Personally I really liked Deadly Manor, but I've heard nothing but rubbish reviews for Death Screams, perhaps worse of all everyone has said it's just boring.

Its one of those movies that the acting you can't take seriously.

Dracula. 1992.

This version of Dracula I have always enjoyed since its release 30 years go and Gary Oldman as the title character has always freaked me out with his pale skin, long hair, the make up dept for this done him justice. Watching this in 4K...felt like I was seeing this in the cinema, picture and sound quality is better than the dvd and old VHS tape.

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Watch Whirlpool, Symptoms or Vampyres and you'll see just how poor Deadly Manor really is.

For a film maker like Larraz it's as if he just couldn't be arsed.

Hounded

4 Burglars try to rob a Stately Home but it's all a trap as they are kidnapped and Hunted by Toffs (Lead by Samantha Bond), like it is a Fox Hunt.

This appeared on Sky Cinema Premier on New Year's Eve and this is really enjoyable with some really good tense moments along with some funny humor and lines. Another plus is that they didn't make the Burglars act like Chavs and made the Hunters so unlikeable, I wanted them to get what's coming to them.

Hungover Games

Spoof on The Hunger Games and The Hangover with some other mockeries but I thought that this is one of the better Movies of it's time. It does have some funny moments.

I'm not hungover (In case anyone is wondering) I've said it's how much I pay for a Film that determines a threshold for whether I like it. Seeing as I picked it up really cheap from CEX, it did it's job.

Would never have paid full price for it though

I've seen those, but there is something I really like about his last few films he made with American producers, I know they're badly acted and low budget but they have something about them :lol:

Edge of the Axe was good, it's just Deadly Manor. It had a poor villain, poor uninspired kills, and even poorer acting.

Above all it felt sloppy. Scenes flitted between daylight and darkness a few times. Also having the kills happen off screen, well that's just crap for a slasher.It was just a mess for me.

I actually missed out ten films. The drawer i keep them in to save them holds 41 Blu's but of course there's only 31 days in the month so the likes of Malignant, Spiral, Phantom of the Monastery, Pulse and Beyond the Door missing out.

That's nothing compared to the none horrors i've missed. Must be thirty of those.

Damn World Cup taking up all my evenings. :xmaslol:

Cannibal Holocaust.

One of the best cannibal films ever made that can still be shocking to watch yet the 4K release by 88 is the bollocks. Scrap the shameless release, they have got nothing on this, 88 films have done this film with ease and made the picture quality a lot sharper and presented it well. Bring on Hell Of The Living Dead and Burial Ground.

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Thank you Mr Deodato for this film, may you rest in peace and your memory in movies live on.

Showed a mate Flux Gourmet and An Evening With Beverley Luff Linn last night. Both went down rather well.


Nightmare Cinema (2018, Various)

Portmanteau caper, along Southbound lines ...
Enjoyed this after a rather shaky start. Playing with the tropes and that can be a juggling act, but it eventually pays off. Hit and miss certainly, but that's the problem with most of these modern ones.

The Northman (2022)

A tale of Viking revenge which takes place over decades. Robert Eggers film certainly looks the part from a world building scenario, is very well acted and directed and feels mythical and surreal enough for a classic Viking epic but i never really felt invested in it. I was never really gripped by the story which proved too slight for the films 140 minute run time.

In a way it's ambition lets it down. Although the world building was commendable as i alluded to above, it's still quite small in it's vision. Whilst the village may look authentic enough right down to the crockery, the film lacked any what you would call classic Viking imagery. There were no long ship assaults on coastal areas, nothing pulse pounding in that respect just a few bloody battles that when examined closely were rather small in scale.

Meanwhile the characters never pulled me in aside from a couple of conversations between lead Alexander Skarsgård (You wouldn't want to mess with him) and Eggers fave Anya Taylor-Joy, the film had no emotional hold from it's characterisation whatsoever. I'm usually gripped by historical films akin to this be it Gladiator (2000) Braveheart (1995), The Long Ships (1964) or even Mario Bava's 60's mini epics Erik the Conqueror and Knives of the Avenger but i wasn't by this.

The lack of a score from Wardruna didn't help even if Icelandic Goddess Bjork played a seeress in the film and was beautifully effective in her performance.

