The Last Heist. 2016.

A bank that's closing down is targeted by a gang of robbers, what should be a straightforward robbery takes a turn when a customer turns out to be a wanted serial killer.

This may be a low budget action/thriller movie with some suspense but when you have a serial killer who wants a moment of your time then it may be a good ride. Ok the robbers plan a good pay off heist but when they are being knocked off one at a time it's either bail out or team up but that never quite happens. Henry Rollins does manage to keep this from sliding off the tracks.

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Standoff (2016)

A young girl unwittingly takes photos of an assassin (Laurence Fishburne) doing a hit at a cemetery during a funeral. Realising he's been seen he pursues the child to a nearby farmhouse where she finds the sanctity of former soldier Thomas Jane.

To give Standoff credit where it's due it's title doesn't lie. This is basically Laurence Fishburne's hitman at the bottom of the stairs and Thomas Jane's troubled combat veteran and the girl at the top of the stairs in what could easily have been a fifties quickie studio western.

Admittedly the premise kind of works except not for the whole ninety minute movie. There is suspense but it's difficult to sustain. Fishburne and Jane are easily good enough to hold the whole thing together and are capably aided by Ella Ballentine as the girl but the lack of anything substantial happening for the seventy minutes taking place at the top and bottom of the staircase means the film seems repetitive. Having said that the film is well directed and the characters well realised with the dialogue believable whilst the three leads mean it's never boring, but due to it's single location and lack of action i doubt i'll revisit this again.

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SOMEWHERE IN TIME (1980)

Christopher Reeve travels back in time to 1912 after seeing a picture of an actress (Jane Seymour) in a hotel archive.
This is a realy good movie. Romantic, tear jerking and another excellent score by John Barry.

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BRONCO BILLY (1980)

Good fun movie which for me carries with it some nostalgia.
I saw this movie at the cinema while on holiday in Weymouth with my parents. I can tell you the exact date. Tues 5th August 1980.
I wrote some dates down of films I saw in my 'Star Wars Stormtrooper Manual'!
Two days later I saw The Empire Strikes Back at the same cinema.

Hot Enough for June (1964)

Dirk Bogarde plays an out of work writer recruited by British Intelligence to be a courier in Czechoslovakia. (He thinks he's got a job with a glass company) It's not long before the Czechs are onto him and have him under surveillance from the lovely Sylva Koscina.

A spy spoof released the same year as Goldfinger, this is slight but still a bit of fun and even has a Bond joke during the first ten minutes which is nicely done. The Czech locations are good and give the film authenticity whilst Bogarde cheerfully sends up his own image of the period as much as that of James Bond. However Robert Morley steals the show (When doesn't he always?) as the British Intelligence boss - think M from the Bond films, but you you know, it's Robert Morley.

The Sea Wolf (1941)

"Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”

A cracking nautical melodrama from soon to be Casablanca (1942) director Michael Curtiz in which Edward G. Robinson plays the tormented captain of a seal hunting ship - eerily titled The Ghost - who takes on board rescued writer Alexander Knox and escaped convict Ida Lupino.

Based on the book by Jack London this grips throughout as Robinson seems to enjoy breaking the spirits of his crew before mutiny ensues. It's a wonderfully complex performance as you both hate him and feel sorry for him at the same time all the while not being able to take your eyes off him. At times this borders on horror with the cruelty he serves up.

The film is beautifully atmospheric with swirling sea fogs and great photography and lighting, basically a Film Noir at sea as the aptly named Ghost slips in and out of fog banks - i thought about John Carpenter's film a lot whilst watching this.

Part of the HMV Premium Collection. This is well worth checking out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au0NU6YbN7Q

Old ghost face is at it again bumping people of at the filming of stab 3 with the gole of getting Sydney out of hiding , just what does this ghost face want with Sid?

While not a patch on the first two and comes of a little rushed was still fun to be had even if the new characters are mostly unlikable but we still have the trio of Sid, Gale and depending how you look at it the very unlucky or luck Dewy!

Now watching


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

I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle. Neil Morrisey buys a secondhand bike, unaware it got bloodied when a bunch of bikers attacked a bunch of Satanists, and soon finds he's purchased more than a lemon... he's purchased a bike with an insatiable thirst for blood! This very silly 1990 British comedic horror spoof is practically a Boon movie, with Morrissey in the lead and Michael Elphick and David Daker both in the cast as cops. Very silly, very odd, but strangely watchable. :nod:

Black Sabbath. 1963.

A anthology of tales presented by Boris Karloff.

A nurse steals a ring from the body of a dead medium only for her to be tormented.

A woman receives obscene calls from a man she believed to be dead.

A count stumbles upon a family with the intent to destroy a vampire.

I will admit the story about the woman receiving the calls is a bit weak and seemed to lack the suspense and tension. The vampire story was a bit better and does have the feel of chills especially seeing the face at the window. But the story of the nurse and the medium really did creep me the "F" out, from the start with how the medium died, the nurse trying to relieve the dead body of jewellery and then the horror starts.

The Gothic sets and atmosphere are definitely the main draw here, and the way that Bava lights up every scene with his trademark use of lighting and colours is absolutely stunning. This is certainly one of those film to watch in the dark and enjoy.

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The Wurdalak is my personal favourite. In fact it's one of the best things Bava's done in my opinion. On occasions i've just watched that story and none of the others. :lol:

Korloff as the narrator is amazing even at the start but his face at the window certainly very haunting.

Who on earth is Korloff? :lol:

Sorry but i wasn't let you get away with that one.

Karloff, one of those days for spelling mistakes.:lol:

Falcon Rising. 2014.

A former marine suffering PTSD travels to Brazil to find the perpetrators who attacked his sister and left her for dead.

I went into this one not expecting much as the plot is something we have seen before but it does deliver some decent acting especially from Michael Jai White as the former marine on the brink of life and death and is given a reason to keep living after his sister's beating. Neal McDonough plays the government agent from the American Embassy based in Brazil and delivers his acting as a good guy for a change and manages to make friends and enemies. This does seem to have stock footage of the South American country but certainly worth a watch.

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SMILE – The corrective to a contagious laugh, this ‘smile’, which doesn’t look very friendly at all by the way, is passed from person to person when one witnesses the suicide of the other. An A&E psych doc with a traumatic past tries to get to the bottom of it. As many others have noted, it leans heavily on J-horror tropes and the vibe of all those jump-scare driven post-‘Insidious’ spookers from ten years back, but it’s well put together and worth a punt.

MANIAC DRIVER – A self-proclaimed giallo homage, but you can forget about black gloves and mysteries, this is basically just a dude in a taxi who goes around philosophising about how bleak life is. I admit, life is pretty bleak if you’re one of his passengers as you’ll probably end up with your boobs out plus or minus being decapitated by a garage door (!), so it’s not all a delicate paean to Travis Bickle. In fact there’s lots of filtered lighting and some obvious nods to ‘Strip Nude For Your Killer and the sleazier end of that stuff so yeah, ‘giallo’, why not. Creeped out, scuzzy and, despite the short run time, hypnotically languid. I liked it, maybe not as much as ‘Gun Woman’.

NIGHTMARE AT NOON – I’m such a ‘Nightmare At Noon’ nerd, I have the original cheapshit UK DVD (which looked really good if I remember), the Scream Factory Blu ray and now this new Arrow version, very rare I double dip. I must say that the Arrow video looks the best of the lot. As for the movie, I’m slightly less hot on it these days but it still inspires the odd quiver; I think any movie that crams Bo Hopkins, George Kennedy and Brion James inside the same desert town as Wings f*cking Hauser deserves some kind of medal. For the unanointed, it’s a bone-headed retread of ‘The Crazies’ (or maybe ‘Mutant’) decked out with western references and just loads of stupidity. Trashy fun, and one of two Mastorakis movies I really rate.

I too rate this. I'll get the Arrow Blu but not yet as i only rewatched said cheapshit UK dvd a few months back (Yes it did look really good - All the Mastorakis films on Hollywood dvd looked really impressive.) Nice write up on it by the way.

Go on. I have to ask. Which is the other then?

Oh, 'Island Of Death', obviously! I find him a bit uninspiring apart from those two. A couple of the others are OK, 'Zero Boys' etc.

Got to admit i've enjoyed all the Mastorakis films i've seen so far. Island of Death, Blood Tide, Blind Date, Zero Boys, The Wind, Nightmare at Noon and the dodgy but still amusing Hired to Kill.

I have Death Has Blue Eyes but yet to watch it.

None of them are great films as such but they entertain me.

Actually yeah, 'Blood Tide' I really liked, despite it being almost universally panned. It was quite atmospheric - he brought that out in 'The Wind', too, one which I really liked at first but then found myself a bit bored by when I had a re-watch back in November, despite all the nice night time scenes with that gale blowing about. Still, at least it had crazy Wings in it. All the others though, I just find them fairly enjoyable if a bit pedestrian, and certainly never full-on 'yay', which is I guess one of the perils of unconsciously wanting him to deliver another attention-grabber like 'Island Of Death'.

Possession. 1981.

A woman exhibits strange behaviour after asking her husband for a divorce.

What starts as a every day life, man comes home from overseas work, wife asks for a divorce, husband speculates a marital affair, confronts the alleged man only to be told they haven't seen each other in a while then begins a a dark psychological rollercoaster ride that never gets boring.

Sam Neil and Isabelle Adjani play the couple in despair and both main leads give out a truly haunting performance, Neil's acting shows how to be a troubled lead actor especially when trying to find answers about his wife's infedility. Adjani does steal the show with her performance especially in the ballet class with he pupil and the unforgettable underground subway scene.

Zulawski's camera work is amazing from the outside on the streets of Berlin as he shows the landscapes and tries to keep things continuous especially when the actors are either walking and running. As the movie goes on we are shown close ups of everyone and tries to show fear and a slow decent into insanity at the same time right up to the end that gives you the WTF have I just watched feeling.

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Shudder have advertised the trailer on YT, so this may appear on there but unsure if it be availble in the U.K. or just the U.S.

A Bell From Hell. 1973.

A man released from a mental asylum is handed into the care of his aunt and her daughter's and try to drive him insane so they can get his inheritance, only for him to turn the tables on them.

A somewhat obscure Spanish psychological horror, that can also be a slow burner at times but can't fault the creators trying to attempt pull something off. Viveca Lindfords plays the greedy jealous crippled aunt intending to keep nephew Renaud Verley locked up in order to get the family fortune.

Part of the scenery and most is set in a gothic style mansion that can be at times shrouded in fog and low light can make the perfect place to try and attempt to drive someone crazy only for the film to have twists and turns in the last act that is played out well. Think this one will be re-watched again at some point soon.

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Hush now child, NAN is a small delight and we all know it. Yes it clunks severely, as does Edge Of Terror (anal Demon :lol:), but rather that than Ferngully 4 or whatever.

Ninja Knight: Thunder Fox (1987, Godfrey Ho)

Right from the start you know this is Ho territory. the sprawling narrative gives you the basic kit, wronged rights and schemes thwarted etc so would recommend this as an ideal GH primer to the first timer. Y'all. Mike Abbott dons the headband this time and the fight scenes are the usual gravity defying madness etc. :nod:



The Mask (1961, Julian Roffman)

This was a find now ... originally 3D (?) as the opening blurb hints at, watched baldly the one thing that leaps out is that Lynch must have seen this at some point. Basically a thriller elevated (not in that way :lol:) by certain sequences which push it into horror territory. Would make a great double bill with City Of The Dead. :nod:

A Cure For Wellness. 2016.

A young corporate executive is sent to a spa in Switzerland to bring back the CEO of the company and discovers some dark secrets of the spa and the doctor who runs it.

A nicely psychological thriller that has the element touch of gothic toned horror mixed in from Gore Verbinski who tries to add in a few of his own elements from movies of the 60s horror chiller films.

Dane DeHaan plays the young corporate sent to the wellness spa hospital that is converted from a 200 year old castle run by Jason Isaacs. As time goes by he uncovers a urban legend/ghost tale of the baron who lived there.

This was like at times seeing someone's nightmare of being trapped in a location that makes you wonder what is real and what isn't with some dark hallucinations. The main location is something you would see in a dark European style horror that you know will eventually give out its secrets. This certainly kept me engrossed from the start but still baffled by the strange grin at the end.

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Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters. (2013)

Hansel and Gretel have turned pro. Coping with the trauma of their childhood captivity in the gingerbread house by slaying witches for bounty. Things take a turn for the worse with the appearance of the grand witch Muriel (Famke Janssen).

I'd only ever seen this on dvd previously and quite liked it. Watching it on Blu-ray was a whole new experience. The Blu is an extended edition which is ten minutes longer. Ten minutes of expanded and additional scenes which move the film from a 6/10 to an 8/10 for me.

Directed by Dead Snow's Tommy Wirkola, this utilises the same gore, irreverence and fun not to mention anachronisms as those two classic Nazi zombie films. As an example Hansel has diabetes from eating too much sweet stuff when trapped in the witch house as a child.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters delivers on all counts. Its a good old fashioned medieval romp full of folklore and superstition with just the right blend of frenetic action with gratuitous gore galore which thankfully doesn't rely completely on CGI for its thrills. Added to this is a nice layer of humour, with some of the conversation laugh out loud funny, especially the choice use of expletives.

The film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the titular characters and both do a fine job. Arterton in particular seemed to revel in the madness, be it getting kicked to shit by thugs or headbutting Peter Stormare's sheriff in her opening scenes. It should be noted that the extended version makes her beatings even stronger to stomach.

Meanwhile Famke Janssen is fabulous as the grand witch, especially when she loses her human guise and becomes Black Metal style cracked of face - it's probably wrong to fancy her but i did.

If i'd known how much i was going to enjoy this on Blu-ray i'd have bought it long ago not simply picked it up from a charity shop because it was there.

The Appointment. Edward Woodward is a middle aged family man concerned how his teen daughter will react when he tells her he can't go to a concert she's in at her school. And he should be...especially given what happened to one of her classmates. This early 80s British chiller is a very weird little movie that feels like a nightmarish little short story. There's little in the way of explanation, yet it leaves an unsettling feeling. Very odd but I rather liked it.

Where did you find Maniac Driver? After watching Samurai Avenger & Karate Kill.. I look for that one but with no luck :pray:

Watch The Lake on this disc won't you. It's the main reason i bought it to have that in HD.

I thought that and the great 18 minute interview with lovely Julie Peasgood was good enough reason to buy it even if the main feature was poor.

Julie Peasgood is a bit of a weird one, for some reason instantly recognisable as a 70's kid, yet when I look up stuff she appeared in i can't see much I watched growing up except House of long shadows.

But remember fancying her as a young un.

Apparently she's a bit of a goer...

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At Close Range. 1986.

A troubled teen is re-united with his career criminal father that the outcome for them both takes a dramatic change.

Based on a true story that happened in Pennsylvania between the 60s and 70s farming community, Sean and Chris Penn play brothers who want attention from their dad and decide to get a gang together and pull off small robberies and the police using them to get something on their dad. Christopher Walken plays their old man with his gang who show no remorse for their crimes. This is quite dark, gritty and can be tense, but everyone pulls out all the stops with their acting, this was a decent made crime drama that's certainly worth a watch.

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Well, I scored mine from Strange Vice, but by all accounts it's readily available from Wow HD. Failing that, several ebayers.

Crimson Peak. 2015.

A young woman is seduced by a new comer, soon she is living in his house with his sister and slowly uncovers dark secrets.

I think director Guillermo Del Toro intended to give us a haunted house/ghost story but without the jump scares that usually come with it. Looking at the way he introduced us the family home, from the outside it has the dark gothic feel to it and on the inside it does give out the "If These Walls Can Talk Vibe".

Mia Wasikowska plays the young story writer while Tom Hiddleston plays the wealthy looking gent who manages to capture her heart and Jessica Chastain as the odd sister who is very close to her brother. The film is shot nicely and the way some scenes end it has the feel of a dark house silent movie, the visual effects are stunning and generally not overly done, the acting is decent but Jessica Chastain does have little screen time but when she is on screen she dominates it. This is one that I never really cared for at first but now this is certainly a favourite.

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It only seemed fitting that after the "some weird shit" my Mrs says that I have put her through that we should watch something new and She picked...Drum Roll please.



Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City.

These are her words not mine, that was exciting as watching Witchery...what did we miss...ok the T-Virus is mentioned and characters from the game...but what exactly was the plot...we would have more fun sticking something up your nether region Gra and watch you squirm, my Mrs is so charming these days.

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

First time I've seen this and even though a lot doesn't happen I enjoyed and found it quite atmospheric in places , being shot as a documentary helped as did casting locals.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R18NMg2AAoU

This was enjoyable it involves a group of Inuit girls living in a small village near the artic circle who discover that a parasitic alien lifeform is taking over the local animals and people they band together to stop them. Got a bit of a thing vibe from this.

Now watching

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrYKUrJnC-k

Piggy

Spanish Film in which an overweight teenage girl is bullied by some other girls. However she gains the attention of a Serial Killer who kidnaps the girls and seemingly looks out for her.



Not bad for a watch but not a purchase, not as violent as I thought it would be.

Till

True Story based on the Kidnapping, Beating and Killing of a Black Boy in Mississippi, who made a innocent gesture to a white woman (Haley Bennett) during the 1950's and the campaign made by his Mother and Campaign Groups for new Laws and Trial.

Good performances all round, expecting Award Nominations especially for Danielle Deadwyler. Whoopi Goldberg and Frankie Faison co-star.

Major storyline spoiler below

The Witch in the Window. 2018.

Supercheap pickup from the Network sale. I recall considering this one ages ago and putting it off. These days I don't always check through the dvd sections of a sale.
So then, a dad, Simon. He appears to have made some mistakes along the way and as such finds himself distanced from his wife and son. The film doesn't make it clear quite how distanced. In fact I have to admit there are a number of foundational plot points that aren't necessarily screamed out loud.
Simon takes the opportunity to take his 12 year old son, Finn with him to a rural house he is in the process of renovating. Once there the pair of them begin repairing the rift that has formed between them, in fact their relationship is really the beating heart of this story. This story that happens to involve a whole lot of spooky goings ons.
The house has a history (yes they all do I hear you say), but that isn't really the issue.
It's the remnants of that history that are the problem if you catch my drift.
It's a difficult film to review without spoilers so it is essential viewing. Blatantly low budget, I'm not sure there's a special effect in the whole thing. But that's not what this is, it's a slow, (although not as slow as some reviews suggest) burn film. An overwhelming sense of dread permeates the whole thing. In fact the first film in a long long time to really get the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.
The performances are low key brilliance, the script so mundane without ever being boring. It all just draws you in and gets under the skin. As mentioned earlier, there's an awful lot of ambiguous plotting here. I think it actually benefits the film, there's a lot you don't actually need to know, it's like observing a scenario without having all the details.
The Witch in the Window is highly recommended and a true testament to what can be achieved with no budget, no fancy sfx, not even that much of a story.
I loved it. First time a film has brought me even close to actual fear in years.


Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

I think you got out of it exactly the same as i did. Really pleased you liked it.

I've seen two other Andy Mitten films. Yellow Brick Road was another interesting slo-burner whilst We Go On was disappointing. Neither were a patch on The Witch in the Window.

I was going to pursue everyone's thoughts on those two. There's also a newer one called The Harbinger I'm now interested in.

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The Harbinger sounds of definite interest. The poster artwork certainly draws me in.

Doesn't seem to be available anywhere yet. I'll keep an eye out for a copy of Yellow Brick Road though.

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Yesterday I watched "Terror in the Wax Museum" (1973) due mostly to the fact that it is set in a wax museum (nothing good ever comes of this location) and the amazing cast: Ray Milland, Elsa Lanchester, John Carradine, Louis hayward, Patrick Knowles, etc. It turned out to be less a horror movie than a whodunnit, which is also fine by be, and a surprisingly nice one at that! :D

But the thing is -- and this had never happened to me -- the film reaches the climax (and I'm not spoiling anything!) , there's is a mask removed from the killer, there is an explanation given, the modus operandi described.... but who is the killer?! For some reason, the director decided to show the killer's face only in the last couple of seconds. And the name is not mentioned. It is absolutely not clear. And this was an old print, badly in need of a good restoration... and I couldn't for the life of me make out WHO THE HELL was the killer!

So I had to go google it. It was a first :D

Very much reccommended, but be really focused for those last couple of seconds...

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vmCXAjCtfX8/hqdefault.jpg