Must horror be believable/ realistic?

It was last week when I got into a discussion how realistic or not a movie like Eden Lake (2008) is.

To those who love it as in being truly shocked and down (some for days) after seeing the flick the arguments are:
- could happen to anyone
- it feels realistic and believable

To the first point yes it could even though I don't think most would react or take action like the couple, especially the guy did really many things that were far fetched.

To the second point I think there were way too many unbelievable (and stupid) actions and especially too many coincidences that it stopped being believable and I couldn't take it serious any more. And I'm sure that the director intended it as a serious movie to shock its audience. He managed to do so with some (many?) viewers despite the many flaws.

It's true that people do stupid things when they are in panic but it looked like they lost any form of rational thinking. The rational thing is the couple packed their things when it was clear those pesky kids when not going to leave them alone, but that would have made a real short movie. But all the actions, coincidences they just seemed to prolong the movie repeating the same trick making it even predictable. The bleak ending was perhaps suprising but that it was going to be an unhappy end (even though more like a non ending) for the lady was to be expected. Like the rest of the movie totally unbelievable.


Apart from people doing stupid things or things they should not do (because they are in panic, scared, angry, sad) that would apply to many horror movies, movies in general and even real life. That it applies (or I think he meant should apply) to most horror movies like one user said I really disagree. I really don't expect everyone to be rational and do the logical thing but if a movie is intended to be taken seriously for me it shouldn't go overboard with stupidity. I guess that's just me and there is lots of people not seeming to care if anything seems possible and should be taken with a grain (lots of) salt. With that approach I might have enjoyed the flick but that's not how it works. You can defintely make a good movie without all the clichés, tricks and predictable actions and coincidences IMO.


From movies with a paranormal, supernatural or sci-fi theme I accept it not to be realistic or logical since that doesn not apply much there. I actually prefer movies with such themes. There should be rules however, the everything is allowed approach is still too easy (and lazy) IMO. Exceptions are comedies which are not to be taken seriously. Slashers also tend to have this inexplicable and illogical events but I do think most are not to be taken serious either.


But a movie that has the intention to be taken seriously and/or wants to be realistic in my book, should not use all the aforementioned tricks applied in Eden Lake.


What's your view on this?

2020 Black and White Challenge



The rules are very simply. You get a point for every minute of black and white that you watch. That means 3 hour movies and 5 minute shorts. The only thing different this year is if the video involves a pandemic you get 1 bonus point. It is going to start Monday the 6th at 12:00 local time and will run until midnight of the 6th of May (Or the end of the month not sure if this will confilt with anything, but Johan didn't seem like he was in a hurry to host this). Make your spot below.

Champagne and Caviar Mini Challenge

Starts Monday the 27th, runs until next Sunday

Rules are simple:
1 Point for a movie with a 7.0 or higher on IMDB
2 Points for a movie with an 8.0 or higher on IMDB
3 Points for a movie with a 9.0 or higher on IMDB
1 Point if you hate the movie
1 Point for FTV

•note you can double dip on points for the B&W challenge

A question about Martyrs (2008)

Now that Tromafreak mentioned the movie in his top 100 (calling it the best horror from the last 20 years or one of the best) and it's still in the running in the movie KO on MovieMeter, again a certain question popped up. One I have been wondering about not long after I had seen the movie the first (and still the only) time.

I had been critical of the movie. I reckon it is shocking. And I must say I was into it until about 45-50 minutes. I'm not saying it was great but it kept me curious enough to know what it was all about. And the revelation came why these girls were tortured to death. I was like yeah all right (still wondering if the motivation of the bad guys was either clever or just plain stupid but in the end I went for the latter) now we know and we still have like 30 or more minutes to go?


I was like the only thing that can happen next is that our main girl is going to endure similar torturings the old lady had been talking about. And that's what happened and as expected she was going to be that chosen one who could make the revelation the whole organisation was waiting for. The viewer waited for nothing since the old lady doesn't reveal anything and just commits suicide.

Of course those beatings and the crap she has to eat are not fun to watch but it gets so repetitive that its becomes tedious and boring (instead of shocking me more). It became more of an annoying exercise in patience to see if there is still anything interesting the movie could tell me. That didn't happen. For me it didn't matter if those scenes went on 5 minutes or half an hour. I already knew why, I already got the point, get on with it. I don't see the purpose to stretching it to such length with that knowledge you already gave me. To shock me until I looked way, well that didn't work. The movie went pretty fast from the start but the revelation came way too early, it stagnated and came pretty much to a halt and eventually there was no conclusion. Ok all in my point of view of course


Similar feelings I had with the final scene of Megan is Missing. It sucked for the girl but after 1 minute I knew she is not going to be rescued there is no point in stretching that scene for so long (to me anyway).


Anyway that's what I been wondering, no one else expected the main girl was going to be tortured? I haven't read or heard anyone predicting this.


I don't think I lack empathy but I think I'm still too aware I'm just watching a movie. Yesterday the local news showed some images of people in Ecuador literally dead on the street because of the Corona virus. That was very shocking to me.

Happy STAR WARS Day

Some people are crazy nerds about this series. I'm a moderate. However, I can appreciate some of its merits and visuals, and I wanted to make something for this "holiday". Hopefully, this shit works for you, and if it doesn't, you probably need to update your browser:

https://trashepics.com/app/star_wars/

Tiger King Scripted TV Series Starring Nicolas Cage

So, I just read that there is going to be a Tiger King tv series. At first, I thought it was a joke, but nope it's true. The best part is that Nicolas Cage will be playing Joe Exotic! I'll be watching this one. I can't wait to see how Cage plays Joe. I wonder who will be playing Carole Fucking Baskin? This is going to be amazing! 😄

Trash Movies on Youtube

1960's Sexplotation movie, The Love Factor.

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

Today I watched the most recent Nancy Drew film. It came out last year, and I have to say I really liked it. Growing up, I was a huge Nancy Drew fan. I read all of the books, and the series is the reason I fell in love with mysteries. So naturally, I am drawn to any adaption of this series. The first one I watched came out in 2007, and it was good, but it was only loosely based on the book. They created their own mystery with the character. And I loved it. I watched it all the time, and wanted to solve my own mysteries.

Last year, the CW adapated the books into a series. I have only watched a few episodes, and from what I have seen it doesn't really connect with the books. Nancy is older here, and her teenage antics are seemingly done. I gather that the series is going to take a darker turn than the earlier books. But we shall see.

As for this movie, I loved it. The Hidden Staircase is book two of the Nancy Drew movies, and it follows it pretty well. Nancy and her father move back to a small town, where Nancy continuously is in trouble with the sheriff. From here she meets an old women who believes she is being haunted. So Nancy, and the girls niece team up to solve the mystery.

The movie is great. If you want a movie to watch with your kids, or just a nostalgic mystery. Plus it's great for this months challenge.


I will leave you with a question, did you guys prefer Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, or was there a different mystery series you liked?

The Birds of Prey Movie

I hate movies in the DCU, which constitutes all this Justice League continuity garbage. They had potential, but they squandered it when they turned Suicide Squad into a PG-13 plotless piece of shit. Somehow, that movie made Harley Quinn an icon. Maybe it's because Margot Robbie is sexy? Maybe it's because comic superfans have a raging hard-on for the character? Either way, that movie revitalized her notoriety and deemed a sequel/spin-off as a necessary endeavor. Why? Because why not? The DCU has nothing good going for it, so why not make another gamble?

When this movie came out in theaters, I was bad-mouthing it. I knew it would be a stupid shallow piece of junk just like the last one, so I hated on it and I hated on it hard. Of course, the DC streaming service put out the animated Harley Quinn cartoon and that was a refreshing change of pace. It's Batman: The Animated series, but for perverted adults. What's not to love? With my newfound appreciation for this tired fetishistic character, I decided to give the movie a shot. I'm not always a naysayer. Just most of the time.

The movie begins with Harley trying to eat a breakfast sandwich. And my God, what a sandwich! It's such a good looking sandwich that I've decided right off the bat that I sympathize with her character when she goes through the traumatic experience of losing said sandwich. It's an overlying arc throughout the movie of the little things she loses, such as her sandwich, and her hyena, and her trust in Asian cooks. Some things escape us, but we persevere beyond the loss of our lovers, and dignity, and sandwiches...

Ewan McGregor also makes this movie a lot of fun. He takes a relatively underutilized primary villain and makes him all gay and misogynistic. You can tell he had fun with the role, and so did Margot. She apparently did a lot of her own stunts, so kudos to her.

This movie isn't deep. It's not original. It's not going to change your life, but for what it was, I didn't hate it like I thought I would. I got a few laughs out of it and the fight scenes were okay. Not overly feminist, and in my opinion, a slight step in the right direction.

90s Horror Comedies

I was just thinking, the 90s don't get much respect when it comes to horror. But, what about horror comedies?? Consider that the 90s gave us Army of Darkness, Cemetery Man, and Braindead. I mean, wow. And, some people might stick the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie in there too. And arguably Friday the 13th Part 9, Jason Goes to Hell.... that is far less of a comedy than the other movies I'm mentioning here, but I would say it's probably the 3rd funniest of the franchise, after parts 6 and 10 (X).

Anyway, if you think about it, the 90s can really hold its head up as a very solid, respectable decade for horror comedies. Had to share.