Absolute Horror Film Forum

Matt,

Whatever happens - whatever new technology breaks through, there will always be horror - it's hardwired into our psyche. It's just that the directors need to be made aware of their failings - oops I said the "F" word. Nobody likes to think they're wrong, and I think there are too many "Yes" men with their lips surgically sewn onto the Directors ass, that he doesn't get the "Real Picture" - and hey CG is the way backward - oops I mean forward.

Now I've watched Christopher Lee burn in the daylight as Dracula in the good old Hammer House film - I think I was around 12 or 13 at the time when his skin melted, then his skeleton turned to ash - I WAS SCARED. Even now when I rewatch the film and see the "Now" cheapness of the Special F/X, it still gives me a chill, 'cause it's done with actual materials - was it an actual skeleton or a mock up - looked real to me (and THAT is what counts).

There are two sickening Special F/X that I must admit I love - one is from the original classic Day of the Dead - when the zombies tear apart the soldier near the end of the film. Romero used actual intestines, liver, heart and such; then made the poor actors eat the raw meat (this was one shoot I wouldn't want to be an extra on).

The other was from Bloody Murder (I think) - it's one of those Friday 13th rip offs - A bloke gets attacked and tries to crawl away. You get a nice shot of his legs pushing his body along the wet grass as the man in the hoodie and mask chops his legs off. It's a cool scene, in a crap film, that makes you go "how they do that?" while thinking "Ow, Ow, Hell that's gotta smart."

I have to say that I'm glad I was around in the eighties to watch all the straight to video gorefests that were released - Evil Dead 1 and 2, Slasher, and a plethora of unremembered films - on average we'd hire four a weekend - me and a friend did The Stand in one sitting - and having loved it so much watched it again the following day - and then a week later. For some reason (and I think it was the time) film seamed to have more power. Now I find it hard to find a movie that I could watch again and again, straight away. I have newer films I know I'll watch again, but it maybe in a year or two. (or is it because I'm getting older - I don't think so)

So when did CG start to ruin our horror films - Easy. I was there. 1995 "SPECIES". Now this was a pretty good movie, with a near all star cast - Ghandi was in it for godsakes - Ben Kingsley, Michael Madson, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge (who's acting wasn't too bad - and could be overlooked cause she got naked - I do like pretty women ). Everything goes fine until the last section of the film and a badly generated alien starts running about on the screen - this killed it for me, I started laughing and berating the film - much to the dislikes of my fellow viewers who though the Alien was cool. But for me, the turning point was this film.

Granted there are places for CG like in the hands of PIXAR - I was there when the little desk lamp began his first jumps (it brought tears to my eyes - pass a hanky please) and I still love their films today. And there's a great CG sequence which never made it into Stallone's film "Driven" where a race car taking fuel is engulfed in flames - now I remember when this actually happened at Formula 1, and these CG artists got it spot on - it took them months to get the flames right (then it ended up in the recycle bin).

But it should be kept out of horror, unless it is integral to the plot - as with Wes Craven's Pulse.

Now what's wrong with Pumpkinhead - that was another of our multi-viewed video's of it's time - Lance Hendrickson for President (he's such an underrated actor)

Come join me - We all float down here.
PENNYWISE - Stephen (I'm real not NVidea)