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The Black Phone was an absolute gem for modern horror. Blows my mind that nobody on any horror forum has ever even mentioned this movie.

Heard a decent amount of positive things about it on Twitter, but it's hard to separate the genuine praise from the "this-is-a-new-movie-and-I-don't-want-to-say-anything-negative-about-it-in-fear-of-bothering-people" vibe.

Though, I do know, from some people I do trust when it comes to horror, that they had a good time with it.

I tend to disregard many new horror movies but I always try to give some the benefit of the doubt. This was the best one I've seen in years, probably. More of a supernatural thriller with a major horror vibe, though. Still a very solid flick and one to check out when the chance arises.

I would not go as far as to say I spammed it, but hey, whatever works. 

Actually, I do feel the need to clarify, just to sate my curiosity - are you the Jason from California? I'd suspect so (I can't think of many others I know with the screen-name), but I wasn't sure.

Either way, happy that you're here, and look forward to you popping in every now and again.

That would be me. But we gotta get some good smilies in this place. Lol

I'm glad to see that something I posted back in 2013 is still getting some action. 

I agree with what was said there, Jason, I think I watched The Visit when it hit home video but it's been completely forgettable for me. As for It Follows, yes, that is a good one. I saw it in a small theatre back when it came out, as it did not get a wide release here in Australia, and I remember sitting through quite a few hair raising moments, I still remember that cinema experience even to this very day.

Btw, where did you pop out from?

Jiggy used to spam this board on another site and now I'm posting here. Lol

The Black Phone was an absolute gem for modern horror. Blows my mind that nobody on any horror forum has ever even mentioned this movie.

I really don't understand why people hate on jump scares just because they're "jump scares". No avant-garde shit h'yar.

Sure, if a movie is riddled with them and they're all poorly ineffective, then I can understand. It seems to be one of those complaints that are piggy-backing off the whole remake hate, it's just a default reaction now. It has jump scares? LAME!! (sarcasm ) I'd still rather watch an entertaining remake than an original idea that is poorly done.

Most modern jump scares are totally lazy in their approach and it tends to speak volumes about the effort that was put in to the movie as a whole. There was an epidemic of God-awful jump scares around the time of the Paranormal Activity phenomenon. As the franchise progressed it became more and more about generating a cheap jump scare rather than executing a well written movie. It's almost as if a lot of the horror flicks around this time were made for the soul purpose of the jump scare and you can see the correlation between how shitty the movie is and how shitty the jump scares are in the movie.

I'll take two movies from the mid 2010s and use them as examples. It Follows (2014) and The Visit (2015). The Visit was yet another found footage flick that fell flat and relied heavily on cheap jump scares to get any sort of reaction. The main jump scare I'm going to refer to is in the middle of the night when Grandma has been acting strange and they set up a camera to record her actions. It's the middle of the night, she's already acting creepy and you know the jump scare is about to come. The jump scare has already failed before it ever occurred. What makes it a failed jump scare? We already know it is coming based on the way the entire scene is set up, the absolute silliness in the way that the jump scare actually occurs and the over the top loud growl/scream that was clearly set up by a suddenly quiet atmosphere. The Visit should be shown to any and all aspiring horror directors in how not to implement a jump scare. Now let's look at It Follows.

It Follows was a remarkably unique and well written film for its time and serves as a great example of how a jump scare should be. There's a scene early on in the film before anything weird really starts to happen. Other than the gripping opening scene that immediately draws the viewer in, the movie has overall been mostly dialogue with minimal noise and music. The main character is in the bathroom in front of a mirror fiddling with the wasteband of her underwear when suddenly a red ball hits the window in the corner of the screen. What makes this a great jump scare? The audience is completely relaxed and unsuspecting, and there wasn't a thunderous boom or loud music implemented to embellish it. It was simply a ball hitting a window and the reason its so necessary and effective is because it sets the tone for the discomfort of the viewer throughout the movie. We let our guard down and were completely blind sided by something so trivial. It keeps the audience on edge for the entirety of the movie. This is what makes a jump scare work.