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| Topic | Board 8 Ranks 2010s Horror Movies - The Final Chapter - *THE RANKINGS* |
| Snake5555555555 05/25/22 8:23:24 PM #44: | Johnbobb - There's an underrated aspect of horror movies that were huge in the 70s and 80s but that we haven't seen much of in the last few decades, and that's the ability to craft an incredible, unforgettable monster. We've got a lot of good horror going on this decade, but most of the best ones are more human stories about societal horror and faceless eeriness. Regardless of what you may or may not think of the movie itself, no single being defined 2010s horror like Mr. Babadook-dook-dook. Snake - I feel like harrowing is an oft-overused word when describing horror media. Yet, I cannot think of a more perfect and fitting film for that word than The Babadook. Every frame of this picture is like going through a different stage of an anxiety attack. Its relentless and it wears you down. Ive almost never seen mental anguish and grief portrayed so well as I have in the performance of Essie Davis - in just one soul-crushing performance she gives us exhaustion, terror, hatred through anger & guilt - its just too much for one person to bear, and for Jennifer Kent to force us to partake in those feelings, to try and get us to bear those burdens too, to have empathy and see how it feels - well its an ability few people can showcase as effectively as she does. One of the many reasons I adore horror is often because of the viewers inability to be passive - fear is one of our strongest emotions, and to watch a horror movie, and I mean really watch one, is to open yourself up to vulnerabilities and shatter the comfort barrier traditional entertainment provides. With The Babadook, Kent does this very thing, using the age-old tradition of the monster to examine deep-rooted, relatable issues and also shows it through two perspectives - the perspective of an adult, and of a child. It is, after all, easier to blame our troubles on a physical being than the abstract. The brain struggles with the abstract, shuns away from it and turns it into hostility from the confusion. Troubled Sam fights his confusion with contraptions to attack shadowy figures supposedly under his bed; Amelia lashes out at Sam for every little grievance he commits, in a refusal to confront her grief over her husbands passing. On the flip-side, The Babadook was the symbol both Sam and Amelia needed to fight together to move on with their lives - like grief and depression, The Babadook is only as powerful as you let it become. It can overtake you, or you can fight it and make it small enough so that you can live your life mostly free from its power - and Im glad The Babadook and Jennifer Kent understood that perfectly. I firmly believe in horrors power to make us stronger and more fearless as people - and films like The Babadook only continue to strengthen that belief in my eyes. Rockus - Yet another strong directorial debut. While it isnt surprising to see a lot of filmmakers get their first feature with a horror film it is interesting to see how strong their individual voices come through in each of these debuts (this along with The Witch, Get Out, and Hereditary). These arent just the low budget high concept first features that I typically expect for directors to break into the genre with, these are unique films with something interesting to say. And what sets Jennifer Kents Babadook apart from the amount of recent films that seem to want to be about grief is the way it portrays how grueling motherhood and single parenthood is in the face of that grief. And what Im guessing is some German Expressionism inspired design to the horror elements makes the film especially memorable. Plasmabeam - Im not as high on The Babadook as most people are. Its smart, original, and one of the better movies on this list, but I didnt connect with it enough to put it in my Top 10. I mightve appreciated this movie more if I were a parent, but then again I had no trouble connecting with Hereditary. Tom Nook -A nice spooky and well-paced film. It walks a good line between character psychology and real creeps. That pop-up book is one of the coolest props in all of horror, and I'm sure someone has made it on Etsy or something. Red13n - Horrifically bad parent becomes a monster, or befriends a monster, or just feeds it in the basement for whatever reason. Don't try to make sense of that part. But the mom is a terrible parent that to no surprise has raised a somewhat terrible child and then they find a random book of a murder monster that isn't going to make much of an appearance but like all monster books the book is indestructable. Oh and by the end of this we're supposed to just forget how bad of a parent she was or that the monster made her murder a dog because they are basement friends now hurray. Inviso - I get what they were trying to go for with this film, equating grief with a horror movie monster that ruins lives, and I understand why critics love this movie. But I just couldnt enjoy it. For starters, I fucking HATED Samuel. For the first half of the movie, hes presented as this shrill, whiny little bastard that makes his mothers life miserable because hes unable to be normal for once in his goddamn life. Watching Amelia struggle to deal with him makes perfect sense as to why she loses her mind. But what makes matters worse is that, when Amelia gets possessed by the Babadook, suddenly Samuel becomes the hero of the film, and I HATED having to root for him to snap Amelia from her possession. Meanwhile, aside from Mrs. Roach, I hated every other character in the movie. Theyre just unpleasant across the board, which makes the film hard to enjoy, since its meant to be one of those message horror films, rather than a kill everyone who sucks horror film. Its still relatively well-made, but its just very much not something I enjoy. FFDragon - This was billed to me as the scariest movie ever made and I ended it feeling let down somewhat. --- I've decided to put my fears behind me. I'm not going back. https://www.instagram.com/horror_obscurities/ ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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