Cabin In The Woods (horror-comedy is usually easy to stomach)
Scream
Poltergeist
Child's Play (Anything with a silly villain really)
The Strangers (?) (I find home invasion films pretty tame)
Maybe:
Friday the 13th
28 Days Later
Dawn of the Dead
I dunno, it's hard to pick "not scary" films since I don't get scared. You should just show her the scariest movie you can think of and then be like, "If you can watch this, you can sit through anything."
Quality, screw how scary it is list:
The Thing
Nightmare on Elm Street
Halloween
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Reanimator
Possession (that's horror, right)
Dead Alive (Peter Jackson)
I'll definitely look ask her about a few of these, she's really weird when it comes to this kinda stuff, she sat through the evil dead remake for me but refuses to try the purge (is the purge even horror? Lol) she won't do Freddy or chuckie (she was tormented as a kid by her step dad with those characters, sorta bums me out cause I like Freddy, but I can see why she's still upset over it) so I try to refrain from those two, I'm sure I'll figure a few out, she really wants to try though, for me, because she can tell how much I really do like the genre, so maybe we can come up with something! Thanks for the help!!!
Classics or not (and it is a fine list), I'd personally avoid older titles like those until she's a little more versed in the genre. I don't think you'd want to show someone something like Dead Alive until they're ready to appreciate it for what it is. You gotta get her used to the genre a bit first, then you sneak in Basket Case
Cabin in the Woods is a great suggestion though.
I came up with a couple more I think might be good choices:
- Warm Bodies (more romantic comedy than horror, but it might be a good start)
- The Descent 1-2 (strong female characters, is scary and intense even before the monsters show up)
- The Pact (excellent suspense with a great female lead)
- The Loved Ones
- Wolf Creek
- Rec 1-3
- Drag Me to Hell
- Trick 'r Treat
- 30 Days of Night
- Frozen (Adam Green's)
- The Children (2008)
- The Devil's Backbone
- Feast
- Session 9
If you did want to go older and stick with the classics, I'd go with stuff like:
- The Exorcist
- The Fly
- The Shining
- Monster Squad (If she likes the Goonies)
- An American Werewolf in London
- Night of the Living Dead (the 1990 remake would be a good choice too since Barbara isn't catatonic in it.
Classics or not (and it is a fine list), I'd personally avoid older titles like those until she's a little more versed in the genre. I don't think you'd want to show someone something like Dead Alive until they're ready to appreciate it for what it is. You gotta get her used to the genre a bit first, then you sneak in Basket Case
Cabin in the Woods is a great suggestion though.
I came up with a couple more I think might be good choices:
- Warm Bodies (more romantic comedy than horror, but it might be a good start)
- The Descent 1-2 (strong female characters, is scary and intense even before the monsters show up)
- The Pact (excellent suspense with a great female lead)
- The Loved Ones
- Wolf Creek
- Rec 1-3
- Drag Me to Hell
- Trick 'r Treat
- 30 Days of Night
- Frozen (Adam Green's)
- The Children (2008)
- The Devil's Backbone
- Feast
- Session 9
If you did want to go older and stick with the classics, I'd go with stuff like:
- The Exorcist
- The Fly
- The Shining
- Monster Squad (If she likes the Goonies)
- An American Werewolf in London
- Night of the Living Dead (the 1990 remake would be a good choice too since Barbara isn't catatonic in it.
Classics or not (and it is a fine list), I'd personally avoid older titles like those until she's a little more versed in the genre. I don't think you'd want to show someone something like Dead Alive until they're ready to appreciate it for what it is. You gotta get her used to the genre a bit first, then you sneak in Basket Case
Cabin in the Woods is a great suggestion though.
I came up with a couple more I think might be good choices:
- Warm Bodies (more romantic comedy than horror, but it might be a good start) - The Descent 1-2 (strong female characters, is scary and intense even before the monsters show up)
- The Pact (excellent suspense with a great female lead)
- The Loved Ones
- Wolf Creek
- Rec 1-3
- Drag Me to Hell - Trick 'r Treat - 30 Days of Night
- Frozen (Adam Green's)
- The Children (2008) - The Devil's Backbone
- Feast - Session 9
If you did want to go older and stick with the classics, I'd go with stuff like:
- The Exorcist - The Fly - The Shining
- Monster Squad (If she likes the Goonies) - An American Werewolf in London
- Night of the Living Dead (the 1990 remake would be a good choice too since Barbara isn't catatonic in it.
