What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demoncrat]

Endured?
Like I endured Minority Report

It's coming ....

But in ze meanwhile ... a little light relief with the Argento Dawn Of The Dead.
What with Goblin pushing the action on like a freight train, and Dario being less concerned with sociology, it's ideal for a sunny night in fact (which is just as well ).

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Quite a few over that holiday weekend there.....

IT'S ALIVE! Scream Factory have done a fantastic job of Cohen's finest.
Especially during the dark,sewer-set finale,which was almost unwatchable on old Warner sellthru tapes....a big step up from the dvd.

DEATH WEEKEND-William Fruet's Canuxploitation classic on Swedish Betamax,sorry dvd.
The transfer is a fullscreen effort,but to be fair,looks better than any vhs incarnation I've seen.
Some nice docs on the disc for those who are fluent in Sveedish!

SNIPER-NSM Germany have given us a nice release on blu ray in this video store fave.
Billy Zane plays the slimy rat as usual.....ssssssss!

THE COMMUTER-'Taken' 'the piss' on a train!
Suspension of disbelief is required for this tall tale,BUT as with all Uncle Liam's films,I found it very entertaining!

THE BLOODTHIRSTY TRILOGY-Great that Arrow released these films!
'Japanese Hammer'-so for those who like their vampires of the creepy Salem's Lot variety,then this is for you.Two words.
****ING SUPERB!

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Great to see that there's some originality and craftsmen lurking in Hollywood.This film and it's performers were most deserving of any awards they won.
I'll now seek out McDonagh's other films....

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

The Mountain of the Cannibal God

Sergio Martino’s infamous cannibal movie begins with an intertitle explaining how, perhaps in an effort to begin proceedings with an air of authenticity, all events are set in an area of the world in which cannibalism is still practised. In today’s world of the Internet and travel documentaries where there are barely any areas of the world which carry such mystery, such a plot device would be an instant failure, but in 1978, I guess some people would happily leave such nonsense. Anyway, the action begins with (of all things) a plane from Pakistan International Airlines landing (maybe it was an unusual US-Pakistan-Papua New Guinea flight) and introducing us to Susan Stevenson (Ursula Andress) and her step brother, Arthur, whose brother, Henry, has gone missing

The unlikely duo team up with local explorer Dr. Edward Foster (Stacey Keach) who agrees to help them. As Martino happily admits in the accompanying Raro Video featurette ‘Cannibal Nightmare’, it’s a film of two halves: the first sees people wandering around a jungle and encountering all manner of exotic horrors, though thankfully not most of the footage of the monitor lizard being stabbed and gutted, nor the monkey being eaten alive, before we find the truth about Dr. Foster, where they are going and what has likely happened to Arthur Stephenson.

This doesn’t have the narrative audacity of Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust, nor the outright repugnance of Umberto Lenzi’s Cannibal Ferox, films that remain interesting because they because of their structure and gratuitous violence, though Lenzi’s film isn’t as structurally challenging as Deodato’s film. Compared to them, it’s fairly tame in terms of its violence, both that inflicted on humans and animals, but the locations and characters make it compelling enough for a watch with fairly modern and jaded eyes, particularly ones which were glad not to see the worst excesses of the animal violence. However, it was particularly strange to sit through ‘Cannibal Nightmare’ and see scene in which the lizard is butchered in its entirety, a sequence significantly trimmed for the main feature.

The Shameless release looks and sounds superb thanks to the 2K remaster and the inclusion of the 46 minute featurette, part of which comprises the brief Sergio Martino on Animal Cruelty feature, in which he describes how the monkey met its unfortunate demise, something he profoundly regrets. If you have any interest in the jungle-set cannibal films, whether it’s a genuine liking of them, or morbid curiosity, this is a reasonable entry and a fine package of the film.

[Nostalgic]

Watching the Cronenberg commentary on Existenz, fascinating, literate & as good as the film itself. Will be getting my other Cronenberg commentaries out for a listen, and there are 2 more on the Existenz blu to go through.

Up next....Avengers Assemble to bring phase one to a close!

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by The Reaper Man@Cult Labs

Quite a few over that holiday weekend there.....

IT'S ALIVE! Scream Factory have done a fantastic job of Cohen's finest.
Especially during the dark,sewer-set finale,which was almost unwatchable on old Warner sellthru tapes....a big step up from the dvd.

DEATH WEEKEND-William Fruet's Canuxploitation classic on Swedish Betamax,sorry dvd.
The transfer is a fullscreen effort,but to be fair,looks better than any vhs incarnation I've seen.
Some nice docs on the disc for those who are fluent in Sveedish!

SNIPER-NSM Germany have given us a nice release on blu ray in this video store fave.
Billy Zane plays the slimy rat as usual.....ssssssss!

THE COMMUTER-'Taken' 'the piss' on a train!
Suspension of disbelief is required for this tall tale,BUT as with all Uncle Liam's films,I found it very entertaining!

THE BLOODTHIRSTY TRILOGY-Great that Arrow released these films!
'Japanese Hammer'-so for those who like their vampires of the creepy Salem's Lot variety,then this is for you.Two words.
****ING SUPERB!

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Great to see that there's some originality and craftsmen lurking in Hollywood.This film and it's performers were most deserving of any awards they won.
I'll now seek out McDonagh's other films....

Martin Mcdonagh? Start with his short Six Shooter then .... enjoy the rest. I have.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Bloodbath at the House of Death (1983)

Scientists Kenny Everett and Pamela Stephenson along with several others stay at the secluded mansion, Headstone Manor, where 18 people were killed one night some years before by a satanic cult.

I've always been up in the air about Bloodbath at the House of Death and last night was no different. Some of it is sublime - death by can opener, having Vincent Price cussing, Cleo Rocos and the mole, Pamela Stephenson in general and the various movie pastiches - "I guess i'll never see you again", yet i've never felt the story in general offers enough to be involving.

Price and his satanic cult seems barely an afterthought, no tension is built up to their arrival and it's all a bit flat in the horror aspects a few grizzly murders aside so it's lucky the comedy and subtle one liners make up for it.

Having said all that i do get the feeling it grows in stature with each viewing as i much preferred it last night than the other two airings it's had.

[Demoncrat]

Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)

I finally processed it. You all can't wait can you?
... (draws breathe) The Cruiser is a cog in das machinen. Life there seems like HELL. Being watched for something you might do ... would produce the mindset for murder eventually surely. Like with me when Farrell turns up.
But, begorrah he's actually involved in the most violent death that I've witnessed in a 12 in all my icebox.
This is the apex of this review.
Dick is hard to translate to the screen purely because it is about the human condition that has evolved alongside with technology, and not just a load of old flashback tripe you've stolen anyway Stevie!! Really made me angry. I love my Dick. Hands off Hollywood!!!




Did I get away with it then??

[ArgentoFan1987]

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

A documentary tells the factual story of the disastrous attempts to make a 1990's film version of H.G. Wells's "The Island of Dr. Moreau", in which the films original director, Richard Stanley, was eventually fired from.

This documentary is highly entertaining, with some larger than life anecdotes about the antics of Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer and Richard Stanley, among other things, from some of the cast and crew involved in its making.

I highly recommend this. 8/10

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Nomads (1986)

Leslie Anne Down stars as a nurse bitten by a raving dying patient (Pierce Brosnan) and is haunted by psychic images of the man's past showing him moving into a new LA home that was frequented by Nomads - evil spirits in human form who wander the deserts of the earth.

The feature debut of director John McTiernan is an enigmatic film that cross cuts between Brosnan's persecution and hunt for the spirits and Down's psychic breakdown. The spirits lead by Adam Ant take the form of a motorcycle gang that wreak havoc and kill during the dark Californian nights.

It's all rather gripping and mysterious stuff, lacking gore or anything particularly horrific it all plays out with a weird atmosphere of dread under the LA lights. Brosnan is excellent, even his French accent isn't too distracting and the non-linear story never becomes confusing and works very well to create a nicely effective film.

Nomads is a film i've seen a few times now and it never bores. Would make a terrific double bill with Wolfen (1981)

[Nostalgic]

The Void (2016)

Second watch for this well reviewed horror from 2016. Listing Lovecraft, Carpenter & Romero as well as Fulci amongst it's influences, I wanted to love this but it's just a mess, incoherant, lots of strobe lighting. Sometimes unexplained horror is the best, here it's just a muddled fusion of The Mist, In the Mouth of Madness & some other random stuff.

Good gore, atmosphere is present & correct, may watch it again in 3 years so never say never.

3/10