What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The 10th Victim (1965)

This is The Big Hunt. A deadly reality TV game show which selects both hunter and victim from participants; the two then chase one another around the globe. Kill your 10th victim and you'll want for nothing ever again.

Based on Robert Sheckley's short story The Seventh Victim. Elio Petri's version of events is a massive triumph of style over substance. A few minor set pieces aside The 10th Victim is hardly the most exciting film in the Most Dangerous Game bracket. However the film just bleeds cool. It's two stars Ursula Andress and Marcello Mastroianni were at the height of their fashionista popularity. Petri knows this and utilizes it to his strengths. At times its as though his photography is coming at us straight from the glossy pages of Vogue. Piero Piccioni's score is also a major player in the film. Often repetitive, yet catchy as hell, it's looping through my head 18 hours later as i type in a whirl of retro cool.

The film is brilliantly photographed using techniques such as unusual angles to build shots, positively forcing the viewer to keep their eyes on the screen and in particular the effervescent Andress and the suave Mastroianni. Aside from a set up sequence in New York the film was primarily filmed in Rome often on location. The Forum and Colosseum are used effectively especially the Forum in the bullet strewn climax. Admittedly location work in Ancient Rome hardly sounds like sci-fi so Petri mixes in other areas of the Italian capitol and the film really does travel into the future with filming taking place on weird and wonderful rooftops and areas with magnificent white block stone structures, all in a lavish technicolor panorama. (Except red - oddly, the colour red is strangely absent in much of The 10th Victim)

The 10th Victim has a rare commodity, especially for sci-fi at the time. It managed to predict the 21st century's mania for a televised contest and reality show voyeurism as film crews follow the contestants around to capture their kills for audiences to lap up and discuss rabidly round the water cooler the next day.

Being dvd only i obviously watched the dvd of the new Shameless release and was a little gobsmacked to say the least at the quality of the picture upscaled by my player. It looked beautiful. I can only imagine how magnificent the blu-ray disc looks. I'm sure my BU dvd isn't as attractive as this release.

A highly influential film, The 10th Victim is required pop art viewing and a superb addition to the Shameless catalogue.

[Dave Boy]

Original double bill......

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Colin (2008)

This film was apparently produced on a budget of fifty quid and a pack of prawn cocktail crisps and boy doesn't it show. Colin is indie cinema taken to the extreme with no discernible story line therefore dismantling the viewers interest after the first twenty minutes or so. At times the photography borders on the inept, and the acting is often woeful, seemingly on the brink of a piss take of far better zombie films. At one point Colin is locked in a shed and his so called friends stand outside hugging each other as if to try and make a profound emotional statement from the zombies point of view. It doesn't work, i was almost reaching for the off button.

Had this been a short film then the makers may have just got away with it, but as it is Colin is a poor piece of film making that seems to have duped some into thinking it's a fresh insight on zombie cinema when in reality it's sloppy and brain numbingly dull.

[keirarts]

Witchboard.

Kevin S Tenney's first films is a tale about the dangers of mucking about with ouija boards. Mainly the danger of progressive entrapment, slowly being taken over by the spirit you contact. Witchboard is a very much character based horror that takes it's time building things up. Possibly then not one for people wanting the horror right from the get go. This was a big hit on video and a popular rental. The character drama stuff is actually pretty good and the scares do deliver. Trouble is for a lot of modern audiences with the patience of a mayfly this might not be their cup of tea.

Witchboard 2

Tenny himself is actually fond of Witchboard. So much so he came back to do the sequel (more than can be said for Night of the demons.) Here he tells a new tale with new characters about a young artist who falls prey to the ouija board. This one plays with expectations enough to make it interesting and really goes out to deliver with the death scenes actually making it something of an improvement over the first film.

Night of the demons.

About as far removed from witchboard as you can get. This video hit from Tenney is part evil dead, part scooby doo (with added sex and violence). A full blown horror comedy that uses the old tropes of the teen horror in some new and interesting ways. NOD is a hell of a lot of fun, it simply refuses to get boring at any point and keeps the pace up the whole way through.

Night of the demons 2

Kevin S. Tenney leaves and in comes oz-sploitation director Brian Trenchard-smith who does a fine job with the material. I'm less keen on the design of hull house in this but the effects work is generally better and theres plenty of nudity and gore mixed in with plenty of humor. Now all we need is part 3 to get a release on Blu (as well as the third witchboard ) and we'll be sorted.


Brotherhood.

Bit of a departure perhaps. But this one is about a college frat stunt going horribly wrong and events slowly spinning out of control. Not a great deal of love out there but this was a surprise direct to DVD title that came in to blocky many moons ago and became a firm favorite of mine. Very well paced, great script and well acted.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brotherhood-...ds=brotherhood

Brotherhood.jpg

piss cheap on dvd and great entertainment!

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Colin (2008)

This film was apparently produced on a budget of fifty quid and a pack of prawn cocktail crisps and boy doesn't it show. Colin is indie cinema taken to the extreme with no discernible story line therefore dismantling the viewers interest after the first twenty minutes or so. At times the photography borders on the inept, and the acting is often woeful, seemingly on the brink of a piss take of far better zombie films. At one point Colin is locked in a shed and his so called friends stand outside hugging each other as if to try and make a profound emotional statement from the zombies point of view. It doesn't work, i was almost reaching for the off button.

Had this been a short film then the makers may have just got away with it, but as it is Colin is a poor piece of film making that seems to have duped some into thinking it's a fresh insight on zombie cinema when in reality it's sloppy and brain numbingly dull.

Worth mentioning that the £50 thing is a total gimmick.

They had thousands of pounds worth of effects work done by professional effects guys done for free. A lot of aspiring film makers need to be told that before agonising why there stuff doesn't look as good when they spend no money.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Night of the demons.

About as far removed from witchboard as you can get. This video hit from Tenney is part evil dead, part scooby doo (with added sex and violence). A full blown horror comedy that uses the old tropes of the teen horror in some new and interesting ways. NOD is a hell of a lot of fun, it simply refuses to get boring at any point and keeps the pace up the whole way through.

Night of the demons 2

Kevin S. Tenney leaves and in comes oz-sploitation director Brian Trenchard-smith who does a fine job with the material. I'm less keen on the design of hull house in this but the effects work is generally better and theres plenty of nudity and gore mixed in with plenty of humor. Now all we need is part 3 to get a release on Blu (as well as the third witchboard ) and we'll be sorted.

Not seen part 2. (Night of the Demons is great fun as you say - shame the remake is awful though).

Oddly i have part 3 under the title Demon House which i initially thought was a sequel to Witch House, which i haven't seen but have part 3 titled Demon Fire. - Confused? You will be!

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Not seen part 2. (Night of the Demons is great fun as you say - shame the remake is awful though).

Oddly i have part 3 under the title Demon House which i initially thought was a sequel to Witch House, which i haven't seen but have part 3 titled Demon Fire. - Confused? You will be!

I have demon house.

No idea why they seem to do their best with it to disguise the fact its night of the demons 3?!

demon house.jpg

[keirarts]

Just finished DEMON HOUSE.

Cheap and cheerful third and final entry into the series. Kevin Tenney returns to write this one and also edit it. (He didn't write the first just directed)

It re-instates little moments missing from part 2 like the demon head thingy that seems to be running things and the fact theres a big wall round hull house.

Hull house itself seems a little more renovated than in the previous entries, a point that hits home with the footage taken from part 1 that shows a much more derelict house.

Speaking of Borrowing, Tenney reuses the idea of the magic obsessed cop from WITCHBOARD and even poaches little bits of dialogue from it.

The whole affair feels a little more cheaply made than 1 and 2 (certainly 2) and the uk dvd release does it little favors, in fact disguising the fact its night of the Demons 3 almost entirely. Certainly it all hits home after watching the first two on Blu-ray.

Still. Like parts 1 & 2 this comes highly recommended.

[davcol]

Well worth checking out if you like giallo or exploitation films from the 1970s.
Directed by Ferdinando Baldi (who would later go on to direct the sleazy Terror Express) its a film set on a remote Italian island used by the patriarch of a rich family and his awful relatives as a holiday destination.
One by one they get bumped off in stylish fashion. The plot isn't the greatest but its a very entertaining film if you like this sort of thing and it looks fantastic I thought.
Another winner from Camera Obscura.

[Linbro]

'Downfall'.
Staggering film, that left me just about speechless, by the end. Truth is stranger than fiction, and if this was fiction, I'm sure I would have said 'as if' or 'yeah right' about a dozen times!
The performances are spot on, across the board, and the direction is superb. Some astonishing scenes, and those in the 'hospital' toward the end are like some kind of vision of Hell.
The final couple of scenes did leave me feeling strangely 'uplifted' though - the boy grabbing her hand and making their way through the celebrating Russians was fantastic.
If you like you war films full of one liners, cliches and flag waving heroics - this is not for you.
10/10