MeFi Horror, #3 Carnival of Souls/#4 Pontypool

June 27, 2014 7:35 AM

Pick #3, for Wednesday, July 2nd: Carnival of Souls. And, to give folks a head start, because of the coming US holiday, we'll announce announce that Pick #4 for Wednesday, July 9th is MeFi favorite Pontypool. Pick #5 will be a non-English film. Post suggestions in this thread.

1962's Carnival of Souls is MeFi horror's first retro/classic pick. The film finds young Mary Henry, wandering into a small town after an auto accident, on her way to her new job as a church organist. She begins to pick up strange vibes: none of the normal people in town seem to be able to see her, and she keeps being accosted by freakish pasty-faced types who seem to be dead on their feet.

More of an unnerving spook fest than a violent shocker, Carnival of Souls may be something even the horror averse can sink their teeth into.

Streaming options includeHulu Plus and an ad-supported post on YouTube.

Getting back to recent standouts, Pontypool tells the story of shock jock Grant Mazzy, who has been kicked-off the airwaves and now works at a small-town morning show. Another mundane day on the job quickly turns deadly when reports pile in of people developing strange speech patterns and evoking brutal acts of violence.

Although not without violence or blood, Ponrypool is uniquely cerebral in a way that has made a favorite recommendation of MeFites in many a thread.

If you're on the fence, you can sample the film's mesmerizing title sequence monologue here.

This film is available through iTunes rental and Netflix DVD. canistream.it says it isn't streaming, though InstantWatcher says it is. In any case, this film gets the hive mind's highest recommendation and you have some lead time.

posted by DirtyOldTown to MetaFilter-Related at 7:35 AM (109 comments total)

I'm looking forward to discussing Pontypool. Can someone check whether that is or is not on Netflix streaming?

Again, that title was Pontypool. Ponty. Pool. Pontypool. Pontypool.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:04 AM on June 27, 2014 [4 favorites]

SPEAK FRENCH.
posted by maxsparber at 9:11 AM on June 27, 2014 [3 favorites]

I just checked, Pontypool is available on Netflix Streaming. Which makes me wonder what other things canistream.it misses...
posted by doctornecessiter at 9:44 AM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Pontypool! Yay!
posted by Lexica at 9:49 AM on June 27, 2014

I am suggesting [REC] for the non-English film.
posted by govtdrone at 10:31 AM on June 27, 2014 [6 favorites]

As a reminder, it's a good idea to run ideas through sites like canistream.it and Instant Watcher so that you can mention if the movie has streaming/digital purchase options. We're seeing already that these are not foolproof, but they're a start. You can also check Reddit's full movies on YouTube page or their page for full movies on Vimeo. And please mention what you find.

I am super committed to keeping this club rolling, but I am nevertheless unlikely to run these searches on the next several dozen movies that get suggested.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:41 AM on June 27, 2014

Oh man, Pontypool is awesome.
posted by mordax at 10:50 AM on June 27, 2014

A few things I notice have pretty good availability:

-Dead Snow
-Here Comes the Devil
-Let the Right One In
-Here Comes the Devil
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:03 AM on June 27, 2014

For the non-English language, [REC] is a good movie, but fairly widely seen, I thought?

As an alternative, which is much less seen, I can reluctantly suggest Martyrs (Laugier, 2008). Reluctantly, because I won't be watching it again, once was more than enough, although I will participate in discussing it, I guess.

I mentioned in an earlier thread that I would prefer at least some movies that are scary, and while Martyrs is certainly scary, it's also so horrible, brutal, violent and plain upsetting that when I watched it with my girlfriend, she had a full-fledged panic attack, and I wasn't far from it myself, and I consider myself pretty hardened to that kind of thing, but there are images and things that happen in that movie that stuck in my head for weeks, along with a sort of existential despair that I just couldn't shake.

It's basically the only movie I've ever seen that's had that kind of emotional impact, and just because of that, I kind of consider it a very high-quality horror movie, but I don't ever want to watch it again.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:06 AM on June 27, 2014

That's an interesting suggestion.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:10 AM on June 27, 2014

Bear in mind, y'all that Horror Club is too big and scattershot for us to work as a strict democracy under the current setup. So I just pretty much operate as The Right and Honorable Rep. DirtyOldTown (I-MeFi) and take the group's temperature on what kind of things people want to see and then try and pick something that makes as many people happy as possible.

Beyond specifying titles (which is also cool, so please do that), there is plenty of value in people saying, as Joakim Ziegler did, that you'd prefer something scary this time. Or you might prefer something obscure. Or something outrageous. Or something new you might not have seen. Or whatever.

