Monster Hunter. Paul W.S. Anderson. 2020.

US Army Captain Artemis and her squad are deep in the desert on a search and rescue mission to find another missing squad of allies. During an immense sandstorm they find themselves inexplicably transported to an alien world where they find the abandoned wrecked vehicles of their colleagues. Within minutes they're attacked by a colossal creature unlike anything they have ever seen. And so begins a fight for survival and a way home.
Look, it's a Paul W.S. Anderson movie. A video game adaptation on top. You should know what to expect. From Anderson favourite and long time Resident Evil actress, Milla Jovovich playing the hard as nails Captain Artemis, to the seeming lack of reason for half of what takes place on screen.
However I thoroughly enjoyed this. The rest of Milla's crew are pretty forgettable but charismatic support is provided in Tony Jaa and the always reliable Ron Perlman.
Good fun.

Cat Girl. Alfred Shaughnessy. 1957.

Leonora Johnson returns to her ancestral home. A dark, foreboding, rain lashed haunt in the middle of nowhere. She is there with the understanding she is to recieve some sort of inheritance. In doing so she also inherits the family curse of turning into a leopard and killing. Sound familiar?
A semi update, unofficial as I understand it of Jacques Tourneur's classic Cat People.
There are differences, this film doesn't really bother with subtleties or ambiguity.
Also there is an actual leopard ever present and it seems more the case than Leonora's spirit can enter the leopard rather than she becomes one herself. I quite enjoyed this moody little film and it is short enough to not outstay its welcome. Quite atmospheric and also rather bleak, the film was at its best in the first half, where its in more gothic, old dark house territory. The second half sees Leonora enter a sanitirium and subsequently released into the care of her psychiatrist and old flame Dr.Marlowe.
Best bit of the film is probably the wonderful Barbara Shelley as Leonora, going from vulnerable and nervous to dangerous and confident as she embraces her curse.
An enjoyable little film and as usual the Network dvd looks superb.

First review i've seen of this on the Labs.

Thanks. I'll pick this up. It's one i've had my eye on but have never taken the plunge with. I think i was so let down by Jungle Cruise that i've avoided all recent fantasy films since.

I really like Barbara Shelley. She's by far the best of Hammer's leading ladies and this, although not a Hammer film, is for me her best performance.

Don't get me wrong it's no masterpiece. I wouldn't pay through the nose for it. My Cex has it for four quid, I'm meaning to pick it up if they still have it when I go to town. I watched it on one of the streaming things. Prime I think.

I do mainly like Anderson's films. From Shopping to The Three Musketeers and anything the wife stars in between, all highly entertaining, but for some reason i was unsure of this one.

I've said a few times on here. Give me a film by Paul W.S. over Paul Thomas any day of the week when it comes to Anderson's as directors.

Yeah I've been a little less enthused to watch Monster Hunter than some of his other flicks. Its not top tier Anderson but he hasn't really made a bad film in my opinion. Though I've yet to watch The Three Musketeers, despite having it on blu for a few years now.

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Musketeers was always an early upgrade to Blu for me. So much fun if daft as hell with the air ships.

I've been to the Würzburg Residence where the grand finale was filmed so it kind of has an affinity with me.

IN THE FOLDS OF THE FLESH. ( 1970 )
A man returns to the scene of the crime - a killing to which he was convicted and encounters more killings at the castle inhabited by strange characters with even more strange secrets.
This really is one of those films you cannot categorise. It does have Giallo elements, but it veers off in so many tangents and with nobody appearing to be who they are, it’s hard to keep up with what’s happening. Entertaining though!

THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE. ( 1974 )
An experimental piece of agricultural machinery appears to be at the centre of the revival of the recently dead in Jorge Grau’s gem of a movie.
The living dead themselves are tremendously creepy, while their wheezing, groaning is very Fulci like. Did Lucio see this film before he made his classics like CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD?
Once you get past Ray Lovelock’s annoying cockney geezer character and get into the living dead revival, just sit back and enjoy this masterpiece of zombie cinema.
I used to think Arrow would make a great special edition of this, but not so sure these days. Indicator, maybe? ( we can but hope! )

Pacific Heights. 1990.

Every so often a film from the past pops up that is begging for a re-watch and this was one of them for today. I am not the biggest fan of Matthew Modine, he was good in Full Metal Jacket and in this he has a character we can sometimes relate to with Melanie Griffith who was still in her prime, starting a new life and get one big hurdle that's Michael Keaton. Fresh from being Batman here he plays the tenant from hell and manages to have the law on his side no matter what he does.

Right at the start we see Keaton getting a hammering and it's like why are you guys beating up Batman and as the film goes on your basically saying...they should have beaten him up more and harder. This was a decent paced tense thriller that after not watching this for a few years had me on the edge of my seat almost and just about cheered with the way Griffith planned her revenge.

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