What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

My mistake.

I thought you were going to watch The Lost Weekend with Ray Milland. That's why i said crack open the Scotch. You were going with The Long Weekend.

I also misread and thought he was thinking about watching the Billy Wilder film and not the Australian eco-horror. I was confused by the mention of Not Quite Hollywood and putting a shrimp on the barbie, but now that makes sense.

[nosferatu42]

I thought this was cult labs, get your facts straight boys.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL – More Naschy, who appears here in the guise of a rough and ready workman hanging out in a bleak bit of rural France. He ends up as a general assistant in the house of three sisters who display various eccentricities like nymphomania and having a slightly over-elaborate false hand. The main thing is that someone is going around murdering girls with blue eyes Giallo style. TBEOTBD is pretty good, and just about gets away with a baggy pace by making sure some grotty highlights are in there. The latter might include the clutch of effective murder sequences or the whacked out and creepy last scene, but also the utter strangeness of having Naschy play a guy who we're supposed to root for, but who turns out to be a serial strangler of women! (not really a spoiler, it's telegraphed dead early). He apologises for his past misdeeds later on in the film, so, alright then. There are various odd, psychedelic moments such as Naschy strangulation flashbacks, which all seem to take place in a red void, as well as some nice atmosphere and good use of shadowy, vault like spaces. I couldn't work out whether the chirpy easy listening music that accompanies some of the horror scenes was intended ironically, or was just a bad idea that got through. Either way, pretty good stuff.

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD – Peter Walker's first blast of institutional gothic. In it, a wannabe model from London / France gets shanghaied by a creepy dude at a party who calls himself Mark E Dessard. Hmm. Turns out he's smuggling young female law breakers over to his parent's private jail out in the sticks, where they receive the special treatment. HOW is as British and as seventies as a damp ford cortina with a mouldy 'Jackie' annual in the boot - the beige feeling of that decade looms over its threadbare sets like a dank, cabbagey cloud. HOW is a WIP film, but it's not like those other ones, which try for erotic violence even though they're mostly just dull and ugly – HOW embraces dullness and ugliness as virtues in themselves. Which means we're mostly fumbling around in brown corridors trying to figure out what it all means rather than being stripped and whipped by megalomaniacal lesbian governesses. That's not to say there's no drama (or stripping and whipping for that matter, there is a bit of that stuff), but its exploitative content has faded over the years to leave a film which is best consumed for its atmosphere and mood, which, as already stated, are pretty pungent. Sheila Keith is cutting her teeth here as Walker's go-to witch lady, and there's a freaky snippet where one of the prison guards plays with a stuffed toy. Watch it.

SLEEPWALKERS – It's about a young guy who arrives in a new town with his mother. He strikes up a relationship with the girl behind the popcorn stall at the local cinema, but his hopes for an uncomplicated love life are dashed by the facts that both he and mom are ancient cat-human hybrids, and are also, it transpires, “a bit too close”. The again, who wouldn't at least consider the idea of incest with Alice Krige? Based on an original script by Stephen King, 'Sleepwalkers' also features a few cameos by the likes of Clive Barker and John Landis, although I can't say I even noticed any of the latter, and, whatever big names were involved, this movie doesn't really live up to any hot-shot reputations. However, it is what it is, a pretty solid of-it's-time pot boiler, with a sprinkling of satisfying gore and creature fx surrounded by that typically plastic nineties B-movie ambience. This film isn't particularly well liked, and it's certainly not dynamite, but I always seem to enjoy it whenever I put it on.


BLOOD BEAT – A real head scratcher from the era of VHS, 'Blood Beat' takes the rural slasher template and does something a bit bizarre with it. In this case, 'bizarre' amounts to a possessed samurai outfit going around killing people and having psychic battles via some pretty cheap eighties video effects. As far as plot goes, it seems to be about a psychic painter and her family who live in an isolated hunting community. Painter has a vaguely antagonistic relationship with her son's gf, who also turns out to be psychic (or something). Things ratchet up a notch when gf discovers an ancient samurai costume in someone's bedroom – I guess these things just happen if you let them. Anyway, murder spree ensues alongside various highlights of the 'just weird' variety, such as the lengthy scene which seems to explore the psychokinetic potential of masturbation. It's hard to tell whether 'Blood Beat' is any good or not, but I really like it. It has a strange, chilly air to it, and although the straightforwardness of a supernatural slasher movie is kind of there in places, it's derailed (in a good way) by the director's choice of arty montage sequences which hark back to the hazy surrealism of some seventies grindhouse. Great era-typical synth and electronics on the soundtrack, too. Very much recommended if you have a yen for weird horror or eighties slashers, but you'll have to check it out on Youtube or do something equally dubious as it's never had a real DVD / Blu-ray release.