I'm still sort of figuring on going with thematic weeks, but I went ahead and shifted the "new stuff" week to come right after the "classic/retro" week. This will make the new stuff seem like a sort of tonic for people who couldn't get behind an older film. And, frankly, since Pontypool is arguably the most widely loved recent horror film on MeFi, I knew it would be a popular pick I could slot in easily before I take off on vacation.

We can still use this thread (and any/all future MeTas for MeFi Horror Club) to discuss things like rotations, future plans, guidelines, etc.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:15 AM on June 27, 2014 [4 favorites]

Sorry to keep posting on top of myself, but here's the schedule as it looks now:

July 2nd: Carnival of Souls
July 9th: Pontypool
July 16th: (other pick, TBD)
July 23rd: probable shared pick with Summer Camp group, in form of Sleepaway Camp

I have been giving a lot of thought to the suggestions by troika and kittens for breakfast about a rotation. While I'm not ready to lock into a formal one just yet, I did think of a category I think could be good that I'm suggesting for the 16th: Extreme. I'm thinking that horror fans being as we are, we could probably stand to have a slot devoted to the most over-the-top stuff, whether it be unsettling excess like Martryrs or explosively ridiculous gore like Brain Dead (Dead Alive). It could sort of be seen as the Not for Beginners slot.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:25 AM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

Well, Martyrs certainly fits the Extreme category, so go for that, by all means. I'm just saying, if you're upset by (realistic, not funny, played straight) violence, thought the Saw or Hostel movies were in any way, shape or form unpleasant, or just don't have a strong stomach for watching suffering, don't watch it. It fits roughly into the genre of "torture porn", but it's quite a bit deeper and more unsettling than that, with a sort of philosophical/theological background that touches on the supernatural, but it's hard to explain how that works without spoiling it.

(It's also extreme violence against women. If there's any mitigating factor to it at all, it's that it's non-sexual and non-eroticized violence against women, but that's small comfort.)
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:54 AM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

I also think Martyrs has nothing in common with Braindead, other than being in some way over the top. Braindead is kind of light hearted and very funny at times, Martyrs is not in any way. But I'm not about to argue for two different extreme categories.

(And hey, from the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was always my line when I wanted people to watch Braindead for the first time. They were always suprised, but never disappointed.)
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:57 AM on June 27, 2014

I was just trying to provide a bit of leeway in how we use the "Extreme" category, should we choose to use such a thing. It needn't all be nightmare fuel. It could also include things that are extreme by virtue of copious blood and guts. The unifying concept I was going for was excess, not tone.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:05 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Audition seems like a good way to ease into the "Extreme" category.
posted by naju at 12:17 PM on June 27, 2014

And if you've already seen Pontypool, here's something you might enjoy: the CBC radio drama production of Pontypool Changes Everything, an adaptation of the novel on which the film is based.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:53 PM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

Been meaning to see Pontypool and get into FanFare more, so sounds good to me!

Audition or Battle Royale are options for foreign stuff!
posted by yellowbinder at 12:58 PM on June 27, 2014

I vote for The Devil's Backbone in the foreign language category.
posted by permafrost at 1:12 PM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

Crap, I meant to include that on my list of suggestions but accidentally put Here Comes the Devil down twice instead.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:31 PM on June 27, 2014

I'm driving through Pontypool on Sunday!
So excited to discuss it.
posted by Lemurrhea at 1:36 PM on June 27, 2014

Good non-English film: Les Yeux Sans Visages, a French film from 1962, inspired the Billy Idol song "Eyes Without A Face".

You're Welcome
posted by Renoroc at 3:02 PM on June 27, 2014 [3 favorites]

Again, that title was Pontypool. Ponty. Pool. Pontypool. Pontypool.


Oh God I hope my sobbing in terror is not making enough noise for them to hear me.
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:28 PM on June 27, 2014 [3 favorites]

I love Martyrs desperately, but it's hard to even hint at why without ruining it. Its violence is not what I love about it, but that violence is so shocking that really any conversation about the movie is going to at least begin with a lengthy discourse on its violence and how it makes the audience feel. And more to the point, the violence is so extreme that many viewers would, I think, be able to react to nothing else in the film. It's like an amazing meal that someone poured super hot barbecue sauce all over. No matter how much you love barbecue sauce, you're probably like, "dang yo we could tone down this barbecue sauce," and many people won't be able to taste anything but barbecue sauce, and quite a few people will take two bites and order a pizza. So I mean. I love Martyrs desperately, but I sure would understand if everybody wanted to watch something else.

On the extreme tip, some other suggestions might be the afore-mentioned Audition (or my own favorite Takashi Miike, Ichi the Killer, which is definitely extreme but is arguably not a horror movie), Santa Sangre, The Last Circus, the original We Are What We Are (the recent American remake is pretty damn great, too, but dramatically different), and (horror in my opinion; probably not extreme the way you're expecting, but...) Dogtooth.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:33 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

troika confirms the week of July 23rd is a go for the combo-club thread with Sleepaway Camp, which I am positively excited about because it's a mix of interesting filmmaking, 80s period hilarity, and holy-shit-is-this-going-to-take-a-lot-to-unpack sociological content.

That being settled, it means after we decide what comes in week 5 (probably an "extreme" film of some kind or another, I am guessing), we'll be able to once again announce two picks in a row. This seems to be a good system and requires up to use less of the MeTa front page than weekly let's-pick-a-movie threads. Maybe we should stick with two at a time for a while.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:11 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

By the way, I see there are various versions of Carnival of Souls, varying from 78 minutes (theatrical) to 84 minutes (original and director's cut). Should we preferably watch one or the other? It looks like the director's cut is somewhat more common.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 4:15 PM on June 27, 2014

Just to add to the list of potential foreign films, I seem to remember Amenábar's Tesis was very good, and really impressive for what's practically an ultra-low-budget student film.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 4:26 PM on June 27, 2014

I am excited for an 'extreme' movie. The genre is so far outside my comfort zone!

For foreign films, I would love to watch and discuss A Tale of Two Sisters at some point.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:33 PM on June 27, 2014 [6 favorites]

FWIW, Pontypool is definitely streaming on Netflix US. As well as being a great movie about which I have a theory that I've been dying to share.
posted by stet at 4:37 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Audition seems like a good way to ease into the "Extreme" category.

And then the club could venture deeper, deeper, deeper?
posted by mordax at 4:41 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

How does Martyrs compare to The Devil's Rejects? I found that draining but tolerable.
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:50 PM on June 27, 2014

Pope Guilty: "How does Martyrs compare to The Devil's Rejects? I found that draining but tolerable"

For me, no comparison at all, The Devil's Rejects is kind of self-consciously nasty (and not very good, I thought). Martyrs is more relentlessly bleak and nihilistic, everyone suffers horribly, to the point where the whole world seems like a cruel, ugly place and you want to die.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 4:59 PM on June 27, 2014

Martyrs is more relentlessly bleak and nihilistic, everyone suffers horribly, to the point where the whole world seems like a cruel, ugly place and you want to die.

To be fair, this is a perfect summation of how I feel about the Farrelly Brothers' oeuvre.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 5:03 PM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

kittens for breakfast: "
To be fair, this is a perfect summation of how I feel about the Farrelly Brothers' oeuvre."

Yeah, well, the difference is that, for me at least, the Farrelly Brothers' films, to the extent that I've seen them, are very easy to forget, while Martyrs was impossible to get out of my head. It was literally the last thing I thought about before going to sleep for weeks, especially the final treatment the protagonist undergoes and its results (you know what I'm talking about).
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:21 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Way in advance here and just spitballing, but what are some different things we could do for Halloween?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:34 PM on June 27, 2014

I have seen a couple of versions of Carnival of Souls and IIRC they weren't that different at all. Just watch the one that is easiest for you.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:38 PM on June 27, 2014

Literaryhero: "For foreign films, I would love to watch and discuss A Tale of Two Sisters at some point."

Seconded, probably the finest example of recent Asian horror film.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:55 PM on June 27, 2014

I had a really tough time with Ichi the Killer, and I know I'm not up for Martyrs. I can understand why people see the movie, but it's just too much for me. There's a handful in that category: A Serbian Film, Salo, Martyrs, Irreversible, August Underground, Frontiers, Men Behind the Sun, Inside, and a few others. I usually avoid the torture porn stuff, or really anything that is mostly undiluted depiction of human suffering.

My first Takashi Miike film was Visitor Q. It was insane enough to have me seeking out his better-known movies, infamous and otherwise. I made it through Audition, but I almost had to turn off Ichi. I found both deeply unsettling.

To each his own. Most of my horror-fan friends are a bit more squeamish than I am, so it's cool to meet folks with a broader palette.
posted by drklahn at 6:58 PM on June 27, 2014

Yeah, those films are definitely not for everyone, and I wouldn't recommend them to everyone. I have a high threshold, but Martyrs definitely just about reached my limit. Most of the others you mention I find more tolerable.

(Although Irreversible was mostly hard to watch because it was so insufferably boring and pretentious. I thought the two scenes of ultraviolence were basically the only watchable thing in it, because at least something was happening. It's about as shit, pretentious, and basically conservative-and-moralistic-posing-as-transgressive as everything else Noé has done.)
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:17 PM on June 27, 2014

Carnival of Souls is also available on Google Play
posted by freejinn at 7:41 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Not only does Hulu have Carnival Of Souls, it also has the RiffTrax version as well.
posted by Ian A.T. at 10:03 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

I've neither seen it, nor do I really know anything at all about it, but I'm guessing Antichrist (Lars Von Trier) could fit into the "extreme" category?

