HDC Presents: 100 Years of Horror

[Straker]

Originally Posted by Sculpt

I still think your pick of Little Otik (2000) is much richer.

I'm still hoping Little Otik makes the cut, but equally I wanted to be fair to BR and give my honest opinion about it, because I really do rate it highly.

Also on a side vote to your original post..... You already neg voted Shadow of the Vampire, in the first round cut, so you can forget about negging that again!

[fortunato]

I'd like to neg vote Prometheus, first off.

And I'll throw my support out for The Devil's Backbone and Little Otik. Very glad to see the latter getting so much advocacy on here, by the way.

[metternich1815]

I think Prometheus is a really good movie, but it does not belong on this list, even as an honorable mention, in my opinion. I had never heard of Battle Royale before, but it reminds me of The Hunger Games.

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by Kandarian Demon

Hey V - since I know that you always wait for a certain amount of the participants to agree on the final choices, I thought I'd let you know that I will be offline for most of the weekend.

Thank you, KD, although I have a feeling we will still be debating when you return back. Enjoy your weekend trip.

Originally Posted by Sculpt

So it's easier to see, please if you would, will you put the underlined films altogether at the top? Thank you, V. (even seeing ones with 2 backings helps)

The ones with the most backings for that 22nd spot have been elevated up.

Sorry, too many films have 2 backings. Not possible to move them all out and/or underline them, unless they score at least 1 more backing.

Originally Posted by metternich1815

I had never heard of Battle Royale before, but it reminds me of The Hunger Games.

A must-watch for every modern horror fan.

-----------------------------------------------

All added.

Looks like we have 3 films vying for that last spot - Final Destination, Little Otik and The Orphanage.

The Devil's Backbone, Battle Royale and Hard Candy are contenders as well.

http://www.horror.com/forum/showthre...57593&page=120

Keep chippin' on, folks.

[metternich1815]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

A must-watch for every modern horror fan.

I will definitely add it to my list. It sounds interesting.

[neverending]

Originally Posted by metternich1815

I will definitely add it to my list. It sounds interesting.

And the film came out eight years before The Hunger Games book. If anybody's doing any influencing, it's Battle Royale.

[metternich1815]

Originally Posted by neverending

And the film came out eight years before The Hunger Games book. If anybody's doing any influencing, it's Battle Royale.

I did not say The Hunger Games influenced it, it was just an observation. In fact, I was actually wondering if this film had any inspiration on The Hunger Games or were the similarities merely a coincidence. I think it probably had a great deal inspiration on The Hunger Games, but that's just my opinion.

[Giganticface]

My thoughts on Battle Royale are that it's really not that original of a concept. The Immoral Game Show trope has been done plenty of times, and survivalism isn't uncommon. It's a bit like The Running Man meets Lord of the Flies, however Lord of the Flies at least has one scene that was truly horror (the pig head on the stake scene). It's definitely a fun, notable child violence exploitation flick, but I never thought it was particularly horror. Certainly violent, but to me, more in the Riki-Oh sense, not the evil-force-has-just-violently-killed-you sense. I don't think any scene was really intended to be scary for the viewer, but definitely shocking, which I suppose is close enough. I can't think of anything significant it added to the horror genre, it didn't start a trend or expand on existing horror themes, and if we're saying it contributed to the copycat success of The Hunger Games, from a horror perspective, that's a step in the wrong direction. It's weird how certain films become unquestioned horror darlings, while other genuinely creepy films like Donnie Darko and Black Swan are almost universally dismissed as non-horror.

I also, personally had a very different experience than Straker did with the character development. I thought there were way too many characters, such that I ended up caring about none of them. I actually got a bit impatient and frustrated, and began enjoying the film a lot more once most of the characters were killed off, and more attention could be given to the few remaining. I also thought some of the dialog was atrocious, but that could just be less-than-ideal translation. Maybe I just watched it on a bad day and need to see it again.

This is certainly not a negative vote. I'll be the last person to neg vote a movie for being "not horror enough," and my comments on its quality are pretty subjective. I just think there are other films that are actually leaving a mark on the genre.

[neverending]

The film was highly acclaimed by critics in the Western world, with an 86% "certified fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 43 reviews. Robert Koehler of Variety commented, "Given the most basic characters to work with, the mostly teen cast attacks the material with frightening gusto, and Fujiwara dutifully invokes the voice of inner moral conflict. Production is exceedingly handsome and vigorous, offering no sign that Fukasaku is slowing down." He stated that, "returning to his roots as Japan's maestro of mayhem, Kinji Fukasaku has delivered" one of "his most outrageous and timely films," comparing it to "the outrage over youth violence" that Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange "generated in early-'70s Britain" and featuring some of "the most startling scenes of mayhem since the movies of the wild and bloody '70s." Jason Korsner of BBC News gave Battle Royale four out of five stars, stating that it is "a heart-stopping film, teaching us the worthy lessons of discipline, teamwork, and determination, but wrapping them up in a deliberately provocative, shockingly violent package." BBC users gave the film five out of five stars. Almar Haflidason of BBC also gave the film five out of five stars. In a review for Empire, critic Kim Newman gave the film four stars out of five. He compared it to Lord of the Flies in how it makes audiences "wonder what they would do in the same situation," but notes that Battle Royale gives "even harder choices for its school-uniformed characters." He concluded that, "Some will be uncomfortable or appalled, and the mix of humour and horror is uneasy, but this isn't a film you'll forget easily. And, seriously, what would you do?"

