Underrated Horror Films?

[ArmoredFoe]

I don't think that movie has any redeeming qualities. You can look hard enough at anything and consider it art. It is akin to that Human Centipede movie, in my opinion. Just something that was created for the sole purpose of disgusting people. I know there is an audience for that kind of thing, sadly.

Yeah I agree, Id throw Begotten and Flowers of Flesh and Blood in that category...just a movie to showcase a effects more or less.

What about Aftermath...

 

[Maglor]

Flower of Flesh and Blood is a grail for gore lovers.

The killer finds beauty in his work, hence the title. In a strange way I find it beautiful too. There is something beautiful about the revealing of what is inside of us. This movie shows disembowelment better than any movie I have ever seen.

Betcha think I'm a serial killer myself now.




I actually wasn't gonna bring up FOFAB because it is so extreme. But it really is a must see is you love gore. There is intentionally no story in this movie. It is simply the dismembering and disemboweling of a woman. She has been drugged to be semi-conscious and she perceives pain as pleasure (though the movie is not sexual). In that way it is not a torture movie (although it blows away any of the Saw movies, or any other modern horror movie, in terms of how graphic it is.) Again, it is about reveling in the beauty of the body in deconstruction.



I used to own it but felt weird about having it in my possession it so I traded it on swaptree.

I don't think that movie has any redeeming qualities. You can look hard enough at anything and consider it art. It is akin to that Human Centipede movie, in my opinion. Just something that was created for the sole purpose of disgusting people. I know there is an audience for that kind of thing, sadly.

Heh, I can't even begin to see how Begotten and Human Centipede could be lumped into the same category.

Here is a summary of the plot of Begotten:

The film opens with a robed, profusely bleeding "God" disemboweling himself, with the act ultimately ending in his death. A woman, Mother Earth, emerges from his remains, arouses the body, and impregnates herself with his semen. Becoming pregnant, she wanders off into a vast and barren landscape. The pregnancy manifests in a fully grown convulsing man whom she leaves to his own devices.

The "Son of Earth" meets a group of faceless nomads who seize him with what is either a very long umbilical cord or a rope. The Son of Earth vomits organic pieces, and the nomads excitedly accept these as gifts. The nomads finally bring the man to a fire and burns him.

"Mother Earth" encounters the resurrected man and comforts him. She seizes the man with a similar umbilical cord. The nomads appear and proceed to rape her. Son of Earth is left to mourn over the lifeless body. A group of characters appears, carry her off and dismember her, later returning for Son of Earth. After he, too, is dismembered, the group buries the remains, planting the parts into the crust of the earth. The burial site becomes lush with flowers. In a final coda, "Mother Earth" and "Son of Earth" are shown again, this time wandering away through a forest.

Perhaps that sound a bit ostentatious, but that is true of most art house movies. The movie is meant to be deep. And it is meant to be haunting (and shocking) in a way that Human Centipede never could be.


It's been 15 years since I last saw Begotten and I can easily call to mind the imagery from that movie.

That said, I can see how one might say that it's devoid of "any redeeming qualities." I have a real hard time stomaching any depiction of rape, and that will prevent me from ever watching it again.

 

[Maglor]

For those who haven't seen it and want a taste, here is the opening scene:

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Looks like the whole film is available at youtube.

 

[thenammagazine]

There's a fine line between art and crap. IMHO, that... was 10 minutes of soiled toilet paper.

To be fair, it might be better as a three-minute Norwegian black metal video, but as it stands, that's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Sat through the whole thing though.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was a better look into the mind of a psychotic.

 

[Dark Passenger]

I would have to say that Halloween II (1981) is the most under-rated horror movie. Very good movie and not really talked about too much at all. A lot of nice creepy scenes.

 

[Darth_Fatso]

Wolf Creek is another movie I think was pretty underrated.

 

[piccolodaimaoh]

Hey Maglor, sorry I missed out on the Great Zombie Debate. I love end of the world type movies that involve Zombie or Zombie-like creatures. The movie I think of as the oldest Zombie-like end of the world story is The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price. Those on the board know this was the first movie based on the book I Am Legend. Now the reason why I bring it up is because the monsters in the story are Vampire Zombies, but they are not dead, so I guess they are neither Zombies or Vampires. After some deep thought I can not honestly pose an opinion as to what is or isn't a Zombie movie only that I like outbreak type movies, dead or alive, flesh eating or brain hungry.
I hear they are making another Quarantine movie which is great since the writer and director of Quarantine also wrote and directed REC.
Oh, in case you didn't get an answer to your query, I thought Daybreakers was pretty good. Another outbreak movie, but like I Am Legend and Quarantine the creatures are not dead but definitely affected. I recommend it.

 

[fosing]

is begotten available in technicolor? i can sense the WTF!? vibe...
that intro reminds me of my past work experience at the ED, only difference is it got real sound and color.haha

 

[sparkstron73]

You should re-watch it. The older you are, the better it gets IMO. It is a bit out there, as you would expect when you mix Beat poets with Cronenberg, but a very interesting film. Unsettling in many ways, but again, that's par for the course with this guy.

I will do but on my own, the missus will be saying wtf and won't let me forget putting her through 2 hours of weirdness hahaha.

Shes still wont forgive me for making her watch superman 2 directors cut.
Was pretty rubbish though but interesting for me.

On that "bergotton" film what a load of old rubbish.
Luckily I didnt watch more than a few minutes as I got bored.
It is quite creepy the way "god" (is it supposed to be?)is just sitting there jiggling around carving himself up but I don't see the point.

Is it trying to say gods a sick weirdo?

Well we knew that already just look at a duck billed platapus hahahahahaha

 

[karamazov80]

Yeah, of course art is what people say it is, but when you see a genuine creative work like Naked Lunch, and juxtipose it with filth like Begotten, I personally am able to see the difference as clearly as day.

