Lake Mungo. 2018.

Strange occurrences happen around the Palmer house when Alice Palmer is found drowned in the local dam.

Filmed as a documentary style with a family who's daughter was found dead and seems that her spirit is haunting the family home and appearing in videos and photographs. This is a intentionally slow paced film that slowly uncovers some family secrets that throws in a curve ball and then goes in a different direction. This isn't exactly edge of your seat mystery but certainly passed the time.

Attachment 239931

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiUU2ndjXr8

Sounds good on paper. A mixture of mad scientist movie, horror and spy movie it sounds good on paper but it's so boring and slow. Best thing is the artwork.

Now watching

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaBlXhLLcr4&t=11s

Followed by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdGMj0QBy3k

Wendigo (2001)

Larry Fessenden's film is an excellent mixture of harsh reality and American legend. The film is alive with strong sounds and images of dread as the spirit of the Wendigo comes alive seemingly taking revenge on hillbilly types who slowly terrorize a family vacationing in the snowy woods.

The films cast, including Patricia Clarkson and Jake Weber, give strong performances throughout, in particular Erik Per Sullivan as the child who is given the effigy of the Wendigo. His acting is subtle and realistic, values rarely shown by child actors in low budget horror.

Fessenden directs the film at a languid pace allowing the strong atmosphere to take a hold over the viewer. In fact it's so languid that nothing supernatural remotely happens for the majority of the film but that at least for me gives the ending more power as psychological tendencies give way to the supernatural.

Much like Fessenden's other psychological folklore horror The Last Winter, Wendigo really won't be for all, but i really like it.

Yeah - it’s definitely on my ‘to buy’ list.
Similarly, I think PHANTOM OF THE MONASTERY could be right up your street ( or cemetery ) .

Catacombs (1964)

Superior Hitchcockian chiller from director Gordon Hessler about a man who plots to murder his wife so he can become sole heir to her fortune and seduce her young niece.

This largely forgotten British thriller with supernatural overtones is a little gem. The acting is excellent, especially from Gary Merrill and Georgina Cookson as the husband and wife, although i wasn't that convinced by Jane Merrow as the femme fatale niece.

Whilst the first half introduces characters and gives them motives, the second half ramps up the mystery with the plot taking a turn for the ghostly and the final denouement was something i didn't see coming, even on a second viewing.

Moonshine Mountain (1964)

Dross from Herschell Gordom Lewis about a famous country singer who goes back to his childhood roots in the Carolina hills and ends up in a feud between local moonshiners.

It’s basically Two Thousand Maniacs without the gore and killings, except for the murderous sexually frustrated sheriff that is, and lots of hillbilly sing-a-longs.

Virtually plotless and the sing-a-longs quickly become tedious this is hard going. Not only that but the Blu-ray image and sound quality is, to put it mildly, shit.

Going to the extras on the Arrow disc i followed the glories of Moonshine Mountain with Two Thousand Maniacs remake director Tim Sullivan's doc Two Thousand Maniacs can't be Wrong and then watched the film for the second time in as many days.

Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)

Probably Herschell Gordon Lewis' most successful and mainstream film... however it's still not very good, entertaining certainly but not what you'd call good.

Whilst the gory death set pieces are impressive, the rest of the film less so. Especially the many scenes which require the 'maniacs' to act, most come across terribly amateurish. Jeffrey Allen, who plays the mayor buffoons across the screen like some sort of hysterical idiot.

For the most part the film is watchable with some all round cringe inducing clunkiness as well, however it has a great denouement which might surprise first time viewers.

I must credit Lewis for coming up with the terrific song - Robert E. Lee Broke His Musket On His Knee - and it's insanely catchy chorus 'The South's gonna rise again'. It's so good i always thought it was an actual traditional song of the south.

Horror Express. 1972.

A anthropologist and a rival combine themselves when a prehistoric creature awakens from it's ice cold sleep and starts taken over the passengers on a train.

This is a great film that gives us good acting, and close knit atmosphere and claustrophobia on a old fashioned steam train where nowhere to run or hide is impossible. It does go in a way of horror then turns in the sci-fi direction that makes it feel like it's The Thing, nobody knowing who to trust yet we know who is the carrier but makes it tense not knowing how it will end. Peter Cushing and Christopher lee play the rivals who team up to understand what the creature wants and Telly Savalas plays the Cossack. Even though he is on screen for a short time he still gives out a great performance, plenty of British humour that still gives us a laugh.

Attachment 239962

Operation Mincemeat

True Story based on a plan to deceive The Nazi's with a fake drowning. Similar in vain to Imitation Game, this is quite entertaining with a couple of humorous moments.

Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent

Nicolas Cage plays Nicolas Cage who is hired to go to a Millionaire's Birthday Party but is caught up in a Kidnapping. To tell you the truth, I thought the joke wore pretty thin really early on. A somewhat good idea gone to waste.

Lost City

Sandra Bullock is a Writer who is abducted by (An amusing) petulant Daniel Radcliff and his tasked with finding a Lost City. Channing Tatum and Brad Pitt co-star. Radcliff is the star of this Film which was a bit of a disappointment. Should have been a lot better.

Big Racket

Reviewed this a while back with my Vipco DVD, which has sentimental value because I bought it with my 1st or 2nd Full Pay from my first job and I realized that I didn't have to pick and choose what I bought, I just did.

Anyway I got the Arrow Blu-Ray and it's an obvious improvement. Pretty show there's 3 extra minutes?

Satan's Storybook[ (1989, Michael Rider)

SOV anthology.
On the day that I learned Suburban Sasquatch is coming to the Blu ray :laugh::hail:
Ahem.
Remember those Amicus flicks? Weren't they all (mostly) great ??? :nod:
Well, we sure ain't in Kansas anymore :rolleyes::lol:
Satan's squeeze goes walkabout, and the big red one is peeved to say the least :laugh:
In between we get ... some other things. A tale of revenge and a tale of regret tbh. SOV can be a rough ride sometimes and this was no exception, the audio being very poor in places. Maybe I should have just watched Decker Vs Dracula :lol:
Ahem.

if only i knew what SOV was? :confused: :lol:

Fight For Your Life.

Three escape convicts take a preacher and his family hostage and then they turn on their captors.

I thought Love Thy Neighbour went the distance with the racial slur on both sides but this film goes that further up the notch with the racism. By today's standards this film would never be made or re-made with the same content or why would anyone want to make this film back in the 70s. It does start off like a home invasion then goes onto being like The Last House On The Left, even the pet dog gets involved. It was shocking back then and have seen this once or twice that was badly edited but thanks to Mr Demdike I managed to see a better version that is still shocking.

Attachment 239975

"Shot On Video"!

The Pit And The Pendulum. 1991.

A woman is accused of witchcraft and is slowly tortured while her husband attempts to free her.

Based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe, Stuart Gordon's version is a bit darker than the 1960s Vincent Price version. Set in 1492 and during the witch hunt, Lance Henriksen plays the Spanish Inquisitor Torquemada who holds nothing back in order to get a confession but also changes how he dies in the film to how he really died.

Jefferey Combs, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon have small minor roles in the film but do bring their great acting skills to the screen. Stephen Lee and Mark Margolis play the henchmen to Torquemada and Francis Bay plays the imprisoned accused Witch and able to bring some sarcastic comments to her jailers. This was a direct to video movie but does have good production values and even Oliver Reed is able to pull off being a Cardinal in the film. This may not be as bad as Mark Of The Devil but does have it's cringe worthy moments.

Attachment 239976

Bloody Movie (1987, Nick Marino)

Another fun flick from the year I'm very fond of :pound:
A silent movie star's disappearance leads to various sorts descending on his crumbling estate in order to gawk and stuff.
Cameron Mitchell turns up as do a few other familiar faces. Maybe if it hadn't been saddled with more-generic-than-thou alternate title of Terror Night, I might have watched a few times over the years tbh. Slightly gruesome, but a tad stiff in parts (no biker chick has hair that clean :rolleyes::laugh:)
Ahem.

Cutterhead. 2018.

Rie a journalist is working on a story and the workers of a new metro system in Copenhagen when a accident occurs and she is put into a airlock.

This was not what i'd thought it would be or why Shudder would have this on there as it's not even a horror until the film went on and the horror emerges itself on being trapped in a tight space. I'm sure we will all hate to be in a tight space with very little air, disorientation and madness setting in. The acting is decent and makes things look realistic and some tense moments but the pace goes from slow to fast and then to slow.

Attachment 239980

I like this one. Got it on dvd from Retromedia - the very same cover you posted. Surprisingly good cast for a film such as this - John Ireland, Alan Hale Jr, Aldo Rey, Dan Haggerty.

Scream Queen Michelle Bauer is said biker chick if i recall.

