Desensitised?
This weekend, I watched Rosemary's Baby - I'd never seen it before.

Am I alone in thinking that, aside from the gratuitous tit action, there's no reason at all for it to be anything other than a PG?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 10:30, 23 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Sweet!
How far in? We need timings, duration, approx area of exposed breast and marks out of ten.
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 10:37, Reply)

I've never seen it...
...I was too busy watching "Die Screaming With Sharp Things In Your Head" with the kids.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:05, Reply)

Possibly desensitised
And possibly partly because what we found shocking/horrific/pant-shittingly scary 40 years ago just doesn't have the same impact these days.

After all the original Universal horror movies (Frankenstein, Dracula) were considered to be seriously scary stuff in the 30s. Find them on DVD now and they'll have a PG certificate.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:14, Reply)

I love watching all sorts of gory scary movies.
I still can't watch the Exorcist though because of how frightened I was watching it when I was younger.
( girlinthehole, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:16, Reply)

this is because
the level of violent content over the years is inversely proportional to the difficulty of A-levels over the same time period. FACT.

Personally, I blame global warming.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:17, Reply)

What about blaming Trade Union activity?
Arthur Scargill scared the hell out of me as a kid.

(edit)

In a rare moment of seriousness, I think desensitisation is a natural part of growing up. I recall watching a run of 1950's sci fi B movies as a child of ten and cowering under a blanket.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:19, Reply)

PJM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the film in your first post was a RD quote, was it not?
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:31, Reply)

Soundtrack.
Krzysztof Komeda's score is worth a PG alone - it scares the poo out of me.

How were Mia Farrow's tits?
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:35, Reply)

@Noel
Correct!
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:39, Reply)

@DG
To some extent, yes. But there doesn't seem to be all that much psychological pressure in R's B either. It's a bit of a soap-opera for the most part.

(Compare it to something like The Orphanage, which has genuine jump-out-of-your-skin moments and a wonderful tension; ditto something like Audition - that scene with the acupuncture needles doesn't show anything, but it's scary as fuck.)
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:40, Reply)

argh!
Audition!

I almost chewed my fist off during the last 30 minutes of that film!

Even worse than Oldboy and the tongue scene
(Halfy By light alone, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 11:54, Reply)

Scary scenes...
What was that film with Dustin Hoffman being strapped into a dentists chair and tortured with picks and drills by Donald Pleasance? The thought of that gives me nightmares...

...and that film was released in the early 70s.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:04, Reply)

@PJM
Sounds like Marathon Man. It's Larry Olivier doing the torture, though.


Well, after having made a career butchering Shakespeare, it was a natural progression...
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:07, Reply)

ah
beat me to it enzyme!

is it safe? is it safe?

The original Texas chainsaw massacre is still a scary scary film
(Halfy By light alone, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:08, Reply)

yup
marathon man.

that's a fucking scary movie too. That scene actually reminds me of the torture scene in the novel nineteen eighty four by George Orwell (aka Eric Arthur Blair).
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:10, Reply)

@Enzyme
The Orphanage? Scary? Maybe you watched a different version to me, cause I found it quite dull TBH
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:14, Reply)

Marathon Man
Thank you Enzyme - I don't know how I managed to remember it as Donald Pleasance and not Olivier. Cheers for putting me straight.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:16, Reply)

@Halfy
Yes - Texas is very good. And, oddly, a lot less gratuitous than its reputation suggests.

@flesh - What I like about The Orphanage is exactly the way that the mundane is used so that when the tense or jumpy moments come, you really feel it. The ambulance scene, for example, comes from nowhere and is like being punched.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:18, Reply)

Texas
I remember watching it for the first time in the late 80's / early 90's - had a friend who had all sorts of banned (at the time) vids.

It's unsettling as most of the violence is impled, combined with a very unnerving soundtrack. And the only time you actually see any chainsaw action is when Leatherface falls near the end and cuts his own leg open.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:25, Reply)

There was a trailer for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
That was a black screen, audio only.
It got banned for being too disturbing.
( Cawl, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:53, Reply)

yes Kaol
The mind fills in the gaps, and is a lot more scary than any film could be.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the original Texas, I don't believe you see anyone get chainsawed, it all happens off screen. I think the most graphic bit you see is the meathook bit, but my memory isn't too good, s'been a while since I saw it.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 12:58, Reply)

Scariest films
Two spring to mind which really disturbed me.

They're both PG. One deals with a nuclear attack and the other is about first contact with aliens that goes disasterously wrong.

What made them so scary was that they were filmed as a sequence of live news reports, both featuring real news anchor people. It's all implied, but it's the imagination that scares me rather than the gore. Stuff like Saw etc just strikes me as needlessly sadistic.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 17 Feb 2009, 13:07, Reply)

Lab
you're right.

The first Fields of the Nephilim album, Dawnrazor, had samples from TCM (and Evil Dead, I think) on a couple of tracks. Creepy as fuck when heard out of context.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Tue 17 Feb 2009, 13:16, Reply)