What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Dave Boy]

It's about Ice Hockey, Susan.
The 'Goon' is a term used for a player who is used aggressively for fighting the opposing team. Also called an Enforcer.
The film is okay. A comedy. A ice hockey player becomes the Goon due to his fighting skills. Spoilt for me by a character who seems to shout "F**k" every few seconds. I saw it at the cinema but if I never see it again I would not be bothered.
Stay in and watch SLAPSHOT (1977) instead. A far more awesome film comedy about the same sport. You do not need to be an Ice Hockey fan to enjoy Slapshot either and is recommended.
I watch Ice Hockey by the way. Local team GUILDFORD FLAMES and I have a season ticket.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Dave Boy

It's about Ice Hockey, Susan.
The 'Goon' is a term used for a player who is used aggressively for fighting the opposing team. Also called an Enforcer.
The film is okay. A comedy. A ice hockey player becomes the Goon due to his fighting skills. Spoilt for me by a character who seems to shout "F**k" every few seconds. I saw it at the cinema but if I never see it again I would not be bothered.
Stay in and watch SLAPSHOT (1977) instead. A far more awesome film comedy about the same sport. You do not need to be an Ice Hockey fan to enjoy Slapshot either and is recommended.
I watch Ice Hockey by the way. Local team GUILDFORD FLAMES and I have a season ticket.

OK

Thanks for that. Doesn't sound like my kind of thing at all

I did see 'Slapshot' tho. Many years ago. Paul Newman, wasn't it. Seem to remember I enjoyed that one

[Dave Boy]

Yep, That's the one.
Who can forget the Hanson Brothers. Check it out again.

hanson_brothers.jpg

[trebor8273]

with getting all the highlander films, have decided to give them a watch over the bank holiday weekend starting with the first.

i always forget that this is a cannon film and they could produce well acted and directed movies as well as the usual (enjoyable) cannon fodder. easily the best of the bunch but as ive only seen the first 3 and only seen the third once, i cant comment on the rest but from reviews the others wont change my mind. Both Lambert and Connery are excellent, even though Connery has more Scottish accent then McCloud. Also Clancy Brown is great as the Kurgan.

As much as i enjoy the TV show which in someways eclipse the film, maybe they should not of made any other films as most of them just seem to make the basic story line about the prize etc, confusing and pointless. 9/10

[Frankie Teardrop]

NECROMANCER – Very 1988-looking cheapo horror about a college student resorting to supernatural revenge after being raped by three slimebags. In fact, pretty much all the men in it are slimebags of one stripe or another, up to and including a security guard who decides to have a wank in the toilet rather than potentially prevent a violent sexual assault. This makes it pretty interesting from a gender angle, despite the usual slightly coy T&A. I loved how all the weird stuff is set in motion after a friend of the main character spots an ad in the paper saying something like “Want Revenge? - Call THE POWER”. Which she does, and gets to meet a drama student in a red dress who swirls about putting curses on rape bros and making random objects levitate. As far as horror bits go, all I can say is that there's an entertaining lameness at play, with a badly done, barely glimpsed demonoid imp with ridiculous glowing green eyes. This is entirely in keeping with the rest of 'Necromancer', a film made up of a slew of minor eccentricities beneath which a slightly strange psychodrama pulses away and reaches a climax at the 'struggling with my mirror image' showdown. Off key, a bit weird, but with a sadness or at least a seriousness at its core that feels heartfelt somehow. Maybe I read it wrong. There is a vague slowness in places which might put off 21st century adrenalin junkies a little, but 'Necromancer' was a bit of a discovery for me.

RAW – Pretty excellent art-house horror from Julia Decournau. It's about a student who starts at veterinary college and finds herself out of her depth in a world that feels like a cross between army barracks and a big party. As she struggles to fit in, a few pivotal events lead her to shed the stiff background she's inherited from her parents, including their strict vegetarianism, a big problem as foremost among her burgeoning new desires is cannibalism. 'Raw' is really good, a hazily filmed, oblique black comedy about the annihilative nature of desire. There are some wonderful scenes – Decournau has a great talent for turning the screw and inverting things... when the Brazilian sequence tips over into finger chewing, we're almost relieved (well, I was). There's a bit of gore, but 'Raw' is more psychologically impactful than anything, and manages to resonate emotionally despite being pretty twisted in places. Nice to hear 'The Long Blondes' on the soundtrack, although my interest was piqued more by that French rap about corpse shagging. Definitely one to see.

[keirarts]

Time to 'catch up'....


The ice cream truck

A deranged Ice Cream vendor is terrorising the suburbs. Meanwhile, a woman who has moved into the area ahead of her husband and kids is at something of a loose end and struggles with an attraction to her neighbours son. It sounds like an odd mix and it is. It feels like an extended episode of Desperate Housewives re-imagined as a B movie for the direct to video market. The two plot strands don't really meet until the final twenty minutes or so and the film suggests that at least some of it is going on in the main characters mind. It's competently shot, has some murders but nothing exceptionally nasty. I'd be surprised if it gets anything over a 15 certificate. It's very watchable, competently shot and feels more like an American indy film rather than the generic poundland nonsense I thought it would be when I decided to watch it. Worth a look.

Dave builds a maze

A woman arrives home to find her boyfriend has built a maze in their living room. She quickly becomes annoyed when he refuses to leave. Calling their friends round they decide to go in and get him out. Inside however they discover it has a tardis effect and is much bigger on the inside. It appears Dave has somehow built a huge Labyrinth full of traps and monsters, including a Minotaur that begins to pursue the group as they attempt to rescue Dave.
While some of the characters are very much hipster-ish (to the point it could be an actual deal breaker) I'd happily recommend this. Its the directors first feature and plays a lot like a mix of Michael Gondry and Quentin Dupriex (wrong, wrong cops.) Its hugely inventive and feels fresh and original enough to be an antidote to the increasingly homogenised Hollywood output that clutters theatres. As a metaphor for hitting your 30's and feeling like you've not accomplished anything it works, and there is a deeper subtext to the film that's there if you want to explore. However you can just watch it as a straight up bit of weirdness and it works well enough.

[keirarts]

Countess perverse.

A pair of rich, decadent libertines live on an island and have taken to hunting and eating young women. The countess Zaroff, named after the central character of The most dangerous game of which this takes its inspiration, and her partner The count Zaroff (Howard Vernon) get a local, played by spaghetti western veteran Robert Woods, to procure young women for their sport. Countess Perverse is Jess Franco on top form. It has a lot of the Saedean themes of his work, the use of incredible locations and plenty of sweaty, voyeuristic perversion. Mondo Macarbo's Blu-ray looks absolutely stunning and this one comes highly recommended.

How to seduce a virgin

Made the same year, possibly back-to-back with countess perverse, How to seduce a virgin features the same cast in different roles. This one has Alice Arno as a typically Saedean countess released from an institution. Clearly her stay has done bugger all as she immediately heads home to begin seducing and destroying young women. Ultimately her victims will end up in her little museum under her house where she has the preserved corpses of her victims in their final agonised states.
I preferred Countess perverse to this, however its still a solid bit of film making from Franco. Once again, hairy bush lesbianism, sweaty groping and extreme cruelty are the order of the day all shot with Franco's traditional dream-like languid pace.

The Night has a thousand desires

Lina Romay plays a medium who operates a cabaret act with her lover. At night she has strange erotic and violent dreams where she seduces and kills various people. Ultimately she discovers they are more than just dreams and that she has been the unwitting pawn of her lover.
This one is 80's Franco where he basically had carte Blanche to shoot whatever he wanted. It feels like a much stranger, dreamier take on the sort of stuff he was churning out in the 70's. It all looks great and has an experimental score from Franco himself that adds a surreal tone to the film.

[bleakshaun]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

French rap about corpse shagging

Now my interest is peaked

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

NECROMANCER .

A great 80's film, full of tacky sfx if i remember rightly. I bought it as soon as it came out, must be 5-7 years ago now. Could have sworn you'd reviewed it before or perhaps it was Keirarts. Either way you've made me want to revisit it.

Originally Posted by keirarts

How to seduce a virgin

Delighted someone has reviewed this. I've owned Countess Perverse a while now but never got this when it came out at the same time as it sounded like it was a straight up sex film from it's title. Now i know it isn't and it's one to definitely add to the collection.

Great reviews chaps.

[Nostalgic]

Watching Madhouse, was engrossed for 30 mins then the film gets too slow, so listening to commentary which is a lot more entertaining!