/horror/ general megathread - Let's talk about movies and shit.

[ChampFantana]

But I don't know. It kind of has the problem most modern horror has for me where I just couldn't give a shit.
I know it's the directors' tribute to John Carpenter, especially Price of Darkness. But I feel like the characters and acting are what really carry a lot of Carpenters' best and this film I just couldn't give a shit about anyone.

I liked The Void pretty well, and it is a very good Lovecraftian movie.

I definitely agree that movies trying to copy John Carpenter's style while not giving the audience any characters to care about will always come off as lesser.

However, I don't think this is a problem exclusive to those trying to ape Carpenter. I think that this is a problem with most if not all modern horror films. This is probably due to the constraints of the genre itself because the vast majority of characters are only in these movies to die horribly.

 

[John.Doe]

I liked The Void pretty well, and it is a very good Lovecraftian movie.

The Void had mostly good ideas and was heading in the right direction, but it fumbled its execution in several spots. Probably about 80% score on its overall concept/story and 90% on its visuals/effects, which is pretty good for the genre. This kind of horror (cosmic horror) has a really fine line to tread between body horror and purely psychological, which the Void mostly manages to straddle correctly. The script has some low points, and the characters are the most obvious of its weaknesses, along with a somewhat clumsy third act.

Still, its a solid film and an example firmly in the genre.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Quoting a BD article because I don't want to give them clicks.

The nominations for next year’s 82nd annual Golden Globe Awards were just announced this morning, and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance has been recognized in multiple categories.

Submitted by MUBI in the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category, Fargeat’s body horror movie has been officially nominated in that category as well as four other categories.

The Substance has been nominated for the following Golden Globes…

BEST MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Anora
Challengers
Emilia Pérez
A Real Pain
The Substance
Wicked

BEST DIRECTOR, MOTION PICTURE
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker – Anora
Edward Berger – Conclave
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
Payal Kapadia – All We Imagine As Light

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL, OR COMEDY
Amy Adams – Nightbitch
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Zendaya – Challengers

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE
Selena Gomez – Emilia Pérez
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Margaret Qualley – The Substance
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez

BEST SCREENPLAY, MOTION PICTURE
Anora
The Brutalist
Conclave
A Real Pain
Emilia Pérez
The Substance

It’s of course up for debate whether or not The Substance can be classified as a comedy – most of us would probably call it a horror movie with comedic elements, if pressed – but please do keep in mind that the film was officially submitted in that category. And that has proven to be a smart choice, as it perhaps would’ve been edged out as a “Drama” nomination.

There is no “Best Motion Picture – Horror” category, at the end of the day!

The Substance is streaming exclusively on distributor MUBI’s own streaming service, but you can also purchase the film Digitally on outlets including Amazon and Fandango at Home.

Demi Moore stars as a fading celebrity who injects herself with a cell-replicating substance that literally makes her give birth to a younger version of herself (Margaret Qualley).

With its shades of David Cronenberg and Stuart Gordon, The Substance catapults Fargeat (Revenge) into the realm of mad genius, and you absolutely do not want to miss this one.

Next year’s Golden Globes ceremony will take place on January 5, 2025.

This is fucking WILD that a movie like The Substance is even nominated for Golden Globes. And the Golden Globe nom is important because it's usually an indication of an upcoming Oscar nomination.

If this movie somehow someway wins even a single Oscar it will confirm that we've stepped into an alternate reality.

 

[Calandrino]

Anyone have thoughts on the Suspiria remake? I've sworn off watching just because I love the original so much and it's it's own unique thing that shouldn't have ever had a remake but I hear it's pretty good.

I liked the Suspiria remake a lot, and I'm a fanatical fanboy of the original fwiw. Even though it's very different, it's definitely a remake of Suspiria... I don't think they should've called it something else, it would've been way too obvious where they got their ideas from. It seems like a lot of critics didn't like it and a lot of people who eat up everything A24 puts out were rubbed the wrong way (And That's a Good Thing). A Suspiria remake was in development hell for a long time and I'm glad we got the version we did instead of one of the other proposed ones. Same with Evil Dead.

(although, if you're really into Aegento's "let's have the barely relevant Italian cop sit by the fountain and do a 10 minute diatribe," I guess you'll miss those)

You mean the psychiatrist played by Udo Kier? Ya that part is kino and very necessary.

I'll probably end up getting shit for this but the fright night remake was much better imo. Well I guess it is from the 80s so doesn't count

It wasn't a financial success and it got trashed because nobody who can remember the original wanted a remake of it or for any of those characters to be "reimagined", but honestly, it's a pretty good movie.

This movie has been on my radar a longass while for a variety of reasons but due to widespread "this is shit and also boring" consensus I kept putting it off....

