What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[J Harker]

I really like Burtons Alice in Wonderland, Bollocks Through the Looking Glass was awful, I fell asleep twice and I wasn't even flamin tired

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[Nordicdusk]

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A jealous husband plans what he thinks is the perfect crime. After catching wind that his wife has been having an affair he decides to kill her off and claim the money she has in her will. He sets up a staged break in by black mailing an old classmate from collage whom he has plenty of dirt on if he refuses to accept. When the break in doesn't go to plan and the wrong person is killed he turns it onto his wife and makes it look like she is the murderer but has he taught of every angle to make sure he gets away with it or has be missed one key thing

I can't believe this is the first time I have seen this film I should be ashamed of myself and I really am. Mostly shot in two rooms of a house apart from the stag party scene but this film didn't need stylish locations the acting script and the mystery carry this perfectly. It really was intriguing to watch how it all unfolded and which way it would end and I was kept guessing right up until the end.

8/10

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Cockneys vs Zombies (2012)

Aka We Still Kill the Very Old Way.

A fun exercise in geezers, grandparents and gore as a zombie outbreak brings the East End of London to it's knees as a gang of bank robbers and a nursing home full of pensioners come up against the shambling dead.

The film has an excellent cast including a kick ass Michelle Ryan, Tony Selby, a sweary Honor Blackman, a flirty Georgina Hale, Dudley Sutton and Alan Ford ala Danny Dyer simply playing himself in all his cockney hard man glory.

Parts of this film really are quite funny, such as Richard Briers hurrying (probably not the right word) from zombies with his Zimmer frame at snails pace and the gore is frequent and strong. Some excellent set pieces, a pacy, vibrant and witty script all come together to help make Cockneys vs Zombies a film with plenty of rewatch value.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Whispering Smith (1948)

Alan Ladd's first western adventure is a decent if not outstanding wild west take on Jamaica Inn.

Full review here.

Western Movies

[MrBarlow]

Castle of Blood (Dance Macbre) 1964.

A journalist takes on a better spend the night in a haunted castle and witnesses the castle's past come to life.

This was a stunning Italian gothic horror from Antonio Margheriti, with a good star cast from Georges Riviére, Margrete Robsahm and Barbara Steele and Silvano Tranquilli as Poe. The interior of the castle blended with the black and white and great cinematography Riccardo Pallottini makes it more gloomy and helps build up the tense atmosphere. The director makes you fear the castle from the outset and inside it has its eerie tone added by the soundtrack by Ritz Ortolani, worth a watch. 7 out of 10.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Route 666 (2001)

A decent concept with Lou Diamond Phillips, Lori Petty and a host of government agents besieged by the ghosts of a massacred chain gang while driving down a desert highway - but let down by awful execution.

Characters do the most ridiculous things - Phillips and a fellow agent punch it out in an old cemetery whilst another couple of agents shag in the back of an RV at the same time as the ghosts first appear not two hundred yards away amid a hail of gunfire which none of the four seem to hear until the ghosts are upon them - and speak the most risible dialogue, to drive the viewer to distraction it's so abject. Not to mention haunted Jackhammer drills. A ghost carries one of these to dispatch it's victims. It doesn't have an air hose connected yet works just fine.

The camera work when the ghosts appear is messy and flickery, again taking the viewer out of the zone when they should be riveted to the action. The film does have good points. The desert location work is very good and... no, that's about it.

The dvd from Lions Gate looks awful. Not in it's picture quality, that's fine, but in it's framing. On a widescreen tv the picture looks squashed giving figures a thin look, but any expansion of the picture means a substantial loss of image both top and bottom.

[Nordicdusk]

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In search of his missing brother Robert Manning shows up at the last place he knows that Peter was seen a big country manner owned by the Morley family. Inside he meets the overly welcoming and friendly owners who deny any knowledge of Peter ever staying at the manor but Robert is not convinced and starts to search for clues of his brothers presence past or present in the house. Plagued by nightmares every night he stays at the manor is there a link between this dreams and the whereabouts of Peter or has the stress of the situation finally gotten on top of Robert.

Curse of the crimson altar boast some of the heavyweights of horror with Christopher Lee Boris Karloff and the ever beautiful Barbra Steele. Both Lee and Karloff have a great presence on screen as always but I couldnt help thinking I would of rathered Barbra Steel had a bigger more involving part plus she is green on the film . There is a great use of Colour lighting and imagery especially in the nightmare scense with goats dondage people wearing animal masks all of which gave me a real feeling of The Wicker Man.

Overall it was an entertaining watch but I did feel the ending was a little but rushed something just didn't sit right with me.

7/10

[Nordicdusk]

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Globetrotting Jaguar is out to kick the ass of criminals in every major city across the planet.

Everytime I watch this film thats all I get from Jaguar Lives maybe there is a story but I can never remember it is that a bad thing well no not at all this is just entertaining and sometimes that's good enough. Perfect film to go with a night of drinking booze.

There are two ratings for Jaguar Lives

As a film it's a 6 /10

Entrainment value 8/10

Always puts a smile on my face and that counts for alot.

[Nordicdusk]

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Matt Morgan has it all he's a Marshall in a quite town married to a beautiful Native American lady with a young son he's on top of the world. But his whole world comes crashing down around him when his wife is beaten raped and then murdered by two low lives passing through town. It's pretty much an open and shut case when his son escapes the attack on one off the killers horses big mistake when under the saddle are the initials of the owner. The owner is Craig Beldon Morgans best friend from the old days a man he owes his life to for saving his when they rode together. This is an overdue reunion of best friends but for all the wrong reasons.

Aside from the initials on the saddle another give away sign of who killed Morgans wife is the scar she left on his face and it turns out it wasn't Craig Beldon but his only son Rick and realising what he has done and why Morgan is in town friendship takes a back seat with Beldon refuses to give up his son.

Obviously the acting is fantastic with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn on top form. Morgan is consumed by grief but bound by his oath to the law and he doesn't want to harm the man he once called his friend and on the other side Beldon has is own demons of raising his son alone after his wife passed away in recent years but the power of his money has corrupted him thinking that he is above the law. Morgan is the only real friend he has ever had even stating himself he had to buy every other friend he ever had but all he has left his is son so friendship and loyalty is forgotten to save his only flesh and blood from being hanged.


Damn this is one fine film Kirk Douglas is such a bad ass going up against a whole town on his own but he doesn't let his emotions take over and he wants to deal with this the proper way of a lawman and that's by the law and not like a gunslinger. It would be easy to get a film with such a long stand off wrong and so easy for it to slip into boredom but Last Train gets it oh so right with perfect pacing and never once is there any danger of it becoming a chore.

Excellent just excellent
9/10

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Glad you enjoyed Last Train from Gun Hill, Nordy.

Excellent review.