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Post by cstower on Jul 17, 2015 6:19:02 GMT -6
(Putting on my old-man hat): If you were a horror fan in the 1980s; it sure didn't SEEM like A Golden Age for horror movies. The US scene was dominated by derivative and formulaic slasher films, and the European scene was dominated by derivative and formulaic zombie films. The MPAA and the BFCC were hacking away at movies the way the killers IN those movies were hacking away at their victims. And the arrival of PG-13, which some thought might lead to a resurgence in "mainstream horror", was just part of the continued marginalization of the genre. Boy, what a difference a bit of perspective makes. Now we can look back at the 1980s, and all that stuff is washed away, and we can see a LOT of gems that still shine pretty bright.
Any favorites?
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Post by Username Too Long on Jul 17, 2015 7:00:04 GMT -6
I'll look forward to suggestions as I'm currently trying to educate myself in the genre, I'm slightly less old (born in 1983), a movie I remember from my teenage exploration of horror was Frankenhooker, I don't remember it being actually as good as it should have been, but it was still pretty fun. And from my current journeys, I actually saw Society last night (on film in the cinema even), it was a lot of fun, more focused on interesting representation and its theme than shocks and scares.
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vomas
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Post by vomas on Jul 17, 2015 7:04:49 GMT -6
I've only started exploring horror properly in the last couple of years, so most of my thoughts are based on a single viewing, but I think my favourite 80s horror film might be Return of the Living Dead. It's such a riotous mix of comedy, gore and action - definitely high on my list of stuff to revisit soon.
I've been meaning to get around to Frankenhooker for ages - I really enjoyed Basket Case but that's my only Henenlotter experience so far, apart from finding him to be a very engaging presence in one of the VHS collector documentaries that came out recently.
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Post by cstower on Jul 17, 2015 7:26:08 GMT -6
One of the best examples of that "forest for the trees" thing I was talking about is how there are several films from the 1980s that we now regard as top-notch that were, at the time, dismissed as "inferior follow-ups" to previous films ( like INFERNO, DAY OF THE DEAD, or FROM BEYOND, all of which came out in the shadow of acknowledged classics by their directors)
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vomas
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Post by vomas on Jul 17, 2015 7:31:56 GMT -6
I'd say that From Beyond is pretty much on a level with Re-Animator, and Day of the Dead is a fair way behind Dawn but definitely a decent film in its own right. I haven't seen Inferno yet, but Suspiria is the only Argento film that I've seen that I didn't really care for, so it has a low bar to clear!
(I'll give it another go at some point)
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Post by cstower on Jul 17, 2015 7:45:28 GMT -6
I've never heard anyone say that they like Argento but DIDN'T like SUSPIRIA before... but I suppose if one were mostly interested in his giallos, the sheer phantasmic vibe of SUSPIRIA might make it stick out like a sore thumb. I mean, that sucker is LOUD and BRIGHT.
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vomas
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Post by vomas on Jul 17, 2015 7:50:38 GMT -6
Yeah, I'm not sure what happened. It was the first of his films that I saw - I suspect I'll enjoy it more when I go back to it with a better handle on his style.
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Post by cstower on Jul 17, 2015 8:12:23 GMT -6
He's basically solid up until OPERA, and then he goes into a rapid and noticible decline.
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Post by cstower on Jul 17, 2015 18:29:53 GMT -6
Personal favs: TOP 10 American Horror Movies of the 1980s (in alphabetical order) ALIENS EVIL DEAD (1+2 - so sue me, I'm cheating) THE FLY HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER THE HITCHER NEAR DARK NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET RE-ANIMATOR THE THING VIDEODROME
What's yours?
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Post by Tyrannorabbit on Jul 17, 2015 18:55:23 GMT -6
I'm gonna have to go with (and maybe bending the definition a wee bit)
The Thing Return Of The Living Dead Videodrome Aliens Fright Night
A Nightmare On Elm Street The Howling The Burning Prince Of Darkness From Beyond
Unless I'm missing something I'm not thinking of. (not much of a foreign horror guy; horror's generally pretty culturally specific and I'm just-fine-thank-you with preferring that from my own western place.) This is the kind of list I used to get into all the time like, twenty years ago. I'm separating the top half from the bottom, because the bottom five have risen in my estimation in the last twenty years (I could guess at what other movies would've filled out the list then), whereas the top five have stayed pretty consistently up there.
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Post by cstower on Jul 17, 2015 19:10:16 GMT -6
Well, I have to admit that my Foreign Horror list would basically be Italian, with a couple of British films that would have fit nicely on the American list if I'd wanted to put them there. But, very quickly: TOP 10 FOREIGN Horror films of the 1980s: The Beyond The Church The Company Of Wolves Demons Hellraiser/Hellbound: Hellraiser II Inferno Lair Of The White Worm Opera Phenomena SURPRISE NON-CONTINENTAL ENTRY: A Chinese Ghost Story
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Post by cstower on Jul 17, 2015 19:18:52 GMT -6
And yeah, you're definitely on to something about these lists shifting over time.The years can be very kind to a film like THE FOG- or very harsh on a film like THE OMEN.
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vomas
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Post by vomas on Jul 18, 2015 1:03:48 GMT -6
US:
Return of the Living Dead Near Dark Re-Animator An American Werewolf in London Sleepaway Camp A Nightmare on Elm Street Night of the Comet Basket Case The Thing The Fly
(the last two need a rewatch, it's been many years)
Non-US:
Lair of the White Worm Phenomena Deep Red Demons Demons 2 Razorback City of the Living Dead The Beyond Pieces XTRO
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Post by cstower on Jul 18, 2015 6:03:31 GMT -6
DEEP RED is mid-1970s. You've got a freebie coming!
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vomas
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Post by vomas on Jul 18, 2015 6:49:22 GMT -6
Oh yeah, of course it is! I will swap it out for Paperhouse.
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