Conjuring the devil made me do it was unsurprisingly bad. like waste of production and casting because there was zero script.
I loved the 2003 Wrong Turn, but it was probably just because I was a 16 year old watching peak Dushku and Chriqui be chased around.
The first one was fun as hell. It followed I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend but I liked Wrong Turn better. Nice and gory kills.
I'm really enjoying these Fear Street movies on Netflix. Really campy and fun with great kills and gore. Wife and I can't wait for the third one to come out Friday.
That first Fear Street was fucking awful. It was like watching a constant Now That’s What I Call 90s Music schlock video. I’m hoping they tone down the fake nostalgia for the 70’s since no one is running around these days talking about how they’re a “70’s baby” the way people who were born in 1996 talk about being a “90’s baby” all over social media (even though they can’t possibly even remember the decade).
It's surprisingly fun. I've discovered Kill Count on youtube and it is great background noise. The host can be a hair annoying but breaking down all the kills in horror movies is just great content.
The first Stranger Things did a great job with the nostalgia —these films are tired horror stories as vehicle for their trendy pandering, fake nostalgia cash grab (Much like every film or show that jumped on the late 80s/90s nostalgia trend since Stranger Things). It’s a caricature of nostalgia and not even a fun or well done one. They just lean on obvious pop songs as an aesthetic crutch and it can only get you so far.
Movies based on books that were written in the 90s, the first one about the 90s, by an author who was incredibly popular in the 90s.... are copying stranger things?
First one definitely tried to force the nostalgia but wasn't overly successful with it. Feels like they tried to jam as many 15 second clips of hit 90s songs as possible and called it good. But in their defense, the target audience for the movie is people that weren't actually alive in the 90s. Enjoyed the second one much more but still think the first is worth watching.
I didn’t say anything about the book or source material (other than these being tired stories). I’m talking about their terrible attempt to cash in on the late 80s/90s nostalgia trend or general era-nostalgia trend (started by Stranger Things) and what a terrible job they did. The first two are so far are shallow pandering garbage. Also this seems pretty obvious that theyre tacking on the RL Stine name as more shallow nostalgia pandering. There’s no substance here. They’re not even based on the books anyway. Here’s a quote from the director: “They’re not really based concretely in the book,” explains Janiak. “Mostly, I think I would endeavor to stay true to the spirit of the books, which was kind of subversive and edgy for teenage readers.”
I saw it as purposely camp. Which made the ending of the 1994 more impactful. The beginning is clearly a Scream ripoff, the middle is cheesy Goosebumps fluff which paid off in the end in spectacular blood soaked finale. Heavy handed nostalgia is Adam Goldberg’s bedroom with a Time Bandits poster or even The Thing poster in Stranger Things (the movie flopped). Fear Street was just hitting the themes of previous era specific genres unlike something like Wonder Women 1984, which was nostalgia vomit
I wouldn’t say heavy handed nostalgia is a poster on the wall,I’d say it’s a constant 90s music playlist without a breather. It doesn’t even work in the context of the film because it feels so disingenuous and tacked on.
Really solid ‘nostalgia’/retro style horror: House of the Devil Summer of 84 The Guest It Follows IT (remake) Donnie Darko Paranormal Activity 3 Mindhunter Heart+Knife Beyond the Black Rainbow
None of those are camp or schlock era movies that are purposely crafted to be camp. Their literally copying horror movie tropes and not being clever or approaching it with some unique perspective. And The Guest is straight schlock, I thought for sure it would end up being about government soldier cyborgs.
I wouldn’t call the fear streets bad. They are enjoyable enough. Cramming so much 90s music through out was pretty bad though
I think we’re talking about two different things. I have trouble believing you feel Donnie Darko, It Follows, Heart+Knife, House of the Devil are trope fueled. The latter 3 specifically are gorgeous films that don’t rely on an era-specific soundtrack to make up for their inability to create actual atmosphere. And I could care less about camp other than probably Psycho Gorman. edit: also I’ll say I think the Fear Street movies are also poor examples of camp. They’re lazy
We’re definitely talking about two separate things. Nothing on your list is camp, except for The Guest and that’s why I singled it out. Everything else in your list is well crafted films set in a nostalgic time period that needs to be realistic. If it isn’t, they run the risk of feeling corny. To me, you can’t make a movie giving homage to Friday the 13th (which itself was sleazy camp) without coming across as camp. Scream was self aware, they did something original and put a microscope to the tropes. But all the films that followed feel very similar to Fear Street, I Know What You Did….Urban Legend. I’m not saying Fear Street is some great horror flick, it’s literally just fun. It doesn’t belong on some list with Panos Cosmatos films. It just shouldn’t be knocked for copying camp and being campy itself, I feel like that’s the purpose. And the witch possession gives a cool little tweak to allow them to span several genres and generations.
I think the Weimar Beer Belly would have liked it better if the monsters attacked with a fork and knife and then immediately started eating the victims like it was thanksgiving dinner.
My issue is that it’s lazy, unfun and cash grab camp. I couldn’t squeeze an ounce of actual nostalgic atmosphere from those movies like you could from the ones I mentioned before. I wasn’t trying to compare ‘serious film’ against ‘campy/fun films’ really, I was just giving examples of films with retro stylistics that I feel convey actual atmosphere and nostalgia well without the try hard/lazy tactics employed in some of these trendy throwback 80s/90’s horror (or other I guess) films. It completely takes me out of the film; I just can’t stand this shit and I don’t know why people eat it up. Anyway, moving on?
the Weimar Beer Belly are y'all going to watch part 3? I downloaded The Guest and have it to watch soon.
Probably. I don’t hold much hope and I hate to see how they’re going to try to inject a Nirvana song into 17th century America
Watched this movie called Sator on Shudder last night. I didn’t really like it, but it’s got pretty good reviews. A slow burn, atmospheric creepy horror movie. If nothing else it was nice to fall asleep to. Going to watch Superdeep next week and it looks fun. Very much recommend a Shudder subscription to horror movie fans.
Been introducing my old lady to a lot of old Italian/Giallo horror stuff through Shudder. It’s great for that. I wish there was a proper app for Hammer Horror/Amicus films.
Shudder is my favorite streaming app. Throwing on shit like Crystal Lake Memories all day while I do stuff around the house a great.
I thought Part 3 was fantastic. Probably my favorite one. They did play The Offspring and Oasis though, so beware the Weimar Beer Belly .
I enjoyed the whole thing, but I went in pretty much knowing what I was getting myself into. I did cringe at the up up down down cheat code thing