What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) ★★★★★

A fresh and distinctive take on Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical masterpiece, The Personal History of David Copperfield, set in the 1840s, chronicles the life of its iconic title character as he navigates a chaotic world to find his elusive place within it. From his unhappy childhood to the discovery of his gift as a storyteller and writer, David’s journey is by turns hilarious and tragic, but always full of life, colour and humanity.

I must confess to having never read the Charles Dickens book which inspired Armando Iannucci's latest film. I don't know whether it is something which naturally lends itself to humour, but a writer and director who could find such comic potential in the horrors of Stalin's Soviet Union (in The Death of Stalin) must have found the numerous wonderful characters in Dickens's prose to be easy pickings.

With an outstanding central performance from Dev Patel – I understand why Iannucci has said he wouldn't have made it if Patel was unavailable – and wonderful support from a whole host of thespian talent, from Hugh Laurie's Mr Dick, Ben Wishaw's Uriah Heap, Peter Capaldi as Mr Micawber to Tilda Swinton playing Betsy Trotwood, and a whole post of other brilliant characters of which there are too many to mention here, but all of them are memorable in different ways thanks to the writing from Iannucci and Simon Blackwell.

The film is a joyous experience, one where I often realised I was smiling when I wasn't laughing out loud, and the humour stems from the dialogue, the characters' physical interactions and even the fantastic production design, with everything from amusing sandwich boards warning of the narrator's propensity to bite to a house made of an old boat.

I know it's early in the year to make such a pronouncement, but I'd be surprised if this isn't in my top five favourite films of 2020 as I plan to make such a list at the end of this year and I look forward to watching it again at home, possibly after reading Dickens' novel.

[Demoncrat]

Noted Nos!!!



Scream For Help (Michael Winner, 1984)

What's a girl to do when she suspects her creepy new stepdad is a moiderer??? Hilarious nonsense. The voiceover is near parody as tis. It's just so well scrubbed, it's almost like a soap. No pun intended. But is she onto something after all? Do I really care? Not really. I just laugh like a drain at the high cholesterol dialogue and the sweeping strings on the ST.
"Calm down dear, it's only melodrama !!"

[trebor8273]

A year after the events of the last film , a Monsignor sets out to exorise Draculas castle he succeeds but unfortunately the good count is resurrected and is irate to say the least and sets out for revenge on the monsignor , Dracula sets his sites on his niece , can the monsignor and the nieces boyfriend save her and put a end too draculae? We do have a staking of sorts for the good count , but why the need to pray? The hammer films seem to be a little inconsistent in the lore of how to kill a vampire. 8/10


Now watching.

[MrBarlow]

It Came From Outer Space. 1953.

When a fireball hits the outskirts of the Arizona desert, a stargazer and school teacher believe that alien influence is at work when the townsfolk start acting strangely.

Based on the story by Ray Bradbury, director Jack Arnold bring it to life, this was a delight to see again, for the 50s era film they seem to be overlooked but these films were entertaining. It may have a simple plot but generates a lot of suspense and great acting. Richard Carlson plays the star games and Barbara Rush as the teacher who believe that a spaceship has landed. Clifford Stine does a great job with the cinematography with a good background score.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Meek's Cutoff (2010)

Wow! What an utter waste of time!

A largely plotless, sparsely dialogued, drawn out trudge across the desert, shot mainly using a stationary 4:3 lens with much of the 'action' (That's an irony by the way - there is no action whatsoever) shown in mid to long shot.

Worst of all, the film doesn't have a resolution. We never know the outcome of the endless desert wanderings.

Life is far too short for this kind of film.

[Dave Boy]

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DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE (1979)

As a child, Donny's mother used to punish him by holding his arms over a burning stove. Later in life, Donny still lives with his mother, and when she dies Donny hears voices in his head that he is now free to do whatever he wants.
Donny lures women back to his house where he incinerates them with a flamethrower before dressing the corpses in his mothers clothes..

Well made movie that was caught up as a title in the video nasties witch hunt.
Dan Grimaldi (Donny) really holds the movie together though as he struggles with the voices and torment in his head.
The standout scene is of course the first burning and it is very well done.
Had not seen the movie in a long time so good to take another look.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Primal (2019)

A highly enjoyable 90's style action thriller reminiscent of Under Siege meets Snakes on a Plane.

Set aboard a cargo ship from Puerto Rico journeying to the US, Primal has a good ensemble cast meaning the film isn't simply reliant on Cage chewing scenery as both Famke Janssen and Kevin Durand are there to help.

The fact the film isn't simply a killer on the loose aboard a ship and adds killer animals loose aboard a ship gives the film that extra edge even if the white jaguar isn't the greatest CGI creation. However the cargo ship makes for a good setting both confined and spacious when needed and thankfully well lit for the most part.

Primal won't change your world but you might, as i did, have a hell of a lot of fun watching it.

[Frankie Teardrop]

EDGE OF THE AXE – From Larraz’s eighties run, when he turned to the slasher format more than once to spawn this and the likes of ‘Deadly Manor’. He was past his prime by then but at least the results were quirkier-than-average. ‘Edge of the Axe’, despite its Spanish provenance (I think), looks and feels as small town America as it gets, though the slasher dynamic feels somehow more giallo-inflected – perhaps it’s the preponderance of back-story and a host of non-teen characters. It has an odd, almost sunny atmosphere which rolls on for long stretches between the stylised kill scenes. There aren’t all that many of those, because the film tends to dwell on the relationship of its protagonists and their secret pasts, but I loved the slightly perplexing bits such as the use of a shamelessly unrealistic computer as a major plot determinant. Beyond all that, I can’t say that I found it more than passable, although Arrow once again have done a ropey flick proud.

BLISS – A starving artist loses it when she can’t finish a commission; one of her flaky goth-drug buddies introduces her to vampirism and it all gets very fraught. ‘Bliss’, with its reliance on moody inner-city decadence, hallucinogenic neon visuals and supernaturally infected artistic torment, feels at times like a melange of the kind of style and imagery familiar from directors such as Winding-Refn right through to writers like Caitlin Kiernan. It has an appropriately hazy feel to it and it doesn’t hold back on gore in its latter segment, all major ticks in my book, though in the end it doesn’t transcend its influences and plays like a slightly grittier version of any other post-eighties goth flick that aspires to music-video status and privileges style (and sunglasses after dark) over plot and substance. But then, I’ve never been that much into plot and substance. Happily, ‘Bliss’ is vivid and impactful and a far cry from the usual anaemia I’ve come to expect from latter-day low budgeters. The director is very interesting, as was his first film, ‘Almost Human’. This is much better than his previous one, ‘The Mind’s Eye’, and I look forward to ‘VFW’.

DEADLY MANOR – Another late-in-the-day Americanoid slasher from Larraz, who was by then pretty much off the boil but still soldiering on. To my mind, ‘Deadly Manor’ is slightly elevated above ‘Edge of the Axe’ because of its inclusion of elements that are seemingly more Larrazian – the decaying old house that is the setting, the strange touches such as the car wreck on the plinth, moments of dark sexy weirdness etc etc. It’s all a bit of a plod in the end, though. Basically, some slasher fodder types hole up in the house of a vengeful former beauty who seems to end up slashing them all from beyond the grave (maybe). Again, it’s full of nice touches like the rooms full of black and white photos of the owner, but the atmosphere is a bit dry and the lack of gore is a problem. Still, if you like Larraz, if you like slightly anodyne slashers and if you still get hot for the look and feel of films shot for f*ck all in the late eighties, then this might float your boat to some degree.

MURDEROCK – One of Fulci’s least rated flicks, but not by me – I really like it. Then, I’ve always been a sucker for his lamer stuff. ‘Murderock’ maybe isn’t that good, but it is eccentric. It offers a fairly basic post-giallo, pre-ninities erotic thriller type vibe which is heavily informed by era specific trends ie any film that referenced dance schools from the early-to-mid-eighties. Yep, it’s about a killer in a New York dance academy. The killer doesn’t kill very often, and those looking for ‘New York Ripper 2’ might be bored to find that it’s more of a mystery than a slasher. Personally, I found the relatively bloodless bits involving pins being pushed into heaving chests quite squirm-inducing cos of the intimate b-da-b-da heart noises on the soundtrack, but the real draw for me was the bizarre level of stylisation Fulci showcases… odd angles, weird noises, hazy diffusion, wonky shots, sequences that seem lifted from music videos or vaguely erotic TV ads. Then there’s that stupid dance number with the daft lyrics about ‘pa-ra-noi-a coming your way’. Admittedly, ‘Murderock’ does drag a bit after a while. A dud in the eyes of many, but there’s plenty of juice here if you have my questionable standards.

THE PREY – Speaking of ‘my questionable standards’ – they alone explain why I liked ‘The Prey’ so much when I put it on for the first time the other day. It’s a real strictly-by-numbers set-up we have here; young Americans out camping in a forest where a killer is at large… maybe something bad happened to someone years ago, thereby providing backstory and giving form to a generic slasher flick origins myth. Anyway, the kids are offed… slowly, cos not a lot goes on. At all really, apart from a load of trudging around in a forest. Then a deformed guy turns up at the end. It could all be rubbish, and maybe it is, but I really dug ‘The Prey’ because so much of it is just not right. The acting, the editing, the ebb and flow, are so malorchestrated as to appear dream-like. Incongruence rules in the pointless conversations that flow over each other, or in moments such as the one where a forest ranger plucks a banjo and does bizarre monologues. But the strangest thing about it is the inclusion of constant close-up shots of nature. They’re an omnipresent part of the film, and almost make it seem a bit psychedelic. I can’t guarantee you won’t find ‘The Prey’ hard going and dull; slasher completists will want to see it anyway, it’s never been all that readily available, but there’s an authentic dimension of weirdness about it too. As a passing point of interest, it was made a couple of years before the glut of early eighties slasher clones but not released till afterwards.

PAGANINI HORROR – I can never resist me a slice of appalling fag-end-of-the-eighties Italian horror trash, and ‘Paganini Horror’ meets all expectations. It’s by Luigi Cozzi, who at least invests his films with enthusiasm and imagination – I want a blu-ray of ‘The Black Cat’, but I’ll probably never get one. Anyway, this is about a spandex-loving female rock combo who rent a haunted house to do a promo video after one of them acquires a cursed musical score by Paganini… a plethora of strange things happen involving tunnels in space-time, rooms full of mannequins, murder by violin and brutalisation by fungus. It’s the kind of shower of drivel that’s so blunt in (a specific kind of) eightiesness that I never know whether I’m entranced or bored… event follows non-event and I lose track of what’s going on. But I love the overall feel, and ‘ey up, there’s Donald Pleasance. Recommended to all lovers of garishly lit gibberish.

[Demoncrat]

He does it again. "garishly lit gibberish" serving shortly cough .... and F? VFW is worth the wait.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

As always, Frankie, kudos!