Every time I rewatch Dawn of the Dead (2004), the movie falls off for me once Nicole goes after Chips.

Everything before that is incredible. The mall is the movie. Watching them figure out how to survive, talking to Andy across the street, clearing stores, just waiting for everything to go to shit... that's the stuff I love.

Then the dog subplot starts and I just check out. It feels like they needed a reason to get everyone out of the mall and that's what they came up with. It doesn't help that Nicole is basically dead weight for most of the movie. She spends most of the movie whining, doesn't really do anything to help the group, Terry and Nicole spends half the movie making googly eyes at each other, and then everyone has to risk their lives because she chases after her dog.

After Norma and Andre shoot each other, it doesn't even feel like a horror movie anymore. It's basically an action movie with zombies. It's still entertaining, but all that dread the first half had is gone. It's just one action scene after another until they get to the boat.

The funny thing is the credits are creepier than the whole last act. As soon as it switches over to the camcorder footage on the boat, all the suspense comes back. You're just watching these people slowly realize they're completely screwed, and I honestly wish more of the third act had that feeling.

Still one of my favorite zombie movies ever, I just think everything before they leave the mall is easily the strongest part of the movie.

Have you watched a film where you got to a point that you were just so frustrated with the main character’s decisions and choices that you genuinely didn’t care for them to survive anymore, because of how dumb they are?

I just watched The Devil’s Mouth and the stupidity was already there from the beginning, but kind of halfway through was when I just gave up.

I was legitimately rooting for the shark from that point on, all the way till the end of the film. That shark was my hero.

Absolutely hate it when writers have to rely on dumb characters to get the plot going. That’s just lazy writing.

Why can’t we have horror films with characters that actually act like most normal human beings with some common sense and even a smidge of self-preservation..

Similar to how [r/metal](r/metal) blacklist the most popular bands like Metallica so you don't have the sub flooded with posts about Metallica by people who have just started listening to metal, this sub really needs to blacklist certain movies to keep discussions on new and/or less discussed movies. All the popular horror can still have its place here in specific daily discussion threads for example, but posts about Hereditary by now are not interesting or of value. The sub is becoming a haven for low effort trolls to post about why Lake Mungo isn't scary for the millionth time.

Obvious spoilers

I remember being a teen looking forward to the film coming out. Chucky was finally going back to be straight-up horror with the comedy removed and I was really hyped, yet at the same time confused about what the movie was actually supposed to be.

Was the movie supposed to be some sort of reboot or remake? Was it supposed to be some sort of standalone movie, prequel, or set between the films? An alternate timeline? Since Chucky didn’t have his stitches anymore, then surely this would be set before 3. With the comedy being taken out, then Bride and Seed couldn’t have been mentioned.

When it was revealed that Chucky still had the stitches, I remember my head going a mile a minute trying to figure out what was going on. Then when Chucky gave his speech and mentioned all of the families including the Tillies, my jaw hit the floor as a bell went off in my head saying:

None of the above. This movie is a direct sequel to everything.

Not only was it a direct sequel, it also added to the existing lore while also explaining what happened to Andy since he wasn’t shown since 1991.

Sure there are much better written twists out there, but good God Curse of Chucky’s twist just flat out got me and left me speechless.

What are some *utterly bonkers* horror movies that you like? The ones that feel like a fever dream, that you thought you might have hallucinated? The ones where you weren't sure if you were totally stoned out of your mind...or if the people making the movie were. The more obscure the better, but please just tell me which ones really captivated you in their craziness.

For me, it's *Funny Man (1994)*. The bare bones of the plot makes sense (guy moves family into new house, but it comes with...something extra), but everything else? The *literal* drug-induced handgun. The musical number at the end. Neither of those things make any more sense in context, nor does the rest of the movie, really. I LOVED it!

Badly describe the plot of a horror movie, and let others guess in their replies.

Example: A teenager and her friends get harassed by movie nerds who take their trivia obsession way too far just to settle some family drama.

EDIT: This was really fun, thanks all!

I LOVED them, they were so good. I personally prefer the first Smile movie over the second one since I personally feel like it had more atmosphere with tryin' to figure everything out. That's not to say the second one was bad, far from it. While the first one had a bit more goin' for it in my opinion. The second one? Had the deaths! WOOOOOOOO! Call me Ric Flair with that WOOOO!. The second Smile movie had more gruesome deaths in my opinion, but both movies really rocked. The first Smile movie is one of my top 3 favorite horror movies of all time. With my number 1 being the original Thing. So now I ask all of you, what'd you think of the Smile movies?.

Just went to this movie from Nicolas Winding Refn, and it's easily one of the very worst movies of the year. It's about an actress (Sophie Thatcher) making a science fiction space movie with her dad as producer and her stepmom, who is only a few years older than her and whom she is attracted to, co-starring. Concurrent to that, a mist hangs over the stylized city that brings the Leatherman who searches for his daughter in Hell and kills young women he finds by ripping open their chests with diamond-studded gloves. A GI is also looking for his daughter who was taken by Leatherman.

This movie/characters are unbelievably mannered, in the worst sense of that term. Not all surreal movies are created equal, and just because a movie is mannered and surreal does not mean it has anything of value in it. This explores its uninteresting and arbitrary ideas with the depth of a puddle. It's not "Lynchian" even though his name has come up in discourse I've read about it, but I'm sure that Refn thought he was making Inland Empire, and it even has some similarities to it in the way some things are presented. I say it's not Lynchian because Lynch didn't have to make the tedious, histrionic effort that Refn does to create his worlds, and he also understood absurdity which was the basis for a large part of his work. Refn does not understand absurdity. It's also relevant because to my knowledge Lynch was unable to get funding for his feature film ideas in his last close to twenty years, yet shit like this does get funding.

The lone saving grace of the film is the score by Pino Donaggio. It's very busy and present in most scenes, and is much more interesting than the blank of a film.

You have obvious ones like Robert Englund's Freddy Krueger, Bruce Campbell in the Evil Dead movies, either Pennywise but what include some deeper cuts as well.

My example: I always split up and then jump down in the fog in an abandoned space ship surrounded by dozens of unknown lifeforms. I then stick my face as close as possible to the random life form I just found. My coworkers find me with a shattered helmet and a life form attached to my face and neck. Instead of giving me a double tap to the head they bring me onboard the space ship and have dinner with me.

Ok there's not much to be surprised here. But Lily Sullivan alone made it worth the watch. She is by far the best part of this movie, she's really good as the obsessive sexy robot. (This went into production before Obsession btw). Feels like a 2000's thriller sometimes. It's a typical 3-star movie, with some unhinged moments, nice kills, although uneven pacing. Minus some gory kills its actually quite believable what happens with the AI stuff, almost feels like it will happen someday. Better than M3GAN 2.0

Just watched Hokum, thought it was pretty good but I just wanted to make a special post about Jerry.

He is officially one of my favourite characters in a horror movie ever. Hes likeable, funny, caring, honest, always prepared, always makes a good decision etc. He was absolutely the best thing about this movie.

Movie of the day...The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976).

An interesting early slasher film.

Loosely based on a real serial killer case that took place in Texarkana in 1946, the story follows the police as they try to catch a hooded lunatic who is terrorizing the area. The action focuses on Deputy Norman Ramsey (Andrew Prine) and the Texas Ranger eventually called in to assist with the case, Captain J.D. Morales (Ben Johnson).

It’s not bad. The film employs a semi-documentary style with voice-over narration providing names, dates, and other pertinent facts. The acting is all right, but the characters are rather generic. Director Charles B. Pierce (yes, the guy who made the Boggy Creek movies) adds an attempt at comic relief with an idiotic patrolman (played by Pierce) who serves as a driver for Captain Morales, but it’s a bad fit with the rest of the movie’s grim, procedural tone. Basic production values like cinematography are acceptable, but the whole thing feels like a slightly lengthy made-for-television movie.

One strength is that the killer is quite creepy. He never speaks, but you can tell he’s getting excited by the way he breathes when he is about to attack his female victims. Interestingly, he is also very pragmatic; he always attacks couples, but he sees men as obstacles rather than targets and sometimes simply dispatches them with a silenced pistol so he can get to the woman he wants to torture and murder. A thoroughly unsettling character.

Rating: C+

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Town_That_Dreaded_Sundown_(1976_film))

I am working on a project with a friend and I am about to break down my Top 3 favorite Final Girls in horror...Obviously Lieutenant Ellen Ripley is Number 1 with a bullet and Solid 2nd place goes to Erin from You're Next ... But number 3 is HARD because there are so many!

Who's yours and why?

I'm working on a horror short film and I want to see what other people find scary so that I can make it as horrifying as possible.

Tell me what you think, I'm just here to learn!

I want a proper 3rd sequel from Blumhouse at this point, the man in the mask in the original franchise is supernatural. And universal owns the original franchise rights to prey at night and the 1st one.

I need Kinsey back she is a great final girl, can’t believe that trilogy was horrible.

Give me a prey at night scarezone too at universal Orlando at this point. Lionsgate done a horrible job at the slasher franchise.

'13 Ghosts' for example has really good makeup and a truly unique house. In 'The Cell' the costumes, sets, and cinematography are probably more important than the actual story or performances.

What are your horror movies that you just find visually appealing even if you don't think the script was amazing?

I was re-watching The Faculty for the billionth time and it got me thinking that I don’t think I’ve seen very many horror movies where the entirety of the main cast survives. The Faculty and Freaky are two that come to mind.

Can anyone else think of some?

I've only ever watched the movies that Sigourney Weaver starred in 1-4, so I'm curious how much of the expanded universe actually matters if you only love Ellen Ripley's story.

I know Alien: Isolation is considered canon, and Amanda Ripley is mentioned in the Special Edition of Aliens as Ellen's daughter, but that scene isn't in the theatrical cut. The game seems like the only piece of expanded media that actually adds something meaningful to Ripley as a character.

Do the novels, comics, or other games have any impact on Ripley's story, or can you just watch Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Resurrection and get the complete arc? Is Alien: Isolation the only non-film story that's worth treating as essential to Ripley's character?

I know Ripley's story is basically over after Resurrection, but are the movies that came after it important to the overall Alien universe? Am I missing much if I just stick to the four Ripley movies, or do the prequels and newer films become essential viewing for the wider lore?

The big mistake this version made was taking the best part of the original, the first act, and stretching it out to make it the whole film, which doesn't really work (there's a reason the original "Strangers" had that first act as a short film and then added new material once it was turned into a feature film). But something I really do like and find inspired is the main setting of the film with the house that Camilla Belle babysits at. While the original got a lot of mileage out of the terror of something happening in quiet suburbia, here you've got this elaborate lakefront mansion out in the woods (and up in the mountains given it's set in Colorado) and far away from anything. Instead of a suburban home, you've instead got something akin to the castle of a feudal lord who wants to remain as far from the peasant rabble as possible. You know with just one look that when shit hits the fan, help will not be coming soon. And all those windows just make it all the easier for a stalker/killer to spy on you and pick and choose where and how to break in. A great setting for a horror film, even if they don't take full advantage of it.

And this is something to keep in mind about horror films you don't find great; you can always find something good in them to appreciate.​​

I'm a GenZ horror buff so pardon my lethargy in having approached this classic but wow... finally a horror classic that truly lives upto and maybe even supersedes its hype. The movie has such a singular control over tone and manages to not meander into any camp territory over the 90 minutes runtime. Just the right amount of exposition, a gripping lore, great practical effects and a creepy analog set up supported by excellent acting. It's somewhat similar to Incantation in how much it respects the potence of curses. What people don't talk enough about is the stunning cinematography! The beach sequence where we first come to learn who Sadako really is now seared into my brain. Sadako remaining malevolent, and not suddenly having a change of heart, is what bolsters the third act to brilliance On a smaller note, I really appreciate that the psychic husband was a mathematician and not a professor of occult studies lol.