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

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I'd go a step further and just say that Tobe Hooper was really just a one hit wonder. I mean that hit was amazing and unique enough to build a career around and earn him a spot among the greats, but that was really the only legit good piece in his entire ouvre. Poltergeist distinctly isn't his, Lifeforce is only good in a campy, nostalgic way (and I'm willing to bet that Dan O'Bannon was a lot more involved than given credit for, as with Alien). I liked Invaders from Mars as a kid, but I haven't ever re-watched it, so who knows. Everything else is either workmanlike or worse. Eaten Alive is fine, but, let's face it, if this was Hooper's best film, he wouldn't even be notable. Funhouse is lame as shit. TCM2 owes about everything good in it to Dennis Hopper and Bill Mosely. And after that was a string of 90s trash that could've been done by anyone else.

I mean I like the guy, and don't begrudge him his career, but I think he only really had that one bullet, and he fired it off with great effect in 1974. Many such cases.
 
Your Starter for 10 said:
I'd go a step further and just say that Tobe Hooper was really just a one hit wonder. I mean that hit was amazing and unique enough to build a career around and earn him a spot among the greats, but that was really the only legit good piece in his entire ouvre. Poltergeist distinctly isn't his, Lifeforce is only good in a campy, nostalgic way (and I'm willing to bet that Dan O'Bannon was a lot more involved than given credit for, as with Alien). I liked Invaders from Mars as a kid, but I haven't ever re-watched it, so who knows. Everything else is either workmanlike or worse. Eaten Alive is fine, but, let's face it, if this was Hooper's best film, he wouldn't even be notable. Funhouse is lame as shit. TCM2 owes about everything good in it to Dennis Hopper and Bill Mosely. And after that was a string of 90s trash that could've been done by anyone else.

I mean I like the guy, and don't begrudge him his career, but I think he only really had that one bullet, and he fired it off with great effect in 1974. Many such cases.
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One hell of a fucking bullet though. The OG Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of an exceptionally rare number of movies that flat out terrified me to my guts when watching it the first time, and even now when rewatching it I feel the hairs on the back of my flabby neck start prickling. Its just the perfect synthesis of sound design and music, visuals and cinematography, and pacing to make it straight up feel like a really fucking nasty nightmare.

Its genuinely hard to pick out what moment sticks out the worst/best, the moment when first chick stumbles into the bone room in and of itself was so fucking freaky even before Leatherface showed up, and the moment where he hung her through her back on a meathook and you get a sustained shot of her spasming and screaming in agony that followed shortly afterwards is shit that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you don't need gore to make a scene both horrifying and sickening (and also shit I really, really shouldnt have watched as a kid in hindsight). The dinner scene though is probably the one that stuck with me the worst due to how fucking insane the cutting and cinematography were, with the closeups of the girl's eye being so much more fucking terrifying than they had any right to be. Hell, they made a fucking "last survivor gets rescued and 100% escapes the killers" ending downright fucking macabre with the chick's mad scream laughing and Leatherface's chainsaw dance

Jesus fucking christ I forgot how much I love sperging about horror shit I actually like and enjoy rather than ever shitter zombi series entries and fucking Crossed. When I eventually get round to my rundown of Zombi 2 its gonna feel like double christmas
 
Judge Holden said:
Its genuinely hard to pick out what moment sticks out the worst/best, the moment when first chick stumbles into the bone room in and of itself was so fucking freaky even before Leatherface showed up, and the moment where he hung her through her back on a meathook and you get a sustained shot of her spasming and screaming in agony that followed shortly afterwards is shit that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you don't need gore to make a scene both horrifying and sickening. The dinner scene though is probably the one that stuck with me the worst due to how fucking insane the cutting and cinematography were, with the closeups of the girl's eye being so much more fucking terrifying than they had any right to be.
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For me it was when Leatherface hits the first guy on the head with a hammer. The way the guy fell and shook was a little too real from what I've seen with slaughtered animals. It was very well done. Leatherface is my boy.
 
Vampirella said:
For me it was when Leatherface hits the first guy on the head with a hammer. The way the guy fell and shook was a little too real from what I've seen with slaughtered animals. It was very well done. Leatherface is my boy.
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Also the moment after the second hammer kill when the second guy finds the meathook girl still half alive and spasming in the freezer, when Leatherface sits down and starts freaking the fuck out quietly while looking out the window. Something about the fact that even the killer is fucking terrified and confused and has no control over the situation just makes the movie feel that much more bleak.
 
BrunoMattei said:
I'd say Cat People is inferior to the original. Aside from Nastassja Kinski's nudity.
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I can't remember anything about it, so yeah probably.

Judge Holden said:
Also the moment after the second hammer kill when the second guy finds the meathook girl still half alive and spasming in the freezer, when Leatherface sits down and starts freaking the fuck out quietly while looking out the window. Something about the fact that even the killer is fucking terrified and confused and has no control over the situation just makes the movie feel that much more bleak.
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Leatherface isn't even the villain. In Texas you're legally allowed to dismember trespassers with a chainsaw.
 
I really like Lifeforce and the Invaders From Mars remake. I like Poltergeist too, but it does feel suspiciously very Spielbergesque despite varying statements over the years from people involved with the making of it. It's been a long time since I watched The Funhouse so I need to re-watch it, and I've been meaning to give Spontaneous Combustion a watch for years but I keep putting it off.

I'm not sure it's fair to call Hooper a one-hit-wonder, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre really is his only truly notable film when you consider Spielberg likely did direct quite a lot of Poltergeist.
 
Samhain said:
I'm not sure it's fair to call Hooper a one-hit-wonder, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre really is his only truly notable film when you consider Spielberg likely did direct quite a lot of Poltergeist.
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I really think Spielberg did a lot more with poltergeist then they say. There is just too much of it that feels like Spielberg, I ever remember seeing a documentary on the making of it and it had some of Spielberg's family saying things like the guy ripping off his face was a prank that Spielberg would do as a kid with wet toilet paper.
Your Starter for 10 said:
No, he's still the villain, because you're not allowed to eat anyone. Texas is still has that conservative bent to their laws.
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I will make my pozole the traditional way, thank you. With only the best unwanted door to door salesmen meat.
 
Samhain said:
I'm not sure it's fair to call Hooper a one-hit-wonder, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre really is his only truly notable film when you consider Spielberg likely did direct quite a lot of Poltergeist.
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I think that’s the danger of making a masterpiece early in a creative career. Even perfectly serviceable work made later on will always be measured against the masterpiece, if it doesn’t exceed it. The Mangler is fucking awesome, though, and does justice to one of Stephen King’s most entertaining stories.
 
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I take it for granted that most posters in this thread have seen The Fearless Vampire Killers, but I simply must give it a shout after having watched it again.

It's too bad that it was directed by paedophile Roman Polanski, but it can't be overstated how good the movie is.

It's not outright horror, but rather comedy horror. Still, it has an unsettling atmosphere that contrasts nicely with the humour.

The scene (spoilers!) where the homosexual/bisexual son of the count, Herbert, tries to hit on Alfred is both unsettling and humorous, for example! :-)
The same goes for the scene where Alfred tries to stake the count in the crypt of the castle, and finds that Sarah's father, who's been turned into a vampire, is sleeping soundly in the coffin of Herbert.

It's a movie that hits the right spot of comedy horror by balancing the two elements quite nicely. The numerous occasions of comedy notwithstanding, it's still a movie worth watching for fans of horror.
 
Felis Meanis said:
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I take it for granted that most posters in this thread have seen The Fearless Vampire Killers, but I simply must give it a shout after having watched it again.

It's too bad that it was directed by paedophile Roman Polanski, but it can't be overstated how good the movie is.

It's not outright horror, but rather comedy horror. Still, it has an unsettling atmosphere that contrasts nicely with the humour.

The scene (spoilers!) where the homosexual/bisexual son of the count, Herbert, tries to hit on Alfred is both unsettling and humorous, for example! :-)
The same goes for the scene where Alfred tries to stake the count in the crypt of the castle, and finds that Sarah's father, who's been turned into a vampire, is sleeping soundly in the coffin of Herbert.

It's a movie that hits the right spot of comedy horror by balancing the two elements quite nicely. The numerous occasions of comedy notwithstanding, it's still a movie worth watching for fans of horror.
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He wasn't outed as a pedo until 1977, which is after The Tenant. So, my conscious is clear.

The Tenant is a goddamn masterpiece of psychological horror.
 
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