Just watched Home James. A forty minute documentary by legendary actor James Mason about Huddersfield and his thoughts on the place where he grew up.

Its both informative and entertaining, and anyone who knows the area should find it interesting.

Its a special feature on Odeon's The Seventh Veil.

I saw the same thing as an extra feature on The Odd Man Out and you're right, it is an interesting and revealing documentary.

Watched Faces in the Crowd last night.
Was a interesting thriller. The premise was good but the identity of the killer can be guessed easy after about hour into the flick. From them on it there is nothing new and plays like a generic thriller.

Overall worth a watch but not great second half.

Watched "Let me In" on sky, which shows my laziness to open the bluray I have owned since release:doh: Anyway I enjoyed the film very much. Even though I have seen the original which is superb, this is a great film in its own right. Even though I don't really like remakes as most end up being crap like Nightmare on Elm street. If your going to do a remake....this is how its done:nod:

watched The Wild Geese last night, haven't seen it in an age and really enjoyed it. Its great to see two pretty much professional alcoholics kicking some major action ass. Arrow Films release is top notch too....

THE WILD GEESE is one of my favourite Brit films
I can watch over and over and not get bored!
Burton is brilliant and the action scenes are great

and to think, Michael Winner was the first choice director
but McLaglen did a great job

Watched Super 8 the other day, you can see the Spielberg influences all over it and it makes a nice alternate version of E.T.
Off to watch the remake of Don't be afraid of the Dark tonight.

Good luck staying awake for Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark ;)

Spoiler below if you haven't seen Xtro

Just watched the interview with Harry Bromley-Davenport on the Xtro special edition disc.

Absolutely hilarious. Excruciatingly honest about the trilogy. He spends most of the time exclaiming how appalling they all are, but how he has retained a special place in his heart for the third one.
It's quite refreshing to hear a film maker talk so openly and freely about their work, and of note is his vehemence for Jan Michael Vincent who was somewhat unprepared for his role in part 2.

I've still yet to see the sequels myself, but I really, really like Xtro. As Bromley-Davenport observes it's a mish mash of ideas without anything really cohesive to hold it all together, but nevertheless it does the business for me and shocked me that they beat Miike by years with a woman giving birth to a full grown man.
It also features a superb synth soundtrack that B-D hates (he's a classically trained pianist but he claims this wasn't his finest hour), but I beg to differ.

"The Dead", looks and sounds great but soon becomes repetitive and derivative of other films. Shame, as I'd really been looking forward to it.:(

Yeh, there's quite a lot of love for it on these here forums, so I was holding back from the negative comments, but I totally agree with you.
The process and background of making the film is far more interesting than the rather lacklustre film itself.
I thought the two leads were pretty poor and unengaging and there never really felt like any serious mortal threat or peril, apart from the last third when there are loads more people (potential zombies) about.
You see that's the thing with zombies, you need them in large numbers to be truly effective and they felt a bit thin on the ground in The Dead.

This is what I loved about it. The neverending zombies that continously composed a threat regardless of numbers or speed.

I have the R1 XTRO w/interview and is an underrated Brit horror
but still HBD keeps calling it the 'dreaded Xtro'
he was made to film scenes that made no sense but its still an excellent horror and the synth music esp. at the beginning was great
only seen the first sequel and its shit
wouldn't see pt 3, but the original is a great low budget horror w/ great sfx

Der Toderking picked the Headpress VHS up of this rather unusual film.
I've still yet to watch his other more notorious films, but with this I thought Buttgereit did a sterling job.

I suppose death isn't as taboo as the inner workings of a serial killer or necrophiliac, but he cleverly opts to focus on suicide, which can still be a prickly subject for most people (I've yet to see The Bridge, but am still fairly reluctant).
Events leading up to people's suicides, the act itself and the aftermath are all scrutinised in a variety of ways. The days of the week are a kind of framing device for seven individuals stories and throughout we're treated to a gradually decaying corpse.
The passage of time, loneliness, bitterness, forgetfulness and the blackest of black humour serve and punctuate each story.
It comes on like a cross between Roy Andersson's You, The Living and Buddy Giovinazzo's Combat Shock capturing the laconic bleak humour of the former and the scuzzy, downbeat visceral textures of the latter.
There was a striking tracking shot at one point that traverses the underside of a bridge which really made me sit up and scratch my head a bit as to how they pulled it off, but then you quickly remember that this is in fact a suicide hotspot :shocked:

It'd be easy to say this is a depressing film, but I think it's far from it. More of a memento mori, a film that is at times poignant and provocative - a tricky mix to pull off, but done successfully here.

The Earth Dies Screaming
Terence Fisher directed b&w sci fi programmer. The aliens are a bit naff, but the zombified humans are pretty effective and it clocks in at an entertaining 60 mins or so.

The Witchmaker
I was looking forward to this one but I have to say it was very disappointing. It has its fans, but I'm not one of them I'm afraid.

:)

"Way of the Morris". A documentary/biographical film by film maker Tim Plester and his relationship to Morris dancing. This is a great little film that looks at both national and regional identity along with sense of place and heritage. It's a film about coming home physically and spiritually to understand self and where you are from. It's also about Morris dancing which may put some people off but give it ago, it may just make you break out the hankies and dance around the house. An excellent companion film to "Here's a Health to the Barley Mow" which came out from BFI earlier this year. Morris On!:tongue1:

An odd triple bill of:

The Bad Seed - Chilling 'evil child' themed horror-thriller. Great BD from Warner, too.

Kiss Me Deadly - One of my favourite noir films (not that I've seen that many!). The Criterion BD is jaw-droppingly good.

The Class of Nuke 'Em High - 80s Troma cheese - What's not to like? :D

Watched Lady Frankenstein (1971) on the new Shout! dvd and I have the say I really liked how it looked.
The master used was a US release print and the picture still had a very nice texture.
I've actually become more fond of this "less polished original film" look.
There's an option to watch a longer international version (not the longest) but the materials used for that one are not so good (but serviceable).
The disc uses branching to insert the extra footage btw.
Great late Italian gothic imho and this US release print transfer was a bit of an eye-opener to me.
Looks like the old German broadcast had more DNR applied.

Btw this is the movie that made me become a Rosalba Neri fan,she's great as Lady Frankenstein. :love:

Must get round to replacing my knackered transfer Alpha dvd with this set of four films.

I'm currently watching The Velvet Vampire (which looks fantastic,probably restored from a negative or ip?)... ;)

Sawdust and Tinsel - Excellent drama by Ingmar Bergman about a travelling circus and the stresses it places on everyone involved.

A Man Escaped - A prison drama/thriller set in occupied France during World War II in which a member of the French resistance who has been sentenced to death and is determined to escape, making meticulous plans. Directed with consummate skill by Robert Bresson, this (along with Sawdust and Tinsel) was one of Empire's 500 greatest movies, something I've been working my way through from while and have now reached the stage where I need to import in order to watch them all.

Thor - I have no idea how faithful this was to the comic books, but I expected something slightly more intelligent from Kenneth Branagh as this was fairly loud and stupid.

Murder Rock - This was on my list of unwatched discs, but it only took about five minutes to realise I watched it not so long ago as I remembered the killer's identity, motivation and the ending. It's a very good giallo by Lucio Fulci, but not as good as Don't Torture a Duckling.

I can't believe you expected this to be intelligent ;)

Even though this is Fulci 'doing' a Suspiria, I really like Murder Rock. A favourite, and very under-rated in my opinion. I'm definitely in agreement with you on it being inferior to Duckling, though.

I knew nothing about Thor aside from the director as I hadn't seen only trailers or read/listened to any reviews. For a man who is best known for his Shakespearean films, Branagh shows he can make loud, stupid, CGI-fest blockbusters like anyone else!

As for Murder Rock[/B], it's always interesting to watch a giallo when you know who the killer is and see how the police/amateur sleuth discover their identity.

just watched a very strange DVD called SHE
think its a post madmax film but it is possibly the strangest film I have seen.

it features posh toff werewolf, a man with power to control people with his mind, nuclear radiated people with limbs dropping off, a nazi style gang and much more. the strangest moment must be the massive bearded guy wearing a tutu and ballet-dancing.

is that the one with the bird from Conan in it? Sandhal Bergman me thinks?

I think I have this on VHS. Is it with the chick from Conan The Barbarian?

yes thats the one

Sandahl Bergman looks awesome in it, I think it's a bit 'under the influence' ahem, haven't seen it in ages. A true cult film(in no way a remake of the Hammer film either) but good fun.

