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Old 2nd November 2015, 02:20 AM
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Frankie Teardrop Frankie Teardrop is offline
Cultist on the Rampage
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Leeds, UK
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HALLOWEEN 3 – Bit late for the Hallowe'en party I know, but I watched this anyway. An enjoyable frolic as ever, and I'm always impressed by the way it manages to make its fairly silly sci-fi plot seem quite grave and ominous. The looming atmosphere has a lot to do with this last point, and although Carpenter wasn't at the (directorial) helm, the aesthetic feels like his – of course, his trademark glowering synths are all over the soundtrack. Who could forget nasty moments like the laser blast to unsuspecting saleswoman's gob and the eruption of insects that follows? Maybe more of that kind of stuff was needed, as there's just a little too much walking and talking for my liking. But only a little. I'm obviously not the only one who still feels haunted by those flickering TV jack o'lantern faces and creeped out jingles, images which cement 'Halloween 3' as a firm seasonal fave.

THE NEIGHBOR – A lone woman wanders around a suburban neighbourhood and just kind of tortures people for no reason. I like the overall concept here i.e. there isn't one. A severe lack of back story (read – complete absence of any meaningful character psychology, motivation, intent yadda yadda) actually works in 'The Neighbour's favour, because it means we can forget about pinning any hopes on coming to terms with the human tragedy of the situation and concentrate instead on what the film does offer plenty of, which is graphic gore, reasonably well done, served up 'torture porn' style with people getting it nice and slooowly whilst tied to chairs. I should point out that the main characters are really irritating thirtysomething slackers who elicited absolutely zero empathy from me, so all well and good really vis a vis the question of extreme brutality. 'The Neighbour' is pretty flaky, and plays the whole “it was a dream! Erm, was it a dream? Am I dreaming? No it's not a dream, but something else happened and now this is all like in the past or something? No, wait on, we're back to it being a dream. And, you're not going to ram that glass tube up my knob, are you?” card relentlessly. For me, this adds to its charm – gratuitous gore and a complete contempt for character and narrative structure place it easily within the realm of latter day exploitation trash, and I for one am very happy to take 'The Neighbour' on these cheapshit terms. No classic, but I'd rather watch this than 'Gandhi'. Oh, and PS, that reference to glass rods and cocks – the BBFC saw fit to trim that bit from the UK release, so thanks guys for saving the great british public from the inevitable wave of vaguely ludicrous penile torture which was just bound to have happened.

FORBIDDEN WORLD – I'm really glad I saw this again, as I'd forgotten just how much of a gem it actually is. A Roger Corman studios 'Alien' / 'Thing' rip off, 'Forbidden World' might not live up to the cinematic gravitas of its inspirations, but it certainly outdoes them when it comes to garish, cheapskate debauchery. There's an interstellar troubleshooter, a genetics lab, a mutant and a load of threadbare sets and bad lines. What marks 'Forbidden World' out from other cash-ins is its reverence for total schlock, which borders on mania. Exploitation staples are hurled wildly at the screen; nudity happens for the flimsiest of reasons; bad effects are brandished with sneery abandon; ridiculous, slimy gore kicks off for no reason; trippy edits beam in from nowhere; any notion of good taste is stripped right down and forced to prance like a performing dog in a humiliating ruff etc etc etc. 'Forbidden World's' dementia is so heightened that it almost feels like parody. It's not, though. It's played straight, although you can imagine Corman and everyone else having a good laugh during the shoot. I prefer it to that other New World sci-fi horror rip 'Galaxy of Terror' which is saying a lot, as that flick was a formidable and mystifying cod psychedelic work out with a high mayhem quotient of its own. Needless to say, both are highly recommended.
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