Seventh Place: Critters
With just a single vote, the movie series featuring the cuddly ravenous monsters from outer space takes the lowest place in this poll.
( Read more... )
But for discussion right here, what counts as horror? If you've seen "We Need To Talk About Kevin" did it seem to have a horror sensibility to you? What does everyone think about the question as to whether Aronofsky's "Black Swan" is a horror film?
And even if you haven't seen either of those I'd be interested to hear any examples of people's favourite almost-but-not-quite-horror films.
Interestingly, this article from a while back tries to suggest that a horror film needs to have either a supernatural element or a non-human monster, along with the intention to disturb. However, that rules out not only "Psycho" and "Silence of the Lambs" but also (and the writer cannot quite bear this) "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", since all these would be classed as 'crime thrillers' on their definition.
We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)
Mark Kermode's top film of last year stars Tilda Swinton as the mother of a child who seem to have a grudge against her from the moment he is born. This is adapted from a novel (by Lionel Shriver), but I have absolutely no idea how this story would work within a book. Unlike most adaptations, there's something especially visual and tonal about the film. While there's clearly a plot line running through the film and we've seen films which use mixed-up timelines and flashbacks before, the whole film is quite disorientating in the way it skips from past to present with occasional glimpses of events in between.
( Read more under the fake cut... )
Retreat (2011)
What a cast eh? There's Cillian Murphy, Jamie Bell and um... Thandie Newton. I actually remember quite fancying Thandie Newton in MI:2, but mainly because I thought she had a pretty face. If anything she's lost weight since then so she's looking rather gaunt. Naturally we shouldn't judge actresses by their weight, but that upsets me anyway. In any case, all three of these actors are clearly excellent and so this really ought to be a fantastic film as a result. Sadly, it isn't. The set-up at the beginning feels awkward, the pacing in the middle is slow, the behaviour of the characters (not just Jamie Bell's mysterious figure but the other two as well) is often confusing, the ending ends up looking like a silly cop-out, and I'm not convinced that the director is getting the best out of any of these performers. Yes, they are all brilliant, but I couldn't help but feel that the performances were in spite of rather than encouraged by the director.
( Read more under the fake cut... )
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
I suppose this was the logical next step for the series. From the very first film there were a few somewhat jokey elements to Freddy Kreuger. While it was toned down a lot in the second one, we still had the "I've got the brains" line. From the third film onwards the amount of cheesy Freddy lines has only gone up and so with the sixth film we finally have an out-and-out comedy. The question is: Is it a GOOD comedy movie?
( Read more under the fake cut... )
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
After part 6 had made Freddy into a goofy comedian and the horror was seemingly entirely lost from the series, Wes Craven comes along and promises a totally fresh approach. While Craven had been involved in writing Part 3 a lot of his ideas had been ignored and much of the writing can be credited to Frank Darabont (who also had writing credits for the eighties remake of "The Blob" and "The Fly II", as well as later writing and directing "The Shawshank Redemption", "The Mist" and the tv series "The Walking Dead"). So really this was the first time Wes Craven had proper creative control on the series since part one. Fans were very excited.
( Read more under the fake cut... )
Ranking the franchise
I'm putting part 4 and the remake both in the top spot because while I felt the Remake worked best as a horror film, Part 4 was the one of the fun Freddy movies that appealed to me most.
( Read more... )
I've already finished my reviews for the Friday The 13th series and on Halloween Candy I'm most of the way through the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. (On Halloween Candy you can already check out the first and second installments of my reviews for that series.) I haven't yet got hold of "Freddy Vs Jason", but perhaps I'll have it before I close the following poll in a week's time.
What I want from you is a suggestion as to which franchise I should review next. If you actually find my opinions on movies useful you could pick a franchise which you haven't checked out. Alternatively if you aren't too concerned about the scores I give then you could pick one that you think I would enjoy. In either case you can choose a maximum of two out of the following seven options provided in alphabetical order:
( Read more... )
Click Here To Vote For Your Choices...!
Second installment of my reviews of the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" series. If you want to see my first entry you can find it here. I'm afraid I have as yet to get hold of "Freddy Vs Jason", but you can expect this to be followed up with reviews for Parts 6 and 7 fairly shortly.
A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
Having decided to watch Part 3 first, naturally I already knew this wasn't expected to be as good and I'd heard that there weren't vital plot elements carrying through the series in this one too. What surprised me was finding just how much this film veers off the normal formula.
( Read more under the fake cut... )
A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
I went into this one not expecting too much, mainly because of a joke from the tv show "Roseanne". The family get a VCR and Darlene says "we can rent Lethal Weapon 2, Jaws 3 and Nightmare On Elm Street 4". The joke is partly that this is a sequence of sequels that have nothing to do with one another, partly that there were plenty of series with ridiculous numbers of sequels, but I also thought it meant that these were judged as poor sequels too (having never personally liked Lethal Weapon 2).
Since watching the film, I've listened to a few podcasts about it and I do actually get the impression that this film is looked down on, but I'm not entirely sure why.
( Read more under the fake cut... )
A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
A new set of friends have to be brought into this movie because so many of cast were killed off last time around and none of these new people feel like real people. We don't have the well-defined characterisation of the last movie and the attempt to show the children all casually talking to each other just comes across as overly scripted and even somewhat confusing. The parents are particularly dreadful one-dimensional caricatures.
( Read more under the fake cut... )
A few questions for everyone at "Spookypoo":
- Have you seen all the Nightmare on Elm Street films?
- Which one do you think is best and which is worst?
- If you were recommending someone (not me) watch just the best of the series which films would you suggest they watch? (For example: Would you suggest just the first one and no more? Would you suggest just the two Wes Craven ones (parts 1 and 7)?)
