What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Cinematic Shocks]

ClownTown (2016)

**1/2 out of *****

The Purge: Election Year (2016)

*** out of *****

De Palma (2015)

**** out of *****

Halloween (2007)

*1/2 out of *****

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

A couple of quickies.

Skyline (2010)

From the brothers Strause, yes them of the ill conceived Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007). Skyline is a fast and frenetic mixture of sci-fi and action. Predominantly set on the rooftops of LA, the film has a decent array of lively set pieces and some original alien invaders as a group of youths battle to survive. Decent cinematography and a downbeat ending should have ensured better fan responses than it originally received.

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

A first time viewing for me and i don't think it fair to do a proper review on a film such as this after just the one watch. However i will say that it's certainly one of the most chilling products to come out of thirties Hollywood with it's Hays code baiting sequences of vivisection on Dr Moreau's grotesque human / animal hybrids.

Charles Laughton as Moreau, whilst down playing made me think of Peter Kay, and Bela Lugosi, even under creature make up comes over as Bela Lugosi. It's set on a Polynesian island for god sake, where did they find a Hungarian ham? Thankfully Kathleen Burke's sexy panther woman makes up for everything.

Fine sets, superb make up and a pacy script ensure i'll be visiting the Island of Lost Souls again quite soon.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

****1/2 out of *****

Halloween II (2009)

*1/2 out of *****

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Myth (2005)

Jackie Chan action adventure which begins promisingly as as Indiana Jones meets warring Chinese dynasties romp, culminating in an outrageous set piece at a rat glue factory.

However the second half soon gets bogged down in immortality pills, levitation, asteroid powers and clunky CGI in a tedious final forty minutes that makes you forget all the good work in the opening hour or so.

[Nordicdusk]

Ghostbusters_2016_film_poster.jpg

Yeah thats right i watched it big whoop wanna fight about it .

Truth be told i actually feel like punching myself in the face repeatedly for watching this but no point complaining about it without watching it first so i did.

Story

Convince the people of New York that ghosts exist and then stop said ghosts.

Going in my expectations were at an all time low but i still went in with an open mind and gave it a chance. First off the ghosts look really good and the colours really do jump out of the screen it really does look great but eye candy is all this film has going for it. The jokes are just pure shit it actually made me angry the jokes were so bad and out of the four Ghostbusters the character of Holtzmann is one of the most annoying characters i have ever seen in any film ever and just when i thought it could not get any worse Chris Hemsworth strolls in now lets get one thing out of the way i cant stand Chris Hemsworth in any film so he was at a disadvantage right off the bat and it didn't take long to realise that i was not allowing my distaste of the actor cloud my judgement of his character but the character himself is just so so badly written he is suppose to be a bit of a bimbo type character but his jokes fall flat and his stupidity is waaaaay too stupid to be funny two examples he wears glasses with no lense so he does not have to clean the glass no glass no dirt and when there is a loud noise he covers his eyes instead of his ears to blink out the noise it's just lame and this is the sort of "stupid" he is supposed to be. I really cannot recommend this at all.

Final thought

Ghostbusters 2016 is like watching porn it's easy on the eye but it leaves you feeling empty, numb and covered in ectoplasm

And that my friends it both a sexual joke and a ghost joke thank you you're too kind i'm here all year.

[J Harker]

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the Eighth Dimension.

I want to criticise this film but i can't actually pinpoint what was wrong with it. Its way out there, it finished ten mins ago and I'm damned if i really know what happened.
Peter Weller is Buckaroo Banzai, an everyday rockstar/neurosurgeon/martial artist/general super scientist sort. John Lithgow is a twat.
There's some Rasta aliens.
Banzai is the frontman of a rock band, the Hong Kong Cavaliers. They have to save the world from...something...
Negatives, it's occasionally boring. Given the sheer energy of this film there's no excuse.
Positives, the cast, Peter Weller is cool as hell, oozing charisma as Banzai, the guy carries damn near every film I've ever seen him in, by all accounts he's a bastard to work with but i think he deserves a bigger career. You've got Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum, the gorgeous Ellen Arkin, Christopher Lloyd, another great character actor that brings something magical to almost every film he's in but didn't seem to ever get the career he deserved. There's others here too, the brilliant Clancy Brown, Vincent Schiavelli, Dan Hedaya, and its a credit to each and every one of the cast that they play it so straight because without this the film would completely collapse in on its absurdities...
So any good? Yes, i was entertained, will i rush to watch it again?? Doubtful.