I'm excited for our next two movies, and for the record, I haven't seen [REC] but have wanted to forever.
posted by triggerfinger at 10:36 PM on June 27, 2014

triggerfinger: "I've neither seen it, nor do I really know anything at all about it, but I'm guessing Antichrist (Lars Von Trier) could fit into the "extreme" category?"

It has a couple of scenes that would fit, at least, although it's not that extreme as a whole. It's very creepy and unsettling, though.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:10 PM on June 27, 2014

Oh God I hope my sobbing in terror is not making enough noise for them to hear me.
Pontypool gave me a fear I've only once had before, the fear that the act of watching the movie could be dangerous.

The other time was The Ring. Immediately after the movie showed us the content of the haunted videotape we got a phone call. None of us dared pick up the phone.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:17 PM on June 27, 2014 [4 favorites]

justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow: "The other time was The Ring. Immediately after the movie showed us the content of the haunted videotape we got a phone call. None of us dared pick up the phone."

US or Japanese Ring? (I tend to think the US version is superior, but I know I'm in a minority here.)
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:40 PM on June 27, 2014

the fear that the act of watching the movie could be dangerous.

Yuuup. There's much to discuss about Pontypool.
posted by naju at 12:57 AM on June 28, 2014

Incidentally, if you feel your soul has tears of terror yet to shed, there is a also a CBC radio play of Pontypool.
posted by running order squabble fest at 6:38 AM on June 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

US or Japanese Ring? (I tend to think the US version is superior, but I know I'm in a minority here.)

Maybe, but I'm right there with you; The Ring has a great cast, a much improved story, a gorgeous look, much richer characters, just literally everything about it is better. Remakes really can surpass originals, just as movies can be better than the books they're based on, I think. Ringu is...I mean, it isn't bad at all, but I defy anyone to watch both films and attest with a straight face it's the better film. Come on!

DirtyOldTown: Way in advance here and just spitballing, but what are some different things we could do for Halloween?

There are a lot of horror films (obviously) set around Halloween, and maybe we could rope off October for four or five of those? Going through the entire Halloween series could be kind of grueling, like, in terms of cinematic quality. But I'm always psyched to watch the '78 one, and there's plenty of other seasonal stuff.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:37 AM on June 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

I defy anyone to watch both films and attest with a straight face it's the better film.

I've seen both. Ringu kept giving me the creeps for days after I watched it. The remake tried too hard and just made me laugh. Turning everything up to ten does not a better film make.
posted by permafrost at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

The overenthusiastic first idea that leapt to mind for October/Halloween was that we should do an entire series every week: Halloween one week, Elm Street another, etc. Then I remembered that I am old, committed to go to that work place pretty regularly, and I have a family who likes to see me occasionally.

My more modest idea would be that we could do "double feature" threads the month of October, with movies paired by director or star, or paired with their sequel/remake, etc. Say... A Nightmare on Elm Street with New Nightmare (that remake is a turd) or even looser connections like Halloween and the loony, not-really-related Halloween III.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:46 PM on June 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

Isn't Friday the 13th superior to Nightmare on Elm Street in every conceivable metric? I know both series got more and more ridiculous (although the camping scene from Jason X is so good), but the original Friday the 13th was both terrifying and also had Kevin Bacon in it.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:42 PM on June 28, 2014

Isn't Friday the 13th superior to Nightmare on Elm Street in every conceivable metric?

No. It's not.

Maybe you're thrown off by how bad some of the Freddy sequels were?

But the Friday the 13th is a pretty ordinary slasher movie, only maybe a cut (ha!) above other slasher movies because of how iconic the hockey mask slasher ended up. The first A Nightmare on Elm Street is an imaginative, terrifying delight.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Their RottenTomatoes ratings are 96% fresh for ANoES (43 fresh, 2 rotten), 59% for Ft13th (29 fresh, 20 rotten). Ft13th has an iMDb user rating of 6.5. ANoES gets a 7.5.

Even if you want to award bonus points for Ft13th having young Kevin Bacon, ANoES has young Johnny Depp. So, game set match.

Though for the record, I have a soft spot for both Freddy vs. Jason and even that silly ass Jason X.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:00 PM on June 28, 2014

Seriously, I'm pacing around my living room mumbling angrily and gesticulating wildly.

How could anyone possibly prefer Friday the 13th to A Nightmare on Elm Street?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:22 PM on June 28, 2014 [5 favorites]

Jason X is a beautiful masterpiece. And it was scripted by the same man who wrote Drive Angry, so we're dealing with an uncredited auteur here. I see big things ahead for Todd Farmer.
posted by maxsparber at 8:15 PM on June 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

Okay, so the first Friday the 13th is a very raw, unpolished gem, to my mind; I'd be nearly inclined to call it outsider art. After that, the series becomes a bit of a rollercoaster, quality-wise, as subsequent filmmakers seem to spend a while figuring out what the hell to do with this crazy contraption and gradually assemble a franchise that doesn't really look like what we all think of now until about the third movie. Along the way, the budgets expand and contract, gore is toned up and down, comedy is toned up and down, and tone in general is all over the place. Because the movies were nearly an annual event, they serve as an '80s time capsule -- both in terms of the world they record and the trends in mainstream moviemaking over the decade -- and they're fun and often cringe-making in that regard. It's also fun to watch a new batch of filmmakers try to reinvent this thing with every installment, with varying degrees of success, and disparate notions of what success looks like. Anyway, even though these are accessible movies, because everybody is familiar with Jason and his, like, milieu, actually watching all of these movies is, I think, only to be recommended if you are deep into exploitation, low budget horror, or '80s-ology. The rewards for the casual viewer without one or more of these interests are...um. Well.

(Jason X and Freddy Vs. Jason seem kinda non-canonical to me, but are both pretty entertaining. I haven't seen the remake of Friday the 13th.)

Nightmare on Elm Street is easily better than any of the Friday the 13th movies, and Nightmare on Elm Street 3 is probably better than that. This series is also really fascinating to see play out, both for its successes and its failures. I'd be all about marathoning through this if I didn't think there'd be, like, four people in the club by the end of The Dream Child. The Never Sleep Again epic documentary is a good companion for anyone who tries; all approximately four hours (!) of it are on Netflix.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:28 PM on June 28, 2014 [3 favorites]

You know, I have mentioned it several times that I am not a horror film buff, so had to look at the plot summary for the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie. I don't actually think I ever saw it, so must have been comparing a later film which is obviously not fair so I retract my earlier comment (at least until I watch it).

As for the Friday the 13th remake, I actually saw it in the theater and it wasn't all bad. It was kind of like Friday the 13th as Scream as Friday the 13th, so things maybe came full circle if that makes sense at all.
posted by Literaryhero at 11:43 PM on June 28, 2014

Well, you can take all the baths you want.
posted by tomboko at 5:18 AM on June 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

For best results, only watch the ANoES movies with Heather Langenkamp in them.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:20 AM on June 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Jason X is brilliant. Self aware, funny, violent, scary and enormous fun.

I am excited about this FanFare discussion, although I may skip the more extreme stuff.

I propose an "under-rated" category, which must include "The Exorcist III".

And the American remake of "The Ring" was much scarier. The original was too explainy.
posted by biscotti at 2:46 PM on June 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

The Ring reminded me of a Call of Cthulhu adventure. Instigating event, investigation, turns out you can't kill the monster, but there's a ritual you can do to appease it.
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:19 PM on June 29, 2014

If you own or have ever messed around with a smart TV or one of the various smart tv boxes, you've noticed there are the famous, useful apps (Netflix! Hulu! YouTube!) and then some weird, no-name ones that you've never heard of before. Viewster is one such app. And lo and behold, they have Carnival of Souls, free and legal (though with some ads). You can also watch the film on your browser free from that link. They have an Android app, but it didn't seem to be able to play the film.

Anyway, so there's one more legal, good quality, free option for everyone.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:56 PM on June 29, 2014

An "underrated" category (though I might call it "Reevaluation"?) could be good. Actually, I've been thinking maybe there could be a rotation within the rotation. That is, we can do Foreign, Retro, Recent, then [one of extreme/underrated/spoof/not-precisely-horror/scary dopcumentary/what have you]. That could kind of take the idea put forth for a wild card category and make sure we pick some stuff that mixes things up while making that sure that our bread and butter groups get most of the slots...
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:01 PM on June 29, 2014

Oh nooooo, Audition is getting an American remake. I think we should watch it before it gets turned into something tasteless and awful. (I just rewatched it this weekend and it's held up very well. Perfect for an involved discussion.)
posted by naju at 9:55 PM on June 29, 2014

Just rewatched Pontypool. As a squeamish sort who sometimes enjoys being scared but really dislikes gore, I love that movie so much.

(And how do I go about hiring Stephen McHattie to read me bedtime stories?)
posted by Lexica at 10:48 PM on June 29, 2014

I enjoyed Pontypool but was not particularly creeped out by it. Martyrs, was imo just torture porn/gore which made me think that the special FX guys had to work really hard. As for a movie suggestion - Try the original Japanese dark water - Creepy as hell.

