EYEBALL – Mid seventies Giallo from U Lenzi takes us to Spain, where a coachload of the usual suspects (i.e. some generally quite wooden Euro-hacks) go sight-seeing whilst a killer in a red plastic mac offs them one by one, taking an eye as they drop. It’s nice that those concerned can still be arsed with the touristy type stuff when all this brutal murder’s going down, but one of the coppers on the case tells them it’s best if they stick to their itinerary, so who could doubt the logic in that, really. I like ‘Eyeball’ a lot – hadn’t seen it for ages pre the new 88 release, but it certainly lived up to my hazy recollections when I watched it the other night. For one thing, it doesn’t drag its heels too much, unlike many of its ilk. The talky interjections don’t derail the kills, which zip by to a canonical-sounding Bruce Nicolai score (or do if yr as pissed as I was, hic). Whilst it seems a bit less visually ‘pop’ than most people’s idea of a ‘classic’ Giallo, the odd arresting image is tossed in here and there eg the ghost train sequence, a dime-store inferno in red gel, and of course the ‘Don’t Look Now’ referencing / theft lends a bit of weight to the tired conceit of the hidden killer. But the main reason I dig it is just that there’s a sort of breathless silliness about it that’s quite enchanting after a while. You can’t say that about ‘Cannibal Ferox’ or a lot of his other stuff!

TERROR CIRCUS – Desert-set grindhouse relic with A Prine as a post-‘Psycho’ psycho who keeps women locked up in his barn. His father, a radioactive mutant, stumbles in and out. It’s slight, but fun in places. Director Alan Rudolph went on to do a lot of American indie arthouse stuff in the seventies and eighties and it’s a fair guess that ‘Terror Circus’ aka ‘Barn of the Naked Dead’ isn’t quoted in an extravagant font on his calling card. It doesn’t exactly play like a Cassavetes flick but you can see the seventies new wave coming through a bit in the loose feel of some of the performances and the sense of abstraction that veers in from the desert, and maybe there’s even a little of Rudolph’s more authentic preoccupation with isolated and eccentric characters. We also get some drive-in weirdness on the soundtrack – detuned circus parping mixed in with electronics alongside music that sounds like it’d be more at home on TV, a concoction further echoed by the surrealist image-grabs (a bloodied cleaver poised next to a spinning top) that pepper a more standard narrative. It’s perplexing rather than sleazy, and seems to offer the possibility of mean-spirited smut whilst winking at feminism. I don’t know it played back then. Again, I’m more into the atmosphere of these things, which is where ‘Terror Circus’, downbeat, hazy and a bit ludicrous, works for me.

I remember buying the Code Red dvd of Terror Circus. It was a double bill dvd and one of the films looked so bad quality wise. Can't recall which one it was. Needless to say i flogged it quite quickly. Probably an error in hindsight.

Wonderful write ups again, Frankie.

Thanks, Dem. I have, somewhere in the attic, a copy of the CR release of 'Terror Circus', which I haven't seen for years but remember as being of pretty good quality. The one I actually watched was floating along with all the tripe on Amazon Prime.

I've had a look. It was partnered with School Girls in Chains. That must have been the one that was awful, picture wise.

… or 'University Students trapped in a Cellar', as it should have been called. Not a bad flick, but as you say crummy transfer from 'back in the day' and not one I could really be arsed to upgrade.

Sir!!! Hail!!

Calibre (Matt Palmer)

Scottish set beastie. Two friends, urbanites both, travel tae t'Highlands in order tae shoot at critters. I have no sympathy here. They compound an accident with a rank piece of stupidity ... and pay the price. Twas a bit generic tbh. Bonny scenery mind .....




National Treasure (Jon Turteltaub)

Illuminatian (is that a word? Tis now :skull:) hogwash disguised as harmless actioner :skull:. I should never really watch these Disney films sober tbh. After Mandy twas verrry strange to see the Cage in this setting :skull:. Must find the sequel :skull:. And watch Mandy again.
Ahem.

Amazon Prine?? :skull:

Appy polly loggies. Couldn't resist ... :coffin:

Hee hee. Dude, that coffin lid should make its mind up really...

:skull:
Ah, the fun we have ...

Keep it grim, reaper...

... :ghostclap:

I will stick my hand up the jumper of criticism shortly ....

Andrew prine is usually reason to give a film a chance.


