What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I bought Dark Horse on DVD ages ago and I haven't got around to watching that one yet, it looked great from the trailer and if it's as good as those 2 then I know I'm going to love it.

You'll have to let me know what it's like as I haven't seen it myself.

[gag]

Just a daft random Q?

In films and real life you have baddies, gangsters, drug dealers who always come out with the old chestnut saying, im not scared of you
Well erm exscuse but yes you are if you wasnt then why do they hide behind s bevvy of people
Yes im aware why get youre hands dirty when other people can do it for you. So why say im not scared of you.
If you got into a fight in a night club you wouldnt say come on im not scared of you then click youre fingers and expect who youre with to kick arse for you would you?

[iank]

Rented a couple of films.

Howl. A night train derails and the skeleton staff and passengers soon find themselves facing something far worse than endless delays - a rampaging werewolf on the track! This was a surprisingly decent and effective "base under siege" British horror for the most part, though I didn't like the ending.

Bone Tomahawk. When a criminal, a Sheriff's Deputy and the local female doctor are abducted from the town jail, seemingly by Indians, the town Sheriff conjures up a small posse, including the doctor's injured husband, to go after them - but is unaware of just how utterly savage and ferocious his enemy really is... Kurt Russell stars in this very effective Western thriller that turns into a horror flick. The mid-section is a little on the slow side, but it pays off in a shockingly brutal final act as the Sheriff and company find themselves outnumbered by a clan of brutal cannibalistic savages who might as well be alien monsters for all the humanity they possess. I really liked this!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Saint Ange (2004)

A ghostly tale set in the 50's at an orphanage in the French Alps.

I struggled to get to grips with Saint Ange, UK title, House of Voices. Despite some good performances from Virginie Ledoyen and Catriona McColl and added to some occasional striking imagery, the whole thing failed to grab me and i felt nothing other than slight interest at the best of times.

Director Pascal Laugier went on to direct the overrated Martyrs (2008) and the largely excellent The Tall Man (2012), but it's a wonder he managed anything at all following this almost plotless and frankly boring film.

Probably the worst new wave French horror i've seen and certainly the dullest.

Disappointing!

[J Harker]

[Dave Boy]

BLUEBEARD PRC (1944)

A murderer is on the prowl in Paris and bodies of young girls have been found in the river. Suspition falls on puppeteer John Carradine....

For a low budget horror, PRC have put some effort in to this and it looks good.
John Carradine is great as the troubled puppeteer and the puppet show he puts on looks really great. A classic sweeping music score plays the entire 70mins.
The tunnels which the murderer sinks his victims in the river are pretty atmospheric but this is not really a horror film as such. Lasting only 1 hour 10mins, it does seem like the film is on for much longer. Worth checking out for John Carradine and the great puppet show.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Dave Boy

BLUEBEARD PRC (1944)

Have you seen the Burton version, Daveboy?

I really rate that.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Have you seen the Burton version, Daveboy?

I really rate that.

Me too.

[6566329]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

I also thought it was uniformly brilliant and incredibly tense.

I'm not an authority on the matter, but I imagine the reality of such situation would involve a lot of negotiating and high-level political meetings.

I get their point, that all of this stuff is hard work and very political etc etc, but they made that point about ten minutes in and then kept hammering on at it. It takes them until the end of the film to take any action more complicated than "I'll ask someone more powerful than me". There are episodes of 24 that have dealt with similar issues in entertaining ways in half the time. I can take a film full of a chatter, too, but the film has no real characters either: "Grumpy woman", "Nice man", "Bad woman". The entire film could have filled five interesting minutes in a decent film with a proper budget, instead of being a cheapie shot in three or four rooms with actors paid for an afternoon each (followed by a weekend in a dusty village).

[J Harker]

The Hateful Eight, Quentin Tarantino.

A stagecoach thunders across the bleak snowy Wyoming wilderness. On board is bounty hunter John 'The Hangman' Ruth transporting his prisoner Daisy Domague to justice in the town of Red Rock. Sat upon a heap of corpses in the middle of the road is Major Marquis Warren. A rival bounty hunter also looking to get his catch to town after the elements claim his horse. Striking up an arrangement the two professionals share the carriage onward awhile before happening across a third traveller also struggling on foot in the harsh environment. Chris Mannix claims to be the new sherrif of Red Rock and manages to secure a ride aboard John Ruths stagecoach.
Unfortunately a ferocious blizzard forces the coach to stop at Minnies Haberdashery a remote trade post, where the men have no choice but to hole up til the storm passes.
Inside the trade post, we meet an odd assortment of travellers all with their own stories and agendas.
Tarantinos 9th feature is as ever a long drawn out indulgent affair, criticisms already levelled at this and at least his last two films. Its difficult to argue that point other than to say i enjoyed all three immensely and was never bored therefore i don't see how they can be overlong.
The Hateful Hate stars Kurt Russell doing his best John Wayne as John Ruth 'The Hangman' and Tarantino regular Samuel L.Jackson as Marquis Warren. Both are excellent in there own way even if Jackson is just playing his usual shouty self. Also in Minnies Haberdashery we get a brilliant turn from Tim Roth as the most English Englishman on earth, Michael Madsen as...well Michael Madsen. Bruce Dern as an old army general. Oh and credit where it really is due to a spectacular turn from Jennifer Jason Leigh as the prisoner Daisy Domague, foulmouthed, evil and hilarious in equal measure. I love snowy films, be it The Thing, The Shining or Corbuccis brilliant The Great Silence. And this is no different, basically a group of strangers trapped in a snowbound cabin in the middle of nowhere. Morricones marvellous score, more reminiscent of classic horrors like The Shining or Psycho combined with the setting works brilliantly to evoke a menacing mood and the opening scenes of the stagecoach passing an old gothic cross in the middle of the white wasteland do ever more to convince me that this isn't a western but a horror flick in disguise. I loved it but somehow i suspect I'll be the only one here to think that highly of it.
P.s.Jackie Brown is far too long.