Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 09:30:07 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Good Horror Movies

Started by Hank Venture, August 19, 2013, 11:37:32 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

purlieu

Thought Cam was pretty good. Definitely had a Twilight Zone vibe, and although a little long, didn't particularly outstay its welcome. Genuine sympathy for the main character, and a lot of tension: the situation felt so down-to-Earth that it was horrible to watch someone's life go off the rails like that. The lack of tedious exposition was a major benefit too. No classic, but really worth a watch.

Dr Syntax Head

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on March 11, 2019, 03:19:24 PM
Watched a new Netflix thing called Await Further Instructions. An odd film, starts off like an own brand Black Mirror with a really shit actress. A load of shit actors family comes together for Christmas and then realises they're all trapped in the house together and can't get out. TV starts displaying 'sinister' messages and David Bradley is a racist grandad. So far, so boring. Then, at the end, it does something unexpected but not in a particularly fun way.

I saw that one bored afternoon. It wants to be something it isn't.

Dr Syntax Head

Quote from: zomgmouse on March 12, 2019, 06:28:09 AM
The Guest was astonishingly fun -  full of holes, but still really enjoyable. Stressed me out no end - which was its job, of course.
Has Wingard made a good film besides this and You're Next? Seems like he's been involved with a lot of questionable stuff...

I really liked this film for what it was. It reminded me a little of that film where Emile Hirsch is a rebel type who befriends a loner kid and gradually goes psycho.

SteveDave

There's a modern film where a man is convinced that everyone is being taken over by aliens or sutin but I can't remember what it's called. American indie. Cheap looking. Someone on here recommended it. It's called something like "They Are Still Out There" or some other long winded title? Any ideas?

riotinlagos

Quote from: SteveDave on April 16, 2019, 03:17:34 PM
There's a modern film where a man is convinced that everyone is being taken over by aliens or sutin but I can't remember what it's called. American indie. Cheap looking. Someone on here recommended it. It's called something like "They Are Still Out There" or some other long winded title? Any ideas?

'They Look Like People' possibly.

SteveDave

Quote from: riotinlagos on April 16, 2019, 03:23:47 PM
'They Look Like People' possibly.

Got it in one. I think. Ta!

Moribunderast

When will I ever learn that, 99% of the time, found footage horror films are shit? They never make sense - always having to strain to explain why people continue to film beyond rationality. There's a finite number of the type of scares they can offer and they've all been done to death by now. There's just nothing new in this genre - at least in anything I've seen recently. I just wish I could watch [REC.] for the first time again.

This is all a way of saying that CRONE WOOD is a pretty shit and uninspired movie. I just want a good horror film - feel like I've seen them all. And every time I look up a filmmaker who's made a decent horror film in the last decade they've mostly gone on to do utter trash since. Why can hardly anybody make more than one good horror film? I feel like the people who brought us Martyrs, Inside, Sleep Tight, Timecrimes, Alone/Shutter, May/The Woman, High Tension, etc. should have made more in the intervening years. They've all either moved on to other genres or have failed in their follow-up attempts. I want a revival like the early-00s J-horror or mid-00s French horror scenes. Something! I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to find good new shit.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Moribunderast on April 20, 2019, 12:11:22 PM
When will I ever learn that, 99% of the time, found footage horror films are shit?

Yes, I agree with this.  The Blair Witch Project and REC are brilliant, but like you say, 99% of the sub-genre is shite.  Talentless plebs jump on the zeitgeist bandwagon, as is their wont.

DukeDeMondo

Hole In The Ground had folk channering on about the great bit of stuff it was when it was doing the rounds at festivals, and a lot of the reviews were extremely positive when it became available to the rest of us a few weeks ago.

I thought it was pretty poor, to be honest. Maybe I wasn't in the mood. It's an A24 horror picture, and that's sort of become a genre in itself, you sort of know what you're in for. It just wasn't anything I was in for last night. I've seen folk talking about how it will haunt you for days after, but damn the haunting it's at over here, in this Now of mine. I doubt I'll remember very much of it by the end of this evening.

Still, as Irish horrors go, it's fucking universes removed from the last one I saw, which was the truly abysmal The Devil's Doorway.

It's certainly not that. But it's not a whole lot of anything else either.

Tonally and in one or two other ways it did remind me a wee bit of The Other (1972), which is always something. Properly underrated, The Other.

Viero_Berlotti

Just watched February (also known as The Blackcoat's Daughter) on Netflix. It's one of the best new (2015, but that feels new to me) horror films I've seen in recent years, watch it if you haven't already.

alan nagsworth

Just got done watching The Void (original thread here but it was mistakenly posted in PB so didn't wanna bump it). It's been talked about in this thread beforehand too but I feel it deserves resurrecting heheuheueh

Seriously though I thought this film kicked ass. There are many obvious homages to the classics which I could have maybe done without - like, just write your own stuff? You've made a great film on your own here gang, just do more of that? - but overall it was very impressive. It's good at cutting between two or more things happening at once and keeping the tension high, and there's a decent amount of out-of-shot/focus stuff that keeps the imagination ticking over until you see the real nasties. The prosthetic body horror stuff is a fucking riot and the Lovecraftian "cosmic dread" stuff is tastefully done and nicely beguiling. Some real eyebrow raising stuff for me and a solid, meaty fistful of "WHOA HO HO HOOO HERE WE GO LADS WHAT THE FUCK'S THAT" moments, exactly what I look for in a decent horror film.

Spoiler stuff: Probably my favourite URGH GOD moment was when they're in the slaughter room with all the mondo freaks and they come across that one trying to kill itself, ramming its mangled head into that spike, fucks sake. That was ace.

The ending was probably the only tribute that I could get on board with fully: strikingly similar to Fulci's "The Beyond", but I loved it. My only gripe is that I wished there was no happy ending for the two young'uns, just wrap the whole thing up into the abyss and be done with the entire world as we know it in the film. But I was still satisfied that basically all the heroes got shagged over.

Less Mandys and more of this please, film people.

BRen

Quote from: DukeDeMondo on April 20, 2019, 06:35:49 PMStill, as Irish horrors go, it's fucking universes removed from the last one I saw, which was the truly abysmal The Devil's Doorway.

I tried watching that the other day, because I read an article advising if you liked The Borderlands (which is phenomenal in my opinion) then this would be up your street. I switched it off after thirty minutes as it was a load of old shite, I was sadly disappointed with it.

holyzombiejesus

Seeing as the thread is now 6 years old, would it be worth setting it aside and starting a new one? No worries if not but in the interest of keeping stuff fresh and promoting discourse, it may be worth considering? Maybe narrow the remit too? Decent horror films since 2000 or something?

St_Eddie

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on May 10, 2019, 06:30:07 PM
Seeing as the thread is now 6 years old, would it be worth setting it aside and starting a new one? No worries if not but in the interest of keeping stuff fresh and promoting discourse, it may be worth considering? Maybe narrow the remit too? Decent horror films since 2000 or something?

Personally, I think it best to wait until this thread reaches 100 pages and I'd rather not limit the discussion of horror films to post-2000.  If nothing else, it'll be slim pickings for good horror movies.

James Christopher

Surely, it should go to 666 pages?

zomgmouse

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on May 10, 2019, 06:30:07 PM
Maybe narrow the remit too? Decent horror films since 2000 or something?

I've never fully known how to approach this thread as well, sometimes it's for good horror films, sometimes it's bad ones, often it's just any new horror film. And occasionally I'll hesitate putting older horror films in here because that's not what most people are discussing.

holyzombiejesus

Yeah, I think it's become a bit of a catch-all for something which is such a huge genre. I'd like to know which of the dozens of shitty looking low budget horrors on Netflix are worth watching and also enjoy reading thoughts on decent (or awful) horror films through the decades and, for me, one thread for all that doesn't serve the forum well. But I'm happy to bow to whatever others prefer. I might start a "which of the dozens of shitty looking low budget horrors on Netflix are worth watching?" thread though.

purlieu

Quote from: Moribunderast on April 20, 2019, 12:11:22 PM
When will I ever learn that, 99% of the time, found footage horror films are shit? They never make sense - always having to strain to explain why people continue to film beyond rationality. There's a finite number of the type of scares they can offer and they've all been done to death by now. There's just nothing new in this genre - at least in anything I've seen recently. I just wish I could watch [REC.] for the first time again.
I'm a sucker for a found footage horror, possibly just because if I'm going to watch a not-guaranteed-to-be-incredible horror, I'd rather it looked grimy and 'real' than some over-stylised bullshit like Insidious. I think actually having the perspective of someone running through somewhere dark and closed in is more effective in terms of atmosphere than something that's going out of its way to look creepy.

I can't defend the plots of most of them - they're almost all shite - but I do at least get a bit of a kick from them (claustrophobia helps in that regard). Blair Witch and [REC] are obviously highlights, and The Borderlands is my favourite horror film. I'd say there are a small handful of others that make worthy films... Troll Hunter is a lot of fun, with generally solid plotting; Mr Jones starts in an uninspiring way, but swerves in a wonderful Lovecraftian direction; Devil's Pass (aka The Dylatov Pass Incident) falls apart a bit in the final act, but is generally pretty good and mysterious. As Above, So Below, despite some of the worst plotting of any found footage film I've seen, ticked all my tight, dark spaces and journey to hell boxes before throwing it away with a pointless redemptive ending.

