What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Babe (1995)

Utterly charming in every aspect and heart warming in the extreme, a near perfect family film.

'That'll do pig'

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Babe (1995)

Utterly charming in every aspect and heart warming in the extreme, a near perfect family film.

'That'll do pig'

I’ve met the pig that played Babe

Few years ago (21 to be precise, Jeez!) when I worked as a spark my company worked on the Virgin Cinema multiplexes, at the Bolton opening they had Sara Cox, some guy from Corrie and Babe the pig because the sequel was out at the time, had his own “red carpet” of straw to walk down and everything

At the Sheffield one we had Jo Guest (some male members will remember her), Richard Branson and someone else that I can’t remember now

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Rik

I’ve met the pig that played Babe

Few years ago (21 to be precise, Jeez!) when I worked as a spark my company worked on the Virgin Cinema multiplexes, at the Bolton opening they had Sara Cox, some guy from Corrie and Babe the pig because the sequel was out at the time, had his own “red carpet” of straw to walk down and everything

At the Sheffield one we had Jo Guest (some male members will remember her), Richard Branson and someone else that I can’t remember now

Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing Rik.

My male member definitely remembers Jo Guest.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing Rik.

My male member definitely remembers Jo Guest.

Unfortunately camera phones weren’t invented back then, in fact I don’t even think I had a mobile phone at the time

[Inspector Abberline]

Michael Apted directs one of the best British crime thrillers of the 1970s,criminally overlooked, The Squeeze is a marvellous ensemble film, starring the great Stacey Keach and a plethora of mockney villains, with a youngish Alan Ford being the most noticeable, just before he became a taxi driver to a certain American Werewolf...David Hemmings shows yet again what a versatile actor he was, we also have the reliable Edward Fox, but the most surprisingly interesting actor is Freddie Starr, who plays Keach's ex-convict side kick and general dogsbody...The Squeeze (1977) is a taught hard boiled thriller that see's Stacy Keach as Jim Naboth, an ex police detective, who has fallen from grace, due to his alcoholism, but who has to find the criminals who have kidnapped his ex wife, played by Carol White and her daughter...While Keach's accent does sometimes wander from Londoner to inexplicably Australian,(perhaps he was getting ready for Road Games),he gives the most stellar performance, from skid row drunk to sober private eye, Keach manages to play the pathetic drunk superbly, witness his humiliation by crime lord Vic played Stephen Boyd, as Keach is ridiculed and stripped naked, and made to walk past his neighbours, with only his shoe to cover his embarrassment. Like any movie from the 1970's a lot of the fun is seeing Britain in all its 70s glory, from the cars to the flairs..

[MrBarlow]

The Mummy's Shroud 1967.

A team uncover a tomb of an Egyptian boy Prince.

A decent made hammer Horror film closely like Tutankhamun except the Mummy is doing the killings not a Curse. Andre Morrell stars as one of the exhibitionists looking for the lost Tomb of Prince Kah-To-Bey. John Phillips plays Mr Preston who has the money to fund the adventure.

This is a pretty much low budget movie, the background score and the acting is what helps keep the film entertaining even the climatic ending. Hammer actor Michael Ripper has more screen time and shows his acting abilities more than being a sinister man he is rather a emotional character in this, worth a watch.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Soz guys, forgot I still watch movies occasionally -

DARK AUGUST – With its odd camera angles, eerie mise-en-scene and brown cassocked monk-ghost, ‘Dark August’ feels a bit “casual American seventies new wave goes M R James”. Although not as weirdly hypnotic as ‘Let’s Scare Jessica to Death’, it’s definitely coming from that territory. Excellent and overlooked – whilst those searching for full-on TCM type grindhouse vibes will be bored, seekers of strange atmospheres will be well chuffed.

VAMPYRES – Larraz piles on the misty English gothicisms in this tale of a swingin’ vampire duo. Alternates sauciness with misery and thus sums up the English seventies better than flared beige cords stained by Walls Sausages. There is a stately home full of crumbling corridors fallen into shadowy rot next door to a cramped caravan holiday that ends horribly, but ‘Symptoms’ gave better claustrophobia by some margin imo. Still good though, nasty too in places.

THE TRANFIGURATION – Bound to attract loads of ‘Martin’ comparisons, this basically spins the same yarn; namely, loner kid with blood drinking tendencies wavers over whether he’s a vampire or not, then gets into a promising relationship that we can’t help but feel must inevitably offer doom rather than redemption. Depressing, utterly absorbing and excellent, a must-see.

NIGHT KILLER – Wow, difficult movie to grasp, until you find out that Bruno Mattei was involved so then you don’t have to even try. It seems to graft a storyline about an F Kruger lookalike mask-wearing psycho onto an attempt to do a steamy nineties erotic thriller… all by way of the bad artifice of Italo genre cinema, pretty much a dead duck by the early nineties. Anyway, it is weird but kind of boring, notwithstanding some hilarious moments that sadly I have forgotten already.

THE DEVIL’S NIGHTMARE – Great Belgian (I think?) horror of a seventies vintage, this pretty much sums up what comes to mind when people think of a certain kind of Euro-goth… post-Hammer sets and lighting combined with edgy-for-the-time nudity, haunting la-la-la-la music and an overall attitude of style over coherence. But those are only the broad strokes, because it’s stranger and more ‘off’ than a lot of similarish product from around the time; maybe it’s the sheer nihilism of the infanticide at the start, or the ominous surrealism at play in its seven deadly sins meets Agatha Christie set-up. Everyone in this movie has a really striking-looking face so casual viewing on mild hallucinogens is not advised (or the opposite).

[Frankie Teardrop]

More, you want more!

THE WITCH AT THE WINDOW – Quite liked this tale of a father-son relationship beset by witchery in a spooky house. In some ways it’s nothing new, but it uses its indieness well and gets a lot out of the psychology and drama of it all, if anything. It’s better with slow build and atmosphere than it is with the actual horror stuff – in the sense that the ‘scares’ don’t do much justice to the measured sense of isolation and foreboding the filmmakers engineer. Very good though, one to check out if you watch contemporary horror.

FOXFUR – Some would have you believe that Damon Packard is a crazed genius – anyone who’s seen ‘Reflections of Evil’ will attest to that being probably true. ‘Foxfur’ continues his journey into the camcorder subconscious. It’s about New Age type themes and features a protagonist who switches identity three times and a David Ike impersonator in a wheelchair who gets shouted at by a massive fat guy. The last thirty minutes of this glorious orgy of aberrant salience seem to try to get to grips with the relationship between mid-eighties fantasy epics and world consciousness.

BORDER – Scandi-weirdness about a customs officer affected by a strange mutation that enables her to sniff out the emotions of others but leaves her terrified of lightning. She encounters another individual with the same trollish condition and they embark on a torrid affair whilst ending up embroiled in an incredibly dark police investigation. Really excellent, by turns poignant, fascinatingly repulsive and just completely messed up. I mean, for me it’s a mark of good artistry that a film is able to seem hopeful, moving and nightmarish at the same time. It’s a slow burn, but an essential one.

DEATH WARMED UP – Hey, I thought I was into incoherent eighties grot… not so in this case. After a promising start, this story of one man’s revenge against the mad scientist type who made him kill his folks peters out into a bunch of people just doing stuff in front of a camera. Most of that ‘stuff’ involves walking around an island until zombies come. Then everyone dies, pretty much. I remember it being on someone’s video recorder at a party once and finding it more irritating than the people I was surrounded by. Unfortunately, ‘Huh? Zzzzz….’ doesn’t really fly any better in HD.

THE PSYCHIC – Although I consider myself quite a Luci Fulci fan, this was a first time viewing. I can see why people rate it so highly. It just looks so lush… the atmosphere is there in nearly every frame, and it has that trademark ambiance of his that’s difficult to pin down but probably has something to do with lots of close ups of eyes and liberal use of diffusion and shadow. But… I’m just not into the bits of Gialli which are really only about police and / or concerned others talking up their theories about why stuff is happening, and that kind of thing does go on here a bit. Too much for me to like it more than ‘House by the Cemetery’, say. But, hugely creditable.

INSEMINOID – It’s good to get some Warren on HD. Thought I’d start that box set with the wonderful ‘Inseminoid’, which still hasn’t lost its ability to baffle with its extremes of awfulness and inspiration. Julie Christie screams her way out from a crowd of bad actors and is riveting as a member of a space expedition pregnant via alien rape. All those early eighties ‘Alien’ rip-offs were odd, and this one boasts a unique blend of cringey period Britishness (mostly) and unadorned yuckyness.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I too really enjoyed The Witch in the Window, Frankie. I was gushing about it on here when i'd watched it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

More, you want more!



INSEMINOID – It’s good to get some Warren on HD. Thought I’d start that box set with the wonderful ‘Inseminoid’, which still hasn’t lost its ability to baffle with its extremes of awfulness and inspiration. Julie Christie screams her way out from a crowd of bad actors and is riveting as a member of a space expedition pregnant via alien rape. All those early eighties ‘Alien’ rip-offs were odd, and this one boasts a unique blend of cringey period Britishness (mostly) and unadorned yuckyness.

Norman J did well to attract her to his Alien wannabe.

See, i do read your reviews Mr. T.