I don't know if was just me, but I forgot that the plot about 'The Rat' wasn't actually the main story plot and was surprised when that bit was solved and there was still like 30 minutes to go lol...

I enjoyed it though.

Wanted to cheer my wife up (as she had sprained her knee) so picked up a Willow blu-ray from the local Cex. I knew she had the novelisation despite not owning the film. I hadn't seen this film for absolutely ages and remembered very little about it. I actually had a blast watching it with her, thought the film was great fun and was very happy to have bought it. :) btw The OOP 20th Century Fox bd looked excellent, that was also a nice surprise.

Man on a Ledge (2012)

An excellent thriller that ratchets up the thrills as it goes on. Any possible flaws in the plot are completely forgotten during the last half hour as the tension becomes almost unbearable.

Great performances from Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, Ed Burns et al.

Brilliant stuff even if the increased detail on the Blu-ray made my legs wobble every time Worthington and the camera peered off the ledge onto the street below.

The Curse of The Crimson Altar (1968)

The legendary Boris Karloff in what was deemed his final film role plays Professor Marsh, an academic in Witchcraft. Marsh along with Robert Manning played by Mark Eden, who is searching for his brother, investigate the possibility that Witchcraft is still being practiced in the sleepy English village of Greymarsh, by descendants of a powerful Witch burned alive at the stake centuries earlier.

Based on H.P. Lovecraft's tale Dreams in the Witch House and made by Tigon Films who at the time were seen as competitors to Hammer in the Gothic stakes however their mere six years as a production company meant they never really achieved that goal despite producing some absolute gems such as The Blood Beast Terror, Witchfinder General (Both 1968), Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972) and the terrific Blood on Satan's Claw in 1971.

Unfortunately for Boris Karloff he was wheelchair bound for the production but still encapsulates each scene he is in with a huge sense of gravitas. Ably supported by an excellent cast - Christopher Lee, Eden, an unusually good Michael Gough and Barbara Steele, and first rate production values especially the eerie occult scenes which are lit with a green hue and involve some genuinely strange characters including a big breasted dominatrix, a goatman and a strong man in a leather thong.

Whilst the film is probably bot top tier British horror it's entertaining enough and i've enjoyed it several times over the years. It also includes one of the best lines of dialogue from the period in which Mark Eden's Robert Manning is talking to Eve Morley (Virginia Wetherall) about the house he has just been invited to stay in by JD Morley (Christopher Lee)

Eve Morley - Its like a house from one of those old horror films..
Robert Manning - It's like Boris Karloff is going to pop up at any moment

The Screenbound Blu-ray is stunning in the quality of it's picture. There's real depth and the image is beautifully sharp. One of the best Blu-rays i've seen recently.

Just read DvD Beaver's review of the disc and they say it's 'adequate' in picture quality. WTF were they watching it on? A black and white portable?

The House (2022, Various)

Probably my film of the year then (until I see something more captivating ahem ... )

3 stories, not all set in the same house I hasten to add of the animated nature pleased and charmed the demon greatly (well, you've seen what else I've been watching recently :lol:). A slight case of deja vu with the last story I merely put down over familiarity with tropes :rolleyes::laugh:
A lovely thing. Recommended.

The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb. 1964

Archaeologists and a American investor ship a sarcophagus from Egypt to London, containing the remains of a prince, someone has a amulet that can bring the dead mummy back to life.

This was a interesting take on the Mummy genre from Hammer, from the first half it's more talking than anything, disagreements and killings, then we get the background story of the Prince and then the pace speeds up a bit to the Mummy going on a killing spree. The dark fog of the scenes in London add in the gloomy atmosphere. This may not be the best mummy film in the franchise but certainly not the worst and worth a watch for the set back grounds, great cinematography, surely though the makers could have gave the main character some more screen time.

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Scum of the Earth! (1963)

HG Lewis exploiter which is said to be the first 'roughie' film about an innocent an naive college girl who is cajoled into doing glamour modeling to earn money in order to stay in college, however she is soon blackmailed by an unscrupulous gang leader who illegally sells nude photos of girls and ends up in deep shit.

Not as scuzzy as you might imagine, it was only 1963, but this is still a sleazy slice of smut. It's Lewis's first film following Blood Feast and whilst this is no masterpiece it's so much more compelling than Blood Feast. Some of the acting isn't great, however the black and white photography gives it an air of cheap degradation and i was always invested in the story and was desperate to find out how she'd escape her captors. As a study of underground female exploitation this was pretty good.

Anyone thinking this might be a gore fest be warned. It isn't. Not in the slightest.

Werewolves Within (2021, Josh Ruben)

Undemanding horror comedy.
When a disparate group have to band together after nature turns sour, the weather is the least of their problems :nod:
Yes, I could disparage the woke element and what not, but sue me I laughed at most of it and that's all I ask tbh. This is not in anyway a recommendation. :nod:

Mr. Sardonicus. 1961.

A cruel Baron sends for a brilliant doctor to travel from London to Gorslava and help restore his face that is frozen with a grin.

After being recommended this film and Mr Dem's review, this did peak my interest and curiosity from the mind of William Castle who gave a decent introduction in a fog clagged surrounding of London sets the tone of the film nicely.

Aside from having a beauty contest in the basement and the "Punishment Poll" these were the only downfall to this film for me. From when me meet Sir Robert Cargave played by Ronald Lewis performing his method of muscle relaxing and stimulating to receiving a mysterious letter from a recluse Baron Sardonicus played by Guy Rolfe, who wants his face restored. It's more half way through we get the back story of Sardonicus and what he keeps in a locked room that makes it more suspenseful. The dark gloomy atmosphere is done perfectly, set in a Gothic style house in the middle of nowhere. This was highly entertaining and best watched in a low dim or no lights on.

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Terror (1978)

An oddity from Norman J Warren inspired by Dario Argento's Suspiria, Terror doesn't appear to have much in the way of plot and plays out like a string of murder set pieces some perhaps loosely connected to a three hundred year old witch named Mad Dolly.

Terror was a proper independent film, made on the cheap from the profits of Warren's previous success Satan's Slave and various people pitched in with ideas for scenes and set pieces to which writer David McGillivray produced a script, so it's easy to see why the film lacks narrative drive. Despite this the finale is surprisingly effective and quite the shock on first viewing.

However what it lacks in storytelling it makes up for in exploitative gory close up killings as well as the totally bizarre sight of a police car levitating in tree tops. With Warren widely acknowledging the influence of Suspiria on the film in general, it would be interesting to know if Dario Argento saw this film because the death of Phillip (James Aubrey) by a falling sheet of glass is mirrored in Argento's 1980 film Inferno, the follow up to Suspiria.

So whilst it lacks cohesion at times, Terror is still a fun piece of British exploitation trash cinema which topped the UK box office for a single week in 1978. It's also a film i watch on a regular basis.

The Indicator Blu-ray gives the film a new lease of life with it's vibrant picture quality.

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LEVIATHAN (1989)

An underwater mining crew battle the effects of genetic mutation after two of the crew drink what they think is vodka from a sunken Russian ship..

A mish-mash of ideas from movies such as ALIEN and THE THING.
Stan Winston's practical effects look good and we really only get glimses of the mutation creature with the crew it's absorbed.
I saw this at the Odeon Marble Arch London on release and it was at the same time as other underwater movies such as THE ABYSS and DEEPSTAR SIX were also doing the rounds.

This is one of those films that is a guilty pleasure for me and a laugh when Meg Foster gets a happy knuckle sandwhich at the end. Hands Down though The Abyss will always be top of the list for the best 80s underwater Sci-Fi film.

Wolf. 1994.

Publisher and chief editor Will Randall faces lossing his position to young protege Stewart Swinton. When he is bit by a wolf, his senses are heightened up and becomes more competitive and tries to get help from becoming the creature that bit him.

This is a new take on the "werewolf" genre, like the Lon Chaney film he doesn't want to be a werewolf yet Will played brilliantly by Jack Nicholson also doesn't want to have the instincts yet welcomes the senses and the job competitive side and the ideas that he didn't have before to save his job, like every animal there is always a pack leader.

Michelle Pfeiffer plays the young love interest Laura, who's father Raymond is taking over the publication company that Will works for and both have a strained father/daughter relationship and sees potential in James Spader's character Stewart. When bitten Stewart embraces the wolf side to him and shows how much a person can try to be dominant and competitive as a pack leader.

Rick Baker returns to another wolf film unlike An American Werewolf In London, Director Mike Nichols shows the change from human to wolf slowly and less painful. This isn't a full blown horror movie, it has got a killing of a deer it also has drama, suspense mixed in. After not seeing this since the VHS era, I kinda forgot David Hyde Pierce, Prunella Scales, Richard Jenkins and Om Puri made a appearance. The Indicator Blu-Ray release was well worth buying for picture and sound quality is a lot sharper than remembered.

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Doctor Dracula (1974/1978/1981?, Al Adamson, Paul Aratow)

Started life as Lucifer's Women apparently.
John Carradine heads a cult and need I say more? :lol:
A dour wee thing tbh. A chap seems to believe he is the reincarnation of Svengali so naturally hooks up with a girl called Trilby :nod:
Quite domestic in places, this reminded me a lot of Nurse Sherri, but don't ask me why, similar vibe possibly.

The Brigand of Kandahar (1965)

In India in the 1850's a mixed-race Bengal Lancer officer played by Ronald Lewis is framed and accused of cowardice . After being discharged, he joins desert bandit Eli Khan as played by Oliver Reed and fights against the British. However neither Lewis nor Reed see the trouble ahead from Khan's sister (Yvonne Romain)

A hugely enjoyable historical swashbuckler from Hammer Films with as much care and attention on the relationships between Lewis, Reed, Romain and Duncan Lamont's British Colonel as there is on the swashbuckling. This allows for a gripping story of betrayal to play out before we get to the final battle between the Indian rebels and the British forces with seemingly a cast of thousands and is superbly done especially as the film makers never once left Hertfordshire.

Part of Indicator's Death and Deceit box set. Goes without saying this looks loads better than my Optimum dvd.

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QUO VADIS (1951) BEN HUR (1959)

This time last year, all hell was breaking loose with me as buying and selling a property nearly gave me a breakdown.
Some of my usual Easter movies had to be shelved as were in boxes and with all what was going on, there was no time to relax.
So, this time I am hopefully back on track.
Two biblical epics.
My Mum and Dad went to see both these movies at the cinema. Mum said they had to book up and go to London to see them.
Fantastic! I would love to see these on the big screen. Imagine BEN HUR in it's super wide ratio and Miklos Rozsa's terrific score.
Great stuff!

CENSOR – The real horror in ‘Censor’ is early eighties UK, reconfigured here as a Sov-Bloc nightmare of whispering corridors and smoke-filled committee rooms. The film worked more for me on this level, with its images of a hallucinogenically dreary Thatcher’s Britain, than it did with its blurry mystery plotline; nor was I quite sure how to take ‘Censor’ when it shifted gear into ‘swept away by the madness of a fractured psyche’ mode, as signalled by a lol gore moment involving spearing via trophy, then a full-on lapse into Bava lighting. But there’s a lot going on in this beguiling debut, and I can’t wait to see more from the director. Pleased to note that Nathan Barley’s still in the biz.

DELIRIUM – A traumatised guy’s going around murdering folks; a bald guy in sinister shades is the leader of a back-room cabal. Two seventies movie cops do what seventies movie cops do. I must admit that I owe ‘Delirium’ a second viewing as I was completely plastered when I saw it the other day; a case of “yee-ha, got the whole week off and a box of blu-rays just in through my door.” Never seem to learn that that’s a bad idea if you want to watch a film that sucks AND remember that it sucks. Anyway, ‘Delirium’, I get the impression that I twiddled my thumbs a little when those seventies movie cops hogged the screen with their incessant talk, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

THE AMERICAN SCREAM – Ooh, where do I even begin? If I had to watch only one movie this year, it would be ‘The American Scream’. It’s just one of those. It’s probably a Frankie-specific thing, so don’t hit me with your “but it’s just a shit David Lynch rip-off” protestations. ‘David Lynch’, as always, is the lazy person’s go-to weird film comparator, but it’s apt in this case as 1) AS is a LITTLE like ‘Twin Peaks’ and 2) you’ll feel your mind went to sleep whilst you were watching and dreamed something your eyes could not possibly have seen. ‘The American Scream’ is essentially a pile-up of the strange non-sequitur events that follow when a cheesy US family go on vacation to a snowy boondocks town – out-in-the-sticks slasher tropes are involved, but so is the madness of a dancehall scene in which people just basically bump into each other in slow motion for ten minutes. Entertained? I was reborn!

Is this out on disc or just streaming?

VS put it out a couple of months ago; dunno about streaming. Uh, it's very 'marmite', I would definitely try for some kind of preview before shelling out if you were interested in acquiring. Just happens to be my kind of thing.

Sorry, not VS - Culture Shock is the label.

Thanks. I'm off importing at the moment. There's too much UK stuff i want to get and not enough cash to go round.

Know what you mean. Got it as part of my last import splurge - my next is due in six months! At least I have a pile of energy-rich shite DVDs I can use as a fuel alternative if my bills are hiked again in the meantime.

Breakheart Pass (1975)

Charles Bronson's at his best here in this classic yarn based on the best selling Alistair Maclean novel.

A fast paced, action packed, mystery western set in frontier era Rocky Mountain territory. Bronson is on a train where one by one the passengers are murdered, but for what reason? Naturally Bronson is the number one suspect but it quickly becomes clear he's probably the only innocent man on the train as the passage through Indian country becomes a fight for survival.

Richard Crenna, Ben Johnson and Jill Ireland head the cast alongside Bronson in this classy snowbound western adventure that for the most part is as much a slasher film as it is western adventure.

The Eureka Blu-ray is definitely a step up from the dvd i used to own. Going to have a look at the Kim Newman 25 minute interview* in a while before completing my Ben Johnson / train slasher film double bill with Terror Train which arrived today.

*Probably not really an interview. I expect he simply talks solidly for 25 minutes.

World War Z (2013)

Once you get over the fact that this is a largely gore free zombie film, Marc Forster's movie is actually very good. Brad Pitt stars as a former UN something or other forced to the far corners of the world (Well, South Korea, Jerusalem and Cardiff) in an attempt to find the cause of what appears to be a zombie pandemic that's changing the worlds population into swarms of the undead.

What it lacks in blood and guts it makes up for in thrills and spills with some brilliantly tension packed sequences not to mention the scale of the film which is epic, especially masses of the undead scaling the walled city of Jerusalem like hordes of ants.

As far as zombie films go it's kinda light weight but never the less some of it is genuinely jaw dropping in it's execution.

Finally, it always cracks me up that Peter Capaldi's doctor is credited as W.H.O. Doctor in the end titles.

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THE ASTOUNDING SHE MONSTER (1958)

A spacecraft lands in a remote area near a cabin where a group of crooks are holding an heiress hostage. A strange female figure is seen around the cabin and her touch can kill..
AIP movie that went out on a double bill with VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT.
Low budget but I always enjoy this movie. No way was the movie ever going to be like the excellent poster. What we have is a woman in a skintight body suit and a shimmer effect over her. After the She Monster lays seige the cabin, the final moments are quite sad as there is a twist to the story.

Terror Train (1980)

I have a weird relationship with Terror Train. I don't actually think it's all that great, in fact for a slasher film the bloodletting is minimal, even worse, annoying high schoolers are at a maximum. Despite all the flaws it's a film i can't help returning to and the 88 Films Blu-ray is my latest ticket on the terror train.

It hardly goes at a blistering pace, in fact for seventy minutes the train pretty much trundles along the track with only Oscar winner Ben Johnson offering anything in the way of decent acting although second billed Jamie Lee Curtis is okay. Even the killer isn't a mystery thanks to a pre-title sequence that gives the game away within five minutes as to who will be killing pissed up teens (and magician David Copperfield) on this party train of terror.

However the last twenty minutes are a vast improvement as the killer hunts down Ms. Curtis in the now empty railway carriages and finally director Roger Spottiswoode gives us some atmospheric thrills and spills.

Yeah, these last moments of the movie sort of make it all worth while.

Son Of Frankenstein (1939, Rowland V. Lee)


Easily the best looking of all the sequels imho. the Expressionism is strong with this one etc.
What's a boy to do? You've inherited a castle (and a few ... other things) and life couldn't be betterer .... surely?
Lugosi just captivates as Ygor, alternately pathetic and menacing, Atwill as stiff as a board and Karloff's last turn as the creature is laced with pathos because of this imho.
Not seen this? Recommended. Annual viewing. :nod:

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

Found this on Amazon prime see it had Donald Pleasance in thought I would give it a go, here he plays a bonkers scientist who experiments on people trying to make a human / plant hybrid because he loves plants so much he has a hard on for them , he is assisted in his evil deeds by a deformed man from a freaks circus who is played by the one and only Tom Baker which is quite appropriate as it feels like 70s Dr who at times the monster does seem it's out of Dr who but is still very interesting looking. Not the greatest but enjoyable in a strange way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2FgCNpq7II

Steve Martin plays a lawyer who is possessed by the spirit of he's greedy and self centered client who just happens to be a woman , as time goes on the two begin to bound and she starts to get the life she never experienced as she was ill all her life, being betrayed the set out to find her a body too live in. While not Martin's best and lot of the jokes fall flat it's not a bad way too spend 90 minutes.


Now watching which will be by first viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSlh4dcPSAo

SHOCK – I was very pleased to see the recent upgrade. For me it’s one of Bava’s finest, despite the countervailing view of people who really know what they’re talking about. Bought it on crud VHS way back along with Fulci’s ‘The Beyond’; something took root around then, so me an ‘Shock’ we’ve got ‘istry, bruv. Even if you consider it a little flat compared to Mario’s more full-on goth outings, how can you not be creeped out by that big porcelain hand? Put me off shrooms for life. Elsewhere, Nicolodi’s eerie underwater Medusa bit is the peak of an endless parade of otherworldly moments. It all comes together under the roof of Arrow’s super-duper newish blu-ray.

AMITYVILLE 1992: IT’S ABOUT TIME – In fact it’s about a dark clock that f*cks with reality, but equally it’s about an impressively gammy leg, a smattering of tasty vintage fx moments, a plot to do with sinister architecture that was either too complicated for me to understand or one that I made up due to being half cut, and various other instances of heart-warming early ninetiesisms (by which I mean, stuff that looks like it’s seeped over from a music video). I enjoyed it, anyway. In fact, I have a weird hankering to watch it again. Director Tony Randell’s oeuvre speaks for itself – ‘Hellraiser 2’, ‘Ticks’. To me, that says “dumb fun with icky latex”, which is really all I ask for if I’m in a forgiving mood.

CURFEW – An old VHS era home invasion flick, ‘Curfew’ is derivative and slight but offers period charm, as long as you’re charmed by the late eighties. It’s a film that arguably pulls its punches – there’s nothing to disturb in the way of, say, even more dated fare such as ‘House on the Edge of the Park’ – but something about its unfussy approach hooked me in a little. It’s sometimes hard to say what makes a film click – it can be a theme, an idea or an emotion, but as often it’s something much less abstract but equally mysterious, like the lighting, the camerawork, the look and feel of grain, even the way the rooms are decorated. Anyway, a solid B-movie that I happened to quite like.

The Coming of Sin (1978)

Disappointing effort from director José Ramón Larraz that's nothing more than a softcore sex romp in the style of Walerian Borowczyk with it's languid pace and very soft focus photography whilst any weirdness lacked Borowczyk's trademark filth.

Although one or two sequences were mildly erotic, thinking of the light bondage scene here, on the whole it was a bit of a slog. Tinto Brass is so much more skilled at this kind of stuff.

A welcome return good sir!! I too wait eagerly for the long promised sequel .....

Two musical efforts ... well ....

What We Do Is Secret (2007, Rodger Crossman)

Never in my life would I have ever thought I would one day sit and watch a Darby Crash biopic. Niche or what??
Some young miscreants band together with a song in their hearts, and a needle in their arm :lol: ahem.
As with most of these things, it's a bit ... tarted up ahem. Pat Smear did at least oversee the score, so it sounds mostly faithful, if a bit polished in places ahem.
For the uninitiated, this is the story of the singer with The Germs, an infamously ramshackle LA punk band. They were featured in the first Decline And Fall Of Western Civillisation film if that helps. The film doesn't paint over Crash's abrasiveness, so there is that.



Daydream Believers (2000, Neill Fearnley)

TVM biopic of ... go on, guess :lol:
On a par with Summer Dreams ( a Beach Boys laugh riot) imho. Meet the guys as they travail fame and misfortune whilst trying to remember their dignity along the way. Hilarious in its earnestness. I may watch Head later tbh ....

Yep a prime example of a cover being misleading.

I'm sure the 'Violation of the Bitch' version was put out in Italy with hardcore inserts.....
And of course,Hokushin put that classic cover out on VHS back in the day...

Watched SCREAM '22 last night-a worthy addition to the franchise,although if like me,you've seen the other films umpteen times,you won't have too much difficulty figuring out who the culprits are.....

Highly enjoyable,and a fitting tribute to Wes.

I cunningly reversed my Arrow cover to showcase the Bitch artwork. Best thing about the film - the poster. Although that scene actually does happen in the film. It's just not quite as lurid as the poster makes out. :lol:

Yeah it does,but that cover makes you think you're in for a Ms.45/I Spit On Your Grave type movie....

I watched BULLITT on BD yesterday,Jesus does this film need a new scan/transfer.

On a 4k player it looked terrible no matter how much ****ing about with settings....

Scrubbers. 1982.

Took a break from watching Death In Paradise and stuck this on, Half the actresses in this I don't even know or recognize except solvent sniffer Kathy Burke. Some people say it's on the same wave length as Scum, yeah there is the one woman who tries to be the "tough One". There is violence that is tame now but probably a bit upsetting back in the day and a graphic scene of a suicide. Were the makers trying to do a English version of Woman In Prison that didn't pan out the way they thought, Enjoyable enough to keep me quiet.

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