For me though, there are two problems with horror that will affect this club -

One is that there are really different genres that get grouped as horror - there's gore (blood and guts), fright (it's finally dead... OPENS EYES!!!) and creepy (what in the holy hell was that!?!?). Totally different and people liking different types talk at cross purposes about "horror".

Two is that you get desensitised. You see a horror and it scares you and you want more. Someone says another movie (of the same type) is amazing (as they saw it before they were desensitized) but for you it doesn't deliver. I'm desensitised to gore as I just think of the FX. Fright gets formulaic - you just know when the fright is coming. But Creepy (à la Paranormal activity) still gets me from time to time.

Despite all this, I'm a massive creepy horror fan and have watched loads of horror of all genres that people have recommended. Top tip to up the creepy factor - Watch the movie on a laptop, with headphones... in the dark... in the woods...
posted by guy72277 at 2:53 AM on June 30, 2014

Carnival of Souls is also available for download and streaming at the Internet Archive, with no ads.
posted by whir at 9:01 AM on June 30, 2014

Also, maybe I am just dead inside from all the horror movies I've watched, but I found Martyrs to be honestly kind of dull and not all that affecting, so I'd be interested in discussing it with people who it had a more profound impact on.

I agree that there are a lot of different subgenres of horror which aim for different effects in the viewer, but that's part o what's fun about the genre and I think it can only add to the discussion.
posted by whir at 9:05 AM on June 30, 2014

One is that there are really different genres that get grouped as horror - there's gore (blood and guts), fright (it's finally dead... OPENS EYES!!!) and creepy (what in the holy hell was that!?!?). Totally different and people liking different types talk at cross purposes about "horror".

I wouldn't call these totally different genres...subgenres for sure, but are you saying that you wouldn't call slasher movies and haunted house movies (for example) part of the same genre? The reason I ask is that I've encountered people before who have tried to tell me that slasher movies specifically aren't horror movies. Because they're slasher movies. Which to me is like saying 2+2=grape. In that case, if "horror" isn't the general word for fiction that is designed to induce fear, then what is the word?

That probably isn't what you're saying though...But rather that fans of different subgenres are seeking different kinds of scares, and a slasher fan confronted with a supernatural mystery may dismiss it outright as not worthwhile just because it's not what they look for in a horror movie. I think the key is for everyone here to be open to different points of view, so that we don't have to start 9 different clubs to watch 9 different subgenres every week*.

* Though actually, I tend to like all kinds, I could be open to that as long as someone else is doing all of the legwork of organizing them!

On preview, I agree with whir.
posted by doctornecessiter at 9:11 AM on June 30, 2014

FYI, today is your last day to stream the following horror films on Netflix before they disappear:

-Evil Dead II
-Angel Heart
-Resident Evil
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:48 AM on June 30, 2014

had to look at the plot summary for the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie

Johnny Depp!
posted by Hoopo at 10:19 AM on June 30, 2014

Pontypool gave me a fear I've only once had before, the fear that the act of watching the movie could be dangerous.

Wow this surprises me. I've seen it a few times but just thought it was kinda cute; a good attempt at low budget scares that almost pulled it off.
posted by Hoopo at 10:30 AM on June 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

The remake tried too hard and just made me laugh. Turning everything up to ten does not a better film make.

On the topic of remakes of Japanese films, I actually didn't hate the Sarah Michelle Gellar Ju-On remake, the Grudge. It still takes place in Japan and actually did pretty well at showing what its like living and working as a foreigner in Japan, at least at the beginning, which was pretty funny at times. And they kept a lot of the best stuff from the original, right down to the same actress for the big baddie. Ju-On is superior IMO, but I think the remake was treated unfairly harshly by reviewers. I really don't get what was so hard to follow.
posted by Hoopo at 11:05 AM on June 30, 2014

Pontypool has actually given me a metaphor that I find useful in daily life, which I will articulate when the film is posted to Fanfare, assuming I don't simply start reciting a single violent word repeatedly.
posted by maxsparber at 11:13 AM on June 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

I though the Grudge was an incomprehensible mess with good visuals and creepy moments. But then again, that's what I thought about Ju-On too. They're about equally bad to me.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:16 AM on June 30, 2014

Whir, I'm totally on the same page as you with Martyrs. And that was my whole point. You say "dead inside" I say "desensitised". It depends at what stage of "horror watching" you saw it. First gore you saw then increased possibility of "OH MY GOD WOW". If you've seen all the Saw series and Hostels etc, then Martyrs is going to be "Meh... FX Guys worked hard..."

doctornecessiter, You're right, they're sub-genres. Slasher (imo) is probably 50% Gore and 50% fright and Haunted house is 50% fright and 50% Creepy. I've just had it quite a few times that I'm excitedly chatting with another "horror fan" and slowly find that we actually have little in common in terms of the specific sub-genre we like. Gore Vs Creepy etc. But over the years I have watched a lot of horror and done loads of research to find the "scariest" but I'm worried that I'm totally desensitised to horror now. I get that some people are going through the process i did, trying to broaden their experience of sub-genres. That's what this club is about. Makes more sense now - just so long as everyone understands that - because people are often disappointed (won't get back those 2hs of my life type comments).
posted by guy72277 at 1:26 AM on July 1, 2014

Looking for bigger and bigger shocks from horror is how I treated the genre when I was a teenager, and I eventually lost interest due to said desensitization. But if I may be crass, I think that's watching horror the way people who watch too much porn watch porn (and eventually everyone watches too much porn, because it's porn). I genuinely feel most people who brag about laughing at a horror movie are (if they're watching good horror movies and not MST3k-level junk) sitting down with the intent of laughing at a horror movie and are not engaging with it on the level that a film -- any film -- asks of its audience. I've talked to people who told me that they thought The Exorcist and Texas Chain Saw Massacre were funny, and I basically discounted their opinions on film as a whole after that. To me, those aren't good faith participants in filmgoing. Or maybe they just suck at watching movies. I don't know. But I also think you can just get burned out on horror if you approach it as shock therapy, the same way you can only look at so many hot naked people having sex before it just turns into curves and pixels and moans that, in all honesty, do sound kind of phony. I guess I'd say either step away from the horror aisle for a few or rethink the way you sit down to watch a horror movie...any movie, really.

Anyway, it's a big genre, and I find I like at least a few films from most of its subcategories, some more than others. But which ones I like best don't have much to do with how "scary" they are. Scariness is hard to pin down. I think what's really scary to me is existential. Jump scares are fun and all, but getting startled isn't why I love horror.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:43 PM on July 1, 2014 [5 favorites]

I should clarify that I was kind of joking when I talked about being too dead inside to react to Martyrs the way everybody else on the internet seems to, mostly I just didn't think it was very good as a movie. I do also think I've seen enough movies that are self-consciously shocking that there needs to be something else beyond the shock value to get me engaged in a film, though, and I wasn't really finding it in that particular movie. But I don't want to jump the gun on a discussion, assuming that Martyrs does get picked at some point.
posted by whir at 9:12 PM on July 1, 2014

I remember seeing Blair Witch in high school and then at school shooting down people who were talking up how they'd thought it was stupid by pointing out that we'd been at the same showing and you were not laughing like you're saying, mister.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:56 PM on July 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Blair Witch, like so many found footage films after it, is 90% boredom and people doing dumb things and arguing, punctuated by 10% of actually pretty scary stuff.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:58 AM on July 2, 2014

kittens for breakfast: "Anyway, it's a big genre, and I find I like at least a few films from most of its subcategories, some more than others. But which ones I like best don't have much to do with how "scary" they are. Scariness is hard to pin down. I think what's really scary to me is existential. Jump scares are fun and all, but getting startled isn't why I love horror."

Me neither, but I think scary is kind of important. Not jump scares, though, those aren't scary, they're, I don't know... startling?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:00 AM on July 2, 2014

Found footage has the disadvantage of, in most cases, being unable to cheat by using music. It's something I actually kind of hate about a lot of horror movies-if you want me to be afraid, you should have to earn it by showing me something scary, not by directly telling my brain to be scarred.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:47 AM on July 2, 2014

I don't mind the soundtrack. I guess I feel film is already such a manipulative medium, what with framing choices and POV shots and whatnot, that music is just one more ingredient. I don't consider it a cheat any more than I consider it a cheat for a film to frame a shot in such a way that we can't tell that OH MY GOD THE KILLER IS RIGHT BEHIND HER.
posted by maxsparber at 1:06 PM on July 2, 2014

Isn't it time? *poke poke poke*
posted by Literaryhero at 6:45 PM on July 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

It is time EST; I dunno where everybody else is geographically, though...?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:01 PM on July 2, 2014

(Edited to reflect that using the comment box in this thread to write random thoughts as I was watching Carnival of Souls for this week was obviously a mistake. I'll try Notepad instead.)
posted by mediareport at 7:12 PM on July 2, 2014

Yeah, what happened? Here and ready to talk about it (and hey, this was weird and will be fun to talk about, I think).
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:29 PM on July 2, 2014

Maybe DirtyOldTown had something come up...anyone second in command and authorized to request the fanfare post?
posted by Literaryhero at 2:26 AM on July 3, 2014

I was checking for the post last night, I figured I'd wake up this morning and it would have been posted...Has anyone contacted a mod yet? Might just take a quick memail, but I have no idea, don't want to overstep a boundary.
posted by doctornecessiter at 4:42 AM on July 3, 2014

Likewise, Doc. I was trying to goad someone else into doing it. ;)
posted by Literaryhero at 5:00 AM on July 3, 2014

I sent off a brief MeMail to cortex about posting the thread.
posted by whir at 6:21 AM on July 3, 2014

Nice, whir.

I guess DirtyOldTown got got by Kagutaba. Too bad, he was a nice guy.
posted by Literaryhero at 7:55 AM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

DirtyOldTown was hiking in Matthiesson Park. I sort of figured someone would nudge a mod for me. I sent in a message and gnfti answered but right now only mathowie can post movies to FF. So soon , hopefully.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:52 AM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

DirtyOldTown: "DirtyOldTown was hiking in Matthiesson Park."

Cannibal redneck torture families much of a problem this time of year?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 12:05 PM on July 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ta-da, if anyone didn't notice. (Thanks mathowie!)
posted by whir at 4:59 PM on July 3, 2014

kittens for breakfast - Looking for bigger and bigger shocks from horror is how I treated the genre when I was a teenager, and I eventually lost interest due to said desensitization.
I guess I'd say either step away from the horror aisle for a few or rethink the way you sit down to watch a horror movie.

Good advice, thanks.
posted by guy72277 at 12:38 AM on July 4, 2014

So any decision made for next week yet? I would like to watch A Tale of Two Sisters, but it doesn't look readily available so any other non English options?
posted by Literaryhero at 8:43 PM on July 5, 2014

I thought we were doing Pontypool next week? (I'm thinking this because I watched it in anticipation and I really hope I didn't miss the discussion. Although ultimately I'm fine with any movie we decide on)
posted by triggerfinger at 8:25 AM on July 6, 2014

Oh, oops, sorry. I see we've determined Pontypool is the one in the other thread!
posted by triggerfinger at 8:26 AM on July 6, 2014

Just want to plant a bug in the collective ear for a movie we should do: Hostel Part II. It's got a lot, IMO to discuss, and I'm betting that many here have not seen it:

• Eli Roth is one of the most influential horror filmmakers out there right now, and he's got a new movie coming out soon.
• Though the violence is quite graphic, there is actually quite little of it.
• The film has a fair amount to say about women, violence, and the "final girl".
• Like Cabin in the Woods, it incorporates the narrative of the bad guys.
• It's a sequel that surpasses the original.
• Not required, but if you've seen the original there's a lot more depth to it, in that characters return and scenes are repeated.

posted by mkultra at 9:34 AM on July 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Eli Roth is also a tremendous asshole who thinks the important thing about horror movies is that actresses show their tits. But sure, we could do Hostel Part II, I guess.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 4:24 PM on July 6, 2014

So am I just announcing Martyrs tomorrow? It's the only pick here for the extreme week with much traction.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:02 AM on July 8, 2014

Actually, excuse me. Pick #5 was originally supposed to be another non-English film. Since few people were really feeling the "Extreme" idea, maybe we'll circle back to that.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:30 AM on July 8, 2014

Well, Martyrs is French, for what it's worth, so it qualifies. I'm ok with it myself, though I've also been thinking a giallo might be good at some point. I'll also put in another vote for A Tale of Two Sisters, which I like a lot but haven't seen since it came out.
posted by whir at 2:43 PM on July 8, 2014

Since I haven't seen it, I second A Tale of Two Sisters, if we're going Non-English instead of Extreme (though it seems like we just did the non-English Noroi, was Extreme the only other category that has come up that we haven't focused on yet?).
posted by doctornecessiter at 10:30 AM on July 9, 2014

Pontypool has been posted!
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:59 AM on July 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Im afraid this MeTa has fallen too far from the front page so we aren't getting enough input about the next movie. I say DirtyOldTown just makes a pick and we run with it. So go for it, benevolent dictator. (Of course this assumes that my vote counts more than everyone else's, so I wouldn't mind being called generalissimo Literaryhero from now on)
posted by Literaryhero at 4:41 AM on July 10, 2014

I fully support the Benevolent Dictator idea, I've been liking DirtyOldTown's selections a lot so far.

Hopefully saying this assures my place in the junta
posted by whir at 10:05 AM on July 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

So what's up next after Pontypool?
posted by Hoopo at 2:29 PM on July 10, 2014

Next week, Hoopo.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:03 AM on July 11, 2014