Horror Roundtable - Week Six
Name one specific factor (director, actor, genre, etc.) that can entice you into seeing a horror movie even when you know the movie will be bad.
Sean T. Collins - Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat
I like this question, because among my coworkers, some of whom spend countless hours and paychecks scouring VHS dollar bins for Burt Reynolds vehicles, I actually have one of the lower tolerances for bad movies. Life is too short to see most of the GOOD movies I wanna see, you know? But that being said, I do have one chink in my armor: water monsters. Put a sea serpent or a giant squid or some kind of reptilian lake dweller in your flick and you’re halfway there with me. Why, one day I went to Blockbuster and rented myself a Lake Placid/Anaconda double feature, god help us.
Cover art of the DVD.
For me, I will watch nearly any horror movie that has an interesting premise. What I mean is, a unique angle. If there’s a bizarre monster/alien/killer I’ll see it. Especially if it’s trying to be gritty. Most of the time I tend to avoid the super high budget horrors, but for example with Hostel, I hadn’t planned to see it but the premise of a group of students being tortured in Eastern Europe was too enticing. I ended up loving it! Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out the same way when it came to Human Nature. I will give nearly any film a chance, but the more unique or fascinating the story, the better.
If the setting is equipped with booby traps, trapdoors, secret passages and the like, you’ve got my $6 and 90 minutes, no questions asked. This accounts for at least 50 percent of the reasons I watched SAW II, SEE NO EVIL and SLASHERS.
David Z. - Tomb It May Concern
I’m a believer that when I seek out a movie that it is hard for it to be “bad” exactly. It may flippity flop shy of my expectations, but I’m pretty good at setting my hopes at a realistic level. I’m ALWAYS enticed by obscure Italian productions, especially the little flicks that came from Joe D’Amato’s company Filmirage. It took me several pre-records (until I obtained one from Japan of all places) to see Deran Sarafian’s INTERZONE and while it was no classic, it had all the Filmirage funk I love. Same goes for D’Amato’s final gore opus FRANKENSTEIN 2000… I love these things, from Ator to 2020 Texas Gladiators and right on down to Blue Angel Cafe and into deeper obscurity. So, gimme my cup o’ Joe (and pals) and make mine Filmirage!
I will usually watch anything with Robert Englund involved. I enjoy his acting, he always knows when to be over-the-top and when to play it more subdued in his movies.
Mark - Exclamation Mark’s Vintage SciFi/Horror Review
I’m a sucker for werewolf flicks, even though I know 90% of them are going to be terrible.
I’d say that I probably will watch any horror movie that is Italian.
Also, as I buy lots of old video tapes, there are certain video labels that I’ll watch anything on since the majority of stuff on the labels are good or notable. Wizard Video for example, but also Prism, Paragon, Continental, Midnight Video, Gorgon Video, Magnum Entertainment, Twilight Video, Thriller Video, and some others.
Steven - The Horror Blog
Hello. My name is Steven, and I have an indiscriminate urge to watch any and all zombie movies. Six years ago, Rue Morgue magazine had a cover story devoted to The Dead Hate The Living. The reason it made the cover was because it was the first major zombie film produced since 1995’s Dellamorte Dellamore. What a difference six years make. During the late 90’s zombie drought I started seeking out every zombie movie I could find. This wasn’t too damaging considering many of them were minor classics, and even the bad ones weren’t that bad. But despite my recent efforts to kick the habit, and with so many inferior zombie films hitting the shelves and giving me every reason to rehabilitate myself, I still watch just about every one that crosses my path. Now excuse me, I have a date with Nudist Colony of the Dead.
I want to thank all this week’s contributors for sharing their stories with us. It takes a lot of courage to come forward and admit your weaknesses, so please show your support and visit their sites. We can get through this. Together.
August 3rd, 2006 at 6:58 am
For an actor, I’d say Bruce Campbell…I’d watch him read the phonebook if they filmed it…
For a director, recently I’d have to say Neil Marshall…I’m hearing AMAZING things about The Descent, and Dog Soldiers was a terrific underrated horror flick…I think he’s got some talent and I’ll be watching his next few…
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Argh!–late again! Sorry! So I’ve given this a lot of thought, and the Frankenstein Monster is probably the closest thing–though there are movies (and things in other media) that I’ve not bothered to acquire yet. Monster rallies come in pretty close on that (by definition, they tend to include Frank anyway), and for a while I was watching any giallo I could get my hands on, period.
August 3rd, 2006 at 5:02 pm
The name John Carpenter. God knows how many times I’ve been to see many a horrible movie in the past 15 years I saw because his name was on it–Body Bags, Vampires, Ghosts of Mars.
August 4th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I gotta side with Steven on this one. It’s Zombies. Can’t get enough.
and I actually REALLY enjoyed John Carpenter’s Vampires, although it was completely separate from the book written by John Steakley ( Yes i get the pun ). If you liked that book also check out “Armor”.