What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

This past week's viewings:


The Vampire Happening (Gebissen wird nur nachts) (1971)



53/100

I quite like The Vampire Happening. It's 'different' shall we say. Unfortunately the print i have isn't the greatest but still watchable.

[nosferatu42]

I've got a bad print of it too, but thought it was enjoyable.
I quite liked 'Blood and lace' too, another film B.E watched but didn't rate highly.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

I've got a bad print of it too, but thought it was enjoyable.
I quite liked 'Blood and lace' too, another film B.E watched but didn't rate highly.

I've never seen that. Can you recommend a release?

[nosferatu42]

Er no, it was a you tube job, but i read a review in darkside recently for a U.s release. I don't think it's been released much.

[nosferatu42]

blood-and-lace.jpg

It's been released by Scream factory.

Region A though.
But seeing as it's a dvd combo the dvd should be watchable on a multiregion dvd player i guess.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Mean Streets (1973)

Martin Scorsese's breakthrough film, and his first of eight collaborations with Robert De Niro, is practically a dry run for many future films. Bringing to the fore inspired use of music and the seedy pool hall style violence mixed into an almost matter of factly look at life from the other side, in this case the Italian suburbs of New York, that would become almost a trademark of Scorsese film making.

In fact Mean Streets seems greatly influenced by Italian cinema of the previous decade and comes over as semi-autobiographical at times. Not really a crime film as such, the film about two friends, Charlie, the older, as played by Harvey Keitel, is a mob debt collector, whilst De Niro plays Johnny Boy, the tearaway of the two, and constantly on the run from loan sharks. Playing out as a character study, Charlie comes across as the most sympathetic, attempting to juggle his mob life wile coping with epileptic girlfriend Teresa's health problems. Whilst De Niro is generally just annoying.

As a piece of film making, Mean Streets is seminal....however, i don't like it much at all.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

This past week's viewings:

Andy Warhol's Bad (1977)



77/100


Cheerleader Camp (1988)



72/100


Horror High (1974)



63/100


Blood and Lace (1971)



56/100


Blood Thirst (1971)



55/100


Scream of the Demon Lover (Il castello dalle porte di fuoco) (1970)



55/100


They Have Changed Their Face (...hanno cambiato faccia) (1971)



62/100


The Vampire Happening (Gebissen wird nur nachts) (1971)



53/100


Web of the Spider (Nella stretta morsa del ragno) (1971)



64/100


Werewolves on Wheels (1971)



45/100

'Bad' is such a great film! Where's the Blu-ray, crammed with extras? It deserves that kind of treatment far more than some of the clunkers thought worthy of restoration recently.

Shame you didn't get on with 'Werewolves On Wheels'. Never seems to get very good reviews. I really like it (or at least, I like it a bit), but admittedly it does mis-sell itself.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

Shame you didn't get on with 'Werewolves On Wheels'. Never seems to get very good reviews. I really like it (or at least, I like it a bit), but admittedly it does mis-sell itself.

You think so?

The werewolves on wheels are only in it for five minutes at the end.

I was expecting low budget Easy Rider madness with guys n' gals on cool bikes wearing dodgy werewolf masks terrorizing the open roads...instead we get that mess.

[tele1962]

Nightmare City, fantastic fun and a great flick. Kind of liked the effect the damage to the Arrow negative had, added a sort of Grindhouse feel to it

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Presence (2010)

Mira Sorvino is brilliant as a woman who returns to her isolated childhood home to write. She finds herself stalked by an apparition who has come to inhabit her space as his own. With the unexpected arrival of the woman's boyfriend, she soon begins to exhibit unstable and irrational behaviour as something or someone starts to take control of her.

This was one odd film and I enjoyed it. It's a brave film that strays from the typical conventions of supernatural thrillers, indeed the final third might have you wondering what. No. I'll leave it at that and just say leave you wondering. As come the final act there's a lot to wonder about.

The Presence takes the unusual step of showing you it's supernatural entity in the first scenes and never keeps it hidden after that. At first i felt this idea couldn't possibly be sustained throughout a whole movie. I mean where would the scares come from? There can't be any cheap jump moments if you can see the damn ghost all the time. True enough, there aren't any jump scares and the music is kept to a minimum. As the film plays out the fact the ghost is always about makes you slowly feel that little bit twitchy, what started out as a laughable concept turned bizarrely eerie.

Just in case anyone decides to give this film a go i won't say anymore regarding what happens as it would definitely spoil the experience. I will say come the end i was gripped.

I doubt this is a film for everyone but anyone wanting to see a supernatural film which is very different to the norm then this could be for you.