What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Frankie Teardrop]

SHEPHERD – An angsty guy relocates to a remote island to be a shepherd. Moving forward, we see he’s on the run from something in his past; sinister Kate Dickie often pops up to remind him of this very fact as she stares long and hard with her milky dead eye. ‘Shepherd’ is heavy on atmosphere but a little clumsy in places. Photography and sound design are often pristine, and yet emphasis – crucial in any attempt to play it spectral and subtle – is sometimes fumbled, with obvious builds and cues that are too on-the-nose. It’s also hard to avoid feeling that ‘Shepherd’ is falling back on narrative cliches when we hear the character ask “What’s going on? Am I dead?” yet again, or when a few weird scenes give way to more standard ‘avenging ghost’ type stuff. The makers had obviously seem and partly ingested ‘The Lighthouse’. Now, that’s an odd movie, peerlessly strange, and it casts its shadow over this lesser product. But ‘Shepherd’ is strong visually, some of the imagery is nice, and there’s plenty to intrigue, such as an unrecognisable Greta Scacchi. Aside from those aspects that I found flawed, I enjoyed it overall and would say it’s worth a watch.

THE BLACK ROOM – Somewhere up in the Hollywood hills, a brother and sister keep a shadowy room where people come to play… you really wish someone would set the world straight about ‘The Black Room’, a sorely neglected early eighties horror that seems to have slipped by along the way. At its heart is quite a serious meditation on fantasy and the damage it can cause if its place in a relationship isn’t understood, but the trappings are those of a post-Cronenberg vampire movie. Its murky atmosphere is matched by few other films from around the time, and the layers of stylisation, from the photography to the spacey score, create a feeling of bad-dream detachment unequalled by, say, the more exaggerated artifice of something like the following year’s ‘The Hunger.’ Somebody out there… but I’m guessing there’s a reason it hasn’t been given ‘the treatment’, as it would make such an obvious choice for so many of today’s labels, boutique or not.

ICED – Another bad slasher. They seemed to get worse as the eighties progressed – this one’s from ’89, so it’s going for broke in terms of badness (if nothing else). The ‘action’ happens at a ski resort where people have gathered to talk AT LENGTH and maybe commemorate their dead friend, who of course doesn’t turn out to be the slasher, not that they liked him much anyway. Why is it worth seeing? Well, it’s majestically bad, and drips with the juicy ‘offness’ of only the ripest fruit. Long stretches in which characters as stiff as boards ‘relate’ are interrupted by weird angles and apparently pointless stabs at atmospheric lighting – that long moose shadow, why? But then it’s equally pointless to even ask the question about a film where someone in a kitchen starts working out with a barbell mid-sentence. The examples of that kind of thing are as endless as the log cabin interiors, and really do create the impression that ‘Iced’ is the eighties slasher equivalent of a dull Magritte painting in the background of a ‘Habitat’ advert. Where do you go with that? Ultimately, you either submit to the film’s incessant surge of plastic unreality or you turn it off. Most slasher enthusiasts will do the latter, but not until they realise that the anaemic kills are crammed into the last twenty minutes or so left after the film’s ‘anthemic build’. Stalwart fans of the weird will be happy just to scratch their heads.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE BLACK ROOM – Somewhere up in the Hollywood hills, a brother and sister keep a shadowy room where people come to play… you really wish someone would set the world straight about ‘The Black Room’, a sorely neglected early eighties horror that seems to have slipped by along the way. At its heart is quite a serious meditation on fantasy and the damage it can cause if its place in a relationship isn’t understood, but the trappings are those of a post-Cronenberg vampire movie. Its murky atmosphere is matched by few other films from around the time, and the layers of stylisation, from the photography to the spacey score, create a feeling of bad-dream detachment unequalled by, say, the more exaggerated artifice of something like the following year’s ‘The Hunger.’ Somebody out there… but I’m guessing there’s a reason it hasn’t been given ‘the treatment’, as it would make such an obvious choice for so many of today’s labels, boutique or not.

Perhaps the company execs all think "Didn't Eureka release that as part of their Karloff at Columbia set?" and dismiss it.

I know when i saw it in your review i thought "Cool, Frankie's watching the classics on the thirties and forties for a change"

I was wrong.

[MrBarlow]

Devil Dog. 1978.

A dog terrorizes the inhabitants of a suburban street.

Richard Crenna, Yvette Mimieux, Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, play the happy family "The Barry's" who adopt a Alsatian dog and name it lucky but those around the dog aren't so lucky as the dog was used in a black mass ritual and possessed by Satan.

We have had a 12 year old girl possessed, the anti-christ on earth in the form of Damien, possessed houses so why not a dog, treated right and they can become man's best friend, not this one. Made for T.V. this isn't a big budget movie, we only see the after effects of some killings and quirky sarcastic comments and Mr Crenna trying to shot a dog. This isn't as thrilling as it is made to be but enjoyable enough to keep me quiet.

Devil_Dog-_The_Hound_of_Hell_FilmPoster.jpeg

[MrBarlow]

Cruise Into Terror. 1978.

A Egyptian sarcophagus is on board a pleasure cruise and the passengers begin to behave strangely.

Another made for T.V. movie set on board a cruise ship that seems to have a small amount of people on it (budget restraints maybe??) This had a dark atmosphere surrounding it and a tense pace of claustrophobia done with some decent directing and cinematography. The acting isn't that bad even Dirk Benedict is trying to be the horror movie survivor and Christopher George seems a bit out of place but manages to fit in. Hugh O'Brian plays the ship's captain who feels something is off with his new cargo but can't bring himself to believe it. It's not great but not terrible either.

Cruise_Into_Terror_TV-972481871-mmed.jpg

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

SHEPHERD – An angsty guy relocates to a remote island to be a shepherd. Moving forward, we see he’s on the run from something in his past; sinister Kate Dickie often pops up to remind him of this very fact as she stares long and hard with her milky dead eye. ‘Shepherd’ is heavy on atmosphere but a little clumsy in places. Photography and sound design are often pristine, and yet emphasis – crucial in any attempt to play it spectral and subtle – is sometimes fumbled, with obvious builds and cues that are too on-the-nose. It’s also hard to avoid feeling that ‘Shepherd’ is falling back on narrative cliches when we hear the character ask “What’s going on? Am I dead?” yet again, or when a few weird scenes give way to more standard ‘avenging ghost’ type stuff. The makers had obviously seem and partly ingested ‘The Lighthouse’. Now, that’s an odd movie, peerlessly strange, and it casts its shadow over this lesser product. But ‘Shepherd’ is strong visually, some of the imagery is nice, and there’s plenty to intrigue, such as an unrecognisable Greta Scacchi. Aside from those aspects that I found flawed, I enjoyed it overall and would say it’s worth a watch.

THE BLACK ROOM – Somewhere up in the Hollywood hills, a brother and sister keep a shadowy room where people come to play… you really wish someone would set the world straight about ‘The Black Room’, a sorely neglected early eighties horror that seems to have slipped by along the way. At its heart is quite a serious meditation on fantasy and the damage it can cause if its place in a relationship isn’t understood, but the trappings are those of a post-Cronenberg vampire movie. Its murky atmosphere is matched by few other films from around the time, and the layers of stylisation, from the photography to the spacey score, create a feeling of bad-dream detachment unequalled by, say, the more exaggerated artifice of something like the following year’s ‘The Hunger.’ Somebody out there… but I’m guessing there’s a reason it hasn’t been given ‘the treatment’, as it would make such an obvious choice for so many of today’s labels, boutique or not.

ICED – Another bad slasher. They seemed to get worse as the eighties progressed – this one’s from ’89, so it’s going for broke in terms of badness (if nothing else). The ‘action’ happens at a ski resort where people have gathered to talk AT LENGTH and maybe commemorate their dead friend, who of course doesn’t turn out to be the slasher, not that they liked him much anyway. Why is it worth seeing? Well, it’s majestically bad, and drips with the juicy ‘offness’ of only the ripest fruit. Long stretches in which characters as stiff as boards ‘relate’ are interrupted by weird angles and apparently pointless stabs at atmospheric lighting – that long moose shadow, why? But then it’s equally pointless to even ask the question about a film where someone in a kitchen starts working out with a barbell mid-sentence. The examples of that kind of thing are as endless as the log cabin interiors, and really do create the impression that ‘Iced’ is the eighties slasher equivalent of a dull Magritte painting in the background of a ‘Habitat’ advert. Where do you go with that? Ultimately, you either submit to the film’s incessant surge of plastic unreality or you turn it off. Most slasher enthusiasts will do the latter, but not until they realise that the anaemic kills are crammed into the last twenty minutes or so left after the film’s ‘anthemic build’. Stalwart fans of the weird will be happy just to scratch their heads.

