It's based on an Adam Nevill novel, the same guy who wrote The Ritual (which was also adapted into a movie, and which I also really liked).Originally Posted by elevenism
Let me know what you think once you watch it!
Active Member
It's based on an Adam Nevill novel, the same guy who wrote The Ritual (which was also adapted into a movie, and which I also really liked).
Let me know what you think once you watch it!
I was nobody. Nothing.
Oh, word? I liked the ritual, too.
Bored
I bought one Blu-ray. $20. 3 movies I haven't seen on it.
I was one of those compilations dics that come out seasonally.
The movies: Hereditary, Midsommar, The Witch.
October 31 is going to be AWESOME!
Throbbing Member
Watch The VVitch, then Hereditary as a double feature. Save Midsommar for later.
I was nobody. Nothing.
Idk dude. I think they're all great.
Bored
Thanks for the recommendation @burnmotherfucker!
@elevenism I think I know why though: I do believe that they are all great, based on what I've read and heard but The Witch and Hereditary are both supernatural in nature while Midsommar is more about crazy cult killings.
They are all giving me the creeps. I hope I won't chicken out!
Throbbing Member
@elevenism They are all great and I enjoyed them all. However @marodi specifically mentioned watching them all on Halloween. So there were a few things that popped into my head that made me suggest that.
Firstly, Midsommar is the least Fall/Halloween film ever made possibly in the horror genre. It takes place 99% in the bright ass day time in the middle of the summer in a place where the sun stays up for nearly 24 hours a day that day. Secondly, Ari Aster is a great director but the man does not cut anything out of his movies and both Hereditary and Midsommar together would total nearly 5 hours. And that's if you watch the very much superior theatrical version of Midsommar instead of the nearly 3 hour director's cut. Idk about others, but my brain turns to mush after that many hours of TV in one day.
Secondly, these aren't exactly fun watches. They are thematically heavy material and I know I needed time after I saw each one to properly digest it. I wouldn't want to watch them and then just skip over to the next film, ya know?
And finally, yeah even though I love Midsommar and all, it just isn't on par with the other two imo. I might give it an 8/10, but it isn't the caliber of horror film the other two are in my eyes. The VVitch is far and away the best of the three for me and a perfect film and Hereditary is also near perfect. This is why I say watch the VVitch first as it deserves the full attention. It also had the closest to a Halloween seasonal fall feel to me.
But that's only my experience with them, your mileage may vary. I suppose if I were going to try and watch all three in a single day I'd try and watch Midsommar first thing in the a.m. and then take a long break and come back for the others after dark. Or just watch one for each night of that weekend.
Either way that's still a great triple feature so get you some popcorn with lots of butter!
Last edited by burnmotherfucker!; 10-07-2021 at 07:28 PM.
Trollhunter
I’d do The Witch first, then Hereditary and skip Midsommar entirely but if you’re going to watch them all? I guess I’d do Midsommar first, then The Witch and have the main event be Hereditary.
I loved Hereditary and it resonated with me; that’s what a family is, in my experience, psychologically. It had rich characters and Spoiler: I dug the cult stuff. The last 25 minutes are insane in the best way.
Midsommar I didn’t enjoy at all. I hated all the characters except Dani and even she was obnoxious at times. You can see the end coming way ahead of time. The movie was boring when it wasn’t annoying.
The Witch is an effective slow burn with really cool creepy things happening throughout and has an excellent conclusion.
Last edited by Swykk; 10-08-2021 at 10:34 AM.
Throbbing Member
Kind of daunting for me to jump into this thread because I love horror and have been watching/collecting horror films for years, and I never really know where to start, but here it goes!
To stay somewhat relevant, while I absolutely despise the terms like "elevated horror" invented by people who, upon seeing a film like The Witch or Hereditary, think that intelligent and thematically dense horror films are some kind of new innovation and not something that has existed practically since the beginning of fucking cinema, the films that frequently have that term applied to them are quite excellent. The Witch is a dread soaked descent into a Puritan nightmare, a wrenching exploration of the kind of chaste, spiritually and emotionally atrophied world these people lived in and I am a huge fan. I liked Midsommar quite a bit, though the Director's Cut is overly long and I would recommend the theatrical cut, which makes some smart edits that trim unnecessary fat. But Hereditary is on another level compared to Midsommar. That film is so gloriously, viscerally traumatic and affecting, and to echo the comments above, it resonates with me and my sense of family in deeply personal (and upsetting lol) ways. So many terrific scenes and moments, and the whole finale is white knuckle shit. The fact Toni Collette didn't even get an Oscar nomination for it is all you need to know to disregard award shows forever.
All in all, both Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse) and Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar) have gone two for two in a big fucking way and I can't wait to see their next films. It's always great to have new talented directors producing films as fertile and rewarding as these. Hopefully they keep their momentum. I absolutely love Kill List and some of Ben Wheatley's films afterwards are pretty interesting too but his latest film, In The Earth, left me pretty disappointed.
The latest talk of the horror scene seems to be the Hellraiser reboot remake (on Hulu? wtf) and the fact Jamie Clayton is playing Pinhead, and I guess I have mixed feelings about it. That there is mouth-breathing backlash to incorporating more sexual diversity in adapting Clive freakin' Barker is pretty rich and casting a trans person as a Cenobite is interesting and in some ways even appropriate. However I really hope the internet doesn't pull a Ghostbusters 2016 with this, that this stupid non debate doesn't become so married to the film so early in its development that its quality and success become some kind of distorted referendum on whether or not the chuds were right about diversity and inclusion instead of being evaluated as a film, adaptation, and remake. The guy directing it, David Bruckner, directed The Night House, which I haven't seen but have heard good things about and is on my 'to watch' list. Once I see that I'll have a better sense of how I feel about this project but it's hard to imagine it topping the overpowering, incredible putrescence of the original. As I have discussed with friends of mine, it's a film that you feel like you can smell and the palpable pulpiness of its gooey effects, juxtaposed with the heaving British soap opera story and the romantic swell of Christopher Young's beautiful score... It's the kind of thing you don't recreate. They say it will be a very close adaptation of Barker's original novella The Hellbound Heart but frankly, aside from Kirsty's role being changed from "Rory's friend" to "Larry's daughter", the original film was already a very close adaptation of The Hellbound Heart, not to mention written and directed by the original author.
Throbbing Member
So much to reply to here, unfortunately I don't have the time to really get into all of it at the moment, just wanted to say keep bringing these kinda comments! I agree with most of what you're getting at here.
Btw, putrescence is the EXACT word to describe Hellraiser that I've been looking for since the first time I saw it so thanks for that.
Also, with some of the stuff you were saying about Hereditary and the VVitch. It reminded me that I had a thought the other day. Much like the Beatles and Elvis. You can divide horror (elevated horror to harp on the term) fans into two groups. Those who think The Shining is the greatest, and those who think The Exorcist is the greatest. I'm in the former camp and I think The VVitch is the modern Shining while Hereditary is the modern Exorcist.
I was nobody. Nothing.
Holy christ. I THINK I saw @Deacon Blackfire ! Or, it might have been a GHOST!
All jokes about your scarcity aside, Deacon, that's a fine bit of insight.
SO
It being October, I got The Secret of Sinchanee, V/H/S 94, The Manor, Madres, and Detention.
Have y'all seen any of these?
Recently I also got Black as Night, Bingo Hell, Martyrs Lane, The Dark and the Wicked, Anything for Jackson, The Hole in the Ground, and Obsidian.
Any picks or pans for these?
Where in the hell is @Deepvoid when you need him? :/
Throbbing Member
Out of all of those I believe the only one I've seen is the Dark and the Wicked. It was good. Promising beginning and built up some nice dread. But if I'm being honest there were a few minor scenes that used cgi and it took me out completely. Still worth a watch. Maybe it's a me thing but once I notice cgi in horror I'm pretty much out.
tempus est umbra in mente
I saw VHS94… it’s stacked top-heavy in quality, and the arcing story that ties the vignettes together feels like a FMV cut scene collection from a Sega CD game like Night Trap, acting included, but maybe that was the goal. There’s some good stuff in there but it didn’t feel as well put together as the other entries I’ve seen.
Regarding the Hellraiser reboot, I dunno. I like that Barker is involved and I think the casting change to a female or androgynous pinhead could be cool. It’s been a while since I read the book but I remember something about the description of the character having an androgynous voice and that the pins had jeweled decorative heads.
The series has already been laughably bastardized by ridiculous sequels, and they already tried recasting Pinhead with an actor who looks like Bobby Monaghan doing an SNL skit making fun of horror. If they’re going to do anything with the material as a cinematic franchise, it needs a hard reboot.
Throbbing Member
You are correct, the lead Cenobite is described in very androgynous terms in the original novel. I wouldn't describe Jamie Clayton similarly because she's clearly a woman and a total babe but as I said previously there is definitely something interesting and even appropriate about casting a trans person in the role. And yes the vast majority of the Hellraiser "franchise" has been dogshit. I love the original, and Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a generally very cool and consistent sequel that directly follows the events of the first while building the world out a little further, but starting with Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth it became a joke. In the first two films the Cenobites were terrifying but almost morally neutral supporting characters - the real villains were Frank and Julia, and Dr. Channard. Evil human desires brought them into the story. Starting with III, they decided to capitalize on how iconic Pinhead was and make him the central antagonist, trying to fit him into the mold of a Freddy Krueger type slasher star and it was a terrible fit that really damaged the series and the character. From there it became a farcical joke, culminating in that horrid bargain bin Pinhead you just mentioned.
Amusingly enough the only Hellraiser after the first two that I like at all was Hellraiser: Inferno. It wasn't even written as a Hellraiser film originally but the role it carves out for Pinhead and the series' lore is low key in a way felt way more in line with the first two films. It's no masterpiece but it's a more dignified entry than the silly lunacy of camera-headed, CD flinging Cenobites or Pinhead in space (which weirdly happened a year before Event Horizon was released).
So I agree, if they want to do something with the material it needs to be a reboot of sorts. I'm just not sure if they should. Like I said I need to see The Night House to see if Bruckner has the chops to do something special. Also I picked up The Dark & The Wicked a while ago but have yet to watch it, I'll be sure to share my thoughts when I do.
I was nobody. Nothing.
For the record, @Jinsai and @Deacon Blackfire , The Hellbound Heart is just about the most disturbing little bit of insanity i've ever read.
As far as dogshit sequels? Well, SOMEWHERE along the way, that became THE formula.
A. Create badass movie. MAYBE stick around for the second one
B. Sell the rights, or whatever it is that they're doing, exactly
C. Sit back and collect those sweet, sweet checks
That's why i'm currently looking for The Amityville Horror part 26...literally...because i saw that a reviewer from some horror website actually liked it.
I think, though, that Amityville and Hellraiser are the guiltiest of this sort of tactic.
Although, there are ELEVEN Children of the Corn movies- eleven movies from one short story.
Last edited by elevenism; 10-09-2021 at 02:36 PM.
tempus est umbra in mente
Yeah I don’t feel crazy great about David Bruckner, but all I’m going by is The Ritual, which I detested.
I was nobody. Nothing.
i thought The Ritual was allRIGHT? Maybe? Passable?
tempus est umbra in mente
"Passable" horror that's trying to be "deep" pisses me off I guess. It's a thing where, if you're gonna go there, you have to own it and be good at it or GTFO.
FATUM NOS IUNGET
FATUM NOS IUNGET
We haven't been able to just change this thread title to The Horror Thread yet? Pain in the ass to find sometimes.
Behold the morning star
Halloween kills was fucking awesome.
FATUM NOS IUNGET
No doubt.
Banned
Very disappointed in Halloween Kills. Jamie Lee is barely utilized in this movie. She spends the entire movie in a hospital (gee where have they done that before?).....Its basically Halloween starring Anthony Michael Hall......This is also the closest Halloween has come to torture porn. The best Halloweens had suspense and even some humor. This is just straight up massacre kill everybody fuck it all kill kill kill.....I think Rob Zombie's Halloween movies were better than this........and his movies sucked.........Halloween Kills is somewhere between the Busta Rhymes and Paul Rudd Halloween shitbombs
Active Member
Well that was... not good. The writing is no better than any of the sequels these sequels retconned. At least some of the kills were good. And of course, the new score from John Carpenter.
Active Member
Definitely disappointed with Halloween Kills. They doubled down on all the issues that I had with the previous film, plus there was some truly cringeworthy fan service moments. Very glad I got to see it for free on Peacock.
Trollhunter
I just got home after seeing it and my initial reaction is pretty close to 50/50… though I think I slightly liked it more than I didn’t.
Hell of it is they could’ve done basically everything they did do without the dumb shit. Spoiler: First and most idiotic was the “many sides” nonsense. “Michael is our division/our anger.” Nope. Are the writers naive libertarians? Secondly, the diversion of the other escaped patient was unnecessary. How do you bungle having the townspeople rise up against Michael?! They didn’t need that. They could’ve kept all the other hospital stuff. Related, the thing I totally understand is why Laurie is a non factor in this movie. If they didn’t show the severity of her injuries from the first movie, that would be a massive mistake, so everyone bitching about that should maybe rethink it. Third, why did they need a cheesy vision of kid Michael to get Karen back inside to set up her (likely) death?
I loved the pace, the gore, and the ideas not related to what I put in spoiler text. I think the third movie could be salvageable but this one needed another script pass before they shot it. You trim about 20 minutes of nonsense and there’d be a great movie here. It’s a shame.
Last edited by Swykk; 10-17-2021 at 05:16 PM.
Active Member
Spoiler: Because they needed yet another pointless callback to the original before the credits rolled.
Throbbing Member
I watched Halloween Kills twice. Slight spoilers...
And it's probably one of the most difficult movies to rate for me. The stuff in it I like, I love. The stuff I don't like I think is absolutely terrible. I'd say I give it a 5-6/10 but that doesn't really seem right. There are chunks of it I'd give a 10 and chunks of it I'd give a 1. Weird mess of a movie.
I think they shoehorned way too much campy comedy into it and at the wrong times. Jokes are ok but when you are making the 50th big John little John joke while Michael is on screen about to kill them then it kinda sucks any tension out of it. The 2018 movie was more balanced and I preferred that tone more. This seemed like a regression. And yeah, the hospital sequence is awful in every way. And Tommy Doyle's character was useless and could have been cut entirely.
It had great music and a lot of great imagery. The flashback was great and Loomis was done with 100% prosthetics and makeup (suck it star wars, cgi sucks folks). And the practical effects were good. Both actors playing Michael were great. It's just such a long way from the minimalism of the original.
And who the fuck thought it was a good idea to have every inch of the Myers house painted deep green? Even the furniture for fucks sake. Those plain white walls in the original were a much more effective backdrop.
Active Member
I enjoyed it quite a bit. Some parts weren't great, but I still had a lot of fun watching it. The way the ending sequence is shot so differently, style wise, made me wonder if it was more of a death dream fantasy type scenario or something.
Throbbing Member
These guys pulled no punches
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