What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Paul Zombie]

Dead of Winter.

An unemployed actress(Mary steenburgen) goes to a remote house in the country to do a screen test to replace a actress who supposedly had a nervous breakdown. but finds herself in grave danger from the handicapped Dr Lewis and his creepy servant(Roddy Mcdowall,the chap from the planet of the apes).

This is not a bad film at all, which i found quite a enjoyable watch. and has a good plot that slowly builds up the suspense and tension. and also makes good use too of the bleak winter setting.

Acting is also superb throughout, with Steenburgen actually playing three parts which she does very well indeed.
although i don't really think that it belongs in 88 films slasher range. yes it has a bit of violence now and again, but it is more of a psychological thriller to be honest.

But i still award this fairly impressive film a solid 72 out of 100.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Edgar Allan Poe‘s Lighthouse Keeper (2016)

An interesting take on what was Poe's very last (and unnamed) piece of work that was seemingly unfinished although some scholars argue differently.

Set, i think at the turn of the last century, it tells the tale of a young man shipwrecked on a small island where he is rescued by the local lighthouse keeper. However it seems the two might not be alone on the island.

Although let down by a bit of a modern sheen from being digitally filmed, and one or two dodgy fx of a boat crashing onto rocks, Lighthouse Keeper captures the Gothic period nicely. Legendary Aussie heavy Vernon Wells plays Walsh the lighthouse keeper and his tales of disaster and woe give the film a sense of isolation. Of course isolation is a favourite detail of Poe along with paranoia and lost love and all three feature heavily here along with other typical nightmarish scenarios. There's also new love to be found as the marooned JP (Matt O'Neill) discovers a beautiful young woman (Rachel Riley) also apparently marooned on the godforsaken island.

Although classed as Poe, and in fact feeling rather Corman like in it's languid build up, without giving too much away here, i thought the film heavily reminiscent of John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) in both it's setting and finale and also the Halloween School Bus Massacre urban legend of Michael Dougherty's Trick r' Treat (2007) - anyone familiar with both films will probably know in which direction the plot heads as psychological horror gives way to undead horrors.

Despite having a frankly piss poor score on IMDB - 3.9 / 10 - i really enjoyed the film and could certainly imagine the likes of Vincent Price having a whale of a time had this been made by Roger Corman in the sixties.

[Paul Zombie]

Your Vice is a locked room and only i have The Key.

Oliviero(Luigi Pistilli) is a failed writer and drunk who lives in a neglected villa with his long suffering wife Irina (Anita Strindberg), who he enjoys abusing and raping. and invites all the local hippies over for sex orgies and a sing song, terrible singing by the way , although the babe from Flesh For Frankenstein does a nice striptease on the table.
but later finds himself in a bit of a jam when a local girl who he has been having an affair with is brutally murdered by a maniac with a sickle. More murders then follow.

Once again director Sergio martino knocks out another top notch giallo which is full of twists and turns and bags of style and atmospheres and with some great suspenseful killings as well. Oh and not to forget a great score too from Bruno Nicoli.
and apart from the great casting of Pistolli and Strindberg, giallo queen Edwige Fenech pops up too about 30 minutes into the film, playing an unusual bad girl role as the slutty Floriana. and looking very nice indeed in superb looking outfits. not sure about the unflattering wig though.

Yes, this is a excellent and very entertaining giallo. extremely well made and with a nice twist ending involving Olivieros creepy cat Satan. 86 out of 100.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I watched the Screenbound release of The Blood Beast Terror last night.

I've never been happy with the VCI Euroshock release due to it's poor picture quality so turned on the UK release with some trepidation.

I'm delighted to say it's head and shoulders above the VCI version. Picture quality is excellent, colours are bright and edges crisp and it looks like a totally different film. Just goes to show that restoring a film for blu-ray makes a dvd look so much better.

