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IT is a pretty big deal for me. The now terribly outdated 1990 television adaptation was probably the first true product of the horror genre I ever digested completely on my own. Given the fact that I can't have been much older than 8 or 9 at that time, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I was scared out of my wits, despite the poor effects. But with the remote out of reach and Pennywise seemingly capable of crawling out of anything, be it a sewer, a book or a TV screen, I wasn't going to move any closer to our television set to switch the nightmare off. The better option was to just sit it out in complete terror and then make amends. And so I did. Tim Curry's Pennywise spent the next couple of weeks haunting me pretty much everywhere and brave little me made a vow never to watch anything horror ever again.
Well that didn't last too long, as IT had wetted my appetite for more. You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff I was watching at the age of 12! Suffice it to say that my parents were deeply concerned. I guess I had discovered a perverse love for horror early on, but as a consequence of that, I had also suffered through most of the typical horror thrills during my teenage years. At one point, horror stopped being scary for me, except for the occasional "whoa" like some of the J-horror and some ghost movies. But while my peers in high school were soiling their underwear during SCREAM and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, I was having a good time, but not once did I taste fear. You might say I had gotten "desensitised". And all of it thanks to my compulsive viewing of Tommy Lee Wallace's IT back in the day.
For a while, I thought that Stephen King adaptations would always scare my bowels dry, but disappointment after disappointment, including with his books, quickly made me change my mind. I love a lot of horror stuff, but Stephen King rarely touches my sweet spots. Watching IT again a few years after my initial viewing, I was disgusted by how lame and so not scary it had since become. I decided that I was always going to respect IT for the push it had given me in the proper direction towards horror fandom, but it wasn't going to secure a firm spot in my top 3 or even top 10 list of favourite horror films.
Yet when a theatrical adaptation of IT was announced a mere few years ago, something clicked. The essence of the story holds up well, I thought, so perhaps a few modern techniques and good effects can surprise me. When the buzz came and everyone started yelling how 'awesome' and 'terrifying' the film was, my girlfriend said no. Then I asked a friend and he said, "I already saw it; save your money." A colleague of mine, whom I had turned to next, said, "Imagine someone tells you they're driving the fastest car in the world, and when you hitch a ride, it turns out it's only doing 45 on a good day." Okay, so not awesome and terrifying then? To save me the trouble of going to see the film on my own, which I sometimes do if I deem it worth it, I spoke the old "I'll wait for the DVD release" line and called it a day.
And so here we are. Months later, IT: Chapter One has finally been released for digital download; I'm all alone for a few hours, it's rainy outside, let's go. Well, I went with it, and I can honestly say this: it's a fairly good film, but man, that hype was so not deserved! How this film managed to pull 700 million at the BO is beyond me. And its RT score went through the roof. I ain't buying it. CARRIE (2013) made barely more than a tenth of that and it did nothing terribly different. It revived something that had been done before while adding practically nothing new. IT (2017) is in the same boat. It's given me scenes I've seen before, now with better effects, sure, but other than that, nothing to scare me more or glue me to the screen. Jump scares? Come on, do better. THE CONJURING does many things a lot more effectively; James Wan at least understands how to build tension. The new version of IT even borrows from his films; one of the scary images in this film has an uncanny resemblance to the Nun form THE CONJURING 2.
Look, there's absolutely nothing wrong with IT. Well-written, well-acted, well-made overall and at times very eerie. There's also nothing special about it though. It doesn't explore new ground, it doesn't create anything new, and it barely expands on or outdoes what was delivered in the cheap 1990 television miniseries. I'm frankly amazed that they cut up the two time periods and collected all the flashbacks of the book into Chapter One. In my opinion, the film loses something by doing it that way. Part of what makes the original story so good is that we experience our characters in the 'now' and step-by-step explore the terrors of their past at the same time.
Overall, IT: Chapter One is a decent horror flick that seems to entertain a lot of people and to be frank, I'm always happy when horror has that effect--well done! But I for one could easily have done without the film and I'm not exactly super-jazzed for the sequel. I'll probably see it eventually, or rather, I'll wait for its release on home video, but it's no priority. There's just nothing here I haven't seen before--in fact, there are many films that do things a lot better. It's a subjective remark, I agree, but some much better horror films have struggled to break even while this uninventive movie made about twenty times its budget. Unfair, huh. I guess IT found the secret way towards a runaway hype. ;-) Hopefully, it can repeat that two years from now. My personal 'fresh' meter says "mèh".
3/5
Currently halfway through the Christmas movie to end all Christmas movies, Die Hard, then off to OHMSS.
This film never fails to be so cool and terrifying all in one go. Shame all the sequels (sans Judgment Day) could never capture the magic of this one. Sometimes less is more!
A classic!
Kubrick s first feature length film was one I hadn t seen before. Not up there with some of his later works, but some of his typical themes are in place already here, such as insanity and anti-war sentiment. The photo and the score are both exquisite.
Yet to see Killer s Kiss and Lolita.
13. Fear and Desire
12. Killer’s Kiss
11. Lolita
10. Full Metal Jacket
9. Spartacus
8. Eyes Wide Shut
7. The Killing
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Barry Lyndon
4. A Clockwork Orange
3. Paths of Glory
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
1. The Shining
I own all the films on DVD and Blu-Ray. Kubrick is the greatest.
Final Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes entry has him decoding messages in the melodies of various music boxes.
Nice Christmas this year. In addition to a 20 film mystery/noir set that included DRESSED TO KILL, and several other public domain thrillers, my girlfriend got me the 24 film Bond Blu ray set, VEGA$ with Robert Urich, and PENNY DREADFUL with Eva Green and Timmy D. I also ended up with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE with Steve McQueen, and a few others. I imagine I'll be posting quite a bit in this thread.
Oh yes, forgot about The Killing. I haven t seen that yet either.
The Shining is maybe the general favourite. My own are Spartacus, 2001 and Barry Lyndon, with Paths of Glory and Dr Strangelove right behind. They are all so different. Check out some trailers on Youtube, and take it from there.
Are you sure you haven t seen it, @Torgeirtrap ? Ondskapens hotell in Norwegian.
I'll take notes from these comments, and see what looks most interesting. I like Peter Sellers movies, so Dr. Strangelove might be a good place to start?
No, I haven't. Only seen that «Here's Johnny» scene.
Kubrick pulls off the crime thriller genre as well. I really liked this one.
Good choices. The Killing is indeed also excellent. Most of his films are.
I'm not really into war films either. I found Full Metal Jacket captivating—heavy, but captivating—but I've only seen it two or three times as the war genre just isn't my thing.
Yes. There is suspense throughout. Love the narration, the photo, the score and the way it is edited as well.
I'll take a note of these films, and make sure to get them when possible!
This time last year Jessica Chastain blew me away in a hardly watched Sorkin'esque political drama directed by John Madden entitled Miss. Sloane. Unfortunately, the film didn't get much traction & one wonders if Hollywood politics intruded (she played a gun lobbyist in an election year). Well, she's back with a similarly excellent performance but this time the film is actually written and directed (his debut behind the camera) by Aaron Sorkin himself.
It's based on the memoirs of Molly Bloom, a former Olympic ski hopeful who later ran a successful underground poker operation in NYC & LA for the rich and famous - a business which eventually resulted in her being the target of a wide ranging FBI Sting operation & lots of unwanted publicity. The film starts with an interesting prologue that nicely introduces Bloom and gives the audience insight into her gritty tough character, honed by a disciplinary upbringing by her father. We are then jerked quickly into the present, when she is arrested and forced to seek help from high priced attorney Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba), who eventually becomes a fierce defender of hers. Chastain provides much of the background via a voiceover, and there are several further flashback moments which reveal how she started her empire. Bloom is hardly a saint, but she has a moral code and integrity which she refuses to give up even when faced with difficult choices. Chastain convincingly showcases those positive attributes here. Both Elba and she are superb in this film, and they play off one another very well delivering Sorkin's trademark intelligent, witty and briskly placed dialogue with aplomb. They each have individual standout moments in the film where we can see their powerful screen charisma and acting chops in full effect. Kevin Costner is also fantastic as Molly's father Larry, a psychologist who may have had a hand in impacting his daughter's less than savoury life choices. Michael Cera has a small but interesting role as a gambler.
I really enjoyed this film. Even though it's quite long I wasn't bored for any of it, and that's because of Sorkin's screenplay and his superior cast. I hope Chastain gets a nomination for her work here, and Elba deserves one too.
I have often thought the same about some of our members, they need locking up. ;)
Ha ha no comment lol I am watching Carry On Forever documentary it's very good looking through the entire run of films, I know you are a Doctor Who fan there was a great moment with Bernard Cribbins and Juliet Mills meeting up for the first time in 50 years, they both starred in Carry On Jack.
Is Jaws a horror film? The internet consensus appears that it is, and judged on this basis, Jaws, I'm sorry to say, falls flat. There is little in the way of a persistent, underlying terror to the picture, aside from select scenes where this is evident (e.g. the shark cage scene). This is mostly due to the tone; Spielberg's insistence on optimism in the face of danger (which indeed is a trademark of his adventure movies) is refreshing but perhaps ill-fitted for what is, by and large, a monster movie.
I can't tell for sure why I am not scared to death of "Jaws". I suppose to find something horrifying in this movie, you'd have to be: a) very young when you first saw it, b) easily suggestible and having seen little else in the realm of horror, or c) particularly afraid of sharks. I am none of these things. To me, Jaws is one of those 'digestible' scary movies, where it pleases itself with instilling the horror in a few moments, but pats you on the back after it's all over; whereas other horror pictures will dare to truly frighten you - without the return ticket.