What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

You didn't mention Ben Affleck!

Oh yeah. There are quite a few former or future 'names' in it. Affleck plays it pretty straight, whilst O'Toole hams like a ripened pig.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

O'Toole hams like a ripened pig.

That's likely to be the best phrase I'll read all week.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

If he also loves comic book adaptations, it's practically his ideal film!

The strange thing I found was how the nudity was a big deal at the beginning, as in "Wow – I didn't expect there to be as much as in the book", but it soon became just part of the film and, after a while, nothing noteworthy.

Sadly getting him to read graphic novels is a non starter, as he "finds himself reading the next page". Whatever that means.

[Demoncrat]

I tried to blot it out....but.....

Night Of The Living Dead: Resurrection (2013, James Plumb)

Nice touch at the start.
Deflates after that.
"shock" ending....if you've never seen any horror films maybe.
Not worth a pound imo. Wish I had bought the animated one now...

The Fades was scarier.
Why did they cancel The Fades?

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

PHANTOMS - A Dean Koontz movie adaption, 'Phantoms' is a straight ahead, no nonsense (OK, actually plenty of nonsense) mainstream B-movie that is as unoriginal and uncomplicated as it is enjoyable. An apparently deserted township soon reveals itself to have been taken over and assimilated by an unknown menace. People run around. Ammo gets fired. Tentacles fly. Peter O' Toole turns up. I like the way it pretty much dives into the action, although the first part sustains more tension than the second, when the military hit town and 'The Thing' references begin to mount up. It's not overly gory, but does offer a decent fusillade of fx (doggie bladder etc etc a la, again, 'The Thing). It has that nineties kind of slick, linear stylelessness about it, but 'Phantoms' hammers its no-frills-but-some-thrills message home without too much flab or that many lulls. Not one for the time capsule, maybe, but ample entertainment if you can spare ninety minutes of existence.

I'm so psyched i'm not the only person who finds Phantoms a guilty pleasure.

Speaking of which....

Curtains.

Curtains is about a group of actresses who head up to a directors secluded house in the middle of nowhere one snowy weekend (never a good idea in horror movies). They are all competing for the much wanted lead role in the latest film and the idea is the weekend is for auditions to allow the director (played with much sleazy charm by John Vernon) to select the ideal candidate. However it seems that the girls are up there as much to allow the director to get his rocks off. To make matters worse his previous leading lady (played by Samantha Eggar) recently released from the asylum arrives and wants her role back. Also a black gloved killer in a frankly creepy as hell mask is offing the group one by one and has brought a creepy doll as well!

Curtains is a frankly odd, on occasion senseless and strangely plotted Canadian slasher picture that was shot, then re-shot and hastily edited to make a more commercial picture. The original director shot a slow paced, artsy "psychological thriller" (a fancy term for a genre picture with pretensions) however the producer wanted a straight up exploitation picture. What we get is a weird hybrid of both, kind of like a celluloid brundlefly. Two wildly different pictures welded together and fused on some genetic level to form an odd yet strangely memorable mutant picture. The opening takes too long, thanks to some judicious pruning whole plot details and at least one character are left abandoned and whole portions of the film make little sense.

Fortunately for everyone involved the film works in spite of itself and has become something of a cult picture. Perhaps helped along by the fact no decent print of this film was available on home video for well over three decades, it's become a much sought after picture. Its weird tone and plotting, combined with a frankly great score and a general 'artiness' to some scenes courtesy of the original director give curtains a relatively unique atmosphere. Not a great movie by any standards but an intersting one and certainly one that invites a re-watch.

Sadly Synapses blu-ray is locked to region A, so unless you can play region locked Blu-rays this isn't going to play. Really sad given the fact that this is most assuredly the finest release of this film to EVER be put out on home video. The restoration makes Curtains look like a new film entirely, the picture is clear with a real film look and no excessive cleaning of the image. There's even some bonus materials as well. If you can play it then its worth a look. If not then lets hope a uk distributor can secure the rights.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Drive-In Massacre (1977)

Despite the expectation of a little more of the red stuff, I had a pretty fun time with this film.

Drive-In Massacre can be summed up by its title alone, but it is also pertinent to point out that these drive-in killings are the random, wanton acts of a killer who prefers the sharp, cold steel of a sword in order to hack, slash, and decapitate his film-going victims.

The downsides are that even at a comparatively short 74 minutes the film often feels long-winded, plus there are some almost soap opera filler moments throughout. The police investigation also resorts to officers dressing up in drag at the drive-in hoping to catch the killer but instead providing nothing more than some random comic relief.

Overall, whilst nothing amazing, Drive-In Massacre is a mildly entertaining shlock-fest which would have no doubt been even more fun if watched at a drive-in theatre on release.

Originally posted here: Nightmare USA Films Discussion Thread

[keirarts]

Sleepwalkers.

