CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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No,comperision..son SAW or any does not compare to THE EXORCIST….NONE!!I am a horror fan ,but you will never compete w/THE EXORCIST,never 4 one thing Exorcist was put out in 1973…..its now 2007,hello movies have advanced since then!Notfair to compare THE Exorcist to these modern day movies…even though it still BLOWS THEM AWAY….HAAAAAAA
I don’t think horror films have really evolved for the better since the 70’s and early 80’s. Minus some films like the first two Scream films and maybe a couple others, yet the horror genre is probably one of the worst genres in film history for its blantantly crude showmanship and lack of subtilety. A lot of old horror films if you go back to the days of censorship (that was the ultimate limit to their frontier) had to scare audiences with atmosphere/mood, suspense and anticipation, and using the psychological tendency for audiences to imagine far worse than what is happening on screen. That is why films like Nosferatu, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, The Thing 1951, Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, Jaws, Suspiria, Halloween, Alien, The Shining, The Thing 1982, and A Nightmare on Elm Street were so effective for what minimalist actions they took. This is something many modern horror films do not succeed in accomplishing. We seem to be living in a period where we wish to see the worst of human debauchery and mutilation, and I don’t really understand that. Many of the films I’ve listed from that earlier period understood that the most terrifying aspects of horror is how it can be closely identified with common events in life. Even when horror is at its most fantastic, it’s still grounded in reality. And when you take a concept like people being tortured or mutilated, it’s far too over the top for someone to not think of as purely exploitive. Master horror storytellers knew their limits and knew how to use them to their advantage.
I am glad you included Carpenter’s remake of The Thing among the imaginative/minimalist horror films. Seems all to many people condemn the film for its explicit gore and brutality, while at the same time missing its _extremely_ successful suspensefulness. I, for one, was on the edge of my chair due simply to Carpenter’s skillful direction. He could have gone the easy, lazy route of letting sfx alone bear the story’s weight, but instead he constructed a terrifyingly suspenseful narrative.
Plus, I think the horror scenes were no more and no less than what was called for to tell the story, and in context were not “excessive”. (Also, I think the film does wonders with characterization, condensing authentically-toned personalities into the little material he had to work with, but that’s another issue…)
I was put of by the trailer for Carpenter’s The Thing (on tv), but you make a good case for it, granville1.
Thanks, Granville. Those films I listed are just some examples. I would have listed (if I remembered at the time) Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula (The Tod Browning original with Bela Lugosi), The Quatermass films, Fiend Without A Face, Thr Twilight Zone TV show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Innocents, Night Gallery, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Jaws 2, Dawn of the Dead, the original Friday the 13th (more psychological than any of the others), and Halloween III (by the same writer of The Quatermass films). Just more examples if not more obscure. 😉
I really like Saw 1 & 2. Honestly though, I always thought Saw was a rip-off of Seven and Seven did it waaaaayyyyyy better.
Sorry I’m gonna have to disagree with you there etrigan69…i don’t think Saw was like Se7en, it is in the same genera as Se7en but not trying to take anything from it.
No horror franchise will ever come close to The Exorcist. But there are some great horror movies out there. John Carpenter and George A. Romero are great. And the Hammer and Universal monsters have some fantastic episodes too.
The best horror saga after The Exorcist is probablty The Omen. The Jaws series were also pretty good. Although Jaws IV is a terrible movie and probably the worst in the series, it´s fun to watch. I would also say Amityville Horror, but after the 3rd film of the series everything got messed up.
“Phantasm” is the most consistantly fascinating series with a legion of phans dedicated to the mythology & forgiving of any weak installment so long as they get a phix every 8 years or so. Love it. Believe it.
Thoughts?
Yes, SAW III wrapped the sawga up nicely, putting the series pretty much up there with THE EXORCIST series.
The Exorcist and the Saw series… Saw is just a bit less loved than its older sibling, The Exorcist. These two look and sound nothing alike, but each are beloved. 😛
M.I.K.E.
For atmosphere and REAL terror you can’t beat The Blair Witch project.I’ve heard people say they were disappointed that ‘nothing scary happened’in Blair Witch,meaning there were no blood,guts,and demons, but I watched it hoping for exactly that.If there had been one special effect or a trace of background music then it would have been ‘just a movie’and not the ‘real’ video footage the viewer was asked to believe they were watching.From that movie on, I support the ‘less is more’ approach to horror movie making and just wish more producers would follow on from there.
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