A scary thing happened on the way to the Movie Forums - Horrorcrammers

Victim of The Night

10-07-24

Alright, real quick I have to poll the forum on this question of whether or not something is really a Horror movie.
This time it is Amer.
I'm getting more of a surreal giallo vibe from it than an October vibe.

Captain Terror

Fouke-a-delic

10-07-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

I absolutely loved it but I think you're right about the October part. Save it for another month.

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CharlesAoup

Registered User

10-07-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

Their next movie, The Strange Color of your Body's Tears would easily be classified as a horror film, but Amer only had Giallo elements in the beginning and very end. Outstanding movie, but not horror.

Let The Corpses Tan, another of theirs, is more of a Tarantino thing, if you're into that. I love all of them, Amer the most.

Takoma11

Registered User

10-07-24

Originally Posted by Deschain

Oddity. After a woman is murdered her twin sister uses her psychic powers to investigate. Like The First Omen I solved the mystery extremely early, but that�s not really what was important here. It�s an expertly told story and all the characters are compelling and sympathetic in their own way. I�d heard how scary this movie was but was surprised to find it very funny too, especially Darcy. I�d watch a whole hacky show where this blind psychic and her creepy petrified body sidekick solve murders.

Exhuma. When a wealthy family�s baby is born sick the patriarch hires a team of shamans and geomancers to lift a curse on his deceased grandfather. It was such a fascinating concept to me that you need to bury loved ones in a good plot or they�d haunt you, and then you�d have to call in a geomancer to relocate their body. I don�t know anything about religions but I�m assuming this is all based on a real belief system. Anyway this movie is a wild ****ing ride that educated me on a whole host of rituals and superstitions.

I highly recommend both of them.

Agreed. They are both super solid.

Originally Posted by Little Ash

I watched this some time in the past decade when it was screened at a theater. Something about the premise being based on a true story made the movie just seem extremely exploitative to me in a way that I normally don't with films.

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Clearly the real life version is a woman has a mental illness, the medical establishment is stumped and give answers (and are portrayed as the bad guys), and the people who are portrayed as the good guys are actually people enabling and exploiting her by encouraging her that it's real.

The problem is that the

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medical establishment in the film is incredibly condescending in a way that is particularly familiar to me (and to most women, I'd imagine). I have had an experience where I was in pain and had real physical symptoms and instead of help and being taken seriously, I had a doctor try to help me understand that it was in my head and I needed to relax. I didn't need to "relax": I needed something in my neck fixed so that it wasn't impeding the blood flow to my head or pressing on a nerve or whatever. (And I say "or whatever" because I had to fix the problem myself!) I know a ton of women with similar stories, and the movie really nails just how patronizing a lot of doctors are. One of them even refers to her, dismissively, as a "little girl" who is "masturbating".

Obviously someone perceiving that they are being assaulted/attacked is different and more extreme than what a lot of people experience with the medical establishment, but the dynamic of having something wrong and not being listened to was frustratingly accurate. What enables the main character to move on and make progress is having people who listen to her and believe her and don't ignore what she's telling them in favor of their own theories.

I think that in the context of the film---where the entity is definitely real---the paranormal researchers are the good guys because they actually listen to her and problem solve. They don't even solve the problem.

I also don't think it's wrong for scientists to investigate something. You don't have to believe in ghosts to take someone seriously when they describe a strange experience.

The horror that the film is exploring is the horror of something bad happening to you and no one believing you. That naturally skews the film's sympathies toward people who take the main character seriously.

Last edited by Takoma11; 10-07-24 at 10:09 PM.

CharlesAoup

Registered User

10-07-24

I just watched Argento's Inferno, and I have thoughts on it or whatever, but what the **** is wrong with the Italians?

Forget the fact that they often actually harmed or killed animals during filming, but why do so ******* many of their movies include animal cruelty? I guess it's less common outside of giallo and horror, but why is that one specific thing so common in there? You can watch 1000 American or French movies straight and never see it once. I don't get it.

I love the way they make movies, but that is one thing I absolutely cannot jive with. Like, I was watching some Fulci movie on tubi and it went well, then bam! They shot a snake for real for absolutely no reason.

Just a rant I felt like getting out.

