I'm not a big movie fan, but I've watch my share of films, and I've decided they started to go on a quick path downhill since the 90's. I know, it's a crazy thing to say or assume, you'd think all periods have their share of terrible movies and such, and it's all perspective, or you should argue, I was younger when I saw them, so they've hade a greater impression. Thus, I watch horror, and I expect a good amount from it, not some nickel pussy screen act about about aliens fighting predators, or chuckie has family problems, or freddy fighting jason and aliens and IT. I'm just amazed that hollywood has taken icons of fear and turned them into lovable puppies in a pick for the younger crowd, kind of psychologically twisting them to remove a phobia from some, and the movie industries sowing lines of gold in their pockets with it. I know the films were cheese & ham, full of fakes from the alpha, but jesus don't turn that into spam & rat milk. Does anyone find this blend of horror, being dampened and tamperd with, as no one knows whether to laugh at the screen or grimace by it?

1/23/2006 6:54:31 PM

I have to say this argument is pretty obvious.

Just compare the orig Texas Chainsaw massacre to the new one. They knew how to make a horror film back then. Now its all Hollywood shite.

1/23/2006 6:56:31 PM

IT was made for tv and based off a stephen king book. i'm not sure you can really blame hollywood for that one.

1/23/2006 6:58:52 PM

this relates more to what docido said. i don't think the ideas for horror movies have gone downhill, just the implementation of them. i mean just think about golden horror movies: girls gets possessed and stabs her babymaker with a crucifix, guy haunts children's dreams, crazed lunatic runs around with a chainsaw. any idea can be made into a good movie, just it seems like writers and directors have forgotten (or never learned) how to make it a really compelling movie

1/23/2006 7:14:58 PM

I find old horror movies boring usually. horror in general tends to fail because its hard to get scare on someone else’s behalf while watching a fictional movie. Sure you can have suspension of disbelief to enjoy it, but then its just a slow paced action movie with extra string music. It seems like older movies of many genres enjoy an unduly high immunity from criticism, where if a very similar movie were released to theatres today it wouldn’t survive.

Anyone watching alien v predators expecting horror instead of action was just setting themself up for disappointment. I can suspend disbelief to enjoy alien actions, but I can't forget that fiction is fiction and be afraid, especially when seeing something as silly as ghosts.

1/23/2006 7:32:09 PM

The best time to watch scary movies is when you are a kid. I remember when movies like Child's Play, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Evil Dead scared the shit out of me. If I was a kid today and saw a movie like The Others or The Ring, I'd be freaked.

1/23/2006 8:53:05 PM

id say, if anything, movies like Freedy VS Jason and Seed of Chucky are meant for OLDER crowds. the idea is to bring some gorey/perverted humor to ppl in their 20's, 30's, and beyond who once watched these horror movies and likely don't go out and see them as much anymore. this idea of de-scarifying them is completely off base.

that said, i think "monsters" just dont scare people as much in the age of home security systems and urban sprawl. this is why we have more and more gorey, guy kidnaps you and saws your face off or ghost comes through the electronics and eats your soul, movies. i agree, if i was a kid, this shit would be a lot scarier. moreso than some of the cheesy horror movies we had as kids (which still seemed really scary at the time, as unrealistic as they were costume/style wise).

1/23/2006 9:09:55 PM

Noway older crowds would give a damn about seeing chucky or predators, they'd be just as likely to watch a bugs bunny vs elmer fudd film (there's already one of these). But, I do see your point, older crowds who remember those movies would come in, and gaze something they used to used to fear.

1/23/2006 9:48:33 PM

^^ I doubt Freddy/Jason and Chucky were meant for older crowds specifically. I read an article from the producer (I'm pretty sure it was the producer) of "The Seed of Chucky" and he specifically stated that it was his daughter and his daughters friends that piqued his interest in making a new Chucky. He said there seemed to still be an audience that would warrant making such a film.

1/23/2006 10:04:19 PM

its the PG-13 horror movies that are bringing the bad name to the genre.

there have been lots of good R horror movies released lately (saw, high tension, 28 days later, etc.).

if you lower your expectations a little, you might find more you enjoy.

