The "recommend a scary movie" for Halloween thread

[kandrathe]

Hi,
While your speculation is possible, I think that a simpler explanation might be more correct. For years, the western was a major staple of the movies. As they became more and more common, they became less well done, or rather, their flaws became more obvious. In addition, people started to get satiated by the large number turned out. They had a brief resurgence thanks to the spaghetti westerns, but for a long time now, the western has been a rarity.

Much the same cycle has been the case for war movies, for detective/cop stories, for spy stories. They each had a heyday, they each 'oversold' the market, and they each have mostly disappeared except for the occasional reappearance. And all of them share the characteristic that in their heyday they became formalistic, repetitive, and that most damning thing for entertainment: boring.

I suspect that the horror film has gone through the same phases, and the "Jason and Freddie" sub-genre was largely to blame.

Obligatory link: Cat's Eye is a pretty good 'scary' movie based on S. King's work.

--Pete

I wonder too if it is inevitable that a genre becomes a caricature/parody of itself, and polluted with cliche's. For example, Batman, in his original comic form was a ruthless vigilante who killed criminals without remorse, which was a far cry from the TV show. Then, after the publication of Frank Miller's gothic novel, "The Dark Night Returns" there was interest in making a movie based on this darker version. Yet, while the first Batman with Michael Keaton tried to remain true it was over processed enough to tempt the sequels (Batman Returns(92) by Tim Burton, Batman Forever(95) by Joel Schumacher, and Batman & Robin(97) by Joel Schumacher, to stray far into the comedic cliche' that derailed the entire genre in the first place. Keaton, Kilmer, and even Clooney were not brooding enough and believable as a ruthless vigilante for justice, and the villains were even more so joke material. The latest movies have done much better at presenting the twisted soul and tortured psyche that defines the character of Batman, and truly evil and malevolent bad guys that deserve the death that only Batman can deliver.

Another example would be Bond movies. They started out staying as true as could be done in that time to bring pretty violent and sexual pulp novels to the screen, but the latter Roger Moore, and latest Pierce Brosnan versions are more comedies, special effects, and tired old cliche's than they are spy adventures.