28 Days Later ... the next best Horror film??

[housepig]

I thought 28 days later was ok, but was not worthy of all the critical acclaim it recieved.

It seems sometimes that even a mediocre horror or science fiction film can be heralded as something amazing, because so much in both genres is such crap.

not to say that this doesn't happen with dramas, action films, etc... but it seems disproportionate in horror and science fiction.

I mean, what was the last mainstream* horror film that you were really impressed with?

(*mainstream as in playing in theaters in relatively wide release)

The last horror films I saw in theaters (having missed "The Ring") were "House of 1,000 Corpses" and "Ghost Ship"... both of which were okay, but only because I went into them with pretty low expectations.

The last one that made a real impression on me was the restored / extended version of "The Exorcist".

[tgpo]

Evonne and me went and saw The Exorcist, and I want my money back!!! That was the dumbest, crappiest, biggest waste of time I have ever had the misfortune of sitting through. Ghost Ship was bad too, but at least the opening with the wire was kinda cool, but I could have done the effects in that movie on my computer :P I do give high praise to The Ring. It was a stand out. They decided not to be like all the other horror movies and went for a higher standard. Great movie! I wanna see 28 Days, perhaps this weekend....

[MackemX]

agreed it may be the best British horror in years but that don't mean it's good when compared to the rest of the horrrors elsewhere, I mean just look at Crossroads

it's a bit like the Tim Henman saga we have every year, the Press and most of Wimbledon crowd go mad for him but deep down we all know how crap he is

its always the same in the UK, hype whatever is the best in the UK at the time

bring back Hammer House Of Horror I say

as for different countries getting movies 1st, is it cos they aint gotta enough reels of the movie to share at the same time?

[rvl123]

The Ring ruled. I loved eerything about it. The end was sweet. It was kinda a slap in the face of other horror movie that end on that "You freed their spirit" crap.

Hell Yes...Totally Agree

[tenders]

I thought 28 days later was ok, but was not worthy of all the critical acclaim it recieved. I think it was over hyped by the critics and media over here, I obviously don't know how much praise has been heaped on it in the US.

yep,most movies are "over hyped" these days,i think mostly its just a gimmick to get people into the theaters to sell more tickets.

[housepig]

well, of course.

the sad thing is, if you hype a movie hard, you better get what you want out of the first weekend's gross, because you're not going to sustain the success with hype.

look at two of the biggest movies of last year - Spider-Man and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. SM got hype, but it delivered. MBFGW didn't start getting hyped until it was already a word-of-mouth success.

now look at this season.. X2 (I liked it, but it's no SM), Matrix 2 (cut a bit at the knees by bad word of mouth*), T3 (doesn't look like it's going to have legs, same reason)... you can't polish a turd. Obviously there was something in SM & MBFGW that spoke to people, and made them want to see them in the theaters, sometimes repeatedly. You can't generate that with marketing for more than a week or two...

(*note to MPAA - Matrix 2's grosses are not being undercut by file sharing, they are being undercut because the movie was good, but not a leap forward like the first one, which dissappointed a lot of potential repeat viewers)

balls to all of 'em... I'll wait for the Kurosawa retrospectives to come around again...

[Conquest10]

I do give high praise to The Ring. It was a stand out. They decided not to be like all the other horror movies and went for a higher standard. Great movie!

the reason its so good is cuz its not an american movie. i feel that right now, asia is coming out with better movies than hollywood. another movie thats getting the hollywood remake treatment is the horror movie the eye.

[flaninacupboard]

i found 28 days really refreshing to watch, because it was english. it had a feel very similar to the fantastic series "The last train" BUT WITH ZOMBIES!
wasn't 100% on the ending, bit too happy for my liking, but has some great moments.

It makes me laugh when british/english movies get released in the states. something like "bend it like beckham" which must have been out here well over a year ago, is still doing the rounds in america, and from what i remember earned more in it's first week of release over there than the entire run in the UK!

[tgpo]

Just got back from the movies. We saw 28 days later. I loved it. Evonne couldn't decided if she really liked or disliked it. I'm at an almost complete loss over the ending, but for somereason that added to the movie for me. It's like me not understanding the ending made it a better film. One note, I could have done without seeing that dude naked so many times.

[housepig]

just saw it. great movie. effectively used the tropes of other zombie movies (some good nods to Romero's "Dead" trilogy, "Omega Man", et al.) but with a fresh eye - and not afraid to misdirect.

in fact, that was the thrust of post-movie discussion - my friend maintains that what keeps Boyle's movies from being great is that his tension is uneven... he'll build up tension and not deliver. (and perfect example - while they are in the supermarket, and framing the shot with the darkened manager's alcove in the background... I kept expecting to see something stirring in there, or to come shrieking out... because I expect that in a zombie movie!)

but hell yeah... I hope they release the dvd soon here, I need to pick that one up.

as for the technical - wasn't crazy about the look of it for about the first 10 minutes - the grain looked "off" to me. So I don't know (and won't, until I see it again) if that was intentional, or if it just took me that long to look past it and get into the movie...

[KBeee]

The Ring ruled. I loved eerything about it. The end was sweet. It was kinda a slap in the face of other horror movie that end on that "You freed their spirit" crap.

Hell Yes...Totally Agree

Are you talking about the US Ring, or the Japanese Ring?
I watched the Japanese Ringu on videotape, alone, in the dark....
Took me 10 minutes to get off the sofa and eject the tape afterwards. If the damn phone had rang I'd have died of fright.

Audition was scary too - I saw that in a cinema with a Japanese friend who squeezed my arm so hard she left fingernail impressions even through my coat... Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri.....

[galactica]

I watched the Japanese Ringu on videotape, alone, in the dark....
Took me 10 minutes to get off the sofa and eject the tape afterwards. If the damn phone had rang I'd have died of fright.

Thats exactly what makes it soooo good! Did you get that feeling with 28 days later? I didn't .