The Vault of Startling Monster Horror Tales Of Terror Thread

[Hair-Metal Hero]

Let's not discount the affect that digital filming and editing has has on the world of porn. Fetishes that would have normally been overlooked can be found at the drop of a hat. That was my way of adding to the discussion with absolutely nothing relevant to say.

[ljacone]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

I think it will be interesting to see what the proliferance of the 3D boon does for low budget horror. Surely the young turks of the low budget filmmaking world will have to bring something fresh that doesn't rely on hollywood gimmickry to the table if they want to compete in what is a terribly crowded market. What they bring, I have no idea, it could be a return of stripped down horror that sells itself on story, performance and atmosphere. That would be cool with me.

[Arthur Ratnik]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

Oh I have, I have...

[Joe Anthrax]

[ljacone]

This is not the first time which 3-D was paraded about in order to bolster lagging ticket sales at movie theaters. The same thing happened in the 1980s (Jaws 3-D), and similar developments happened in the 70s as well (Sensoround, for one). Overall ticket sales continue to fall, even as grosses continue to rise thanks to inflation and increased ticket prices, given an artificial metric of quality. But the absolute dollars have the studio suits frothing at the mouth.

As of right now, 3-D is not something you can cheaply reproduce on your home theater system, so the studios are going to milk it for all it's worth. Because not only do they get butts in seats by offering you technoligical spectacle, but they get to bilk you out of an extra couple of bucks in the process.

It makes me very angry that Avatar boasts all of these gross numbers when they are basically charging 150% on the damn ticket!

When 3-D becomes commonplace, you'll see these cheapie Direct To DVD folks just converting their movies to 3-D format after the fact, even though they are not shot for it. That's just one more thing they can shill on the front cover or whatnot.

[Joe Anthrax]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

I think there is a 3d version of NOTLD already.

[Joe Anthrax]

[Arthur Ratnik]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

Oh boy, the thought of rewatching the Zombie version again has me less than thrilled. I don't know what that film was, but it certainly wasn't Halloween. You can't make sense of Mike Myers, thats the point. Giving him a far more detailed backstory was useless. Scout-Taylor Compton was cute in it though.

[ljacone]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

I don't know, I think the two versions of The Thing are far closer thematically than the two versions of Halloween. Both are their own animals, but I can at least see what Carpenter drew from Hawks. Zombie seems like he like the title and Myer's mask, and that was it.

[ljacone]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

I know Zombie's a huge film fan, and I can appreciate the fact that he went for broke. I think in the end his attempt fell very flat for me. Snyder's "Dead" worked for me, and I really didn't want it to at the time, but that film also was closer thematically to Romero's. It took the same basic set up but ramped everything up and added enough new elements to make it unique, but familiar. The less said about the Chainsaw remakes the better. I'm not a huge TCM fan, but I respect the hell out of the first and what Hooper was able to accomplish with no budget, atmosphere and strong performances. TCM 2 is a hoot, and I respect that film even more for the director being able to satirize his own concept all the while making something entertaining. The remake lacked what I think a lot of remakes lack, Charm. A hungry director is setting out to please you, and themselves. Remakes are almost work for hire, its mercenary filmmaking. Here's this assignment, its an uphill battle, do you want it? I'm not strictly anti-remake, but its such a fine line between clever and homaging and full on carbon copy with a known quantity's name attached to it. The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven is a prime example of this. Both work, extremely well telling the same story under different circumstances for different cultures. I mean, how are we all going to feel in 20 years when E.T. gets remade? Or Raiders of the Lost Ark? Those are some serious shoes to fill, and too much deviation or too much adherance to the source material will sink projects like that.

[Arthur Ratnik]

I liked Zombie's Halloween, he made Myers more human which was neat, he just wasn't as scary. I think Zombie was artistically into it, but I get the feeling that this isn't a labor of love like The Devil's Rejects.
I really liked the Dawn Of The Dead remake, even though I,too wanted to hate it. It still lacked the depth of the original. The less said about the Chainsaw remakes the better, even R Lee Ermy couldn't save those ones.
I'm not at all against remakes, I just don't like 80% of them. I understand why they're done and sometimes I think there's good reasons for them about 20% of the time. I'm still waiting for a Let Me In download. I am SERIOUSLY prejudiced against that remake, but I gotta see it!

[Joe Anthrax]

[Hair-Metal Hero]

The "Friday" remake was so perfunctory, again, lack of charm. Boring kills, lame setup with the legend of unlimitless pot out in the woods. Dumb. Jason having an underground system of tunnels? Really? The cast was pretty and the acting was good, but it just exists. Its not sleazy enough to be a throwback to the first few films, and where it tries to go its own way, again, just didn't hit for me. I haven't seen the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street, but I can already tell its going to suck, but I'll definitely check it out, just because I love the Freddy character so much.

[ljacone]

Don't get me wrong. I would much rather see something original than a remake. But I think that from a creative standpoint these guys are trying to make something worthy, even if they don't always hit the mark. Snyder's DotD misses a lot of the point of Romero's original, and in fact misses out on a ton of potential modern allegory as well. It's a good zombie movie but certainly not deserving of the name "Dawn Of The Dead." Had it been called, I don't know, The Living Dead at Eastgate Mall, I'd have been much happier.

On the other hand, check out the remake of My Bloody Valentine. Definitely honors the original (which is a classic, if not overly well-known film), but moves in its own direction and is, at the end of the day, a strong little slasher film in it's own right.