What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[SymbioticFunction]

Spectre (2015).

I give it a fairly grudging 3.5/5 only. I'd seen it twice before but struggled to recall good chunks of it. It's quite a non-memorable James Bond film. It's surprisingly speech orientated with not quite enough action or fighting. Would be a shame if this rather average (but still decent) film was to be Daniel Craig's final swan-song. Hopefully Bond 25 will be a much more exciting event. It has to be said that Spectre has a very good Mexico set opening sequence that the remainder of the film struggles to live up to. The film's writing is too formulaic and it is disappointing that the writing partnership of Robert Wade and Neal Purvis will be continuing into the next installment (they have written and co-written the six Bond films since 1999's The World Is Not Enough). Fresh blood is needed for this franchise to remain invigorating. This is the most expensive 007 made to date (around 250 million dollars) and took several months of filming - therefore it is quite tough to defend too heavily.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Door With Seven Locks (1940)

Extremely creaky British old dark house thriller that captures the best elements of the genre perfectly - creepy old houses, crypts, torture devices, murder with a star turn from Leslie Banks channeling his Count Zaroff from 1932's The Most Dangerous Game to perfection.

You'll know by now if Gothic old dark house thrillers are your thing. If you like them then The Door With Seven Locks is a worthy addition to your collection, if you aren't convinced then it will hardly change your mind.

The first time i watched it i went with the original 35mm print which was often distracting due to frames and possibly reels missing and what is basically decades old film damage, but this 16mm version i opted for tonight is a more coherent and less distracting viewing experience altogether. It's also interesting to note that the 16mm version is a good ten minutes longer showing just how much damage there is.

Another solid release from Network.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE DRILLER KILLER – Always a splitter, 'Driller Killer' tends to alienate those who expect a straightforward DIY themed slasher from it. In fact, it has one foot in seventies grindhouse and another in something more downtown, splicing that dead-eyed trash culture self-referential narcosis typical of the late seventies underground scene with populist sensationalism, kind of Andy Warhol meets 'Texas Chainsaw'. There are hints of J Waters and M Scorsese in there too, but, whatever its reference points, 'Driller Killer' has that Midnight Movie thing going on with it in spades. You've probably all seen it anyway, but if not, it's basically about down-on-his-luck painter man Reno, who shares his New York flea-pit with an unloved girlfriend, her punkette sex kitten and his massive, massive ego. This menage is interrupted when a shit up-all-night New Wave band moves in next door and blasts all hope of the economically-embattled-and-on-the-verge-of-eviction Reno getting any peace of mind whatsoever. He grabs a drill and takes out his angst on the inhabitants of the Bowery gutters. 'Driller Killer' was made on the cheap over a couple of years and bears all the hallmarks of an opportunist trying to break into movie-making, but with it also the signature of a genuine auteur. Whereas most cheapo horror flicks of its time are crass and literal, 'Driller Killer' is thoughtful and elliptical, or at least tries to be. It's pretentiously arty in places, but its language is lean and pared down – you can tell that the person who made it knows what he's doing filmically and has his eye on something more ambitious. Even the flabby asides with the irritating New Wavers add a pseudo documentary type grit to proceedings. 'Driller Killer' fumbles a bit when it comes to narrative sense and strains to play with imagery and ideas it can't really fathom (drills, phalluses, oedipus complex type stuff all seem to clutch at symbolic straws), but, for me, its a really magnetic piece of filmmaking which is less about Video Nasty era ultraviolence and more about sustained, murky malevolence. Ferrara's performance itself, all sneering NY bravado rather than drooling mania, is up there alongside such classic tortured outcasts as Frank Zito, although he's more human, more real, basically just a hep cat gone wrong. And I'm a sucker for the weird bits, obviously, like soft focus 'dream sequences' where unknown men mutter threateningly as if from the depths of a trance and segue into images of Ferrara covered in blood... and that ending still gives me the creeps after all these years. It has to be one of the ultimate NYC-as-scuzzy-urban-hell flicks, with every frame swarming with grain and grit – you'd have to move towards 'The Headless Eyes' or some early Nick Zedd flick to get anything grimier. I really like 'Driller Killer'. I doubt it's in many horror fan's top tens, and I can't imagine it's your average Abel Ferrara lover's cup of tea, either. But it's the sort of one-of-a-kind film that makes it all worthwhile.

Review!

[Demoncrat]

The Galaxy Invader (1985, Don Dohler)
As alien invasions go, this is strictly need to know cough. In the very best SF tradition this says more about us as a race. This is the dominant theme I find in DD's canon.


Carry On Behind (1975, Gerald Thomas)
A searing look at the British 'at rest'. The script crackles with sexual tension, tinged with the foresight that the protagonists will remain unrequited is worthy of Pinter. An unusual device is brought into play with the arrival of an avian character ... who 'innocently' can voice those demands that the human cast are stymied from saying by social mores. Quite a unique film.

[nosferatu42]

Revenge of the Creature

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Sequel to the original Creature from the Black Lagoon, made just a year later with the same director, the creature is played by someone new so has been slightly modified.
An enjoyable new chapter, the creature is captured and taken back to a sealife style set up, chained in a tank the films protagonists try to tame him until the inevitable happens and he goes on a girl induced rampage.

Poor old Gilly guy never gets much luck, he's always got the hots for some scantily clad 50's bird without even seeming to realise he has no visible private parts or indeed any chance whatsoever with his current squeeze.

Still i loves these old chestnuts, and don't remember actually seeing this before, not as good as the classic original, but has a few memorable moments.
At one point he viciously kills the heroines dog, not that she seems to be that bothered.
Loved the scene where he attacks two college kids and does a gravity defying throw of one into a nearby tree and also the moment when he approaches a bar in time to the accompanying jazzy tune playing within.

Recommended if you like these old b flicks, a solid 7 from me.

[nosferatu42]

The creature walks among us.

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The third Black Lagoon film, i actually thought this was a step up from Revenge.
The Gillman is captured once again and taken back to some rich nutters mansion, the aforementioned nutjob has some kind of notion of progressing the human race with the creatures genes, or some such nonsense.

Anyways the gillman is set on fire during his capture and falls into a coma, he is in a bad way due to his burns and loses much of his scaly amphibian outer skin, luckily they realise he has a human style under skin.

Operating on him they find he has secondary human lungs which they force to become active in an operation to save his life. This all results in a new version of the creature that cannot survive underwater, so they put him in a pen and keep him prisoner anyway.

Now we see a creature that is removed from his old life and seems lost in a sad contemplative existence.

Meanwhile the rich nutjob has a wife that hates him and a few guys who are after her, making him get all jealous and possessive.
And of course the gill man likes her too, the fishy old perv.

I enjoyed this more than the first sequel due to the crazy premise and melodramatic setting, although the studio must have been aware this would be the creatures final outing due to the fact then pretty much destroyed his original design.

The weird thing is that although the creature has lost a layer of skin he appears more bulky in this, maybe he still has swellings.

creature3.jpg

Still part of the joy of these old movies is abandoning yourself to their warped logic i find.
A very enjoyable 8 from me.

[Demoncrat]

All 3 Creature features have their moments ... but if it's warped logic you are after ... I highly recommend Zaat! Ahem.


Now perusing Operation Delta Force.
A Cannon lite affair starring The Lawnmower Man, the 4th Ghostbuster and the Shadowchaser
Undemanding actioner that at least whips along at a decent place ... and the ST doesn't shriek and groan like Zaat!'s did

Ahem.

[nosferatu42]

Watching these old 'creature' films it occurred to me that most of the classic monsters are sympathetic in nature.

Frankenstein is an abandoned child who longs for acceptance.
The wolfman is a cursed everyman type who just wants to be normal again.
The mummy is after his ancient bride reincarnated.
The Hunchback of Notre dame is shunned and deformed and in love with the only one who shows him kindness.
King kong is removed from his native habitat and falls in love.
Likewise the Gillman who is screwed over by humans and in love with every scantily clad female he sees.
The Phantom of the opera is obsessed and in love with a opera singer.
Dr Jekyll is a kindly doctor who accidentally releases his dark side.
The invisible man is a good doctor who turns mental as a side effect of becoming invisible.

It seems only Dracula is the vicious evil parasite who is a rotten apple and just wants to kill and enslave people in his original incarnation.
Although even he has been given a sympathetic side by subsequent adaptions, living an endless empty existence and nicking the reincarnated love angle from the mummy.

Still he's the original bad boy of the group.

I guess that's why vampires have the most legs in terms of adaptions, they are stronger and more seductive than normal humans and have added attraction of eternal life and shape shifting. An element of wish fulfilment for us mere mortals, i mean who ever wanted to be the Mummy or Hunchback?

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

All 3 Creature features have their moments ... but if it's warped logic you are after ... I highly recommend Zaat! Ahem.


Now perusing Operation Delta Force.
A Cannon lite affair starring The Lawnmower Man, the 4th Ghostbuster and the Shadowchaser
Undemanding actioner that at least whips along at a decent place ... and the ST doesn't shriek and groan like Zaat!'s did

Ahem.

ODF rattling along like a good un. Plus the choice dialogue is a treat
e.g. "Panamanian cargo vessel, my ass!!!"

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Lethal Weapon 4

Full on nuclear war would have less shit blowing up than this final film in the series. Good stuff.