Devil Times Five. 1974.

After surviving a bus crash, five children seek refuge at a lodge and start killing off the occupiers.

Set some point during winter time or the area has snow all the time, surviving a crash could be traumatic but basically from the start these kids ain't no angels, one basically robs the driver of his contents. The adults are certainly no angels themselves, we see two women having a cat fight in bathrobes (yes we do get a upper body expose). As well as being little homicidal maniacs, the kids do have creative ways of killing people, this does go on and off the rails a bit but enjoyable.

Attachment 239982

Lake Of Death. 2019.

Lillian and some of her friends travel to a lake cabin where her brother died a year earlier and feels that something is going on that they can't explain.

After 10 minutes this film jump straight to the main characters and builds up quickly and slowly a lot starts to happen and given a back story to a man who killed his family after he was drawn to the lake and mysterious things begin to happen. based on the original film Lake of The Damned band both released from Norway this I thought had potential but completely falls flat towards the end as it seemed predictable.

Attachment 239983

THREE ON A MEATHOOK – Back with the whole Oedipus-gone-mad thing of the post-‘Psycho’ era. I found it unexpectedly powerful in places, full of an eerie melancholy captured best when its Norman slumps around in a bar, looking sad to a soundtrack of tuneless wah-wah rock. Although it seems to promise gore (there’s a little bit), TOAM is more about egregious gaslighting and the end of the sixties. Some of it anticipates both TCM and ‘Frightmare’.

BEWARE: CHILDREN AT PLAY – On the one hand, static shots and lots of talk with a bunch of stiffs; on the other, maggoty wounds, THAT ending and the delirium only an unapologetically bad film can deliver. There’s an inordinate number of references to ‘Beowulf’ for a film this trashy. I liked it; would make an appropriate and only slightly less weird playmate for the likes of 1980’s ‘The Children’.

EYES OF FIRE – My second favourite of the year so far (current number one is ‘The American Scream’). A family, lorded over by bad preacher dad, hangs out in the woods of colonial America, where the supernatural manifests in trippy flourishes of eighties effects and optics. A genuinely hallucinogenic spook-out and very highly recommended.

NOTHING UNDERNEATH – Was maybe expecting / hoping for something a little trashier given its eighties Italo provenance and the presence of Pleasance, but ‘Nothing Underneath’ is a creditable stab at a sort-of De Palma-esque thriller and succeeds well enough through a combination of giallo trimmings and bad era-specific fashion moves.

EFFECTS – End-of-the-seventies oddity drifts along with the kind of woozy flow I associate with seventies art house flicks made by stoned film students. In both the snuff theme and the “hey, what’s reality anyway?” undercurrent, I would go so far as to say that it pre-dates ‘Videodrome’, although its roots are in Pittsburgh soil rather than Cronenbergian nightmare territory. Tom Savini is around, playing a bit of a joker; in fact, there’s quite a strong turn out of Romero regulars here. Interesting if not entirely satisfying.

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO – Good one, this; fashion student hits the smoke to find out what her dreams are made of (in her case, something unpleasant involving Terrance Stamp). I’m not massively into the director, although the quality of his work so far seems obvious; LNIS had me with its rampant stylisation, which just gets riper throughout. Not keen on those grey sixties spectres, but overall it worked.

I also enjoyed this one, those swinging 60s nightclub scenes were great even if Matt Smith was being Matt Smith. I just found the end revelation a bit meh but that's not to say bad! Cool soundtrack too.

I know what you mean, as a way of tying everything up the ending came across as a bit forced, but I guess my eyes were on the visuals, the inferno etc. I kept thinking it was gonna take a u-turn with a 'catch' right till the credits rolled, but it all seemed inexplicably happy after all the wrongs had been 'put to bed' etc.

Dark Prince: The Story Of Dracula. 2000.

A young man Vlad hopes to avenge his father's death during a war helps guide a army to victory while those around him believe he is possessed by demons.

This is a T.V made movie that explores the life of Vlad The Impaler before we know him as legendary character created by Bram Stoker. Filmed between Hungary and Budapest this adds the dark Gothic toned atmosphere to the film, there is some good choreography with the sword fights and brilliant cinematography. Rudolph Martin takes the lead and on screen he is able to give a menacing performance. Peter Weller, Roger Daltrey, star alongside and able to give out good strong performances. Have watched this before and got better with the second viewing.

Attachment 240001

Indeed she is.

Sold!

He'll forever be the Doctor no matter what going forward.

Dracula vs Frankenstein. 1971.

Dracula teams with a mad doctor to resurrect the dead creature while hiding out at a carnival.

Wow where has this little number been hiding, great acting, direction, some really tense moments, had me on the edge of my seat the whole time from start to finish, this has got to be a re-watch. If you believe all that then you will believe i am a multi-millionaire :pound:

Al Adamson must have used something dark to get J. Carroll Naish and Lon Chaney Jr to sign up for this film, Zandor Vorkov must have had his nuts in a vice and punched in throat to create the deep dark voice of Dracula that was more comical than scary. I know I have watched some bad movies in my time but this one is beyond bad that this is the second viewing...I think and doesn't get any better.

Attachment 240005

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWUM0DIRwo

After a silent attack most of the world is dead , a few survivors gather in a small English village soon finding the attack on earth is the work of alien robots , they try too stay alive but matters are made worse when the dead begin to rise and do the aliens bidding.

It's a film that really doesn't know what it is, is it sci-fi is it horror or is it a episode of Emmerdale, who knows?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mNnJuOoI80

Taking place a few months after the first Jason like the good mommy's boy he is , kills the bitch responsible for beheading his mother, he then sets his sites on a newly opened camp and starts killing those disgusting horny teens like a good boy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDdBhDJ7wdA

Taking place not long after the last movie good boy Jason is at again when a group of teens arrive in the area, they must be punished or mother will be cross. Another bunch idiotic teens you can't wait too be killed.

People might wonder why I haven't watched the first , reason is simple I've always found its one off the must dull slasher out there. Me I'm one of those who enjoyed the films more when Jason turns Zombie and with X being my favourite part take that as you will.

Now watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77KpoGDVkxk

Followed by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixt6hg3t29w

Except when he's Charles Manson.

I really like this. I'm sure the robots in this influenced the Cybermen.

Agree, thought cybermen rip offs untill I found out this was first.

Not seen that one yet! I did plan to though.

I though it was very good.

When Smith has his kit off i really don't see him as the Doctor. :lol:

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

A astronaut on a mission around Saturn is the soul survivor after a solar flair , but he is the unlucky one he's body is slowly dissolving , he escapes and kills those who he comes contact with.

It's basically a very gory 50s B-movie, while it's not the greatest I have soft spot for it, liked the old bickering couple but the highlight I's Rick Bakers gory effects.

A Check Heston double tonight.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_jGOKYHxaQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWB6Ufh4O98

What is the secret of Soylent Green?

Watch the trailer and find out lol

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

Charlton Heston plays a new York cop in the year 2022 which the world is overpopulated and because of this is a lack of food, investigating the murder of a important business man he gets involved in something that has far reaching consequences.

A film that was made 49 years ago seems to have predicted some of the problems of 2022!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUkU18MrBzU

In this Chuck plays a scientist who could well be the last man on earth after a man-made virus escapes killing most of the population of the world apart from some mutant albino's how just gotta wear shades and want Chuck dead.

Loosely based on Richard Mathenson novel I'm legend one of the biggest changes is that the mutants are actually vampires in book. But it's still a enjoyable movie thanks to Chuck's performance . I do think I'll watch the last man on earth later this week as it's supposed to be a lot closer too the book and the better film.

Some more Chuck for this bank holiday Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBzbyIPWVT4

After that a mummy double bill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eLN8ve_Eoc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blRrTnq6TBg

With Soylent Green, I felt that there's a good film trying to burst out. However I felt that there were too many lulls which slowed it down.

I did find The Scoops funny though

Is it just me or is there a lot of over acting in ten commandments?

Enjoying it but think I might stop at intermission and watch the rest tomorrow as it's nearly four hours!

It's just you. You aren't used to real actors. :lol: Don't bother with Cleopatra if you think they over act in this.

The best part is the second by the way. It's where it all really kicks off, the parting of the sea and so on.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

:mmph:

Deleted. :censored: :closed:

:focus:

Started on No Time to Die last week, turned it off after 45 minutes cause it was so boring. Managed to get through the rest of it last night. It does improve as it goes, but that's not necessarily saying much. The much vaunted ending nary raised an eyebrow from me, since we know Bond will be back in a different incarnation and I never liked Craig's anyway.
Here's hoping the next one actually has some charisma and actually enjoys being James Bond. :tongue1::behindsofa: