What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Frankie Teardrop]

DARLING – A monochrome riff on Polanski which plays on both 'Repulsion' and 'The Tenant'. It's about a young house sitter who might just have picked the wrong spooky NY tenement building to occupy – clearly she wasn't put off by creepy owner Sean Young and her hints of a terrible backstory. Anyone familiar with 'Darling's primary reference points will see what's coming ie a slow descent into madness which culminates in someone jumping off a tall building. But, this is another film which is more about evoking an atmosphere of dread than it is about telling a story. For a while, 'Darling' looks like it might be an indie masterpiece – the opening twenty minutes, full of wonderful black and white photography, is so atmospheric, capturing the ghostly essence of buildings and objects and rooms that are just too quiet and still. My mind was flooded with strange possibilities, as if Ingmar Bergman had directed 'The Haunting'. And this is a vein that continues throughout 'Darling', and brings it close to touching greatness... alas, a couple of things let it down. Stylistic fumbles such as the kind of jerky fast editing that I associate with mediocre late nineties / early noughties horror when it's trying to signpost 'intense' – there's unfortunately quite a bit of this later on, and it really grates in a film so elegant. There's also a dip into cliched imagery (ghostly whispering etc), but, more damagingly than this, the performances didn't quite reach a level sufficient to make good on the film's atmospheric promise. There's a lot that doesn't quite work, but 'Darling' treads close to near brilliance in places. See it.

ALIEN 2 – I approached 'Alien 2' with trepidation, mostly because so many reviewers had called it dull beyond belief. But, what the hell, I'm a sucker for dire Italian garbage, so of course I had to see it. Was I disappointed? Not at all. Boring? A bit, but how many supposed sacred cow horror flicks are actually quite boring, really? How about 'The Burning'? That one's really boring. Anyway, I digress. It's the 'kind' of boring that counts, and fortunately 'Alien 2' has such a weird atmosphere that it overcomes its long stretches of non-event. Some of this sense of strangeness is achieved through possible incompetence – for example, overly lengthy shots of inconsequential happenings such as a car's journey down a road. OK, it's the destination that's important. Maybe the director was thinking “we just need a bit more padding”, but possibly these decisions were deliberate – lingering shots make the viewer aware of the camera, and this imparts a sense of a watching, observing presence. There's quite a lot of that sort of thing going on in 'Alien 2', but also it's the kind of movie where one of the characters is psychic and that's fine, because, well, loads of people are psychic aren't they, it's just one of those things. For those who don't really appreciate the Bela Tarr approach to casual weirdness, there's quite a bit of gore later on, and it's fairly nasty. In fact, one shot seems to sum up the film's combination of zen-like inertia and harsh violence, and this is an incredibly slow glide along a prone body which ends when the camera reaches the head, which promptly bursts open to reveal a bad rubber alien. Absolute brilliance / garbage – hey, you be the judge. But I really loved 'Alien 2' up to and including its eerie non-ending.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Imperium (2016)

*** out of *****

[Inspector Abberline]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

ALIEN 2 – I approached 'Alien 2' with trepidation, mostly because so many reviewers had called it dull beyond belief. But, what the hell, I'm a sucker for dire Italian garbage, so of course I had to see it. Was I disappointed? Not at all. Boring? A bit, but how many supposed sacred cow horror flicks are actually quite boring, really? How about 'The Burning'? That one's really boring. Anyway, I digress. It's the 'kind' of boring that counts, and fortunately 'Alien 2' has such a weird atmosphere that it overcomes its long stretches of non-event. Some of this sense of strangeness is achieved through possible incompetence – for example, overly lengthy shots of inconsequential happenings such as a car's journey down a road. OK, it's the destination that's important. Maybe the director was thinking “we just need a bit more padding”, but possibly these decisions were deliberate – lingering shots make the viewer aware of the camera, and this imparts a sense of a watching, observing presence. There's quite a lot of that sort of thing going on in 'Alien 2', but also it's the kind of movie where one of the characters is psychic and that's fine, because, well, loads of people are psychic aren't they, it's just one of those things. For those who don't really appreciate the Bela Tarr approach to casual weirdness, there's quite a bit of gore later on, and it's fairly nasty. In fact, one shot seems to sum up the film's combination of zen-like inertia and harsh violence, and this is an incredibly slow glide along a prone body which ends when the camera reaches the head, which promptly bursts open to reveal a bad rubber alien. Absolute brilliance / garbage – hey, you be the judge. But I really loved 'Alien 2' up to and including its eerie non-ending.

