New French Extreme cinema

[shootemindehead]

So...I've just sat through 'Martyrs' and 'Inside'...and f*ck me, they're a tough watch. :eek: Good films for what they are and elaborately straight faced...but jesus christ, the violence makes those 70's/80's exploitation flicks look like tellytubbies.

I'd sort of seen 'Martyrs' before, but I must have only been watching it in the background or something, because it was like a new experience. 'Inside', I had never seen and knew nothing about it, other than the fact that it had been lumped in with a few other films under the extreme banner.

Anyone else on here dabbled in this stuff?

Bloody hell...I need a drink!

[Sammich]

Martyrs and Inside are beautiful and inspirational movies that should be played during every family Christmas get together.

The quality of European and Asian horror far surpasses the tired recycled "group of stupid highschool/college kids get killed one by one" garbage that comes out of the mainstream U.S.

Srpski Film and I Saw the Devil are also very good foreign horror movies.

[shootemindehead]

Aye, they're full of...er...christian values.

American Horror used to be the standard, years ago, but the mantle has dropped due to the MPAA interference in the 80s/90s. Horror film makers were just crippled by the sanctions imposed by cuts and censoring, that I think many just gave up, Savini's 'Night of the living Dead' is a classic example. Although a good film, he just didn't bother his arse putting in any gore effects, because he knew that the MPAA would have just taken them out again. The British horror industry suffered the same neutering from the BBFC, to the point that there was, effectively, no horror film industry during those two decades.

There's a lot more freedom for film makers to pursue their vision these days, thank christ. It's impossible to imagine the likes of 'Inside' being made in any country 20 years ago.

I watched 'Frontier(s)' last night too, but unfortunately, this wasn't as good as 'Martyrs' or 'Inside'. The Fascist France thing didn't really work and when the bunkum nazi malarkey was "revealed", I just tuned out.

I might check out 'I Saw the Devil' at some stage, but I'm not a big fan of Asian horror, to be honest, Although the pay off in 'Audition' was worth waiting for. But, from what I've heard about 'A Serbian Film', I can't say that I'll be in any rush to view that in the near future.

[krakenslayer]

Switchblade Romance/Haute Tension is another good film that came out of the same cinematic movement. Made by Alexandre Aja long before he turned his hand to shite like Piranha 3D. Features a severed head blowjob and Muse on the soundtrack. Fun and games! :)

[MinionZombie]

I enjoyed Piranha 3D, after thinking rather derisively of it before I ever watched it - then I enjoyed the hell out of it.

However, yes, Switchblade Romance is a fantastic flick - very suspenseful, and very violent. I've also seen Martyrs, which was indeed a rather tough watch. You feel a bit battered and woozy by the end of it and I've not been back to it since, but that doesn't mean I won't ever watch it again ... just not for a good while, heh. Haven't seen the others, but have heard of them.

As for "A Serbian Film" - fuck off will I ever watch that. :hurl: