Does materialism ruin your horror movies?

[Rafiq]

I just watched insidious and wasn't scared at all. I yawned, and at the most, suspected bourgeois idealist propaganda in the sense that there is a material being and then a spiritual one that can just wonder off into different places. I also thought the demon looked like darth maul, and incredibly fucking stupid. The old women, that was just sad, imo.

Then I just thought "What have I become?" and kind of felt left out that I can't enjoy scary movies anymore :(

[thesadmafioso]

Eh, I don't believe that aliens exist but yet I still find alien movies terrifying. You don't necessarily have to view the subject matter of a film as being plausible to be scared by its presentation. I suppose you have to take these questions at the individual level due to the subjectivity of such measurements.

[¿Que?]

You were unable to suspend disbelief. Probably because the movie was bad, has nothing to do with your beliefs.

[Rafiq]

But the movie got extremely good ratings and everyone who I know saw it said it was one of the scariest movies they'd ever seen.

[thesadmafioso]

Perhaps you just have a higher tolerance for the content of horror movies?

[Susurrus]

Just find some horror movies that are materialist. "The Triumph of the Will" springs to mind, as well as ones like "Jacob's Ladder". Not to mention zombie movies.

[Rafiq]

Perhaps you just have a higher tolerance for the content of horror movies?

I suppose this may be the case

[Comrade Crow]

I just watched insidious and wasn't scared at all. I yawned, and at the most, suspected bourgeois idealist propaganda in the sense that there is a material being and then a spiritual one that can just wonder off into different places. I also thought the demon looked like darth maul, and incredibly fucking stupid. The old women, that was just sad, imo.

Then I just thought "What have I become?" and kind of felt left out that I can't enjoy scary movies anymore :(

See, the problem here is your alcohol and thc levels, I assume they were zero because insidious looks dope.

[Tenka]

I don't know, I just read the plot outline on wikipedia and it looks pretty weak. Maybe, as someone else seems to have suggested, you need to be high or drunk to get anything out of it.

[praxis1966]

But the movie got extremely good ratings and everyone who I know saw it said it was one of the scariest movies they'd ever seen.

You know what else got some pretty good ratings? The latest X-Men movie. I saw it and think it's pretty much objective fact that it was crap. Don't trust ratings, dude.

[¿Que?]

As a matter of fact, I just recently looking through my facebook, and one of my "friends" said insidious was crap. So, it may be that the movie is crap, positive reviews notwithstanding.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Does Rose Byrne die in it?

It seems like she dies in all her movies.

[Rafiq]

yeah, she did at the end.

[Dogs On Acid]

Eh, I don't believe that aliens exist

Are you serious? Do you understand the size of the Universe and the possible amount of Earth worlds there can be?

[thesadmafioso]

Are you serious? Do you understand the size of the Universe and the possible amount of Earth worlds there can be?

I meant that comment to be more in reference to the depiction of aliens in hollywood than anything else. Given the massive scope of the universe it would be nearly impossible for extraterrestrial life not to exist. Though it should be noted that there is quite the difference between believing that life exists beyond earth and believing that this life has taken on the form of little grey men in spaceships who want to abduct humans and/or destroy the world.

But yeah, I was just trying to provide an example of being frightened by something which is not in any serious way possible.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I actually find horror movies with supernatural scares to be less frightening than horror movies with more naturalistic terrors.

For example, I generally find aliens can be scarier than any amount of vampires, werewolves and animated skeletons.

On the other hand, zombies are far too overdone to be properly scary any more, despite the possibility of "naturalistic" zombies.

Also, while the prospect of the Armies of Hell invading sounds more like an invitation to grab a double-barrelled shotgun (cf. DooM), the sort of thing one finds in the Lovecraft Mythos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraft_Mythos), where one's very sanity can be flayed apart like a cowhide against a boulder, is more genuinely scary because the "star gods" in that setting are more like superpowered starfish aliens than the kind of gods most people are used to.

I think motivations are important as well. If the intention of the antagonist is "evil for evil's sake", then I usually just want to fucking yawn. However, an understandable motive such as power, sex, fear or ravening hunger can add a powerfully visceral dimension to a horror antagonist.

[Dogs On Acid]

28 days later is one of the best zombie films ever

[Susurrus]

Try horror video games. I recommend Amnesia: The Dark Descent for scariness, and Silent Hill 2 for complexity and story.

[Dogs On Acid]

Remember the radio that emitted white noise when monsters approached? That made me crap my pants.

XzXwb5O8-SU

[Susurrus]

I would try to play it over my school's intercom sometime, but I doubt anyone would get it. I'll make do with the tank theme from L4d.

[Zugunruhe]

For what it's worth, I thought the plot was weak as well. And the twist at the end was garbage. The pacing was off. The characters were flat.

I'm also a pussy, and it scared the crap out of me. What can I say, jump scares are my biggest enemy :P

[Dogs On Acid]

For what it's worth, I thought the plot was weak as well. And the twist at the end was garbage. The pacing was off. The characters were flat.

I'm also a pussy, and it scared the crap out of me. What can I say, jump scares are my biggest enemy :P

You crazy? Silent hill is the shit man...

The monsters and the other-world are a manifestation of the protagonists psyche and subconscious.

[hatzel]

I vaguely remember a time when materialism and horror films were in vogue. Luckily, that time has passed :tt2:

That is to say: the fact that horror films are uniformly shit is what ruins my horror films. Hence I don't watch them :)

[Dogs On Acid]

I vaguely remember a time when materialism and horror films were in vogue. Luckily, that time has passed :tt2:

That is to say: the fact that horror films are uniformly shit is what ruins my horror films. Hence I don't watch them :)

+1

Can anyone recommend me a GOOD horror film? Like psychological horror?

Jacob's Ladder is excelent

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/

[praxis1966]

For what it's worth, I thought the plot was weak as well. And the twist at the end was garbage. The pacing was off. The characters were flat.

I'm also a pussy, and it scared the crap out of me. What can I say, jump scares are my biggest enemy :P

You're really new here, Zugunruhe, so I'm not going to do anything official this time, but be forewarned that the next time there will be... Ask yourself this, why is part of a woman's genitalia slang for a weak man? It's pretty sexist stuff, and as you get more experience here you'll understand why...

If you have questions, feel free to PM me, or simply avail yourself of the FAQ and the Learning forum.

[RNL]

Horror movies are the best type of movies by far, imo.

Where else do you get to play so freely with metaphor?

I don't usually find horror movies scary, but if the only reason people liked horror movies was that they were scary, that'd be a pit paradoxical, wouldn't it? You'd watch horror movies because they were scary, but the more you watched them the less scary you would tend to find them, so liking horror movies would lead inevitably to disliking horror movies.

I think the scariest stuff has to do with hauntings or disappearances.

The last movie to really unnerve me was The Changeling. Had to pause it halfway through.

[Zugunruhe]

You're really new here, Zugunruhe, so I'm not going to do anything official this time, but be forewarned that the next time there will be... Ask yourself this, why is part of a woman's genitalia slang for a weak man? It's pretty sexist stuff, and as you get more experience here you'll understand why...Whoops, I'm so sorry. I could give you an excuse, but I doubt you want to hear it, so I'll just tell you: it won't happen again.

[L.A.P.]

You know what else got some pretty good ratings? The latest X-Men movie. I saw it and think it's pretty much objective fact that it was crap. Don't trust ratings, dude.

My critique of a film is usually aligned with the consensus ratings so I usually do trust them however it is true you can never truly rely on them. For example, most if not all of James Cameron's movies are shit, especially Avatar and Titanic, yet they still get high acclaim.

[Dogs On Acid]

My critique of a film is usually aligned with the consensus ratings so I usually do trust them however it is true you can never truly rely on them. For example, most if not all of James Cameron's movies are shit, especially Avatar and Titanic, yet they still get high acclaim.

Avatar was so generic, ugh

[praxis1966]

My critique of a film is usually aligned with the consensus ratings so I usually do trust them however it is true you can never truly rely on them. For example, most if not all of James Cameron's movies are shit, especially Avatar and Titanic, yet they still get high acclaim.

Yeah, the inverse of that is that damned near every Jean-Luc Godard film has been universally panned at the time of its release... Only to be hailed as groundbreaking and cinematic genius 30 or 40 years later.

[Rafiq]

My critique of a film is usually aligned with the consensus ratings so I usually do trust them however it is true you can never truly rely on them. For example, most if not all of James Cameron's movies are shit, especially Avatar and Titanic, yet they still get high acclaim.

What's wrong with Avatar? Those are the best special effects ever unveiled to human civilization.

[#FF0000]

I'm a p. staunch materialist and I'm all over paranormal shit/horror in general.

And I get bugged out on every urb-ex trip I go on but that might be more because i'm afraid of finding a dead body than g-g-g-g-g-g-ghostssss

[Leftsolidarity]

Just find some horror movies that are materialist. "The Triumph of the Will" springs to mind, as well as ones like "Jacob's Ladder". Not to mention zombie movies.

Great movie btw

[Os Cangaceiros]

+1

Can anyone recommend me a GOOD horror film? Like psychological horror?

Spoorloos (1988)

Schramm (1993)

Sauna (2008)

[Os Cangaceiros]

Horror movies are the best type of movies by far, imo.

Where else do you get to play so freely with metaphor?

Exactly.


I think the scariest stuff has to do with hauntings or disappearances.

The last movie to really unnerve me was The Changeling. Had to pause it halfway through.

I prefer the ones featuring a deranged family of crazy hillbillies who kidnap obnoxious travellers and eat them.

I also really like religious themed horror, like The Exorcist or The Omen. Ultimate good vs. ultimate evil...doesn't exist in the real world, but it makes for very compelling cinema. ;)

[Ingraham Effingham]

I actually find horror movies with supernatural scares to be less frightening than horror movies with more naturalistic terrors.

For example, I generally find aliens can be scarier than any amount of vampires, werewolves and animated skeletons.

On the other hand, zombies are far too overdone to be properly scary any more, despite the possibility of "naturalistic" zombies.

Also, while the prospect of the Armies of Hell invading sounds more like an invitation to grab a double-barrelled shotgun (cf. DooM), the sort of thing one finds in the Lovecraft Mythos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraft_Mythos), where one's very sanity can be flayed apart like a cowhide against a boulder, is more genuinely scary because the "star gods" in that setting are more like superpowered starfish aliens than the kind of gods most people are used to.

I think motivations are important as well. If the intention of the antagonist is "evil for evil's sake", then I usually just want to fucking yawn. However, an understandable motive such as power, sex, fear or ravening hunger can add a powerfully visceral dimension to a horror antagonist.

I agree, nihilists bore me too. So pedestrian. Same with the whole primal monster, alien or demon shtick.

Unknown motives, inconceivable to humans, are scarier. No justifications, no rationalizations, no human personality traits attached to evil's manifestation. A scarier unknown than "how?" is "why?"

It's a hard concept to depict without seeming goofy or full of itself. Lovecraft nailed it tho.

Off the top of my head, i can't think of anything else that comes quite so close, but I know there are, just too lazy to think.

[Susurrus]

What's wrong with Avatar? Those are the best special effects ever unveiled to human civilization.

Only caring about effects in a movie is like going to an art gallery to admire the frames and wallpaper.

[Ingraham Effingham]

+1

Can anyone recommend me a GOOD horror film? Like psychological horror?

Jacob's Ladder is excelent

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/

Have you seen The Devil's Backbone or Mulholland Drive?

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Spoorloos (1988)

Schramm (1993)

Sauna (2008)

Spoorloos is good.

Keep the fuck away from the re-make for the U.S. market, "The Vanishing" (1993), however, talk about shedding plot and simplification.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I love how Avatar pisses off ideologues on both sides:

1: Right-wing ideologues hate it because Eywa (a sort of alien Gaia) and the inhabitants of Pandora managed to defeat the mining company and send the humans packing. Obviously Avatar is loony lefty hippie propaganda!

2: Left-wing ideologues hate it because despite being a film about blue aliens, the vaguely tribal motifs apparently trigger some deep-seated white guilt complex, even though tribalism is not an unrealistic expectation for a roughly humanoid species that has yet to industrialise and enjoys a literal bond with the rest of nature. Obviously Avatar is racist Mighty Whitey propaganda!

Have you ever read an explicitly Christian "review" (http://www.capalert.com/) of a popular culture film? Because that's how ridiculous both sides look to me.

[Mather]

Mulholland Drive?

I fucking love that film and whilst it is not horror in the classic sense, the dark atmosphere and sense of despair in the film's characters is compelling.

I would say the same for Lost Highway and Blue Velvet.

I have always loved the surreal and nobody deals with the surreal as good as David Lynch.

[praxis1966]

I have always loved the surreal and nobody deals with the surreal as good as David Lynch.

I really like Lynch as well, but I'm not sure I'd call his work properly surrealist. To be a surrealist, your work has to have a dreamlike unreality to it. While Lynch's films are certainly bizarre, they don't achieve the level of unreality required for my money...

If you wanna watch some classically surrealist stuff, check out the work of Luis Buñuel for starters (assuming you haven't already). That guy has more surrealist street cred than any other filmmaker ever given that his first work (Un chien andalou) was co-directed by none other than Salvador Dali himself. My two personal favorites by Buñuel are The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Phantom of Liberty. Oh yeah, dude was a self avowed Marxist and a distinctly hilarious loathing of capitalism and religion.

[Rafiq]

http://www.capalert.com/capreports/suckerpunch.htm

[Rafiq]

The Hellraiser movies are pretty awesome, though