What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Cinematic Shocks

The Slayer (1982)

*** out of *****

Snap!

[Cinematic Shocks]

It’s a pretty good film. If it weren’t for its sluggish pacing, I’d give it ½ a more point for my rating.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Death Rage (1976)

Following his brothers murder, a retired mob hit man (a charismatic Yul Brynner) travels to Naples to exact revenge. He befriends a small time petty crook (Massimo Ranieri) who is eager to work for him. The police, headed by Martin Balsam, are also on the trail.

Antonio Margheriti, one of my favourite Italian directors, takes on the poliziotteschi genre with this pacy, tight enjoyable film with some well helmed car chases and exhilarating gun fights, even if it is a clear rip of Charles Bronson's 1972 thriller The Mechanic.

Brynner as always is superb, he can apparently take on any role, be it crime lord, cowboy or King of Siam, and nail it perfectly as does Balsam in his detective role. Massimo Ranieri, someone i'm not particularly familiar with did well after some early scenes as the wannabe hitman. Sadly Barbara Bouchet is underused.

Although Death Rage is fairly formulaic and low budget, even for Italian productions, i always find it an enjoyable watch.

[Mojo]

DOCTOR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS
Amicus' initial foray into the world of anthology horrors arrives on a superb looking blu ray from Screenbound entertainment. It's surely never looked as good as this. There's also a fabulous 60 minute documentary on the film from Nucleus to round things off.

THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY
A young girl is murdered in a rain soaked park and a local tv presenter is arrested. However, the killings continue..
Another giallo which concentrates more on the police / court proceedings, this is still an enjoyable tale with a good cast. It's also good to see some of the lesser known gialli get a release, rather than the umpteenth version of the usual suspects.
Quality wise, this blu ray from Arrow looks stunning. I really hope they can get their hands on more Gialli, as their releases of these movies so far have been fantastic.

[sjconstable]

Originally Posted by Mojo

THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY
Quality wise, this blu ray from Arrow looks stunning. I really hope they can get their hands on more Gialli, as their releases of these movies so far have been fantastic.

If by 'stunning' you mean completely flat and with no black in the image (http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-r...5_blu-ray_.jpg), i.e. an unfinished remaster, then yeah, totally stunning. I'm sick of these Ritrovata messes, waiting to see if Camera Obscura does some colour-correction work on it for their edition.

[mr 420]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

Ill watch that one next

Do you have the old Anchor Bay release of Last House on the Left? The commentary track with David Hess and company is a must.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by sjconstable

If by 'stunning' you mean completely flat and with no black in the image (http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-r...5_blu-ray_.jpg), i.e. an unfinished remaster, then yeah, totally stunning. I'm sick of these Ritrovata messes, waiting to see if Camera Obscura does some colour-correction work on it for their edition.

Having only seen the previous crappy dvd version, it looked fantastic to me. Shows how much I know!

[sjconstable]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Having only seen the previous crappy dvd version, it looked fantastic to me. Shows how much I know!

It's got more detail than the DVD but they just keep leaving the image with messed up gamma/elevated blacks and questionable colours so it's such a shame. Camera Obscura tend to put in more time and effort on their releases though so I'd be surprised if they didn't fix it for theirs (like Arrow fixed the master they were given for Deep Red, again by Ritrovata).

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Cinematic Shocks

It’s a pretty good film. If it weren’t for its sluggish pacing, I’d give it ½ a more point for my rating.

Stately ahem.

Watched True Romance...with the QT comm. A sobering lesson in rampant egotism. Still love this film I hasten to add, but him.....sheesh.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Having only seen the previous crappy dvd version, it looked fantastic to me. Shows how much I know!

It's the one i'll be getting anyway. CO won't have the Newman / Jones commentary which is in all likely probably better than the film itself.