I watched the original Toolbox Murders.

Some terrible acting and some of the characters just do imensely stupid things, but it's still kind of entertaining. The Nail Gun scene is pretty good.

The opening acts of that is still one of the most uncompromising, nasty and purest pieces of unapologetic Exploitation film making ever.
Rest is basically ho hum and only really made worthwhile by Cameron's wonderfully mad performance...but that opening is a stunning slice of Grindhouse nastiness.


"Whiteout"

Pretty cliche, nothing groundbreaking or really surprising screenplay/plot wise but the film's snowy wilderness setting and the way it is constantly and cleverly used to define (and re-difine) it's action/chase sequences pushes the film into very interesting territory.

The fact that cop and killer have to go through critical life saving preparations (from what clothes they MUST wear to hooking themselves onto utterly essential guide ropes) before they can flee or give chase is well utilised to crank up the tension and add an extra, unusual, level to the standard cat and mouse set piece.

Kate Beckinsale (looking damn good) pulls off a flawless (at least to these ears) American accent as the snow bound U.S. Marshall and even though they seem to have mellowed (and indeed sexed up) her character in the film compared to her Graphic Novel counterpart she still manages to essay a believably tough character that the film (despite the fact she has to suffer - though we certainly don't suffer - a gratuitous 'bending down in her panties' shot very early on) takes seriously.
And the film is surprisingly tough and unglamorous in how Beckinsale's character is treated and what she goes through.

Nothing new in the plot department most certainly, but the well directed (sometimes grizzly and violent) action and suspense scenes ,as well as the superbly used location, raise it to a higher level than it would otherwise have attained.

i know i haven't seen this yet but look what i just found on amazon with a release date of march 15th....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Survival-Dea...4538867&sr=1-1

Re-watched C. H. U. D. tonight... I can remember it being better than it was! :(

Yeah, that wall of violence that is the begining of the movie is crazy. Makes up for the fact it's really a pretty terribly made movie for the most part.

I have not got too many hopes for that one after Land and Diary :rolleyes:

His excuse for Land was it was a studio movie and they controlled it too much so he went on his own to make Diary but that was no good either.

Romero's not made anything worth a damn since the above average "Monkey Shines" imho.

Really? Man, I love "CHUD". Such a great character film along with a fun monster romp.

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was good, I just remember it being a lot better somehow... I can remember loving it when I was younger. :ohwell:

Also just realised that I posted in the wrong thread... :chainsaw: :eek:

Land Of The Dead was shockingly terrible.

Didn't bother watching Diary... after someone said it was worse.

Guessing he's just lost it.

I dont really know whats worse..I guess I would say Land was worse.
Dont think il waste me money on anymore Romero flicks. I sold diary but still got land somewhere :lol:

I thought they were both great, especially "Diary..." which I thought was superb.

I agree.
I don't think Romero has 'lost' anything, really...
His zombie films are still loaded with intelligent satire, and social/ political commentary, while most other horror filmmakers prefer to concentrate on simplistic displays of blood 'n' guts. At least with Romero, we always get a subtext with the gore.

I didn't rate Land or Diary either.

Revisited Nights Of Terror (Burial Ground). Features zombies that can scale walls, manipulate scythes and use a battering ram. Absolutely darft all-round silliness but essential viewing at least once. Possibly more if you need a laugh.

Professor Ayres possesses The Greatest Beard Known To Man. In The World. Ever.

I'd agree with most of you too. Land and Diary are nothing compared to Night, Dawn and Day. To be honest, they both feel as though he's trying too hard to add social commentary and do what he is known for. It just comes across TOOO heavy especially with Diary

Plus the CGI blood doesn't always look too great.

Saying that I'll still his Survival :laugh:

Just finished watching The Hills Run Red - finally got around to watching it (one less on the to-watch pile now! :woot:) and really enjoyed it. It started of with a fairly original take on the slasher genre but then it stated to get super cliched. Still it was a lot of fun even if the self-referencing stuff (a la Scream), I felt, was slightly too heavy.

im shocked at the dislike of Land and Diary, when you think Land was the first zombie film he made in 20 years, i thought it was awesome, good script although a lot was cut from the original script. a pretty good cast, good gore, i just thoroughly enjoyed it, as for diary, at first i was a bit unsure but after a few more viewings it's actually a better film than most people give it credit, Even though not as successful as Land, Romero's zombie flicks still out rank anything done in this genre.

And Dario Argento's lovechild put a nation of Italian women off breastfeeding for life!:lol:

"What's wrong? I'm your son!" :pound:

Mama Mama......:lol:

I too love Land of the Dead . A brilliant film imho, though I wasn't so keen on Dairy of the Dead, but i've only watched it once and I did'nt hate it , so i'll give it a repeat viewing soon.

The missus enjoyed it though and she normally dislikes zombie films.

I am shocked people here like Land :eek:

Romero himself said that he did not like the movie that was released as it was the version the studios wanted and not his own vision.

I liked Diary a lot better than Land too Wolf. I found Land okay though. I bought it on release in 2005, and have only watched it once though. :biggrin:

Anyone going to pick up his latest: Survival of the Dead released in March?! ;)

"Land" is okaaaaay, but it's such a fall from the other 3 films that the plummet really hurts it. And coming from a guy that helped push 'real' FX in his films the CGI blood and gore was unforgivable.

"Diary" is just Christ awful nonsense though not worthy of any kind of analytical thought in my humble opinion.

Fully agree. :nod:

I totally agree with 42ndstreetfreak on this one. 'Land' was a bit disappointing but all in all not a bad film. I think it's just because we had expectations from George and unfortunately it didn't live up to them. If it was from someone else then I doubt it'd get as slated. :ohwell:

As for 'Diary', I cannot understand how anyone enjoyed that pile of tripe. I watched it in the cinema and came out laughing with my friends because it was that bad. Mid way through we were looking at each other wondering if any of us were gonna make the first move to get up and out of there.
I didn't want to dislike it so much so of course I bought the Limited Edition Tin version and decided to give it another try, after all other people did say it might grow on me. I watched it with my girlfriend as she hadn't seen it and she loved Romero's previous work too, even though she's not into Horror films that much (Just shows the impact his films do, I mean used to, have on people)
Needless to say, I just about managed to sit through an hour before we both looked at each other and decided enough is enough. We just couldn't handle the incredibly poor acting any longer thus off it went. It's a real shame because I really wanted to like it, I did try so don't be mad at me but it just wasn't working. :(

Recent watches
 

1990 The Bronx Warriors (Shameless Screen Entertainment) - Slow paced but good moments in it. The campest lead role I've ever witnessed and it's stopping me from taking it too seriously but I'm loving the 'fact track'

Autopsy: A Love Story (Brain Damage Films) - Oh my god! Avoid at all costs. It's based on a guy who works at a morgue and he falls in love with one of the corpses. It's very, very low budget and the acting is... well... obviously bad. The funniest thing about is that you could see the corpse constantly breathing and her eyes were flickering all the time. So boring and the make-up effects were just unbearably bad.

Sherlock Holmes (Guy Ritchie's version) - Highly entertaining. Robert Downey Jr as brilliant as ever. Thoroughly enjoyed this film, good fight scenes, good set pieces and comical too. Great fun!

Sounds quite a bit like Living Doll (1990).

That does sound exactly the same, I'd hope Living Doll is a better example of what is actually a good concept for a thought provoking horror film.

Darkness

Been collecting Jaume Balagueró films this week and had never even heard of this effort. It seemed to arrive seconds after I ordered it, and was absolutely immaculate for a second hand disk advertised as "Good" condition! Cost me pennies.

I liked it! The scripting was a bit wayward but the atmosphere and superb cast more than made up for it. A nice creepy way to spend 84 minutes! After this and the joys of [REC] and The Nameless I think I shall keep a sharp eye on his career. Let's hope the curious decision to turn [REC] into a trilogy (or worse, a franchise!) doesn't ruin everything!

Has anyone seen [REC] 2 yet?

been a while since i saw donnie darko i almost forgot what it was about.... been few yr since seen it and recently few mags etc i read mentioned it.. so thought id give this another watch ... it is a extremely wierd film thats become a cult.. but still hard to actualy understand... richard kelly latest film attempt the box tries to be a bit like DD wierd and hard to understand but but the film fails EXTREMELY bad there more Q? to be asked than answerd ... has any 1 seen dd2 yet is it any good bought it few wk back for a couple of quid

Watching this as a kid I loved it .Watching it again recently I have noticed I have turned into Uncle Buck:lol:

I had an odd double bill last night of The Warriors followed by Pete Walker's Die Screaming, Marianne. Both great films; The Warriors being a personal favourite of mine. :nod:

there's been a lot of talk on these boards about the blind dead movies, and having had the first two film for a couple of months and not actually having seen them i decided to watch Tombs Of the Blind Dead this afternoon, and after dismissing them as cheap euro knock offs i must say that i was completely wrong, Tombs is a fantastic film, incredibly well shot for a start, and also well acted and i must say that the score was very atmospheric, im looking forward to watching Return Of The Blind Dead now. as someone said on a different thread, The Blind Dead films are Essential viewing.

It'll be interesting to see which of the first two Blind Dead films you prefer. Always a very tough decision with these. :nod:

Personally I thought Donnie Darko was superb. The longer Director's Cut (for once) is far better than the theatrical version.

Great film,I can even tolerate Macaulay Culkin in this. :lol:........I'm Buck Melanoma.Moley Russell's wart Not her wart.Not her wart! I'm... I'm the wart. She's my tumor.My... my growth.My... uh, my pimple.I'm Uncle Wart.Just old Buck "Wart" Russell.That's what they call me,or Melanoma Head.They'll call me that. "Melanoma Head's coming." I'm s... uncle! Maisy Russell's uncle

I thought The Nameless was pretty good and loved his movies to keep u awake segment. Will watch Fragile soon.

[rec] 2 is out march over here in cinemas.

Død Snø

An affable enough comedy. I quite liked it. As a result, I am rethinking my stance against fast moving zombies in cinema! :lol: