WolfNC17 wrote:
Yeah, De Palma and Bay is a really strange comparison. It's like comparing, I don't know, An American Werewolf in London to Paranormal Activity. Which a certain poster also did... the two directors have literally nothing in common, just like those two films have literally nothing in common. Film-school freshmen wouldn't make comparisons like that.
I'm not even saying people have to like De Palma's films. If they're not to your taste, that's one thing. But to hate De Palma for not being totally original is just silly. You might as well hate everyone who works in Hollywood for that. There are no totally original ideas.
I don't think horror films even have to be violent necessarily. I think horror is more about atmosphere, a feeling of dread and fear. I was just watching The Haunting again the other night. There is practically no violence in that whatsoever. Only one person dies in the entire film, and it's in a car accident. Yet it's a very frightening film (though it doesn't really work on me any more, just because I've seen it so many times). I'm not saying horror films can't or shouldn't use graphic violence, only that they don't necessarily have to. A lot of people seem to mistake blood and gore for "scary" though, particularly younger people. I don't necessarily find it scary just to see blood and gore. I've never really understood that.
I think the giallo subgenre really confused the line between thrillers and horror films. It's funny that a lot of audience members go to thrillers expecting them to be horror films, and sometimes vice versa. Some people don't seem to know the difference. A few nights ago I was watching the pseudo-thriller The Roommate, a lame college-age remake of Single White Female. I mostly watched it because my Netflix streaming wasn't working. It's pretty bad, but it's quite funny the way it approaches being a horror film at times, then pulls back just when you think something really violent or dangerous (or interesting) is about to happen. It's like they don't want to REALLY make the movie the audience actually wants to see. I found it really hilarious. Why they even bothered to make the movie, I don't know. But it's kind of fascinating.
This is a really good assessment. My interpretation of horror, suspense, thriller is when a distinct "fight or flight" emotional response in invoked. For some, Dress to Kill invokes that exact response...which is why it's so effective, same with Psycho. That's why, personally, any movie that deals in faith or the supernatural (i.e. The Exorcist, The Oman, Rosemary's Baby, Paranormal Activity, etc...) really draw a distinct emotional response of fear. That's probably due to my Catholic upbringing and the guilt I had to endure for 25 years!
But to say these two are one in same, is honestly very puzzling to me. I don't consider myself a huge movie expert but I can hold my own in a conversation and a disagreement. This comparison is, in my view, an argument just to argue. Just because you "tell it like it is" doesn't mean you have to be an A-hole.