Are Slasher's "Acting"?

[Vampenguin]

Being an actor, emotions are the hardest thing to portray, and most of the challenge of acting comes from that. Now, you are portraying a totally emotionless killer....You walk around with a knife, do some occaisonal stunts....Whoop-dee-dooo. Sure, the character is kool....but not bacause of the actor, beacause of the writers, and the costume


There are exceptions, Im not adressing all slashers (Robert Englund is very talented as Freddy), Im mostly talking about the silent, emotionless killers, Jason and Micheal being the most prominent.


As stuntmen, some are very, very talented. But how does that count as acting? Are stuntmen credited under "Cast"? Nope. Why? Cause they arent acting.


Please keep this to a respectable debate, If you disagree, please state why.

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Vampenguin
Being an actor, emotions are the hardest thing to portray, and most of the challenge of acting comes from that. Now, you are portraying a totally emotionless killer....You walk around with a knife, do some occaisonal stunts....Whoop-dee-dooo. Sure, the character is kool....but not bacause of the actor, beacause of the writers, and the costume


There are exceptions, Im not adressing all slashers (Robert Englund is very talented as Freddy), Im mostly talking about the silent, emotionless killers, Jason and Micheal being the most prominent.


As stuntmen, some are very, very talented. But how does that count as acting? Are stuntmen credited under "Cast"? Nope. Why? Cause they arent acting.


Please keep this to a respectable debate, If you disagree, please state why. michael cryed in part 5

[Vampenguin]

Ok, I havnt seen it....I might get to soon though


Was he actually crying, like emotionly, or were there just tears streaming down his mask?

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Vampenguin
Ok, I havnt seen it....I might get to soon though


Was he actually crying, like emotionly, or were there just tears streaming down his mask? his neice (jamie lloyd) was cornered by him she asked to see his face michael pulled the mask off and put his head down then she said "just like me" and it zoomed into one of michael's eyes and a tear began to roll down he put the mask back on and began to swing the knife around

[Vampenguin]

Well Ill be damned!! I mightget to renting some more Halloween....my Dad said I could, cause he let me see the 2st, so Ill grab some, especially #5!

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Vampenguin
Well Ill be damned!! I mightget to renting some more Halloween....my Dad said I could, cause he let me see the 2st, so Ill grab some, especially #5! part 4 a dude gets his face ripped off

[Vampenguin]

Originally posted by massacre man
part 4 a dude gets his face ripped off

It wont top the face ripping in Poltergiest....

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Vampenguin
It wont top the face ripping in Poltergiest.... oh on part 6 when michael kills jamie he jams her on farm machinery before jamie is killed she holds her hands out for michael to give her a hug michael slowly reached his hands out then he suddenly pushes her down further


he almost hugged her thats showing emotion

[Vampenguin]

Originally posted by massacre man

he almost hugged her thats showing emotion

Ok, ok....


Now we just need to get a Jason fan in here.....O F13F, where art thou?

KK's pretty big on Jason, too, isnt he??

[MichaelMyers]

Who can forget the infamous head tilt in Halloween? If anyone can't act, it's the one-dimensional teenagers who they kill (read: Rowland, Kelly).

[Sam The Egg]

well, they SHOULD be acting, but I guess that's not really what you were asking.


The only two instances where I can recall the guy behind the mask really "acting" are Kane Hodder and Nick Castle (Jason and Michael, respectively). Hodder was good with giving Jason little manurisms and such that carried through all the movies he played in. Castle only played him once, so it's tougher to get a good grasp of it, but he had the role down 100% perfectly for the one movie (the first, for those who didn't know). He not only had great body language (aforementioned head tilt), but he had a feeling about him. The physical stuff MIGHT have been direction or in the script (stuff like the almost hugging can probably be attributed to the latter), but the other thing is all Castle.

Although, to give them the benefit of the doubt, acting without being able to use facial expressions or voice is probably tough as shit

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Sam The Egg
well, they SHOULD be acting, but I guess that's not really what you were asking.


The only two instances where I can recall the guy behind the mask really "acting" are Kane Hodder and Nick Castle (Jason and Michael, respectively). Hodder was good with giving Jason little manurisms and such that carried through all the movies he played in. Castle only played him once, so it's tougher to get a good grasp of it, but he had the role down 100% perfectly for the one movie (the first, for those who didn't know). He not only had great body language (aforementioned head tilt), but he had a feeling about him. The physical stuff MIGHT have been direction or in the script (stuff like the almost hugging can probably be attributed to the latter), but the other thing is all Castle.

Although, to give them the benefit of the doubt, acting without being able to use facial expressions or voice is probably tough as shit john carpenter was said to have been michael on the closet scene

[friday13thfan]

he showed fear of water in freddy vs jason during the dream world fight

[Vampenguin]

Originally posted by friday13thfan
he showed fear of water in freddy vs jason during the dream world fight


Ooo....forgot bout that one



And Sam, the hardest parts of acting are voice and facial expressions. Take 'em out, you lose the challenge. How much does it take to tilt your head? Or slash teenagers across the chest?

Sure, some good points have been made....Im still not convinced,

[DaBroMain]

I agree with Sam Kane Hodder really had jason down although he was wearing a mask it is all about the body language. i few ppl besides hodder tried and it never erally felt right.... except in Freddy Vs. Jason. so yeah i would say there is some degree of acting involved, granted it aint no True Romance or the Godfather or anything but yeah you have to be good to make a slasher behind a mask feel right...

[Sam The Egg]

Originally posted by massacre man
john carpenter was said to have been michael on the closet scene

I'll believe it when I hear it from him

[Tubalcain]

in the old greek theatre the actors all wore masksand had to use their body to portray emotion, although they did speak as well.

[Sam The Egg]

Originally posted by Vampenguin
And Sam, the hardest parts of acting are voice and facial expressions. Take 'em out, you lose the challenge. How much does it take to tilt your head? Or slash teenagers across the chest?

Slashing teenagers across the chest isn't acting. If you have no use of voice or facial expression, then it's damn hard to convey any sort of emotion. You have to rely completely on body language, which takes more than just tilting your head.

[DaBroMain]

Originally posted by Tubalcain
in the old greek theatre the actors all wore masksand had to use their body to portray emotion, although they did speak as well.

aye that is true and also the actors reallly didnt speak much either they left that up to the Dithrambic Chorus which was 15 men that sang and spoke in unison for fill in plot and what not..... lol


Nice Greek theatre knowledge Tulb....

[mothermold]

...lon cheney(not really a slasher i know,but a terrific actor who suffered for his craft)did'nt have the aid of voice.another fine example of acting sans the aid of facial expressions or voice are creature performers or "suit guys"...kevin peter hall(the late)aka the preadator 1 and 2.compare his performance with that of avp and tell me that it was'nt superior.

[wufong]

to answer your threads question, no the slashers aren't acting. its all real. what you think is just a common movie is actually a high quality "snuff" film. think about it..... why do you think you hardly if ever see those actors in other movies?????? they appear in a slasher flick and are never seen again. just think about it. mannnnnnnn thinkkkkkk ffs

[Vodstok]

I dont think it is TOO correct to give jason or michael's actors a great deal of credit. They were low budget movies, and the guys who go tthe roles did repeatedly because of ties to the director, not any degree of talent. Although the stories behind them might be complex, Michael and Jason themselves are very 1 dimensional.


Good call on Kevin Peter Hall. he made his characters LIVE. For that matter, the guy in the creature costume in Alien did an excellent job. Im not knocking the other two guys, but when the character is devoid of any emoition or personality, its just not asking much of the actor.

On the other end of the scale, take a killer who has deep feelings and beliefs tied to his murders, for example, John Doe. NOBODY but kevin Spacey could have pulled that character off like that.


"Only in a world this sick could you call these people "innocent" with a striaght face...."

He had HATE. The other guys have motivation, but for Jason, you have to see the first couple of movies toget it, and with Michael, well, we're lucky Donald Pleasance kept coming back.

[Vampenguin]

Originally posted by Sam The Egg
Slashing teenagers across the chest isn't acting. If you have no use of voice or facial expression, then it's damn hard to convey any sort of emotion. You have to rely completely on body language, which takes more than just tilting your head.


But the point is.....THEY DONT CONVEY ANY SORT OF EMOTION

[Vampenguin]

Originally posted by Vodstok

On the other end of the scale, take a killer who has deep feelings and beliefs tied to his murders, for example, John Doe. NOBODY but kevin Spacey could have pulled that character off like that.


"Only in a world this sick could you call these people "innocent" with a striaght face...."



Very very true, Kevin Spacey was amazing in that role, very talented actor

[Preacher]

Have you seen the extended version of Friday the 13th part ????: Jason Takes Manhatten???

Theres a lovely scene where Jason carries a headless corpse to the front of a boat and recreates the famous scene from Titanic. Such emotion shown.

Gets a bit messy when he carries the corpse to an empty car to make love to it.

Px

[wufong]

Originally posted by Vampenguin
Very very true, Kevin Spacey was amazing in that role, very talented actor
spacey is truely a great actor. one of the best getting around. and also one the most underused and under rated actors

[Vodstok]

Originally posted by wufong
spacey is truely a great actor. one of the best getting around. and also one the most underused and under rated actors
Not since Se7en and The Usual Suspects... he isnt exactly over-used, but he is certainly not underrated.

[Steve_Hutchison]

I can tilt my head too.

[Vodstok]

Originally posted by Steve_Hutchison
I can tilt my head too. Hey, No shit? Me too! We should get acting jobs. Start handing out osacars :)

[Steve_Hutchison]

I wish I could act :/

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Steve_Hutchison
I can tilt my head too. prove it

[Vodstok]

Originally posted by massacre man
prove it look at his avatar. that is a picture of him, and his head is tilted.:eek: :eek:

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Vodstok
look at his avatar. that is a picture of him, and his head is tilted.:eek: :eek: i thought that was tilty McHeadtilt

[thepsychicfetus]

Originally posted by massacre man
i thought that was tilty McHeadtilt

tilt tilt von tiltenheaden, the magical head tilting nymph

[Steve_Hutchison]

Audition me and I'll tilt it.

[thepsychicfetus]

Originally posted by Steve_Hutchison
Audition me and I'll tilt it.

can you sing too?

[Steve_Hutchison]

Don't know. I don't like to sing much. But I'm a great dancer!

[Sam The Egg]

Originally posted by Vampenguin
But the point is.....THEY DONT CONVEY ANY SORT OF EMOTION

If they were any good they were (Castle and Hodder were)

[Vampenguin]

Hodder...maybe, I havnt seen any of the F13 movies (Damn Blockbuster...Damn Father....)


But, if Castle portryed emotion, he went out of character, Micheal is totally emotionless, thats the premise ffor the movies

[Sam The Egg]

Originally posted by Vampenguin
Hodder...maybe, I havnt seen any of the F13 movies (Damn Blockbuster...Damn Father....)


But, if Castle portryed emotion, he went out of character, Micheal is totally emotionless, thats the premise ffor the movies

Check out F13 part 7, the one with the telekinetic chick. It's mostly 'head tilting', but Hodder conveys "confused as fuck" really good.


As for Castle, maybe emotion isn't the right word, but he's doing something more than most in those roles do.

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Sam The Egg
Check out F13 part 7, the one with the telekinetic chick. It's mostly 'head tilting', but Hodder conveys "confused as fuck" really good.


As for Castle, maybe emotion isn't the right word, but he's doing something more than most in those roles do. what about busta rhymes as michael myers?




haha i thought that part was funny

[Sam The Egg]

Originally posted by massacre man
what about busta rhymes as michael myers?




haha i thought that part was funny

All he conveyed was "I can't act, either"

[toolboxkiller]

i think that it's pretty hard to act normal, much less that a manic killer who weres a mask, cause nobody can see ur expression and u have to really push it threw the mask like Andrew Bryniarsi, he's no Gunnar Hansen but he was ok.

[Steve_Hutchison]

What they should've done from the get to with for those movies (franchises) is to hire those guys who do mascots. They can convey emotions through body language.

[DaBroMain]

Hodder was the fucking man when it came to the Friday 13th. He may not have portrayed any real emotions but you can tell he is putting something other than walking around with machete killing folks into it. He fucking rules as jason.

[Steve_Hutchison]

Yeah.. he's good.

[Sam The Egg]

Originally posted by Steve_Hutchison
What they should've done from the get to with for those movies (franchises) is to hire those guys who do mascots. They can convey emotions through body language.


I dunno, Michael as played by Fred Bird might be more comical than scary.

Teen: Wow, that guy in the mask is great! I sure am pumped u-OH GOD! *dies of stab wound*

*Michael backflips into the shadows*