I forgot about Gremlins, but that's absolutely one of my favorite movies. (and its sequel, which I watched way more often as a child)
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Just Keep Telling Yourself It's Only a Thread: Talking Time's Top 50 Horror Movies!
- Thread starter Dracula
- Start date
You might be surprised;
That movie is a live action cartoon, putting Gremlins on my list was as close as I could get to voting for it.
If this was a list for movies in general, of course it would be my number 1
Gremlins is neat
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
One thing I like about Joe Dante is while I think he does like Billy OK, I feel like he likes the monsters most of all, a fact that really comes through in the sequel. Gremlins are also among my favourite movie monsters and have the perfect balance of whimsy and genuine menace that the countless knock-offs couldn't quite achieve.
I think it helps that it seems like they aren't so much out to kill anyone so much as it just becomes collateral damage to their fun.
I think it helps that it seems like they aren't so much out to kill anyone so much as it just becomes collateral damage to their fun.
No. 11 It Follows
Points: 166 | Lists: Dracula (#9); Sabrecat (#18); YangusKhan (#16); Vaeran (#2); Johnny Unusual (#17); Bulgakov (#16); Shakewell (#16)
“It could look like someone you know or it could be a stranger in a crowd. Whatever helps it get close to you.”
It Follows is a 2014 American supernatural horror film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell that follows Jaime "Jay" Height, a 19-year-old college student who is pursued by a supernatural entity after a sexual encounter.
Drac’s Notes: Here’s another awesome horror film from the 2010s. This is one of a handful of horror movies I’ve seen as an adult that really, seriously, got under my skin. Except for maybe one or two instances, the movie has nearly no violence or gore. The fear comes entirely from that eerie sense of being followed, and what might happen when it catches up with you. Staring out your classroom window to see a woman walking across the quad toward you. Driving out of your neighborhood and seeing a man standing on a roof, staring at you. A disturbingly tall man simply walking into your bedroom. These are the things of waking nightmares, and David Robert Mitchell has expertly woven them into movie form.
There’s lots more to say about this brilliant film, but I’ll just add that if you haven’t seen it, please do.
Okay, so hear me out.
I'm listening.
This entity thing could be totally chumped if people were just less hung up about sex. Right? Like if people were all "eh whatever man, it's just sex," and then did a lot of sex with whoever, the entity would get so lost that no one would ever even see it. The real horror is sexual repression!
Congratulations! You solved the movie.
I did it!!!!
It Follows just barely missed the cut for me. Real good.
Y’know, I really should watch that movie at some point.
I always assumed it was The Ring, except sex
I always assumed it was The Ring, except sex
I've been meaning to see this one! Maybe next October!
I know I've included things whose horror status has been questioned by others, but Gremlins missed my list because it fell outside my own admittedly murky definition of the genre. It is undeniably excellent, however.
I know I've included things whose horror status has been questioned by others, but Gremlins missed my list because it fell outside my own admittedly murky definition of the genre. It is undeniably excellent, however.
I have a confession to make: I've only seen Gremlins once, maybe 4 or 5 years ago, and I didn't fall in love with it. It was fine! That's all.
Most of the affection for Gremlins is just spill-over from Gremlins 2
They're pretty different movies and both very good but it undeniably helps to have seen them as a child. Like most puppet based entertainment.
Among the general populace? I have nothing solid to dispute that, but I don't think that's true. I feel like I've only recently seen some real New Batch advocacy, while Gremlins has been a pop culture mainstay from the moment it landed. I'm not saying these views are correct, but the only time I've seen Gremlins 2 referenced in a remotely mainstream context was a Key and Peele sketch that is not very flattering. I don't think it landed with a lot of viewers (even though it is indeed great).
Like I said, though, I have nothing to back that up and I could be way off.
Re: Gremlins rip-offs. I just rewatched the Critters films for the first time in probably 25 years and I can certainly recommend that if you also last watched them as a child decades ago. I wonder if Angela Bassett and Scott Grimes talked about how they were both in Critters on ER. I've seen almost every episode of the latter but stopped watching before her season, the final one. Fake fan. Critters had a little series on Shudder but it's gone now and I don't even know if it's illicitly online anywhere... I guess I'll wait for it to come back. I need to know all critters lore.
Here's a critters fact: the Shout Factory menu screens are so beautiful but the one for Critters 3 doesn't have Leo anywhere because why? Too reserved to be like, "oh, Leonardo DiCaprio's in this? Bet you thought we'd put him i here!" Well, yes, I did.
Also I thought these movies were like in some way for adults as a child and I was watching something kind advanced... Anyway, they are certainly not.
I'm sorry if I'm prematurely discussing Critters which probably made the list...
Here's a critters fact: the Shout Factory menu screens are so beautiful but the one for Critters 3 doesn't have Leo anywhere because why? Too reserved to be like, "oh, Leonardo DiCaprio's in this? Bet you thought we'd put him i here!" Well, yes, I did.
Also I thought these movies were like in some way for adults as a child and I was watching something kind advanced... Anyway, they are certainly not.
I'm sorry if I'm prematurely discussing Critters which probably made the list...
As Johnny noted, the reason Gremlins succeeds where so many imitators failed is that, while they’re incredibly destructive, Gremlins aren’t actually mean (except to Gizmo). They’re just playing.
they’re here for a good time, not a long time.
they’re here for a good time, not a long time.
You are not, and it did not. Not a single vote was cast for any of the four Critters films, which is a shame! I only recently watched them all for the first time (though I didn't quite see all of Critters 4).
My favorite bit comes in the second movie. There are these recurring space-faring bounty hunter aliens in the series who can shape-shift into any humanoid they see. A new one shows up in the second film, and the first thing it sees is a centerfold in a porno mag. When they finish the transformation, they look down at their navel and yank out a fist-sized staple. It's a great gag.
DiCaprio showing up in the third movie got a big noise out of me. I couldn't believe it.
That staple thing was absolutely a formative memory. That image stayed with me as a child! (wasn't disturbed, just always stuck with me as a cool thing) When I revisited Critters 2 I wondered how the gender stuff would play out and it was... not as offensive as it could have been! But also not coherent. There's no narrative through line. RIP Lee... (was always sad they died)
Critters 3 was actually why Leo was famous to me as a child...
Critters 3 was actually why Leo was famous to me as a child...
What? But I had Critters 2 at #18 on my list.
"Although widely believed to have been made to cash in on the success of the similarly themed Gremlins, director Stephen Herek has refuted this in interviews, pointing out that the first Critters script was written by Domonic Muir long before Gremlins went into production, and subsequently underwent rewrites to reduce the similarities between the two films."
Hell yes It Follows.
I posted this in the context of talking about The Blair Witch Project, but It Follows might be the ultimate expression of this. Every placid, ordinary, establishing shot of people casually walking around in broad daylight is incredibly tense in this movie because any one of them could be It. Even the premise alone is chilling: no matter where you go, no matter how far or how fast you run, somewhere out there something is always walking towards you to kill you. There's a ton to unpack in this film about sex and death but I'll leave that to people who are smarter than I.
One other fun detail is that the film's setting is deliberately vague and confusing in terms of when it's supposed to take place: no one has a cell phone and the cars and televisions suggest the past, but one of the characters has this weird futuristic clamshell e-reader she's always pulling out. By making it impossible to pin down when the film is set it becomes sort of timeless, and it's one more element that keeps the viewer from getting too comfortable.
--SCENE CHANGE--
Backing up a bit, it seems I missed the entry for my #1 pick, Cabin in the Woods. Is it the scariest horror film ever made? Nah. But it's absolutely one of the most riotous good times I've ever had in the theater, with twists and plays upon established horror tropes that are both brilliant and hilarious. It's one of those movies that benefits greatly by the viewer going in blind, so if you haven't seen it yet, just put it on and let it surprise you.
I posted this in the context of talking about The Blair Witch Project, but It Follows might be the ultimate expression of this. Every placid, ordinary, establishing shot of people casually walking around in broad daylight is incredibly tense in this movie because any one of them could be It. Even the premise alone is chilling: no matter where you go, no matter how far or how fast you run, somewhere out there something is always walking towards you to kill you. There's a ton to unpack in this film about sex and death but I'll leave that to people who are smarter than I.
One other fun detail is that the film's setting is deliberately vague and confusing in terms of when it's supposed to take place: no one has a cell phone and the cars and televisions suggest the past, but one of the characters has this weird futuristic clamshell e-reader she's always pulling out. By making it impossible to pin down when the film is set it becomes sort of timeless, and it's one more element that keeps the viewer from getting too comfortable.
--SCENE CHANGE--
Backing up a bit, it seems I missed the entry for my #1 pick, Cabin in the Woods. Is it the scariest horror film ever made? Nah. But it's absolutely one of the most riotous good times I've ever had in the theater, with twists and plays upon established horror tropes that are both brilliant and hilarious. It's one of those movies that benefits greatly by the viewer going in blind, so if you haven't seen it yet, just put it on and let it surprise you.
Nah, the movie's general attitude about sex is less repressive than that, and the monster stops bothering the person once they have sex again, which, I mean, you don't stop having herpes once you have sex with someone else.
It is definitely not that, and you should definitely watch it.
This is a movie that definitely stuck with me. I saw it with Matchstick and afterwards, I was waiting in the Metro station for my train and someone came down the escalator and was walking vaguely in my direction and it creeped the shit out of me. That's how you know it's a good one.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
What I wrote for on It Follows.
