in The Eye of The Labrinth.

julie(Rosemary dexter) has a nightmare about her boyfriend luca( Horst Frank, the blond gay chap out of Cat O Nine Tails) being murdered. and afterwards she finds that he has disappeared. which leads her to an island of oddballs including Suspiria's Alida Valli.

This wasn't a bad little giallo, even if it is a bit slow and rather bloodless apart from a couple of stabbings. more of a slow burning mystery with sunny locations.
Actress Rosemary Dexter gives a good performance too and is rather cute. and also look out for a young Sybil danning as well.

A solid if unremarkable giallo, with a nice twist ending. 78 out of 100.

Death by Engagement (2005)

A digitally shot slasher where all the slashing is off camera. A total waste of time.

Youth (2015)

A dream like film where former composer Michael Caine and former film director Harvey Keitel, stay at a luxurious spa resort in the Swiss Alps.

It's all very surreal stuff and feels disconnected from reality as we almost invade the tranquil yet weirdly f*cked up lives of Keitel, Caine, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano as a Depp like film star whose career has gone off the rails, Jane Fonda, Miss Universe and perhaps most disturbingly of all an extremely overweight former Argentine footballer.

Yet among the beauty (a nude Miss Universe in the pool) and gorgeous photography (the Venice sequences are amazing) there's an air of pretentiousness throughout and that it's all very self indulgent. It's a fascinating watch but not one i'm sure i'd ever wish to go back to.

This week's viewings:

Wait Until Dark (1967)

A chilling, well-scripted tale of deception and cat and mouse. Great performances all around and one I really enjoyed revisiting.

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84/100


Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983)

Slow, low budget silliness for sure with a spot of bad weather and one felled tree preventing all involved to feel 'hopelessly' trapped in the grimy motel, however it does have its scuzzy charms ranging from a psychotic sickle-wielding senior citizen to multiple vermin related attacks and the sinister tunnel network below the motel.

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46/100


Shaft (1971)

The one that started it all in terms of Blaxploitation crime capers of the '70s, and despite being the sphere of influence, this one does seem a little tame on a re-watch. I can no doubt blame the glut of exploitative fodder that came in its wake for my apparent desensitization. Still solid overall though, with a great central performance by Richard Roundtree.

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68/100


Jamaica Inn (1939)

Despite missing some of Hitchcock's trademark flair (his last British film before heading off to the States and it was established that he was not in full control of the finished product here), it does have some wind-swept suspense among the melodrama and muddle and those ship-wreck scenes are genuinely well shot.

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65/100


On Dangerous Ground (1951)

Whilst pendulum-ing between noir and melodrama throughout, there is something distinctive about this one that makes it rather memorable. The film begins in the trademark wind and rain swept streets of the big city, but then the story shifts to a country setting and a man-hunt to the finale. Some great characterisation and dialogue here, and whilst not top-tier Noir (at least to me), I'd be hard pushed not to recommend this one.

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68/100


One Dark Night (1983)

I went into this one with knowledge that it is a slow-burn and perhaps even quite boring. However, I actually ended up really enjoying it overall. Sure, it is slow, but a lean running time and a few key scenes throughout the first portion did help to pull me in and keep me engaged. The climax in the mausoleum is superb and there are some nice practical effects work at play (albeit a lot being camera based). Whilst I was expecting a trudge through boredom, I think my initial thoughts going in to this actually helped me enjoy it more than perhaps if I'd heard nothing about it going in.

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59/100


The Glass Key (1942)

Apparently an influence on the Coen's Miller's Crossing, this Noir-thriller is a mix of crooked politics, gambling, murder and the press. Alan Ladd steals the show throughout and is a treat to watch on screen. My main criticism with this one is that the finale is a little rushed and there is no real sense that any consequences have been bourne as in most Noir. Still, a good watch overall.

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67/100


Klown (2010)

Dark, Danish comedy about a man who tries to prove he is good father material to his pregnant girlfriend by kidnapping his young nephew and taking him on a debauched canoe trip he has planned with his friend. The film is based on a Curb Your Enthusiasm style show in Denmark and comes across in the off-the-cuff style in terms of dialogue at times. Overall, pretty well-paced with some great dialogue exchanges. It's fun and lewd, if not quite as dark as my usual brand of comedy. Difficult to recommend as comedy is a very subjective thing.

