What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Linbro]

'The Lords of Salem' - ok, I guess. The clunky Bruce Davison character annoyed me a bit. Can't see myself watching again anytime soon.

'Evil Dead' (2013) - pretty enjoyable. Not a patch on the original, but better than the original sequels. Looked great, and the visual effects are superb. Only a couple of silly bits, and only one or two bits of lame dialogue.
Lacked the 'magic' of the original, but I think that also has a lot to do with when I first saw it, the people I saw it with etc. - happy memories.

'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me' - brilliant, probably Lynch's most under rated film. The performances are terrific, but Sheryl Lee steals the show - an amazing, brave effort, by her. The music is great, and so is the audio in general. Does anyone do 'dinner' scenes better than Lynch? - this, 'Eraserhead', 'Mulholland Drive'!
The Laura Palmer death scene is one of the most effective, disturbing scenes I've ever seen.

[Delirium]

Header

What is a Header? Well far be for me to spoil, but this backwoods tail of murderous rednecks and a certain disturbing act didn't translate to the screen as well as I hoped. I read the book from Edward Lee before watching the film - an enjoyably nasty piece of pulp that reads like Jack Ketchum (both writers have a cameo in the movie) - but the film is not so successful. Painfully acted, and although it's faithful enough, it simply doesn't translate to the screen as well. Read the book, folks, it's terrific. It's a shame as reading the foreword to the reissue of the book, Lee said how he loves the film, which had raised my hopes.

V/H/S 2

I enjoyed the immensely flawed V/H/S for what it was and have seen mixed reviews for this. While watchable enough, it doesn't hold up to the original, bar one story: Gareth Edwards' (The Raid) and Timo Tjahjanto's (Macabre) Safe Haven - an exceptional 30 minute short about a religious commune that just goes mental. The best of all the V/H/S segments combined, it's worth renting simply for that little gem.

The Paranormal Diaries: Clophill

Any film with the word "paranormal" in it makes me want to run a mile, but I'd heard some interesting things regarding this. Coming from the makers of The Dead (which I didn't like), this British documentary about spooky sightings in an abandoned, desecrated church in Bedfordshire passes itself off as a serious documentary; apparently only two people were "in the know", meaning reactions and interviews are mostly real. You know what to expect from a film like this, but Clophill at least holds back on the theatrics, its spooky sightings few and far between, yet has a lot of atmosphere - think an extended Most Haunted episode. The idea is getting tired, and it's clearly a load of hokum, but due to the conviction of the cast and its creepy location, there's still something eerily effective about it.

Captain Philips

An unexpected surprise, the only Greengrass film I've seen until now was United 93, but this exhilarating true story gripped me from beginning to end. The performances are superb, not least from the Somalian cast, it being a first acting gig for most of them. It goes a little Zero Dark Thirty at the end with its focus on the militaristic procedure, but the last 5 minutes - oh, those last 5 minutes - binds the film together beautifully due to an outstanding performance from Tom Hanks, which for me completely washed away any other flaws the film may have otherwise had.

[ArgentoFan1987]

Originally Posted by Angel

Watch out for the infamous blood bath scene in Hostel 2, Vipco. This entire scene had to be removed before the film could be classified in New Zealand and certainly it would have been removed here in the UK 10 years ago.

I can watch blood & guts, decapitations: you name it, I can watch it! Except for gratuitous torture scenes! I found the bath scene unbearable to watch. He first Saw film was fine, because it's done really well, but the sequels and the Hostel films I find horrible to watch.

EDIT: I'm working my way through the Alien Anthology Blu-Ray. Just finished Aliens. Never have I ever experienced such a time consuming, pain in he are way to access special features!

[demonknight]

Friday the 13th part 2

[fuzzymctiger]

Originally Posted by ArgentoFan1987

I can watch blood & guts, decapitations: you name it, I can watch it! Except for gratuitous torture scenes! I found the bath scene unbearable to watch. He first Saw film was fine, because it's done really well, but the sequels and the Hostel films I find horrible to watch.

EDIT: I'm working my way through the Alien Anthology Blu-Ray. Just finished Aliens. Never have I ever experienced such a time consuming, pain in he are way to access special features!

The saw films were a lot more self inflicted, so I didn't have as much trouble with them.

For me the big problem is if it's realistic. I saw Prisoners on Friday as I mentioned in this thread, and the torture scenes involving a small wooden room and a scalding/freezing shower were really quite horrible and sickening to watch.

[ArgentoFan1987]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

The saw films were a lot more self inflicted, so I didn't have as much trouble with them.

For me the big problem is if it's realistic. I saw Prisoners on Friday as I mentioned in this thread, and the torture scenes involving a small wooden room and a scalding/freezing shower were really quite horrible and sickening to watch.

