Rant in A-Minor - Page 2

I'm sorry, this is a perfect example!

He isn't a guy with a knife glove, he is the evil that forments within every neighborhood, on every Elm Street, everywhere. And he only comes for you when you have no protection... and there is no escape, you have to sleep and you have to dream.

You know how I figured that... I watched the movie and I have an imagination. The guy with a knife glove is is for people who can't see anything but the surface.

And also, taking horror seriously, watch the scene in A Nightmare of Elm Street where Heather takes a bath and said knife gloves appears. Amazing how that scene manages to be funny, scary, symbolic and artistic all at once.

To continue on this ... I wonder why the only people that could see and feel and be hurt by Freddy and then later kill Freddy were teenagers. I wonder if maybe Craven may have been trying to say something here. Maybe he is a represenation of a deep seated fear. Maybe our sexual awakening brings on a certain fear and this guy with phallic symbols on his hand has something to do with it.

Naw, fuck it. Is it pure camp with no meaning whatsoever. Craven is a hack. I can't believe I would waste thought on this and avoid having fun.

There's a grey area here. Great horror films are "high art" but most of them are laughable garbage. This is true of any genre, but because of the realitve inexpensiveness of the horror genre, more garbage gets made. Hell in that double bill Alex mentioned only one of the movies is actually good. Friday the 13th is just a piece of cheap, dated exploitation that should be laughed at.

My best friend and I are hardocre horror movie fans (my wife, Model# 36C-D Swiss/Austrian make, not so much) - in our prime, we would discuss Fulci, Romero, Carpenter, etc. til the cows came home. In the good old days, we had quite a few cinemas we could hit, sometimes pulling all night movie marathons. Every so often, though, we would get members of the audience that didn't quite get the movie going experience, usually sitting right in front of us.

Luckily, My buddy and I are relatively huge humans (6'4, 200+ lbs.) so when we say quiet, people tend to listen.

We are also available for rental to ensure a pleasant moviegoing experience, with intelligent, dare I say stimulating conversation of said movie afterwards. We also work fairly cheap (something shiny, or glow-in-the-dark, will work).

Aqua, I totally agree on this (on friThe13th) but the dude said, that horror is a ridiculous genre and that slasher films aren't high art. That is painting it with a fairly wide brush I'd say. Being a bit general to say the least... I mean, making such broad statements like that on a horror forum and you'd have to expect people to point out the faults in that and use some of the MANY excellent horror films as their evidence.

I find that, in general, people are getting more and more self-centered. It's most apparent in venues where large groups convene, like a movie theater ...or sidewalks. It's becoming so bad that the idea of turning to a reclusive lifestyle doesn't seem all that terrible.

While films like Nightmare on Elm St. and Friday the 13th may be laughable now, I think you'll find that the general audience is probably laughing for the wrong reasons - ie. just to be loud and obnoxious.

You forgot HAWT.

I don't get to go to the movies much at all, now that I have a 1 yr old, and horror movies even less because my usual companion (my wife, also a DD model; and why do so may of us have wives w/ big breasts?) hates horror films. But I don't think I'm really missing anything, because most of the theatres I tend to go to are populated by inconsiderate fucks who talk & use cell phones thru the whole thing, and when someone tells them to shut the fuck up, want to start a fight. Or shoot somebody, for all we know (Elizabeth and Jersey City can be that kind of neighborhood, sometimes; a 10 plex in Newark closed b/c a few shootings drove business so far down no one would go to the films anymore, and it sits, empty and forlorn on Foundry Street, slowly crumbling to dust). That almost ruined "28 Weeks Later", which I did go see w/ my brother. All that having been said, however, I had a really good time at the After Dark Horrorfest last year, and am really looking forward to this year's. While there was plenty of local trash in the theatres, they were vastly outnumbered by horror fans who came from miles arounbd to one of only 2 theatres in Jersey hosting the 'Fest, and the audience was a joy to be amongst. Guess it was the outstanding marketing. Hope they repeat this year. Bottom line, I guess is I'll go to the 'Fest every year, but it'd take something special, like my brother really wanting me to go see the newest zombie film on opening weekend, for me to go to a theatre for a horror film anymore. Or any film, for that matter, other than my wife's occasional demand for a "Date Night."

I've been annoyed by this problem before myself. I've seen people giggling at Suspiria, of all things.
Nervous laughter isn't so bad, though.

I don't know. You guys are giving audiences WAY too much credit if you expect them to respectfully desconstruct A Nightmare on Elm Street during a fan screening.

Is there truth and art in certain well-made horror films? Sure there is, just like any other well-made movie. There are some horror movies that represent the best of what cinema is capable of. But with even the best horror movies, people see them to be scared and entertained. If it's a new release, and it's horror done right, then people will be scared the first time they see it. If it becomes a beloved classic, they'll laugh at the parts they remember every time they see it, whether it's because of nostalgia, outdated effects, a flubbed line or whatever.

If it's a shitty horror movie, then they'll laugh no matter what, because it's a shitty movie.

Even so, I think Nightmare is a great movie. I grew up watching it. But I wouldn't consider it high art by any stretch. And your average moviegoer isn't going to see A Nightmare on Elm Street thinking about themes like "the evil in every neighborhood" (especially considering the later films). They're going to see some creative kills and fake blood. There are exceptions - film afficionados that post on movie site message boards.

Right there with ya (on all counts ). Only I have a 3 year old.

Since I moved to FL, from PA, I barely see my brother (my old horror flick theater companion). It's a shame the regulars on CC didn't all live closer together. I can't wait to be able to get to the Tri-State area for a CC Horror night with you guys.

Excellent write-up, as always, Alex.

I'm not beyond going to the theater by myself if I deem the movie worthy. Fortunately, I've found someone with similar tastes in film to drag out to the stuff my wife (<piggish>not a DD but plenty of junk in the trunk to make up for it</piggish>) refuses to watch.

Their are certain film like NOES, and F13 that are so painfully dated, that they sort of become more amusing then horriffic due to their age. A couple nights ago, I watched John Carpenter's "Halloween," to make up for the dreadful Rob Zombie remake, and while the look was certainly dated, Carpenter was able to create a serious atmosphere of tension and fear. The Friday the 13th films have badly dated at least to me, and I can't really watch them anymore. NOES is about the same the first film still holds some degree of tension, but the look and feel of the film is so far removed from any sense of the present, and the look is so much a mental cliche of the time period it's hard to go against that. A lot of 80's horror films still work for me (Re-Animator, Maniac, Return of the Living Dead, etc), but I think that is more to do with the timelessness of the film itself, and not with the look.