What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by ReturnToZero

Jaws 4: The Revenge (1987)

The second best film in the official quadrilogy imo.

My most watched from the Jaws franchise. I used to watch that all the time as a kid, and actually saw it before the original

[ReturnToZero]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

My most watched from the Jaws franchise. I used to watch that all the time as a kid, and actually saw it before the original

I saw it the first time today actually. Totally underrated i'd say. By moving from Amity Island to Bahamas makes it less monotonous/repetitive.

[demonknight]

Watched Assault on Precinct 13 remake last night. I thought it was brilliant.
From the opening scene i was hooked and stayed hooked right through
to the end. Nice to see Brian Dennehy appear in a good movie. I remember
seeing him in quite a few movies from the 90's. He played the serial killer
John Wayne Gacy in a movie from a few years back. I can't remember
the name of it. But going back to AOP13, I would thoroughly recommend it.
Ethan Hawke and Co were superb and the two female leads provided the
eye candy, well I thought so anyway. When the movie finished I wanted to
watch the original but it was getting late. Maybe this weekend sometime.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

December 22nd

The Fiend (1972)

A man under the influence of a religious cult murders women in London. Excellent British thriller from the director of The Black Torment, Robert Hartford-Davis. Had this not been the case you would swear it was an early effort from Pete Walker as it sits comfortably alongside his films like House of Mortal Sin and Frightmare with its often uneasy blend of urban stalker horror and religion. Performances are generally excellent with the three leads Patrick Magee, Ann Todd, and Tony Beckley as the deranged killer, all excellent. The film boasts some fairly graphic sexual assaults that make a mockery of its 15 rating in my opinion.

The film's US title is Beware My Brethren and it doesn't lie. The film has heavy religious themes and is also a showcase for violent sexual repression in Beckley's case.

I don't think The Fiend is a film that all would enjoy, but anyone with a passing interest in the films of British greats Pete Walker and Norman J Warren should really check it out.


Predators (2010)

Robert Rodriguez what were you playing at? Why couldn't you have directed this film yourself? Why leave it to an almost amateur, in Nimrod Antal whose past work is, uninspired to say the least?

Predators is just as poor as AVP Requiem. It falls into the same traps. In this case though it does have a decent ish cast, but they do nothing with the material on offer. Adrien Brody is no action hero and the rest of the cast - Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins (always excellent in The Shield) and Alice Braga are given very little to work with. Danny Trejo is also in it but just goes missing after half an hour only to turn up dead a few minutes later.

Like the aforementioned debacle that was AVP Requiem the director has no idea what he has on his plate. In this case a cult sci-fi monster which graces everything from comic books to action figures and is a well known iconic figure. The world knows what a Predator looks like so why hide it away for the first two thirds of the film then only show them in shadows for the remainder, the films darkness is a real problem as you often can't make out what is happening and thus the viewer loses interest. The scenes which made the first two Predator films classics to me were the moments where the viewer got to observe the creatures, be it tending to wounds in a bathroom or observing Arnie through the trees. We got to see how they worked and how alien they were, also just how damn cool they were. So why on earth should they be shrouded in darkness in this film, the fifth to feature the creatures?

What started out interesting ultimately ended in boredom for me. It just seemed a retread of Predator without the great characterization and from a director who had nothing new to bring to the plate.

Poor.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by demonknight

Nice to see Brian Dennehy appear in a good movie. .

????

Have you never seen the magnificent Best Seller or the supremely fun FX movies?

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by Demdike

????

Have you never seen the magnificent Best Seller or the supremely fun FX movies?

No I haven't.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by demonknight

No I haven't.

Well worth checking out if you like Dennehy.

Best Seller is a must. His verbal sparring with James Woods is a joy to behold.

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by Demdike

????

Have you never seen the magnificent Best Seller or the supremely fun FX movies?

FX films are great.

[Gojirosan]

Originally Posted by Demdike

Best Seller is a must. His verbal sparring with James Woods is a joy to behold.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by PaulD

I've probably said this before but the best bit about Sinister was near the end when the main character makes the sort of logical decision normally absent from these sort of films to the point where it seems there's no way for the film to have a resolution. I loved that as it was a real antidote to the usual "just get out of the house then!" issues that usually plagued these films.

I really enjoyed Sinister but thought The Possession was very by-the-numbers. Odd that the editing was seen as experimental when I thought it was just unintentionally poor and misjudged.

I also thought Sinister was really good – I've seen it twice and will watch it several more when I receive the BD.

I completely agree with what you said about Possession as it felt like every possession movie I've ever seen only without any characters with whom I empathised or were well developed, so it was a bit like The Exorcist-Lite.