I know that some people may disagree with me on this one, but I thought Wolf Creek was a well-made modern horror film. While not a masterpiece by any means, it succeeded in being very disturbing, and ignoring horror clichés. A lot of people see the film as merely torture porn, when in fact it is superior and much more intelligent than films like the Saw franchise or Hostel, which are just awful, and are just basically torture porn.
Wasn't fussed on WC. If you want a deeply disturbing and thrilling horror/chase film, go for French Horror "Them" (Ils).
I emailed Konami earlier, asking whether a Silent Hill port for the iPhone is possible sometime in the future. I mentioned how there have been successful ports like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Prince of Persia, so we can only hope they will do something. When I hear from them, I'll let you know what they say
I've seen all of them apart from La Horde. Inside and Martyrs were great. I enjoyed Haute Tension/Switchblade Romance too, but less so than Martyrs and Inside. What's La Horde about?
Yeh. In my email to them, I mentioned Silent Hill 2 in particular for a port Any port is better than Silent Hill - The Escape anyways.
Yeah, same here. I was playing it while I was home alone (which was a stupid idea), and I walked into the courtyard of the school. All of a sudden, some strange noise started playing and it freaked me out and I quit the game as quickly as I could. And I'm sure that, knowing Silent Hill, that is going to end up being the least of my problems.
I was joking. The book was real good, but the movie SUCKED. I wish movies could be like the book. Some stuff in the movie cost more and wasn't in the book, like the Parthenon scene, the whole schtick at the Empire State Building with Luke...
yes quite - have you read the book? Its not as terrifying I find, more interesting and I love his style. I own both System Shock 1 and 2 - but at this time I can only say you are better off trying to find it by other means. When copies are this expensive - it is hard to recommend spending the money.
Yes I read Naked Lunch, Yage Letters, Junkie and Nova Express. But only in german translation, so far. Didn´t have the time to pick up an original copy. It´s not scary in the sence of scary writing. The real scary thing is that Burroughs EXPERIENCED this all!! (Hunter S. Thomson also falls into that category, but Burroughs is a much better writer). His style of writing is nearly documentary. I like this writing style particularly. That´s what I also like about Lovecraft so much. He has a very scientific writing, though he manages to convey a high level of poetic sense. I read the english orignal after I read the German translation. And I found the documented Horror in the German Version much stronger, while the original was much mich poetic for me. Maybe the connection to the english meaning is, naturally not so close to me as german. But Borroughs isn´t basically fiction, anymore, to me. It´s the life. @System Shock: yeah, crazy collectors! Stupid collectors FREAK ME OUT!
BTW iZombie DeathMarch the 3rd level?! in the Storehouse in the darkness with only the Flashlight I found really scary. And Anybody finding the Underground Tunnel part after the train crash in Half Life EP1 really scary, too? They really push that THAT Button in this chapter!
I have only read Naked Lunch, as well as some interviews. I also listen to Spare Ass Annie & Dead City Radio quite a bit. I love Thompson's style of writing - he writes with a distinctly earthy and human point of view. I have of course read his most famous works - my favourite though is The Great Shark Hunt which would have been perfect if he had replaced the Fear & Loathing & Hells Angels segments with other work (could have trimmed at least 200-250 pages from that beast). Burroughs on the other hand has this detached clinical and almost alien point of view that I find completely amusing. Love Tom Robbins sense of style and some of Bukowski's works as well. Good to know there is another explorative reader here as well.
barl: Thank you for opening my eyes to Eisenstein. I had never heard of him, and he sounds extremely important. So I'm extremely grateful that you two talked about him I did like Wolf Creek, but was a bit underwhelmed by it when I saw it. Now I do have one quarrel with what you said in that post right there. I agree that Hostel is nothing more than torture porn. When you sit down and watch that movie, you can't really take anything from it except for the feeling that you just got soaked with a ridiculous amount of torture and blood... nothing deep past that. Hostel: Part II, however, did actually leave me with a much better impression. Though the torture in it is certainly a centerpiece, Eli Roth did try to infuse some emotion and proper character development into it, and I thought it succeeded on those levels. Especially with the surprise character turns near the end, I was pretty satisfied with Hostel: Part II. It was much better than the first movie. For SAW, however, I disagree completely. The first SAW film was made and marketed as if the traps were only a small part of it. That is not what SAW was originally about, nor is that what any of the movies are about. There is a massive misconception here. The SAW series has never been about the traps. The thing most people talk about when I ask them about SAW, is the twist. If you want to lay anything on the SAW series with "porn" next to the name, I think a more appropriate term would be "Twist Porn". But let's not degrade the name like that. SAW is not about the traps, it's about the story. Granted, the marketing would lead you to believe that it's "just about the gore and traps", but those marketers are some slimy cats. Never ever underestimate a SAW film's story. SAW had a simple story of two men being chained in a prehistoric bathroom, trying to escape, and in the process, finding out each others' secrets and connections. While this is going on, we also are told a tale of this mastermind who "finds ways for his victims to kill themselves". He's not a murderer or a serial killer, at least not in the literal sense of those words. But I'm getting off-track here. Basically, SAW had humble beginnings. Traps were so benign in the first film, but they hooked on to some people, and that's what the marketers go after: The gorehounds. Like I said, though, these marketers are slimy cats. They're doing the series a great injustice by marketing it like this. The SAW series has had progressively more complicated characters, both dimensionally and emotionally, going through each and every movie. The actual storylines haven't been too complex, though. But they still managed to pull some amazing plot twists and explosive endings, regardless of these not-so-complex (but still interesting and complex enough) storylines. When I think of "torture porn", I think of movies that have absolutely no reason for being made except to get the gorehounds howling. There's not much story to speak of, not much character development going on, and nothing that sticks with you after watching the film except for the gore and traps. There is no substantial merit for the story or characters; just the gore and torture. To relegate SAW to "torture porn" is a travesty, and it does not deserve that type of degradation. Though each progressive film in the series does make the traps more extravagant and "epic", that shouldn't be your main line of focus. Focus on the characters, the continually more intricate plotlines and connections, and best of all: The twists. If you still call SAW part of the "torture porn" genre, do it if you wish. But let me help out a little by saying that SAW is not in the "torture porn" genre. The SAW series is a psychological thriller, through and through. There are tiny specks in the series that haters will fixate on (the gore and traps, mainly), but these people that are hating on it for these reasons have no valid reasoning to hate. As I said, the traps are tiny specks compared to the complex characters and twists. The haters don't focus on those things, and I can't begin to understand why they would have missed them. If I had to guess, though, I'd say it's because these haters never actually gave the series a chance. End of defense
I did think refering about Bukowski also would lead too astray but since you mention him, I see we have something in commen. I admit I only actively realized Hunter´s existance after the movie from Terry Gilliam, which is such a master piece. I know (and i think) comparing books to movies is the wrong approach in it´s own thesis, but when I read Fear & Loathing I was utterly bored. And I remember it was a good translation. I guess I have to give it another go sometimes but tied up in otherwise work, so that won´t happen so soon. As for Burroughs Naked Lunch in in the middle of the scale between Documentary Writing (Junkie, Yage) and Total Alienation (Nova Express). So Naked Lunch has the best of both worlds and thus the most interesting one. While Nova is the result of his Cut Up techniques applied to a great extent to his story fragments. Reading Nova is an experience in itself. It`s really like drug trip bound into letters. BTW: last Winter I was looking through a used CD market and found a CD from William S. Burroughs & Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy. Which is a Remix Project of Spare Ass Annie on the original readings. I had no second thoughts getting it.
And for immanent reasons: who else was scared by Le Chuck`s Revenge? Esp. the final part. When I played it the first time, man I say, the ending really was totally mentally disturbingly creepy.
