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Horror Fan Era: Eternally Overlooked
- Thread starter Hex
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Looking for more horror like Midsommar, Hereditary, The Witch, The Shining, Possession, Moebius, etc.
I guess you could label them as "horror dramas", where the domestic drama and the more overt horror aspects are intertwined, and the drama is the core of the story, the underlying foundation for the horror, rather than just being a disposable framework for jump scares and spookiness.
I might have to try Antichrist again. Bounced off it hard when I watched it years ago, but it fits that mold well if I recall.
I guess you could label them as "horror dramas", where the domestic drama and the more overt horror aspects are intertwined, and the drama is the core of the story, the underlying foundation for the horror, rather than just being a disposable framework for jump scares and spookiness.
I might have to try Antichrist again. Bounced off it hard when I watched it years ago, but it fits that mold well if I recall.
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Safe
Rosemary's Baby
The Cremator
The Innocents
Don't Look Now
The Wailing
Lake Mungo
Ginger Snaps
I like how the director of Midsommar described the movie as "a breakup film dressed in folk horror clothing". What an interesting way to describe it. Thanks for the recommendations Steamlord!
Saw Annabelle Comes Home (AKA Conjuring: Endgame) last night. Interesting movie. Entire thing takes place just in their house and the Warrens are absent for 90% of the film. It's not quite 'last third of Cabin in the Woods' levels of insanity but it does somewhat deliver on the premise that someone walked into the cursed artifact room and touched all the shit from the trailers. It's also surprisingly light on jumpscares
Is it just me or has Netflix's horror selection not switched up significantly for like 4-5 months? Almost every week I open the app and scour the horror section and don't see much I haven't watched and see a lot that I wasn't interested in watching since the start of the year yet has stuck around for some reason. Most recent big new horror that I've seen on the list has been Perfection.
I had fun with Roanoke. It watches like one of those ghost sighting shows
A Tale of Two Sisters is possibly the pinnacle of this kind of film, and gets massively overlooked.
Which Possession are we talking about? There's a bunch of movies named that. Just want to know so I can look it up and possibly watch.
Possession (1981), from Andrzej Zulawski, starring Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani
I still need to see Midsommar first but I'm considering it too. Surprised by how much good I'm hearing about it. Generally 'vs. Animal' horror movies don't do much for me, even films like Jaws or Cujo, so I was gonna skip it since it sounded like some Anaconda or The Meg type stuff. Seems to be genuinely entertaining so I might give it a chance.
Hmmm, maybe. I'm usually not big on those types of movies
I love those types of movies so will definitely see it when it comes to uk cinemas in august.
Midsommar was phenomenal. I think Hereditary is more entertaining but this was something else. I liked the ending much more, too. Legitimately great folk horror.
Did I miss something with this movie? Everyone on here says it's great but my friends and the rest of the theater hated it. It's shot well, acted well, had great music, but the content itself just felt like a cross between shock value and a drug trip
I mean, the story at its core is a basic breakup movie with a pagan Cult setting but the atmosphere, confusion, and sounds such as breathing elevate the discomfort and sensory information to new areas. Plus the countless symbols and foreshadowing from the very beginning of the movie.
I got what was happening, but a lot of what was happening felt like it was happening for the sake of visuals with nothing to add to the characters or plot. I don't like Hereditary either (mainly because I didn't like the last 15 minutes), but for all of its weirdness, I felt that it did a better job incorporating it into the ever deteriorating psyche of the characters. With this, shit just kinda...happened...
For example
the disabled kid was there to look creepy, he was wearing the other dude's face with no pants because reasons, and some of the stuff with the subplot with the boyfriend and the redhead felt unnecessary. He'd built himself up to be more than enough of a tool prior to that.
At the end of the day I'm well aware of what happened but not what I saw.
That said, as a comedy it's fairly entertaining
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It's not really a horror film, the director even said its more of a black comedy/relationship/break up film
It was advertised as one. That might be a problem for audiences. It would explain why the audience score on RT is in the low 60's
Yeah I saw it opening night and was surprised to see the screening was packed I imagine a lot of the people probably found the film a bit wtf. I must admit the film made me feel like I had taken a bunch of drugs before seeing it
Midsommar is brilliant, would barely call it a horror film mind you... I thought it was a more consistent and emotionally resonant piece than Hereditary, the ending feels more earned and this one was intentionally humourous at times rather than what I found to be unintentionally so in Hereditary. Still really like Hereditary but Midsommar is the greater piece
Similar issue to Hereditary lol. Marketed incorrectly. CinemaScore was a D for an A movie.
Yeah I suppose expectations vs. reality is the biggest issue since my criticisms aren't really objective. Like I said before, it's extremely competently made.
If I had to compare this to anything I'd say it's The Wicker Man but intentional and on drugs
Also
Oh definitely. I was thinking of being able to recommend this while high but then you wouldn't be able to differentiate between the drugs and the movie. I wasn't even high and I had to lean over a few times to verify with my friend that certain things were happening
If I had to compare this to anything I'd say it's The Wicker Man but intentional and on drugs
Also
the boyfriend was probably the most douchebag character I've seen in a horror movie in a long time. What set him apart from other douchebag characters is that he didn't go out of his way to be one like a character in an Eli Roth horror movie. Dude was just, organically an asshole. Writes off girlfriend's sister being suicidal, treats consoling her like a chore, basically tries to ditch her to go on vacation. Does nothing upon seeing his girlfriend witness live suicide, forgets girlfriend's birthday, steals best friend's thesis. They even wrote in a stereotypical douche with Sid from Toy Story over there and yet he pales in comparison
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Hereditary for me falls apart in the last 15 min when it just kinda becomes goofy.... the floating corpse made me laugh.... whereas Midsommar is just tension through out with intentional moments of laughter.... that really only offer temporary reprieve.
Pugh is fucking phenomenal in it to boot
Pugh is fucking phenomenal in it to boot
The Wicker Man wasn't on drugs?Yeah I suppose expectations vs. reality is the biggest issue since my criticisms aren't really objective. Like I said before, it's extremely competently made.
Oh definitely. I was thinking of being able to recommend this while high but then you wouldn't be able to differentiate between the drugs and the movie. I wasn't even high and I had to lean over a few times to verify with my friend that certain things were happening
If I had to compare this to anything I'd say it's The Wicker Man but intentional and on drugs
Also
the boyfriend was probably the most douchebag character I've seen in a horror movie in a long time. What set him apart from other douchebag characters is that he didn't go out of his way to be one like a character in an Eli Roth horror movie. Dude was just, organically an asshole. Writes off girlfriend's sister being suicidal, treats consoling her like a chore, basically tries to ditch her to go on vacation. Does nothing upon seeing his girlfriend witness live suicide, forgets girlfriend's birthday, steals best friend's thesis. They even wrote in a stereotypical douche with Sid from Toy Story over there and yet he pales in comparison
See, I agree with you on Hereditary where the last few minutes blew it for me, but I think Hereditary was a little more well put together in the majority of the film's runtime than Midsommar was.
The Wicker Man was on Nicolas Cage, which is almost like being on drugs. Midsommar was actually on drugs. Metaphorically and somehow literally.
Midsommar was just a complete mind fuck to me. The constant changing of darkness to super bright scenes was really disorienting, loud scenes cutting to complete silence, it all made me feel completely unsettled and uneasy while watching.
Midsommar's greatest asset, because I was grooving to it, was the runtime, it let everything breathe... I totally see how it could feel overlong if it's not fully working for someone, but for me it could have been even longer. Pugh's journey through trauma was just so utterly engaging... whereas I didn't connect as much with Hereditary wherein I felt it tried to do too much traditional horror through out rather than building the tension.... everything felt like it was given time in Midsommar where i felt Hereditary kinda rushed through and was a bit more abstract....
Hes also horrible in the movie Detroit. Though hes pretty great in Sing Street.
So, I've seen Us, Midsommar, Child's Play, and Annabelle Comes Home all within the span of about a month. What's up next for horror? Crawl was supposed to be pretty good. And I'm still very much looking forward to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
I have another friend who's an avid Stephen King fan so I'll probably end up seeing that with her. Gotta finish the book of The Shining first.
Pretty much my exact thoughts. Midsommar felt like Aster's story-telling strengths all coming together, whereas he already was strong with his filmmaking. That being said, Id hope to see him branch out into something different for his next movie.
Saw Crawl earlier.
It was...alright. Lake Placid is still the best.
It was decently paced and the run time was perfect. The film flies by but it didnt really have any lasting impression. There's no real memorable scenes. The characters are whatever. Man Battlefield Earth really did a number on Barry Pepper's career.
It was a decent time waster but no real reason to see it in theatres.
I wish the film was as cheeky as the song choice for the end credits. That got an unexpected grin out of me.
I really loved Haute Tension and expected big things from Aja. But his career has been underwhelming. Even in this film though he flashes moments where you can see the visual talent.
6/10
It was...alright. Lake Placid is still the best.
It was decently paced and the run time was perfect. The film flies by but it didnt really have any lasting impression. There's no real memorable scenes. The characters are whatever. Man Battlefield Earth really did a number on Barry Pepper's career.
It was a decent time waster but no real reason to see it in theatres.
I wish the film was as cheeky as the song choice for the end credits. That got an unexpected grin out of me.
I really loved Haute Tension and expected big things from Aja. But his career has been underwhelming. Even in this film though he flashes moments where you can see the visual talent.
6/10
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Given high tension was a rip off of the book intensity by dean koontz its probably not that surprising his career never took off much after that.
Alright so I finished The Shining book. I agree with everyone else that the movie is great but it's not a good adaptation. It omits a lot and changes a few things to make the movie scarier, but it also sorta removes any sympathy you were supposed to have toward Jack
Yeah I read the book before seeing the movie and I just couldn't understand why the film seemed to have almost god-like praise.
I didn't hate the movie but I felt it was a very poor representation of the themes and characters of the book.
Maybe if it didn't have the name 'The Shining' I would of had more appreciation for it.
I think it's because the movie aims to scare you while the book has a story to tell. Danny's just a kid, Wendy is a very, VERY stressed housewife (mostly due to Kubrick basically psychologically torturing Shelley Duvall), and Jack acts like he hates his family throughout the entire movie, even before they actually get to the hotel. They're all very different characters from their book counterparts, and Jack's alcoholism is toned down substantially. It looks more like he went crazy due to cabin fever than anything else.
The whole theme of the book as I see it is one man's struggle with alcoholism and the negative effect on his family. A good man brought low by the evils of alcohol. All the supernatual elements including 'the shining' itelf are just window dressing.
The film threw all of that away for more scares and violence.
Its not a bad movie by any stretch, but it isn't The Shining. I admit my opinion is coloured somewhat as I think The Shining is arguably King's best book.
Annabelle comes home was really entertaining.
It felt much more tongue in cheek and campy than other Conjuring universe films but it was a nice change of pace.
Seeing the Warren's again was great. The on screen depiction of them brings so much heart to the films that you dont really get with most horror. Even if they aren't in it much the impact is felt.
This was a nice rebound from The Nun which was absolutely dreadful and the rock bottom of the films. Its pretty sad its the highest grossing one.
This one looks like its crawling past $200M and will be the lowest grossing. Hard to say whether that's because of the Nun, audiences becoming bored with the franchise or just WB having a terrible year in general with their subdued marketing campaign strategies across the board.
Regardless I really enjoyed it for what it was. Campy fun horror. Only thing I was let down by was the all the new demons/spirits. None of them were memorable and came off very generic.
7/10
It felt much more tongue in cheek and campy than other Conjuring universe films but it was a nice change of pace.
Seeing the Warren's again was great. The on screen depiction of them brings so much heart to the films that you dont really get with most horror. Even if they aren't in it much the impact is felt.
This was a nice rebound from The Nun which was absolutely dreadful and the rock bottom of the films. Its pretty sad its the highest grossing one.
This one looks like its crawling past $200M and will be the lowest grossing. Hard to say whether that's because of the Nun, audiences becoming bored with the franchise or just WB having a terrible year in general with their subdued marketing campaign strategies across the board.
Regardless I really enjoyed it for what it was. Campy fun horror. Only thing I was let down by was the all the new demons/spirits. None of them were memorable and came off very generic.
7/10
Anybody going to go see the 47 meters down sequel? I'm considering it. I enjoyed the first and thought it was a nice surprise. I'm undecided.
I know I'm seeing scary stories to tell in the dark for sure.
I know I'm seeing scary stories to tell in the dark for sure.