Hateful 8
While I doubt this will change anyone's mind on Tarantino one way or the other I have to say I really had a great time with this film. I'm going to be brief with this review as its best going in knowing as little as possible. Firstly it needs to be seen on the big screen, yes a large portion of the film is in one room but even on my local it looks magnificent and the size and framing of the film really work for the picture. Secondly the soundtrack is a sort of best of Ennio Morricone which is no bad thing, its certainly terrific to get to hear the Exorcist 2 music without the need to actually watch Exorcist 2. Thirdly if you know anything about genre pictures and are observant you will kick yourself for not knowing the ending. There are numerous nods to the solution that actually seem somewhat obvious thinking about it in hindsight.
I will say no more.
Mad Foxes
Sort of the brother to ISLAND OF DEATH, the wayward crack addicted brother who occasionally turns up to steal things from your house and shit on your carpet. It begins with our 'hero' something of a twat in a sports car who runs afoul of a biker gang all decked out in Nazi uniforms. After they get into a race one of the bikers dies so they go out for revenge, beat the shit out of him and rape his girlfriend. Not taking this lying down, matey boy sends for his martial artist mates who turn up at the bikers lair all decked out in their Gi to beat the shit out of the bikers. Before you can say 'that escalated really quickly' they cut the cock off one of the bikers. The bikers decide to seek retribution and.....
well you can see where its going. Essentially an escalating, over the top and frankly quite ludicrous series of atrocities that seems to be making the point that violence leads to more violence. Its a noble message that's wrapped up in a film that is absolutely mental. Its incredibly bad acting and hilariously atrocious dialogue is one thing but the actual plotting of the film is like something thought up between lines of coke with no real logic or sense. The lead character seems to get over his girls rape fairly easily and seems more bothered about the beating. She exits the film fairly quickly after he has one last screw and he seems to randomly pick up some chick who decides to go with him based purely on his car. It takes time out for random soft core porn sequences including a hunting scene that gets out of hand when both characters get turned on by shooting at a plane. Its set in Spain, and I'm not sure what spains attitudes to guns are but most of the bikers wander around with sub machine guns and grenades that they use freely and the police fail to show up even once. The ending... well the ending is beyond belief and the most arbitrarily random thing I've seen. Overall highly recommended!
Horror hospital
An old favourite of mine. Robin Askwith, britains leading 'cheeky chappie' heads off to the country for some R&R and ends up running afoul of Michael gough's Dr storm. A doctor whose idea for curing people involves lobotomy, and has a car that can decapitate people and a killer dwarf. It's all tongue in cheek, not as good as Tower of Evil but a fun film nontheless that looks great on blu-ray.
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