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Well, I worked for like two hours on my list and then I lost it because the forum logged me out in the meantime and I couldn't hit 'back' and recover it. So I'm going to have to re-do it later tonight or tomorrow. But just know I'm putting in the effort!

Which reminds me I should totally do the Corman Poe films (and probably the related titles too). Maybe Sunday.

knives wrote:Which reminds me I should totally do the Corman Poe films (and probably the related titles too). Maybe Sunday.

I'm a fan of those. I know one that will be on my top 50. Here is a quick write up of that one which I wrote in October when I spent the whole month watching horror and horror related films.

The Masque of the Red Death (1964: Roger Corman)

The more I watch the Roger Corman Poe cycle of films, the more I feel that they are underrated. Maybe I just read the wrong critics or not enough critics (though to be fair Leonard Maltin is a fan of this film) because I also think Corman is an underrated director as well (The Intruder is my favorite film of his). This is among those films I wonder why I took so long to watch (as opposed to a film like The Phantom Carriage where I was waiting for a Criterion release).

Corman went to England for this one to take advantage of their government subsidies (he states this on the interview on the DVD). Corman has always had budget sense. He can make a good looking film out of a small budget and he almost always makes a profit off of his films (especially the ones where he is a producer).

The film is a combination of two Poe stories: the titular one and Hop Frog which is used as a subplot with the dwarf and his love (actually played by a little girl which is a little creepy in a few scenes; her voice is dubbed). Vincent Price is Prospero a Lord of Flies worshiping prince who believes he can ward off the Red Death that has stricken the area. He is a sadistic man with charm who has allowed the local aristocracy to take protection in his castle. He has also taken a girl Francesca (Jane Asher) whose strong believe in God fascinates him. Will she be his undoing?

The Ingmar Bergman The Seventh Seal references are apparent, but still quite effective. The sets and colors are exquisite. The cinematography is quite good and done by future director Nicolas Roeg (Walkabout, The Man Who Fell to Earth). I always find it fascinating the connections you find with the more films you watch.

What I love about Vincent Price is that he gives his all with his performances. Occasionally you can tell when an actor does a horror role and seems to phone in a performance. You do not worry about this with the reliable Price. This is one of the main reasons he was asked to do horror roles over and over again. I have read some complaints of him being the same type of actor with his roles. Just watching him in the Poe cycle you can see so many variants of his acting style that I just cannot agree with that. In this film you get a very evil man though with a sense of humor (maybe because he uses humor in so many different situations that some reviewers think this is the markings of similar characters).

This movie is on the expensive and OOP Midnite Movies Double Feature with The Premature Burial. Do not fret about this though; The Masque of the Red Death was reissued November 22 of this year from Image (R1) with the film The Madhouse. The extra on the OOP release is an 18 minute interview with Roger Corman where he discusses the Poe cycle, the budget of this film, the Bergman influences and much more.

Okay, I’m going to provide a list of relatively safe choices in the ‘torture porn’ sub-genre that’s become so popular over the last decade or so, and then my personal spotlight picks that don’t overlap with the films I list in the first section. I like some of the torture porn films I’m going to list more than others, but I wouldn’t list something if I didn’t think it was worth seeking out and watching for this project. Please go easy on me if I missed the spirit of the spotlight selections, this will be my first time participating in a lists project. Also, I apologize if my tone is a bit defensive in the torture porn list – I like some of these films a lot, and it’s hard to discuss them without sort of defending them against what I feel has been trivialization with regards to their reputations.

Bring on the torture porn:

À l'intérieur (Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, 2007) This film has gained a whole lot of notoriety for breaking a few big taboos in horror films, but it’s a shame that it has, because it should be better known for just being a batshit don’t-answer-the-door horror film that has more bloodshed than a Takashi Miike festival. The acting is excellent, particularly from Béatrice Dalle, who plays a terrifyingly unhinged woman who is desperately trying to steal a baby from our protagonist (who is home alone for the holidays). The catch: Our protagonist is pregnant with that baby. I’m in the small minority who actually doesn’t find the producers’ addition to the film distasteful (CGI shots of the fetus in the womb being intercut with Dalle’s attacks), because well, it’s not a real child we’re talking about here – and there’s a layer of discomfort and urgency that it adds that simply seeing our protagonist being attacked wouldn’t achieve. Maybe you’ll disagree – it’ll certainly spark an interesting discussion if enough people watch this nasty little French gem. Speaking of don’t-answer-the-door horror films…

The Strangers (Bryan Bertino, 2008) Here’s a case of a young filmmaker really knowing what he wanted to accomplish and being given the ability to do so with incredible ease. Some wonderful uses of music (appropriately metaphorical use of Joanna Newsom’s “The Sprout and the Bean,” anyone?!) and his anamorphic widescreen frame. Make sure you’re looking around, because Bertino has no interest in huge jump scares, preferring to hide his terrifying reveals in the nooks and crannies of the frame. And oh my, that nihilistic ending! Still sick to my stomach thinking about it.

Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005) The most unfortunate case of people unfairly judging a book by its cover in recent years. What should have been Eli Roth’s studio coming-out party after his celebrated indie Cabin Fever, Hostel hit a nerve with critics who decided that they’d found a scapegoat to thrust all their fury about films getting too violent onto – and I find that puzzling, because for the first two acts, Hostel is a slow burn in the tradition of films like The Wicker Man – there is next to no violence until the third act. Three backpackers are tipped off by a newfound pal about a city in Slovakia full of beautiful women and loose morals. They travel there by train, and find a gorgeous city, gorgeous hostel, gorgeous women – everything is too good to be true. It’s really admirable how Roth keeps the big setpiece at bay as long as he does – what could have just been a huge splatterfest is instead uneasy and mysterious, and when our everyman main character (played well by Jay Hernandez) finds himself trapped inside of a torture-for-pay dungeon, it feels earned – and we’re right there with him as he tries to escape. I can’t really recommend this film enough. A note on the endings: Quentin Tarantino, who produced the film, was smart to steer Roth towards the Theatrical ending – the Unrated one is far inferior in my opinion – but you should be able to find both and decide for yourself.

Hostel: Part II (Eli Roth, 2007) A lot of people prefer this sequel to the original film, and while I’m not among them, I can certainly see why. Roth makes the bold decision to explore the class and gender politics of the world he created in the first film – as if it didn’t feel uncomfortably real enough the first time around (I can’t really say enough about how chilling the first Hostel is). It’s a peculiar sequel that is really given a boost by great performances by Lauren German and Roger Bart, and it’s worth your time, regardless of whether you come out of the first one satisfied or not.

Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008) The less said about this film the better. It’s best to let it unfold, let it slosh around in your mind for a while, and see how it sits with you – but I really feel it’s about as high-brow as this genre gets, and while that may not be saying much, it’s still quite the philosophical mind-bender. When Pascal Laugier apologizes that he made the film in the director’s introduction, he isn’t giving you some sort of “Free coffin with admission!” salespitch: He sincerely means it.

Haute Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003) We might not even know who Aja (director of the The Hills Have Eyes remake and Piranha 3D, among others) is today if it weren’t for this film being in the right place at the right time. The impeccably cut U.S. trailer, scored by Sonic Youth’s notorious recording of “Superstar,” was attached to each and every reel of the surprise hit Saw, and I’m surely not the only one that it stuck with. The film is something of a gem itself: Cécile De France is a revelation, and the whole experience lives up to its braggadocious title – that is, until the worst third act reveal ever. A sharp IMDB reviewer wasn’t lying when he said “Craven and Hooper would be proud, unfortunately, so would Shyamalan.” But once you have had some time to stew over the terrible twist, hopefully you’ll agree with me that the journey was worth the disappointing destination.

The Devil’s Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005) This film requires some extra effort on the part of the viewer. First off – it’s best if you haven’t seen any of Zombie’s other film work yet – some of the fish-out-of-water feel of meeting his Askewniverseian reoccurring characters here works well for the film’s unsettling tone. Second, you have to surrender yourself to Zombie’s central conceit: He wants you to root for the bad guys, or this film isn’t going to work. I’m not saying that’s easy, either – the titular Rejects are not likeable people, and they do awful things throughout the film. Zombie has fun (with help from an unhinged William Forsythe) making the sheriff as deplorable as he can, but you still may find it difficult to root for the Rejects as they commit a number of atrocities and evade capture as the film rolls along – but it’s so much fun if you just play along. What makes Zombie’s film so unique is that it has no intentions of wrapping all this bloodshed up in a highfalutin arthouse criticism of the media or a finger-wagging Haneke lecture. He just wants you to see the world through the eyes of his demented characters as they kill their way through to the end credits, or die trying. There’s something so strangely liberating about this film if you’re willing to come along for the ride.

A Serbian Film (Srdjan Spasojevic, 2010) If you feel like you’ll be able to handle it, watch it. There’s smart and responsible social commentary at the helm of this picture, and I still feel it should be lauded for ensuring that no one leaves titillated by what they’ve seen. A Serbian Film is a well-made, dreadfully uncomfortable piece of work that has a lot to say about the future of our culture’s insatiable thirst for the consumption of hardcore pornography.

Eden Lake (James Watkins, 2008) If mentioning that this first-time directorial effort stars Michael Fassbender isn’t enough for you, um… let’s see. Well, it’s a gorgeously shot film that takes its time to really earn its brutality, and it turns the presence of the usually strong and capable Fassbender on its ear. Along with Attack the Block, it’s another movie that might startle older folk over how scary ‘hoodies’ are capable of being, but the sharp filmmaking and high stakes ensure that it can overcome that somewhat overblown central conceit.

The Saw Series: Saw (James Wan, 2004); Saw II (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2005); Saw III (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2006); Saw IV (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2007); Saw V (David Hackl, 2008); Saw VI (Kevin Greutert, 2009); Saw 3D [aka Saw: The Final Chapter] (Kevin Greutert, 2010) Much like daytime soap operas – there’s no use in watching just one episode – there’s no use in just watching the first Saw film and then walking away. Don’t get me wrong: These films are often incredibly stupid, but there’s a thread of insane logic that ties them all together – a sloppy plotline that only gets crazier and more illogical as the films move along. All seven films follow the same serial drama-style format: It’s sort of like watching an episode of House – you know that he’s going to think he’s got the disease cured, then it’ll get worse, then he’ll cure it for good. Despite the notably repetitious torture chamber formula, if you find yourself perversely drawn to it, there’s no harm in watching them all in succession over one blood drenched weekend. They’re far too silly to be considered irresponsibly violent – or at least, I think they are. A soft recommendation for folks who’re in the mood for an epic movie marathon that satisfies their desire to see a shit-ton of complicated Rube Goldberg-ian setpieces work to surprising levels of success. See also: The Final Destination series.

Okay, onto my spotlights – going with four films (hope that’s not too much after my somewhat lengthy post leading up to this), and still sticking to my theme of only contributing with films from the last decade if that’s okay with everyone. I just feel like I was pretty limited in the first part by the whole ‘torture porn’ thing, and I’d love to provide some films from the last decade that I don’t feel fit into that distinction:

[•REC] (Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, 2007) Its style has been imitated a whole lot since its release in 2007, but this film is so incredibly original in its approach to some truly frightening material. Don’t see the remake (Quarantine), and don’t bother with the awful sequel – but watch this film, and be prepared to be terrified. Yeah, I couldn’t sleep after the ending either.

The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002) Possibly the silliest concept for a film ever, but Verbinski gets an A+ performance from a totally game Naomi Watts (not to mention a chilling supporting turn by everyone’s favorite supporting actor, Brian Cox), and plays the whole thing straight to dazzling effect. Speaking of slumber-related anecdotes: I slept with my television on for a week after seeing this film, for fear that it’d turn on by itself if I didn’t. If a film can drag that kind of reaction out of a completely rational person, it should at least be worth consideration when you’re compiling your list.

Ils (David Moreau and Xavier Palud, 2006) A less-violent film than other recent don’t-answer-the-door horror flicks, Ils depends on mind games and a heightened sense of danger rather than heaps of violence to great effect over its razor thin 77 minute runtime. Sure, it all turns out to be lip service for a very silly postscript, but the first time you see it is one hell of an experience.

May (Lucky McKee, 2002) Roger Ebert described Angela Bettis’ performance as Shakespearian in his four-star review of this still-underseen masterpiece, and that is simply not hyperbole no matter how much it seems like it will be. Strange, funny, touching, and sure – frightening – May is one of the most unexpected surprises to come out in the last decade and you’d be foolish to pass it over. The less you know going in, the better.

Frankly, L'Interiuer and May are the only one of those (I've seen more of those films than I ever should have!) I think are anywhere near being great and justifying the general unpleasantness of the sub-genre. I also like The Devil's Rejects, but more for being an outlaw film than for being a horror film (Zombie should just do a Peckinpah/Siegel style actioner already).

But no mention of In My Skin? Or even Cargo 200, which for me makes most of these extreme-horrors redundant... no small task considering it's arguably not a horror film at all?

I don't consider the spotlight films to be part of that sub-genre, sorry if that was unclear. And I'm sorry if you don't like my list! I had a feeling that even listing films under this sub-genre was going to start a bit of a debate, but I feel that every single one I listed is worth being sought out (even the Saw series if you have the spare time and you feel like giving your brain a bit of a rest). I tried to limit myself to the last ten years, and then limit myself to a widely disliked sub-genre, so I know that my list might not exactly jump off the page as essential viewing at first glance.

I haven't seen either of the films you mentioned, but I will seek them out as part of this project.

I wouldn't call May torture porn at all. I don't think there's any actual on screen blood and most of the film deals with her head. If anything it's closer to something like Martin or (for a non horror example) Deep End.

Just thought I'd link a few salient AVClub articles for movies from MFunk's list, since Scott Tobias's New Cult Canon series has explored a lot of these movies in a fair amount of depth:

À l'intérieur (Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, 2007)
Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008)
The Devil’s Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)
May (Lucky McKee, 2002)

I swear there was one for High Tension too, but I can't find it.

knives wrote:I wouldn't call May torture porn at all.

Really sorry if I didn't make it clear (although I said it a few times), but the films I listed as my spotlight films are not films I'd classify as being "torture porn" films, but I wanted to list them as some of my personal favorites from the last decade anyway. I've bolded that part of my post lest anyone else get thrown off by it.

I was responding to Cold Bishop. I got that's not what you were intending to imply. Though since you are such a big fan you really need to check out Martin if you haven't. Serious top ten contender for me and it manages to get inside the head of it's killer and feel full sympathy with him without condoning his actions. This very complex moral universe the film weaves is enough for top ten contention without even going to how marvelously it presents all of these layers to the story without really having one. Very '70s in a good way. The Arrow disc is the way to go on that if you're curious since it keeps the academy version (I was a bit surprised in a good way that they didn't have to cut the chicken sequence).

I was questioning the inclusion of that and The Ring, but I wasn't going to dispute the inclusion of a good film (not the Ring... I find the film thoroughly mediocre. I can't even hate it, I just find it neutral and lifeless).

Here's an other guide; this time in two parts. Right now I'll do the Corman Poe series and some time tomorrow I'll throw about the related films. I'll try to do a guide on Bill Lustig later on too since his output in the genre is surprisingly small (primarily acting as a producer and all that).

Now while Corman and Price have had great and fruitful careers before and after working at the AIP studio I think it's fair to say that these years brought their grandest artistic moments forth. For Corman it was proving his worth as more than a money saver and with Price, well that's what immortality looks like. Of their many films together and apart during this period without a doubt the most striking and unique may very well be the most calculated in the form of the Poe series. Starting off with a gothic and likely Hammer inspired adaptation of House of Usher (for reasons I can't fathom they dropped the The Fall of the part) they hit the ground running. The story stays true enough to Poe though the feeling is nothing like him. It's a reasonable enough beginning to the series with Price looming even as he's dead well enough. With a more secure direction and stronger supporting performers though the next entries became much more memorable. Speaking of The Pit and the Pendulum coming out the next year was basically the same story with a climax similar to it's title story. That said the film is significantly better with the great Barbara Steele giving a delightfully poisonous performance that matches Price's rotting turmoil beautifully. The direction also gets far more weird with some psychedelic elements that honestly should feel out of place, but only add to the feeling of hammy dread that fills the dark corners of the film. The twist was tired by the time the film came out (had to be at least the fourth time Steele appeared in a film with it), but the poetry that Price gives to the madness that the twist entails is enough to forgive a tired device.

The Premature Burial seems to exist solely to show just how important the ingredients of Price and writer extraordinaire Richard Matheson were for the series. Both are missing being replaced by Ray Milland and fellow Twilight Zone alumnus Charles Beaumont. I don't want to say this is a bad movie, but for a surprisingly faithful adaptation of my favorite Poe story it lacks in emotion and urgency. The biggest problem is Milland who is a poor substitute for Price and just sort of goes through the motions. I don't doubt his dedication (he's absolutely amazing in Corman's great The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), but he just doesn't seem to manage that long ago unease that Price does so well. He's a modern man who feels out of time in the wrong sort of way. Corman's direction too seems a little weaker stepping away from the psychedelia toward something more conservative.

The series would bounce back in the weirdest of ways with Tales of Terror, an anthology series that's the first sign of the sense of humour that would be the series trademark. Back again are Matheson and Price and they are stronger than ever showing off as much variety as the format can manage. We start off in familiar ground with a story that's basically the first two films in miniature. It's an entertaining enough romp even if it's just to make us on comfortable ground again. Of course that comfort's important for just how much the next story is designed to rip us up off of our feet. Easily the strongest part of the film is the middle story which combines The Black Cat with The Cask of Amontillado. This time Price plays an over the top fop who after losing to Peter Lorre in a wine tasting competition decides to win Lorre's wife instead. As much as I love Price doing his thing, the real winner here is Lorre who runs away with the show in the best possible way. He's ridiculous, hilarious, and more than a little disturbing in a way that leaves one on unsure ground in regard to their loyalty. Watching these two act against each other is just a delight. Finally though we come to a fairly disappointing story that's so bland I almost forgot to mention it. Price rather literally plays a corpse and really isn't given anything to do except lie in bed so everything falls to Basil Rathbone as a villainous doctor. He does an admirable job here (the man has saved worse with less to do), but there's nothing really that could have been done with such a throwaway story and I wish they had instead expanded the Lorre story instead.

Of course things get even better with the next entry The Raven. This like all other Lorre/ Karloff team ups is a comedy and an excellent one at that. You know you're in marvelously absurd hands when you're casting Jack Nicholson as the Zeppo. The story basically has nothing to do with Poe and instead involves Vincent Price fighting Boris Karloff because the later stole the former's wife. Throw in Peter Lorre as a wizard who's only good at casting insults and you have something that's a joy from start to finish. Karloff in particular is great considering his illness (notice that he almost never moves) though nobody gives a less than great performance. The real star this time is Matheson who takes such delight in writing such oddballs. If anything his sense of humour here is thirty something years too far ahead of the crowd with a delightful dark smile.

Things get better still with The Haunted Palace which again trades off Matheson with Beaumont. The film actually has more in common with the Lovecraft story The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, but is usually seen as an official part of the series all the same. Once again psychedelia takes a backseat to a more Hammer inspired atmosphere, but the film remains haunting and spooky. Perhaps this is the most genuinely terrifying entry with a great sense that the truth whatever it may be is lurking around the corner. Lovecraft is insanely and notoriously hard to adapt, but they do it in a way that I'm sure his detractors find infinitely superior. Price is at his least and most affable in the series taking on a dual role as a harmless generic hero type and his wronged warlock ancestor. He manages to showcase vulnerability and sure evilness in a way that has to win over the unconvinced. The look in his eyes as the warlock would later be perfected in The Witchfinder General. While not given as much to show off as in previous films the support here, which features Lon Chaney and Elisha Cook (whole lot of juniors there) amongst others, does a fantastic job of building a whole world out of nothing. Speaking of if I may have sounded dismissive of Corman's job here earlier I apologize as it's great in a subtle and unique fashion that maximizes the film's limited budget through forced perspective and other DIY tricks. He stays very classical here, but in a way that adds story to the story giving a full understanding of the world. It really is an equal in the opposite direction of Corman's next film for the series and it's masterpiece.

A move to England helped a lot to make The Masque of the Red Death look like a much more rich film. The story is much the same with an added on backstory about a girl, played by Deep End's Jane Asher, who gets taken from her village by Price's villain for typical villainy stuff. To say the least the film, with script by Beaumont again, is weird. While Corman toyed with abstract expression in the previous entries this film borders on Brakhage inspired impressionism. While I am sure many will blame cinematographer Nicholas Roeg for that given how the psychedelia was progressing through the series I think it's a case of Roeg picking up on a great thing and running with it. The film really in notable for it's gruesome use of every colour you can think of. It just bleeds and leads the film into such an artificial space that it allows for Price to go as far as is possible with his scenery chewing. It doesn't hurt either that he plays such a hedonistic (with little girl voiced by a grown woman in tow; did I mention the film was weird) that he can sink to his lowest low even as his acting reaches one of his highest peaks. It's all about style even in performance and Price knows and relishes in it. If there's one '60s strange for the sake of it horror that deserves to be seen it's this one.

Finally we come to The Tomb of Ligeia, which is the most uniquely moody of the films. The movie plays out mostly in the day and let's the plot appear by accident. Part of this difference must come from the new writer Robert Towne (does he really need an intro?), but applause to Corman for suitably changing his style. Even Price takes a different turn with a more modern punkish attitude and attire (seriously I want those sunglasses and coat). In both cases there's a warm sort of cool present. A dry distance that gives this sense of observation by this alien force. The shocks are rare, but the tension never fades for a truly unique end to the series that manages to be great and a fitting end in the weirdest of ways.

That was a great write up mfunk. While domino mentioned to pm links to discussions elsewhere on the forum, it might be best to link them near to your post instead:

The problematic final twist of Haute Tension/Switchblade Romance is mulled over here.

The Devil's Rejects had some discussion here

This is the thread for [Rec]

And these are the threads for À l'intérieur (Beatrice Dalle really pulls out all the stops in this film, though she has of course dabbled in horror before with Claire Denis' Trouble Every Day, a film that I think would make a good cannibalistic contrast with the vampiric couple in The Hunger!) and Martyrs, which I agree are the pinnacle of the recent French horror wave - I wasn't too much of a fan of the tricksy *BOO* horrors of Ils (and have not been that fond of the recent hoodie horror subgenre of demonising today's 'yoof' in general, something encompassing Eden Lake and F as well. Plus Ils is tapping into the strange xenophobia of 'First World Europeans in Middle Europe/Romania' that Hostel was also taking on, though without Hostel's subversive edge. And the faux 'based on a true story' thing just annoyed the heck out of me, though at least the filmmakers were committed to their marketing!) but would probably include Frontier(s) as another interesting French 'torture porn' film.

Talking of Hostel, I think that it is definitely riffing off of the 'horny guys getting more than they bargained for' subgenre, encompassing films such as Vamp and From Dusk Till Dawn.

While briefly on the torture end of the horror spectrum, it might also be worth mentioning the 'cat and mouse' films such as P2 (If you thought Wes Bentley was more creepy than charming in Amercian Beauty, then this is the film for you! Though if you want a great 'trapped in an office building with a killer' film that utilises an entire building rather than just the parking garage I would still recommend Trapped, starring Kathleen Quinlan, a film which manages to transcend its TV movie roots to become surprisingly effective. Though I am amazed that both films set in such limited circumstances both climax with car chases!); or the reversed-gender spin on the same situation, the Australian film The Loved Ones.

Cold Bishop wrote:I also like The Devil's Rejects, but more for being an outlaw film than for being a horror film (Zombie should just do a Peckinpah/Siegel style actioner already).

Absolutely - did you ever see the easter egg on Barrell Entertainment's disc of The Last House On Dead End Street, which starts as a behind-the-scenes piece showing the commentary track being filmed between that film's director Roger Watkins and the journalist Chas Balun and then has the nice surprise of seeing them both out at lunch in a restaurant joined by Rob Zombie who expounds at great length about his love for The Wild Bunch!

colinr0380 wrote:Though if you want a great 'trapped in an office building with a killer' film that utilises an entire building rather than just the parking garage I would still recommend Trapped, starring Kathleen Quinlan, a film which manages to transcend its TV movie roots to become surprisingly effective.

Looks like the whole film's up on YouTube

knives wrote:The series would bounce back in the weirdest of ways with Tales of Terror, an anthology series that's the first sign of the sense of humour that would be the series trademark.

I actually much prefer the later Corman-esque Price anthology film, Twice Told Tales (Sidney Salkow, 1963). Rather than doing Poe, it adapts some of Nathaniel Hawthorne's more gothic stories, although it adapts them through the lens of Poe. The first tale, Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, takes only the basic premise of Hawthorne's didactic parable and turns it into a ghoulish story about loss, nostalgia, and submerged necrophilia. The best Poe tale he never wrote. The second adapts Rappaccini's daughter more or less faithfully, but simplifies it, somewhat unexpectedly, in ways that made it less effective so long as you keep the original story in mind. If you don't bother with any comparisons, it's a very effective episode. The last story is an admirably compressed and efficient telling of Hawthorne's Gothic House novel, The House of the Seven Gables. This one story could easily have been a successful 80 minute AIP film on its own, but the whole thing gets told here in half that time without even a hint of being rushed or underdeveloped. Admirable story-telling.

I really recommend people check this movie out. A surprisingly classy and literate movie. Very solid use of the anthology form.

colinr0380 wrote:but would probably include Frontier(s) as another interesting French 'torture porn' film.

I haven't seen this one yet, but I suppose I finally should for this project. I guess I've inadvertently tasked myself with taking any and all hardcore horror suggestions that are being thrown out there!

I'm going to cap spotlights at four, I guess. I imagine the fewer you have, though, the more success you'll have in getting others to seek out your picks

Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn't completely sure how it worked, and I saw that swo had 4 so I went with 4. I just want to be like swo

I don't know anyone else's code regarding spotlights, but if I do more than two, it's only going to be because I'm spotlighting something super-rare to be uploaded somewhere on the internet (which is why I'm doing three in the 40s project).

My four total less than two hours of viewing all combined.

I'm sorry, everyone

It's not that big of a deal: two of the spotlights are more than popular enough that I'm sure a lot of the participants have already seen them.

Talk about a backhanded reassurance!

Mr Sausage wrote:

knives wrote:The series would bounce back in the weirdest of ways with Tales of Terror, an anthology series that's the first sign of the sense of humour that would be the series trademark.

I actually much prefer the later Corman-esque Price anthology film, Twice Told Tales (Sidney Salkow, 1963). Rather than doing Poe, it adapts some of Nathaniel Hawthorne's more gothic stories, although it adapts them through the lens of Poe. The first tale, Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, takes only the basic premise of Hawthorne's didactic parable and turns it into a ghoulish story about loss, nostalgia, and submerged necrophilia. The best Poe tale he never wrote. The second adapts Rappaccini's daughter more or less faithfully, but simplifies it, somewhat unexpectedly, in ways that made it less effective so long as you keep the original story in mind. If you don't bother with any comparisons, it's a very effective episode. The last story is an admirably compressed and efficient telling of Hawthorne's Gothic House novel, The House of the Seven Gables. This one story could easily have been a successful 80 minute AIP film on its own, but the whole thing gets told here in half that time without even a hint of being rushed or underdeveloped. Admirable story-telling.

I really recommend people check this movie out. A surprisingly classy and literate movie. Very solid use of the anthology form.

I was actually going to bring it up along with An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe, Witchfinder General, and The Comedy of Terrors next. I don't think I could do better on Twice Told Tales which is far more even and portraying more depth than Tales of Terror (though both are well worth checking out as their part of the same set). Do you know if this The House of Seven Gables has anything in common with the one Price was previously involved with? It's always surprised me that that was the story they chose to adapt.

mfunk9786 wrote:I guess I've inadvertently tasked myself with taking any and all hardcore horror suggestions that are being thrown out there!

August Underground trilogy, go!

Actually I highly dis-recommend these films, though I only got through the first film, and halfway through the second before I quit out of boredom. If these films had any positive impact, it was that they effectively killed my interest in this brand of extreme horror one-upmanship to try and make the most "disturbing" film possible. That was years back though, so I don't mean to discourage anyone who's got positive arguments for these films, as I never really finished the trilogy to find out if there was a point to it all in the end.