From his book
-
/.ㅤ — 7 months ago(August 29, 2025 03:56 AM)
i pretty much agree.
a big budget can get you suspense or a thriller
but the big budget horror is rare because it's mostly what you don't see on the screen and needs to be things we can relate to.
it can be done though if they bothered to spend more of that money on the script and actors and didn't have too many outside influences (profit motives).
although it would probably be more like a sci fi or fantasy horror.
alien would be a good example if that could be considered horror. -
Paul P. Powell — 7 months ago(August 29, 2025 04:02 AM)
Aye. '
Less is more
', in horror.
Whom did I just hear lecturing on this …oh! Alan Arkin talking about the technique used in
'Wait Until Dark'.
What else is there to say. Well. If anyone is interested, the famous '
chicken heart
' radio episode from '48(?) is available here:
https://archive.org/details/LightsOutoldTimeRadio
No visuals at all. See if it doesn't sweep you along, as silly as the premise may be. There's just something about it which gets under the skin.
I believe King writes about this in that same book. It is also a favorite childhood memory of Bill Cosby.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player -
sheetsadam1 — 7 months ago(August 29, 2025 04:07 AM)
I think much of the artistic failure of big budget movies today - horror or otherwise - stems from a lack of adequate hands-on training of the type that AIP, Corman's later New World Pictures, and even smaller production companies provided. Coppola, Scorsese, Bogdanovich, Cameron, Demme, etc. went on to much bigger things, but because of their experience on low-budget films, they seemed to learn how to make each dollar count. We can see the opposite approach in the same era with Michael Cimino, who began his career writing big studio productions, moved into the director's chair and went on to bankrupt an entire studio.
"Praise be to Allah." - President Donald J. Trump, Easter Sunday 04/05/2026 -
/.ㅤ — 7 months ago(August 29, 2025 04:22 AM)
i see modern big budget films as elaborate money laundering schemes these days.
and with the quest for larger audiences to extract from, they've made it so we basically cannot relate to anything culturally except other things we've seen on our screens.
anything relatable that's not the intellectual product of hollywood itself, tends to get **** all over. -
sheetsadam1 — 7 months ago(August 29, 2025 04:36 AM)
I largely agree. I read books nearly every week which would make for fantastic movies, but it's unlikely that many of them will ever be adapted to the screen. Hollywood is all about riding the superhero wave until it crashes (with video game adaptations already set to take their place) and occasionally catering to nostalgia by giving people a 105-year-old Indiana Jones or geriatric Ghostbusters. A24 is among the few reasons why American cinema is still alive at all, in my view.
"Praise be to Allah." - President Donald J. Trump, Easter Sunday 04/05/2026 -
/.ㅤ — 7 months ago(August 29, 2025 04:46 AM)
i also see deeper, psychological games being played as part of a larger system.
sure, we call it "nostalgia" and "superhero movies", but i wouldn't dismiss it as coincidence or merely for-profit. there is a clear direction to all of this. -
sheetsadam1 — 7 months ago(August 29, 2025 04:52 AM)
Sure, but it's a chicken and egg scenario. Is Hollywood responsible for creating the situation or are they merely meeting their audience on it's intellectual level? There are many factors at play here.
"Praise be to Allah." - President Donald J. Trump, Easter Sunday 04/05/2026 -
Paul P. Powell — 7 months ago(August 29, 2025 03:18 AM)
Also
WHAT THE HELL
is Brian DePalma's lame-o,
"The Fury"
doing on his list? What is that a favor to his friend John Farris? I love Farris' writing but the adaptation was a joke.
Talk about one of the least intimidating pointless big-budget horror flicks ever. Gag. It's exactly for reasons like this, I sniff and shrug at big budget horror. Turn up my nose and stroll right past.
You can tell just by looking at the glossy production values, it's gunna suck rope.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player