I have to say that I don't feel motivated to watch this at all, I probably will at some point, but I'm not going out of my way to spend 3 hrs in a cinema! The original film, while not perfect either, was a good stand-alone story so when Cameron announced he's planning more films but only when the technology catches up to his vision, I did groan a bit.

I have no interest in seeing it at all. I honestly didn't rate the first one. For the biggest money spinner of all time there are about twenty thousand films which are better in my opinion.

I'm struggling to remember if I have seen it twice. I saw it on the screen in 3D and obviously I was blown away by it because to be honest it was a spectacle, I bought the BD on release day but I'm not actually convinced that I ever watched it, not interested :lol:

So many films out there that are miles better :)

Agree it's overrated and so many better films out their , it was better than the sequel but just like that the only good things was the effects everything else was meh!

I wanted to see something else but everyone wanted to see it, by the end they knew they had made a mistake it's the first film in sometime which people walked out of.

Also it's ironic Cameron was having a go at marvel for there movies which yep a lot of problems with those movies , but then he produces this!

Watched Terrifier 2 last night. Have to say, I definitely preferred the first one. This was over long and I really didn't need to know so much about the characters.

And it must just be my sick mind, but people actually threw up watching this? I had heard a lot of people mention the scene in the bedroom, but it didn't bother me in the slightest [emoji2369][emoji23]

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

A fantastic December treat, endlessly watchable. Clint Eastwood at his coolest, Richard Burton bamboozling everybody, a plot that twists and turns and at some points really does make you ask 'What the f**k?' and a final hour of all out action.

Where Eagles Dare - It ain't Christmas until Broadsword calls Danny Boy.

I think that whilst the 1st Avatar made a lot of money, I don't think that people actually loved Avatar.

Decemberdike # 18
 

Touch of Death (1988)

Gory as f*ck tv movie from Lucio Fulci about a Lothario (Brett Halsey) who dates then murders women, eating select cuts himself before getting rid of the rest to the pigs in his yard. However Halsey soon discovers a copycat is doing similar and doing it in a very clumsy fashion.

I'd not seen this before and absolutely loved it. It's a great big dark comedy from Fulci and is ridiculously entertaining. I laughed out loud several times and gagged a couple too. Halsey is terrific, for a so-called ladies man he's way OTT. Especially when he dyes his hair yellowy green.

The 88 Films Blu-ray looks gorgeous but it doesn't do Fulci's wonky special effects any favours.

I love this one too, it’s ridiculous but that’s what makes it good. Time for a rewatch soon I think!

I love TOD for all those qualities D. Enjoy revisiting that particular menu ....

Well i'm gonna be the odd one out and say TOD didn't really float my boat, but I love Cat in the brain which recycles a load of gore scenes, so go figure...:santanukem:

I'm on the same boat, only watched once, but at the time I thought was boringgggg

Decemberdike # 19
 

Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989)

Eighties variation on The Phantom of the Opera about a wronged young man thought burned to death when unscrupulous land developers burned his house down so they could build a super duper new shopping mall on the site. However he's not dead and sporting a metallic face mask wreaks havoc on the newly opened mall and it's owners whilst protecting his former girlfriend at the same time.

I'm not entirely convinced this is actually a slasher film, most of it is Mallrats before Kevin Smith even filmed it but it is a lot of fun. It's also so eighties it hurts, to the point of co-starring glamorous soap opera icon Morgan Fairchild.

Kari Whitman is good value as the likable heroine but on the whole it's a shopping spree of tension free genre cliches even if it is enjoyable enough to watch. All that's really missing is a falling chandelier scene.

Strange how we all have different taste and levels of what we can accept in boundaries, some ppl aren’t arsed about a Serbian film while other are disgusted at it, it’s like amount of ppl who struggled with original martyrs but I found it got dull boring and repetitive.

As for Terrifier 2 haven’t seen first one so chances are me seeing 2nd are slim, prob in yrs to come, and same anpplies for Avatar.

i would give terrifier films a try, but just forget about Avatar

I've always been a pre-1970s Sci-fi/Mystery/Horror fan, but for some reason I avoided the Italian giallos. Maybe it was the Italian dubbings, but I'm perfectly OK with them for peplums. But lately I've started getitng interested in giallos, so I decided to give them a try. But where to start? The BFI website has a rather short but informative article which suggested I start with Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

What a ride! The setup is fantastic, with the glass doors of the gallery. My wife was passing by and caught that scene and just stood there watching it mesmerized, standing up halfway to somewhere, and ended up surrendering to watch the whole thing, so we began again :D

The Morricone music is great, very jazzy, but dissonant where necessary, and the Storaro photography is fantastic, especially considering he was just starting his carreer.

And a great time was had by all.

Now I'm undecided about what to watch next: Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much or Blood and Black Lace?

Both. In that order. The Girl Who Knew too Much is as much a Hitchcockian mystery as it Giallo but still good whilst Blood and Black Lace probably set the benchmark for all to come.

I agree, a proto-giallo which is a lot of fun, and then a super colourful film about models being killed one-by-one in inventive ways which really did cement the blueprint for what was to come.

Decemberdike # 20
 

Eye of the Cat (1969)

An enjoyable San Francisco set horror thriller which is almost let down by laughable dialogue and it's several plot holes.

The story is sort of familiar grand dame Eleanor Parker lives by herself in an old house along with hundreds of cats and is seemingly on the brink of death. So much so that her nephew Michael Sarrazin and accomplice the gorgeous Gayle Hunnicut decide she needs to change her will to give them all the proceeds, however they hadn't taken the house full of cats into their gold digging plans.

One problem with this is the cats themselves. Is anyone really scared of cats? People can not like cats but to be actually scared of them? I know people who are scared of dogs. Dogs can kill you and do so every so often but cats? They just scratch you annoyingly.

As far as cat based horror goes 1961's The Shadow of the Cat is a superior film but this is fun, daft but fun in a sort of naff Hitchcock style.

The film, courtesy of the Powerhouse Blu-ray, looks gorgeous, especially the pinks and yellows adorning the walls of the gaudy mansion, however the views of Frisco made me want to pick Vertigo up on Blu-ray rather than watching this again.

I thought the first Avatar was a clear case of style over substance, a film with a derivative plot and clichéd dialogue, though one with astonishing visuals and cinematography.

I saw it at the cinema and have seen it a few times at home since then; none of the latter viewings have come close to capturing the immersive experience that some of the sequences, particularly the flying ones, had in 3D at the cinema.

Although the second film looks very much like the first (a sensory feast, an intellectual desert), the only I'll see it will be at the cinema. That's really the only way to fully appreciate the world-building and escapism that the huge screen, all-encompassing sound, dark environment, and (mostly) distraction-free screening that can only be experienced at a good cinema.

'Avatar'?

TIMESWEEP – Knocks ‘The Strangeness’ clean off the podium when it comes to first prize for endless shots of people wandering up and down darkened corridors. That’s ALL that happens in ‘Timesweep’, but the crazy thing is – it’s fantastic. An impenetrable curtain of acid fog surrounds a movie studio, where way too many sightseers to even keep track of have gathered; for the sketchiest of reasons, the sinister mist induces some sort of time-slip phenomenon that not only snatches figures from the past, but also zombies, aliens and monsters. Divine eighties garbage, full of killer lines and inexplicable scenes. We might witness random spearings, nonsensical bug attacks or sleazy top-ripping followed by bloodletting, but those shadowy corridors are never very far away (the odd flight of stairs, too). I watched a VHS rip on YT. Apparently, there’s a German DVD. Someone put it out on blu in time for Christmas!

Death Code Ninja (1987, Godfrey Ho)

This was in 2:35 btw. I am now going to make the case that Ho was a competent director whose "reputation" has been bolstered by unscrupulous distributors. Some of the compositions were lovely and no different from most of his ilk. The plot was some madness concerning a map, and the chap from Royal Warriors was the baddie this time. This was a mate's German dvd btw. Am severely ordering my own copy. Came with a bonus flick (Ninja: Extreme Weapons) which was in 1:85!!! REVISIONIST DEMON!!! :nod::lol:

Satan's Slave (1982, Sisworo Guatama Putra)

He's my new favourite director cough.
More of that Indo madness, this time surrounding a family and their new housekeeper. Could her arrival be at all related to the variety of shenanigans going on.
Mrs Doubtfire it isn't (TF).
To say that the lighting and shot choices made me think "...giallo ..." but that would be pushing it tbh. I got a whiff for all that. A hoot.
After a revisit, I'll see if that ending rivals City Of The Living Dead cough ....


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But I'm A Cheerleader

Natasha Lyonne is a Teenage Girl whose Parents and Friends think is gay, so they send her to a Conversion Camp ran by Cathy Moriarty. Whilst there, she has to go through several tasks in order to get out but falls for another resident.

This is a little gem of a Film which shows the complete lunacy of some people and has a great performance from Ru Paul as a Counsellor who tries to get the Male Residents into stuff that straight Men do (Threatening them with watching Sports all weekend if they don't behave) It also has a Indie Rock Soundtrack.

Matilda

The 1996 (And superior) version of Roald Dahl's classic Book which sees Mari Wilson as the titular character who outsmarts Pam Ferris and her Parents, Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman. There are no songs and the Villains are more nastier as well.

DREAMANIAC – Heavy metal guy throws a party - most of the guests get splattered after he summons a succubus. David DeCocteau films, like the strange delicacies of an unknown cuisine, are best approached with curiosity and tempered expectations. There is possibly no movie more DeCocteau than ‘Dreamaniac’ . Nothing much happens for the first hour apart from a lot of bickering and light shagging, and if you believe that still doesn’t auger badly, consider that the film ends about ten minutes later. There’s a bit of gore before it stops (and a ploy I always love, some extra-long credits to bring it up to feature length!) The acting is awful, the tone is all over the place, the pace numbing, and yet there’s just something about the whole thing that feels a little hypnotic. Is the often overlooked and deeply misunderstood DeCocteau factor responsible for this? Or is it simply the presence of obvious Frankie Teardrop box-ticks such as music video-esque lighting and the ever-present synth soundtrack, both of which set a hazy enough tone to match the unintentional surrealism of all the things that are wrong with it. DeCocteau made a couple of genuine oddball trash classics like ‘Breeders’. I’d hesitate to put ‘Dreamaniac’ in that league, but he did something similar with ‘The Murder Weapon’, another baffler where you can never really tell whether you’re dreaming or just bored.

BODIES, BODIES, BODIES – Life these days seems to be an endless toxic merry-go-round of victims and perps. This has fuelled a few films where we see the narcissism of groups erupting into mayhem and murder – “All My Friends Hate Me” being a notable recent example. BBB goes a different route on the same territory. It uses the murder mystery template to argue that, whoever the killer might be, we ultimately do a much better job of f*cking ourselves over with our vindicative game playing and willingness to shit all over any and everyone’s social boundaries when we find that the world has somehow failed to suckle our inner brat. Any film treading this kind of ground needs to be sharp on what makes groups tick when they’re running on rancour, and BBB is careful to set down layers of subtle discord, to enumerate all the little glitches that later become ammunition, and to top this poisonous confection with a drizzle of diversions and foils. It does all that really well. In fact, like AMFHM, the build outdoes the pay-off. BBB works better as an edgy, twisty thriller than as a slasher or a Giallo, although to be fair it’s not trying to be ‘A Bay Of Blood’ or anything, its approach to those kind of tropes is one of convenience. I think that quite a few will guess the ‘reveal’ early on, although the way this is explained in the end is pithy, relevant and sadly typical (of the psychology it’s trying to skewer). Good, solid. I was entertained.

:hail::hail::hail::hail::hail::hail:

Noted ala BBB FT.

Decemberdike # 21
 

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

The original made for tv movie, whilst not a patch on the excellent Del Toro produced remake still has it's moments.

True Grit's Kim Darby is very good as the newly arrived wife in a house that's full of odd little creatures living behind the walls who want to make her one of their own.

It lacks much in the way of suspense until the final ten minutes which thankfully make up for any shortcomings.

I like the remake, but the original is far superior to me, i love that weird 70's vibe endlessly, so that's my personal preference.:xmasjig:

Don't be afraid of the dark stands head and shoulders above a lot of the 70's TV horror films for atmosphere alone.

Whereas the remake while good, blends in, and is lost in being a bit bland as a horror film of its time.

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Decemberdike # 22
 

Schoolgirl Hitchhikers (1973)

As the saying goes 'If you can't say anything good then don't say it'.

Decemberdike # 23
 

The Unholy (2021)

When a young girl who cannot speak is visited by the Virgin Mary she can suddenly speak, hear and heal the sick. As crowds race to the small New England town to witness miracles for themselves so does disgraced journalist Jeffrey Dean Morgan whose investigations begin to uncover something a lot darker than perceived miracles from the Virgin Mary.

I really enjoyed this. Based on a book by the great James Herbert, it's a nice slow burner of a film with excellent turns from Morgan, Cricket Brown as the miracle working girl and Carey Elwes as the local Bishop in a story that really held my interest throughout.

I'm not in the least bit religious yet i often seem to really enjoy horror films steeped in the subject, be it The Exorcist, Stigmata, Saint Maud, The Prophecy or the 80's minor classic with the same name - The Unholy, so went into this with a bit of hope.

Although not chock full of scares or shocks i loved the small town atmosphere and creeping undercurrent of dread that slowly envelops the film. The finale was nicely done with just the right amount of CGI for me but i can see some may have found it underwhelming. A bit like the movie as a whole. I'm sure most won't find it anything that exceptional but i really enjoyed it.

I finally seen most of Black Sunday. Although I was tired and dozed off at some parts.

Very atmospheric. Barbara Steele did a fine job as the witch.

Switch Killer

An abused Stripper leaves her Boyfriend and gets a job in Las Vegas, however someone is murdering people close to her. Released by Screen Entertainment (Under the Hardgore banner) this is actually competent (Not some shabbily shot with dodgy acting and F/X) and whilst it's not the greatest Film in the world, it does pass on the time.

The alternate title of the Film and the name of the Production company does give away the twist however.

Nice review Dem. I've been meaning to pick this up.

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I liked Shrine when i read it as a teensger, but i was put off by some negative reviews of the film, but I'm glad you enjoyed it, and i will watch it when i get the opportunity.:xmascan:

Cheers. I really enjoyed it. Should you pick it up at some point i hope you do too.

I reckon it got negative reviews because it's not fully in your face with cheap jump scares nor an ending that so OTT it's ridiculous.

I came very close the other day, twas only a couple of quid in HMV. Not sure what put me off. Think it's the ridiculous to-watch pile and lack of time.

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That's one good thing that it's under 100 mins so you don't need all night to watch it unlike so many movies released in cinemas these days.

Well that makes it sound ever betterer.:ladyxmas: