What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

Christopher Robin returns to the 100 Acre Wood several years after leaving for college to find Pooh and Piglet have turned into feral hulking killers. Meanwhile a group of uni girls have rented a nearby property for a weekend of fun.

The lovable characters that were Piglet and Winnie the Pooh are long gone thanks to Robin leaving them to fend for themselves when he left them in the woods without food. Basically they are a savage bear and pig who will kill anything to eat.

I went into this expecting the worst but having been intrigued as to how dreadful a film it was by the outraged reviews on IMDB. I imagine those who said that, and there are many, are Pooh devotees or people whose cinematic experiences haven't gone any further than the MCU and Disney +. Naturally it was critically mauled as well.

It's a film that's remarkably well shot and beautifully lit to say it all takes place at night. For a low budget indie movie it looks great. The acting from the unknown cast is variable but never terrible and the gore effects are excellent as are the weird and creepy masks of Pooh and especially Piglet. At eighty minutes there's enough going on to maintain interest with a final half hour which i thought was great fun.

So whilst this is never going to be anyones choice as a favourite slasher film it has a lot more going for it than say The Prey, Trapped Alive, Doom Asylum, Deadly Games and Girls Nite Out, all of which have had boutique releases by Arrow Video for instance and this was way better than The Banana Splits Movie too.

I was wondering what you might make of this one, Dem. Pretty much agree with all of the above, and I really couldn't understand the massed opprobrium online. With all the indignation floating around you'd think the makers had invaded a small country rather than made a slightly bad but overall fun and entertaining movie.

[Frankie Teardrop]

WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE – Before ‘Scream’, Wes Craven put his pre-eminent franchise through the postmodern wringer with ‘New Nightmare’, a meta- take on Elm Street. Heather Langenkamp is Heather Langenkamp, an actress still dealing with the afterburn of her big success, who finds her career worries eclipsed by her son’s distress. He’s having sinister dreams, and just because Robert Englund does chat shows these days doesn’t mean there isn’t a certain sinister someone lurking around the corner… I liked ‘New Nightmare’, I thought it was an interesting move for its time. Parts of it didn’t grab me – maybe I was looking for something a bit pithier, or gnarlier or… I don’t know. It was a bit straight. But it was solid, and it was nice seeing all those faces deadpanning themselves. Speaking of gnarly, the prince among early contenders for clever shite po-mo horror still has to be Fulci’s unabashed yuckfest ‘Cat In The Brain’, for my money at least.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER – Back with the standard NOES sequels here, no messing around with meta-textuality or other such arcane devices; perish the thought, this one’s the living definition of heads-down, mindless boogie. There are some college kids, they’re having nightmares about a burned, undead serial killer… etc. Yes, there’s a plethora of eighties tropes, yes there are some zingy special effects (a human-to-cockroach transformation impressed with its randomness), but it didn’t quite launch for me. There was something off about the pace maybe, or it just didn’t hold together in the way I needed it to, or maybe FK in full flush panto villain mode never quite did it for me and never will… either way, a tolerable watch but no more.

PRIVATE PARTS – Runaway Cheryl comes to stay at her Aunt Martha’s place, a guesthouse deep in seventies LA. Questions arise – who’s the defrocked priest with the muscle fixation? Why did that guy just get his head lopped off? What’s photographer George’s big secret? And who’s staring through all the peepholes? ‘Private Parts’ was Paul Bartel’s debut, the first in a pretty illustrious line of flicks (I wish he’d done more). His only real horror film, it’s a post-‘Psycho’ potboiler that succeeds due to its seedy atmosphere. There’s nothing full-tilt about it, the sleaze is more ambient than explicit, but you just get that marvellous sense of feeling for place – post-hippie Los Angeles, but no peace and love, only crumbling streets full of long shadows and creeps. It’s a film I return to quite often. It’d be made differently today, but those shadowy vibes pull me in every time.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

I was wondering what you might make of this one, Dem. Pretty much agree with all of the above, and I really couldn't understand the massed opprobrium online. With all the indignation floating around you'd think the makers had invaded a small country rather than made a slightly bad but overall fun and entertaining movie.

It was a fiver well spent at Asda to be sure.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

Christopher Robin returns to the 100 Acre Wood several years after leaving for college to find Pooh and Piglet have turned into feral hulking killers. Meanwhile a group of uni girls have rented a nearby property for a weekend of fun.

The lovable characters that were Piglet and Winnie the Pooh are long gone thanks to Robin leaving them to fend for themselves when he left them in the woods without food. Basically they are a savage bear and pig who will kill anything to eat.

I went into this expecting the worst but having been intrigued as to how dreadful a film it was by the outraged reviews on IMDB. I imagine those who said that, and there are many, are Pooh devotees or people whose cinematic experiences haven't gone any further than the MCU and Disney +. Naturally it was critically mauled as well.

It's a film that's remarkably well shot and beautifully lit to say it all takes place at night. For a low budget indie movie it looks great. The acting from the unknown cast is variable but never terrible and the gore effects are excellent as are the weird and creepy masks of Pooh and especially Piglet. At eighty minutes there's enough going on to maintain interest with a final half hour which i thought was great fun.

So whilst this is never going to be anyones choice as a favourite slasher film it has a lot more going for it than say The Prey, Trapped Alive, Doom Asylum, Deadly Games and Girls Nite Out, all of which have had boutique releases by Arrow Video for instance and this was way better than The Banana Splits Movie too.

Tbh I'm not exactly sure what ppl were expecting from this, is was never going to be great, just more of a silly fun film, I've yet to watch it, but if better than Banana splits film then Ill enjoy it I thought Banana splits film was just that a entertaining watch, nothing more nothing less, I rarely go by IMDB find to many ppl didn't give decent reviews and just want to slag films off, id rather go by reviews from Letterboxd, find ppl give much better and decent reviews on there, even tho I haven't been on there properly for a while or posted anything for so long.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Need for Speed (2014)

A terrific muscle car movie that is unfairly lumped in with the Fast and Furious franchise however Need for Speed is a different beast altogether and should be seen as a 2010's reimagining of films like Vanishing Point (1971) where a certain task has to be achieved within a certain time frame, which is the case here.

The cross country road trip approach whilst avoiding the police takes in similar classic road movies from the seventies such as Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) and Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) as well as Convoy (1978) and Michael Keaton's pirate DJ, well again the spectre of Vanishing Point looms larger over Need for Speed than any Fast and Furious movie.

There's even a feel of Easy Rider going on with some terrific scenery as the movie departs New York and heads through the states until it reaches California. The cast are all very capable with Imogen Poots and Rami Malek outstanding in their roles even outdoing leads Aaron Paul and Dominic Cooper.

It's the car action that most will appreciate and the lack of CGI is extremely refreshing. The film makers were determined to take practical stunt driving to a new level and they've achieved that in what is a spectacular and thoroughly entertaining movie.

I've always enjoyed this film. Watching it this evening for the first time via the gorgeous looking Blu-ray was a blast.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Need for Speed (2014)

A terrific muscle car movie that is unfairly lumped in with the Fast and Furious franchise however Need for Speed is a different beast altogether and should be seen as a 2010's reimagining of films like Vanishing Point (1971) where a certain task has to be achieved within a certain time frame, which is the case here.

The cross country road trip approach whilst avoiding the police takes in similar classic road movies from the seventies such as Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) and Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) as well as Convoy (1978) and Michael Keaton's pirate DJ, well again the spectre of Vanishing Point looms larger over Need for Speed than any Fast and Furious movie.

There's even a feel of Easy Rider going on with some terrific scenery as the movie departs New York and heads through the states until it reaches California. The cast are all very capable with Imogen Poots and Rami Malek outstanding in their roles even outdoing leads Aaron Paul and Dominic Cooper.