[Frankie Teardrop]

31 – Eagerly awaited by some, '31' marks Rob Zombie's return to the horror fold following 2012's 'Lords of Salem'. I really liked the latter, although it split his core audience – not everyone was into the more subdued approach. Those who were not will probably warm to '31'. It's not quite full throttle Zombie, but, with its maniacal clowns, plentiful gore and Malcolm McDowell dressed as an 18th cent aristocrat it certainly signals a move back in the direction of his trademark territory, which I guess is 'slightly hallucinogenic gory horror with aspirations to grindhouse homage' if we're going to get brand focussed about it. '31', set on Halloween night 1976, is about some fairground employees who get abducted by M McDowell, the aforementioned Louis 14th wannabe , who appears to hold court in some kind of power station in the middle of nowhere. Whilst I do like the randomness of that, I also thought 'huh?' Anyway, the fairground people get chased around by clowns of various hues before being violently murdered for Mc Dowell's entertainment. That's kind of about it, really. '31' does not skimp on graphic horror, although I can't say whether the version on Amazon currently available to rent is the unrated one or not. More than gore though, '31' has that griminess, that 'life is a gutter' feel that you get from most R Zombie flicks – everything seems filtered through a gauze of seedy decrepitude, and we get to witness scenes like the one where the main killer character bangs someone up the arse in a dirty room lit only by a flickering television set showing 'Nosferatu' (twenties version). Not bad for sleaze stylistics, but then Zombie films are always very stylised, and '31' is no exception. He certainly knows how to throw a few visuals together, and the aesthetic here is more eighties than seventies, with lots of blue lit sets soundtracked by synth warbling. It does occasionally feel like an episode of 'The Crystal Maze', with mucho running around from room to room and the same thing happening again and again, but as those rooms and those same things happening tend to involve Germanic clowns dressed in exaggerated Y-fronts who say things like “come here, I want to fu*k you”, you can't really complain. All in all, definitely worth checking out and I hope he scores a hit with it.

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

31 – Eagerly awaited by some, '31' marks Rob Zombie's return to the horror fold following 2012's 'Lords of Salem'. I really liked the latter, although it split his core audience – not everyone was into the more subdued approach. Those who were not will probably warm to '31'. It's not quite full throttle Zombie, but, with its maniacal clowns, plentiful gore and Malcolm McDowell dressed as an 18th cent aristocrat it certainly signals a move back in the direction of his trademark territory, which I guess is 'slightly hallucinogenic gory horror with aspirations to grindhouse homage' if we're going to get brand focussed about it. '31', set on Halloween night 1976, is about some fairground employees who get abducted by M McDowell, the aforementioned Louis 14th wannabe , who appears to hold court in some kind of power station in the middle of nowhere. Whilst I do like the randomness of that, I also thought 'huh?' Anyway, the fairground people get chased around by clowns of various hues before being violently murdered for Mc Dowell's entertainment. That's kind of about it, really. '31' does not skimp on graphic horror, although I can't say whether the version on Amazon currently available to rent is the unrated one or not. More than gore though, '31' has that griminess, that 'life is a gutter' feel that you get from most R Zombie flicks – everything seems filtered through a gauze of seedy decrepitude, and we get to witness scenes like the one where the main killer character bangs someone up the arse in a dirty room lit only by a flickering television set showing 'Nosferatu' (twenties version). Not bad for sleaze stylistics, but then Zombie films are always very stylised, and '31' is no exception. He certainly knows how to throw a few visuals together, and the aesthetic here is more eighties than seventies, with lots of blue lit sets soundtracked by synth warbling. It does occasionally feel like an episode of 'The Crystal Maze', with mucho running around from room to room and the same thing happening again and again, but as those rooms and those same things happening tend to involve Germanic clowns dressed in exaggerated Y-fronts who say things like “come here, I want to fu*k you”, you can't really complain. All in all, definitely worth checking out and I hope he scores a hit with it.

I liked 31 as well but felt it had one major flaw. The moments between the action, before another 'head' is set on the group would have been perfect for character development and help establish character arcs for each of the carny's. However I left the film knowing as much about each of the characters as when I went in. Putting that to one side its an entertaining slice of schlock and Richaed Brake steals the whole film as 'Doomhead'. A memorable villain and a nasty son-of-a-bitch.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by keirarts

I liked 31 as well but felt it had one major flaw. The moments between the action, before another 'head' is set on the group would have been perfect for character development and help establish character arcs for each of the carny's. However I left the film knowing as much about each of the characters as when I went in. Putting that to one side its an entertaining slice of schlock and Richaed Brake steals the whole film as 'Doomhead'. A memorable villain and a nasty son-of-a-bitch.

The lack of characterisation could certainly be seen as a flaw, but I was watching it in 'schlock' mode more than anything else. Richard Brake was really good in it, I agree.

[keirarts]

City of the dead

Not the Fulci gorefest but a B&W British classic from John Moxey. It sets the action in new england opening with a witch being burned at the stake and cursing the townsfolk. Several hundred years later a young folklore student heads to the town at the urging of her professor (Christopher Lee) only to discover the place is a mist shrouded hive of satanism ultimately leading to her becoming a victim of ritual sacrifice. Concerned at her dissapearance her friend heads to the town to find her..
City is a terrific, atmospheric chiller thats beautifully shot and written. It actually classes as one of the first Amicus pictures courtesy of the involvment of Milton Subotsky and shows some of the qualities of some of the studios better output. The VCI blu-ray looked decent on my little tv but im sure there are people with screencaps keen to show some of the flaws, the film seems to be in the wrong ratio as well but I could be wrong on that count. I'm basing my opionions on the older DVD release.