What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Slippery Jack]

The Devils

The sound of ‘why haven’t I watched this before now?!!?’ face-palming throughout this one.

Utterly brilliant, I think I was unprepared for just how well made it all was. With all these films with a sleazy reputation, for some reason I always expect the final product to be scuzzy and rough around the edges. This was on par with Jordorowsky! Insane how pertinent the plot is too. I was watching open mouthed when you had the scenes of the ‘State’ in their huge room holding records on everyone (a little like… the internet…?), scouring through it to find evidence to twist to falsely incriminate their dissenting suspect.

Dazzling performances across the board. I don’t think I’ve seen Ollie Reed better in anything. Think my favourite performance was Dudley Sutton as the scheming Baron. Another thing I wasn’t expecting was how damn funny it was! The first half especially had several belly laughs – the alligator plague cure straight out of Monty Python! I’ve stocked up my rental list with the remaining early-Russell I’ve yet to see.

My head’s still spinning from all the stuff I loved about it, so I’ll stop waffling now . . .

[JoshuaKaitlyn]

Originally Posted by Laban

The second DVD I ever brought! (Still got it!) The first being Armageddon!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by JoshuaKaitlyn

The second DVD I ever brought! (Still got it!) The first being Armageddon!

I'm not sure which was the first DVD I bought, but the first two I owned were Armageddon (the flipper) and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels which were bought for me as presents. Even though I haven't watched them in many years (and will probably never watch Armageddon again), I still have them and won't get rid of them because of sentimental value and they are only worth pennies.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Getting back on topic; at the weekend I went to the cinema twice, once to watch Man of Steel and then to see Behind the Candelabra.

Stephen Soderbergh's film about Liberace was easily the best, boasting a career-best performance from Michael Douglas, one of Matt Damon's finest performances, superb production design, costumes and make-up, a really good script and extent, understated direction. I'm not sure why the studios thought it was 'too gay' as there was a real cross-section of society in the cinema and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Man of Steel had some great scenes with Kevin Costner (playing Clark Kent's father) and they were easily the best parts of the film. Where it fell down were during the action sequences which felt overlong and uninvolving because they were fights between two indestructible beings, who seemed to destroy half of Manhattan whilst they were settling their differences. These took up just about all of the final act during which I was bored.

[trebor8273]

Saturday went to see man of steel and all I can say is epic the superman movie I have wanted since I was a child. Also watched black sabbath and baron blood this weekend, enjoyed both but actual liked baron blood more.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

Couldn't disagree more in my opinion. I found it better than the first in nearly everyway.

Each to their own, I prefer it when my horror films are scary etc.....

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

I watched GREGORY'S TWO GIRLS last night. A strange mix of Operation Yew Tree type shenanigans and Noam Chomsky's politics. Weird and shit not weird shit...

It's an odd film. But at least it's a proper sequel imo. Must dig it out!!

[SCM]

On Saturday I watched Valerie and her Week of Wonders. Brilliantly done film, beautifully shot, spectacular soundtrack and images that are permanently burned into the viewers mind.
Yesterday I watched Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, another brilliant film with excellent performances by Ian Holm and Roy Scheider as well as (for me) a hell of lot of mind-f***s.

[Demoncrat]

Mutant Killer Zombies From The Hood.
Word!! C. Thomas Howell looking like he needs a good meal, bleeeached out visuals, cliched "gangsta" dialogue, monsters who shag their victims!! Sold!! Aka The Undead, Howell isn't even on the cover!! Fairly zips along at 78 minutes I found. Others may tear their hair out though....at least it had more entertainment value than that VHS 2 (which I watched again, as I always do with a new film, and even the decent stuff I mentioned in my review grated.)

[troggi]

Originally Posted by Demdike

The Goatman Murders (2011)

A group of friends end up stuck in the wilds of Maryland and fall victim to the legendary Goatman.

Made on a small budget, The Goatman Murders was originally released Stateside as Deadly Detours in 2011. Although it was made on a budget of under $10,000 the film has so much going for it. After a fairly basic couple of opening murders we are at the mercy of the amateur actors on their way to Florida. For half an hour. This could have been the stuff of nightmares in its own right, however the acting comes across quite naturally and the dialogue seems more ad libbed rather than scripted allowing a sense of realism, rather unlike many of this type of film with actors reading poorly written lines. In all fairness i think i've had one or two of the conversations in the film with my mates. In fact some of it was downright hilarious because of this. One scene made me laugh with more gusto than any comedy in recent memory.

Once the Goatman reappears we suddenly understand where the budget went - blood - and lots of it. The kills are inventive and on screen at all times. Ranging from an axe in the skull to an arrow through the mouth and entrails sloshing to the ground. Then it arrives, the final set piece, or as many will see it, coup de grace, as our lone survivor boards a bus of blind people out on a day trip. I'm not going to spoil what comes next, but will say that had this film come out in the early eighties the DPP may have had one or two issues with it.

The film is short. It clocks in at 65 minutes plus end credits. This isn't a problem for me if the film has made proper use of its running time, as frequently horror films can end up far too long, thankfully The Goatman Murders is a short, sharp, snappy, piece of work that doesn't need an extra twenty minutes of padding.

Its fair to say i might not have loved this as much had i not just finished the BCI Blood Bath set which features 12 films all of a similar budget to The Goatman Murders, but most were lacking this films sense of fun.

This film won't appeal to all on here, imagine Don't Go in the Woods, but more ludicrous, however those who can enjoy cheap and cheerful film making are sure to love it.

At £3 from Asda you really can't go wrong.

Glad to see that you liked it Dem, my daughter loved it too, she also nicked my spare copy of "The Slaughter" which I'm also sure she'll appreciate. Me I think that the whole world's gone mad and I'm the only sane one left!

Go on, tell me, it was the ginger willy that made you laugh, wasn't it?