Horror-Gaf, im in need of assistance, i'm slowly trying to get my fiancee accustomed to horror films, and i need some suggestions for stuff that she would handle well, she doesn't handle horror very well, i talked her into the Evil Dead remake and she's still mad at me for it (completely worth it though ahahah) just more easy to watch stuff that wont scar her too bad, that way i can get her into the genre slowly haha
Definitely show her the Scream franchise. Not only is the original one of the greatest horror movies ever made, it's also lighthearted, but still scary. Also it deconstructs other horror films, so after watching Scream, she might find other horror films a little less intimidating.
Came across the OT which reminded me of Rob Zombie's new movie soon, 31. I always felt he gets pretty gruesome purposely in his movies but I always enjoyed them for what they were. But this movie looks interesting.
I can never watch Dead Alive again. It's way past my gore tolerance, and this is coming from someone who sat through every Saw movie and only cringed twice.
I have a tendency to be EXTREMELY particular about my horror movies. While I love horror books, and will ready anything I can get my hands on, in horror movies I tend to be very particular. I either want something thought provoking, or something very disturbing or upsetting. I really don't like slashers, or movies that are self aware of their cheese, or worst of all, horror comedies.
Anyone else have very particular taste in horror movies?
I have a tendency to be EXTREMELY particular about my horror movies. While I love horror books, and will ready anything I can get my hands on, in horror movies I tend to be very particular. I either want something thought provoking, or something very disturbing or upsetting. I really don't like slashers, or movies that are self aware of their cheese, or worst of all, horror comedies.
Anyone else have very particular taste in horror movies?
Minimal gore, no jump scares. I want something that will make me leave the theater with a feeling of unease, like instead of seeing someone get their arm cut off. You saw someone staring at you from a distance, and they got progressively closer, or something like the ending to The Woman in Black. Barely any suspenseful music. A lot of the scares had no musical accompaniment at all.
I have a tendency to be EXTREMELY particular about my horror movies. While I love horror books, and will ready anything I can get my hands on, in horror movies I tend to be very particular. I either want something thought provoking, or something very disturbing or upsetting. I really don't like slashers, or movies that are self aware of their cheese, or worst of all, horror comedies.
Anyone else have very particular taste in horror movies?
I love heavy gore films and most horror comedies. I love slow burns and even frightening thrillers with loose horror elements. I can't stand haunted house/possession/ghost films. Most recently I hated The Conjuring and Oculus.
I also watched Willow Creek a few weeks ago on GAF recommendation and it just felt like a waste of time. A poor man's Blair Witch Project. Hard for me to recommend it to friends since nothing really happens...
I haven't been watching too many horror movies lately, but here's some quick opinions of what I've watched over the last month.
Final Exam (1981)
Final Exam is your basic paint-by-numbers 80s slasher. It's Halloween without all the stuff that made Halloween a classic. It's not terrible but it's also not even close to being memorable. Oddly enough though, it being so predictable is what helped make it watchable. It just felt... familiar, even though I had never seen it before.
With all the amazing titles Scream Factory resurrects, it's easy to forget they're not all gems and some can be skipped. Final Exam is a skip unless you're a completest.
Bloody Birthday (1981)
He's another I missed growing up. Bloody Birthday is another entry into the killer kid sub-genre and I always find those pretty fun, so I enjoyed this one quite a bit.
The kids a suitably evil (especially that little monster with the glasses, man, what an a-hole) and the whole movie just reeks of the late 70s/early 80s time period which I love.
Recommended.
Leviathan (1989)
I'm pretty sure I've seen this one on cable as a kid when it was new, but it's so derivative of other movies I might just have it mixed up with something else as the whole thing felt very familiar.
Anyway, Leviathan is a standard monster stalks people in a confined space movie. There's no real surprises in the plot departmant, but a cast of fan favourite faces including Peter Weller, Richard Crenna and Ernie Hudson help carry it along.
Practical effects from Stan Winston's studio are a mixed bag as some are still pretty good looking and some come off rather dated. The real star of this one though are the sets. The underwater mining facility looks amazing and much like Alien's Nostromo, it's almost a character itself.
Overall, while it may not reach the heights of Alien or the Thing, it's a decent entry into the genre, even if it doesn't really add anything new. Worth checking out it you haven't seen it.
Oculus (2013)
I'm not a huge fan of modern haunted house movies, and even though it's not the house that's haunted in Oculus, it's close enough to be considered part of that sub genre.
It did offer up enough differences from something like Insidious to make it interesting though, so I enjoyed it for what it was. Nothing I'll watch again, but I appreciated them trying to do something a little different and it held my interest until the end.
I normally hate reading despite its being my specialty, but I'll keep that in mind I did grow up on RL Stein. Currently making my way through asoiaf.
And Below was meh. Half U571 half haunted house half detective deal. Pretty formulaic. And like any actually good actor, Zack Galifianakis wasn't really noticeable. It's like Jack Black in a serious role, you think it'll be funny, but then you realize that they're actually going to act and it's just like eh.
I haven't been watching too many horror movies lately, but here's some quick opinions of what I've watched over the last month.
Final Exam (1981)
Final Exam is your basic paint-by-numbers 80s slasher. It's Halloween without all the stuff that made Halloween a classic. It's not terrible but it's also not even close to being memorable. Oddly enough though, it being so predictable is what helped make it watchable. It just felt... familiar, even though I had never seen it before.
With all the amazing titles Scream Factory resurrects, it's easy to forget they're not all gems and some can be skipped. Final Exam is a skip unless you're a completest..
Yea I watched this during last Halloween marathon, was such a stinker for me. And there is not even any type of reason given for the killer, it just happens with no background. Only surprising part of the movie to me was the whole van full of college school shooting terrorist pranks. I guess it wasn't shocking then but in this day and age it felt really odd for a prank.
Yea I watched this during last Halloween marathon, was such a stinker for me. And there is not even any type of reason given for the killer, it just happens with no background. Only surprising part of the movie to me was the whole van full of college school shooting terrorist pranks. I guess it wasn't shocking then but in this day and age it felt really odd for a prank.
I'll have to go back and check out your review for it.
I found it hilarious how they didn't even bother giving the killer a mask or a costume, it was just
some random dude
.
And yeah, that shooting prank felt really bizarre. While I was watching it my mind couldn't decide if it was faked or a real shooting. I'm sure if I had seen it back then I would have known better, but we're conditioned so differently now. That was probably the most interesting part of the movie, but obviously not for a reason they had planned.
I was excited about this film at one time but then I watched the Innkeepers... yeah...
Finally got around to watching my Return to Nuke 'Em High vol 1 blu-ray... it was just ok... was expect more classic humor from troma than juvenile jokes...
It's well made, but it's hamstrung by how slavish it is to the Jonestown massacre details. Also, the whole Vice angle is disposable. At the end of the day though, it is well made and very tense in moments.
Also, a heads up to people thinking about watching Blood Glacier on Netflix Instant: it's only watchable with an English dub
I did. Having knowledge of the events it's based on makes it incredibly predictable and unsurprising. Performances and cinematography were alright but not really all that frightening.
The Sacrament was damn disappointing. First half is good and then it goes nowhere. Also is shot pretty badly which is surprising since West knows how to do horror.
I guess I should have known better than to trust the initial rave reviews. The movie is too oddly paced - the first third is incredibly repetitive, the middle picks up and then it drags again before the ending, which, by the way, was a huge letdown.
I'll say this, though: even with all the flaws, I have to admit that the director is obviously talented and he achieved a lot with a miniscule budget (10 000 $, the movie was Kickstarted). I would like to see him remake this some day, but with a bigger budget and a better ending.
Aβydoς;127444220 said:
The Sacrament was damn disappointing. First half is good and then it goes nowhere. Also is shot pretty badly which is surprising since West knows how to do horror.
Although I liked the movie, I have to agree that the first half of the movie was much stronger. The biggest problem I had with Ti West's directing style was the fact that we're supposed to see only what the cameramen shot, but throughout the movie there were at least several shots that were outside those camera viewpoints. That's what bothered me about The Last Exorcism, too, and I hate when it happens because it takes me out of the movie.
Eh, if only more found footage movies were like [REC]: that is, consistent and actually scary.
The problem with found-footage is that a lot of people use the excuse of POV camera to not actually film the movie. They do not construct the scene, adjust the timing and the framing, because yes, there must be framing in POV. You can't go random because "who cares it's POV lol, I do what I want". Ti West did not forget this imho, he still shot the movie in a logic way, but it was simply flat and badly done. It wasn't like shitty movies à là Paranormal Activity or The Devil Inside (my God) which didn't even try, it tried and didn't succeed. It didn't help the fact that the characters were absolutely soulless (what happened to the amazing couple of The Innkeepers? Their chemistry was great) and the story itself didn't have any balls. Putting a mother killing her
obviously fake doll
child is not enough if you don't build something behind it. And that ending? They just...
go away?
LOL.
The beginning with The Knife's Heartbeats pumped me so much...
Anyway you picked my interest with that "I Am A Ghost" even though you're criticizing it a bit. I'll give it a try.
This. Probably the worst film I saw in theaters this year.. Although The Purge 2 was god awful too... I didn't wanna see but at least I got free tix for that.
This. Probably the worst film I saw in theaters this year.. Although The Purge 2 was god awful too... I didn't wanna see but at least I got free tix for that.
I'm pretty excited to do 31 Days of Horror movies this year. Last 2 years I somewhat participated but I always fell short in terms of what movies to watch. I have a lot of choices to choose from now though.
Anyone know of a good website for horror movie reviews? I used to love bloody disgusting but some genius got rid of the best feature in their recent design overhaul (The Pit). The Pit allowed users to sort movie reviews by the rating which allowed us to easily weed out shit movies and browse through countless gems I would have never found otherwise. Now that feature is gone and replaced by a page by page format that I can only assume is sorting from newest to oldest. There are like 2000 pages of this shit and no sorting criteria options. Meh. Anyway, if any of you know a good alternative can you please PM me? Thanks!
Anyone know of a good website for horror movie reviews? I used to love bloody disgusting but some genius got rid of the best feature in their recent design overhaul (The Pit). The Pit allowed users to sort movie reviews by the rating which allowed us to easily weed out shit movies and browse through countless gems I would have never found otherwise. Now that feature is gone and replaced by a page by page format that I can only assume is sorting from newest to oldest. There are like 2000 pages of this shit and no sorting criteria options. Meh. Anyway, if any of you know a good alternative can you please PM me? Thanks!
That sucks. The Pit was the best part of the site. I haven't really looked at their reviews since they duped me into buying Automaton Transfusion (silly me) but I liked the way they had it set up.
I just looked over the new review design and it's terrible. The only way you can even search reviews now is just the general site search? And it doesn't even seem to work. I tried to find the Automaton Transfusion review again and only managed to find a story saying they published a review, and the link is now broken. All the links that point to their movie database are dead. Horrible.
Arrow in the Head allows you to sort by rating, but their pool of reviews isn't nearly as extensive as BD (was) and it's kind of cumbersome. I can't figure out if you can change the order from low-to-high to high-to-low.
I'm pretty excited to do 31 Days of Horror movies this year. Last 2 years I somewhat participated but I always fell short in terms of what movies to watch. I have a lot of choices to choose from now though.
Anyone know of a good website for horror movie reviews? I used to love bloody disgusting but some genius got rid of the best feature in their recent design overhaul (The Pit). The Pit allowed users to sort movie reviews by the rating which allowed us to easily weed out shit movies and browse through countless gems I would have never found otherwise. Now that feature is gone and replaced by a page by page format that I can only assume is sorting from newest to oldest. There are like 2000 pages of this shit and no sorting criteria options. Meh. Anyway, if any of you know a good alternative can you please PM me? Thanks!
The problem with found-footage is that a lot of people use the excuse of POV camera to not actually film the movie. They do not construct the scene, adjust the timing and the framing, because yes, there must be framing in POV. You can't go random because "who cares it's POV lol, I do what I want". Ti West did not forget this imho, he still shot the movie in a logic way, but it was simply flat and badly done. It wasn't like shitty movies à là Paranormal Activity or The Devil Inside (my God) which didn't even try, it tried and didn't succeed. It didn't help the fact that the characters were absolutely soulless (what happened to the amazing couple of The Innkeepers? Their chemistry was great) and the story itself didn't have any balls. Putting a mother killing her
obviously fake doll
child is not enough if you don't build something behind it. And that ending? They just...
go away?
LOL.
The beginning with The Knife's Heartbeats pumped me so much...
I agree with you when you say that the characters should have been more interesting, but I'll disagree when it comes to the ending. I didn't mind it ending like that, mostly because
there needed to be someone who would escape with all the footage
. And honestly, it was refreshing to see a found footage movie that doesn't end
Coherence - Wow. This one was a goodie. A sci-fi thriller I watched on Amazon Instant and it was a real treat. Story follows a bunch of friends at a dinner party the night that a comet is supposed to pass over the earth. I won't spoil much but the passing of the comet upends their lives in a big way. It is extremely smart sci-fi and well acted. Shares a lot of similarities with another recent sci-fi/thriller/horror film that came out called Triangle (2009). If you enjoyed that movie at all, this movie touches a lot of those same elements with a lot less blood and tons more of the interpersonal relationship stuff.
Dark Mountain - Another thing I watched on my Amazon Instant binge. Found footage horror about a small group of filmmakers heading into Arizona mountains to search for an legendary gold mine. This is probably the most rote found footage I've seen in a while. It is Blair Witch with no woods and no witch. The main cast is 2 men and 1 woman. Woman wants the big scoop. They get lost. Weird things happen. Etc. They even call out Blair Witch specifically so it's doubly insane. All of that doesn't mean it's bad necessarily though, it's just not at all good. You've seen it before.
The Possession of Michael King - Another "Found footage" movie on Amazon Instant. It's about an atheist who chooses to document his exposure of everything supernatural after his world is rocked by the death of his wife; starting with trying to summon a demon, as you do. Most interesting thing about this was the set up. After that, completely bland in my opinion. Pretty much every single scare in this movie is a jump scare. I can put up with them but any horror aficionados who can't stand them at all should skip it.
IMDb summary: When a college girl who is alone on campus over the Thanksgiving break is targeted by a group of outcasts, she must conquer her deepest fears to outwit them and fight back.
Pros:
-For the most part it's a lean, mean little slasher movie reminiscent of The Strangers, only better. Yeah, I wasn't a fan of that one (although I loved the script, go figure)
-Justine is a relatable character, and best of all, she's smart and resourceful. Loved her.
-Without credits, the movie is only 75 minutes long, meaning that the pacing is insanely fast.
-The performances are generally very good, and the directing was solid.
-The director mostly stuck to the original script, which was really good.
-Although it's R-rated, the violence is never gratuitous.
Cons:
-Too many jump scares! There was one that was extremely well done
(the kitchen scene)
, but there were several fake and really loud ones. Not fun.
-Ashley Greene could and should have been replaced with any other actress out there. Not that she did a bad job, she delivered her
several
lines well, it's just that she wasn't menacing enough.
-When I said that the director mostly stuck to the original script, that means there were some changes. I didn't like most of them and I thought they brought the movie down, especially the biggest one, which was the addition of
antagonists' motivation
. It wasn't necessary to the story, although I suppose it was added in because of the potential sequels. I also wish that the director didn't change the scene where
Justin's boyfriend dies
: in the movie his
upcoming demise
is more than obvious, while in the script he
comes to the rescue, you think it's going to be OK, and before he can complete the sentence, he's shot in the head by one of the bad guys.
Basically, the director messed up what could have been the biggest (and well-earned) jump scare. Eh.
In the end, I think I'd recommend this movie to everyone who wants to watch a fun slasher. Just don't expect anything innovative, it's not that kind of movie.
