JUNE 29, 2012 4:49PM
The June Phantasmagorical, 2012
Wherein
ChillerPop presents a short, unwordy lazy roundup of the month in
phantasmagoric, creepy, spooky, speculative, fantastical, wonderful,
science-fictiony, monstrous, psychotronic and strange...and stuff like
that...
Happy June, everyone! Hey - this month I managed to
put in a non-newsletter article. Not bad for me these days. But with
the alleged impending Salon death knell, it may be time for Chillerpop
to sink back into his grave for a long, deep sleep. We'll see - I'll
keep on keepin on for now.
RIP
Nora Ephron. I'm not really able to answer the Open Call regarding how
she inspired me, but I know she inspired my wife as a writer and
journalist. Didn't love the Bewitched remake but I think she was trying to make a film about something else entirely unrelated to a money-grabbing remake. Heartburn
was bizarre - and I can appreciate auteurial bizarrity (are these even
real words??), usually the province of insane hypermacho male filmmakers
like Werner Herzog, Quentin Tarantino or John Boorman.
Now then - I thought I would engage in a probably pointless exercise and see what you think. Below I've pulled some comments about several horror movie classics from the imdb discussion boards. Messages are NOT edited for spelling or content. I thought I had a large point to make about what it takes to be a horror film in the modern age. But I don't. Believe it or not, despite what you might read below, there is actually intelligent life to be found on the imdb boards...at least more than when I first started visiting them.
The religious themed films naturally get a lot of spiritual concerns.
What is and isn't horror cinema, these days?
Dracula (1931)
In some of the first establishing shots of the castle, there is clearly an armadillo
that darts by. WTF?!? NOT a scary animal, and certainly not native
to Transylvania. Even in 1931 people lived in Texas and would have
recognized an armadillo at once. Does anyone know what the hell the filmmakers were thinking there? (FYI - I fell asleep watching this film, alas. Hard to believe it once scared people witless.)
- Beady-El
Psycho (1960)
Dull, boring, filled with banal dialogue that
doesn't add anything to the characters or plot, bad acting and bad
"gore" scenes. The sequels - especially "Psycho II" - surpass this
movie by miles.
- Bluecher
It't not that it is overrated, people like the OP
can't follow a storyline that doesn't have a lot of violence or special
effects every few minutes. Not enough blood and gore, they need films
like "Hostel". The camerawork is amazing, the reflection of the cop
in Marion's sunglasses as an example. This is about suspense, not having
someone's head chopped off every 5 minutes.
- jac91604
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
It'snot
like I didn't understand the film but after reading various articles
about the movie I have one little confusion.......Does this speak in
support or against of the satanism.......on my first viewing it I
though it spoke against it but I found some boards where it was written
that this film is just an advertisement of satanism........Whatever
the fact be this film is great.....but i would love ur kind opinion
-Giriayush
the ending disappointed me because I was still waiting for something to happen when the film ended.
- knowingitall
what? like transformers coming from outer space
and blowing up nyc? the ending was perfect. use your own imagination
for a few minutes and think what might have happened in the next 30
minutes...3 days...3 years. everything doesn't need to be wrapped in a
box with a big red bow.
- knittingnoodle
The Exorcist (1973)
Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, that movie was just great, it was scary as hell,
and not even the kills but the sounds and the sights at the beginning
and the narrator, that was all creepy as hell, I loved Texas Chainsaw
Massacre, great movie, Exorcist I found to be very overrated, boring
and not scary at all, major letdown.
- novastar 6
I
have just this mminute finished watching this film after years of
wanting to see it but not daring. I watched intently the whole film and
couldn't find anything remotely scary about it which for me is a real
let down after all the hyped up threads I have read. Thats just my
opinion.
- jenc2009
I
just saw The Exorcist and was very disappointed. I know I am one of
the few that didn't like this movie and i really cant explain why people
like it so much. The story was dull, the characters were very shallow
and the plot was pointless. If you don't believe it, try it yourself,
you will maybe even like it :))
- valonk08
The Omen (1976)
Ok, I'm not a fan of the European Union and my instincts tell me
that it is an evil organisation, there is just something "power hungry"
about it, I mean, why would an international organisation (besides the
UN) have a flag. A lot of people say that is has caused peace here in
Europe. But, I've never given it a thought about how this could be
the begininng of the end of time (The Treaty of Rome= Common Market=
Rise of the Roman Empire).
- euro4569
bad acting cheap boreing dull. just a few of the reasons. rob zombie halloween 2007, the one true halloween
- modernhorrorrox
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Comments
Oh the horror! The spelling, the spelling!!
Ok, seriously, I fully admit that with my overactive imagination all horror movies of any stripe freak me out, but The Exorcist scared the crap out of me!
Ok, seriously, I fully admit that with my overactive imagination all horror movies of any stripe freak me out, but The Exorcist scared the crap out of me!
Rosemary's Baby still remains my fave horror film. Not into the gore that much but love the mystery.
HUGGGGGGGG
HUGGGGGGGG
There is nothing like
the resiliance of a good scare...Like let's hope the rumors about OS
really are rumors and we get to keep your end-of-month summations...I
would become a Zombie without it, I tell you...And that probably
wouldn't be pretty.
seen em all
Midwest Muse - yep -
there's a reason The Exorcist is worthy of the most frightening American
horror movie. Some on the imdb message board argue its because you
know it's true. Maybe a new post topic.
Linda - hell yes! RB is a masterpiece. And how awesome is Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet? She rules! Some days I wish the Castevets were my grandparents.
Thanks KC - and I loved your post on Guillermo for various reasons. I may even do a response post!
Hi Dianne! Thanks for stopping by.
Linda - hell yes! RB is a masterpiece. And how awesome is Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet? She rules! Some days I wish the Castevets were my grandparents.
Thanks KC - and I loved your post on Guillermo for various reasons. I may even do a response post!
Hi Dianne! Thanks for stopping by.
Great, and
hilarious-yet-depressing, idea re: posting these comments and their
responses. I think “everything doesn't need to be wrapped in a box with
a big red bow” pretty much sums it up in terms of how intellectually
and creatively lazy many people can be. They’re lost without that damn
red bow.
No comments:
Post a Comment