One more week. I am so fricking excited.
I spent an hour last night on Netflix compiling an extensive list of over a hundred possible movies, and then whittling and polishing that list down to a tidy 40 films. As I polished, the spirit of Gretchen the Underwhelming floated above me, whispering tidings of good luck. Her breath smells, even as a spirit.
My Horrorthon 07 tee shirt is on its way in the mail, as is my fucking sweet Gretchen mug. I'll be sporting both as the opening credits roll on my first movie.
I split my viewing last year between holiday horror and anthology horror, maybe selling both categories short. I'm sticking with one this year, although I haven't come up with a proper blanket way of referring to it.
I'm tentatively calling it "Real Horror." Included in this category are the following:
Movies about real events, inspired by real events, or inspiring real events
Example: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was based on Ed Gein. I'm only doing the original; I disqualified all of the sequels, as they were based on the first movie, rather than on Gein himself. I disqualified the remake and its sequel for the same reason.
As for films which inspired real events, I cite the example of the Collector. According to one account the Collector profoundly affected the young Robert Berdella when he saw the film as a teenager. His crime pattern reflected the MO of Terence Stamp's character.
Movies about creature attacks
This includes movies about solo attacking beasts or swarm attacks. I'm giving a pass to scientific experiments gone awry or radioactive mutations, so long as the mutation is limited to the hunger or aggressiveness of the attacking beast(s). So for instance, I'd exclude a movie like Night of the Lepus which changes the structure of the beast itself --- anything that grossly distorts the size or structure of its real world counterpart is out.
I'd also like a yea/nay on the following movies: Helter Skelter (either of them), Zodiac, M, Wait Until Dark.
HORRORTHON!!!
7 comments:
also, i compiled a Horrorthon music mix.
few of the tracks actually are about anything related to halloween or horror. most of them simply have musical themes i thought fit nicely into the sound spectrum of halloween.
i'd like to send copies out to everyone, but i need addresses. you can get my email from Octo if you don't already have it.
Marc, I'm sitting here at work drinking coffee and I just read your post - you've gotten me so f'ing amped for Horrorthon! I need to order my Horrorthon tee and Gretchen cup immediately. I've been stockpiling horror all year and I'm ready.
Octo, please send me Marc's email, I needs that music!
Hmmm, good question on those movies. I think Wait Until Dark would be considered "suspense". We have long debated whether or not serial killer movies count as horror. I don't believe we ever came up with a consensus. For example,I believe a movie like Silence of the Lambs is "suspense" while Hannibal is "horror". The distinction? Hannibal contains some seriously vile, SAW-like sequences while Silence is more psychological. This comes up with horror vs. Sci-fi as well. I think we agreed, for example, that Alien is horror while Aliens is science fiction.
I consider Psycho horror but I think "M" and Zodiac would fall under suspence, given their glacial pace and lack of "scares", which is the true spirit of "horror".
Perhaps we need to look at the "intention" of the film? Was it meant to scare, shock, disturb?
Okay, it's early Monday and I'm not sure that the above makes any sense. Want to weigh in on this gang?
Oh good - I'm glad we are having this debate as this will be my first year attempting participation and I need some guidance!
So monster movies are okay - if they are not more "Sci-fi" than horror? Citing jpx's Alien's examples.
I get the more "suspense" than horror thing...is there anything else??
As long as the Monster Mash isn't on there, then I'd love a copy of the 'Thon mix.
Also, I'm psyched you ordered the shirt & mug! Lauren and I got ours in the mail on Friday and I'm thrilled with how they came out.
Regarding horror/not horror. I'm not familiar with the movies in question but I'm now of the opinion that we should have the widest definition possible. As long as you have a fair share of proper splatter-fests to balance things out, I have no problem with any of those movies.
And Silence of the Lambs absolutely has to count. I think that if a movie scares the shit out of you; it's worthy. JPX, how can you neg SOTL after reviewing Head of the Family, Mr. Sardonicus and a host of other 50's goofball movies? You can't have it both ways.
But the intent of those "goofball" movies at the time was to scare, they just look silly by today's standards.
wait, what the hell is this picture?
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