Them
The Fly - The original, but Jeff's version was a classic as well
Night of the Living Dead
Exorcist
Hereditary
The first three gave me many nightmares through my youth. I watched the Exorcist as a 15 year old when I was home alone. I read the book in one night, and went to the theater to see it the next. …
The Fly - The original, but Jeff's version was a classic as well
Night of the Living Dead
Exorcist
Hereditary
The first three gave me many nightmares through my youth. I watched the Exorcist as a 15 year old when I was home alone. I read the book in one night, and went to the theater to see it the next. I slept with every light in the house the next week, and still heard shit in the attic. The scariest movie ever.
I had to walk out to the lobby when I was watching Hereditary, twice. Great movie, but it was so upsetting to me ... not the supernatural stuff, but the family stuff.
But didn't you think the ending was a let-down though? I found it anticlimactic after all the creepy build-up. And sort of unintentionally funny and cheesy.
*** SPOILER ALERT FOR HEREDITARY DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED AND PLAN TO WATCH **
I love Hereditary but I don't understand this critique about the ending, which I've heard in other threads about the ending from some viewers. The whole story was about the fact that the grandmother was in a demon worshipping cult and had sacrificed her family in exchange for what is suggested to be the potential for the reborn demon to re-incarnate the dead grandmother and reward her, and the cult, with wealth, luck and power. And honestly, the final sequence, with the mother crawling on the ceiling, but with the son so desperately wanting his "mommy" was done so fantastically well - from both a scary and emotional point it almost made me pee my pants and want to cry on first watch and I'm a seasoned "horror vet" lol. I do agree the "magic" of that movie was the superb acting and writing that went into it. The characters were fully fleshed out and the emotional horror portrayed made this a much more immersive story to go along with the occult horror.
IMO, if you subtracted out the occult elements, or "cheated out" the ending with "it was all in their heads" it would have been an entirely different movie. I actually dislike movies and books that use horror elements but only to say "surprise fooled you it was 'mental illness' all along". When I watch a horror movie I want actual "horror elements", not necessarily a metaphor for mental illness. There are a few cases where this works ("Babadook" maybe being an exception, "Mommy" another) but otherwise I actually feel a bit cheated when the "horror" is explained out at the end, especially for a "message".
Note, what I also loved was how well they kept the lid on the "twist" from the trailers, which implied another "evil/creep kid" movie, and yet turned out so differently from the first act.
Hey Smarticat, thanks for your question, I love hashing this stuff out with other horror fans. I didn't dislike all of Hereditary, just the very last scene. I actually wrote a blog post which dissected it in more detail but the site's been taken down. For my theater companion and me, it was mostly that crown on Peter's head/Hail Paemon, we thought that was over-the-top and very not-scary, B-movie material. (Also, what was the deal with the headless bodies?) Up til then, I thought it was very effective in evoking a mounting sense of dread, with the help of brilliant camera work and sound. Style-wise it gets an A for sure. I guess going in with high expectations from the hyped up reviews (one critic said "wear brown pants," LOL) I expected to leave the theater a basket case, but we looked at each other when the credits started like, what was that? I sensed from the crowd's silence that we weren't alone. So all in all, I felt it had great promise but just kind of fizzled at what should have been the climax. (A few critics wrote that the narration at the end "over-explained" what was already obvious to the audience, not sure I agree but that is another criticism that's out there.)
I thought Midsommar, the second movie by that director, was better. I look forward to more of his work.
Then there's the idea that the demon-worshiping coven thing with sweet grandmas has been done to death (see the Paranormal Activity movies). But I agree about those "mental illness" plot lines, it feels like a cop-out. The Lodge and Relic are two that come to mind.
wow sorry! i lost this in a morass of replies and an inconvenient case of COVID where I just didn't have the energy to post : /
I guess my point is that the culmination of taking Peter's body for Paemon was the whole point. It drove the cult, and the grandmother's actions the entire time. The point of the movie is that the circumstances were almost set in stone, the family was doomed was because "Gramma" made a deal with the demon and the cult to give her family over. What I wanted an answer to is, the Gramma made references to all the "riches" and benefits not only to her, but to her daughter, in the bargain. So given both died, how did they realize these "gifts"? Resurrection??
I at least felt "Hereditary" put better play to the "familial demon cult" than the PA series (which just gives us bits of exposition at the very end - I want very much to have a Paranormal Activity that goes back in time to the grandmother's time and quits dancing around the plot). For that point, I did like the conclusion of Hereditary - it was "for real" the whole time. No punches pulled :)
You mention "The Lodge"- I would add that to my "exceptions" list of "mental illness is the true horror" - it was done very well and I didn't feel "cheated" at the end. Just watched "Relic" recently and it was "OK". Honestly, I've found so few and far between truly "scary" movies lately - Hereditary hit the mark. Midsommar was good, but I found it less scary than trippy. The hit the "shrooming"/psychedlic experience on the head, I felt like I was shrooming on first watch literally lol, and to have that "feeling" in such a weird situation, yeah I was "squirmy" the entire time lol.
