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

Horror Movie Guru

01-10-24

’28 Years Later’ – Zombie Sequel in the Works from Danny Boyle and Alex Garland
https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/...-alex-garland/

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Takoma11

Registered User

01-10-24

I'm watching a horror/thriller called Knuckleball, and it's another entry in that subgenre that's basically Home Alone-but-rated-R. I'd say it's about on par with The Aggression Scale, though less willing to concede that its child protagonist is a sociopath.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

01-10-24

Originally Posted by Captain Terror

Thought some of you would be entertained by this story.

So at a recent holiday get-together I found myself in the dreaded scenario known as "Discussing Horror Films With Randos". I bonded with a young man who seemed to have some taste, so that was cool, but then his 50-something dad showed up and ruined everything. Everything we mentioned was "stupid" and he even blessed us with that old chestnut of quality film criticism, "That's 2 hours of my life I'll never get back." Blair Witch Project and The Witch were two of the targets of his scorn, among others. Imagine the strained smile I attempted as I pretended to not hate every fiber of his being. (And to be clear, I wasn't annoyed that he didn't like the films, but rather his Neanderthal dismissal of anything that isn't Top Gun.)

But his pi�ce de r�sistance was when the Youngster brought up Skinamarink. Youngster and I are both fans (the Youngster even more than I). But Dad's opinion was, of course, that it was a fraud and he can't believe people pretend to like it, etc. Then he hit us with my favorite quote of the evening, "It's just like that ballerina movie you like". After some confused glances, Youngster figures out that he's referring to Argento's Suspiria. In this guy's world, Skinamarink is "just like" Suspiria.

In summary, I will now resume my practice of never engaging anyone ever. I don't know what I was thinking.

All I can really say is "Ugh."
What a miserable experience. I like to fire back on that, as I often do, by saying that Top Gun to me is nothing more than Bros: The Movie and I didn't spend the last 30+ years of my life becoming an adult to glorify bro-culture. I mean, that's two hours of my life I'll never get back.

Captain Terror

Fouke-a-delic

01-11-24

Originally Posted by Little Ash

ETA: I am wondering, but comparative ages, you're probably closer in age to the father, I'm guessing, right?

Correct. Dad is a couple of years younger than I; his son is in college

Captain Terror

Fouke-a-delic

01-11-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

All I can really say is "Ugh."
What a miserable experience.

Yes.
And I'll just add that I haven't even seen Top Gun so I have no opinion about it. I only mentioned it because at one point the mom walked by and said "He thinks Top Gun is the best movie ever. Don't pay any attention to him."

I just can't wrap my head around a guy that goes to a party, sees two people enthusiastically discussing something, and decides "what this conversation needs is for me to butt in and dump all over everything they like." Also, one of those people is his son. I felt bad for the kid. People are the worst, is the moral of my story.

SpelingError

AKA Popcorn Reviews

01-11-24

Originally Posted by Captain Terror

In summary, I will now resume my practice of never engaging anyone ever. I don't know what I was thinking.

Yeah, but you're talking with us right now, so explain that!

Though yeah, I'm very careful about who I discuss film with nowadays. There are so many people I've encountered over the years both online and offline that I found completely dreadful. That said though, I generally don't expect for people I encounter to have my exact film taste. It helps to get a sense of the kinds of films they like. That way, you'll have an idea of which films are in their wheelhouse and which films to discuss with them and recommend.

But of course, I don't think "Top Gun is so great that I need to trash everything else people like on principle" would get you anywhere.

Wooley

Victim of The Night

01-11-24

Originally Posted by SpelingError

Yeah, but you're talking with us right now, so explain that!

He even met me after just like 10 years of online banter! He's practically an extrovert now!

Captain Terror

Fouke-a-delic

01-11-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

He even met me after just like 10 years of online banter! He's practically an extrovert now!

That's because you passed my extensive 10-year application process. You probably completed med school in less time.

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Little Ash

he/him

01-11-24

Originally Posted by Captain Terror

I suspect there's been a long, semi-antagonist back and forth between him and his son about movies for the past 10-20 years.

Just a guess that's probably factoring into it. Though, there's some people who seem to feel the need to weigh in on other people's film tastes. Which, based on the wife's response that he is one of them.

kgaard

Msg

Registered User

01-11-24

Originally Posted by Captain Terror

Top Gun actually is good, but not for the reasons that (I'm guessing) the dad thinks.

Sedai

A system of cells interlinked

01-11-24

I dunno, I used to be a pretty big way back in the day, and I liked Maverick quite a bit, but to me, Top Gun hasn't aged very well. As for the Dad in the story, I am 52 and the guy sounds like a total tool to me, so not sure his age is to blame.

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Little Ash

he/him

01-11-24

Originally Posted by Sedai

I'm probably closer to Cap's age than the kid's. I'm just thinking in terms of when I was growing and people of that age having the whole, "movies were better back in my day," and having that gravitas of wisdom of being older thing. And I was a teen (both young and old) during the 90s. People saying that we're referring to Hollywood classics from the 50s. to the New Hollywood stuff of the 70s.

So it's funny kind of hearing something that feels like that scenario (doesn't fit because of Suspiria being from the 70s) but for the 80s, not a decade that was exactly celebrated for its high quality artistic output (the exception being when narrowed down to specific genres).

But I was asking because it was like, not even generational divide thing. (in contrast, imagine the implied social dynamics if Cap was in his young 30s). But that's spending a lot of words on me just imagining this scenario.

Little Ash

he/him

01-11-24

I look forward to 30 years from now when I am hopefully still alive and dads are going, "man, they don't make movies like Quantum-mania any more."

Takoma11

Registered User

01-11-24

Originally Posted by Captain Terror

I just can't wrap my head around a guy that goes to a party, sees two people enthusiastically discussing something, and decides "what this conversation needs is for me to butt in and dump all over everything they like." Also, one of those people is his son. I felt bad for the kid. People are the worst, is the moral of my story.

Dads in particular (not all dads!) can be really passive-aggressive or just mean when things in their environment/household don't align to their own interests/tastes. It is a frustrating dynamic that many of my friends have remarked upon in dealing with their parents as adults. Framing the offending topic as being either pretentious or feminine is par for the course.

HOWEVER, I allow a moment of sympathy for someone who enjoys Top Gun but had to spend an evening with Skinamarink. (I really enjoyed it, but we can all admit it is NOT for everyone).

Daakmore

Registered User

01-14-24

Well finally got around to watching The Last Voyage of the Demeter and was very underwhelmed. Was definitely hoping it would be more paranoia based claustrophobic thriller with a bit of full on horror maybe at the end but instead it was very blunt creature feature from early on. Just a whole bunch of don't know if they count as spoilers but I don't want to risk it below.

View Spoilers

WARNING: "" spoilers below

I don't mind that they added characters but I am generally unimpressed with how they added them. Clemens is fine but well he breaks the actual narrative in the end and honestly would have preferred the story just went with the captain as the main character as per the chapter in Dracula. The girl is just exposition/spoil any tension with her knowledge, she could have worked fine if she just didn't know about Dracula and just added the tension of oooh girl on a boat that's not good to the old hand sailors. Toby is probably the best addition, no real notes there.

My biggest complaint is just that why do the vampires burn in the sun, I get that in the modern context that is what happens, but it's not what happen in the book they are ostensibly adapting from. Dracula spending most of the time as a giant man bat and being just completely unsubtle also irked me, I guess lucky for him he's dealing with the least attentive crew ever.

So yeah in my opinion it is a pretty bad adaptation that went for a very different tone than the source material and was worse off for it.

Captain Terror

Fouke-a-delic

01-14-24

Originally Posted by Daakmore

View Spoilers

WARNING: "" spoilers below

So yeah in my opinion it is a pretty bad adaptation that went for a very different tone than the source material and was worse off for it.

Once it became clear that we were going with giant man-bat for the entire film, I decided not to stress about deviations from the novel. But still, I agree that there wasn't much in the way of suspense/tension. My biggest beef was that someone decided that for maximum horror the screen must be covered in a muddy blue haze for the entire duration. There were a few moments when I literally couldn't tell what I was looking at, and I was watching it in a completely darkened room. Truth be told, I zoned out pretty quickly and never really became invested in any of it. Bummer.

Dead2009

Horror Movie Guru

01-14-24

R.L. Stine Confirms Next ‘Fear Street’ Movie from Netflix Is Based on His Book ‘The Prom Queen’
https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/...he-prom-queen/

Wooley

Victim of The Night

01-14-24

Hey, is Poison For The Fairies any good?

Captain Terror

Fouke-a-delic

01-14-24

Originally Posted by Wooley

Hey, is Poison For The Fairies any good?

YESSSSSSSS

Takoma11