Is Prisoners the new Hugh Jackman film? Isn't that only a 12A?

[SCM]

Watched House on the Edge of the Park last night, Brilliant film. Such a damn cruel film with a standout performance by David Hess.

[Wes]

On a complete whim I grabbed Patton off the shelf last night, Franklin J. Schaffner's 1970 biopic of the US General, written by Coppola and starring George C. Scott as the titular warlord. This is a fine lazy Sunday afternoon film, it's good on spectacle - Patton's campaigns in the dry valleys of North Africa and the snow fields of France are well staged and Coppola does a good job of making the military strategizing accessible without short changing the logistical complexity of the Allies defeat of the Third Reich. George C. Scott bagged an Oscar for his huge performance and famously snubbed the Academy by refusing the award for what he called a meat parade.

And finally, I've spoken ill in the past of a certain line in Zombie Creeping Flesh where one incredulous soldier firing on the zombies gasps at the bullets flying thru them like "crap through a goose" - the same line is spoken by Patton (and written by Coppola) in the opening scene of the film...

[Frankie Teardrop]

V/H/S 2 - I think I preferred the grimier original, I can't quite remember, but this is still pretty good. I just like the aesthetic of mangled, dirtied up analogue technology - but for a more convincing take on the whole "seventh generation tape unmarked left on the back seat of a bus" thing, see something like 'Trash Humpers'. As with many anthologies, there's an element of hit and miss, but the latter two segments of 'V/H/S 2' are well worth checking out, particularly the Baphomet -birthing religious cult one which quickly turns into an insane fever dream.

DRAINIAC - One of those poundland impulse buys I've left hanging around for too long, this is a cheap, cheap American indie from the end of last century. I quite enjoyed it actually, I mean it's pretty dire, but at least it was shot on 16mm and features bits of claymation monsterdom, the ultimate mark of fannish enthusiasm. The obvious ur-text is 'The Evil Dead' and there is slime, cheap laughs at bad lines, some attempted actual humour, a psychedelic-ish end bit which throws most of the fx budget at the screen, and a slightly charming afterglow.

THE DEVIL'S ROCK - More from the recently rehabilitated Nazi-horror genre, this time with an occult leaning. Allied troops end up in an enemy facility (somewhere near Guernsey?) which turns out to house a shape changing demon. There were some aspects I really had to get past - a certain clunk factor which blighted some of the lines, the moves, the performances and the direction - but despite this, a real atmosphere came through. Maybe it was the bleak environs, maybe the reliance for the most part on there being only two real characters, but something gave it a strange claustrophobic feel. Think NEL book cover goes Beckett - actually no, don't, I'm talking complete bollocks, but I say, watch it and give it a chance.

HERE COMES THE DEVIL - Excellent and really quite disturbing. A not particularly likeable couple find that their kids have changed in some strange way after they go missing in some caves with a supernatural past. Paranoia and much worse soon follows. I'm not familiar with the young director at all, but he seems to have been very prolific already, and on the evidence of this I'm definitely up for checking out his other stuff. As for HCTD, there are some inconsistencies and tonal slips, but it really hits home and has the feel of 'real' Euro-horror (maybe it's all those semi-zooms) mixed with a vaguely abstract art-house air. Definite recommendation.

THE FIRM - The Alan Clarke - helmed late eighties football hooligan expose with G Oldman. Like so many of the director's other works this is brilliant, so pessimistic and cynical but still defiant. It easily surpasses any number of anaemic so-called horror entries with its icy detachment and brute realism, not that I'd watch this on the same level as some of the movies I see, it's certainly not something that accommodates a 'switch off and enjoy' attitude. I'm not particularly well informed when it comes to the nuances of the organised football hooligan underground of the period, but this film is as much a great portrait of suburban alienation as anything else.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE DEVIL'S ROCK - More from the recently rehabilitated Nazi-horror genre, this time with an occult leaning. Allied troops end up in an enemy facility (somewhere near Guernsey?) which turns out to house a shape changing demon. There were some aspects I really had to get past - a certain clunk factor which blighted some of the lines, the moves, the performances and the direction - but despite this, a real atmosphere came through. Maybe it was the bleak environs, maybe the reliance for the most part on there being only two real characters, but something gave it a strange claustrophobic feel. Think NEL book cover goes Beckett - actually no, don't, I'm talking complete bollocks, but I say, watch it and give it a chance.

Seen this a couple of times now. It gets better each viewing. I knew nothing about it on first viewing and found it unpredictable. From the first scenes of the two commando's coming ashore to the finale involving black magic and a she demon it just seemed like something new. I suppose the nearest thing to it is Outpost, but this seemed far nastier and less polished. The low budget shows in places - basically only having a cast of four - but on the whole it was a good effort.