I must say I'm getting rather annoyed with the way Hollywood keeps churning out sub-standard Western versions of dark Japanese supernatural horrors. Ring was an ok adaptation of Ringu but Ringu was far superior and made a lot more sense. Ju-on has become Grudge and it's being done with Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara (Dark Water) as well. Can't the Hollywood geijjin come up with ideas of their own anymore? (obviously not)

the problem is that the films are dumbed down for Western audiences and become slashers/shockers not the intense psychological dramas that burn your psyche - always see the Japanese originals first then go to see the inferior Western copy. You won't regret it.

it's not like there aren't Western directors both established and upcoming who can produce quality horror, it's the film moguls who won't take risks in breaking new ground. They've now cottoned on to the appeal of Japanese supernatural horror but insist on making it look like Scream and all that crud.

I HATE all horror movies. the only tme you would catch me watching on eis when I get forced to.

Braindead (One of Peter Jackson's early works)
I don't think I've ever laughed so much through a horror movie.

@taw: hollywood is a black hole for originality, the latest richard gere movie? a rip off of a japanese arthouse movie. (i saw it and it was better than the gere one.

@topic:
to me there really is one movie that had me not wanting to go to sleep (other than the cable guy... *shudder*) is Alien. like [SGCJack, I'm not a fan of the horror genre, and th combination of sci-fi and thriller created riddley scotts best work.

but for something that *will* curdle blood, check the anime movie 'Perfect Blue'. Walt Disney meets Alfred Hitchcock. creepy and disturbing.

=:=
The Shark
-:-
I used to be a guy called Cosmic Viator, jake_langley, Griffin, raz0r_j@ck, jade_falcon, joker2015, starfox... Jared Tyers was in there somewhere too...

The Exorcist is on top of my list. But "Spice World" was blood-curdling.

EDIT:
The Village was not a disappointment to me - it was a huge success IMHO. Shymalan never promised his works as horror - they were shocking and twisted, but he never intended them to be horrors. I was so glad it was not a cheap Jeepers Creepers ripoff - then that would be a disappointment. Gore, superficial monsters, and urban legends-turn-real are way below a refined artist such as Shymalan. And btw even though they weren't horrors, 6th Sense and Village were scary in their own right.

Shymalan's work is not understood by everyone, I give you that. His works are not simple horrors or sci-fi that are meant to provide mere entertainment. See past them and they're actually dramas about people, love, their takes of life and death, society, family values, fears and phobias. It doesn't really matter if the monsters/ghosts/aliens are real or not, you can see that they are mere ornaments - humans and relationships are the true, yet hidden centerpieces of his movies. You can tell just by how those ghosts/aliens/monsters have such a little screen time! It's a shame that the majority of the population expects something so low from the movies they watch.

Edited by - Fear Factor on 10/29/2004 4:04:56 AM

oooh... i forgot about that travesty...

@ Fear Factor,

Ok, I'll admit it. Perhaps The Village wasn't meant to be a scary movie. Perhaps more suspense than horror. However, the media played it up as a horror movie and I was expecting one. The media lead me astray. That however does not change my stance of Shyamalan's movies.

I'm really jaded about his cinematic formula. What I'm talking about is flashbacks. Sixth Sense, flashbacks. Signs, flashbacks. The Village, flashbacks. If I see Shyamalan make another movie, I'm just gonna think to myself "Wow, more flashbacks." Granted I haven't seen any of his other movies so I don't know if this flashback formula occurs in them.

Can't he make a creative movie that has plot twists without using flashbacks? *Sigh* I guess I just expect too much out of people.

Edited by - SylverFysh on 10/29/2004 9:53:04 PM

you could always try Stuart Little or Wide Awake somehow loses his street-cred a bit with those two, doesn't he?

I found many Disney cartoons extremely disturbing, so I have posted saying Alien was my favorite, and now, although not of the horror genre, I think that Disney cartoons are freaky as hell and that show, spongebob on nickelodeon or wutever, thats a kids show but there are many adult elements that kids won't get, but laugh at anyways it makes me shudder.

You can run, but run fast.... 1 shot is all I need.