The Babadook has some good things going for it but overall it felt a little clumsy and left me a little non-plussed. Still worth checking out though.

I'm still to see It Follows.

IT FOLLOWS – Larry Clark meets David Lynch doing John Carpenter in this excellent, very odd coming of age horror film. I was really taken with 'It Follows', probably the strongest genre film I've seen so far this year. Its mainstream success has also been heartening, and is possibly another instance where an art-house approach has made typical genre themes more palatable to the specifically cinema-going public and, of course, various critics. For the uninitiated, it's about a young woman who, after having intercourse, finds that she's being followed by a malevolent, seemingly unknowable force. What she does know is that, one, if it catches up with her she will die and two, the only way to get rid of it is to shag somebody else and 'pass it on' to them. Quite a dilemma. The film follows her as she hangs out with her friends, trying to figure out what the situation means and what to do with it. 'It follows' squares up to horror history by taking on lots of standard genre references – eighties slashers, Wes Craven, arguably Cronenberg with the whole venereal ghost thing. Its look and feel, from the gliding camera to the pulsing soundtrack synths, is obviously very vintage Carpenter indebted. But its dreamy distance, slowly building dread and suburb fixation equally put me in mind of something like 'Blue Velvet'. I notice that some reviews have mentioned the photography of Greg Crewdson as a possible influence, and I can see that, too. 'It Follows' doesn't play like a horror film so much – it's way more bothered about the lives and agonies of its bewildered teenagers than any 'Elm Street' revamp would be. It's not exactly plot driven or linear, either - a lot of time is spent waiting for things to happen, and the fractured editing gives it an abstract feel. This sense of dislocation is compounded by the way the film plays with place and era. As many have pointed out, the suburbs are void of adults, parents are absent, and it's as though we're stuck in some imaginary year which has one foot in the eighties and the other in the near future. The film has a mesmerising, slightly intoxicating tone. Definitely a high point of the year so far, 'It Follows' is also yet more evidence that some great work is being done in weird cinema at the moment.

I must be missing something with those 2 films, but when I watch a film I want to be entertained, something which neither of them did. Different strokes I guess

I like to be entertained, but I also like to be challenged, so films with a great deal of subtext (and ambiguity) certainly have a place in my daily/weekly viewing. Because there is so much in The Babadook which can be interpreted in different ways, that's why I think it's a great film and why it benefits from (or certainly doesn't diminished with) repeated viewings. I think It Follows will be the same as I enjoyed it more on second viewing than the first and, after listening to the commentary, guess the third viewing will be the best.

your not. i felt the same and think my score of five was a bit high for it follows, found both to be overrated. just like you i enjoy old stuff a lot more, but there is some good new horror. but for me the ones that people rave about and get good reviews i don't like, its the ones the get bad reviews and a lot of people don't seem to like i end up enjoying.

But I did really enjoy starry eyes and digging up the marrow to a lesser extent but I don't now how well they where received

I really need to watch both again methinks. Then I can imagine how Franco would have done them. ;)

Watched The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938, Curtiz/Keighley).
How dashing it all is. Dvd looks reasonable enough, so can imagine the blu looking very nice etc. Makes recent adaptations look flabby and corpulent cough.

See the whole subtext/ambiguity aspect is a double edged sword for me. Too ambiguous and i lose interest. I like the idea of subtext without the whole film being dependant on it. I liked that The Babadook clearly had it going on but worked absolutely fine as a straight horror.
You've mentioned before Nos about the depth of subtext in The Exorcist and i wonder if thats partly why it was lost on me.

I do like the reverse artwork on It Follows, same as the t-shirt I received from Fetch (which is my new gigging shirt)

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INSIDE OUT (2015)

The latest film from Pixar is directed by Pete Docter and is set in the mind of Riley Anderson. As a baby, her brain is populated by Joy, a Tinkerbell-like sprite, who is determined to make Riley the happiest she can possibly be. It isn't long before Joy is joined by Sadness, someone who is only content when things are miserable, Anger, someone with a quick temper, Fear, a perpetually terrified man who sees danger in everything and Disgust, who has a particular dislike of broccoli!

