AvauntVanguard said:
AngloDoom said:
Any Bond film. Most horror films. Any other those 'Scary Movie' variations, such as 'Epic Movie' or 'Disaster Movie'.
Wow, way to shut down entire
genres.
Napoleon Dynamite, I didn't even finish the movie it was so pointless.
How is saying I dislike most horror films shutting down a genre? If you want specific reasons, then you should have just asked. Also, 'Bond films' aren't a genre.
I dislike most horror films because they rely on cheap 'jump' tactics most of the time, rather than building any sense of tension or paranoia to the film. I never feel involved with the characters and as such I care very little if they die, so I cannot feel any sense of anxiety or tension when a character is in a situation that is potentially life-threatening. Indeed, in most films just about anyone can point out the characters that will die, and sometimes in what order. The films often present tired stereotypes (dumb, sexy blonde, nerdy, genius, spectacle-adjusting lad) and so the characters are very hard to view as anything but actors playing a part for some quick dosh.
Hell, even
The Blair Witch Project was better than most horror films, in my opinion. It used a hand-held camera, which made the screen shake in a way that was visually offsetting; you never got quite relaxed while in a cinema setting, because it appeared the whole world shuddered around you. Most horror films I have watched even seem to signpost things to the audience, so that they can later refer to them; "Hey, you say that scythe above that doorway can cut a person in half? Wowzers!" The plots are almost always complete jokes.
In short, I find them stupid. Not "I dislike them" stupid, but literally lacking the depth that is required to actually evoke an emotion response from a generation of people who are so desensitised to violence and gore that we laugh at the fact that people once took horror in seeing another character be decapitated; now we need a
Saw-esque gore-trap which slowly mutilates a character before we even see it as anything abnormally gory, and even then half the time its just more repugnant than actually horrifying.
We never get a slow, steady decent into paranoia- we see a chainsaw-wielding chainsaw-zombie jump over a fence with a loud "DUH-DUN!" of music, before we see something get ripped to death as gratuitous amounts of blood fly in all directions. I personally find a scene in which the audience is almost hurled into the body of an on-screen character as they keep looking back behind them, running in fear from something terrifying and almost monstrous, but is simply a crazed human, reflecting the darkest nature of our humanities, a much more effective method of instilling anything resembling fear in an audience. An example is that scene in the hedge-maze in
The Shining. That's a damn sight scarier than seeing someone have a knife thrown in their throat.
That's my personal opinion on the subject. That's why I condemn most horror films, but I am still happy to view any I might consider a pleasant surprise; and I don't think I've had such a pleasantry for several years. If you're going to try and be a typical Escapist "hard-ass bastard", then at least bring something more to the table than a half-arsed analysis and bold font.
Yes, you caught me at the wrong time.