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69/100


eXistenZ (1999)

A bit cheesier than I remember, however David Cronenberg's tale of bio-ported virtual reality gaming is still a fun watch despite feeling like a Videodrome-lite at times. Still, it imbibes Cronenberg's artistic and visual flair at its core and still remains to be a stand-out film of the late '90s.

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63/100


Bird Box (2018)

If you turn your brain down a bit and overlook some of its flaws and to an extent some of the cookie-cutter characters, it's quite an enjoyable and at times tense tale of post-apocalyptic despair with some grisly deaths peppered throughout. Quite good in as much as it keeps it open to interpretation as to what the 'creatures' / 'force' actually is too in many ways - nice to see that there is still an opinion at work that not all mainstream horror audiences need to be spoon-fed every minute detail.

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62/100

The French Connection. Gene Hackman is a tough New York cop who uncovers an international drug smuggling ring in this gritty early 70s cop thriller co-starring Roy Scheider. This was very similar to the rather less famous The Seven-Ups, lots of 70s grit, well made and acted, with one standout action/chase scene midway through, but I didn't think it was anything particularly amazing to tell you the truth.

Hell's Angels (1930)

Howard Hughes 1930 Great War epic comes across as more an aviation vanity project than a cohesive film. Taking years to complete as it was originally a silent film and in it's use of real aerial action sequences (Hughes directed these himself from a plane and ended up fracturing his skull in a crash - filming also claimed the lives of three pilots), Hughes brought in James Whale to direct talking scenes and changed his lead actress to an 18 year old Jean Harlow as she had a more suitable voice for cinema goers.

The lengthy scenes of aerial action are magnificent, especially a bombing of a German supply depot which clearly was done for real and bi-plane combat with a Zeppelin over London.

However the acting sequences are less impressive, for the most part it feels like a silent film and expression and movement from the actors are unsubtle to say the least. The two leading men James Hall and especially Ben Lyon come across as stilted in the extreme. Whilst Harlow gets by on slutty sexiness alone (We are talking pre Hays code here). It should be noted that this film features the only colour footage of Jean Harlow in cinema history.

Hell's Angels is a film that should be seen by film lovers and it should also be admired, whether you love it is all down to personal opinion.

The French Connection took me a few times. I fell asleep the first two or three viewings. But when it finally clicked it really did, I loved it.

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I enjoyed both French connection films , slow burners but good .

Very strange how few min after mentioning French connection films i find this article on a film released 5 yr ago called the connection , the real story behind the French connection films.

https://www.shortlist.com/entertainm...ue-story/94769

First few paragraphs




The Incredible True Story Behind The Real French Connection


As the true, bloody tale of gangland Marseille hits cinemas, ShortList’s Alex Christian visits the French Riviera to meet the real-life players behind mob drama The Connection

"Before, it was a story of men like my father, who would keep Marseille safe and uphold the law. Now there’s none of that and the crime has gone up.” Céline Zampa’s father wasn’t a lawman. Gaëtan ‘Tany’ Zampa was the Godfather of Marseille, a key figure in La French – the criminal enterprise known by its English name: the French Connection. I’m speaking to the daughter of one of France’s most notorious gangsters in Marseille’s Le Panier district, a neighbourhood of narrow cobblestone footpaths and terraced housing, which is bristling with energy. Céline, 39, was barely a schoolgirl when her father was arrested in the fallout of the murder of Judge Pierre Michel, who spearheaded President Nixon’s war on drugs on its Mediterranean frontline.

Marseille was the world’s heroin capital in the Sixties. A postwar influx of Neapolitans and Corsicans led to a rise in organised crime and links to the Italian Mafia. From there, a conspiracy to smuggle billions of dollars of heroin into the United States developed, with Marseille providing a natural shipping point. Opium farmers in Turkey would sell their wares to the mob, extracting the heroin in labs dotted around the city, and the drug would be smuggled out of the port to the thriving US

The Atticus Institute (2015)

The story of a 1970's psychology lab in Pennsylvania where a case of demonic possession took place.

