London to Brighton is tense, but works as a thriller rather than horror. I think my all-time favourite horror has got to be Halloween. It still gets to me now, but sadly, I haven't seen a horror film that cuts the mustard in years. Hence why I enthused so much over 28 Weeks... Most of the time, they are just sad American pap, with characters you really hope will die, but only if they suffer lots first, and then you leave the movies groaning over the inevitable franchise and six sequels that are about to occur.

I loved Stranger than Fiction. You can really identify as a writer. I'm not into my rom-coms, but can see why people like them. I did enjoy Devil Wears Prada when I thought I wouldn't, but then Streep is watchable in anything.

JB

That's interesting, JB, i thought it was just me, but i have to say Halloween is probably one of the last films to really scare me.

There have been a couple in the last decade about cars going off road and terrible things happening, which have done the biz, but to be honest i think that is an overworked scenario now.

Also i think in a way the Scream and Scarey movies and their sequels have overworked the whole thing too and de-sensitised us to that sort of film.

Someone told me of one lately - they couldn't remember the title - that really freaked them out years ago, and the closing scene was a missing son being found but his head had been grafted onto a pig ?? do you know it?

Yes, Streep was fab in that film, she's real class. Death Becomes Her still makes me laugh.

Casey

Ooh Death Becomes Her is brilliant! The bitching between Streep and Hawn is pure class.

That piggie head film sounds horrible. I've had a think, and two horror movies I think are quite effective are Jacob's Ladder and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Both are great films either way. I tend to get more freaked out by films that could happen, than supernatural shennanigans myself. Silence of the Lambs chilled me to the bone the first time I saw it. Serial killers...brrr. Ted Bundy is also pretty nasty.

I think horror and comedy have always sat closely together, and it works best when it's not intentional. Sometimes, you just have to laugh and say 'well, if they're that stupid to go down in the cellar after finding their husband stabbed to death in the bath, then they pretty much deserve to die'. And how come no one ever calls the police, or just heads off in one direction and keeps moving?

Silly, but when horrors done right, it can be a great experience.

JB

Yeh, the times i've said during a film er, durr, if i found a corpse and then heard a noise elsewhere...i'd run like the clappers in the opposite direction!

Hmm, you've given me a few ideas for films, cheers. Just reminded me of that film about the serial killer who kidnapped girls and put them in a hole and starved them so they were easier to skin (loose skin) -can't remember the name...


Casey

That's Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. He made a dress out of human skin - the ultimate transvestite, the ultimate sicko!

JB

Yikes, yeh - are you sure that was silence of the lambs?? Suppose i should bow to your superior knowledge as host of horror!

Casey

I'm pretty sure, though it may have been used in another film. Buffalo Bill keeps these girls in a pit (we only see a senator's daughter, but we know he's done this before, the creep) and makes them moisturise to soften their skin.

It's gross.

JB

Watched 28 days later on channel 4 last night and have to say, er... it was a lot better than i expected, a lot more thrilling than i remember.

Maybe it's because i didn't have any expectations about it this time.

Casey

Same thing happened to me. I wasn't all that impressed by 28Days when I first saw it. Then, years later, after seeing 28Weeks, I watched it again and thought it was excellent. Funny that. A few friends have reported similar findings.

JB

Carrying on my own little thread about horror films here, saw Cabin Fever last night - er, no, sorry , another joke, just not in the slightest bit scary. Sigh.

Also thought the N word joke in it was interesting, in the context of Emily getting booted out of the BB house.

Haven't seen it Waxy - but great review.

Zettel

Thanks Z.

Case, I don't think that modern America can 'do' horror. In the US these days, they tend to have got the impression that horror just means loads of models running around getting chopped up. The basic premise is generally a one trick pony, flimsy at best, and has no other redeeming feature than the fact they hit the DVD stores at light speed and are swiftly, and thankfully, forgotten about.

And no, don't get me started in Hostel. What a pile of doo doo.

I think the best horror movies work in what is not shown, rather than what is. Blair Witch wasn't to everyone's taste, but it used that principle to good effect. 28 Days borders more on thriller than horror, it is true, but it is a film with heart and real human dilemma. I don't think execs in Hollywood recognise either of those expressions. They do, however, recognise $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

JB

A very lucid review which makes me want to see the film. I saw

28 Days Later

on TV recently and wasn't very impressed - it had that vacant-eyed actor from

Sunshine

, which didn't help, whereas I can imagine the edgier Carlyle added to a bleak situation.

Sheila

I wonder whether it's our age, though, as well, JB. I'm sure i would have found these horrors a bit scarier in my late teens, but i guess by late 30s you (ie one) are more jaded, cynical - and a bit less hysterical I also think as you get older you want a bit more heart, as you put it, you have a bigger need to feeel emotionally involved...
I find the gore in all these movies hysterical, but not in a good way...
Less is definitely more, jeez i was on the edge of my seat during Blair Witch.
Clown faces a la Stephen King always get me too.
But spurting blood, nah.

Casey