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THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME (1979)

Coming in the sci-fi movie boom of the late 70s, as far as I know this has nothing to do with HG Wells.
The movie is very low budget. Looking like a TV show, with I think a budget of at least half of the sc-fi shows going around at the time.
With never a good review anywhere I don't think, I just sit back and and watch with nostagia of the time and remember seeing the quad poster up at the cinema.

For new year's eve I had a Dan Arkroyd double with Ghostbusters 2 and the annual viewing of the classic Trading Places I film I never go bored of watching.


Also have watched Scream 1&2 , what can be said about scream that's not been said before , it's a film that gave new life to the dying horror genre and started many copy cats for better of worse while the second is not as good as the first it's still enjoyable.


Now watching scream 3, will watch 4 and the new scream later this week

Lunch Hour (1961)

Shirley Anne Field and Robert Stephens play work colleagues embarking on an affair in their lunch hour but keep getting interrupted until he books them into a hotel room one lunch time.

They are then interrupted by the hotel's manageress, Kay Walsh, making Stephens feel the need to invent a convoluted reason for them being there.

It begins to get weird in the final third as Field seemingly starts to believe Stephens story and slowly becomes the stay at home wife he invents, making her way down to London from Scarborough for the hourly tryst until they both argue about her now imagined life.

This was quite charming. Shirley Anne Field is utterly lovely and clearly decides that she's better than just a lunch time fling in a hotel room with someone who feels the need to justify spending time with her to others who have f*ck all to do with either of them but, you know, that's how life was in the fifties and early sixties.

A little gem of a film.

Incision. 2020.

A internet beauty blogger and her friends are kidnapped by a demented plastic surgeon.

This was a blind watch for me and honesty hand on heart this was a piece of shit, the opening gave out a good promise but after that two bits of blood that doesn't or should have created a splatter. The acting just gets worse and worse and becomes unbearable to the point of shit the F up and just kill each other and end our suffering of watching this. I couldn't even finish watching it.

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The Hunt. 2020.

A group of people wake up in a field and realise they are being hunted for sport by rich socialites, one of those being hunted proves to be a problem for them.

I have watched this a few times and still find it hilarious, right at the plane ride you can tell these toffs don't give a crap who or how they kill people and how birthday girl lands in the same hole twice. Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank face off each other in a bit of girl on girl fight shows that both women are not shy it letting blood shed in a good fight.

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Bedknobs And Broomsticks. 1971.

During WWII siblings Carrie, Charles and Paul are sent to live with a apprentice witch.

Another classic Disney film that's full of family fun and laughs with the late Angela Lansbury as the witch Eglantine Price and David Tomlinson who thinks he is the best magician since Merlin. The effects maybe outdated by today's standard but when you were young they were decent and better at times with what we get today.

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Hellblazers. 2020.

A sinister cult unleashes a demon in a small backwoods town.

Set back in the 80s where nobody has heard of Michael Myers or Cujo, right after the credits we are thrown into the film, why did the cult release a demon into the world we are never given a reason but I'm sure they had fun doing it.

This had a good star cast with Bruce Dern as the wheelchair Vietnam vet who nobody believes at what he saw till it's too late. Adrienne Barbeau as the small town dj (pretty sure she played a dj in another horror). Meg Foster as a diner owner. Courtney Gains as a tree seller and Tony Todd who owns the local tavern. The make up dept done a decent job in creating the horned monster that resembles something a demon worshipper cult would certainly release. There is some quirky good comments that bring a laugh but never spoils the movie. For a homage to the cheese fest 80s film this was entertaining.

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(Extra scene after the end credits)

Spontaneous. 2020.

When pupils start exploding for no reason, two seniors start to fall in love and try to live a normal life.

This had me in stitches, its like a rom-com with a sick sadistic twist, right at the start it just happens then you have students together in one room and one mentions the exploding body is something from a Cronenberg movie, which is something he has done and the director of this film took inspiration from. The acting is quite decent with the lead actress doing a voice over in parts. Some really bad shit happens to good people is like the metaphor the writer and director tries to bring to the film. Worth a watch.

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The Mind's Eye (2018, Joe Begos)

Begos can be hit or miss imho, but this one kept my interest.
In the future certain abilities are targeted for shady government shenanigans. It does become a tad more formulaic towards the end.



