What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

it probably won't turn up in the UK.

I think that's a safe bet!

[Inspector Abberline]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

I like the show.

I did wonder who the target audience was for a Dads Army remake,I love the series and im forever dipping into the boxset even if its just to watch tyhe odd episode,also why now? I can see an audience younger than there 30's,not really getting it,while the older fans might not like it out of loyalty to the original series,as for me ill wait for the dvd,

[iank]

They're remaking and plundering everything because they're completely out of ideas and because they get to redo the past in the new PC paradigm.

[Frankie Teardrop]

PATHOLOGY – New doc on the block tries hard to show he can cut it with his cohort of medical psychopaths in this slightly undistinguished but lean horror thriller. Because it's set in a pathology lab, expect plenty of mangled cadavers – this may or may not satiate the gorehound in you, as most of the grue is fairly static and non-dramatic, and anyway grossness isn't really 'Pathology's raison d'etre. As a slick and slightly twisty thriller it delivers, for the most part. In the end though it becomes ludicrous – nothing mind blowing or bizarre, just the kind of ham fisted, ill fitting ludicrousness which makes you look back on the last ninety or so minutes and wonder whether they were actually lamer than they seemed. That aside, entertaining enough.

DEAD SILENCE – From James Wan, director of the fabled 'Saw' and a few others. 'Dead Silence' doesn't have a very good reputation because it came out on the back of a film that was hugely popular but still divisive, the fickle masses being what they are, and critics even worse. I didn't see a problem with it, perhaps mainly because I'm a fan of mannequin and doll weirdness. Even so, my personal kinks notwithstanding, I thought it was a well made, smooth piece of mainstream horror. It's about a guy who runs into difficulties when his girlfriend turns up dead with a crazily deformed mouth after a ventriloquist's dummy is delivered to his apartment. He goes back to his home town to sort it all out and becomes embroiled in some local mythology about a doll maker and her sinister powers. I thought it was quite fun and aesthetically nice to look at, slightly 'Burtonesque' for want of a better term.

THE HAND – Cartoonist Michael Caine is a bit pissed off when he loses a hand in an accident. Not only is his livelihood on the line, but his relationship is in jeopardy... and, in a less foreseeable development to anyone but a horror fan, his long lost hand finds it has life of its own and sets about ruining MC's life in a more murder-oriented kind of way. Is something supernatural happening? Is it all a metaphor for Michael's repressed rage? Who knows. What I do know is, 'The Hand' is a moderately involving horror movie which chalks up a few more hits than it does misses. First off, there's Caine himself, who doesn't turn in his most distinguished performance, but still that kind of simmering menace he sometimes projects is here in abundance. The relationship-paranoia aspect is handled well, the film takes itself seriously but still dares to be absurd and, most importantly for me, the sequences featuring the severed hand crawling along are eerily effective and surreal, even if they don't go anywhere graphic. On the downside... it's a bit too long, there's not (beyond MC) enough of the things that make it good, and it could've been attacked more viciously by Oliver Stone, who, in some parallel world, might've gone all Cronenberg on this one's ass (but obviously wouldn't in anything approaching 'the real world', being a very different auteur... one whose fame garnering social conscience was still a few miles away from the silver screen by the time he made 'The Hand'). Although personally I prefer the unembarrassed no-brow trash of 'Demonoid' when it comes to hand movies, 'The Hand' is certainly worth a look, and, if you also fancy checking out Wes Craven's gonzoid eighties robot killer teen romance 'Deadly Friend' along with Carpenter's 'Someone's Watching Me' and vaguely sleazy slasher 'Eyes of a Stranger', they're all on a good picture quality four disc set that can be purchased from the world's premier internet shopping service for a measly seven or eight quid.

SUPERSTITION – Always have slightly high hopes when I sit down with this supernatural slasher from the early eighties – memory reports it as being fast, no nonsense and quite nasty with some nicely haunting back lit visuals involving its witchy killer. Reality, on fourth or fifth viewing since I first set eyes on it ten years ago, reveals it to be fairly dull, badly acted, a bit gory in parts (but most of this is confined to the first half hour) and disappointingly free of the monstrous being my mind conjured to fill in for the murderer. Oh well. Another film I'm always really drawn to, 'The Slayer', actually delivers, whereas this one leaves me feeling short changed. Still, another two or three years and I'll be digging it out again, hoping for the best. Hope instead that I read this review before I watch it again.

IN THEIR SKIN – This is a pretty good home invasion flick which shows a middle class American family being terrorised by their slightly down at heel counterparts. There's stuff going on under the surface about social status and loss and latter day US insecurity which is all quite interesting but a bit superficially rendered – it just seems too easy to use this kind of set up, specifically home invasion, as a vehicle for exploring those kind of tensions. On the other hand, the narrative here is compelling and the atmosphere is taut (and strangely melancholic), despite not all that much happening – that to me is the mark of a good film, making not much seem like a lot, or making a lot seem like not much but in the kind of way that leaves you with a gradually dawning sense of, “yes, this is quite a lot when I thought it to be not much”. Wow, this is the least sensible review I've ever written. The film is much better however, so you should check it out.

ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST – One of those good ol' boys who'll never let you down – or will he? How many of these movies live in our memories as venerable monarchs of the 'nasty' era , only to be revealed, years later, as snivelling shits in the cold light of the massive hi def TV? I have to ask, after my experience with 'Superstition' (see above). Happily for me, 'Zombie Holocaust' remains the bone headed delight it always was. It took me a while to get into it after I sat down with the 88 version the other day, but the strange magic of those zombies appearing from the depths of the jungle still hit home, as did Donald O'Brien's megalomaniacal turn as Dr Butcher MD – so quotable, so effortlessly casual in his cartoon sadism. Great. And the whole film, as nearly all of you will know, is just a barrage of trash film idiocy, violence and nudity, a testament to the power of senselessness. I like it way more than Fulci's boring 'Zombie Flesh Eaters', put it that way.

[iank]

I've actually got that Hand set with the other three movies on it. Not seen any of them yet though! Is the Carpenter one any good?

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by iank

I've actually got that Hand set with the other three movies on it. Not seen any of them yet though! Is the Carpenter one any good?

Well, it's a TV movie and is certainly not 'cinematic' in the way a lot of people would anticipate a Carpenter movie being... no long tracking shots in cinemascope etc etc. It doesn't feel like it was put together by the same guy who made 'Halloween' the same year. Having said that it's quite Hitchockian as far as its narrative goes, about a woman who moves into a new apartment only to find she's being spied on by a stalker with a few head games up his sleeve etc etc. I mean, nothing about this is going to seem mind blowing these days is it? Well enough done, but a bit flat is how I remember it, but when I watched it, only a few weeks ago, I got distracted halfway through by something a bit odd happening in my house and I couldn't settle back into it because I had to keep checking the telephone (erm, not that I was being stalked by a dude with a telescope and a creepy voice!), so in a roundabout way I guess I'm saying I couldn't concentrate on it well enough to get a good enough grasp of how much I really liked it. I think it's not the strongest film on that set, though.

[J Harker]

Magnum Force, 1973.

I know I've watched a few things recently that I've not wrote about, struggling to actually remember though.
Last night i watched Magnum Force, Eastwoods second outing as San Fransisco detective Harry Callahan.
I've had the boxset ages but never seen any of the sequels.
In Magnum Force, a group of traffic cops have taken it on themselves to rid the city of crime, vigilante style. Ironically Harry doesn't approve and when an old friend gets killed to keep a lid on things he starts digging deeper.
Compared to the original film this feels a more breezy affair, it actually feels more like an early 80's actioner i thought, surprisingl given it was made only two years after the original.
Regardless it's a lot of fun and Eastwood is great just wandering through the film blasting badguys away. In fact for the first half of the film he barely seems involved with the actual plot.
So not as good as the first film which is more a gritty thriller but still a good film. Pity Warners blu transfer is a bit ropey.

Videodrome 1982. (I think)

Videodrome, last week was the first time I'd ever watched Cronenbergs notorious (is anything the guy made not notorious?) Videodrome.
While i can see why it's well regarded by many I'm not sure i really get it. As a straightforward film it's ok. Technically it's brilliant, the effects for the time are incredible. But it feels like the whole premise sort of hinges on the social commentary. Which i just didn't really get. We like television? Is that it? That said it certainly stays in the mind and I'll give it another go soon.

Needful Things 1993.

I used to have the poster for this one, I'd never actually seen the film though.
An adaptation of Stephen Kings novel, with Ed Harris, John McClane's wife and Max Von Sydow amongst others, in fact this one's got quite a decent cast.
A mysterious new shop opens in the small New England town of Castle Rock. The proprieter Max von Sydow seems to have just what you want regardless of how obscure that may be. However for each item sold comes a price, a little favour here or there. Starting out with getting young Brian Rusk to carry out a few malicious little pranks, throwing pigshit on some laundry, breaking a window, things gradually escalate until somehow everyone in town is at each others throats.
I've no idea how this compares to the novel but its not a bad film, one of the better King adaptations I've seen even if it is a little slow in places.
Ed Harris is good quality playing Ed Harris the sheriff. And Bonnie Bedelia a.k.a John McClane's missus is his fiance.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

Well, it's a TV movie and is certainly not 'cinematic' in the way a lot of people would anticipate a Carpenter movie being... no long tracking shots in cinemascope etc etc. It doesn't feel like it was put together by the same guy who made 'Halloween' the same year. Having said that it's quite Hitchockian as far as its narrative goes, about a woman who moves into a new apartment only to find she's being spied on by a stalker with a few head games up his sleeve etc etc. I mean, nothing about this is going to seem mind blowing these days is it? Well enough done, but a bit flat is how I remember it, but when I watched it, only a few weeks ago, I got distracted halfway through by something a bit odd happening in my house and I couldn't settle back into it because I had to keep checking the telephone (erm, not that I was being stalked by a dude with a telescope and a creepy voice!), so in a roundabout way I guess I'm saying I couldn't concentrate on it well enough to get a good enough grasp of how much I really liked it. I think it's not the strongest film on that set, though.

Personally i think it the weakest of the four films. I was surprised how much i loved Deadly Friend. I only really bought the set so i could get Eyes of a Stranger. Then realized too late i'd ordered the individual release of it as well. I no longer order films late at night after alcohol. I still have two copies of Eyes of a Stranger.

I'm sure you'll own this set as well Frankie but others may not. All terrific films.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Needful Things 1993.

I've no idea how this compares to the novel but its not a bad film

The book is obviously better (when isn't it when it comes to Stephen King?), it delves deeper into the whole "item for everyone/practical joke" premise, and features a return of a well known Castle Rock resident from The Body (Stand By Me in film), who plays a major part in the story, absent from the film for unknown reasons.
I'd recommend reading it

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Death Laid an Egg (1968)

Weird and off beat giallo that really isn't a giallo at all. I always though a gialli tended to be a murder mystery.

Death Laid an Egg stars Gina Lollobrigida, Ewa Aulin and Jean-Louis Trintignant in a tale of industrial espionage and menage a trois at the chicken factory.

Once you get to the bottom of this there really isn't an awful lot going on except red herrings galore. Also it's not a film to thrill the viewer but it is quietly compelling viewing. I tend to associate Trintignant with French director Alain Robbe-Grillet and for whatever reason Death Laid an Egg often comes across like a Grillet movie. Be it the abstract filming techniques and slightly surreal dream like atmosphere the film is bathed in. Even the mechanical chicken farm seems hypnotizing on occasions.

The performances by the three leads complement each other and it's their love triangle that holds the film in place for much of the time. Director Guillio Questi keeps things rather restrained and the film eschews many of the typical giallo traits of murder and sex. More in line with Footprints on the Moon than The Case of the Bloody Iris for example, Death Laid an Egg is...interesting.