31 Nights of Halloween

[talonmalon333]

I find it interesting how this movie wasn't well loved when it was new. People were so shocked by it. Though though was a different time.

Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates is one of the all time greats, and he always will be.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm going to risk getting torn to shreds here, but while it's nothing compared to the original Hitchcock masterpiece, Psycho II actually isn't half bad as a film. Anthony Perkins reprises his role and does a pretty good job, and to be fair, this IS based off of the sequel book to the original novel, so it's not like they just made it to bastardize the first film, since it actually had source material to go off of. It's worth a look, at the very least.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm surprised the remake wasn't nominated just to mess with people.

Well, I would give it an award for the most shameless rip-off of literally every single shot in an entire film, adding absolutely nothing original of its own to the mix and profiting off of another more talented film crew's hard work, but now I can't, since the impossible happened and The Omen remake somehow did the exact same thing (literally). We can't have 2 champions of absolute theft, can we?

[talonmalon333]

At least The Omen remake had Mia Farrow playing the nanny who was maybe even better than the original actress. Well, maybe not "better" but I would certainly call her an equal.  She was effective in her own way, not as crazy but more eerily calm, and she has more of a gradual descent. And of course, it's hard to not love the irony of her playing the evil nanny of the devil, when remembering one of her most known roles from the past in Rosemary's Baby. Then there's also that she, in my opinion...

Spoiler

gave Damien's mother a more realistic and intense death than the original.

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With the Psycho remake, it's just nothing but... what? Did anything come from it?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

At least The Omen remake had Mia Farrow playing the nanny who was maybe even better than the original actress. Well, maybe not "better" but I would certainly call her an equal.  She was effective in her own way, not as crazy but more eerily calm, and she has more of a gradual descent. And of course, it's hard to not love the irony of her playing the evil nanny of the devil, when remembering one of her most known roles from the past in Rosemary's Baby. Then there's also that she, in my opinion...

Uh, Hell no. I'm not sure what you're problem with the original movie was, but the performance of the nanny was perfect. It wasn't over the top at all as most horror villain roles from that era tended to be. It was played up perfectly, where she first came off as a very straightforward and ordinary nanny, and the reveal of her evil intentions as Damien's guardian came as a genuine shock to anyone who didn't already have the movie spoiled for them from the get-go. She never overacted or underacted, and you could believe that she could fool these people into believing that she was a regular nanny, as that's what she acted as except for when nobody but Damien was around. When she did finally go full-on evil, she was perfect at that, too.

Mia Farrow is a great actress, there's no doubt about that, but even great actors and actresses can have their performances botched by bad direction. In the case of The Omen remake, they had Mia Farrow play it up more like she was obviously hiding something, which IMO made her feel more suspicious from the get-go, and much less interesting. It wasn't a terrible performance like most of the other roles, but it certainly as hell did not surpass the original, nor was it even on par with it. Just because the actress is great doesn't mean that the performance is.

Spoiler

gave Damien's mother a more realistic and intense death than the original.

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Spoiler

No. No it wasn't more intense at all. It was just her choking her to death. It lacked any sense of horror because quite frankly the director dwelled on that scene for far too long. The more you show something, the less scary and more human and understandable it becomes. It's horror 101, and that scene just dragged. I honestly felt like Mia Farrow was just phoning in her performance for a paycheck, as well. She just didn't come off as scary or threatening in that scene. I get that she was supposed to come off as cold and disturbing in how calmly she was killing Damien's mother, but instead she just had a very bored look to her (which is probably what the actress was feeling having to be in a shitty remake).

In the original, you could say that her pushing the mother out of the window was more abrupt, but I found that more effective since it was more instant and in effect felt colder. She ended her life like it was nothing, and honestly it wasn't played up to be over-the-top at all. She pushes her out the window and the mother screams to her death. And once again, her tone is perfect. She doesn't overact or underplay the scene. She just does it and you get a sense of the evil behind her eyes when she does it, which the remake completely lacked.

Sorry, but you can't justify a remake's performance being better than the original just because it's from a normally good actress, and it certainly isn't even its equal. Mia Farrow is great, but this was certainly not one of her better roles.

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[talonmalon333]

Uh, Hell no. I'm not sure what you're problem with the original movie was,

I never said she overacted or underacted. I said they were different. For me to praise Mia Farrow's performance, and then call them equals, you can see from my post that I was a fan of the original nanny, and that I don't have any problem with her.