You are not alone,I too love Alien 2.we are legion....

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

You are not alone,I too love Alien 2.we are legion....

I also enjoyed a lot more than other people seem to (or admit to), so there is a merry band of us!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

You are not alone,I too love Alien 2.we are legion....

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

so there is a merry band of us!

You did say Legion didn't you?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

You did say Legion didn't you?

"Call us Legion, for we are many"!

[Inspector Abberline]

Elvis & Nixon (2016)

243.jpg


It has to be said that fact is always stranger than fiction,and none more so than the time Elvis Aron Presley met Richard Nixon on December 21, 1970. There is probably a million untold stories about both of these two gentlemen,But when the two collided, history seems to have taken a turn for the very weird indeed.The early 1970's in America was a tremendous tumultuous period in its history,race riots,students rioting against Vietnam war,Woodstock and the rise of The Black Panthers and the rise of drug use,are all incendiary and divisive issues. And a certain Mr Presley wants to tackle all these issues,and be sworn in as an undercover agent for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.I mean this comes as no surprise to me,considering his love of karate and guns,although I fail to see how the single most famous person on the planet was ever going to be able to go undercover,wearing a jump suit and gold rimmed sunglasses.As for Nixon himself,the history books will never paint him kindly,but after Oliver Stones Nixon with Anthony Hopkins and now Kevin Spacey in Elvis & Nixon,the cinema has portrayed him quite favourably,well at least honestly,which is probably quite unexpected considering his past misdemeanours.While the film is never laugh out loud rolling in the aisles funny,it manages to look at this rather bizarre incident with a wry smile,and never sends up its two lead characters,there both portrayed with there good and bad points,even though both of them are very idiosyncratic characters who tend to act in some bizarre parallel world to the rest of us.Both Kevin Spacey as President Richard Nixon and Michael Shannon as singer Elvis Presley, are absolutely fantastic,there performances really raise the bar for biographical films.You may be disappointed if your looking for a Bruce Cambell style portrayal,Shannon really inhabits the skin of the King in a much more realistic fashion.Special mentions for Alex Pettyfer as Jerry Schilling,Presley best friend and a rather subdued Johnny Knoxville as Sonny West,both are rather good as part of the Kings mafia.Like I said this is a great comedy/drama that relies on the chemistry of the characters rather than jokes or one liners.

[iank]

Halloween H20. It is 20 years since madman Michael Myers brought terror to the small town of Haddonfield on one bloody Halloween night. Now survivor Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), still traumatised by the events of that night and still obsessed with the idea that Michael might still be alive and may one day return to finish what he started, is working under an assumed name as the headmistress of a secluded private school far away from her old home town. But now, on the exact 20th anniversary of the massacre, as a school trip just leaves a handful of students and skeleton staff at the school, Laurie's worst nightmare is about to become reality... Classic 90s sequel to the original Halloween and Halloween II (both of which were set on the same night) that remains as enjoyable, scary and entertaining as ever. Really enjoyed this, still a favourite!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by iank

Halloween H20.

It's a film I very much enjoy as well. Part of that is down to it being 'lean and mean' and, by runtime, the shortest of all the Halloween films, which is odd because it doesn't skimp on character development or exposition.

Intentional or not, and perhaps not as it ignores Halloween 3-6, I also like that H20 is the chemical equation for water, which has a pH balance of 7.0; this is the seventh Halloween film.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Mr. Dennings Drives North (1951)

Beautifully gripping British psychological thriller about a wealthy aerospace boss, Tom Denning (John Mills) who accidentally kills the man he tries to bribe to stop from marrying his daughter.

This Hitchcockian, Noir suspenser creates tension almost immediately and becomes tauter and more complex as the plot starts to entangle and Dennings actions begin to unravel. As well as Mills the cast includes Phyllis Calvert, Herbert Lom, Bernard Lee and American Sam Wanamaker who all ensure the script from Alec Coppel (Vertigo) plays out as a fast moving drama full of intrigue with an ending that really caught me offguard.

Mr Dennings Drives North looks lovely on Network's dvd and was a film i really enjoyed.