Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives

Message board

* FAQ    * Register   * Login 



Reply to topic
Author Message Previous topic | Next topic
Coastliner
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:49 am
Posts: 667
Location: beyond the blue on some ancient, tattered Fates Warning cover
PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 4:16 am 
 

acid_bukkake wrote:
Coastliner wrote:
hm? It's actually pretty straightforward: We know that the witch trials were crimes against innocents but we can't rule out the existence of "ghosts" yet. Hence, ghost stories (=> could be) are potentially more credible than witch stories (=> can't be). That's what I was getting at.

Yes, but by that logic then we can't rule out the actual existence of witches and other forms of magic(k), hence why I said it was backwards.


Well, we can rule out the actual existence of witches in the recorded and traditional form. The point is that the director went for historical accuracy and credibility, so that a period piece like this comes across as reactionary: "Maybe there was some truth and validity to the historical accusations levelled against women." If you make history the subject of logic games, the resulting assertion looks equally reactionary and slightly beside the point.

I'm not saying that there can't be aliens in the universe but that that specific speck in the sky above Mexico City two years ago was already proven to have been just a helicopter. That speck was a thing as specific as the historical witch trials. So, if a movie claimed otherwise, how effective, scary or unsettling could it ever be? How scary can it be if the viewers know it isn't grounded in reality (and that the accusers, not the accused, were the actual villains)?

Am I well on the way of making myself understood (or lost in some Atlantean pyramid on Mars :scratch: )?
_________________
"The scary thing is: Tony still looks like Tony, whereas I don't look like me."
(Ian Anderson)

Top
 Profile  
Smalley
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:06 am
Posts: 1327
PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 5:13 am 
 

Haven't seen The Witch yet, but this discussion does remind me of an interesting point I remember about it on another forum, from a poster, who, while he liked the movie as a whole, still had a problem with the way that it tried to (in his words) have it both ways, both...

Spoiler: show
...repeating modern condemnations of the misogynistic hysteria of the Witch Trials, but also saying in-film that black magic/witchcraft was actually real at the same time. He said it'd be like, if in 500 years, they made a movie about the West Memphis Three that was critical of the way the justice system tried to railroad those kids to a death sentence, but also claimed that they were guilty of the murders at the end anyway.
_________________
Home Forum

ThStealthK wrote:
Thank god you're not a music teacher, the wisest decision you've ever made in your life.

Top
 Profile  
Operation Pivo
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 2:05 am
Posts: 71
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 1:34 am 
 

acid_bukkake wrote:
I'm surprised nobody's talked about The Descent in this thread.


The Descent is horrifically underrated and underappreciated. Easily the best Horror film of the 21st Century ...
However... I don't think it is the 'scariest' film. For me, The Descent is pure 'adrenaline' horror. It's not so much 'tension' horror or 'dread' horror, which I think make for a scarier viewing experience and can be seen in films such as Them (2006) and The Shining.

Top
 Profile  
~Guest 322837
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2013 6:20 pm
Posts: 274
PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 11:12 am 
 

I felt like The Descent aged very poorly rewatching it recently to be honest. As Above So Below was a great cavern horror movie that captures what I initially found enticing about The Descent, plus with some weird satanism thrown in the mix.

Top
 Profile  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Reply to topic Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 26 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

 
Jump to:  

Back to the Encyclopaedia Metallum


Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group