Kanako is astounding but brace yourself!

10 Cloverfield Lane

Really good film very tense and claustrophobic John Goodmanham is great I don't want to give anything away just that is a rollercoaster ride.

The Dark
Skeeter

and tis the season, Bunnyman

The Big Heat (1953)

Wow! What a tremendous film! This film is worth discovering for yourselves so i won't go into the who's, what's, how's and why's of the plot. Needless to say it's a gripper from the opening seconds and a tight script, crackling dialogue, Oscar baiting performances, strong violence and stunning direction from Fritz Lang, guarantee to keep you glued to the screen.

I would just like to pause and say how brilliant Gloria Grahame came over. Not usually a favourite of mine but here she practically steals the film from under Glenn Ford's nose. Not an easy feat as he was as tough and calculated as they come and his performance surely was a precursor to the classic crime films of the 60's and 70's. In fact the whole film seemed to have sequences that would influence film makers for years to come. Grahame however gave a multi-faceted performance. At times extremely funny and at others a dame to kill for or indeed be killed by. She was an absolute joy to behold. In fact everyone was on top of their game here. From nasty Lee Marvin to smaller roles for Dorothy Green, Jeanette Nolan and Alexander Scourby, each and everyone just so memorable.

The Big Heat is the best 'new to me' noir since i saw Rififi last year.

La Bambola di satana

A group of people head to a remote castle with a dark history for the reading of a will and get bumped off one by one by a mysterious black gloved killer.
Made in 1969 it carries a lot of the tropes of Italian Gothic horror and Giallo and represents another transnational film where the Gothic would make way for black gloved killers. Not as successful as other examples of the genre it features a great location let down by a lack of any real thrills. There's a bit of nudity and it threatens to get perverse but ultimately feels a little bit of a mis-fire.

The wild-eye

Like Cannibal holocaust this ones more a comment on the morality of film making and a critique of the Mondo pictures of the time. The director Paolo Cavara was a co-director on the original mondo cane. Here a director of mondo type pictures picks up a married woman and they head to Asia where he pushes for more and more exploitative and extreme footage. Like the protagonists of Holocausts he becomes complicit in the crimes he's seeking to capture on film while ruthlessly exploiting the locals.
Its not as extreme as Holocaust but still features some shocking (for the time) sequences and a great score. It lacks the clever construction of Holocaust as well but remains a film worth checking out if you have any interest in the subject matter.

No the case is happily resolved

Another real discovery for Camera Obscura. Here a working class family man stumbles across a college professor murdering a woman. Intending to go to the police he panics and ends up at home. By the time he resolves to contact the police the Professor has beat him to the punch and is busy framing him for the killing. As the film progresses he makes numerous futile attempts at covering himself that ends up making him seem more guilty.
Not at all sleazy or violent, aside from a shocking murder near the beginning, the film is a cracking thriller that had me screaming at the screen at how dumb the main character is. This is pretty much the point as he's depicted as being rather naive and straight forward and ultimately this makes him a victim of the system. Well worth watching.

Dr. Cyclops (1940)

Dr. Cyclops, whilst being fairly run of the mill plot wise is actually an extraordinary piece of work. Only the second horror / sci-fi film to be filmed in technicolor (33's Mystery of the Wax Museum was the first), it's genuinely a joy to watch.

I adore technicolor, i think it's a gorgeous filming technique and Dr. Cyclops looks stunning throughout. Full of vibrant colours, it actually made me wonder what classics like The Black Cat and Frankenstein could have looked like bathed in the green hues that open this film.

It's not only technicolor that adds to the enjoyment of the film. Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and produced by Merian C. Cooper the creative duo behind King Kong (1933). The film has ingenious special effects, with a whole environment produced in super size to allow the shrunken heroes of the film, and victims of Dr. Cyclops experiments, to run about in. This, some 17 years before The Incredible Shrinking Man pulled off the same trick to great acclaim, allowing Schoedsack to wow the viewer with some stunning set pieces involving cats, crocodiles and er'... a chicken.

Dr. Cyclops...story wise it's mundane but creatively it's a quite beautiful experience.

Recommended.

With watching the show Damien decided to watch this as the show is directly linked to the film, with flash backs etc used in the show, granted its only 30 years between the film and the show but in fact should be 40 years.
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Even though I'm not religious, I still find the film as creepy and unnerving as when I saw it as a child. Thanks to the direction and cast but especially Harvey Stephens as the most creepy and evil looking child to grace the screen, that last shot of the evil little bastard smiling still sends a shiver down my spine. 9.5/10

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Faust (1926)

Following some decidedly dodgy modern horror over the Easter weekend i thought i'd finish the mini break with FW Murnau's classic take on Faust.

With silent films i often struggle a little with the acting as it's often over exaggerated seemingly to make up for the lack of speech, however in this particular film it doesn't grate so much and i think the actors do a better job than in say Murnau's other classic horror, 1922's Nosferatu. Even Emil Jannings who could have hammed it up no end in the two guises of Mephisto played it largely straight.

My overriding feeling following this first viewing wasn't of story or characters but of the visuals. What visuals they were. Murnau really excels himself and creates onscreen brilliance that would influence film makers to the present day.

Faust is a film you can practically fall in love with in it's first twenty minutes. Murnau's use of light and shade and the movement of these mediums even in still sequences is stunning, i'm sure it must have had a great influence on Val Lewton's forties output. As was the scene when Faust goes to the crossroad to make his deal with the devil.

However the most outrageously brilliant part of the film comes in the first ten minutes. A breathtaking overhead journey of the town the viewer gazing at what's below. When you take into account there was no CGI and no aviation as such and the tracking shot was all done with models, it really is some feat...with the best still to come...There at the peak of the town is the devil, laughing, slowly, malevolently, spreading his wings, the plague, over the town and it's citizens. Quite honestly this could be the greatest moment of horror cinema, indeed cinema, i've ever seen.

I'm sure there are many on here like myself up until last night who have never seen this film. Do yourself a favour. Treat yourself to Eureka's Blu-ray, sit back and marvel at what unfolds on the tv in front of you.

Kung Fu Panda 3 and Interstellar. :)

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Boy did this film take ages to get going anywhere. Once it did I thought it was pretty good. Batman looks and sounds awesome and once Wonder Woman appears she is straight in the fight and when she uses her lasso I was in my element. Shame we never got another solo Superman film as I think we needed one before this. Lex luthor is more like the Joker than anything else and far too young. Overall, a decent effort, pretty grim and not really a superhero movie for the kiddies.

Yours is the first review on here that makes me want to see this film, Dave.

Go in with lowered expectations and you might get some fun out of it. Its just really, really, really poorly written. I was discussing it the other day and I could not explain Lex Luthors motivations for anything he did, at least without thinking about comics I'd read.

That's the big problem with it IMO and has actually been admitted by Snyder, is that it is catered entirely to fans of the comics and well no one else really. My friends and I all loved it, and afterwards we came out picking apart all the story lines used and references and where we thought it would go afterwards.

But the problem is, well that as well. Around the middle it does get quite confusing as things seem to go everywhere and nothing Lex does makes any sense. If it weren't for all of us having read the comics, we'd have struggled with it all a lot

But the Batman side of things is by far the best portrayal of the batman universe we've ever seen, and besides the terrible harddrive scene, the Justice League/future elements such as the nightmare hold promise of what is to come.

Thing is, a decent script could have improved things a lot. Its so muddled and confusing because its really bad at telling a coherent story, something most of the Marvel titles managed without too much need to reference the comics, the bits that were generally were the end credit scenes.

The best way to understand it is to assume that Lex Luthor knows everyone's secret identities from the get go and he is basically able to understand their deepest hidden scars and motivations and exploits this, he even allows all his sensitive data to be nicked by Bats to this end.

Why?

F*** knows, he seems to just want superman dead and instead of developing a super science trap to make that happen... you know... like LEX does in ALL THE COMICS, instead he decides to con a bloke dressed as a bat to steal all the kryptonite and basically waste it in a gamble.

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To me this is the definitive Lex vs Supes tale and shows exactly what he can do to the man of steel.

I keep saying, character motivation was the biggest problem. And not just Lex, its not that his plans didn't make sense, there just wasn't a reason for him to do the things he did. I struggled more with Batmans inexplicable desire to destroy Superman. I completely get his concerns about Supes powers and the risk to the world but not to the extreme it was taken. If he'd have wanted to develop a weapon as a back up in case that would have made perfect sense. But he just had a death wish for him which didn't make sense to me. Another thing that was a bit of a shambles i thought was the geography of the film. Metropolis and Gotham seem to just be splodged together. There was nothing to really define one from the other which meant the climax of the film felt a bit all over the shop. I really hope the extra thirty minutes flesh things out a bit and Snyder doesn't just add a load more bigbaddaboom!
Oh and the Aquaman cameo...erm its a bit shit? Was i meant to laugh out loud?

Half the stuff in its baffling when you consider all Lex really had to do was kidnap Martha Kent and supes, rather than zoom in and save her with speed and x-ray vision would simply do exactly what Lex said. All the other stuff he did to make supes look bad seemed pointless in retrospect unless it was simply to make batman more concerned about him, enough to want to kill him. The you just need to point out that Batman is one of the smartest guys on the planet and should be able to figure out when he's being played.

It was my understanding that Metropolis and Gotham have always been across from each other? Like Metropolis is in Delaware and modeled off New York and Gotham is in New Jersey and modeled after Chicago. This is why apppearances may fool but they're both on Delaware Bay

Must admit I'm totally ignorant as far as the comics go. But then i am with Marvel too but their films have never required any foreknowledge.

NIGHTMARE WEEKEND – It looks choppy. What's going on? A robbery, maybe? Somebody tells someone else to “rotate the disc”. What's 'the disc'? What does it all mean? Aeroplane. Suddenly, a glove puppet attached to a computer pops up and yells “Danger! Danger!” Then a really unimpressive silver ball trashes the f*ck out of someone's face. Roll credits. Welcome to 'Nightmare Weekend.” It has its own theme tune, with lyrics about a nightmare weekend. It sounds like it was sung by Barbara Dixon.
Anyone who makes it through 'Nightmare Weekend' will find that it does make a bit more sense than the pre-credit scramble suggests. A bit more sense, but not all that much more. There is a plot, sure. It becomes as labyrinthine and as pointless as Robert Altman's softcore version of 'Knots Landing'. I'll try to simplify, but I won't do a very good job. Basically, there's a computer scientist with a massive house, maybe two massive houses (I couldn't tell which was which most of the time) who invites some chicks over to his pad one weekend for some “psychological experiments”. They seem pretty pleased about it when they discuss it during their aerobics class. Maybe I'm wrong, though. Maybe it's the scientist's sinister assistant who gets everyone over. She's involved in some kind of complex subterfuge involving the outcome of all these 'psychological experiments', and seems like the sort of person who wouldn't mind “going above fifty on the Biometer” (which you're strictly not allowed to do in 'Nightmare Weekend'). She certainly doesn't seem to have any qualms about using silver balls to trash people's faces. Those silver balls, by the way, have a lot to answer for. They're obviously ripped off from 'Phantasm', but only to the extent that anyone with a small, unimpressive silver ball with admittedly sinister properties can be said to be ripping off 'Phantasm'. They're at the centre of these 'psychological experiments', and they get in people's mouths, change their victim's personalities, turn them into zombies, that kind of thing. They waver in and out of the film, and tend to be called upon in moments when the filmmakers were obviously thinking “Jeez, how can this scene get any better? I know, we've got these really rad looking silver balls...”. Silver balls aside, we get to focus on the scientist's daughter, who falls for a biker who's in cahoots with the sinister assistant. She turns to the glove-puppet slash computer combo entity for advice on the matter. He tells her she's in love. While she sets about wooing the man of her dreams, we're subjected to various scenes of people shagging in cars with on-lookers bugging out to their walkmen in the background, people shagging on pinball machines in an attempt to intimidate others, and a rape interrupted by one of those silver balls. The list of nonsensical interludes is endless. This is, after all, 'Nightmare Weekend', a derailed cinematic landscape where one man's idea of an insult is to approach another guy in a bar with the words “You're quantity. I'm quality”. 'Nightmare Weekend' is staunchly incoherent. If it has to tell a story, it'll give you fifty of them instead, none of them very good. This is all obviously bad filmmaking rather than an attempt to do anything experimental or 'dream-like', although there are moments which make you question that. Take the scene where one of the girls who've been invited to the house gets it on with a Tom Selleck look alike. She ends up with a silver ball in her mouth and becomes a deranged sex harpy. She straddles Tom and is about to 'strike' in a horror kind of way when the scene cuts away to spider crawling over some croissants and the maid character going “eeek!” No mention ever again of what just happened up there in the bedroom. But, the scene with the spider had obviously been very deliberately set up because it clearly foreshadows something else later on that happens to the maid. It's this weird, weird combination of intricacy and idiocy that makes 'Nightmare Weekend' so special. It's such a head scratch that I can forgive the fact that it's not even very nightmarish until the last ten minutes, when those sliver balls turn everybody into deformed zombies on a death rampage. 'Nightmare Weekend'. What can I say? See it if you like bad, f*cked up weird shit. Don't expect transgression. Don't expect gore, thrills, suspense. Accept that you will be baffled, and perhaps want your money back. For me it's a keeper.

:pound:

It's been a while since I updated in this thread, there are too many to do reviews so here is what I've seen and the scores I gave them :lol:

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Highlights of the week have been A Touch of Zen and Late Spring

I might need to be lazy and do that too! ;) :pop2:

But, but, but...it's more than you usually do. :tongue1:

:tongue1:

I used to post a pretty screenshot and a rating until I started getting bullied into writing reviews! :pout: ;)

And now we don't even get the screen shot and rating. :critter:

I keep meaning to buy Network!

...And I watched half of Death Walk on High Heels on YouTube and I was quite enjoying it until the film started stuttering and became un-watchable, but I didn't enjoy it enough to spend £32 on it :lol:

I'll get back on it!

At sale time my bank account thinks l i do. :rolleyes:

I certainly enjoyed the first half/two thirds, not so much the final third, as it turns more into a police procedural style and loses some of its visual flair.

The extras are very good though on the disc for this film, especially if you are a fan of Once Upon a Time in America.

Cinderella (1977)

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Want an alternative take on the classic fairytale? Sick of animated bunnies singing and prancing around 'perfectly' proportioned atypically beautiful Disney princesses? Think Cinderella could have done with some more T&A? Well this could be the film for you! Michael Pataki directs this softcore musical spoof of the classic fairy tale, which includes (amongst other things) plenty of nudity, simulated sex scenes galore (including lesbianism and incest), a castle orgy, slapstick comedy, a gay, black 'fairy godmother' and a magical vagina.

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55/100

Death Game

Recently re-made into the disappointing Knock Knock but if your thinking of watching that I'd say give it a miss and watch this. Plot-wise they are pretty close, a middle aged family man gets his fantasy come true when two hot young women turn up one dark and stormy night and seem pretty keen on a three way. Puttling up very little resistance the family man has the night of his life which morphs into a nightmare when they refuse to leave and quickly become psychopathic when he tries to make them leave.
I preferred this to Knock Knock for several reasons, firstly the two female leads are much more plausible and well presented. Secondly the lower production values and shocking picture quality give it a weird grind house feel that adds something to proceedings. Finally its better cast. No offence to Keanu reeves but he was definitely miscast and this original pretty much drives that home.

Cloverfield

Nice to re-visit this from time to time. I know found footage is instantly off putting to some people (me included as the years grind on) however given the recent Big budget Godzilla experience this film still feels like an enjoyable monster flick where the found footage concept shows things from the screaming, terrified civilians perspective. I've watched this film a few times now and it continues to hold up.

10 Cloverfield lane

A young woman is run off the road and wakes up in a bunker. Her captor, played by John Goodman, informs her that the apocalypse has come and she cannot leave. Showing signs of being a f*****g lunatic she begins to make plans to escape.
I'm saying nothing more about the film until more people see it. Not knowing what's coming is part of the appeal of the film. Its a well written and very well acted film that really engaged me. John Goodman is suburb but then its rare when he isn't. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is great but I'm biased because she is hot. Some people complain about the final act but its hinted at throughout the film. I think this may end up as one of my films of the year alongside Deadpool.

Is this another found footage film?

I despised Cloverfield for it's appalling camerawork. Spent the majority of the attacks watching the floor.

That because the guy filming was legging it away from a big arse monster. Wonder he didn't drop the camera.

It's not very entertaining for the viewer though.

It's not, no. It's a survival drama with just 3 characters and a confined space. It's REALLY good.

Playing devils' advocate now. But how can just three characters be good? Surely in a horror / thriller people have to get bumped off to bring real fear to both the other characters and the viewer.

It actually sounds really predictable. Three people shouting at each other in a confined space for two hours.

Prove me wrong! :nod:

People don't need to die to generate fear. A large portion of The Shining is Jack, Wendy and Danny. Hitchcock got mileage out of a small group of people in a life boat, Friedkins BUG is awesome aside from it being two people in a motel room. Pontypool spends a large chunk of its time with a very small cast. Dead end is a family in a car. A clever film-maker creates suspense and tension through the drama. 10 cloverfield lane does it through great acting,writing and direction.