HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!What a perfect week for this assignment to be posted.
As you enjoy watching horror films at home this fall season, especially this Halloween week, you can totally kill two birds with one stone (...I always found that saying to be quite morbid, but based on the assignment we are doing, I guess it's quite appropriate).
Two rules:
One, it must be something your parents are OK with you watching. Please, get permission from them if it is something stronger than you'd see at school. Heck, if you want, watch it with them. Nothing like a warm bowl of popcorn on a dark night while getting the the living daylights scared out of you with your loved ones!
Two, it must be a film you have never seen before. I expect you to watch your favorite Halloweeny tales this week. I just watched The Thing last night, which is my annual Halloween tradition. But, for this particular assignment, stretch yourself - look up lists of some of the best horror films, try something older, something in black & white maybe, or something from a different country. Who knows, maybe you'll discover a new Halloween tradition.
After you watch the film, write a review of it as a comment on this post. Make sure you tell us your name (so we know who you are, and not just your blog name), the name of the movie you watched, and a very basic non-spoilery plot synopsis, for example: "After a misunderstanding, Earnest P. Worrell unleashes an evil troll on Halloween," (that's straight from Earnest Scared Stupid's official IMDB page; best movie synopsis ever!). Nothing spoiled there. Or, respect points for anyone who can guess this film, "A man decides to turn his moribund life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend, reconciling his relationship with his mother, and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living."
Then, write if you think other members of the class should watch it, and why. Write about ways in which this film was a typical horror movie, and in what ways it may have deviated from the normal horror characteristics. Ask yourself, "did this movie deliver the expected elements of the genre, or not. If not, did it go above and beyond, or was I disappointed?"
Have this bad boy watched and posted by November 10th for full credit.
Enjoy... if you dare!
After you watch the film, write a review of it as a comment on this post. Make sure you tell us your name (so we know who you are, and not just your blog name), the name of the movie you watched, and a very basic non-spoilery plot synopsis, for example: "After a misunderstanding, Earnest P. Worrell unleashes an evil troll on Halloween," (that's straight from Earnest Scared Stupid's official IMDB page; best movie synopsis ever!). Nothing spoiled there. Or, respect points for anyone who can guess this film, "A man decides to turn his moribund life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend, reconciling his relationship with his mother, and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living."
Then, write if you think other members of the class should watch it, and why. Write about ways in which this film was a typical horror movie, and in what ways it may have deviated from the normal horror characteristics. Ask yourself, "did this movie deliver the expected elements of the genre, or not. If not, did it go above and beyond, or was I disappointed?"
Have this bad boy watched and posted by November 10th for full credit.
Enjoy... if you dare!
I watched Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn last night. That movie is "Groovy". I enjoyed every second of it. I do believe that everyone should watch this movie. It was a typical horror movie in the way that there are a bunch of random people in a cabin in the woods but it deviated with some awesome practical effects and stop motion. This movie delivered the expected elements of the genre and then some. By "and then some" I mean, it went above and beyond realism and into a whole new world of awesome. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a remake of the original and I was not disappointed.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, Carlos - totally a sequel, not a remake. The worlds must know this!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comments. It does follow the "random people go to a cabin in the woods" idea, but man, Sam Raimi has a very distinct style. Good call! He invented all sorts of camera moves for these films that have since been used by movies time and time again. Way to be a game changer, Raimi!
Practical effects and stop-motion were pretty common in the '80s, this isn't the only film to use them. But, I don't disagree that this movie uses them in fun and creative ways. And, it has an original kind of zombie, the deadite, created specifically for these series of movies. Fun stuff.
I'd love to hear some of your examples of the "expected elements of the genre." It'd be fun to see what you considered the expected elements.
Dude, I'm so glad you saw this, and like it. Very nice response, Carlos.
And, way to be the first one to complete the assignment!
I've recently watched about half of the first season of American Horror Story.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely has to be one of my favorite TV shows/Horror stories as of this moment.
The series follows a family who have recently moved into a house, who they later discover is called "The Murder House" by locals.
The story brings you through each resident of the house and tells they're stories. After that they reappear at the house as normal people, seemingly alive.
I'm having a hard time writing a synopsis of the story without giving away too much goodness.
Definitely watch it if you haven't already.
Sweet. It sounds like you've dedicated a lot of time to this TV series, and that's awesome. This sounds like a super interesting concept, my friend.
DeleteExcellent comments, Sir TIPster.
I love American Horror Story. I'm waiting to watch the second season.
Deleteif you like the first season you should watch the others :) they are really good (dea)
DeleteI watched nightmare on elm street. I don't have much to say about it besides it has some of the most creative kills I have ever seen in a slasher film. I loved it now all I have to do is see the other ones to gain smarts about Freddy Crugar.
ReplyDelete*krueger
DeleteI saw Carrie. It was most brilliant. It was such an emotional roller coster. It was a most excellent horror movie and it makes me want to watch the original. I recommend it to everyone who enjoys horror movies, because it didnt just do its job, it did a whole lot more.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't like how they portrayed Carrie. I felt as if it wasn't actually Stephen King's character.
DeleteAlthough I kind of liked the remake, I have to agree with Naomi on this one. To me, it felt like Carrie had way too much "control" in this version of the story if that makes any sense. Although, the girl who played Carrie had a lot to live up to considering Sissy Spacek's portrayal of the character is one of the most iconic roles in horror. So, I have to give her and the writers credit for trying. If you liked this version though, I highly recommend the original. I think you would enjoy it. Also, the book is fantastic if you have the time to read it. :)
DeleteI watched the 1982 film 'Poltergeist'. Basically the story is a family move into a new home and discover that the development was built over a cemetery when their house is invaded by violent, unhappy ghosts. As a horror film, I'd say it was pretty decent. It managed to give me a scare, though in terms of fright it falls short of other movies I've watched. I do think that others in my class should watch it because it is, like I said, a decently good film, and because it strongly embodies the typical personality of the 1980s horror movie, and I think it's worth watching for that alone. But setting that aside, no, I don't think it deviated from that which is typical of horror movies. The plot is very mainstream. I often found that I could predict what was going to happen next, since I felt like I had already heard the story once before. But then, maybe that's because the stories I have heard which are similar may have followed in this movie's footsteps. I wouldn't know. Either way, I still enjoyed it, and would recommend it to all my friends.
ReplyDeleteThat was my favorite movie for the longest time when i was little.
DeleteI watched a recent sci-fy horror film called Antiviral. It was a sort of almost-art-house-noir-gross thing that I have seen a little about around the interwebs.
ReplyDeleteIt's about this company that harnesses the infections of celebrities to sell to obsessed fans so they can too become infected. It takes place in a near future where media hullaballoo is thrown even more out of proportion than nowadays.
It is extremely disgusting. I wasn't expecting it to be so gross when I went in, even knowing the premise. It was. so. gross.
"Body horror" is what I think it's called; focusing less on the objective slasher type grossness, and instead taking a really intense and subjective type of horror. There is a lot of closeups of needles and blood (lots of blood). It's all so clinical and strange and whitewashed, that the blood and the grime and the imperfections stand out so strongly.
It's slow moving along; the plot is kind of thin, but after studying the conventions of film it was kind of nice to see something that did a little bit of rule breaking and mood-building. It really had good tone, really introverted and strange that seldom included music. I, personally, liked the pacing. I thought that it added to the film, but I can understand why some critics found it boring. I was endlessly entertained by the very well set up cinematography and (damn awesome) production pieces; not to mention the strange lighting.
Oh! And Malcolm McDowell was in it. He's awesome.
Despite the intense feeling of wanting to take a shower afterwards, I liked it.
I watched a Stephen King movie "The Shining". This movie was great!
ReplyDeleteFor those who haven't watched it its about a man with his family who gets a job to house sit a hotel for the winter. The father eventually goes crazy and tries to murder his family. I don't want to go too far into the story because some people probably haven't seen it.
It's a thing you would expect from Stephen King to portray, and the adaptation was just great. The genre of is of course Horror in a messed up way (with the elevator blood, twin sisters, etc.) and is also a mystery if you have seen it you can definitely see that.
