What happened to SERIOUS horror films?
 

I see all these lame horror movies coming out these days claiming to be scarier and having more gore but ALL these films (Saw, Hostel, all those sorry remakes, etc...) seem to be lacking in several areas, but mainly three:

First, acting. My god! I know you can't getting friggin' Tom Hanks or someone like that to star in these sadistic mutilation type films, but you gotta at least get someone with a little acting talent. I honestly haven't seen a major horror release in 10 years that had a great cast (not necessarily big name, but just acted their roles well).

Second, plot. It is either something VERY unoriginal or VERY unbelievable. Enough said on this.

And third, villain/monster. Nowadays we keep getting these unscary/lame villain/monsters. Honestly, who was scared of the Creeper? :rolleyes:

I really think the horror/thriller/sci-fi fans have become a little too tolerant of all the crap movies coming out of Hollywood these days. There was a time when good (if not great) horror films were being produced. Now it is all about making money (and making sequels/remakes) rather than being innovative.

One of my fondest memories was seeing the movie ALIENS when it was first released 20 years ago in theatres. Great acting, great plot, AWESOME monster.... And all these lame death scenes today do not compare with the shock the audience was in back then. I remember the exploding chests really upsetting people. But then this one REALLY took the cake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4vB7DZQrTk (Bishop speared by queen Alien, spews whitish fluid, then the queen breaks him in two, sending one half left, one half right). Not sure why this non-human death made people so squeamish, but I remembered the ausience was uncomfortable with it. :D

LOL! What has happened to horror today? :mad:

Too bad its not horror, eh?

Jeepers Creepers 2 DVD, the menu alone.
He fucking breathes on the screen, and I swear it still terrifies me.
The creeper does scare someone. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Well the Creeper bores me to death which is kinda scary.

How the heck could someone be bored with Aliens??

Not horror, but easily one of the best action movies Ive ever seen.

The Special Edition of Aliens is kinda slow.

Fuck there were some cool Sci-Fi/Action flicks in the late 80s and early 90s.

aliens was a great movie by my standards ... but if we're going to judge horror movies by this time worn measuring stick - 'did it scare you' then i'd have to say all horror movies are bad because i havent been scared by a film (other than An Inconvenient Truth) since i was a kid many years ago.

i have different criteria than that now ... i still enjoy a well made horror film but i dont expect to be scared.

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought the topic was going to be about the unfortunate injection of comedy into horror. I wish we'd have more serious horror in that sense. This is one of the main things that led me to start watching Asian horror.

Oh yeah, and Jeepers Creepers was going great until they showed the stupid Creeper. Then it went downhill fast.

If they did get Tom Hanks, I wouldn't watch it. One of the most overrated actors in history, IMHO.

So do you just like monster movies? If so, I understand. They're my favorite, and there has been an incredible dry spell for original monster. Although The Descent looks promising. Then again, I like the Creeper.

Basically, as far as being scared goes, I'm going to have to go with urge. I still enjoy atmospheric, creepy movies, but I haven't really been scared by one for years. I take solace in letting myself push the other extremes: being grossed out/disturbed. Some people don't like these kind of films, some do.

@Slayer - Have you started a topic on the subject? I'm sure you would get some interesting, well thought out posts before the thread turns into sexual innuendo.

as far as humor goes in horror films .. it depends on the movie.

if its there all the time .. then its a horror -comedy done well they are fun.

if there is humor in just a day to day nature (a character says something funny) then i appreciate it - because in real life - people do occasionally say funny things... it developes the character and makes you identify with/like them a little more - gives them dimension. being (effectively) humorous is a trait people like and gravitate towards.

the key to a good horror movie is characters you like and then are afraid for.
tension is built worrying about the fate of a character you like ... no one gives a shit when colourless, lifeless, one dimensional characters are killed.

if there is just one character wisecracking all the time strictly for comedic relief - then yeah - thats a bad use of comedy in a horror. it's distracting and difusing.

i remember as a kid a scare being much more effective just after a light moment where you let down your guard and figured everyone was safe for the time being.

