COMING SOON: THE GRUDGE!

[gammer]

I should also mention that Hostel didn't scare me. But it made me *very* uncomfortable....very uncomfortable.

[euphoria]

The fact is, exorcisms happen almost every hour of the day, and orders of priests have to keep their identities secret because some satan-worshipers see the life of a priest as being the ultimate prize for conquering.

Here's what scares me: that anyone takes seriously the idea that a person can be "possessed by demons."  What century is this, again?  Sorry, but...bullshit, captain.

[RandyMistie]

J-Proof, I am a Reverend in the Wiccan church and as I have said in earlier posts that I can't really be frightened by horror movies because I really believe that a wise a compassionate Universe (God/Goddess, whatever you want to call it), looks over us.  Terrible things happen in the World, but I really believe that these things happen to teach us something about whatever the hell we are going through in this Existence.

And ghost stories never scare me, because there is no way that the dead have any interest in hurting us.  Plus, "The Grudge" just bored me.  "The Ring" however, had some disturbing images.

I don't understand how Christians can possibly be afraid of ANYTHING with the power of their God protecting and watching over them all the time.  I don't believe in any Satanic powers, but even if I did, didn't Jesus say that it had no power over you if you, whatever... accept Him or whatever?

I just don't get that.  Since you started the subject, maybe you could explain that to me?  And I mean this with all respect and... you know... LOVE and whatever... (but not in a gay way, not that there is anything wrong with that...)

[SmilinJackRoss]

And ghost stories never scare me, because there is no way that the dead have any interest in hurting us.

How do you know what the dead are interested in?  If you believe in God, then you must believe in the Devil, and the devil IS capable of doing bad things, right? (You may have opened a giant can of worms here)

[Tarantulas]

I can't remember being scared by a movie since I was a kid and I've never understood how adults really be frightened by a movie.  Too often, movies just rely on cheap "jumps" to try and get a scream out of the audience.  After you watch enough movies, you can typically anticipate where the filmmakers are going to throw them in.

Water pouring out from under a closed bathroom door, and the water is slowly turning into blood?  Yeah... a "jump" is coming right up.

I saw the Ring and mostly thought it was more ridiculous than scary.  (Speaking strictly of the American version) How does this dead girl just generate a VHS tape and dump it amongst copies of "Earnest Goes to Camp" and "Every Which Way But Loose" at the main office of a KOA campground in the middle of nowhere Washington state.  And yes, I remember the thing about her spontaneously creating that X-Ray, but the only reason they threw that in was cover up the poorly thought out plot device of "How do we explain the fact that this tape exists"

I can think of several better ways to introduce the VHS tape without insulting the audiences intelligence.

Also, why is it a VHS tape, and not a DVD?  There is no way that the dead girl ever say a VHS tape while she was alive since the technology did not yet exist.

And this dead girl has some sort of answering service to call and let you know that you are going to die?

I guess I just dissect movies too much..

[RandyMistie]

And ghost stories never scare me, because there is no way that the dead have any interest in hurting us.

How do you know what the dead are interested in?  If you believe in God, then you must believe in the Devil, and the devil IS capable of doing bad things, right? (You may have opened a giant can of worms here)

I don't believe in a devil.  That's all.  Just destructive human beings.  As Magneto said, "I've always thought of God as a Teacher..."  That's it.

[WouTar]

Nothing scares me anymore, I still get "jumped" once in a while though. Last movie that scared me was the Shining. Let's just say that was a long time ago.

[Tarantulas]

I move that we shut down any sort of religious debate right now.

We all know that you guys are just crazy for believing in anything other than yourself anyway.

[JonnyFrag]

The reason the Ring is always VHS is because the apparitions can alter magnetic media 'in real life.'  Much like the White Noise phenonmenon.

A ghost can't alter digital media. Ghosts are analog.

[JonnyFrag]

LEMONADE!

[J-Proof]

I don't understand how Christians can possibly be afraid of ANYTHING with the power of their God protecting and watching over them all the time.  I don't believe in any Satanic powers, but even if I did, didn't Jesus say that it had no power over you if you, whatever... accept Him or whatever?

