3 Horror Films [Reviews]
I have a bunch of half-finished docs that were going to be proper film reviews, but then my attention wandered. So, instead, let's have some quick-and-dirty thoughts on some horror films I've watched in the last two months or so.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Wow - no wonder this one is a classic. It's a film that certainly deserves that distinction. Imperfect, sure, but really good. I kind of wish I hadn't taken so long to get around to it, because I was missing out, considering it's such an important film in the horror genre and of course the zombie subgenre in particular. Almost all of the conventions were set down right here, and done so well. There are earlier zombie films, of course, but this is the film that introduced zombies as they're now known in the horror genre. And it does such a good job of building up that creeping, apocalyptic narrative... Not to mention that there are some parts that are genuinely horrifying. Also, some rather good cinematography. I found the ending terribly upsetting, but it's an ending that works, so I'm not about to complain about it. Seriously though, if you're a weirdo like me who likes horror but hasn't watched this one yet, please do. Because of some oddities with its copyright, it's in the public domain, and can be watched on Archive.org.
Strigoi (2009)
If you're interested in vampire films in theory, but find Hollywood vampires tiresome, you might want to try Strigoi. This film is based on Romanian vampire lore, and while it's a UK production, all of the actors (as far as I can tell) are Romanian. Anyway - it's obviously a very different take, and for that reason I found it rather refreshing. It also has a nice touch of dark humour - I'm not sure if I would go so far as to call it horror-comedy, but there are plenty of moments that are highly amusing. And in addition to the dark humour, it's rather satirical, though unfortunately I don't necessarily have the knowledge to understand all of the context - I can pretty much only pick up on genre-related things. Someone with more detailed knowledge of the area would probably get more out of it when it comes to the satire angle. It's also very nicely shot, I would say. My only criticism is that at times the pace is a tad too slow for my liking.
Candyman (1992)
This is one of the weirdest horror films I've seen in a while. ...I say that pretty much every time I come across a weird horror film, but this one was pretty damn weird. In some ways, it isn't very coherent - there are so many facets to the "legend", and so much strange stuff that happens, and so many angles of Candyman that all come together into one thing. But the incoherence works, in its own way, because the general premise is centred around an urban legend, and urban legends rarely actually make that much sense when you stop to think about them for a minute or so. While I did enjoy this, I'm not sure I would rec it - though it's worth giving a look if you really enjoy late 80s/early 90s horror. As a sidenote, I remember that when this film came out, people kept whispering at school about the Candyman... spreading their legend in their own way. Kind of weird/cool/vaguely creepy, when I think back on it.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3517947.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Wow - no wonder this one is a classic. It's a film that certainly deserves that distinction. Imperfect, sure, but really good. I kind of wish I hadn't taken so long to get around to it, because I was missing out, considering it's such an important film in the horror genre and of course the zombie subgenre in particular. Almost all of the conventions were set down right here, and done so well. There are earlier zombie films, of course, but this is the film that introduced zombies as they're now known in the horror genre. And it does such a good job of building up that creeping, apocalyptic narrative... Not to mention that there are some parts that are genuinely horrifying. Also, some rather good cinematography. I found the ending terribly upsetting, but it's an ending that works, so I'm not about to complain about it. Seriously though, if you're a weirdo like me who likes horror but hasn't watched this one yet, please do. Because of some oddities with its copyright, it's in the public domain, and can be watched on Archive.org.
Strigoi (2009)
If you're interested in vampire films in theory, but find Hollywood vampires tiresome, you might want to try Strigoi. This film is based on Romanian vampire lore, and while it's a UK production, all of the actors (as far as I can tell) are Romanian. Anyway - it's obviously a very different take, and for that reason I found it rather refreshing. It also has a nice touch of dark humour - I'm not sure if I would go so far as to call it horror-comedy, but there are plenty of moments that are highly amusing. And in addition to the dark humour, it's rather satirical, though unfortunately I don't necessarily have the knowledge to understand all of the context - I can pretty much only pick up on genre-related things. Someone with more detailed knowledge of the area would probably get more out of it when it comes to the satire angle. It's also very nicely shot, I would say. My only criticism is that at times the pace is a tad too slow for my liking.
Candyman (1992)
This is one of the weirdest horror films I've seen in a while. ...I say that pretty much every time I come across a weird horror film, but this one was pretty damn weird. In some ways, it isn't very coherent - there are so many facets to the "legend", and so much strange stuff that happens, and so many angles of Candyman that all come together into one thing. But the incoherence works, in its own way, because the general premise is centred around an urban legend, and urban legends rarely actually make that much sense when you stop to think about them for a minute or so. While I did enjoy this, I'm not sure I would rec it - though it's worth giving a look if you really enjoy late 80s/early 90s horror. As a sidenote, I remember that when this film came out, people kept whispering at school about the Candyman... spreading their legend in their own way. Kind of weird/cool/vaguely creepy, when I think back on it.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3517947.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.