Most of the film takes place when Riley is 11 years old, and a popular hockey player in Minnesota. However, things change when her father gets a new job and they all move to San Francisco. By using the console in her brain, the five emotions try to make the first day at a new school pass smoothly, but Sadness accidentally makes Riley cry in front of the whole class, creating a new 'core memory'. In order to keep Riley happy, Joy wants to prevent this core memory from reaching the central hub but, in the struggle with Sadness, the other core memories are knocked loose and, when trying to retrieve them, both Joy and Sadness are sucked out of Headquarters and deposited in the huge labyrinthine area of Riley's long term memories.

Stuck at home with Anger, Fear and Disgust in charge of her brain, Riley becomes sullen, moody and homesick. With Joy and Sadness trying to return to Headquarters as soon as possible, but finding the journey very difficult, Riley's personality 'islands' (family, friends, hockey, goofball, honestly) begin to crumble and the five emotions and their host embark on an emotional journey.


Pixar has long been the standard bearer of Western animation, equalled only by Studio Ghibli in Japan, but the last great film it made was probably Up, also directed by Pete Docter, with Cars and Brave failing to hit the high standards of their best work. With a very personal story (Docter was inspired to write the film after noticing the way his daughter grew and changed) and a solid psychological footing (the emotions are based on Robert Plutchik's Psychoevolutionary Theory of Basic Emotions, and the writing team of Docter, Meg LeFauve and Ronnie del Carmen consulted several psychologists, particularly Paul Ekman and Dacher Keltner), it has, like Docter's previous film, a sophisticated screenplay aimed at different ages and educational levels which, as far as I could tell from the cinema audience, it hit with remarkable accuracy.

The voice casting is brilliant, with Amy Poehler's Joy exhibiting the boundless optimism of her Parks and Recreation character, Leslie Knope, Bill Hader making Fear a wonderfully endearing paranoiac and Richard Kind is superb as Riley's imaginary childhood friend, Bing Bong (a cat-elephant hybrid made out of candyfloss).

Inside Out is one of those films which has just about something for everyone – like others in the audience, I laughed, I cried, and I want to watch it again. I'm not sure exactly where it will stand on the pantheon of Pixar's best films but, depending on how it fares with repeated viewings, at the moment I'd probably put it in the top five.

Stonehearst Asylum (2014)

Based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story The Systen of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether, the film stars Jim Sturgess as a young doctor who arrives at Stonehearst Asylum to take up an apprentice position under Doctor Lamb (Ben Kingsley). However unbeknown to the young medical practitioner nothing is as it seems at the asylum.

Despite owning three volumes of Poe material both stories and poetry i don't recall ever reading Doctor Tarr. However whilst watching this film it is clearly a very influential tale having seemingly inspired Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Asylum, Shutter Island, Don't Look in the Basement and of course this delightful Gothic melodrama.

The film plays out as if a homage to Roger Corman's Poe films of the sixties. Director Brad Anderson has clearly been influenced by the likes of House of Usher in this interpretation of Poe. Set at the turn of the twentieth century the asylum is of course a hive of creepy corridors, but also instances like the asylum burning at the climax and the classic trait of the doomed love affair, a plot device used in all Gothic storytelling not just horror. The depiction of the asylum is naturally grim and harrowing but thankfully Anderson steers clear of depictions of graphic torture and gore, something Corman also steered wide of. It's not just Corman where the films influences lie. Val Lewton's brilliant 1946 masterpiece Bedlam also provided some inspiration especially with the photography which is at times outstanding.

Whilst the film is relatively blood free and quite sedately paced i still found it an absorbing and creepy, suspenseful watch due to the fact i find asylum methods of drugs and sedation quite horrific and was delighted to find out who was actually running Stonehearst and for the most part running it with a fair degree of success. It was only when Kingsley perfected the electro shock method as the way to go that my sympathies turned back to the facilities original staff locked deep in the dungeons below.

What initially made the film stand out to me was it's superb British and Irish cast - Jim Sturgess, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Kingsley, David Thewliss, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Flemying, Sinead Cusack and Michael Caine - needless to say the film is performed impeccably with every word uttered believably spoken.

It's no secret that my fave genre of the macabre is Gothic horror, also that i have a penchent for British films. To me Stonehearst Asylum succeeds as a fine example of both. From first minute to last i loved the film and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who also enjoys the Gothic greats of Roger Corman.

Whiteout - Not up to much, but damn it if Kate Beckinsale isn't lovely!

I think thats why it spoke to me at least because, I have experienced mental health issues, as most people in their lifetime. For me, the monster in the film, could easily be a representation of my social anxiety.

I glad liked Whiteout, watched it on TV a couple of times now. Like I posted in Dem's Gothic Thread, I do love Kate Beckinsale :nod:

really like the sound of that one if not too sleepy will watch it, after I finish night of the wolf late phases, which I've just started but think i will really enjoy.

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Fantastic one of the best werewolf films I've seen in a long time. Story involves a blind war vet that moves into a retirement community and not long after moving in he finds out there have been a number of attacks and it's not long after he is attached and his beloved dog is killed.
Most of the film afterwards is him preparing himself for the next full moon and attack which pays of in an intense and brutal showdown. All performances are well above average especially Nick Damaici in the lead role. I would advise anyone who enjoys a good story,acting and werewolves to pick this up. 9.5/10

Watching stonehearst asylum which is another I think will really enjoy. But getting tired and it deserves my full attention so will watch it at the weekend. So think I'll watch zombie holocaust

Saw The Ipcress File last night. When a top scientist disappears from a train and an agent is killed, a deadly game of cat and mouse begins to try and get him back - but what is the significance of the Ipcress file? A very young Michael Caine stars in this entertaining mid 60s spy thriller. A bit on the slow side, but intriguing enough to keep me interested for the duration.

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Watched Creature from the Black Lagoon in (active btw) 3D.
I'd seen it in anaglyph 3D way back but it really was something else to watch it in 3D without the red and blue colours! :)
Definitely impressed.

Been rather busy with work of late, but found time to watch and review the new Arrow Blu-Ray of Cemetery Without Crosses

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Very good looking release of a dark and moody French Noir Western. If you enjoyed the Leone films and think Castellari was just too over the top, then you should enjoy this.

Cemetery Without Crosses review.

House on Sorority row.

A later entry into the slasher cycle, Sorority row is a low budget affair that actually manages to deliver enough to stand out from the glut of formulaic titles that had begun to be released on an almost weekly basis.
The premise is simple. Seven girls have recently graduated and are looking for one final hurrah before heading out into the real world. Their house mother is violently opposed to this and begins to make life hell for the girls, as a result they hatch a plan for revenge that naturally goes completely wrong and the house mother ends up dead. Or is she? The body disappears and as the Sorority sisters begin looking for it someone is killing off the girls one by one with the mothers cane.
While not as gory as some titles out there, there is still a decent level of nastiness to the picture. The missing body plot device adds some decent levels of tension to the picture and the 'twist' is most likely guessable by anyone reading this but still well executed. Performance wise there are one or two dodgy performances mixed in with some really good ones. The house mother is played by 'local talent' and needed overdubbing. This is poorly done and painfully obvious. Thankfully once she's gone the film really takes off. The final third has a nice ingenious twist of having the final girl confront the killer while off her head on Acid. This adds a nice surreal twist to things, though I feel someone along the lines of Richard Stanley could have done something more.
Overall I really like this picture, I'm fortunate to have the Scorpion blu-ray release and if anyone is fortunate enough to get a copy (it's now out of print) its excellent quality and region free. That said the DVD release is easily obtainable (at time of writing) and worth picking up as its the same print and should look good on upscale.

