| What is your horror IQ? | 11.16.2008 |
Did IQ's drop sharply while I was away? Ripley said it in Aliens, but I could not get this line out of my head while watching a movie the other night. What movie? I haven't written a review for it on the movie section (yet.) Sukiyaki Western Django. I was looking forward to this. Takashi Miike with an English language release film. Audition and Ichi are two of the most stunning asian films I have seen. Five seconds into this film I realized that I was in for a long 2 hours. The start of this film is on a set that looks like a crappy high school play set. Excuse me Mr Miike, but don't give me high school musical crap and expect me to enjoy it as a legitimate movie.
This isn't my first objection to being insulted by horror movies. Although I have been in disagreement with some about recent movies. Grindhouse comes instantly to mind. Those B movies we fondly recall growing up with are fond memories because it was a different time. A different world. There was less horror that had been explored as well as there has been today. You cannot recreate that environment. Any attempt to do so simply results in a movie that comes across as self serving. Neither of the Grindhouse films were any good. And making them "scratchy" looking and "missing a reel" only confirms this. If you need a gimmick to garner interest then you missed the mark.
Another recent mis-step in our beloved industry was Hostel. 45 minutes of tits and ass followed by 45 minutes of splatter and gore does not make a movie. First I felt like I was watching a porn and then you change channels on me to Faces of Death. What the hell...There were so many inane things in this film. Bad decisions. Poor plotlines. Ridiculous character choices. It was an unwatchable film that I feel only became a success because of the news that people were becoming "sick" just watching this film. Wanna see a movie that is stomach churning but also has a story? Watch Ichi.
Kill Bill also comes to mind. Here's a gimmick for ya. Let's take a movie that should be 90 minutes, make it a 3 hour epic with ridiculous asides and different filmmaking styles then release it in 2 parts. Kill Bill could have been a good movie if it had been made into one freakin film. Lord of the Rings had to be 3 films. The story commanded it. And then some. No gimmick there in three films or even in the extended releases. The story dictated the form. Tarantino has gone from making great and innovative films to using gimmicks and trickery to entice viewers to his movies. There was another Tarantino film I thought I was buying only to discover that it was a 70's Grindhouse type of film that he had repacked with his name overwhelming everything. I didn't look close enough and was tricked into thinking I was buying a Tarantino film. This blog didn't start out with the intention of ripping on Tarantino, but I think he needs to sit down, take a deep breath and recall what it was about Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction that worked so well. Insulting your viewers was not what did it.
We need more films like Wolf Creek, Malevolence,Sixth Sense, High Tension, Saw, Silence of the Lambs, Cube and Midnight Movie. We need less movies like House of Wax remake, Saw 5, Happening, Strangers, Lost Boys: Tribe, Texas Chainsaw Beginning, Amityville Horror remake, Fog remake. This isn't rocket science people. It is filmmaking. Horror filmmaking. Give me a decent story with decent acting and a few scares and I am happy as a pearl in a clam. Give me crap with Paris Hilton or nothing but remakes and I am just gonna get cranky.
Bloody MonkeyZ
This isn't my first objection to being insulted by horror movies. Although I have been in disagreement with some about recent movies. Grindhouse comes instantly to mind. Those B movies we fondly recall growing up with are fond memories because it was a different time. A different world. There was less horror that had been explored as well as there has been today. You cannot recreate that environment. Any attempt to do so simply results in a movie that comes across as self serving. Neither of the Grindhouse films were any good. And making them "scratchy" looking and "missing a reel" only confirms this. If you need a gimmick to garner interest then you missed the mark.
Another recent mis-step in our beloved industry was Hostel. 45 minutes of tits and ass followed by 45 minutes of splatter and gore does not make a movie. First I felt like I was watching a porn and then you change channels on me to Faces of Death. What the hell...There were so many inane things in this film. Bad decisions. Poor plotlines. Ridiculous character choices. It was an unwatchable film that I feel only became a success because of the news that people were becoming "sick" just watching this film. Wanna see a movie that is stomach churning but also has a story? Watch Ichi.
Kill Bill also comes to mind. Here's a gimmick for ya. Let's take a movie that should be 90 minutes, make it a 3 hour epic with ridiculous asides and different filmmaking styles then release it in 2 parts. Kill Bill could have been a good movie if it had been made into one freakin film. Lord of the Rings had to be 3 films. The story commanded it. And then some. No gimmick there in three films or even in the extended releases. The story dictated the form. Tarantino has gone from making great and innovative films to using gimmicks and trickery to entice viewers to his movies. There was another Tarantino film I thought I was buying only to discover that it was a 70's Grindhouse type of film that he had repacked with his name overwhelming everything. I didn't look close enough and was tricked into thinking I was buying a Tarantino film. This blog didn't start out with the intention of ripping on Tarantino, but I think he needs to sit down, take a deep breath and recall what it was about Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction that worked so well. Insulting your viewers was not what did it.
We need more films like Wolf Creek, Malevolence,Sixth Sense, High Tension, Saw, Silence of the Lambs, Cube and Midnight Movie. We need less movies like House of Wax remake, Saw 5, Happening, Strangers, Lost Boys: Tribe, Texas Chainsaw Beginning, Amityville Horror remake, Fog remake. This isn't rocket science people. It is filmmaking. Horror filmmaking. Give me a decent story with decent acting and a few scares and I am happy as a pearl in a clam. Give me crap with Paris Hilton or nothing but remakes and I am just gonna get cranky.
Bloody MonkeyZ
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