Yeah, Pia, I thought Hostel 2 was very well done.  It didn't have that shock value that the original did, but I remember very vividly leaving the theater very happy.

Hey, what happened to RV who started this thread?  Maybe he's still watching Psycho and The Shining over and over.  I hope not, though...

Oddly enough, I found Hostel 2 to be much more enjoyable than the first. The original was a Comedy to me. Not a Horror-Comedy -- a Comedy, period. A twisted, dark Comedy. It felt really juvenile.

I suppose it was enjoyable on a Michael Bay-like, brainless trash level, but nothing else for me. I don't feel the Horror scenes were well-executed at all -- they were neither visceral nor suggestive enough -- and I did not care for any of the leads. As a Horror movie, or even a Horror-Comedy hybrid, it was a complete and total failure to me.

I enjoyed the sequel because it had a much darker tone and genuienly made me feel for the characters at times. No other Horror film had done that to me in a while before Hostel 2 came out (besides maybe "May"). I felt for the geek and the blonde girl (and I normally hate her "type" in Horror films), and even the blonde's date who barely said a word -- didn't care much for the main one.  

Overall, I thought Hostel 2 was a much better effort than the first one. It's still not anywhere near one of my favorites, but I liked it.

--Julio  

Right on, Julio.  I hear ya.

What about Wolf Creek or Rogue?  Comments?

I felt like Wolf Creek overdid the expository aspect of its first act. It was too trivial and way overdone. And though the film did build some excellent suspense in the beginning, it never figured out how to unleash it.

It built-up to something awesome but only ended up delivering something cliched that we've seen many times before. The characters were dumber than common Horror-fodder, too, and that's saying something. I did not hate it. I just thought it was mediocre. Good performances though.

I haven't seen Rogue.

I do love The Descent though -- one of my modern favorites. It was also mildly slow-paced, but much better-executed than Wolf Creek. There is constant Horror and tension throughout, and not just coming from the monsters, which is great!

--Julio

Agreed...Descent is also 1 of my favorites of all time.  A truly horrific experience all the way through.

Right on, Julio.  Check out Rogue...it's great!

The Descent was great as far as panic/claustrophobia/terror/ and whatever goes. However, IMHO, it was brought down by the creatures in that cave. It lost a lot of its potential as soon as they were introduced. Except for Alien films, I'm not really into creature features.

Quoted from Dreamscale Hey, what happened to RV who started this thread?  Maybe he's still watching Psycho and The Shining over and over.  I hope not, though...

Probably just watching the Shining... Damn things longer than the Ten commandments, isn't it?    I still love every second of it, though.

As for the Hostel hate... It's warranted, man. I hate Eli Roth and his grandstanding and pandering. He's a parasite and Joe Eszterhas said it best "He's a shit bubble" and I agree... Eli Roth sat down one Saturday afternoon and watched a slew of exploitation flicks such as "They call me Macho Woman/Savage Instinct" "I spit on your grave" "Last house on the left (original) "I spit on your corpse I piss on your grave" "Don't touch my sister" "I spit on your corpse" and an even bigger time waster "Vulgar" ... He then said to himself, I can bring this level of horror... This level of unsettling tension into the mainstream since I'm a trusted elastic dick in the ass of Hollywood that I'll probably be labeled as having balls.  He doesn't. He is an elastic dick and he's one of the main reasons why you, Jeff, aren't writing in Hollywood this second... he's the kind of guy, like Joe has said, that holds back new talent. He's a parasite and dick leak.  

Fuck him... Fuck his movies. He's not worthy of praise.

The Descent and Rogue were both pretty rad. I liked the Descent a fair bit more but Rogue really surprised me. That one's a really good example of how subtlety should be used in a horror movie. Plus the croc looked monstrous and surprisingly realistic, especially with the death roles and all. It was the movie I hoped Lake Placid was gonna be but wasn't.

I love a good creature feature. Honestly, they seem like horror in the truest sense to me. I ordered a copy of Rawhead Rex a few weeks ago. The production value is lacking and I think they cut out a lot of the gore but that's a good example of good, cheesy monster fun, even if Clive Barker hates it.

Here's another question for you guys, related but different: why does this genre seem to fascinate us as a community more than any other, and why does it receive the most attention? Why are you interested in what makes a good horror, rather than a good rom-com or period drama?

Below is some number-crunching I pulled off the boards and quickly tinkered with in Excel. The data will obviously continue to change, but the main point is clear (I removed Westerns from the table not due to a value judgement, but because with only 39 scripts in the section it's a totally different situation there):

GENRE                     THREADS     POSTS     POSTS PER THREAD
Action/Adventure        320             2483                  7.76
Comedy                      373             2498                  6.70
Drama                         507             2353                  4.64
Horror                         372             4594                  12.35
Sci Fi and Fantasy      152              746                    4.91
Short                          1693            21695              12.81
Thriller                        201             1227                  6.10

In terms of features, Horror scripts get the most attention. By far. Now, that may be down to the same, horror-interested readers posting on more threads in that section, and the monster thread that is 'Fade to White' has an effect on the numbers (if you take out that one thread, the PPT value drops to 11.63), but all sections have their juggernauts, and on average EVERY thread in Horror gets five or six more replies than the other feature sections.

