The Bay was a unexpected entertaining film for me, going between the events, the journalist documenting everything and using CDC, it is one of those that when you watch in the dark to obsolve the atmosphere can help.

'Unexpected' is right, like I say I find that most found footage films really grate on me - that whole trend has to be the bane of my horror-watching existence this century. Outbreak type movies as well, in the main they're shite. I mean, I don't even rate '28 Days Later'. But I think Levinson's just one of those filmmakers, a seasoned hand with a couple of classics in the bag. I'm a bit indifferent to most of the stuff he does, but there's no doubting his ability to weave a low budget silk purse from a pigs ear, certainly in this case. He's united two of my horror pet peeves and kept me glued to the screen, I have to give him kudos for that.

I've seen The Bay a couple of times and thought it excellent both viewings.

The fact it's shot via several methods of 'found' footage, such as surveillance cameras, really helps rather than a single muppet pointing their phone at the ground for ninety minutes.

By the way i still think the daddy of Outbreak movies is actually Outbreak.

I saw it at the cinema and it was a traumatising and thrilling watch.

Voodoo Passion. 1977.

Susan travel to Haiti to be with her consul husband and begins to have nightmares about murder and is drawn to voodoo practices.

Another strange bizarre movie from Jess Franco with Ada Taulor as the young housewife who meets her hubby's housekeeper Muriel Montosse, his naked nympho sister Karine Gambler. Jack Taylor plays the British consul who believes his wife is loosing her mind with the nightmares. This was beautifully shot with the great settings and exterior shots, the dubbing is all over the place and the three leads seem to spend more times out of their clothes rather in them. There is a suttle motion to how close the brother and sister are and not exactly shy on covering up but there is a decent plot twist. Just go with the flow on this one.

Attachment 245578

Nice double bill.
Ah, yes. I wish those days back. Pearl and Dean advertising.. "sigh"
I have the paperback tie in to Sinbad.

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Witchcraft. 1964.

A witch that was buried alive over 300 years ago is awoken.she begins to terrorize a village.

Lon Chaney Jr is given top billing for this film and why not, he was a well known actor and screen legend yet his character has very little screen time and when he is on screen all he does is talk louder than normal or shout. The plot is simple enough, two families have been fighting for generations and one wants to dig over a tomb of a so called witch that is a ancestor to a family that wants to stop the desocration of her tomb yet when its disturbed she rises. Yvette Rees plays the witch even though she speaks very little, her onscreen presence is haunting and frightening at the same time. This may not be a British masterpiece but this is entertaining.

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Allegedly Chaney only worked on this in the mornings because by lunchtime he was too drunk to be coherent.

True or not it's a film i rather like. The car scene is a cracker.

That I can believe about Chaney :pound: the car scene was nicely shot but the sudden stop the acting is a bit of a laugh.

I don't remember that at all. :lol: Maybe i was Chaney's last time i watched it.

I like that Jack Hedley is in this too. He'd go on to appear in for Your Eyes Only and the excellent series Colditz and er' Fulci's New York Ripper.

In For Your Eyes Only he only has a small role, New York Ripper is what I remember him mostly for.

I'm really not overly bothered about upgrading everything to 4K but I'll always keep upgrading certain films and this is certainly one of them a 4K of Treasures ..... now and I'm all over that.

Really glad you enjoyed this it an outstanding film that never gets old to watch.

The Initiation of Sarah (2006)

A shit Occult tv movie based on a shit Occult tv movie.

Only made watchable thanks to Summer Glau, Jennifer Tilly and Morgan Fairchild.

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Accountant William Blake has been offered a job in the town of machine as an accountant in a steal mill run by the very imposing Mr Dickinson. William leave Cleveland a broken man after both his parents die and his fiancée gets cold feet and calls of their relationship using the last cent he owns to make the trip to Machine and hoping for a fresh start and a new life but what he finds there will change his life in ways he can not comprehend.

Things get off to a bad start when William Blake arrives at Dickensons mill only to discover his job has been taken by another accountant a month before he arrived when Mr Dickenson points a rifle in his face for entering his office invited William Blake is left to wonder a rough dirty town alone. Drowning his sorrows in a very small bottle of Whiskey outside a saloon William Blake meets the beautiful Thel getting roughed up by a drunk and goes to her aid. Thel takes William Blake back to her room for a little romance when Thels ex bursts in the room to surprise her but a happy renlunion turns nasty when in a effort to save William Blake life Thel is shot and killed by her ex and William Blake must take his life to save his own but not before he takes some white man's steel close to his heart first. William Blake escapes into the wilderness but unbeknown to him he just killed the son of the biggest member of the town Mr Dickinson.

William Blake passes out in the woods and when he awakens he is greeted by Nobody a Native American who tried to save his life cutting the white man's steel from his chest but it's too late the bullet has travelled to far to be extracted. When Nobody finds out his new friend is named William Blake he mistakes him for the Poet and Painter William Blake a man who's poems he studied when he was kidnapped and brought to England as a side show for the ignorant pale skins of the civilised world. So begins William Blakes final journey to the afterlife.

Dead Man was a film my mate and I discovered back in our teenage years where we would rent films from the video store on a Saturday night and do an all nighter watching as many films as physically possible. Right from the opening credits and William Blakes journey through the old West by train something just felt special I could just feel that I was in for something that would stay with me for a long time but I didn't think it was gonna be a film that would stick with me forever. The rumbling of that steam train thundering through the forests mountains ghost towns and destroyed Native settlements was all so beautiful and sad at the same time. William Blake looks fresh faces awkward nervous and innocent not prepared for what he was barrelling towards the deeper into his journey the rougher the passengers become between naps everytime he opens his eyes more and more harder faces greet him from his slumber. Even before he steps foot in the town of machine the man looks broken already he does not belong in this part of the country in his flash clown suit and very soft hair.

Dead Man really is a journey and it's amazing to watch the evolution of William Blake starting so awkward fragile and nervous of his own shadow becoming harderened confident and accepting his own mortality. I love the relationship between William Blake and Nobody it really grows and flourishes and a very strong bond is created between the two. Gary Farmer is fantastic as Nobody he is such a good soul teaching William Blake in the ways of the wild and how to survive even if they both no there is only one way this journey will end apart from teaching and looking after William Blake Nobody is funny and keeps William Blakes feet planted firmly on the ground with a random insult with his go to being Stupid F**king White Man :lol: behind it all you can see that Nobody has so much love for William Blake if you can't tell by the look on his eyes you will know after they are separated and reunited he joy and how hard Nobody embrasses him will warm your heart.

Dead Man is such a beautiful visually stunning film shot entirely in black and white everything just pops the blood is so black it looks amazing the black and white really emphasizes the gritty look to everything how dirty the towns are it almost makes people look dirtier showing the rough and tough ways people would of actually lived in the old West. There is so much amazing imagery in every single scene so obvious and some are very subtle that you will need repeat viewings to take them all in i swear last night I spotting new things I never noticed before and I have watched this film soooo many times which really shows the genius of Jim Jarmusch.

This film is cast so perfectly everyone is amazing in their roles the whole film is jam packed with so many larger than life characters and the dialogue is truly amazing from the campfire scene with Aunt Sally and big George to the relationship between the bounty hunters is just hilarious honestly never fails to make me laugh out loud. Conway Twill is my favourite character as one of the bounty hunters he just can't shut his bloody mouth which causes him a lost of trouble with Mr Cole Wilson an other bounty hunter hired to hunt down William Blake.

As usual I give a special shout out to the soundtrack of a film this was the first ever soundtrack that I went out and hunted down back before I ever used the internet to buy anything so it was hoping to hunt it down out in the wilds hopefully one day Waxwork might give us a vinyl release. Anyway the whole soundtrack was composed and performs by Neil Young it adds so much beauty to the film and is played the whole way through there are barely and scenes where it's not in the background. I watched videos if him recording it the first time he just stood Infront of a big screen showing the film and played to what he saw its a masterpiece of a soundtrack to me anyway.

Dead Man is one of the best films I have ever seen it's a film that has lived with me since I was 15 and I think it has a bigger impact on me know than ever. It's been a few years since I last saw it and after watching it last night I think I love it even more than ever now.

I better stop or this will be too long and there isn't a hope anyone will read a great wall of China of text :lol:

AMAZING / 10


THE HUNT IS ON.

Mr.Barlow - "Hold my beer".

Those are rookie numbers :lol:

You said it Dem :pound:

Just to clarify I said William Blake a hundered times as a joke and nod to the film not just bad writing althought the rest may have been bad writing that part was intentional :lol:

No, the bad writing was where you called the film 'Dream Man' rather than Dead Man. at the start of the fifth chapter. :pound:

:lol::lol::lol:

Sorry that totally ruins the whole bloody thing now I spent an hour on that. I hate using a phone to do these things that's why I don't do as many as I would like. I spent my lunch hour on it when I could of been asleep :lol:

Apologies I really need to read over these things before I post them.

