So I let my son watch the original Nightmare on Elm Street

[LouCipherr]

All of this wrapped around a center of more yucks from Freddy & more set pieces (in one a girl who is afraid of bugs, turns into a giant bug hybrid & them gets squished in a roach motel! Get it! :lol": Here's a perfect example about how IF he'd used their fears against them in a darker, more realistic, way it would have been better. Afraid of bugs? Maybe have her eaten alive by a swarm of them, or turn into a swarm of them when she tries to hit you, envelope her, then turn back & kill her. That sort of thing ) So now pattern is firmly locked in place. Yup - this is a prime example of how they lost their way with these films. It's a shame too, 'cause the first one set up so much potential for the inevitable sequels, and they all fell so short it's sad. Meh, that's ok, we still have the first one to look back fondly on. Well, some of us do.

[MoonSylver]

Yup - this is a prime example of how they lost their way with these films. It's a shame too, 'cause the first one set up so much potential for the inevitable sequels, and they all fell so short it's sad. Meh, that's ok, we still have the first one to look back fondly on. Well, some of us do. Yeah, I keep having this idea of "what if they'd really stuck w/ the the whole idea of & exploration of dreams & nightmares? What if they'd incorporated things like Lucid Dreaming (which I don't think had been researched all that much back then)." The movie "Dreamscape" keeps popping up in my mind of some of the kinds of things they could have done. Ah well. The sequels are what they are. I enjoyed them back in the day, and am enjoying some of their simple charms now, but not in any way that resembles the 1st one. They're just worlds apart in terms of approach & philosophy...

[LouCipherr]

Yeah Moon, the "What if's" run rampant in my mind too, 'cause there's so many good places they could've taken Freddy as a character and the concept of the film. Instead they chose the cheesy route. That's not to say I didn't watch them all, I've seen every single one (hoping each would be better than the previous) but alas, I was let down. Even with the remake - but don't even get me started on that.

[MoonSylver]

Yeah Moon, the "What if's" run rampant in my mind too, 'cause there's so many good places they could've taken Freddy as a character and the concept of the film. Instead they chose the cheesy route. That's not to say I didn't watch them all, I've seen every single one (hoping each would be better than the previous) but alas, I was let down. Even with the remake - but don't even get me started on that. Yeah, I've been tempted to pick up the new once since it came out on DVD, but I have a feeling it would be a bad idea. I really liked the F13th reboot for the *most* part, but was *meh* on the TCSM. But I don't really get a good vibe from ANOES. The only thing that makes me curious is the JEH portrayal of Kruger, which I've heard varying things about. I MIGHT drop a buck for a rent, especially before I would buy the damn thing & probably regret it.

[Wyldwraith]

Well, Of course the original NOES is the gold-standard, but I tend to given silver medals to 3 & 4 due in part to nostalgia, and the fact I actually liked the whole Dream Warriors/Dream Master thing. It was nice to see Freddy have to work a bit and chew through some setbacks to get the slaughterin' back on track. (I like Friday the 13th pt. VII for the same reason. I personally retitled it as "Friday the 13th Part VII: Jason Gets His Ass Kicked). Judged in terms of whether it's a good/bad movie compared to other good/bad movies maybe it suffers, but for me Part VII and Jason Goes to Hell both had a novel sort of charm that made VII rewatchablly enjoyable, and Jason Goes to Hell at least good for a once-in-a-long-while viewing.) Slasher franchises require a certain amount of loyalty to the foibles of the franchise on the part of the viewer, because that's what the director is doing. Providing Encore performances of the Slasher-villain for the gratification of the cult following. Fri 13th II is probably still one of my favorites of that franchise, w/ 7 close behind, then Goes to Hell, then part 6, then the New York one. Other than that, and a single for-novelty viewing of Freddy Vs. Jason, the rest were reasonably forgettable, though they were handy to round out a true horror movie marathon as a kid. (My mom introduced me to hard-edged Sci-Fi like Aliens and Bladerunner at 8-9yrs old, saw I could handle that, moved me onto Terminator, then once she saw I handled Phantasm without wigging out and waking her up in the middle of the night, she unscrambled HBO, Cinemaxx and Showtime after I promised not to watch anything with more than brief nudity and turned me loose.) Definitely have a cool Mom. Speaking of which, have you tried your boy on the Phantasm flicks yet? The sequels are kinda meh if you aren't the sort to want answers the original doesn't provide, but the original and at least one of the sequels I found quite deliciously disturbing. Haven't read the entire massive thread, but what about the Evil Dead 1 & 2, followed by the two Army of Darkness sequels for laughs? I got a kick out of Ash as a kid/young teen. Maybe your boy would too. Oh, and for the love of all that's good and scary, avoid crap like the Scream/I Know What You Did Last Whatever and the convoluted Children of the Corn franchises. No joy there. Just some random musing. Quite envious of your having an of-age son. Very family-oriented, and every year that passes and finds me still confined to my parents' house w/ no future and no prospects due to my health reminds me of my crushed aspirations to marry the great love of my life and begin a family of my own once I finished college and could carry weight financially. You're very blessed.. Ah well, I've rambled enough. Carry on good gentlefolk. ---------- Post added 23-Oct-2010 at 12:03 PM ---------- Previous post was 22-Oct-2010 at 04:19 PM ---------- Hey, Didn't mean to kill this entertaining thread. If I got overly serious or analytical, my apologies to all, and I hope you'll carry on from here. ::goes back to lurking::

[MoonSylver]

Hey, Didn't mean to kill this entertaining thread. If I got overly serious or analytical, my apologies to all, and I hope you'll carry on from here. ::goes back to lurking:: Nah, you're good. It's just that since I was finishing ANOES & segwaying into the "Halloween" series I figured I might as well quit thread-jacking Lou's thread & move on over to the one I'd started for what movies everyone is watching this Halloween.

[LouCipherr]

Speaking of which, have you tried your boy on the Phantasm flicks yet? The sequels are kinda meh if you aren't the sort to want answers the original doesn't provide, but the original and at least one of the sequels I found quite deliciously disturbing. Haven't read the entire massive thread, but what about the Evil Dead 1 & 2, followed by the two Army of Darkness sequels for laughs? I got a kick out of Ash as a kid/young teen. Maybe your boy would too. Oh, and for the love of all that's good and scary, avoid crap like the Scream/I Know What You Did Last Whatever and the convoluted Children of the Corn franchises. No joy there. Letsee: Phantasm's, no, he hasn't seen those....yet. Evil Dead? He's a MAJOR Bruce Campbell fan, and he's seen all three. Loved 'em all. Unfortunately, he's already been exposed to all the Scream movies - kinda unavoidable since they're on TV every 10 minutes. lol Hey, Didn't mean to kill this entertaining thread. If I got overly serious or analytical, my apologies to all, and I hope you'll carry on from here. ::goes back to lurking:: Nah, you're good. It's just that since I was finishing ANOES & segwaying into the "Halloween" series I figured I might as well quit thread-jacking Lou's thread & move on over to the one I'd started for what movies everyone is watching this Halloween. Hey, no worries guys! Part of this thread was to ask others what I should expose him to. Apparently the original ANOES wasn't quite enough to scare the bajeezus out of him, so I'm trying to really scar him with a "scare the living hell out of him" flick but haven't found it yet.

[MoonSylver]

Hey, no worries guys! Part of this thread was to ask others what I should expose him to. Apparently the original ANOES wasn't quite enough to scare the bajeezus out of him, so I'm trying to really scar him with a "scare the living hell out of him" flick but haven't found it yet. If you find it let me know, 'cuz I wanna see it too! (Seriously, I miss the days of being scared by movies!)

[LouCipherr]

If you find it let me know, 'cuz I wanna see it too! (Seriously, I miss the days of being scared by movies!) I certainly will. I have a feeling that what scares the shit out of him might not have the same effect on us, but when I find that one film, I will let ya know.

[MikePizzoff]

He's probably too old now, but Poltergeist made me nearly shit my pants every viewing through my youth.

[bassman]

He's probably too old now, but Poltergeist made me nearly shit my pants every viewing through my youth. Shit, that movie still creeps me out to this day. But yeah....it really messed me up when I was a kid. This thread reminds me, Mike. I stumbled upon your "little brother/dawn" thread this morning. Man you got some shit thrown at you for showing a kid Dawn.

[LouCipherr]

Shit, that movie still creeps me out to this day. But yeah....it really messed me up when I was a kid. This thread reminds me, Mike. I stumbled upon your "little brother/dawn" thread this morning. Man you got some shit thrown at you for showing a kid Dawn. How old was he? Your brother, I mean, Mike. I showed my son the original Dawn a few years ago (he's 14 now) so he was around 11ish when he saw Dawn for the first time.

[bassman]

IIRC, Three. The responses were quite funny. Ranging from "you're cruel, how could you do that?!!?" to "He's fucking three. He won't even remember it in five minutes."

[MinionZombie]

I see "Poltergeist" has been mentioned ... guess what - I've never seen it. *waits for HPOTD to clamber back onto its feet* I've seen one scene from the first and one scene from the second, that a mate showed me one time I was over his house watching horror movies I wasn't allowed to see at home (the scene where a dude rips his own face off ... from the 2nd movie that is, isn't it? I can't remember). Anyway, I wanted to see Poltergeist, but the only time I've seen it on the telly schedules was years and years ago when I was about 11 and my Mum wouldn't let me see it, lol. I could have gotten the anniversary disc, but calling that a special edition or whatever is a piss take. There's fuck all on it, so I never got that, and now years and years later still I've not gotten around to it. Maybe I'll get onto that some day, eh?

[bassman]

Dude.....rent that shit. Download it. Do whatever you've got to do. I think you would REALLY dig Poltergeist. A fantastic 80's film without the eighties cheese. I would put it into that rare class of good eighties horror films like The Thing and The Fly. You won't regret it. Never cared for the sequels. Just the first.