Stephen King thinks that hollywood can't make a good horror movie

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20210538,00.html

While I do disagree slightly with parts of the article, its still a great read that I mostly agree with. Do you agree with the article or disagree? Please read it though.

agree, these days if you wanna find good horror, you have to either go independent or foreign

american hollywood can only come up with gore porn and boobs

I watched High Tension tonight, it was good (along with Halloween and Blair Witch) because they don't try to scare you. They're horror movies and they're scary, but they don't make it obvious that their goal is to freak you out. Movies like Boogeyman are horrible because they try too hard.

EDIT: So yeah, I basically agree with King.

While I do disagree slightly with parts of the article, its still a great read that I mostly agree with. Do you agree with the article or disagree? Please read it though.

Film-Guy

I agree with him on The Happening which I think gets more hate then it deserves.

I have yet to find any horror film actually scary since Signs, mainly because gore/blood/ghosts/killing doesnt scare me at all. I think it'll be awhile till another film scares me as much as Signs did.

agree, these days if you wanna find good horror, you have to either go independent or foreign

american hollywood can only come up with gore porn and boobs

legend26

This. Although I dont see a problem with teh bewbs.

didn't read the article but the Japanese make good horror moviesNifty_Shark

Yeah if their ideas are remade by American production.. Japan's movie production values are AWFUL, having cinematography, special effects, and presentation closer to a very low budget sci fi chennel movie their ideas are just wasted..

I watched High Tension tonight, it was good (along with Halloween and Blair Witch) because they don't try to scare you. They're horror movies and they're scary, but they don't make it obvious that their goal is to freak you out. Movies like Boogeyman are horrible because they try too hard.blackngold29

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"]

While I do disagree slightly with parts of the article, its still a great read that I mostly agree with. Do you agree with the article or disagree? Please read it though.

SaintLeonidas

I agree with him on The Happening which I think gets more hate then it deserves.

I have yet to find any horror film actually scary since Signs, mainly because gore/blood/ghosts/killing doesnt scare me at all. I think it'll be awhile till another film scares me as much as Signs did.

I am quite sure both The Happening and Signs were thrillers if anything..

[QUOTE="blackngold29"]I watched High Tension tonight, it was good (along with Halloween and Blair Witch) because they don't try to scare you. They're horror movies and they're scary, but they don't make it obvious that their goal is to freak you out. Movies like Boogeyman are horrible because they try too hard.mexicangordo

[QUOTE="blackngold29"]I watched High Tension tonight, it was good (along with Halloween and Blair Witch) because they don't try to scare you. They're horror movies and they're scary, but they don't make it obvious that their goal is to freak you out. Movies like Boogeyman are horrible because they try too hard.mexicangordo

Also the ending to high tension was a bit far fetched and had some plot holes.

[QUOTE="Nifty_Shark"]didn't read the article but the Japanese make good horror moviessSubZerOo

Yeah if their ideas are remade by American production.. Japan's movie production values are AWFUL, having cinematography, special effects, and presentation closer to a very low budget sci fi chennel movie their ideas are just wasted..

The majority of american remakes of asian films are not as good, there are very few exceptions. I dont see why they look so awful, they look fine to me.

didn't read the article but the Japanese make good horror moviesNifty_Shark

There is also the occasional good british horror movies, korea and thailant put out some gems too.

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

[QUOTE="Nifty_Shark"]didn't read the article but the Japanese make good horror moviesFilm-Guy

Yeah if their ideas are remade by American production.. Japan's movie production values are AWFUL, having cinematography, special effects, and presentation closer to a very low budget sci fi chennel movie their ideas are just wasted..

The majority of american remakes of asian films are not as good, there are very few exceptions. I dont see why they look so awful, they look fine to me.

Their production value is awful? Take the Grudge comparison.. Both weren't very scary.. But the one in japan had a bunch of people in white make up that walked around.. Thats it.. There was very little to it.. Japan's production values are awful, plain and simpel. This isn't to say I find the remakes scary, they have their moments.. Mainly witht he little girls.. But when you compare it to the Japanese ones, the actual ones.. They are not scary what so ever.. Their music is subpar, the atmopshere, the special effects.

[QUOTE="mexicangordo"][QUOTE="blackngold29"]I watched High Tension tonight, it was good (along with Halloween and Blair Witch) because they don't try to scare you. They're horror movies and they're scary, but they don't make it obvious that their goal is to freak you out. Movies like Boogeyman are horrible because they try too hard.Film-Guy

Also the ending to high tension was a bit far fetched and had some plot holes.

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

[QUOTE="Nifty_Shark"]didn't read the article but the Japanese make good horror moviessSubZerOo

Yeah if their ideas are remade by American production.. Japan's movie production values are AWFUL, having cinematography, special effects, and presentation closer to a very low budget sci fi chennel movie their ideas are just wasted..

The majority of american remakes of asian films are not as good, there are very few exceptions. I dont see why they look so awful, they look fine to me.

Their production value is awful? Take the Grudge comparison.. Both weren't very scary.. But the one in japan had a bunch of people in white make up that walked around.. Thats it.. There was very little to it.. Japan's production values are awful, plain and simpel. This isn't to say I find the remakes scary, they have their moments.. Mainly witht he little girls.. But when you compare it to the Japanese ones, the actual ones.. They are not scary what so ever.. Their music is subpar, the atmopshere, the special effects.

Stephen King is a clown that writes by-the-numbers horror trash with an emphasis on shocking the reader with shallow sentiment without trying to truly "scare" them with any solid, well written content. He is not capable.burpysmurph

Stephen King has gone down hill as a author ever sense he got off Booze and drugs.

Stephen King is a clown that writes by-the-numbers horror trash with an emphasis on shocking the reader with shallow sentiment without trying to truly "scare" them with any solid, well written content. He is not capable.burpysmurph

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"][QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

[QUOTE="Nifty_Shark"]didn't read the article but the Japanese make good horror moviesblackngold29

Yeah if their ideas are remade by American production.. Japan's movie production values are AWFUL, having cinematography, special effects, and presentation closer to a very low budget sci fi chennel movie their ideas are just wasted..

The majority of american remakes of asian films are not as good, there are very few exceptions. I dont see why they look so awful, they look fine to me.

Their production value is awful? Take the Grudge comparison.. Both weren't very scary.. But the one in japan had a bunch of people in white make up that walked around.. Thats it.. There was very little to it.. Japan's production values are awful, plain and simpel. This isn't to say I find the remakes scary, they have their moments.. Mainly witht he little girls.. But when you compare it to the Japanese ones, the actual ones.. They are not scary what so ever.. Their music is subpar, the atmopshere, the special effects.

Thats the thing though, every single japanese horror movie I have seen.. Japanese made.. Has had very poor production value where it seems like they have such little budget that they can't do anything..

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King is a clown that writes by-the-numbers horror trash with an emphasis on shocking the reader with shallow sentiment without trying to truly "scare" them with any solid, well written content. He is not capable.sSubZerOo

Stephen King has gone down hill as a author ever sense he got off Booze and drugs.

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King is a clown that writes by-the-numbers horror trash with an emphasis on shocking the reader with shallow sentiment without trying to truly "scare" them with any solid, well written content. He is not capable.sSubZerOo

Stephen King has gone down hill as a author ever sense he got off Booze and drugs.

I diagree, I thought his last book Duma Key was one of the best he has written.

[QUOTE="blackngold29"][QUOTE="sSubZerOo"][QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

[QUOTE="Nifty_Shark"]didn't read the article but the Japanese make good horror moviessSubZerOo

Yeah if their ideas are remade by American production.. Japan's movie production values are AWFUL, having cinematography, special effects, and presentation closer to a very low budget sci fi chennel movie their ideas are just wasted..

The majority of american remakes of asian films are not as good, there are very few exceptions. I dont see why they look so awful, they look fine to me.

Their production value is awful? Take the Grudge comparison.. Both weren't very scary.. But the one in japan had a bunch of people in white make up that walked around.. Thats it.. There was very little to it.. Japan's production values are awful, plain and simpel. This isn't to say I find the remakes scary, they have their moments.. Mainly witht he little girls.. But when you compare it to the Japanese ones, the actual ones.. They are not scary what so ever.. Their music is subpar, the atmopshere, the special effects.

Thats the thing though, every single japanese horror movie I have seen.. Japanese made.. Has had very poor production value where it seems like they have such little budget that they can't do anything..

I dont honestly see a big difference production wise between the remakes and the originals, they both look like white makeup to me. I think the more atmosphere driven originals are better most of the time, for example the remake of pulse was awful while the original film kairo was one of the best horror films made this decade.

Dumb, dumb Stephen King. Horror films usually suck for one reason alone, and that's because filmmakers are lazy. Some genres just lend themselves incredibly well to laziness. Romantic comedies (chick flicks) for example. They don't have to be good, they just need to follow a trite formula. People's girlfriends will still go to watch the movie, and then those women's boyfriends will pay to see the movie too in the hopes that putting up with 90 minutes of cinematic garbage will get them closer to having sex.

Then we have science fiction films. Science fiction films are one of my favourite genres...when they're good. The problem is that they're almost never good, and the only reason why they're almost never good is because filmmakers are lazy. Why make a smart science fiction movie and then have people complain that the alien was just a woman's dad, when you can fabricate an excuse to blow up spaceships and have giant bugs eat people? It's not that good smart science fiction is hard to do, it's that so many people don't even TRY because they know that all they have to do is have some good money shots and a reasonably coherent plot, and people will watch it.

Same thing with horror. People don't TRY. It's easier to put out low-budget horror movies a few times a year, make them violent and bloody, perhaps throw in a few boobs, and it'll probably make some money from the people who like horror movies. And hell, even the people who are pissed off that there are no GOOD horror movies available at the time might STILL go see it, just because there's so little in the way of quality horror for them to see.

I have to agree. The only good ones have been remakes of Japanese films.

Scary horror movies are ones that not only have shock value, but they totally mess with your mind. I havent seen a good horror movie like that for a long, long time. Since Event Horizon or something.

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King is a clown that writes by-the-numbers horror trash with an emphasis on shocking the reader with shallow sentiment without trying to truly "scare" them with any solid, well written content. He is not capable.Film-Guy

Stephen King has gone down hill as a author ever sense he got off Booze and drugs.

I diagree, I thought his last book Duma Key was one of the best he has written.

Wrong. Shock value and ignorant, shallow writing only go so far. It may satiate the layman, but it only bores and disgusts me.

Dead Silence is the only Horror movie in recent memory that has really scared me. I wish for more of them, and while I do mostly agree with you on the whole porn, boobs, gore thing, I must say that I really enjoyed Hostel 1 and 2 because it just 'fit'. Notsogr8one

I never saw Hostel 2, but the first one gets way more hate than it deserves. It was amateurishly-made and probably would have been better received if it had been a student film or something, but Hostel was a step above the vast majority of American made horror films if only because it actually had something to say.

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King is a clown that writes by-the-numbers horror trash with an emphasis on shocking the reader with shallow sentiment without trying to truly "scare" them with any solid, well written content. He is not capable.blackngold29

Dark Tower was a big disappointment. It peaked at book 2, and from that point onward it went steadily downward.

There were a few bright moments here and there, but for the most part, The Dark Tower became self-indulgent lazy garbage.

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"]Dead Silence is the only Horror movie in recent memory that has really scared me. I wish for more of them, and while I do mostly agree with you on the whole porn, boobs, gore thing, I must say that I really enjoyed Hostel 1 and 2 because it just 'fit'. MrGeezer

I never saw Hostel 2, but the first one gets way more hate than it deserves. It was amateurishly-made and probably would have been better received if it had been a student film or something, but Hostel was a step above the vast majority of American made horror films if only because it actually had something to say.

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King is a clown that writes by-the-numbers horror trash with an emphasis on shocking the reader with shallow sentiment without trying to truly "scare" them with any solid, well written content. He is not capable.burpysmurph

Stephen King has gone down hill as a author ever sense he got off Booze and drugs.

I diagree, I thought his last book Duma Key was one of the best he has written.

Wrong. Shock value and ignorant, shallow writing only go so far. It may satiate the layman, but it only bores and disgusts me.

Kindly remove your snobish head from your ass please, also my opinion is not wrong just because I like stephen king. Sure he may not be a great writer, but he is a great storyteller. I dont care how great of a writer someone is, if they are a bad storyteller then I wont be very interested.

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"]Dead Silence is the only Horror movie in recent memory that has really scared me. I wish for more of them, and while I do mostly agree with you on the whole porn, boobs, gore thing, I must say that I really enjoyed Hostel 1 and 2 because it just 'fit'. Notsogr8one

I never saw Hostel 2, but the first one gets way more hate than it deserves. It was amateurishly-made and probably would have been better received if it had been a student film or something, but Hostel was a step above the vast majority of American made horror films if only because it actually had something to say.

Meh I still thought they were crap films, I dont care what message a film has, if it sucks then why should I care?

[QUOTE="blackngold29"][QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King is a clown that writes by-the-numbers horror trash with an emphasis on shocking the reader with shallow sentiment without trying to truly "scare" them with any solid, well written content. He is not capable.MrGeezer

Dark Tower was a big disappointment. It peaked at book 2, and from that point onward it went steadily downward.

There were a few bright moments here and there, but for the most part, The Dark Tower became self-indulgent lazy garbage.

While I agree that the second book was the best, I still love the series. Sure it is very self indulgent, especially stephen king making himself a character, but I liked how the series is the center of most of his other book and how characters from his other books make appearences.

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"]Dead Silence is the only Horror movie in recent memory that has really scared me. I wish for more of them, and while I do mostly agree with you on the whole porn, boobs, gore thing, I must say that I really enjoyed Hostel 1 and 2 because it just 'fit'. Film-Guy

I never saw Hostel 2, but the first one gets way more hate than it deserves. It was amateurishly-made and probably would have been better received if it had been a student film or something, but Hostel was a step above the vast majority of American made horror films if only because it actually had something to say.

Meh I still thought they were crap films, I dont care what message a film has, if it sucks then why should I care?

Dumb, dumb Stephen King. Horror films usually suck for one reason alone, and that's because filmmakers are lazy. Some genres just lend themselves incredibly well to laziness. Romantic comedies (chick flicks) for example. They don't have to be good, they just need to follow a trite formula. People's girlfriends will still go to watch the movie, and then those women's boyfriends will pay to see the movie too in the hopes that putting up with 90 minutes of cinematic garbage will get them closer to having sex.

Then we have science fiction films. Science fiction films are one of my favourite genres...when they're good. The problem is that they're almost never good, and the only reason why they're almost never good is because filmmakers are lazy. Why make a smart science fiction movie and then have people complain that the alien was just a woman's dad, when you can fabricate an excuse to blow up spaceships and have giant bugs eat people? It's not that good smart science fiction is hard to do, it's that so many people don't even TRY because they know that all they have to do is have some good money shots and a reasonably coherent plot, and people will watch it.

Same thing with horror. People don't TRY. It's easier to put out low-budget horror movies a few times a year, make them violent and bloody, perhaps throw in a few boobs, and it'll probably make some money from the people who like horror movies. And hell, even the people who are pissed off that there are no GOOD horror movies available at the time might STILL go see it, just because there's so little in the way of quality horror for them to see.

MrGeezer

But do you think that hollywood makes good horror movies still? I couldnt really tell if you thought they did or not.

Stephen King writes like RL Stine, but with bigger "words", more adult content, and f-bombs, thinking that makes his work worthy of "adult readers"- what a joke. It is only worthy of adult children who never grew up. What a joke.burpysmurph

What authors do you read then? If your going to call my opinion wrong and say how he is a crap writer then at least say what you think is good writing.

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"]Dead Silence is the only Horror movie in recent memory that has really scared me. I wish for more of them, and while I do mostly agree with you on the whole porn, boobs, gore thing, I must say that I really enjoyed Hostel 1 and 2 because it just 'fit'. Film-Guy

I never saw Hostel 2, but the first one gets way more hate than it deserves. It was amateurishly-made and probably would have been better received if it had been a student film or something, but Hostel was a step above the vast majority of American made horror films if only because it actually had something to say.

Meh I still thought they were crap films, I dont care what message a film has, if it sucks then why should I care?

I never said you should care about anything. You can watch whatever you watch, it's none of my business.

However, I care because the one thing that annoys me is (as I said before) laziness. I can appreciate a generic monster movie or slasher film on its technical merits. But I think that in its purest form, horror serves much the same purpose as science fiction. A well made horror/sci-fi movie without any actual IDEAS is like a well-made burger from Wendy's. Sure, it gets the job done, but it's not anything new. It's not something that I'm gonna remember a week from now, it's just the same old thing. But I think that the best science fiction and horror should be trying to say something new. It should be trying to comment on our hopes and fears, and reflect on what it is to be human. When I see people TRYING to do this, I am far more willing to grant some leeway when it comes to technical defifiencies. A good chef experiments all the time. Not all of his experiments will be winners. But he is at least trying to make something new or unique, and that makes even his worst failure more interesting than the best burger that a fry cook at Wendy's will ever make.

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King writes like RL Stine, but with bigger "words", more adult content, and f-bombs, thinking that makes his work worthy of "adult readers"- what a joke. It is only worthy of adult children who never grew up. What a joke.Film-Guy

What authors do you read then? If your going to call my opinion wrong and say how he is a crap writer then at least say what you think is good writing.

King, much like almost all mainstream horror writers, while they may seem on the surface to write about "horror", often are really elucidating disturbing elements of modern American society in it's most dire form, "horror" aside, and that is bad enough to keep the reader "disturbed" and reading on. It does not take much to keep the average moronic reader on the edge of their book. Just follow a few basic rules of "thriller" writing and you will win. I think you may know what constitutes good literary prose. Most authors classic or contemporary that write a good "scary" novel don't confine themselves to only the "horror" genre, they just write and if it turns out like that, so be it.

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"]

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King writes like RL Stine, but with bigger "words", more adult content, and f-bombs, thinking that makes his work worthy of "adult readers"- what a joke. It is only worthy of adult children who never grew up. What a joke.burpysmurph

What authors do you read then? If your going to call my opinion wrong and say how he is a crap writer then at least say what you think is good writing.

King, much like almost all mainstream horror writers, while they may seem on the surface to write about "horror", often are really elucidating disturbing elements of modern American society in it's most dire form, "horror" aside, and that is bad enough to keep the reader "disturbed" and reading on. It does not take much to keep the average moronic reader on the edge of their book. Just follow a few basic rules of "thriller" writing and you will win. I think you may know what constitutes good literary prose. Most authors classic or contemporary that write a good "scary" novel don't confine themselves to only the "horror" genre, they just write and if it turns out like that, so be it.

You do know that stephen king doesnt just write horror right?

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

Dumb, dumb Stephen King. Horror films usually suck for one reason alone, and that's because filmmakers are lazy. Some genres just lend themselves incredibly well to laziness. Romantic comedies (chick flicks) for example. They don't have to be good, they just need to follow a trite formula. People's girlfriends will still go to watch the movie, and then those women's boyfriends will pay to see the movie too in the hopes that putting up with 90 minutes of cinematic garbage will get them closer to having sex.

Then we have science fiction films. Science fiction films are one of my favourite genres...when they're good. The problem is that they're almost never good, and the only reason why they're almost never good is because filmmakers are lazy. Why make a smart science fiction movie and then have people complain that the alien was just a woman's dad, when you can fabricate an excuse to blow up spaceships and have giant bugs eat people? It's not that good smart science fiction is hard to do, it's that so many people don't even TRY because they know that all they have to do is have some good money shots and a reasonably coherent plot, and people will watch it.

Same thing with horror. People don't TRY. It's easier to put out low-budget horror movies a few times a year, make them violent and bloody, perhaps throw in a few boobs, and it'll probably make some money from the people who like horror movies. And hell, even the people who are pissed off that there are no GOOD horror movies available at the time might STILL go see it, just because there's so little in the way of quality horror for them to see.

Film-Guy

But do you think that hollywood makes good horror movies still? I couldnt really tell if you thought they did or not.

I'll say that we infrequently get good American horror movies (I'm referring only to major releases here, I don't keep up on the indie scene).

I honestly don't remember the last time I've seen a good American major horror picture that was actually good. Right off hand the last one I can think of is The Others, and that was quite a while ago. Generally speaking, Hollywood horror films are usually garbage solely because they don't have to be remotely good. Shoot on a small budget, follow formula, and release it at the right time, and you've got a profit.

Still, the occasional gem somehow manages to slip through from time to time. But I'd wager it's pretty rare.

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="Notsogr8one"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"]Dead Silence is the only Horror movie in recent memory that has really scared me. I wish for more of them, and while I do mostly agree with you on the whole porn, boobs, gore thing, I must say that I really enjoyed Hostel 1 and 2 because it just 'fit'. MrGeezer

I never saw Hostel 2, but the first one gets way more hate than it deserves. It was amateurishly-made and probably would have been better received if it had been a student film or something, but Hostel was a step above the vast majority of American made horror films if only because it actually had something to say.

Meh I still thought they were crap films, I dont care what message a film has, if it sucks then why should I care?

I never said you should care about anything. You can watch whatever you watch, it's none of my business.

However, I care because the one thing that annoys me is (as I said before) laziness. I can appreciate a generic monster movie or slasher film on its technical merits. But I think that in its purest form, horror serves much the same purpose as science fiction. A well made horror/sci-fi movie without any actual IDEAS is like a well-made burger from Wendy's. Sure, it gets the job done, but it's not anything new. It's not something that I'm gonna remember a week from now, it's just the same old thing. But I think that the best science fiction and horror should be trying to say something new. It should be trying to comment on our hopes and fears, and reflect on what it is to be human. When I see people TRYING to do this, I am far more willing to grant some leeway when it comes to technical defifiencies. A good chef experiments all the time. Not all of his experiments will be winners. But he is at least trying to make something new or unique, and that makes even his worst failure more interesting than the best burger that a fry cook at Wendy's will ever make.

I can appreciate what eli roth was trying to do with the hostel films, I just got bored of them because the torture scenes and the sex were tiresome. At first the torture scenes were kinda disturbing and made ok, but after a while I was numb to them.

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

Dumb, dumb Stephen King. Horror films usually suck for one reason alone, and that's because filmmakers are lazy. Some genres just lend themselves incredibly well to laziness. Romantic comedies (chick flicks) for example. They don't have to be good, they just need to follow a trite formula. People's girlfriends will still go to watch the movie, and then those women's boyfriends will pay to see the movie too in the hopes that putting up with 90 minutes of cinematic garbage will get them closer to having sex.

Then we have science fiction films. Science fiction films are one of my favourite genres...when they're good. The problem is that they're almost never good, and the only reason why they're almost never good is because filmmakers are lazy. Why make a smart science fiction movie and then have people complain that the alien was just a woman's dad, when you can fabricate an excuse to blow up spaceships and have giant bugs eat people? It's not that good smart science fiction is hard to do, it's that so many people don't even TRY because they know that all they have to do is have some good money shots and a reasonably coherent plot, and people will watch it.

Same thing with horror. People don't TRY. It's easier to put out low-budget horror movies a few times a year, make them violent and bloody, perhaps throw in a few boobs, and it'll probably make some money from the people who like horror movies. And hell, even the people who are pissed off that there are no GOOD horror movies available at the time might STILL go see it, just because there's so little in the way of quality horror for them to see.

MrGeezer

But do you think that hollywood makes good horror movies still? I couldnt really tell if you thought they did or not.

I'll say that we infrequently get good American horror movies (I'm referring only to major releases here, I don't keep up on the indie scene).

I honestly don't remember the last time I've seen a good American major horror picture that was actually good. Right off hand the last one I can think of is The Others, and that was quite a while ago. Generally speaking, Hollywood horror films are usually garbage solely because they don't have to be remotely good. Shoot on a small budget, follow formula, and release it at the right time, and you've got a profit.

Still, the occasional gem somehow manages to slip through from time to time. But I'd wager it's pretty rare.

I liked the others alot too, to me psychological horror if its done well is my favorite kind of horror. What did you think of 1408? I liked that one alot, especially the alternative ending on the DVD.

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"][QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="Notsogr8one"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"]Dead Silence is the only Horror movie in recent memory that has really scared me. I wish for more of them, and while I do mostly agree with you on the whole porn, boobs, gore thing, I must say that I really enjoyed Hostel 1 and 2 because it just 'fit'. Film-Guy

I never saw Hostel 2, but the first one gets way more hate than it deserves. It was amateurishly-made and probably would have been better received if it had been a student film or something, but Hostel was a step above the vast majority of American made horror films if only because it actually had something to say.

Meh I still thought they were crap films, I dont care what message a film has, if it sucks then why should I care?

I never said you should care about anything. You can watch whatever you watch, it's none of my business.

However, I care because the one thing that annoys me is (as I said before) laziness. I can appreciate a generic monster movie or slasher film on its technical merits. But I think that in its purest form, horror serves much the same purpose as science fiction. A well made horror/sci-fi movie without any actual IDEAS is like a well-made burger from Wendy's. Sure, it gets the job done, but it's not anything new. It's not something that I'm gonna remember a week from now, it's just the same old thing. But I think that the best science fiction and horror should be trying to say something new. It should be trying to comment on our hopes and fears, and reflect on what it is to be human. When I see people TRYING to do this, I am far more willing to grant some leeway when it comes to technical defifiencies. A good chef experiments all the time. Not all of his experiments will be winners. But he is at least trying to make something new or unique, and that makes even his worst failure more interesting than the best burger that a fry cook at Wendy's will ever make.

I can appreciate what eli roth was trying to do with the hostel films, I just got bored of them because the torture scenes and the sex were tiresome. At first the torture scenes were kinda disturbing and made ok, but after a while I was numb to them.

Even though I thought that the torture scenes were actually a lot tamer than many people made them out to be, I actually think that numbness to them was sort of the point.

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"][QUOTE="Film-Guy"]

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King writes like RL Stine, but with bigger "words", more adult content, and f-bombs, thinking that makes his work worthy of "adult readers"- what a joke. It is only worthy of adult children who never grew up. What a joke.Film-Guy

What authors do you read then? If your going to call my opinion wrong and say how he is a crap writer then at least say what you think is good writing.

King, much like almost all mainstream horror writers, while they may seem on the surface to write about "horror", often are really elucidating disturbing elements of modern American society in it's most dire form, "horror" aside, and that is bad enough to keep the reader "disturbed" and reading on. It does not take much to keep the average moronic reader on the edge of their book. Just follow a few basic rules of "thriller" writing and you will win. I think you may know what constitutes good literary prose. Most authors classic or contemporary that write a good "scary" novel don't confine themselves to only the "horror" genre, they just write and if it turns out like that, so be it.

You do know that stephen king doesnt just write horror right?

I am am well aware of Bachman et.al., but it all plays on the same naive sentiment, the like of which many current American cop shows do. That kind of pseudo-entertainment just does not fly for me. I don't relate to it. I never will.

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"][QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="Notsogr8one"][QUOTE="MrGeezer"]

[QUOTE="Notsogr8one"]Dead Silence is the only Horror movie in recent memory that has really scared me. I wish for more of them, and while I do mostly agree with you on the whole porn, boobs, gore thing, I must say that I really enjoyed Hostel 1 and 2 because it just 'fit'. MrGeezer

I never saw Hostel 2, but the first one gets way more hate than it deserves. It was amateurishly-made and probably would have been better received if it had been a student film or something, but Hostel was a step above the vast majority of American made horror films if only because it actually had something to say.

Meh I still thought they were crap films, I dont care what message a film has, if it sucks then why should I care?

I never said you should care about anything. You can watch whatever you watch, it's none of my business.

However, I care because the one thing that annoys me is (as I said before) laziness. I can appreciate a generic monster movie or slasher film on its technical merits. But I think that in its purest form, horror serves much the same purpose as science fiction. A well made horror/sci-fi movie without any actual IDEAS is like a well-made burger from Wendy's. Sure, it gets the job done, but it's not anything new. It's not something that I'm gonna remember a week from now, it's just the same old thing. But I think that the best science fiction and horror should be trying to say something new. It should be trying to comment on our hopes and fears, and reflect on what it is to be human. When I see people TRYING to do this, I am far more willing to grant some leeway when it comes to technical defifiencies. A good chef experiments all the time. Not all of his experiments will be winners. But he is at least trying to make something new or unique, and that makes even his worst failure more interesting than the best burger that a fry cook at Wendy's will ever make.

I can appreciate what eli roth was trying to do with the hostel films, I just got bored of them because the torture scenes and the sex were tiresome. At first the torture scenes were kinda disturbing and made ok, but after a while I was numb to them.

Even though I thought that the torture scenes were actually a lot tamer than many people made them out to be, I actually think that numbness to them was sort of the point.

I guess so, I just didnt find hostel especially interesting for some reason.

[QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="burpysmurph"][QUOTE="Film-Guy"]

[QUOTE="burpysmurph"]Stephen King writes like RL Stine, but with bigger "words", more adult content, and f-bombs, thinking that makes his work worthy of "adult readers"- what a joke. It is only worthy of adult children who never grew up. What a joke.burpysmurph

What authors do you read then? If your going to call my opinion wrong and say how he is a crap writer then at least say what you think is good writing.

King, much like almost all mainstream horror writers, while they may seem on the surface to write about "horror", often are really elucidating disturbing elements of modern American society in it's most dire form, "horror" aside, and that is bad enough to keep the reader "disturbed" and reading on. It does not take much to keep the average moronic reader on the edge of their book. Just follow a few basic rules of "thriller" writing and you will win. I think you may know what constitutes good literary prose. Most authors classic or contemporary that write a good "scary" novel don't confine themselves to only the "horror" genre, they just write and if it turns out like that, so be it.

You do know that stephen king doesnt just write horror right?

I am am well aware of Bachman et.al., but it all plays on the same naive sentiment, the like of which many current American cop shows do. That kind of pseudo-entertainment just does not fly for me. I don't relate to it. I never will.

I was talking more about the green mile, stand by me, the dark tower series, and shawshank redemption really. I still dont really get why you dont like his books, but thats your opinion.