zez:

The Ring was pretty damn creepy

I saw the ring for the first time:
alone. . .


on HBO. . .


in a hotel room. . .


in Houston. . .



I was scared shiatless!! Christ I was peeking out from under the blankets at the end, and I was 35!!!

Broktun | Hates torture porn.

Working at a therapeutic wilderness camp in East Texas counseling troubled 13 year old girls. Nothing scares me after that.

I saw it with a girlfriend. She was nice enough to wake me up for the last five minutes.

Forget where I was, but I liked the movie

shawn82: While not a horror movie, or even particularly disturbing, watch Primer.

Then immediately watch it again.

I just saw this last week, this is an excellent film. I think the guy did it for like $7,000. It was awesome.

Too bad he hasn't made anything else, but I understand he's working on something.

I watched on VHS at a Halloween party. It pretty much sucked ass.

Sucks for the people who actually bought into the hype. I saw it before all the hysteria and didn't even know what the movie was about. I throughly enjoyed the movie. And yes, it scared the crap out of me.

Blair Witch??

More like Blair Biatch...

Subby hated it so much they decided to start a discussion about it 10 years later. Seems a bit ironic.

Arthur Prefect: Roook: Joe_diGriz: I couldn't get scared by the movie, because I was too busy trying not to get sick from the "hand-cam" technique.

I've never had problems with motion sickness in films. Do FPS video games also affect you? Or do you get motion sickness in cars? I'm just curious if they are connected.

I haven't read through all the posts, but I saw that you did get a reply. Just chiming in to say that I get motion sick from tv and movies as well. I'm fine on planes, trains, boats, and rollercoasters, but in cars it's *extremely* easy for me to get sick depending on what way I'm watching things go by. And on tv, it's the same thing. I quit watching those stupid designer home shows because of the "creative" angles and zooming they were using - it was literally making me feel sick.


What Roook: Joe_diGriz BS Arthur Prefect may look like on a rollercoaster.

At first, I thought it was "real" in that college kids had freaked out in the woods and disappeared. Or that someone had pretended to, and left the footage along with a rumor about nonexistent kids who disappeared.

Kinda disappointed that the whole thing was staged.

But hey... you gotta admire them for making a film, little more than a home movie, which went worldwide on less than shoestring budget. That was GENIUS, maybe on the part of the marketing, but genius did happen.

It does stand as the seminal work of the "reality" feel of directing. You can probably credit (or blame) ShakyCam on them.

ScottHimself: Cthulhu Theory: sigdiamond2000: Not to be a dick, but I find myself completely baffled by what most people find scary in movies.

The last movie that truly freaked me the f*ck out and scared the sh*t out of me was "Inland Empire", and that's certainly not what most people would consider a "horror" movie.

/Never seen "Blair Witch"...which I guess technically makes this a threadjack.

Did you see strangers? That one made my spine tingle.

Seriously?

I was so pissed I considered bringing it back to Blockbuster and telling them it wouldn't read (for a refund).

I saw it in the theatre opening night, first row dead center. I knew what was going to happen, but aside fromt he slow start the movie kept me on the edge of my seat.

Maybe the beginning ruined it for you? But if watching someone get a knife slowly pressed into their stomach still doesn't freak you out then I can see the problem with it.

/biggest problem with horrors is the predictability and the lack of compelling presentation

The only part of the movie I really enjoyed is when she's asking for the map and the one guy says something akin to "I kicked that farking thing into the creek, it was useless." I died laughing while thinking, "That's exactly what I'd have done."

The Scooby Doo Project. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMsA6_Qh_jw

Ant:

Are you one of those people who needs to have jokes explained to you?

Are you one of those people who doesn't read a post before quoting it?

I never saw the movie. I only saw the ending (last 5 minutes) on youtube right before I made that post, and even then I saw it with no sound.

I assumed it had some kind of relevance to the Blair Witch storyline. Seeing as it hasn't been explained yet I'll just continue assuming it was anti-climactic.

farkMcFark: Sucks for the people who actually bought into the hype. I saw it before all the hysteria and didn't even know what the movie was about. I throughly enjoyed the movie. And yes, it scared the crap out of me.

I also saw it before the wide release and when the hype machine set in. I thought it was awful. I was bored to tears and not scared.

ScottHimself: I never saw the movie. I only saw the ending (last 5 minutes) on youtube right before I made that post, and even then I saw it with no sound.

This has got to be the most retarded way ever to form an opinion about a film.

I've still never seen this movie and from everything I've heard about it, I'm planning to keep it that way too.

Soup4Bonnie: I get the oddest looks when I tell people I have never seen this movie or when I tell them that I think Blazing Saddles is juvenile and dumb.

Blazing Saddles is juvenile and dumb; that's the whole point. I remember it was hilarious around about high school and cringeworthy thereafter. Fortunately, it saves some face in that it's still one of the most quotable movies ever.

\They said you was hung!
\\And they was right!

Watching any movie at a party (if this is any party worth being at) is going to suck. No one is paying attention, people should be pretty well drunk. Its usually just a distraction/reason to riff (or find out who sucks at riffing).

I still have no inclination to see this film. Though I think its kind of sad and funny that the people involved generally haven't gone on to do much else. But that's part of the problem with horror movies, if you 'break out' in a horror movie, you're probably going to be pigeonholed as a horror writer/director/actor (i.e. Eli Roth - ZING!) If you're ok with that, you can make a living, but trying to 'branch out' can prove to be almost impossible.

I saw it at the Angelica in NYC way before the hype started, within a day or too of it opening. My gf just wanted to see a movie that night and we were walking down Houston. I realised it was a 'fake' within minutes but absolutely loved it, scary as any other movie I've ever seen. I think the backlash against the hype is what ruined it for many people. I still think it's excellent. It can't be denied that it was massively influential.

shawn82:While not a horror movie, or even particularly disturbing, watch Primer.

Then immediately watch it again.

ZOMG this! I was thinking about it when I saw this article, showing what you can do on almost no budget. Primer is awesome. You have to watch it a minimum of twice, preferably in the same sitting, so make sure you've got time.

/go do it right now!

My mom had just passed away in May so I was still a little numb. I went with my brother who didn't get it. I watched most of the movie through my fingers, scared the crap outta me. I don't know why all the hate.

Gamecock2001: Arthur Prefect: Roook: Joe_diGriz: I couldn't get scared by the movie, because I was too busy trying not to get sick from the "hand-cam" technique.

I've never had problems with motion sickness in films. Do FPS video games also affect you? Or do you get motion sickness in cars? I'm just curious if they are connected.

I haven't read through all the posts, but I saw that you did get a reply. Just chiming in to say that I get motion sick from tv and movies as well. I'm fine on planes, trains, boats, and rollercoasters, but in cars it's *extremely* easy for me to get sick depending on what way I'm watching things go by. And on tv, it's the same thing. I quit watching those stupid designer home shows because of the "creative" angles and zooming they were using - it was literally making me feel sick.


What Roook: Joe_diGriz BS Arthur Prefect may look like on a rollercoaster.

I can't stop laughing at that picture. Guaranteed that chick is 10X more horrified than anything Blair With could have produced.

Trivia Jockey: I know a lot of people hold subby's opinion, but as a guy who doesn't much care for scary movies (because most aren't scary), when I saw this in the theater it scared the crap out of me.

It scared the crap out of me too that I was dumb enough to buy a ticket to this shiatfest.

I was lying up in a hotel near Disneyland and I LOVED THE MOVIE!

Blowmonkey: ScottHimself: I never saw the movie. I only saw the ending (last 5 minutes) on youtube right before I made that post, and even then I saw it with no sound.

This has got to be the most retarded way ever to form an opinion about a film.

You might consider it original? I mean he didn't even try to catch the beginning or middle 5 minutes. Imagine if all movies were reviewed on the last 5 minutes it might save the world a lot of heartache.

/Sphere anyone?
//lets just think about not finding it!

Gamecock2001: Arthur Prefect: Roook: Joe_diGriz: I couldn't get scared by the movie, because I was too busy trying not to get sick from the "hand-cam" technique.

I've never had problems with motion sickness in films. Do FPS video games also affect you? Or do you get motion sickness in cars? I'm just curious if they are connected.

I haven't read through all the posts, but I saw that you did get a reply. Just chiming in to say that I get motion sick from tv and movies as well. I'm fine on planes, trains, boats, and rollercoasters, but in cars it's *extremely* easy for me to get sick depending on what way I'm watching things go by. And on tv, it's the same thing. I quit watching those stupid designer home shows because of the "creative" angles and zooming they were using - it was literally making me feel sick.


What Roook: Joe_diGriz BS Arthur Prefect may look like on a rollercoaster.

Too bad I actually said that I don't get motion sick on a roller coaster. :P

Although, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who gets sick from the tv. I thought I was just f*cking weird.

Richard Roma: Best horror movie I've ever seen. By a mile.

/yes, I've seen The Ring
//and Halloween
///haven't seen The Exorcist, though

Gotta see The Exorcist and Alien before judging other horror films. They are the gold standard.

ScottHimself: I will not be watching this movie, but am curious why the last scene was so 'good'. I just watched it without sound (at work) and obviously didn't understand what was going on.

Because, as in almost every other good movie ever made, the rest of the film builds up to the ending. You can't just watch the ending and expect to get it. And now, knowing the ending, you can't watch the whole movie from start to finish and hope to really get it, either. It can no longer come as a surprise. There can no longer be the suspense you might have had.

In other words, I can explain to you why you don't understand, but I can't make you understand.

So, I'm afraid you're just out of luck.

/I have often wished there were a machine that could make you forget a movie you saw, so that you could literally see it again for the first time.

louiedog: I also saw it before the wide release and when the hype machine set in. I thought it was awful. I was bored to tears and not scared.


Well, I did know it was a small budgeted indie film so my expectations were considerably low.

Cthulhu Theory:
I saw it in the theatre opening night, first row dead center. I knew what was going to happen, but aside fromt he slow start the movie kept me on the edge of my seat.

Maybe the beginning ruined it for you? But if watching someone get a knife slowly pressed into their stomach still doesn't freak you out then I can see the problem with it.

/biggest problem with horrors is the predictability and the lack of compelling presentation

I just didn't buy it. I know that sounds overly critical, but horror is actually my favorite genre (despite VERY rarely being frightened by them), including cheeseball horrors. It just seemed a bit ridiculous, and the entire time I kept wondering why the male costar didn't man up.

I only saw it once, and stuck to my opinion, so it's more than possible I didn't fully appreciate it.

I was one of the stars of that movie, about to embark on a magnificent and long lasting film career.

/where am I now? is the question!

feanturi: Yeah I had to back it up and watch that part again, because I was sure I had missed something. I apparently hadn't, so was left a bit cold.

But you did miss something. The crazy guy who killed all those kids, and said that the witch made him do it used to stand them in the corner before he disemboweled them.

/something like that

I got tossed from the theater for yelling "For cripes sake! Just follow the freaking creek, morans." The scene where they kept coming back to the same place obviously ticked me off a bit.

Soon after, I made a pact ith everyone I know: If we're in the woods and one of us disappears, no one goes looking for you. You got et by a bear. You got beamed up by aliens. You never really existed. I will follow the creek to a road, the road to a town, the town to a bar and I will have one beer for you and ten for me.

Blowmonkey:

This has got to be the most retarded way ever to form an opinion about a film.

I agree. Which is why I was asking for someone to fill in the blanks on what made it a masterpiece (the ending seems to be almost universally appreciated).

Am I seriously explaining this again? Just tell me why he was in the corner!

sigdiamond2000: Not to be a dick, but I find myself completely baffled by what most people find scary in movies.

Off the top of my head, I honestly can't think of one movie in the last 20 years that was billed as a horror movie that I've found truly scary. I just don't find witches, vampires, monsters, ghosts, and comic book violence all that frightening anymore.

I'm not trying to say I'm better than everyone else; I just don't get it. Every time I see my brother-in-law, he's got whatever the hot new torture porn movie is and he always thinks it's going to blow my mind, but those movies are almost comical to me. I get the sense that even my bro-in-law isn't actually "scared" by them as such, just excited by them.

The last movie that truly freaked me the f*ck out and scared the sh*t out of me was "Inland Empire", and that's certainly not what most people would consider a "horror" movie.

/Never seen "Blair Witch"...which I guess technically makes this a threadjack.

I hate gore dependent horror movies and jump scares so without further ado.... Movies I Actually Thought Were Scary!:
1. The Descent
2. Funny Games (More of a tension thing.)
3. Suspiria (if you can get through the awful first 10 minutes)
4. Showgirls.

I hadn't heard about the movie and my friend had a bootleg copy on his computer like a week or two before it came out. He told me it was recovered footage and basically set me up to think it was real. I made it about 2/3 through the movie before I started wondering about its validity. Still scared me though, excellent on the first time view. Haven't seen it since.

To me, the storytelling genius of the movie is that most of it isn't scary at all. It's cheesy and it's loser people running around in the woods and it got my cynical side going and scoffing and took me completely out of horror movie mode.

Then the last bit hit like a sucker punch and my spine grabbed hold of my scrotum and tried to retreat backwards through the seat.

Worst movie I ever saw. I remember all the biatching about losing the map and I was like. Your in the woods in Maryland just walk straight. How big can it be?

Saw it opening weekend. I thought it was terrible. I don't even care that you didn't get to see the witch, I just didn't like any aspect of the movie. The Sci-Fi special was great, and I thought the movie sounded great.

I have never been so disappointed in a movie (well, except for The Underground Comedy Movie. FARK YOU, VINCE).

I have never seen so many people trying to get their money back at the end, either. Nearly 3/4 of the theater was in line afterward, angry and not getting a dime back since they sat through the whole movie.

I always wondered why the ONLY steady shots in the movie were:

1. Out the window of the car as they were driving to the forest
2. When the girl was running down the stairs at the end

Those two shots should have been a hell of a lot shakier than the rest of the movie.

The Scooby-Doo parodies on the Cartoon Network were hilarious, though.

I saw it with my wife, puked my guts through the middle of the film, and saw the last 5 minutes, and everybody walked out in silence. I have never puked while watching a film before, and I had a dry stomach. I can safely say that the viewing was surreal, because before the film started, as we were waiting in line to get in, everyone talked as to how fake they thought the film was going to be, since we were watching it about a week after opening night. It was freaky to see so many people obviously scared but not wanting to admit it.

I bet some of you are here posting that the film is crap. If you were there 10 years ago, you would have been one of those quiet and afraid. You suck. Man up! Admit that it took you by surprise, even though it was stupid. I can also say that it will take a while for me to be caught off guard like that again. Truly an original film, but not something I would buy to view over and over. Glad to have been there to see it on the cinema. Don't think other crew and director will get away with this crap for years to come.

Blair Witch was a work of genius, I reckon
*ducks rotten fruit*

Seriously, it was shot on a budget of nothing, not a drop of blood is spilled and if you allow your self to get totally drawn into it, it creates a real sense of dread.

And in terms of film innovation: the three kids in the lead roles didn't have a script. They only had a vague idea of what the film was about. Each morning they were given a set of instructions (where to walk to, what sort of scenes would be shot etc) and enough food to last the next 24 hours. That was it. At night the film crew would scream, shake their tent, do all sorts of unspeakable things the cast weren't expecting - most of that fear on their faces is completely genuine.

They were literally shuffling from one spot to the next, under-nourished and suffering real sleep deprivation with absolutely no idea what was going to happen to them the next time it got dark.

And, personally, I think that shows through. And that's what I think makes it work. But FOR it to work you have to be willing to surrender to it and let yourself just get carried along over the slow bits. It's about wearing away that sanity and ratchting up the tension very very gradually. And I guess that's not everyone's cup of tea.

But hell, what do I know? I thought Capote was rubbish :P

/film critic
//getting a kick etc etc

I saw it well after I knew it wasn't 'real.' But I thought it was very well done. Basically it was able to rachet up an incredible ammount of tension, without much happening. Its one thing to have buliding crushed by CGI monsters. But IMO, it takes some real talent to make a pile of stones or a bundle of sticks creepy.

Rev.K: For those of us with imaginations, The Blair Witch Project was a f*cking terrifying movie.

/scared f*cking sh*tless

y'know...I knew it was fake going in to it, but I got so caught up in the film, I forgot after a while. So yeah, subby, I enjoyed the movie.

I suffered motion sickness from that film. So bad, in fact, that I was dizzy leaving the theater and subsequently got into a car crash, sending the driver of the other car to the hospital. Thanks for reminding me of that, Fark. Good day to you.

ciberido: /I have often wished there were a machine that could make you forget a movie you saw, so that you could literally see it again for the first time.

I need one of those. Could you make it work on albums too? I wanna hear Sgt Peppers and Dark Side of the Moon for the first time again.

Linger: Saw a bootleg copy before it hit the theaters which being a boot gave it extra creepiness.

Agreed. Same way I saw it, and had the same effect. Fuzzy 3rd generation VHS copy, almost like it was unearthed somewhere. Saw it later in the theater and definitely did not have the same impact.

I still remember it as the only movie where I've ever changed seats halfway through because the morons behind me who delighted in scaring themselves and screaming at full volume would not. Shut. UP.

My date for that movie was the last guy I've ever dated who was a serious commitment-phobe. I can understanding wanting sex but no commitment, but half the time he wasn't even sure if he wanted sex. I'm wondering at this point if he was actually straight.

Laughing at my sisters who really believed the crap.