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#2351
16th October 2009, 11:27 AM
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#2352
16th October 2009, 06:44 PM
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Picked up Zombie's Halloween and Splinter from ASDA tonight cheap.  |
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#2353
16th October 2009, 07:34 PM
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 i got today/yesterday driller killer 2 disc maniac cop 2 return of the living dead 2 the crazies the wax mask gomorrah demon wind lich flesh for the beast death bed paraniod hell asylum blood sabbath the dead one satans little helper |
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#2354
17th October 2009, 02:49 PM
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| "Doghouse" Vince (Stephen Graham) is going through a nasty divorce and needs some good old brotherly love from his mates. So his best friends Neil (Danny Dyer) and Mikey (Noel Clarke) arranges for Vince and four other friends to take a boozy lads holiday to an isolated village called ‘Woodley’ where the women outnumber the men 4 to 1 and where they can stay at the house of Mikey’s Nan. But when they arrive at the forest-ringed village they find the 4 to 1 ratio of women to men has grown a bit wider as it seems the only people alive in ‘Moodley’ now are the women…mutated, psychotic, man-hating, cannibal women. And they're very hungry…. Hold the phone! Stop the presses! Jake West has not only made a good film at last…he’s made a very good film! After the tragic, embarrassing, Goth guff of “Razor Blade Smile”, the inane, swamped by crap acting, boredom of “Evil Aliens”, the admittedly hard grafting Mr West has finally directed a film that’s actually worth all the hard work he obviously puts into his projects. I’ve always been hard on Jake West as his films always came off as the worst example of what low budget British horror movies can be like. All seemed lost. But now, because Jake has finally got some good writers and actors to create his genuinely interesting visions with, he has delivered a great horror-comedy romp that can stand proudly next to many other recent British horror successes. With his biggest budget yet and solid actors to deliver some choice dialogue West gives us a fast-moving, astute, wonderfully politically incorrect splatter comedy that offers great no nonsense entertainment. And away from the fun, gory, action it is the acting that makes the film so watchable. Professional cockney wide boy Danny Dyer is in top form as the blatantly misogynistic Neil and although Dyer at first seems to be playing up to his mostly off-set (he actually very rarely plays such arrogant roles in his films) laddish oath persona, the screenplay (by comic book writer Dan Schaffer) gives him some great chances to break down this persona and Dyer astutely handles his character’s shifting perspectives. Perspectives that deliver one of the best lines in the film (in a film full of great lines) when the new caring Neil is criticised by his friends, “This is not the time to stop objectifying women”! The ever welcome Stephen Graham makes Vince extremely likeable and Graham brings his customary drive and energy to the role mixing humour and small moments of drama perfectly. Of the rest of the cast Lee Ingleby is given the choicest role as the comic/film memorabilia shop owner Matt and does a great job. He also delivers a lovely signposted nod to the ‘are they zombies’ arguments, that films such as “Doghouse” still bring up between fans, when discussing an “Evil Dead” comic with a disrespecting school boy. As just as they were really possessed people in “The Evil Dead” not zombies, the cannibal women in “Doghouse” are infected by a virus and not actually zombies. Let a “28 Days Later” battle commence! Everyone else does a grand job and there is a nice support role for movie hard man Terry Stone, as a mysterious soldier, who has certainly improved since his work in “Rollin' with the Nines” and handles some top comedy scenes perfectly. He also gets to have a fun (if gory) reunion with his “Rise of the Footsoldier" co-star Billy Murray, who has a fun cameo. The film looks good and professional too. Again a big jump from the amateur school play horrors of “Razor Blade Smile”. Some nice use of music, effective cinematography and well staged action ensure we have little from a technical viewpoint to take us out of the movie. The only real negative points are some very false looking rooftop/house sets used for some sequences. The ‘Zombirds’ are fun and varied and are essentially played as a genuine threat despite the black comic aspect of many of them as far as appearance goes. The film has lots of fun playing with genre conventions while adding slapstick silliness, genuine excitement and crude laughs to the plentiful blood and gore on display. Said gore may not be constant and never reaches crazy levels, but all the FX are well crafted, nicely messy, highly effective and perfectly edited (by West) into the action at just the right time, to boost the film when needed. The screenplay may not be original and we have to face it that “Doghouse” owes a debt to “Shaun of the Dead”. But thankfully West and Schaffer play out many of these similarities with “Shaun” rather differently and even their own ‘let’s pretend we’re zombies’ sequence manages to become its own beast and delivers some good laughs, for longer than the similar scene from “Shaun” did, even if the basic concept is much broader in its humour. Where the film really becomes its own film is the delightfully rare and un-pc way it mixes the ‘zombie’ action into the basic idea of 21st century men being emasculated, trained and played by many of the women in their life and more explicitly the way they are made to behave and think in today’s metro sexual environment. Much of the dialogue from Neil (even if some occasionally crosses the line into ignorant insults) amusingly picks out the trouble men have at trying be good old fashioned fun loving