Zombie Holocaust is one of those movies I really like and even though I can't do much to defend it. I have seen it roughly a gazillion times and throw on the soundtrack from time to time. One more peculiar thing about it is that the zombies don't kill anybody. The Living Dead movies usually get all the credit for the Italian zombie kick, but they were mostly ripping off Fulci.

 

[Judge Holden]

Zombie Holocaust is one of those movies I really like and even though I can't do much to defend it. I have seen it roughly a gazillion times and throw on the soundtrack from time to time

Not sure about the soundtrack part, but I kinda get what you mean. Its an easy enough watch in its own right and doesnt feel like its dragging at all which is a whole lot better than other entries on the list where I am actively checking my watch by the halfway point.

One more peculiar thing about it is that the zombies don't kill anybody.

I noticed that too, they don't even eat anyone either. If anything they are more like the pre-romero "mindless slaves created by mad science" specimens which is an honest to god rarity in the post Dawn of the Dead era.

Also speaking of rarities in this era I should probably start compiling a master post-Crazies/pre-28-days-later "rage zombie" movie list given we have 28 Years Later being forced into reality soon, with a trailer scheduled for tomorrow

Obviously there is the OG Crazies, Rabid, Warning Sign, and a couple borderline examples like Cannibal Apocalypse, but I swear there are like 3 or 4 more vaguely notable ones.

 

[(((I am NOT a jew)))]

If this movie somehow someway wins even a single Oscar it will confirm that we've stepped into an alternate reality.

Or just got back to the right reality.

I loved The Substance. Some could call it a little "feministy" and it probably is but I don't mind that stuff if the movie is entertaining (Ms. 45 is awesome and is kind of a yes all men film) so I hope it gets some more love. Seeing it in a theater with the bass in the soundtrack blaring was a hoot.

I liked the Suspiria remake a lot, and I'm a fanatical fanboy of the original fwiw.

Okay, then. I shall check it out. For me it's weird that it pissed of the A24 fans because that's the exact type of movie it looked like, given it was made by the Call Me By Your Name dude.

You mean the psychiatrist played by Udo Kier? Ya that part is kino and very necessary.

Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of the exposition dump the first time I saw the movie but now I really like the contrast. The movie at first makes it seem like nothing in the world makes sense, but seeing Udo Kier in broad daylight reminds you that its' the school itself that is where all the insanity comes from and that it's still taking place primarily in "our" world.

However, I don't think this is a problem exclusive to those trying to ape Carpenter. I think that this is a problem with most if not all modern horror films. This is probably due to the constraints of the genre itself because the vast majority of characters are only in these movies to die horribly.

I agree but I think if anything that's why the genre itself works so well at it's best. There's so many slashers from back in the 80s that had legitimately great characters that you feel like shit when they end up being killed. I think the more modern Eli Roth method of making every character an unlikable prick really shortens the value of the film.

Gotta agree with everyone here that the dude who made The Void really fucked himself over doing comedy instead of straight up horror.
I really wanted to like The Editor since it's a parody of giallo films but I think the issue is it's making fun of actually decent films I'd rather be watching. I don't mind parody or tribute but the whole time I felt like the movie was shitting on movies that looked infinitely better with actual composers on their soundtracks instead of fucking synthwave artists.
Then I tried one of their first films Father's Day some months backs because it had a good poster and oh JESUS... I couldn't make it ten minutes in.

 

[Dragged Into Sunlight]

28 Years Later just dropped and it has one of the best trailers I've ever seen. Using Boots is a stroke of genius.

 

[Beautiful Border]

28 Years Later just dropped and it has one of the best trailers I've ever seen. Using Boots is a stroke of genius.

Good to see 28 Days Later getting another sequel, it was a good film. It showed a horrifying scenario where Britain's population has been irreversibly altered, making it unrecognizable from what it once was and condemning it to a bleak future. I'm glad that hasn't happened in our own world.

 

[Lone Star]

28 Years Later just dropped and it has one of the best trailers I've ever seen. Using Boots is a stroke of genius.

I'm still annoyed we didn't get 28 Months Later first.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

I'm still annoyed we didn't get 28 Months Later first.

I'm still mad 28 Days (presumably the prequel) didn't even have any zombies in it and was just some boring drunk chick in rehab.

 

[Calandrino]

Not sure about the soundtrack part, but I kinda get what you mean.

In my defense (possibly), I think there's a lot of music on the soundtrack album that isn't actually in the movie (not uncommon). Not that I disapprove of the the main tropical theme and the BWAAAAHMM ambient parts, but there's a little more than that. You were probably being a bit facetious calling some of it porn music, but Nico Fidenco was, in fact, a renowned composer of porn music.

The American cut (i.e. Dr. Butcher MD) re-did the music and as is typical it's pretty shit. Well, they didn't so much redo it as play some generic keyboard scare chords over the existing soundtrack. Everybody tied to the old New York 42nd St grindhouse circuit is pretty enamored with their ingenious recuts and marketing campaigns, but every American version of a foreign exploitation movie from that era is a clear downgrade, and I question whether stupid shit like soundtrack replacement ever made a movie like this earn more. Seems like a familiar case of localizers inventing work for themselves to justify their jobs.

Okay, then. I shall check it out. For me it's weird that it pissed of the A24 fans because that's the exact type of movie it looked like, given it was made by the Call Me By Your Name dude.

My theory is that it was partially sunk by the weirdly ambiguous political themes. A lot of viewers found that stuff extraneous or boring (fair enough), but I think the critics were butthurt that it wasn't leftist enough.

 

[The Hoh Rainforest]

28 Years Later just dropped and it has one of the best trailers I've ever seen. Using Boots is a stroke of genius.

This is Crossed 100+ with the serial numbers filed off, I am so fucking stoked. Pillar of skulls lets goooo!

 

[John.Doe]

Good to see 28 Days Later getting another sequel, it was a good film. It showed a horrifying scenario where Britain's population has been irreversibly altered, making it unrecognizable from what it once was and condemning it to a bleak future. I'm glad that hasn't happened in our own world.

I had serious issues with both films, I just get annoyed when the plot requires every single person to be an absolute idiot. I wonder if this movie will have the same issue.

 

[Fig Kommandant]

I just get annoyed when the plot requires every single person to be an absolute idiot.

It's annoying how common a trope this is for horror writing, Underwater was refreshing in that most characters were competent but just over their head.

 

[Chunky Salsa]

My main issue with 28 days later, is honestly that it's not that hard to wait it out with even some mild warning. Romero zombies don't ever seem to stop moving; they're clearly magic. 28 Days 'Infected' aren't capable of managing themselves once infected. Assuming that they - being generous here - drink water by chugging from rivers and all that; you just need to not starve for a month. If you live in a two story house, own a sledgehammer; and some buckets/a big bathtub; and can get to a shop even just once, you are good to go.

Smash your stairs to pieces, fill an upstairs room with canned food, bottled water, and fill up a bathtub as your reserves, and you're good to go. There should probably be a lot more survivors in the UK; since the infected will starve to death fairly fast.

 

[Vampirella]

My main issue with 28 days later, is honestly that it's not that hard to wait it out with even some mild warning. Romero zombies don't ever seem to stop moving; they're clearly magic. 28 Days 'Infected' aren't capable of managing themselves once infected. Assuming that they - being generous here - drink water by chugging from rivers and all that; you just need to not starve for a month. If you live in a two story house, own a sledgehammer; and some buckets/a big bathtub; and can get to a shop even just once, you are good to go.

Smash your stairs to pieces, fill an upstairs room with canned food, bottled water, and fill up a bathtub as your reserves, and you're good to go. There should probably be a lot more survivors in the UK; since the infected will starve to death fairly fast.

I only saw the first movie once and I have to agree. I could suspend my disbelief that these rabies infected could live for more then 4 days without water out of pure hate or whatever, but he end of the movie showed them dying of starvation after a month of not eating some how. Maybe hate really can feed you but only for 28 days. I didn't understand how they got a second movie. I wasn't interested in seeing it, because I got the impression that the infection was isolated to only Britain, maybe I'm wrong and missed a line where they say the infection spread to other parts of the world.

Other then the infected not being undead and being fast, I did see it as any different from any other zombie movie that ripped off Romero. Oh there's zombies and their eating/killing people, but humans are the REAL monsters! oooooooooooooooooh. At least they didn't go with the ending where that one guy got infected but they cured him with a full blood transfusion after cleaning him out of infected blood, some how.

 

[BrunoMattei]

I only saw the first movie once and I have to agree.

I can't recommend the sequel 28 Weeks Later enough. I think it's better. I love the visuals and chaos. To me it's just a tighter zombie movie. The logic to it largely makes sense except maybe this scene:

 

[Calandrino]

Romero zombies don't ever seem to stop moving; they're clearly magic.

Only magical zombies are realistic.

 

[Vampirella]

I like that scene, I'd watch it if it was all that silly.

 

[Samhain]

I can't recommend the sequel 28 Weeks Later enough. I think it's better. I love the visuals and chaos. To me it's just a tighter zombie movie. The logic to it largely makes sense except maybe this scene:

Yeah, how chaotic things get in 28 Weeks Later was what I liked about it. The opening scene really sets the stage very well.

I have to agree about the infected situation in the movies not making sense. Someone who gets infected and doesn't drink water would die within several days. If you could hole up someone safe with enough food and water for 3-5 weeks, most of the problem would take care of itself.