Quote from: DukeDeMondo on April 20, 2019, 06:35:49 PM
Still, as Irish horrors go, it's fucking universes removed from the last one I saw, which was the truly abysmal The Devil's Doorway.
Ah yes, The Borderlands without the bits that made it The Borderlands good. I actually asked Elliot Goldner on Twitter if he'd seen it and if he was considering suing them (he said he hadn't). A couple of effective scenes but crikey what a waste of a film.

Just watched Nine Miles Down. Bit of a cheap b-movie based around my favourite urban myth, the Well to Hell. Given the vague premise, there could have been something gruesome here, but instead it goes down a 'man whose tortured past catches up with him' route, with a lot of 'is it real or a hallucination?' type nonsense. Terrible acting and a final third that drains any possible interest gained from the film's ambiguity kills off any remaining potential.


I'm all for keeping this as a catch-all horror thread, by the way. There are plenty of separate threads for new films, classics, and sub-genres as it is, and this is far from a list thread, with a lot of excellent in-depth discussion going on throughout.

purlieu

Quite enjoyed The Hole in the Ground. Thought it was visually incredible, a sense of isolation I've rarely encountered done so well. Nice sound design, too. Both of which created a really immersive atmosphere.

It did have one problem, which is that it felt kind of like three films in one. I'll spoiler the rest for those who don't want to know too much:
The first third, where most of it comes from a sense of dread and atmosphere, had me dripped. The second third, which is a fairly straight-forward possessed / replaced child plot, was my least favourite segment, but it was still pretty creepy. The third heads into Lovecraftian territory, exploring the actual hole, with some fucking weird symbiotic fungus and monster relationship that involves capturing and feeding off children, with some nasty claustrophobic tunnels, was a total change in tone and would have worked better in a film of its own right. Loved this bit, but it was over too quickly.

I liked all three sections of the film, but felt they maybe created a whole less than the sum of its parts. I definitely enjoyed watching it, but there's a nagging feeling that it could have been a lot more.

BlodwynPig

you just mentioned my 3 favourite horrors (Blair, borderlands, rec)...

Hundhoon

The Blair Witch Project is the scariest film i have ever seen by miles. you could not pay me to camp in the woods, its literally affected me psychologically.
it plunges you into their world unlike any other horror film.

you feel like you are in the tent with them hearing the stones being whacked in the distance, or Josh yelling 'somebody' when they open the tent, its ghastly.

Famous film critic Roger Ebert said it taps into the instinctive fear of the dark,  i think he is right. it sends the mind crazy having to perceive noises,  no other horror film has scared me like Blair Witch i dont get scared easily, to be honest i dont think ive ever really been scared by any other horror film,  20 years laterBlair Witch is scares the fuck out of me.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Hundhoon on May 22, 2019, 07:31:32 AM
The Blair Witch Project is the scariest film i have ever seen by miles. you could not pay me to camp in the woods, its literally affected me psychologically.
it plunges you into their world unlike any other horror film.

you feel like you are in the tent with them hearing the stones being whacked in the distance, or Josh yelling 'somebody' when they open the tent, its ghastly.

Famous film critic Roger Ebert said it taps into the instinctive fear of the dark,  i think he is right. it sends the mind crazy having to perceive noises,  no other horror film has scared me like Blair Witch i dont get scared easily, to be honest i dont think ive ever really been scared by any other horror film,  20 years laterBlair Witch is scares the fuck out of me.

Are you... are you me?

BlodwynPig

Spot on.

Its near perfect.

Cuellar

I saw Insidious the other day.

Shit.

I've never seen The Blair Witch Project, as when it came out I was only about 12 and I was too much of a scaredy cat.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Cuellar on May 22, 2019, 02:51:18 PM
I saw Insidious the other day.

Shit.

I've never seen The Blair Witch Project, as when it came out I was only about 12 and I was too much of a scaredy cat.

Have a go now and get back to us. Its a different kind of terror

Cuellar

Maybe I will Blodwyn, maybe I will.

But if I get scared I retain the right to turn it off.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Cuellar on May 22, 2019, 03:21:55 PM
...if I get scared I retain the right to turn it off.

Very well, but The Blair Witch Project reserves the right to turn you on.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Cuellar on May 22, 2019, 03:21:55 PM
Maybe I will Blodwyn, maybe I will.

But if I get scared I retain the right to turn it off.

Let's do a watch a long. Name a date and time.

St_Eddie

There's a lot of good discussion about The Blair Witch Project in this thread here, should you care to give it a read, post-viewing, Cuellar.

Cuellar

Quote from: BlodwynPig on May 22, 2019, 04:11:34 PM
Let's do a watch a long. Name a date and time.

I would say yes but I WILL chicken out about half way into the film and I don't need anyone else being party to that.