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

["Like when one of Ratigan's henchmen just gets drunk and then eaten by a cat"]

["Like when one of Ratigan's henchmen just gets drunk and then eaten by a cat"]

["when the police to go escort a man outside to keep him under watch and when the open the door for him he gets impaled by a brass unicorn that it is later revealed was a catapulted at him from I think 3 streets away."]

["when the police to go escort a man outside to keep him under watch and when the open the door for him he gets impaled by a brass unicorn that it is later revealed was a catapulted at him from I think 3 streets away."]

The movie is about a really nice, genuinely good person, who hasn't really had the easiest go of it and is trying to make something of her life, put through terror and misery for 3 days before she is literally dragged to Hell. And for what? Because, as sweet and kind as she is, she chose to do her ****ing job just once instead of sacrificing her career for someone who not only was legitimately in the wrong by the rules of society but had other options than what she was asking of the protagonist and it was her own pride, not the protagonists, that led to the events of the film. The protagonist is entirely a victim of misfortune and someone else's (really several peoples') malevolence. And for that she is ruthlessly terrorized, physically put through the wringer, and ultimately damned to burn for all eternity.
And that's just not fun.
It's just not.
I remembered about halfway through how much the movie made ME miserable. Just watching this poor girl be totally victimized, by her boss, by her co-worker, by her fiancee's parents, by the gypsy, and ultimately by the demon, continuously for 90 minutes and in the end she is not saved by all her heroic action, by her arc of finding the inner-strength to survive, she finally suffers the worst imaginable fate, despite everything.
And if that's enjoyable to watch... well, it's just not for me. I couldn't enjoy the movie for what it was because of just how depressing I thought it was. I didn't even want to finish it on second watch.

The movie is about a really nice, genuinely good person, who hasn't really had the easiest go of it and is trying to make something of her life, put through terror and misery for 3 days before she is literally dragged to Hell. And for what? Because, as sweet and kind as she is, she chose to do her ****ing job just once instead of sacrificing her career for someone who not only was legitimately in the wrong by the rules of society but had other options than what she was asking of the protagonist and it was her own pride, not the protagonists, that led to the events of the film. The protagonist is entirely a victim of misfortune and someone else's (really several peoples') malevolence. And for that she is ruthlessly terrorized, physically put through the wringer, and ultimately damned to burn for all eternity.
And that's just not fun.
It's just not.
I remembered about halfway through how much the movie made ME miserable. Just watching this poor girl be totally victimized, by her boss, by her co-worker, by her fiancee's parents, by the gypsy, and ultimately by the demon, continuously for 90 minutes and in the end she is not saved by all her heroic action, by her arc of finding the inner-strength to survive, she finally suffers the worst imaginable fate, despite everything.
And if that's enjoyable to watch... well, it's just not for me. I couldn't enjoy the movie for what it was because of just how depressing I thought it was. I didn't even want to finish it on second watch.

In spite of my rating, I wouldn't say I was disappointed, nor was I surprised by this film. I liked it about as much as I thought I would. Much of the violence is sadistic with little levity to make this easier to swallow or abide, but it also has quite a bit going for it beyond its violence. For instance, the first hour or so shifted my expectations a couple times and offered a handful of surprising kills, which, in my mind, made the film rather intelligent. What piqued my interest the most, however, was Wydell, though I have a lot of mixed thoughts on the final act. I think Zombie's intention was to have you empathize with the rejects since they were being unlawfully punished and tortured. While siding with anti-heroes is certainly possible and has been done many times in the past though, what broke the final act down for me was that Wydell had an extra layer of character development which the rejects lacked, so I actually found it easier to empathize with him. Of course, this isn't necessarily a problem given that you can still appreciate the film from this angle, but, while watching this sequence, I was frequently wondering whether or not I was reacting to it the way Zombie intended. There was also a decent bit I liked about the final act though such as the implication that, through their ordeal with Wydell, the rejects obtained a clearer understanding of what their victims went through. I also liked the incongruity of certain scenes in the final act. For instance, Wydell restraining and torturing the rejects or Wydell pursuing Baby were reminiscent of various tropes I've seen in other slasher films, except the roles were reversed this time. Finally, yes, the ending is as fantastic as it's said to be, though I had already watched it some time ago. As for whether or not my rating will remain as it is, I'm not entirely sure. To be honest, I'm still kind of undecided about how I feel about this film and somebody could probably convince me that it's better than what I think. I may revisit in the future to see if my rating goes up or down. For now though, this is where I stand.

In spite of my rating, I wouldn't say I was disappointed, nor was I surprised by this film. I liked it about as much as I thought I would. Much of the violence is sadistic with little levity to make this easier to swallow or abide, but it also has quite a bit going for it beyond its violence. For instance, the first hour or so shifted my expectations a couple times and offered a handful of surprising kills, which, in my mind, made the film rather intelligent. What piqued my interest the most, however, was Wydell, though I have a lot of mixed thoughts on the final act. I think Zombie's intention was to have you empathize with the rejects since they were being unlawfully punished and tortured. While siding with anti-heroes is certainly possible and has been done many times in the past though, what broke the final act down for me was that Wydell had an extra layer of character development which the rejects lacked, so I actually found it easier to empathize with him. Of course, this isn't necessarily a problem given that you can still appreciate the film from this angle, but, while watching this sequence, I was frequently wondering whether or not I was reacting to it the way Zombie intended. There was also a decent bit I liked about the final act though such as the implication that, through their ordeal with Wydell, the rejects obtained a clearer understanding of what their victims went through. I also liked the incongruity of certain scenes in the final act. For instance, Wydell restraining and torturing the rejects or Wydell pursuing Baby were reminiscent of various tropes I've seen in other slasher films, except the roles were reversed this time. Finally, yes, the ending is as fantastic as it's said to be, though I had already watched it some time ago. As for whether or not my rating will remain as it is, I'm not entirely sure. To be honest, I'm still kind of undecided about how I feel about this film and somebody could probably convince me that it's better than what I think. I may revisit in the future to see if my rating goes up or down. For now though, this is where I stand.