Horror movie sickens two at Sundance

[Sixpack324]

Sent it to Waffles & Scotch months ago......Just checked back through my PM's and he confirmed he got it back in May.

[DwaynieAD]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

It was pretty good, and not nearly as disturbing as the Wikipedia plot synopsis made it sound. It was a decent story for one that pushes the envelope like that, and the cinematography was really well done.

so the scenes of him anally raping his own son had good lighting and framing?

Just can not wrap my head around this.

Worse yet is the director claiming it's all metaphorical for this or that.

[Darth Handsome]

Originally Posted by DwaynieAD

so the scenes of him anally raping his own son had good lighting and framing?

Just can not wrap my head around this.

Worse yet is the director claiming it's all metaphorical for this or that.

What I can't wrap my head around is how someone can think this stuff up & then admit to other people that they have things like this swirling around in their head. Take Human Centipede for instance. Never mind the process of explaining to a producer what the premise is & asking for the dough to film it. I'd be freaking embarrassed to even verbalize that I had such thoughts.

I'm not saying these filmmakers are terrible people or anything, I'm just speaking for myself.

[dullsilver_mike]

Originally Posted by Darth Handsome

What I can't wrap my head around is how someone can think this stuff up & then admit to other people that they have things like this swirling around in their head. Take Human Centipede for instance. Never mind the process of explaining to a producer what the premise is & asking for the dough to film it. I'd be freaking embarrassed to even verbalize that I had such thoughts.

I'm not saying these filmmakers are terrible people or anything, I'm just speaking for myself.

I dunno, as long as I've studied music, film, literature, and the like, I've enjoyed taking time to sit down and intellectually explore what kind of imagery and concepts solicit a response from an audience or audience member. Some of the things that are the most visceral and deeply embedded in our cognitive processes are things that invoke terror (like the danger of death); horror (the grotesque and perverted); and the taboo (all the way back to old Oedipus).

These things don't swirl around in my head all day as I go about my business, but when I do sit down to purposely think about them or enjoy a really good piece of media using them I can get some pretty disturbing images to pop into my head.

I think the grotesque in particular is always the most interesting because it not only solicits a strong emotional response, it also opens up some commentary on what is normal and what is wrong with our expectations of normal. I think the grotesque works in the same way as humor to point out the types of hidden assumptions a person or culture carries around. I love films that use sound and cinematography to perpetually distort reality and slowly twist it into something ugly that makes me squirm.


...Now I'm suddenly in the mood to go watch some David Lynch films.

[DwaynieAD]

Originally Posted by Darth Handsome

What I can't wrap my head around is how someone can think this stuff up & then admit to other people that they have things like this swirling around in their head. Take Human Centipede for instance. Never mind the process of explaining to a producer what the premise is & asking for the dough to film it. I'd be freaking embarrassed to even verbalize that I had such thoughts.

I'm not saying these filmmakers are terrible people or anything, I'm just speaking for myself.

Yes. I was very careful in how I worded that comment, I'm trying very hard not to say "what the **** is wrong with you?" to the people liking films like this so I'll just say that I don't get it and I don't want to get it. but I also want to understand, on some level, why others "get" or enjoy it.

[Darth Handsome]

Originally Posted by DwaynieAD

Yes. I was very careful in how I worded that comment, I'm trying very hard not to say "what the **** is wrong with you?" to the people liking films like this so I'll just say that I don't get it and I don't want to get it. but I also want to understand, on some level, why others "get" or enjoy it.

Mike's post above sheds a bit of light on one aspect of it, at least from his perspective.

[sobie18]

I hope those people didn't throw up on their LL Bean shirts or ruin a good pair of Louis Vuitton shoes.

Ive played some gigs there during/in/around the Sundance film festival...

[MJ5150]

Seeing how far west it is, I think the Sundance crowd is more Eddie Bauer than LL Bean.

-Mike

[sobie18]

Good point MJ5150...you, sir, are indeed correct.

I can remember driving from SLC to Park City on I-80 during white-out blizzard conditions. I should have died about 3 times heading to/from gigs....the road was terrible over the pass and as I descended down towards Salt Lake, snow turned into rain and then it was fairly smooth all the way back to Layton. Ah, the good 'ole days...

[stratovani]

That broken bone scene - was it as gross as watching Joe Theismann having his leg broken by Lawrence Taylor in a game back in 1985?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Theismann

[pflash4001]

Originally Posted by stratovani

That broken bone scene - was it as gross as watching Joe Theismann having his leg broken by Lawrence Taylor in a game back in 1985?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Theismann

I remember watching that game when I was in 5th grade. My dad and I couldn't believe the sight of his leg after that hit!

[Darth Handsome]

Type "2007 Vanier Cup" in youtube. Femur shmemur.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Darth Handsome

What I can't wrap my head around is how someone can think this stuff up & then admit to other people that they have things like this swirling around in their head. Take Human Centipede for instance. Never mind the process of explaining to a producer what the premise is & asking for the dough to film it. I'd be freaking embarrassed to even verbalize that I had such thoughts.

I'm not saying these filmmakers are terrible people or anything, I'm just speaking for myself.

This is what I find interesting about horror films. I am rarely bothered by them, knowing they are only films, but the terrifying thing about them, in real life, is that some people either have a lot of dark thoughts in their heads, or they will sit there and conjure them up deliberately to get a plot written. Think about that the next time you see an extremely graphic scene, and it will make it very disturbing.

[dullsilver_mike]

Originally Posted by line6man

This is what I find interesting about horror films. I am rarely bothered by them, knowing they are only films, but the terrifying thing about them, in real life, is that some people either have a lot of dark thoughts in their heads, or they will sit there and conjure them up deliberately to get a plot written. Think about that the next time you see an extremely graphic scene, and it will make it very disturbing.

I don't see anything different between someone that delves deeply into what makes us happy, in love, or sad and then magnifies those emotions to solicit a response from an audience and those that do it with horror.

The feelings aren't bad; fear or horror itself isn't bad. The fact that someone can portray something bad happening on the screen to draw out a specific feeling from you might be disturbing in the emotional sense (hey that's the point) but it doesn't make the film itself or the writing/directing behind it disturbed.

We watch James bond kill a bunch of people and survive by the skin of his teeth, we watch dramas where people are slowly dying of cancer or being funneled into concentration camps, we watch comedies where people are acting so foolishly they should be socially ostracized and cut directly out of the gene pool. There's nothing inherently more disturbing in good horror than any of those things.

A filmmaker uses his or her imagination to magnify things that inherently tug at our feelings, and cuts away the numbness of everyday life to do it. Everyone driving down the freeway at 80 mph is potentially seconds from death, but we drive fearlessly all the same, it's good for us in both a cathartic and even in a didactic sense to have a storyteller sit us down and bring out our fear, just as he/she would our sorrow, anger, joy, or wonder.

[fmoore200]

Originally Posted by dullsilver_mike

I don't see anything different between someone that delves deeply into what makes us happy, in love, or sad and then magnifies those emotions to solicit a response from an audience and those that do it with horror.

The feelings aren't bad; fear or horror itself isn't bad. The fact that someone can portray something bad happening on the screen to draw out a specific feeling from you might be disturbing in the emotional sense (hey that's the point) but it doesn't make the film itself or the writing/directing behind it disturbed.

We watch James bond kill a bunch of people and survive by the skin of his teeth, we watch dramas where people are slowly dying of cancer or being funneled into concentration camps, we watch comedies where people are acting so foolishly they should be socially ostracized and cut directly out of the gene pool. There's nothing inherently more disturbing in good horror than any of those things.

A filmmaker uses his or her imagination to magnify things that inherently tug at our feelings, and cuts away the numbness of everyday life to do it. Everyone driving down the freeway at 80 mph is potentially seconds from death, but we drive fearlessly all the same, it's good for us in both a cathartic and even in a didactic sense to have a storyteller sit us down and bring out our fear, just as he/she would our sorrow, anger, joy, or wonder.

Well said, and I agree completely. Horror movies can be wonderful if done correctly, but recently I find the horror lacking and the gore in excessive supply.

Gore doesn't make anyone scared necessarily.storytelling and atmosphere are what illicit fear, IMO..

