demagogue on 19/3/2023 at 04:10
Ah okay. It's a shooter at heart, so if you're not into combat, that's a good reason not to get into it.
Sulphur on 7/5/2023 at 16:55
So I just watched Goodnight Mommy, the 2014 Austrian original, because it got a lot of good reviews. It's been a long while since I've seen a good contemporary horror film, and... this one didn't change the status quo at all. Great atmosphere and ratcheting tension through a sustained minimalist approach, but a good chunk of it is predicated on a 'twist' I noticed within the first five minutes, and was hoping that it was going to be cleverer than that, but it is not, which was not just disappointing, but rendered a lot of the obvious misdirects pointless.
Once that's out the way, it's mostly an exercise in sadism that left me cold in a way horror movies don't intend, usually, and I was pretty pissed that that was all it was going to be. Yes, I get it, trauma and psychosis are inherently horrible, but when horror films utilise them for thematic weight, they're usually bolstered by something approaching a point, which this movie has only the barest excuse for (ironically, undercut by how minimalist its script is).
Unlikable, unsatisfying, and unnecessary. My only takeaways from it are that it's a sly document of a botched parenting job from a mirror universe, and the singular common truth that children can be infinitely terrible little shits no matter which reality they're in.
Tocky on 11/5/2023 at 16:51
Quote Posted by Sulphur
So I just watched Goodnight Mommy, the 2014 Austrian original, because it got a lot of good reviews. It's been a long while since I've seen a good contemporary horror film, and... this one didn't change the status quo at all. Great atmosphere and ratcheting tension through a sustained minimalist approach, but a good chunk of it is predicated on a 'twist' I noticed within the first five minutes, and was hoping that it was going to be cleverer than that, but it is not, which was not just disappointing, but rendered a lot of the obvious misdirects pointless.
I didn't catch this when you posted. You should have tried the more recent English language version then. It seems to have corrected the things you mention. There were no tells ahead of time and the sudden turn was less obvious. That made what happened much more horrifying. Too late now. Mores the pity.
Have you tried The Lodge? It's a little different in that, although you see it coming just before... I'm not going to give it away. Let's just say that afterward all the pieces fit well and it does not matter that you see it coming so much. It's still horrible.
Sulphur on 12/5/2023 at 03:35
I did look up the English one first, and the general consensus was fairly tepid on it. But sure, if I'd known the original one's approach wasn't something I was going to be a fan of, I would have tried the remake instead.
Haven't seen The Lodge, no, but it's on the list! I'll get to it soon enough.
While they're not horror movies per se, the new Scream movies - 5 and 6 - were really, really well done, and I think Wes would have approved of them if he were still around. The meta thing is a bit overplayed and has been since about Scream 2, but the two girls who are the leads do a wonderful job, there's character and heart in the performances, and it's just an enjoyable time overall - which is probably a weird thing to say about movies where people get stabbed enough they could stand in for a wheel of Swiss cheese (if they survive), but it all manages to be entertainingly over the top.
henke on 22/5/2023 at 16:47
I watched The Black Hole last night. Disney sci-fi movie from 1979 with Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Forester. It's kinda all over the place tonally, sometimes almost feeling like a Disney version of Event Horizon, and sometimes just being goofy as heck. Listen to this awesome ominous theme tho, by John Barry (of James Bond-fame).
[video=youtube;B8Ch3QnY650]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Ch3QnY650[/video]
A lot of cool visuals too. The story is crazy but well-paced, and the whole thing is quite watchable! So thumbs up I guess. :thumb: :erg:
rachel on 23/5/2023 at 12:34
The Black Hole sure is wild.
I just (re)watched Fantastic Voyage (1966) and OMG it was honestly kind of hilarious at times, this thing has NOT aged well :D I loved it though. I just read about the novelization being done by Asimov and I might just check it out, it sounds like it fixes a lot of the wonky science in the film...
Harvester on 23/5/2023 at 20:54
Mia Goth is my favorite actress working in the horror genre these days. Far more than a scream queen, she's eerily good in movies like A Cure For Wellness, X, and I've just watched X's prequel Pearl, which she even co-wrote with Ti West, where she performs a stunning, haunting monologue that lasts for over 5 minutes in an unbroken take. I also want to see her in Infinity Pool soon and to complete the X trilogy she stars in Maxxxine, which will be released soon. Pearl is a far different movie than X by the way, don't expect a schlocky, semi-grindhouse horror movie like X was.
heywood on 25/5/2023 at 02:55
Quote Posted by Sulphur
So I just watched Goodnight Mommy, the 2014 Austrian original, because it got a lot of good reviews. It's been a long while since I've seen a good contemporary horror film, and... this one didn't change the status quo at all. Great atmosphere and ratcheting tension through a sustained minimalist approach, but a good chunk of it is predicated on a 'twist' I noticed within the first five minutes, and was hoping that it was going to be cleverer than that, but it is not, which was not just disappointing, but rendered a lot of the obvious misdirects pointless.
Once that's out the way, it's mostly an exercise in sadism that left me cold in a way horror movies don't intend, usually, and I was pretty pissed that that was all it was going to be. Yes, I get it, trauma and psychosis are inherently horrible, but when horror films utilise them for thematic weight, they're usually bolstered by something approaching a point, which this movie has only the barest excuse for (ironically, undercut by how minimalist its script is).
Unlikable, unsatisfying, and unnecessary. My only takeaways from it are that it's a sly document of a botched parenting job from a mirror universe, and the singular common truth that children can be infinitely terrible little shits no matter which reality they're in.
I think you're supposed to figure out that
Lukas is a figment of Elias' imagination. Knowing it doesn't really give away the ending, and it leaves a mystery that makes watching the film more tense. The filmmakers want you to be guessing
whether his mother is real, because without that element of doubt, the torture scenes might be unbearable. I would argue they are anyway.
Anyway.. unlikable, unsatisfying, and unnecessary are words I would use as well. I'm not a big horror fan, but I had higher hopes for this one because I like slow pacing and I tend to like psychological thrillers more than slashers. I liked the modern lake house setting, and I was drawn into the film initially. But it went from being dark and mysterious to downright ugly and sadistic. It also left me cold in a way horror movies don't intend, and wondering what kind of person would invest their time and creative energy into such a project. More importantly, why do people like it? Thinking about that made me feel sad on and off for a few days afterwards.
EDIT: I ran out of time last night to talk about the remake. I watched it with my wife, who hadn't seen the original. Compared to the original, it's lighter on the horror and heavier on the tragedy. The original made me feel like the filmmakers were perhaps unhealthily obsessed with
how to torture a mother and tried to make torture porn palatable to a cinema audience through surrealism and developing characters such that you don't feel much empathy for any of them. The remake is more sympathetic to the characters and makes them more human and believable. It's also more focused on Elias as the main tragic figure.
In both films, Elias is torn between his fear & doubt and his love for his mother, but the first film makes it obvious that he's psychologically broken and being overcome by dark thoughts. That makes the latter parts hard to watch because you can anticipate what's coming; it's just a question of how cruel can a 10 year old get. The remake omits the torture and leaves the question of Elias' mental state and the possibility of reconciliation open until the very end. In the third act, Lukas and Elias' personalities start to separate more and Lukas becomes the personification of Elias' doubts and distrust. Elias is torn between his loyalties to Lukas and his mother, and has to make a choice between following Lukas or going back to check the evidence that his mother is telling the truth. It's a metaphor for Elias choosing to face reality or not. After Elias leaves Lukas and returns to free his mom, Lukas disappears which sets up a potential cathartic ending. But to keep the final scene, they wrote in another accident to kill off the mother.The first film was much better made, and for the first hour I could appreciate the cinematography apart from my dislike of the mean-spirited story. The remake is not that well made, but got under my skin afterward more than the first film, because the characters are more relatable and believable, and it teases you with the possibility that
Elias can overcome his illness before crushing it.
heywood on 25/5/2023 at 16:24
Quote Posted by henke
I watched The Black Hole last night. Disney sci-fi movie from 1979 with Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Forester. It's kinda all over the place tonally, sometimes almost feeling like a Disney version of Event Horizon, and sometimes just being goofy as heck. Listen to this awesome ominous theme tho, by John Barry (of James Bond-fame).
[video=youtube;B8Ch3QnY650]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Ch3QnY650[/video]
A lot of cool visuals too. The story is crazy but well-paced, and the whole thing is quite watchable! So thumbs up I guess. :thumb: :erg:
I forgot completely about that movie. I've never seen it, but now I want to.
To promote the film, Disney also released the story in two comic books. My grandmother bought me one or both of them, which I used to read cover to cover every time I visited around age 8-10 or so. It/they were the only comic books I remember reading all the way through. I pretty much ignored the superhero comics she had and read The Black Hole and Popular Science.
Sulphur on 26/5/2023 at 10:32
Quote Posted by heywood
I think you're supposed to figure out that
Lukas is a figment of Elias' imagination. Knowing it doesn't really give away the ending, and it leaves a mystery that makes watching the film more tense. The filmmakers want you to be guessing
whether his mother is real, because without that element of doubt, the torture scenes might be unbearable. I would argue they are anyway.
Perhaps, but I feel like the first half was still a fair bit of prevarication because of it.
And the mother - real as in whether she's an imposter or not? Yes, that's part of the setup, indeed. I agree, it doesn't make the torture scenes seem less barbaric, because none of it is justifiable, and even if it were, I'd still feel upset about it... which one could argue is the point, but as a comment on anything at all, it's not particularly enlightening or insightful.Quote:
Anyway.. unlikable, unsatisfying, and unnecessary are words I would use as well. I'm not a big horror fan, but I had higher hopes for this one because I like slow pacing and I tend to like psychological thrillers more than slashers. I liked the modern lake house setting, and I was drawn into the film initially. But it went from being dark and mysterious to downright ugly and sadistic. It also left me cold in a way horror movies don't intend, and wondering what kind of person would invest their time and creative energy into such a project. More importantly, why do people like it? Thinking about that made me feel sad on and off for a few days afterwards.
I did spend some time thinking about it too, and didn't like the answers either. Nihilism for the sake of it is... well, I think that sort of thing can be situated better in the right kind of story, and this wasn't it.
Quote:
EDIT: I ran out of time last night to talk about the remake. I watched it with my wife, who hadn't seen the original. Compared to the original, it's lighter on the horror and heavier on the tragedy. The original made me feel like the filmmakers were perhaps unhealthily obsessed with
how to torture a mother and tried to make torture porn palatable to a cinema audience through surrealism and developing characters such that you don't feel much empathy for any of them. The remake is more sympathetic to the characters and makes them more human and believable. It's also more focused on Elias as the main tragic figure.
The first film was much better made, and for the first hour I could appreciate the cinematography apart from my dislike of the mean-spirited story. The remake is not that well made, but got under my skin afterward more than the first film, because the characters are more relatable and believable, and it teases you with the possibility that
Elias can overcome his illness before crushing it.
I appreciate that take, along with Tocky's, and I might end up watching it just for the sake of comparison.