Horror october #1
Oct. 1st, 2017 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamySo I'm going to try a challenge and watch a horror movie every day in October. Or at least 31 horror movies in October. Or at least recommend a horror movie every day in October. We'll see how far I get. (Suggestions of movies I may not have seen are most welcome, though fair warning, I've seen a lot of horror movies...)
#1 is Gerald's Game, which just opened on Netflix. Based on a Stephen King novel I read when it came out and always considered completely unfilmable, since the entire plot is that a woman agrees to let her husband chain her to the bed 50 shades-style to spice up their marriage, and then he gets a heart attack and dies and she's chained to a bed miles from the nearest neighbour and nobody due to miss them for at least a week. So 90% of the story is just her, trapped in a bed, dragging through a lifetime of bad memories of men who think they own her to try and find a way out.
Still works rather well, though, up until the ending that gets way too comfortable. Carel Struycken (the Giant in Twin Peaks) in a small but crucial role. Also, one of the singularly goriest scenes in the whole history of Stephen King films, which is saying something. Not great, but not bad, and when it comes to Stephen King adaptations that's usually all you can ask.
Director Mike Flanagan also made Hush and Oculus, both of which are recommended.
#1 is Gerald's Game, which just opened on Netflix. Based on a Stephen King novel I read when it came out and always considered completely unfilmable, since the entire plot is that a woman agrees to let her husband chain her to the bed 50 shades-style to spice up their marriage, and then he gets a heart attack and dies and she's chained to a bed miles from the nearest neighbour and nobody due to miss them for at least a week. So 90% of the story is just her, trapped in a bed, dragging through a lifetime of bad memories of men who think they own her to try and find a way out.
Still works rather well, though, up until the ending that gets way too comfortable. Carel Struycken (the Giant in Twin Peaks) in a small but crucial role. Also, one of the singularly goriest scenes in the whole history of Stephen King films, which is saying something. Not great, but not bad, and when it comes to Stephen King adaptations that's usually all you can ask.
Director Mike Flanagan also made Hush and Oculus, both of which are recommended.
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Date: 2017-10-01 08:52 pm (UTC)Cult Horror Films...that require strong stomachs...
Date: 2017-10-01 08:21 pm (UTC)The other horror film I dare you to see is Irreversible, which is a 2002 French film that had audiences leaving in the middle of. (A video store clerk described it to me once, I haven't seen it either. [ETA: Irreversible is told in non-linear fashion and features a very disturbing and possibly the worst rape sequence on camera...another film I've avoided. Also it gave people motion sickness -- similar to Blair Witch.]
Also "mother!" which may or may not be a horror film, people appear to be debating it.
You've probably already seen The Host - the 2006 Korean Horror film, not the Stephanie Meyer one. This actually is tame compared to all the others...and possibly the only one on my list I could make it through.
As an appetite cleanser...go with Anna and the Apocalypse - its a horror movie, a YA dystopia movie, a zombie movie, a musical, and a Xmas movie all at the same time!
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Gerald's Game reminds me a little of Misery.
Re: Cult Horror Films...that require strong stomachs...
Date: 2017-10-01 08:58 pm (UTC)I watched The Human Centipede and absolutely hated it. Not necessarily because of the grossness of it, but it's a deeply, deeply stupid movie. What sort of commentary do you need to make on torture, anyway? I keep meaning to see Irreversible, but after seeing some of the director's other work I'm not sure I want to.
Anna And The Apocalypse sounds brilliant though, thanks!
Gerald's Game reminds me a little of Misery.
There are similarities, as with most of King's work. It shares more than a few ideas with Cujo as well, though a lot more introspective.
Re: Cult Horror Films...that require strong stomachs...
Date: 2017-10-01 10:43 pm (UTC)Irreversible from the detailed description that I got of it over ten years ago...is a difficult film to watch. It apparently has the longest and most graphically violent gang rape sequence ever filmed. Over 25 minutes long or so I was told. (I have not seen it). And it's done backwards. The whole story is told in reverse.
If you ever decide to see it, let me know what you think of Darren Aronfsky's allegorical "mother!". That's playing in my neighborhood, but I'm wary. Very controversial, and has a gut wrenching 25 minute long torture sequence at the end, hence the reason I don't think I'll be able to watch it.
A professional film critic, Glenn (can't remember his last name -- I want to say Kenny, but that can't be right) used to write for Premier Magazine, and lived in my neighborhood - told me about The Host, and how in his opinion it was among the best horror movies he's seen. (I don't know if I can handle it...gore bugs me. But I've been tempted by that one.)
It shares more than a few ideas with Cujo as well, though a lot more introspective
Interesting. I've seen Misery and Cujo, also read both...
I can see how it might share a few ideas with Cujo -- the whole being trapped and away from anyone. With deadly dogs around. Cujo was one of the better films adapted from King's work. Although the best were Misery, the Shining and Carrie in my opinion. Not that I've seen all of them.
Re: Cult Horror Films...that require strong stomachs...
Date: 2017-10-02 05:44 am (UTC)I've seen a lot of weird shit. :)
I am curious about mother!, people have been yelling about it being either a masterpiece or the Worst Movie Ever for a week now. Aronofsky has done some great movies, and also some really annoying ones, occasionally at the same time.
I liked the movie version of Cujo up until the end. Let's just say I much preferred the book's ending. One thing I like about King is that his characters rarely live happily ever after; you don't go through what he puts them through unscathed, the horror lingers on even after the monster is defeated.
Re: Cult Horror Films...that require strong stomachs...
Date: 2017-10-02 12:12 pm (UTC)One thing I like about King is that his characters rarely live happily ever after; you don't go through what he puts them through unscathed, the horror lingers on even after the monster is defeated.
Except for Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining...which basically was far darker than even Stephen King's take on it. And oddly the only adaptation that King famously disliked, stating he felt Kubrick was trying to hurt the audience. I saw it, read the book, and then saw King's television version with Steven Webber. Kubrick's is by far the scariest and the best...not to mention darkest. Which is interesting.
I am curious about mother!, people have been yelling about it being either a masterpiece or the Worst Movie Ever for a week now. Aronofsky has done some great movies, and also some really annoying ones, occasionally at the same time.
Feel much the same way. Aronofsky can be heavy-handed at times with his metaphors. Apparently this is one of those films people either really love or really hate. The critics have been all over the place with it.
They also don't appear to know what to make of it. I've seen reviews stating it's an empty and somewhat tedious psychological horror film, and reviews stating it is an incomprehensible allegory.
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