Some Italian horror films I really like are Demons and Stage Fright (thou time hasn't treated the latter too well).

 

"Stage Fright" I thought was okay, but there are a few other interesting films that the director (Michele Soavi) did as well -"Dellamorte Delamore" (a really, quite bizarre horror-cum-black comedy with Rupert Everett...), "The Church" (with a very young Asia Argento), and "The Sect"... Finding a good Italian horror film these days is almost as rare as a hen's tooth to be honest, the industry has become very moribund, Argento just doesn't seem to be trying any more... "Trauma" had its moments, but it ultimately just came across as being a bit like someone doing an Argento Karaoke.... Still, at least it was a bit better than tripe like "Stendahl Syndrome", "The Card Player" or "Phantom of the Opera"..... Still, we should be grateful for one thing, at least he used these films to showcase the talents of his daughter Asia... Now, she is one interesting young lady..... :naughty: who's made a couple of pretty 'out-there' films herself.... I particularly recommend you watch "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things".... You'll need a pretty stiff drink or two after it though... Disturbing stuff...

 

Spain/Latin America seems to be the hotbed for horror/dark fantasy these days - "The Orphanage" is absolutely superb and we're just about to get hit between the eyes with "[Rec]" on Friday, apparently, along the lines of "Blair Witch" and "Diaries of the Dead", but according to reviews, a LOT better than either of those two....

 

 

"Stage Fright" I thought was okay, but there are a few other interesting films that the director (Michele Soavi) did as well -"Dellamorte Delamore" (a really, quite bizarre horror-cum-black comedy with Rupert Everett...), "The Church" (with a very young Asia Argento), and "The Sect"... Finding a good Italian horror film these days is almost as rare as a hen's tooth to be honest, the industry has become very moribund, Argento just doesn't seem to be trying any more... "Trauma" had its moments, but it ultimately just came across as being a bit like someone doing an Argento Karaoke.... Still, at least it was a bit better than tripe like "Stendahl Syndrome", "The Card Player" or "Phantom of the Opera"..... Still, we should be grateful for one thing, at least he used these films to showcase the talents of his daughter Asia... Now, she is one interesting young lady..... :naughty: who's made a couple of pretty 'out-there' films herself.... I particularly recommend you watch "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things".... You'll need a pretty stiff drink or two after it though... Disturbing stuff...

 

Spain/Latin America seems to be the hotbed for horror/dark fantasy these days - "The Orphanage" is absolutely superb and we're just about to get hit between the eyes with "[Rec]" on Friday, apparently, along the lines of "Blair Witch" and "Diaries of the Dead", but according to reviews, a LOT better than either of those two....

 

"Dellamorte Delamore" was ok, I was expecting a bit more straight-forward horror and was a bit disappointed. Thou I saw it like about 10 years ago so maybe I should give it another try. I actually have a copy of "The Church", a bit slow moving in parts but I did like it quite a bit. And yeah, it really has been quite some time since I was a good new Italian horror film. One Italian flick from the 70s I like is "Don't Torture The Duckling", a kinda Argenty style who-dun-it film. I actually have always prefered those kinda films to such ultra-violent films with bearly any plot as Lucio Fulci's were. The razorblade scene in "New York Ripper" is...memorable.

 

A few of my friends went to see "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" a few years back when it was playing in the movie theatres and they said it was very good. I was going to rent it but kept forgetting and then it was revealed that the book that the movie was based was a total scam and a hoax, I decided to skip the whole film.

 

The Orphanage indeed was excellent, just like Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, and Nameless (Los Sin Nobre, directed by Jaume Balagueró whose new flick is REC) to name a few. And I did actually like Severance and Wilderness so there are some good UK horror flicks also in recent times. And even Canadian, My Little Eye was also good. And talking about European horror, the sickest flick that I have ever seen is probably Nekromantik, the 80s flick from Germany. Boy was that terrible flick, one of worst I've ever seen.

I'm going to go quite far back for my suggestion.

 

Has anyone seen 'Dead Again', it's got Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson and Kenneth Brannagh in it. Basically, Emma Thompson's character starts dreaming about a woman called Margeret, who gets murdered, she thinks her husband did it, and the guy that Kenneth Brannagh plays is the man she loves and she fears through the dreams, that history will repeat itself and he will murder her...follow me so far???? :lol:

 

Anyway, I won't spoil it, but the ending happens so fast that you don't see it coming and takes your breath away, it was awesome, absolutely love that film!!!!

hmmm...

 

I liked the twist in Saw, The Skeleton Key, The Others... theres more but i can't think of them atm.

Brilliant to see that someone else than me knows Argento and his films (and you probably know also a lot about other Itralian horror). I have thought about starting Italian horror thread but decided not to because there probably would be about three people who would have anything to say about it. And yeah, Argento's flicks have gone downhill drastically lately, thou I did like Trauma. I was so waiting to see Mother Of Tears but I've heard it is really dreadful and really ain't expecting much anymore. Some Italian horror films I really like are Demons and Stage Fright (thou time hasn't treated the latter too well).

 

I say go for it. It would get me to add more to the horror film discussion on this forum than constant whining about terrible remakes.

 

By the way, "Suspiria 2008" will keep the awful trend going later this year... :puke2:

i love the twists in Saw films! I think the twist in Saw II particularly... the writers and their imaginations and how they think of all those things is just... incredible and so.... scary... :P

"Dellamorte Delamore" was ok, I was expecting a bit more straight-forward horror and was a bit disappointed. Thou I saw it like about 10 years ago so maybe I should give it another try. I actually have a copy of "The Church", a bit slow moving in parts but I did like it quite a bit. And yeah, it really has been quite some time since I was a good new Italian horror film. One Italian flick from the 70s I like is "Don't Torture The Duckling", a kinda Argenty style who-dun-it film. I actually have always prefered those kinda films to such ultra-violent films with bearly any plot as Lucio Fulci's were. The razorblade scene in "New York Ripper" is...memorable.

 

A few of my friends went to see "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" a few years back when it was playing in the movie theatres and they said it was very good. I was going to rent it but kept forgetting and then it was revealed that the book that the movie was based was a total scam and a hoax, I decided to skip the whole film.

 

The Orphanage indeed was excellent, just like Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, and Nameless (Los Sin Nobre, directed by Jaume Balagueró whose new flick is REC) to name a few. And I did actually like Severance and Wilderness so there are some good UK horror flicks also in recent times. And even Canadian, My Little Eye was also good. And talking about European horror, the sickest flick that I have ever seen is probably Nekromantik, the 80s flick from Germany. Boy was that terrible flick, one of worst I've ever seen.

 

Not all Fulci's films were c**p though... "The Beyond" I actually thought was pretty good, and it has some pretty surreal and very atmospheric moments... "Zombie Flesh Eaters", which is the one that everyone goes on about, is just a pretty sh!t version of Romero's masterful zombie films... "New York Ripper" is probably one of the sleaziest and most mysoginistic films I have ever seen.. That razorblade scene is just pretty damned unecessary.... Fulci was a guy who had..ahem...issues with women I think....

 

I dont think it necessarily blunts the edge of the film version of "Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" if the book is denounced as a hoax.. I still think the issues that the film covers (that of child abuse and bad parenting) are valid ones to take into consideration considering what is going on in society... The film, I dont believe, makes any such claim to be based upon a true story.... It's not Asia's fault as a film-maker if the guy who wrote the book is a fraud... She's making an honest film dealing with important issues which need addressing however difficult these issues may be for some to hear, no blame should be apportioned to her or the film, she was taken in by this guy as well at the end of the day... The way I look at the film is that it is a fictionalised account (and a film never covers all of the narrative of a book anyway, so whether the book was 'true' or not, the film is always going to 'edit' things for dramatic purposes..) of things that really are going on in the world to some degree or other - I think one need only look at the current goings-on in Austria to see that films like this are, depressingly, a necessity to shock us out of our apathy and deal with the real horrors that are going on in society....

I dont think it necessarily blunts the edge of the film version of "Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" if the book is denounced as a hoax.. I still think the issues that the film covers (that of child abuse and bad parenting) are valid ones to take into consideration considering what is going on in society... The film, I dont believe, makes any such claim to be based upon a true story.... It's not Asia's fault as a film-maker if the guy who wrote the book is a fraud... She's making an honest film dealing with important issues which need addressing however difficult these issues may be for some to hear, no blame should be apportioned to her or the film, she was taken in by this guy as well at the end of the day...

 

Yeah i read about JT LeRoy - was very intesting 'twist' :lol: wasnt it - as it was female author wasnt it and another female friend who possed as him...i've got the film but havent got round to watching it yet as i dont think its the kind of thing that i could put on with my parents around (they were complaining about Crash - the award winning one - the other day)

The Skeleton Key really bothered me. It was a great movie, definitely my kind of thriller movie, but I guess ultimately we want the good guys to win and it was just unexpected.

Se7en has an amazing twist! - Amazing film too...

 

I also loved although it was more to do with messing with your head than actually being a twist The Butterfly Effect.