Thank you for all the great mainstream scary movie recommendations. I will be checking them out. I’ve gotta say that in general, I like older movies better than the new ones. Lotsa times great special effects are now used instead of great writing. I prefer a solid story over realistic gore.
Here’s one that did a good job on both story & effects, with a nothing budget and most action taking place in one room. I so appreciate when a director/cast can pull off something like that. Truly worth an award. The first SAW is a terrific movie, great on plot & suspense, low on money, but so worth watching. And I LOVE a twist ending, which this has.
I also like watching all versions of a remake to see the changes each director & leading actor makes. Have you seen the three movies based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 book, "I am Legend"? The Last Man on Earth (1964, Starring Vincent Price, directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow) Omega Man (1971, directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston.), and I Am Legend. ( 2007, starring Will Smith directed by Francis Lawrence) are all interesting to watch, but quite divergent in their presentation. Each had it’s redeeming qualities. But overall, the only one I would REwatch would be the Vincent Price version. Writer Matheson is quoted on IMDB as claiming that the film that came closest to capturing the spirit of his novel "I Am Legend" was Night of the Living Dead (1968), even though that film was not an intentional adaptation of his book.
Speaking of writer Richard Matheson, he also wrote Stir Of Echoes, made into a movie by the same name that has, in my opinion, the all time biggest "JUMP out of your seat" moment, and also an overall great scary movie to watch.
This is one of those topics that I could go on and on about. I truly love books and movies. If you guys are interested in having such a thread once a week or so that has nothing to do with porn, and everything to do with mainstream movies, please let me know. I would really enjoy doing it.
xo, Cindi
Clive Barker is a horror author that used both great storytelling and gore to weave some great stories. He wrote many books including a 3 part series of books of short stories called “Books of Blood (I, II, and III). Quite a few of his stories have been made into decent horror movies like Rawhead Rex, Hellraiser, Candyman, Might Meat Train, Lord of Illusions, Night Breed, and many others.
Later Hellraiser movies were ok at best but the first few they made were pretty decent movies. He has even written a children’s book “The Thief of Always”.
I’ve read the entire barker collection except for that “abarat” young adult shit. Karma, please tell me you’ve read Imajica. It’s probably the crowning achievement in his entire collection of literary works. It’s a massive book, about 1200 pages if I remember correctly, but it’s the MOST epic sci-fi/love story that I’ve ever read in my life. Just an awesome clusterfuck of a story that revolves around other dimensions, the power of 3, and one man’s stuggle to come to terms with his past and destroy God himself. Just a real fucker of a book. My all time favorite novel, hands down. Also try the Books of the Art, which include The Great And Secret Show and Everville. Barker is a goddamn genius. It’s too bad he started painting maniacally and nonstop, and has written anything significant in like 8 years or so.
@Cindi-
I’m perfectly down with that kind of thread. This industry and all of the Foster/Lubben/Etc. bullshit is making my penis soft.
Yep I read all those. Would love to some of those made into huge blockbuster big budget movies or miniseries on a pay channel like HBO or Showtime. Many of the visuals and concepts would not translate well to regular tv without censorship ruining his storytelling.
You never know man. I mean, look how long it took someone to make Midnight Meat Train, which was just a short story from The Books Of Blood, into a movie. I think Imajica would be a tremendous film, but it’s just too long and massive to fit into one movie without cutting out 75% of the book. It would have to be a multi-part movie, which is never going to happen, as I just can’t fathom Hollywood risking that much dough on a novel that wasn’t necessarily universally acclaimed. The only thing i see being possible is a television miniseries like “The Stand” or “It”. Plus, like you said, I just don’t see the board of censors being too happy with some of the sex that goes on in that book, as it breaks the boundaries of what is traditionally “acceptable”.
My favorite part about Barker and his writing style is that even though he writes in the horror genre, he is a master when dealing with emotion and matters of the heart. Barker’s books have just as many philosophical epiphanies of human interaction as they do entrails being pulled from people’s torsos.
I don’t know what genres you’re into karma, but if you dig Sci-fi, check out John Scalzi. He has an excellent mix of humor and intrigue. If you’re into wild, shit-yer’-drawers Texas whirlwind story telling, I highly suggest you take Joe R. Lansdale for a ride. He is one of the most entertaining writers alive, and has me equally laughing and saying, “OH SHIT!!” at the same time. A couple of his works have been made into films. Bubba Ho-Tep was based off of a short Lansdale story, and Incident On and Off a Mountain Road from the “Masters Of Horror” series was also based off of a Lansdale short.
I love the “Masters of Horror” series. Getting back to Barker…
I would love to see the story about the folks from one town that fight the folks from another town using giants made from hundreds of people (think a human pyramid on a massive scale) or the one about the chemical that turns people in raving homicidal rapists that just can’t stop raping anyone they meet (man or woman).
I would love to also see his other huge novels like “The Great and Secret Show” or “Everville” or “Weaveworld” made into movies or a miniseries. Just have them on a pay channel like HBO, Showtime, or Starz. Having those “PGed” for CBS or ABC would be a crime. Most folks just know him from “The Hellbound Heart” (Hellraiser).
I haven’t read the Books Of Blood in quite some time, but if I remember correctly, wasn’t the subplot of that giant-person-thing story something about two gay dudes getting it on graphically in a field in Romania or something?
Being a gay man himself, Barker was never shy about including explicit homosexual content in his books, which is another reason why some of his works will never see the light of cinema.
Broke-back mountain is one thing, but Clive Barker gay stuff is on a completely different level of graphic homosexual depiction.
Yet many of his books of blood stories have been made into movies, although mostly low budget. Hellraiser, candyman, rawhead rex, etc. I just think that some of his short stories do not translate well to the big screen, while some of hie other stories do.
I think, if given to the proper director like Tim Burton or Guillermo del Toro, The Thief Of Always would make an excellent film. I think it’s been long enough since Little Monsters, which was a light-hearted rip-off of the overall theme of T.O.A, that it could avoid the inevitable comparisons.
Did you two read that Mister B. Gone crap? That was the only Barker book that I thought kinda’ sucked.
If you are that Chelsea chick, JT, and you look the same as you did when you where whoring on film, then let me say that I’m stoked to see that a hot chick reads Clive.
I really enjoyed the Books of Blood when I read them in High School. Then I tried to read a novel of his and only made it about 40 pages in. That is my limit with books. If I put it down after 40 pages, chances are I never pic it up again. After that I read the first few series of Star Wars books that came out, then switched to only non fiction.
Another good author you don’t hear too much about is Andrew Vachss. He wrote a series of crime/adventure novels (I think there are 18) about an unliscened ex-con private investigator named Burke. The novels mostly take place in the seedy underbelly of New York City.
Like Blue Belle in which he is hired by a bunch of prostitutes to find a serial killer driving a “ghost van” that is torturing and murdering the working girls.
In Streega he investigates a child pornography ring.
In Sacrifice he is looking to find a young murderer that goes by the name “Satan’s Child”.
The very 1st Burke novel is called Flood. If you like crime, adventure, and mystery stories you will be hooked.
Dude, did you know that Vachss is Joe Lansdale’s brother in law? I shit you not. Joe would always thank him in his novels, which is how I found out about him.
I read “Two Trains Running” and thought it was a steaming, go-nowhere pile of shit. Should I try other Vachss books, Karma?
I have a hard time giving authors a chance when the first book that I read is horrible.
Even though he’s the polar opposite of Vachss, you should really give Lansdale a shot Karma. Cruel humor, over-the-top violence, and just flat out Texas style storytelling entertainment are his ongoing themes.
@jerk-
That is Barker’s curse. It takes the guy anywhere from 50 to 200 pages to really get things rolling, but once they do, you’re hooked. My girl can’t stand Barker, as she just can’t get through the incredibly slow build-up that the guy usually implies.
King is the same way. Takes him 100 pages of descriptions of the story, land, and characters before the ball really gets rolling.
Read the Burke series of novels. Two Trains Running had nothing to do with Burke’s world.
Actually Barker has published a series of books called “Abarat” (the newest one just came out) and he’s got a new horror novel in the works (it’s done according to him just needs publishing).
and the scary thing is that he writes really long and labourous books. . longhand. Can you imagine writing the 1200, 1300 pages of Imajica *longhand*?
Here’s the short end of what ole’ Joe is all about.
“Where does Mojo storytelling come from? How does a fella learn to spin over-the-top yarns of any sort: horror, suspense, humor, science fiction, Western, what have you? First you got to see the world, like Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, who has lived everywhere from Gladewater, Texas to Mount Enterprise, Texas to Nacogdoches, Texas!
“Texas is so wrapped up in myth and legend, it’s hard to know what the state and its people are really about,” says Lansdale. “Real Texans, raised on these myths and legends, sometimes become legends themselves. The bottom line is, Texas and its people are pretty much what most people mean when they use the broader term ‘America.’ No state better represents the independent spirit, the can-do attitude of America, better than Texas.”
The second ingredient to good Mojo storytelling is learning how to take a punch. Or a kick. Or a poke in the eye. And then learning how to avoid them. Lansdale is a student of the martial arts for more than thirty years. He’s a two-time inductee into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame, one such honor bestowed upon him for his founding of Shen Chuan, Martial Science. He holds belts in Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu, Combat Hapkido, American Combat Kempo, and Aikido, amongst others; in fact, his standard day is six hours at the typewriter, three hours at Lansdale’s Self Defense Systems, the martial-arts studio which he owns and at which he teaches.
With more than thirty books to his credit, Lansdale is the Champion Mojo Storyteller. He’s been called “an immense talent” by Booklist; “a born storyteller” by Robert Bloch; and The New York Times Book Review declares he has “a folklorist’s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur’s sense of pace.” He’s won umpty-ump awards, including sixteen Bram Stoker Awards, the Grand Master Award from the World Horror Convention, a British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Horror Critics Award, the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, the “Shot in the Dark” International Crime Writer’s Award, the Golden Lion Award, the Booklist Editor’s Award, the Critic’s Choice Award, and a New York Times Notable Book Award. He’s got the most decorated mantle in all of Nacogdoches!
Lansdale lives in Nacogdoches, Texas, with his wife, Karen, writer and editor.”