four good horror movies
Jan. 16th, 2010 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
intertribalI watched all these via Netflix's Watch Instantly. I think they're all worth watching, but they're also four totally different types of horror.
Quarantine
The American remake of the French [rec], which I have yet to see. I'm sure the original is better, but the remake is not bad. Plot is very simple - firefighters and the TV crew shadowing them answer a distress call at an apartment building, and it turns out to be a zombie remake. It's all shot from the perspective of the TV crewman's camera, and much of it is very dark. It reminded me more of the X-Files episode X-Cops and possibly Cloverfield than Blair Witch. Anyway, the government locks down the entire building, so the uninfected are trapped in there with the infected. It's kind of like Under the Dome in that aspect, except without Good vs. Evil (just Healthy vs. Zombie), and far less sucky. For once I did not begrudge the hysterical heroine's screaming. I would be fucking screaming if I had to go through a dark apartment building and there might be zombies everywhere.
Creepiness: 7 out of 10.
Originality: 5 out of 10.
Skill: 7 out of 10.
Gore Factor: Blood-vomit, ripped-out jugulars.
Candyman
I know, I never saw the original! I've only seen the sequels. I've always thought the Candyman franchise was one of the more elegant in horror, and my impressions were confirmed here. This sums it up: it is scored by Philip Glass. From the opening sequence - with Candyman narrating through a mass of bees, "They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What's blood for, if not for shedding?" - it's clear that thought went into this movie. Doesn't hurt that it was based on a Clive Barker short story. The main character is a pretty blonde graduate student (it actually does matter that she's blonde) who's writing her thesis on urban legends. She concentrates on a particular housing complex in the "projects," where everybody believes in the vengeful Candyman. Naturally, shit happens. A lot of blood is spilled but it honestly feels more artistic than gratuitous. Bleak, and tender, and very intelligent.
Creepiness: 5 out of 10.
Originality: 8 out of 10.
Skill: 8 out of 10.
Gore Factor: Blood, rib cages, decapitation.
The Last Winter
I'm a Larry Fessenden fan, which is why I looked forward to this. And it's straight-up Fessenden - slow-building, bizarre, and not entirely comprehensible. A small crew of oil workers - led by the always-awesome Ron Perlman - are out in a desolate outpost in the far, far north (as in, they ride around in snow mobiles and there's northern lights and everything). They notice that it's getting warmer. There's rain. The ice is melting. It's unheard of. One by one the crew starts to go nutso - wandering around in the snow naked, getting nose bleeds that won't heal, talking about invisible creatures that are lurking in the snow. It takes too long to figure out what's going on, and it goes in too many winding directions - and even when the creatures are revealed, the rational scientific viewer would be left going "what the ffffff." I'm not that kind of viewer, so I was like, cooool. The end sequence, which takes place in a hospital (of course), is an ingenious picture of apocalyptica.
Creepiness: 7 out of 10.
Originality: 9 out of 10.
Skill: 7 out of 10.
Gore Factor: Blood, ice corpses.
The Orphanage
Another one you're probably surprised I haven't seen. This one is clearly the best-made of the four - it's polished and cohesive and Belen Rueda is very good as the lead. She plays a woman who's moved back to her childhood home, an orphanage for "special" children (she's not "special" herself), with her husband and adopted son, Simon. Simon's all about the imaginary friends, and the new ones he meets in the old orphanage are quite the mean-spirited little fuckers. Simon disappears during a party, and his mother becomes totally obsessed with finding him - even if it means asking the ghosts for help. This is a directorial debut, which speaks well of Juan Antonio Bayona. Despite its polish, it's not a particularly original plot, and plays horror movie tropes like a violin. But the acting and directing is so good that I actually shed a little tear at the end (it's one of those "emotional" horror movies). Does NOT need an American remake.
Creepiness: 7 out of 10.
Originality: 5 out of 10.
Skill: 9 out of 10.
Gore Factor: Deformities, corpses (in various states of decomposition).
Quarantine
The American remake of the French [rec], which I have yet to see. I'm sure the original is better, but the remake is not bad. Plot is very simple - firefighters and the TV crew shadowing them answer a distress call at an apartment building, and it turns out to be a zombie remake. It's all shot from the perspective of the TV crewman's camera, and much of it is very dark. It reminded me more of the X-Files episode X-Cops and possibly Cloverfield than Blair Witch. Anyway, the government locks down the entire building, so the uninfected are trapped in there with the infected. It's kind of like Under the Dome in that aspect, except without Good vs. Evil (just Healthy vs. Zombie), and far less sucky. For once I did not begrudge the hysterical heroine's screaming. I would be fucking screaming if I had to go through a dark apartment building and there might be zombies everywhere.
Creepiness: 7 out of 10.
Originality: 5 out of 10.
Skill: 7 out of 10.
Gore Factor: Blood-vomit, ripped-out jugulars.
Candyman
I know, I never saw the original! I've only seen the sequels. I've always thought the Candyman franchise was one of the more elegant in horror, and my impressions were confirmed here. This sums it up: it is scored by Philip Glass. From the opening sequence - with Candyman narrating through a mass of bees, "They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What's blood for, if not for shedding?" - it's clear that thought went into this movie. Doesn't hurt that it was based on a Clive Barker short story. The main character is a pretty blonde graduate student (it actually does matter that she's blonde) who's writing her thesis on urban legends. She concentrates on a particular housing complex in the "projects," where everybody believes in the vengeful Candyman. Naturally, shit happens. A lot of blood is spilled but it honestly feels more artistic than gratuitous. Bleak, and tender, and very intelligent.
Creepiness: 5 out of 10.
Originality: 8 out of 10.
Skill: 8 out of 10.
Gore Factor: Blood, rib cages, decapitation.
The Last Winter
I'm a Larry Fessenden fan, which is why I looked forward to this. And it's straight-up Fessenden - slow-building, bizarre, and not entirely comprehensible. A small crew of oil workers - led by the always-awesome Ron Perlman - are out in a desolate outpost in the far, far north (as in, they ride around in snow mobiles and there's northern lights and everything). They notice that it's getting warmer. There's rain. The ice is melting. It's unheard of. One by one the crew starts to go nutso - wandering around in the snow naked, getting nose bleeds that won't heal, talking about invisible creatures that are lurking in the snow. It takes too long to figure out what's going on, and it goes in too many winding directions - and even when the creatures are revealed, the rational scientific viewer would be left going "what the ffffff." I'm not that kind of viewer, so I was like, cooool. The end sequence, which takes place in a hospital (of course), is an ingenious picture of apocalyptica.
Creepiness: 7 out of 10.
Originality: 9 out of 10.
Skill: 7 out of 10.
Gore Factor: Blood, ice corpses.
The Orphanage
Another one you're probably surprised I haven't seen. This one is clearly the best-made of the four - it's polished and cohesive and Belen Rueda is very good as the lead. She plays a woman who's moved back to her childhood home, an orphanage for "special" children (she's not "special" herself), with her husband and adopted son, Simon. Simon's all about the imaginary friends, and the new ones he meets in the old orphanage are quite the mean-spirited little fuckers. Simon disappears during a party, and his mother becomes totally obsessed with finding him - even if it means asking the ghosts for help. This is a directorial debut, which speaks well of Juan Antonio Bayona. Despite its polish, it's not a particularly original plot, and plays horror movie tropes like a violin. But the acting and directing is so good that I actually shed a little tear at the end (it's one of those "emotional" horror movies). Does NOT need an American remake.
Creepiness: 7 out of 10.
Originality: 5 out of 10.
Skill: 9 out of 10.
Gore Factor: Deformities, corpses (in various states of decomposition).
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 04:25 am (UTC)This does sound cool.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 09:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:20 pm (UTC)I'm actually not a big fan of Totoro... *ducks*
no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:36 pm (UTC)--um, if you do Netflix, that is...
no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:52 pm (UTC)It's not as well developed (couldn't be; no time) as the manga on which it's based, but still I like it.
(Even if you don't like it, you have to tell me your impressions, okay? I'm durable, I won't melt and die if you don't like it!)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:56 pm (UTC)LOL, I wouldn't have pegged you for the wicked witch of the West type anyway!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 12:51 pm (UTC)Haven't seen Quarantine or The Last Winter but will probably check out the latter first.
Hmmmmmmmm. The Orphanage. See? That's one of those will-watch-only-once-ever movies for me. I enjoyed it, but the last thirty minutes were pure emotional-scarring torture. As if it *weren't* bad enough lil boy had HIV, then for all the *other* mess to happen?
Oh, and thanks for that screen shot of creepy bag-head child.
My morning is complete!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 04:40 am (UTC)I'd watch Orphanage again if it was requested of me, but it was indeed very wrenching. I don't think it really got me as much as it could have - but when the camera panned out when she's reading to all the ghost kids at the end and it shows the little pictures they'd drawn and attached to their beds... it got me.
I live to serve!
no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 12:52 pm (UTC)For the other record, there are just some movies I come to now as a parent . . . man. Just, man. I'm a big softie anyway, but throw in parenthood on top of that, and some flicks just tear me up. I won't watch My Sister's Keeper, forex. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch Pan's Labyrinth again, either.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-18 05:16 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's sort of what I was guessing. It's different for me, obviously. I won't watch My Sister's Keeper because it looks too sappy - and you may have seen where I put Pan's Labyrinth at the bottom of my list for this decade's movies, haha. But people bring their own biases and subjective tastes and baggage to movies, and I know I've got my own in that regard.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 04:25 am (UTC)--f.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 04:33 am (UTC)