The most frightened you've ever been by a film

[Hangthebuggers]

Yes, but it's still just a film about America's fear of any country that isn't America. That's the only bad taste it left in my mouth.

Well every god damn Hollywood road movie either set IN or OUTSIDE of America is basically a distorted xenophobic reflection, but that's not what I was leaning towards.

I was more concerned with the rumours that similar things have occurred in Eastern Europe (human sex trade) and certain parts of Mexico (alleged snuff movies) and such. The concept isn't too far flung from shadier parts of the world as we'd like to believe.

[Noodle Lizard]

Yes, but it's still just a film about America's fear of any country that isn't America. That's the only bad taste it left in my mouth.

So what are the SAW films about?  Or 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'?  Or any number of American films featuring similar subject matter that are set in America?

Meh, I hate 'Hostel', but that's daft conjecture.  If you were talking about 'Eurotrip' ... well, you might have a point there (albeit a very banal one).

[Noodle Lizard]

There's something fundamentally chilling about its concept of a secret club of wealthy men spending money to choose which type of tourist to abuse at their own will.

Apparently there was a real website that either Eli Roth or Quentin Tarantino came across which purported to offer that kind of thing, which then disappeared.  Sounds like a publicity statement, though.  But I think you'd be foolish to think something similar doesn't exist somewhere.

[Kane Jones]

Pah, there was me trying to have a swipe at the USA and you two have to bring common sense into the equation.

You're both right, of course. I guess what I was aiming for (and missed) was the notion that if the stats are true that not a lot of Americans own passports or have any desire to leave their country, then movies like Hostel might perpetuate this. It was a ham-fisted and ill-conceived statement though, so I apologise.

[Noodle Lizard]

I guess what I was aiming for (and missed) was the notion that if the stats are true that not a lot of Americans own passports or have any desire to leave their country, then movies like Hostel might perpetuate this.

One of the less sensible accusations about dumb Americans.  Remember, the USA is about the size of Europe, with almost as much variation between states as there are between European nations (minus the languages), so there's not as much incentive to travel outside as there is in the UK, for instance.  I'm sure if you tallied up the number of Europeans who have never left Europe you might get similar statistics. 

May also be worth remembering that a plane ticket to any country outside of the USA is a bit expensive for a lot of citizens (Mexico and Canada notwithstanding - and until a couple of years ago, Americans didn't need a passport to visit either country).

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Yes, but it's still just a film about America's fear of any country that isn't America. That's the only bad taste it left in my mouth.

Would you prefer Vacancy, which was a similar concept but set in a US motel?

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

As an aside, it's just occurred to me that a film version of 1982, Janine by Alastair Gray would be feasible, even though I previously assumed it was an "unfilmable book". I reckon Lynch could do it.

[BlodwynPig]

Well every god damn Hollywood road movie either set IN or OUTSIDE of America is basically a distorted xenophobic reflection, but that's not what I was leaning towards.

I was more concerned with the rumours that similar things have occurred in Eastern Europe (human sex trade) and certain parts of Mexico (alleged snuff movies) and such. The concept isn't too far flung from shadier parts of the world as we'd like to believe.

Tesis

[billtheburger]

Tesis

I actually watched this last week.
Apart from a tense section in pitch black underground tunnels, I thought it was a pretty run of the mill, twisty, murder mystery. I was a little disappointed. I'd  put it off for ages believing it was going to be harsh.

I preferred Amenabar's Abre Los Ojos (which I'd watched the night before).

[The Ghost of Michael Winner]

One of the less sensible accusations about dumb Americans.  Remember, the USA is about the size of Europe, with almost as much variation between states as there are between European nations (minus the languages), so there's not as much incentive to travel outside as there is in the UK, for instance.  I'm sure if you tallied up the number of Europeans who have never left Europe you might get similar statistics. 

May also be worth remembering that a plane ticket to any country outside of the USA is a bit expensive for a lot of citizens (Mexico and Canada notwithstanding - and until a couple of years ago, Americans didn't need a passport to visit either country).

good defending 10/10







G-D BLES THE USA

[ColonelVolestrangler]

I know I'll get slated (hi Jemble Fred!!) but I do think I should stick up for Paranormal Activity. It definitely stuck with me for a bit - not the silly bits about claw prints in the talc or the photo setting itself on fire (or the jumpy BANG bits) - but the sleeping scenes. When it switched to the night cam and that quiet droney noise started, I thought it was quite an interesting and novel cinematic device i.e/ knowing that something scary might happen, probably very slowly or quietly or subtly, and having to actually lean into the screen and search it out.

'Paranormal Activity' didn't linger with me after it finished, but it definitely had me feeling uneasy while I watched it, simply by leaving an open doorway into darkness at the back of so many of its shots, causing me to keep looking towards that doorway in case anything was to suddenly come through it. So, yes, a definite feeling that something 'might happen', rather than anything that actually did.

For me, the film that really, really, REALLY affected me was 'Don't Look Now', when it was on BBC1 on a Friday night in the 80s. I'd had a 'Starburst' annual devoted to horror films, decade by decade, which mentioned this, and said that Donald Sutherland follows what he believes to be his daughter but (as I think they put it) 'naturally it turns out to be something far worse'. From this, I expected a ghost of some sort, and was utterly unprepared for that ending.

So much so that I remember just whispering, 'Oh, God', getting up and walking out of the room (leaving my Dad looking bemused) and sat reading comics all night trying to get my mind off it. Which didn't work. Even the idea of the film terrified me, to the point that I used a black felt tip pen to completely blank out that paragraph in the 'Starburst' annual just because I didn't want to be reminded of it. And, a year or two later, while looking through film books in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, I nearly dropped a book when I turned a page and found a photograph of the final scene.

The next time it came on TV, I made myself watch it as a form of exorcism, though I had to get someone else to come into the room fifteen minutes before the end, as I couldn't watch it alone. It was only this time that all the clues with bodies being dragged from canals actually registered with me.

Even references to it in other things - a car advert with a bloke leaving Venice and getting back to his car, full of imagery like a statue being pulled out of the water dripping like a murder victim, a Tango ad with a bloke suddenly alone in a football stadium with a crone in an orange raincoat  - have given me the shudders over the years.

I've now seen it about a dozen times, on video, DVD, and at the cinema, so I think it's more beautiful and tragic than terrifying, but I'd still not be inclined to watch it alone at home after dark.

[babyshambler]

I thought Inside was far and away the best of the recent French horror films. And it was genuinely scary in parts.

I enjoyed it, but it didn't scare me, when I can't help thinking it really should have. Scenes like the

Spoiler alert

crazed lady standing at the window whilst being (flash) photographed

[close]

sounds chilling on paper, but it just wasn't effective. I could watch hack and slash all day (I don't, by the way) but add a

Spoiler alert

pregnant woman

[close]

to the occasion and it turns up my squeamishness by about 400%. The gore effects, however, were fantastic! Especially

Spoiler alert

the policeman that had half of his face shot off.

[close]

That looked GREAT. As did the

Spoiler alert

burn effects.

[close]

Despite the subject matter, the film felt fairly light overall, especially when compared with the weighty Martyrs, for example. 3 popcorn bags outta 5.

[grassbath]

Thanks to earlier mention of it in this thread I just watched 2001 for the first time in several years. I watched it with my dad, who's a big believer in cinematic atmosphere and loves any chance to use his gadgets, so he took advantage of my mum being out to turn off all the lights and crank up the sound system something proper. That opening sequence with the sun rising over the earth was blowing my hair back, the neighbours must have thought our house was about to fucking take off. My mum came home in the middle of the stargate sequence, poked her head round the door and said "are you two drunk?"

It wasn't as scary and intense as I'd remembered in general although I did notice for the first time how the eerie calls and echoes in the white room at the end prefigure the exact same aural atmosphere Kubrick would use for the Overlook in the Shining. I suppose it would be a lot creepier if you didn't know what was going to happen.

[non capisco]

For me, the film that really, really, REALLY affected me was 'Don't Look Now', when it was on BBC1 on a Friday night in the 80s. I'd had a 'Starburst' annual devoted to horror films, decade by decade, which mentioned this, and said that Donald Sutherland follows what he believes to be his daughter but (as I think they put it) 'naturally it turns out to be something far worse'. From this, I expected a ghost of some sort, and was utterly unprepared for that ending.

For me with 'Don't Look Now' it was the scene at the start with Sutherland carrying the corpse of his drowned child out of the pond, his face contorted with grief, that really chilled me when I saw it as a teenager. But, yes, the end still packs a punch. It's indelibly creepy in a way that's not as retrospectively easy to mock as something like 'The Exorcist' when it all goes tits up and her head starts spinning round and sicking goo. I bet Ricky Gervais finds it hysterical though. "HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHHHHHH KARL IT WAS A MIDGET, OH I CAN'T BREATHE, PLAY A RECORD."

Talking of Donald Sutherland, the first time I saw the 70s 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' as part of Alex Cox's Moviedrome on a knackered black and white portable telly in my room and THAT happened at the end....eesh. I remember watching the end credits roll in silence, switching off the telly, rolling over and trying to go to sleep whilst feeling chilled to the marrow. I still love that film, one of my all-time favourites and good ammunition when people say 'all remakes are shit', but part of me wishes I could erase the part of my brain that remembers the ending so I could feel that delicious chill again. Although fat chance of that as the useless nuggets who brought out the DVD put a still image of the last shot on the menu screen.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Although fat chance of that as the useless nuggets who brought out the DVD put a still image of the last shot on the menu screen.

If I was ever on Room 101 I would include this for sure. I fucking hate medu screens with their tonal and plot spoilers, and the way you are FORCED to watch them.

Much like the many copyright and advert sections on DVDs these days. It's hard to work out why people torrent when this is the shabby treatment you get when you actually fork out.

[billtheburger]

Lake Mungo - now this film has it's fair share of creepy moments, and I liked the premise, but I found it a rather slow. The kind of history channel documentary it is parodying runs about 45mins which made this at least 30 mins too long.

