What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[gag]

Originally Posted by keirarts

The town that dreaded sundown. (2014)

I'm not the greatest fan of remakes but I have to admit that I was quite intrigued by the idea of this one. The original, directed by Charles B Pierce tends to split opinions. Personally I love it but even I admit the film is usually mis-sold to the public as some kind of slasher when in reality its more a true crime pot-boiler that takes occasional liberties with the subject matter. People coming to it are often quite disappointed given they sit down expecting a more formulaic and bloody stalk n' slash.
What pleased me most with this 're-make' is rather than simply re-tread the original film, here the original exists and is a Texarkana halloween regular at the drive-in where kids get thrills from the on-screen mayhem while other residents protest, feeling its making light of the towns sad history.
This Halloween however the killer has returned and is hell bent on re-creating the killers mayhem. The big question being is it a copy cat, the ghost of the original killer or something else.
This remake certainly deserves recognition for originality, and the film even manages to raise some interesting questions about the films place in local folk-lore, the re-packaging of tragedy as entertainment and the impact of the towns legacy on its young.
The film is stylishly shot, including a lengthy tracking shot at the drive in that's pretty impressive. Perhaps too stylish in places the camera trickery and editing feel a little too 'showy' as if the film is a product of someone fresh out of film school after writing endless dissertations on Orson wells. In other places the film falls a little flat and the quality of the digital image is a little too perfect.
Overall the film is perhaps a little too flawed, it veers more into slasher territory than its predecessor, but is too flat and uneven to work as it should. I would recommend giving it a shot as it certainly ranks as an impressive and interesting failure and certainly not as unwatchable as the fog or nightmare on elm street remakes.

No contest.

Followed up the interesting and somewhat mixed town with a film that pretty much delivers perfectly on what it promises and a good thing too
Channel 5 and late night sky tv queen Shannon tweed, cause of many a taxi drivers blush at the video store, plays an ex-martial arts movie star hosting a beauty pageant.
Before anyone can shout 'tits oot.' A bunch of crooks have taken the building hostage and its up to Shannon, ably assisted by Andrew 'dice' clay and Robert davi. The crooks are mainly a bunch of misogynistic pigs, worst of all being the thug played by wrestling star Roddy piper and pretty soon Tweed finds herself playing John Mclane against the bad guys.
No contest is shallow sexist guff peppered with mindless violence and hot women. In other words its excellent! My only gripe is the lack of nudity, a real mystery when Shannon tweed is involved, but the film cracks by at a quick pace and its marvellously entertaining in its violent stupidity.


Anyway... shall be starting halloween night with two classics...

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Then its either phantasm or some bava... decisions decisions....

Yes I enjoyed Town that dreaded sundown not bad .. Not a remake as such but a kinda of more of a sequel really.. Even tho its actual not .

[Gigantor]

HALLOWEEN 1 -4
I've seen each a bazillion times as it seems every channel keep playing these films.

GREMLINS Damn....HALLOWEEN isn't even over and they already have the Christmas movies all ready.

[Frankenhooker]

Halloween 2 - I don't know if it's familiarity, but I struggled to sit through this. It lacks the atmosphere of the first and there's no lead in time, barring Laurie and Dr Loomis you don't get to know any of the characters, subsequently you don't care when they get butchered. Great setting though.

Mother Of Tears - Like a strange fungus, Mother Of Tears has grown on me. I find it really enjoyable, albeit probably not in the way Argento intended. Asia's hysterically over the top acting, extreme violence terribly done, a monkey, witches who stole Bananarama's wardrobe and a typically mental plot all combine to create a really enjoyable time. That's before you get Asia making herself invisible by concentrating and copious amounts of unnecessary nudity. I loved every terrible second.

[Demoncrat]

Watched the Sweeny Todd from that Mystery & Imagination set (so this should really go into the TV thread, buuuuut......

Great opening title! Freddie Jones. Russell Hunter! And it's in colour. Quite the strangest ST that I've seen, what with all the "is he just mental then??" shenanigans....so you are never quite sure where you are with the story. though it could just be confusion for confusions sake. But this is a Thames production, and I don't remember them going in for metaphysics.
Made a change from the boilersuit/mask/knife bit.

The Mad Butcher (1971, Guido Zurli) Something Weird UK dvd.
Victor Buono is "the greatest butcher in Vienna". After a lengthy spell in an asylum, he is released into his shrewish wife's "care". Don't they ever learn??
Soon he's back in business, and as the local pigs are as dense as peat, tis up to roving reporter Brad Harris (easily one of the most annoying characters that I've come across ever, what with his constant "jovial" sneering etc etc). when VB fixates on his comely neighbour (also Harris' squeeze), things start to heat up (and i don't just mean the sausages!!! )

Not a film I enjoyed watched, what with all the meat on show ahem. Great ending though cough.

[SShaw]

I managed to catch Night of the Living Dead last night courtesy of Dead by Dawn and the Edinburgh Filmhouse. Astonishingly around half of the audience hadn't seen the film before!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Commander (1988)

Woeful action vehicle for Lewis Collins on the back of his Who Dares Wins gig. After a reasonable opening the film goes to sleep for an hour with endless chat, especially from co-stars Lee Van Cleef and Donald Pleasence, both seemingly on show to give the film a bit of gravitas.

The final half hour kicks into gear a little but Antonio Marghereti directs proceedings so clumsily, with editing to match. There are two examples when someone bursts into a room all guns blazing, seemingly taking out all the incumbents, then showing them reaching for a gun and being shot a second time in the following frames.

A few big explosions during the finale attempt to hoodwink the viewer into thinking they'd just watched an action classic, but in reality The Commander is a stodgy waste of time from the word go.

[Sobral]

My Halloween day/night:

The Curse Of The Werewolf
Nosferatu 1979
Nosferatu 1922

I had never seen the two Nosferatu's back to back, it's amazing how Herzog stayed so close to the original material yet managed to make a pretty singular movie, that's how remakes are done!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by SShaw

I managed to catch Night of the Living Dead last night courtesy of Dead by Dawn and the Edinburgh Filmhouse. Astonishingly around half of the audience hadn't seen the film before!

That's quite strange. Was it a festival or just a screening?

[SShaw]

It was a one-off (almost) midnight screening organised by the Dead by Dawn guys.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by SShaw

It was a one-off (almost) midnight screening organised by the Dead by Dawn guys.

Even odder. You'd think anyone who would go to a specialist genre screening would have already seen the film.