What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by PaulD

Watched a load of stuff (as ever) but a particular highlight was Coherence which I watched last night. A low-budget sci-fi thriller/relationship drama that's both smart and engrossing and demands immediate re-watching due to the twistiness of the narrative. Highly recommended

Coherence is one of the more interesting sounding titles from 2014 which I've been wanting to check out.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

Agree on the CGI in 'Inside' for sure, although it was easy to let it slide. I really liked most of those French nouveau splatter films, but 'Martyrs' was for me the strongest of them. And 'Them' / 'Ils' was great too, and did what it did without recourse to loads of gore and extremity. I have a soft spot for 'Frontiers' and 'Haute Tension', which sometimes seem a little disregarded these days.

I agree that Haute Tension has generally fallen out of favour, perhaps due to the implausibility of the ending, but I really like it and find its good points easily outweighed the negatives. Frontiers definitely has a serious point to make, and makes it quite well, whilst being extremely nasty into the bargain!

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Have you seen the French film Brocéliande ?

It's not up to the same standard as the others mentioned here, but it's mix of splatter, beasts and Celtic lore appeal to me.

Unfortunately the US dvd is long since deleted but i'd recommend a watch if it pops up on Netflix etc.

I haven't seen that one, but will keep an eye out for it, so thanks for the recommendation.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

I agree that Haute Tension has generally fallen out of favour, perhaps due to the implausibility of the ending, but I really like it and find its good points easily outweighed the negatives. Frontiers definitely has a serious point to make, and makes it quite well, whilst being extremely nasty into the bargain!

When i first watched Haute Tension i couldn't believe how it ripped off Dean Koontz' novel Intensity from eight years earlier.

Intensity really stuck in my head because it was the first Koontz book i read and it really gripped me.

Aja has since said he did plagiarize the book but Koontz didn't take legal action as he thought the film was shit and didn't want to be associated in any way with the film.

He has a point because the book is far better than the film, which is very good. I'm sure anyone who's read it will agree with me.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Martyrs is for me by far the best of the little bubble of French extremes that appeared a few years ago. Just about everything about it fitted into one or more aspects of my personal aesthetics of the time. I also really liked Them and Frontiers. Haute Tension didn't really grab me at the time but if I still have it I may give it a spin soon.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

When i first watched Haute Tension i couldn't believe how it ripped off Dean Koontz' novel Intensity from eight years earlier.

Intensity really stuck in my head because it was the first Koontz book i read and it really gripped me.

Aja has since said he did plagiarize the book but Koontz didn't take legal action as he thought the film was shit and didn't want to be associated in any way with the film.

He has a point because the book is far better than the film, which is very good. I'm sure anyone who's read it will agree with me.

I'm not sure why, but I wasn't aware of that situation, nor the book, which I'll add to my Amazon wish list and, when I have some time in the summer, buy and read.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

Martyrs is for me by far the best of the little bubble of French extremes that appeared a few years ago.

I heartily agree!

I'm not a massive fan of Inside (also mainly due to the reasons you listed earlier on MTDS). I thought Haute Tension and Ils were great though, but couldn't stand Frontiers.

Calvaire (The Ordeal) is also worth a watch and in a similar vein for those who haven't seen it; albeit Belgian and not French

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Calvaire (The Ordeal) is also worth a watch and in a similar vein for those who haven't seen it; albeit Belgian and not French

I second the recommendation of Calvaire, which I thought was terrific and the English title/translation of The Ordeal was extremely fitting – I call films like that (other examples could be The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Wolf Creek) 'ordeal horrors' as they put the audience through the wringer, just as they do with the characters.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I'm not sure why but i was bored by The Ordeal.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I'm not sure why but i was bored by The Ordeal.

A bit of an ordeal was it?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I'm not sure why but i was bored by The Ordeal.

Oops.

Scratch that.

I've never seen it.

I think i was thinking of Dead End - a none French film with a slightly similar cover. Well it's red anyway.