The freakiest part of the film was due to my 2 year old son waking up half an hour in screaming. The film was paused and my wife went up to see him and he was pointing to the corner of his room saying "Arthur Spot" over and over until he began laughing

This combination of events certainly had me frightened about something.

[Cerys]

ALL HAIL ARTHUR SPOT MUNGO!

[lazarou]

Lake Mungo - now this film has it's fair share of creepy moments, and I liked the premise, but I found it a rather slow. The kind of history channel documentary it is parodying runs about 45mins which made this at least 30 mins too long.

I enjoyed that one, it's a great little slow burner. It's got an enjoyably unnerving tone to it and at least one really good scare, but yeah, it's fairly slight stuff. Still one of the better found footage/documentary-style horror films of the last few years though, I think.

[billtheburger]

I will give it a rewatch when channel4 stick it on.
I feel I should watch it uninterrupted. Plus everyone I discuss it with states appreciation.

[Phil_A]

For me with 'Don't Look Now' it was the scene at the start with Sutherland carrying the corpse of his drowned child out of the pond, his face contorted with grief, that really chilled me when I saw it as a teenager. But, yes, the end still packs a punch. It's indelibly creepy in a way that's not as retrospectively easy to mock as something like 'The Exorcist' when it all goes tits up and her head starts spinning round and sicking goo. I bet Ricky Gervais finds it hysterical though. "HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHHHHHH KARL IT WAS A MIDGET, OH I CAN'T BREATHE, PLAY A RECORD."

Talking of Donald Sutherland, the first time I saw the 70s 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' as part of Alex Cox's Moviedrome on a knackered black and white portable telly in my room and THAT happened at the end....eesh. I remember watching the end credits roll in silence, switching off the telly, rolling over and trying to go to sleep whilst feeling chilled to the marrow. I still love that film, one of my all-time favourites and good ammunition when people say 'all remakes are shit', but part of me wishes I could erase the part of my brain that remembers the ending so I could feel that delicious chill again. Although fat chance of that as the useless nuggets who brought out the DVD put a still image of the last shot on the menu screen.

Actually, you know what the real most disturbing part of that film was...



A dog with the face of George Carlin!

In all seriousness, that moment when the dog runs up out of nowhere is genuinely one of the creepiest things(despite the inexplicable banjo music).

[SteveDave]

I'm currently watching Martyrs. I'm not exactly frightened by it but I do keep exclaiming "Oh my fuck!" over & over.

[babyshambler]

I'm currently watching Martyrs. I'm not exactly frightened by it but I do keep exclaiming "Oh my fuck!" over & over.

It gets ohmyfuckier about 3/4 of the way through. Enjoy!

[SteveDave]

Yeah. I had to have a break after she

Spoiler alert

was pulling the staples out of that woman's head in the bath.

The flaying scene wasn't as awful as I was expecting though...

[close]

[DukeDeMondo]

Another here for Lake Mungo. Upset and scared the fuck off of me. Also, both Women in Black. Genuinely scared me. 

Edit: Martyrs I think is one of the best films of the past twenty years, and it truly did terrify me. Brilliant, thought-provoking and utterly terrifying piece of work, that. Wish to cunts he'd got the Hellraiser rejig sorted out. Someone's gonna do it, it should have been him (to paraphrase Billy Ray Cyrus).

[SteveDave]

According to the Wikipedia entry Martyrs is being remade in American. With a different ending...

Stamm has said "[The original film] is very nihilistic. The American approach [that I'm looking at] would go through all that darkness but then give a glimmer of hope. You don't have to shoot yourself when it's over."[15]

Sweet Jesus. This means that there'll be more backstory for

Spoiler alert

the man & woman who beat/feed her. They will have had a child that died (who would've been the same age as "Anna") & then "Anna" will say something as she's being beat/fed that will make the beater/feeder feel sorry for her. I can see it now.

[close]

The original story is a dead owl, that's been flayed, laying in the gutter on Thanksgiving.

[DukeDeMondo]

Aw fuck that. Martyrs is perfect, it says everything it has to say about the genre, about Victim Souls, about guilt (cultural, national or individual) about horror cinema, in tongues knotted by nothing or nobody. Also, that comment from the remake folk is fucking ridiculous. There's nothing nihilistic about it.

[Noodle Lizard]

Fucksake.  I don't particularly care about the original, don't think it's anywhere near as good as people make it out to be, but them Americans really know how to arse a thing up.

[Johnny Townmouse]

The original is perfect in many ways - at least in terms of what it is trying to do. In the context of films like Hostel, it's practically fucking Citizen Kane.

The good news is that the original will always be there to watch and enjoy, and the American remake will be there to ignore. Forever.

[Noodle Lizard]

The original is perfect in many ways - at least in terms of what it is trying to do. In the context of films like Hostel, it's practically fucking Citizen Kane.

The good news is that the original will always be there to watch and enjoy, and the American remake will be there to ignore. Forever.

It's not so much that it's being remade, it's that people who have no idea that an original even exists will be going "Oh da martus is dum be dun scard mi arse" or whatever it is the masses sound like these days.