Movies to avoid.
 

Well following on from my thread about wolf creek and hostel being two of the worst films I've seen in a while... too much not a lot with a brief period of frantic action at the end which IMHO didn't live up to the hype I'd like to add Signs to my list of films to avoid.
Some quite good suspense early on completely ruined for me when you see the alien. My first response... well it's a man painted green. You see scarier costumes on halloween... in ASDA.

I know some will disagree with these choices but for me these have been my top three let downs. Especially Hostel after the mass hype surrounding that.

Ooh and Open Water too. Can't believe how long that went on with what looked like some stock BBC footage of sharks as the scariest thing you see. Could not have been sat more firmly right in the middle of my seat if I tried. Well, I did nearly reach the edge, but only when thinking about leaving.

Interested in others' opinions and other films to miss.

Whats wrong with Signs? Besides your dislike of the alien? Its a good movie, but more importantly, its NOT horror. I dont really see why you would lump that film into the horror category.

I agree with your assesment on Open Water, but I dont consider that horror either.

Question to (older) members of this board: Have you noticed how in this day and age alot of stuff gets classified by people as horror when it doesn't even come close to the genre?

I think that a lot of people confuse suspense with horror and that's why they categorise films like Signs and The Village in the horror genre, it's the atmosphere that creeps them out.

For others, unless there's plenty of gore, blood and ripping apart of bodies, then it isn't horror, we all have our own idea of what constitutes horror and what doesn't.

For the record, i liked both these movies :p

Question to (older) members of this board: Have you noticed how in this day and age alot of stuff gets classified by people as horror when it doesn't even come close to the genre

Yes!! you are so right!

Ooh a proper discussion.

Ok so how would you define horror? Webster's has horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." So it ought to follow that horror movies are those that elicit those emotions. But then where does horror stop and suspense begin? Or Thrillers? Where for example does the Shining fit? Or Misery? Both written by a "horror" writer. Although Shawshank Redemption and Apt Pupil do kinda mute that point. I'd class the Village as an attempt at horror but that's my view on the semantics of the genre. (Incidentally I'd forgotten about that film, another I'd wanna add to my list of films to avoid.

Horror does not have to involve the supernatural surely? Does Psycho count as horror or Scream, or Wolf Creek or Hostel for that matter? Does having the supernatural involved make it a horror? Saw is another example usually classed as horror. It does deal with the edges of emotion and having to confront primal fears but what essentially is in this film that isn't in say many thrillers or suspense movies. The edges of this genre a so blurred I would be very interested to know other people's views. I think personally it's hard to pin down any one defining feature, like trying to define what a game is. We know what a game is from experience but there is no one thing that is universal. Art is another example. And if we only know from past experience of what is a horror film we will all have different versions, though mostly along a similar line.

So what I want to know is what defines a horror film, who decides whether a film meets those criteria and why they feel their definition is worth more than anybody else's.

My earlier post wasnt meant as an insult towards your opinions. It was more of a general statement. The definition of horror has obviously morphed over the years. You actually bring up several great examples: The Shining and Misery. Two films I dont consider horror either.

Think about it. if we are going to class those films as horror, what about films such as Se7en? Silence of the Lambs? Hell, if we are going to classify such films as horror, then films such as Deliverance and Apocalypse Now should also be considered horror.

Wasn't taken as an insult. I thought you raised an interesting point. How is horror defined. Was more interested in what your definition would be. As I said everyone's will vary slightly as there will always be films that sit on or cross the boundaries. So wanted to see how different people define the genre.

In my opinion, when I have thought of horror, it has been films such as Halloween, TCM, Black Christmas, The Burning, Hellraiser, and all the Friday the 13th, Elm Street films,etc. The other films you(and I) listed such as The Shining, Misery, Se7en, etc. I would most definitely label as suspense/drama.

One film I am surprised to see people label as horror is Exorcism of Emily Rose. Where's the horror? Most of the film is spent inside of a courtroom, and I most definitely classify that film as drama.

Yes but what it is about those films that defines them as horror that excludes other films? What are the attributes that define what is classified as horror and not?

For me, a true horror movie is one that has fills me with tension and fear, to the point where the smallest thing will make me jump and i'm looking for escape routes cos all i wanna do is run, it also has to be full of atmosphere, the creepy kind

There are various ways of doing it, one is to never fully show the bad guy/alien/creature that the film is about, an example of that would be Alien, never saw the thing in it's entirety until the very end of the movie, for me, seeing the whole creature took away all those 'i'm scared' emotions

Another way is with the soundtrack, if that is done right then the score alone will build you up to a point where you are on the edge of panic

My preferred horror is the purely fictional, the weird creatures/mutations, experiments gone wrong, evil aliens, scary monsters, vampires, zombies etc. not the slasher type movies

Movies such as Saw and Se7en i personally would class in the thriller/suspense/drama genres, i think they get called horror because there is so much blood and gore in them, and because we, as human beings, don't want to believe that there are really people out there that would perpetrate these acts in reality.... there are, a lot of them, and the things they do to other human beings and other species are far more horrific things than anything a screenwriter could imagine into existence so we blind ourselves to it, label it horror and sell it for profit

So what is the difference between Alien and Signs then? Both deal with aliens. Both attempted not to show the alien for a long period. The only real difference from my perspective is that one was done well and one not. One achieves the sense of dread and foreboding it aims for, though both are attempting to.

I said this before $lasher$, I don't know which is worse the fact I thought it may be good - game show where contestants run around trying to evade psychos (think of it as a very, very, very, bad Running Man) or the fact i paid £20 for it.

In a word...atmosphere

Alien definitely achieved it's objective, it had everything, the right kind of creepiness, very dark, confined space - nowhere to run situation, the right score, good direction etc.

Signs was just a good yarn, broad daylight is very rarely spooky and although the aliens were here to do bad things, they weren't the least bit frightening, even when seeing them only in part, too much light and not enough atmosphere, the score doesn't build you up enough, i enjoyed this film too but i wouldn't call it horror

And i just know you're going to ask me about The Village so, the best way i can describe that is 'a horror movie without any horror' i enjoyed this one too, and although it was done in daylight and i said daylight isn't scary, the score created the atmosphere in this one

But surely you can't define the genre by whether or not it achieves its objectives otherwise you would have no such thing as a bad horror film? You can say a film was well done and badly done without having to redefine its genre. Just because Signs didn't achieve the atmosphere that alien did doesn't mean its goals were not the same just how well it achieved them. Like all other genres you get good and bad examples but you wouldn't say that should redefine the genre otherwise a poorly done remake of the same film would have to be reclassified. Plus this would make it even more subjective since I cannot think of a film that truly chilled me for a long ime so by that token there would be no horror films of recent years. Something I think most would disagree with.

Thanks. I'll be sure to pass over this one then next time I'm looking.

Sorry, i'm real crap at explaining what i mean :(

I wouldn't call Signs a horror movie, to me it's pure science fiction, so it was a bad example to use, again my apologies, but if it is classed as a horror movie, then by not achieving it's objective i'd say "yes, it's a bad horror movie". I'm not saying redefine it's genre, or that it's a bad movie, because i enjoyed it, only that in my opinion it isn't horror

There are very few movies that have scared the pants off me, and most of them when i watched as a teenager, the only one since then has been The Descent, as i have gotten older and have more 'life' experience fewer things on the screen freak me out, which would mean that even by my own definition horror movies fail miserably, however, i can still say that something was a great movie or a bad movie, whether it scared me or not, i have long since given up on finding a movie that will truly terrify me so i suppose i should say that if i enjoyed it it's a great movie, which is a different thing entirely

Even though movies have lost the power to scare, for the most part anyway, i can still see how they spook others, my brother, for example, couldn't watch The Ring all the way through he was so freaked out by it, when he told me how much it had spooked him i knew straight away which part of the movie had done it, just because it didn't frighten me doesn't mean it was a bad movie, it just means that, for me, it didn't reach it's objective, i still enjoyed it though

Still not sure i've explained what i mean very well, sorry

Which brings me back round to how do you actually define a horror film? If it's one that could be scary to others, or one that is likely to scary this again makes it very subjective. It becomes very hard to draw the line for where movies move from another genre into horror, even badly executed horror. Is it done by a majority vote? But then as we've already seen something scary would not necessarily be considered horror, even by those that were scared by it.

So what is it that might set horror aside from say a thriller or suspense. And is a slasher a sub genre or something different? What about alien? Is that a sci-fi or a horror, or a sci-fi horror?

i think each of us has our own lines drawn in the sand that denotes horror from - lets say thriller.

personally i dont consider things like Se7en or Silence of the lambs as horror movies - to me they are crime thrillers.

