Why is it that most directors of recent 'horror' films always say they were influenced by the classics, Texas Chainsaw Massacre; Last House on the Left; Night of the Living Dead etc... and then shoot films that have nothing to say but somehow get somewhere to say it?

Loving ‘Kermode Uncut’.

Intelligent, accessible, engaging and enlightening.

Makes me happy to pay my licence fee.

Mark, your delivery is sublime.

Compliments to all involved in the blog.

I might go see it, sounds interesting.

At least it sounds like it might be better than that French film Ils (Them) which kept its 'hoodie' killers as a shock reveal, that made the tapping in to generational fears seem more exploitative than a head on approach would have been. That and the 'true story' tagline just made it more reprehensible.



I hate to take issue on 'torture porn' films, since they're not my favourite horror genre, but surely Roth's films themselves are "about something" - the privileged feeding on the poor and culture clashes mainly, with a message that its a dog eat dog world out there. Even the Saw series tries to provide a slight motivation and explanation for all the set pieces. I don't think either series are the greatest in horror history but neither do they deserve to be dismissed under a claim that they do not have an agenda.



Even Last House On The Left has various subtexts, there's an article somewhere on these Internets about how it is playing on a WASPish fear of the Semitic other, which was quite persuasively argued.



I liked My Little Eye quite a lot too, though didn't think it was as great as the hype suggested. It did not exactly break much new ground in its main premise of teens stalking and killing each other. The generic tale was just overlaid with the new ideas of voyeurism and audience participation - sort of like an 'entertaining' version of Funny Games!



I did think it was an excellently produced DVD though, especially with the inclusion of the alternate, creepy soundtrack of the creators of the webcam death show creeping around the house to set things up for the kids to find or run into!

I've watched many of the "video nasties" and agree with Mark that "Last House On The Left" and "I Spit On Your Grave" are far more worthwhile than many of the junk "horror' movies that are dropped on us by Hollywood.



To be successful, horror movies should horrify us, the same was that comedies should make us laugh. I too am bored with "horror" movies that simply torturing people an entertainment. I happen to think that the recent "Funny Games" is far superior to the Eli Roth "Hostel" efforts.



Many people become critical of some of these movies. I would simply say that if you don't want to be horrified (and I don't want a diet of pure horror). Don't watch them. I will certainly check out "Eden Lake" when it eventually arrives here in the US. I'm not sure "My Little Eye" ever made it here. Sad :-(



Rob



Rob

I seriously out of date here but I've only just seen "Eden Lake", on your recommendation, Mark and I can't completely agree with you. I think you should give Hostel another chance. Sure it's a vacuous, gory torture porn film but Eden Lake isn't about to trigger any serious debate and the experience of watching it was considerably less pleasent than Hostel as it seemed much more real. Films like the "Final Destination" franchise have no point what so ever but can be fun and I put Hostel in the same bracket. I would put Eden Lake in the same bracket but it just wasn't any fun.