What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[nosferatu42]

Originally Posted by antmumford

I watched it on Saturday and have the same sentiment. Mesmerising and haunting. I'm assuming you're talking about the beach scene (that's no spoiler before people attack me) as a memorable scene. So disturbing. And for those umming and aahing about watching it, Scarlett gets fully nude been waiting too long for those shots tbh. That may put some off but if so, you're not human

I really want to see this, and after what u said i want to see it even more now.

[antmumford]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

I really want to see this, and after what u said i want to see it even more now.

Ha ha! It's very very slow paced and i can understand most people being bored shitless by it but by God its written and shot well

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by antmumford

Ha ha! It's very very slow paced and i can understand most people being bored shitless by it but by God its written and shot well

It Could be f*****g Hellgate but i'd still pay to see it if Scarlett Johansen gets her kit off. Just hope there are no 'pee-wee herman' incidents at the cinema.

Question is will my local pick it up?

It's a vue, but its catering for a local community where a large portion of it only want to see lowest common denominator films. Lets put it this way, Big Mommas house and White chicks were probably the biggest renting titles on the shelf for a long long time in spite of being dreadful.

[Handyman Joe]

Originally Posted by antmumford

I watched it on Saturday and have the same sentiment. Mesmerising and haunting. I'm assuming you're talking about the beach scene (that's no spoiler before people attack me) as a memorable scene. So disturbing. And for those umming and aahing about watching it, Scarlett gets fully nude been waiting too long for those shots tbh. That may put some off but if so, you're not human

For me it's the scene with the deformed guy I can't get out my head. She has no empathy whatsoever yet it's the most emotional contact this poor bugger has ever had. Sad, scary, visually unbelievable and haunting all in the one sequence. I'm off to see it again next week, that's how much I loved this film. Agree about the 'fearlessness' of Miss Johannsens performance. She's put on a few pounds for this role but wears it well -a contemporary Marilyn Monroe and every bit as hot.

[Hawkmonger]

A close friend of mine made a scaving review for Under the Skin. Hasn't put me off it though.

[Frankie Teardrop]

SPRING BREAKERS - Really impressed by H Korine's latest, a psychedelic tour of Florida's rap underground as witnessed by some green young hicks from nowheresville. Reading back the last sentence, it doesn't capture what's interesting or good about this, which is all about dreamy (but very dark) atmosphere, with Korine illuminating sinister whimsy in a manner sanctioned by a shroomed out Argento (lighting wise, at least - not many black gloved prowlers in this, but we do have pink balaclavas bobbing along to bleakly rendered Britney Spears piano pieces). See it, I assume Harmony was having a laugh when he sanctioned the DVD cover, which suggests a sassy, babelicious coming of age comedy - instead, it's a curdled look at the American hyperreal as inscrutable and unreadable as the blank, blond killer twins at its narrative core.

THE NECRO FILES 2 - From the depths of the microbudget horror underground rises 'The Necro Files 2' (and 'The Necro Files' as well I guess, but for some dickish reason I saw the sequel first even though I have both). It's the kind of thing you want always hope this kind of filmmaking will deliver - aggressive, delirious, sleazy, messed up. If you want plot, I can sum it up in a line - a less than endearing buddy cop duo made up of a slightly 'challenged' nerd and a horrible, horrible bastard track a pathetic sex murderer whose brother is a zombie rapist with a massive (exposed) dick - nudity, vicious assault and blood on tits ensue with demented abandon. OK it's a comedy, and I hate comedy horror - but it's universe is so distorted maybe that's the only way it could exist. Definitely worth some serious appreciation.

BLOOD PIGS - M Paulin's 'Morbid Vision' enterprise has benefitted the world of indie horror with some really harsh whacks of warped, over the top gore. Witness my personal fave, the undeniably repulsive baby mashin' 'Fetus' - what an unapologetic, blood soaked ride. You don't make that kind of thing unless you want to, it's not as if a focus group has asked you to. 'Blood Pigs' is set in a post-apocalyptic world beset by zombies and worm-like parasites. It kind of trundles along and meanders for half an hour with sporadic outbreaks of grue, until its second half erupts into a full blown maelstrom of flying guts bent into post-Cronenberg Japanese body horror shapes. You'll know if it's for you or not already - I did find the jerky frame rate a bit irritating, I guess this was a transfer issue, but, yeah, basically this delivers the goods for hardcore horror fans who don't mind films amounting to what's essentially a procession of increasingly violent special effects.

KISS DADDY GOODBYE - Always nice to uncover obscurities from 'that' period of horror (seventies to early eighties) which aren't really well documented or known yet. 'Kiss Daddy Goodbye' isn't ever going to redefine its genre's history, but I recommend it to those who like the wonkiness and slightly difficult to pinpoint weirdness of certain flicks from around this time (file next to 'The Dungeon' or 'Revenge of the Psychotronic Man'... erm, any takers yet?)
It's about two telepathic / telekinetic kids who reanimate their father's corpse after he's murdered by bikers following an unconvincing row about a swimming pool. Revenge happens, and a local cop romances Marilyn Chambers. It's TV movie dull in patches, but then it lurches into jerky strangeness, at times aided and abetted by a lo-fi electronic soundtrack some wannabe hipster would try their best to ape these days. Well, I liked it.

ROGUE RIVER - Nicely twisted number with B MoselEy as a bad man getting some torture going with a bewigged accomplice. I really liked it - people went on about 'just another torture porn yadda yadda' when it came out, but as much as I can see where that response is coming from, I thought it managed to get under the skin a bit more than the 'Hostels' of this world, maybe by going for an atmosphere of sickness and perversity rather than all out brutality and gore. It put me in mind of a vaguely similar film (in theme and tone), 'Mum and Dad' from 2008. It also has good cinematography and even a slightly 'art-house / indie' feel to it in places before its meat and potatoes nature gets the better of it at the underwhelming, forest chase non-climax. But I put gripes like that aside because of its nasty. leering outlook. Definitely worth a watch.

NEAR DEATH - Back to the realms of microbudget indie horror - it's Joe ('Summer of Massacre') Castro's 'Near Death'. Basically, some 'psychic investigators' arrive at a house in the Hollywood Hills to check out the ghost of an evil filmmaker. The occupants of the house turn out to be undead cannibals, and a riot of bad gore, really bad computer fx and horrendous acting happens. I really liked 'Near Death'. It's shit, and it knows it's shit. It maybe tries a bit too hard to be shit - this level of filmmaking can only be a deliberate choice - but it makes slogging through loads of similarly impoverished but boring flicks worthwhile. 'Near Death' isn't boring, it's demented and ludicrous - even the bits when nothing happens (admittedly a few, mid-section) have a slightly feverish quality. OK it'll feel like watching a film made in inverted commas to some and will offend the 'quality horror' sensibilities of others, but for me this is inspired lo-fi tripe at its best.

[BAKA]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Himiko (1974)
This was recommended to me indirectly by one of my followers on Letterboxd who described it as "somewhere between The Holy Mountain and Horrors of Malformed Men". Therefore, despite having a massive back-log of stuff to watch and an ever-expanding watch list, I decided to bump this one up to the top of the queue. I'm very glad I did as the description was quite accurate in a lot of ways and this was truly a feast for the senses. Fantastic and elaborate sets, the surrealistic, and breath-taking scenery all meld together in what is one of Shinoda's masterworks.

8/10

Is this available DVD or BD? Or did you watch it online? I saw a few people talking about this recently, and being a fan of Masahiro Shinoda (Assassination, Double Suicide and Silence) I'd be keen in owning a copy.

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Anguish (Angustia) (1987)
A film within a film... with a film in that film too (!) Ridiculously demented psycho-killer thriller complete with gratuitous eyeball removal, hypnotic suggestion aplenty, and an ominous snail loving over-protective mother. A true joy to revisit!

8/10

I really adore this film! I have the German BD release, and it's very decent. Even the extras are english friendly. I hear the director originally wanted to make this in 3D, which would have been pretty surreal. It already has a delirious quality. Such a gem.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by BAKA

Is this available DVD or BD? Or did you watch it online? I saw a few people talking about this recently, and being a fan of Masahiro Shinoda (Assassination, Double Suicide and Silence) I'd be keen in owning a copy.

It's not available on DVD or BD as far as I am aware, which is a shame as it's a real gem of a film. I watched it on Youtube.

Originally Posted by BAKA

I really adore this film! I have the German BD release, and it's very decent. Even the extras are english friendly. I hear the director originally wanted to make this in 3D, which would have been pretty surreal. It already has a delirious quality. Such a gem.

I have the Blue Underground DVD and I was wondering about the quality of the German BD and whether it was worth the upgrade. The cover art is hideous, but as long as the film looks and sounds good then that is what's important.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

SPRING BREAKERS

ROGUE RIVER

I dozed off the first time i watched Spring Breakers. However i went back to it a couple of weeks ago and really liked it once we got past the pool rave scenes which seemed like a new version of hell that would make Dante suffer.

The photography and lighting was breathtaking at times, it felt like a film you could just watch without dialogue.

As for Rogue River. I don't know what's scarier. Nut job Moseley from The Devil's Rejects or the mild mannered family guy from RR? When will folks learn? If Moseley invites you in, make an excuse and peg it quick.

[JoshuaKaitlyn]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Porky's (1982) Porky's II The Next Day (1983)

Time hasn't really been kind to the Porky's films. Although i'd seen the infamous first film many moons ago, i'd on the whole forgotten what happened and i hadn't seen the sequel at all. Neither film was stimulating or rousing with barely a laugh in either, nor much in the way of titillation. For a film supposedly titled after a strip joint there wasn't an awful lot of tease going on. I'm sure in the early eighties the films captured the hearts, imaginations and groins of a generation of American youths but as a first time viewing in 2014 the films fall well short. Perhaps their impact has been eroded over the last decade or so by the American Pie series and the countless imitations and rip offs trailing in their wake, but the Porky's films felt very tame and had no cutting edge with only a small percentage of jokes hitting the mark. I'm not convinced the fifties setting helped their cause, however period settings never hindered classics such as Dazed and Confused so perhaps this argument fails straight away.

Basically the Porky's films have long since been left behind in the high school comedy stakes. The scripts felt tired, the acting was uninspired and in the end they were just a bit boring. Shame really as i was hoping for another Animal House and they never came close.

Add to that the equally uninspired third outing 'Porky's Revenge' (1985)