This lengthy post is a lesson in the benefits of posting frequently!
Manhattan Baby – a film which manages to blend the indescribable, hilarious, and surprisingly atmospheric into something which is very watchable.
Panic in the Streets – I'm sure I mentioned this before, but thought I'd put it on here anyway. Elia Kazan used a pseudo-documentary style here approach to great effect, creating something which (as I said somewhere) thanks both The Naked City and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Popcorn – I watched this with the commentary, which is an enjoyable and informative listen thanks to the contributions from a number of cast and crew members, all of whom speak very eloquently about the filmmaking process and the people they worked with – if you have the 88 Films release, it's worth your time.
Resident Evil – Paul W.S. Anderson adapts the hugely popular video game to create something which is probably best described as 'dumb but fun' and nowhere near as much fun as playing the game!
Resident Evil: Apocalypse – this is notable because it has the great Licker monsters from the video game which I can't recall being in the first film and the fantastic Nemesis super-soldier, the latter necessitating a really well executed action sequence, something which is undoubtedly the highlight of the film, arguably the worst in the series.
Resident Evil: Extinction – nicely queued up by the ending of the previous film and benefiting from Ali Larter's screen presence, but it's astonishing how quickly some of the CGI has dated over the 11 years since it was released, with the crow attack looking particularly ropey and convincing. I did like the short scene with the 'domesticated' infected human using a phone as a homage to Day of the Dead and Iain Glen (playing the experimental scientist) is almost always worth watching.
Resident Evil: Afterlife – with the action largely shifting away from Raccoon City and firstly to Tokyo and then Alaska and because Alice no longer has her superpowers. Even by the 'press play and turn your brain off' standards of the previous films, this is boring and overuses slow motion.
Fallen – the opening sequence really drew me in, with a serial killer speaking to the detective who arrested him prior to being executed. The presence of Elias Koteas and Denzel Washington are two definite plus points and it's interesting that Koteas would appear in a film where his role ends midway through the first act. The rest of the film follows Washington because there appears to be a copycat killer that it transpires there is perhaps another explanation, one involving a fallen Angel (hence the title) and demonic possession. I think I picked this up as a blind buy from Music Magpie rather than because it was recommended to me and it really impressed me. It was fun to see James Gandolfini and Aida Turturro, who are less playing brother and sister on The Sopranos in a police station together. This is a smart and engaging film, with great performances from Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini, and Embeth Davidtz, and assured direction from Gregory Hoblit.
Ravenous – a film which regularly pops up on one of Demdike's Top Ten Tuesday lists, and it's no surprise why. It's a movie with a great story, some superb performances, and one of those thought-provoking 'what I do' moments, asking what lengths you would go to keep yourself alive.
Addams Family Values – I decided to watch this on its own rather than a double bill with the first film because it hadn't been that long since I saw them both and this was an unwatched disc on my 'to watch' list. It's a film with a great blend of black humour and family-friendly horror, a film which is playfully macabre and very watchable.
Harlequin – this Australian take on the Rasputin story stars Robert Powell as a strange healer, one first introduced as a clown at a sick boy's birthday party, who ingratiates himself into the life of a powerful politician, seemingly curing his son's leukaemia. It's a really interesting film and one I watched again the following day with the commentary, picking up little visual things I'd missed and making me want to sit again. The A/V quality on the 88 Films release is very good and I recommend it to anyone who likes Ozploitation movies and cinematic curiosities in general.
Two Evil Eyes – a stellar restoration of this double bill of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations by George Romero and Dario Argento. I'm much more of than of Romero's 'The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar' than Argento's take on 'The Black Cat', but the way different names and locations are integrated, plus the fine direction and acting on show makes this a film I will repeatedly turn to when I'm looking for something to watch for two hours. I watched it with the English track and may watch it again tonight with the Italian stereo option.
Frightmare – this may not count as a film because I watched with the audio interview with Norman Thaddeus Vane, something which is a bit odd because of how, whether it's because of his speech patterns of a New York accent, similar he sounds to Donald Trump, but provides a great overview of his life and career.
The Last House on the Left – an extremely tough watch and remarkably assured piece of filmmaking, one which has so many different applications to different sorts of film theory and even as a commentary on the Vietnam war. I watched it again within the new commentary Bill Ackerman and Amanda Reyes, a really well researched and delivered commentary track which all fans of this film and Craven's career should enjoy.
City of the Living Dead – I had planned to watch this as a triple bill with The House by the Cemetery and The Beyond, but that will have to be another night. On its own, it's a film with some fantastic moments, from the drill to the flying maggots and the great score by Fabio Frizzi. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to watching it again with the other two films in the 'Gates of Hell' trilogy.
Bad Times at the El Royale – not really a horror film, but one that has some really interesting visuals, subtext, and historical influences. Set in 1969 in a hotel on the border between California and Nevada, a prologue shows someone burying a large bag in one of the rooms before being killed and then, several years later against the backdrop of the Vietnam war and a murderous 'family' cult (the name 'Manson' is never mentioned), a vacuum cleaner salesman, a Priest, a singer and a young hippie, a woman of few words, meet up in the titular hotel looking for a room for the night. Told in the hyperlink style popularised by Quentin Tarantino, this is stylish, clever, and very engaging, and while checking out if you are going to the cinema this week.
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