As promised I'm now beginning my series of reviews of the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" franchise. This follows on from my Friday the 13th Franchise reviews which can be found on the Halloween Candy community: (installment one, installment two, installment three).
Hopefully by the time I reach the final installment of this A Nightmare On Elm Street marathon I'll have gotten hold of a copy of "Freddy Vs Jason". I'm following the films in a bit of an odd order. I'd already seen the first film and gave a short review here, but I decided to make Part 3 my first sequel and I've also checked out the remake early to get it out of the way. As with the Friday the 13th series, I'm often quite surprised by my reaction to these films. I never seem to be quite in line with the general critics consensus...
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
I reviewed this a while back. I have to say, one thing that made it difficult to rate it on first watch was that firstly other Wes Craven movies like "Scream" and "The People Under The Stairs" had made me disinclined to believe that I was going to like it. But perhaps more importantly, after actually watching it I wasn't all that impressed. I eventually decided that the imagery and creativity made it worthy of a "B+" but now I'm inclined to think I overrated it.
Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
I decided to move straight to this sequel because it appeared to have the best score and I heard that you didn't need to see the second movie in order to understand it. I was keen to check out what appears to be seen as the high point of the sequels before diving in and I have to say, I was not disappointed.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
Yes, I decided to check out the reboot already, but my reason for this is actually because I was expecting it to be awful. Quite a few users on the Friday the 13th remake's IMDB board seemed to have loved the remake with many even ranking it as the best of the Friday the 13th films. There was no such ambiguity about the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" remake on the IMDB boards for that. Some people said it wasn't that bad, while a large number were actively panning it. Finishing with the remake left such a bad taste in my mouth when I was doing the Friday the 13th marathon, so if this was going to be even worse I was inclined to get it out of the way early.
The Cabin In The Woods (2012)
Okay, so I've got to be pretty careful because...
(video link)
Yeah, okay so Joss Whedon threatening to make a personal appearance at my house isn't exactly the worst threat I've ever heard. Even if it is to make fun of me and berate me for revealing plot spoilers. Still, I think the message is pretty clear and given in a very respectful and reasonable way, so as a fan of Buffy and Firefly, I probably ought to follow it as best I can.
Thankfully my reviews are generally spoiler free anyway. Probably makes my reviews 25% less interesting. (The other 25% is lack of time I spend on the reviews.... and the final 50% is my lack of writing talent.) Still, I know I appreciate getting a good picture of what a film has in store for me without the plot being spoilt and that's what I try to offer. Now, I knew before even entering the cinema that I'd most likely be including words along the lines of "the plot of this film makes it hard to avoid spoilers" (simply by virtue of seeing the Joss Whedon message above), but I didn't realise how quickly I'd reach points which I probably shouldn't reveal. Seriously, the opening credits of this film features elements not in the trailer that give huge hints as to what this film is really about.
So what can I reveal? Let's set that out clearly before I go on:
1) The plot to the extent revealed by the trailer. (Seriously, don't watch the trailer. I'm going to limit how much I reveal even from that.)
2) The actors involved and the standard of their performance.
3) Some general gist of the type of film this is i.e. pacing, levels of action and dialogue, reactions from the audience
4) Some tiny insignificant hints tied in with general squeeing. (Seriously, no spoilers. I promise.)
5) A score, like in all my reviews.
Okay so...
( Read more under the fake cut... )
Jason goes to New York, Jason goes to Hell, Jason goes to Outer Space and finally Jason gets rebooted. What's missing? Well, the battle between Jason and Freddy. It's on the list, but I haven't got hold of it yet. However, I have been able to borrow all 8 Nightmare On Elm Street movies, so by the time I finish those hopefully I'll have got a chance to see the crossover between these two colossal horror franchises.
Click here or on any of the images above for the reviews...
The last of these reviews is for the reboot (which I really wasn't keen on). In the comments below perhaps you can tell me, what have been the best movie remakes or reboots?
What's on your horror plate this weekend? I'm thinking about watching Nobuhiko Obayashi's 1977 horror film House on Hulu Plus this weekend. I've never seen it and none of my horror fan friends know what I'm talking about when I bring up this film. I know it involves kids on a summer trip and some wacky special effects. I'm not even sure how spooky this film is. I'll let ya know!
So, my question of the day: Let's say you've met a new friend, someone who hasn't really watched horror films before but is really interested in exploring the genre. What's one of the first films you would show them? I dunno if Jaws counts but it's a personal favorite of mine. It's not necessarily horror but I think it's a good measuring stick of how much horror your new friend can take. I mean, if they're freaked out or grossed out by Jaws, it'll be a short walk through the dark forest of horror. :-)
Happy haunts all!
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?v=91.7)
spookypoo- Spooky Poo
- Spooky Poo
Page Summary
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.7)
fatpie42 : Results of the Movie Franchise Poll: Including The First Review! [+3] - fatpie42 : Two New Reviews + Discussion: What is horror? What films are almost (but not quite) horror? [+3]
- fatpie42 : Third Installment of my reviews of the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" series. [+1]
- fatpie42 : Next Series To Review? EVERY VOTE COUNTS! [+10]
- fatpie42 : Second Installment of my reviews of the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" series. [+13]
- fatpie42 : (no subject) [+5]
- fatpie42 : Cabin In The Woods Review.... [+0]
- fatpie42 : Catching Up With Horror Reviews.... [+6]
- fatpie42 : Third Installment of my reviews for the ENTIRE Friday The 13th Series [+1]
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/user_ontd.gif?v=91.7)
mike : Weekend slumber party open thread [+7]
Syndicate
