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New York, 7:00 AM
Tue Dec 15
67 posts in the last 24 hours
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03/13/09
And I just cannot watch rape scenes in movies or tv. They really freak me out, and stick in my mind forever. The scene from North County where the teenaged Charlize Theron is raped by her teacher is burned into my brain, even years later. And the sexual assault from last season's Law&Order: SVU finale still makes me sick to think about it. And those scenes are tame in comparison to what is shown in horror films nowadays.
03/13/09
And if Kyle Smith thinks that rape is a "taboo" then I don't think he's seen very many horror movies. Sexual violence is practically guaranteed in this genre. Especially if the movie has sexy female characters.
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The fear caused by the movie makes my adrenaline rush which is exhilarating to me. I don't get sexually excited by any of it, I don't find humor in it, I just enjoy the feeling of being scared. It is like sky diving or doing a dare that you don't think that you can do. Once it is over you feel giddy because you "survived".
03/13/09
hmm. interesting. i can understand how this plugs into the whole adrenaline-rush sensation and feeling like you survived.
i think there's a difference in the reaction i have, for sure. i'm not scared by these types of movies. not at all. i'm a pretty brave person, if i say so myself. instead i'm revolted... disgusted. to me i can't compartmentalize this type of depiction into an entertainment category. i can't get past how angry... i guess that's the emotion i feel. anger that something so horrible is being trivialized. i immediately make the leap and feel too much for real humans who have actually gone through something like this in their lifetime.
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[en.wikipedia.org]
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i know, i'd like to know why movies like this aren't rated X anymore? because any movie rated X supposedly won't get released at the multiplex theaters and the movie will fail. at least that's my understanding.
03/13/09
I love horror movies.
This sounds like a good one. Scary. Probably should be NC-17, but...sounds like a scary movie to me. (the original is pretty damn good too.)
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It just shocks me that he was getting screwed over cause he showed people having consensual sex, and a (pretty gross) poop scene, but THIS! this is ok for kids to see.
03/13/09
I'm reading a lot of comments by people who are not fans of horror as a genre. Well, then this movie isn't for you. And while I think most of my favorite horror films tend to be of the Hitchcock-ian and King-like persuesion (a lot of suspense, not necessarily lots of blood), LHotL is one of the true classics of the genre.
The Manson family-style rapes and murders that take place at the beginning were meant to hit on a specific cultural point that was extremely relevant in the early 1970s, shortly after the real Manson murders took place, and at a time when hippies -- who had spent a decade trying to portray themselves as peace-loving, acid-dropping, open-minded teddy bears -- were being lured into lurid lifestyles as they were exposed to narcotics and/or became acid casualties. The end of the 1960's counterculture left behind some very dark and very dangerous residue, and the result was groups of lost and lonely kids wandering around the country, doing anything and everything they could to get high and try to live out this weird ideal that had proven unsustainable. It was about the death of optimism.
That's why seeing what happens to these girls after such an innocent night -- a concert, and, man, who doesn't want to get a little stoned after a concert? -- is so disturbing and so scary. That's why the rape and murder is so graphic and so in your face; these girls didn't do anything wrong, or even anything out of the oridnary, and yet here they are, preyed upon by such evil, lost and soulless people.
And that's why the parents' revenge over the rest of the movie is so fun to watch. Because when they start to dole out their revenge, every cell in your body wants nothing more than to see these horrible, evil people be destroyed as painfully and remorselessly as they wasted these two young innocent girls.
Horror is hard to watch for many people because it forces you to confront the absolutely darkness that lurks in everyone, held back by a thinner and weaker barrier than many of us want to admit. LHotL is not like torture porn -- there is not pain and blood just for schock value. And LHotL has never romanticized the actions of a rapist or murderer. Instead, it shows us the horror of rape and murder without blinking... and then allows us to see justice that our justice system rarely affords us.
You cannot hate the antagonists of this film properly without that kind of rape and murder scene. And that hate is why, whenever I re-watch the original with friends (who have or haven't seen it) we are cheering by the end.
God, I can't wait for this. I really, really hope it's good.
03/13/09
Which is that you're an adult, you can choose to see this movie (or not) and you will respond to the scene in your way. What's NOT ok is that the MPAA gave it an R-Rating.
03/13/09
Not excusing the hypocrisy, just understanding it.
Also, any parent who takes their kid to a movie like this is a horrible person.
03/13/09
As for not getting an NC-17 rating, it bothers me that children WILL go to this but on the same hand I would be really pissed off about theaters not showing it because of the rating, blockbuster not having it because of the rating, etc. I think that R should be treated like NC-17 and that restrictions for carrying NC-17 should no longer exist.
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But as a horror movie, it has to scare you. And rape and murder are scary, scary thngs, as many here will attest. If you don't like this kind of horror, you don't like this kind of horror. But LHotL is one of the classics of its genre; it is not torture porn, it is not rape for rape's sake, and it doesn't deserve to be treated with such derision.
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