What?!

#1 Aliens is a great movie :p it practically created the action horror genre.

#2 It IS in fact a sci-fi/horror/action movie. it is all there, and most definately has enough horror elements to qualify as a horror movie.


Sorry, its my favorite so i must stand up for it.

Aliens (1986)
Genre: Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
User Rating: ********__ 8.3/10 (84,391 votes) top 250: #71

:)

The Alien series is really very good, especially the first, which is the only one that I would consider to be an actual horror film. And yes, the line between horror and science fiction isn't nearly as clear as some may think. Good SF is often very dark.

Anyway, I think that horror in general is starting to recover. For nearly an entire decade (the 90s) there was very little on the horror radar except for an endless cycle of self-aware teen slashers. Filmmakers are definitely starting to make more serious horror again.

Alien-Aliens= Space Ship/Space Monsters....Sci-Fi...I enjoyed #1 and #2...
as for serious...TCM-the beginnings is recent and was a very hard/serious movie to me...and I thought the acting was top notch...

AMEN!!!!!!!

I completely agree with that. Forest Gump was one of the worst movies I've ever had the misfortune of seeing.

Good idea. I'll have to do that. Every thread eventually devolves into sexual innuendo around here, huh?

As I was reading over this I started to wonder: The beginning scenes in Night of the Living Dead where Babs and Johnny are wondering in the graveyard... Johnny's a smartass, right, and then he starts picking on Babs, the whole "They're coming to get you Barbara" scene. That movie came out before I was born and I'm wondering, putting it to question: Was any of that supposed to be amusing, maybe in a dark sort of way?"

As for serious horror... I can't get into the the Saw stuff anymore, the gore shit is old hat. It doesn't give me the "uber creepy" vibe. I like films with a good creepy story. That's often hard to do, however. House on Haunted Hill was a great story, because of how Shirley Jackson wrote it. However it was not a good movie. I really got into The Ring. I thought it had a great story, it was a very creepy film.

@ Lady Frost- I know what you mean by sci-fi horror not being your thing, because hack'n'slash horror isn't mine unless it's is done superbly.

Finally! A perfect term with which to describe all the Scream and Last Summer films: self-aware teen slashers. You are certainly correct about there being a ton of these in the 90s.

i think only kevin williamson can write these with wes craven heading it up

[QUOTE=Unaboner3000;513630]I see all these lame horror movies coming out these days claiming to be scarier and having more gore but ALL these films (Saw, Hostel, all those sorry remakes, etc...) seem to be lacking in several areas, but mainly three:

First, acting. My god! I know you can't getting friggin' Tom Hanks or someone like that to star in these sadistic mutilation type films, but you gotta at least get someone with a little acting talent. I honestly haven't seen a major horror release in 10 years that had a great cast (not necessarily big name, but just acted their roles well).was event horizon released in the last 10 years? what about wolf creek? i thought that was well acted, especially the bad guy. you're right about bad acting in horror movies but if you look hard enough you'll find quality. i think a lot of it is intentionally cheesy to give it a old cult classic feel. also, loved creep; good tension, story, acting and bad guy

why would you not consider Aliens horror? so what its in space and has 'aliens' in it..it has everything a good horror movie should have.

She conceeded, even though she didnt need to. "Good" is a really subjective term, and although i completely disagreed with her, if she thinks it is crap, then in her eyes it is.

I dont know how someone could think such a thing, but there are a lot of crazies out there :p

i havent read all the posts in this thread yet but i agree that something is happening to horror films and they are becoming progressively worse. the acting is the major problem. it seems horror films today just have blonde girls (or other attractive girls) as the lead and something happening to them. then the boyfriend (who is equally attractive) tries to do something. otherwise, its the husband or wife or whatever. its just.. not good. im sick of people getting lost in the woods!