I love these movies because when I was younger I used to find them SO scary, but now there’s a wackiness to it (Alice Cooper cameo, a “whooaaa tbings fly at your face 3-scene”, etc) and more fun than expected.
Okay, so this evening I watched the original Nightmare and the 2010 remake (in that order).
I didn't like the first one very much. The ideas (keeping in mind that we've had nearly 40 years of other movies reworking them) were good, but I saw a lot of bad writing, bad acting (the best actor in the movie is Sandy Lipton, who plays Glenn's mother and gets very little screen time), bad cinematography, heard a lot of annoying music... sure, they didn't have much of a budget, but even so, it's just not very well done. And I found the character Rod so dislikable that I didn't really care when he got arrested for Tina's murder.
The remake, not surprisingly, had a much bigger budget and is much better made in just about every way possible. The thing that bothered me about it, though, is the exploitation of child sexual abuse to make a slasher movie. The original movie called Freddy a "child murderer" and left it up to you to decide whether that implied anything else. The remake leaves no doubt in your mind about that, but at the same time, the treatment is very superficial (but then how deep can you really go into this in a commercial entertainment? but then why go into it at all?). I was also really disturbed by the way the movie makes you think for a moment that it's making a comment on the '80s preschool panic only to turn around and declare the Freddy was guilty after all. It's as if "Law and Order: SVU" were to do an episode obviously based on the McMartin preschool case, but in the end reveal that their case's teachers really were running a Satanic ritual child abuse cult in a secret underground room.
One thing I did like about the remake is that the characters aren't as idiotic as in the original movie. If you see a body bad containing your dead friend being dragged down a corridor at school, DON'T CHASE AFTER IT. When characters have so little intelligence or concern for their own survival that they would do something like that, it's hard to really care about them. The late writer and critic James Blish coined the term "idiot plot" for a story that works only because the characters are all idiots. The original Nightmare is pretty much an idiot plot. The remake is much better in that regard.
I know the Dokken song Dream Warriors by heart but I never got around to watching the movie it was made for. I had no idea the movie was actually any good.
I remember this post - it's a lot of fun. :) Thanks for reposting it!
My wife and I want to do a scary movie marathon pre-Halloween (we have three small kids, so "marathon" probably means, at most, two movies). Does anyone have any recommendations, outside of fundamentals? We've seen The Exorcist and The Shining; we don't need to see them again. Most of the other super-popular ones too, I'm sure. Any hidden gems?
My favorite horror movie is prince of darkness, directed by john carpenter. It's probably not objectively better than his hits like halloween or the thing but it has a unique energy to it that makes it both fun and over the top and also incredibly scary on a deeper, more subconscious level.
If you liked The Excorcist you shoud try The Omen and Rosemary's Baby if you haven't already? I can't pick between the three as my favourite horror films.
I feel the same way - this parasocial relationship is OVER! I will drop Freddie's fictional belongings in a box which doesn't exist on the made-up road based in the environs I created out of whole cloth in my head.
> I say that because this movie is utterly without postmodernism, meta-theatrics, or knowingness. It was legitimately very refreshing to find myself watching a slasher movie where the characters did not know that they were in a movie.
I watched the new Halloween movie the other night. It wasn't very good but I had the same reaction - it's actually novel and interesting at this point to see a slasher movie without the incredibly tired jokey Whedonspeak. The dialogue is bad but the characters say what they mean and deliver it straightforwardly. There's even a rousing speech that riles up a mob played totally straight. I'm so tired of incessant viewer self-insert dialogue (even in stuff like Star Wars that's supposed to be operatic and heightened) that I give them credit for just making a straightforward bad movie.
A pivot from horror, but with a similar observation: did anyone see Linklater's Everybody Wants Some, from several years ago? I have mentioned it to lots of people and it seems that it came and went without making much of an impact.
It's an enjoyable college/baseball/partying comedy, but what I thought was notable was that it never ventured into Ferrell/Stiller territory (Anchorman and/or Dodgeball in particular), wherein every character is practically acknowledging openly that they are in a movie.
I think I was bracing for a meta/ironic turn for most of the movie, but couldn't really put that into words until afterwards. It was totally refreshing, and made me realize that although I love Will Ferrell, I am mostly pretty sick of his approach.
I shan't defend the Friday the 13th movies at all, you're probably right about their uninspired nature. But you simply must make time to watch Jason X.
It's Jason Goes to Space! In the Future! Eventually as a Cyborg! And it's the most hilariously bonkers thing ever. In the way of good bad movies, it leans into the comedy of its premise while taking itself just seriously enough to be watchable.
Also if you liked Andromeda, it has Lexa Doig and Lisa Ryder, except this time, Lisa is the robot. It's worth the price of admission for the gynoid vs. Jason fight scene alone.
You know a movie like "Dream Warriors" was peak hair metal 80's. I mean, Dokken - DOKKEN! - turned the soundtrack into a hair metal hit! If I close my eyes, I can still hear it today ...
I always liked the Nightmare on Elm Street series because the kills were so imaginative - the "roach motel" death from 4 is probably my favourite. The other 80s slashers generally just had a mute guy in a mask stabbing people. The original is also my highest-rated. Just a brilliantly made horror film in all respects. Wes Craven was so good at this kind of thing.
Very interesting! I really liked the Freddy v Jason movie because it leaned in on all the tacky tropes.
I wish you would do more pop culture stuff, especially stuff that surfaces gold that was previously overlook. I am wounded by your Liz Phair hit piece. But if you could recommend other stuff I may not have heard of, we can make it even.
I've never watched any of these movies for pretty much the same reason you hadn't. But you've intrigued me. Maybe I'll try the first one...
I love these movies because when I was younger I used to find them SO scary, but now there’s a wackiness to it (Alice Cooper cameo, a “whooaaa tbings fly at your face 3-scene”, etc) and more fun than expected.
Okay, so this evening I watched the original Nightmare and the 2010 remake (in that order).
I didn't like the first one very much. The ideas (keeping in mind that we've had nearly 40 years of other movies reworking them) were good, but I saw a lot of bad writing, bad acting (the best actor in the movie is Sandy Lipton, who plays Glenn's mother and gets very little screen time), bad cinematography, heard a lot of annoying music... sure, they didn't have much of a budget, but even so, it's just not very well done. And I found the character Rod so dislikable that I didn't really care when he got arrested for Tina's murder.
The remake, not surprisingly, had a much bigger budget and is much better made in just about every way possible. The thing that bothered me about it, though, is the exploitation of child sexual abuse to make a slasher movie. The original movie called Freddy a "child murderer" and left it up to you to decide whether that implied anything else. The remake leaves no doubt in your mind about that, but at the same time, the treatment is very superficial (but then how deep can you really go into this in a commercial entertainment? but then why go into it at all?). I was also really disturbed by the way the movie makes you think for a moment that it's making a comment on the '80s preschool panic only to turn around and declare the Freddy was guilty after all. It's as if "Law and Order: SVU" were to do an episode obviously based on the McMartin preschool case, but in the end reveal that their case's teachers really were running a Satanic ritual child abuse cult in a secret underground room.
One thing I did like about the remake is that the characters aren't as idiotic as in the original movie. If you see a body bad containing your dead friend being dragged down a corridor at school, DON'T CHASE AFTER IT. When characters have so little intelligence or concern for their own survival that they would do something like that, it's hard to really care about them. The late writer and critic James Blish coined the term "idiot plot" for a story that works only because the characters are all idiots. The original Nightmare is pretty much an idiot plot. The remake is much better in that regard.
Exactly what I needed today. :-)
I know the Dokken song Dream Warriors by heart but I never got around to watching the movie it was made for. I had no idea the movie was actually any good.
I remember this post - it's a lot of fun. :) Thanks for reposting it!
My wife and I want to do a scary movie marathon pre-Halloween (we have three small kids, so "marathon" probably means, at most, two movies). Does anyone have any recommendations, outside of fundamentals? We've seen The Exorcist and The Shining; we don't need to see them again. Most of the other super-popular ones too, I'm sure. Any hidden gems?
My favorite horror movie is prince of darkness, directed by john carpenter. It's probably not objectively better than his hits like halloween or the thing but it has a unique energy to it that makes it both fun and over the top and also incredibly scary on a deeper, more subconscious level.
Thanks! I'll suggest it to the missus
If you liked The Excorcist you shoud try The Omen and Rosemary's Baby if you haven't already? I can't pick between the three as my favourite horror films.
Freddie's tastes in art are just so different than mine ...
I feel the same way - this parasocial relationship is OVER! I will drop Freddie's fictional belongings in a box which doesn't exist on the made-up road based in the environs I created out of whole cloth in my head.
He doesn't know what he is missing!
> I say that because this movie is utterly without postmodernism, meta-theatrics, or knowingness. It was legitimately very refreshing to find myself watching a slasher movie where the characters did not know that they were in a movie.
I watched the new Halloween movie the other night. It wasn't very good but I had the same reaction - it's actually novel and interesting at this point to see a slasher movie without the incredibly tired jokey Whedonspeak. The dialogue is bad but the characters say what they mean and deliver it straightforwardly. There's even a rousing speech that riles up a mob played totally straight. I'm so tired of incessant viewer self-insert dialogue (even in stuff like Star Wars that's supposed to be operatic and heightened) that I give them credit for just making a straightforward bad movie.
A pivot from horror, but with a similar observation: did anyone see Linklater's Everybody Wants Some, from several years ago? I have mentioned it to lots of people and it seems that it came and went without making much of an impact.
It's an enjoyable college/baseball/partying comedy, but what I thought was notable was that it never ventured into Ferrell/Stiller territory (Anchorman and/or Dodgeball in particular), wherein every character is practically acknowledging openly that they are in a movie.
I think I was bracing for a meta/ironic turn for most of the movie, but couldn't really put that into words until afterwards. It was totally refreshing, and made me realize that although I love Will Ferrell, I am mostly pretty sick of his approach.
Loved it
I shan't defend the Friday the 13th movies at all, you're probably right about their uninspired nature. But you simply must make time to watch Jason X.
It's Jason Goes to Space! In the Future! Eventually as a Cyborg! And it's the most hilariously bonkers thing ever. In the way of good bad movies, it leans into the comedy of its premise while taking itself just seriously enough to be watchable.
Also if you liked Andromeda, it has Lexa Doig and Lisa Ryder, except this time, Lisa is the robot. It's worth the price of admission for the gynoid vs. Jason fight scene alone.
Anyway, make time for it if you haven't.
The last third of Jason X is a manic blast.
You know a movie like "Dream Warriors" was peak hair metal 80's. I mean, Dokken - DOKKEN! - turned the soundtrack into a hair metal hit! If I close my eyes, I can still hear it today ...
I always liked the Nightmare on Elm Street series because the kills were so imaginative - the "roach motel" death from 4 is probably my favourite. The other 80s slashers generally just had a mute guy in a mask stabbing people. The original is also my highest-rated. Just a brilliantly made horror film in all respects. Wes Craven was so good at this kind of thing.
Very interesting! I really liked the Freddy v Jason movie because it leaned in on all the tacky tropes.
I wish you would do more pop culture stuff, especially stuff that surfaces gold that was previously overlook. I am wounded by your Liz Phair hit piece. But if you could recommend other stuff I may not have heard of, we can make it even.
I would figure you a Hellraiser type, Freddie. Enjoy your rest....