The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw gave the film four stars in September 2001, choosing it as the best film of the week. He praised Takeshi Kitano's performance as the teacher and some of the scenes as "a stunningly proficient piece of film-making, plunging us into a world of delirium and fear." He notes that, among "the hail of bullets and the queasy gouts of blood, troubling narratives of yearning and sadness are played out. It is as if the violence of Battle Royale is not a satire of society at all, but simply a metaphor for the anguish of adolescent existence." He concluded that, while some "will find the explicit violence of this movie repulsive," it "is a film put together with remarkable confidence and flair. Its steely candour, and weird, passionate urgency make it compelling." Bryant Frazer of Deep Focus gave it a B+ rating and called it "a vicious take-off on reality TV that turns a high-school milieu dominated by cliques and childish relationships into a war zone." British critic Jonathan Ross stated that "if you want to catch a wildly original and super-cool slice of entertainment before it gets remade and ruined by the Americans, then I suggest you try hard not to miss it" and concluded that "it's a wildly imaginative example of just what can be achieved in a teen movie." In 2009, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino praised Battle Royale as the best film he had seen in the past two decades, stating that, "If there’s any movie that’s been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I had made, it’s that one."

There has been renewed interest in the film following its 2012 Blu-ray release in the United States. Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly rates the film as "A" grade, positing that examination of the students' different motives for survival or subversion of the Program is a "sick blast". A.O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, stating "[the] expertly choreographed scenes of mayhem are at once comical and appalling, and [Fukasaku's] young cast embraces the melodramatic extremity of the story with impressive conviction", adding that Battle Royale "is in many ways a better movie [than The Hunger Games] and in any case a fascinating companion, drawn from a parallel cultural universe. It is a lot uglier and also, perversely, a lot more fun." Entertainment critic for the Miami Herald Cary Darling describes Battle Royale as "tense, tragic and timely... a modern-day horror story imbued with an electric sense of drama and dread." Alexandra Cavallo of the Boston Phoenix writes, "Battle Royale is The Hunger Games not diluted for young audiences" while giving the film three stars out of four. Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, calling it a "gloriously sick and twisted story," and claiming that it is "endlessly entertaining, by turns gory and hilarious, disturbing and exciting." In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert's Australia correspondent Michael Mirasol praised Battle Royale for its "thoughtful characterization" that is "lavished upon all the students" and concluded that it is an "intensely violent fable aimed at a young audience, but with true feeling, intelligence, and respect." Jake Mulligan of The Suffolk Voice gave it five out of five stars, stating that "the influence of “Royale” on works as disparate as “Kill Bill” and “The Hunger Games” cannot be measured" and describing Battle Royale as "Provocative, funny, violent, and aided by a script that somehow gives equal attention to most of the students while also displaying the well-thought out minutia behind the narrative."

R.L. Shaffer of IGN gave the film a score of 8 out of 10, taking "a moment to thank The Hunger Games for reminding us how awesome Battle Royale really is" and concluding that Battle Royale is "a masterpiece of mayhem, violence and unfettered teen melodrama." J. Hurtado of Twitch Film noted that many "reviews of Battle Royale focus on the violence, which is extreme to be sure, and not so much on the humanity of the film." He stated that "cranking up that already elevated hormonal level of emotional hysteria by throwing these students into a real life-or-death situation is incredibly effective" and that "the story of Battle Royale is the story of those teenage years and just how wrong we all were about the extent of our emotional turmoil." DVD Talk gave the original theatrical cut of the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and 4 out of 5 for the Director's Cut, concluding that it gives "a glimpse into what might very well happen should the rules of society, such as they are, ever do crumble to the point where it's everyone for themselves. There's enough black humor here and enough tense action that the film never quite feels bleak or depressing (though it does come close) - but most importantly it makes you think." Devon Ashby of CraveOnline gave the film a score of 8.5 out of 10, referring to it as "Japanese legend Kinji Fukasaku’s adolescent shooting spree opus" and "a compassionate and technically accomplished masterpiece."[54] Brent McKnight of PopMatters gave the film a score of 9 out of 10, describing it as "savage, sharp, satirical, and brutally funny," and "a bleak commentary on humanity and society."

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[Giganticface]

Okay, you're Wikipedia cut & paste has sold me. ;)

Seriously, though, I'm not trying to dog the movie, and if others feel that it belongs on a horror list, I'm all for it. I'm just conveying my personal experience when I saw the movie, and even though Entertainment Weekly and the New York Times thinks it's groundbreaking, I feel like that ground had already been broken.