Wednesday 21 March 2012

Disturbing Horror List by @Stoner_munkee

Stu Duncan is the geek blogger of 'El Super Geeko'; a rotting zombie finger on the pulse of nerd culture. He stopped the geek-speak long enough to chat to us about some of the horror films that have shaped the 'Disturbed Kid' that he is today...



I love all sorts of horror and most of the classics have already been covered, so I decided to just list a few of the films that I've seen that have truly disturbed me, both as a kid and as an adult.

So in no particular order:


YellowBrickRoad (2010)



If you like a little mystery with your murder, you can't go wrong with this...

With a tag line like "They were searching for an evil in the forest. . .but the forest found the evil in them." And a by the numbers "expedition investigating 70 year old spooky business in the middle of nowhere" plot; I wasn't really expecting much with this, but the tone shifts on you quickly. Taking a very dark turn that leaves you off guard for the rest of the film as you try to figure out what the hell is going on.

Audition (1999)



Still makes me shudder...

I was going nuts for any horror from Japan when I got my hands on this. A gruesome tale of misplaced vengeance with a typically bizarre Asian twist, it's also directed by Takashi Miike, so I knew it was going to be good. What I didn't know is that it would make wince every time I saw cheese wire for the rest of my natural life...

Disturbed Kids; I think 'Audition' is a fine example of slow burning, eerie tension building and atmosphere in modern horror, something that's lacking in the genre these days.
Stu Duncan; Definitely, I was on the edge of my seat for most of it. Straight from the out set you know it's not going to go well. And the worse it gets the more it draws you in. Not many films do that these days, you're just waiting for the twist.
DK; And it's one of them films that you just REALLY have to see for yourself. It stayed with me for days...
SD; Totally, I still can't think about cheese wire or acupuncture needles...
DK; Miike is apparently quite hit and miss, what we see in the West is a filtered filmography of his best works. He's contributed so much good though, I think I can forgive him, and I look forward to the next Miike flick to hit these shores! It's almost like an event in my house.
SD; I think his next one is Ninja Kids...
DK; Yikes...who knows with Miike though, he makes a new film every week. For every dud, there's a cult classic just around the corner.

Puppetmaster (1989)



Nightmares for Stu tonight...

This film is partly responsible for my one ridiculous irrational fear as an adult. Puppets. Well, puppets & china dolls. Even when I saw the picture above the nightmares came flooding back. Anything that small and human shaped still freaks me the hell out and when they've got blade hands and drill heads, its brown trouser time! I watched a lot of horror films like this with my old man as a kid, and this one really screwed me up...


DK; There seemed to be a lot of stuff like this back then ('Child's Play' etc), it's as if the bastards knew we were watching films that we shouldn't have been watching...
SD; I remember reading somewhere that they were intentionally aiming these films at kids, almost like Horror-lite. Stuff like this, childsplay, even Garbage Pale Kids, Critters too.
DK; They wouldn't get away with that today, they'd be knocked down to a PG or a 12.
SD;
Yup. Although what passes as a 15 now would have passed as an 18 back then.
DK; True.


Nosferatu (1922)



Another Childhood Nightmare...

Another film I vaguely remember my Dad watching when I was a kid. I never remembered much, just that shadow. Just enough to make a young lad wet his bed for months. Obviously a classic piece of Horror cinema and watching it now it's not as scary as it used to be, but at that age the shadows my curtains made could've been Dracula

A Serbian Film (2010)



Should be called "A Horrible Film"...

Not a lot to say about this. Its shocking, not really horror, just horrible. It left a mark on me that took weeks to wash off. Beautifully shot though.

DK; After watching 'A Serbian Film' I needed to wash my eyes and shower! It was like my soul had been, for lack of a better word raped...
SD; Seriously, I've seen some sickening stuff in my time, but it just made me feel wrong for watching it. It was like Salo.
DK; 'A Serbian Film' as become the yardstick for what we rate 'bad experiences', like; "would you rather do this, or watch A Serbian Film?", or "Is this film as bad as 'A Serbian Film'?"
SD; Agreed, although Human Centipede comes close.

Ichi The Killer (2001)



"You Like That? Do Ya?"...

Another Takahsi Miike film. This is film is bonkers, right from the get go. Brilliant, but bonkers. I'm not sure if it classes as Horror but its sure as hell got its fair share of gore. 'A sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.' Nuff said.

DK; To me, 'Ichi The Killer' is such a cool film, especially Kakihara! The sick fuck even pulls off those shirts! Helped obviously by the brilliantly cool actor Asano.
SD;The whole film is slick as hell and manages to retain the comic book feel whilst still being believable.
DK; And it's so layered and dark. It goes from comic to disturbing in a blink. Classic Miike!

Hellraiser series (1987-1992 Kinda, maybe...)



Simon Cowell's latest Boy Band mean business...

I loved these films as a teen and think they're partly responsible for my love of gory films as an adult. I always remember thinking the Cenobites were cool as hell & the special effects being some of the best I'd seen at the time. Yeah, they're a bit daft after the first one and God knows what's going on with the series now; I lost interest after whichever film it was with the space station sized Lament configuration, but they still hold a special place in my heart.

DK; I watched the first Hellraiser when I was WAY too young, it seriously warped my tiny little mind at the time.
SD; I think I watched it at just the right time, about the same time I saw Candyman and Freddy for the first time
DK; I watched it recently and although it didn't scare me anymore, the gore and violence is still brutal, even by today's standards
SD; Definitely, the style of sfx & gore is signature to Hellraiser. No one has done it better since.

Troma



Kings of Independent Cinema...

I couldn't do a list of horror films that made me the wonderfully maladjusted man I am today without mentioning Troma. Responsible for such classic schlock horror gore-fests as The Toxic Avenger, Terrorfirmer, Tromeo & Juliet and Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D to mention just a few of the wonders of low budget cinema they've produced over the 33 years they've been making films. Not scary, but definitely disturbing; their mix of Transexual serial killers, Poultry Zombies, Mutant superheros, and Lesbian protests groups marching under the banner "C.L.A.M" (Collegiate Lesbians Against Mega-conglomerations) has entertained me for years and hopefully will do for a while yet.


Thanks to Stu for spending some time in our treehouse of horrors, check out his blog over at 'El Super Geeko';

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