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  #40121  
Old 19th February 2017, 11:29 PM
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That horrible bloody zither music ruins the film as far as I'm concerned Nos. Makes it barely watchable.
For me that's like saying the Goblin score ruins Suspiria. Those two scores are inextricably linked to their films in my head. Just like 'Stuck in the Middle With You' is now that song from Reservoir Dogs rather than by Stealers Wheel.
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  #40122  
Old 19th February 2017, 11:36 PM
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And last up tonight.

The Church. Michele Soavi. 1989.

Well that only took three attempts to get to the end.

In medieval Europe crusading knights massacre a whole village considered to be Witches or otherwise engaged in witchcraft. On top of the mass grave a huge gothic cathedral is built. Hundreds of years later the cathedrals new librarian uncovers clues to the buildings past in the chambers beneath the building. In the process releasing the Evil spirits that have been entombed there.
Intended to be the third in Lamberto Bavas Demons series this certainly fits the bill plot wise. However Soavi has done something different here and created a much more sombre gothic film. The first third or so actually plays more like a haunted house film before the evil is unleashed. Unfortunately as magnificent as it all looks the films does suffer with some painfully slow passages, odd because you can't really say that nothing happens either. The plot also seems a bit confuddled too as though some ideas were hinted at then simply left hanging. The weird goat man demon things is creepy as feck though and as has been mentioned by other there is some splendid imagery here, not least the mass of bodies rising up through the floor. Certainly not a bad film but there is something lacking and I can't see me rushing to watch it again anytime soon.
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  #40123  
Old 19th February 2017, 11:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Deadite View Post
For me that's like saying the Goblin score ruins Suspiria. Those two scores are inextricably linked to their films in my head. Just like 'Stuck in the Middle With You' is now that song from Reservoir Dogs rather than by Stealers Wheel.
Except the Goblin score in Suspiria is great. As is the use of Stealers Wheel in Reservoir Dogs. The zither music ruins The Third Man because it's shit.
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  #40124  
Old 19th February 2017, 11:41 PM
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Originally Posted by J Harker View Post
Except the Goblin score in Suspiria is great. As is the use of Stealers Wheel in Reservoir Dogs. The zither music ruins The Third Man because it's shit.
Well, i can't very well disagree with such a well made argument.
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  #40125  
Old 20th February 2017, 02:26 AM
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when.jpg



When animals dream

Hadn't really heard much about this but stumbled across the trailer on youtube and thought it looked interesting, so ended up getting it from Amazon.

This is a Danish werewolf type film that bears a lot of similarities to "Let the right one in", this too concerns isolation and growing up and is also quite subdued, set in a bleak landscape.
Here though it's a young girl who is just entering adulthood, and while everybody's body changes at puberty, hers begins changing in a different way to her peers. It all comes down to an inherited disease on her mothers side, who is confined to a wheelchair and is unresponsive.(although this may be due to drugs that a local doctor dispenses)

The girls existence is pretty bleak, she helps her father care for her mother, and both carers seem repressed and withdrawn.
On top of this she begins working at a fish processing warehouse (she lives in a fishing village by the sea), where the only ray of light is a young boy who she is attracted to.
Most of the others in the village seem frightened of her and seem to be aware of her family affliction, their hostility towards her plays a big part in awakening her animal instincts.

This film seems to divide reviewers, some seem to find it dull, while others praise it for it's sensitivity and beauty.

I'm in the latter camp as i found the film engrossing, even though i'm well aware of werewolf films lore i found myself wondering what the outcome would be, i liked the lead girl and was hoping things would turn out well for her.
The film is pretty slow but the photography is very good and the modern family setting and intimacy of the story gripped me.

There's not much gore and very little in the way of transformation scenes, instead it is quite artfully done and quite poetic, but this gave the film it's own identity and is what set's it apart from many cheesy werewolf flicks.

I really liked it but at the same time couldn't help feeling that with a little more in the way of blood and effects this could have been a classic.
So due to it's divisive nature hard to recommend to everybody but i will definitely go back to it in the future.

8/10
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  #40126  
Old 20th February 2017, 09:28 AM
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Originally Posted by J Harker View Post
The zither music ruins The Third Man because it's shit.
Many would disagree with you, including those who bought the single and sent it to the top of the Billboard chart in the US! From Wikipedia:

Quote:
The theme became popular with audiences soon after the film's premiere, and more than half a million copies of "The Third Man Theme" record were sold within weeks of the film's release.

The tune was originally released in the U.K. in 1949, where it was known as "The Harry Lime Theme". Following its release in the U.S. in 1950 (see 1950 in music), "The Third Man Theme" spent 11 weeks at number one on Billboard's U.S. Best Sellers in Stores chart, from April 29 to July 8. Its success led to a trend in releasing film theme music as singles. A guitar version by Guy Lombardo also sold strongly. Four other versions charted in the U.S. during 1950. According to Faber and Faber, the different versions of the theme have collectively sold an estimated forty million copies.

Karas also performed "The Third Man Theme" and other zither music for the 1951–1952 syndicated radio series, The Adventures of Harry Lime, a Third Man prequel produced in London. Orson Welles reprised his role as Harry Lime. "Whenever he entered a restaurant in those years, the band would strike up Anton Karas's "Third Man Theme", wrote Welles biographer Joseph McBride.
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  #40127  
Old 20th February 2017, 09:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs View Post
Many would disagree with you, including those who bought the single and sent it to the top of the Billboard chart in the US! From Wikipedia:
This is the same country that nominated Beyonce for best rock song at the 2017 Grammy awards.

I love the zither music in The Third Man. Remove it and well, the film probably wouldn't be such a memorable movie and end up no better or worse than any other Euro-noir from the period such as Berlin Express (1948)
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  #40128  
Old 20th February 2017, 10:05 AM
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Many would disagree with you, including those who bought the single and sent it to the top of the Billboard chart in the US! From Wikipedia:
Many including yourself are more than welcome to disagree with me Nos. Doesn't make any of us right or wrong, subjective as you say.
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  #40129  
Old 20th February 2017, 10:18 AM
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Many including yourself are more than welcome to disagree with me Nos. Doesn't make any of us right or wrong, subjective as you say.
Musical taste is completely subjective and it's a shame you don't like the zither music because it is preventing you from enjoying one of the greatest British films of all time.
keirarts, J Harker and Deadite like this.
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  #40130  
Old 20th February 2017, 10:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs View Post
Musical taste is completely subjective and it's a shame you don't like the zither music because it is preventing you from enjoying one of the greatest British films of all time.
Possibly true. Though Dem might be right in suggesting that without the music the film wouldn't be particularly memorable. Either way it wasn't just that the music was poor, it really really irritated me. Proper jingly jangly shit.
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