Zodiac_Speaking

Sure anyone can good gore. I appreciate the look and feel of these films-uneasy. I'm not saying there classics of the genre, but hey I would rather take these over what's being released this year from us here in the States. "The Eye"? "Shutter"? "Prom Night"? C'mon, some of the best horror right now are coming the indies, foreign, and direct-to-DVD.

RichC2

There was a good direct-to-DVD horror movie that wasn't indie or foreign?

Zodiac_Speaking

IMO, Diary of the Dead, Teeth, & Mulberry St

riotinmyskull

i'm pretty sure all of those played theatrically

RichC2

Not sure about Mulberry, but I know Diary and Teeth were theatrical releases.

DeputyDave

Yup.

IMO Sublime and Rest Stop were pretty good. Deader End and Storm Season were OK as well.

Dimension Extreme has had several fairly good DTV releases.

Zodiac_Speaking

Well those had extremely small and limited releases, so it wasn't like they were playing everywhere. I never saw them till DVD.

Giles

RE: The Devils

same here, after that bogus announcement from Warners that a 2008 release was immenient and then dismissed as 'false news' I bought the bootleg - the version you bought is the one with the 'rape of the christ' scene placed back into the structure of the movie -right? The 'Hell on Earth' doc is fascinating to see the least.

back on topic

Inside - christ, almighty!! - this film ranks up there with most blood flowing, spurting, splattered, etc. Aside from a couple of scenes where a couple of characters do some dumb cliche horror actions - this was surprisingly very entertaining, ultra-gory, nasty and nihilistic

next up, Frontier[s] this afternoon. Comments to follow.

NIMH Rat

Add Brotherhood of the Wolf and They Came Back to the list of movies proving the French should stay away from horror films.

Giles

just watched Frontier(s) and I have to say I wasn't all that impressed - it seemed like the writers/filmmakers had too many ideas and influences to make a completely coherent movie - a little 'Hostel', a little 'TCM', a little 'Salo' - okay we get it! The other major problem is that the movie plods - my finger was itchin' to scan some scenes in fast forward mode, at 1hr 48min, cutting some fifteen minutes might, (might) have improved it. Sans one of the major villians demise, the film is nowhere as gory as 'Inside' I like Samuel Le Bien alot, but here, minus his trademark lion-esque long blond hair ('Brotherhood of the Wolf') he's almost unrecognizeable. The characters are all so utterly one-dimensional and bland, you (I) couldn't care less about them... the movie was ultimately tedious.

Norm de Plume

I watched Inside last night and thought it was one of the better modern-day Horror flicks. Tense, ultra-violent, good performances, well-shot (if a little too visually dark).
But, what almost ruined it for me I also thought the gore edged into the outlandish towards the end.

LickTheABCs

I love French Horror.

Can't wait for Martyrs.

Dr Mabuse

That whole 'Frontiers' thing...

That was a wild thing for the forum, I think some of the people who split never came back.

auto

I thought Inside was fantastic. Balls to wall action and plenty of gore. Frontier(s) was so-so.

The Bus

Diary of the Dead was terrible.

Kurt D

This summation might coulda used a spoiler tag or something? Just saying. However, totally agree with your points about 'stupid actions' in horror movies. Otherwise, loved the movie. Felt to me a bit like extreme Japanese horror in its steamroller-of-insane-blood-letting.

Haute Tension - meh, both female leads annoyed the hell out of me.

It does seem like some of these directors are shooting for Hollywood, or maybe Hollywood production companies are just so bereft of inspiration that they'll vacuum up anything with an ounce of balls and then destroy it during replication?

Norm de Plume

Sorry. Fixed the spoiler. I thought the violence became nonsensical when the murderess
Ditto. I didn't think much of it either and also found the leads annoying. It's not French, but aside from Inside, one of the few other recent (post-'80s) Horror movies I've found genuinely impressive is Wolf Creek. Even much better, from ten years ago, the magnificent short Cutting Moments can stand up to the best Horror from the 1970s Golden Age.
That's right, but most of these new Horror movies are themselves just MTV-stylized regurgitations of authentically gritty, heavy-duty stuff from the late '60s and '70s, when the themes were truly quite fresh and original, so Hollywood remaking them is like derivativeness to the 3rd power.

DeltaSigChi4

I liked Haute Tension a lot. Should I take your hatred towards "Frontier(s)" as a recommendation?

E

Brian T

Noticed someone mentioned MARTYRS a few posts up. If you hate French horror cinema, or were tiring of it, this movie should seal the deal. If you simply adore the new French horror cinema, it should also seal the deal. I saw it at the Toronto Film Fest a few months back, where the response was cold enough (as at other screenings) to guarantee no theatrical release and the (legit) reviews were often on the money in their savagery. A very depressing, ugly, brutal and pointless experience, which means it will appeal to some if it ever finds a home on DVD. (and you can tell the filmmakers were trying to make a point, though they missed the mark by a mile)

Norm de Plume

You talking to me? I haven't seen Frontiers, don't plan to, and never mentioned it here or anywhere else.

Kurt D

Of course I did the same thing! D'oh! Corrected mine as well ...

Yes, Douglas Buck, fantastic stuff, and the final two parts of that trilogy, while less graphic, are even more emotionally brutal.

That's far too derivative! At least they are aping - or drawing from - decent stuff and not trying to remake Scream or something ...

Of course if you parse it enough, everything is derivative, and to the OP, don't give up on French horror, it ain't all bad. You can always go back to Les Diaboliques ... and what's up with Gaspar Noe these days?

Norm de Plume

Yeah, I've had the Family Portraits DVD for about three years and haven't watched it yet for some reason. I originally saw C.M. on a videotape with a bunch of lackluster other shorts. It's a devastating masterpiece.
Another great Horror movie of recent vintage is Session 9, but I digress.
I thought Scream was clever (and scary) in its simultaneous spoofery and exploitation of geriatric slasher motifs, but it was a one-off idea that shouldn't be repeated. So many of these modern throwbacks just strike me as lame, limp-wristed approximations of "extreme" Horror. Despite the unflinching violence and gore, they're slick and pandering at heart, not honestly down in the gutter like the stuff from the '70s they're aping. Maybe I just have a rosy view of those old movies.
Apparently finishing up something called Enter the Void.