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bigbearomaha

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my favorite monsters
« on: September 19, 2010, 11:19:11 am »
I am un-abashedly a fan of horror flicks.   :evil:

my particular favorites are zombies and haunting/possession

I like werewolves and vampires , etc.. too, but...

most writers/directors do not do them justice and this new 'romantic' period they are going through is nauseating.

To me, a persons 'favorite' monster says a lot about them.  It speaks of their greatest fears and their most valued beliefs.

for examples, zombies to me represent what the human is left as without a soul. It is what we are when nothing else is left.  it is our darkness when the sun is gone.

hauntings and especially possessions also effect me in that it is like the most violent act a human can experience.  The most important thing that makes us who and what we are, our bodies have been carjacked, so to speak.

I have no problems at all watching movies like Saw and Halloween and all kinds of gore and slasher effects, the bad guys and monsters like in eight legged freaks, etc.. not only don't scare me, they amuse me.  People being mutilated and having the most gruesome things done to them,  I relish with a big glass of iced tea and a bag of peanuts.

I am a very spiritual person though and a "good" movie dealing with zombies or haunting/possession is most likely to keep me riveted  to the screen.

of course, there is also nothing more fun than watching Godzilla rip the hell out of Tokyo again and again.
Godzilla is probably my one monster "weakness" only because he is so much fun.  zippers bad scripts and all.   I have no problem whatsoever in tossing reality to the wind and cheering for the big guy to roast and squash his way through another movie.

Big Bear

Offline AllenF

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2010, 01:54:20 pm »
How about them Gremlins?

Offline annette

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2010, 03:44:59 pm »
Frankenstein has always been my favorite monster especially when he would find a soft spot in his heart for a little girl, while killing other. I grew up with him and was fascinated and horrified at the same time. I would swear he was in my closet while I slept. My parents would have to show me the empty closet before I could fall asleep because "Frankenstein might be in there Mommy""

bigbearomaha

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2010, 03:46:38 pm »
Boris Karloff, best frankenstein monster ever.

Offline beemaster

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2010, 07:34:55 pm »
bigbearomaha says:

"cheering for the big guy to roast and squash his way through another movie."

My vanity (albeit unwarranted) says this could be me  :roll: So I'm going for the Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers films, which had about 35 movies between the three - so I guess their staying power and occasional originality really puts them at my top list.

I though Freddy vs. Jason was a pretty neat flick, although the goofiest scene was why Freddy was tossing Jason around a building like a ball in a pinball machine. But again, silly but original.

It always amazed me how horny pot smoking teens always made it to Camp Crystal Lake, even when they knew the legend. The real horror of the Jason films was his Mom, she was every bit as scary of a character as the old gypsy lady in Drag me to Hell. What makes these two women scary is that they are (more or less) normal people that are AT OR BEYOND their breaking points.

Of course there are UNSEEN MONSTERS TOO! The Evil Dead is not a physical being, although it occasionally does inhabit someone, but "Destiny" in the Final Destination movies is never seen either, although stuff falls into place like dominoes, it is an unseen force doing the actions.

Minus the 3D Final Destination movie at the speedway, all the prior movies were very creative. And adversely Jigsaw (Saw movies) is not only human, but dying and eventually dead - but still managed to set his elaborate puzzles. I think it great when a living character can possess such a frightening hold on others, but Jigsaw was always fair (I think that is what people like about him) he goes after the evil, selfish and vile people we can all relate to and STILL he gives them a chance to salvage their lives, although often it is at the cost of a limb or few pounds of flesh.

I think my least favorite demonic character was Damien from The Omen, I just didn't buy him - not in any of the versions, but especially the first. But since we are on kids, Children of the Corn movies fill a neat niche where society can change in a heart beat and shear numbers against you, no matter how young, can be an apposing force. The cries of "OUTLANDER... we have your woman!" easily can put you in the husband's shoes. Not to mention Isaac the Profit midget kid with the unique voice, was likely one of the best cast actors ever.

Okay, who is left, Predator and Alien - I'll watch a predator movie over Alien every time, but Predator vs. Alien, good flick! Sometimes I guess you need to tag-team us to give us an extra thump in our chest.

But Jerrymac mentioned (somewhere) The Blob - cool enough creature, classic film, but The Blob 2 with Matt Dillion was really great too, but for different reasons: you never knew WHO was the lead character! Every time you though you figured that out, the Blob got them. I'm not much for most remakes, few exceed what the original offered, but when a remake comes around that takes you where the original didn't and it is fresh, you often find a winner.

I guess that's enough for now, I stayed away from vampires and zombies and ghosts - mainly because they are ALL victims of circumstance - none started out that way (minus the baby born in the remake of Dawn of the Dead (about a dozen people stuck in a shopping mall) in that movie, a pregnant women died during child birth and delivered a zombie baby. And of course, Rose Mary's Baby who we saw little of and Damien again. But all the others I can think of were ordinary people and BAM... undead!



