tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post4187447628067603849..comments2024-03-12T12:38:23.542-04:00Comments on The Kind of Face You Hate: You're Gonna Diebill r.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-16531692310690558972013-04-12T16:09:40.354-04:002013-04-12T16:09:40.354-04:00enough already with movie blogs, bro. I dont care ...enough already with movie blogs, bro. I dont care what you say, Evil dead was sick as fuck and i saw it three times already. maybe you should watch some pussy french moive and stick to that.<br /><br />oh and I dont know what to do with someone who doesnt like Army of Darkness. you must be a sad man.gregs.duh.mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-69223443045037676962013-04-09T19:43:25.557-04:002013-04-09T19:43:25.557-04:00I agree with you, Bill. I enjoyed Cabin in the Woo...I agree with you, Bill. I enjoyed Cabin in the Woods and felt the remake of Evil Dead was weak sauce pretending to be awesome sauce.Taidanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09445905825356339877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-73876210682039755262013-04-07T11:32:30.260-04:002013-04-07T11:32:30.260-04:00I didn't pay much attention to the MOST TERRIF...I didn't pay much attention to the MOST TERRIFYING MOVIE stuff, just because it's marketing and has nothing really to do with the film. As for that film, Dennis, you say it sounds like EVIL DEAD has more to offer than references, but honestly, it doesn't. I grew to dislike it more as I wrote my post, and while there's a period of time where I did feel somewhat optimistic while watching it, I was tapped out of all interest about halfway through. It's just a reference machine. It thinks it isn't, but it is. It thinks it's the kind of serious horror movie that horror fans have been clamoring for, and maybe it is, but I guess I'm not that kind of horror fan. Which sounds snobby, but I share your general weariness over the current crop.<br /><br />I did see THE PACT, some time ago actually, and I liked it, and hope McCarthy keeps going. I'd much rather follow his career than Alvarez's, God knows. Today I also watched THE AWAKENING with Rebecca Hall, and while it's nowhere near a masterpiece it's a pretty welcome antidote to EVIL DEAD.<br /><br />But, also, you know...I loved CABIN IN THE WOODS. That may fly in the face of some of the stuff I said in my post, but when that kind of thing works, it works. You obviously don't think it does, but I I had a damn good time with it. It's not what I want horror movies to become, but I can't pretend I didn't agree with the smug filmmakers that it was really clever.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-74058483714047904832013-04-07T07:15:59.553-04:002013-04-07T07:15:59.553-04:00Well, the best way to watch Army of Darkness is dr...Well, the best way to watch Army of Darkness is drunk with at least two other drunks. Your results may vary!Jonathan Stoverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751600613741713162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-2426807611055991052013-04-06T13:02:36.124-04:002013-04-06T13:02:36.124-04:00As for the original movies, I pretty much fall int...As for the original movies, I pretty much fall into line with your experience here too. By the time the theaters in the town where I was living in Southern Oregon in 1983 got around to showing the original THE EVIL DEAD (1981), there had been plenty of time to build up the anticipation level-- there was even a Stephen King quote attached to the ad in the paper declaring, not unlike the new studio-created rave, I guess, something about how it was the scariest movie he'd ever seen. When I finally got my chance, I admired the movie for its invention, but I didn't find it to be especially frightening or transporting. (You make an important distinction here between being <i>forced</i> by budgetary limitations into creativity as opposed to simply exploring what your resources applied to your imagination can yield.)<br /><br />By the time 1987 rolled around, I had low expectations for EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN, and those low expectations were greatly rewarded-- this is definitely Raimi's great homemade horror-comedy hybrid. (I think an awful lot of DRAG ME TO HELL too, which proves that a bigger budget doesn't have to equal homogenization.)<br /><br />But then expectations seemed to work against me again when ARMY OF DARKNESS came out. I saw it again recently, and the movie's silliness quotient-- too much by half, for me at least-- doesn't seem to be backed up by the proper scale of wit. It's energetic, all right, and I appreciated its nod in the direction of Ray Harryhausen, but it's also very tiring-- those cackling hags with their rotten teeth and mouths full of goo that Raimi seems so fond of get a real workout here.<br /><br />Anyway, sorry to ramble on so, but I wanted to say thanks for the spiffy Saturday morning read. I wish I had more to say about the new movie, but I doubt I'll be seeing it in a theater. I definitely appreciate your thoughts though. My own resistance to the latest remake may have been bolstered by the double bill I indulged in last night-- HORROR OF DRACULA and BRIDES OF DRACULA. Tonic, indeed, for our oversaturated age. And to answer my own question about just making 'em scary and leaving out all the self-congratulatory deconstructionism (just makes ya feel smart to even say that word, doesn't it, kids?), I'm sure you've probably already seen Nicholas McCarthy's <i>The Pact</i>. But if you haven't, it's a fine rejoinder to all the genre wisecrackery and extremist crowing going on, a well-made thriller that relies on mood and pace and craft to get to the genuine fear that seems to so easily elude most of the smart-asses making horror movies right now.Dennis Cozzaliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-39405870975221450512013-04-06T13:02:15.115-04:002013-04-06T13:02:15.115-04:00Bill... you wrote "cunting." Tsk-tsk...
...Bill... you wrote "cunting." Tsk-tsk...<br /><br />My resistance, I'm afraid, began when I entered a theater a couple of months ago and was confronted by a gigantic poster for this EVIL DEAD remake that stated, in no uncertain terms, it would be <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v7GDG9tMeEg/UUGCNcBpVvI/AAAAAAAAv08/mrUKLuXq2hg/s1600/Evil-Dead-Poster.jpg" rel="nofollow">"THE MOST TERRIFYING FILM YOU WILL EVER EXPERIENCE."</a> I like to think of myself, and I'm sure you do too, as not so easily impressed by such declarations, not because I pride myself on being the toughest guy in the room when it comes to horror-- hardly-- but because I don't appreciate my experience being defined for me before I've experienced it, especially by a studio marketing department. Never mind that such a claim is a pretty tall order to fill after 110 years or so of horror film history from which to draw comparisons.<br /><br />I'm glad to hear this movie isn't another wise-ass deconstruction a la <i>The Cabin in the Woods</i>, which I found close to insufferable in its smug assurance that the knowledge it had about how all this shit works was pretty complete and clever. I found myself muttering to myself while watching it, "Just make the goddamn thing scary. Why isn't anyone interested in simply making a scary movie?" But, admittedly, with so much chest thumping going on in the genre, from fans and filmmakers alike, this may not even be such an easy thing to do anymore. Though it does sound like there's something to recommend this new movie beyond the wink-wink-nudge-nudge masturbation of <i>CITW</i>, extremity of gore and technology isn't going to do it any more than turning your film into a deadpan version of one of those recognize-the-source sub-MAD-magazine movie parodies would. (Scary Movie <i>Movie</i>, anyone?)<br /><br />(Pt. 2 next... goddamn Blogger character restrictions...)<br /><br />Dennis Cozzaliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-59295096189545447712013-04-06T11:16:11.817-04:002013-04-06T11:16:11.817-04:00Thanks, fellows. John, the addiction stuff does f...Thanks, fellows. John, the addiction stuff does feel cynical now that I have a good night's sleep behind me. I still appreciate that it's not just another "Woooo! Party!" set up, it's pretty clear it was just a means to an end.<br /><br />And Jonathan, I haven't seen ARMY OF DARKNESS since it was in theaters. I tried watching it a few years ago and was perhaps not in the right frame of mind, because I kind of recoiled by the cartoonishness in the first several minutes. I'll check it out again soon.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-79689540182882325722013-04-06T07:23:10.420-04:002013-04-06T07:23:10.420-04:00Great review. Army of Darkness is much more like a...Great review. Army of Darkness is much more like a parody of things like the Harryhausen Sinbad movies, though it also retroactively looks like a parody/speeding up of Lord of the Rings films by way of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It almost buries the fact that the king is Arthur and the magician is Merlin by never making a big deal out of this fact, which is odd but weirdly endearing.Jonathan Stoverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751600613741713162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-13876145068725358812013-04-06T04:55:02.535-04:002013-04-06T04:55:02.535-04:00The original Evil Dead got a little goofy at times...The original Evil Dead got a little goofy at times, but I figured it was more or less playing it straight. The comedy really took over in the sequels, as far as I recall, along with the rise of the "Ash" character as something people apparently wanted to see more of.<br /><br />The attempt to inject a little more drama in this one sounds more than a little cynical to me, as if the whole point of the addiction/intervention business is to suggest that, boy, that dumb old movie was dumb, today's horror movies have wayyyy more sophisticated motivations and nuance! Before leaping headfirst into the splat.<br /><br />Anyway, a fine review. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more entertaining than its subject.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05364322006357208797noreply@blogger.com