Random thoughts

[brigdh]

I adore horror movies. However, I loathe the gory aren't-snuff-films-illegal? Saw/Hostel/The Hitcher (also? 'The Hitcher' is the most idiotic title of a movie I've ever heard. Who the fuck says 'hitcher'? The word is 'hitchhiker', seriously, it's not that long) genre that seems to be the only type of horror movie coming out lately. I've been watching previews of the upcoming Primeval with interest, in the hope that maybe here would finally be a movie I could stand. I didn't have a lot of hope, but hey, there's always a chance.

The commercials keep claiming that it's "based on the true story of the deadliest serial killer ever". I'd been idly wondering who they were talking about, but wasn't terribly concerned about it. And then last night I saw a commercial where they named him: Gustave. Was that the crazy French medieval werewolf guy?, I wondered, not being able to think of any other serial killers named Gustave. So I googled it.

It is a crocodile. People, what the hell. That is not an appropriate villain for a horror movie. I think I almost prefer the snuff films to yet another movie in the grand tradition of Lake Placid and Anaconda. I share this news with you in case anyone else was under the mistaken impression that Primeval might be worth seeing.

By the way, the crazy French medieval werewolf guy was probably one of these, though none of those stories seem to quite match the one I was thinking of. They'd still make a better movie than freaking crocodiles, though.

Comments

Re: in case you don't want to read this whole comment, a basic summary: I AGREE!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

For me, it's just the fact that this trend is TOTALLY NOT SCARY, at least in the sense of having suspense and building up and being creepy and all. I don't get my jollies from slow-motion close-ups of men burning to death! It's hard to watch, yeah, but that does not equal scary.

I get you on the fiction thing too, though. I can do realistic fiction and I can do fantasy fiction, but people who are all "GOOD stories are based on actual events!" drive me crazy.

And Stephen King is looooove, though I haven't read anything more recent than, uh, I think the last book of short stories, the one with a goldfish bowl on the cover.

Re: in case you don't want to read this whole comment, a basic summary: I AGREE!

[drmoonpants.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm with you on that too! Making me sick is not effective horror, it's just... making me sick. That was also why the end of the Silent Hill movie made me so mad, too. If three days later thinking of it is not still making me jumpy but is making the pit of my stomach feel bad, yeah, no, you fail.

And, uh, GOOD, DON'T!! ...I mean. ...no, that is what I mean. I've bitched this bitch a lot lately, (http://mrmoonpants.livejournal.com/261069.html) but the basic gist is that it feels like since the accident he's forgotten how to write a novel that goes anywhere, which is sort of horrible and tragic and annoying all at once. Cell was going along much better and then freaking welshed on me, and now I'm nearing the end of Lisey's Story and just terrified that it's going to do the same thing. ...The latter, though, may end up being really good; it feels a lot less unpleasantly smirky and self-conscious (or labouredly ham-handed with desperate 'I MUST BE RELEVANT!!' pop culture bullshit) than he's been lately. I'll keep you informed! ...as clearly I am kind of obsessive.

Re: in case you don't want to read this whole comment, a basic summary: I AGREE!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

God, yes! That was so annoying. And they'd been doing such a good job up to the ending; it wasn't Best Movie Ever, but it was hella good for a video game adaption. (Did you hear they're making a sequel? I'm not sure if I'm excited or horrified. And then I heard Neil Gaiman was supposed to help with the script, but that was only a wacky internet rumor, dammit.)

Man, what is up with all the good authors going crazy? I hereby decree that the more famous you get, the more editors you are REQUIRED to have. I expect to see my demands carried out immediately, world.

Re: in case you don't want to read this whole comment, a basic summary: I AGREE!

[drmoonpants.livejournal.com]

It was fantastic fan service! As I said. But yeah, the final Obligatory Orgy Of Violence left me very upset and/or unmoved. And yes, I have heard about the sequel project! God, I hope it's a movie of SH2 directly; as terribly badly as that could go, it could also be sort of mind-blowingly awesome. As that's by miles my favorite game in the series.

And god, yes. SOMEONE NEEDS TO TEACH THAT MAN ABOUT THEE AND THOU. LIKE YESTERDAY.

Re: in case you don't want to read this whole comment, a basic summary: I AGREE!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Well, they changed so much of the original plot that it would be kind of hard to do SH3, I'd think, so I am also hoping for SH2! Which really would be awesome.

Re: in case you don't want to read this whole comment, a basic summary: I AGREE!

[lucifrix.livejournal.com]

See, I stopped reading King years ago because his books bored the crap out of me. I never got why people said he was such a great scary author, and that was back when he was writing stuff that wasn't considered wanky. I have always assumed part of the "problem" is that I am so "reality-based" that supernatural villains of any sort have no impact on me--zombie dogs, possessed cars, ghosts of dead relatives, that all bores the fuck out of me. What scares me are things that clearly could actually happen, especially those I could imagine happening to me (like "Funny Games"). Have you ever read Bentley Little? He's done a zillion books by now, but one of his earliest was _The Store_, about a WalMartish megastore that pretty much overtakes a town. There were some suggestions of supernatural elements, but mainly it was just that the people in charge were evil and creepy (worse than actual WalMart :)), and because they had such economic power people couldn't get away from it. That book still gives me the shivers because it takes what such stores already do and just pushes it a little farther--the leeway granted by economic power is already so great, so how much greater could it get?

Anyway...in a way I appreciate the "Hostel"-type movies because I think they're gradually forcing more people to differentiate between slasher/gore and thriller/horror, as people who are really into such films have already been doing for years. The people I know who say they are horror fans specifically (as opposed to people who just see "scary movies" now and again) always have the gory movies they like and the scary movies they like, and there's little overlap--the gory ones are things like "Hostel," the scary ones always seem to be obscure foreign ghost stories that are all about atmosphere.

Re: in case you don't want to read this whole comment, a basic summary: I AGREE!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I don't think King's that scary- he's never written anything that would make me want to leave the lights on- but I think he's a great page-turner sort of author. I always rip right through his books; they're easy to get involved in.

Bentley Little's new to me. It sounds good, though! I'll have to try him out.

Ah, that's a neat way of thinking of it! I suppose I'll have to give the "Hostel" movies a bit of credit, then.