October 2015 Horror Movie a Day

[Darth Geek]

The story told in flashback is an excellent device if well used, and is used in some of the greatest films of all time - Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas - and I'll wager those are all films you would just dismiss.

They are, but not necessarily because they are told in flashback. I do agree that it can be done well, and mentioned Citizen Kane (a movie I do like). I just think the trope is way overused, and mostly used poorly.

[ScottotD]

WILL YOU TWO JUST MAKE OUT

[Pak-Man]

Just because a cinematic device gets used a lot, it doesn't mean it's a bad cinematic device. Often, it means it's a good cinematic device. Then Hollywood goes through a phase where you can't avoid it. Then, once people NOTICE it, they start to get irked because you're really not supposed to be able to see the strings when you're watching a movie. So people complain about the device itself, which is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Take "Found Footage" flicks. It's actually a brilliant framing device because it effectively makes things more real. Cloverfield showed that it could be done in many different ways. Then came Paranormal Activity 1-6 and now nobody wants anything to do with it.

[Charles Castle]

One of my favorite, most under used devices is the "as told by Charles B. Pierce" flashback style so masterfully utilized in Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues.

[Compound]

Take "Found Footage" flicks. It's actually a brilliant framing device because it effectively makes things more real. Cloverfield showed that it could be done in many different ways. Then came Paranormal Activity 1-6 and now nobody wants anything to do with it.

Looking back at my list:

Oct 19: Halloween Hell (2015, Eric Roberts)*
Oct 20: Alien Valley (2015, Aliens!)*
Oct 25: Hollow's Grove (2014, Ghosts)*
Oct 26: American Poltergeist (2013, Ghosts)*
Oct 27: 7 Nights of Darkness (2010, Ghosts)*
Oct 28: The Crying Dead (2013, Ghosts)*
Oct 29: The Bay (2013, Eco Horror. And Sea lice)*

All found footage. It's still a pretty active device. And there were a few more that I was looking for that I couldn't find a source to watch from.

[Relaxing Dragon]

Just because a cinematic device gets used a lot, it doesn't mean it's a bad cinematic device. Often, it means it's a good cinematic device. Then Hollywood goes through a phase where you can't avoid it. Then, once people NOTICE it, they start to get irked because you're really not supposed to be able to see the strings when you're watching a movie. So people complain about the device itself, which is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Take "Found Footage" flicks. It's actually a brilliant framing device because it effectively makes things more real. Cloverfield showed that it could be done in many different ways. Then came Paranormal Activity 1-6 and now nobody wants anything to do with it.

In full agreement. Folks seem to get too up-in-arms over stuff that can have genuine use, and seem to want a reinvention of the wheel every time a new movie comes out.

[Parker_Hylton]

Yeah...the "found footage" technique.  I don't typically like horror films but I watched this little short over and over again that scared the crap out of me a few years ago although I was sure it was faked.  Turned out it was but the original short was just perfect.  Creepy music, found footage, some big lumbering thing charging at the camera out of the forest and a flash of fangs...then a couple days later more found footage of the camera, camera-man, his dog, and what gave it away...a severed torso that was a little too obviously fabricated.

Wish I could remember what it was.  Seen a few copies of it without the scary music and without the second-day found footage.  Still.  It was pretty cool.  Grable monster?  But yeah...overuse and knowing the tricks can ruin stuff.  I took a couple years of film study and it ruined movies for me me for several years out of college.  Have a hard time going to see combat flicks with my friend who is an armorer and gunsmith, he spends the whole time complaining about the sound and look of the guns in the film.