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  #56471  
Old 5th September 2021, 10:28 AM
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The Lords of Salem (2012)

Sherri Moon Zombie steps up from support player to leading lady for the first time and makes the transition with ease giving a measured, mature performance at the centre of the film as Heidi, one of a trio of local, late night rock dj's. Heidi takes home an odd looking record, sent to the station which when played sends out the message that "The Lords are coming" and seems to trigger hallucination's of Salem's violent past. From here director Rob Zombie takes the film in a direction reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby and The Sentinel as it becomes increasingly likely that Heidi is an innocent soon to be at the heart of something evil.

The Lords of Salem is a film unlike anything the director had previously put his name to. Gone are the heavy handed gore and shock tactics. The film builds at a slow, intriguing pace, heavy on atmosphere, partially created by the cool yellow hue Zombie gives his night time scenes. As previously mentioned the gore is practically non-existant which to me makes the story more believable and allows it to breathe without the viewer waiting for the next bloody kill, therefore allowing the feeling of impending dread to build significantly. I suppose if i was to compare Lords to anything then Ti West's The House of the Devil would be an obvious choice. Naturally Rob can't resist the wierd and wonderful for the entire film. He adds flourishes of colour to The Lords of Salem in spades in the form of flashbacks to the 1692 witch trials and the alleged horrors that built up to them in the form of nightmarish scenarios that may or may not be Heid's dreams.

Rob Zombie gives a lot of screen time to veteran actresses Judy Geeson, Dee Wallace and Patricia Quinn, who Hammer fans may remember as a witch in the Hammer House of Horrors episode Witching Time. The three all revel n their roles and its wonderful to see them seemingly having so much fun in meaty, integral roles in a genre film.

In The Lords of Salem Rob Zombie takes his film making in an adventurous, bold new direction and it's a million miles from what is seen as commercial horror in 2021.

The US Blu-ray from Anchor Bay looks lovely and the TrueHD soundtrack is eerily immersive, especially during the burning scenes as crackling fire and screams envelop the room.
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  #56472  
Old 5th September 2021, 10:41 AM
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THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE – Leave it to shoestring director Rene Cardona Jr to take on one of the world’s most impenetrable misteries (sic); what startling conclusions does he present before us here? I don’t know really, but one- and three-quarter hours of toe-curling dullness might be his attempt to warn us off ever visiting this Fortean hotspot. I’d happily watch ‘The Bermuda Triangle’ instead of venturing across the Atlantic in search of the unknown, because, although it is overlong and boring in too many places, the only really annoying thing about it is that it’s actually full of genuinely good stuff. Like – a murderous doll that eats flesh and drinks blood – a random attack of green birds that all end up with their throats cut – bursts of seventies psychedelic visuals and sounds – that doll again. Yes, the unfortunate thing about ‘The Bermuda Triangle’ is that it reminds us of how often ultimately fairly shitty seventies movies contained much better versions of themselves. The good bits might mitigate your clock-watching, but siphoned off, rejigged and concentrated, they’d make for one hell of a freaky supernatural giallo set on a boat. By the way, further points deducted for animal cruelty during the underwater sequences.

MEATBALL MACHINE – I was definitely a fan of that wave of ultragory Japanese splatter flicks from fifteen years or so back – ‘The Machine Girl’, ‘Tokyo Gore Police’ and so on. What happened to them? They got a bit silly maybe, and the interest died away. ‘Meatball Machine’ is from before that tendency started parodying itself. It’s shot on cheapshit video and, with its desolate industrial mise-en-scene, looks proper skanky. The plot is something about alien parasites who use human hosts so that they can fight and eat one another – this involves heavy prosthetics and endless shots of bodily mutation and thrashing tendrils. It’s clearly influenced by, but has none of the style of, ‘Tetsuo’. Its focus on the physical gets tedious, but the derelict atmosphere remains captivating. If you like gore, well, there’s gore (although perhaps not quite as much as is in some of the other entries in this body horror oriented Japanese splatter wave). I saw it on DVD over ten years ago and couldn’t remember it, but this time enjoyed the scummy aesthetic more than anything. You’ll already know whether ‘Meatball Machine’ will find a place in your cinematic kitchen or not.

THE ATTIC EXPEDITIONS – A not-quite John Doe ends up in the clutches of Jeff Combes after he’s institutionalised following an apparent occult homicide… things get a little tangled after that point. As much as I enjoy films that warp reality to excess, I found that ‘The Attic Expeditions’ tried my staying power a little, perhaps because said excessive warping of reality wasn’t, in the end, all that excessive. I was willing it to turn into ‘Brain Dead’ by way of ‘Lost Highway’, but its confusing pile-up of subplots failed to yield anything other than a few moments of ultimately fairly typical noughties style ‘trippy’ imagery and Jeff C on rather restrained form. Being the sucker that I am, I could kind of get with it from a nostalgic point of view as being a certain kind of film common to its era. Not something to approach with stratospherically raised hopes, although to be fair it was a labour of love by the sounds of it, and it does also offer a misplaced Seth Green’s seeming attempt to channel Jeff Goldblum.
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  #56473  
Old 5th September 2021, 11:21 AM
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As always sir

MM a firm favourite in this lair certainly!!
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  #56474  
Old 5th September 2021, 03:56 PM
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A classic the best Superman movie and one of the best if not the best superhero movies, for me their will only ever be one superman and that's Christopher Reeve he IS Superman!

The 4K release looks and sounds absolutely stunning , with amazing level of details and colours popping off the screen with life like flesh tones and a immersive Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The film has never looked or sounded better. a great 4k release that everyone should have in their 4K collection .
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  #56475  
Old 5th September 2021, 09:02 PM
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Fletch. Reporter Irwin Fletcher is undercover as a bum on a local beach, sniffing out drug trafficking, when he's approached by a rich businessman offering him $50,000... if he kills him. Unconvinced by the man's "bone cancer" story, Fletch starts to do some digging and finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy that reaches high into the local police. Chevy Chase stars in this mid 80s comedy thriller that's still very watchable and entertaining. The Blu ray looks lovely too.
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  #56476  
Old 5th September 2021, 09:15 PM
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The Deadly Spawn. 1983

A meteorite crashes in the woods of New Jersey and unleashes alien parasites that makes it way to the local town.

This is very low budget and very amateurish making yet it's still a enjoyable B movie film, the creators do try to make something different with the parasites that it's a noticeable 80s cheese fest movie. The acting has always been decent and some parts make it look like a comedy horror at times and it's one of those films that has a opening that makes you think it's gonna be long and boring yet goes at a decent pace.


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  #56477  
Old 6th September 2021, 12:09 AM
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The House Of The Dead. 1978.

After being dropped off in the wrong street during a thunder storm, a man is offered refuge by a undertaker who tells him stories about the people who are in his establishment.

A low budget anthology movie, a teacher who hates kids is besieged by them in her house who are not what they seem to be. A man records himself murdering women in his house. Two detectives, one from England and one from America team up when they are given a cryptic message about a murder. A man who has no time for those around him is kidnapped and tested.

This was not the best anthology story films and feels like a earlier show case of the film The Mortuary tales (<--- Recommended ), three out of four do have a somewhat twist but the second one is just a guy talking about the women coming to his house and how he kills them and really doesn't explain a lot, the fourth is like a saw trap with someone forced to appreciate life itself. Probably best going in to this with a open mind or background noise.

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  #56478  
Old 6th September 2021, 06:17 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrBarlow View Post
The House Of The Dead. 1978.

After being dropped off in the wrong street during a thunder storm, a man is offered refuge by a undertaker who tells him stories about the people who are in his establishment.

A low budget anthology movie, a teacher who hates kids is besieged by them in her house who are not what they seem to be. A man records himself murdering women in his house. Two detectives, one from England and one from America team up when they are given a cryptic message about a murder. A man who has no time for those around him is kidnapped and tested.

This was not the best anthology story films and feels like a earlier show case of the film The Mortuary tales (<--- Recommended ), three out of four do have a somewhat twist but the second one is just a guy talking about the women coming to his house and how he kills them and really doesn't explain a lot, the fourth is like a saw trap with someone forced to appreciate life itself. Probably best going in to this with a open mind or background noise.

Attachment 236103
There *is* a twist to this story, but it is very subtle!

SPOILER:
The man has a liking for cameras and photography but, according to the undertaker, when he was executed, the state would not allow any photographs to be taken
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  #56479  
Old 6th September 2021, 06:41 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Susan Foreman View Post
There *is* a twist to this story, but it is very subtle!

SPOILER:
The man has a liking for cameras and photography but, according to the undertaker, when he was executed, the state would not allow any photographs to be taken
Thanks for that Susan I found it a bit confusing and bizarre,
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  #56480  
Old 6th September 2021, 07:32 AM
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Late Phases

Really enjoyed this one. When an old soldier is placed in a retirement community, nosey neighbours are the least of his worries.
I know I came late to this one, but it was worth the wait certainly.



Chamber Of Horrors (1966)

Both films tonight had a similar structure tbh, not a lot of fat and no meandering etc.
When a Bluebeard type maniac escapes capture, the locals breathe a sigh of relief. More fool them.
Wacky cast sort of adds to the fun, what with the Wilfrid Hyde White and Patrick O'Neal and that.
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