Jack Nicholson's career picked up right after this movie and whole can blame him. A fun fact, that Stanley Kubrick had visualized Jack from the start, they had also worked together on a film that was never released.
Some fun facts*
- The snow was actually styrofoam or diary salt, all together they used 900 tons.
- The rotting corpse scene was actually the mind from Kubrick. Kubrick is or was quite disturbed with sex and that is he's never had a believable sex scene in his films.
- It is rumored that Warner Bros. and Stephen King are working on a sequel.
i watched the lady in white, about a boy who is almost killed and is haunted by the ghost of one of his attacker's victims. it was made in the 80s so it has that 80s feel to it. i love this movie, and wound definitly watch it again
ReplyDeleteFor my At home horror i watched The hills have eyes. i've never seen this movie but i owned it. overall it was pretty damn creepy. and it was a good movie. some of the movie i felt the story kinda fall as if they were just trying to add as much creepiness as possible. but i really liked it.
ReplyDeleteThe story starts out as a family who is on a road trip. They have no cell phone service and they stop at a gas station and get directions. Pretty typical beginning. but they take a "short cut" and it leads them to get trapped by these miners who had been effected by nuclear fall out. they eat there dog. kidnap the dad. use his burning body to distract teh family where they take advantage of a girl and kill 3 people. they also kidnap the baby. from there it seems like the main objective is to get the baby back. the two teenager and the son in law go through lots of hard ship and creepiness and eventually get the baby and survive. it ends with a creepy scene where everyone thinks there safe and they killed everyone, but it shows them through a pair of binoculars. they're still being watched.
overall it was a really creepy horror with realistic gore makeup and i throughly enjoyed it.
I think it’s cool you picked this movie. Both versions are pretty good. Wes Craven’s 1977 version has been in my top-ten favorite horror films since seventh grade but I’m still kind of conflicted about the remake.
DeleteI really have been wanting to watch that movie. I have heard all about this movie good and bad. I trust you would you want me to see it? (dea)
DeleteFor my horror movie at home I watched Pumpkinhead. I’ve avoided watching this movie for a while thanks to the terrible reviews that some of my family members gave it… I should have ignored them sooner. I thought this movie was great! The creature effects were fantastic, the acting was slightly above average for an 80’s horror flick, and the witch in the film was actually scary! Can we please go back to when witches were actually scary rather than seductive? I hate most modern movies with witches… Anyway… Haggis (the witch) and the creature are going to haunt my nightmares… You can tell that all of the people who brought that creature to life really cared about what they were doing and spent a lot of time crafting it. The plot is pretty simple (A man has a demon summoned upon a group of teenagers who did him wrong) but it still worked and the characters seemed believable, especially Ed Harley. Awesome performance by Lance Henriksen right there. It doesn’t deviate too far from the typical horror movie characteristics but I don’t think it really has to. It still accomplishes what a horror movie is supposed to without being truly groundbreaking and I’m satisfied with that. I’m glad this is one of few 80s horror films that hasn’t been remade. I would hate to see this film ruined… I hope the sequels are decent though because I plan on watching them in the near future. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to anyone who loves monster movies.
ReplyDeleteI wated all four scream movies!! I love them so much they are just amazing. they are classic horror movies, hey also have amazing story line twists which I love. I don't know what else to say, lol. I always watch them. they always get my blood pumping and horror ideas in my head. I love wes craven he is amazing writer and director. if you want to see classic horror movies but put in the 21 century then watch all the screams!! (dea)
ReplyDeleteI watched Dracula(1931). It is such a great movie, that is all I did on my Halloween. The characters are super wacky and super characterized. You have to keep in mind the extent of movies during this time, and for the time it's pretty great and fun. It is admittedly a little slow, and the middle drags out too much, it doesn't quite get much of a climax, but all in all it's a great classic and a really fun movie to watch on a Halloween night. I have to say my favorite character is the bug eater wack'O assistant, he's really creepy and his laugh is the best thing you'll ever hear(-next to the 6th doctors nemesis Sil)!
ReplyDelete