No slight to Critters, which is probably the Gremlins inspired film (even if that script was done before Gremlins, Gremlins existence 100% got the movie greenlit), but you can enjoy the chaos more when the endgame isn't murder, it just happens to be in there. Remember those gremlins singing carols. I don't know if they were planning to actually scare the lady or just trying to do caroling (other child-element to gremlins AND Gizmo: they like to imitate people) but I feel like the gremlin who killed the lady by fucking with her chair was incidental. And even that gremlin was less "I want this person to die" and more "This shit is fun. Oh, that person died as a result of my actions? Hilarious".
I also feel like the general mischief is treated with more joy than the knock-offs. Dante is mostly on the side of the gremlins, I feel (even more in the sequel), until its time to wrap up the movie.
In other news.
Well, I mean, they are mean. And they are just playing. See, they are like very young children with the empathy removed and no desire for guidance inborn into most kids. And even kids with those two things can be mean. Trust me, I look after kids. But its a weird sort of... innocent meanness? For fun or based out of a misplaced sense of "this belongs to me." And while I wouldn't go as far as to say the gremlins are "childlike", they retain that sense of fun of knocking over an anthill. And they certainly don't care if someone dies and might even think it (including other gremlins) is hilarious. You know, in trying to convey my general agreement to Octo's sentiment but saying "they are mean, though," it occurs to me that the Gremlins might be a metaphor for kids. You don't follow the rules, they turn on you. Both in the sense that kids need structure and rules but also... the kids I watch are incredibly "rules" focused. Not even about fairness but things need to be just so or its awful. First story, then song, then bed. Try to fuck with the rules and it is chaos. Also, stick them in front of a movie and you have peace for a little while.
No slight to Critters, which is probably the Gremlins inspired film (even if that script was done before Gremlins, Gremlins existence 100% got the movie greenlit), but you can enjoy the chaos more when the endgame isn't murder, it just happens to be in there. Remember those gremlins singing carols. I don't know if they were planning to actually scare the lady or just trying to do caroling (other child-element to gremlins AND Gizmo: they like to imitate people) but I feel like the gremlin who killed the lady by fucking with her chair was incidental. And even that gremlin was less "I want this person to die" and more "This shit is fun. Oh, that person died as a result of my actions? Hilarious".
I also feel like the general mischief is treated with more joy than the knock-offs. Dante is mostly on the side of the gremlins, I feel (even more in the sequel), until its time to wrap up the movie.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
OK, I'm not done talking about Gremlins.
OK, so once again I'm going to post this.
And its a funny internet song but I do know this is something Dante didn't want to happen. No more Gremlins movies. And I get it. But here's the thing: if Dante could OWN and have creative control of the Gremlins franchise, then he should have kept going. But here's the deal: one a decade. Think about it: its the Looney Tunes equivalent of the Romero Dead movies but instead its monsters causing mayhem in whatever is important to NOW. Think about it: Gremlins during the dot com boom. Gremlins vs. the cops and we are all on the side of the Gremlins now more than ever. A joke about the Dress. Remember The Dress? Welp, I just talked myself out of this great idea.
OK, so once again I'm going to post this.
And its a funny internet song but I do know this is something Dante didn't want to happen. No more Gremlins movies. And I get it. But here's the thing: if Dante could OWN and have creative control of the Gremlins franchise, then he should have kept going. But here's the deal: one a decade. Think about it: its the Looney Tunes equivalent of the Romero Dead movies but instead its monsters causing mayhem in whatever is important to NOW. Think about it: Gremlins during the dot com boom. Gremlins vs. the cops and we are all on the side of the Gremlins now more than ever. A joke about the Dress. Remember The Dress? Welp, I just talked myself out of this great idea.
I had actually written basically this same thing in my original writeup before I edited it out - it's such a cool way to create a subtly unsettling atmosphere. Along the same lines, even the time of year is confusing - it looks like winter and sometimes people are wearing heavy jackets, but then there are scenes with people in swimming pools outside.
Watched Friday the 13th in 3D today. Great experience. Unfortunately I just had the shitty PSVR earbuds but what an incredible film. I feel like 3D films are under pressure to be restrained and "earn" their 3D shots but there's just something to be said for triggering blink reflexes for absolutely no reason every two minutes.
Also the final girl is alone with Jason for like 25 minutes and I wondered if it'd be a drag but it wasn't; she just kept railing on him. (the wood block!) Satisfying.
Also the final girl is alone with Jason for like 25 minutes and I wondered if it'd be a drag but it wasn't; she just kept railing on him. (the wood block!) Satisfying.
Hahaha, did you spring for the Scream Factory set or find another way?
I bought the set... investing in my future, where I can listen to a new Jason X commentary or something.