The Adventures of Robin hood.

king richard is off on the crusades and ends up being captured. and his evil brother prince John( claude rains) takes over while he's away and starts terrorising the Saxons. but sir Robin(Errol flynn) won't stand for it and gets his band of merry men together to fight the evil tyrant and his nasty henchman Sir Guy(basil rathbone from Sherlock holmes).

This is one top notch Robin hood adventure from hollywood with great action, romance and music which still stands the test of time. Errol Flynn is superb with his witty portrayal of the outlaw and has great on screen chemistry with actress Olivia de Havilland as the demure maid Marion. basil Rathbone also makes a excellent villain and is very convincing in his swordfight with Sir Robin. and Claude rains gives a rather camp and funny turn as Prince john. :lol:

yes, i enjoyed this nostalgic and very colourful film a lot. and which used to be my dad's all time favorite film. so it gets a solid 85 out of 100. :)

Decemberdike
 

December 8th

The Comeback (1978)

Pete Walker's film stars Jack Jones as an American singer who who retreats to a remote manor in Surrey to record an album; there, he is followed by a psychopath wearing a hag mask who murdered his ex-wife.

Whilst not top level Pete Walker,The Comeback has much to recommend it. The film has a nice ghostly atmosphere as Jones is haunted as the cries of his dead wife echo round the old mansion, and there are a couple of graphic murder sequences that book end the film. You can't have Pete Walker without Sheila Keith who co-stars here, in as you can guess, truly sinister mode along with Bill Owen as her hubby and fellow house keeper. Keith is one of those actresses who even when playing nice seems like she's going to stick a knife in your chest. Not so much typecast as born for roles like this.

The films final shot takes us out of the films slasher movie beginnings and suggests that the supernatural was also at work. This was Walker's last pure horror film and the cracks were beginning to show, although enjoyable there are long sequences where not an awful lot happens other than recording studio chatter, but the grisly murders and finale will ensure it stays in the memory.

Werewolf Woman.

Busty sondra Locke lookalike daniella neseri(Annik borel), has a hatred towards men after being raped as a child, and has since suffered from mental problems. so her dad takes her to the family villa in the country to recouprate. but it doesnt help at all when she finds the belongings of an ancient ancester in the attic, of a woman who was thought to be a werewolf and Daniella then becomes convinced that she is a werewolf as well and goes on the rampage murdering men.

Apparently Quentin tarrantino is a big fan of this film and i'm not surprised why. It is indeed one sleaze masterpiece with lots of gore, sex and nudity that is highly entertaining, and with a I Spit on Your Grave type climax.
Annik borel is actually very good in the role and quite convincing despite the usual bad dubbing. sexy Dagmar Lassander also co-stars as daniellas sister and certainly isn't shy at all in this one :lol:. and the chap from New York ripper Howard Ross also shows up too playing a nice chap for a change eventhough he does come to a bad end.

Great fun all round, including a great comedy moment in a dream sequence were Daniella's ancester changes into a hilarious fake looking werewolf complete with comical fur boobs. :laugh: 80 out of 100.

Saw Friday the 13th Part 2 the other day. Not really a fan of this series, always regarded it as markedly inferior to the Halloweens and usually only like the knowingly daft ones like VI and Jason X, but I didn't mind this on this occasion. Entertaining enough schlock. :hohoho:

Clash of the Titans.


Persius(harry Hamlin), son of the greek God Zeus ends up on a quest to save the woman he loves Princess andromenda from a big sea monster called the kraken. and ends up meeting three old cannibal witches who are blind
and use a magic glass eye and tell him that the only way to kill the Kraken is by using the head of a gorgon Medusa.

Okay a little cheesy and a bit slow to get going, but Not a bad effort at all in the great tale of greek mythology. with some superb creatures from effects wizard ray Harryhausen, including a winged horse Pegasus, a ugly hairy chap called Calibos, giant scorpions and the superb battle with the snake headed Medusa.
And with a lot of big stars including Laurence Oliver as Zeus, Ursula Andress as goddess Aphrodite, and Burgess Meredeth as well. Although Harry Hamlin is a little wooden as persius to be honest.
But overall this is a fun and entertaining action and adventure fantasy film that is well worth a watch, although the funny beeping tin can owl got a little annoying after a while. :lol: 80 out of 100.

Venom

Best buddy movie since The Nice Guys imho.



Halloween (2018, David Gordon Green)

:laugh:

THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR – From Ulli Lommel. His ‘The Boogeyman’ is still probably my favourite slasher movie, daft as a brush though it may be. And then of course when he was Fassbinder’s protégé he made his most genuine claim to cinematic excellence, the undeniably haunting and beautiful ‘Tenderness of the Wolves’. I don’t know why he’s so loathed as a filmmaker – even the video trash he poured out in his latter years is dotted here and there with quirky, weirdo little films ie ‘The Raven’. ‘The Devonsville Terror’ is from back when movies were shot on celluloid, and is definitely one such quirky, weirdo little film. I really like it. It’s hard to explain what’s good about it. Not all that much happens in it. Basically, a small, isolated town replays its own history of violent witch-hunting when a new (female, urbane, distressingly ‘other’) teacher arrives. The film feels really static after its basic set-up is established, but instead of this being boring it somehow goes Zen and empties out into a hollow, cavernous space that gradually fills with strange characters, odd and maybe inconsequential goings on and just a really weird tone. Donald Pleasance is around – he does f*ck all apart from pull worms out of his arm and mumble about generational curses. Oh, he also hypnotises a couple of people. I don’t know, maybe this is a lazy comparison, but because of the small-town mystery angle, the air of foreboding and the quirkiness of the characters, it made me think of ‘Twin Peaks’ reconstituted as a VHS era horror knock-off with a rubber animatronic demon head at the end. Which, all told, is my kinda movie.

NIGHTMARE BEACH – Late Umberto Lenzi flick (or maybe not) about a slasher in motorcycle gear terrorising a bunch of none-more-eighties spring break party goers. Backstory has to do with the leader of local motorcycle gang The Demons, who fried in the chair after he was set up for murder… I mention this because the killer’s MO, mostly murder by electrocution delivered by bike, seems a bit ludicrous. Well, it all does, really. Though it all feels more American than Italian, if that makes sense, in that things like bad dubbing appear absent. ‘Nightmare Beach’ ticks a lot of boxes for me, but I have to be realistic and admit that sadly my mind has already condensed the good bits into a better flick than truly exists in real viewing time… which is a shame, because, even if you discount the lame kills and the fact that countless rampaging party scenes soundtracked by bad hair metal ultimately pay diminishing returns, the essence of the true hideousness of the eighties is laid bare here. Plus, there’s never an excuse not to watch a John Saxon movie.

AFTER DEATH – Aka ZFE3. When it comes to ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’, I prefer the sequels to the original. ‘After Death’ isn’t the hot mess that was ZFE2, but it’s still a lot more compelling than Fulci’s overrated plodfest. If you want to know what ‘After Death’ is about, forget it, man - you’ve got it already. There’s an island, there’s some zombies, there’s some stuff about voodoo and some people get eaten. It’s a trashy rip-off, and it knows it. Good for it – there’s something authentic about its unabashed cheapness, but, more to the point, it makes good on its promise of crass thrills. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a dollop of congealed fat splattered beneath the counter in a fourth tier KFC rip-off joint, but it bounces along the way you want it to and manages to somehow stay absorbing despite a good eighty percent of it being shots of people hiking through woods. There’s decent gore (mostly at the beginning and end) and lots of fight scenes involving zombies who look a bit Kung-Fu. In its essence it can be nothing more than hokey entertainment, but there are patches where it manages to be inadvertently creepy as well as amusing – some of the stuff shot in the caves, the sound of the dead rising in the distance, the slightly claustrophobic air at points. The constant electro-boogie in the background makes it infectious for me. All in all, a winner.

