I got my ticket booked for Dune Part 2 for tonight :pop2:

Animals (2008)

Marc Blucas plays a down and out former football player fired from his job on a building site when he comes into contact with the gorgeous Nicki Aycox in a local dive bar (much to the annoyance of waitress Eva Amurri), a young woman with shape shifting abilities on the run from a former lover (Naveen Andrews) who is out for blood.

A direct to dvd take on well, i'm not sure actually. Shape shifters generally means wolves in the horror sense but they were more vampires here until the CGI finale where they became strange blurry creatures scrapping in a woefully edited way.

The bulk of the film is made up of Blucas and Aycox building their relationship. When i say that i mean f*cking. Almost none stop. You can barely go a scene in the middle third of the movie without seeing her breasts bouncing or his arse thrusting away.

That said they don't really make films like this anymore and it was quite refreshing seeing tv stars (Blucas, Aycox, Amurri and Andrews are all better known for their tv work than films*) shedding their inhibitions in this sexy, gory and fun creature f*ck fest.

One of those films that i've seen a couple of times now over the years and left long enough between viewings is a decent time waster.

*Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, Californication, Lost

Knight and Day (2010)

Tom Cruise plays a rogue agent on the run from the CIA who meets Cameron Diaz on a routine flight and the pair end up on a globetrotting cat and mouse chase.

Basically this is Ethan Hunt on his holidays with Diaz in tow on a North By Northwest style adventure and it's so much fun. Although the plot is in a way superfluous to the wild action packed ride and gloriously juicy dialogue, director James Mangold somehow keeps everything in check and just the right side of madcap.

Think the Cary Grant / Audrey Hepburn movie Charade with relentless action, a breezy tone and Cruise and Diaz both charming to a tee.

Hugely enjoyable once again this third time round.

Marc Blucas has a small role as Diaz's fireman boyfriend but unlike Animals (above) he's not naked half the time.

I read Naked Lunch around the time the film came out, it's completely different, a random collection of vignettes, loosely following William Lee who is a version of Burroughs. It features characters that appear in the film like Dr Benway and involves Interzone and the black market, but is more of a stream of consciousness than a narrative novel.
I've also read Cities of the Red night by Burroughs which is fairly similar, he's a fascinating writer but you really have to just take in the style and imagery he throws on to the page, as some of his ideas and thoughts are pretty outrageous,violent,darkly sexual and scatalogical. As such the novel could never be filmed as it reads.

I'm pretty sure Cronenberg has cited Burroughs as a major influence on him, with parasitical organs and psychic organisations featuring in Burroughs work, so the film is like a hybrid crossbreeding of their styles.

The film is kind of Cronenberg taking the essence and ideas in the novel and combining it with Burroughs own life. The "William Tell routine" is directly based on an incident where he killed his wife in a drunken party game.
Burroughs was addicted to heroin most of his adult life, so the bug powder directly reflects this, he also experimented with the cut up technique of writing, where he would cut up words and sentences and reassemble them as a way to open up abstract thought and a kind of automatic writing.

I'm pretty sure i read he said he couldn't recollect writing the novel.

Internet was twatting about so accidentally posted same thing twice.

Dune Part Two.

Denis Villeneuve managed to prove himself as one of the most promising filmmakers when he took the helm to make Dune. A book that was tough to make for David Lynch, yet Denis managed to go with it. In this chapter he goes deep within the story of fighting and survival and leading a army for revenge. The visual effects are stunning, the pace of the film is a bit slow but you still get immersed in the story line. Austin Butler takes on the role that was previously played by Sting in the original and makes him more menacing and psychotic. Certainly worth watching.

Attachment 250220

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD - A woman wanders in the shadows of a derelict abbey. The camera prowls or is still, feeding us crumbling arches and licheny buttresses - this feels like ruin porn. Then the wind moans as that bell tolls in slow motion - Tombs Of The Blind Dead', I'm under your spell. Wow, I'd completely forgotten how much I dig this one. I'm stating the obvious, but it's such a Eurohorror highlight, pure mouldering atmosphere incarnate. Beyond a creaky plot about moderns ignorant of the curse of the past, TOTBD feels like a dreamwards descent into dark mist. The nuts and bolts are all in place; De Ossorio really knows what makes a weird tale weird. He's careful to cultivate an air of mystery by way of the forgotten town no-one talks about, the locals who are all a bit furtive about why that train won't stop, the feeling of conspiracy that lingers in the shade beside the swimming pool. But so much of this is about imagery, for TOTBD makes such indelible impressions. If everyone remembers the living dead on horseback, riding through the twilight in slow motion, there's also the leering morgue assistant beneath his swinging lampshade, the toad in a pool of blood, the mannequin factory bathed in pulsing red neon. When The Blind Dead drink the blood of their victims, it's like they're suckling - ugh! This is backed by a woozy soundtrack made up of chanting, organ, bells and musique concrete. Glancing weaknesses mostly involve bits of investigation and 'procedural' that ring a bit perfunctory. Even these are full of sly inversions - De Ossorio sets up an encounter that looks like it'll send things off in a blaze of heroics, but all thoughts of tough guys saving the day are upended when one of them turns out to be foul rapist and the other spends ages trying to get through a door only to have his arm lopped off! There's a nihilistic wit at work alongside the sepulchral vibes. But what vibes. And what a horrible ending!

