MovieChat Forums > The Den (2014) Discussion > Why these kinds of films suck

Why these kinds of films suck

posted 10 years ago by C.S.Wood
38 replies | jump to latest

And I don't just mean found footage. Spoilers ahead.

Was this a great movie by any means? No, but I was willing to give it a chance if, for a change, the girl actually managed to survive in the end. I love horror to death (ha!), but I don't watch horror movies to see the killers get away, I watch them to see the final girl kill the killer(s).

I just don't understand this. Since when did it become cool to let the killers win? I would have enjoyed this movie 10x more if she had clubbed all those dudes to death with her hammer.

And exactly how much are these guys charging for their videos? They are going through a LOT of work and risk to do these videos. They'd make more money stealing the stuff from all the houses they've broken into or opening up an electronics business since they have the ability to wipe people's computers remotely.

It's just stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Stupid. Watch You're Next. There's a horror film that knows how to deliver.

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] ethermusic1981 10 years ago

You're Next was one of the worst horror movies from the past decade or more.

[–] gregg325 10 years ago

This is a pretty dumb reason to explain why the film sucked. The killers won is the reason you thought it was bad? lol

[–] C.S.Wood 10 years ago

This is a pretty dumb reason to explain why the film sucked. The killers won is the reason you thought it was bad? lol

Well that and it was pretty bad overall, but I would have liked it a bit more had the bad guys not won. Imagine if at the end of Die Hard Hans kills Holly, kills John, and gets away with the money.

Letting the bad guys win seems to be the "cool edgy" thing to do except that it totally defeats the point of these movies. Nobody wants to see the villains win. They weren't even interesting villains, they were very generic. In a movie like The Ring it works, but not here.

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] Foxbarking 10 years ago

Letting the bad guys win seems to be the "cool edgy" thing to do except that it totally defeats the point of these movies. Nobody wants to see the villains win. They weren't even interesting villains, they were very generic. In a movie like The Ring it works, but not here.

I am actually with you for the most part. Now, "Jeepers Creepers" is one of my favorite horror films, and I have no problem with its ending. People I know were unnerved by it and have cited the negative ending as the reason they didn't like the film. I am not saying this started with "Jeepers Creepers," but I am saying that since seeing that movie I have noticed the trend in horror films shifting towards an unhappy ending. Nowadays it seems since then it has become more cliche to have the horror film end with the killers winning. It now happens way to often and it is not cool and edgy, it's tired and cliched.

One of the things that makes horror and suspense movies interesting is figuring out how the protagonist is going to extricate him or herself out of the predicament. If I spend 90 minutes wondering about this and it turns out that they die at the end, it more often than not makes me feel like I've been cheated.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect nor would I want the protagonists to always win. But now it has become so cliche and overdone to not let them win, that I feel like the writers of these movies just aren't clever enough to present a complicated premise and then find a way out of it. It feels like a cheat and this movie felt that way.

[–] C.S.Wood 10 years ago

I am actually with you for the most part. Now, "Jeepers Creepers" is one of my favorite horror films, and I have no problem with its ending. People I know were unnerved by it and have cited the negative ending as the reason they didn't like the film. I am not saying this started with "Jeepers Creepers," but I am saying that since seeing that movie I have noticed the trend in horror films shifting towards an unhappy ending. Nowadays it seems since then it has become more cliche to have the horror film end with the killers winning. It now happens way to often and it is not cool and edgy, it's tired and cliched.

Yes. There are some classic circumstances where it can work when it fits the story. I saw an Asian film a few years ago where the main character was basically the slasher killing innocent people for her own selfish reasons and it worked because the movie got us to side with her point of view.

Or some of the French horror films I've seen like Inside or Martyrs where the bad guys technically win, but it fit the story. Otherwise having the killer wins feels counter intuitive, because:

One of the things that makes horror and suspense movies interesting is figuring out how the protagonist is going to extricate him or herself out of the predicament. If I spend 90 minutes wondering about this and it turns out that they die at the end, it more often than not makes me feel like I've been cheated.

This exactly. Just like we don't watch superhero movies to see the supervillain win, we don't watch slasher movies to watch the slasher triumph, or at the very least to see the final girl/guy be killed off. What's the fun in that?

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect nor would I want the protagonists to always win. But now it has become so cliche and overdone to not let them win, that I feel like the writers of these movies just aren't clever enough to present a complicated premise and then find a way out of it. It feels like a cheat and this movie felt that way.

Again, agree completely. They shouldn't ALWAYS win, but it needs to be right for the story. In this particular movie, it was wrong. Seeing that girl somehow manage to kill all those guys and survive would have made it worth it. I don't watch horror because I like seeing innocent characters die, I watch horror to see the bad guy(s) die, that's always the best part of horror films.

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] gregg325 10 years ago

The good guy winning ending is so old and has been done thousands of times. Its nice to see something different once in a while. I mean how many times have we seen the main character end up being a hero and saving the day? That gets boring after a while.

I think this ending works perfectly especially in a movie like this because it shows a story of how this one girls life was completely destroyed by these online hackers. Her death at the end made for a perfect ending as it showed how gruesome these people are.

I like happy endings but once in a while its nice to see a sad ending.

[–] zxcvbnmasdfghjqwertyu 10 years ago

I agree. Of all the things this movie did terribly, the OP complains about the "good guy dying".

I agree the ending was lame, but there are so many things that are worse with this turd of a film.

[–] Tyler-A-Arse 10 years ago

Since when did it become cool to let the killers win?

It doesn't happen very often, but It's cool when it does happen. Not all movies should have a happy ending. That becomes too predictable.

And exactly how much are these guys charging for their videos?

Did you not catch the ending of the movie? The man on the website watching the movies? The price was right on the screen!

[–] leelost-43-748789 10 years ago

I think it needs to get mixed up some. FF style movies though it just works better that there is no happy ending or traditional ending. Kind of the whole purpose of these types of movies is to show the demise of the person recording it.

[–] derrenetienne-86-261488 10 years ago

Awwww, did diddums want a generic happy ending. Bless

[–] C.S.Wood 10 years ago

Awwww, did diddums want a generic happy ending. Bless

Huh? I admit it's been a while since I've seen this and don't remember much since it didn't hold my interest, but are you saying it DIDN'T end with a generic happy ending?

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] Mattimus_Prime 10 years ago

The reason this movie sucked was because it built no tension. In every scene with a killer, it went to great lengths to show you where they were, what they were doing, and where they were going.

Like a ton of movies made in the past ten years, it didn't bother to develop any characters. We don't know or care about the main girl very much, so we're not worried what might happen to her, much less her even less developed friends/boyfriend. It didn't develop the motives of the killers beyond "we have a website", despite two of their people being killed. And the futility of the girl's story is ultimately completely unsatisfying.

When you strip away characters and tension, all you're left with is the actual act of killing... torture porn, basically. I abhor torture porn films, but even on that level this movie failed because it was rarely all that grotesque. The worst scene was her friend in the bathtub with her wrists cut. The only other killings we saw were a guy comically suffocating to death behind plastic (which only looks goofy on film, despite being deadly in real life), some shaky off-camera beatings, and some terrible makeup on one guy's eye. Even the police officer who had his head caved in with a sledgehammer was done in a painfully obvious forced perspective shot.

In short, we didn't care what happened, we were never tense, and even cheap visceral thrills were missing because the actual violence was either too tame, or too cheap-looking.

That's why this movie sucked.

[–] C.S.Wood 10 years ago

Well, yeah, that too, but I probably would have forgiven at least some of those shortcomings had the girl managed to successfully fight back and kill those guys, or at least escape.

I recently saw See No Evil 2 and Wrong Turn 6 and (spoilers!) the killer kills all of the other characters and survives. But yeah, it seems fewer and fewer horror films are made with attention to the characters and proper building of suspense/tension.

I bought Hellraiser 1 & 2 a few weeks ago. Both of those flicks are scary, disturbing, and well written with (ahem) fleshed out characters. They just don't make 'em like that anymore.

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] C.S.Wood 10 years ago

I saw an Asian film a few years ago where the main character was basically the slasher killing innocent people for her own selfish reasons

Any chance you remember the name of this film?

Dream Home http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1407972/combined

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] NoseofNicko 10 years ago

No thanks. It would suck if all movies had happy endings. Jeez you just want to see the same thing over and over again?

CG GORE IS THE WORST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO THE HORROR GENRE!

[–] C.S.Wood 10 years ago

No thanks. It would suck if all movies had happy endings. Jeez you just want to see the same thing over and over again?

Not at all. The Grudge is a great example of how the creature wins, but that ending MAKES SENSE for that particular movie. The Omen is another example.

The Den was already lame enough where having the bad guys win just made it a total waste of time (for me at least). The only time I really want the villain to win is if the hero is a huge jerk that deserves it.

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] michaeluk26 9 years ago

The killers have been winning for a long time. I am usually the same as you, wanting the final girl to win but in this case it was a perfect ending and fit the movie perfectly.

Haters gonna hate

[–] C.S.Wood 9 years ago

The killers have been winning for a long time. I am usually the same as you, wanting the final girl to win but in this case it was a perfect ending and fit the movie perfectly.

Well if you liked it that's fine, I'm happy for you. At least you didn't feel as though you wasted your time. There are some movies where I don't mind the killers winning, but this just wasn't one of them for me. Not that I would have fallen in love with the movie had the girl won or anything, it just seems pointless and totally against logic that those guys could do all that and somehow get away with it without the FBI or someone tracking down their website chock full of video of their crimes.

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] jonhopper217 9 years ago

Don't ever watch foreign horror, especially Asian or French. You'll have an emotional overload.