What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

The Hatching

Just what the world needs, a Lake Placid rip off set in Somerset with dumb arse comedy and a Sweeny Todd subplot for good measure. Bollocks.

It sounds a hell of a lot better than Lake Placid though...

[trebor8273]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

It sounds a hell of a lot better than Lake Placid though...

I like lake placid, very enjoyable little film.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

I like lake placid, very enjoyable little film.

Me too and the sequels also, even the one with bondage freak, Reg from The Bill in it.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Band of the Hand (1986)

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

[trebor8273]

Started watching this film from those sets I was giving today, the picture quality why not HD or remastered is a lot better than I was expecting and is very watchable and clear with some very slight speckling, but have seen for worse on one disc. So happy with being giving these as a fast majority I've not seen.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Freight

British gangsters take on an East European, human trafficking, gang after they steal one of the gangsters portaloos! This had great potential but falls short even with shit blowing up, cage fights to the death, strippers, child prostitution and Craig Fairbrass. There is a nasty underlying racism to it as well as the East European characters are seen as nothing more than evil incarnate compared to the upright British gangsters who are a multi cultural bunch given to sprout the odd out of place speech about how great Britain used to be and the need to regulate immigrant brickies. There is a post end titles quote regarding human trafficking to let the viewer know this is serious stuff not the balls out Brit exploiter it really is. Whilst the politics are not mine , I quite like the right of centre views I have noticed in a few recent British crime films as they exploit the present view of a huge part of the country, adding another string along with boobs, blood and guns to the well aimed exploitation bow.

[Deadite]

The Wailing. I don't think western cinema make films like this. With this Korean film, you get the whole 9 nine yards wrapped up in one package that manages still to pack a bit of a wallop despite the first 40 minutes resembling the keystone cops rather than a horror film. In fact i'm going to get all pedantic and stuff and call this a supernatural thriller rather than a horror - don't get me wrong, there's lots of horror stuff in it, but it's wrapped up in a farce/police procedural, shamanic rituals, whodunnit, and existential musings. Like i said, western cinema doesn't do this stuff.

At 150 minutes you might think it's long winded for a film of this nature, but it never drags, there's always something to demand your attention, whether it's the downright unsettling performance of the actor playing 'The Jap', the (i found them great) shamanic rituals - who knew that you had to laugh through most of it. Maybe to show the spirit it's amusing rather than scary? or the numerous twists and red-herrings that occupy the last 20 minutes or so (although my enjoyment was reduced an iota by what i think was 1 twist too many that even with hindsight makes no sense).

It's funny, informative, daring, scary, and eventually a bit gut-wrenching.

If watching 2 1/2 hours of subtitles isn't your thing, your might have problems. Me? I hardly noticed they were there.

4.5/5

[gag]

Originally Posted by Deadite

The Wailing. I don't think western cinema make films like this. With this Korean film, you get the whole 9 nine yards wrapped up in one package that manages still to pack a bit of a wallop despite the first 40 minutes resembling the keystone cops rather than a horror film. In fact i'm going to get all pedantic and stuff and call this a supernatural thriller rather than a horror - don't get me wrong, there's lots of horror stuff in it, but it's wrapped up in a farce/police procedural, shamanic rituals, whodunnit, and existential musings. Like i said, western cinema doesn't do this stuff.

At 150 minutes you might think it's long winded for a film of this nature, but it never drags, there's always something to demand your attention, whether it's the downright unsettling performance of the actor playing 'The Jap', the (i found them great) shamanic rituals - who knew that you had to laugh through most of it. Maybe to show the spirit it's amusing rather than scary? or the numerous twists and red-herrings that occupy the last 20 minutes or so (although my enjoyment was reduced an iota by what i think was 1 twist too many that even with hindsight makes no sense).

It's funny, informative, daring, scary, and eventually a bit gut-wrenching.

If watching 2 1/2 hours of subtitles isn't your thing, your might have problems. Me? I hardly noticed they were there.

4.5/5

I have to give this a look.
Sometimes I quite like a long film and enjoy them better than usual hr and half films. More story depth character etc. And a long subtitled film doesn't bother me either,I went to see raid 2 at cinema and that's at least 2 and half hrs.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Bloodmoon (1990)

A serial killer is at large in a catholic school, stalking and murdering the students.

A (very) late entry to the eighties slasher genre. This Australian effort seems to be ticking all the boxes that make so many slashers formulaic. Sex, attractive victims, often dumb motives for doing things. Even pretending the film is set in California. But...

...For a slasher film there's some unusually good character development. With the killer unmasked around the half way point we get to see a little of his reasoning and his submissive home behaviour due to his cruel dominating wife. The film is quite well acted preventing the characters going to waste and you genuinely root for them, hoping they might live, which is a change for slasher films, especially the later ones such as this.

The killers method of murder - a barbed wire noose with which he strangles his victims, is original, again making the movie more memorable, however the direction falls a little flat and not much suspense is generated either during or in the build up to the murders, yet it doesn't really matter as the film has more to it than just murder set pieces. Bloodmoon remains an interesting proposition and despite it's Aussie origins feels to have definite giallo leanings.

I rather enjoyed Bloodmoon, it's certainly entertaining with it's fair share of exploitation elements making it one of the better later efforts in my opinion.

[trebor8273]

Late 60s British SciFi movie by amicus which involes a scientist investigating when people start fallen I'll and acting strangely, not a classic by any stretch of the imagination and comes of as a poor man Quatermass, but its an enjoyable enough way to spend 75 minutes and Michael Gough is always fun to watch and as camp as a row of tents as usual. 6/10

Now watching the Mania aka Flesh and the Fiends. While the picture quality is not as good as the last movie its perfectly watchable, not seen it before but with Cushing and Pleasance good chance I will enjoy.