:lol: :clap: :lol:

None of it was bad writing, Nordy. I enjoyed reading it.

Autocorrect can strike at anytime anywhere :lol:

The 5th chapter :lol:

I've been curious about Dead Man, do you have the Criterion disc Nord?

Agreed, I've never been interested in Dead Man before, or any other Jim Jarmusch film. Even though I'm usually a fan of Depp.
You've sold it to me Nord.

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City On Fire (1979, Alan Rakoff)

Disaster caper.
When a refinery (named Manson cough cough cough) employee takes out his frustrations at the plant, the countdown is set.
Leslie Nielsen as the Mayor? Barry Newman as the selfless doctor? Henry Fonda as the police chief??? Is this a Samuel L. Bronkowitz production?? :rolleyes::lol:
Whilst it had some budgetary limitations, the many real people on fire made up for it ahem. It just teetered on the side of parody once or twice, which did make for a fun watch. Quite grim as well at points.

This was a decent disaster flick, watched it last year, glad you enjoyed it Demon

I can vouch for it being very good. There's some unforgettable violence on show.

I would have bought it in the recent Criterion sale but it remained around the £17 mark having only come out a few months ago.

No it's a steel book I got from Zavvi a few years back.

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. 1923.

Lon Chaney certainly captivated a audience back in the day and still does to this day with his performances. Stunt people do put themselves through a lot but Chaney put his body through a lot in creating Quisimodo from the hump, face and if I recall he had a mouth piece in to keep his jaw open, that's certainly showmanship.

The film was exceptional from a technical standpoint with the cinematography, the set pieces above and below. There were huge numbers of extras, very impressive sets that make you think it was really filmed in Paris and the acting was very good, even though it is a silent film. This film and Phantom Of The Opera are memorable and iconic to remember Chaney for his acting.

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I watched Everything Everywhere All at Once a couple of weeks ago and thought it was superb, a brilliantly acted and hugely innovative film which was almost a weird cross between Parasite, The Matrix, and Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, only different and unique.

It effortlessly combines absurdist humour, social commentary, philosophical concepts, and exciting action sequences to create something special, a film unlike any other.

I was thoroughly engaged throughout – it made me think and laugh and, when it finished, I wanted to watch it again immediately. That doesn't happen very often.

The Banshees of Inisherin was also brilliant and thought-provoking, but very different in its bleakness – I think both were deserving of acclaim and recognition.

Re-Animator

Jeffrey Combs is the odd, mad, Medical Student who along with his Room Mate is able to bring dead bodies back to life. Barbara Crampton is the Room Mate's Fiancee, who attracts the Teacher who wants the serum for himself. 1st time watching this and I rather enjoyed it with it's gore and humor which doesn't overpower the style of the Film.

Parents

Set in the 1950's, a boy suspects his Parents of being Cannibals. I had hope for this but unfortunately I couldn't get into this one. Instead of being more of a psychological Film, it could have been a no frills gore fest. It was more style over substance for me.

Guardian Angel

Cynthia Rothrock is a former Detective who turns into a Bodyguard after a mad woman kills her Fiancee in front of her. She is hired by a Playboy who is being targeted by the very same woman. Didn't realize it was a P/M Entertainment release and whilst I am not Rothrock's biggest fan, this is a watchable effort but not the best P/M Entertainment Film.

The Family Secret (1951)

Not to be confused with the similarly titled Hitchcock film Family Plot (1976).

The Family Secret is a fairly low key thriller starring Lee J Cobb as an attorney who finds out his son (John Derek) has killed one of his friends in a drunken argument outside a roadhouse.

Although distinctly restrained when compared to so many other Noir movies it's still a very good film. Lee J Cobb is always extremely watchable and it was good to see him in a more sympathetic role than he normally plays especially when he has to defend at the trial the man wrongly charged with the killing.

The film focuses as much on the rifts that quickly appear in father and son's life as it does the court proceedings and John Derek the actor never comes across as someone able to extract any empathy from the viewer regarding whether to do the right thing or not. Only in his scenes with secretary and love interest Leigh (An excellent Jody Lawrance) did he exhibit any sensitivity.

Despite this i rather enjoyed The Family Secret. I'd never seen it before, nor heard of it so it was quite an enjoyable surprise.

Now here's the daft part. The Family Secret is part of Indicator's six film Columbia Noir Bogart box set. It was one of three films in the set i'd never seen so grabbed it as it made it's way out of the box first and low and behold Bogey's not actually in it at all. :lol:

He's definitely in the other five though.

The Amityville Murders. 2018.

On the night of 13th November 1974 Ronald "Butch" Defeo Jr shot and killed his parents and four siblings while they slept and claimed voices told him to do it, this film shows the lead up to the night of the murder.

This film re-unites Burt Young and Diane Franklin who appeared in Amityville II as father and daughter, in this they are playing father and daughter again but in a different family. Paul Ben-Victor plays Ronald Sr and from interviews with Jr it depects how Sr was controlling and a bully to the family and wasn't shy in being a spouse hitter, it also shows how he may seem calm one minute and then turn in a blink of a eye.

John Robinson steps in the role of Butch, who took the high calibre rifle and killed his family in cold blood, during the shooting one or two things do happen that can leave you questioning whether or not it actually happened. There is also mentioning of Butch's drug use which can have you thinking did he kill his family while high and thought he was hearing voices or was he clear headed and heard the voices...who knows.

The structure of the house is the same as The original and not the remake which is a good touch and does take you back to how the first Amityville film looked so the makers done a decent job re-creating the set piece with everything that was available back then. This isn't a masterpiece, parts of it looks made up and interesting, there is real pictures shown at the end of the family in happy times and ones shown after they were killed so that can be upsetting for some.

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The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black (2000)

A very enjoyable science fiction horror movie that although wildly derivative - It borrows from Starship Troopers (1997) with it's bugs vs humans in a base under siege trappings not to mention Aliens (1986) and most definitely John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) in which prisoners team up with their guards, in this case Vin Diesel's convict Riddick, to defeat the outside hordes trying to get in - has enough about it to still be a blast.

Director David Twohy sets out his characters immediately even though the opening scenes of the ship crashing onto what seems an uninhabited planet are really clunky and it's when Riddick is set free that the action levels ramp up in fast and furious fashion.

Radha Mitchell leads the supporting players and she's really good as is Farscape's Claudia Black, whilst Cole Hauser's bounty hunter is the bastard you expect him to be and Keith David's devoutly religious priest an almost Obi Wan (Guinness not McGregor) type. So far so cliched.

It's the premise that makes the film enjoyable, well the premise and Diesel's star power in his break out role. The planet's three suns that keep it in perpetual daylight - some lovely tinted camera work throughout the films first half - until those three suns go down at the same time and leave the planet in total darkness. It's quietly inventive with a couple of stand out shocks and ensures the cliches whilst clearly noticeable can be ignored in what is a rip roaring science fiction action B-movie.

A film I haven't watched in many years. I always found it a bit overrated to be honest. I kept waiting for 'it' to happen and nothing really did. I prefer the sequel, Chronicles of Riddick. Never seen the third installment.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po1HJbmow0g

Married couple Gene Davis and Alec Baldwin end up dead but that's only the beginning of there troubles when a family move into their home , not knowing what too do they unwittingly seek the help of beetlejuice ( Micheal Keaton in one of his most iconic roles). Vintage Burton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ2j4oWdQtU


A fat hobbit spends his time looking for some one eyed willy with his friends and brother Thanos. A product of its time and a film that people either love or hate.


Now watching for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF7JH_54d8c


Followed by . Which also not seen before

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofxtDrRVQY4

Casablanca and Cool Hand Luke. You are watching some classics this Easter, Trebor. :clap: :pop2:

Also planning to watch these this Easter. Probably won't get through them all.


Wizard of Oz
Singing in the Rain
Court jester
East of Eden
Giant
Rebel without a cause
Ben Hur
Unforgiven
Father goose
To catch a thief
Sahara

Maybe but he watched Goonies too.

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Candyman (1992)

Bernard Rose's brilliantly crafted horror which looks into the myth of an urban legend of the Candyman who will murderously appear when you say his name five times whilst looking into a mirror.

Whilst that aspect of the film seemed rather creepy at the films original time of release in the early nineties, thirty years later it's pretty cringe inducing as it's an idea which has been done to death in the intervening decades since.

Despite this Candyman remains a compelling film. Even though Tony Todd's, who is terrific by the way, title character has gone down as a horror film great, Rose keeps the film refreshingly gimmick free as he ratchets up the tension.

Watching it again after several years it really came across as a very adult and intelligent film in it's study of psychological fear with the excellent Virginia Madsen at the center of it all seemingly abandoned by all around her and left to fend for herself against the hook handed supernatural entity.

Candyman is a film I enjoyed much much more on my second viewing many years after the first. That was the thing that really struck me. It just felt like Virginia Madsens character was so so alone. Isolated while surrounded by other characters.

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