THE PRICE WE PAY - The price we pay is that in our world of A24, there can be no real torture porn. "Nah", said Ryuhei Kitamura as he spat in the eyes of the tastemakers. He went on to make 'The Price We Pay', an instant hit of nostalgia for anyone whose warm memories include 99p Cex pick-ups of mid noughts sub-'Hostel' slush. Kitamura has made a few interesting films. I quite like 'Midnight Meat Train' even if it does butcher the Barker, but my fave has to be the semi-delirious 'No One Lives', a film brimming with thunderous gore and OTT neo-noirism. 'The Price We Pay' is a bit weak. The things that signpost a possible good time - brisk, no nonsense set up, brute violence in a cellar, a female Leatherface who keeps making coo-ing sounds - fade out into bland theatrics and a cult leader who seems a bit like Richard Branson. It's alright - but is THAT alright?

Going to watch it next week... hopefully at the IMAX :pop2:

Read the book when I was a teenager, and loved it. The first part, despite not presenting the two juvenile leads quite how I imagined them, really captured the essence of the book.

Yes I'm sure I heard that as well and when he went to read it he had no idea wtf it was all about and struggle to understand it. Or something along those lines, cos like stated he wrote when on drugs.

The Black Room (1935)

A pair of identical twins are plagued by a curse that foretells that," just as the family began with the elder twin killing the younger, so it shall end".

Boris Karloff shows his acting class in this film where he has a dual role as two identical brothers, one good and one evil as sin. Naturally we root for the decent and sympathetic brother but Karloff plays Gregor, a proper Mr. nasty, with glee.

The Black Room is a delightful macabre Gothic romp featuring murder and secret torture chambers. The black room in question is a deep pit with spikes at the bottom where the evil Gregor dumps the bodies of local girls once he has had his way with them.

It must be noted that the special effects in this film are excellent. Karloff is frequently on screen in both roles and the picture is seamless. Although the film was made by Columbia rather than Universal, the films sets are just as pleasing to the eye, lovely east European villages, stunning mansions and beautiful set design all add up to produce a finely crafted seventy minutes of entertainment

I have that one in Eurekas, Karloff at Columbia set that you've just picked up Dem. I have to be honest I didn't think much of it all. Much preferred a few of the so called Mad Scientist films in the set.

What's not to like?

Gothic castles, torture chambers, spiked pits, an evil Karloff, torch wielding mobs, a dog that saves the day...

Didn't find it especially gothic. Nor was evil Karloff particularly evil. Can't really recall the mobs. It was all a bit too period melodrama for me.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

The mobs were there or thereabouts all film. From jeering and attacking the good brother on his return by mistake to chasing the evil Karloff back to the castle.

Maybe I'll try it again. I found it a bit dull to be honest. Although weirdly I've just looked it up on imdb and I could have sworn Charles Laughton was in it.

Goldeneye (1995)

What an introduction to Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in what is arguably the finest film in the entire series. The plot, which sees Bond up against 006 (Sean Bean) and the Janus crime syndicate and their attempt to control the Goldeneye - a secret Russian satellite weapon - flows beautifully and before you know it the first hour is gone.

Judi Dench as the latest M (a role she would hold across the next six films) is excellent and her abrupt appraisal of Bond as a 'sexist, misogynist dinosaur' is brilliantly cutting as the series came to terms with modern sensibilities yet despite their apparent dislike for one another there's a definite respect between the pair. Brosnan meanwhile appears born for the role and is a more comfortable fit than predecessor Timothy Dalton (Who incidentally i also like even if the critics weren't so impressed).

The action sequences are terrific, especially a tank chase through the streets of St. Petersburg, and the finale which takes place in Cuba in a hidden base concealed beneath a lake would once have been an all action assault by armed forces on the villains is strictly a two man showdown as Brosnan and Bean fight it out on the huge dish.

It would be blase to suggest Goldeneye is better than the few films previous as the two directly prior, especially License to Kill (1989), are also top tier Bond, however it could be suggested that Casino Royale (2006) aside it's never been equaled since.

The kitchen,

About a urban concrete jungle where the governments wants everyone out,
Starts of where a bunch of bikers hijack a van who delivering food there as a way to stop things going in and forcing them out,
Sadly that was as about as exciting as it gets, I stopped around 1hr 15min, wether anything else happends I don't know I didn't bother to find out,
All they did was go around their daily lives, just general chit chatting, eating that type of thing,
Every morning some radio bloke wakes everyone over the speakers at 7 am.

The film is decent and well made acted etc, but I feel it was a missed opportunity with this one, I felt like it was going nowhere and didn't stick around to find out because it didn't come across as if there was any build-up leading to something.

Not sure if can recommend it, but if anyone has seen it let me know if anything does happen towards the end please.

Just watched the second part of the new Dune, it was a bit of a struggle. I'm pretty obsessive about the Lynch adaption and I often find this new cinema take quite po-faced and often risible. Examples of that would be the desert walk seeming quite silly, the current take on the Baron and when characters use the voice. It reminds me of when I watched Red Dragon after first seeing Manhunter. Sorry.

I'll probably end up picking up a bd copy at a cheap price (like I eventually did with the first one). My wife hasn't seen these and I should imagine that if I'm struggling, that will be amplified for her. I realise that I'm a minority voice here. I'm still not sure how the brilliant Blade Runner sequel tanked at the box office yet these have done so well.

New Town Killers

One psychopathic Banker and a Assistant hunt a young adult in Scotland for 12 hours. The title of this Film was bugging me until I saw it another Thread. Anyway I thought it was quite tense in places however I felt it was ruined when the hunted just happened to be a Computer Expert instead of using his street smarts but it's definitely worth a watch.

Evil Dead Trap

Japanese Horror which sees a late night TV Host get sent a mysterious Videotape in which a woman is Murdered, so she and her team go to the building where it happened but they start getting Murdered themselves. This had a promising start however the Supernatural elements ruined it for me, just wished that it was more grounded like 8mm. Some good gore effects though.

V/H/S 94

Another Horror Anthology, this time a SWAT team uncovers the mysterious Videotapes. I'd say this had some better stories than some of the previous instalments especially the Mad Doctor one but the plot twist at the end would have made for a good story.

Oh what happened to this site that it went down for a couple of days, think I saw a message about a new server.

Sorority Row (2009)

A remake of The House on Sorority Row (1983) except it is actually a remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1987).

Somewhere just after the midway mark Rumer Willis says "Oh; This is really dumb". She wasn't kidding either.

If you even think about this film for a moment it's a disaster but if you can disengage your brain for ninety minutes, somewhere there's a reasonable slasher in there with a half decent cast of also-rans, as well as the always value for money Carrie Fisher, and has some inventive murder sequences which allow a sizable dose of tension to build up as it's finale nears.

Just don't think about how we get to the fiery finale if you can.

I enjoyed that one myself :lol:

Sleepless. 2001.

Max Von Sydow is the police detective hunting down a killer, 17 years later, now retired the killings start again. He teams with a amateur sleuth Stefano Dionisi who Max had promised to find the killer back in the day. The city of Turin is the setting for this movie and shows us why Dario is the master of the modern day Giallo genre, The creepy atmosphere right from the start with a bloodied body, Max showing empathy towards the young boy and then thrown back in to the deep end. Then it becomes a good game of cat and mouse with twist and turns mixed with Argento's flare for the gruesome killings that never disappoint. Been trying to find a decent release and managed it and certainly not disappointed.

Attachment 250244

If you can, it's worth checking out in Italian. It's a shame to loose the Max von Sydow voice but it's a much better experience. A good example is the killer raving/ranting to the prostitute at the beginning of the film, it sounds much more sinister in Italian. btw My wife previously always thought that one of the actresses gave a terrible performance until I showed her that version (then she realised it was just because of a dodgy English dub).

Will give that a checking out :thankingyou:

Devil's Pass. 2013.

A group of students head into Russia to research a mystery known as The Dyatlov Pass Incident.

This is one of those true incidents that happened in 1959 and to this day nobody can explain what exactly happened except some theories, yet somehow here we are with another found footage film. Students with up to date technology and camera's that never seem to run out of battery life...where can I get one of those type of camera's. The premise of the story is built up well, the back story, a lone survivor who has lost his mind ( someone from the original party did feel unwell and did return back to the mainland). There is thrown in The Philadelphia Experiment that was re-created by the Russians and a military/government cover up for the plot in this but was a bit of a let down for the finale.

Attachment 250246

I dug Sleepless and Trauma out to watch, thanks to MrBarlow's review, seeing as i haven't watched them in years.

It's a shame i must have got rid of my original US version of Sleepless when the Arrow release came out, as that might have had the Italian track on it. The Arrow doesn't going off the back of the case.

Pretty sure that US release of Sleepless was the first Argento i bought on dvd.

I have the Arrow 'Neo-Giallo' box set, and the version of 'Sleepless' it contains is only the English dub version

None of the Blu-rays have an original Italian 2:0 channel track. Only 5:1 which is a pity.

At least the Arrow dvd has a 2:0 English track as well as 5:1.

I?ve never seen Sleepless, I?ve had the DVD since the arrow release in the white box with the reversible artwork came out.

A film you obviously really wanted then? ;)

I bought it and then people were saying it was no good so I never got around to watching it haha. Funny it?s a habit I still have, desperately wanting to buy discs and then I lose interest in them before even watching them haha.

I keep seeing the box and thinking to myself is it now? And then putting it back with a no haha.

As i mentioned i haven't seen it for years but i recall it being really good. There was a murder scene at the beginning on a train that was a standout.

I'm going to watch it tonight. As i recall it's superior to Trauma and all the gialli that followed.

It's quite good, well worth checking out. Certainly worth watching at least the opening train murder. Goblin soundtrack is superb and it's wonderful to hear them once again paired with Dario Argento. Only downsides are the constant references to prior Argento works, comes across as a greatest hits package at times (maybe that's not a bad thing?). Probably not surprising after the backlash to Phantom of the Opera. And a certain puppet thing baffles me slightly.

Edit: Carpet shot is as good as it gets.

I've pulled it out of the collection and into the ever expanding watch pile so I will get around to it sooner rather than later.

There Will Be Blood. 2007.

Daniel Day-Lewis gives out another great performance where simple folk are easily hoodwinked by smooth silver tongue talking people brandishing money for their land one price that is sold for more money and shows industrialism and capitalism can be a dirty thing. First time seeing this and got no idea what to really make of it. The acting and direction is good but you got no idea if you are rooting for anyone, two and half hours might be a bit much for this one but a second glance may not hurt.

Attachment 250247

"I drink your milkshake!" :cool:

Sounds like the third film on a triple bill with I Drink Your Blood and I Eat Your Skin. :D

The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)

Boris Karloff plays Dr. Savaard: a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is unjustly hanged for murder, he is brought back to life by his trusted assistant. The now rejuvenated Savaard sets about exacting revenge on the judge and jury who saw him executed.

A hugely enjoyable mad scientist movie with Karloff in fine form. The second half of the film takes place in Savaard's mansion as he invites those he wishes to kill to the house at a set date and time. Once the group are in place the film plays out like a precursor to the Saw series as the out of sight Savaard manipulates his victims and kills them in all manner of elaborate ways.

Sleepless (2001)

Max Von Sydow plays a retired police detective who teams up with a young amateur sleuth to track down a serial killer who's resumed a killing spree in Turin, Italy after a 17-year period.

Dario Argento's return to the giallo genre is a hit and miss affair. Mainly because it never bests its opening twenty minutes featuring the brutal murder of a woman on a train. It's a sequence that's every bit as good as anything Argento's created in the past and sadly the rest of the production just can't compete despite the welcome presence of Von Sydow.

Although there are some smart gory murder set pieces throughout the film as well as some trademark Argento camera work it feels a little been there done that as well and it's not helped by being far too long at two hours and also sporting that tv movie look that plagued some films around this time.

Having said all that Sleepless is an enjoyable film in it's own right and it would be more than welcome on UK Blu-ray.

I should also mention the Arrow dvd from which i saw this film once again. It looks awful with a judder which can't be ignored. A judder incidentally which is nowhere to be seen in clips from the film in the accompanying docs.

Wonka

Story of how Wonka started into Chocolate Making however he encounters The Chocolate Cartel, a Crooked Policeman and a Hotel Owner and Henchman who forces him into labor. This is excellent with Timothee Chalamet in the title role who portrays the trusting Wonka well but it's Olivia Colman and Tom Davis who steal the show has the mean Labor Masters.

VHS 85

Another Anthology Series this time it features a boy who stares at the TV, a Natural Disaster in Mexico, a VR Show and a Lake Skiing adventure which ends suddenly. This one was ok, some stories take their time to get going but there is that sense that something will happen suddenly and 2 of the stories merge.

Rumble Through The Dark

Aaron Eckhart is a washed up Bare Knuckle Boxer who is trying to raise the cash to save his Foster Mother's home but has to fight one last time in order to save it. This isn't your typical Fight Film as it's more storyline based but it isn't bad. Bella Thorne co-stars along with Marianne Jean Baptiste who plays the mean Loan Shark really well.