Hi, Doggy!
May 3rd – May 9th
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) — Two ditsy American girls on their way to a club in a foreign country get a flat tire on their rental car. It begins to rain. They stumble towards the nearest house to make a phone call. A deranged German scientist answers the door. Things will not turn out okay.
That’s the beginning of a standard horror/slasher plot. When things start getting surgical–when Dr. Heiter creates his monster–is where the movie veers off into new territory. Given the subject matter, the movie is surprisingly restrained and nice to look at.
The film is certainly better than I had expected. It was more than just a shocking, gross-out cinematic challenge. But what it was exactly, I still don’t know. After seeing it, I can totally see where Ebert was coming from when he said in his review:
I am required to award stars to movies I review. This time, I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don’t shine.
The Room — Another go at this one. This time for something much lighter than the previous film. While this still continues to be hilariously bad and eminently quotable, I must admit that I’m getting a little sick of it. It’s about time for another movie to make me laugh.
I now have a date to watch Human Centipede with my brother using our parents’ IFC on demand. Even though I’ve already read the plot from beginning to end on Wikipedia, I’m still intrigued. I know I shouldn’t have read the spoilers, but it’s too late now… I still want to see it though.
Any recommendations for actually good horror/suspense films? Classic or modern? (And not in a “so bad they’re good” kind of way). I loved Rosemary’s Baby. I thought Suspiria, supposedly one of the scariest horror films of all time, was just awful.
I knew much of the plot for Centipede too, but that didn’t seem to matter. Until you actually see the deed played out, with all of its ridiculousness, your life won’t be complete.
Yeah, I’d agree that Suspiria isn’t all that scary. But I guess it depends on what scares you. For me, the vivid paint-like quality of the blood makes the killings seem more theatrical than visceral. So even gory murders produce more of a chuckle than a gasp. It also seems slightly more artsy and exotic than other horror movies. I can also see how the age of the film can distance the viewer. But other movies from the same time period like Texas Chainsaw and Last House on the Left still seem much scarier to me. Then again, I also found The Blair Witch Project to be damn scary…and not because I thought any of it was real. “Less is more” works well with horror, in my opinion. And a lot of horror seems to depend on who you’re watching them with. Watching a movie with a bunch of friends or at full theater is a lot different than watching it alone in the dark in the middle of the night.
It’s hard to improve on Rosemary’s Baby. That’s just a really good film. And recommendations are just too hard. Horror can make you cower, jump, scream, laugh, roll your eyes, get sick to your stomach, turn you on, turn you off, make you think, etc. And I have way too little knowledge to be able to wade through that and come up with recommendations I could be proud to give.
Hmmm… so after what you said I’m considering checking out the original Last House on the Left. And I LOVED Blair Witch. Seeing it cold in the theater on opening night was great! I remember walking out to the parking lot when the full implication of the ending finally hit me (I’m a little slow sometimes) and being completely freaked out. I saw it again in the theater 2 days later.
Watched Human Centipede this weekend. Perhaps I’ve been desensitized. I guess I’ll have to wait for Full Sequence to be truly horrified. This time I won’t read the plot synopsis ahead of time. I kept asking “Why doesn’t she just…” type questions. To which my brother would repeatedly respond “It’s a horror movie. Don’t ask questions!”
Have you seen The Devil’s Rejects? It’s been recommended to me.
Yeah, I’d definitely recommend The Devil’s Rejects as well. One of the better horror films of the last several years. Especially if you like horror from the ’70s.
Oh, and have you seen The Mist? That was a surprisingly good horror movie. Not jump out of your seat scary. More suspensful. But really good.
Yes, the ending of The Mist made the entire film for me. I LOVE endings like that. There’s probably something wrong with me.