Yeah you're absolutely right. I have nothing to fear at all, but that's not why I don't watch those movies. I just don't like the idea behind them is all While the Lord watches over us, we have a responsibility to keep that protection active etc etc - exorcism movies remind me more of my own failings I suppose!

But as for evil - as a Christian, I believe that there is balance - that there can be no good without evil, or else the moral absolute measurement doesn't exist.

I saw the Ring and mostly thought it was more ridiculous than scary.  (Speaking strictly of the American version) How does this dead girl just generate a VHS tape and dump it amongst copies of "Earnest Goes to Camp" and "Every Which Way But Loose" at the main office of a KOA campground in the middle of nowhere Washington state.  And yes, I remember the thing about her spontaneously creating that X-Ray, but the only reason they threw that in was cover up the poorly thought out plot device of "How do we explain the fact that this tape exists"

...

Also, why is it a VHS tape, and not a DVD?  There is no way that the dead girl ever say a VHS tape while she was alive since the technology did not yet exist.

HAH! Awesome point. I often pondered this as well... why not have a DVD with subsections and different language options? I mean - if she really wanted to kill everyone, she'd take more time to reach out to everyone on a more universal level =)

I move that we shut down any sort of religious debate right now.

We all know that you guys are just crazy for believing in anything other than yourself anyway.

Yeah that's a good point! All religious stuff ends here =)
...until DaPenguin bugs me for more biblical clues O.O

[J-Proof]

The reason the Ring is always VHS is because the apparitions can alter magnetic media 'in real life.'  Much like the White Noise phenonmenon.

A ghost can't alter digital media. Ghosts are analog.

lol....

[MrTorso]

The only movie that ever scared me and caused me to sleep with the light on and what not was Poltergeist. I saw it in the theater when I was 10 and didn't turn lights off for like 3 weeks. The only thing that ever bothers me or makes me squeamish nowadays is eye horror. I can't stand anything happening to the eye.

[RandyMistie]

I can't remember being scared by a movie since I was a kid and I've never understood how adults really be frightened by a movie.  Too often, movies just rely on cheap "jumps" to try and get a scream out of the audience.  After you watch enough movies, you can typically anticipate where the filmmakers are going to throw them in.

Water pouring out from under a closed bathroom door, and the water is slowly turning into blood?  Yeah... a "jump" is coming right up.

I saw the Ring and mostly thought it was more ridiculous than scary.  (Speaking strictly of the American version) How does this dead girl just generate a VHS tape and dump it amongst copies of "Earnest Goes to Camp" and "Every Which Way But Loose" at the main office of a KOA campground in the middle of nowhere Washington state.  And yes, I remember the thing about her spontaneously creating that X-Ray, but the only reason they threw that in was cover up the poorly thought out plot device of "How do we explain the fact that this tape exists"

I can think of several better ways to introduce the VHS tape without insulting the audiences intelligence.

Also, why is it a VHS tape, and not a DVD?  There is no way that the dead girl ever say a VHS tape while she was alive since the technology did not yet exist.

I guess I just dissect movies too much..

LOL, me too, Spidey, I dissect like a surgeon, but some movies hold up to it.  All's I'm saying about "The Ring" is there were some disturbing images and creative ones as well.  The fly being picked off of the screen was very interesting.  And, of course, the horse jumping off the boat, (I hate any abuse of animals ever! and can't abide it so that one stayed with me for a few days...).

But, yeah, my big problem with the Japanese remake ghost stories is that they seem to have all god-like powers and are impossible to stop which destroys any drama.  If there is no way for the good guys to "win" then there is no dramatic tension, in my opinion.  Even Star Trek (TOS), which had one god-like alien after another, always had some weakness that Kirk could exploit to defeat them.

These ghost stories are all about 2 hours of torturing some poor victims, and all's I'm saying is, just kill them in the first 10 minutes (not really, just movie acting) and I can get on with my life.  Damn!  Yo!  And other "hip" sayings that the kids say these days...

[Tarantulas]

To explain JonnyFrag's "LEMONADE" comment, some guy in our office (I work with JonnyFrag) thought the phone call that people got was someone saying "Lemonade" and not "Seven Days".

It still gets brought up any time someone in the office mentions "The Ring"