Underrated Horror Movies

[hamster]

In general, a movie that extends a violent scene is meant to horrify you and put you in the place of the victim. That's what makes us feel the dread and sick to our stomachs--much like watching a real ISIS beheading. You'd have to be sick to get off on the violence. In that sense, I think the "torture porn" label is kind of a misnomer. It's meant to make you sick from empathizing with the characters, no matter how vile they are, not titilate you.

My problem with it is I never put myself in the place of the victim, my mind always puts other people I care about in the place of the victim - e.g. "what if that was happening to Grandma/sister/friend?" Maybe because characters that aren't developed well are blank slates that you can project on. It's tolerable if there is an interesting story but without one I think I'd rather watch two and a half hours of people going to the bathroom. I thought the first and second "Saw" movies were pretty good. They had a mystery and a pretty strong plot. But as the series progressed the stories got thinner and they just became intolerable to me.

[Adrift]

My problem with it is I never put myself in the place of the victim, my mind always puts other people I care about in the place of the victim - e.g. "what if that was happening to Grandma/sister/friend?" Maybe because characters that aren't developed well are blank slates that you can project on. It's tolerable if there is an interesting story but without one I think I'd rather watch two and a half hours of people going to the bathroom. I thought the first and second "Saw" movies were pretty good. They had a mystery and a pretty strong plot. But as the series progressed the stories got thinner and they just became intolerable to me.

I don't know that many people who enjoy the torture porn genre, but those that do (mostly acquaintances online) don't enjoy them because they empathize with the characters all that much, and they don't necessarily feel dread or sickness in their stomachs watching them either. They enjoy the genre because they really are titalated by the brutality. As rogue pointed out, it's an evolution of the slasher genre. Texas Chainsaw and Halloween were simply the gateway drugs for the more hardcore stuff that some horror fans just can't seem to get enough of. They're constantly looking for stuff that ups the ante. The intense brutality, and death of, more or less, two dimensional characters is funny or cool to them. There's also a cult aspect to the genre, and an interest to see how crazy each film can get. Older German films like Nekromantik, French New Wave films like Martyrs or Inside, and Asian horror in the vein of Takashi Miike's stuff all have strong cult followings. I also disagree that it has much to do with FX. Some of the most disturbing scenes in films like Salo or A Serbian Film don't focus on what's actually seen, but what's implied, and older films like Nekromantik don't especially have any kind of realistic gore, but they're still pretty disturbing. There's just an overall mentality that goes with fans of the genre that, much like intensely hardcore music, is all about pushing things to the extremes.

[hamster]

Salo is disturbing on levels way deeper than your average gore movie but it's trying to say something about evil so I guess that makes sense

[rogue06]

I don't know that many people who enjoy the torture porn genre, but those that do (mostly acquaintances online) don't enjoy them because they empathize with the characters all that much, and they don't necessarily feel dread or sickness in their stomachs watching them either. They enjoy the genre because they really are titalated by the brutality. As rogue pointed out, it's an evolution of the slasher genre. Texas Chainsaw and Halloween were simply the gateway drugs for the more hardcore stuff that some horror fans just can't seem to get enough of. They're constantly looking for stuff that ups the ante. The intense brutality, and death of, more or less, two dimensional characters is funny or cool to them. There's also a cult aspect to the genre, and an interest to see how crazy each film can get. Older German films like Nekromantik, French New Wave films like Martyrs or Inside, and Asian horror in the vein of Takashi Miike's stuff all have strong cult followings. I also disagree that it has much to do with FX. Some of the most disturbing scenes in films like Salo or A Serbian Film don't focus on what's actually seen, but what's implied, and older films like Nekromantik don't especially have any kind of realistic gore, but they're still pretty disturbing. There's just an overall mentality that goes with fans of the genre that, much like intensely hardcore music, is all about pushing things to the extremes.

I think that the special effects do have something to do with it at least for some people. I noticed that during some of the zombie movies that conversations afterwards often at some point turn to the "coolest" death -- meaning which was the most graphic.

[Adrift]

I think that the special effects do have something to do with it at least for some people. I noticed that during some of the zombie movies that conversations afterwards often at some point turn to the "coolest" death -- meaning which was the most graphic.

Well, most people into horror have their favorite FX talents. The makeup effects of people like Tom Savini, Rick Baker, and maybe to a lesser degree Stan Winston have probably gotten more people into horror than anything else. It's the reason I first got into horror. I wasn't attracted to the gore, I was just fascinated by how they did...'that' (whatever 'that' might have been). So, yeah, FX definitely do have a lot to do with the "cool" factor for fans of the genre. But I don't think Torture Porn, as a subgenre, has much to do with the quality of effects exactly. I mean, there are plenty of relatively modern films with very graphic, very realistic looking effects that I wouldn't put anywhere close to the Torture Porn subgenre, and as I already pointed out, there are some films that I would totally qualify as torture porn who's most disturbing scenes don't rely much on any major effects. Hard Candy, which makes it onto plenty of torture porn lists, isn't that gory or FX laden at all really.

[whag]

My problem with it is I never put myself in the place of the victim, my mind always puts other people I care about in the place of the victim - e.g. "what if that was happening to Grandma/sister/friend?" Maybe because characters that aren't developed well are blank slates that you can project on. It's tolerable if there is an interesting story but without one I think I'd rather watch two and a half hours of people going to the bathroom. I thought the first and second "Saw" movies were pretty good. They had a mystery and a pretty strong plot. But as the series progressed the stories got thinner and they just became intolerable to me.

I cross my legs during a genital torture scene. It's a natural instinct to put yourself in the place of the victim and not imagine loved ones undergoing the torture. I wouldn't know how that works.

I hate the first Saw film. It's overrated and full of logical flaws. I didn't bother seeing any after that.

[Zymologist]

I watched Dead Snow and thought it was pretty good. Really funny too. Haven't watched the second one yet.

[Adrift]

I watched Dead Snow and thought it was pretty good. Really funny too. Haven't watched the second one yet.

I like the concept, but I didn't really care for it. It's pretty popular though, so I think I'm just the odd man out on that. I haven't seen the second one either. I've heard it's more of the same, so it probably won't be for me. I didn't care for Hatchet or the first sequel for the same reason.

[rogue06]

Suspiria

An Italian horror movie from the 70s in which an American dancer moves to Germany to join a prestigious ballet academy. Her arrival coincides with a double murder which is just the start of a series of killings as the star comes to realize something truly evil is happening at her school. Eerie lighting and colors along with a progressive rock soundtrack also add to the mood.

SuspiriaItaly.jpg

[rogue06]

Trick 'r Treat

From 2007 this anthology of several interwoven stories set on Halloween night in the same town provides several genuine chills and some great twists. Reminiscent of the Tales from the Crypt approach but IMHO better.

Truco_o_trato_Terror_en_Halloween-728790832-large.jpg

[Adrift]

Suspiria

An Italian horror movie from the 70s in which an American dancer moves to Germany to join a prestigious ballet academy. Her arrival coincides with a double murder which is just the start of a series of killings as the star comes to realize something truly evil is happening at her school. Eerie lighting and colors along with a progressive rock soundtrack also add to the mood.

Yep. A visually great film, though it suffers from that weird surrealist thing that Italian suspense and horror films were known for in the 70s and 80s where none of the characters make rational decisions, and the storyline is on rails. That can be a turn off to a lot of people. We actually discussed this movie (and other Argento films) a bit earlier in the thread.

[Adrift]

Trick 'r Treat

From 2007 this anthology of several interwoven stories set on Halloween night in the same town provides several genuine chills and some great twists. Reminiscent of the Tales from the Crypt approach but IMHO better.

Didn't care for it, and don't really understand the hype, other than the fact that I believe it was supposed to originally see theatrical release, and then was shuffled off into video stores instead. It's got great production quality, and some of the ideas in it are pretty good, but overall I wasn't impressed. I believe a sequel is around the corner.

[rogue06]

Didn't care for it, and don't really understand the hype, other than the fact that I believe it was supposed to originally see theatrical release, and then was shuffled off into video stores instead. It's got great production quality, and some of the ideas in it are pretty good, but overall I wasn't impressed. I believe a sequel is around the corner.

Never heard of until I saw it yesterday so there was no hype for it to live up to with me. I enjoyed it.

[Zymologist]

Trick 'r Treat

From 2007 this anthology of several interwoven stories set on Halloween night in the same town provides several genuine chills and some great twists. Reminiscent of the Tales from the Crypt approach but IMHO better.

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I liked this one.

[Teallaura]

Bing's quiz this morning was on horror movies - is it weird that I knew two of the three despite the fact I've never seen either of those movies and don't generally watch any horror movies?