Spoiler

No. No it wasn't more intense at all. It was just her choking her to death. It lacked any sense of horror because quite frankly the director dwelled on that scene for far too long. The more you show something, the less scary and more human and understandable it becomes. It's horror 101, and that scene just dragged. I honestly felt like Mia Farrow was just phoning in her performance for a paycheck, as well. She just didn't come off as scary or threatening in that scene. I get that she was supposed to come off as cold and disturbing in how calmly she was killing Damien's mother, but instead she just had a very bored look to her (which is probably what the actress was feeling having to be in a shitty remake).

In the original, you could say that her pushing the mother out of the window was more abrupt, but I found that more effective since it was more instant and in effect felt colder. She ended her life like it was nothing, and honestly it wasn't played up to be over-the-top at all. She pushes her out the window and the mother screams to her death. And once again, her tone is perfect. She doesn't overact or underplay the scene. She just does it and you get a sense of the evil behind her eyes when she does it, which the remake completely lacked.

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Spoiler

I actually just rewatched the scene recently and it was shorter than I remember, so I disagree that it was dragged out. But my thing about the mother's death in the original is that it's a bit more obvious. I mean, the scene itself was executed well, but that's a bit harder to escape from, to go into someone's room and throw them out the window in a hospital.

However, what I do hate in the remake's version of the mother's death is those cutaways to Damien staring at the guard and having the guy start to freak out. Damien in general is one of my biggest problems in the remake.

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Just because the actress is great doesn't mean that the performance is.

Sorry, but you can't justify a remake's performance being better than the original just because it's from a normally good actress, and it certainly isn't even its equal. Mia Farrow is great, but this was certainly not one of her better roles.

Where are you getting that I was saying that? I explained why I liked Mia Farrow. You don't have to agree, but I honestly don't think Mia Farrow was phoning in. I wasn't even really challenging the two Omen movies much. I was mostly taking a jab at the Psycho remake. The Psycho and Omen remakes were put in the same category, and I was wanted to express that, unlike the Psycho remake, the Omen remake has one thing that I like.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I never said she overacted or underacted. I said they were different. For me to praise Mia Farrow's performance, and then call them equals, you can see from my post that I was a fan of the original nanny.

Sorry, I may have overreacted. I'm just really passionate about the original, so I got defensive for that performance.

Spoiler

I actually just rewatched the scene recently and it was shorter than I remember, so I disagree that it was dragged out. But my thing about the mother's death in the original is that it's a bit more obvious. I mean, the scene itself was executed well, but that's a bit harder to escape from, to go into someone's room and throw them out the window in a hospital.

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Spoiler

Maybe it's subjective, but my point is that it felt dragged out to me since anything involving suffocating another human being is a relatively slow death compared to more abrupt methods of killing. I just find such deaths to usually be much less effective except for certain circumstances where it's pulled off extremely well. I just didn't find this scene to be one of those cases, personally.

As for the original, nobody actually saw her push the mother out of the window. And it's a big hospital in the middle of the AM hours where the staffing is pretty low. It wouldn't be that hard for her to slip out of the room (which was established to be several stories up) before anyone actually got there. And as for getting out of the hospital, it's not like anybody would know who she was accept for anyone who knew Damien and his family and knew that she was Damien's nanny, and no such person was even close to the hospital at the time.

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Spoiler

However, what I do hate in the remake's version of the mother's death is those cutaways to Damien staring at the guard and having the guy start to freak out. Damien in general is one of my biggest problems in the remake.

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Yeah, they really fucked him up. I like how in the original, for all intents and purposes, outside of his evil scenes, he was mostly played up like a normal kid who acted how you would normally expect a kid to. The remake just made him so obviously "creepy and evil" in demeanor, which totally killed the whole character, IMO.

Where are you getting that I was saying that? I explained why I liked Mia Farrow. You don't have to agree, but I honestly don't think Mia Farrow was phoning in. I wasn't even really challenging the two Omen movies much. I was mostly taking a jab at the Psycho remake. The Psycho and Omen remakes were put in the same category, and I was wanted to express that, unlike the Psycho remake, the Omen remake has one thing that I like.

Sorry, like I said, since I'm a huge fan of the original I got overly defensive and took your post the wrong way. My response was a bit harsh. I got way out of line. I apologize for that.

I'm just really not a fan of the remake. As you can clearly tell.

[talonmalon333]

Sorry, I may have overreacted. I'm just really passionate about the original, so I got defensive for that performance.

No offense taken. I do really mean it when I say that I do think she gave a great performance. And even though I made a bit of a criticism to that hospital scene, that glare she gives on-screen during that part is legitimately freaky.

Spoiler

Maybe it's subjective, but my point is that it felt dragged out to me since anything involving suffocating another human being is a relatively slow death compared to more abrupt methods of killing. I just find such deaths to usually be much less effective except for certain circumstances where it's pulled off extremely well. I just didn't find this scene to be one of those cases, personally.

As for the original, nobody actually saw her push the mother out of the window. And it's a big hospital in the middle of the AM hours where the staffing is pretty low. It wouldn't be that hard for her to slip out of the room (which was established to be several stories up) before anyone actually got there. And as for getting out of the hospital, it's not like anybody would know who she was accept for anyone who knew Damien and his family and knew that she was Damien's nanny, and no such person was even close to the hospital at the time.

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Spoiler

I think the scene was done well in the remake, but I do see what you mean that, in many cases, such deaths can be harder to pull off effectively. And I can concede that you're probably right about it maybe not being too unrealistic for her to slip away.

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Yeah, they really fucked him up. I like how in the original, for all intents and purposes, outside of his evil scenes, he was mostly played up like a normal kid who acted how you would normally expect a kid to. The remake just made him so obviously "creepy and evil" in demeanor, which totally killed the whole character, IMO.

It seems like, in the remake, Damien seems to relish in his evilness. That's just wrong to me. I agree with you on how I really like how innocent the original Damien was. In fact, I get the sense that he didn't even know he was evil. I mean, he did a few bad things, but I get the feeling that much of that was from the nanny's guidance.

Sorry, like I said, since I'm a huge fan of the original I got overly defensive and took your post the wrong way. My response was a bit harsh.

At least, we can agree on the pointlessness of the remake. I actually had the displeasure of seeing it before the original, back when it was in theaters. I thought it was scary, and I did remake certain parts of it, but back then I hadn't yet seen that many horror movies. I saw the original a few years later and immediately recognized not only how much better it is, but how much the remake just rehashed it way too much.

[Foggle]

Psycho is boundary-pushing cinema done right. Hitchcock really was a master of his craft. An all-time favorite, for sure.

[talonmalon333]

Yea, Psycho is top 3 for me as far as horror movies go.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I watched Psycho with my bae and got muy triste that it spoiled next season of Bates Motel for me.

[Daikun]

Psycho is really damn good. Hitchcock was truly one of the greats.

[Avaitor]

Aww man, I missed the Psycho discussion.

But the thing that makes the film hold an eternal appeal for me is that each viewing makes it a little funnier. Hitch's brilliant sense of timing plot for a tense story is still present, but there's a very black edge to the film that makes it nearly as funny as it is timeless suspenseful. Arbogast especially cracks me up.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

NIGHT 24:



In tonight's movie, we get a very interesting and unique follow-up to horror legend Wes Craven's most iconic film, A Nightmare on Elm Street. To me, this is the only real "sequel" that feels like its worthy of standing in the original's legacy. The concept behind it is ingenious, and not only is it a great Nightmare film, but it's a fantastic commentary on the state of horror movies from that era, and how 80's icons basically got bastardized through terrible sequels that truly missed the point of the original films. It's definitely worth a watch, and I think I may try to re-watch both the original and this movie back-to-back, as they really do go extremely well together.

[talonmalon333]

While the other sequels do have their strengths (particularly Dream Warriors) I agree that New Nightmare is the movie that truly stands as an equal to the original. I love the way they reinvented Freddy in this movie. Honestly, I think he's even better here than in the original. His personality is largely the same (though maybe even more evil), but his new design is great. I feel like this movie didn't make as much money, or at least, it seems like not as many people talk about it when discussing the franchise. But I'm guessing that's a combination of the fact that it's not necessarily a sequel (as in, it's not set in the same universe as the Elm Street movies), and that the last few sequels, namely Freddy's Dead, killed people's interest in the series before this came out.

I also like to think that this movie firmly established that Nancy is the true hero of the franchise.