Firepower.

More scorpion HD action. This one is a Michael winner actioner starring James Coburn, Anthony Franciosa, O.J. Simpson, Eli Wallach & Sophia Loren.
Coburn plays a special operative hired surreptitiously by the US via Wallachs mob boss to capture the worlds wealthiest man who is also a recluse and hasn't been seen in many years. Naturally this creates some 'issues' so Coburn, assisted by simpson must do some globe trotting adventuring to find him.
Firepower is a film troubled by Winners typical ham-fisted direction which includes some awful dialogue, sloppy editing, poor plot structure, over the top violence, casual racism and some animal cruelty in the form of cock fighting and horse falls that will likely result in any UK releases getting some cuts. That said, as is also typical of Winners work its a lot of guilty fun with plenty of action. I get the impression that Britain's foremost exploitation director decided to use this as an excuse to have a holiday, a lot of the film is set around dusky Caribbean locations. Lots of stuff blows up and stuff really gets surreal at points with a sub-plot involving coburns characters twin (also played by Coburn) and also throwing in a dwarf gangster for good measure. While parts of this film are likely going to turn some off its a bit of daft fun and looks great in HD.

:rambo::rambo::rambo::rambo::pop2::pop2::pop2::pop 2::pop2:

One of my fave slashers. I only have the UK Boulevard release but have watched it many times. I must get that Scorpion dvd sooner rather than later.

great extras and looks fantastic.

I haven't really looked into it. Is it widescreen?

16x9 (1:78:1)

Commentaries & Interviews.

Cheers good sir. :thankingyou:

As I really like The House on Sorority Row, but only have the letterboxed Boulevard Entertainment DVD, I don't know why I hadn't upgraded to either the better Scorpion DVD or Blu-ray. I really don't want to pay over the odds for the out of print releases (it's about £35 plus postage from Amazon.com!), so I hope it's released on Blu-ray in the UK some time soon.

Yeah, the Scorpion Blu is oop.

I'm not sure who currently owns the rights to the film in the UK but it could certainly do with a decent release over here.

THE FUNHOUSE - Have always had a soft spot for 'The Funhouse', which was, I think, Tobe Hooper's first theatrical release for a major studio? He did it before 'Poltergeist', anyway. I like how 'The Funhouse' just kind of meanders around for a bit without doing very much at all. We get standard issue set up – four teens, off to a carnival. A carnival with a bad rep - “not that one where those kids turned up dead two years ago, like?” Don't go there dudes! Especially, don't have this harebrained idea about sneakily spending the night there when all the sensible people have gone home! Surely this is all grist to some slasher's awful mill? Surely only that slightly virginal girl will survive? Yep, but 'The Funhouse' is a bit different. Back to that meandering. The kids wander around the carnival, taking in the two headed cows, the knackered foetuses in jars, the sinister barkers who all look descended from the same bad gene. They argue, smoke doobies, get freaked out by the odd mannequin. I can imagine some fans twiddling their thumbs for the first forty odd minutes. I didn't, though. I was hypnotised by the rancid atmosphere of the carnival, the garish colours, the messed up dummies which all seemed to have a life of their own. Yeah, 'hypnotised' is probably the word. Because even though the build up's very slow, it's never distracting, never a drag, more like a drift downriver in a boat on a summer's day, where you're lulled into a state of blissed out calm which however does become increasingly ominous because it's uhm, actually a slasher movie after all. By the time we get round to the twisted father / deformed son duo and a bit of killing, it all seems a bit secondary to the overwhelming presence of the fairground itself, which is surely the lead character in all of this. To go at it again – I love all those freaky dummies! I think Tobe must've at least checked out 'Tourist Trap'. No supernatural schtick implied in this one, but they're all very characterful. I especially dug that killer Kong head with the mouth which opened up onto a green lit scene of people running in terror. With all the coloured gel lighting on show, I'm guessing Bava / Argento must've been in the mix as well, somewhere (this possible influence goes back to 'Death Trap' as well, though). Anyway, 'The Funhouse' – I really like it, many others do not, but for me it has that early eighties horror magic and, yeah, lots of weird dummies.

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Space Pirate Captain Harlock

Interesting fresh start for the well known Captain Harlock manga / anime series which continues the re-developing of the character.

Some fans like this, others don't... personally I think it's (as usual for modern Japanese films it seems) a bit too serious in tone at times.

Overall it's an entertaining and very well made (3D CG) film though and I am certainly curious how a possible sequel will turn out.

I've read it looks great in 3D btw... so will pick up a cheap 3D blu when this goes down in price. ;)

It looks fantastic in 3d

Somone needs to re-issue ARCADIA OF MY YOUTH. I have a Bootleg edition and its still my favourite Harlock movie. Will need to give this one a try though!

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) - 6.5/10

More or less on a par with the last two, but for me personally it's feeling a bit 'same-old same-old' now. It's got to be the best fifth instalment in a series though, nothing better is springing to mind anyway.

The Empire strikes back that's the best fifth instalment in a series

No because that was the second one made.

How's your Japanese? Because this Italian blu would probably be your best buy?

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My Italian is better than my Japanese and that's shit! Weirdly I mainly know when someone's calling me an idiot or a pervert in Japanese. I goddamn hope someone in the US or UK gets the rights to this!!!!

Strip nude for your killer.

Taking the 70's Italian approach to gender politics, Andreas Bianchi delivers a brutal Giallo where most of the women are easy lays, gullible to the extreme and all desperate for the attention of sleazy photographers or obese man-child's (there's hope for me yet! ;) ) Its sometimes easy to forget how sleazy this film is when you consider it's also well paced and rather stylish. I think modern audiences may baulk at some of the material. The woman who decides to consent when threatened with violence in a "oh what the hell" kind of way is one scene that would not play well today. For those of us seasoned in 70's euro-sleaze its more a time capsule of attitudes of a different era but I doubt its one that would play well at parties.


Since its the Governors birthday....

Red Heat.

Arnie plays a Russian policeman who heads west to apprehend a drug dealer who killed his partner and ends up paired with wise-ass Jim Belushi. Its run of the mill mis-matched buddy cop fare enlivened by direction from Walter Hill and spotting the people who ended up famous in the 90's like Gina Gershon and Lawrence Fishburne. It's still an entertaining picture that passes the time nicely though not one of my favorite films from either Walter Hill or Arnie.


Running man.

Nicking the title (and little else) from a short story by Richard Bachman (Stephen Kings Pseudonym) Arnie plays a cop who refuses to kill innocent civilians and ends up on the wrong side of the law and ultimately a participant in a game-show that makes up the Circus of the bread and circuses of a fascist dystopia. He's joined in the casting by Maria Conchita Alonso star of every film of the 80's as well as Jim Brown, Yaphet Koto, Jesse Ventura, Eddie bunker and a shit-ton of other quality stars. Essentially Arnie has to beat a bunch of themed gladiators, beat the game and overthrow the facist regime.
Bits of the film seem oddly prophetic rewatching it after so many years. There's plenty of violence, a decent setting and lots of action so the film remains pretty kicjk-ass. :pop2:

Running Man is a classic, and also has the best comeback ever to Arnie's trademark "I'll be back" catchphrase. :)

I can't stand The Running Man for the reason that it completely pisses all over the source material... I guess I'd be more inclined to enjoy it if it didn't try to tie into King's superb story.

Best way to enjoy it is to try and ignore the fact its supposed to be an adaptation. Its not at all. Taken on its own merits its quite a lot of fun. Not as good at Total recall, Terminator 1 & 2 or predator, its still entertaining and has some things to say that are perhaps more relevant now than they were when the film was made. I'd not seen it in a good few years and time can age a film badly however this is one that still holds up.