Comments on: Open Forum Friday: J-Horror vs. American Horror

By: Simon Walker

Simon Walker — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:44:01 +0000

Sounds like Track of The Cat.

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:12:30 +0000

I just happened on your post while searching for the name of the movie you just described (about the black panther stalking a girl walking home). Did you ever find out the name of that movie?

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 20:34:03 +0000

Why must all horror movies be classified with the gore movies? I think that the best scary movies are the ones that scare using the power of your own imagination. I guess you would classify these as psychological thrillers. An excellent example of these types of movies would be Session 9 with David Caruso. Scared the mess out of me!
After a while blood and gore just numb you, it gets a bit stupid. Yeah, yeah here comes the killer again going to chop up this girl/guy. But when you really dont know WHAT is out there, how its coming for you or even IF its coming…its all in your mind…or is it? Thats truly scary.
Even when we know for sure in a film that someone dies, I think its much more horrorfing to leave it to our own imagination as to what happened. There was an older film that I cant remember the name of where a girl was being stalked by a panther while she walked home through her village at night. Lots of scenes of build up of her being stalked then she reached her door just as the panther struck. the scene switched to being shot from inside her home. You heard the panther strike the door and the claws raking the wood. You saw the horror on the faces of the girls parents who didnt dare open the door. You heard the girl scream and the panther growl. Then silence. Focus on the door…a thin red line of blood starting to seep under the door. End scene. We didnt need to see the rendering of the girl…we KNOW what happened…and it was more vivid in our own minds then it could ever be on film. Thats frightening.
Just my opinion. thanks for letting me vent.

By: Chopper

Chopper — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 11:28:07 +0000

i will go with the american horror, i dont think watching j-horror is fun when you have to read it. it loses the effect.

By: Jay C.

Jay C. — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 04:53:00 +0000

You’re right. I guess i’m just getting used to their being a new Saw movie every Halloween now that it’s just become a part of the holiday or something.

I still haven’t seen part 2, but i think Cary Elwes turned me off of Saw for good.

By: Steven

Steven — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 01:58:33 +0000

I know you were using The Texas Chain Saw Massacre the prequel and The Grudge 2 to make a point, but don’t forget that Saw 3 is in the running for horror box office champ this month as well.

Oh, and I fucking hate horror movies, too.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:53:40 +0000

Not many good ones.

I don’t know. I’ve seen enough to dislike them immensely. I’ve seen some of the classics – Halloween, The Shining. I’ve seen plenty of the hits – Scream trilogy, Last Summer, and some of the grind ones like Wishmaster. I have disliked all of them, even The Shining which really disappointed me cause I’m a Kubrick fanboy.

The only two horror movies I would ever recommend to somebody as movies worth watching are The Thing and From Dusk Till Dawn.

By: Jay C.

Jay C. — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 16:03:36 +0000

It sounds like you haven’t watched very many horror films.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 15:47:51 +0000

Yeah that’s one of the things I dislike about horror. You’re encouraged to follow the clichÃ©’s because then you’re just paying tribute to the original horror movies.

I don’t like it at all. I think it’s ridiculous. When you talk about genre-movies per se, I would equate horror movies with the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies of the mid to late 80s. If you look at Terminator, Conan, Predator, Running Man and Commando, they are distinctly different. They are unglorified exploitational action pieces and star vehicles, but each of them has something to offer in my opinion. Way more than the cliche-laden genre movies of horror.

By: Jay C.

Jay C. — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 02:26:12 +0000

The creepy child is the worst because child actors are terrible. The only successfully creepy children for me were in the shining and the omen (original).

As far as horror films being formulaic, it’s a genre. Genre films generally tend to follow a format, or else they wouldn’t be a genre film. But like all films, some are good and original, some are bad. But for me, even the unoriginal ones are sometimes simply paying tribute to the genre.

By: Goon

Goon — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 16:43:22 +0000

the one thing I’m really sick of that needs to end in both American thrillers and horror movies as well as the Japanese ones… is the creepy child. you know what i’m talking about.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 11:33:14 +0000

I hate the horror genre. It’s too formulaic. I agree that the little schoolgirl thing has been done so much it borders on ridicule, and so has the so-called ‘tension’-buildup where somebody walks through somewhere dark only to realize all the noises were just a cat.

The only movie that ever scared me was Signs. I never realized what it felt like to be scared by a movie till I saw Signs. It’s probably still the best cinema-experience of my life.