I dont have too many hard/fast rules for it - i guess i think that if the film is highly exploitive - with only the goal of terrifying the audience (or deeply disgusting it) i consider it horror (i spit on your grave, last house of the left)
there are no cops - no mystery to solve .. etc .. just pure torture and revenge.

i also classify any film with a 'supernatural element' in it to be horror.
(ghosts, monsters, etc)

when the sci-fi and horror lines are blurred - i tend to keep those flicks in with sci-fi.


for the most part - as stated before - i file this way mainly for convenience - so i have a better chance of finding what movie i'm looking for.

i think its pretty easy to eliminate the sci-fi movies from the horror section. aliens, predator etc. they are just about man taking on little green men. they should be filed with independence day and mars attacks. horror needs to have not just atmosphere and gore. it needs to be sinister, weird, eerie macabre etc. like the shining or event horizon. serial killer stuff should be considered horror if it focuses on the killing rather than the investigation. at least those are my rules

blood feast, one HORRIBLE fucking movie...its playing now on comcast.

Thank you. Another to put on my avoid list. One I think everyone should avoid too even though it very definitely isn't horror is Chopper. Well could be classed as horror in that I actually watched it. Still have nightmares over someone making me sit down and watch it again.

i loved chopper. black comedy based on the true story of an aussie criminal. eric bana's breakthrough role. oh well, horses for courses

aw c'mon now. where would horror movies be without HG lewis?

Blood Feast does have some historical importance. Granted it's not a good movie in the "normal" sense of the term, but it was rather influential. We are obliged to give props to H. G.'s mad skills.

blood feast is NOT to be missed !!

1st movie i ever bought.



avoid at all costs :

Resident Evil 2
House of the Dead
Alone in the dark
The Village
I Dismember Mama
Dirty Dancing

Island of the dead.

Cool title, baaaaaaaaaaad movie.

I say don't avoid any horror movies, just push some of them back on your agenda until you get around to it.

For instance, I absolutely LOATHE Exorcist II: The Heretic. I'm glad I've watched it though. That way, when I discuss movies with my friends, this is how the conversation goes.

"Dude, DO NOT watch Boo. It's terrible."
"How terrible? As bad as Exorcist II?"
"Not quite, but pretty close."
"Ouch. I gotta see that to believe it."

So the circle continues. Terrible movies have their place, the same with the greatest.

You´ve just ruined the whole purpose of this thread.

Way to go, fag!!

:p

i used to think that all movies had at least one saving grace.
as i got older i found my time was far to valuable to waste 90 min at a time on a horrible piece of shit.

some movies are so bad that they are a valuable class on how not to make a movie. cool if you're into that kind of thing which i am.

some movies are so bad they're good .. i like those too..


but somewhere these extremes lay a terrible place ... a place where the most horrific films reside .. the mediochre films that just insult the intelligence ..
should of worked but didnt because the people involved didnt try or have the brains or the budget to focus the film - turn it up a notch.

films that 'almost work' actually grate on my nerves far worse then the pure shit films.

you keep thinking 'come on, you can do it, just reach out a bit' but they dont, and the film fails and i get pissed off.

i hope i never ever see another one of those films again.

at my age my time alloted to watch films has to be invested more wisely

for real? thats cool. HG Lewis is the man.

Blood Feast 2 kicks ass too.

o yeah. STAY THE FUCK AWAY from Shriek Of The Mutilated.

I don't know, but I don't think of Aliens as a horror film. To me that is Sci-fi.

Cool I can say UNDEAD sucks again :)

oh yeh......

and FUCK RON HOWARD :eek:

just seen: Skinned Deep



reaaaaaly bad.

Well, you can call ME an alien, but Signs really scared me. I jumped on that scene when the alien puts its hand under the door and then I jumped again when he appeared. Well, on that occasion wasn't really a jump, but.. my heart sank or something. Anyway, I wouldn't call it horror, but a thriller.

Now... I think that every movie that classifies itself as horror and then turns out not to create those feelings everyone has been describing on this thread (dread, fright, rising tension) is a bad horror movie. For instance, I hate The Village because I went to see it thinking it was HORROR.

Other examples of movies I hated... Alone in the Dark; Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers; and.. Satanic.

Boogeyman, I know it's probably to late for some of you.

I'll go with that, SIGNS scares my oldest daughter, she def views it as a horror film...good enough for me. Same on the Village but it was just HORRORble.
A few from my avoid list:
House of the Dead 1 and 2
Island of the Dead
Pumpkin Karver
Pinocchio
Boo
It Waits
Sabertooth
Zombie Lake
Uncle Sam
Jack Frost

Dark Heritage

god awful

you just made a canadian kid cry ...

nice going you heartless prick !!


:p