Freaks (1932)
Freaks is a movie that tests the viewer's every faculty. It widens our eyes as we look upon sad, frightening, human oddities, it tries our spirit, as we watch them downtrodden, and it kindles our compassion for everybody considered strange or deviant. Horror is meant to transgress and meant to test us, and Freaks does so in a way few other films can. It tests our minds, our wills and our hearts and lets us see the highest and lowest parts of our natures. It shows human nature as the monster it is, reminding us to be at our best. A film with a rare combination of realism, craft and soul. -
Doc Faustus
Funny Games (1997)
My dad brought this movie home pretty soon it came out on video, i guess around ten years ago. I was pretty much in love with horror flicks and I had just started seeking out the goriest stuff i could find ( i didnt know shit about the internet at the time, so it was guess and check at local videostores). This movie totally changed my outlook on what a movie could really do to fuck with your head. Believe it or not I actually watched it with my dad, a friend of mine and my MOM, which is what really put it into perspective. This movie is absolutely over the top, and it goes out of its way to make the viewer feel as uncomfortable as possible through its duration. I have only seen two other films by Michael Haneke (cache, bennys video) The constant I find between them is him using television to make points, or at least using TVs in general for focal points of his flicks. This adds a certain surreal esssence to situations that are generally quite vivd, violent and viable. As with Feed, this movie is a difficult movie to watch, it lacks the in your face social commentary that Cache and Benny video have but it still sends a bit of a message in the end, even if that message is that you might not ever want to watch this flick again, at least not with your mom. -
Spec7ral
Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Anyone who has already seen this
Roger Corman production will tout it as an
Alien rip-off, and not surprisingly, it somewhat resembles the
Ridley Scott tour-de-magnifique in its premise. But Scott's marauder came from outside, while director
Bruce Clark's creepiness seeps from the deepest-rooted fears of the human psyche; the ultimate reason for all evil.
Visually, the movie isnt that great and resembles a TV episode of Star Trek. The effects, done by a young
James Cameron, make the deaths memorable, especially the flying-tentacles and the horrific rape of the vivacious blonde by a huge maggot. Direction is okay, when the limited budget of the movie is taken into account, and so also are the performances by
Eddie Albert, Robert Englund and an enigmatic-looking
Sid Haig. Overall, its worth a watch, just for the deaths alone. -
___V___
Ghost Story (1981)
Gothic (1986)
