Board 8 > All Purpose Horror Topic 2018: so Suspiria was fucking weird (again)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Fantastic film. It's just such a disturbingly real experience in the way its presented.

---

Congrats!
---

Merry Krampus and Happy Midwinter

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D05YjZmVSI

---

Top 10 Horror Movies of the Decade

1. Midsommar
2. The Babadook
3. Hereditary
4. Annihilation
5. Gerald's Game
6. The Ritual
7. Green Room
8. Don't Breathe
9. It Follows
10. The Innkeepers

HM:
Housebound
Calibre
10 Cloverfield Lane
The Woman in Black
Mama
The Thing
Us
The Sacrament

---

Oh sounds fun, let me see mine:

1. Resolution
2. The Endless
3. You're Next
4. Kill List
5. Bone Tomahawk
6. The Love Witch
7. Get Out
8. Creep 2
9. I Saw the Devil
10. Red State

HMs:
Midsommar
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
One Cut of the Dead
The Cabin in the Woods
Shin Godzilla
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Suspiria
Annihilation
Creep
The Babadook
The Nightmare
Southbound
Green Room

and like a gazillion more >_>

---

I considered Bone Tomahawk - it's great, but to me it's really only horror during that one scene

---

I wonder if that's actually the horror scene of the decade? Or maybe that scene in Hereditary?

---

They're both up there for sure - the Bone Tomahawk one is probably the most gruesome movie death I've ever seen, followed closely by Midsommar's cliff-diving scene. Those two scenes + Hereditary's ending would all probably be in my top 10 scenes of the decade. Midsommar's ending and opening would be my #1 and 2, respectively lol. I'd also include the group therapy scene. The old lady scene in It Follows still freaks me out, that'd be in there. The lighthouse scene in Annihilation, the Moonlight Man's first appearance in Gerald's Game, and when the mother is finally possessed by The Babadook makes 10.

---

Haha honestly I can't argue with any of that!

Though one scene I absolutely adore from this decade that would be in my top 10 is from Shin Godzilla, when it shows Godzilla using his atomic breath for the first time. It's one of the reasons I think Shin Godzilla is easily the best film in the series. It once again puts the full horror of nuclear warfare back on display, and portrays Godzilla not only as a force of destruction, but as a victim of nuclear fallout himself; he looks sick and disgusted as he practically vomits up the atomic breath, and then shriveled & sorrowful once the destruction is over. It's simply artful!

---

torn on whether I want to include thrillers because it'll significantly change the list. Think I'll go with separate lists for each

Horror

1. The Lighthouse
2. Annihilation
3. It Follows
4. You're Next
5. The Babadook
6. Midsommar
7. Get Out
8. The Witch
9. Let Me In
10. The Cabin in the Woods

HM:
Split
Us
10 Cloverfield Lane
Mandy
Don't Breathe
A Quiet Place
Hereditary

Thriller

1. Nightcrawler
2. You Were Never Really Here
3. Parasite
4. The Raid
5. Black Swan
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
7. Thoroughbreds
8. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
9. Prisoners
10. Gone Girl

---

It feels unfair calling Parasite a thriller, imo. It felt more like a drama for like 90% of the movie.

That said, the only two movies on your lists I just outright didn't like at all were Killing of a Sacred Deer and Midsommar.

---

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

It feels unfair calling Parasite a thriller, imo. It felt more like a drama for like 90% of the movie.

fair enough; I was really debating including it


---

Not a pun but those hills have eyes

Holy shit that's actually fitting for a horror topic

---

Final 2019 Horror Rankings (post-rethoughts, complete year):

Great films:

Child's Play
IT: Chapter 2

Good films:

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Doctor Sleep
The Hole in the Ground
Us
Ready or Not

Decent films:
Ma
Escape Room
Brightburn
Crawl

Disappointing films:

Pet Sematary
Annabelle Comes Home
The Prodigy
Happy Death Day 2U

Meh films:

Countdown

Bad films:

Midsommar
The Curse of La Llorona
Black Christmas

Child's play remains my #1 overall for the year, which is probably something abnormal. I just really liked the reimagining of the franchise and felt that out of all the "remakes" of horror films lately, this one is unmatched in its originality and execution. Most remakes/sequels of this age are dull and derivative, afraid of venturing far from their roots. Child's Play abandons the lore of Chucky completely to begin something new, and in my opinion, wins my vote for horror film of the year. If I were giving a best actor award for the year, I'd of course have to go with Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise because of course. I didn't see the flaws in Chapter 2 a lot of critics did; it delivers a pretty satisfying conclusion to the saga as one could hope to have given the source material's ending.

