What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Dave Boy]

Double bill of horrors....

[nosferatu42]

Haven't had a chance to watch many films recently so decided to revisit my childhood and watched these.

flash1.jpeg

Watched the full serial. 13 episodes in all.
These copies are pretty bad quality, but enjoyed them anyway.
This was the first Flash Gordon serial and i still found it to be really entertaining.
Ok the actings pretty dodgy but that all adds to the fun.
Anybody know if a decent print is available?

flash2.jpg

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Django kill! (if you live, shoot!)
I'd previously seen this on BBC2 YEARS back when Alex Cox got it on air. The print was dreadful so it felt like experiencing it for the first time with this release.

Those were the days - you'd never see it on terrestrial tv now.

Bring back Moviedrome!

[Nemesis]

Tomboy (Scorpion)

Good 80s fun. Great disc - good PQ and very good interview from Betsy Russell who's pretty candid about working with some Hollywood stars.

Twins of Evil (Synapse)

Terrific film with a disc that matches up - the documentary behind Twins of Evil and its orgins is very well made. Although their docs are good, Studio Canal should study this for future reference.

Larks on a String (Second Run)

Czech film where the working class are in charge, and the rest are sent to work in a scrap yard. Anyone who's got a problem with this, disappears. It was fine, but difficult to be totally engrossed; as a film, it did not flow as well as director Jiri Menzel's previous film, Closely Observed Trains, which was very, very good. As Larks had been banned for 20 years because the authorities did not approve, it's good it came to light again.

[sjconstable]

You're Next (2011) - 2/10

People being killed and copious amounts of shaky-cam, nothing to see here...

[ArgentoFan1987]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

These copies are pretty bad quality, but enjoyed them anyway.

That's typical of Elstree Hill. I shudder at those words. The quality is usually unwatchable.

[Linbro]

'Happy Birthday To Me' - mmm, not bad. The production value was there, the acting was pretty good. A lot of padding though. If you're a fan of this film, the Mill Creek double bill (with 'When a Stranger Calls') is fantastic quality - apart from the ridiculous cover.
6/10

'The Bay' - average found footage fare, without any real tension or scares. It felt like a 90 minute set up for a longer film, or series.
5/10

'The Haunted House of Horror' - loved everything about this - the 60's style/vibe was terrific and the girls looked great! The house was a fantastic setting, and I loved all the exterior shots of the city shops/cafes etc. Would kill for a bluray release of this.
8.5/10

[nosferatu42]

Originally Posted by ArgentoFan1987

That's typical of Elstree Hill. I shudder at those words. The quality is usually unwatchable.

I had a copy of 'I bury the living" released by them and 10 minutes before the end the sound cut out. To say i was p*ssed off is an understatement.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE SWEET HOUSE OF HORRORS - I seem to end up liking all the Fulci movies everyone else hates. I don't do it to be awkward, I just prefer the likes of 'The Black Cat' etc to eg. ZFE. Even so, I approached 'Sweet House...' with a bit of trepidation, having heard nothing said in its name but total damnation. Maybe this would turn out to be the final cauldron of shit at the end of the inverted Fulci rainbow? Nope, I really liked this one too. In fact, I REALLY liked it. It's demented in the best Fulci tradition, combining tepid haunted house moves and Children's ITV type fantasy with rubbish effects works and sporadic moments of ultraviolence in a frankly schizophrenic whole in which light hearted reverie goes palm to palm with brute sadism and black comedy. It drips with that unhinged, difficult to articulate Fulci atmosphere that also elevates stuff like 'Aenigma' (in my eyes anyway, I'm aware that not everyone shares this view). So, definitely one for Fulci completists and those who like crazy flicks.

KNOCK KNOCK - Like several of my compadres around here, I spend a scary proportion of my viewing time trawling through a swamp of microbudget releases hoping to find hidden gold. It's not often all that rewarding because, admit it, there's loads of rubbish out there, but occasionally something really outré or even just interesting turns up. 'Knock Knock' isn't really outré and nor will it appear all that interesting to the vast majority of horror fans, but when I saw it the other day, I did come way feeling that it got within spitting distance of being the noughties answer to 'Pieces'. Is that a recommendation or what? I might be wrong, but I'd have to watch it again to find out and frankly I can't be bothered, but I was really charmed by 1) its utter lameness in most departments 2) its fairly high gross out quotient 3) elements of eccentricity and crass bad taste like a learning disabled murder suspect who plays with dolls. I liked all the really broad but seemingly random Italo-American accents. Really, it's a film stranded at that crossroads where incompetence changes over into strangeness. It's set up like a run of the mill latter day slasher, but nothing about it really makes sense, and its narrative wanders in and out of focus. Recommended for shit movie fans everywhere.

THE VILLAGE - I'd never seen this before, and I thought it was great. I'm not big into the director's other stuff, although I'll admit that he seems accomplished. I was ready to be vaguely entertained but a bit dismissive of 'The Village', but found it to be a thoughtful, moving and actually very disturbing take on what's essentially the theme of self-transcendence. Maybe it's not without flaws - there are a couple of moments of story-telling clunk and a clumsy reveal or two - but I was engrossed throughout and ultimately left feeling quite haunted. It's put together really well and conjures a great atmosphere of looming threat, and of course the various leads are convincing. Made much more of an impression that I'd anticipated and hopefully I'll get 'round to seeing it again sometime.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Is that the M. Night Shyamalan The Village? Because I'd seen his other films and was fairly wise to the twist endings he used, I worked out the twist quite early on and so was bored and a little frustrated.