What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Vampix

Recently watched the remastered director's cut of the original Robocop on Blu-ray. An absolute classic! I can't imagine the remake comes anywhere near to the excellence of Verhoeven's flick.

It doesn't

[Make Them Die Slowly]

YOU'RE NEXT. Whip smart, fun, funny and sexy subversion of the home invasion film.

[Nemesis]

Lifeforce (theatrical) - I really don't know how I feel about this one. Ropey fx, extremely poor script - when you see the quotes from Imdb, it's even worse, and it moves far too fast, zipping from scene to scene when you'd expect a couple of scenes in between to clarify things. Yet I enjoyed it and I was not bored - props go to the score, Mathilda May, Peter Firth and Frank Finlay - they managed to beat the Harrison Ford theory - you can type this s.... but you can't say it, although Firth did have a job when he was first introduced as Colonel Caine; I loved his reaction when he learnt NATO was involved. Michael Gothard deserved better here though.

The Big Gundown (Italian version) - brilliant western, hell of a lot better than I thought it was going to be from the trailer. Milian's bandit was terrific - you don't see that level of intelligence very often. Great disc from Grindhouse - still need to watch the American dub.

Foreign Correspondent - a very entertaining Hitchcock

The Blood Rose - it started out well, but later dragged before recovering momentum at the end. Ok, but was hoping it to be better. Good disc from Mondo - very good interview with the director's colleague/brother-in-law. Makes me want to seek out La Saignee.

Killer must kill again - very good. Cozzi is also worth listening to - he's great value.

[sjconstable]

Originally Posted by Vampix

Recently watched the remastered director's cut of the original Robocop on Blu-ray. An absolute classic! I can't imagine the remake comes anywhere near to the excellence of Verhoeven's flick.

Yeah I've recently fallen in love with the original, and that edition is great - even though comparison caps don't show a massive difference, in motion it looks spot on, it really doesn't need to look any better at this resolution. I hadn't watched the original in a long time because Murphy's death really affected me when I was younger, but the lame remake gave me a massive urge to revisit it and thankfully I can handle it now

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Wicked (2013)

For a dare, Zach and his friends decide to spend the night in the woods at an old house where a local witch supposedly lived. Unbeknown to Zach, his younger brother Max and his girlfriend Sammy sneak along. They all soon discover that folklore isn't always myth as one by one they find the old legend might just be true.

Although flawed The Wicked is a creditable attempt at original horror - ie non-ghost horror. I like tales of legends and this has an effective one about a witch who kidnaps children from their beds. In fact as a whole the script is tight with some good characterization especially Max and Sammy who are nicely brought to life. A special mention for the witch herself who is very creepy. The witch's house is a great set, from its spooky outside to the rather grim basement. Once or twice some digital effects let down proceedings especially the bodies squelching in the jaws of the meat grinder but on the whole the splatter is quite well done.

In the end The Wicked is a fairly well made low budget horror film which should end up with more fans than haters.

[trebor8273]

White zombie

Very atmospheric and for its age disturbing. For me Lugosi best movie, a lot better than Dracula which I never really liked his Dracula , one of those strange people who found the Spanish version a better film. But in this role he is so chilling and menacing something his Dracula lacked. A true classic which will be getting more viewings. 10/10

In the mood for some more 30s/40s horror so might watch one of those films I picked up today. Maybe Tower of London

[Make Them Die Slowly]

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN. An action/adventure take on the Snow White story aimed at kids. Pretty good stuff, the little MTDSs enjoyed it and it made a nice change to see an action film with a strong female lead. However myself and the little MTDS all screamed at the TV when the magic mirror tells Charlize Theron that Kristen Stewart is the fairest in the land!

[Frankie Teardrop]

ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 - The Carpenter original. I don't have anything new to say about it really, its brilliance having been well documented elsewhere... it's one of my fave ever films, up there with 'Taxi Driver' 'Eraserhead or 'Texas Chainsaw...'. The other day I clocked I hadn't seen it for years (and didn't even have a copy), so in the wake of not really watching much recently, I thought I'd give it another go. Simply great and dripping with menace from the classic theme tune on, it really took me back to the days when watching movies sometimes left me with a "woah... that was amazing" feeling. Which seldom happens now, but I live in hope.

CREEP - By the great but largely unsung Tim Ritter. I ordered it yonks ago and assumed it'd been 'lost' in the post, only for it to land the other week. This cheered me up a bit, enough to inspire vague thoughts of guilt in me for sticking pins in a postie doll in my head . I like its London Underground-set namesake, but I prefer this sleazy shit. It really is shot-on-video filth at its best, and looks like rubbish but oozes requisite slime. Chronicles the exploits of a killer who's busted himself out of the joint... an uptight but sadistic cop tracks him down and finishes up in an "oh my god" type relevatory situation with him. This kind of film can't be summed up by a mere skeleton plot, it needs to be experienced - really brings me a slight sense of joy when ultra low budget scum like this turns out to be great. So much leaves me feeling jaded now.

DEAR GOD NO - This came out around a year ago, but I held off from getting a copy 'cos the UK version had been trimmed quite extensively by the BBFC. Whilst I support 'Monster Pictures' and have been quite impressed by the risks they take (in a high street sense, I mean in the context of getting stuff like 'Thanatomorphose' into HMV), I wasn't going to lay out for a cut version. Luckily I managed to snatch an uncut import on e-bay recently - for some reason the region 1 had been really difficult to get hold of via the usual channels in the UK. I was quite impressed. It's another 'grindhouse' type throwback, but it doesn't labour its point. Some of the humour is a little misplaced and jarring, but I could let that go because its well worth witnessing for the nasty sleaze let loose when a bunch of bikers invade the homestead of a government scientist. Good.

THE DEVIL'S EXPRESS - The Code Red release, of course. I enjoyed it. I mean, it's pure trash, but it beats watching some mainstream rubbish and ending up feeling short changed. It feels like a bargain basement kung-fu movie relocated to grimy 70s New York with a bit of welded-on horror. The horror element, which is about a zombie demon lurking in the underground system, feels kind of arbitrary, but is fully set up plot wise from the start. Actually, everything about it feels a bit arbitrary, it has that special seventies wonkiness about it that would be suppressed and exterminated by focus group lynch mob these days. I guess 'wonkiness' to some would translate as awful acting and shit editing, but still. I really like anything about or set in NYC from this period, and everything here looks suitably scummy.

HOTEL INFERNO - Another one from the 'Taeter City' guys. If you're into rampant gore then you should seriously check out their 'Necrostorm' website, where the now-slightly-expensive-on-Amazon 'Adam Chaplin' can be purchased for probably a more reasonable price. Anyway, 'Hotel Inferno' is about a hit man in a hotel who wears special glasses which means the movie can be seen from his point of view. His point of view involves lots of killing in a bloody fashion, plus some semi-'Three Mothers' type schtick. Again, well worth investigating if you're a splatter fan and like films which are basically a sequence of gore fx.

COP - I think I reviewed this about a year ago after seeing a borrowed DVD, but felt obligated to slip it in again after managing to score a copy from CEX for a princely 75p. Great flick based on Ellroy's 'Blood on the Moon'. It's not without its flaws, but these are obscured by the main draw, which is James Woods and his powerhouse performance as a deeply unpleasant copper.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN. However myself and the little MTDS all screamed at the TV when the magic mirror tells Charlize Theron that Kristen Stewart is the fairest in the land!

Clearly the mirror was cracked.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Clearly the mirror was cracked.

Let the people decide...