HACK O’LANTERN – Forgotten eighties horror that transmits a seriously wonky vibe. I can’t tell whether I liked it or not, so that interests me for a start. It’s about a family in thrall to its pumpkin truck-driving occultist granddad, an obnoxious dude who has the manner of a vaguely camp toad about him. The clan’s sullen, trout-faced son is about to undergo some satanic induction because it’s Halloween, whilst his clean cut copper brother goes on dates with his sister’s friend and tries to foil evil – this sets the stage for a weird combination of slasher flick and skewed family saga. ‘Hack O’Lantern’ is full of tedium and hilarity, but even more so just plain randomness – see, for instance, a dream sequence featuring an eighties poodle metal band and a laser-eyed vision of Kali, although perhaps a more typical example of its kookiness is a scene where a guy of uncertain relevance delivers five minutes of sexist gags to a crowd of appreciative onlookers from an odd-looking Halloween party, never to be seen again. Huh? Basic narrative sense? Expecting that quality seems unrealistic when it comes to ‘Hack ‘O Lantern’, which is after all the kind of movie where a bout of graveyard sex is soundtracked by music that sounds more suited to the bit in a nineties pet-based drama where a child picks up a lame puppy. Predictably, soaking up the incessant craziness is a lot of talk, most of it stilted and really boring. A bit of sleaze and gore is the icing on this cake of wholehearted dung. Hard to tune into in some ways, but I’d take it over ninety percent of what gets tossed out these days.

So is The Raven worth a watch, Frankie?

Love the reviews by the way. You almost convince me After Death is better than Zombi.

Almost.

Decemberdike
 

December 9th

To The Devil a Daughter (1976)

Christopher Lee plays a defrocked, devil-worshipping Catholic priest who convinces a man (Denholm Elliott) to sign over his daughter, Catherine, (Nastassja Kinski) so she will become the devils' representative on earth on her 18th birthday. As the time draws near the two (and Richard Widmark) become locked in a deadly battle over possession of the innocent girl's soul.

The final horror film from the studio that dripped blood. To The Devil a Daughter is one of Hammer's great unsung films. The film has strong occult influences, but it's modern day setting takes it out of any fantasy story and as with The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976) the contemporary setting makes it all the more believable and indeed terrifying.

The final showdown between Lee and Widmark is unfortunately a bit of a let down and it passes by in a blur of wildly coloured film stock, however there's plenty of occult nastiness before hand to make up for it including a naked Lee (probably a stand in) taking the virginal Catherine on the altar and a frankly disgusting sequence with a demonic baby literally giving her head. These sequences are genuinely grim and should have inspired Hammer's direction into the 80's but alas it was not to be.

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December 10th

Slaughterhouse Rock (1987)

Fairly dreary and hard to sit through slasher horror set on Alcatraz island. It's a muddled mess that features too many dream like sequences, cannibals, soul transference, bad 80's pop rock and Toni Basil.

The poster is far more memorable than the film itself.

Decemberdike
 

December 11th

Nightmares (1983)

Hopefully i'm getting the boring stuff out of the way early because this portmanteau chiller is very run of the mill. Following a promising but short opening drama which was basically the old urban legend of the killer hidden on the back seat of the car, it becomes very dull very quickly and very PG rated as well.

From Emilio Estevez playing arcade games to Lance Henriksen's priest in a knock off version of Spielberg's Duel to a terrible giant rat effect that terrorizes a family home, this is as formulaic as it comes.

Not exactly 'Ho,ho,ho', more like 'Ho-hum'.

Ha ha, 'The Raven' was what I was thinking of when I mentioned the potential highlights of Lommel's cheapskate video years... I seem to remember liking it for its incomprehensibility, rubbish video effects and general toss-off status, although ninety nine percent of discerning horror fans will think it's awful. Well, I did buy it for a measley quid in Sainsburys, so I have to say it was worth at least that much.


Thanks for the heads up re 'Nightmares' - was wavering, but will now give it a definite miss. You'd think all the weird shit inc. Toni Basil in 'Slaughterhouse Rock' would make it a hit, but alas it's as unfortifying as you say.

Decemberdike
 

December 12th

Nekromantik 2

Graphic grimness part one.

I could probably type for hours about Nekromantic 2 but i know you have lives to live. Let's just say it's a romantic escapade which ends up as a threesome (Kind of). Despite it's arthouse pretentions this is as twisted as horror cinema gets and i'm still surprised it got past the BBFC uncut, even in the 21st century.

Arrow's dual format release is a superb package. Recommended.


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December 13th

I Spit on Your Grave: Vengeance is Mine (2015)

Graphic grimness part two.

Sarah Butler plays the same character from the first film who is haunted by her horrific rape ordeal years later. Desperate for help she attends a support group. However tales of serial rapists at the support group twist her emotions even more and she once again exacts vengeance.

Told in flashback this is another film that would have been banned in years gone by, although this time through strong graphic sexual violence towards men. Butler is excellent in this gripping film.

Nightmares is a decent package and probably worth the six quid it cost me in Fopp especially if you have a CEX near you as they'll give you half your cash back which doesn't make me feel too bad.

The rat sequences are just embarrassing. It's basically the old method of Colour Separation Overlay where they add the image of a rat on top of the actual film itself. It takes you right out of the 'zone'... if you were ever actually in it.

Those rat sequences are selling it to me now! I suspect that's the kind of thing I'd dig if it were in a genuinely 'bad' film, whereas 'Nightmares' just sounds a bit bland overall. I seem to remember you're a fan of 'Of Unknown Origin', so maybe that's why you were so offended?

Some good viewing choices there Dem, hope they made up for the anaemia of 'Nightmares' et al. Agree about Nekro 2. I too liked ISOYG 3, I thought it was gritty, pulpy, nasty.

Ha, ha, yes. Of Unknown Origin was very good.

In comparison Nightmares is the After Death of rat films.

I know you'll buy it now...if you haven't already. :snowman:

I really liked all three I Spit films. They go under the radar when it comes to genre film franchises, but unlike most franchises they don't water themselves down in any way.

I think 'Nightmares' will have a bit of trouble wrestling the 'After Death of the rat sub-genre' crown from 'Rats: Night of Terror', but I won't bore on with my Mattei fetish. In any case, I binge-buy way less than I used to.

The ISOYG reboot series was a 'nice' surprise in some ways, slick but really grotty.

But yet the original 1970s I spit on your grave has not been passed uncut over here yet .
Still a few scenes that have been toned down or trimmed .

What Films Have You Seen Recently?
 

Saved me a tenner I was going to pick that up haha,

In reference to Nightmares as a few more posts have been posted lol.

Absurd.

Edmund Purdum is a priest who is chasing an insane madman Mikos(george eastman), who has under gone genetic experiments which mean that his blood clots very quickly and can only be killed like a zombie by destruction of the brain. he eventually catches up with him and impales him on some gates, but after being taken to hospital, eastman escapes after murdering a nurse with a power drill.

Mr Joe D'amato directs this pretty good follow up to Anthropophaous, even if it has very little in common with the first one.
It does lack a lot of the great atmospheres of Anthrop, but it is still fairly entertaining and has some classic kills, especially the very nasty bandsaw scene, although it is clearly a piece of pork in the close up shots. :lol: and a great scene were Annie Belle from House on The Edge of The park ends up in the oven. :cool:

Also added to the mix is a interesting Halloween type score that they really get their moneys worth out of. and is used a lot in the climatic scenes at the villa with disabled teen Katia.
One annoying part though is the inclusion of yet another annoying child actor who is always having temper tantrums. why are children so annoying in Italian horror? :laugh:

yes I enjoyed this one despite the fact that it does drag a little at times, especially in the scenes were they are watching the football game on TV. but I still rate it 78 out of 100.

Just watched The Void.
Local cop Daniel picks up a guy on the side of the road delirious and bloody. Taking him to the nearest hospital a run down place on the verge of shutting down for good and manned by only a handful of staff. So far so Assault on Precinct 13 I thought. Next thing there some weirdos in sheets and a big squirming monster and all sorts of illogical stuff going on. It steals ideas from a dozen far better movies and then stitches them together with a weak story a weaker script and some badly acted and not very likeable characters. All that said i thought this was sort of ok but I'm glad i only paid three quid and I can't see me ever watching it again.
Attachment 211210

The Cold Blooded Beast.

An insane maniac wearing a black hood and cape stalks the residents of a loony bin in the country and goes on a killing spree with medievil weapons which he hilariously finds casually laying about. :lol:

This is a giallo directed by Fernando Di Leo, a chap more known for his crime films. and is more like a soft porn film to be honest with the ocassional gory death thrown in. with all the women inmates being rich and beautiful who wear very revealing outfits, when they do actually wear outfits that is. :laugh: and even the resident nurse who is a nympho rug muncher constantly getting it on with the patients as well. :tongue1:

Interesting cast though, with the highlight being the gorgeous Rosalba neri as a nymphomaniac shagging anything that moves, even the randy gardener in the greenhouse. and klaus Kinski as the psychiatrist who looks creepier than any of his patients. :lol:

definitely not the greatest giallo ever made. but as usual it has that Italian charm and music that elevates these things into a pretty decent watch. So will rate it 75 out of 100.

Decemberdike
 

December 14th

Twisted Nerve (1968)

From British comedy legends the Boulting brothers comes this psychological thriller notorious for its use of Down syndrome as a reason for murder.

It stars Hywel Bennett as a disturbed young man, Martin, who pretends, under the name of Georgie, to be intellectually impaired in order to be near Susan (Hayley Mills) a girl with whom he has become infatuated. Somehow he moves into Susan's guest house run by her mother - an ever so slightly sleazy Billie Whitelaw - and as you can imagine things escalate from there on in.

At first i wasn't too sure if Bennet was miscast, but he seemed to grow into the role of Georgie and ended up giving a riveting performance. Mills and Whitelaw were both excellent throughout. Twisted Nerve isn't your typical proto slasher, it has a slow burning atmosphere that simmers with uneasy sexuality and dread and as a first time viewing is one of my Decemberdike highlights.

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December 15th

Prince of Darkness (1987)

As with the other John Carpenter film (The Fog) i've watched recently, Prince of Darkness is an old favourite and one i wanted to see how well the new Studio Canal print improves the film.

It does. Immensely. Even comparing the two dvd versions the new Studio Canal print is far superior. Crisper, brighter, richer colours and a hell of a lot sharper in clarity.

As for the film? For me it's classic unmissable Carpenter.

I like Twisted nerve psychological thriller at its finest , along the lines of Peeping tom sometimes I prefer the slow burners like these over a lot of films , because they are done right and get you into the film despite not a lot happens along the way .

Centurion
A roman legion head into the wilderness of Scotland to find what remains of a roman garrison and to defeat the picts. Unfortunately they get their arses handed to them and the remaining few have to flee or die.
A survival movie in many regards, strong cast and violent. Michael Fassbender brings a good performance and there's some beautiful scenery of Scotland as well.

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Decemberdike
 

December 16th

I initially watched Pool Party Massacre (2018), a fun film but as it went on i quickly came to realise it was a comedy with gore rather than a horror film of any sort. So whilst entertaining it didn't deliver on the Decemberdike scale.

On to an unseen classic i thought.

Mark of the Vampire (1936)

What the hell was this? Tod Browning's film sets itself up as a typical Universal graveyards and vampires chiller, (Except it was made by MGM) it's script apparently following the lost film London after Midnight.

Bela Lugosi creates his Dracula image and Carol Borland becomes his vampire bride. However very quickly the film turns into a 'whodunnit' with a preposterous premise without any supernatural thrills at all.

Even by 1935 standards this film came across as dated. Universal with Dracula and Frankenstein frightened audiences and made them believe they were real, but Mark of the Vampire seems to come from the period prior to those films where monster were frauds, and it's twist ending was both disappointing and a film killer making it seem as if the preceding reels were a parody more than anything else.

I really need to watch this again with the Kim Newman / Stephen Jones commentary.

Man From Deep River.

John bradley(Ivan rassimov) is on holiday in thailand and accidently kills a chap in a bar who pulls a knife on him. so afterwards he buggers off down the river with his guide and ends up getting netted by a tribe of savages who think he is a fishman because he is wearing a wet suit with flippers. after a bit of torture and being a slave he eventually starts to get accepted by the tribe and falls for the chiefs foxy daughter Maraya( Me Me Lai).

The film that started the cannibal trend, although there is actually very little cannibalism at all in this movie apart from the main scene were a woman gets raped by a cannibal tribe and eaten afterwards. :scared: and is in fact more of a mix of adventure and romance with elements of A Man Called Horse as well.

Umberto lenzi does a superb job as well, with a great story and colourful locations and is a brilliant director who's films always keep you entertained.

Acting is also very good too with Ivan Rassimov who gives one of the best performances of his career despite the blond dye job :lol: and Me Me Lai who has great chemistry with him. Just a shame that their romance in the film is sadly cut short after Ivan pisses off the local witch doctor.

definitely one of my favourite romps in the jungle, even if it still does have a lot of the unnessasary animal cruelty including cock fighting, snake and mongoose, crocodile and goat throat slitting. 88 out of 100.

Been getting into some old 'classics' recently. Nothing better than a creeky, vintage black and white horror to warm up those cold nights...

Recently I've seen;

- The Devil Bat - Mad Scientist, Bela Lugosi invents an aftershave...with a twist. Wear it at your own risk as a giant killer bat will come for you. Great fun!

- The Giant Claw - Brilliant monster movie, about a giant alien buzzard - the size of a battleship! - reaping havoc on the world. Great fun - love the crazy effects in this one. Ridiculous science mumbo-jumbo language in here.

- Frankenstein Meets The Spacemonster - Mad Scientist's creation, Frankenstein takes on a creature from outer space. Nuts! Bonus points for a young James 'Return-Of-The-Living-Dead' Karen.

- Invasion Of The Saucer Men - Iconic 50's aliens VS a bunch of teens. I just love the way they spoke back then, all the 50's teen slang. Good stuff (though not as fun as the above films)

- Glen Or Glenda - My fave Ed Wood film. Great fun 'documentary' about someone who is definitely NOT a homosexual...

- The Manster - Mad Scientist injects a guy with a strange serum, transforming him into a Jekyll/Hyde esque monster. Army Of Darkness pays tribute to the eye on the shoulder scene and the two heads...

Eaten alive.

Sheila(the lovely Janet agren from city of The Living Dead) is searching for her missing sister, and discovers that she has been brainwashed by a religious nutjob called Jonas( old favourite Ivan Rassimov) and is living in the jungle. and pays a ex veitnam vet to help her.

Out of director Umberto lenzi's cannibal films i have to say that i found this one his weakest. it's not that it's a terrible film as it is a lot of fun and entertaining. The problem i have with it is that loads of footage in it is recycled from his previous better film Man from Deep River and other cannibal films as well. and this is a shame because it has a lot of interesting ideas and a good story.
nevertheless there's still a fair bit of gore and nudity that hasen't been recycled including miss Agren getting painted gold and defiled by Ivan Rassimov with a large dildo covered in snake blood :scared:. a woman raped doggy style and eaten by the cannibals with a hilarious scene of them devouring her plastic leg :lol:. and not to mention the return of Me Me Lai in a lesser role were she gets to constantly walk around topless with rather unaturally looking perky boobs and having a gangbang. :happy:
However, as with almost all of these films it still has loads of the usual animal cruelty as well, but most of that is even recycled too.

Definitely worth a watch though. and with a great score that lenzi also used in his most famous cannibal classic, Cannibal Ferox. 74 out of 100.

Decemberdike
 

December 17th

Alien: Covenant (2017)

A complete mess of a film from Ridley Scott. It seems he forgot what made Alien so good and decided to opt for a CGI cop out Xenomorph which would have been more suited to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The characters were instantly forgettable. Fassbender merely did his Fassbender thing and Katherine Waterston, supposedly a Ripley for the 2010's, has the screen persona of a bin liner. The rest were so poor i've completely forgotten them not 24 hours later.

Whereas Scott's earlier Prometheus was thoughtful and clever this came over as a mish mash of greatest hits from other better Alien movies. In fact the film is as muddled as it's poster below.

Rubbish.

I was impressed by the continued world building (or universe building) in Alien: Covenant and the Ultra HD release has been on my wish list for quite some time as I feel that would be the best way to watch it and Prometheus, a film I also enjoyed at the cinema seems to improve with every viewing.

There were couple of parts in both films, where they appeared to get a little bogged down in the enormity of the pre-Alien world which Ridley Scott is bringing to the screen, so the plots aren't as tight or (at least on first viewing) coherent as his 1979 tour de force, but the ambition, set pieces and visual grandeur are stunning. I'm a big fan of Michael Fassbender's portrayal of David and Walter because for an actor to be so chillingly restrained is an achievement in itself, but to make those characters so interesting and believable is an astonishing piece of acting.

Whenever the sequel to Alien: Covenant is released, I'll be very disappointed if I don't get to see it at a cinema.

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AQUAMAN

Oh man, I thought this movie was great.
The best of the DC movie universe films so far.
Villain Black Manta looks superb and Ocean Master look like they have come straight out of the comic books.
A lot of underwater CGI of course but looks awesome.
Aquaman and Mera play well off each other and the movie is one big fun ride from start to finish.

Turbulence. Ray Liotta is a serial killer being transported by the FBI via passenger plane when a commotion involving another criminal breaks out, and he gets loose, with the situation rapidly getting out of control... Lauren Holly, Hector Elizondo and Brendan Gleeson co-star in this utterly ludicrous late 90s thriller/disaster flick that I do not recall ever having seen before. This film is so dumb, and Ray Liotta's performance so OTT (to the point it's impossible not to think he was just actually actively taking the piss), yet with its Christmas and late 90s nostalgia ambience, I thoroughly enjoyed it in all its glorious silliness. :xmascan::hohoho:

Blood from the Mummys Tomb.

A bunch of archaologists discover the tomb of an evil queen Tera, who is still perfectly preserved minus a hand. and her spirit possesses the newly born daughter of the leader of the expedition professor Fuchs(Andrew Kier). And twenty years later strange things start to happen, involving Egyptian artifacts and with the deaths of the archaologists.

Not a bad effort at all despite there being no actual bandaged mummy on the rampage as usual, although that does make a refreshing change. and who needs a traditional mummy when you have the busty Valerie Leon instead in her fetching night gowns? :xmasbanana:
And apart from the obvious appeal of Miss Leons charms, is it also quite atmospheric with nice sets and music as well eventhough it is a little slow at times. Just a shame that the great Peter cushing had to pull out of the role as the professor due to his wife taking ill at the time. but nevertheless, Andrew Kier still does an okay job.

A solid Hammer film indeed from The Nanny director Seth Holt, who sadly died while making the film. 78 out of 100.

Decemberdike
 

December 18th

Grizzly (1976)

Basically a rip off of Jaws set on land with a Grizzly bear instead of a shark. To be honest this is a lot of fun. Starring western movie stalwarts Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel as Hooper, Quint and Brody.

(I knew these three had been in a film all together prior to this, but for the life of me couldn't remember until i looked up George on IMDB, it was the John Wayne classic Chisum (1970))

So basically that's what you get, decent actors and a killer grizzly roam around some lovely American scenery with several gory bear attacks along the way.

Very enjoyable stuff.

Best F (r) iends Volume 1.

A film featuring Tommy Wiseau. Make your own judgements. The unbearable thought of Vol 2 maketh me queasy. Laugh if you want.



Wheels Of Fire (1985)

An American version of an Italian version of an American film genre. With the de riguer lack of sex and viol-ence that that ensues. PASS.



The House That Jack Built (2018, LVT)


Art must retain the right to shock.

Thought i'd just post this. Ignore the advert, it's nice to see Mac back though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKYABI-dGEA

Best Christmas advert of the year by far, never mind the blatant trailer for Rocket Man that John Lewis tried to pass off as their Christmas ad, this is fantastic :nod:

He's appeared in a video for Redlettermedia and Avgn on YouTube recently as well

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Decemberdike
 

December 19th

The Mad Ghoul (1943)

A fairly run of the mill programmer from Universal about a mad scientist (George Zucco) who discovers a strange vapor that makes people do his bidding in an almost catatonic state.

Zucco plays the scientist with relish as he goes round sadistically cackling, but David Bruce as the mad ghoul of the title is a bit of a let down or should i say his make up is.

Despite being formulaic there are also decent performances from Mummy fave Turhan Bey and Universal scream queen Evelyn Ankers, meaning the film has a better cast than script. That's not to say the film isn't good it is, but when put up against the Universal heavyweights it feels a bit thin.


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December 20th

Bad Samaritan (2018)

A young valet breaks into a man's home and discovers a terrified woman who's chained and gagged. After notifying the police, he soon becomes the target of the home owners wrath as he tries to rescue the victim that he left behind.

A very enjoyable cat and mouse psycho-thriller. David Tennant plays against type as the kidnapper but does it very well in a nice sadistic way and former Misfit Robert Sheehan plays the valet whose life is suddenly turned upside down.

It's a fast moving film and Sheehan makes for an engaging lead but the whole thing is utterly ludicrous. If you were to suddenly stop and think i'm sure the film would fall apart, however if you can disengage your brain as i did then there's a hell of a lot of fun to be had here.

A Christmal Carol. George C Scott stars as Scrooge in this mid 80s adaptation of the famous Dickens story, leading a fine cast that includes David Warner, Susannah York, Michael Gough and Edward Woodward as a particularly vindictive Ghost of Christmas Present. Entertaining enough.