spaceSuicide's Horrortastic Horrific Horror Film Thread...Of Horror!

[burnmotherfucker!]

I can’t wait to see Terrifier 2!

[Deacon Blackfire]

Halloween Ends makes Halloween Kills look like Halloween 2018.

This seemed impossible until I saw Halloween Ends. What the actual fuck. Such a confused, nonsensical mess that does basically ever returning character dirty, even worse than Kills did, and wastes the entire conclusion to this series on half-baked, pretentious....well, nothing. There's so many baffling and absurd choices made with the story and characters that it honestly feels like a waste of time to list them. All I'll say is, if they had stopped at 2018, I'd have had nothing but good things to say about this team's approach. Kills and Ends have been so bad they almost made me wish 2018 never happened or was financially unsuccessful.

I always thought Art the Clown was pretty creepy looking but I never got around to checking out All Hallow's Eve or Terrifier because some of the reactions indicated straightforward 80s-gore-throwback type shit (and frankly Terrifier is a weak ass name), but the response to Terrifier 2 has been strong and positive enough that I'm reconsidering.

[BRoswell]

...straightforward 80s-gore-throwback type shit...

That's exactly what it was. Not sure why it took off the way it did. People obviously love Art The Clown, and he does have a distinctive look, but that's about all that film had going for it in my useless opinion. There's plenty of gory killer clown movies out there, and Terrifier really doesn't do anything to separate itself from them.

[Jon]

$5.4M on a $250,000 budget. That's really all you need to know. It doesn't matter how good Terrifier 2 is because it's a success. I didn't enjoy the first one; there will probably be a third.

[allegate]

There are of course Pitch Meetings for Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills but I only wanted to put the latest.

[Erneuert]

Watched it last night. Uhhh... that post credits scene was slightly disturbing to say the least.

What's the deal with Sienna's father who had a brain tumour and had "visions," and how does that tie into that magical sword? And what the hell is the relevance of that creepy mini clown-girl who only Art can see at first in the laundromat? Then everyone can see?

[Erneuert]

There are of course Pitch Meetings for Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills but I only wanted to put the latest.

He nailed that, hahaha.

What a fucked up way to end the franchise.

[burnmotherfucker!]

This seemed impossible until I saw Halloween Ends. What the actual fuck. Such a confused, nonsensical mess that does basically ever returning character dirty, even worse than Kills did, and wastes the entire conclusion to this series on half-baked, pretentious....well, nothing. There's so many baffling and absurd choices made with the story and characters that it honestly feels like a waste of time to list them. All I'll say is, if they had stopped at 2018, I'd have had nothing but good things to say about this team's approach. Kills and Ends have been so bad they almost made me wish 2018 never happened or was financially unsuccessful.

I always thought Art the Clown was pretty creepy looking but I never got around to checking out All Hallow's Eve or Terrifier because some of the reactions indicated straightforward 80s-gore-throwback type shit (and frankly Terrifier is a weak ass name), but the response to Terrifier 2 has been strong and positive enough that I'm reconsidering.

I agree, they should have left it at Halloween 2018. It's clear they were out of ideas and for some reason decided to use the Halloween franchise for some overly preachy moralizing that is very much not needed in our modern nerf filled world. I mean what was Kills trying to say? Mob violence is bad? How about Ends? If you treat someone evil they may act out evil themselves? Thanks a lot Captain Obvious! Why they thought the Halloween franchise was the place for it, I'm sure I don't know.

Terrifier IS a throwback to 70's and 80's grindhouse horror. But with everything turned up to 11 and a main character that is very much worth watching. But it is for old time horror fans only. If you can't appreciate practical effects and if you can't tolerate low budget acting then you may not enjoy it. If however, you enjoyed Tarantino's and Rodriguez's Grindhouse and like 70's and 80's horror in general and can laugh your ass off at this type of stuff then you may enjoy the first one. The second one really is an improvement in almost every way though. It's kinda it's own thing entirely even though it does pick up from the first film.

That's exactly what it was. Not sure why it took off the way it did. People obviously love Art The Clown, and he does have a distinctive look, but that's about all that film had going for it in my useless opinion. There's plenty of gory killer clown movies out there, and Terrifier really doesn't do anything to separate itself from them.

I completely disagree. One of the things that makes it so amazing is that killer clowns ARE such a trope in horror and yet Art stands head and shoulders above all of them. He makes Pennywise look like a little bitch. And Pennywise eats children. He's also quite the opposite of the clown trope in horror. Pennywise is colorful and smiling and talks quite a lot. Art is all black and white and never speaks. He is technically a mime. Much of his performance is physical comedy that is a throwback to the black and white silent films of the 20s and 30s. And he's just about the most fucked up slasher character ever, with no redeeming qualities. You do NOT want to run into this motherfucker. If you're in a back alley and you have to run into either Jason, Michael, Freddy, Ghostface, or Art, Art is the last one you want to see.

And these films are resonating with horror fans because they are pure, no agenda, no bullshit, horror slashers that celebrate what was once great about the slasher films and use 100% practical effects and are at the end of the day just fucking hilarious and fun. There's no corporate, test screening, quota meeting, mpaa stink on this movie. And personally I find it refreshing. And it was made for $250K! For perspective, that is 1/132nd the budget of Halloween Ends. Hell, the OG Halloween was made for 300K back in the 70s.

I get that it isn't for everyone, but when it has that much going for it I can forgive a few low budget actors here and there and I'm impressed with what they accomplished with so little. And the new final girl Sienna was a total standout. The lore was expanded without being run into the ground with exposition and explanation. Honestly, Art may not even be my favorite part of Terrifier 2, and that's something I never thought I'd say about a Terrifier film.

Watched it last night. Uhhh... that post credits scene was slightly disturbing to say the least.

What's the deal with Sienna's father who had a brain tumour and had "visions," and how does that tie into that magical sword? And what the hell is the relevance of that creepy mini clown-girl who only Art can see at first in the laundromat? Then everyone can see?

Disturbing eh? I was laughing my ass off at that scene. Idk what that says about my sense of humor, haha.

And, SPOILERS. I don't think those connections have been explained yet. I think the clown girl may be a demon but I'm not sure. Also, I think Sienna and her brother were the only one's other than Art to see her, and they are connected somehow as well. But then again maybe the girl (I think she is called "The Pale Girl") can choose to be seen or not be seen? Who knows.

I really like what they did with the story in this. They expanded without over explaining. The audience knows what Sienna knows, not more. I did NOT expect to find the story as interesting in this film as I did. I mean it basically veers into the fantasy genre. Storybook characters, magic weapons, dream manipulation/worlds. Some of it even gave me a bit of an old Twilight Zone vibe as well. I loved the surrealism. And it still somehow manages to deliver as a slasher on top of all that. I was actually disappointed it wasn't LONGER, and I was worried about the runtime going in. Not sure I'll like what follows as much if they decide to answer all these things, but I love where they took it so far.

After being SO disappointed by Scream 5, Hellraiser, and Halloween Ends I'm just glad to get a slasher that celebrates the spooky season that I'll actually want to return to next Halloween.

[Erneuert]

Disturbing eh? I was laughing my ass off at that scene. Idk what that says about my sense of humor, haha.

And, SPOILERS. I don't think those connections have been explained yet. I think the clown girl may be a demon but I'm not sure. Also, I think Sienna and her brother were the only one's other than Art to see her, and they are connected somehow as well. But then again maybe the girl (I think she is called "The Pale Girl") can choose to be seen or not be seen? Who knows.

I really like what they did with the story in this. They expanded without over explaining. The audience knows what Sienna knows, not more. I did NOT expect to find the story as interesting in this film as I did. I mean it basically veers into the fantasy genre. Storybook characters, magic weapons, dream manipulation/worlds. Some of it even gave me a bit of an old Twilight Zone vibe as well. I loved the surrealism. And it still somehow manages to deliver as a slasher on top of all that. I was actually disappointed it wasn't LONGER, and I was worried about the runtime going in. Not sure I'll like what follows as much if they decide to answer all these things, but I love where they took it so far.

After being SO disappointed by Scream 5, Hellraiser, and Halloween Ends I'm just glad to get a slasher that celebrates the spooky season that I'll actually want to return to next Halloween.

From what I've read the whole female lead thing was his original idea for the 2016 film, but it was shut down. It was only because the first film did well that the director was finally able to go in that direction. He's said he has enough material to go to at least sequel #4.

[burnmotherfucker!]

From what I've read the whole female lead thing was his original idea for the 2016 film, but it was shut down. It was only because the first film did well that the director was finally able to go in that direction. He's said he has enough material to go to at least sequel #4.

Yes, I read him talking about his "Angel Winged Kickass Final Girl" but I think it actually goes back to 2009 when he was making the "9th Circle" short film. Then came 2011's "Terrifier" short (which is a VERY good 20 minute grindhouse film). Both of those were compiled and included in All Hallow's Eve and then the 2016 Terrifier feature happened. Hopefully the success of this can get him at least a few million to play with for the next installment. That's a long journey for a filmmaker to go on with such low budgets while still maintaining quality and I'm glad this one is having the success it has so far.

[Deacon Blackfire]

So I watched All Hallow's Eve and Terrifier the past couple of days and I have to say, I think All Hallow's Eve was much more successful in its aims. On one hand, it's an ugly and occasionally actively unpleasant little movie that isn't really "about" anything. On the other hand, there is something refreshing about a movie so single-minded in its aim to disturb and unnerve its audience and to that end it is successful - the low budget and the domestic wrap-around narrative, combined with the nightmare logic dictating the events, is perfectly suited for exploiting the quiet, unnatural fears we are all susceptible to alone. The 2nd segment is pretty forgettable but the 1st and 3rd segments, as exploitative and base as they are, definitely make an impression, and the frame narrative is quite effectively unsettling. While the subject matter is nothing new or groundbreaking, Leone's unsparing handling of the material is what gives All Hallow's Eve its genuinely disturbing quality. I actually found Art to be super creepy in this one. He's more a presence than a character but his appearance is limited enough that his lack of characterization doesn't really matter and he remains frightening throughout.

Terrifier, by contrast, was a bit of an overlong chore by the end (and it's less than 90 minutes) and shows the limits of a "character" like Art (who honestly is not scary in this one) to carry a whole movie. The characterizations in the first half aren't too bad but when it feels like the movie is reaching its climax, it's only halfway through and pivots to way less developed characters we don't care about simply because Art has murdered through the cast too quickly and it needs to pad itself. David Howard Thornton steps into the role naturally, and Art's visual design, mime-like silence, and awful grin remain an effectively and memorably creepy base for a horror antagonist, but we never move beyond that base. There's nothing that makes him particularly memorable as a character, no matter how well Thornton sometimes does with the silent film act, because he is simply just a hideous clown who likes savagely killing people. Without any anchor into anything beyond that, watching him stalk around and kill people eventually loses its impact and frankly becomes tedious and boring. The vacuous emptiness of Michael Myers was the point of his character. Art the clown feels like he has no point other than to be a vehicle for disgusting acts and it makes the violence of Terrifier not just depressing and dull, but actively ugly, especially when Art in particular seems to delight in the torture, mutilation, and agonizing deaths of women.

In both All Hallow's Eve and Terrifier, the men generally die of head trauma, killed relatively quickly. The women are the ones who have truly horrible fates, dying in terror and pain or disfigured to the point where death would be merciful. Near the end of the 3rd segment of All Hallow's Eve, in which Spoiler: Art's victim awakens to find her arms and legs and breasts removed, misogynistic obscenities carved all over her body, and Art miming mocking laughter, I found myself recalling something Tom Servo says during The Horrors of Spider Island MST3K episode - "I wonder how this movie really feels about women." In that film, at least we didn't see that nauseating act unfold before us and were instead left with a stomach-churning reveal. Terrifier's infamous Spoiler: hacksaw in half scene seems to delight in the spectacle of female agony and destruction. There are plenty of things I miss from 80s horror - practical effects, adventurous and disturbing stories, legendary character actors, superb old school non-digital lighting. Treating women like pieces of meat is not one of those things, at least for me, and I find the enthusiasm for Terrifier's violence to be much more disturbing than the movie, honestly. I watch a lot of disturbing shit but I really get turned of when it feels like the awful things I'm watching are meant to be titillating and pornographic. I can enjoy exaggerated violence, and there are certainly harrowing films that dive into the depths of human depravity with enough grace to avoid being a celebration of their ugly subject matter (the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Man Bites Dog). Terrifier feels like the opposite of that and so ultimately I found it very off-putting.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Terrifier is absolutely terrible, and I do not understand the hype for it. There are shocking 80's moments, and then there is Terrifier that relies solely on hyperbolic shock factor that just grows tiresome after a few kills.

I don't find Art scary whatsoever, and find it hilarious when people try to throw him into the mix of classic slashers; it just doesnt fit in my opinion. A lot of the gore, especially towards women starts to feel incredibly unnecessary after awhile.

Finally got around to Halloween Ends..... What the fuck were they thinking with this? Halloween (2018) was OK, but Kills and Ends makes that movie look like a masterpiece.

[Zur En Arrh]

This seemed impossible until I saw Halloween Ends. What the actual fuck. Such a confused, nonsensical mess that does basically ever returning character dirty, even worse than Kills did, and wastes the entire conclusion to this series on half-baked, pretentious....well, nothing. There's so many baffling and absurd choices made with the story and characters that it honestly feels like a waste of time to list them. All I'll say is, if they had stopped at 2018, I'd have had nothing but good things to say about this team's approach. Kills and Ends have been so bad they almost made me wish 2018 never happened or was financially unsuccessful.

I always thought Art the Clown was pretty creepy looking but I never got around to checking out All Hallow's Eve or Terrifier because some of the reactions indicated straightforward 80s-gore-throwback type shit (and frankly Terrifier is a weak ass name), but the response to Terrifier 2 has been strong and positive enough that I'm reconsidering.

I'm one of those weirdos who really likes zombie's Halloween films. I think his Halloween 2 is a subversive masterpiece. I have only seen the first on of the new ones which was ...meh, ok. I have the second one as well on Blu ray but I'm years behind as it is. Having said that, I just got nope in today (I don't go to theater for two reasons, it's all digital projection which I can just do at home and secondly people are seriously rude nowadays in the theater) and I am going to watch it tonight. I liked his two previous films.

Also barbarian is on disney plus. That was super wierd to see. I expected shudder or arrow to stream it. I haven't seen it but I have heard really good things. Anyone have any thoughts on barbarian? Or even nope?

[Deacon Blackfire]

Haven't seen Barbarian yet but heard promising things. Thanks for letting me know it's on D+, very weird as you say but I'm happy to see it's available. Got Nope myself yesterday, managed to miss out on it in theaters despite myself but am pretty stoked to be giving it a watch soon. Get Out was obviously terrific and Us, while a messier film that played much faster and looser, was a creative, well drawn, and intriguing sophomore effort from Peele.

[allegate]

barbarian is on disney plus. That was super wierd to see. I expected shudder or arrow to stream it. I haven't seen it but I have heard really good things. Anyone have any thoughts on barbarian? Or even nope?

sorry, my brain is having an issue with this news. that's wild.

[Ruined]

Won't say much about Barbarian but, damn, what a movie.

[BRoswell]

I wouldn't call it an instant classic like some people are doing, but yeah, Barbarian is a lot of fun. The crowd I saw it with ate it up. Same with NOPE, although if you missed seeing that in theaters, you really missed out. Some truly stunning visuals in that film.

[Zur En Arrh]

I wouldn't call it an instant classic like some people are doing, but yeah, Barbarian is a lot of fun. The crowd I saw it with ate it up. Same with NOPE, although if you missed seeing that in theaters, you really missed out. Some truly stunning visuals in that film.

I would of liked to see nope in an IMAX theater using film projection.. sadly none around me. I did watch it last night and really enjoyed it. So much subtext to dig into. It's amazing seeing a new voice make big blockbuster films that take risks. I can't wait for his next film.

Next up is barbarian...on disney+...weird

[Space Suicide]

Barbarian is a 20th Century film, Disney bought 20th Century Fox. Not that surprising.

[allegate]

Barbarian must be a region thing because it wasn't in my D+ last night, I saw it in HBO though.

[Zur En Arrh]

Barbarian must be a region thing because it wasn't in my D+ last night, I saw it in HBO though.

Weird, I'm Ontario. We don't have HBO max (I don't understand why) so all the HBO max stuff gets dumped on a app called Crave.

[Deacon Blackfire]

So because it seems more relevant here than in the Discord thread and I figure some of you would be interested, TR popped into the general chat on the NIN Discord looking for horror movie recs (which naturally I totally missed while it was happening!) and dropped a "by no means complete" list of horror films he loved:

It Follows
Halloween (1978)
Halloween III
Hell House LLC
Prince of Darkness
The Mist (black & white version)
Color Out Of Space
Night of the Living Dead
V/H/S series
The Descent
The Witch
The Fly
Goodnight Mommy
Train to Busan
Hostel
Saint Maud
Phantasm
The Thing
REC

Not surprisingly a rock solid list - the only ones on there I haven't seen (Hell House LLC, Train to Busan) I have heard very good things about. Really did not like Goodnight Mommy myself but I seem to be in the minority there. He also had positive remarks on Annihilation, Jacob's Ladder, Creepshow (1982), Dead & Buried, The Cabin in the Woods, Barbarian, and Lifeforce, was looking for thoughts on Terrifier 2 - he thought the first was "pretty brutal", mentioned that The Strangers "bummed him out", and offered the following (amazing) summation of his thoughts on the Halloween sequel trilogy: "As a super fan of the original classic film, 2018: maybe ok, Kills: sucked, Ends: smash the tv."

[Zur En Arrh]

So because it seems more relevant here than in the Discord thread and I figure some of you would be interested, TR popped into the general chat on the NIN Discord looking for horror movie recs (which naturally I totally missed while it was happening!) and dropped a "by no means complete" list of horror films he loved:

It Follows
Halloween (1978)
Halloween III
Hell House LLC
Prince of Darkness
The Mist (black & white version)
Color Out Of Space
Night of the Living Dead
V/H/S series
The Descent
The Witch
The Fly
Goodnight Mommy
Train to Busan
Hostel
Saint Maud
Phantasm
The Thing
REC

Not surprisingly a rock solid list - the only ones on there I haven't seen (Hell House LLC, Train to Busan) I have heard very good things about. Really did not like Goodnight Mommy myself but I seem to be in the minority there. He also had positive remarks on Annihilation, Jacob's Ladder, Creepshow (1982), Dead & Buried, The Cabin in the Woods, Barbarian, and Lifeforce, was looking for thoughts on Terrifier 2 - he thought the first was "pretty brutal", mentioned that The Strangers "bummed him out", and offered the following (amazing) summation of his thoughts on the Halloween sequel trilogy: "As a super fan of the original classic film, 2018: maybe ok, Kills: sucked, Ends: smash the tv."

That's a solid as fuck list. Annihilation is amazing! Such an underrated film. I've liked all of garlands films so far. Color out of space is incredible. It's a shame Stanley got into the situation he is in because I was really looking forward to the next adaptation he did.

I haven't watched any of the V/H/S series at all. Does anyone have any insights?

[Deacon Blackfire]

Yeah I loved Color Out Of Space and was really bummed and sickened when all that vile shit about Richard Stanley came out. It has made it difficult for me to revisit that film, despite thinking it was terrific. As far as V/H/S goes, I've seen the first two. They are very mixed bags like most anthologies but the framing narrative is pretty cool and the highs are pretty memorable - V/H/S 2 is worthwhile for the Safe Haven segment alone.

[Zur En Arrh]

Yeah I loved Color Out Of Space and was really bummed and sickened when all that vile shit about Richard Stanley came out. It has made it difficult for me to revisit that film, despite thinking it was terrific. As far as V/H/S goes, I've seen the first two. They are very mixed bags like most anthologies but the framing narrative is pretty cool and the highs are pretty memorable - V/H/S 2 is worthwhile for the Safe Haven segment alone.

Cool! I'll give the first two a whirl and see how I like them.

[Erneuert]

That's a solid as fuck list. Annihilation is amazing! Such an underrated film. I've liked all of garlands films so far. Color out of space is incredible. It's a shame Stanley got into the situation he is in because I was really looking forward to the next adaptation he did.

I haven't watched any of the V/H/S series at all. Does anyone have any insights?

All I know is it was devised by the people behind Bloody Disgusting and spawned a bunch of sequels (really recent ones to boot).

[Zur En Arrh]

So I've seen a few people (including Trent) shit on the new Halloween films. I saw the first one and plan to watch the next two. I've been thinking about Rob's Halloween films. I loved them so much. He was coming from a no win situation in that if he made them different people would scream " not my Halloween" and if he made them too different they would scream " too far from the original" he just did the Munsters , which I liked.

I noticed when he did the Halloween films it was " not my Halloween" and so with the Munsters he kepted it close to the source material(I'm convinced he wanted it to be black and white and the studio fought him and won) and people wanted him to "Rob Zombie up" the Munsters.

So with the new Halloween films I know this guy making them had no chance. Halloween is the one film you just can't remake however they make money and the studio is going to make remakes. If you're a filmmaker might as well buy the ticket and take the ride. Maybe these films will enjoy a renaissance 15 years from now like Rob's Halloween films have. I personally think Rob's Halloween films are masterpiece and greatly improve on the source material. I mean I really like the first two Halloween films a lot however imprefer Rob's as I find nurture more compelling than nature.

[BRoswell]

I've been thinking about Rob's Halloween films. I loved them so much.

The remake was an interesting failure in my opinion. There's some really effective scenes in it, but it can't decide if it wants to be a Rob Zombie film or a John Carpenter film and it ends up being a weird mish-mash of the two. I really love the sequel though. It's the only Halloween film besides the original and Halloween III that I make sure I watch this time of year. It's far removed from Carpenter's style, but that's why it works. It's so atmospheric and weird and tragic and fun.

At the very least, Zombie's films have personality. David Gordon Green's Halloween films feel fairly generic. I feel like anyone could have made them, but that's the Blumhouse style unfortunately.

[Pillfred]

Saw Terrifier 2 earlier this evening. Wasn’t familiar with the first but after reading about this one in various places and most recently here today I checked the theater and they are showing it.

Certainly one of the better horror films I’ve seen in a while. Especially since it leans into the gore side things in a nostalgic way. I never really fully got into Saw/Hostile(sp) style gore because it looked too real. Though I always enjoyed the old school slasher stuff.

Beyond all that I felt it was generally well done especially considering its budget. I hope moving forward they can continue to make more films beyond potential sequels. Hopefully we’ve got a new Wes Craven of sorts emerging.

[Jinsai]

What's the deal with Sienna's father who had a brain tumour and had "visions," and how does that tie into that magical sword? And what the hell is the relevance of that creepy mini clown-girl who only Art can see at first in the laundromat? Then everyone can see?

This was the final straw for me with the first one. Ok, you just got done hanging a woman upside down and hacking her down from her vagina to her throat with a rusty hacksaw. Uh, great. Very original. BTW: This was Caligula's favorite method of execution, but hey, the movie's SUPER HARDCORE right?

But then it tries to throw in some deeper meaning or something, and it's completely bullshit nonsense? It's not that hard to come up with something disturbing and horrific. Flip open a history book and film it and replace the out of control sadistic king with a clown that has a tiny hat.