Wednesday, August 19, 2015

F This Movie! - Our Favorite Horror Directors

Heather Wixson returns as she and Patrick name some of their favorite masters of horror.



Download this episode here. (107.8 MB)

Subscribe to F This Movie! in iTunes.

Listen to F This Movie! on Stitcher.

Also discussed this episode: Turbo Kid (2015), Final Girl (2015), The Visit (2015)

Follow Heather on Twitter at @thehorrorchick and find more of her writing at Daily Dead and thehorrorchick.com!

26 comments:

  1. Not a single complaint here, extensive or otherwise.

    I mean, you guys talked about Carpenter AND Del Toro -- what is there to complain about?
    This was excellent. Thank you, Patrick & Heather!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "His name should come up on every podcast. He's Guillermo del Toro." Truer words have not been spoken. (As long as Quentin's name also comes up on every podcast.)

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not that Mamie Gummer doesn't sound a bit odd, but her name really is Mary Gummer (Mamie being a nickname for Mary).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just starting this podcast and love Heather so I'm excited for the rest but wanted to offer a defense of "found footage". I know us horror fans kind of groan and roll our eyes at ANOTHER found footage movie, and a lot of them are bad, and then every once in awhile it's like "it's found footage BUT I actually kind of liked it or at least parts of it - they did something a little different with it or something was especially effective because of it". I could run off a fairly long list but we all probably know which ones I'm talking about. But, realistically, don't you think the ratio of BAD found footage to OK-GOOD found footage is probably similar to that of standard format movies?

    And the whole Ft13th uproar, for example - why NOT found footage? What are we going to get instead? More of basically the same? If anything had the potential to make Jason terrify me again it was the oft-unsettling realism of found footage.

    Anyway, sorry for the rant, it just occurred to me while I was listening and agreeing that, wait, I actually kind of like some of these so why am I so inclined to profess my hatred of them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have a problem with found footage either. When it's used to good effect. It's like any other subgenre. There's good and there's bad. The only real issue with found footage is how much it's saturated the market.

      Having said that, I wouldn't want to see a Friday the 13th found footage film. In a found footage Friday the 13th film, you'd be reducing POV to only the person who's holding the camera at that moment. If Jason's victim isn't within the frame of the camera a character is operating, you won't see it, and that robs Friday the 13th of one of its great tropes -- its murder setpiece. If a camera operator is murdered by Jason, the screenwriter would need a very clever reason for another character to find that camera and switch it back on, if it still functions. And then the writer would have to deal with the missing time between the death of the previous operator and when the next operator finds the camera and begins recording again. Because there'd only be two, maybe three interesting moments in a Friday the 13th found footage film -- catching a glimpse of Jason in the background of a shot, following Jason with a camera Bigfoot style, and the obvious shot of Jason swiping down on the camera operator with his machete. That doesn't really work for me. Speaking of "more of the same," a found footage Friday the 13th would just be more of the same kind of found footage aesthetic, with Jason popping up maybe every thirty minutes rather than every five minutes or so. Or we may have to wait the whole movie until we see him, ten seconds before the end titles. It'd be like Willow Creek with Jason (did we even see Bigfoot in that movie?), or It Exists with Jason (with minimal Jason). That's not enough Jason for me. And the biggest loss with a found footage Friday the 13th movie would be the score, especially if Harry Manfredini was still composing Friday the 13th soundtracks. Nope, found footage Friday the 13th is not for me.

      Delete
    2. Damn you and your thinking things through! I don't know though, there still might be a way around it. My real dream setup for a Ft13th sequel would be a reunion of the counsellors (with their kids) who were actually working when Jason drowned (I don't think they were ever killed right?) starring A-list celebrities (e.g. Brad Pitt, Amy Adams). That would be a deserving 13th Friday the 13th movie.

      Delete
    3. I'd love to see a counselor reunion. There'd probably be a way of doing it too, regardless of this new remake coming, now that there's this new Hollywood fad of erasing sequels and revising franchises. (And maybe that's where the FF angle would fit. People, or former counselors/survivors arriving at Camp Crystal Lake to document, verify and legitimize Jason's existence. Yeah, I guess it could work.)

      Delete
  5. Epic podcast guys
    For some reason being together really made me feel like you were really getting into it, fantastic conversation, if you want my 2 cents worth I would Stick Sam Raimi in there too, I really like his sense of humour when he does Horror, With notables to Don Coscarelli and Fred Dekker too


    To speak on found footage I dont mind it as long as they don't do too much shaky cam running about style, ps I love Rec and the first Paranormal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally agree. I find that a lot of the really good found footage tends to feature a professional cameraman as the filming character, which gives filmmakers an excuse to shoot the movie in a competent way instead of having it be constantly shaky and hectic.

      Delete
    2. Agreed - I think that's one of the reasons Creep, for example, works so well.

      Delete
  6. I'd be okay with Hulk Hogan's filmography being erased along with his existence -- but Rocky III stays. Besides, he wasn't Hulk Hogan in that movie. He was Thunderlips.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I read an article a few years back with Zelda Rubenstein commenting on her Poltergeist experience, saying something to the extent of, "I don't know anything about any problems behind the scenes; I only know when I was on set and working, all of my scenes were directed by Steven Spielberg."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My recollection was way off on that Zelda Rubenstein interview. Here ya go:
      http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34266

      Delete
  9. Except for his name above the title, nothing about The Ward bears John Carpenter's stylistic stamp. I'm a John Carpenter completist; I own The Ward, but I'd watch Sucker Punch many times over before I ever watch The Ward again, Amber Heard's decent star turn notwithstanding.
    As far as his film work goes, and if John never makes another film again, Ghosts of Mars works as a fun final effort. Sure, it's messy. It's a grindhouse movie made in a world devoid of a true grindhouse circuit, and the most self-referential of his work.

    ReplyDelete
  10. There really is no such thing as a bad episode of F This Movie! At first I was a little worried going into this show, I thought you guys were going to go completely off the resevation with your director picks, but I was pleasantly surprised that most peoples lists consist of the true greats of the genre. The first two names that come to mind when I think of horror are John Carpenter and Wes Craven, which were the first two directors discussed on the show. I think I was worried that you guys were going to talk about stuff I wasn't going to be able to relate too, but the only director who's work you discussed that I'm not familiar with is Cronenberg. Of course I have heard of him, but that is one area that I haven't gotten around to exploring. Any suggestions on where to start with him?

    What movie do I always repurchase when a new video format or special edition of the film becomes available? It's not Star Wars or Back to the Future (I have every version of it though). It is in fact, A Nightmare on Elm Street. I have had the VHS, DVD, Remastered DVD, Blu-Ray, and then I also have a version in the Nightmare Collection Blu Ray Box Set. Your welcome New Line! I have always been of the opinion that this is the best horror movie of all time. It's the one i revisit the most, I too was excited to see it on Netflix recently, and had to think why? While I clicked play and watched it for the 100th time. It just never gets old, especially after knowing every detail of the production of it. The opening is amazing and sets the tone better than almost all other horror films, the scene where Tina gets dragged up the wall always gets me as well. I am such an Elm Street fanboy, that tried as hard as I could to enjoy the remake, it wasn't a bad experience opening night, but I cannot watch it at home. I just hate every bit of that film now, Robert Englund is the only Freddy that I can watch, the voice, the walk, the facial expressions, there's much more to Freddy than burnt skin and a glove with knives on it, that's what Englund brought to the part. New NIghtmare used to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid, I could barely make it through that movie, it just made me feel uneasy, I don't know if it was Miko Hughes or the fact that Freddy was coming into the 'real world'. There was always something about that movie that really struck that fear cord in me. I was glad that Craven tried to take a different approach and return Freddy to a darker place after the cartoony sequels (which I still love too). It's underrated, no doubt. I totally agree with what you said about Craven though, a lot of his movies tend to be a bit of a mess. He is one of the most innovative and creative filmmakers in the genre and I feel like his ideas are what drive his films. His concept for the original Scream was great, no one can deny that. He just tends to have trouble putting a full film together at times, he has trouble building on his concepts and ideas.

    Great show, I was thoroughly entertained, it kind of got me excited about October coming up. I think I'm going to participate in Scary Movie Month for the first time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You'll love it Kersey. Its really good fun, not that most of these guys need an excuse to watch Horror films, its October all year at my house ;)

      Delete
  11. I'd like to think my praise of the hilarity that is Shakma is what got it it's Blu ray release.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've listened to this twice already. Its so awesome. Love it when Heather comes on!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Just got back from the video store, tried renting The Fly...but they didn't have it. I had them look up if they had any Cronenberg movies and they directed me to Maps to the Stars which is supposed to be his most recent. I take it I'm going to have to buy most of his older films like Videodrome, doesn't seem like my video store has much else of his work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julianne Moore is the best thing about Maps to the Stars - I would not say it's representative of Cronenberg's work, although I didn't dislike it as much as others.

      Delete
    2. Yeah, when they said, 'we got Maps to the Stars.' I was like, 'hmm, never even heard of it.' Then I saw the cover with the cast, was glad to see Julianne Moore, big fan of hers myself. I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be representative of his work though, they just didn't have any of his older titles, rented it anyways, figured why not.

      Delete
  14. Good podcast guys and now that I think about it when it comes to directors who have primarily done horror for their careers I'm with you Patrick and Heather its Guillermo, Carpenter, and Romero. Out of the bunch of them I would say Guillermo has probably had the best overall batting average of the bunch (heck there's parts of Mimic that are very solid) but for most intense I'd go with Carpenter with anything all the way up to In the Mouth of Madness.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I don't think I would have Wes Craven on my list either. I love Nightmare on Elm Street and I like the first Scream but I dont think that is enough to give him a spot. My list would look something like this: (but to be fair I havent seen any Italian Horror or much from the 40's -60's.)

    1. David Cronenberg
    2. Roman Polanski
    3. David Lynch
    4. John Carpenter
    5. Ben Wheatley or Ti West or Sam Raimi or James Whale
    (I know it is cheating but I cant decide)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I know it would be extra work but it would be awesome to get a list of the movies you guys mentioned. This was a great podcast.

    ReplyDelete