Film The Redcafe Movie review thread

Small sampling of horror directors who apparently labor in the shadow of Peele: Kubrick (1), Scott (1), DePalma, Cronenberg, Marshall, Soavi, Fulci, Bava, Fincher (1), Argento, Henenlotter, Fuller, Ching Siu-tung, Cohen, Gordon, Lewis, Carpenter, Zulawski, Tsukamoto, Del Toro, Russell, Landis (1), Friedkin (1), Coscarelli, Demme (1), Romero, Goddard (1), Raimi, Verbinski (1), Boyle (1), Mitchell, Eggers, Alfredson, Kent, Barker, Craven, Nakata, Yeon Sang-ho, Miike, Hooper, Dante, Hitchcock, Tourneur, Aster, Franju, Sluizer, Balaguero & Plaza, Aja.

how would you know? And is it the fault of the director he got hyped that much? I see that mainly as a sign that the genre lacks novelty on a grander scale so that there is a large void to tap into.
 
how would you know? And is it the fault of the director he got hyped that much? I see that mainly as a sign that the genre lacks novelty on a grander scale so that there is a large void to tap into.
Their names were skipped over in the rush to anoint Peele.

The genre is wildly dense with novelty, I’d counter. It’s not Peeles fault obviously his fans go nuts over him, I’m aiming at his fans more so.
 
Haha thanks for the heads up. Apparently all the movies I watch these days that are supposed to be great are basically shit. They really did a reshoot for the ending? That's crazy.
Yes. Originally they got away with it and the main character ends up in prison because no one believes him. All the stuff with the cop buddy riding to the rescue and the fight with the girl - including the she’s dead wait no she isn’t - is all reshoots.
 
Lost River

The only film directed by Ryan Gosling. It makes pretty clear it’s influences which included the likes of Malick, Lynch, Refn and Dario Argento. There’s some a post 2008 housing crash themes running throughout the film. Along with the violence that comes with poverty. Overall the story is maybe vague.

The performances are all solid. The uses of bright and bold colours was nice and there’s some good practical gore effects. Also the soundtrack is a brilliant.

Overall it’s a very solid and fun watch. Gosling should have directed more.

7/10
 
Their names were skipped over in the rush to anoint Peele.

The genre is wildly dense with novelty, I’d counter. It’s not Peeles fault obviously his fans go nuts over him, I’m aiming at his fans more so.
I genuinely think there's very, very few people who think that Peele is the best horror director or whatever. Especially as a lot of his fans would likely be fans of the genre to begin with and would know enough about it.
 
This. Not only won an Oscar for a very pandering script, but his subsequent films have had his fans saying he's the greatest horror director of all time, which really, really, really gets on my nerves. I wouldn't even call him a horror director. It's an insult to the entire genre that he gets praised as he does.

Small sampling of horror directors who apparently labor in the shadow of Peele: Kubrick (1), Scott (1), DePalma, Cronenberg, Marshall, Soavi, Fulci, Bava, Fincher (1), Argento, Henenlotter, Fuller, Ching Siu-tung, Cohen, Gordon, Lewis, Carpenter, Zulawski, Tsukamoto, Del Toro, Russell, Landis (1), Friedkin (1), Coscarelli, Demme (1), Romero, Goddard (1), Raimi, Verbinski (1), Boyle (1), Mitchell, Eggers, Alfredson, Kent, Barker, Craven, Nakata, Yeon Sang-ho, Miike, Hooper, Dante, Hitchcock, Tourneur, Aster, Franju, Sluizer, Balaguero & Plaza, Aja.

I wouldn't call Kubrick, Scott, DePalma, Hitchcock, Ching, Friedkin, and Fincher "horror directors" either, just to name a few from that list. None of those directors, and others on your list, have their best films or even very many of their films as horror movies, whereas you could say Peele works exclusively in horror. Not saying I agree with Peele's fans but if I was just making a list of "horror directors" none of those names would really fall into that category just because they directed a movie that could be cross-genre'd with horror. If I was to just name "horror directors" off the top of my head, I'd probably just name Raimi, Romero, Nakata and Craven from your list (would also have to Google a few of those names as they don't ring a bell immediately). Barker too if you mean Clive Barker and if he directed Hellraiser, don't remember if he was the director there.
 
I wouldn't call Kubrick, Scott, DePalma, Hitchcock, Ching, Friedkin, and Fincher "horror directors" either, just to name a few from that list. None of those directors, and others on your list, have their best films or even very many of their films as horror movies, whereas you could say Peele works exclusively in horror. Not saying I agree with Peele's fans but if I was just making a list of "horror directors" none of those names would really fall into that category just because they directed a movie that could be cross-genre'd with horror. If I was to just name "horror directors" off the top of my head, I'd probably just name Raimi, Romero, Nakata and Craven from your list (would also have to Google a few of those names as they don't ring a bell immediately). Barker too if you mean Clive Barker and if he directed Hellraiser, don't remember if he was the director there.
I meant to indicate directors who only did one horror film with the parenthetical 1 after their names. I would not call any of those horror directors either, but you have a Kubrick (The Shining) or a Scott (Alien) who directed one of the greatest films of all time and also fall within horror, I don’t know how you’d leave them out. Fincher isn’t horror but Seven is; Bitchcock isn’t but Birds, Psycho are; Friedkin isn’t but The Exorcist is. How many legendary horror films does one need to direct to be included - I don’t know.

I had seen that Twitter thread before but not Peele’s response. The comments were not mocking the idea, from what I remember. Even if one allows that Get Out is horror - albeit psychological horror - Us is dreadful and Nope is comedy. Admittedly I did not see Nope.
 
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Yes. Originally they got away with it and the main character ends up in prison because no one believes him. All the stuff with the cop buddy riding to the rescue and the fight with the girl - including the she’s dead wait no she isn’t - is all reshoots.

That sounds like a much better ending.
 
That sounds like a much better ending.

I think it would have made the movie impactful in it's message as it's a more realistic ending, but test audiences found it too depressing apparently

Interesting that Peele says that this ending is what attracted Kaluuya to the script

 
Peele is like M Night Shyamalan. They both make high concept films with some nice looking scenes but their stories fall apart well before the end of the movie. They rely on the development of plot that is nonsensical and therefore surprising, the proverbial "twist" ending(s). The entire last third of Get Out was a reshoot, everything involving his cop buddy, and because of it the entire movie is a shart.

I'm still not entirely sure why you think it's dumb but rewrites are not exactly uncommon are they?

Even Alien had a complete rewrite, which in my opinion is the greatest horror movie of all time.
 
I'm still not entirely sure why you think it's dumb but rewrites are not exactly uncommon are they?

Even Alien had a complete rewrite, which in my opinion is the greatest horror movie of all time.
Rewrites, pickup shoots, additional photography are all very common. It’s de rigueur for Marvel, and they treat it as normal development for a film. The problem in this case is that it completely changed the ending to something sensational to create an upbeat action ending that was ridiculous and a wild tonal shift.

I think with Alien they bought Dan O’Bannon’s pitch, basically, and rewrote it before they were anywhere near shooting. In Get Out, the movie was done and testing poorly. I too love Alien.
 
Rewrites, pickup shoots, additional photography are all very common. It’s de rigueur for Marvel, and they treat it as normal development for a film. The problem in this case is that it completely changed the ending to something sensational to create an upbeat action ending that was ridiculous and a wild tonal shift.

I think with Alien they bought Dan O’Bannon’s pitch, basically, and rewrote it before they were anywhere near shooting. In Get Out, the movie was done and testing poorly.

Yeah, I prefer the original ending. I get why they changed it though, after testing, they gotta make money after all.
 
Alien ... which in my opinion is the greatest horror movie of all time.

Rather off topic but I never think of Alien as a horror film - straight Sci fi to me as there is nothing supernatural about the Alien.

Which puts Zombie films in a middle ground I guess.
 
Rather off topic but I never think of Alien as a horror film - straight Sci fi to me as there is nothing supernatural about the Alien.

Which puts Zombie films in a middle ground I guess.

I don't think you need supernatural to be horror, do you?

You just need to scare this shit out of people, which Alien most definitely did for me. When I was a kid it was the film that scared me the most by far.

Alien 2 I consider closer to thriller, I guess, But they're both sci-fi with other elements thrown in.
 
Regarding Peele being the GOAT, I think it's just that it's relatively unusual (very much so) to have your first three films to be as acclaimed as his has been so it's natural he'd get a lot of stans. I would assume that most who consider him the greatest of all time probably aren't necessarily that familiar with all above mentioned directors. I'm not particularly into horror so I certainly don't know about a lot of them.
 
This. Not only won an Oscar for a very pandering script, but his subsequent films have had his fans saying he's the greatest horror director of all time, which really, really, really gets on my nerves. I wouldn't even call him a horror director. It's an insult to the entire genre that he gets praised as he does.

Small sampling of horror directors who apparently labor in the shadow of Peele: Kubrick (1), Scott (1), DePalma, Cronenberg, Marshall, Soavi, Fulci, Bava, Fincher (1), Argento, Henenlotter, Fuller, Ching Siu-tung, Cohen, Gordon, Lewis, Carpenter, Zulawski, Tsukamoto, Del Toro, Russell, Landis (1), Friedkin (1), Coscarelli, Demme (1), Romero, Goddard (1), Raimi, Verbinski (1), Boyle (1), Mitchell, Eggers, Alfredson, Kent, Barker, Craven, Nakata, Yeon Sang-ho, Miike, Hooper, Dante, Hitchcock, Tourneur, Aster, Franju, Sluizer, Balaguero & Plaza, Aja.

So you’re so wound up by someone getting praise they don’t deserve you’ve decided that their middle of the road, tweaked for commmercial success, artistic output is so shite you’d consider finishing a friendship with someone who thinks they’re great.

Are you SURE this isn’t about Taylor Swift?
 
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Tarrou said:
I don't think you need supernatural to be horror, do you?

You just need to scare this shit out of people, which Alien most definitely did for me. When I was a kid it was the film that scared me the most by far.

Alien 2 I consider closer to thriller, I guess, But they're both sci-fi with other elements thrown in.

I guess. Just supernatural horror bores me to tears. When young I didn't mind fun supernatural stuff like Poltegiest. I didn't find Alien scary but it had great jump scares. Then again I didn't find Omen or The Exorcist scary even at the time.
 
Jordan Peele is not a horror GOAT in my eyes (hi John Carpenter!) and I wouldn't even have him as GOAT in mainstream horror (that probably goes to James Wan followed by Mike Flanagan) but I would have him in a list of "most exciting" horror directors alongside Ari Aster & Robert Eggers.
 
I guess. Just supernatural horror bores me to tears. When young I didn't mind fun supernatural stuff like Poltegiest. I didn't find Alien scary but it had great jump scares. Then again I didn't find Omen or The Exorcist scary even at the time.
I don't really expect to get scared by a film. I posted about this before re: The Exorcist:

Sure but I think it is unsettling rather than terrifying and I certainly would describe much of it as discomforting. I find the opening scene, Chris MacNeil and Father Damien's psychological torment as well as several Regan scenes both unsettling and discomforting at the least but the general feel of the movie is, I think, both eerie and bordering on profoundly affecting at points.

I don't really expect horror to give me frights. Very, very few films ever have although many have unsettled me but that's not restricted to horror. In horror films I'm therefore not really expecting any sort of terror in the visceral sense and jump scares do nothing for me. I do expect them to make me think about something or play with some of my more primal feelings: the feeling of being hunted in Alien and the cold, unfeeling perfection of evolution, the paranoia, doubt and pseudo-plausibility of the Thing or the unease of the veneer of civilised society being torn away by primal forces in the Exorcist as a few examples.
 
I had seen that Twitter thread before but not Peele’s response. The comments were not mocking the idea, from what I remember. Even if one allows that Get Out is horror - albeit psychological horror - Us is dreadful and Nope is comedy. Admittedly I did not see Nope.
Nope is great: much better than Get Out in every way, including that it doesn't pander to anyone and isn't at all on the nose. (I spent quite a while thinking about layers and ideas - something that you can't witn Get Out). It looks much better too. It's not a comedy btw, but I'm not sure how to categorize it. Ultimately, it's a drama I'd say.
... you’d consider finishing a friendship with someone who thinks they’re great ...
I think you're talking about Wibble's Attack Plan now.
 
I enjoyed Peele's movies. Even Us which i'd say is kind of weak and doesn't really work. They felt distinct and like they had a fresh perspective. I dont think i'd go beyond enjoy and think there's been far better horror directors even recently.
I liked Nope the most. Get out was a fun premise but thought the 2nd half was quite weak.
 
I enjoyed Peele's movies. Even Us which i'd say is kind of weak and doesn't really work. They felt distinct and like they had a fresh perspective. I dont think i'd go beyond enjoy and think there's been far better horror directors even recently.
I liked Nope the most. Get out was a fun premise but thought the 2nd half was quite weak.

Agree with all of this. I do need to give Nope a rewatch with the missus actually.
 
So you’re so wound up by someone getting praise they don’t deserve you’ve decided that their middle of the road, tweaked for commmercial success, artistic output is so shite you’d consider finishing a friendship with someone who thinks they’re great.

Are you SURE this isn’t about Taylor Swift?
All roads lead to Taylor Swift, it's true.
 
Jordan Peele is not a horror GOAT in my eyes (hi John Carpenter!) and I wouldn't even have him as GOAT in mainstream horror (that probably goes to James Wan followed by Mike Flanagan) but I would have him in a list of "most exciting" horror directors alongside Ari Aster & Robert Eggers.
I'd have John Carpenter as the GOAT as well.

I am surprised to learn that The Thing was panned on release and was considered a flop. https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3506490/came-80sthe-thing-pinnacle-creature-creation/
 
Yeah the dude was great and massively mistreated by Hollywood. You can tell how hurt he is in many interviews.
Halloween, The Fog, Escape From NY, The Thing, Christine, Big Trouble In Little China, Prince of Darkness, They Live, In the Mouth of Madness... quite the resume. The only one I was actively disappointed with was Ghosts Of Mars, which is still an awesome concept, but it looked like it was made for pocket lint.

You win some, you lose some:

Carpenter has been known to be highly critical of the film industry. In a 1978 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Carpenter openly spoke negatively of films by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Robert Altman, calling Altman "not a good filmmaker" and "slightly masturbatory", and Spielberg a "pretentious" filmmaker and a "studio shill more concerned with making money than making good movies."[86][87] Carpenter has stated that horror films in recent years have mostly bored him, but has singled out praise towards It Follows, Let The Right One In, and the work of Jordan Peele.[88][89]

Runner up, I'd put David Cronenberg. Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, plus Existenz, Crash, A History Of Violence, Eastern Promises.
 
nah, that’d be romero. I‘d almost put that guy next to Carpenter but Carpenter also has the music / score perfected on top.
 
nah, that’d be romero. I‘d almost put that guy next to Carpenter but Carpenter also has the music / score perfected on top.
Romero made some classics, no question, but too many zombie movies. Night, Dawn, Day, Land, Diary, & Survival of the Dead = a bit played out, no? I initially wrote one of those as "Dairy", and I would like to see "Dairy of the Dead".

Night of the Living Dead,
Dawn of the Dead,
Martin.

Those three are the only ones I rate.
 
Romero made some classics, no question, but too many zombie movies. Night, Dawn, Day, Land, Diary, & Survival of the Dead = a bit played out, no? I initially wrote one of those as "Dairy", and I would like to see "Dairy of the Dead".

Night of the Living Dead,
Dawn of the Dead,
Martin.

Those three are the only ones I rate.
Dairy of the Dead :lol: Would watch that too - dairy farms are no joke mind you.

You could do the same with the Halloween franchise as a whole though.

I rate Day highly as well. But agreed; Night, Dawn, Day and Martin for me. Numbers don‘t really interest me - his zombi films shaped the whole genre til this very day and also go way beyond being just very well done shock-horror zombi flics (with amazing gore thanks to Savini), with every three of the og trilogy tapping into different territory too.

I‘m not that big on Halloween tbh. For me Carpenter's seminal horror flics are Halloween, The Thing and Assault on Precinct 13 (quite samey to Night of.. which came much earlier and is also the better film by quite some margin). The Fog was lackluster imho, Prince of Darkness didn't really deliver as well imho and Vampires and Ghosts of.. were pretty much complete failures in my book.. Of course Carpenter is top notch in general, his soundtracks /scores are utterly brilliant, and we all love the Escape from.. movies - but those aren't horror movies and that's what we talked about.

Also not sure how you can write Fulci (1)? That guy made multiple amazing horror flics. I'd also contest Friedkin (1) since I rate Bug very high - it's actually one that I do have some difficulties watching.

Btw. since that's where we came from - vampire movies: you ever saw Near Dark? I remember enjoying it very much. And while I had to google for the title I stumbled upon a vampire movie done by Méliès..House of the Devil. How cool is that? Need to check it out. As some more Cronenberg I guess.

<3
 
Just finished The A-Team movie, hadn't watched it since it was in the theaters.

Massive plot holes abound, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable flick.
 
Btw. since that's where we came from - vampire movies: you ever saw Near Dark? I remember enjoying it very much. And while I had to google for the title I stumbled upon a vampire movie done by Méliès..House of the Devil. How cool is that? Need to check it out. As some more Cronenberg I guess.

<3
I love Near Dark. It's the best movie Kathryn Bigelow has made by some distance. Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenny Wright. What a cast. Bill Paxton himself made one of the best horror films I've seen, Frailty. I met him once. We didn't have an earth shattering bonding moment or anything, but to me he was Chet, Severen, and Hudson.

Also, hadn't meant to put a 1 after Fulci's name, that was a mistake.