Been busy as ever but here's a quick rundown on what I've seen since I last posted on here:
Aftershock - Eli Roth co-writes and stars in this horror/thriller about a group of clubbers struggling to survive a night during an earthquake in Chile. Has a tedious first 25 minutes which probably thinks is justified in setting up the characters but once the earthquake hits it steps up the pace a bit. Eli Roth is terrible in it and really struggles to act (and I say that as someone who didn't mind his previous acting in things like Inglourious Basterds, Death Proof and Cabin Fever and who wants to like him for his genre enthusiasm) and the whole thing is really rather shallow with it's sledgehammer subtlety of the "it's not the natural disaster that's the problem - it's how the people are reacting in the aftermath as society goes to pieces!" point it thinks its clever in making. Kinda dug that it was shot on a Canon 5D camera though; it looked really good in that regard
The Case of the Scorpion's Tail - top notch twisty-turny Sergio Martino giallo. Great mystery, suspense, death and soundtrack. What more do you want?
The Avengers AKA Marvel's Avenger's Assemble - My third time seeing this and still a joy as ever to watch. Funny, thrilling and just great fun. The best bits are watching Joss Whedon do what he does best which is to put a group of people with a common goal but personal issues into a room together to come up with a plan with hilarious, bickering results. It's the most 'comic book' I've seen a comic book movie be and that is no bad thing and I'm always amazed at how good a balancing act Whedon does with all of the characters
Happy Birthday to Me - batsh*t-barmy slasher film. Love the kills, the odd atmosphere and the final reveal. One of the genre's finest. Lovely looking bluray from Mill Creek too.
Krug & Company/The Last House on the Left nice drunken double-bill. Krug and Company is far more erratically edited than the film it would become but that's to be expected. TLHOTL has gone from a film I watched years ago and didn't enjoy or see any merit in to one of my all-time favourite exploitation films. Sure, the 'violence begets violence' point is old hat and not as clever as Craven thinks (and somewhat hypocritical - ''I'll show how violence turns others onto violence IN THE MOST HORRIFICALLY VIOLENT WAY...YEEEEAAHHH LET'S REVEL IN ALL THE VIOLENCE FOR A BIT!!") but the film on a whole is so gripping and scary it's forgivable. An excellent film.
Stalker - apparently started life as a remake of Expose, this British thriller starts off mildly interesting and descends into cliches and obvious plot twists. Directed by Martin 'Spandau Ballet' Kemp. ''Ah-ha-ha-haaaa-haaaa, I know this, film was, poo"
Incidentally, the only films above that were new viewings were Stalker, Aftershock and Krug and Company The rest were rewatches.
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