Oh that’s awful!!! Are they going to start doing that with every decent foreign film that comes along? Prevent its release until the inferior American remake can make a few bucks? I’m glad they didn’t do that with Let the Right One In.
I second any recommendations of Rec, I thought it was excellent, and the best horror film I’ve seen in a while.
I’d also put Frontiers out there.
I haven’t seen much to impress me lately, but a film I quite enjoyed, and which didn’t seem to get a release here (only at the now-defunct Cinemuerte Festival in Vancouver, when I lived there, did it screen a few years back now) was a film called “Trouble”, from 2005, directed by Harry Cleven. It should’ve gotten more attention, I think. Definitely worth seeking out.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. It’s a mockumentary about the next great undead serial killer (ala Michael Myers, Jason, Freddy Krueger etc.) It’s actually a comedy for the most part, but by the film’s finale it takes a creepy turn.
Genuinely disturbing: Martyrs. It’s not for everyone, but it’s nailed into my consciousness now.
Aw come on, Samantha. You like Wrong Turn 2 and dislike [Rec]? Granted, I had a good laugh at the first killing in the former, but it’s utter garbage, and not even good garbage (like, say, Jeepers Creeper 2); [Rec] is the best scary movie I’ve seen in years (and I love the genre). Didn’t care for Shaun of the Dead: don’t like extended British comedy shtick crossed with classic horror film on the big screen – it just isn’t cinema and seems neither fish nor fowl to me (but it does stink).
I guess I should add Bug here, considering I brought it up. Intense with a capital I.
i’m lookin to drag me to hell, i hope it’s as good as i hope it is.
Dead End (2003)
The Abandoned (2006)
These are two that creeped me out. I have recommended them many times to people asking for good horror (I work part time in a video store) and have always gotten good feedback.
Another older film that came to mind: Larry Fessenden’s “Habit” (1996). A very good modern vampire film. I haven’t seen it in some time, but it certainly stuck with me for days after seeing it for the first time.
Let me second the Inside recomendation; avoid learning anything about it; get ahold of it; watch it.
It’s probably the best of the current French horror wave; haven’t seen martyrs yet; Frontier(s) was decent but not as good as the hype; High/Haute Tension was GREAT… for the first hour-fifteen…
It’s nice to see Bug appreciated around here.
Henry Rollins, Neil. Henry. Rollins.
Yes, I do prefer “a group of reality show contestants find themselves fighting for their survival against a family of hideously deformed inbred cannibals who plan to ruthlessly butcher them all” to another first fucking person view of another fucking zombie attack. GOSH. That doesn’t sound so crazy in my head.
More power to you, Samantha. I guess I was coming from more of a “What scares you” than a “What entertains you” vibe. Henry Rollins was in Heat, so, you know, respect. But [rec] I found to be scary in a way I haven’t felt since watching The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1980 (I was 15 at the time and couldn’t sleep for 3 whole days). That was the last time any horror film ever scared me. Before that I had nightmares after watching Frankenstein when I was around 8 (serious nightmares! still recall how bloody terrified I’d be waking up), and other stuff when I was a child (Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte really got to me, I remember). How did I cure myself of this aversion to horror films? After 3 sleepless nights – as a result of Leatherface and family – I heard laughter coming from downstairs; my grandmother and her sister were visiting, and they were watching Hooper’s masterpiece…and laughing! So, I worked up the courage to watch it again a week later and saw the comedy (“look what you did to my door!” the “father” yells at Leatherface, after our hero takes the trusty chainsaw to it; body parts are flying everywhere and this guy complains about his door – classic comedy). Can take anything these days. Call out: Are there any scary films out there? I mean scary: Exorcist-scary. Night of the Living Dead-scary. Damnit, I want to be scared again…
Well, even if you’re coming from a “what scares you” angle, a scene that makes me jump does not necessarily disturb me for days on end. In the case of [REC], I didn’t even jump. I saw everything coming from a mile away. But if it truly terrified you, then that’s pretty great and I envy you. I want to be disturbed too!
The Devil’s Rejects was the last great horror film I saw. I left the theatre feeling dirty and totally bummed out like someone had just sucked all the life out of me.
Haven’t seen Rejects yet. Must seek it out, as they say. Well, it’s 2am: to quote Richard O’Brien – sleep now…
“I want to be disturbed too!” . . . . . . . um
Not too many people mentioning “The Orphanage” on these horror threads. I guess a lot of folks missed this one, which is too bad, I would love to hear some feedback from those that have seen it.
Not disturbed like you, Soybean. I meant “bothered”. Not “criminally insane”.
The Orphanage is A++. It’s just a great movie in general. It holds its own even outside of the horror genre.
Hey, I haven’t committed a crime in years and I feel perfectly sane.
I really liked The Orphanage.
TJ, yeah, Inside definitely grabbed my attention. I really want to say more about it but I don’t want to serve up any spoilers.
A Tale of Two Sisters, a 2003 film and the Korean version of The Uninvited which is crap
and all the other ones were already mentioned but DO NOT SEE George Romero’s Diary of the Dead…absolute garbage
Agreed on Diary of the Dead. I wanted to like it, & still want to defend it. But can’t. It sucks. Land of… wasn’t so hot either.