 

[ArmoredFoe]

Flower of Flesh and Blood is a grail for gore lovers.

The killer finds beauty in his work, hence the title. In a strange way I find it beautiful too. There is something beautiful about the revealing of what is inside of us. This movie shows disembowelment better than any movie I have ever seen.

Betcha think I'm a serial killer myself now.




I actually wasn't gonna bring up FOFAB because it is so extreme. But it really is a must see is you love gore. There is intentionally no story in this movie. It is simply the dismembering and disemboweling of a woman. She has been drugged to be semi-conscious and she perceives pain as pleasure (though the movie is not sexual). In that way it is not a torture movie (although it blows away any of the Saw movies, or any other modern horror movie, in terms of how graphic it is.) Again, it is about reveling in the beauty of the body in deconstruction.

I actually own Flowers of Flesh and blood, while yeah there isnt any story, for a 45 mins short film about a girl getting dismembered by the "mad samurai" i love it. Its great for gore hounds and yet it sits in my collection cause just the cover alone is awesome. I will agree that its definetly acquired taste though...as for Begotten I think that movie is way overrated and pretty much just an artsy fartsy crap.

 

[Maglor]

There's a fine line between art and crap.

Would you care to elaborate? It's "crap" isn't exactly a strong argument... and frankly your argument wont' hold much water until you've seen the whole thing.

To be fair, it might be better as a three-minute Norwegian black metal video...

Actually it was used for a music video:

The music video for "Cryptorchid", a single from the album Antichrist Superstar by Marilyn Manson, was directed by E. Elias Merhige and includes footage from Begotten.

Also, on youtube a bunch of people have put clips from Begotten to music (including at least one black metal band).

...that's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Sat through the whole thing though.

 

[Something Sexy]

I will probably get bashed for this one but I am going to toss Dead Snow out there if it hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

[Maglor]

...as for Begotten I think that movie is way overrated and pretty much just an artsy fartsy crap.

As for being overrated... have enough people even heard of Begotten for it to be overrated?

"Artsy fartsy" isn't the term I would personally choose because I happen to like art movies. I don't know how anyone could watch all of Begotten and not see it as an art movie. Clearly it is an art movie out of a twisted mind, but that doesn't make it crap IMO. It is a mixture of art and exploitation. It's description at Wikipedia as a "experimental/horror film" makes good sense to me.

As to being available in technicolor, here was the intent with this movie:

The film was shot on black and white reversal film, and then every frame was rephotographed for the look that is seen. The only colors are black and white. There are no half-tones. This is intended to add to the eerie atmosphere of the movie, as sometimes the viewer cannot always exactly make out what it is being shown, but can still infer a sense of suffering. The look of the film is described in the trailer as "a Rorschach test for the eye". Merhige said that for each minute of original film, it took up to 10 hours to rephotograph it for the look desired.

I think that's pretty damn cool.

 

[karamazov80]

I think the fact that the director went on to do Marilyn Manson videos speaks volumes

 

[fosing]

@maglor
AHA! so it was that video...i kept second guessing if it was featured from a NIN video or from the live concert theatrics. so it was M.Manson's video.

 

[Something Sexy]

I have never seen this movie Begotten but I am going to say that a lot of people use the word "artsy" to cover up pure crap.

 

[Maglor]

I think the fact that the director went on to do Marilyn Manson videos speaks volumes

I don't own any Marilyn Manson and I only have one of his songs in iTunes, but he is also an artist.

Just because someone uses shock/exploitation as a medium does not make then crap.

I have never seen this movie Begotten but I am going to say that a lot of people use the word "artsy" to cover up pure crap.

Again with the crap... anyone care to elaborate on this. I still see it as a pretty flimsy (one word) argument.


P.S. I am having fun with this thread. I like debates like this that I see as pretty innocuous. If anyone percieves this as getting heated or negative let me know.

 

[Something Sexy]

No but a crap movie makes the movie crap...no matter what genre you call it. Again, I haven't seen the film so I am not attacking it personally. But you can't use the word exploitation to hide it from being criticized.

 

[thenammagazine]

Would you care to elaborate? It's "crap" isn't exactly a strong argument... and frankly your argument wont' hold much water until you've seen the whole thing.

Actually it was used for a music video:

Nice how you singled me out considering everyone else said basically the same thing. Your argument about me not seeing the whole thing is a strawman's argument. If you can't hook the viewer in the first ten minutes, you've failed at your goal. In this case, I found that intro less interesting than staring at a bug zapper and watching mosquitoes fry.

It's shot poorly. The choice of editing was clearly for the sake of art, but I felt that wasn't achieved at all. What was is that the viewer is forced into a migraine to understand what he's seeing. Again, great for a 3-minute metal video, horrible for anything longer than that.

It's tacky. I'm always a believer in the theory that less is more. Not because I don't appreciate gore (I do), but because 99.9% of the time what the viewer will imagine in their head is 1000x worse than what could be portrayed on screen. Additionally, having a woman crawl out from under that and squeeze her tits? Really? That might make a 13-year-old horror dork whack it 'till he's chaffed, but it seemed almost expected and lacking in any "shock" value compared to the stupid imagery before it.

I could pick apart the fail of special effects there, but seeing as how they didn't know how to shoot film, they probably had little to no understanding of human anatomy. So that's somewhat trivial.

Lastly, the only reason this imagery would stick in my mind after viewing it is not because of any left-brain "impact" but moreso self induced anguish. Less "OMG that ____ was ____ing craaaaaaaazy!" and more, "____, I can't believe I sat through that ____." Again, fail.

That's not to say that there won't be people who don't like it. But hey, there are also people in this world who enjoy eating ____. To each their own. If it floats your boat, go sailing.