For me that's like saying the Goblin score ruins Suspiria. Those two scores are inextricably linked to their films in my head. Just like 'Stuck in the Middle With You' is now that song from Reservoir Dogs rather than by Stealers Wheel.

And last up tonight.

The Church. Michele Soavi. 1989.

Well that only took three attempts to get to the end.

In medieval Europe crusading knights massacre a whole village considered to be Witches or otherwise engaged in witchcraft. On top of the mass grave a huge gothic cathedral is built. Hundreds of years later the cathedrals new librarian uncovers clues to the buildings past in the chambers beneath the building. In the process releasing the Evil spirits that have been entombed there.
Intended to be the third in Lamberto Bavas Demons series this certainly fits the bill plot wise. However Soavi has done something different here and created a much more sombre gothic film. The first third or so actually plays more like a haunted house film before the evil is unleashed. Unfortunately as magnificent as it all looks the films does suffer with some painfully slow passages, odd because you can't really say that nothing happens either. The plot also seems a bit confuddled too as though some ideas were hinted at then simply left hanging. The weird goat man demon things is creepy as feck though and as has been mentioned by other there is some splendid imagery here, not least the mass of bodies rising up through the floor. Certainly not a bad film but there is something lacking and I can't see me rushing to watch it again anytime soon.

Except the Goblin score in Suspiria is great. As is the use of Stealers Wheel in Reservoir Dogs. The zither music ruins The Third Man because it's shit.

Well, i can't very well disagree with such a well made argument. :scared:

Attachment 187333

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN8FqubQBpk

When animals dream

Hadn't really heard much about this but stumbled across the trailer on youtube and thought it looked interesting, so ended up getting it from Amazon.

This is a Danish werewolf type film that bears a lot of similarities to "Let the right one in", this too concerns isolation and growing up and is also quite subdued, set in a bleak landscape.
Here though it's a young girl who is just entering adulthood, and while everybody's body changes at puberty, hers begins changing in a different way to her peers. It all comes down to an inherited disease on her mothers side, who is confined to a wheelchair and is unresponsive.(although this may be due to drugs that a local doctor dispenses)

The girls existence is pretty bleak, she helps her father care for her mother, and both carers seem repressed and withdrawn.
On top of this she begins working at a fish processing warehouse (she lives in a fishing village by the sea), where the only ray of light is a young boy who she is attracted to.
Most of the others in the village seem frightened of her and seem to be aware of her family affliction, their hostility towards her plays a big part in awakening her animal instincts.

This film seems to divide reviewers, some seem to find it dull, while others praise it for it's sensitivity and beauty.

I'm in the latter camp as i found the film engrossing, even though i'm well aware of werewolf films lore i found myself wondering what the outcome would be, i liked the lead girl and was hoping things would turn out well for her.
The film is pretty slow but the photography is very good and the modern family setting and intimacy of the story gripped me.:cool:

There's not much gore and very little in the way of transformation scenes, instead it is quite artfully done and quite poetic, but this gave the film it's own identity and is what set's it apart from many cheesy werewolf flicks.:werewolf:

I really liked it but at the same time couldn't help feeling that with a little more in the way of blood and effects this could have been a classic.
So due to it's divisive nature hard to recommend to everybody but i will definitely go back to it in the future.

8/10 :pop2:

Many would disagree with you, including those who bought the single and sent it to the top of the Billboard chart in the US! From Wikipedia:

This is the same country that nominated Beyonce for best rock song at the 2017 Grammy awards. ;)

I love the zither music in The Third Man. Remove it and well, the film probably wouldn't be such a memorable movie and end up no better or worse than any other Euro-noir from the period such as Berlin Express (1948)

Many including yourself are more than welcome to disagree with me Nos. Doesn't make any of us right or wrong, subjective as you say.

Musical taste is completely subjective and it's a shame you don't like the zither music because it is preventing you from enjoying one of the greatest British films of all time.

Possibly true. Though Dem might be right in suggesting that without the music the film wouldn't be particularly memorable. Either way it wasn't just that the music was poor, it really really irritated me. Proper jingly jangly shit.

Ach, I wanted "that" cover (the old UK VHS one etc) ;)

Nope, I remember it coming out, thinking that looks good, then forgetting all about it!

BAD REPUTATION

Zero budget high school rape revenge flick that almost says something about peer pressure and privilege but gets too excited killing off the rape-o scumbags to follow it through. It looks and sounds very flat which adds a distant from the emotional punch that it should have had as either a message film or exploitation film.

KILLER MERMAIDS

In my head I envisaged this as a sex and gore heavy gender reversal of Humanoids of the Deep from the title, then I watched it. Yep, it is a modern horror of the walking around in the dark endlessly with bugger all happening with one of the worst endings ever.

Due to some broken ribs, I'm currently taking it easy and can't decide what film to watch this afternoon. Its a choice between Dead and Buried, Cut Throats 9 or The Long Weekend (which Ive never seen before). Any suggestions?

dead and buried good, atmospheric film not seen other two.

Get yourself a bottle of Scotch and go with The Lost Weekend. ;)

I didn't mind Killer Mermaids actually.

It is the one with Franco Nero, right?

If you are someone who goes out and about into charity shops and CEX, keep an eye out for it because I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it – I'll probably pick up a cheap copy sometime soon.

I haven't seen Cut Throats 9, so can't comment on it. The others are vastly different from each other, with one a sleazy and ultra gory affair and the other a bone fide classic, which is not exactly as much fun. If you want something lightweight and enjoyable, Dead and Buried is the clear winner, but if you want a more intense and gripping film with a clear range in the writing, acting, directing, editing etc. departments, The Long Weekend is the one to choose.

Sounds good to me :nod: I've still got about three quarters of a bottle of 21 year old Royal Brackla stashed away. I'm just not sure how it would mix with the codiene tablets I've just taken. :nono: :)

Cool, Nos. Lost Weekend it is. TBH, I don't know why I've never got round to watching it. I've watched the Not Quite Hollywood doc countless times and IIRC, even Quentin Tarantino calls it a lost classic.

Time to stick the prawns on the barbie. :)

Try it and let us all know.

And if you are susceptible to being told what to do on an internet forum, please go to my wishlist and order the top 5 items for me. :dance:

Cheers. :D

I see our resident nurse is here on the thread. What do you say on the matter, J? :thankingyou:

I'm halfway to la-la land just now. Hell, I'll even laugh at your jokes today. :lol:

Still??

Yeah, J. TBH, the whisky only ever came out on the last two New Years and the birthday of my mate who works in Brackla distillery and got me the bottle for my Christmas. I've never been a big whisky drinker, which is a shame as I must have about 10 distillerys in a 50 mile radius around me. If I'm going to have a drink these days, I will go for some Grey Goose or if I'm in Makro wholesalers a bottle of Lakeland vodka from America. It's half the price of a litre of GG, but tastes just as good, IMO. Well worth a try if you can get it. :nod:

Well, that was different. Yes, it was as brilliantly made as Nos said, but I must admit (as an animal lover) that as soon as she smashed the egg on the tree, I wanted wanted the animals to bite the shit outta them (to quote the inspector).

It's definitely worth tracking down if you are yet to see it. It's out on the Optimum label in the U.K. If that's any help.

Dead and buried just becasue its the only one I've seen and I really like it.

My mistake.

I thought you were going to watch The Lost Weekend with Ray Milland. That's why i said crack open the Scotch. You were going with The Long Weekend.

:)

I also misread and thought he was thinking about watching the Billy Wilder film and not the Australian eco-horror. I was confused by the mention of Not Quite Hollywood and putting a shrimp on the barbie, but now that makes sense.

I thought this was cult labs, get your facts straight boys.:rolleyes:

THE BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL – More Naschy, who appears here in the guise of a rough and ready workman hanging out in a bleak bit of rural France. He ends up as a general assistant in the house of three sisters who display various eccentricities like nymphomania and having a slightly over-elaborate false hand. The main thing is that someone is going around murdering girls with blue eyes Giallo style. TBEOTBD is pretty good, and just about gets away with a baggy pace by making sure some grotty highlights are in there. The latter might include the clutch of effective murder sequences or the whacked out and creepy last scene, but also the utter strangeness of having Naschy play a guy who we're supposed to root for, but who turns out to be a serial strangler of women! (not really a spoiler, it's telegraphed dead early). He apologises for his past misdeeds later on in the film, so, alright then. There are various odd, psychedelic moments such as Naschy strangulation flashbacks, which all seem to take place in a red void, as well as some nice atmosphere and good use of shadowy, vault like spaces. I couldn't work out whether the chirpy easy listening music that accompanies some of the horror scenes was intended ironically, or was just a bad idea that got through. Either way, pretty good stuff.

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD – Peter Walker's first blast of institutional gothic. In it, a wannabe model from London / France gets shanghaied by a creepy dude at a party who calls himself Mark E Dessard. Hmm. Turns out he's smuggling young female law breakers over to his parent's private jail out in the sticks, where they receive the special treatment. HOW is as British and as seventies as a damp ford cortina with a mouldy 'Jackie' annual in the boot - the beige feeling of that decade looms over its threadbare sets like a dank, cabbagey cloud. HOW is a WIP film, but it's not like those other ones, which try for erotic violence even though they're mostly just dull and ugly – HOW embraces dullness and ugliness as virtues in themselves. Which means we're mostly fumbling around in brown corridors trying to figure out what it all means rather than being stripped and whipped by megalomaniacal lesbian governesses. That's not to say there's no drama (or stripping and whipping for that matter, there is a bit of that stuff), but its exploitative content has faded over the years to leave a film which is best consumed for its atmosphere and mood, which, as already stated, are pretty pungent. Sheila Keith is cutting her teeth here as Walker's go-to witch lady, and there's a freaky snippet where one of the prison guards plays with a stuffed toy. Watch it.

SLEEPWALKERS – It's about a young guy who arrives in a new town with his mother. He strikes up a relationship with the girl behind the popcorn stall at the local cinema, but his hopes for an uncomplicated love life are dashed by the facts that both he and mom are ancient cat-human hybrids, and are also, it transpires, “a bit too close”. The again, who wouldn't at least consider the idea of incest with Alice Krige? Based on an original script by Stephen King, 'Sleepwalkers' also features a few cameos by the likes of Clive Barker and John Landis, although I can't say I even noticed any of the latter, and, whatever big names were involved, this movie doesn't really live up to any hot-shot reputations. However, it is what it is, a pretty solid of-it's-time pot boiler, with a sprinkling of satisfying gore and creature fx surrounded by that typically plastic nineties B-movie ambience. This film isn't particularly well liked, and it's certainly not dynamite, but I always seem to enjoy it whenever I put it on.


BLOOD BEAT – A real head scratcher from the era of VHS, 'Blood Beat' takes the rural slasher template and does something a bit bizarre with it. In this case, 'bizarre' amounts to a possessed samurai outfit going around killing people and having psychic battles via some pretty cheap eighties video effects. As far as plot goes, it seems to be about a psychic painter and her family who live in an isolated hunting community. Painter has a vaguely antagonistic relationship with her son's gf, who also turns out to be psychic (or something). Things ratchet up a notch when gf discovers an ancient samurai costume in someone's bedroom – I guess these things just happen if you let them. Anyway, murder spree ensues alongside various highlights of the 'just weird' variety, such as the lengthy scene which seems to explore the psychokinetic potential of masturbation. It's hard to tell whether 'Blood Beat' is any good or not, but I really like it. It has a strange, chilly air to it, and although the straightforwardness of a supernatural slasher movie is kind of there in places, it's derailed (in a good way) by the director's choice of arty montage sequences which hark back to the hazy surrealism of some seventies grindhouse. Great era-typical synth and electronics on the soundtrack, too. Very much recommended if you have a yen for weird horror or eighties slashers, but you'll have to check it out on Youtube or do something equally dubious as it's never had a real DVD / Blu-ray release.

And they're ment to be top mods, Nos. :lol:

Yep, that's the one. I was expecting a treasure chest of fishy trash not a fairly average film no better or worse than most walking around in the dark horror.

Imperium

An undercover FBI officer infiltrates neo Nazi groups...pretty good compared to most films about bone heads and the far right. It could have possibly been a bit longer to allow a more convincing bonding between the agent and the Nazis and explored the agents personal emotions as he struggles with getting his job done and his closeness to the people he will betray. Worth a look.

Traders

Excellent Irish film about a fight club where people fight to the death having arranged the fight via a website. I really enjoyed this, the fights are brutal and there is a great use of location to echo the film's underlying theme of the recent recession...the fights take place in half finished building sites and industrial waste lands. Worth a look too.

Beyond the Gates

80s horror homage that works surprisingly well as it riffs on nostalgia for crap films and videotapes. Fun stuff. Recommended.

Top Cop

A racist and homophobic cop who looks like a short cubby Chuck Norris, shoots and punches to death just about everyone he meets. Excellent low budget action flick from 1990. Shit blows up!

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

***1/2 out of *****

John wick 2

I really dug John Wick. Given that the big revenge flick that year was supposed to be the equaliser, Wick proved to be the better film and created a great role for Keanu Reeves, a perfectly likeable star who doesn't always shine (coughDraculacough) like he should.
Its nice to see the second film upping the ante. It sheds any notions or semblance of realism and opts to go full comic book in its style with a ludicrously higher bodycount, strange underworld hierarchies with their own rituals and traditions and some ott violence that includes the dispatching of several hitmen through the use of a pencil. John Wick 2 is marvellously daft and tons of fun. I actually think by the end it even tops the first. Recommended.

I really want to see it but, because of the limited showings at nearby multiplexes and my current time availability through uni and work, I'll probably miss it in favour of good grades on my assignments and films showing at more convenient times. It's a shame, because it looks like something which would be incredibly impressive on the big screen and body-shaking sound system.

Hidden Figures

Based on real-life events, this follows three NASA mathematicians in 1961: Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson and their roles in the early stages of the space race, particularly the Project Mercury missions which culminated in John Glenn's flight in which he orbited the Earth.

I won't delve into the plot too much because that would either retread a lot of historical information about the civil rights movement and NASA space program or spoil the film for those who don't know much about either or both. What the film does do is humanise the wider picture of American society at the time. There are references to Dr Martin Luther King Jr., photos of (then president) John Kennedy in almost every room, newsreel footage of real events such as Yuri Gagarin waving to crowds and other famous historical figures and events.

In terms of the micro level stuff, the film shows the true impact of racial segregation and rampant sexism in the workplace, with a Senate panel comprised entirely of white men in matching white shirts, the NASA rule in which Katherine works similarly full of white men in white shirts, dark trousers and ties, contrasting to her colourful dresses and a darker complexion. She is assigned her own coffee pot, marked 'Colored', and is often notable by her absence because she spends 40 minutes going to the toilet, something which is half a mile away from her desk and situated in a different building. Dorothy and Mary have their own challenges both at work and home, with Mary wanting to become an engineer but finding resistance from her husband and unable to find a desegregated educational establishment in Virginia in which she can study.

The filmmakers have taken some liberties with timelines, such as when bathroom facilities were desegregated, when certain characters were given certain roles, and the responsibilities undertaken by certain people. This is either done to simplify a complex situation or give events more emotional resonance and compress the timeline of the 1950s and '60s to show just how unjust and counter-productive racial segregation was. Although some events are well known and therefore lack the dramatic tension which would be heightened if they were fictional, I found the ending quite emotional. There is a degree of 'civil rights by the numbers' to this, something which could also be found in Selma, a similarly important film based real events and real people.

Hidden Figures is a very well made film in almost every respect with terrific performances by the main cast: Taraiji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst and, perhaps surprisingly, Jim Parsons, a very good script by Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroeder, with Melfi also solid behind the camera in his role as director. It has garnered numerous industry awards and nominations, with the screenplay and Spencer nominated for Oscars, and the film up for Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards as well.