Reno 911: It's A Wonderful Heist (2022, Christian Hoffman)

Nevada's finest :rolleyes: put on the Xmas pageant to end all pageants ... in Nevada certainly. Another hit or miss affair, as I found some of this to be inspired, whilst some is dire. Dangle outdoes himself for all that ahem.

The Batman (2022)

A very good return to form for Batman following the misfire of casting Ben Affleck in the role. Here Robert Pattinson plays Trent Reznor, i mean Bruce Wayne and the Batman attempting to track down the murderous Riddler who is targeting Gotham's elite citizens.

The Batman is dark, very dark both in look and content with the story and characters seemingly set in the same universe as the tv series Gotham and the comic book stories The Long Halloween and Year One. I liked Pattinson he seemed ideal for the role as did seedy Paul Dano as Riddler all decked out in his winter combat mask , very much a crazed terrorist rather than the question mark emblazoned green suited villain of the past. Meanwhile Colin Farrell was totally unrecognizable as Penguin, working away in the background of Carmine Falcone's (John Turturro) crime empire.

Aiding Batman, in a fashion, were Selina Kyle (Zoe Saldana) and the every reliable James Gordon (The ever reliable Jeffrey Wright) whilst Andy Serkis played Alfred in much the same way as Sean Pertwee did in the Gotham series.

The film, directed by Matt Reeves is the moodiest example of a screen Dark Knight to date, there's barely a chink of light to be seen, and i don't just mean due to the low lighting style. Parts of the film are fascinating, others exhilarating. However at three hours it is too long. The first hour went quite quickly but the half hour that followed sagged somewhat until the ante was upped once more as we arrived at a thrilling finale.

This is a million miles away from the planet chucking, universe hopping nonsense that Marvel subject us to every couple of months. It's grim, merciless and grounded in a grief stricken seedy reality echoing Film Noir rather than a Disney cartoon. I liked it.

Siege. 1983.

A gay bar is targeted by sociopaths, one person manages to escape and get help from friends who decide to fight back.

Using a police strike to coincide on why there is very little police presence in the film was a good touch to add to this tense thriller. It does have that look of Assault on precinct 13 everyone in one building fighting off the outsiders and trying to stay alive. The acting in this was decent to keep things entertaining even if it is low budget, one I'd happy watch again.

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The Mercenary. 2019.

Max is mercenary who is left for dead after a botched mission and is found by a priest. Adjusting to his new life. Max's past comes back and is trying to find peace but ends up using his fighting skills.

Some low budget B grade movie that Steven Seagal would have been proud to do but we have Dominiquie Vandenberg as the main character Max seeking forgiveness for his past sins. The plot is a bit thin but there is plenty of action, and a bit of a decent sword and knife fight.

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There Are No Saints. 2022


A former hitman released from prison looks to start a new life and soon his past comes back.

Jose Maria Yazpik takes on the role as Neto Niente, known on the street as "The Jesuit". This was a very slow burner of a movie with a bit of a decent character build up and some decent fights, shoot outs and a small torture scene. Although Ron Perlman is credited in this his on screen presence is roughly about 10 minutes but brings his acting perfectly to the screen as a vengeful person.

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THE HEROES OF TELEMARK (1965)

Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris lead a raid on a German factory which is making an atomic bomb.
Based on a true story of the Norwegian raid. Good, classic movie movie.

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D-DAY THE SIXTH OF JUNE (1956)

On the way to the Normandy beaches, two men think about the same woman that they love.
Not an action movie but an engaging romantic story with Dana Wynter torn between the two men. Good movie with a sad ending.

I'd love a decent Blu-ray of The Heroes of Telemark. My dvd looks shit.

The Drone (2019, Jordan Rubin)

Hands down the silliest film I'll see this year. A serial killer's "essence" is transported into ... go on guess :pound:
Played straight with ne'r the hint of a wink, this could easily be the stupidest flick yet. Take a bloody hammer to the thing!! :nod::laugh:
Like an extended Trigger Happy TV sketch gone wrong, our protagonists find that not all tech is user friendly. Worst EVAH kiss off line as well. Hilariously bad. :nod:

Only thing I disagree on is Ben Afflecks casting in the Zach Snyder films. He suits the version of the character portrayed in those films.

The Invisible Maniac (1990, Rif Coogan)

This was more like it, a ribald, sleazy piece of camp that knows it and flaunts it darling ahem. A man with ... some issues :rolleyes: is humiliated at work. His reaction gets him a trip to the funny farm.
Losing faith with their methods, he decamps to turn his hand to education. This just kept getting betterer. The ridiculous plot. 25 year old teenagers :rolleyes::lol:.

Right...

I'm off on one as you can probably tell if you read my Exorcist rant.

Batman as I see it depends on what you've read or what you want the character to be, it's the Superhero/ Star wars/ James Bond/ Dr Who crossover point where everybody wants them to be based on the shit they know, but when a character/ franchise has been going so long a new film inevitably pleases a few people but can't please everyone at once.

i watched the new Batman film the other day and also the newest James Bond film.

And before I say anything else I liked the brutality of Affleck (although it's not my batman i realise he has been this) but thought he was a non existent Bruce Wayne.

Same with Pattercake, there is no real depth to his characterisation, he never smiles, never quips, there's no emotion, that's kinda how i've always found Daniel Craig's Bond.

What stands out for Moore and Keaton is that they've got a personality and these are my favourite variations.

Maybe that's modern life, has anybody young got a personality these days beyond being an internet platform sheep?

Anyway I enjoyed the new batman up to a point, like every film these days it was too long, performances were good although like Joker echoing Taxi driver this seemed to echo seven a lot. I think i thought the new catwoman was the standout performance, but still prefer Pfeiffer.

I liked this, I like Dark knight but i really think being ultra realistic kills any of the enjoyment, yes they are good films but if i wanted to watch someone taking down a crime syndicate i'd watch the Untouchables.

Comic book characters are absurd, Batman looks like a twat dressed like a bat standing with ultra serious forensic dudes. If it was real life there would be at least half an hour of people ripping the shit out of him before he even got to the clues.

Nothing would ever get done.

I like Batman to be darker than Superman but by making everything ultra realistic it makes figures of imagination and childhood excitement dull.

How can you have Poison Ivy with twisting vines in a modern Batman film, Man bat, clayface, Mr freeze, Solomon Grundy?

I grew up with 70's Batman comics, Burtons was the closest to my vision on film , but i've said it before and will say it again, the Arkham console games are to me the best adaption, dark and moody, but the characters are recognisable yet still somehow all fit into the same world.

These heroes, wether Star Wars/ Batman/ James Bond are extensions of real life, caricatures, absurd exaggerations. By making the figures too real we are robbing them of their status, effect and identity.

I want Batman/ James Bond to be absurd, the reason i fell in love with these characters is because they weren't me, a flight of fancy, excitement, exaggeration.

It's like finding the most flexible, interesting, kung fu, pirate, Robin Hood, Sinbad mother****er then saying we want you to sit in a room and talk about fruit and moss.

..And by the way i liked No time to die, i thought it was Craig's best Bond film, It had the lair, gadgets, so that sold it, but i also thought the cinematography was interesting, and I thought the emotional attachments "ahem" made it interesting., never liked Craig though, what a miserable bastard...

Also what was that with having a car chase in batman almost entirely shot from inside the cars, i liked the chase and the visuals but a bit of car outside action would have added a bit of contrast and made the sequence much more exciting.

Also watched the confessions films on Talking pictures, pretty bad 70's flange flaunters, enlivened by a few decent 70's comedy cameo's (Irene Handl etc...) , tits and Robin Asquiff's cheeky y front gurning charm.

Linda Hayden pops up and out in the first film, then returns in the 4th as a sexy french strumpet, nobody bats an eyelid.

Enjoyable as a snapshot of when i grew up... and tits.

My favourite was Pop Performer as it was so deliriously 70's, I'm a sucker for bad 70's songs and it also had my favourite line...

Some old woman asks..."ere have you seen my Fanny?"

..as meanwhile her saucy nude daughter Fanny flounces off in to the distance..

Asquiff replies...

"...no, I saw Curse of Frankenstein and that was enough!!!"

Well you had to be there I guess.:behindsofa:

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THE SHINING (1980)

I had not seen this movie in years. I mean, decades!
I was never that fussed over the movie to be honest although most seemed to champion the film.
So, last night I had another watch to see if I still felt the same.
I actually enjoyed the film. Not on the pedestal that some seem to put it and that's fine. Each to their own.
For me, what really helped the movie along was the soundtrack. A haunting music score played nearly throughout the whole movie giving a sense of menace. Some good camera work through the corridors of the hotel. So yeah, I liked it better last night then many years ago. It's okay.
I don't think Steven King likes it any better though !!

Prey For The Devil. 2022.

A nun trying to break the bonds of religion and become the first nun to perform exorcisms comes face to face with a demon that may be linked to her past.

Another demonic possession movie that the catholic church and Vatican actually accept and I immediately thought this would be like another version of The Devil Inside and in a way it feels like that, exorcist classes, a woman that had a unstable mother, possessed woman tied to a bed. This is not the best demonic possession movie ever made but it's a lot better than The Devil Inside and The Last Exorcism Part II, then again it does have the predictable ending and decent visual effects.

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The Legend Of La Llororna. 2022.

A family take a holiday to Mexico and fall foul to The Weeping Woman

The Curse Of La Llorona did seem interesting but after viewing it twice it never got better. Shudder had a version of La Llorona from 2019 and that.version was different and entertaining, this was certainly low budget, using blue screen filter to make day look night and turns out as black and white, language barrier problems that people are given advice and never listen, even Danny Trejo being in this didn't stop it going from shit, to bad and a uninteresting plot twist ending.

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American Horror Project Volume II
 

Dream No Evil (1970)

A strange regional horror about a young woman who performs high diving acts with a traveling evangelist group who is desperate to locate her father, which she does, just after his death, which sends her into a bizarre fantasy world where her father tells her to kill people.

Utterly forgetable until the axe wielding finale at a farm house and the casting of Edmond O'Brien as the woman's father. Strange and disjointed until the end then it all becomes clear, kind of. The fact the film features a narrator which gives it some sort of coherence says it all really.

American Horror Project Volume II
 

Dark August (1976)

More regional weirdness, this time from Vermont, about a man who accidentally kills a child whilst in his car and has a curse placed upon him.

I preferred this to Dream No Evil. It's more straightforward in it's narrative and the shadowy figure that lurks constantly is quite creepy. There's a nice line in rituals and witchcraft involved here and it's lovely to see Kim Hunter from Planet of the Apes appearing in a low budget regional horror film.

The idea of the cursed man (A good performance from J.J. Barry who also wrote the film) whose body is slowly giving out on him is an original idea and adds to the feeling of dread that gradually envelops the whole film until it's downbeat final act.

Low budget, certainly, but still an accomplished film with great camera work, Dark August is slo-burn regional horror at it's best.

The Evil Clergyman (1988, Charles Band)

Originally meant to be part of a portmanteau, this appeared on my radar due to the cast (Combs/ Gale/ Crampton/ Warner). It has not very much to do with the story tis based on :laugh:, but for once that didn't really matter, as twas one of the more bonkers things I've seen recently.
A woman revisits an old haunt (cough) to find some closure. What she finds instead is that fate cannot be denied ahem.

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John Wick is an ex hitman mourning the death of his wife when he is forced out of retirement after the son of his ex boss steals his car and murders his dog. With the boogeyman back in the game everyone is watching their backs but no where is safe.

After almost ten years since the release I finally sat down and watched it :lol:

I loved this straight to the point no messing around no filler no downtime just murder murder sexy cars and more murder. It was so fast paced that suddenly it was over before I felt it even began I was shocked at where the time had disappeared I pressed play and all of a sudden it was bed time :lol:

My only complaint has to be the big bad boss was pretty rubbish he was never intimating or dangerous they could of made him a little more bad ass to make the final show down a bit more satisfying and exciting .

Overall it's a blast so part 2 tonight I hope it continues from where this left off.

You’ll enjoy the sequels Nordy I’m sure, they both happen immediately after the ending of the previous film which is great fun. Part 3 is pretty wild! Can’t wait for the 4th film.

Good to hear the plan is 2 tonight and 3 Sunday night then I can get excited for 4 :lol: