Reality over fantasy when it comes to horror?

[hoffmandu]

If that's how you want to view it, great, but I strongly disagree. The end of the movie disagrees as well so.....

Hmm, not until really Halloween 4, when Myers appears for the 1st time. I mean he took two bullets to the eyes at the end of Part 2.......not really survivable. Up until then..........he's portrayed as a human, with no human emotion.........an evil human, but still a man. Jason, on the other hand, is completely different. He took major trauma in every sequel. Damage soak is definitely a supernatural aspect in my book; it just needs to be severe enough. Myers took a needle to the dome and like 5 slugs to the body..............mmmmmmmmm, not quite an axe to the shoulder or a machete to the brain. Final conclusion: Myers was not supernatural until later installments.

[jesse_custer]

I agree with Zapper. The Descent was a breath of fresh air. Not the American theatrical cut, though. The uncut version for British audiences is the one to watch. Without the ending of the uncut version, the movie just doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Quilt]

I can understand why people mostly prefer horrors based in reality. There's more of a common ground in a contemporary, realistic world. So then it's easier to imagine, say, Hannibal Lector coming to kill you than Robot Jason Vorhees. Mind you, Hannibal Lector over Jason Vorhees alone is simply a matter of good taste.

Perhaps it's because the horror movies based in reality just have a tendency to have better quality.

bah, I don't know. I don't even bother horror films anymore. They're usually really idiotic. I saw Saw 2 the other night because it was Halloween. It was the first horror flick I'd seen in a few years. I couldn't have been more bored.

[The Zapper]

I agree with Zapper. The Descent was a breath of fresh air. Not the American theatrical cut, though. The uncut version for British audiences is the one to watch. Without the ending of the uncut version, the movie just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Yeah, I was talking about the uncut version.

[jesse_custer]

Did you see how badly they edited the American version? What a disappointing turn of events. I don't know why American film companies are so afraid that people won't like the slightest bit of character development in a final resolution.

[The Zapper]

Did you see how badly they edited the American version? What a disappointing turn of events. I don't know why American film companies are so afraid that people won't like the slightest bit of character development in a final resolution.

No, I've never seen the American cut. I've heard about it though, and I think it sounds like a big bag of suck.

[hoffmandu]

No, I've never seen the American cut. I've heard about it though, and I think it sounds like a big bag of suck.

hmmm, not sure what cut I saw, can anyone explain with spoiler tags?

[jesse_custer]

Highlight below for the info.

The uncut edition shows the protagonist leaving the cave. But it is revealed that she has only mentally escaped the cave. Physically, she is still stuck there, dreaming of her dead daughter. Whereas the American version has her seeing a scary apparition of her friend in the vehicle seat, quickly cutting to the credits afterward.

[hoffmandu]

[QUOTE=jesse_custer;5737022]Highlight below for the info.

QUOTE]


Roger, that's the one I've seen. Geez, what did the American version end up without the illusion?

[Jmorphman]

Hmm, not until really Halloween 4, when Myers appears for the 1st time. I mean he took two bullets to the eyes at the end of Part 2.......not really survivable. Up until then..........he's portrayed as a human, with no human emotion.........an evil human, but still a man.

In the first movie, Michael Myers was stabbed in the neck with a knitting needle and collapsed, got up, was stabbed in the eye with a hanger, then was stabbed with a knife and collapsed, got up again, and then was shot six times and fell off a second-story balcony, until finally disappearing. I don't consider someone like that to be human.

[Perry Holley]

Excepting the final vanishing moment when Myers's body isn't on the lawn at the end of 'Halloween,' nothing he does in the film can be considered supernatural.

And if memory serves, there was a few seconds where the guy who shot him looks away at something else, and when he looks back, Myers is gone... given MM's level of mania, it's hardly inconceivable that MM was able to crawl away during those few seconds, even after the fall and being shot multiple times (none of said shots being to the vital organs, I believe).

[Monty_Cristo]

As i have traveled across the internet and its message board i discovered a decent amount of movie goers are turned off by fantasy elements of horror. And seem to prefer more reality styled horror. Particularly characters like Hannible Lecter over more supernatural themed threats. Somebody once told me they liked the movie "The Descent" up until the "crawlers" showed up. I heard a similar complaint about "Jeepers Creepers" too. So my question is people just jaded?..

i love fantasy elements (ex.the Creeper and Pumpkinhead) when they are juxtaposed with a realistic setting (ex. rustic farming community). sometimes making something too realistic can also make it boring (to me). completely unrelated but i was watching Pumpkinhead the other day and hadn't realized how good a sense of humor the demon had. he was like a mute Freddy Krueger with some of his kills.

As for 'Jeepers Creepers', I liked the film, it had a nice folkloric/urban legend-style vibe to it, which I liked, however, I thought the monster wasn't terribly well designed and the mysterious man/monster in the coat and hat seemed much scarier than the weird snake/lizard/monster.

you say that like they are 2 different characters. sometimes he wears a coat and a hat. other times he doesn't (usually when he's feeding or someone damages his attire). i thought the Creeper was very well-designed for a chimera. i liked how they didn't reveal he could fly right away. it gives the Creeper an almost playful sense of humor, since he ran them off the road in a truck earlier on.

[Monty_Cristo]

In the first movie, Michael Myers was stabbed in the neck with a knitting needle and collapsed, got up, was stabbed in the eye with a hanger, then was stabbed with a knife and collapsed, got up again, and then was shot six times and fell off a second-story balcony, until finally disappearing. I don't consider someone like that to be human.

remember in Con Air when Nicholas Cage got shot in the shoulder area and just kept on walking towards the bad guy? it doesn't have anything to do with this conversation but i just wanted people to remember it.

[JohnPopa]

John Carpenter has made it plain from day one that he intended Michael Meyers o be an intangible embodiment of evil, more than a person or a character. That's why he's called 'The Shape.'

It's not so much about him being supernatural as it is him being more metaphor than character. Later movies trying to literalize that have exaggerated the concept but that's more a result of people trying to make continuity out of something that was supposed to be self-contained. The first 'Halloween' makes the point perfectly, in trying to expand the story it's been lost.

[Pól Rua]

[re: The Creeper]... you say that like they are 2 different characters. sometimes he wears a coat and a hat. other times he doesn't (usually when he's feeding or someone damages his attire). i thought the Creeper was very well-designed for a chimera. i liked how they didn't reveal he could fly right away. it gives the Creeper an almost playful sense of humor, since he ran them off the road in a truck earlier on.

Not two characters as much as two designs.
For me, the Chimaera wasn't AS potent an image as the Coat and Hat-Wearing Man. The design wasn't bad, but I thought he was more interesting when you couldn't quite see what he was.
That said, I did like the way they held off on the flying and I liked that they didn't reveal the monster all at once, but more as a slow reveal.
Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a great fun horror movie.
I also loved the two leads. Very sympathatic and excellent performances on both their parts.