought it tapped well into the mundanity of what can give you the creeps in the night, how vulnerable an inexplicable noise can make you feel, or a door moving by itself, while you're sleeping helplessly a few feet away. Though, the blasé attitude of the cast didn't really fit (

Spoiler alert

especially when it gets to the point that they definitely have an invisible monster roaming their house

[close]

) and I can't imagine the sequel being anything short of full-on silliness. I still found it pretty unsettling though, and so few horrors ever manage that for me. I'm willing to forgive an awful lot if I can be made to be genuinely creeped out.

Pontypool had some great moments, the ideas it plays around with and the stuff that's left to your imagination, or is only heard, are far and away more impressive than what they could've explicitly shown.

I really liked The Poughkeepsie Tapes too, so very bleak. Films like that, and Salo, Irreversible, Threads, Eraserhead... I'd call them all horror films to some extent, because they succeed in what I most look for in the horror genre: that sense of being sucked into a nightmare and when you're spat out after the credits, the feeling permeates and forces you to have to acclimatise back into the real world. Basically, films that can put you in a bad mood, and not because they're shit.

[BlodwynPig]

How good would Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves be on film? Definitely the most unsettling book I have read and also very cinematic (although perhaps to multifarious to put on film, unless you are Lynch)

[glitch]

Am I alone in liking Paranormal Activity?

Nope, I loved it. Although as I downloaded it I saw the "festival" cut which has a different ending and one or two extra scenes. Having read about the cinema release I think I'd prefer that.

I'm curious as to how they'll tackle a sequel without rehashing the same content though.

[Niall Quim]

I saw a trailer for it the other day and it showed more footage of the first film than the sequel, so that might not be the best of signs for fresh new content. I hope I'm wrong though, I'm a sucker for that sort of faux reality stuff.

[Jemble Fred]

Like Blair Witch 2, it may be a more satisfying watch than the original film simply because having an entire first movie behind it could begin to give the concept the layers of backstory, character and plot which it so sorely lacked first time around.

[Custard]

I'd also recommend Wolf Creek, Session 9, and The Others as reasonably recent horrors worth checking out.

[Custard]

Pontypool is a recent US horror which is unusual in that it values suspense, characterisation and ideas over gore, and I would highly recommend it to those disillusioned with modern horror.

On your recommendation, I watched this late last night. In the dark.

Didn't know anything about it going in, so was constantly on edge and wondering what the cunty fuck was gonna happen! Took a while to get going for me maybe, but ended up being well enjoyable, with some excellent central performances.

Read up a bit about it on Wiki afterwards, and noticed that the two leads are actually married in real life. No wonder they had such decent chemistry. Heh

So yeah, I fank yew!

[Brundle-Fly]

I've enjoyed recent horrors, Splinter, Coffin Rock, Frontiers (although silly) 

[ThickAndCreamy]

I generally just ignore horror, unless it sounds particularly original or just exempt from the cliched techniques of the genre. I have to say though, there are still some amazing films out there.

For example, The Return even though it isn't really a horror, more a thriller / drama, it still has some elements of it in. The tension is unbearable, the screenplay is bleak yet the scenery is sublime. I'm never scared by films usually but watching this late at night in an unknown place terrified me. It's cinematography is reminiscent of Tarkovsky and the vast scenes of bleak wilderness help create a truly powerful, and frightening atmosphere throughout. Honestly one of the best, tension and fear filled films I've seen this decade. Magnificent stuff even if it isn't truly a horror film.

[vrailaine]

There's a lack of focus on soundtracks for horror films these days, isn't there? Always seemed like a fairly important factor of a horror film to me.

I don't really like the genre too much anyway though.

[Custard]

Been rewatching one of my "guilty pleasures" this week: The Final Destination series.

Still think the first is entertaining and one of the better horrors of the past ten years, and the second has possibly even better ideas (and deaths), hell, even the third is a good romp (the opening rollercoaster crash is done brilliantly). But bloody 'ell, that last one, The Final Destination is well shoddy.

It doesn't help that it was so clearly made for a 3D audience (nearly everything flies at the camera), so it loses that aspect on DVD, but talk about running out of ideas. Not very funny or inventive deaths, either. And the characters are even more unlikeable and disposable than in the previous films. So in the end, I didn't actually care about any of them, or how they'd cark it, which is most of the fun of a Final Destination film, innit.

I've now started rewatching the Saw films. Watched the first one last night, and still enjoy it. Even Cary Elwes' honking acting, and the twist erm.... not really making much sense really. Nice to see a sort-of Lost reunion too, with Ben Linus and Miles arsing about here n there. Wonderfully OTT and hammy acting from Danny Glover's obsessed ex-cop, too. How they managed to rope him into it, I'll never know.

Sticking on the second one later. The one with the pit of syringes. Magic.

[Dead kate moss]

With the occasional notable exception, horror movies are not even real cinema. They are a ghost-ride, a set-up, a boogie-man, then a series of unsettling moments scored with creepy music until the director goes 'BOOO!'

They are for teenage boys and women of all ages. Boys usually go through a phase where they watch them to prove their manlihood, and then grow up and appreciate real movies. Women seem to think it's shocking or unusual to confess that they love 'scary movies.' It's not.

The difference might be that when teenage boys watch a slasher movie they are using the evil antagonist to project feelings of power in a fantasy setting (while watching those bitches that wouldn't sleep with them and their stupid jock boyfriends  get mutilated). Then they should hopefully get laid and move on.

Women however always have the fear of being stalked, murdered, etc. So a movie that provides a cathartic release of these pent-up emotions is more useful over the course of their adulthood. Plot, good direction, great acting, memorable scores - all the things that make great cinema, are about as important here as they are in a porn movie.

Either way, if you have to take a woman to a movie on a date, go for the horror, it makes them horny.

[Mr Colossal]

There's a lack of focus on soundtracks for horror films these days, isn't there? Always seemed like a fairly important factor of a horror film to me.

yeah, I dont know why there's been a decade long trend of associating booming metal soundtracks like static x, korn etc. with american slasher type horrors, as even though the artists themselves like to wrap themselves up in this DARK imagery, i've never found the music to be particularly eerie, unless its just glitchy snippets of feedback.  There are still the occasional good horror being made, but I just think theres a lot of generic filler  from an oversaturation of fanboy directors and a diminishing audience expectancy itself.... like I know goths and psychobilly fans who regardless of quality will just shriek at anything remotely tim burton/mark ryden-esque, frankenstein, bela lugosi etc.  And you just get the impression the same is happening with directors.  They just dont strike me as interesting, fucked up people anymore,  theyre not like your cronenbergs, lynches and vorhoeven's, theyre just fanboys who cut themselves out of the self-development loop first by taking something like media studies and going to film school so by the time they're behind the camera they can only spoonfeed out ironic homages to already established horror clichés and directors, so you're just getting lots of these 'horror by numbers' efforts.     And I quite like the saw franchise too, even though not many people have heard of a the film 'fear.com'  which was a very similar concept released a few years before.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Von Trier made this decades best horror with Antichrist. The most atmospheric film I've had the experience of watching. What with all the nob-slashing controversy, the feel of the film is more longer lasting and memorable. He got it just right like Gilliam got Brazil right and whoever the fuck shat out that crap Paraplegic Paranormal activity got it wrong.

Antichrist was pretentious rubbish I thought. Von Trier certainly shoots some beautiful shots but over does the slow-mo-in-the-rain effect. Apart from that the 'plot' between him and her was tragically one dimensional and by the end of it, due to not relating to or caring about any of the characters, I couldn't wait for it to end. His poor use of English dialogue did not help the film flow at all and I would have prefered subs so as not to compromise the mood.

As for The Poughkeepsie Tapes, it was a gallant attempt at a decent horror with an obviously low budget. Nice touch with the mockumentary angle but unfortunately the FBI chief was a little too like Lloyd Bridges in Airplane and so brought an element of Spike Milligan to the film. At times it appeared he could have seamlessly broken into "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue". But that's what you have to expect on a shoe string.

[quadraspazzed]

Been rewatching one of my "guilty pleasures" this week: The Final Destination series.

Never seen any of these before, but watching FD3 right now, and just want to register my absolute indifference to it. Frankly, I'm bored out of my mind. It may not help that I'm a bit drunk, but the only thing keeping me watching is that there's literally nothing else on. That and the female lead has the whole 'Winnie from The Wonder Years, but grown up' thing going on.

Edit: Eh, hope that doesn't come across as cunty or anything, s'not meant to be. Just passing judgement on the film, not the recommendation.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Never seen any of these before, but watching FD3 right now, and just want to register my absolute indifference to it. Frankly, I'm bored out of my mind. It may not help that I'm a bit drunk, but the only thing keeping me watching is that there's literally nothing else on. That and the female lead has the whole 'Winnie from The Wonder Years, but grown up' thing going on.
Edit: Eh, hope that doesn't come across as cunty or anything, s'not meant to be. Just passing judgement on the film, not the recommendation.

Second one is best by a million miles. Sure, the first one has the whole 'originality' thing, but the second film takes everything the first one did and does it better, and is a crazy tongue-in-cheek horror film with an awesome opening scene which made me wary of log-carrying lorries on the motorway ever since.

[SavageHedgehog]

Personally I thought the 3-D one last year was hilarious. It's one of those films IMDB/AICN types think is either totally inept or "so bad it's funny", but it's bloody obvious the whole thing is a gag. The third one is dull

[Viero_Berlotti]

Session 9

I watched this last night after having it recommended by my dad who is a bit of a horror film aficionado. It is certainly one of the better horror films of the past ten years, purely by the virtue of being neither a pointless remake, torture porn, generic teen slasher or another half-baked zombie/vampire flick.

It owes a lot to The Shining, in that the star of the show is the building, the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital. It's really well shot and edited as well but it's not without it's flaws. Some of the central characters are a bit underdeveloped and wooden, but if this film has passed under your radar it's well worth tracking down.

[unky herb]

In the last few years I must have watched tens of pretty boring horror movies. The ones that I liked are:

Serious ones:

The Children - wasn't expecting much, but played out just the way I was hoping for it too. Well worth a download. Managed to forget I was watching a low-budget British horror too. Although, maybe the fact I don't watch soaps and didn't recognise anyone helped.

Session 9 - recommended on another thread on CaB many moons ago. Unsettling from the start, even though nothing bad is actually happening.

Guilty pleasures:

Wrong Turn series - typical b-movie attitude, knows what it has to do and does it well. Fun set-ups for the 2nd and 3rd movie rather than just rehashes. They all have a different mood too.

Cabin Fever 2 - I fucking loved this film. It has been slated everywhere, but for some reason it ticked all my boxes. Again, it has the b-movie feeling. The soundtrack was one of my favourite bits.

Hostel - c'mon - who doesn't love this? "I am the one paying THEM!"

Human Centipede - I only heard about this through word of mouth and had to check it out to see if it would be what I was expecting. It was!

Spoiler alert

Imagine being the middle one left alive and just waiting there unable to move until dead. Eek!

[close]

I have to say that I rarely find any of them scary, they just evoke the same feeling as a watching an Arnie film - a good premise, amusing set pieces and if you are a lucky some one liners.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Personally I thought the 3-D one last year was hilarious. It's one of those films IMDB/AICN types think is either totally inept or "so bad it's funny", but it's bloody obvious the whole thing is a gag. The third one is dull

It was great in 3D, but in 2D it is quite poor.

[Jemble Fred]

Hostel - c'mon - who doesn't love this?

*Proudly stands up to be counted.* I despise it in every way. I especially hate it for being so shit all the way through, but still getting me hepped up and involved in the very last few moments, against my will. But it's just appalling.

[samadriel]

Session 9 Fuck You

Teehee.

[sirhenry]

Regarding the thread title, could it have anything to do with the ubiquity of fast cuts in films these days? It precludes the slow build-up of tension (with the old adage that the monsters are scariest when unseen) and has to replace it with basic shock tricks and gore.
Just a thought.

[Junglist]

The Loved Ones.

Watch it, tis wonderful.

[lipsink]

Session 9

Thanks for the recommendation. I watched this last night and it gave the creeps

Spoiler alert

(especially the session recordings), even though the ending was slightly anticlimatic and slapdash after all that unbearable suspense.

[close]

I'd never heard of this film. Was nice to see Peter Mullan have a lead role in an American movie.