As for the film itself? Well, it's a decent if not spectacular Tigon production which borrows a lot of ideas from Frankenstein and is let down as many of these films are by the monster itself, which in this case is a flimsy moth thing made out of tissue paper. However i would like to add that the moth chrysalis when hung up in the cellar makes for a very memorable Gothic horror motif.

[nosferatu42]

Suspiria 2018

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(Trying to avoid major spoilers)

I thought the trailers looked interesting and although fearing the worst i thought sod it i'll check it out.

Obviously there wasn't going to be an attempt to recreate the atmosphere, but given the arty direction it seemed to be going for i was interested to see what the director would do with the basic premise.

Well after watching it i was slightly perplexed, not really sure who the film was aimed at, for the most part it's a very well made slow burn arthouse film, cinematography is really well done and there is a thread of unease running throughout that is quite palpable, beginning with a guttural death rattle in the first scene that mutates into heavy breathing and sighs, throughout many scenes in the dance academy where an underlying feeling of despair and unease lingers.

This was the first thing that struck me with the film, the soundtrack is used very effectively but in a slow kind of lingering way that is the opposite to Argento's original. Thom Yorke's soundtrack when it appears was in moments very good, then at others seemed to be out of place, this is my favourite piece
which in some way has a undercurrent of Goblin, with it's discordant hypnotic feel that builds up to an anxious final drone.



Then in opposition to the slow burn there are moments that are filled with bone crunching nastiness, nightmarish dreams that are interesting (but slightly generic for a modern horror film) and a finale that throws taste to the wall and descends into a ritualistic b-movie bloodbath, closer to a insane feverish version of the finale in Mother of Tears.

So there is a lot of stuff i liked in the film, the dance academy still has art deco overtones, with floor patterns and decorated handrails on the staircases etc that seemed to nod to the original in design but seem a bit more subdued.

The dance scenes i found interesting and well shot, often being used parallel with a death scene, they are used in a sort of ritualistic manner by the coven as if weaving spells, and this is something i liked as it reflects the use of dance in voodoo and pagan religion etc.

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Then we come to the bad parts, while Tilda Swinton is very good in her numerous roles, i think playing the male psychoanalyst was a step too far, she plays the character well but knowing she is under prosthetics for this make's for a very large elephant in the room that is distracting.
Dakota does fine with the dancing and is generally good but she just doesn't have the power when needed in certain scenes.

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The film uses the backdrop of Berlin 1977, and draws in elements of history, but to me this didn't really add much to the film.
This is also the problem with the Psychoanalysts story in general, it takes up too much of the film and doesn't really amount to much in the end.

it's nice to see Jessica harper crop up in a cameo, she is good while onscreen but i would have liked to have seen her as part of the coven myself.

The film is focused generally on the female psyche and viewpoint, which i felt was fine, when you consider the original men don't play much of a part, so i am fine with this but actually felt the focus of the film should have been just that, centred around the coven and the newcomer without the outside world distractions.

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If pared down to the central ideas like the original this would have been a really strong remake i feel, and taking a good half an hours worth of subplot away would have made for a much tighter and better film.

As it is the film is meandering to the point of distraction, it just tries to do too much and is straining for respectability, when it actually would have worked better if it just went for the jugular.

So all in all a mixed bag, interesting but frustrating, good atmosphere but not enough genuine scares.

A film that has underlying themes and moments that link it to the original, but one that has to be viewed as a separate entity to appreciate it for what it is.

I would say also that i've been thinking about it alot since i watched it, to me that is always a good sign, i don't think it's a film that you can watch and just say "that was shit" and dismiss, it's definitely interesting and if you can put aside reservations and attachments to the original you might get something out of it.

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It's a long film and although i was tempted to go out for a cigarette halfway through i never did, so that must say something.

7/10

[MrBarlow]

Two Orphan Vampires 1997
(Les Deux Orphenlines Vampires).

Two Sisters in a orphanage run by nuns are blind during the day but at night can see and become vampires.

From Director Jean Rollin comes this story taken from his source novel, this was more like one sister looking after another and surviving off the living while meeting other people with strange creature form of a she wolf and a witch.

The film does seem to deviate away from the plot but not in a bad way, with a small budget Rollin does make it work to his advantage with good camera work, colourful scenery and a good background score, any fan of Rollin's will enjoy this film. 7 out of 10.

[MrBarlow]

Leon: The Professional 1994.

After her family is killed by a crooked D.E.A agent, 12 year old Mathilda seeks solace with neighbour Leon a hitman.

This was a great action thriller, blended in with laughs that's very heartwarming that will give you a smirk. Natalie Portman's first feature movie and what a way to start off a good career, there was dispute with her family and director due to her age and script had to be changed. Jean Reno performance as Leon is brilliant, he is like the type of neighbour that's quiet but hides his cleaning job, the way the two actors are is like passing neighbours to a new father figure then a true friendship bonds them together.

Gary Oldman stars as Stansfieild the corrupt cop he seems to enjoy Beetthoven and Mozart before a kill and popping a pill to keep him calm while killing but at times seems to be high on caffeine but he steals every scene he is in, definitely a film to watch and never be bored of. 10+.

[Paul Zombie]

Pieces.

A young boy is in his bedroom doing a sexy jigsaw when his uptight mum walks in and tells him off for being a pervert. she then sends him out to get a bag for the rest of his porn, but he comes back with an axe instead and brutally kills her before sawing off her head.
Moving forward 40 years a black gloved maniac in mack and trilby is stalking the students of a college in Boston and chopping them up with a chainsaw and stealing body parts.

I have to say that i really enjoyed this one from the Spanish director chap Juan Piquer Simon, and is a great fun movie in the so bad it's good kind of way with its hilarious dubbing and characters. all the student girls are your typical types who never need a clothing budget and there's even a funny chinese chap doing kung fu.

But the kills are top class and unlike Tobe Hoopers Chainsaw Massacre which although is the better made film, seriously disappointed me when i first saw it, this one actually delivers on the gore and shows you an actual chainsaw massacre.

and with a lot of familiar actors too, with the great Christopher George from Fulci's City of The Living Dead playing a cop and Lynda day( his actual wife in real life) playing undercover cop Mary the sexy tennis coach, and gives some hilarious lines when she's shouting 'bastard' after finding a girl cut up by the maniac.
And also there's the creepy gardener played by the hulkingPaul Smith. and with Edmund Purdom(from Absurd) as the dean.

Very entertaining indeed and with a brilliant soundtrack that borrows from Deep Red, Bloodstained shadow and even D'amatos Absurd.
So i give this Slasher/giallo a solid 81 out of 100.

[bleakshaun]

Animal Farm (1999)
A boar named old major has a dream of equality for all the animals on Manor farm who are then inspired to revolt against their human masters, however their dreams of freedom are crushed into a fascist nightmare.
This adaptation of Orwells masterpiece is clearly dated in its visuals, it sadly seems as of the only effort were put onto the pigs. The voice acting is great for the most part. What's really surprising is how instead of being a satirical piece of work it goes for something extremely dark.
It ain't the 1954 cartoon that's for sure.

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[Demoncrat]

The Nun (2018, Corin Hardy)

I liked it. Whilst is is nothing new to anyone who has seen say, 30 odd nunsploitation films tbh , it is adequately put together without a dogged reliance on jumpy scary bits.



The Ring Two

Somewhat lesss dour than the first, our hapless heroine is yet again haunted by .... a goth . They ain't that scary. Give her some cider girl!! It ends in a well. As well it might



City Of The Living Dead (1980, Lucio Fulci)

Priest opens a portal with his willing sacrifice. Rewatched this due to the first film reviewed,, as it blatantly pinched a memorable moment fae it
Ahem. A psychic and a nosey bastard team up to investigate. Somewhat less frenzied than his other horror films , I have watched this again and again. I love the music. The rather gross FX still unsettles imo. And that ending!!! I was asked today to "explain" the end of The Black Hole . That's easy. But this ..... hmmm.