Reply With QuoteCertainly the most interesting horror movie of recent vintage. Repays being watched again.
For me, the Swedish movie 'Let the right one in' (Lat den retta komma in) used to be the ultimate suspense/horror movie. Today, it dropped down to second place after seeing the Australian movie The Babadook. Goosebumps, and disturbing from the beginning to the end. No blood, no gory details. But i recommend you watch it first and decide after watching if you think your kids are old enough to watch themselves.
Menno
Certainly the most interesting horror movie of recent vintage. Repays being watched again.
Very good horror movie. You should give "Goodnight Mommy" ( Ich seh , Ich seh ), a look also, it's Austrian, so subtitled, but super creepy.
Hmmmm.....watched it recently and although mildly entertained, I wasn't that impressed. I think my dislike for both the mother and the boy's characters spoiled it.
We weren't impressed.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Good - really nice set design and establishing shots - central performance was really good. Needed about 20 mins cutting I reckon. Decent though.
It Follows was pretty good. Check that.
I wasn't impressed with The Babadook. Just found it more a child's story- Let the right one in- was superb- I have to say the American remake I thought was even better, not often you can say that about a remake.
The Babadook was overhyped for me by Mark Kermode's enthusiastic review. I enjoyed it but it wasn't the horror classic I was expecting.
I also watch Berbarian Sound Studio recently, another movie he couldn't praise highly enough. I thought it was pants.
The Swedish ' let the right one in ' was good. I might give this a go even though I don't generally enjoy watching horror as a genre
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Berbarian Sound Studio wasn't for everyone but as a fan of Giallo cinema I enjoyed it. Wasn't amazing but liked itOriginally Posted by phil h
I enjoyed the first 30 minutes or so, tension seemed to be building and a feeling that something else was afoot, but then nothing. The visuals and sound were good but spoiled by the lack of substance to the story IMHO.
This gialli fan hated it.
I've yet to see The Babadook...but I'll give it a go.
Another Austrian film...anyone remember Funny Games? Very disquieting, and one where I don't think the US remake was better.
Really want to see this since I saw it reviewed by Mark Kermode.
The other half and I love horrors!
Funny Games was very eerie - very well done
Loved 'Babadook' and 'It Follows' - these, along with 'Insideous' are the best horror I have seen in recent years
Although 'Dark Skies' has its moments, particularly if you have kids ... :-)
I'm not sure that Funny Games is a horror film. I've just found a review (beware spoiler alert NYTreview) that ends:
''Funny Games'' observes the family's excruciating terror and suffering with the patient delight of a cat luxuriantly toying with a mouse that it is in the process of slowly killing. Posing as a morally challenging work of art, the movie is a really a sophisticated act of cinematic sadism. You go to it at your own risk.
Who can resist?
I hate to be the one who says you didn't get it, but if you feel that way then I think you might be missing the whole point of the story.
Without spoiling it for anyone who might not have seen it yet I think the allegory is quite clear, and is quite a mature theme to tackle.
It's actually really good. Haneke is poking fun at people who watch torture-porn then claim it to be morally repugnant. His view is that if you're watching it, then you are complicit. The film certainly pissed a lot of people off anyway.
I don't think that "the allegory is quite clear" at all. Like all the best horror movies, it's decidedly ambiguous and open to interpretation.
It's annoying that this forum doesn't have spoiler tags, it makes discussion of these things a bit tricky. I'll just say that I'm all for ambiguity in films, some of my favourite films are almost impossible to decipher. But I don't think The Babadook tries to hide its actual subject matter, it just doesn't spell it out. By the end of the film you're supposed to have a clear idea of what's actually happening.
Saw it last night...
Isn't the 'mum' the 'wife' out of 'Girl with the Pearl Earring'?
Heck the kid was annoying :-( I can see why she (mum) wanted to throttle him... can't blame her at all.
Can't understand the ending at all.
I watched The Babadook last night, and the actual subject matter is pretty much spelled out for the viewer, you might miss it if you watched the movie with the other eye on youtube or some game.
Now, in the end, I found it very disturbing exactly because you realize what is actually happening. It is horror, it is monster horror, it is psychological horror, it's horror because it's real
So IS there a 'monster' in the cellar or what?
I'll try somehow without spoilers, there is no monster.
Ask yourself, who wrote the book? Who had the fingers dirty? What the mother did before (remember birthday party). Who abused who in the second half of the movie.
Oh... okay. Without mentioning any names I THINK I see who's who. ;-)
I have seen this on Netflix for a while, and avoided it, I will give it a go.
Not sure why the story/allegory is proving so elusive to some people. It's not like it's a hard to understand secret or a twist or anything?! I think it was pretty clear from the outset what the story was about.
Even with the metaphor, I still wanted him to get rid of the kid within the first 10 minutes of the film!
I watched it last night, what a load of old tosh it was, time in my life I will never get back, 2.5 stars on Netflix, I now know why.
Spoiler alert!!
The Babadook is the mothers grief/depression, after her husbands death, manifested as an "entity"
It's ok but no way is it better than Let the right one ine (the original not the remake).
I agree, I found somewhat interesting to de-construct the story, but overall tedious and boring at places. Would I recommend it? To horror buff yes, to casual viewer, no
I much preferred What We Do in the Shadows or It Follows (this one is actually excellent!) or Housebound, to list couple of recent offerings
I was really disappointed with Babadook. It's certainly horrifying but it just wasn't very good.
Only horror I've enjoyed lately was called Deliver us from Evil. Meant to be based on actual events but I'm not buying that.
To be honest there's not been many modern horror films I've enjoyed.
The likes of the Exorcist and The Shining have never been matched imo.
for me this is also the issue, us men/women of a certain generation are used to classics like The Shining/Exorcist/The Omen, I have yet to come across a movie in recent years that comes close to any of them, surprising given the technology available nowadays.
back then just a good script, good actors and good location/premise.
The Babadook was ok, but not that creepy. The one horror film that sticks in my head, especially the creepy bald character with yellow eyes is from the film Salem's Lot starring David Soul. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079844/?ref_=nv_sr_1
The only genuinely unnerving film I've ever seen is The Descent.
Claustrophobic, dread inducing surroundings, weird creatures plus the fact that they're all women which made you think they won't cope like men would....
The sequels a shocker though, and not in a good way😖
Watched it from behind the coach recently, just can't man up to those type of films.
The Descent really is great. It's got amazing sound design, if you get a chance to watch it in the cinema or with a decent surround sound setup it adds a terrifying dimension to it.
Another classic that was ruined for Americans by test-screening so they bolted on a happy ending.
I struggled to sleep after watching it.... The only film ever to do that!
Watched What we do in the shadows earlier this week and really enjoyed it (love FOTC/Jemaine Clement anyways). Also enjoyed It follows, well worth a watch.
For good horror look at Asian cinema (the Ring, Grudge, Shutter, Pulse etc.).
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