Stephen king knocks off cat people just a bit, in a far less subtle 90's schlocker that is still highly entertaining in spite of its numerous flaws. A mother and son pair of shape-shifters, essentially cat/human hybrid vampires move from town to town feeding off the life force of virgins. In between bouts of sweaty incest and laying down traps to fend off the local cats which are their one weakness, the son must seduce and feed off twin peaks Madchen Amick. His idea of subtle seduction however involve a clumsy attempt at rape in a local cemetery and things go wrong pretty quickly.

Sleepwalkers is the sort of film where cars blow up when you shoot at them, lots of gore FX replace any sense of subtle terror from the original inspiration and a plucky cat and his chums save the day. Yep, its pretty stupid but as I said, damned entertaining. Worth mentioning as well it beat let the right one in by a good number of years for scene of vampire getting mauled to death by cats. WE also get a small role for Ron Pearlman as well as cameos from Clive barker, John Landis, Tobe hooper, Joe Dante and Stephen king himself.
Sadly the blu-ray is region locked. Now all I need is Maximum overdrive in HD!

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

A brief rundown of some of the things I've been watching in between my Nightmare USA obsession to allay the donning of the Napoleon outfit...

Only God Forgives (2013) - Nicholas Winding Refn twists the tale of Oedipus and brings it into the 21st Century, transferring it from ancient Greece to the seedy neon landscape of Bangkok. Hauntingly sublime; understated; never overstays its welcome.

Harvey (1950) - Insanity, and giant imaginary rabbits makes for a endearing light-hearted concoction with the ever reliable Jimmy Stewart.

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) - Jarmusch's latest which fuses vampirism, music, and love to create a dreamy, moody, and involving experience.

Murder by Death (1976) - Extremely fun homage to classic murder mysteries with characters riffing off of the classic contemporary detectives and investigative stereotypes.

The Quiet Ones (2014) - Oh Hammer... thou art nothing more than a shadow of thine old self.

The Woman Who Wouldn't Die AKA: Catacombs (1965) - A highly enjoyable little thriller from Gordon Hessler that had enough twists and turns to keep me engaged throughout. The Network DVD is a nice little addition to my collection.

Stagefright (1987) - One of my favourite euro-slashers and one I really enjoyed revisiting courtesy of Exposure Cinema's Blu-ray.

Saboteur (1942) - Classic Hitchcock, which whilst doesn't live up to much of his work is still a taut and enjoyable little thriller.

Compliance (2012) - It's hard to believe that people could be this stupid... but sadly it's becoming all the more easy to believe in the gullibility and naivety of the human species. Despite this being based on a true story there was something about this that didn't really engage me or sell the events on screen to the extent where exploitation/dramatisation for sensationalist effect seemed to be on parade, yet at the same time also stagnant matter-of-fact blandness. I'm distinctly neutral on this one.

Her (2013) - A quite touching and beautiful film in a lot of respects with an undercurrent of sadness laced with tragedy. The performances are all top notch and it's something I'd definitely see myself wanting to revisit again in the future.

John Dies at the End (2012) - I wasn't sure whether I'd take to this with the differing opinions circulating and myself generally being someone who rarely buys into hype surrounding a film, but I really enjoyed this weird and wonderful ride.

The Blind Woman's Curse (1970) - Stylish Japanese revenge tale. The Blu from Arrow is very decent too.

Julia's Eyes (2010) - Intriguing Spanish thriller which touches on some interesting themes and has more than a little giallo flavour. Very moody and atmospheric which were all the more enhanced by watching it this time of year.

Piercing Brightness (2013) - Amateur art school nonsense meets the secret life of birds.

The Seasoning House (2012) - Harrowing and well made war time thriller about young girls who are kidnapped and taken to a brothel to then be used as entertainment for the visiting soldiers.

Post Tenebras Lux (2012) - Jodorowsky meets Von Trier filtered through a fine mesh of bullshit.

[trebor8273]

Savage streets

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1412881252.610044.jpg



First viewing and a lot better than I expected. Really enjoyed this, not as violent as I expected. Acting was also better than I expected no Oscar winning performance's but above the usually quality of acting in these movies. Glad to have it in my collecton and hoping it gets a blu Ray realese 9/10



Next up another film I have not seen before zeder

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Encounter with the Unknown (1973)

Encounter with the Unknown is a horror anthology trio of supernatural tales narrated by The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling.

Unfortunately, the presence of Serling is where the Twilight Zone similarities end, as the stories themselves lean towards the dull and tepid side, often feeling more than a little forced in the suspense department too.

The wrapping up finale segment is also quite tiresome in as much as it summarises all three stories again; I suppose in case the film's audience fell asleep throughout and missed certain plot points, which is unfortunately quite probable.

Originally posted here: Nightmare USA Films Discussion Thread