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

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Just added it to my watchlist the other day and was bummed when I saw your relatively low letterboxd score. I'll be checking it out shortly.
It very well may have been my mood. I just need to know if I should give it another shot. It certainly wasn’t good enough to change my mood though.



This is not how you create another Final Exam.*
No one catches an arrow so it’s clearly the inferior film already.



It very well may have been my mood. I just need to know if I should give it another shot. It certainly wasn’t good enough to change my mood though.
The thumbnail shows a lady floating over a farmhouse so it's not like I'm NOT gonna watch it.
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Victim of The Night


Shudder subscribers are encouraged to check out The Pit (1981) .

Jamie is a pervy 12-year-old who has no friends except for Teddy, his stuffed bear that speaks to him. Out in the woods, Jamie has found a group of troglodytes (or trollogs) living in a hole in the ground. (This is a bit reminiscent of Brenda, one of my favorite Night Gallery segments.) Eventually Jamie figures out a way to keep his hairy friends fed, while also eliminating the "nasty people" in his life.
The director's one and only film, this is a weird one. A disturbed kid who murders at the behest of his talking teddy bear is premise enough for a movie, but this one throws in a pit full of mini-squatches for good measure. Add some Wisconsin accents and inexplicably cheery musical cues appearing at the least appropriate moments and you've got yourself a singular viewing experience.

Careful.
Remember from the many discussions of Bone Tomahawk that any use of troglodytes is unquestionably blatant racism against indigenous peoples no matter what you, other viewers, or the filmmakers thought or intended.



I need someone else to watch the Dark and the Wicked and tell me if it wasn’t nearly as good as its critical reception or if I simply wasn’t in the mood for it.
I thought it was outright bad. I think I gave it 1.5/5 a while ago.

It reminded me a lot of the recent Grudge remake only... Not as good? I’m one of the few who liked that film and think it only got a bad reputation due to franchise expectations.
Oh, I wouldn't go that far though I couldn't even finish Grudge. The Dark and the Wicked sort of reminded me of Ari Aster, but worse (and I don't like his films to begin with).
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Careful.
Remember from the many discussions of Bone Tomahawk that any use of troglodytes is unquestionably blatant racism against indigenous peoples no matter what you, other viewers, or the filmmakers thought or intended.
the teen in this film has the annoying habit of pronouncing "trollog" as "tra-la-log", so maybe that's a loophole?



I liked the new Grudge, although I found the style a little... heavy? Meshed uneasily with the jump scares, imo, the movie would have done better to commit to one tone in that respect. But Pesce is still in my good books.



I did watch The Pit just now. Here's the shorty "review" from the other thread:

The Pit (1981)

A somewhat campy film of a disturbed kid (or kids, even, as he's clearly not the only one with some clear issues) feeding some troglodytes and conversing with his teddybear (and stalking women). I actually like the story, but the writing is far from proficient and the same goes for acting. This is a film that would deserve a remake.

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I'm not entirely sure if I've actually seen this as a kid. I know I've seen the cover in the rental many times, but maybe I never rented it. At least nothing really seemed familiar. It's definitely one of those films that are hurt by the camp factor, but the idea is quite good.



Careful.
Remember from the many discussions of Bone Tomahawk that any use of troglodytes is unquestionably blatant racism against indigenous peoples no matter what you, other viewers, or the filmmakers thought or intended.
No, Wools. You got it backwards. Any use of blatantly racist stereotypes against indigenous peoples is racist, even you call them troglodytes.

And if you think Zahler and Cinestate don’t have a shadow of racism/misogyny/alt-right hanging over them, you made need to research them a bit more.



I thought it was outright bad. I think I gave it 1.5/5 a while ago.



Oh, I wouldn't go that far though I couldn't even finish Grudge. The Dark and the Wicked sort of reminded me of Ari Aster, but worse (and I don't like his films to begin with).
Why could t you finish the Grudge? Are you familiar with Pesce’s previous film?

I do think this film was certainly influenced by Aster and Eggers but lacked the technical deftness to match them in craft but the structure, style and type of scares felt very much aligned (some exactly the same) as Pesce’s Grudge.



I liked the new Grudge, although I found the style a little... heavy? Meshed uneasily with the jump scares, imo, the movie would have done better to commit to one tone in that respect. But Pesce is still in my good books.
This is correct. The jump scares feel like a producer took over and speed ramped them while cranking the volume. It feels so out of step with the rest of the film and the rest of his filmography.

There is definitely a palpable sense of sinister dread throughout and the performances are very good so it all still worked overall for me.



Need I remind all of you Bone Tomahawk naysayers that Zahn McClarnon's character said that not all Native Americans are Troglodytes?



Any use of blatantly racist stereotypes against indigenous peoples is racist, even you call them troglodytes.
Doesn't anyone think of the troglodytes, though? Such speciesism to represent their culture of eating people as bad.

Why could t you finish the Grudge? Are you familiar with Pesce’s previous film?
I don't remember specifics about why I hated Grudge. It just didn't feel like Grudge at all and bored the crap out of me.

I had to Google the director (the name didn't ring any bells). Hmm... Wouldn't have guessed that he made The Eyes of My Mother which I liked quite a bit. Doesn't change my opinion, though.

EDIT: Here's what I wrote to couldn't finish thread back then:
The Grudge (2020) was such a pointless remake (the question "Why?" really fits in here). The first 30 minutes feels like a badly made TV-movie that tries to copy Ari Aster with bad results (and I don't even like Aster's films) and that's all I'll ever see of this piece of crap.



Need I remind all of you Bone Tomahawk naysayers that Zahn McClarnon's character said that not all Native Americans are Troglodytes?
And then awkwardly steps out of the film, never to appear again and complicate the dynamic of a bunch of white guys bragging about how many natives they’ve killed in the past.

It frustrates me as making McClarnon a main character could’ve salvaged this element and added a bunch of interesting drama to them having to band together.

But he’s used as the cinematic equivalent of “I have a black friend but...”



Doesn't anyone think of the troglodytes, though? Such speciesism to represent their culture of eating people as bad.



I don't remember specifics about why I hated Grudge. It just didn't feel like Grudge at all and bored the crap out of me.

I had to Google the director (the name didn't ring any bells). Hmm... Wouldn't have guessed that he made The Eyes of My Mother which I liked quite a bit. Doesn't change my opinion, though.

EDIT: Here's what I wrote to couldn't finish thread back then:
I condone speciesism towards any creature with throat flutes. I can’t respect that.

I think it not feeling like the Grudge and general franchise bias is largely what made people turn on the film. It very much feels like the Eyes of My Mother in terms of atmosphere and pacing.

Then again, I like Ari Aster so... *shrug*



Only Zahler I've seen is Dragged Across Concrete, and there are definitely some... interesting politics in that one. Not sure if those are a plus or minus regarding its effectiveness as a thriller, though.



Victim of The Night
No, Wools. You got it backwards. Any use of blatantly racist stereotypes against indigenous peoples is racist, even you call them troglodytes.

And if you think Zahler and Cinestate don’t have a shadow of racism/misogyny/alt-right hanging over them, you made need to research them a bit more.
I've read all about it thanks to previous discussions on this and I son't doubt Zahler and company's politics nor do I doubt that there is racist content in some of his other films. I just didn't feel that's what we saw in Bone Tomahawk. Or maybe I just don't think that the idea that some fictional primordial vestige of man being violent and dangerous if encountered is the same thing as "racist against indigenous peoples". If you do, I guess I could understand that, you could say that, but I think it's a bit of a stretch.



Victim of The Night
And then awkwardly steps out of the film, never to appear again and complicate the dynamic of a bunch of white guys bragging about how many natives they’ve killed in the past.

It frustrates me as making McClarnon a main character could’ve salvaged this element and added a bunch of interesting drama to them having to band together.

But he’s used as the cinematic equivalent of “I have a black friend but...”
I would guess I would just say that the movie never gave me the impression that any of the "white guys" were actually good guys. It's one of the things I liked about the movie. Defending yourself doesn't mean you're the good guy. I never had a sense that these were paladins they were pioneers, colonizers if you like, who had moved too close to an older world that did not want them there. In the end, it didn't feel at all to me like the good guys lost nor that "aboriginals" were bad, it felt like nature simply happened. And that's why I thought the movie was fairly strong.