What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Creature (2011)

Toplined by Sid Haig in what is essentially a retread of his Captain Spaulding role from House of 1000 Corpses, Creature is actually an enjoyable romp in the Louisiana swamps. The Creature itself looks like a half brother of Swamp Thing or Manthing but that wasn't a problem for me as it meant the film makers used real effects and prosthetics rather than the usual CGI in their creation of Lockjaw, the beast in question.

The plot itself is one you will have seen before on many an occassion. Group of young campers pull into a ramshackle town and are warned by the dodgy looking locals - enter Sid Haig - to stay out of the swamps. Obviously their warnings go to waste as thats the first thing our intrepid heroes do. From here the story becomes a little more original with one or two surprising turns.

The film was well photographed and looked the business and the acting was fine by all concerned. Like all good drive-in horror fayre the film has its fair share of nudity and cheesiness but also a good dollop of gory splatter. If like me you are a fan of outdoors / survival horror films then Creature is one thats worth checking out.

A bit of trivia regarding the film. Creature opened in the US on 1500+ screens and grossed just over $500,000 in its single week of release. Filmed on a budget of $3m this set the record for worst ever opening in more than 1500 theatres.

[SShaw]

Escaped the sun (its too hot to sit on the balcony) this afternoon to take a look at Comedown another great entry in the recent slew of films set in or around eEnglish tower blocks and council estates.

[Frankie Teardrop]

ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST - After feeling a bit uninspired I turned to this, which I always find enlivening with its mild sleaze, cartoon splatter and general air of ludicrousness. You can't really argue with a flick that opens with dead blunt credits in red over a bad still of Manhattan whilst Throbbing Gristle style synths pulsate menacingly. Probably second only to "The Nights Of Terror" in the Italo-trash-zombie era stakes.

BLOOD CAMP THATCHER - Forgot how much I like this one. I love the way the main villain is called Thatcher just because everyone basically hated M T... full of hard boiled badness and villains who look like they should've been in a Martini advert from 1981 (and possibly were). Eccentric details like one of the fascist hunter guys having a sort-of werewolf sidekick for no reason whatsoever appeal to me to this day.

TOE TAGS - Thanks to Dem for mentioning this a few weeks back. Micro budget horror, with its inevitably shitty shot-on-video look, isn't everyone's cup of tea but generally I like that kind of stuff, particularly when it gets weird. Despite its generic cops-on-the-tail-of-slasher plotline, this manages to feel quite eccentric, mostly due to the director's insistence on using totally irrational camera angles all the time. The acting may be toe curlingly bad but 'Toe Tags' is a lot of fun, all the more so for not necessarily being played for laughs. 'Branded' by the same director is similarly baffling and entertaining.

NECROMANIAC - Another American Indie, this time of a more transgressive kind. Follows a degenerate low life who apparently kills at the behest of his companion, a dummy, and constantly spews vile racist, misogynist and homophobic rants, all of which offend my basic core beliefs and values but remain riveting none the less due to the absolutely crazed performance of the lead and the generally bizarre nature of the movie as a whole. As grimy as it gets, but too cartoon to really get under the skin in the manner of, say, 'Maniac'... mesmerising though, and almost seems to approach weird video / performance art with the demented soloing of the main character. People are probably very divided over Ron Atkins, but evidence suggests he may be a twisted genius.

GOBLET OF GORE - Quite dizzying awfulness from Andreas Schnaas. Through the years, a cursed goblet is... well, I can't be bothered, but there's lots of skanky shagging and gore. Then suddenly it gets weirdly powerful during the end section, which has an old man confronting his Nazi past. Whoever did the Eurotrash-style dubbing must've had fun. The credit sequences last about half the length of the movie. A crazed beacon of badness, but probably for German hard-gore freaks only.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Great reviews as always Frankie.

Nice to know Toe Tags has another fan out there. I've never seen Branded but do have Enlow's 2007 film The Stitcher which is also pretty good.

[trebor8273]

The craft

Heads above your usually teen/ supernatural movies, thanks to a good performances from the main 4 leads especially fairuza balk. 8.5/10

Hot shots part deux

A funny sequel that spoofs a lot movies including Rambo, Star Wars, kickboxer, terminator 2 and lady and the tramp amongst others. 7.5/10

Story of Ricky

No real story just seemed a excuse for a lot of fights and over the top gore which isn't a bad thing. 8/10

[Rik]

SE7EN- First time watching on Blu Ray, actually first time I've watched it in awhile, still think it's a fantastic thriller

STAR WARS EPISODE VI:RETURN OF THE JEDI- No further comments required

[Invid Ninja]

Just thought I'd put this out there, there is an official petition for a possible Dredd sequel for those interested.

www.tinyurl.com/dreddsequel

[iluvdvds@Cult Labs]

Watched Warm Bodies last night - FINALLY! I've been dying to see this since I missed it in the cinema (like the fool I am).

I was looking forward to a mushy, romantic zombie film (I should've eaten a tub of ice-cream and wore frilly pyjamas to complete the look!) and definetly was not disappointed. Sure, the film is super dumb. Sure, it has MASSIVE plot holes. Sure, the CGI is about as lame as World War Z. And sure Nicholas Hoult manages to look uncomfortably wooden...even as a corpse but heck I liked this movie!

Great cheesy fun. Very predictable but it has a lot of heart and brings some fairy original and new ideas to the overcrowded genre. It's very Twilight-y at times, and the female lead is incredibly thick and annoying, but if you can ignore those flaws, you'll enjoy it.

Plus, John Malkovich.

There's was quite a few moments in this film that made me go all 'Aww' out loud, which I've only ever done once, at the end of [REC]3.

Anyone else seen this? I'd recommend checking out [REC]3, Zombie Honeymoon and if you're feeling naughty, Otto! Great stuff

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

The craft

Heads above your usually teen/ supernatural movies, thanks to a good performances from the main 4 leads especially fairuza balk. 8.5/10

I'm a big fan of The Craft.

It captures the American high school genre and gives it a worthy horror spin especially the highly effective final act.

[SCM]

Watched True Grit on Saturday, loved it, was worried it would rip right off the John Wayne version but it didn't. Jeff Bridges was amazing as Rosster Cogburn and a complete shock to see Matt Damon actually act