blokes whilst all the time being told they have to be responsible and mature and it's a problem right at the heart of the plot’s basic set-up. But it’s all done in a fun way, and while women in the film come off pretty bad (the women in the guy’s lives are shown to be just as screamingly driven and scary as their later ‘zombie’ counterparts) the film also takes a few swipes (via Dyer’s Neil and his various ‘zombie’ encounters) at frustrated men going too far and turning into disrespectful idiots. But at its heart this is an explicitly male dominated film, mainly aimed at a male audience and full of ‘reclaiming your balls’ posturing and speech making. All of which not only works as far as entertainment goes but is wonderfully rare and welcome. Hell, an example of this is that the screenplay has West’s aforementioned lead actress Emily Booth (despite her pretty prominent billing) only appear as an unrecognisable ‘Zombird’ and is given no dialogue at all. Instead she simply snarls and waves some lethal looking scissors around. But this could be her best performance ever, so everyone’s a winner. A few plot mechanics are laboured (what little isolated English village has a Goth/Alternative shop, a large toy store and its own dental practice and mortuary?) and the ‘virus’ plan is never fully covered which makes for a few head scratching plot moments. Plus the ending suffers from a foolish slow down of pace as it plays out a rather silly scene involving Dyer and a button and the finale seems very rushed and gives us a rather abrupt ending. Seems they ran out of film or something, as some kind of epilogue would have finished things off perfectly. These small problems aside though, “Doghouse” is a straightforward, well acted, good time, horror-comedy blast delivered with a professional sheen but still with a rough ‘n’ tumble exuberance that keeps the energy flowing and the fun coming. Definitely check this out. And if Jake West can deliver a couple more films like this…All is forgiven. |
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#2355
17th October 2009, 03:53 PM
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Watched the Rollerball remake on cable and really enjoyed it. I'll definetly be buying it next time im in town. |
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#2356
17th October 2009, 05:22 PM
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Watched Barry Lyndon last night. It was a really clever film with some excellent parts. But VERY slow! And now I've just put on Lawrence Of Arabia too - hopefully it'll be as good as they say. 
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#2357
17th October 2009, 09:04 PM
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I just watched the Odeon release of "A Candle For The Devil". I thought it was a great film - nothing too fancy, just an efficient horror thriller with a few pokes at Catholic repression. Made up to have seen it finally. The DVD itself though is harder to recommend. Flat 16:9 from an awful source print - scratched, faded, pops a-plenty on the soundtrack, some hiss etc. It didn't bother me nor will it bother anyone else who gerw up with VHS copies of copies! The film wins out over the presentation though. I really did like it. Not sure what to watch next...I have a LOT of DVDs to catch up with... |
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#2358
17th October 2009, 09:05 PM
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| "Them" The best of the 50's 'Atomic Terror' flicks and one that still works today. Some wonderfully creepy early scenes (with that great 'ant noise' providing some really unnerving moments) nice performances, great finale and really effective FX work that manages to pack a punch (even though the huge ant models don't look very real) because these are real solid creatures being really attacked by real people using real flamethrowers. As such the action scenes, even 55 years later, are vastly more satisfying than any CGI fart fest made now. Love the fact the stunning DVD transfers have the original full colour title card as well, unseen since cinema screenings as far as I know. "Kibakichi" Jolly enjoyable Japanese japes in the form of a werewolf Samurai who befriends a village of mystical Japanese creatures (from Turtle monsters to Spider Geishas) under threat from beastly humans in fetish gear with a gatling gun! Madness! Barmy as only the Japanese can be, this is full of crazy sights and packs bundles of fun into he full on finale. Early spurting comic strip bloodshed ala "Baby Cart" sadly vanishes until the end (with the other fights being strangely bloodless) but then the gore comes back with a vengeance as Kibakichi leaps around slashing off limbs. Wacky creatures, Samurai coolness, solid action, very nice soundtrack and Spaghetti Western styling mixed with Japanese mythos all makes for a very enjoyable watch. Needs a much better DVD transfer though!! |
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#2359
17th October 2009, 09:08 PM
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Yeah, always like this, Judy Geeson is always welcome and the strange mix of Euro Trash sexploitation, English mystery thriller and American style 'sinister diner' plot works well. Plus we have pubes. So all is well. |
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#2360
21st October 2009, 09:43 AM
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Halloween 3 Season of the Witch This is a movie I hated when I was younger mainly due to the lack of Michael Myers. Kinda felt cheated so I never gave it a chance. Anyway, this is really great horror film. Loads of jumps, lots of tension and some decent gore. Everything you need. It also has one of the funniest things I've seen in a horror, there's a part where our 2 heroes are trying to get past some of the baddies so they push a trolley with loads of masks past them, you can see the feet scurrying under the trolley, all very Scooby Doo!  Great ending in it too |
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