Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Tuesday ramblings/3Ms/Whatever...

Quick post to keep my name out there - got to keep my cred up you know.

-Here's an amusing story from the good folks at the Banner-Herald. I think my favorite is the one guy's sarcastic mouth-off to the cop - "Have you been drinking or have I?" - classic - maybe that's why Wifeicek tells me to keep quiet on the way to and from a game. Though, I think we've all suffered from "exploding bladder" before - though I've never showered it's glory down upon Hooters patrons before.

-New bowl predictions are out for the Dawgs:

Well at least we achieved some consistency among the prognisticators. Again, this means absolutely nothing - I am still holding out hope for a great finish, two SEC teams in the BCS and a trip to Tampa.

-Wifeicek and I went to see the original "Halloween" at the FABULOUS Beechwood here in Athens last night. Seeing that slasher classic brought up an interesting conversation between Pasqua and I today - which is superior: the campy monster/babysitter stalker films of the 80s (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street) or the new breed of gore-centric torturefilms a la Saw, Hostel, etc?

Now that's what I call scary...and amusing at the same time.

I am a STAUNCH advocate of the former. These new films have lost the sense of fun and enjoyment that the old 80s movies had. The 80s films played the gore and horror for fun and camp - the new films force little children to rip out their loving father's intestines out to find a key. I miss the days when I could watch Michael Myers rip off a philandering boyfriend's arm and then watch so much blood shoot out it could fill Gulf of Mexico. I miss the shots of the heroine throwing the knife down next to obviously not dead monster. Now all we get are twisted serial killers torturing people on screen and its not even the least bit scary...just disturbing, brutal, and evil. Thoughts?

10 comments:

Pasqua said...

Hey dummy. I've never even seen Hostel and I only mentioned that I "enjoyed" Saw. Not to mention that I haven't seen too many of the old school flicks. But hey, if that's what you call a debate than so be it. I hope I won said "debate".

Anonymous said...

We watched "Slither" last night and it was thoroughly amusing, funny and goretastic.

Josh M. said...

Have you watched any of the "Friday the 13th" movies recently? Godawful. The only good "Halloween" was the first one, there were a couple moderately clever "Nightmare on Elm Streets," and maybe "Child's Play," but '80s horror movies were generally shitty. Of course, today's horror movies aren't much better, but the "Saw" flicks (haven't seen the new one) are actually pretty good. And "Hostel" wasn't so much a horror movie so much as a porno. Which was fine.

Pasqua said...

Pet Cemetary. That was my favorite horror movie. And Newsies. But Newsies is my favorite movie of any genre.

TKAthens said...

I'm not saying Halloween 4, Friday 5, Nightmare 4, etc were on par with "American Beauty"...but that's not why I watch a movie like that - I'm looking for some shots through the eyes of the killer as he creeps up stairs, Michael Myers emerging from shadows behind and unknowing teen, and some goofy, over-the-top gore. All around horror movie fun. With "Saw" all you get is horrific scenes of people torturing each other and a ZERO on the scare factor. I'm just saying horror movies have gone away from being about fun and have swung far more towards being just plain disturbing.

Josh M. said...

Well, "Halloween 4" was better than "American Beauty," but so was Screech's porno tape.

Seriously, though (actually I was pretty serious), when was any "horror" movie actually scary? Even when I was a kid, Jason, Freddy and Michael never actually frightened me. And I'm not talking "cat jumping out of the shadows" fright - that's the cheap kind. I'm talking movies that actually freak you out. Only one movie has done that to me: "The Shining."

And "Witchboard," but I was only 10, so that might not count. (I think I watched that at the Hartmans, actually).

Jmac said...

The Exorcist freaked me out something fierce, though good call on The Shining.

The best part of Friday the 13th was the creativity of the campy deaths. I remember one where Jason tucked a kid in a sleeping bag and beat him against the tree. I remember my dad laughing out loud to that, which was a bit disturbing in its own right.

TKAthens said...

That's what I'm talking about JMac - they made those movies to be outlandish and fun. This new breed of horror is nothing but mean-spirited.

And I certainly won't lie - I definitely thought Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street were pretty fricking scary when I was youngster (and heck, parts of them get me today)....so sorry Josh "Braun and Beefcake" Massey.

Furthermore - I did like American Beauty and I know you did too Massey cause you're my Netflix friend and it says so right there...busted. But a more genre specific comparison was probably needed so how about "Psycho", the makers of Friday the 13th Seven weren't trying to make the next "Psycho" just something fun. Better?

Anonymous said...

I am all for the funny/gory "so bad they're good" horror flicks, too. Tim, have you seen "Dead Alive" by Peter Jackson? They showed clips of it on a "scary movie moments" show Scott and I watched last night and it looked like pure schlocky genius.

TKAthens said...

OF COURSE I've seen "Dead Alive" aka "Braindead". Some CLASSIC scenes in that films including Peter Jackson playing a maniacal lab assistant. Jackson threw a few in jokes about Dead Alive in King Kong. Very much in the "Army of Darkness"/"Evil Dead 2" vein.