It's the car action that most will appreciate and the lack of CGI is extremely refreshing. The film makers were determined to take practical stunt driving to a new level and they've achieved that in what is a spectacular and thoroughly entertaining movie.

I've always enjoyed this film. Watching it this evening for the first time via the gorgeous looking Blu-ray was a blast.

I'm still not convinced this is for me, as "a terrific muscle car movie" if I'm honest holds no appeal really. However, Dem you have intrigued me in that at least this sounds far more watchable than I'd given it credit for. If opportunity arises I may have a look. I don't like the Fast and Furious films at all, in fact the only one I've had the least interest in is the spin-off with Dwayne and Jason, can't think of the title at the moment but poor reviews have put me off looking into it. So hearing this isn't really in the same company as the boy racer franchise at least makes it a consideration.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

I'm still not convinced this is for me, as "a terrific muscle car movie" if I'm honest holds no appeal really. However, Dem you have intrigued me in that at least this sounds far more watchable than I'd given it credit for. If opportunity arises I may have a look. I don't like the Fast and Furious films at all, in fact the only one I've had the least interest in is the spin-off with Dwayne and Jason, can't think of the title at the moment but poor reviews have put me off looking into it. So hearing this isn't really in the same company as the boy racer franchise at least makes it a consideration.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

If you like Vanishing Point then you should get something out of this. If you don't like Vanishing Point then don't bother.

I love muscle cars. Mustang's, Chevy's, Dodge...those 60's cars are iconic.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)

Count Regulor is brought back to life after earlier being hung, drawn and quatered and continues his quest for eternal youth by draining the blood of virgins. As he attempts to ensnare his 13th and final victim, played by Karin Dor. The heroic square jawed Lex Barker is luckily on hand to defeat the evil Count.

Another extremely loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic story The Pit and the Pendulum, this time from Germany.

For a film that's not widely known or seen there are a succession of notable set pieces, in particular the deliriously disturbing nightmarish coach journey which travels eerily creepy forests, the trees garlanded with corpses and limbs protruding from trunks and branches and the torture chamber itself populated with the bloodless, frozen, naked bodies of the previous twelve victims of the Count.

The horse drawn carriage journey to the Count's castle takes up a good quarter of the films running time, and whilst this could have dragged, in this film its the most memorable part due to the jaw dropping imagery. The hanging corpses in the mist are genuinely frightening. Director Harald Reinl's camera slowly guides past them allowing us the coachman's view of proceedings, no wonder he dies of a heart attack midway through the journey.

Christopher Lee is the film's 'name' but unfortunately he's not in it much other than being hung drawn and quartered at the start he's not in it again until he's revived during the last half hour.

The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism aka The Snake Pit and the Pendulum is a good film, perhaps not one of the great Gothic horrors, but the surreal nightmarish coach journey will stay in your head long after the film finishes, more so than the story itself.

I'd only seen this previously a couple of times on a grey market dvd and it looked quite poor, however the new 88 Films Blu-ray looks superb and the 4K transfer brings it's Gothic splendors to vivid life.

Recommended.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)

I'd only seen this previously a couple of times on a grey market dvd and it looked quite poor, however the new 88 Films Blu-ray looks superb and the 4K transfer brings it's Gothic splendors to vivid life.

Recommended.

I've never seen the Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism, so the purchase from 88 Films was a blind buy.

Thank you for your fine review, informing me that it was probably money well spent.

[MrBarlow]

Dragons Forever. 1988.

A chemical company hire a tough lawyer Jackie to defend them until he finds out what they are really upto and Jackie with two friends try to expose them.

Jackie Chan, Sammy Hung and Yuen Biao star as the unlucky heroes In this action packed comedy about a business man owning a chemical factory that's a front for a drug den. The fight scenes are always on top form from the 3 main stars especially the end with Benny Urquidez facing off against Jackie. The film does get a bit daft with two men trying to get romantic. Another decent Hong Kong flick.

Dragons Forever front (3).jpg