Were they comical on purpose? Especially Annie's death got a big laugh from the audience tonight. I seem to recall that PJ Soles tried to stretch out her death scene for more screen time, but why Nancy Loomis' weird facial expression?
shareI guess you're the authority on correct facial expressions when they are being strangled and their throat cut then. Both in reality and in movies.
PJ Soles did not try to stretch her death out. That's a complete fabrication. Her death lasts as scripted with Laurie on the other end mistaking it for another prank in progress.
"I guess you're the authority on correct facial expressions when they are being strangled and their throat cut then."
Why the freaking attitude, buddy? Didn't I just say the rest of the audience had to laugh at those scenes?
"PJ Soles did not try to stretch her death out. That's a complete fabrication"
Well, not by me. I remember PJ Soles saying this in a BBC program.
People look "weird" when they are dying a violent death. There needs to be no explanation for that.
According to PJ Soles it was hard work trying to get a convincing death scene going as Nick Castle was scared of hurting her. So she had to act it out a lot more than she might have. She didn't need to inflate her part.
The director and the editor chooses how long a death scene is. Not the actor, ever. So even if she said what you claim she said, should would have already known that at the time and known that saying she stretched her death scene out is irrelevant.
It does not matter what it would look like in real life, most movie death scenes do not look like that. These scenes do stand out in that regard. If you're going for a serious death scene, you wouldn't want any distraction by anything that could be perceived as comical. And truth be told, these scenes do get laughs, as evidenced by macken's post. I'm not actually criticizing it, I'm genuinely wondering if they were intended to be comical.
Improvisation by actors is very common, especially in low budget and independent movies.
I doubt they were supposed to be comical. Just a result of some bad acting on PJ Soles part. Let's be honest, she wasn't the most convincing in this.
shareNancy Loomis seemed to be even worse. Surely Carpenter could've told her not to look so cross-eyed while playing dead.
shareThe acting for it in this film may be a worse example for it than others but I think it can be a reflection of its datedness as well the standard in acting. I mean is it just me or are deaths in earlier films, from black and white films up to films in the 70's, less convincing than deaths in films in the present time, on the whole? Characters dying in them often looks more staged. Even watching something like The Godfather, some of the deaths look comical to me in their presentation, but I doubt they were going for comedy, rather just trying to add a more dramatic approach to them, like in this. And at the time with those audiences as unused to death and murder in film as we are, you could probably get away with it, and evoke more shock than laughter.
shareI have a theory about why some people laugh at horror films. I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but I have read articles concerning people's different reactions to horror films. Why some people have nightmares after seeing a horror movie, and others laugh.
According to what I have read, laughter is a psychosomatic release for inner terror. Some people who laugh at horror films are not laughing because it is funny to them, but to release their fear, induced by the images on the screen.
Horror films are a good way to release tension, they also help us confront the idea of death in the safety of the motion picture theater. We all know that one day, we will die. Watching a horror film can be a relaxing catharsis.
It's not about laughing at horror movies in general, it's about these specific scenes. Moments really, not even the entire scenes. No one laughed at Bob's death. I've been to plenty of horror movies where nobody laughed unless it was intentionally comedic. I didn't laugh out loud at these scenes, but I can see why someone else would.
share"No one laughed at Bob's death."
How would you know that?
Because I was there in the audience.
shareGood grief.
shareYes, it's very weird you didn't get that.
shareThe reaction or otherwise of the audience you were part of the other night doesn't define anything.
The people in the audience I was part of last week laughed at entirely different things from yours (mainly the jokes). So go figure. Maybe your audience was full of MST3K-loving morons.
I wasn't at all suggesting that everybody laughs at those scenes, just disagreeing that people weren't laughing to release their fear as they did not laugh at Bob's death or other tense moments.
My point is that a few moments got a BIG laugh from the audience and, while I didn't find them laugh-out funny myself, I can see why. I'm genuinely wondering if this was intentional, but obviously you don't know the answer to this.
Stratego are you ISTJ by chance?
shareI have no idea who that is.
sharehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator
shareIt's apparently based on the ideas of Carl Jung, a guy I can't take seriously. I don't think I'm a type like that at all. What makes you think I am?
shareJust a guess based on how it seems you look at movies. ISTJ or any other type would be a fine type to be for whatever it's worth.
Mine would be INFP which makes sense with how I look at movies.
(I take Myers-Briggs with heavy salt around the rim btw but it can be kind of useful.)
What's your beef with Carl?
I don't think you can draw any conclusions from a few posts I made on the Halloween board. As a dedicated member of this site I promised myself to try and post something on the boards every time I've watched a movie or tv show. I went to see Halloween in the theatre last week and these are some of the things that crossed my mind. I can't exactly say they bother me.
Jung, Freud, I can't take any of those old school psychologists seriously. They're full of horse manure.
"They're full of horse manure."
They probably are seeing as their bodies are decomposing in the earth.
No worries, just a thought re posters' different outlooks on these movies and what we look for/focus on, to be taken w/ many grains of salt.
I have to admit, as much as I love this movie the faces Linda and Annie make while dying are HILARIOUS
shareI actually agree with you. This has long been my favorite horror movie since I was a child, but on a recently viewing I noticed a lot of flaws I hadn't really noticed before, namely the comically bad acting in the death scenes(Especially Annie's, like you mentioned). Still a go to favorite of mine regardless.
share