In terms of the other films I liked a good bit, I had to move Us down a good deal as I really feel it was a let down from Get Out, though it isn't bad or even subpar. The acting is stellar and the concept shines, but all in all, there's too much ambition in this plot and it suffers near the big reveal. Gaping plotholes rise and there's no way to ignore them for me, and as such, it really damages it being as good as Peele's first outing. I hope he recovers with something more tight knit. Doctor Sleep is an unfortunate film; it bombed hard in the box office and that was apparently a surprise. I'm not sure people were up for seeing this, but I thought it was a well told story. I was invested in the characters and moved by the ending. Hole in the Ground is another little gem that's worth checking out, in terms of movies that didn't make it to the screen.

There were plenty of standard run of the mill horror films this year. Some took what they had in concept and ran with it to make something that was at least somewhat enjoyable, like Escape Room while others such as Countdown fell in line with tropes so much and then you had the few films like La Llorona which just crapped on any decent concept they had with lame jump scares and nonsensical storytelling. I decided to move Midsommar off my bottom position out of respect for the craftsmanship of it, but I still stand by my opinion it is a bad movie. It remains the most disappointing movie going experience I've ever had in my life (next to Mortal Kombat Annihilation) and stands alone as the only time I was actually embarrassed to be watching a movie in theaters. Midsommar definitely made me uncomfortable, but for all the wrong reasons. I was literally ashamed to be in the theater and wanted nothing more than to leave during the synchronized moaning but I was afraid of who might see me leaving the theater when I exited it.

Thankfully for Midsommar though they made Black Christmas, which is easily the worst horror film of the year. If you'd like to be beat unmercifully by propaganda then do watch this film. The most terrifying thing about this film is imagining the person this movie was supposed to be for. Almost every character is horrible, at all times. It isn't clever, it doesn't make a statement any normal person wants to hear and the worst character in the film gets no comeuppance or learns a lesson of any sort; in fact, she's validated. It's complete garbage.
---

As for 2020, we're off to a shit start with yet another bad Grudge film. I am convinced it is impossible to make a good movie with this property; both the Japanese and American versions of the original aren't exactly masterpieces, in fact I think they kinda suck a bit. This one is a good bit worse though.

Nothing screams unoriginality like using Kayako's iconic noise for EVERY new ghost in this film. She at least had a reason to be making the sound; these people do not. The jumpscares outside of maybe one or two are all bad and look like something you'd expect to find on a straight to DVD horror film editing wise.

I'm not sure how the Grudge franchise became iconic with no film in the series managing to break 50% on RT. Granted I'm sure other horror franchises have the same issues (maybe...?) but yeah, it's another Grudge movie and it still isn't good.
---

v_charon posted...

Child's play remains my #1 overall for the year, which is probably something abnormal.

I really enjoyed this one a lot too! I wrote it off really badly when it was first announced, even though I despised Cult of Chucky I definitely thought it wasn't fair to reboot a series that is still pumping out successful, decently-received movies. But Child's Play really proved me wrong and I too think it's one of the best horror reboots ever. Mark Hamill was really great as the voice of Chucky and it was so refreshing to actually see a story that's updated to reflect the modern day and not just a rehash of what we already know happens.

v_charon posted...

In terms of the other films I liked a good bit, I had to move Us down a good deal as I really feel it was a let down from Get Out

I have to agree with this too. Get Out just had a way tighter & simpler focus while still being packed with a whole load of subtleties. Us is for sure interesting and I would say a great film, but you nailed it with the plot holes and definitely the reveal part.

v_charon posted...

Doctor Sleep

This is one of my favorite sleepers of the year! (no pun intended) I thought Ewan McGregor delivered a fantastic performance especially. Mike Flanagan's direction and also the cinematography is beautiful too, some of my favorite shots of the year are from Doctor Sleep. It also does side characters and villains well, Rose the Hat gets a ton of screen-time and it was interesting to give the main villain almost like a troupe, it actually reminded me of the Series of Unfortunate Events books a lot. It doesn't even use the Shining as much of crutch, except for maybe a couple of parts towards the end (showing the axe door flashback was a little too self-indulgent for my tastes).

v_charon posted...

Black Christmas

It still baffles me why they keep trying to remake this. The original film was always a cult film, I mean in its nature alone as being antithetical to the Christmas season. I haven't seen the latest yet but from the trailer it looks like a film absolutely designed by committee.

v_charon posted...

As for 2020, we're off to a shit start with yet another bad Grudge film. I am convinced it is impossible to make a good movie with this property; both the Japanese and American versions of the original aren't exactly masterpieces, in fact I think they kinda suck a bit. This one is a good bit worse though.

If you haven't seen it/have the time I would check out Ju-On: The Curse 2, which recaps the first Ju-On film whilst expanding on those events. I think it's the closest film in the series to actually come close to being great. Unless you count Sadako vs. Kayako which is just a blast!

Well, anyway, my final ranking of the year:
Fantastic:
Midsommar
One Cut of the Dead (technically 2017, but US wide release was this year)

Great:
Doctor Sleep
It: Chapter Two
Glass
Child's Play
Us
3 From Hell
Ready or Not

Decent-Great:
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Nightmare Cinema
In the Tall Grass

Decent:
Annabelle Comes Home (surprisingly so)
The Lighthouse
Crawl

Mediocre:
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Ma
Haunt
Brightburn
47 Meters Down: Uncaged
Happy Death Day 2U (though it's a great comedy!)
Girl on the Third Floor
Pet Sematary
Hellboy
Escape Room

Bad:
I Trapped the Devil
The Silence
The Curse of La Llorona
The Prodigy

One of the Worst:
Assimilate

---

Was Greta this year? I saw that on a flight once except for the last like 5-10 minutes.

I feel like the last 5-10 minutes wasn't worth watching though.

---

my end of year wrapup

Plan to See Soon
One Cut of the Dead
The Banana Splits Movie
Knives and Skin

My favorite movie of the year and legitimately might be my favorite horror movie of the decade
The Lighthouse

Fantastic:
Midsommar
Us
Doctor Sleep
Ready or Not

Pretty Great:
Freaks
IT Chapter Two
The Perfection
The Wind
Velvet Buzzsaw

Decent:
Glass
In The Tall Grass
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
3 From Hell

Mediocre:
In Fabric
Brightburn
Happy Death Day 2U
Escape Room
Crawl

Bad:
Pet Sematary
Countdown

Dear god what the fuck did they do to my beloved franchise
Hellboy

---

Oh my God Velvet Buzzsaw.

I totally forgot about that movie and not in a good way.

---

Me too, I was really excited for it and I was gonna watch it one night but didn't and then promptly forgot about it.

---

a few worth talking about

The Lighthouse is so goddamn incredible in every way. Two actors, one long-established and one only recently starting to make a name for himself as a serious actor, both at the absolute top of their game. Incredible sound design and lighting design and production design and camera work. Top notch writing that is at the same time intriguing and thrilling and sureal. Bizarre and provocative imagery, the constant question of what's real and not without ever letting up for a moment. I've been thinking about this movie constantly for months now. This is pretty close to exactly what I want from a horror movie, and honestly just from a movie in general.

Doctor Sleep was one I had both high hopes and high worries for, but like Snake pointed out, I think it mostly succeeded. It's no The Shining, but that was perhaps too high of a bar for it to ever really live up to. Ewan McGregor and Kyliegh Curran were both great, and I loved the way it portrayed psychic power. The highlight for me is when both Rose the Hat and the viewers get an immediate demonstration of Abra's power. A flawed movie, but very good regardless.

Ready or Not was probably the biggest surprise for me. I feel like this admittedly gimmicky concept easily could've been another Truth or Dare, but it was just a TON of fun thanks to a great sense of humor and Samara Weaving's excellent performance.

Freaks almost fell completely under the radar for me. Can't remember where I found out about it actually, but it's definitely worth checking out if you can find it. It filled the hole that the lack of New Mutants has had for me, and nicely captures both a bizarre feeling of paranoia and a dark take on the supernatural.

The Perfection was cheesy and kind of dumb and had a lot of issues but I also had a really fun time with it.

Glass and Velvet Buzzsaw were both movies I had really high hopes for but, while they weren't bad, they both kinda missed the mark. Glass is fun as a sort of dark superhero flick but doesn't hold the same weight as either Unbreakable or Split. Velvet Buzzsaw had the benefit of an incredible performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, as well as a loaded cast and some interesting ideas, but didn't quite follow through on the execution.

