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Absolutely not true. Jan Svankmajer and Tex Avery are two of my very favourite film-makers. I just have an issue with how Japanese animation looks. It's that simple. Hey, I liked Perfect Blue, despite the look. Also there was nothing in it that wouldn't have worked in a live action rendering. And I might have connected with the characters better had it been live action. It was that kind of story. |
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Robocop, Total recall and starship troopers are three great sci-fi films imo, helped very much by Verhovens sensibilitys. (though ed neumeirs scripts for robocop and starship troopers deserve a lot of credit as well) |
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SATAN'S BLOOD - Seventies satanic smut with square Spanish couple held captive in household of swinging devil worshippers. Orgiastic nudity, ad hoc sex assaults and dog murder all follow. Despite the fairly conventional set up, this film has something strange going on. A well developed looming atmosphere, the constant presence of an evil doll, dog bowl licking villains and, craziest of all, the random eruption of a desiccated crocodile from a cupboard LIKE A MASSIVE COCK JOKE FOR NO REASON AT ALL. The whole thing is simultaneously hysterical and coolly rendered. My second viewing, and I much preferred it this time around. It felt a couple of notches down from the insane weirdness you always want obscure Euro-horror to be, but, realistically, given the options, it's near enough to the source to work for those who want. MERMAID IN A MANHOLE - My favourite G-Pig. Crazy artist finds a mermaid in a sewer, nominates her as his muse and takes her home for a live drawing sesh only to find that she degenerates into a seething bag of puss and worms. Really, I can't say fairer than that, can I? It doesn't matter whether it's good or not, its sheer conceptual scumminess trancends any notion of cinema. This is film with all the form and content of a pustule (with a worm inside it). The fact that its actually-quite-competent-to-the point-of-being-pedestrian rendering is undercut by stabs at poetry (the rotting mermaid bleeds the colours artist guy needs to paint her death - how cruel is life? How cruel is art?) just adds another layer of bonkersness to it all. In spite of any intended eloquence, the film really only exists to show a violent slurry of foetid decay imagery. Screamingly pretentious but really just in it for the horrible shit - I wonder why I like it so much? |
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The Gray Man - 2007 US d: Scott Flynn A remarkably well realised period biopic of deranged murderer Albert Fish and the hunt to track him down. The detail gone to in reconstructing Depression-era America on what is clearly not a huge budget is nothing short of amazing. It is also filmed magnificently, it's a visual pleasure. There's no gore or on-screen murder, none of Fish's cannibalism is shown and the film is all the more powerful for it, in this case. On could argue that the extent of Fish's depravity is glossed over, but the expertly woven atmosphere here leaves you in no doubt as the the unhinged nature of the man. Seeing how his sickness affects his family too adds a wallop. It's not bang on accurate to the realities of the actual case, but it is closer than many such films, and what deviation from the facts there is is not drastic nor does it diminish (or embellish) the impact that this is based upon truth. Patrick Bachau gives a super performance as Fish and Jack Conley gives a multi-dimensional noirish turn as the missing persons detective who had the case. The supporting cast are also aptly chosen and fit perfectly. I was very impressed by this true crime story. It is really creepy and gets right under your skin. As such it is as much a horror film as it is a biographical drama. And all told with the discreet chilling skill of a Tourneur. |
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