Yeah, there wasn't much to enjoy was there?

Scooby doo! Kiss - Rock & Roll mystery.

Not watched anything scooby doo related in many years, however the crossover with Kiss proved too enticing so decided to give it a go. It's actually pretty fun, well animated with some genuinely psychedelic sequences thrown in and some nice digs at the bands willingness to attach their name to everything and anything for a quick buck... plus this probably sounds weird but Daphne in kiss make up is actually pretty hot..... there I said it!

Escape from tomorrow.

Since Scooby was my mates contribution to the evening I decided to up the ante with this weirdness. I stuck a review up here some time ago but have not really revisited it until now. Shot covertly at Disneyland its a story of a mans mental disintegration after losing his job at one of the worlds most popular family destinations and succumbing to lust, booze and ultimately disease and death and discovering a shady operation run by the siemens corporation under the epcot centre. Might not be to everyone's tastes but I really like it.

Crimson Peak. I'll try and write something more detailed tomorrow but for now bloody hell this was good. Dem get it watched.

:drool:

It sounds way better than As Above, So Below (2014)

A found footage film set in the catacombs of Paris, about a woman's search for the Philosophers stone. She should have watched Harry Potter. After an atmospheric opening, (well following half an hour of nothing that is) in the bone infested tunnels and a breathless set piece where one of the tunnel explorers gets stuck and freaks out, the film meanders into nothingness and a study of personal demons rather than any actual physical manifestations.

Come the final twenty minutes i was just wishing it was over as any interest in the characters or what happened to them had long gone.

I've ordered it today and I'm really looking forward to watching it again – I loved it when I saw it at the cinema.

It was a struggle to get through i did like the part you mentioned with the camera man getting stuck but apart from that i just felt frustrated by it all.

I remembered you disliked it so thought i'd get it out of the way.

I like films set in Catacombs, or at least i want to like them. I haven't visited the Paris ones, but have been in the ones under Rome and found them fascinating, eerie, and also quite beautiful. Skulls and bones everywhere.

The problem is no one seems able to make a decent film about them. As Above, So Below was poor as was the Shannyn Sossaman movie Catacombs.

It seems like a perfect setting for a great atmospheric horror .

Im sure there's some catacomb type stuff at the start of the Nosferatu remake which is quite eerie.:)
Also theres a short made by Jan Svankmajer called the Ossuary with a church type structure made of bones which is very haunting.:pop2:

It's years since i saw the Nosferatu remake.

Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)

A deranged killer is injecting beautiful women with the poison of a rare wasp, paralyzing them and forcing them to witness their own brutal murders, as the killer slices open their stomach. Before long Inspector Tellini (Giancarlo Giannini), discovers all the victims have a connection to an exclusive spa resort.

I'm not sure how well liked or not this giallo is among genre fans. For me it is the ultimate giallo and perhaps my favourite of the genre. It has everything an Italian thriller should have. An intriguing storyline, a killer dressed head to toe in black, beautiful women, (Barbara Bouchet, Claudine Auger, Rosella Falk, Barbara Bach), a cool actor taking on the case (Giannini), sex, mystery, and horrific, graphic murder sequences.

The murders are outstanding. Each kill is preceded by a brief stalking sequence before the killer pierces the victims neck around the spine with an acupuncture style needle, although longer and more fearsome. This neautralizes the victims in a state of paralysis before the murderer strips them to the waste and cuts open their stomach. Truly macabre stuff, hard to watch in comparison with many giallo deaths and wickedly disturbing, as well as utterly fascinating.

Director Paolo Cavara keeps you gripped from the opening seconds. Immediately dragging you into the first kill, and never letting go of his tight grasp of you. Plot of Fear (1976) is the only other film of his i've seen, and i recommend that as well. Cavara's great at building suspense and just as adept with action sequences - see the rooftop chase as a fine example and also of Cavara's photography that is also visually brilliant. The score is from genre stalwart Ennio Morricone and is outstanding. Creepy when needed and a delightful piece of the jigsaw of this superb film.

As briefly mentioned, the film has a terrific cast. Three Bond girls in the aforementioned Bach, Auger and Bouchet, all of whom are perfectly cast. Rosella Falk who i mentioned in my review of The Fifth Cord (1971) doesn't fare much better here, but again comes to a memorably sticky end. Giancarlo Giannini who heads the film playing the inspector on the case is one of the finest actors to appear in a giallo. A career with over 150 screen credits and still going strong, he's quite rightly an international superstar.

I'd love to be critical of Black Belly of the Tarantula to give some perspective, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it in my eyes. It's as good a giallo as i've come across and is a brilliantly compelling piece of Italian cinema which should appeal to crime and horror fans alike.

House on pine street

I just come across this and no idea of it so gave it a whirl.
Its a ghost story about a house.
A married couple have moved into a house where she grew up and she is pregnant, strange things keep happening but only she can feel / see and no amount of convincing her mum and husband they both think she losing the plot.
Its got atmosphere and tension and a bit like House of the devil is a very slow burner, there isnt much action /violence and no gore more about the house tormenting her thinking someone there doors closing etc etc . While some bloke tries to explain about the house to her there really isnt any genuine explanation of whats going on. While itl not be a classic etc its definatly worth a watch if you come across it.

The Man Who Could Cheat Death (Eureka Blu Ray)

I watched this last night and thought it was generally a good Hammer production, perhaps not up there with best as I felt it had a different feel/atmosphere to it than many of the classics, being much more dialogue based with not much in the way of monster action.
PQ was OK but I it was a little flat with colour more muted than we are used to from Hammer. Contrast was generally good with blacks appearing pretty solid. I am sure though this is the best it has ever looked.

In the extras I only watched the very informative interview with Kim Newman which was very good. So all in in all I enjoyed it quite a bit

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Just thought I'd screenshot that picture of Daphne in kiss make-up....

Ahem!

The Witch who came from the sea

Another one from the American Horror project. I've been something of a fan of this one for a while, it narrowly scraped out of my 10 favourite Nasties list. Its a tale of Molly, a barmaid who regales her nephews with tales of their sea captain grandfather, Molly is haunted by visions of murdering men and it seems to be linked to a memory of her father. Somewhat more 'sophisticated' than a lot (not all) of the titles that ended up getting banned, Witch is a character driven psycho drama about a female serial killer that really manages to get under the skin of the lead protagonist. This is thanks in part to the excellent performance from Milly Perkins who was married to the screenwriter at the time, the role being specifically written for her including some actual details of her family history. Its a surprisingly tough and harrowing little picture that lingers in the memory, for different reasons than Daphne...

I like 'Witch' too, but must confess to being more of a Velma guy, in the films anyways.;)

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If Velma was wearing that, i can only dream what Daphne would be wearing. :nod: :lol:

Fred's a square as usual then.;)

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Great fun. A change from the usual Marvel heroics movies, this one has violence, sex, bad language and from the opening credits you know what type of film this is going to be. Deadpool looks awesome. Just like he has come straight off the pages of his many comic books.

Yeah, its actually one of the running gags.

Looks like Spiderman to me. :lol:

Deadpool looks like the most generic 90's superhero going which was ultimately part of the gag.

Triple nine

almost a great movie, triple nine ends up being a merely good one thanks to some weak characterisation, generic plot and character archetypes. A gang of thieves are roped into 'one last job' by the russian-jewish mob operating out of Georgia. To pull it off they need to kill a police officer, activating a triple nine call that will make sure all officers are the other side of town. Fortunately being crooked cops this might be easier than imagined unless of course things go wrong...
I must stress that as generic as it sounds, this isn't a bad film per se' just a little lazy. Woody Harrelson plays the cop you expect him to play, casey affleck just wanders in and out of the film as a plot device, Kate winslet wastes an interesting role.. yet it still kept me interested enough to keep watching as John Hillcoat directs the hell out of the anaemic script. It looks lovely and the score is good.

Cult of the Cobra (1955)

American G.I.s who trespass on a Hindu ceremony are hunted down by a beautiful woman who has the power to transform herself into a cobra.

Whilst an interesting premise, this Universal horror picture loses steam extremely quickly once it leaves India and heads to the Universal backlot, sorry streets of New York.

A lack of thrills, underwhelming performances and a lacklustre script mean that doing the ironing is a more enticing prospect than a second viewing of this.

Awesome poster though.

The Gauntlet. Clint Eastwood is a washed-up cop given what he's told is a "nothing" assignment to escort a witness from Las Vegas back to Phoenix - unaware that no one, including his own boss, expects either of them to make it back alive... Watchable if unremarkable and slightly silly late 70s action flick.

George Romero put Cult of the Cobra in his top ten horror films when Total film asked horror stars and directors their favourites a few years back.
Obviously a nostalgia moment.;)

Wow! Really? :shocked:

Rang a friend and he suggested i come round i said ok we watch a film or two and he asked what? I said im not bothered absolutely anything.

And guess what he found a film called absolutely anything.
I never heard of it its a british film written and directed by terry jones from the monty python crew. Starring simon pegg.
Now i dont know if its films in general or me, we all at some point have complained about todays films in comparison to how they where one way or another and im guilty of that with comedies, and i can honestly say ive not watched a comedy for years that ive really enjoyed or made me laugh a lot so im not sure if it is films or ive lost my sense of humour.
Anyhow he stuck the film on and i can honestly say i found that one film that made me laugh out loud loads it made us all laugh. One of the funniest comedies ive seen for years. Its about aliens who give a bloke the power to do absolutely anything and see if he uses it to do good or bad things. And at times what he wishes for doesnt turn out exactly how he come across. There was ppl killed in a explosion and he said i like all the dead to be alive again meaning who died in the explosion suddenly everyone dead body in existence started to come alive.
And at one point i joked i make myself have a huge penis and thats exactly what he said in the film. The scene had me in stitches especialy when he said no i want one that will make women happy then he looked down and said oh come on a white one. If you havent seen it and like Terry jones and simon pegg then you shouldnt be dissapointed.

God bless America

Not sure if this was like a cross between natural born killers and falling down or just a film or the guy who wrote it is explaining how he see life like it is today. And trying to come across how life changed. But not for the better Either way the later is how i saw the film, but its funny how people see and perceive things different at the same time. There was a lot in the film i saw wether that was the intentions of the film or not as to how life is and how there is two sides to every arguement for and against whether we like it or not, At the beggining it shows how he liked to blow the shit out of his next door neighbours with a gun but he nice as pie when he see them, and lets face it in reality we all thought off how we like to kill someone of or just go over and knock **** out them or go on a killing spree but we havent and been nice instead . But also goes to show how society has become where we live off watching other people misery and glorifying it as entertainment, Jerry springer anyone? I mean my mum watches stuff like cant pay take it away r what ever the **** it called. I detest these shows because lets be fair some not all have just hit a hard time through no fault of there own and being eg kicked out their house etc there and then and i wouldnt personaly want my life when im down in the gutter to be shown on national tv for everyone to watch and sit there and be god judge and jury when they dont know **** all whats happened in that person life or why ended up in that situation. Then talk about it next day at work maybe. But it also shows how America has become trigger happy as well. And how violence has become the norm these days where people just seem to accept it, or people go the other way go overboard and why they had enough and act the way they do and flip and how the USA has gone trigger happy, nearly ever week there some sort of killing spree there been few already this year some just havent made as much headlines as other, there been one this week. And how violence has become the norm these days where people just seem to accept it or dont seem shocked anymore because its part of todays society and culture and at times when political correctness has gone daft and overboard when he was sacked because he thought he wasnt doing a nice thing by trying to cheer up the receptionist by sending her flowers to cheer her up, The scene in the cinema i can relate to sev times over, eg years ago when cinema houses where all on one level and not each row was up a step, i was the first one in the room and sat down one or two straggled in then suddenly a bloke 6ft 6 or their abouts sat the row and seat literaly in front of me having no choice to move. And then what happens next in the film is a prime eg of todays society and culture while they where shooting one bloke was videoing it on his mobile so he could probably upload it to some social network just to see how many likes they can recieve or give them something to brag about how they where there and saw it all, instead of helping or running to get help. i think the film had a deep meaning and showing how society has become, to the point where there is so many things that is wrong in life and so ****ed up but yet become acceptable

WISHMASTER 2: EVIL NEVER DIES – I've never been much of a fan of franchise horror. I prefer that 'Friday the 13th ' episode set in space to any of the others, and, as far as actual runs of sequels go, The Human Centipede series is the only one to have consistently held my interest. That, and maybe the 'All Night Long' films, not that you'd consider those to be part of a franchise exactly. I mean, what would the merch be? Bloodied tampons? The 'Wishmaster' films had some initial push in that the first one went out under the aegis of Wes Craven, who was, back in the late nineties, enjoying a second renaissance. I liked that first movie – it had a bit of drive and and verve behind its ultimately derivative pitch, and I remember it as being quite fast paced and appropriately gory. 'Wishmaster 2' is subject the law of inevitable decline which is imposed whenever anyone tries to do a sequel that doesn't mess with its forebear all that much. It's an example of a highly refined cinema – the reprocessed left overs of a film which consisted itself of reprocessed leftovers (of the 'Freddiesque' sub genre). It starts off with an art heist that goes wrong - the wishmaster is unwittingly sprung from his antique prison and lands a hipster goth chick / armed robber in a whole lot of trouble. For nonsensical but slightly poetic reasons, wishmaster (in human guise) deliberately puts himself in a real jail (as opposed to a statue), where he goes around getting inmates to wish themselves into messy situations as he sets up a soul harvesting operation. Meanwhile, hip goth chick robber hitches up with her unlikely former lover, a priest, and the two do the usual ie join forces to stop the wishmaster. It all ends in a casino / tawdry hell set piece, where moderately crazy stuff happens, thankfully. 'Wishmaster 2' is bad fast food with zero nutrition and less taste, but what the hell, I found it pretty entertaining. Quite a lot actually stacks up in its favour – some trashy special effects, including a stupid looking regression to childhood and a slimy wishmaster reconstituting out of a wall, a few good gore gags involving cons pushing themselves between cell bars and the like, plus the whole enjoyable inanity of nineties direct to video horror where lines like “release the prophecy” repeat every five minutes in a croaky, sibilant voice which sounds disappointingly like that of Victor Meldrew. The biggest draw for me however was Andrew Divoff's bizarre performance. He looked like he was involved in a freaked out attempt to channel Benedict Cumberbatch and Timothy Leary, maybe with a bit of J Nicholson thrown in, with a really odd kid's “I'm being evil” face slapped on top. Possibly a pretty bad bit of acting, but I found it mesmerising. Though sadly not enough to inspire me to check out the other sequels, which I'm told are awful.

THE MUTILATOR – I'll always be a fan of that special time when you could go out and make a movie that began like a shit soap opera and ended with a vaginal stabbing. I'm also glad that movies like 'The Mutilator' can be looked at now with dewy eyes, and that the comfortable mists of nostalgia include these kind of lopsided schlockers. Whilst not all that effective as a slasher film, 'The Mutilator' is interesting in the sense that a few of the other recent re-releases ('X-Ray', 'Blood Rage', 'Madman' etc etc) are interesting – through being a bit eccentric, although not necessarily all that good. And it's interesting in itself that these hitherto woebegone flicks are now considered worthy of deluxe upgrades, whereas back in thems days they'd be taken as evidence of horrible taste in movies and possibly character pathology. 'The Mutilator' s specific eccentricity lies in the way it bridges the gap between anodyne and nasty (as with many early eighties slashers, this bridge also runs all the way to 'dumb as f*ck'). Again, this is a movie that starts by looking like it might turn into a feeble teen comedy and ends with some edgy genital mutilation. What happens between those two points is a bit blurry – I was tired when I saw it last night, but I think the film itself has that indistinct feel to it, so that it always seems as though it's being recalled from some time in the eighties. What I do remember is, some kids are going on a fall break. If you didn't know that, there's that well known and truly hideous theme tune to remind you. Anyway, our fall breakers are persuaded by one of their number to go to his dad's beach house for their holiday. Dad's having “one of his turns” and has kind of ordered his son out there, although, bit of back story here, son accidentally killed mom when he was a kid, so it's good that the two are on speaking terms. So they all go along, and there's a lot of the requisite wandering around and talking, but also odd little snatches like dad having a framed photo of his late friend's corpse on his living room wall. Erm, maybe dad's a bit weird or something? No one told them he's hiding beneath the house, and let the fun begin etc etc. 'The Mutilator's kids are fairly wholesome, and there's not much in the way of bitching or shagging. Still, I didn't feel all that much empathy for them when they were variously beheaded, drowned, vaginally stabbed etc as they were all a bit 2D, although the performances weren't all that bad despite what a lot of reviews have said. The gore is there in places, but it's well spaced out. The highlights are those points where the film goes a bit crazy – the climax for instance, where the killer manages to hack the leg off a passing cop despite having been cut in two himself! Beyond this, there's that weird, uneven atmosphere. I liked 'The Mutilator'. It's not as 'special' as something like 'Blood Rage', but it brings home once again the rough oddness of regional filmmaking and as such opens a window onto a naïve time which we'll never see again. Kudos once more to Arrow for investing the time and effort in such a minority interest, although I like to think it'll snare more than a few unwary punters in places like HMV.

It's between this and The Finest Hours for my cinema trip this week, I can't decide between the 2 as they both look equal in their 3/5 estimated review scores from me :lol:

What he said.
A genuinely disturbing film. For adults. Love is a battlefield cough ;)

Haven't updated this thread with my watches for a while so I'm going to cheat today.

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Hercules was crap but really entertaining :lol: Hana-bi was a first time watch for me and it was almost perfect, a really good drama about a man's life going out of control.

I bought the Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol 1 set and all 3 of the films were really entertaining and if you're wondering whether to get it I'd recommend it to fans of crime films although I think all 3 of them have musical interludes!

Last night I watched Vampyros Lesbos for the first time in 20 years and I really enjoyed it for its psychedelia and look even if the plot was pretty thin. It's essentially a 90 minute music video. Jess Franco was fun as a crazed sex killer too :lol: Does anyone know what the scorpion is supposed to represent?

Oh, you really should Frankie.

I like them if that's anything to go off. :D

No not really.

Deadpool (2016. Tim Miller)
Finally a film about a cape that is the cinematic equivalent of reading a graphic novel. IMO!


Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981. Steve Miner)
Hey! Let's make money.....
Still one of the sillier films I've seen. The padding, er, exposition at the beginning, the awful "set up", "You're doomed!!!" An embryonic Jason sporting a tattie sack.......

I love it. Didn't love the R rated print though.

So what are your thoughts on the Wishmaster sequels?

Cubbyhouse (2001)

Following a messy divorce, a woman and her three children move back to Australia and purchase a new property. It's not long before her two youngest children become obsessed with an old cubbyhouse out the back as gruesome past events start to relive themselves.

This Australian horror from 2001 harks back to the days of the FX laden late 80's with an approach somewhat like the Evil Dead - all tangling vines which come alive, orifices being entered, blood flowing down the steps and glowing pentagrams on the wall. It also reminds me a little of Lucio Fulci's creature fascination as a kid is enveloped in cockroaches. It's the reminders of bygone times that makes Cubbyhouse a diverting little watch and something of a curio, it also seems quite dated because of this, even with that charming quaintness.

Unfortunately once we get into the story it all becomes a tad routine and indeed ridiculous, - an outhouse possessed by Satan... i mean really! This isn't MTDS's country retreat.

Lacking in gore and any real threat, Cubbyhouse's occasional interesting parts really don't add up to an awful lot.

Well tripple 9 is probably at that level. It was entertaining enough that I didn't hate it.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

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A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I. Together with several other young German soldiers, he experiences the horrors of war, such evil of which he had not conceived of when signing up to fight. They eventually become sad, tormented, and confused of their purpose.

All Quiet on the Western Front does not sugar coat the horrors of war and still manages to pack a punch; even for audiences today. A timeless classic.

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79/100

Nothing Underneath (1985)

In Milan a fashion model is kidnapped and believed murdered by a killer using scissors to mutilate his victims. Over in Yellowstone National Park a ranger has a disturbing vision about his sister and high tails it across the pond to Italy where he enlists the help of Donald Pleasence's detective to help track down his sister.

It's tough for a later giallo to add anything to what had become a well worn genre by this stage. Unfortunately Nothing Underneath falls into that bracket as it is on the whole fairly routine.

Whilst not particularly gory, most kills are off camera, perhaps in the knowledge that every conceivable murder had already been seen by giallo movie goers. Director Carlo Vanzina chooses to portray his murders a little more in the art house direction shall we say. Take the example of the blood dripping into a bath as a good example of what i mean. Although what gore is onscreen is well done and looks very effective. Then of course there's the slo-mo finale...

The film is, i think, Donald Pleasence' only foray into the giallo genre (Correct me if i'm wrong, please) and his presence is a welcome one. His role isn't that different to his trademark Sam Loomis Halloween role, except perhaps a tad more sceptical when it comes to the psychic link between the ranger and his sister, and for the most part he works well with lead actor, Tom Shanley. (who!?)

Nothing Underneath is never going to make you mouth 'wow!' in amazement but it sticks to it's giallo roots well and in time honored traditions features a bevy of beautiful girls, a lot of red herrings and mystery, and of course a little sleaze to tide you over.

Nice review, Dem.

Whilst nothing mind-blowing, I quite enjoyed Nothing Underneath and have the DVD pictured in your review. I've always wanted to check out the sequel but haven't gotten around to it as yet.

As for giallo and Pleasence, he also starred in Phantom of Death.