What Films Have You Seen Recently? - Page 3659

J Harker · #**36581** 14th April 2016, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

PHANTASM 4 – I'm a big fan of Don Cosarelli's original, that bizarre coming of age yarn about ice cream men and mutant dwarfs. Can't remember much about parts two and three, but 'Phantasm 4' is surely a sequel worthy of the first film. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, for a start. The kid Mike from part one has grown up, and he's driving around a desert when he's not fending off apparitions in his car. He goes back in time, too, where he meets a kindly Angus Schrimm who used to be a civil war medic way back before he became the embodiment of evil or whatever. Mike's brother is back from the dead, and crops up as either a flying silver ball, or occasionally in human guise when he needs to have a heart to heart with Mike. Meanwhile, Reggie the ice cream man is off fighting zombie cops and being menaced by silver globes in hotel rooms. He's still got his pony tail, and by the end of the film he'll tape two shotguns together in the form of a climax weapon which doesn't do much to rival Ash's chainsaw-arm, but which looks hilarious when wielded by a guy who seems like he should be in a Status Quo tribute band. I can't really recall what happens in the end, it's all ungraspable anyway. 'Phantasm 4', in case you haven't guessed, is all over the place. Geographically, historically, phenomenologically (there are long passages of dreamy recollections, for which read: bits of the previous movies stitched in by way of padding). It's a formidable brew, one which actually benefits from its slightly anodyne stylistic quality. It feels like late night TV surrealism, as if Bunuel had hijacked a ninety minute graveyard slot and decided to broadcast bits of direct to video horror he found lying around in bargain bins. Needless to say, I liked it.

If i recall while not a patch on 1 or 2 it was decidedly better than part 3. About high time someone gave the Phantasm series the bells and whistles treatment on blublay.

J Harker · #**36582** 14th April 2016, 09:28 PM

Currently watching

Demoncrat · #**36583** 15th April 2016, 10:45 AM

I watched

Escape From LA (1996, John Carpenter)
Early CGI that doesn't look terrible now. If only this film had that. From that awful leather vest (is this Flash Gordon?? nooooooooooooo) to that awful "surfin'" bit, it still reeks.

J Harker · #**36584** 15th April 2016, 11:17 AM

Watched Tales From The Crypt last night, i thought I'd seen this before but it must have been Vault of Horror I've seen.
Brilliant anthology horror, probably the best I've seen and suitably nasty in places. And Peter Cushing as Grimsdyke? Excellent, heart breaking performance, probably the best thing I've ever seen him do.

Demdike@Cult Labs · #**36585** 15th April 2016, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J Harker

Watched Tales From The Crypt last night

Oh that's what it was. I thought they'd allowed you family visits.

J Harker · #**36586** 15th April 2016, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Oh that's what it was. I thought they'd allowed you family visits.

Demdike@Cult Labs · #**36587** 15th April 2016, 10:36 PM

The Awful Truth (1937)

Classic screwball comedy from Hollywood's golden period starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne as a couple seemingly at odds with each other who begin the proceeds of divorce. They then set about undermining each others attempts to find new love.

It's been quite a while since i laughed so much at a film. The laughs aren't from slapstick thankfully but from the very smart quick fire dialogue and facial expressions from it's stars. In fact Dunne and Grant show real energy together, so much so that you can at times cut the sexual tension with a knife.

Unfortunately for Grant and Dunne they are often upstaged by another electric performance by Asta as the dog in the midst of divorce.

I loved The Awful Truth and highly recommend it.

Frankie Teardrop · #**36588** 16th April 2016, 11:05 AM

13 EERIE – I'm as tired of zombie films as anyone else, but I decided to give '13 Eerie' a go because some reviews seemed to suggest there was something about it. It follows some trainee CSI types who are put through the wringer by their tutor, who's left corpses lying around a deserted island for the purpose of crime scene analysis. When the interns get to work dissecting their allotted cadavers, they start to notice that things on the island may be a little amiss – for example those dudes running around in prison jumpsuits who appear to be, like, rotting or something? Yes, apparently the island once hosted a prison whose inmates' DNA was altered by covert FBI experiments or similar, so no one should be that surprised when those former cons turn up as zombies, although frankly '13 Eerie' is the kind of film where back-story is delivered in a couple of sentences through the side of the mouth between action scenes. I quite enjoyed '13 Eerie'. With its bleak, forlorn island location it manages to evoke some atmosphere, plus it plays it straight – there are no real stabs at comedy horror here, otherwise I'd have tuned out after ten minutes. The zombies are quite scary in a way, seeming more like savage beasts than shamblers. They're really sadistic too, and look like they're having a great time when they nosh down on the hapless studes in scenes of surprising gore. All of this is pretty good, and enough to mark out '13 Eerie' from the DTV hordes. It does have its problems. It's well paced, but there's no tension. Once we know what the deal is ie. scenes of bloodshed, lots of running around and hiding and a coach that crashes twice, we know we can expect little more – it's not as if we're waiting for some really drastic emotional resolution or a suspenseful reveal. It also feels a bit 'TV' in places, I think because of the very generic sounding musical cues and the shot on HD look. If it'd been more 'cinematic', I think it would have gained something. Still, even with these flaws '13 Eerie' entertained well, and I only started checking my watch after an hour in. If you want to see some gory, straight, no brains zombie action then you could do much worse than check out '13 Eerie'. From the director of the massively overrated 'Wolfcop'.

nosferatu42 · #**36589** 16th April 2016, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J Harker

Watched Tales From The Crypt last night, i thought I'd seen this before but it must have been Vault of Horror I've seen.
Brilliant anthology horror, probably the best I've seen and suitably nasty in places. And Peter Cushing as Grimsdyke? Excellent, heart breaking performance, probably the best thing I've ever seen him do.

Have you seen "from beyond the grave" ? ,that's my other fave anthology, features mr Cushing too, and a great Angela/Donald Pleasance segment.