Watched EATEN ALIVE, the Lenzi gut muncher, first time I've ever seen it uncut, loads of scenes ripped from other movies(some not even his:lol:) If you find FEROX and it's animal scenes offensive, stay away from this follow up. Funny thing is the original gore scenes are pretty good and well done, but be prepared to sit thru bits of...LAST CANNIBAL WORLD/SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD/DEEP RIVER SAVAGES and maybe others, Robert Kerman is great and Janet Algren looks gorgeous, loosely based on the Jim Jones mass suicide cult in Guyana with a cool opening in and around central NYC. It was a mates VHS, have to see if I can buy it off him, to me it's one of those so bad it's good jobs.

Just seen the Aussy drama/thriller Snowtown!

Wow... Australia really are making some awesome movies recently! First Animal Kingdom and now Snowtown.

This is a quite disturbing flick about a mother who has 3 kids that got abused by her boyfriend. The she finds out and calls the police on him, later she meets this new guy and the kids start to bond with him but slowly things start to unwind. This is based on a true story and is about this new guy that comes into the family and is a evil so and so who tries and brings out the violent side of a abused kid. There is a lot more to the story which I wont go into but it needs to be seen! Disturbing and powerful.

8/10

Watched Return to Horror High. Even low expectations couldn't save this. Not terribly funny, lacking in gore, it would have been ok in its ineptitude if it wasn't so damn boring. I want my £1 back.

watched Opera in a drunken state after the Scotland game (wheesht!). still say the central performance (cristina millisarch?) lets it down, but felt dizzy after 40 minutes and went to bed, will rewatch tonight.;)

"Dream No Evil":John Hayes of "Grave of the Vampire" fame directs this meditation on madness, loneliness and abandonment. Hugely flawed by a voice over that tells you the plot and explains the films more beautiful moments this is never the less well worth tracking down. Dreamy and sad, this is a little gem waiting to be rediscovered. It has the same kind of feel as "Messiah of Evil", "The Child" and "Axe". Excellent stuff.

I really like The Velvet Vampire. I first saw it donkeys years ago on an old ( cut? ) fuzzy VHS under the title The Waking Hour, so this new Shout! Factory print ( watched it last night ) is a revelation. Great music in this one, too.

"The Mermaids of Tiburon". If you ever thought Jacque Cousteau should have spiced things up with a little nudity then this is the film for you. Basically it's hours or so it seems of semi naked women swimming underwater in seaweed knickers and not a lot else. Strangely hypnotic and pleasing to the eye. There is also a non nude version that's not as good but at least in that one the budget stretched to more than one mermaid with a tail rather than flippers!

"Yambao-Cry of the Bewitched". It's not often you get to see a Mexican made, Cuban set, African musical/dance spectacular about voodoo set on a plantation. In your face from start to finish, this is one sweaty slice of exotica from the 1950s that drips with lust and passion, dance and song in equal measures.

just finished BRIDE OF CHUCKY, haven't seen it in a while and loved it, one of the most darkly funny horror films ive seen in a long time.

Just finished watching Hell of the Living Dead AKA Zombie Creeping Flesh. I can't believe how much this film robbed from others, Goblin score and scene stealing from Dawn of the Dead, elements of Zombie Holocaust etc. The dialogue and dubbing is shocking, the characters are annoying, the acting is crap, the effects look bad. Did this stop me from enjoying it, Hell no! I loved it in a so bad it's good kinda way! :pop2:

watched....
Opera sober this time, still just doesnt hit the mark, great set pieces etc, but just something lacking....:behindsofa:

Night After Night After Night just CANT get enough of this sleazefest, why cant i get The Big Zapper...???:censored::tsk:

Deodato double bill
Cut & Run....boy id like (?) to see the cut one, mustve had nowt left...an odd mixture of genres, Berryman just seems to be in another film.....
HOTEOTP...a horrible film, tried to suss where the cuts will be in the new one...hmmm. Hess truly unstable, its hard to believe it was a performance....

RE House on the Edge of the Park: it's my understanding the only cut is the knife scene with Cindy, which fell foul of the BBFC's sexualised violence policy. I think it will still be an immensely powerful and disturbing watch even without that scene.

I'm the same with Opera, I like it but it's not great IMO.
As for HOTEOTP, I always feel dirty after watching this, hasn't stopped me pre-ordering the Shameless dvd, even though I own the EC Remastered uncut one ;)