Funny, I don't recall starting this thread...
Franko: I take it back, what you want to do is watch EVIL DEAD III: Army of Darkness, then when you find your self hooked on the Bruce's one liner's, the slap stick comedy, and the awesome budget effects such as stop motion, reverse camera, and all that jazz, then watch Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn to see how Bruce got there in the first place!
You'll find that part II is also very campy and very slap stick, but it does not go over board with it like part III does. I think the thing that could have lost your interest in part I is the fact that it takes longer for that film to take off and get going. I enjoyed it, but if you are someone who is eager for the action and gore, then you gotta wait till near the end.
Speaking of which, I'll be watching Evil Dead I on the big screen later this year in Yellow Springs Ohio!
http://www.grindhousereleasing.com/evil_dead_dates.htmlNow as for the Japanese movies you are referring to, they are called Ring or Ringu. I.E. Ringu, Ringu 2, and Ringu 0. (I think there may be another, I forget).
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Sadly they remade those in the US and I was less than impressed. They always loose the Japanese culture in the transition, add in a few American or European models as starts, and usually depend upon added gore to keep the audience's attention.
If you really like Japanese Horror, I highly suggest you check out The Ju-On Curse and Grudge series. Again, not the American remake, even though it was done by the original director...
In Japan there are 6 parts to this series. 1 and 2 are basically the same made for TV film, though each have details in them that will add up to make part 3 a lot more understandable, not to mention disturbing when you step back and take everything into account.
3 of course is the movie the Americanized Grudge was a remake of, but it changed a few plot details which entailed cutting out the original 2 Japanese movies which to me just killed it.
4 was pretty campy, sort of like how A Nightmare on Elm Street got after it went on for to long, but then they later made a part 5 and 6 which I've not fully watched yet, but they actually looked pretty good, and it looks as if they took a whole new direction and left the original Grudge Tale alone.
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Outside of Japan, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest The Changeling.
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Candyman (featuring a little Ted Raimi!!!!!)
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And of course The Shining.
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We're all adults now, so it is very unlikely that you will get totally scared...
...unless of course you smoke large amounts of pot and stay up for a few days before watching them alone and in the dark, but I think you'll be impressed none the less and will see how some horror movies are just that, rather than silly films that involve demons and what not.
Of course there is a large background story to horror, and why it is so low budget half the time, and their are amazing stories of amazing effects feats people pulled off on their self funded, non-hollywood projects. A story which explains all the rubber costumes, and this and that. A story that was told long before Hollywood sucked up the horror genre and began to destroy it bit by bit turning it into nothing more than gory, and cliche, action films like the Dawn of the Dead remake.
The original was a drama, the remake was a funny action movie. While both were great in their own way, I strongly feel that in order to have a true horror experience, you should be feeling a little drama too, otherwise you don't feel anything for the characters on the screen and the trials and tribulations they are enduring...
Sort of like LIttle House.
