October is the time for horror for most movie fans. Imo, horror is the second most daring genre to attempt(comedy being the 1st). This is because different things are scary to different people, and what 1 person finds traumatizing may do nothing at all for another. Movies themselves are subjective, but horror perhaps even more so. If something isn’t scary to someone its hard to convince them otherwise, in the same way if a joke in a movie isn’t funny to someone you can’t really convince to change there opinion. So, i decided to ask my fellow readers if there are any highly regarded horror movies you aren’t completely on board with, and if so which ones.
For me, i can’t say i agree with all the praise The Exorcist gets. I don’t think its a bad movie and it did have a few scares, but i didn’t find it to be the nightmarish/traumatic horror classic everybody makes it out to be. I do realize there are some considerations that have to be taken with a older horror film like this, but i’ve seen a couple of older horror movies like The Shining and The Others and while i can see how they were probably scarier back when they were released i still found them effective. But i don’t think i felt that way with the Exorcist.
Again, i realize this is only my opinion, so if you’re one of those people who regard the Exorcist as a classic i am not trying to insult you with this post. For those who did find it to be nightmarish/traumatic, it would be futile of me to try to convince you otherwise. I just wanted to give my honest opinion on this.
No offense taken. It is a good question, Julian. Anything considered a classic or an underrated gem in this genre will have their enthusiasts and detractors. It comes with the territory. And you’re quite correct it’s difficult, if not downright impossible, to convince others otherwise. But since this category of film has a tendency to create strong feelings, in polar directions, it’s not surprising. For this ‘The Exoricist’ enthusiast, I’d include:
• The Devil’s Rejects
• High Tension (Haute Tension original French title)
• The Blair Witch Project
There, I got this off my chest
. Thanks, Julian.
Your welcome. I don’t remember The Blair Witch Project or Devils Rejects too well, although i don’t remember finding them disappointing. I may give them a rewatch just to be sure.
I’m not sure i saw High Tension tho
I hate High Tension with a passion. It was excellent until the “reveal” towards the end. It totally lost me after that, which still pisses me off to this day.
…so it produced some high tension in you
I see what you did there.
SP: Agreed. Ever read Dean Koontz’s 1995 novel, Intensity? HT was loosely based on it.
Nope, never read that. I’d be into it as long as it doesn’t shit on itself on the last 10 pages.
I’m glad there’s at least one other Exorcist fan in the ranks!
Sorry I’m late to the discussion. I don’t consider myself a ‘fan’ of The Exorcist, sheesh I don’t think I ever want to see that thing again. But I think it’s one of the most terrifying and unsettling thing I’ve ever seen. The sheer blasphemous scenes that Regan did are definitely not easy to forget. I guess I’m just not a fan of horror in general.
This is perhaps why I think it is one of the all time greats. Like Ruth, so many people have had similar reactions to the film. And what other films – that aren’t gratuitous or set out to offend or try to be overtly controversial have a similar effect? Not many. And none do it as well as The Exorcist which is so superbly conceived and executed. It is a work of genius.
I haven’t seen The Devil’s Rejects or High Tension but The Blair Witch was one of only a few films to ever really unsettle.
The one horror movie that I can’t figure out for the life of me why anyone likes it is Don’t Look Now. It’s that piece of shit from the ’70s with Donald Sutherland. BOOOOOOORRRRIIINNNNGGGGGG. It’s supposed to be a classic of the genre. Give me a break.
I don’t think i’ve seen that one. If i am able to find it i’ll give it a watch and tell you if i agree with the hype
Edit- I just looked for it on netflix and its dvd only…so i probably won’t be able to see it. I did talk to my dad about it and he didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the movie either
Haha, that’s because it sucks.
I should pick up The Exorcist again. I watched it a really long time ago while I was doing a boring job at work, and I can’t really remember it all that much.
A horror that I find really over-rated (and I barely ever watch horrors) is Paranormal Activity. And Paranormal Activity 2 (I reaaaaally did not like that movie). I guess, if I had watched them in theatres, I would have been scared. But even watching them in my lounge on the big TV with all the lights out wasn’t all that scary. Mind you, it’s really hard for me to be scared by movies.
I liked both Paranormal Activities to be honest.
RING, the US version, definitely. I fell asleep a few times while watching it. It wasn’t scary at all, just boring and bad. With a bad performance by always bland and boring Naomi Watts.
I don’t remember being disappointed the Ring, although that was a while ago so my memory of it isn’t perfect. I don’t think Naomi is a bad actress tho
Although i will admit i have refused to watch the american remake of Pulse. I can’t imagine it can improve on the original in anyway
The remake of Kairo is an abomination. AN ABOMINATION.
I love you Dezz!!! I am tired of people saying The Ring was as good as Ringu. Well, it wasn’t!!
I starting to really like this post
Dezzy, even the hunky Martin Henderson couldn’t save this movie??
I have a few:
Hellraiser. I just think it’s crap. The story is boring and the effects suck too. The cenobites are the best thing to come out of that movie, but they played the crap out of them. I try to rewatch this one every so often, but I just can’t get through it.
The Thing (1982). John Carpenter was good for one thing – Halloween. I deeply dislike all his other movies, especially this one. The special effects are just…so…bad, but people carry on like it’s cinematic royalty.
The Shining. Sorry, I read the book before I saw this movie and apparently that’s a pretty big no-no. People who love this usually didn’t read it, and those who did like me don’t. Aside from the creepy girls, this movie is unwatchable.
I saw the first 2 Hellraiser films and i think they were alright. I plan on rewatching the Thing at some point, but so far this is the only time i’ve heard of someone disliking it.
And i personally liked The Shining, but i have heard those who read the book usually don’t like the movie
Thanks for the like btw
Wow. That’s all I have to say.
I take back not having anything to say. What horror movies do you like?
Lets see…
As far as “Classics” go, I think Elm Street and the Exorcist stand up against today’s standards. My friend and I have been showing her 8 year old horror movies, and both those scared the poop out her. (other movies like Poltergeist which we thought would scare her and American Werewolf (which is awesome) actually bored her. She doesn’t scare easily) I love Evil Dead. I also like almost all the Halloween movies, old and new.
New movies, I like the crop that came out about the same time, Descent, the Ruins, Wolf Creek. I enjoy the Saw movies except the last one which was awful. I like Paranormal Activity. I know they’re played out but I got to see the first one when it was in limited release by myself in the theater and it was creepy. I like most of the “found footage” movies like [Rec] and Cloverfield (don’t yell at me).
I dig vampire movies like the Blade movies, Vamp, and Dusk til Dawn. As long as Robert Pattinson isn’t in it, vampire movies are cool. I like the Dawn of the Dead remake and 28 Days and Months Later but I’m not a big Zombie fan.
I tend not to love B movies, although I’ve seen tons of them. Most suck. My favorite movies are the Alien franchise movies. While not horror, they’re scarier than most crap out now.
Sorry for the ramble
Well, fair enough. The only thing I would disagree about is liking all of the Saws up until the last one. I just like the first one. Well, the third one was decent. I guess we just totally, 5,000% disagree about The Thing. I mean…bad effects? Really?
Oh, I won’t yell at you for Cloverfield. I really like it.
I personally think the first 3 Saw’s were awesome.
I hated the second one. I can’t tell you why anymore…it’s been too long.
I am giving a big high five to Groundhog. Right after I submitted my comment, I read your comment. Sooooo glad to know another person who thinks the same. The Shining is unwatchable. The moment I finished watching it, I deleted the file from my computer…too ‘scary’ to watch it again coz I might throw a shoe at it. The movie is not even close to the book. Jack is the only saviour of that movie for me. If not for Jack, I have turned it off within less than 30minutes.
I am with you on Exorcist Julian!! I have watched it when I was still in Junior High, in the middle of the night alone…and it didn’t scare me AT ALL. I am always confuse when people said that it was scary.
However the horror that overated for me is The Shining. I said it million times that I LOVE the book and when I saw the movie, I was so disappointed. NOT SCARY, terrible choice of actress, and they CHANGED the story!! The only thing that make me finish the movie is Jack Nicholson.
I’m not going to say the Exorcist didn’t scare me at all, but i definitely did not find it as scary as people say. And we will have to agree to disagree on The Shining, as i personally loved it.
I didn’t know you were a Jack Nicholson fan btw
It’s funny you should say you didn’t like The Shining but you loved the book. I thought the book was good but the film went above and beyond it. One of those few instances where the film is better than the book.
Ow Dan…in my 33years of life as both reader and watcher…I haven’t seen any movies better than the book!! and The Shining is most definitely not it. I want to turn it off so bad as it really didn’t match the book. The book has a much better story than the movie.
@JulianI am not Jack Nicholson fan…but he was sooo good as Jack Torrance. He made it into my top-5 book characters in movies.
That true. I think Kubrick could see that it was too difficult to properly bring King’s story to the screen so had to change it – in both theme and plotting. So the film is very different from the book.
There is one film/book combo that I will argue has no contest. Jaws. In this case the film is way, way, way better than Benchley’s average novel (with it’s rubbish ending).
I don’t like movies that changed the book’s story too much, unless it was for the better. That’s why I am same with King in feeling not happy with Kubrick’s version.
ah…I didn’t know Jaws is actually from a book, this new news to me. Since I haven’t read it. I can’t agree or contradict you. One movie I admit was great eventhough it was TOTALLY different from the book is Ringu (but it’s still not better than the book, only equally great)
The Others – an “older” horror film? I would say that’s pretty recent having being made in 2001 compared to The Shining (1980) and The Exorcist (1973).
There’s no comparison between horror films today and those made 20/30/40 years ago. To me, they aren’t half as good. The Exorcist is my favourite horror film and I don’t think there is another film, in any genre, quite like it. In fact, I would go as far as to say The Exorcist is one of the greatest films ever made.
Horror films that I find overrated would be:
The Sixth Sense, Evil Dead, and Funny Games.
For some reason i thought the Others was a lot older. My bad. And i wish i could agree with the hype on the Exorcist, but i just wasn’t that scared by it.
And i found the Sixth Sense alright. I haven’t watched Funny games yet so i can’t comment on that, and i’m not sure if i’ve seen Evil Dead or not..
You’re not sure if you’ve seen Evil Dead? Movie geek card revoked, my friend. Revoked. Go buy the DVD for 8 bucks at Wal-mart or something, then get back to me.
I actually think i saw it a while ao, and just don’t remember it well. I will rewatch it tho. I do value my movie geek card highly after all ;P
I just rewatched it. Can i have my movie geek card reinstated now?
Yes you can. Thoughts on Evil Dead?
I liked it. I think it stands the test of time pretty well
Agreed.
I think The Exorcist suffers these days because of its reputation. So many people, like you and I, have watched the film thirty years after it was released to all that media attention. It does affect the way you look at a film and perhaps creates expectations that simply cannot be lived up to.
True, although i liked the Shining more and that was made only 7 years after. Perhaps i should try to watch some other highly regarded horror films and how many of them i still find effective now
Definitely try that. It depends what horror films you like. Have you seen Poltergeist (1982) – which is your sort of Paranormal Activity of the 1980s?
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) is another brilliant horror film but very much a character piece.
More recently – The Candyman has always managed to scare me and that was made in 1992.
I saw Poltergeist. Had some good scares in it. Not sure if its a classic to me, but i would imagine the gore see in it was probably unheard at the time.
I don’t think i’ve seen Rosemarys Baby or The Candyman, but i will try to see if i can find them
OK, two things:
Rosemary’s Baby is one of my favorite horror movies ever.
Candyman is a pretty fucked up movie, and I love it. I don’t know if I would consider it a classic. I’d have to think about that. But it definitely stand out.
…I think The Candyman is worth a “classic” status.
After careful consideration involving incense and a lot of humming, I think you’re right.
I’m fairly simple when it comes to this sort of thing. If it’s a film that’s generally regarded as good, I’ll probably like it (I loved THE EXORCIST). If it’s a film people don’t like, I’ll probably sway towards public opinion (I did not like TROLL 2). I suppose I like more horror movies than I hate. My all time favourite would have to be AUDITION.
Yeah, Audition was terrifying…or at least the parts i remember anyway
Wow! a lot of great comments here! Great subject Julian.
I find horror to be an interesting genre for another reason…the acting! Along with Comedy, Horror has got to be a complete challenge because they have to act as if something is scaring them. When it comes to the movie, the music helps to convey the fear to the audiences greatly and pick up the slack where the actors may not have succeeded.
that being said…i’m still not a horror fan. I don’t hate them, I could just take em or leave em.
Yeah, acting is definitely key
Case in point about music: the prequel to The Thing. The music was horrible, and it killed any atmosphere or tension that might have been there.
Good discussion. I think that horror is very hard to revisit. If it scared the crap out of you in your childhood, you should probably just leave it there. I know The Exorcist rattled my young mind, and I’m going to keep it that way. But anything that relies on special effects to generate scares (and was made more than 20 years ago) will probably end up laughable now.
As to the actual discussion, Trick r’ Treat was majorly disappointing for me. I know it’s not a classic, but I bought into the hype (and the cast). I found it boring and often cringe-worthy (and not in a good way).
I recently watched Evil Dead and it still had some scary moments imo. And i liked Trick r’ Treat to be honest, but to each there own i suppose
It really depends on the artistry involved with effects. Really well done practical effects can be sort of timeless. CG can look like crap 5 or 10 years down the line.
The horror film I find most over rated is The Orphanage because it is so hopeless. The ending is perhaps the most negative ending of any film I have ever had to endure and completely undermines any merit the preceding plot might have had. It is creepy, very creepy but in terms of tone and content fails in my view to rise above its dreary and depressing mood. I know you don’t mind films like this Julian but I don’t like films to leave me with a feeling of hopelessness and this did. Good question
Yeah i remember you weren’t a fan of that one at all.
No, not at all. Though I do love horror films. I just rarely find one that genuinely frightens me. I guess I just have a high tolerance for scary movies. The last one to give me jitters was Paranormal Activity. Going to see the sequel soon, looking forward to it.
I also liked Paranormal Activity. But i’ve also found plenty of other horror movies i thought were good. And going back to your bit about the orphanage being hopeless, most horror movies aren’t really supposed to be hopeful. In fact it is rare that a horror movie has a happy ending i’ve found
And the last 2 movies i recommended for my October Treats i think are genuinely frightening.
Well, my aunt – back in the day – stopped going to the theater after The Exorcist hahaha. She has sworn to never watch another horror movie in her life.
I do think that Blair Witch was kind of overrated, but then again… horror isn’t my genre.
Yeah, it seems like a lot of people were traumatized by it
And i may give Blair Witch a rewatch
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