Clearly SS members like their horror - both writing and reading it. My question is: why? What is it about this genre that interests you all so much? Surely the tightness of its limitations make it a less interesting field of film (playing Devil's Advocate there, because I don't necessarily agree with that)? Is the higher level of interest because people who enjoy writing appreciate Horror more than other genres, or is it because Horror is more appealing to the kind of people who will join and post on an internet forum?

Oh, and one other possibly interesting thing - we all might assume that in terms of script reads, shorts are the runaway winner and are perhaps (some might suggest) in danger of overwhelming the site. But according to the numbers, Horror scripts and Short scripts tend to get pretty much the same level of attention. The numbers seem to suggest that it's definitely possible to get a feature read...as long as its Horror. If it's Drama or Sci Fi? Not so much.

(By the way, I know I'm a bit of a geek. )

tell us how you really feel Balt!

I disagree with Hostel. Eszterhas however is one of my favorite screenwriters. Too bad some of his scripts don't turn into great films.

Quoted from JonnyBoy Clearly SS members like their horror - both writing and reading it. My question is: why? What is it about this genre that interests you all so much? Surely the tightness of its limitations make it a less interesting field of film (playing Devil's Advocate there, because I don't necessarily agree with that)? Is the higher level of interest because people who enjoy writing appreciate Horror more than other genres, or is it because Horror is more appealing to the kind of people who will join and post on an internet forum?

Why? Because people are intrigued by the genre... They all, me, you, him, her, them... All of us feel we can write a better script than what we see.  And, some of us can.  The problem with the horror section here, though is the lack of quality. Read some of them, man. These aren't labor of loves... These are shit splatters, by and large, tossed up by random people who most of the time we never see again. In the event they aren't... They are people who think they have a horror flick in them and toss it up to see if they can get praise. Enough so they can squirt out another one in a week or two.  Now, there are some writers here who are worth their salt. There are. But a lot of the horror section hits and post are simply for the laugh factor and to gauge their competition. Nothing more... Nothing less.

Jonny...great work there, mate!  Seriously...very interesting.

Here's my quick take on it.  People generally love horror...even if they say they don't, they do...or can.  There's something for being able to be scared, shocked, freaked out form the safety of a movie theater chair, or teh comfort of your favorite lounger at home.

It's a release like no other...well, not completely...it's like riding a roller coaster, knowing that although you may feel like you're in danger, you're not. You're safe.  It's the adrenaline rush that can only be realized 2 ways...eitehr actually doing something extreme, or watching something exteme that draws you in and fucks with you.

Also, there are so few good horror films that come out...so few that even try to be good.  W keep hoping...keep believing...and then...ah fuck...another turd...another complete waste of our time and money.

Balt, I also hear what you're saying.  I think horror is percieved as being the easiest to write based on alot of factors.  It isn't for sure, but it's got that perception.  Maybe because so many God awful abortions actually not only get made, but are turned into big budget productions when in reality, they suck more than Meatballs 2 did...and that SUCKED!

We all have a darkness within us and horror movies offers that escape and ability to witness things we'd never want to be within 100 miles of in real life.

Horror rocks.  It really does.  We're in great need of some killer horror flicks.  

Horror to me is the furthest removed from, hopefully, most of our daily realities so naturally, it facilitates the most interesting stories. It also has a lot to do with iconography. Comedy and drama have no discernible iconography yet you can easily write a horror script that's also one or the other because of it's iconography. It's a lot more interesting for me as a writer to write a story about normal people experiencing abnormal problems or, better yet, abnormal people experiencing normal problems. Within horror, I can write about personal issues of myself or others without having to write something mundane. One can do the same with social/cultural/political issues as is the case with many horror movies. That's not for me though. I prefer writing to be a break from the political bullshit you hear about everyday.

The "tightness of the limitations" is also a blessing in disguise. If you're a mediocre writer, you can work easily within those limitations as they're so clearly spelled out. If you're more than that, you can break those boundaries and write an even more interesting story.

Plus, it's fun. What can I say?

That's me, anyway.

You guys should watch Revolutionary Road. Now there's a fucking scary movie. The same can said for Requiem For A Dream. Those films are way scarier than any supernatural or monster movie because the shit that happened in them can and does happen in everyday life.

Quoted from Takeshi You guys should watch Revolutionary Road. Now there's a fucking scary movie. The same can said for Requiem For A Dream. Those films are way scarier than any supernatural or monster movie because the shit that happened in them can and does happen in everyday life.

Is it based off the Richard Yates novel? I can't say I've even heard of a movie for it... Where was I?

I did some checkin' up ... Leo and Kate are in this, yea?