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Offline Bee Happy

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2010, 10:48:08 pm »
Beemaster mentioned "evil dead" as zombies go, the new zomedy trend, evil dead, shaun of the dead, zombieland, army of darkness - great stuff.
I always thought Al Gore looked like Damien in omen 3. The godzilla with matt broderick - one of the best monster effects ever, even though it was all CG.
99.9% of horrors just don't frighten me - yep I jump when there's a "BOO" moment, but most of the time I get tired of crushed cranberries and the sound of celery being vandalized.
 I guess the best kinds of horror movies are the ones that mess with your head for hours after they're over. I can't come up with a specific example because it's been a long time since anything really left me wierded out.
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Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2010, 10:50:22 pm »
Ex-wives always make the best monsters  :evil:

Offline AllenF

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2010, 11:07:15 pm »
Oh, now that's mean.    :-D

bigbearomaha

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2010, 12:33:55 am »
the sony godzilla was NOT the real godzilla. no way, no how.

nice effects, etc.. but not godzilla.

refuse to accept it.

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2010, 01:01:46 am »
And not only that - lol...

I think Cloverfield had some interesting monster creatures in it. Sure, the main beast looked like Godzilla, but the parasites were hippo sized spider-like critters that were very aggressive and fast at targeting humans. And remember their bite was infectious, causing those who lived to literally explode, which was pulled off very well with fake blood shot at translucent plastic barrier wrap and some cool sound effects - no CGI needed on the exploding people, just $20 worth of material and the effect worked.

Which leads back to Quarantine with Jennifer Carpenter. I saw this again a few days ago and have to say there wasn't a single CGI moment, it was filmed in shaky-cam which tricks the mind enough to think it to be somewhat documous. Like Blair Witch, nothing CGI and that says something for film making.

We've had Blair Witch, Cloverfield and Quarantine all giving us second person prospective, with Quarantine being the only one  showing the story as it happens. The others were from "found footage". The difference is remarkable in that Quarantine had a semi "live" feel about it, so although you didn't know where it was going, you found out everything as the characters did - the others films you already knew in all likelihood no one survived. Not to forget the Creature in Quarantine was the CDC, not a 20 story high creature or a bunch of hill folk keeping a legend alive.

Of course, there are creatures from space, from viruses to advanced beings and anything in between. I can't help but say I enjoyed Mars Attacks as silly as it was, it was that campy horror that is a very special category. The Independence day and War of the Worlds remake used massive CGI, I think it is fair to say neither film would have been made without CGI. Not to forget the BEST CGI creatures I have ever seen in District 9, a film you need to see in hi-def to really appreciate. To think every "Prawn" as they called the aliens were 100% CGI is amazing, I don't think I've seen CGI that matched that.

It's amazing what can be a creature, a shark, an anaconda, spiders, bats, giant ants and beetles (again try to see Infestation) and rats, and gators and anything people fear or shy away from.

I've always said LOCK me into any haunted house on Earth, tie me to the floor and pour ectoplasm on me, I'll do it - BUT... You'll never get me to walk through a Halloween haunted spook house: I don't like real people jumping at me with fake chainsaws and such. I'm very comfortable looking for the lingering departed, not the idiot kid getting $7 an hour to yell at me under strobe lights and black lights, that's just to weird for me. I have enough anxiety issues and the Halloween houses raise me beyond my comfort zone. But I'd give anything to experience a haunted house. I have the post "A ghost touched me" somewhere in the Darkside Forum, check that out - it was my only paranormal experience.

I like how George Romero has added the thought that zombies can learn or relearn basic skills, but I want a zombie that still has their brain functioning for the 4 or 5 minutes that it still functions AFTER oxygen is cut off. I mean bad-assed zombies who have 5 minutes of smarts to drive, shoot guns, do whatever someone would do to go jiggy on someone they desperately need to eat the flesh from. I think that's coming someday, I think you need a Romero or Sam Raimi to do it justice.

Wondering if anyone read Zombie Wars - a diary-like account of many people AFTER the zombies took control of everything, a billion zombies in India alone, and man's nearly futile fight to regain control of the world. Interesting book, good audiobook read by celebrities like Alan Alda.

That's it, just had a few more thoughts to share :)

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Offline Bee Happy

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2010, 01:02:29 am »
the sony godzilla was NOT the real godzilla. no way, no how.

nice effects, etc.. but not godzilla.

refuse to accept it.
I'll give you that, she was just a super mutant iguana, but there was always something about the painfully obvious guy in a rubber suit kicking over miniatures that just bothered me.
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bigbearomaha

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Re: my favorite monsters
« Reply #11 on: September 20, 2010, 01:41:01 am »
yeah, but the camp and low tech is part of the fun of Godzilla.  The effects are improved in the more recent Godzilla movies, but he rest is the same, thank goodness.

Big Bear