- Joined
- Jun 4, 2007
- Messages
- 3,692
*deep breath* I'm no expert on pop-culture but, I was there in the 1980s - when for the first time ever, the VCR (video cassette recorder) allowed people to watch movies in their own home; whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Up until The Video Recordings Act 1983, the State had a pretty firm control on what people saw, to an extent, by classifying cinema films, what went out on TV, having specially licensed premises for certain types of films...etc...
There was an inevitable 'moral panic' in this country at that time, due to the emergence of the new horror "video nasties" - I think led by decency campaigner Mary Whitehouse. I was 15 at the time and remember watching the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Zombies Flesh Eaters, Zombies Lake and a few others JUST prior to them being made illegal under the 1983 Act. I was envied by most at my school for having seen them. Cool.
By the way. Interesting note. When you watch the old VHS video of the UK version of The 'burbs, the 1983 Act is why Ray's horror fest is cut. And that's also why the modern UK DVD release says UNCUT.
Anyway, it's interesting, because that law has long since gone. God alone knows what they would have made out of SAW and HOSTEL back then. But anyway, I bought "BOX OF THE BANNED" which contains Last House On The Left, I Spit On Your Grave, Driller Killer, Evil Dead, Nightmares In A Damaged Brain and some more - all uncut and with added deleted scenes deemed unwatchable back then.
I look at them now and think....tame. And yet, back then, as they were the innovators, the first of their kind to be available, they still carry a certain amount of credo.
For me the newies are often good, sometimes very good, sometimes utter cr@p, but I can't help but feel the way modern horror is going is only towards how more and more can we push the limits of taste? Ichi The Killer. The Men Behind The Sun. I have absolutely no desire to watch these movies as they look sick. But they're legal. So rather than a good story, well directed and acted, as with, oh I dunno, the original Psycho, we seem to be accepting just a stretching of the parameters of bad taste. Basically, we've become so de-sensitized it seems we will watch anything. Don't get me wrong. There are some cool modern horror movies. And I guess always will be. One thought that has occurred to me is this: Are the really bad taste movies these days just the same (shocking, disturbing, sick) as they were back in the 1980s - just relative to the context of time/culture? I mean, back then we had a whole Parliamentary ACT. I'm thinking maybe back then was worse. It was a huge deal. Films like Straw Dogs and Clockwork Orange were banned (got 'em both) and even (straying a bit) Bruce Lee's Nunchaka scenes had to be cut for UK videos or face a ban!
I suppose it's like shocking moments of Rock. The Sex Pistols swore on TV in 1977. It was a massive thing. Headlines in newspapers. Moral outcry. Nowadays it's commonplace. Just look at Gordon Ramsey. I digress...
I think we are just so used to horror trying its best each time to shock us, or make us turn away in disgust - but i feel what's often missing is a damned good storyline. Superb acting and scripts. Something original. Something exceptional. I just look at the supermarkets DVDs and think 'more of the same'.
So. What's everyone's views on the status quo of horror? Looking back at original horror and also the new? The fact that Wicker Man, Hills Have Eyes, Psycho, etc etc etc have been remade, goes to show that we may have run out of fresh ideas.
There was an inevitable 'moral panic' in this country at that time, due to the emergence of the new horror "video nasties" - I think led by decency campaigner Mary Whitehouse. I was 15 at the time and remember watching the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Zombies Flesh Eaters, Zombies Lake and a few others JUST prior to them being made illegal under the 1983 Act. I was envied by most at my school for having seen them. Cool.
By the way. Interesting note. When you watch the old VHS video of the UK version of The 'burbs, the 1983 Act is why Ray's horror fest is cut. And that's also why the modern UK DVD release says UNCUT.
Anyway, it's interesting, because that law has long since gone. God alone knows what they would have made out of SAW and HOSTEL back then. But anyway, I bought "BOX OF THE BANNED" which contains Last House On The Left, I Spit On Your Grave, Driller Killer, Evil Dead, Nightmares In A Damaged Brain and some more - all uncut and with added deleted scenes deemed unwatchable back then.
I look at them now and think....tame. And yet, back then, as they were the innovators, the first of their kind to be available, they still carry a certain amount of credo.
For me the newies are often good, sometimes very good, sometimes utter cr@p, but I can't help but feel the way modern horror is going is only towards how more and more can we push the limits of taste? Ichi The Killer. The Men Behind The Sun. I have absolutely no desire to watch these movies as they look sick. But they're legal. So rather than a good story, well directed and acted, as with, oh I dunno, the original Psycho, we seem to be accepting just a stretching of the parameters of bad taste. Basically, we've become so de-sensitized it seems we will watch anything. Don't get me wrong. There are some cool modern horror movies. And I guess always will be. One thought that has occurred to me is this: Are the really bad taste movies these days just the same (shocking, disturbing, sick) as they were back in the 1980s - just relative to the context of time/culture? I mean, back then we had a whole Parliamentary ACT. I'm thinking maybe back then was worse. It was a huge deal. Films like Straw Dogs and Clockwork Orange were banned (got 'em both) and even (straying a bit) Bruce Lee's Nunchaka scenes had to be cut for UK videos or face a ban!
I suppose it's like shocking moments of Rock. The Sex Pistols swore on TV in 1977. It was a massive thing. Headlines in newspapers. Moral outcry. Nowadays it's commonplace. Just look at Gordon Ramsey. I digress...
I think we are just so used to horror trying its best each time to shock us, or make us turn away in disgust - but i feel what's often missing is a damned good storyline. Superb acting and scripts. Something original. Something exceptional. I just look at the supermarkets DVDs and think 'more of the same'.
So. What's everyone's views on the status quo of horror? Looking back at original horror and also the new? The fact that Wicker Man, Hills Have Eyes, Psycho, etc etc etc have been remade, goes to show that we may have run out of fresh ideas.