[mr 420]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

I thought this was cult labs, get your facts straight boys.

And they're ment to be top mods, Nos.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I didn't mind Killer Mermaids actually.

It is the one with Franco Nero, right?

Yep, that's the one. I was expecting a treasure chest of fishy trash not a fairly average film no better or worse than most walking around in the dark horror.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Imperium

An undercover FBI officer infiltrates neo Nazi groups...pretty good compared to most films about bone heads and the far right. It could have possibly been a bit longer to allow a more convincing bonding between the agent and the Nazis and explored the agents personal emotions as he struggles with getting his job done and his closeness to the people he will betray. Worth a look.

Traders

Excellent Irish film about a fight club where people fight to the death having arranged the fight via a website. I really enjoyed this, the fights are brutal and there is a great use of location to echo the film's underlying theme of the recent recession...the fights take place in half finished building sites and industrial waste lands. Worth a look too.

Beyond the Gates

80s horror homage that works surprisingly well as it riffs on nostalgia for crap films and videotapes. Fun stuff. Recommended.

Top Cop

A racist and homophobic cop who looks like a short cubby Chuck Norris, shoots and punches to death just about everyone he meets. Excellent low budget action flick from 1990. Shit blows up!

[Cinematic Shocks]

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

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

[keirarts]

John wick 2

I really dug John Wick. Given that the big revenge flick that year was supposed to be the equaliser, Wick proved to be the better film and created a great role for Keanu Reeves, a perfectly likeable star who doesn't always shine (coughDraculacough) like he should.
Its nice to see the second film upping the ante. It sheds any notions or semblance of realism and opts to go full comic book in its style with a ludicrously higher bodycount, strange underworld hierarchies with their own rituals and traditions and some ott violence that includes the dispatching of several hitmen through the use of a pencil. John Wick 2 is marvellously daft and tons of fun. I actually think by the end it even tops the first. Recommended.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

John wick 2

I really want to see it but, because of the limited showings at nearby multiplexes and my current time availability through uni and work, I'll probably miss it in favour of good grades on my assignments and films showing at more convenient times. It's a shame, because it looks like something which would be incredibly impressive on the big screen and body-shaking sound system.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Hidden Figures

Based on real-life events, this follows three NASA mathematicians in 1961: Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson and their roles in the early stages of the space race, particularly the Project Mercury missions which culminated in John Glenn's flight in which he orbited the Earth.

I won't delve into the plot too much because that would either retread a lot of historical information about the civil rights movement and NASA space program or spoil the film for those who don't know much about either or both. What the film does do is humanise the wider picture of American society at the time. There are references to Dr Martin Luther King Jr., photos of (then president) John Kennedy in almost every room, newsreel footage of real events such as Yuri Gagarin waving to crowds and other famous historical figures and events.

In terms of the micro level stuff, the film shows the true impact of racial segregation and rampant sexism in the workplace, with a Senate panel comprised entirely of white men in matching white shirts, the NASA rule in which Katherine works similarly full of white men in white shirts, dark trousers and ties, contrasting to her colourful dresses and a darker complexion. She is assigned her own coffee pot, marked 'Colored', and is often notable by her absence because she spends 40 minutes going to the toilet, something which is half a mile away from her desk and situated in a different building. Dorothy and Mary have their own challenges both at work and home, with Mary wanting to become an engineer but finding resistance from her husband and unable to find a desegregated educational establishment in Virginia in which she can study.

The filmmakers have taken some liberties with timelines, such as when bathroom facilities were desegregated, when certain characters were given certain roles, and the responsibilities undertaken by certain people. This is either done to simplify a complex situation or give events more emotional resonance and compress the timeline of the 1950s and '60s to show just how unjust and counter-productive racial segregation was. Although some events are well known and therefore lack the dramatic tension which would be heightened if they were fictional, I found the ending quite emotional. There is a degree of 'civil rights by the numbers' to this, something which could also be found in Selma, a similarly important film based real events and real people.

Hidden Figures is a very well made film in almost every respect with terrific performances by the main cast: Taraiji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst and, perhaps surprisingly, Jim Parsons, a very good script by Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroeder, with Melfi also solid behind the camera in his role as director. It has garnered numerous industry awards and nominations, with the screenplay and Spencer nominated for Oscars, and the film up for Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards as well.