Takoma11

Registered User

10-07-24

Originally Posted by CharlesAoup

At this point, I extensively research this specific aspect (thanks, DoesTheDogDie.com!) with any giallo. And even if a film's a classic, if I know there's unsimulated animal cruelty, it's a hard pass for me.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-07-24

Originally Posted by CharlesAoup

Funny, I have all three of those movies in my queue but had no idea they were related in any way.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-07-24

Originally Posted by CharlesAoup

I think they have a culture (as much as you can ever group that many people into one culture) that, like many cultures around the world, really just see non-human animals as food or labor. I mean, I am very strongly animal-oriented and think of them very similarly to how I do humans but I think that's fairly uncommon around the world and throughout history.
Ya know, like, most of America is cool with taking a sledgehammer to a cow's head for my steak, but we can't just decapitate it for this movie?

Takoma11

Registered User

10-07-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

Ya know, like, most of America is cool with taking a sledgehammer to a cow's head for my steak, but we can't just decapitate it for this movie?

I mean, the ethics of animal consumption could be a whole conversation, but there's some particularly cruel things that happen to animals in giallo films (like the lizards having needles driven through their heads while still alive) that go beyond "killing for the purpose of XYZ".

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-07-24

Originally Posted by Takoma11

You get no argument from me, I won't watch it and I freakin' hate it. I'm just saying, as an attempt to answer the question of why "Italians" are this way, that it's not the only time in my life I experienced a culture that has very different views from my own. I mean, hell, I live in Louisiana, this place is nuts. I had an extremely wealthy, blue-blood, young doctor explain to me the other day that he prefers to use a shotgun to hunt squirrel. I was like, "So... do you eat the squirrel?" "No, I mean, I give 'em away if anybody wants them." "Is there anything left to give after you shoot a ten-inch long animal that you're not even gonna eat with a shotgun?"

Takoma11

Registered User

10-08-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

Agreed. And animal cruelty in film is by no means confined to Italian cinema.

Deschain

Msg

Registered User

10-08-24

Infested. Yes. Yes. Spiders. Spiders. Creature. Feature. Monsters. Give it to me. Give it all to me.

CharlesAoup

Registered User

10-08-24

The issue isn't just the non simulated stuff, it's the question of why is it in the movie at all? Is it the aesthetic? Do people anywhere like these scenes? I don't remember it ever serving a purpose. I remember seeing something about how in a comedy (The Nice Guys) maybe, they used a plushie of a dog for a scene where a guy kicks a dog into a river because, even in a comedic context, anything the slightest bit realistic was such a mood kill for the audience. It's just such a strong discrepancy from this very specific segment of the movie world.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-08-24

Originally Posted by CharlesAoup

It's an interesting question. I would say the aesthetic, yes. Shock and milieu. This is a film where you see things like this or these characters are in a film where things like this are the norm.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-08-24

Quick question about Late Night With The Devil.
That owl mask in the first like five minutes, that is an exact replica of the Night Owl mask from Stage Fright, right?

Last edited by Wooley; 10-08-24 at 10:49 PM.

Little Ash

he/him

10-09-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

Quick question about Late Night With The Devil.
That owl mask in the first like five minutes, that is an exact replica of the Night Owl mask from Stage Fright, right?

I remember it showing up at the end, but the reference/source seemed very clear that it was in my memory. I haven't seen it since the spring though.

Little Ash

he/him

10-09-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

I would say stick with your gut. The three segments are tonally very different (caveat - it's been over a decade since I've seen it though), and as I recall, the middle segment would be very un-Halloween. I think the first and third segments are Halloween enough for me, but based on what you've said in the past, probably not for you. The third segment might be able to get into Stage Fright level of giallo-Halloween appropriateness (tonally), but if you're feeling risk averse (and it is only the third segment of three segments), save it for another month.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

10-09-24

Originally Posted by Little Ash

I remember it showing up at the end, but the reference/source seemed very clear that it was in my memory. I haven't seen it since the spring though.

I mean, the show (in LNwtD) is called Night Owls and the killer in Stage Fright was called The Night Owl and now there's a guy standing there with an owl head on that is the spitting image of The Night Owl from Stage Fright... I can't imagine it isn't a nod.

Captain Terror

Fouke-a-delic

10-09-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

I watched it under the influence of cough medicine and as a result have no memory of the owl guy.

ThatDarnMKS