I like Diary of the Dead. Quite a bit, actually. I really don’t understand what people didn’t like about it. Everyone was complaining that Land was too complicated, on too large a scale, so he went back to basics and it worked even better (Granted, I like Land so what do I know?). I mean yeah some of the acting wasn’t great but Romero’s never been a great actor’s director. The social criticism was a little heavy handed but again, he always has been. The things people have been using to hate on Diary are the same things they were praising on Night and Dawn. There’s bits of the movie that don’t really work and a ton of stuff that really does. Just like every other Romero zombie movie.
I just watched 30 Days of Night the other day and I liked it a lot.
Those bird’s eye shots of the town being dismantled just kill me in that movie.
@Samantha
“Well, even if you’re coming from a “what scares you” angle, a scene that makes me jump does not necessarily disturb me for days on end. In the case of [REC], I didn’t even jump. I saw everything coming from a mile away. But if it truly terrified you, then that’s pretty great and I envy you. I want to be disturbed too!”
I felt the same about [REC]. Everybody in the film makes themselves vunerable in the most cliched ways, and predictably gets infected/eaten by leaning over zombies, standing near windows/doors, running off alone, and returning to places of slaughter where zombies may be lurking. Boring at less than 75 minutes. There weren’t any societal critiques either (in the vein of Romero), except that totalitarism is lame and one probably shouldn’t trust the government.
The last 5 minutes were creepy as hell in a Marylin-Manson-video style, but also very predictable.
@Sean Hespell
A Tale of Two Sisters was boring too. It had its moments. But why must every asian film, even horro films, be at least two hours, spend much of the time in silence even when not meaningful, and have a mind-bending ending that could be an image of several endings at once? The ending reminded of the endings of Fight Club and Ichi the Killer and any Japanese-Korean horror smashed into one, a big jumble whose untangling is supposed to blow your mind with its twisted combos.
“Diary of the Dead” was uneven. I love Romero, so I give it a pass, but I know what you mean. I loved that there was another entry in the series, but it is rather weak compared to the others.
@All
The horror films that have affected me recently have all already been mentioned:
The Descent – disgusting and hair-raising
The Orphanage – soul crushing
The Devil’s Rejects – brutal
Let the Right One In – It is actually funny and sweet instead of frightening.
Audition – creepy
Others:
Session 9 – creepy
The Lady in White (though I need to rewatch it as an adult to confirm)
>>Another older film that came to mind: Larry Fessenden’s “Habit” (1996). A very good modern vampire film. I haven’t seen it in some time, but it certainly stuck with me for days after seeing it for the first time.<<
I really like Fessenden’s work. Though he went a bit further in showing things than I think was wise in his latest (THE LAST WINTER), he’s like Val Lewton in unsettling the viewer while showing very little. In HABIT that dream sequence of the camera prowling the ship full of coffins is definitely unsettling.
Shouldn’t we define recent? Some of the films being cited here go back a decade or more.
Armands and Harrry, I loved Last Winter and bought it used yesterday. I’ll have to check out The Habit. I saw another of Fessenden’s a couple years ago, Wendigo, which I thought was pretty good except for the monster/entity itself.
One that was just release on dvd a couple weeks ago that I really enjoyed was End of the Line (2007). A subway stops in the middle of it’s run and some of the passengers go on a murderous rampage. I don’t want to give anything more away but it was brutal, funny and well executed. I suppose there is the similarity to Midnight Meat Train because of the subway/train, but that is the only real similarity.
I also loved The Signal (2007) and while kind of a combination of Pulse and recent zombie films, was well executed.
Mulberry St. (2006) – More zombies/murderous rampage on a low budget but claustrophobic and well acted.
Borderland (2007) – Sick and wrong. Human sacrifice anyone?
I will defend Diary of the Dead. I thought it was a brilliant “let’s show these kids how it works” send up of Blair Witch Project/Cloverfield type moviemaking, where Romero points out that a) film students would know how to hold a camera steady so that you can see what’s going on, and b) you can have the hand-held camera make a political point as well. I liked it.
“I just watched 30 Days of Night the other day and I liked it a lot.”
On the other hand, I really didn’t like that movie. I didn’t understand how the vampires were apparently abstract enough thinkers to make all these heavy-handed existential statements on God—but couldn’t even proportion their meals so that they could herd the humans and eat them over the entire month instead of in one bulk blood-fest that later left them starving and desperate. Not very intelligent creatures, those vampires—and too many tracking shots down hallways of them hissing for no reason. A lion don’t roar when stalking prey, folks.
—PolarisDiB
You know more about lions than I ever want to know, lol.
Haha! Can’t say I’m a specialist. I don’t even tend to watch nature documentaries.
But it does make sense that a predator hunting prey would do well to shut the hell up when skulking around instead of constantly hissing and squirming and bumping into things. Which is what I felt like half the movie was (the other half was actually really cool survivalism cinema, and I really liked that aspect of it).
—PolarisDiB
Joshua W
I know that the distributors of Quarantine had a deal that Rec wouldn’t be distributed in America until it had been in theaters for some designated amount of time. I don’t know how much longer that’ll last, but once you get a chance to see it I have faith that you’ll enjoy it.