BTW - as what was a recently very surprising (and somewhat humorous) entry: have you seen "Barbarian" (2022)? It was.. perfect for a Halloween "fun" scary movie :D
I have not heard of Barbarian. I assume the riches referred to in Hereditary was probably glory in the afterlife (Hell, presumably) for the mother and daughter. There was a photo of Grandma dressed as Paemon's "bride."
As for Paranormal Activity, the difference is that it's a franchise and not a single film like Hereditary, so the story, such that it is, is disjointed because they were literally making it up as they went along. I don't know if you subscribe to the Paramount Plus streaming service, but there's a fascinating documentary on there about the making of the franchise, starting with the very first shoestring-budget installment all the way to "The Ghost Dimension." The writer/director of the first one, Orin Peli, was different from the makers of the later installments, which is why the story arc is all over the place. The first was not expected to be the massive hit that it was or spawn sequels. They had a hard time even finding a studio to take it. It's amusing to watch the different filmmakers talk about how they developed the demonic coven storyline and tried to build on each previous film until by the end they were tapped out of ideas. I think your idea about going back to the "origin" (a la the Alien/Prometheus movie) with Katie & Kristie's grandma, maybe as a young woman, is excellent - you should try pitching it to the studio!
Barbarian is a sorta "dark comedy/horror" (Justin Long is in it)... with a VERY surprising and well done twist, I thought I was watching a completely different movie up until a certain point. It's on HBO Max if you're interested.. :)
Good point - rewards in hell (yay? Hell never sounds like a nice please even if you're evil lol)..
I do have Paramount + will have to check it out. Yeah you definitely get the sense the plot has been cobbled together after the first movie, it's tantalizing enough to keep me interested so there's that ;)
I like Hereditary okay, but not as much as Midsommar, the director's next movie. I liked watching a horror film that took place in a sunny idyllic village.
Yeah, here's the Rotten Tomatoes review. The suspense before they finally showed the creatures was insane. Another movie that was incredibly suspensful, but nor a horror flick was A Stalking Moon. Crazy scary.
Chronologically from my youth:
Them
The Fly - The original, but Jeff's version was a classic as well
Night of the Living Dead
Exorcist
Hereditary
The first three gave me many nightmares through my youth. I watched the Exorcist as a 15 year old when I was home alone. I read the book in one night, and went to the theater to see it the next. I slept with every light in the house the next week, and still heard shit in the attic. The scariest movie ever.
Exorcist was terrifying. I saw it at age 14 (probably not legally). I didn't flee the theater, but I felt the strangest mix of nausea and fright.
I had to walk out to the lobby when I was watching Hereditary, twice. Great movie, but it was so upsetting to me ... not the supernatural stuff, but the family stuff.
But didn't you think the ending was a let-down though? I found it anticlimactic after all the creepy build-up. And sort of unintentionally funny and cheesy.
*** SPOILER ALERT FOR HEREDITARY DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED AND PLAN TO WATCH **
I love Hereditary but I don't understand this critique about the ending, which I've heard in other threads about the ending from some viewers. The whole story was about the fact that the grandmother was in a demon worshipping cult and had sacrificed her family in exchange for what is suggested to be the potential for the reborn demon to re-incarnate the dead grandmother and reward her, and the cult, with wealth, luck and power. And honestly, the final sequence, with the mother crawling on the ceiling, but with the son so desperately wanting his "mommy" was done so fantastically well - from both a scary and emotional point it almost made me pee my pants and want to cry on first watch and I'm a seasoned "horror vet" lol. I do agree the "magic" of that movie was the superb acting and writing that went into it. The characters were fully fleshed out and the emotional horror portrayed made this a much more immersive story to go along with the occult horror.
IMO, if you subtracted out the occult elements, or "cheated out" the ending with "it was all in their heads" it would have been an entirely different movie. I actually dislike movies and books that use horror elements but only to say "surprise fooled you it was 'mental illness' all along". When I watch a horror movie I want actual "horror elements", not necessarily a metaphor for mental illness. There are a few cases where this works ("Babadook" maybe being an exception, "Mommy" another) but otherwise I actually feel a bit cheated when the "horror" is explained out at the end, especially for a "message".
Note, what I also loved was how well they kept the lid on the "twist" from the trailers, which implied another "evil/creep kid" movie, and yet turned out so differently from the first act.
How would you have preferred the ending?
Hey Smarticat, thanks for your question, I love hashing this stuff out with other horror fans. I didn't dislike all of Hereditary, just the very last scene. I actually wrote a blog post which dissected it in more detail but the site's been taken down. For my theater companion and me, it was mostly that crown on Peter's head/Hail Paemon, we thought that was over-the-top and very not-scary, B-movie material. (Also, what was the deal with the headless bodies?) Up til then, I thought it was very effective in evoking a mounting sense of dread, with the help of brilliant camera work and sound. Style-wise it gets an A for sure. I guess going in with high expectations from the hyped up reviews (one critic said "wear brown pants," LOL) I expected to leave the theater a basket case, but we looked at each other when the credits started like, what was that? I sensed from the crowd's silence that we weren't alone. So all in all, I felt it had great promise but just kind of fizzled at what should have been the climax. (A few critics wrote that the narration at the end "over-explained" what was already obvious to the audience, not sure I agree but that is another criticism that's out there.)
I thought Midsommar, the second movie by that director, was better. I look forward to more of his work.
Then there's the idea that the demon-worshiping coven thing with sweet grandmas has been done to death (see the Paranormal Activity movies). But I agree about those "mental illness" plot lines, it feels like a cop-out. The Lodge and Relic are two that come to mind.
wow sorry! i lost this in a morass of replies and an inconvenient case of COVID where I just didn't have the energy to post : /
I guess my point is that the culmination of taking Peter's body for Paemon was the whole point. It drove the cult, and the grandmother's actions the entire time. The point of the movie is that the circumstances were almost set in stone, the family was doomed was because "Gramma" made a deal with the demon and the cult to give her family over. What I wanted an answer to is, the Gramma made references to all the "riches" and benefits not only to her, but to her daughter, in the bargain. So given both died, how did they realize these "gifts"? Resurrection??
I at least felt "Hereditary" put better play to the "familial demon cult" than the PA series (which just gives us bits of exposition at the very end - I want very much to have a Paranormal Activity that goes back in time to the grandmother's time and quits dancing around the plot). For that point, I did like the conclusion of Hereditary - it was "for real" the whole time. No punches pulled :)
You mention "The Lodge"- I would add that to my "exceptions" list of "mental illness is the true horror" - it was done very well and I didn't feel "cheated" at the end. Just watched "Relic" recently and it was "OK". Honestly, I've found so few and far between truly "scary" movies lately - Hereditary hit the mark. Midsommar was good, but I found it less scary than trippy. The hit the "shrooming"/psychedlic experience on the head, I felt like I was shrooming on first watch literally lol, and to have that "feeling" in such a weird situation, yeah I was "squirmy" the entire time lol.
BTW - as what was a recently very surprising (and somewhat humorous) entry: have you seen "Barbarian" (2022)? It was.. perfect for a Halloween "fun" scary movie :D
I have not heard of Barbarian. I assume the riches referred to in Hereditary was probably glory in the afterlife (Hell, presumably) for the mother and daughter. There was a photo of Grandma dressed as Paemon's "bride."
As for Paranormal Activity, the difference is that it's a franchise and not a single film like Hereditary, so the story, such that it is, is disjointed because they were literally making it up as they went along. I don't know if you subscribe to the Paramount Plus streaming service, but there's a fascinating documentary on there about the making of the franchise, starting with the very first shoestring-budget installment all the way to "The Ghost Dimension." The writer/director of the first one, Orin Peli, was different from the makers of the later installments, which is why the story arc is all over the place. The first was not expected to be the massive hit that it was or spawn sequels. They had a hard time even finding a studio to take it. It's amusing to watch the different filmmakers talk about how they developed the demonic coven storyline and tried to build on each previous film until by the end they were tapped out of ideas. I think your idea about going back to the "origin" (a la the Alien/Prometheus movie) with Katie & Kristie's grandma, maybe as a young woman, is excellent - you should try pitching it to the studio!
Barbarian is a sorta "dark comedy/horror" (Justin Long is in it)... with a VERY surprising and well done twist, I thought I was watching a completely different movie up until a certain point. It's on HBO Max if you're interested.. :)
Good point - rewards in hell (yay? Hell never sounds like a nice please even if you're evil lol)..
I do have Paramount + will have to check it out. Yeah you definitely get the sense the plot has been cobbled together after the first movie, it's tantalizing enough to keep me interested so there's that ;)
I like Hereditary okay, but not as much as Midsommar, the director's next movie. I liked watching a horror film that took place in a sunny idyllic village.
Yeah, I thought the ending was a bit cheesy. But the rest of it was so disturbing.
Wow, no. It was disturbing on several levels, at least imho.
Yeah, it was a very unique movie. I Don't know what I could compare it to.
Do you mean Them the French film from several years ago?
No, far trashier, but terrifying to a 5 year old.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/
Oh the OG Them!
Yeah, here's the Rotten Tomatoes review. The suspense before they finally showed the creatures was insane. Another movie that was incredibly suspensful, but nor a horror flick was A Stalking Moon. Crazy scary.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1021186-them
The book was creepy.
Back then, me and all of my 15. 16 and 17 year old friends were of the understanding that it was based on an actual event. It was truly terrifying.
Exorcist terrified me. I had to go in the other room, I couldn’t finish watching it
Traumatized me for sure, and I first saw it on a small black-and-white TV set!