Alien 3 (Assembly Cut) (1992)

A film with such a troubled production it's a story all by itself. Despite being disowned by then first time director David Fincher, Alien 3 , or at least this version, is nowhere near as bad as some suggest. Indeed, what has become known as the Assembly Cut which added 30+ minutes of restored footage to the original film by incorporating previously edited footage, lengthening scenes and changing one or two key elements from the original cut improve the film so much that it's become perhaps my favourite of the original Alien quardrilogy.

Now running at a whopping 2hrs and 25 minutes, Alien 3 turns out to be one hell of a film. If Alien was the Old Dark House in space and Aliens was a glorified action move then Alien 3 is a good old slasher movie with the Xenomorph dispatching the inhabitants of a run down penal colony prison one by one. The Assembly Cut brings the character to life, in fact in the case of Paul McGann's disturbed inmate, Golic, gives them a whole new dimension which in turn makes the film itself a more involving viewing experience. It's not just secondary characters either, even Sigourney Weaver's Ripley is improved upon by making her character more well rounded with added guilt from being the only survivor from the previous film and of course from bringing a whole new level of threat to the prison colony.

So with characters you care about, suddenly the whole slasher movie aspect takes on a dare i say it, more thrilling aspect. The surprises surprise and the shocks definitely shock, Brian Glover's demise, which i'd forgotten from previous viewings, really caught me unaware in a gloriously satisfying jump scare that worked beautifully.

If you've still only seen Alien 3 in it's theatrical cut, then yeah, it's a pretty abysmal entry in the series, but this Assembly Cut elevates it to a whole new level that i think rivals the best in the series.

Absolutely

The extended version is a totally different film

Last nights double bill..

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ZOLTAN HOUND OF DRACULA (1977)

Fun but cheap looking, this movie to me always looks more like a made for tv film. Maybe in part because it was always on late night tele back in the day.
It's certainly a different take on the Dracula myth, with Zoltan looking actually pretty good. The dog attacks on a cabin is well done and there is a nice gory attack on a hiker. So yeah, good fun.
*I remember this at the cinema and have the novel around here somewhere.

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TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)

Great stories based on the old E.C. comics.
My favourite has to be 'Poetic Justice' with Peter Cushing followed by 'Wish you were here' and 'All through the house' but all the stories are good.
I always feel sorry for Joan Collins husband, he seems like such a nice happy chap on Christmas Eve only to get bashed on the head.

Suicide Squad. Not even half as bad as i'd been led to believe. A bunch of DC villains get put together to save the day when one of their own goes a bit too far and threatens the world with destruction. The 'you're working for people as bad as you' angle is far too clumsy in its implementation, but i enjoy the fact that the 'heroes' never really renounce their villainous instincts even if they do act rather heroic sometimes. Will Smith isn't believable as Deadshot, simply because even trying to be a bit villainous seems to be too far for him - he's all talk and no villainy. Harley is great, and the only one i was really rooting for was the Aussie boomerang guy, who seemed rather out of his depth with some of the others and had a few anger issues.

I rather enjoyed it, all things considered.

Ghost Ship (2002)

An extremely mediocre film that doesn't ever improve on it's opening sequence as a steel cable lays waste to dancers at a ships ball.

Decent locations, a woman on a meathook and even Gabriel Byrne can't save this from being the worst of production company Dark Castle's ultra slick output.

It's not alone though. Supernatural films about ships, despite it being a great premise, really aren't much cop. With only 1980's Death Ship being an improvement on mediocre.

Deep Rising is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Deep Rising's a monster movie rather than supernatural. I do like it though. The much maligned Virus too.

Monster, shmonster. 'Tis a supernatural denizen of the deep!

Is Virus the Donald Sutherland one?

Yes.

I saw Ghost Ship at the cinema and enjoyed it, hadn’t seen it for years until February this year and still liked it enough to give it 3 out of 5 stars on Letterboxd, but I agree the opening is the best bit about it :nod: