I like that you got a plug in for Possession. See it everybody! See also The Devils.

I think there are two foctors to why horror films are not scary any more.



1.) we've seen it to many times, we can predict when the scare is going to happen befor it does because were used to it.

2.) I feel horror films of today try to go to much into the phycological reasons why the killer kills, we get to much information about them which makes us feel like we no them and for some people have a connection towards them, preventing the killer being scary.



If you go back to 1978 Halloween we no very little about Micheal Myers except that he killed his family at a young age and has escaped from the institution that he was kept in and goes on the hunt for another kill. Thats all we no about him, we dont no why he killed his family and we dont no why he wants to kill poor Jamie Lee Curtis, but thats what makes us fear him, we dont no why hey is after her.

Dear Dr. K,



The Silence of the Lambs analogy was first explained to me by a professor (who specialised in fantasy and mythology) at university back in 2002 and was so influential to me that I wrote my paper specifically on TSOTL exploring in more detail precisely how it overturns the LRRH myth.



So not original but it makes complete sense on thought

#3 - Your professor was bang-on the money, I think. Note also the inclusion of Q Lazzarus' "Goodbye Horses" and its wolf-esque howling during the scene in which Jame Gumb 'feminizes'.

I was pretty impressed with the descent as well, Also the second part wastn't at all bad either, which is even more surprising for a horror squeal not to totally suck for once.

Robocop reference!!!

For me, the scariest film of recent years has been INSIDIOUS. It caught me in the double trap of must-look-can't-look, where you're simultaneously forced to look away while unable to tear your gaze from the screen, constantly searching the image for where the next jump might come from while covering your eyes with your fingers.



And it worked superbly. Last night, for the first time in years - years - I had to have the lounge light on all night and the bedroom door open. Living alone, it's surprising how easily you can get the creeps in the middle of the night even after 26 years of cinemagoing and video watching. INSIDIOUS worked its dark magic on me in the way that PARANORMAL ACTIVITY failed: it lasted. The last film to do that was THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE.



It's true that INSIDIOUS loses steam towards the end, but for the genuine spine-chills and raw leap-out-of-your-seat-shouting-rude-words terror of the first hour, I'm minded to overlook the slightly anticlimactic third act.

About "Martyrs"... this was also the only horror film that got any reaction from me in the last few years (I figured it was because I don't see that many). I saw it in a film festival and I don't think I've seen as many walk-outs before or since. However, after the first 30 mins, it didn't seem as scary and, in the end, I thought it was a pretty unimpressive movie, with little to show for all its skocks and twists. People kept walking out on it, though...

You were doing an onstage with Kim Newman? You should have mentioned it in your podcast!

I had never heard that Silence Of The Lambs theory before, but when I think about it, it makes complete sense. Very interesting idea.

Martyrs...a very hard film to get through but that seemed to be the point. It actively draws the viewer in and makes them an accomplice, asking that they feel the suffering they are witnessing. Naturally, by the end, there's a kind of catharsis and the revelation that those who stuck it out are as much martyrs as the characters in the narrative.



Not often I feel slightly changed after watching a film. Whether that is good or bad is another matter entirely. ;)

Someone get Dr K a throat lozenge - the poor man's obviously suffering.

Films aren't scary anymore, in my opinion. Yes they can give you a quick sharp fright, but they don't seem to be able to build up any tension.



The only thing that has scared me lately is the PC game Amnesia: The Dark Descent. They story may be a little weak, but it is truly scary.



This is the future if you want to be scared.

A major issue I think are the trailers. I have not seen Insidious but the trailer covered so much that it's only the very end that is left open. Surely the fact that the child is haunted, not the house, should be left as a surprise?



The other part is about what you don't see in films. The ear-cutting in Reservoir Dogs for example - panning gradually away from the action and then back again makes it all the more gruesome. That part of RD is like a news broadcast not wanting to show the very horrible bits of a clip.



On a completely unrelated note, am I the only person who will actually scream if I have to see that pre-film Orange advert with Rio one more time?



' They've turned me orange haven't they?' - ugh, makes me shudder!

@4 - Matth Stil



Yep and it goes even further than that the more you look into it:



1. The redish colouring of Starling's hair is by no means an accident by the styling department.



2. The opening scene of Starling out on the FBI assault course is very deliberately designed as LRRH out alone in the forest (Ridley Scott repeated this in Hannibal to a lesser effect)



3. The "screaming lambs" story is a subtly genius telling of Clarice's first experience of the wolf. Note the way she avoids ever actually saying "who" or "what" was making the lambs scream she simply says: "they were screaming!" because Demme knew that we are all aware of LRRH



4. Note the 3rd Big Bad Wolf: Dr Chiltern - although he is somewhat less of a threat and more domesticated!



The list goes on...



Ted Tally spoke of how all great stories can be reduced to very simple mythic elements

Actually, Jodie Foster referred to "The Silence of the Lambs" as "a modern reworking of the classic tale of the brave knight venturing into the dragon's den" (note that I have only read this in a review and not in an actual interview with Foster), but interpreting it as a "Red Riding Hood" adaption also works.

David Lynch is the only one who seems to consistently terrify me now-a-days. How about INLAND EMPIRE? A nightmare made cinematic.

@streetrw

I second your comments on Insidious, as a royal wedding refusenik I almost ran to the earliest showing I could find to avoid all the Hullabaloo ! It was a real spine tingler in the the finest tradition of horror movie making. It gave me the same kind of goosebumps as films like The Haunting, and The Orphanage, and not a bit of gore to be seen! ( No mean feat these days). I sat near the back of the cinema and watched as so many people literally jumped off their seats, so much better than watching the nuptials......;-)

@17 Bastoche



While I agree that they're are freaky moments in it (Laura Dern's face appearing on Harry Dean Stanton's in wide grin is something that stayed with me for quite a while afterwards) I'm not a fan of Inland Empire because it is a good example of an auteur going up his own backside. Don't get me wrong, I'm a massive David Lynch fan I just feel that it is him going up his own backside. Well, different strokes for different folks, as they say.



I saw Insidious the other day, although it is a bit too jumpy (relying too much of nothing happening for 10 minutes then BOO!!!!), it does redeem itself at little by having creepy (in a good way) shots/scenes. Mainly by using surrealism e.g. the family who grin at the same time.

Dr K having just finished reading "its only a movie" i was disappointed you didnt recall your first meeting with friedkin, or your impressions on seeing the exorcist for the first time. how you met linda seeing as she features quite prominently. ps has your phd thesis been published as i would be fascinated to read it.

Poor Mark. Do you have a sore throat?

I thought Insidious was really really scary.

Yes silly, yes derivate, yes not very original, but while watching, it really freaked me out (and I'm hardly ever scared by movies).

Having said that, once the lights came on at the end the fear passed instantly (something that should not happen if a film is properly scary: for example after the original Omen I had to sleep for the lights on for weeks).

Incidentally, here's my review of Insidious (https://wp.me/p19wJ2-kD%29

I also had heard of the Silence of the Lambs theory through wikipedia on page:



Adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood



The 2001 Kenneth Liu short film Falsehood refigures the Little Red Riding Hood story as a legal drama, with the Big Bad Wolf on trial and Little Bo Peep as his attorney. Scenes between Peep and the Wolf pay homage to the Clarice Starling/Hannibal Lecter scenes in The Silence of the Lambs. (not my words)

I was wondering if I could garner some support for a Ken Russell's The Devils Uncut screening at the Rio Cinema in Dalston. I have always enjoyed his films and would like to celebrate the great man. A double bill would be better. I am studying an MA in film and would love to see his great work on the big screen.

I am still at the planning stage, any input would be gratefully appreciated. Hoods? a nuns chastity rests beneath a cloak of denial.

Interesting that you said you nearly walked out of Martyrs. I had the same feeling during the scene in the bathtub, and then on more than one occasion then on, but I'm so glad that I stuck with it. It brings up an interesting thought of how many other films have been walked out on before the viewer is presented the full piece - I don't mean films that require perhaps a second viewing to "get", but ones that absolutely require to be seen as a whole to work at all.



There were points in Martyrs that I thought it was just going to be another shock for shock's sake film, but during the final act I feel that it all came together very well, and made the film a powerful work of art rather than something that sits alongside pure nastiness like August Underground and Philosophy of a Knife.



I wonder how many other films there are that put themselves at risk by tempting the audience to abandon them before they can fully "put across their argument" as it were.

I do still think the way the opening accident is shot in The Descent is a small misstep, as I found it unintentionally hilarious. It felt like something out of Final Destination. But after that stumbling block - great movie.