Fuck Hellboy. Fuck it so hard. Jesus Christ why the fuck would they do that. Nobody that isn't Guillermo del Toro or Ron Perlman is allowed to touch this franchise ever again. Fuck you Neil Marshall, how do you go from The Descent, to Doomsday, to two of Game of Thrones' best episodes, to this unforgiveable piece of shit movie.

---

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Oh my God Velvet Buzzsaw.

I totally forgot about that movie and not in a good way.

Snake5555555555 posted...

Me too, I was really excited for it and I was gonna watch it one night but didn't and then promptly forgot about it.

I really recommend watching it, as it's totally worth your time for Jake Gyllenhaal alone, just don't get your hopes up to high. It's a fun time, but it's definitely no Nightcrawler

---

Johnbobb posted...

It's a fun time, but it's definitely no Nightcrawler

That's pretty much how I feel. Cool premise (possibly inspired by Henry Darger - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger), OK execution.

I finally saw The Lighthouse (confirmed to be inspired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannan_Isles_Lighthouse), and yeah, I'm definitely a Robert Eggers fan now. Better than The VVitch for me. Both actors were fantastic, especially Dafoe - all of his monologues were spellbinding. I still don't think anything touches Midsommar's cinematography from last year, but The Lighthouse has to be 2nd.

So my current Top 10 of 2019 would be:

1. Midsommar (10/10)
2. The Lighthouse (9/10)
3. Ready or Not (8/10)
4. Us (7.5)
5. Velvet Buzzsaw (7)
6. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (6.5)
7. Ma (6)
8. The Perfection (5.5)
9. It: Chapter 2 (5) (Overly long for me, almost treated Chapter 1 like it never happened)
10. Happy Death Day 2U (5)

---

Randomly watched the Friday the 13th reboot on Netflix. Not really a bad movie, although I just kind of laughed at Jason being a *really* overprotective pot farmer. Get near his stash and die, bitch

---

We'll probably be checking out The Lighthouse, Haunt, The Wind and Sweetheart soon to wrap up 2019 in general. Velvet Buzzsaw isn't really my kind of film genre so I'm unlikely to try and see that one.

Probably will be seeing Underwater in theaters Monday night. It'll pretty easily be the horror movie of the year, so far of course.
---

Watched Countdown, barely places in the mediocre category.

---

Already watched Lighthouse a 2nd time lol. I really hope it and Midsommar just get a shitload of Oscar noms, but unlikely.

---

jcgamer107 posted...

Already watched Lighthouse a 2nd time lol. I really hope it and Midsommar just get a shitload of Oscar noms, but unlikely.

Super unlikely, which is a travesty

---

Just watched The Banana Splits Movie. Squeezes somewhere between decent and mediocre. It's definitely entertaining enough in it's weird, excessive violence, but also kinda feels a bit over-inspired by FNAF and feels kinda run of the mill at times

---

Just watched One Cut of the Dead

Not what I thought it was going to be at all, and I loved it

I think I'd rank it just under Ready or Not

---

I don't mean this as any sort of a dig as anyone who likes Midsommar, but I absolutely don't understand why you do, and I think it's too much of a mess of a movie without a clear direction to be nominated for anything, with moments that make it difficult to be taken seriously.

---

I mean I can see why you might not like it but it's also hard to imagine being this surprised people like it, given the things it does pretty objectively well; impressive acting, incredible cinematography, great production design. If nothing else the design alone is reason enough to like it

---

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

I don't mean this as any sort of a dig as anyone who likes Midsommar, but I absolutely don't understand why you do, and I think it's too much of a mess of a movie without a clear direction to be nominated for anything, with moments that make it difficult to be taken seriously.

I think it could look like an artsy, silly mess from the outset, but when you look closer, Ari Aster is very clear and deliberate about what he's trying to do, on several levels. He's come out and said that he's basically dressed up a break-up story as a pagan cult movie. We already know what's going to happen to most of the Americans because of the previously established genre/tropes, but it's Dani's story, about her finding a dark sort of salvation. I like the fairy tale/fantasy elements of it - it's almost The Wizard of Oz in reverse. Dani "comes home", then loses her 3 companions, whose Oz counterparts are hinted at in the fire temple - Josh is shown with metal in his mouth, Mark's face is on a straw body, and Christian is the cowardly lion, or bear in this case. There's even a picture of the original scarecrow in the background at the party they go to earlier in the film.

