What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bleakshaun]

Nightmare City
An unmarked military plane lands on an airport, zombies who look like the love children of toxic avenger and freddy Krueger come out and go on a murderous rampage using whatever they can wield.
Ahh, it's ludicrous in both concept and execution, the zombies look awful and the set pieces are there, nonetheless it is entertaining schlock.
6/10

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[Ricochet]

Lifeboat

9 out of 10

Great thriller from Hitchcock.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Victor Crowley (2017)

I quite enjoyed this. It’s everything Hatchet II & III should’ve been, but wasn’t - FUN! They had all the over the top gory set-pieces, but they forgot to be funny, whereas I appreciated the first film as a horror comedy. It was a love letter to the slasher sub-genre that knew what it was, having its tongue firmly in its cheek, with a premise so stupid, it knew it couldn’t be taken seriously, so it just ran with it. The previous two sequels tried to be darker, forgetting the humour for the most part, or their attempts at humour just failed.

Victor Crowley recaptures the spirit of the first, restoring its charm to the franchise. It’s a briskly paced affair on a short runtime, and it more than pleases the bloodthirsty simple tastes of its target audience with insane kills. The blood flows and the viscera is plentiful, but so are the laughs, with the short time spent with some likable characters, thanks to its snappy screenplay that also offers some sharp observation, cynically commentating on the media.

It won’t appeal to anyone outside the viewership it’s squarely aimed at, but taken for what it is, it’s an entertaining watch that’s on par with the original, and more than makes up for suffering through the last two. A pretty good time for slasher fans.

*** out of *****

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Cinematic Shocks

Victor Crowley (2017)



I quite enjoyed this. It’s everything Hatchet II & III should’ve been, but wasn’t - FUN! They had all the over the top gory set-pieces, but they forgot to be funny, whereas I appreciated the first film as a horror comedy. It was a love letter to the slasher sub-genre that knew what it was, having its tongue firmly in its cheek, with a premise so stupid, it knew it couldn’t be taken seriously, so it just ran with it. The previous two sequels tried to be darker, forgetting the humour for the most part, or their attempts at humour just failed.



Victor Crowley recaptures the spirit of the first, restoring its charm to the franchise. It’s a briskly paced affair on a short runtime, and it more than pleases the bloodthirsty simple tastes of its target audience with insane kills. The blood flows and the viscera is plentiful, but so are the laughs, with the short time spent with some likable characters, thanks to its snappy screenplay that also offers some sharp observation, cynically commentating on the media.



It won’t appeal to anyone outside the viewership it’s squarely aimed at, but taken for what it is, it’s an entertaining watch that’s on par with the original, and more than makes up for suffering through the last two. A pretty good time for slasher fans.



*** out of *****

Watched it myself today, I was literally laughing out loud loads of times throughout, mainly at the stuff coming out of Dillon’s (Doofus from Scary Movie) mouth. Definitely better than Hatchet 2 & 3. 4/5 for me too

[keirarts]

A whisper in the dark

Creepy kid Martino has an imaginary friend. His sisters tease him but his mum and dad (daddy played by John Phillip Law) play along. However weird stuff keeps happening. Dad takes Martino to Venice for a psychiatric evaluation and a specialist (played by Joseph Cotten) is sent to the home to find out whats going on.
This slice of Italian Gothic is one I can imagine putting off a portion of its audience. Its very slowly paced and not a great deal happens. Its more a mood piece along the lines of Don't look now, especially as both films deal with themes of grief and loss, but not as well realised as that film. I like it. I think its perfectly serviceable and if you like Footprints on the moon and perfume of the lady in black then you might get something out of it. If you like plenty of killings & sleaze then its likely to leave you cold.

Naked you die

An early-ish Giallo, made in 1968 directed by Antonio Margheretti from a story by Mario Bava. A black gloved killer dispatches a woman and hides her corpse in a trunk. We see the trunk get loaded on a truck and taken to St. Hilda's School for Girls. Here the killings continue and we get a bunch of possible suspects including Mark Damon who plays a teacher not adverse to nailing his students.
It was made at the same time as sweet body of deborah and like that film there is a playful silliness that seems somewhat at odds with the subject matter. Honestly I think Naked you die handles it better, with a lot of Dark humour that I suspect came from Bava's initial story outline. We get scenes like the one near the opening when the trunk is being unloaded and the driver complains how heavy it is. There's then a series of jokes about how there must be a dead body in it. The film has a real charm to it and Margheretti directs the hell out of it. The killings are very tame and lack the nastiness of Blood & Black lace, made four years earlier but its definitely worth checking out.

[Nostalgic]

The Fog (John Carpenter)

The residents of Antonio Bay are engulfed in a mysterious fog, complete with bizarre occurances & a shipload of angry dead converging on the town.
I never really rated this when I was younger, too slow, not enough gore, old fashioned.

Watched it last night & loved it, like an M R James story with a sea air, the atmosphere is amazing, pace is actually quite fast!

Carpenter apparently didn't like it and one third of the film is the result of reshoots, but having grown older (and I hope wiser), I now really like this one!

4/5

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

The Fog (John Carpenter)

The residents of Antonio Bay are engulfed in a mysterious fog, complete with bizarre occurances & a shipload of angry dead converging on the town.
I never really rated this when I was younger, too slow, not enough gore, old fashioned.

Watched it last night & loved it, like an M R James story with a sea air, the atmosphere is amazing, pace is actually quite fast!

Carpenter apparently didn't like it and one third of the film is the result of reshoots, but having grown older (and I hope wiser), I now really like this one!

4/5

Did you watch that with your wife? If so, what did she think? If not, do you think it's a film she would like?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I went to the cinema yesterday with no real aim of what to watch, but hoping to find two films in which I had an interest which would fit into a timeframe enabling me to watch both in an (approximately 4-5 hour) period. Fortunately, that worked out.

THE COMMUTER was something I had a vague interest on based on the promising trailer and Liam Neeson always being watchable even if the film in which he is appearing is extremely uninspiring. The basic premise is of an ex-cop who has been selling insurance for a decade and is unexpectedly laid off when he has to mortgages and a son about to leave for an expensive college education. When a stranger on his daily commute explains something which could be hypothetical and involves a large sum of money, this appears to be good fortune, but is obviously not. If I was being unkind, I'd describe this as 'serviceable' in that it is neatly constructed, has good performances by the entire cast and a good player for the end. It has some slightly annoying wobbly camera work of the Tony Scott variety where you wish they'd use a Steadicam or tripod, but the overall film is very watchable and something I'd happily sit through again.

Speaking of repeated watches, the only film which was starting at the right time was JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, which I saw a few weeks ago and really enjoyed so thought I'd see how it stood up to a second viewing. Fortunately, I think I enjoyed it as much as second time around as on first viewing as the humour is still there, the characters as involving and engaging and the overall story working as well as it did when I had almost no expectations.

Later on, after installing my new Virgin Media V6 box, I watched MR. MAJESTYK, which I couldn't remember anything about. Charles Bronson is the titular character, Vince Majestyk, a Vietnam veteran trying to make ends meet by growing water balance. Unfortunately, he becomes involved with a gangster and becomes a wanted criminal. In common with some other Charles Bronson films (The Mechanic, Death Wish, Breakheart Pass), this has some fine action sequences, a likeable antihero as the main character and finishes in a way that simultaneously left me satisfied and wanting more.

[Nostalgic]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Did you watch that with your wife? If so, what did she think? If not, do you think it's a film she would like?

She does actually like lots of Carpenter (The Thing, They Live, Escape from NY) but the Fog is not one of her faves, of all horror movies, she loves both the Saw & Hellraiser franchises, Alien & Predator, so she has always leant more on the side of sci fi, so while I will go for Pan's Labyrinth & The Orphanage, she will go for Pacific Rim.

We watched Assassin's Creed last night & while I found it unwatchably boring & confusing, she followed it all the way!

Currently watching Gothic (Ken Russell) as I have Altered States & Lair of the White Worm on the horizon. Can't say I'm impressed, lot of foppish folk poncing around & the acting is terrible (particularly Julian Sands who has the wide-eyed gurning look of one of the kids from the first Harry Potter).

Hoping I like other Ken Russell movies but this one is a mess at the moment!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

A whisper in the dark

Creepy kid Martino has an imaginary friend. His sisters tease him but his mum and dad (daddy played by John Phillip Law) play along. However weird stuff keeps happening. Dad takes Martino to Venice for a psychiatric evaluation and a specialist (played by Joseph Cotten) is sent to the home to find out whats going on.
This slice of Italian Gothic is one I can imagine putting off a portion of its audience. Its very slowly paced and not a great deal happens. Its more a mood piece along the lines of Don't look now, especially as both films deal with themes of grief and loss, but not as well realised as that film. I like it. I think its perfectly serviceable and if you like Footprints on the moon and perfume of the lady in black then you might get something out of it. If you like plenty of killings & sleaze then its likely to leave you cold.

What release do you have of this, K? Is it blu or dvd?

I remember reading about it in Euro Gothic which i finally finished last weekend.