1/24/2006 6:20:37 PM

not really my genre but i liked Saw ( more psycological thriller than a horror ) & thank god for Rob Zombie - he's entertained me greatly

just sayin

1/24/2006 6:27:55 PM

keefus is right. 6th Sense came out and was a huge hit, and all of a sudden theaters were flooded with crappy PG-13 horror movies like The Others, The Fog, many others. I know we've already determined it's action and not horror, but why was Aliens vs. Predator PG-13?? Not a single movie from either series before it was PG-13.

1/25/2006 8:39:44 AM

why are any horror movies pg13? $$

1/25/2006 9:04:05 AM

since when were horror movies up hill?

its a horrible genre

1/25/2006 9:05:11 AM

All the big name horror movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Child's Play, etc. have always been campy and toung in cheek.

Horror movies haven't gone downhill. They are the same. The difference is changes in a person's tastes as they grow older. The only reason you think the older movies are any good is because as a kid they were scary and taboo. Nostalgia is the only reason the older horror movies are revered.

http://freddygameon.ytmnd.com/

[Edited on January 25, 2006 at 9:43 AM. Reason : -]

1/25/2006 9:42:16 AM

Quote :

"Just compare the orig Texas Chainsaw massacre to the new one. They knew how to make a horror film back then. Now its all Hollywood shite."

Not to start an argument at all, but how could you seriously say that? I watched the old TCM and it was laughable, especially the second one. At no point was I even close to being scared, however the new version, in my estimation, was very very good.

I think I might just have a different idea of what makes a horror movie good or scary. I love recent movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw I and II, The Ring, and Blair Witch Project (that's a few years back). I think that they are generally much better than anything I ever saw growing up.

1/28/2006 4:18:34 PM

Quote :

"I think I might just have a different idea of what makes a horror movie good or scary."

I think you summed it up right there. I can say the old TCM was better because ultimately I think our horror-film preference is totally different. Theres no point in arguing.

1/28/2006 5:06:26 PM

there have always been shitty horror movies, and the shitty ones have always vastly outnumbered the good ones

you just don't realize it because we only remember the good movies of the past.

1/28/2006 5:45:47 PM

what exactly are all of the "good" horror movies? are there more than a handful?

[Edited on January 28, 2006 at 6:57 PM. Reason : ...]

1/28/2006 6:57:34 PM

Quote :

"I think I might just have a different wrong idea of what makes a horror movie good or scary. I love recent movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw I and II, The Ring, and Blair Witch Project (that's a few years back). I think that they are generally much better than anything I ever saw growing up."

Good horror movies are not "omg that was gory and that thing popped out and scared me when i wasn't expeccting it"

which is the ENTIRE formula that contemporary horror films go by

real HORROR is something that is supposed to drive you mad, something that is supposed to leave you with a horrible feeling when you walk out of the theater.

see these:









[Edited on January 28, 2006 at 8:46 PM. Reason : ]

1/28/2006 8:45:05 PM

if Irreversible counts as "horror", then yeah thats an exception to what I think of as a pretty crappy genre. I still haven't seen Funny Games. I heard it was good and am waiting for someone to lone it to me, but they always forget. <cough, cough>

1/28/2006 9:08:17 PM

Yes I brought it today actually. It is sitting at concessions.

I think true horror in film comes from the visualization of human suffering. That is, for example, what most of these films capitalize on. That and another device where through cinematic technique you align the viewer with the "villian" in the film (Man Bites Dog most notably) and then make them realize what a monster they have become for their alignments.

1/28/2006 10:25:30 PM

arguably that is the same tactic as regular gore.

1/28/2006 10:55:47 PM

I just went to the video store. They didn't have any of those titles.

1/29/2006 1:12:38 AM

the only decent horror these days is coming out of asia (and no, i'm not talking about ringu and juan)

[Edited on January 29, 2006 at 2:40 AM. Reason : s]

1/29/2006 2:40:31 AM

^^ yea man, u gotta dl em or netflix em. suncoast em perhaps. but theyre too wild to blockbuster em.

1/29/2006 2:48:34 AM

Man Bites Dog is funny.

1/29/2006 10:30:54 AM

I just downloaded Man Bites Dog and Irreversible. Haven't found the other two yet.

1/29/2006 12:18:28 PM