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

He almost said that verbatim:

That was all he said? Nothing else? Oops! My bad.

Yeah, I'll lose sleep over it.

If your criticism is that he should say only that, then say that. Sarcasm is a poor cover for imprecision, particularly in an argument.

Here's another:

There've been several quasi-olive branches like this. That they were next to increasingly dismissive comments over time is pretty unsurprising. That kind of escalation is what always happens when the first couple of more benign attempts are rebuffed.

Yes, this is why I said he could hand wave my argument with another “we all got opinions.” It’s also why you say “quasi-olive branches” rather than “olive branches.”

Sarcasm may be a poor cover for imprecision but condescension is a poorer cover for magnanimity. Or vice versa. Whichever is more precise.

Let's cool it down in here, ya'll.

First, because it makes me sad when my friends are fighting.

Second, because it's maddening to read a passionate debate full of irresistible spoiler tags to a film I haven't seen yet.

Third, okay, there is no third. Please enjoy the most garish gif I could find related to opinions. I suggest not looking directly at it for more than a few seconds.

Here are my thoughts on Promising Young Women, btw:

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IMDb
Letterboxd

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Bullying is not cool, man.

Is… Is that a belly button beneath the box? Or…

I’m offended. I can’t believe you’d say THAT about the film. We duel at dawn.

I warned you about staring directly at the gif.

Idk, my reading is backed up by its Letterboxd summary:

It drew my face closer and closer to the screen with every permutation. I now only stare at the gif. But does it stare back into me?

Letterboxd can be your second. Pistols or sabers?

It's not a horror film, but MKS, have you seen Emperor of the North? In spite of its cast, it's fairly underseen. Being the action film fan which I believe you are, I feel you'd dig it.

I’ve meant to for years. Almost bought the Twilight Time bluray a dozen times before they shut down and it’s now OOP. Love Aldrich and the cast so it’s more a matter of when rather than if.

I even bought the Kino release of the Iceman Cometh because I confused it with Emperor of the North (didn’t cancel because I also love Frankenheimer).

I love M Night's movies, I even love Lady in the Water and The Happening, but The Trap is dumb. Josh Hartnett plays a serial killer version of Agent 47, but like at the lowest difficulty. And in the tutorial. He is both the unluckiest and the luckiest man of all time, and the movie just twists itself around making this guy lucky, seemingly just to pad the runtime. There is no point to this, it's not going anywhere, and at least a full half takes place outside the concert, which was at least an interesting setting. Once they get out, it remains pointless and meandering, but in a setting you've already seen a hundred times.

Such a bummer. After Penny Dreadful, I've come around to something of an appreciation for Hartnett, especially in a more camp context. And from the trailers I was hoping this would be dumb fun, but the more I hear about it, the more it sounds like it's just dumb. Sad face.

Messiah of Evil (1974) -

I decided to check this one out due to a few glowing recommendations over the past couple days. I was quite impressed, but I prefer the first half by a hair. Blurring the lines between which off-kilter behavior was simply the result of people being creepy and which was actually life-threatening got under my skin since there was a clear escalation to it. For instance, a gas station attendant randomly fires a gun into the distance, a creepy old man tells a disturbing story about his birth, and then a driver randomly bites the head off a rat. The characters we're introduced to should raise red flags, yet the ambiguity to their motivations and how they seem harmless makes it hard to figure out who to trust and who to fear. This caused the first notable character death to come as a surprise since, given the scene prior, I was ready to trust everyone at that point. That sequence is the climax to the film though. The mechanics of the Messiah become pretty clear after that, so I don't think the film was able to maintain this tension going forward. Fortunately, the second half still packs a strong punch by calling attention to the unpredictable nature of how the townsfolk operate and adding enough variation to their scenes to keep itself unique, with the obvious standout being the theater scene. Just thinking about all the monster/zombie/cannibal films I've seen over the years, I was impressed with how the film took elements from all three, yet something wholly original emerged out the other end. Again, I still prefer the first half since the strangeness of its tension-building is truly unparalleled, but the second half has somewhat improved for me upon reflection. Overall, I'd definitely describe this as a forgotten classic and would recommend it to all horror fans.

I hear ya, I really do like the first half of the movie a lot... it's just that I like the second half even more.
Between the Theater Scene (which has become one of my favorite scenes in all of Horror Movies), the scene in the doorway with the young woman ("It's starting...", "I'm very sorry."), the two cops, and of course ... I just feel like the second half packs too many big punches to not be the reason to watch this film. I mean, I gotta say, I'm really glad that all that great unsettling stuff you talk about actually ends up going somewhere because, when I first saw it, I was worried it wasn't.

Regardless, it makes me very happy that you enjoyed it. I don't know if you'll have the same experience but, for me, it's a movie that got better on repeated viewings.