Sidenote - I really like this Wizard of Oz-style poster someone made:
https://i.imgur.com/JfPANX2.png

It's not for everyone, but if you've ever felt like your emotions were being invalidated by someone close to you, then boy it really strikes a chord. In addition to the elements Johnbobb pointed out, I also love the soundtrack - it takes the emotional peaks even higher, and the valleys lower. Both the opening and the ending are spectacular in the most literal sense. There's also arguably the most horrifying theme of predestination. Upon first viewing, we see the main characters being killed off one by one, but we don't really see the big picture - that this was all falling into place for Dani to be seduced into joining the cult - until it's too late, both for Dani and the audience. Then, during any subsequent viewings, you'll see that there is foreshadowing all over the place of exactly what's going to happen. It's scary to think about being locked into a fate like that.

Anyway, I'm ready to find out it got 0 Oscar noms in a few hours lol.

---

Florence Pugh was nominated! .......for Little Women looooolllll

At least The Lighthouse got a best cinematography nom. Willem Dafoe should've gotten one too though.

---

man it hurts how much the Academy dislikes horror

if it's not literally a cultural phenomenon like Get Out was, it has no chance

---

Underwater was... I'd say it was competent and good.

The monsters, while well-designed and creepy, could have stood with some more Cthulhu style abilities, or at least what I presume they were implying was Cthulhu could have done some sort of mindpowered style damage. Though with the length of the film, it wasn't really possible.

Stewart shined here I think channeling her inner Weaver. It definitely draws some inspiration from Alien but definitely doesn't feel like Alien at all at the same time.
---

Johnbobb posted...

given the things it does pretty objectively well; impressive acting,

I'd say this was debatable... I mean given the fact I think the script after the first half becomes downright abominable, I would be hard pressed to give anyone an acting award for that film. I know it's necessary to separate script from acting however, if the actors are just acting out a script I find to be poor then I'm not sure how exactly I can say "wow, that's great acting". I'm not going to like what it is they're acting out no matter how well they do it.
---

I have been on record saying that if you watch Midsommer's first 15 minutes and last 10 minutes, you have a masterpiece of film. Because that all tells a fine story of having your feelings invalidated.

But I'm with charon here when I say this script, for the most part, isn't good. It felt like a meandering mess where you could trim out at least another half an hour of this movie and miss nothing. And I say this with my first viewing knowing exactly what's going on as I'm watching it. It was obvious the cult was seducing her. I have a difficult time believing anyone didn't come out with that feeling then. And you don't need foreshadowing when you're watching the movie and you just know what's going to happen throughout it. I felt like it was a very predictable movie, which isn't bad usually, but it is when every step of it is boring.

I liked the soundtrack too, and I like the overarching story, but I think the execution was severely mishandled, which is why I find the idea of people actually loving the movie as much as you guys do shocking. Like, I'm not trying to knock you both, but I just can't wrap my head around it because I thought it was a massive letdown and just... bumbled. And I say this being very excited for it and thinking Hereditary is one of the best horror films of all time. I had no idea where anything in Hereditary was going, even with all the foreshadowing. I literally predicted most of what was happening in Midsommar scenes before it happened.

---

Watch Annihilation last night... that counts for this topic, right? Didn't know what to expect at all, so to say it wasn't what I expected seems a bit silly... but it's true!

Actually very impressed with how well the movie holds up to critical reading, lots of potential metaphors and symbols abound amidst some compelling intrigue and fantastic visuals.

---

Yeah Annihilation is definitely thriller enough for this topic

and it's a fucking fantastic movie

---

also just in case anyone was planning on sleeping tonight, here's this as a reminder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg0bvyIEHcs

---

I don't know how, in a world where everyone is begging for a movie starring female protagonists, Annihilation didn't get any publicity or fanfare. Because that is one quality ass movie that absolutely should have been given more acclaim.

---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalls_Lighthouse

so I guess this story was more of an inspiration for The Lighthouse than the other link I posted. it's also way more fucked up.

---

Knives and Skin watched

...it's not worth your time. Bad acting, HORRIBLE HORRIBLE writing.

---

https://twitter.com/JohnnyUtahNG/status/1218851070954426368?s=19

---

https://twitter.com/ginnyfieldf13/status/1218890456140058624?s=21

Twitter trying to ruin the best horror related thing it has in going after these people

---

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightingale_(2018_film)

What the -

How did Jennifer Kent's (The Babadook) new movie get swept under the rug like that??? Upsetting. It seems like it's more drama/thriller than horror, but still. I need to see it ASAP.

---

Oh yeah I just saw Ryan Hollinger review it. Even I had no clue it existed.

---