What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Beautiful Stranger (1954)

An excellent British crime drama set on the French Riviera which stars Ginger Rogers as an ex-actress living in luxury courtesy of Stanley Baker's wealthy businessman - a wealth built on crime. Enter a handsome French artist (Jacques Bergerac) and a seedy criminal (Herbert Lom) and the film goes off on a hugely fun twisty-turny journey of mistaken identities.

Classy and gripping, i couldn't have ever predicted how the film ends up from the first twenty minutes. All four leads are very watchable especially Herbert Lom in a shifty con role usually reserved for Peter Lorre whilst Rogers was perhaps too old for her role as a former show girl but still exuded sex appeal. The script was pacy and the French locations excellent, yeah, i was impressed by this.

Recommended.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Ghosts of Mars (2001)

John Carpenter's second riff on Rio Bravo following 1976's Assault on Precinct 13, but this time he takes the action to what is essentially a western ghost town on a Martian landscape populated by over enthusiastic Marilyn Manson fans.

The story is a well trodden affair in which the law (Natasha Henstridge, Pam Grier, Jason Statham) have to team up with bad old Ice Cube and his bunch of cons in a bid to survive the night.

I know this really isn't classic Carpenter but i really like Ghosts of Mars. It's a tight pacy affair with good dialogue and razor sharp action. It's also early in Statham's career and he's nowhere near top billing (Henstridge and Ice Cube are the leads). How times have changed.

Ghosts of Mars has been a film i've returned to a lot over the years so it was a no-brainer that i picked up the Indicator Blu-ray last year especially as the film looks and sounds better than ever.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Island of the Fishmen (1979)

Reasonable adventure yarn which is a cross between The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Island of Doctor Moreau with bits of War Gods of the Deep thrown in for good measure and all done in that wonky Italian style.

Starring Richard Johnson, Joseph Cotton and the lovely Barbara Bach, this is from the prolific Sergio Martino. Whilst the afore mentioned are all fine as the villains what the film lacks is a stand out hero because sadly Claudio Cassanelli is no Doug McClure as a shipwreck survivor who ends up on an uncharted island, home to Johnson's Edward Rackham (a descendant of Jack perhaps?) who appears to be using strange marine creatures to help him mine the sunken city of Atlantis of it's treasures. Yes, the plot is absurd in that mad way only Italians can manage and it's not as action packed as you might have hoped but because there's so much to cram in it's always watchable.

The films main disappointment are the fishmen themselves. They really look poor, The Sea Devils from Doctor Who eight years earlier looked far more convincing, and yet the fishmen come across as entertainingly bad. Witness the scene as one attempts to swim away following an attack. The poor actor just dives head first into a puddle and Martino quickly pans his camera away. I guess the money was all used up on three international stars, lovely locations and really impressive sets.

'Cheesy fun' is a phrase many films are labeled with and it certainly fits Island of the Fishmen.

[Frankie Teardrop]

BLOOD BEACH – ‘Blood Beach’ is an early eighties monster flick that hasn’t had much of a digital renaissance, although you’ll often hear fans going on about it. I can remember seeing it on ‘The Horror Channel’ years and years ago and thinking “that’s nice, it’s got John Saxon in it.” The Sax is pretty fab here actually, especially when he loses it in a municipal meeting about police dept funding. That’s quite funny. You would be right in questioning whether ‘Blood Beach’ scales any giddy heights (or plummets to any stomach turning depths for that matter), but its slightly TV-esque flatness is amiable enough, and is countered by a certain coolness of manner and a few deft one-liners. You could enjoy it on a double date as ‘Humanoids From The Deep’s’ better behaved cousin, maybe.

ROCKTOBER BLOOD – There are some truly mad heavy metal horror flicks out there; ‘Heavy Metal Massacre’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare’ etc. Something about the fusion of these genres attracts brutally rubbish filmmaking that succeeds just by being so ‘off’. ‘Rocktober Blood’ seems to have that kind of reputation in some quarters, but I wasn’t convinced. I was mildly entertained; it’s basically a lame crapfest with a clunky supernatural slasher plotline (of course) that strings together a whole load of stiff acting and period cheese / ‘charm’ (if you’re the kind of eighties fan who dotes over people breaking out into aerobics mid-conversation you may be amused). But the main creepo, when he yowls that song… I’d sing it to you, but you can’t hear me.

RETURN OF THE FAMILY MAN – Thanx once again to Demoncrat, your review of a few months back alerted me to this one. ROTFM, a late-onset eighties slasher, is tongue-in-cheek at heart, though with the necessary grimness that the theme of family massacre ought to at least imply. Again though, this is offset by a crazed DIY approach to self-defence of the neo-survivalist Blue Peter school; the young guys and gals in the house where all the bad stuff goes down do their best to combat the menace of their mad foe by pulling together a load of stupidly contrived weapons made of domestic detritus, air tanks and bits of cameras. I quite liked that. It’s quite switched on as these flicks go, and pithily pitches its killer as a sort-of embodiment of neocon values, after all this talk of slashers manifesting some kind of primordial morality. Another one that seems inexplicably neglected; surely ripe for 4K-in-a-posh box rediscovery.

[Demoncrat]

Glad you approved FT!!





Fatal Instinct (1993, Carl Reiner)

Armand Assante and Sean Young head up this silly spoof of erotic thrillers. AA gives it his all, and SY smoulders with the best of 'em.
Cop slash lawyer Ned Ravine has his work cut out for him, what with trouble brewing at home and femme fatale client who won't take no for an answer.
The references are thick and fast, so no blinking!!

[trebor8273]

A enjoyable Sherlock Holmes tale , with the great detective on the hunt for Jack the Ripper which could have connection too the highest powers in England. A great cast but Plummer just didn't feel like Holmes too me.



First time I've seen this , highly enjoyable tale of a new York Street gang The Warriors who are hunted by the other gangs off new York when it's believed they are responsible for the murderer of the leader of the most powerful gang who wanted to unite the gangs too take over new York. Will be one of many watches too come.

Now watch.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The House with Laughing Windows (1976)

Don't know about laughing?

It's so dull there were tears of boredom.

[MrBarlow]

The Ghoul. 1933.

Egyptologist Henry Morlant who is slowly dying has a wish to be buried with a jewel and warns of dire consequences if his wish is unfulfilled. When a grave robber steals the jewel, Henry returns from the dead to seek revenge on those who desecrated his grave.

When Boris Karloff gives a wish then make sure it's carried out to the latter otherwise he will return and does so very deformed and a tad upset just a bit. This has a great dark atmosphere contributed with cinematography and light that creates a shadow over the main character in the background. The acting is decent and can appear to be more chit chatty but does help build up the suspense with a great background haunting score, thanks to Mr Demdike for this classic that's best watched in the dark.

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[trebor8273]

I really didn't think this would work but it has to be one of best animated batman films here we have Batman and the Turtles teaming up together too take on the combined forces of Ra's al Ghul and Shredder as well as other infamous villains including Joker.


Now watching.



Followed by invitation to hell (1984)

[MrBarlow]

Hands Of The Ripper. 1971.

Anna watches her father Jack The Ripper murder her mother, years later Anna goes into a trance state and begins to hear his voice encouraging her to kill while a doctor tries to treat her mental state.

This was a good Hammer Horror, it does have a slow pace but makes up with good acting and some good violent killings mixed in. Angharad Rees plays the grown up daughter of the killer and able to keep a blank stare when going into a trance. Eric Porter plays skeptical Dr. Porter who tries to use his own method of getting inside the head of Anna and uncover her past, there is a good small appearance from Lynda Baron who meets a grizzly end, one she doesn't see coming.

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