Iced! That takes me back now ....

[iank]

Airport 75. A light plane crashes into a 747, incapacitating the pilot and killing the co-pilots, and leaving the head stewardess (Karen Black) in charge of the plane. Charlton Heston and George Kennedy star in this sequel to the original 1970 flick, which leans more into the disaster movie formula but is just as enjoyable. Thoroughly entertaining.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by iank

Airport 75. A light plane crashes into a 747, incapacitating the pilot and killing the co-pilots, and leaving the head stewardess (Karen Black) in charge of the plane. Charlton Heston and George Kennedy star in this sequel to the original 1970 flick, which leans more into the disaster movie formula but is just as enjoyable. Thoroughly entertaining.

I think it's hilarious how Heston enters the plane. Through the cockpit window. Superb stuff.

A lot of fun.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Breakout (1975)

An oddball actioner starring Charles Bronson as a small time pilot paid to rescue Robert Duvall from a Mexican jail by Duvall's wife as played by Jill Ireland.

At first i wasn't sure if this was being played for laughs but it improved as time went on and although the film was hardly gripping it still entertained. At first due to it's quirkyness and then thanks to a well filmed aerial escape from the prison involving a chopper, a plane and Randy Quaid pretending to rape Sheree North (Don't judge until you've seen it) in a thrilling climax.

Shot entirely on location, the Indicator Blu-ray looked rather pretty.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Torture Garden (1967)

American horror / fantasy author Robert Bloch adapts four of his stories for this second Amicus portmanteau feature, skillfully directed by Hammer stalwart Freddie Francis.

The wraparound story features Burgess Meredith as a flamboyant carnival sideshow entertainer who encourages four of his guests to witness 'real horror', namely unpleasant glimpses into their own futures.

The first story - Enoch - is a suitably macabre piece about a greedy young man who plans to steal his elderly uncle's savings, however he doesn't reckon on the demonic cat that lives in the basement which has a penchant for eating it's victims heads. A tight and tension ridden piece, Enoch is a lot of fun.

Unfortunately things go downhill after that. The next two tales about the trappings of celebrity and a haunted piano are quite unmemorable and rather dull.

However the final story The Man Who Collected Poe makes up for earlier failings and is worth the entrance fee alone. Starring Peter Cushing in a role possibly best described as a sorcerer, who brings the body of the great author Edgar Allan Poe back from the grave albeit in a seemingly comatose state, and Jack Palance as an avid Poe collector with his own horrific agenda. Cushing adds a classy gravitas to proceedings and is ably supported by the icy Palance. The Man Who Collected Poe is a real tale of terror and one of the best in any Amicus movie.

Overall Torture Garden is an enjoyable watch with it's strengths lying in it's opening and closing tales.

The Indicator Blu-ray is, like all Amicus films i've seen so far, not the strongest as far as high definition picture quality goes but it is a step up from the dvd certainly. The piano story, Mr. Steinway which although filmed in colour is primarily black and white in it's classy art-deco appearance, looks lovely.

There's a good name dropping interview with author Ramsay Campbell about Bloch's work and a fascinating 25 minute interview with Kim Newman about the film. I say interview, there don't appear to be any camera cuts whatsoever and he basically just talks for 25 minutes straight.

[trebor8273]

Roxanne

Steven Martin plays a fire chief of a small town , with a huge hooter, he falls in love with the beautiful Roxanne who only sees him as a friend , a mordern telling of cyrano de bergerac story even Martin's characters name is a play on words - CD Bales.

The Batman

Well better than I was expecting and Patterson wasn't half bad but could of been a good 45 plus minutes shorter, also was zero chemistry between batman and Catwoman.

Suburban commando

Hulk Hogan plays. Intergalactic bounty hunter Shep Ramesy who ends up stranded on earth after his latest mission and becomes involved in the lives of Christopher Lloyd and his family. Look out for the undertaker as another bounty hunter. Enjoyable if a shallow as puddle.

Let the right one in.

12 old Oscar is bullied loner who befriends a strange young girl with a dark secret, she just happens to be a vampire , part adolescent love story and part horror. A fantastic and well acted film will be watching the remake sometime this week.

The Martian

Matt Damon plays a astronaut who is left behind on Mars and we follow his efforts to survive and the mission to bring him home. Gripping and inspiring.


Now watching Witness (1985)