[Horny Toad]

Originally Posted by dullsilver_mike

I don't see anything different between someone that delves deeply into what makes us happy, in love, or sad and then magnifies those emotions to solicit a response from an audience and those that do it with horror.

The feelings aren't bad; fear or horror itself isn't bad. The fact that someone can portray something bad happening on the screen to draw out a specific feeling from you might be disturbing in the emotional sense (hey that's the point) but it doesn't make the film itself or the writing/directing behind it disturbed.

We watch James bond kill a bunch of people and survive by the skin of his teeth, we watch dramas where people are slowly dying of cancer or being funneled into concentration camps, we watch comedies where people are acting so foolishly they should be socially ostracized and cut directly out of the gene pool. There's nothing inherently more disturbing in good horror than any of those things.

A filmmaker uses his or her imagination to magnify things that inherently tug at our feelings, and cuts away the numbness of everyday life to do it. Everyone driving down the freeway at 80 mph is potentially seconds from death, but we drive fearlessly all the same, it's good for us in both a cathartic and even in a didactic sense to have a storyteller sit us down and bring out our fear, just as he/she would our sorrow, anger, joy, or wonder.

+1. Perfect.

[Sav'nBass]

Originally Posted by seventhson

I couldn't make it through Human Centipede.

You got that right..

[line6man]

Originally Posted by dullsilver_mike

I don't see anything different between someone that delves deeply into what makes us happy, in love, or sad and then magnifies those emotions to solicit a response from an audience and those that do it with horror.

The feelings aren't bad; fear or horror itself isn't bad. The fact that someone can portray something bad happening on the screen to draw out a specific feeling from you might be disturbing in the emotional sense (hey that's the point) but it doesn't make the film itself or the writing/directing behind it disturbed.

We watch James bond kill a bunch of people and survive by the skin of his teeth, we watch dramas where people are slowly dying of cancer or being funneled into concentration camps, we watch comedies where people are acting so foolishly they should be socially ostracized and cut directly out of the gene pool. There's nothing inherently more disturbing in good horror than any of those things.

A filmmaker uses his or her imagination to magnify things that inherently tug at our feelings, and cuts away the numbness of everyday life to do it. Everyone driving down the freeway at 80 mph is potentially seconds from death, but we drive fearlessly all the same, it's good for us in both a cathartic and even in a didactic sense to have a storyteller sit us down and bring out our fear, just as he/she would our sorrow, anger, joy, or wonder.

That's good in principle, but I tend to see a difference between something like an action movie, where people are violent in exciting ways, and horror movies that show extreme and excessive depictions of violence, rape, psychological torments, etc. Mind you, not all horror movies are excessive, but there are indeed movies that pretty much cross the line into "story time in the psychiatric ward of a prison." Sort of like how you can tell a few dirty jokes and it will be hilarious, but if you keep going, you become a crass pervert. There's a line where things just get excessive.

[fmoore200]

Originally Posted by line6man

That's good in principle, but I tend to see a difference between something like an action movie, where people are violent in exciting ways, and horror movies that show extreme and excessive depictions of violence, rape, psychological torments, etc. Mind you, not all horror movies are excessive, but there are indeed movies that pretty much cross the line into "story time in the psychiatric ward of a prison." Sort of like how you can tell a few dirty jokes and it will be hilarious, but if you keep going, you become a crass pervert. There's a line where things just get excessive.

See my post above.. I think the genre you are referring to is unofficially referred to as "torture porn"(see Saw, wrong turn 1 & especially 2, etc.) and is not, IMO, true horror but a sub genre at most..

A good example of a modern horror is the Liv Tyler movie "The Strangers" while an example of 'torture porn' would be Rebecca De Morney movie "Mothers Day"

[DerHoggz]

Originally Posted by seventhson

I couldn't make it through Human Centipede.

The second one is much worse.

Originally Posted by dozicusmaximus

Dale and Tucker vs. Evil

Great movie, have you seen Cabin in the Woods?

The only "movie" that really upset me was the cow slaughter scene in the Nazi propaganda "The Eternal Jew". I fainted, something about how sad the cow looked. Nothing anti-Semitic, I just would have preferred not to see animals die.