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Post by Neko Bazu on Aug 22, 2006 13:26:01 GMT -1
Watched the film for the first time the other night... I remember it getting really bad reviews, and I couldn't understand why - I read the book ages ago, and loved it. There was a bit of a cult Stephen King feel to it, rather than being his most commercially-friendly novel, but I adore his work anyway. Having actually watched the film, I now understand why it got such bad reviews. What a pile of dross! They completely raped the ending, and totally missed the most important bits of the plot that turned it from "Ah hah..." to "Oh wow!" No explanation of why the Dreamcatcher was so significant, totally underplayed half of the conversations with Mr Gray (if they included them at all) and just generally ballsed the whole thing up. Those of you who've read Tommyknockers and seen the film; it's much worse than the changes made there. I've often said I'd like to see Desperation (my fave King novel) made into a film, if only to bring it to a wider audience, but if that's the sort of job they'd do, forget it!
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Post by embarossed on Aug 22, 2006 13:35:14 GMT -1
Yay!!!! Desperation is one of my faves too. Very, very spooky and strange story that is.
Although I liked Insomnia alot too, mainly because at the time I was reading it I was going through a bit of an insomniac stage.
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Post by Neko Bazu on Aug 22, 2006 13:49:47 GMT -1
Can't say I've come across Insomnia as yet, but that's another on the 'to read' list Only one of his stories has really spooked or - dare I say it? - scared me, but by God did it do it well. I can't remember the title, but it was in his collection of short stories entitled Skeleton Crew; it was the one about a hotel room. I have no idea what it was, but that one left me feeling consciously disturbed and gave me nightmares. One of just two pieces of media to ever do that to me!
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Post by embarossed on Aug 22, 2006 14:08:42 GMT -1
Can't say I've come across Insomnia as yet, but that's another on the 'to read' list Only one of his stories has really spooked or - dare I say it? - scared me, but by God did it do it well. I can't remember the title, but it was in his collection of short stories entitled Skeleton Crew; it was the one about a hotel room. I have no idea what it was, but that one left me feeling consciously disturbed and gave me nightmares. One of just two pieces of media to ever do that to me! I'll look out for that.... What was the other piece of media you referred to there then? Or dare I mention it?
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Post by Neko Bazu on Aug 22, 2006 14:40:39 GMT -1
The other piece was the film Ju-On (the original and vastly superior Japanese version of 'The Grudge') - there's just something about it that sets me on edge and makes me feel horribly uneasy every time I watch it (six times so far). I'm okay when I'm with people, but as soon as I'm on my own?
The bastardly thing about that film is that it breaks an old tradition - in almost every other horror film, if you're in bed, you're safe. Even if you get attacked, you won't die - you'll escape somehow. That film takes that away...
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Post by embarossed on Aug 22, 2006 15:34:39 GMT -1
Ok, straight away I can see how watching that alone could be bad. I'll try and get hold of that.
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Post by Neko Bazu on Aug 22, 2006 15:51:30 GMT -1
The thing about Ju-On is that there's virtually no gore, no OTT screaming (the characters are generally too scared to scream), very slight and subtle atmospheric music, and only a simple plot. The whole thing is purely psychological, and turns common daily objects (TVs, phones, children, cats, shadows) into symbols of impending death. Ringu (original superior Japanese version of 'The Ring') is another one that's good at that, though I found it less frightening. If you get a chance, have a look at either of them (best watched in Japanese with subtitles) - if they float your boat, I can suggest a whole load of other Japanese films for ya to try out! (Spot the resident Japanophile, anyone? )
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Post by embarossed on Aug 22, 2006 16:59:44 GMT -1
The thing about Ju-On is that there's virtually no gore, no OTT screaming (the characters are generally too scared to scream), very slight and subtle atmospheric music, and only a simple plot. The whole thing is purely psychological, and turns common daily objects (TVs, phones, children, cats, shadows) into symbols of impending death. Ringu (original superior Japanese version of 'The Ring') is another one that's good at that, though I found it less frightening. If you get a chance, have a look at either of them (best watched in Japanese with subtitles) - if they float your boat, I can suggest a whole load of other Japanese films for ya to try out! (Spot the resident Japanophile, anyone? ) I've seen Ringu, and I did find that a little disturbing and it was far better than the Hollywood version. I kind of guessed you were into all things Japanese.
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