With Halloween coming up fast, the cable networks and movie theaters have going through the annual motions of ramping up the number of horror movies they've been playing. In a lot of ways this is both a blessing and a curse -- because no matter how much I love the genre, it seems like more and more lately the number of flat-out crappy horror films is on the rise.People have spent a lot of time wondering lately what's wrong with the whole Horror Movie biz, asking why it seems like there are more films of this type being released than ever, despite the fact that so many of them don't really seem to be all that good.
I have a few thoughts on this topic -- but I feel like it might be better to get a little discussion going first. So if you have a moment, please take this quick little quiz and post your answers in the comments section.
- What was the name of the last horror movie you saw in a theater?
- What's the worst horror movie you've ever seen, and what made it so bad?
- What's the first really scary movie you remember seeing, and approximately how old were you when you saw it?
- Can you think of a really scary moment from a "non-horror" film you've seen? What was the movie?
- A new horror movie is coming out next month -- what do you hope it's NOT about
a) Torture
b) Zombies
c) Teenagers
d) Hillbillies - Which of the following would you most likely to avoid:
a) A Remake of a Famous Horror Film From the Past
b) A Horror Film Starring an A-List Celebrity
c) A Hollywood Re-make of a Japanese Horror Film
d) A Sequel - What is the most overrated horror film you can think of, and why?
- If horror films focused less on gore and graphic depictions of violence, they would be:
a) Better
b) Boring - What's the scariest movie you've ever seen?
- Have you ever rented a horror movie to watch at home that you lost interest in halfway through? What was it?
[Listening to: King Crimson – "One More Red Nightmare" ]
Comments
2. Cursed. A female werewolf in werewolf mode flipping the bird and shouting "fuck you bitch" in werewolf voice.
3. Poltergeist, 3 or 4.
4. T2. The robot at the start crushing the skull.
5. c) teenagers
6. d) sequel
7. Scream, not scary, just silly and gory.
8. a) better
9. The Exorcist
10. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2. Even though it KNEW it was bad, I have to go with "Nail Gun Massacre". The tagline? "Way Cheaper Than A Chainsaw."
3. When I was 6 or so I saw the clip from the Beastmaster where they were going to sacrifice the little girl. If you could pull from my head the bit of film I THOUGHT I'd seen, you'd have a masterpiece of horror, I swear it.
4. Besides my answer to #3? I remember the torture/interrogation at the end of Lethal Weapon really freaking me out.
5. All of the above, unless B is done really well.
6. Well, they're all potiential piles of poop, aren't they? I'd be MOST likely to skip a sequel, though. Poop factor alpha on horror movie sequels.
7. I'm jeopardizing my movie snob club card with this one - but it's Jaws. I was young when I saw that and still couldn't fully suspend my disbelief. There's a lot of good about it, but it's TOTALLY overrated, because mostly, it's silly.
8. Better. Less blood more creepy scary get-in-your-head villians.
9. Se7en. See HRTOTM.
10. Yeah, Funny Games. I know I'm supposed to appreciate how creepy the whole meta-movie thing was, and I did - it was neat... but mostly I was just thinking "geez, does Naomi Watts get naked or WHAT?"
Love the King Crimson track, btw. Second best Halloween music I can think of.
Army of Darkness, at Comic-con.
2. What's the worst horror movie you've ever seen, and what made it so bad?
They are all bad. Some are worse than others. The Wickerman remake was friggin terrible though.
3. What's the first really scary movie you remember seeing, and approximately how old were you when you saw it?
Alien. I dunno 12 or 13. It scared the hell out of me. It was on HBO at a friends house. I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about my reaction. Nightmares for weeks.
4. Can you think of a really scary moment from a "non-horror" film you've seen? What was the movie?
Any Hitchcock. Deliverance? Movies usually make me uncomfortable rather than scared.
5. A new horror movie is coming out next month -- what do you hope it's NOT about
d) Hillbillies
6. Which of the following would you most likely to avoid:
c) A Hollywood Re-make of a Japanese Horror Film
It was between remakes. Generally remakes are pathetic and not as good as the original.
7. What is the most overrated horror film you can think of, and why?
?? Most are... probably the Saw series, just because the number 80 is out now... or whatever.
8. If horror films focused less on gore and graphic depictions of violence, they would be:
a) Better and they would be suspense films then.
9. What's the scariest movie you've ever seen?
I don't know. I think for sheer nightmares, I'll never be able to beat my younger self watching Alien. I think now it is hard to be in that frame of mind again. It isn't scary now though, it does make me jump at a couple scenes.
10. Have you ever rented a horror movie to watch at home that you lost interest in halfway through? What was it?
I had guest that loved horror films. She watched Wickerman (the remake) and some other terrible horror movie. She really liked them. I don't even remember the name but some teens/twennies were in a resort hotel and something is killing them, and then I didn't care and stopped watching.
Resevoir Dogs ear scene. Uncomfortable, gross and a little scary.
Also One More Red Nightmare is a winner....
Wish there was a drummer who could handle it so we could play it again.
2. The Descent. The women were bitchy idiots, the monsters were predictable, and the several "twist" hallucination endings were lame.
3. The Shining. I was in 5th grade.
4. I startle really easily, so there are dozens of movies where something suddenly pops up out of nowhere that have made me pee my pants a little.
5. A new horror movie is coming out next month -- what do you hope it's NOT about
c) Teenagers
or
d) Hillbillies
6. Which of the following would you most likely to avoid:
a) A Remake of a Famous Horror Film From the Past
or
b) A Horror Film Starring an A-List Celebrity
7. Alien.
8. If horror films focused less on gore and graphic depictions of violence, they would be:
b) Boring
9. Lately: The Orphanage.
10. No. I get really involved in movies, which is how I end up liking movies that are plain bad.
2. Anything on Netflix Instant Watching, under Horror. Shit movie after shit movie, each with lower standards than the last.
3. Alien, 9
4. I count Se7en as more of a thriller, but that scene where Sloth wakes up for a second freaked me right the fuck out.
5. A, C, D
6. a) A Remake of a Famous Horror Film From the Past
7. What is the most overrated horror film you can think of, and why?
The Devil's Reject. Just because Rob Zombie directed it doesn't make it any less lame.
8. If horror films focused less on gore and graphic depictions of violence, they would be:
a) Better
9. What's the scariest movie you've ever seen?
Tie: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alien, and Halloween. Then again, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is scary in a completely different way.
10. Anything on Netflix Instant Watching, under Horror. Shit movie after shit movie, each with lower standards than the last...
- I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a horror flick in the theater. Horror movies are regularly so bad, especially recently, that I never feel like risking $10 on them.
What's the worst horror movie you've ever seen, and what made it so bad?
-One of the Chainsaw Massacre sequels. It had Matthew McConaughey in it. It was wicked retarded.
What's the first really scary movie you remember seeing, and approximately how old were you when you saw it?
-Alien. If you buy into such things, I "saw" it while I was still in the womb. My mom went to see it when she was 8 mos. and change pregnant with me. My dad also let me watch it when I was really young, like 5 or so, engendering a deeply held fear of ventilation systems that persisted throughout much of my childhood.
Can you think of a really scary moment from a "non-horror" film you've seen? What was the movie?
Not really. I can think of things that were gross or disturbing, but nothing really scary comes to mind.
A new horror movie is coming out next month -- what do you hope it's NOT about
a) Torture
Which of the following would you most likely to avoid:
d) A Sequel
What is the most overrated horror film you can think of, and why?
-Saw. Not because it's sooooo awful per se, but because so many people act like it's a transcendental experience akin to getting a blowjob from the Virgin Mary.
If horror films focused less on gore and graphic depictions of violence, they would be:
a) Better
What's the scariest movie you've ever seen?
-It's a real toss up between Alien and Poltergiest for me. I will admit that it has been a really long time since I saw Poltergeist though, so I would tend to lean towards Alien.
Have you ever rented a horror movie to watch at home that you lost interest in halfway through? What was it?
-No, but only because I refuse to pay for horror movies in any way due to their aforementioned regular lameness. I did start to watch Devil's Rejects once from the On-Demand free movies on my cable box and stopped watching it about 1/3 of the way through.
2. "Saw" 1 through 4. They're just stupid.
3. It wasn't a movie - My mother's tampon, Heff age 3.
4. When Clint Eastwood got his ass kicked by Denver "Tank" Murdock in "Every Which Way But Loose", lol.
5. d). Hillbillies.
6. c) A Hollywood Re-make of a Japanese Horror Film
7. Any of the Saw movies. Again, they suck.
8. b) Boring
9. "The Adventures Of Dickman and Throbbin", Starring John C. Holmes.
10. In the Championship innings, Once again - "Saw".
The worst, by far, was Critters.
The first scary movie I saw was The Blob on AMC, back when I was in 6th grade.
I can't think of a scary, non-horror movie moment.
c. teenagers.
d. a sequel.
Well, because currently Saw MXCAD is about to come out, I would have to go with that.
c. neither. gore helps but developing an actually scary premise is just as important, if not more.
The Audition
Jeepers Creepers, because it was just really really dumb.