What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[MrBarlow]

Black Magic Rites aka Reincarnation Of Isabel 1973.

A group of vampires keep the body of a witch, so they can resurrect her with the blood of virgins..

This is one of those films that has visual style and a somewhat of a presentation of sleaze that can make the plot of the movie confusing as it goes back and forth with background of the witch.

The film is something like weird but can be enjoyable to some and probably Wtf did I watch to others, it is a movie to watch with a open mind with the euro trash horror style that comes with it that you need to watch more than once to fully understand it. 6 out of 10.

[Demoncrat]

Spartan (David Mamet)

Come back!! It's actually quite good ...
Val Kilmer (not quite chubby yet) is a MP ... or something. I may have missed a bit at the start . Nevertheless an involving watch. I get that it's meant to be 'shocking'. When a politician's child is abducted, nothing is as it seems ... it IS Mamet etc ...

[MrBarlow]

Rats: Night Of Terror 1984.

After a nuclear war, a group of friends come across a town infested with rats.

After posting a pic in "guess the movie" forum i thought i would dig this out for a re-watch. Listed by Vipco "the films that terrified audiences around the world", the only thing scary in this film was the acting as that was painful to watch, i did wonder why i put this at the back of shelf.

This isnt your big budget type movie, so you wont be on the edge of your seat hiding behind a cushion, there is gore that does keep it together and the last 10 minutes of the film was an added little twist. 5 out 10.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Slayer (1982)

I realise what i'm about to say leaves me open to a lot of ridicule but i prefer the old VIPCO dvd release of The Slayer to Arrow's sparkling new 4K print.

I don't have either version, though I might buy the Arrow Video release tomorrow, but completely understand what you said. It seems something that made the film interesting and watchable was the video quality on the VIPCO DVD, something which is now gone.

It's a little like nostalgia for the old days and how our memories of childhood completely shape our opinion is that era, ironing out any faults and emphasising the positives. A recent survey showed (almost regardless of age, background, ethnicity, gender) people thought society was better when they were growing up, showing people were happy to overlook massive advances in medical treatment, rights in the workplace and society as a whole, the availability of other foods, and such things as environmental and food quality because things always seem better with rose tainted glasses.

I know your situation is slightly different because what made the film not necessarily special, but not boring, was the dreamlike aspects provided by the (sub-optimum) visuals. It's an interesting take on the downside of a high quality restoration and a film I want to become acquainted with much more than I currently am at some point this month.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Red Hill

Sometime ago, I went through a period of binge watching all seven seasons of True Blood, including commentaries, and it was always funny when Steven Moyer (who plays Bill Compton) was doing a commentary track because I was so used to him having a Louisiana drawl that it seemed very weird to listen to him talking with his native English accent, one with received pronunciation and no hint of regional dialect. I only mention this because the main actor in this western/thriller by writer-director Patrick Hughes stars the Sydney-born actor Ryan Kwanten, probably best known for playing Jason Stackhouse in the HBO series, and because this is set in small town Australia, he does not have to affect an accent.

The film begins with Shane Cooper (Kwanten), a (relatively) young police officer , leaving his heavily pregnant wife and going into his new workplace in the titular small town for the first time. His (presumably) first meeting with his new boss, Old Bill, doesn’t go very well because Cooper explains that he’s moved to the country for his wife’s health, not because he didn’t shoot an armed boy and was injured on duty. Although there is some hostility there, Old Bill seems philosophical and, more or less, says how it worked out because if the situation had been resolved any other way then Cooper wouldn’t be where he is at this present time.

However, Cooper’s arrival is overshadowed by the news that Jimmy Conway, a convicted murderer and brilliant Aborigine tracker has escaped from prison and is likely to seek revenge on Old Bill, the man who arrested him. Knowing the horribly scarred Conway has (to steal a line from Tim the Enchanter) "a vicious streak a mile wide", Old Bill decides to take no chances and gives police and civilians orders to shoot to kill, permitting civilians to carry and use firearms. This doesn’t go very well at all, because Conway is as dangerous as everyone feared and, one by one, townspeople and police are killed in ruthless fashion.

This is an interesting neo-Western, not one that has the period setting of No Country for Old Men nor the outright horror of Bone Tomahawk, but is more of a slow burning thriller with escalating tension and moments of extreme violence. It's also something of a character-driven story with Cooper having come to the country for a more peaceful lifestyle, somewhere to reduce his wife's blood pressure and to mentally recover from a traumatic event, only to find the rural environment is every bit as violent as its urban counterpart.

I bought the Momentum Pictures Blu-ray release of this from Music Magpie for £1 and am very glad I did. The location work is excellent – it’s beautifully filmed and the music is extremely evocative, helping to escalate the tension and isolation. Ryan Kwanten began his career with a five-year stint on Home and Away and did more TV since then but, as I always suspected from his performances in True Blood, he is a fine actor who should be in more feature films. There is a commentary track with him and Patrick Hughes – it’s very much his film because not only did he write and director, but he is also credited as a producer and editor – and it’s a reasonably engaging and informative chat for those who like a bit more information about the film they just watched.

Like I said, I bought it for a quid and probably wouldn’t have seen this at all if it wasn’t there while I was browsing whichever Music Magpie offer section it was in, but I’m glad I did and highly recommend it to those who liked the previously mentioned westerns or Slow West, Hell or High Water, or The Proposition.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

I don't have either version, though I might buy the Arrow Video release tomorrow, but completely understand what you said. It seems something that made the film interesting and watchable was the video quality on the VIPCO DVD, something which is now gone.

It's a little like nostalgia for the old days and how our memories of childhood completely shape our opinion is that era, ironing out any faults and emphasising the positives. A recent survey showed (almost regardless of age, background, ethnicity, gender) people thought society was better when they were growing up, showing people were happy to overlook massive advances in medical treatment, rights in the workplace and society as a whole, the availability of other foods, and such things as environmental and food quality because things always seem better with rose tainted glasses.

I know your situation is slightly different because what made the film not necessarily special, but not boring, was the dreamlike aspects provided by the (sub-optimum) visuals. It's an interesting take on the downside of a high quality restoration and a film I want to become acquainted with much more than I currently am at some point this month.

It was only last year i watched the VIPCO version.

The previous time i saw it was on a sell thru vhs.

I thought Red Hill was terrific by the way.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

It was only last year i watched the VIPCO version.

In that case, I vastly overstated the nostalgia element!

[Crimson Blade]

Never Take Sweets From a Stranger (1960).

The last thriller i watched from the excellent Hammer Blu-ray set from Indicator. The Carter family, with their daughter Jean, start a new life in a small Canadian town. The husband, Peter, has been appointed as the new school principal. Things however turn sour, when their young daughter and her friend fall victim to an elderly and powerful paedophile.

Not really a comfortable watch, but a superb made film nevertheless. Acting is first rate. And further proof that Hammer were more than just gothic horrors.
It was also interesting to see some familiar faces from other Hammer films as well. Gwen Watford fromTaste The Blood of Dracula, child actor Janina Faye from Horror of Dracula, and Michael Gwynn from Scars of Dracula, Revenge of Frankenstein. Very highly recommended 8/10.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Ghoul (2015)

While researching a cannibalism epidemic in the Ukraine, three Americans come face to face with the evil spirit of the region's most violent cannibalistic serial killer.

In short. This film was appalling. Set in the Ukraine, everyone the Americans speak to speak in a Russian dialect...without subtitles, so there are large parts of the movie without any English other than to say 'What did he say?'

Then there's the fact it's a found footage film, however there was no way this footage could have been found unless someone went deep into the Ukraine backwoods and discovered the cannibal ghost's subterranean lair. Oddly there's also a soundtrack in the spooky scenes. It's subtle and clearly there to add suspense but it's still a major flaw in the films production. The whole thing feels like a very poor mans Blair Witch Project without any of the thought or ideas that went into making that film so successful.

Avoid.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

It was only last year i watched the VIPCO version.

The previous time i saw it was on a sell thru vhs.

I thought Red Hill was terrific by the way.

Yes I thought red hill was really good as well,and made a change from most films of Today .