Fake movie in the style of a documentary complete with actors talking heads and observation footage.

This really wasn't for me, i found it an utterly pointless exercise.

This is the first film i've actually not given a star to on Letterboxd.

I was curious about this one but I might just leave it after all!

The Last Man on Earth.

Dr Robert morgan(Vincent Price) is one of the last surviors of a deadly plague that has wiped out the human race and causes them to return as vampires. and by night he is holed up in his house under siege from the creatures and by day he seeks them out staking them and burning their bodies.

A very underrated film indeed from the great Mr Vincent Price with a very impressive performance from the brilliant actor. a rather grim and eerie film but extremely gripping throughout.
reminded me a bit of the george Romero's films, and maybe he was influenced by this. 79 out of 100.

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TARGET EARTH (1954)

Robots from Venus are invading.
A handful of people left behind in a city after an evacuation, hole up together in a hotel. Trouble comes calling when a convict comes to the hotel.
All the while, robots patrol outside..

Low budget sci-fi. Unfortunately, an even lower budget looking robot causes trouble for those in hiding. Still, good fun and enjoyable.

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Death Kiss

And this is where we are now. A Stars In Their Eyes version of a Cannon film :lol:.
A lone vigilante cleans up the streets in a non non judgemental fashion ;). Fun if you squint a lot ....

The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957.

After being exposed to radiation and insecticide Scott Carey begins to shrink at a incredible rate and medical science try to find a cure.

Based from the novel by the same name, both book and movie were good, the effects back then were good but now they may seem laughable. Grant Williams plays Scott who does't understand whats happening until its too late and narrates his thoughts as he is left to defend for himself in the basement of his house. Along side The Fly, and Invasion of the body snatchers this is one of the best SCI-FI movies that can make you feel sympathy for the main actor aswell as cheering him on with a battle between man and insect, 9 out of 10.

The house With The Laughing Windows.

in a small italian town a chap called Stefano(Lino capplicchio from bloodstained Shadow, who i,m pretty sure was called Stefano in that as well) is a artist who has been hired to restore a old painting in a church of a tortured saint painted by an artist who was a madman. and discovers that something sinister is going on.

I have to say that this is a very slow moving film indeed but more than makes up for it with the weird and creepy atmospheres. by giallo standards it is pretty bloodless too apart from a couple of stabbing scenes although they are pretty strong.
overall, this is a very solid effort that keeps you intrigued throughout, and with a good twist in the tale as well.
so i award a respectable 79 out of 100 for this unusual giallo from Pupi Avati.

This is based on I am Legend by Richard Matherson and is my favourite version of the story on film, also i think i read that George was influenced by the book while making "Night of the living dead". :nod:

Apostle 2018

A man travels to a remote island where his sister is being held for ransom by a religious cult, he slowly unravels their secrets as he plots to escape.

This was a good chiller movie, with some good acting, scenery and gore, The film starts of good as a father reading about his daughter and his son turns up and goes on the search. The films pace goes well and does't get boring just keeps you entertained. Michael Sheen Plays one of the finding fathers of the remote island cult and gives out his way of punishment to rule breakers, this is worth a watch and best viewed in the dark. 8 out of 10.

House of Wax (2005)

One of the best of the 00's remakes of classic horror films, in this case 1933's Mystery of the Wax Museum.

It is however far too long and half an hour should have been shaved from it's running time because the opening 45 minutes are for want of a better word, boring.

When the film get's going it's a terrific slasher film with some genuinely gruesome splatter fx, - in fact Paris Hilton's demise is one of the best in slasher movie history - and an original fiery finale where it becomes apparent that it really is a house of wax.

Replicas

The new Splice. Keanu yet again emotes like a petulant child who has just been told his favourite show was cancelled (see also Knock Knock ;)). Science fiction with a teeny whiff of the Black Mirror (and indie ting Andover]) .... this is a stoopid movie disguised as a thriller. Look ... amoral scientist is a trope that goes back to the start of it, so there is nowt new (except the sheen of CGI) here. Plenty of laughs though, as of course morality and Hollywood are estranged somewhat :laugh:.

The Abominable Snowman (1957)

Botanist Peter Cushing decides to join the exploration team of crass American Forrest Tucker on a dangerous expedition into the depths of the Himalayas to attempt to find the legendary Yeti.

Coming hot on the heels of The Curse of Frankenstein, The Abominable Snowman is something of a triumph. Based on a Nigel Kneale play (Kneale's Quatermass films had done great business for the company earlier in the decade), this subtle psychological horror is as much about the interplay of Cushing and Tucker, two men with vastly opposing views as it is the horror of the Yeti. Tucker's wish to capture the creature and put it on show and exploit it whilst Cushing, ever the nice guy, thinks research is more important.

As it turns out the creature is more than a match for both of them as it manipulates the men via their thought process with shocking results.

The film, directed by Val Guest, is tense and supremely atmospheric, using eerie claustrophobia to convey it's frightening sense of paranoia that makes you forget the stock footage and occasionally fake looking studio set mountains and grabs you by the short and curlies in one of Hammer's very best films.

The Inheritors (1983)

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To watch the English language trailer from America, you'd be forgiven in thinking that this is an action exploitation movie about neo-nazis. What you get in fact is an Alan Clarke-esque drama about a young boy with a disfunctional family life who is drawn into the camaraderie and fellowship offered by the youth group off-shoot of a local up and coming right wing nationalist party looking to get elected into parliament. He gets the family and friends he can't get at home or school and being young and impressionable (i guess) he gets sucked right in. I don't entirely blame him, his mum is a tyrant and clearly doesn't like him, and none of his school peers have any time for him, even before he was on TV telling everyone he believes that Austria should be rid of all foreign influence.

Overall it's very well made film and generally well acted, until it comes to the fight scenes which are a little bit pantomine and lack any feeling of danger or even violence!

I was looking up the lead actor after I watched the film and I was very saddened to find out he died at age 24 in the Yugoslav war (1991) from a missile strike!

The Bye Bye Man
A group of students get a house, they find a creepy thing and then have a seance, afterwards creepy stuff happens.
Meh, quite bland horror not one I'm gonna watch again. The tagine is apt.
Don't say it, don't think it.

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Anyone with a Netflix subscription and that likes films like John Wick and the sequel should definitely check out Polar starring Magnus Magnusson of Mastermind fame :lol:
Great comic book adaptation with plenty of OTT violence, brilliant film!

Also, watched the Death Wish remake last night (also on Netflix), a lot better than I expected and a film that IMO doesn’t deserve all the hate just because it was directed by Eli Roth and is a remake of the Bronson film, I enjoyed it and will most likely pick it up cheap at some point :nod:

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Robert Downey Jnr is a petty thief who somehow lands a high profile acting audition in Hollywood, only to find Hollywood way more dangerous and twisted than good honest thieving. Val Kilmer and a very hot Michelle Monaghan co-star in this wickedly funny mid-2000s comedy thriller that is an absolute hoot from start to finish. Great fun. :nod:

One Cut of the Dead (2017)

There is a LOT of hype surrounding this Japanese zombie movie, so much so that I almost went into it expecting the worst like every other time a film is ‘the best movie since...’ and doesn’t really deliver.

One Cut starts with a virtuoso one camera, one take 37 minute scene which is the mini story of a film director making a zombie film in an abandoned industrial setting. However, the location he chose has an urban legend which the director uses to his advantage and unleashes the real zombies for some added realism!

After the scene ends we flash back a month into the rehearsals and production of the scene we just saw and I’ll do you all an injustice if I go into further detail so I won’t.

One of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time, definitely check it out, I loved it!!

Warlock Moon (1973)

It's five minutes from the end when something actually happens in Warlock Moon. A film supposedly about the Occult, the supernatural and cannibalism.

A story about a college girl who meets a reporter and they end up at a run down health spa. For the next seventy minutes nothing happens bar some wandering around the spa and sitting round a table with an old woman a couple of times.

Although quite atmospheric at times, especially the eerie exploration of the old spa hotel, my interest waned quite quickly due to the film being so uneventful.

Warlock Moon is a film that makes (hint, hint) Ti West's The House of the Devil (2009) seem like an OTT action, horror extravaganza. If you like very talky films by all means give it a go but if you are hoping for down and dirty seventies exploitation and scuzziness prepare for disappointment.

Damn you, Dem...! :tongue1:

I wouldn't worry, you gave it three stars on Letterboxd so you must have seen something in it.

I'd buy it for the poster art alone :lol:

As I mentioned in my reply to BAKA the other day, I can't recall much about it since my initial watch. Hopefully I don't regret it too much!

Strike Force (Barry Shear)

Low budget NY set 'thriller'. Features a young American Gigolo ;). And Joe Spinell. And that's aboudid youse guys. Can't we get a "shrug" emoticon ??? :laugh:

SS Experiment Camp 1976

Near the end of World War II, female prisoners are used in a experiment with soldiers of the Third Reich.

The Nazi's were prone to do some sick twisted experiments on POWs during WW2 which was horrific, in this exploitation of those I did try my best to not laugh at some of the scenes in this especially a guy that's lost his knackers and running about daft and the operation of so called transplant and the acting wasnt the best, it can be watchable but not over and over again. 4-5 out of 10.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe 2016.

While investigating a family murder a body is found half buried and taken to a coroner's office, the father/son team try to piece together the body.

This is a decent chiller type movie, it doesn't rely on jump scares but more on the psychological side of imagination mixed with claustrophobia with good acting from Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch as the father son team trying to find answers from the dead body. The film goes from a steady pace to fast and back to steady that can seem to be confusing in some bits but worth a watch. 8 out of 10.

Samurai Princess if you've seen Tokyo gore police then you know exactly what to expect , only difference is T G P is recommended this one isn't , I do sometimes wonder what goes on in a person head or they must be on some form of strong medication to come up with such shenanigans as film like this that are ****ed up , mental , bizarre .:nod:

Captain Clegg (1962)

A classic Hammer adventure yarn about smuggling with a great horror element as ghostly skeletal riders haunt Romney Marshes to scare off the curious as Captain Clegg (a brilliant Peter Cushing) and his band of looters go about their nefarious business.

I love this film, it has a beautiful blend of action, superstition, romance and of course good old skull duggery. Yvonne Romain adds beauty to proceedings as Oliver Reed, a square jawed Naval captain Patrick Allen and yes, Michael Ripper, bring the swash and buckle and the ghost riders look terrific.

Although closer to Poldark and Jamaica Inn than it is to Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein, Captain Clegg is still a brilliant slice of Gothic melodrama.

Lethal Vows 1999.

A Doctor is accused by his ex wife of poisoning his second wife and sets out to prove his guilt.

Based on the true story of Richard Overton who was convicted of poisoning both his wives using selenium in a coffee can.
John Ritter plays the respected doctor and family man with a very dark hidden persona, Marg Helgenberger plays the ex wife trying to find her ex husband's guilt but with the mind games being played it becomes very suspenseful and chilling to the end with the doctor's last phone call. Worth a watch if you like true story's.

Night of the Sorcerers (1974)

Director Amando Di Assorio is best known for his excellent Blind Dead films. Although Night of the Sorcerers doesn't really come close to the greatness of those films, it does share some of the ideas conceived by them, most obviously the graphic whipping sequences which had censors the world over biting their knuckles due to the nudity and blood on breast sequences. the sacrificial scenes are quite striking, heads roll down shoots and blood gushes out of the dismembered bodies after them in scenes of almost violent poetry that would thrill the drive-in crowds that Di Assorio was aiming at.

Although set in Africa, the feature was filmed in a Spanish safari park, located near Madrid. Di Assorio makes the film look good, the jungles are lush and the river scenes vast, certainly giving the appearance of the huge African terrains. Di Assorio adds vivid colours to the mix and this combined with the swirling mists and occult storyline gives the film quite a unique and often dream-like style.

That sounds like something I would enjoy a lot. I see there is a Shout Factory Blu-ray double feature of it and The Loreley's Grasp, a film I haven't seen. Having read a bit, it's probably like something which would be well worth a blind buy.

The Loreley's Grasp is one of my top 30 horror films.

I've never seen it! :behindsofa: