The Horror Thread [Archived] Movie • Page 26

I don't enjoy the Sinister/Insidious type horror films

 

I enjoyed the two insidious movies. Didn't see the third. The first was a good example for me that a PG13 film can still be effective in the horror genre. It's too bad so few others do.

 

The only difference between most PG13 and R horror movies are either tits, language or gore...and I can do without all of those if need be.

See The Final Girls if you want to see what a PG13 Friday The 13th Movie would look like.

 

I do need to see The Final Girls. Looked fantastic. My complaint with PG13 is that to me it often times feels like they are pulling punches. I'm struggling to think of any specific examples at this moment. Gore for the sake of gore doesn't do anything for me. But when added appropriately, it feels more real for me. Seeing the damage that a merciless killer does make things scarier for me than just leaving things to up to the imagination. Obviously the less is more philosophy is powerful for other horror tropes, but in regards to violence and the effects of violence, strong visuals will always do more for me.

 

I think the negative buzz around a horror movie getting a PG13 rating is that a lot of the time it indicates the studio trying to bring in a high school audience, which doesn't automatically mean it won't be good, but that is the case a lot of the time for cookie cutter big studio horror movies. But even though we get shit like Lazarus Effect and The Gallows (haven't seen either but I'm going to trust the consensus) we also get The Visit and Krampus.

 

In The Final Girls, say someone gets stabbed through the gut with a machete, there is some blood and that's that. But in a rated R equivalent, you'd see the same effect but showing penetration from the front out out of the back, maybe some intestines.

You can still have something terrifying and it NOT be rated R. The Blair Witch could have been PG13 but wasn't due to language.

 

Despite a good cast, you can skip Lazaurs Effect

 

The last thing I'm trying to say is that a movie can't be both scary and PG13. It's just my preference. R rating usually allows a director to go wherever they want. I say usually because 31 is a good example where I'm a bit upset because I know the film was edited down to obtain even an R rating. Any dilution of the director/writer's vision is a negative in my opinion. Chase hits it right on the head where studios push out watered down films for a mass audience.

The Blair Witch is a good example where even something as simple as language lends to a more realistic atmosphere. If I were in that position, I'd be cussing up a storm haha.

 

It all depends on the vision of the writer/director vs the studio, it seems to me like Final Girls was meant to be a PG-13, whereas something like 31 or even Corpses was censored

 

speaking of 31, an update sometime soon would be nice.

 

I agree 100%. I feel like you can tell when a director makes the film they want to make and then it happens to be PG13 versus a film being made then it being edited to make a rating that is more marketable.

Seriously. October is fast approaching. I think they had a release date around then.

 

MPAA ratings (a joke in and of themselves) aren't indicative of a movie's quality, but they usually are pretty informative about what kind of things the director gets away with, and given the rise in cheap, shitty horror movies aiming for the lowest common denominator of trashy teen flicks with a PG13 rating for the target audience, it's surprisingly and sadly a decent look into what sort of horror movie is being marketed

 

Jaws is still considered one of the scariest movies and even thought it was rated PG in 1975, it would still only get a PG-13 by today's standard. I think if any horror movie today can get legitimate scares without much bloodshed and score a PG-13 rating, then that's an accomplishment.

 

You're right about them not indicating any type of quality. The genre itself presupposes a stronger rating only because in order to really create that sense of dread, tap into the fears of people, you have to do something that crosses a line beyond our comfort levels. This can be done tastelessly or artfully. Everyone is going to have different thresholds obviously, but the studios definitely seem to have their formula that covers the widest audience. Thank god for the indie film makers out there that push the envelope and show the bigger guys that the occasional risk is worth taking. I really think that the last few years we've been seeing a major upswing for the quality of horror

 

i don't disagree, but i think i wasn't clear - my point wasn't that PG-13 movies can't push the envelope in a scary way, just that if a movie is PG-13, i think it's more likely to be PG-13 not because of artistic integrity and vision of the director, but because of studio meddling that wants to target the (more easily satisfied) teen demographic rather than the adult demographic, which tends to lend itself - especially in horror - to cheap, shitty films

 

This is an interesting choice. I agree with you, a rare/great film with that truly inspired fear in adults that could get away with a lower rating. I couldn't come up with any film that was lower than PG13. If you rated most films from the 70's/80's again by today's standards, I think we'd see a majority drop in rating (nudity excluded).

Ah, you and I are very much on the same page then. I do think that there are diamonds in the rough. The Sixth Sense, The Ring, Insidious are a few I can think of off the top of my head. But they are few and far between. I'll take R/NC17/Unrated any day

 

With the cavs game over, anyone have a rec on netflix for me to watch for the rest of night?

 

I've seen Jaws dozens of times on TV and DVD over the years but finally got to see it on the big screen last year for its 40th anniversary release. I have to say it was the most satisfying viewing for me. There were certain jump scares that still caught me by surprise.

 

Jaws is long overdue for a viewing. The hospital/ER I work for just saw some national news coverage for a girl who was bitten by a shark and brought to us with it still attached to her arm haha. The stars seem to be aligning for this movie. I'm jealous of the theater experience, I bet that was awesome

 

man, Jaws is so good and still holds up so well. need to watch it now.

also saw they put We Are Still Here up on netflix. opinions? i remember hearing good things

 

Yeah it's a pretty good ghost movie

 

Thanks, i'll probably check it out tonight.

 

Here's a fun story about Insidious 3: I went to see it by myself (my friends are all lame and won't watch horror films) and I was the only person in the theater. They showed the Sinister 2 trailer before the movie and as they were showing it, a little girl came into the theater. She looked about 6 years old, idk how she got in, but she sat in the row behind me. For the entirety of the movie, she laughed and talked to someone like she was having a conversation even though it was just the two of us in the theater. It freaked me out

 

no the thought of this happening is too much for me. it sounds like one of those buzzfeed things.

 

I swear on my beloved cat's life that it really happened