Upcoming horror movies

[HoopyFrood]

Bah, why would you do that, J.d. Squash all my dreams. And there's me almost having a career decided...


*Big sigh*


Yah, I know. But at least I can write something that will be better than the...well, crap...that comes out of Hollywood. Even if it's fouled up visually on the big screen, the plot will still be there...

 

[Barney]

There definitely seems to have been a trend for remakes in horror films in the last few years.

Shame most of these remakes don't come anywhere near improving on the original. I saw the remake of The Amityville Horror recently which was poor. The Wicker Man remake was just embarassing. But the worst was the Black Christmas remake. I actually felt hostile towards the people who put that mess together. It was such a lazy, half-hearted retread of tired cliches it was offensive to a discerning horror fan

 

[AE35Unit]

There definitely seems to have been a trend for remakes in horror films in the last few years.

Shame most of these remakes don't come anywhere near improving on the original. I saw the remake of The Amityville Horror recently which was poor.

I actually thought Amytiville was quite good,sometimes they get it right and it was quite scary. Plus they made the babysitter hot

 

[Barney]

I actually thought Amytiville was quite good,sometimes they get it right and it was quite scary. Plus they made the babysitter hot

Yes, the babysitter was very hot

I agree it had some good scary moments, it probably made me jump more than the original but wasn't as eerie overall. In the original it wasn't really explained why the house was evil apart from some vague guff about an Indian burial ground. The remake had to... SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!


























...try and explain it by coming up with the evil priest story that felt like an afterthought. But to be honest the original film was pretty average anyway.

 

[j d worthington]

But to be honest the original film was pretty average anyway.

I think that's one of the things that gets me most: of recent years, it seems we've seen a spate of remakes of "pretty average" to below average films. Now, that would be fine, if you actually make something worthwhile in doing so, but when you can't even improve on something that's mediocre to begin with... well, let's just say something is very, very wrong here....

 

[AE35Unit]

I cant believe theyre doing a remake of Friday the 13th! Come on, have you lot in Hollywood no imagination?

 

[HoopyFrood]

I think the recent poor remakes and rehashing shows that, no, they really have not...!

I think that, because it's worked before, they think it will again and that people will pay money to see them again. It's like with the many books that have been turned into films -- because they're already popular, it's practically guaranteed an audience.

 

[j d worthington]

I cant believe theyre doing a remake of Friday the 13th! Come on, have you lot in Hollywood no imagination?

Pffft! That's nothing! They're doing (or have already done) a remake of It's Alive!!!! Jesu Maria! Are there no depths to which they will not sink????

 

[Nightmare]

Pffft! That's nothing! They're doing (or have already done) a remake of It's Alive!!!! Jesu Maria! Are there no depths to which they will not sink????

Yes, a lousy movie and undeserving of a remake, but it scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. Watched it at a friend's house, then had to sleep on his floor, right on that demon baby's turf! And my friend had to say, "boy that thing moved quick," just before turning out the light.

Thanks for depressing me with news of the Friday the 13th remake. If there's such a thing as a quality slasher flick, that was it. The remake will probably have Jason committing all the mayhem, so as not to run up against the audience's expectations. Can't have that.

 

[AE35Unit]

HMMM never seen Its Alive I don't think...
As for Friday the 13th well I was never a fan and only watched the first one. I find such one dimensional slasher films laughable! Same with Hellraiser,just so funny. I want to see a real horror movie!

 

[Barney]

I think when it comes to slasher films the well ran dry about 10 years ago.

To start with Halloween gave the basic template of teens menaced by psycho, then there were loads of imitations.
Then some innovations wthin the formula from the 80s through to the 90s; Nightmare on Elm Street, Urban Legend, Final Destination. I think these were innovative because the killer evolved from the standard psycho to being something else, often more allegorical.

Se7en is almost a slasher, in that you have a series of horrifying deaths linked by a perverse logic, with a fiendish, inhuman killer. Perhaps that was the high point of the slasher. After that you had the Scream films. I have heard these described as "post-modern". Whatever. They were still slashers, irrespective of how much their characters talked about the conventions of horror movies whilst winking at the audience.

So now all invention has been exhausted we are back to remaking the first and second generation of horror films! Rant over, sorry folks!

 

[Barney]

I think that's one of the things that gets me most: of recent years, it seems we've seen a spate of remakes of "pretty average" to below average films. Now, that would be fine, if you actually make something worthwhile in doing so, but when you can't even improve on something that's mediocre to begin with... well, let's just say something is very, very wrong here....

Let's be thankful no no one has pitched a remake of The Exorcist yet. Or Don't Look Now.

 

[j d worthington]

Let's be thankful no no one has pitched a remake of The Exorcist yet. Or Don't Look Now.

On The Exorcist -- I think the recent "prequel" was quite close enough. Though, to be honest, I'm surprised that we're not seeing remakes of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci films at this point....

 

[Nesacat]

We are all here being upset, angered by remakes but they keep churning them out. Therefore it would be logical to say that there is a market for such things. And a market big enough for Hollywood to happily throw money into.

It seems to be that many of the movies being remade are old enough to not have been seen by at least a whole generation. Though I suspect they have heard about them and are curious. But it also seems that they don't care about 'quiet horror' much, which is really a pity as that is where the true 'creep' factor lies.

Maybe it's an increasing lack of imagination. I don't know but movies now seem to increasingly spell things out precisely, with a hefty splash of gore for good measure. Saw is a good example. It began with a decent premise and descended into a mindless gore fest. But the formula is bringing in the dollars. We have another on the way.

I suspect a remaking of Hellraiser will see more chains and tearing apart and gore and it will fill cinemas.

 

[Stronty]

Have to agree with you there Nesacat,thats probably why we will never see a decent Lovecraft or William Hope Hodgeson movie.
As most of the recent movies are just to make money why sink money into a film that relies on atmosphere and......imagination to enjoy.
I'm hoping to check out "The Call of Cthulhu" once i get a copy,saw it listed om imdb and it does sound its a made by fans for fans

 

[AE35Unit]

Yea and i reckon that the makers of these films have no knowledge or even interest in the genre,they just know what sells. A bit like going to Jessops or other big chain and being served by people who know nothing about cameras!

 

[j d worthington]

It seems to be that many of the movies being remade are old enough to not have been seen by at least a whole generation. Though I suspect they have heard about them and are curious. But it also seems that they don't care about 'quiet horror' much, which is really a pity as that is where the true 'creep' factor lies.

I'm not at all sure this is the case. For one thing, nearly all of these movies that are being remade are easily available on DVD or shown on the various movie channels with considerable frequency; so it's as easy to see them as the newer versions. And even the teens I sometimes work around complain of the lack of imagination and genuine creepiness of modern horror films -- if anything, they find them at best campy, and at worst a waste of time and yet another disappointment.

Not that they object to the gore, per se, but they do note and get bored with the endless retreads of the same stories over and over....

 

[Nesacat]

I'm hoping to check out "The Call of Cthulhu" once i get a copy,saw it listed om imdb and it does sound its a made by fans for fans

It is indeed. Black & white and grainy. It's wonderful and there was obviously a lot of care and affection in it. One of the best Lovecraft movies. I think the Old Gent might have even liked it.

JD ... Here there is not much interest in the old movies at all although they are very easily available from the pirates. The only people who buy them are the ones who saw them when they first came out and love them and want to be able to see them again. The remakes however are very, very popular and greatly looked forward too.

In many ways this is odd because the Hollywood movies are so very different from the Asian horror movies and these same teens will come down really hard on remakes of Asian movies, because those are simply not creepy enough.

 

[j d worthington]

Perhaps, then, it also serves as a reinforcement of the idea of Americans as having absolutely no taste, eh...?

 

[Barney]

It is indeed. Black & white and grainy. It's wonderful and there was obviously a lot of care and affection in it. One of the best Lovecraft movies. I think the Old Gent might have even liked it.

JD ... Here there is not much interest in the old movies at all although they are very easily available from the pirates. The only people who buy them are the ones who saw them when they first came out and love them and want to be able to see them again. The remakes however are very, very popular and greatly looked forward too.

In many ways this is odd because the Hollywood movies are so very different from the Asian horror movies and these same teens will come down really hard on remakes of Asian movies, because those are simply not creepy enough.

I think the US remake of The Grudge was excellent, it kept the best bits of the original and added another layer. Seeing Buffy being all at sea in a foreign culture added to the weirdness of the whole film. The scene where she went shopping and couldn't read any of the labels on the food and couldn't speak to anyone really accentuated the horror of what happened afterwards.