Hi. I'm an idiot.

[slipjig3]

I hate horror movies. Hate them, hate them, hate them. Do not like gore. Do not like being scared. Cannot deal with torture in any way, shape or form. No way, no how, no sir.

So when someone links to the 100 Scariest Movie Moments of All Time list, what does Adam do? Spends Halloween night browsing through all 100 items, one by one. And why does Adam do this? To compare and contrast it with the list as aired on Bravo TV. Most of which he also sat through.

Something is wrong with me. Not totally wrong, though: I did not watch any of the YouTube links. That said, I could've done without the couple of animated gifs included, thank you very much. Scanners ruined my childhood just with its commercials; I'd rather not have it take my adult years hostage, too. *shudder*

(On a related topic, Saw IV was number one at the box office. Which means they'll do another one. *sigh* Aren't we frickin' done with the whole torture-porn thing yet, people?)

Comments

Hi. I, too, am an idiot

[domani.livejournal.com]

I am a chicken. I imagine something is behind me all the time, I can't take a full shower without peeking around the curtain to make sure nothing is creeping up on me, and visions of poor little possessed Reagan from The Exorcist haunt me at unpredictable times. So what did I do? I followed your link and promptly scared the whiz out of myself by clicking on the Exorcist clip. Seriously, that movie has been the topic of more than one therapy session in my life. Why? WHY?

Re: Hi. I, too, am an idiot

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Aiee. I think you and I both have this compulsion to stare down the stuff that's alrerady traumatized us, like a guy poking a sore tooth with his tongue. Yup, we be idjits.

[felisdemens.livejournal.com]

Aren't we frickin' done with the whole torture-porn thing yet, people?

Um, not since we started walking upright. Primates are gross and we like that sort of thing.

The Saw series is pretty fucking dreary, though. Like someone's jackass cousin who thinks he's so unbelievably clever and laughs at his own lame jokes a lot.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

What gets me is that they keep coming up with new, clever and seriously icky ways to get people offed. I'm less worried about the fans than I am about the writers of these things.

[transversecity.livejournal.com]

Saw IV got some of the world's worst reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Sadly, not enough folks listened. *sigh*

Aaaggggghhhh

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

Did you have to mention the Scanners commercial?

Now I have to find some way to get it out of my head

Re: Aaaggggghhhh

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Urghh. *wince* Sorry. You know exactly the one I'm talking about, though. *shudder*

[weyrdbird.livejournal.com]

I've watched horror films, I admit. Even liked some of them. But when it comes to real life horror- torture, rape, psychological breaking or bending- that I can't stomach. Like Pan's Labyrinth or The Good Shephard- what is real gets to me. Thankfully most of the time I can shut it off now or skip it if the scenes option shows me that's not all it is. I had trouble with some of the episodes of Dark Angel, but still watched it.

[ex-digitals.livejournal.com]

That scene in Pan's Labyrinth (the one with the bottle) struck me as ENTIRELY unnecessary and out of context from the rest of the movie. I hated it.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Now I'm kind of glad I return Pan's Labyrinth unwatched.

[dicotomygrrl.livejournal.com]

*smacks your forehead for you* Silly boy *hugs*
I know *exactly* how you feel, and sometimes it feels like I am the only one, nice to know that's not the truth! ;)

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Needed the dopeslap.

In defense of Saw

[ex-digitals.livejournal.com]

I used to like horror films, but they've since become very formula to me. I can almost every time say, "here comes to the bad guy" two seconds before it happens so I don't bother to watch it much any more. And I can't STAND torture porn. It makes me ill. So I feel like I have to defend Saw.

See, when I think torture porn I think movies entirely about torture and bloody violence against people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time: Hostel (where the premise of the movie was people tricking innocent people into a trap and then handing them over to people that paid to torture a person for entertainment which they show in gruesome detail). Hostel 2 (where the premise is the same and apparently an unsuspecting woman takes a bath in the blood of one her of friends). Descent where they never actually showed anything in the previews but blood and people screaming. Anything by Quentin Tarantino. THOSE are torture porn. And I refuse to watch any of them. Except for Tarantino, I gave him several chances. I want those hours of my life back.

In the Saw movies, no one is innocent. The victims are drug addicts, adulters, thieves, etc. They are all part of jigsaw's game to be "taught a lesson" and appreciate the life they have been given. They have a chance of escaping as long as they endure and stick to the rules.

Saw I - Not a torture porn, almost 90% psychological thriller.

Saw II - Border-line Torture Porn and an almost total departure from the original.

Saw III - Tied up a lot of loose ends in Saw I, closer related to Saw I. I would like to consider it Saw II and make Saw II, the cheap knock-off version.

Saw IV - Supposed to be the last 'game'. Supposed to be the end. HAD BETTER BE!

I also hate sequels and almost as a rule refuse to support them. Saw has so far been the exception because it's a vaguely new idea; Something which Hollywood has been seemingly bereft of for almost twenty years. Cinderella 2? I mean really. So if 4 isn't the end, I'm done. And to stick to my guns I'm only going to see 4 as a matinée.

Re: In defense of Saw

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

But see, I have a problem with your premise here: Are you saying that it's okay to watch and enjoy people get mutilated, as long as they're bad people? I don't buy it—seeing someone, say, get their head deliberately and graphically crushed is going to set me off in a very, very bad way whether it's a schoolteacher or a mugger. And in a movie like this, it really doesn't matter if the "player" has a chance of escaping, because whether s/he escapes is not based on whether s/he jumps through the necessary hoops and makes the right choices, but on whether the writer and director want the punishment to be carried out for the entertainment of the audience. And nine times out of ten, they do, morality play or not.

Oh, and my understanding of the ending of Saw IV indicates that the story's wide open for a Saw V. *sigh*

Re: In defense of Saw

[ex-digitals.livejournal.com]

That is the horror genre to a point, people dying in frightening ways (and would be interested at some point discussing why so many people seem to enjoy the genre, because I'm not sure myself), but I draw the line at slow, methodous torture on screen or making slow, methodous torture the premise of the movie. Horror is about being scared, not about spurting blood and horrific, Salvador Dali-like special effects. I think Hitchcock did it right when he left it up the audience's imagination.

Thank you for the head's up on 4. I'll give it a pass.

[ex-digitals.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that list btw, I was looking at it, and thought "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure? WTF?" And so I clicked on it and I was reminded. I am quite amazed you sat through all of the scenes. *shudder* I couldn't do it.

One scene definitely missing was the baby from Train spotting though. I will NEVER forget that scene. Definitely a movie for you to skip even if it's because of that one scene.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Actually, like I said, I didn't watch the YouTube segments. But I did read all the descriptions, and look at all the stills. It was bad enough.

[ex-digitals.livejournal.com]

Sorry, my miscommunication, I was referring to going through all the details of each movie. Freaky stuff.

And now I'll stop acting as a distraction so you can get back to your writing! :)