Post by Killer Rob on Sept 16, 2010 14:40:04 GMT -5
So, to get started, let's all just assume that any movie more than a year old that I post about will contain spoilers. I for one will avoid threads of movies or shows I haven't seen just cause I know that they probably contain spoilers, this is one reason I haven't posted in the True Blood season 3 thread, cause I luv True Blood and have seen the first couple of seasons and I'd luv to discuss it and I'm dying to know what you guys think about it, but the fact is that I haven't seen any of this season and I want to be surprised when I finally do watch it and catch up. This is just a quick message to all the types of people who luv to click on something that they haven't yet seen and post sarcastically 'thanks for the spoiler alert'... which I doubt we have any jackasses like that on this board, which is one of the reasons I really like this board, but you know, we've all seen those types of people on the internet. I'm just not going to post spoiler alert in all my titles of movies that I'd like to discuss, so there you have it.
So, after watching The Last Exorcism last weekend, it got me thinking about this movie The House of the Devil. I only saw it when it came out a while ago, and after watching it, I remember that I went online to read what other people thought. I was surprised by what I read, but at the same time I wasn't really all that surprised by what many people thought.
I remember watching it, and immediately thinking that when the girl goes to babysit, and things seemed really weird vibe-wise, that she made the classic mistake of allowing her friend to leave, and even more at fault for not getting the F out herself when she had the chance. But I guess if the babysitting girl leaves, then we have no horror movie right? It's funny how I am fully aware of this, but everytime I watch a horror movie and a similar situation like this is in a movie, I'm all "oh you're a dumbass, shit doesn't seem right and you're going to leave your friends to go out to the shed by yourself to fix the breaker after the power went out??"
Anyways, I watched the movie and went online, I read how the director wanted to make this movie with an 80's feel to it, as in it takes place in the 80's, but also how 80's horror movies were made. When I watched it, I thought it took place in the 70's, but after reading that it was the 80's, I should've noticed things that the director specifically put into the movie like hairstyles, clothes styles like jordache jeans, a clunky SONY walkman, and the music that the girl listens to, etc.. I'm never really clever enough to pick up on things like that as I watch a movie, I guess I need to pay more attention so I can appreciate shit like that. There is also a caption at the beginning of the movie that mentions events that happened in the 80's, but more on that in a bit.
So anyway, when the girl babysits, she explores this mysterious house during the movie. This, as everyone knows, is called a 'slow build', but to many of the comments I read after I saw the movie, it was the thing that most people complained about. Some could say that this movie had a super slo-mo build. I kind of thought the build worked (cause I'm a sucker for the vibes that the builds in these kind of genre of movies dish out), but I also could understand as I was watching the movie how it sure was taking a long time to get the ball rolling, to get a taste of some action so to speak.
^^^question...did the build work or not in this movie?
So because people complained about the slow build, the next biggest complaint was that the climax from the super long build didn't deliver. Many people were expecting more from the ending because they had to endure a long wait for it, and then the satanic seance/ritual happens, and the climax ends rather quickly to many people's disappointment...and trust me, many of them carried their rage online to post how pissed they were about it.
^^^question...was the climax of the movie worth the wait?
Now, as mentioned earlier, there is a caption at the beginning of the movie that says "based on a true story". I always love when I read this at the beginning of a movie, especially a horror movie, because then it becomes that much more real, and less hollywood movie fake. Turns out, that's exactly why the director puts the caption in the movie, cause he wants the viewer to take the movie seriously. Problem is, the movie isn't exactly a 'true story', as you can easily realize, especially at the end when the girl is pregnant with satan's baby. (which also sets us up for a sequel) The caption at the beginning of the movie should have read 'based on an inspired story' -from America's imaginations and views of what the 80's satanic culture must've been up to behind closed doors. I guess 'based on an inspired story' doesn't quite have the same ring or effect that the words 'true story' have.
Well, needless to say, this pissed many people off. I even had a problem with it, cause hollywood is starting to go all 'boy who cried wolf' lying to us viewers about what's true. I mean, how can you say that it's based on a true story when obviously that is a bunch of B.S., right? Well, I read an interview with the director, and he had stated that while the movie wasn't a true story, there were 80's cults who did rituals, and he mainly wanted to get the viewer to take the movie seriously...After I read that, I really wasn't as pissed cause what it did was work to perfection until the very last scene (on me atleast), but at the same time it's still lying to the audience and I don't want hollywood making a bunch of bogus movies and stamping them with the "based on true story' tag.
^^^question...was it bush league for the director to caption the movie as a true story?
It's almost October, the official horror movie month of the year, and after watching the Last Exorcism, this movie came back into my mind and these are the thoughts that came about. I was debating whether I should pick this movie up or not to add to the collection as a permanent classic, cause my collection only contains classics. I always watch a movie first, determine if it sucks or not, and if I'm super impressed and keep thinking about the movie days/months/years later, then I think it has some substance and can go in to the collection as a KR classic. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure about it. I think I like it, in fact, I'm pretty sure I liked it and that the movie worked. So give me some answers to the questions guys, and let me know if this is a great horror movie or not. By great, I mean a movie that you will want to watch atleast once every ten years. I'll be able to sit down in say, 6 or 7 years, pop this baby in and enjoy that slooooowwwww build right? thanks
So, after watching The Last Exorcism last weekend, it got me thinking about this movie The House of the Devil. I only saw it when it came out a while ago, and after watching it, I remember that I went online to read what other people thought. I was surprised by what I read, but at the same time I wasn't really all that surprised by what many people thought.
I remember watching it, and immediately thinking that when the girl goes to babysit, and things seemed really weird vibe-wise, that she made the classic mistake of allowing her friend to leave, and even more at fault for not getting the F out herself when she had the chance. But I guess if the babysitting girl leaves, then we have no horror movie right? It's funny how I am fully aware of this, but everytime I watch a horror movie and a similar situation like this is in a movie, I'm all "oh you're a dumbass, shit doesn't seem right and you're going to leave your friends to go out to the shed by yourself to fix the breaker after the power went out??"
Anyways, I watched the movie and went online, I read how the director wanted to make this movie with an 80's feel to it, as in it takes place in the 80's, but also how 80's horror movies were made. When I watched it, I thought it took place in the 70's, but after reading that it was the 80's, I should've noticed things that the director specifically put into the movie like hairstyles, clothes styles like jordache jeans, a clunky SONY walkman, and the music that the girl listens to, etc.. I'm never really clever enough to pick up on things like that as I watch a movie, I guess I need to pay more attention so I can appreciate shit like that. There is also a caption at the beginning of the movie that mentions events that happened in the 80's, but more on that in a bit.
So anyway, when the girl babysits, she explores this mysterious house during the movie. This, as everyone knows, is called a 'slow build', but to many of the comments I read after I saw the movie, it was the thing that most people complained about. Some could say that this movie had a super slo-mo build. I kind of thought the build worked (cause I'm a sucker for the vibes that the builds in these kind of genre of movies dish out), but I also could understand as I was watching the movie how it sure was taking a long time to get the ball rolling, to get a taste of some action so to speak.
^^^question...did the build work or not in this movie?
So because people complained about the slow build, the next biggest complaint was that the climax from the super long build didn't deliver. Many people were expecting more from the ending because they had to endure a long wait for it, and then the satanic seance/ritual happens, and the climax ends rather quickly to many people's disappointment...and trust me, many of them carried their rage online to post how pissed they were about it.
^^^question...was the climax of the movie worth the wait?
Now, as mentioned earlier, there is a caption at the beginning of the movie that says "based on a true story". I always love when I read this at the beginning of a movie, especially a horror movie, because then it becomes that much more real, and less hollywood movie fake. Turns out, that's exactly why the director puts the caption in the movie, cause he wants the viewer to take the movie seriously. Problem is, the movie isn't exactly a 'true story', as you can easily realize, especially at the end when the girl is pregnant with satan's baby. (which also sets us up for a sequel) The caption at the beginning of the movie should have read 'based on an inspired story' -from America's imaginations and views of what the 80's satanic culture must've been up to behind closed doors. I guess 'based on an inspired story' doesn't quite have the same ring or effect that the words 'true story' have.
Well, needless to say, this pissed many people off. I even had a problem with it, cause hollywood is starting to go all 'boy who cried wolf' lying to us viewers about what's true. I mean, how can you say that it's based on a true story when obviously that is a bunch of B.S., right? Well, I read an interview with the director, and he had stated that while the movie wasn't a true story, there were 80's cults who did rituals, and he mainly wanted to get the viewer to take the movie seriously...After I read that, I really wasn't as pissed cause what it did was work to perfection until the very last scene (on me atleast), but at the same time it's still lying to the audience and I don't want hollywood making a bunch of bogus movies and stamping them with the "based on true story' tag.
^^^question...was it bush league for the director to caption the movie as a true story?
It's almost October, the official horror movie month of the year, and after watching the Last Exorcism, this movie came back into my mind and these are the thoughts that came about. I was debating whether I should pick this movie up or not to add to the collection as a permanent classic, cause my collection only contains classics. I always watch a movie first, determine if it sucks or not, and if I'm super impressed and keep thinking about the movie days/months/years later, then I think it has some substance and can go in to the collection as a KR classic. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure about it. I think I like it, in fact, I'm pretty sure I liked it and that the movie worked. So give me some answers to the questions guys, and let me know if this is a great horror movie or not. By great, I mean a movie that you will want to watch atleast once every ten years. I'll be able to sit down in say, 6 or 7 years, pop this baby in and enjoy that slooooowwwww build right? thanks