Seeing alot of great older horror this week...makes me hate modern horror

[Unaboner3000]

Thanks to Halloween coming up, I have seen ALOT of great horror recently on television. Seems like all the networks and premium channels are showing some of the best horror films. Some of the really GREAT films I've seen in the past 3 or 4 days are:

Psycho (1960)
The Exorcist (1973)
Alien (1979)
Halloween (1978)
The Omen (1976)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Watching these masterpieces really makes me sad when I compare them to modern day horror with its cheap jump scenes and cliche moments. The movies listed above all shared some common characteristics that make them real gems: great directing, great acting, great cinematography, great plots, great music, and genuinely scary (as opposed to cheesy scary).

The 60's/70's was really the Golden Age for horror in my opinion. It is so hard to watch these classic films and then watch modern movies like the Saw films or Hostel or all those God-awful remakes and think them anything other than second-rate flicks.

Anyone else yearn for the day Hollywood takes horror seriously again?

[alkytrio666]

With all of my soul.

[swiss tony]

back then the movie makers couldn't rely on CGI etc. so the movies had better stories and acting. however, there are still good movies coming through from non hollywood areas ie. japan, france. i guess, like it or not, the americans and brits love the gore. i would set movies like session 9 and se7en aside from the usual mindless drivel coming from hollywood. the hostel and saw franchises are the antithesis of the classic style you talk about but they're also the most popular of recent years.:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Doc Faustus]

It's more than that, I think. Hollywood is taking horror TOO seriously and producing anemic, funless, nihilistic gore fests. People need to look to Dr. Phibes, Blood Feast, Mad House and movies like them to see how to make a horror movie. Horror isn't just about suffering. If I want to see suffering and decay with no context, message or hope for redemption I'll watch the goddamn news. Grindhouse was a good retro entry, I still maintain that I Know Who Killed Me was surprisingly good Neo-giallo, 1408 was well executed and full of heart, but yeah, there hasn't been much to impress. Horror needs to be fun,smart and constructive again. Otherwise, we get a Driller Killer remake with James Van Der Beek. Filmmakers should remember what horror was in the late 70s, early 80s, when you had a choice between grindhouse flicks, karo splattering guerilla filmmaking and big budget horror event movies that still captured our imaginations.

[Unaboner3000]

Originally Posted by Doc Faustus

Horror isn't just about suffering. If I want to see suffering and decay with no context, message or hope for redemption I'll watch the goddamn news.

The above two sentences should be printed on a card and every horror writer, director, and producer should be required to memorize and carry it on their person at all times. :D

[ManchestrMorgue]

It just seems that lately there is nothing but remakes of films that didn't need remaking (not to mention poorly remaking) or movies that are gore/splatter with little else to offer.

There seems to be so little originality these days. The concepts are re-hashed, and there are few characters that moviegoers can get to know let alone like.

Hollywood has relied on gore, but to get commercial acceptance they can only go so far. Hence, many of their films trade gore for character/story, but can't do anything that really pushes boundaries for fear of not getting an acceptable MPAA rating.

So independent films push the gore envelope (eg AU films etc) and Hollywood - which is good at getting competent actors and storywriters due to their virtually limitless budgets - forego their strong points to compete in a competition for gore that they can never win.

Silly and futile, and shows the level of respect that they currently have for horror fans.

[swiss tony]

i suppose horror hasn't really moved on given the fact that the majority of horror greats aren't from the modern era. its gone off in a boring predictable direction. look how far down the HDC top 100 you have to go before you get a recent movie (se7en at no. 14). i have to say the market that has continued to make good horror is in asia. they keep producing top quality and i think that has been evidenced in hollywood by the number of j-horror remakes of late. for now i'll just keep wading through the garbage looking for gems. ps. one exception would be pan's labyrinth. it should be HDC top 10.

[the_real_linda]

i love old and new... both have crappy movie among the good usually cuz the crappy ones cash in on the good ones

[paws the great]

Originally Posted by the_real_linda

i love old and new

Ditto!;)



I love a lot of the new stuff.

[the_real_linda]

see we can just plain love a shit load of films... i love waaay more films than i dont.... even tho it probs seems like i dont.... it was just a shame to see films like captivity cashing in... even tho it was made ages ago and had to wait til there was a place in the market for it