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Horror Movies - Will they ever get good again

fingerguy

fingerguy

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Aug 2, 2016
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#1
I am part of the generation where I saw some if not all the Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Hellraiser movies. Plus I rented every single horror movie on the shelves of my favorite video store and watched some of the classics.

Since then IMHO every single horror movie has sucked except Rob Zombie's 1st Halloween movie. Didn't care for part 2.
 
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#2
The problem is over exposure. Horror only works when it's shocking imo. The public at large has been so exposed to disturbing content that there is basically nothing left to shock them. Blood bath movies for the sake of blood are just, meh.

I remember the very first time I saw Dawn of the Dead in the 80's. When the first zombie woman takes a chunk out of the guys neck I was appalled. I had never seen something so gory and in my face before. Same movie, 20 minutes later, I have been so exposed to the graphic nature of it that I laugh my ass off when the two kid zombies run from behind the coke machine and try to Scooby snack the people. I was numbed to it during the course of a single movie.
 
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#3
fingerguy said:
I am part of the generation where I saw some if not all the Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Hellraiser movies. Plus I rented every single horror movie on the shelves of my favorite video store and watched some of the classics.

Since then IMHO every single horror movie has sucked except Rob Zombie's 1st Halloween movie. Didn't care for part 2.
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Are you sure it isn't you? All of those movies you mentioned are pretty bad after the first installment. Heck, some of them are arguably garbage right from the start.
 
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#4
DiabolusInMusic said:
Are you sure it isn't you? All of those movies you mentioned are pretty bad after the first installment. Heck, some of them are arguably garbage right from the start.
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There is cult followings for just about everything. Case and point: gripboard.com is a forum for people crazy about gripping and most importantly grippers.

So no it's not me. Some will not like something, some will, some agree with me, some don't. This is a view point in the end than a fact.
 
#9
Speaking of genres I could never get past this movie without falling asleep.

A70-10667.jpg


Also, even at 42 I still love this movie:

TRICK-OR-TREAT-VHS.jpg
 
#13
I remember growing up with Saturday creature-feature marathons of 50's schlock horror on UHF in the 70's.

This reminds me... They are showing the OG Phantasm on the big screen here. In my mind, nothing beats the horror of the mid-70's to the mid-80's. I'd rather watch bad puppet special effects than bad CGI any day.
 
#15
mmbongo said:
I don't know if those 80's horror movies were so good because they were actually good, or because I was 12 years old.
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Agreed. I've watched quite a few of them as an adult, and a lot of them don't hold up.

I've found that over the past few years, European horror movies have been definitely been delivering the goods. Some of them aren't straight-up horror, but more psychologically disturbing.
 
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#16
fingerguy said:
I am part of the generation where I saw some if not all the Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Hellraiser movies. Plus I rented every single horror movie on the shelves of my favorite video store and watched some of the classics.

Since then IMHO every single horror movie has sucked except Rob Zombie's 1st Halloween movie. Didn't care for part 2.
Click to expand...
Funny thing, I think that entire category of horror movies you're referring to are all terrible. Different tastes.
 
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#17
Not a fan of the genre, but there are some gems.
Both "Conjuring" movies are not that bad. Maybe not terribly scary to some, but they are not too crappy either.
The original "Blair Witch Project" (you either loved or hated that one).... I loved it. In the end there was nothing to see really, but the tension it generated was just awesome.

I consider "Alien" a horror movie (classic slasher, just in space) and it's probably my favorite. It's over 30 years old, it could look terribly dated, but for me it still works.
 
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#18
FatFunk said:
The original "Blair Witch Project" (you either loved or hated that one).... I loved it. In the end there was nothing to see really, but the tension it generated was just awesome
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The first time I saw that movie was with my girlfriend in the basement of where we were living. We fell asleep about 20 minutes in and woke up to the screaming at the end. Most terrifying moment of my life.
 
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#19
beaglesandbass said:
We fell asleep about 20 minutes in and woke up to the screaming at the end. Most terrifying moment of my life.
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See? It works!!

I remember some people got dizzy, couldn't stand the whole camera moving like crazy thing.
Again, some loved it, some hated it. For me, it works, didn't have many cliches, made me terribly anxious during 2 hours, and left a persistent need to look over my shoulder in parks.
 
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#20
FatFunk said:
The original "Blair Witch Project" (you either loved or hated that one).... I loved it. In the end there was nothing to see really, but the tension it generated was just awesome.
Click to expand...

That's a good one. I thought it was decent, but the wife was scared to go into our basement for the next 6 months:laugh: The new one looks promising as well, but will more than likely be disappointing.

I love the psychological ones better as well. The Japanese seem to be naturals at this horror genre.

"Eraserhead" still remains as one of the most disturbing movies - you still keep thinking about it days later. Still not sure if it is horror, but it always seems to make the horror movie lists
 
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