The Gate

Tibor Takacs delivers the best film of his career with a suburban horror featuring a young stephen dorff who quickly realises an old tree removed from his backyard has opened a portal to the other side. His mate, a neglected kid obsessed with heavy metal discovers the solution to the problem in the sleeve notes of one of his records. Terrific little horror with a great atmosphere that's a real nostalgia trip for big kids of a certain age. Glad to say that revisiting the film it holds up really well. Worth revisiting if you get the chance.

Gate 2

I used to like this more than the first Gate. After revisiting the scream factory release not sure why. Its a solid horror but lacks the pacing of the first. It takes bloody ages for anything to really kick in. That said the final act when the devils bargains of the first two thirds kick in is well worth your patience. But once the fog of nostalgia has cleared this isn't as good as the first film.

Indeed.
The Centerfold Girls is on AP I'm sure ...

The Ebola Syndrome

Antony Wong excels as Kai, a shitstain in human form who abuses all and sundry in his path. Escaping to South Africa after an 'altercation' with his previous employers, Wong finds refuge with a cushy resturant job cough. Sadly his natural proclivity for rape and mayhem reassert themselves, when he contracts .... guess? You did read the title aye? :skull:
A masterclass in depravity. See this movie. It's a lorra lorra fun :skull:

Evil Under The Sun. Hercure Poirot is investigating a counterfeit item of jewelry when an obnoxious actress is murdered in an island Mediterrenean getaway. Peter Ustinov leads a fine cast including Roddy McDowall and Diana Rigg in this entertaining early 80s Agatha Christie adaptation, though it's not quite as good as Death on the Nile.

The wife and I watched Lucio Fulci's Cat In The Brain. Since Lucio Fulci is the lead actor, I thought it was gonna be some sort of Monster Dog type experience (which starred Alice Cooper), where it's quite a poor film but still very much fun to watch. I couldn't have been more wrong, it was thoroughly depressing to see the man who made Lizard In A Woman's Skin reduced to producing such ultra low-budget schlock. Cat In The Brain is pretty much on the same level as a film school student project with very few redeeming features. Film score - 4/10.

btw The 88 Films blu-ray looks terrible despite the cover cheekily claiming that it features a "stunning HD presentation."

BURN THE HERETIC

:skull:

Halloween
(no not the original, the new one that is pretty good but not quite as good as the original film called Halloween n" all that)

Attachment 210394

O.k so went and saw the new Halloween film, hands up i had a couple of beers before hand but i really enjoyed it, a lot of the run time has nods to the original films and basically follows the same path, with Michael escaping and even a new equivalent of the Loomis character.

But i'm a sucker for nostalgia and having seen the original about a gazillion times i spent half the time noting the similarities and also the many ways the original is taken and subverted.

Slightly screwing with expectations and teasing the audience.

The new variations of the theme tune i enjoyed, and actually i can't really think of much i didn't like with the new film.

Retconning the original timeline is controversial to fan boys but i thought it worked generally.

I enjoyed Curtis's performance and liked her relatives and i personally thought the storyline made sense although i would admit it kind of became a bit less believable towards the end.
But hey this is America, the land of guns and ammo so really it didn't stretch credibility too much.

Some scene's were more grisly to appease modern audiences although when you think about it most of the excessive kills were aimed at the shit stirring reporters, so fair enough, i felt they represented the modern audience.(ahem)

On the whole i thought this was a really solid flick, much better than anyone could have wished for at this point of whatever the twatting sequels it is.

I have to say i enjoyed it a lot more than H20, but i was never that much of an admirer of that film.

I left the film thinking of the similarities with the original, but also quite satisfied with how the Laurie Strode/Myers story pans out.

Honestly at the moment if there was never another Halloween film i genuinely think the series would die on a high point now.

Laurie was given a lot more depth in this film, dare i say it more than the original where she is to be honest just a above average intelligence teen who manages to survive the slaughter.

The more i think of this compared to the previous sequels the more i like it.

Recommended 8.5/10:pumpkin:

Noted nos!!!

Attachment 210402

MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE (1952)

Mother Riley has a radio controlled robot delivered to her by mistake. The robot should have been delivered to a man known as 'The Vampire'.
When the robot is whisked back off to The Vampire, Mother Riley heads off with it..

Loud and screeching screwball comedy. Notable for being one of only three films made by Bela Lugosi in England. The others being DARK EYES OF LONDON (1939) and MYSTERY OF THE MARIE CELESTE (1935).
Bela and a host of well known British actors make this watchable although the antics of Mother Riley and her screeching voice become grating. For me anyway.
This was the last in the Old Mother Riley series of films.

THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD

A restoration and colourisation of World War I footage as part of Peter Jackson's labour of love for many things connected with that particular conflict is formed into a loose narrative spanning the five years of the war. With forensic lip readers able to provide a 'script' of what was being said by the men in the film stock and other information from interviews and letters, it gives a vivid insight into World War I by the British people who did most of the fighting and dying, rather than military tacticians, the 'top brass', politicians or social historians.

It spans from people joining up to the Armistice and afterwards, with voice contributions from real soldiers, sound effects, and edited with photographs and posters from the time to create an astonishingly powerful and emotional experience. Because some of the footage was originally either 10 or 18 frames per second and has been 'smoothed' to a more natural look with computers creating composite frames so it is now 24fps there is occasionally a slightly surreal, ghostly look to the faces which makes it all the more affecting. Additionally, the footage includes real dead bodies (human, horse and rat), injuries, and is all the better for this 'warts and all' approach to the industrial scale war.

The film is an incredible technical achievement and one to be admired rather than enjoyed. It has apparently been bought by Warner Bros and will be distributed in more cinemas prior to the BBC showing it on Armistice Day. I'm very glad I saw it at a cinema because although I think it will work on TV, I don't think that would be quite the same as seeing it on a very big screen with an audience. If it is showing somewhere near you and there are some tickets available, take the chance to witness something very special.

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

Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers. A year after supposedly being blown to bits down a mineshaft, Michael Myers returns, again targeting his young niece Jamie (Danielle Harris), and again an increasingly frazzled Dr Loomis (Donald Pleasance) is the only one really standing in his way... This 1989 sequel, a direct follow up to the previous year's Halloween 4, often comes in for a lot of stick, and it's certainly flawed - the decision to kill off Rachel (one of the previous film's two female leads) so early is a bummer, the character of Tina is annoying as hell, and the unexplained "Man in Black" subplot (that leads to a cliffhanger ending) is somewhat dubious at best. And yet, for all that, which is why I haven't seen this for so long, I really enjoyed it! Pleasance and Harris are as good as ever, there's some very stylish and atmospheric direction, and the last half hour in particular has some killer scenes (Michael chasing Jamie in the fields in the car, the laundry chute sequence, Loomis going absolutely ape**** on a trapped Michael). I had a better time with this than Halloween 2018! :skull:

Part 5 sucks big time. Mute Jamie just makes me laugh. Her silent screams are hilarious (and not in a good way). And who the hell thought it would be a good idea to put silly comedy noises on the soundtrack whenever the 2 inept cops (who wouldn’t even qualify for a Police Academy film) appear? Plus, one of the worst masks in the series all adds up to a stinker.

If you say so. As I say, I found it more compelling on every level than the bad fan-fiction I watched at the cinema last week. :skull:

Four flies on Grey Velvet.

A rock drummer Roberto(Michael brandon) is getting followed by a mysterious chap and ends up accidently stabbing him to death when he confronts him. but ends up getting blackmailed by someone wearing a bizarre mask who takes photos of the murder.

I have to say that i didn't like this film at all when i first watched it. but i must admit that i found it a lot more enjoyable this time around. yes, i still think that Michael brandon is a boring lead and Mimsy Farmer who plays his wife in the film is still as exciting as a lamp post :lol:, but apart from that i did find the plot quite interesting and Dario's style is still there in the camera work and the key murder scenes in the park and the woman going down the stairs, plus the idea behind the 4 flies clue is quite intriging as well.

The comedy is still a bit overdone though, and while i don't mind his attempts at humour like in Cat and Bird, i still think it was a bit too much in this film, with the tramp God, and the Hallelujah, the other tramp who was a cross between Groucho Marks and Woody Allen, the porno mailman, and the camp private eye chap who was useless at solving cases, oh and not forgetting the
strange coffin convention. :laugh:

not too bad at all though, and a film that seems to improve on repeated viewings 72 out of 100.

The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh.

Julie Wardh(Edwige fenech) has married a diplomat who she doesnt love so that she could escape from her former partner Jean(Ivan Rassamov) a kinky chap who has bats as pets and likes rough sex. :lol:
and fears for her life from a black gloved maniac who is terrorising the town and hacking up young girls.

top notch giallo action from director Sergio Martino who makes films as almost good as Argento. This one in particulor is very good indeed, mixing twists and turns with great suspense and sex and violence, and with great flash back sequences were Mrs Wardh has fun with broken glass and in the rain. :happy:

Edwige as usual is gorgeous in her sexy outfits and without them, and is definately the giallo queen. Ivan Rassimov is also superb as the creepy Jean who may or not be the razor killer. and giallo regular George Hilton is very good too as the playboy who is out to seduce the sexy Edwige.

Yes i like this one a lot with the haunting giallo music and it gets top scoring of 92 out of 100.

The First Purge. 2018

The new founding fathers of a political stance introduced The Purge as an experiment on Staten Island in order to reduce the crime rate.

This seems a bit mild compared to the other Purge movies (anarchy and election year) I was expecting full blown mayhem, more kills etc. This is more different it seems to centre on the people of Harlem. Not going say anymore as there doesn't seem to be much comments about it. 4-5 out of 10.

Reason why there wasn't more kills etc is because the storyline is about how the purge started . I wasn't keen on this one at all and thought it could have been so much better, the next purge film is going to be the last which in a way is good because their going to quit while there ahead, I didn't mind the rest and the series , while the films are no classic they are decent and like stated before reason why I think their OK is because the film industry needs something fresh and different for a change and the purge is exactly that .

The Flying Scot (1957)

An Anglo Amalgamated quickie starring Lee Patterson, Alan Gifford and Kay Callard about small time crooks who set out to steal half a million pounds in one pound notes as they are transported on passenger train The Flying Scot.

I thought this was excellent. Involving and tense right from the off. The scheme is brilliantly foolproof but naturally things don't go according to plan. Filmed almost exclusively on a train this is quite claustrophobic in it's setting and the twist in the tale early on had me completely fooled.

An excellent heist thriller beautifully restored by Network and a bargain at £2 in the recent Bonkers sale.

Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde.

Dr Jekyll(Ralph Bates) is a very dedicated scientist chap who gets depressed when he realises that death will end his scientific discoveries. so decides to find an elixer of life, which requires grave robbing with the help of Burke and hare and knocking off the local hookers. and when he does discover the elusive elixer, there's just one snag, it turns him into a foxy lady who enjoys making red dresses out of the curtains. :lol:

this is one of Hammer's greatest films from the 1970's period. It is very good indeed and has a great story, bags of 1800's atmospheres in the foggy streets and marvellous performances from Ralph Bates as the crazed Dr Jekyll who does what ever takes in the name of science. and Martine Beswick who is brilliantly cast as the lusty and evil Mrs Hyde who continues with Dr Jekyll's cull of the local whores after he tries to stop, even keeping a trusty blade in her boot.:happy: A love interest is also providing by Susan Brodrick who plays Dr Jecyll's prim and proper neighbour who has the hots for Mr Bates.

top notch Hammer film indeed with plenty of black comedy as well and suspenseful kills. 90 out of 100.

:skull:
Review!! Can you do Suspiria at some point? :ghostclap:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....lL._SX342_.jpg
"Teen Titans: The Judas Contract" (2017)
This arrived today at the bargain price of less than £15! Brilliant film based on the Marv Wolfman/George Perez story. All the characters, hero or villain, have some aspect to them that draws you to them, even Robin/Damien! I normally have a go at the "bog-standard DC animation" but it is used to great effect here, as is the voice acting. Oh yeah! I also love the mini fig.
Well I liked it a lot so- 72/10 + 2 bottles of Crabbie's Ginger Beer and an apple!

SUSPIRIA – The remake, which I saw at the Leeds International Film Festival last night. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from ‘art-house’ director (to be slightly lazy about it) Guadagnino, but it’s well known that the project has been a labour of love of his for some time. This ‘Suspiria’ feels invested in, sure, but thankfully it’s no fannish reprise. One thing I appreciated about it, and kind of predicted, was lack its of emulation of the original and disregard for the sort of stylistics that less confident hands might feel a need to cling to, Argento’s movie being basically, let’s face it, really all just style and style alone. Themes and attitudes (particularly to women, or the idea of the feminine) are different. There’s an interesting attempt to evoke what was going on politically in Berlin at the time, and we get a punkish back-drop with lots of graffiti and references to Baader-Meinhof that also allows the film to show how the embers of the Nazi past simmer in the lives of its characters. All that stuff feels a bit loose in a way because it needs a more rigorous cinematic terrain to do it justice, but the vibe of stark, ominous social realism cuts well against the original’s bad-trip fairy froth. On some level, I felt the film was going for the feel of something like Zulawski’s ‘Possession’, which you’ll remember was also set in Berlin. Nothing overt, just a sense that came through from time to time, although ‘Suspiria’ is less weird and oblique than that film. That might be its biggest failing, for me – for all its well developed textures, tones and thematic excursions, it couldn’t quite sustain the atmosphere of estrangement I was looking for. To be blunt, some of the ‘horror bits’ worked OK, but some of the visuals almost seemed to belong to a different movie and unfortunately at points they brought to mind a sub-par Netflix Insidious-rip off. Having said this, the film’s climax, an orgiastic occult ceremony doused in red lighting with cadaverous entities and exploding bodies, couldn’t have been a better homage to dodgy Euro-goth excess. In the end, ‘Suspiria – the remake’ has a lot going for it, interesting ideas, great performers like Tilda Swinton, nice textures and atmospheres in places, although ultimately the 21/2 hour run time seems a bit testing. It’s perhaps something I need to revisit on DVD, as I’m never very switched on in cinemas, particularly when my arse is going numb. I doubt it’ll resonate with anyone expecting continuity with Argento, or maybe even horror fans in general, but that’s not the point.

DEAD BIRDS – Good ‘western’-era set flick in which some thieves hide out in an abandoned and isolated house. Horror comes in the form of some bestial ghost-creatures over the course of a slow build. ‘Dead Birds’ has the atmosphere of a slowly gathering storm, and looks cinematically a lot richer than its probable low budget. Although it seems to be going for something character driven and ambient, it doesn’t skimp on gore – some nice splattery bits along with a little CGI that didn’t bother me. A film from fifteen years ago, an underexplored era in the sense that it’s neither classic nor contemporary. Recommended.

NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF – Naschy does Daninksy yet again. This time, he gets tangled in a plot to revive a long dead vampire and her inevitably evil buddies. Although set in the ‘modern age’ (well, it was made in the early eighties), ‘Night of the Werewolf’ is basically gothic in its marrow, and even the bits where eg. a werewolf stalks a couple of illegal cigarette dealers look like they’re meant to be happening somewhere in the 1800s. The film is basically a procession of gothic imagery out in search of a plot, and it’s all here – fog banks, cobwebby candelabras, carefully lit crypts etc etc. I find that kind of thing intoxicating, so although this isn’t quite peak Naschy it will still whet the appetite of most who like long shadows and monsters.

Spasmo.

Christian(Robert Hoffman) a hirsute chap with a passing resemblance to Noel Edmonds :lol: dumps his girlfriend after meeting Barbara(Suzy Kendall) who he thinks is dead at first after finding her stretched out on the beach. and later go back to her pad for sex on the understanding that he will shave off his beard first. however he finds that there's a creepy hitman in her bathroom and ends up shooting him in a struggle, but it turns out that he's not dead afterall.

This is from Umberto lenzi the chap who made Cannibal ferox and all the other great cannibal films. and although this film is a serious head scratcher plot wise it is still a very stylish effort and like all of the giallos i've seen entertaining. There's nice locations on beaches and old stone buildings, and with bizarre dreamlike images of mannequins or are they sex dolls? :laugh: dressed in sexy lingerie and being hanged and stabbed to death.
and just when you think you have a handle on the plot, Lenzi throws in another curve ball.

good effort in deed, and with favorite Ivan Rassamov playing Christian's brother in the film who has a lot to hide as well. Just a shame that Suzy Kendall had packed her mini skirts away in this one. :(
79 out of 100.

I remember Dead Birds. Not seen it for years. there were a few gems that came out that are probably forgotten around that period such as Hallowed Ground and some probably only i liked - Death Tunnel, Wrestlemaniac, 7 Mummies, Dead and Dying - that sort of thing. All do seem to have more ambition than what we generally get nowadays, or perhaps that's just me and my non-interest in rentaghost, sorry, poltergeist films doing the rounds for the last few years.

Nice thoughts on Suspiria too, Frankie. I think you mention everything except a story. :skull:

Flesh Eating Mothers (1989)

Cannibal mutated mothers - i don't know why it never explains it - wisecrack their way through town wearring heavy make up.

Practically unwatchable, abysmally acted rubbish with only a few decent gore effects worthy of mention.

The First Purge
Pointless prequel. See the Dead Kennedys song (hear? :skull:) "Kill The Poor" instead. Plucky proles try to evade the results of an "experiment" based in their area. Lawdy!!

Gangster No 1 (Paul McGuigan)
The rise of a London hardcase, told in extended flashback mode. A host of familiar fizzogs flit about. Paul Bettany radiates menace whilst he's on screen. The score (by John Dankworth) helps by evoking the era. :ghostclap: