64 - Jurassic Park

[matt]

In this video, I talk about why Jurassic Park is one of my favorite horror movies, and why it IS a horror movie.

[RightClickSaveAs]

I'd never thought about it like that before, but it does have a lot of the beats of a horror movie. The maintenance tunnel scene you mentioned, and everything leading up to it ("clever girl..."). Also one of my favorite scenes is the one in the cafeteria kitchen toward the end where both kids are hiding in absolute terror as the raptors are stalking them. If you replaced "velociraptor" with "serial killer" it would be a slasher movie, basically.

I remember Duel being a really good horror movie, although it's been a long time since I've seen it. To give you an idea of just how long, I watched it with my family when I was a teenager after we rented the VHS tape from Blockbuster...

Also you mentioned the Jurassic Park book, Michael Crichton is a kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. I haven't read Jurassic Park or the sequels, but he wrote books with a really fun scientific angle. Apparently the "science" was mostly made up, but it was still enjoyable for what it was.

[matt]

Yeah, I haven't read that many of his books, but I did quite enjoy the Michael Crichton novels I've read.

[Grabthehoopka]

I love Jurassic Park to death, and I think it's the worthiest follow up to Jaws that Steven Spielberg ever made.

I had the privilege of showing it to my girlfriend for the first time recently, who somehow had gone for the last 20 years without seeing it. It came out in theaters in 3D, and a friend of hers told her to see it, and I said that it was shot and meant to be seen in 2 glorious dimensions, so I bought it on DVD and showed her, and it was fascinating to watch how much the movie was stressing her out.

Steven Spielberg is awesome, but you have to divide his career in two halves: pre-Schindler's List and post-Schindler's list. It's like two completely different people! Post-Schindler's List Spielberg is cool and all, and he's made some good movies, but Jaws and Jurassic Park are two of the scariest movies ever made, and I would love to see him return to form and make something along those lines. But alas, it seems like he's "grown out" of making movies like that.

[loudERIC]

Jurassic Park terrified me when I was a kid. That opening scene with the raptor in the cage and that guy falling between the cage and the wall? I hid. I ran out of the room in fear of velociraptors. Jurassic Park was the first movie I refused to watch because it was too scary.

An all time favorite. Classic.

EDIT: And as always, Matt. Sick shirt. I'd be jealous if I didn't have my fair share of rad shirts.

[gagaplex]

Funnily enough, I thought the dinosaur that killed the big guy who tried to steal the embryos was much scarier than either the T-Rex or the Velociraptors. I think it's because that animal first appeared to be rather... nice, calm and curious. Only to spring its trap, hiss and bare its collar, spit that poisonous blob in his face to blind him and then proceed to tear him apart. Slowly. The T-Rex kills in one bite. Not this guy.

[Grabthehoopka]

Funnily enough, I thought the dinosaur that killed the big guy who tried to steal the embryos was much scarier than either the T-Rex or the Velociraptors. I think it's because that animal first appeared to be rather... nice, calm and curious. Only to spring its trap, hiss and bare its collar, spit that poisonous blob in his face to blind him and then proceed to tear him apart. Slowly. The T-Rex kills in one bite. Not this guy.

Alright. With the nightmares and the confessions and whatnot, I suppose I'm not afraid to admit this to you guys.

Jurassic Park was a defining element of my childhood, and as a result, even now, as a grown-ass man, when it rains hard and I'm running to my car, when I open the door and get in, I sit still and wait for about 10 seconds.
I do this so in the event that I hear that dilophosaurus screech coming from the back seat, I'm ready to bolt out the door and, I don't know, call the cops or something.

Completely irrational, I know. But it's a habit from my childhood that I never grew out of.

[matt]

Most fears are irrational I think, but that doesn't make them any less scary! I think everyone has their irrational fears. I knew someone who was afraid of birds. Like all birds. She wouldn't eat chicken that wasn't cut into pieces.

The dinosaur that killed Denis Nedry (the fat guy), the dilophosaurus, are quite scary! It's truly a brilliant movie that inspired so much fear!