Ghoulies II (1988)

A massive improvement on the rather insipid first film. This time the Ghoulies manage to make themselves at home in a traveling carnival house of horrors that's under the threat of closure from the new unscrupulous owner of the carnival as it isn't pulling in the business. However when the five little demons become the attraction the punters find that charging an arm and a leg isn't just a figure of speech.

Whilst it never creates an atmosphere of apprehension that the best fun fair horrors have, in fact you actually fancy having a look round the attractions in this carnival, so for atmosphere it's an abject failure, but the rest of the film does a lot right. The Ghoulies are far more creative and indeed ever so slightly scarier. Even to the point of killing folk in inventive and gory fashion, meaning the whole film is a hell of a lot more fun and the giant Ghoulie killing creature during the finale is cheesy to the point of ridicule. Then again we are talking about a film called Ghoulies II so it seems pointless to laugh at the overgrown Ghoulie when it appears. I mean, we all want giant Ghoulies don't we?

Well written, decent acting, laugh out loud violence and an actual semblance of a story as well as massive improvements in the Ghoulies puppets make this sequel a far more enjoyable proposition than the lame original from four years earlier and one i could certainly watch again.

Might have been some redneck from the deep south who losing his identity and slowly becoming a cockney because i live in london and getting the twang thats why my accent was shite.

Try being part of a drag queen forum!

If you don't have thick skin, you are lucky to get out alive!!

Never apologise

A one man stand-up show with Malcom McDowell discussing the life and times of director Lindsay Anderson. Its genuinely entertaining to hear McDowell talk about his friend and I ended up wanting it to be longer.

Cannibal terror

A group of kidnappers head out into darkest south of france/spain and fall afoul of Cannibals. The father & mother of the child they have kidnapped have to head out and stage a rescue. Rather dull but sleazy enough to be watch-able.

Devil Hunter

Al Cliver must head into darkest spain/portugal to rescue a model from a cannibal cult who worship a man with ping pong ball eyes. Full bore Franco sleaziness struggles to save this from feeling like one of Francos lesser efforts thanks to terrible pacing. Double-billed with cannibal terror they make a lengthy but reasonably entertaining afternoon for the patient.

Jason X (for me) is certainly the most entertaining of the bunch. :nod:

Glad to hear that this one wasn't a 'number 2' after all! ;)

The weekend's viewings:



Mysterious Skin (2004)

https://45.media.tumblr.com/a46a3494...yfm4o1_500.gif

84/100


What's the Matter with Helen? (1971)

http://49.media.tumblr.com/2e2bdef12...p4z6o1_500.gif

61/100


Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971)

https://36.media.tumblr.com/482b995b...5swko1_500.jpg

60/100


Naked (1993)

http://45.media.tumblr.com/167c28f44...bxs1o2_500.gif

89/100

Nice, a bit of Mike Leigh. I'll need to re-watch Mysterious Skin at some point, not seen it since the cinema release.

I've been meaning to catch this for a long time. I'm going to try harder this weekend.

OVER YOUR DEAD BODY – From Takashi Miike. It follows the theatrical production of a classical Japanese ghost story about love, betrayal and revenge. Only, what happens on stage seems to be happening off stage, too. The main actor is a love rat who gets off with the actress who plays his wife's substitute in the production, and much angst falls upon all those involved as things boil up to a hallucinogenic and sometimes gory denouement. Despite all this turmoil, 'Over Your Dead Body' (which, as a title, is at odds with the grave tone evident throughout the film) moves quite slowly, with the deliberation and poise of a cruel executioner. Performances too are muted and nuanced, the characters either glacial or seething, and this paralells the frosty, formal elegance of 'Over Your Dead Body's look. Perhaps more central to what Miike's getting it is the scrambled reality suggested here – the boundaries between the events of the play and the events in the film are loose and blurred, but even more so the contents of the characters' minds and their unfolding fates become indistinguishable, lending 'Over Your Dead Body' a 'Videodrome'-esque quality to some degree. Fans expecting another 'Audition' or 'Ichi', or something a bit more wham-bam might be left scratching their heads and wanting more, but 'Over Your Dead Body'' is highly recommended for those who would like to be disturbed and confused.

MURDERDROME – 'Monster Pictures' can be relied upon for getting really interesting bargain basement indie and underground horror into the high street. 'Murderdrome' is certainly a highly quirky shoestring independent and, I'm sure, a pretty worthy addition to the 'Monster Pictures' stable. It's set in Australia's punk rock Roller Derby underground, where some kind of weird bondage clad skate demoness is going around killing people and a sinister caretaker is involved in magick. Maybe it all has something to do with 'The Murderdrome', a former roller derby rink where something awful happened? I say 'maybe' because, by the time 'The Murderdrome' made its first appearance in 'Murderdrome', my ability to concentrate had already been whittled down to a mere broken twig by a sandstorm of awful sub-Troma gags, rubbish editing and badly formed sequences. So it all just became a bit of a blur, which feels quite appropriate really as the makers of 'Murderdrome' clearly did not set up their camera(s) to film 'The Ten Commandments'. I didn't quite take to 'Murderdrome'. It wasn't the scattershot, crude approach of the filmmaking – I applaud that – it was the humour, which was just too broad for my taste. Having said that, what other kind of tone befits such gonzo production values? Maybe that's the challenge. Anyway, my take on 'Murderdrome' is that it's something I respect, something I don't really 'get', but which I'm glad exists – a bit like Roller Derby itself. And while those looking for an insight into that particular sub-culture might be better off with 'Whip It', those in search of trashed out, punked up badly made indie comedy horror should look no further.

CHARLIE'S FARM – Two guys and two gals – some of whom are really quite annoying – set out into the countryside to find 'Charlie's Farm', rumoured to be the site of bad things that happened back in the eighties. They want to go camping, and the place of a former massacre obviously makes for great tent pitching ground in a slasher flick. You couldn't really get more generic if you tried, could you? 'Charlie's Farm' takes a while to get going. It's tolerable at first, with its inevitable excursions into stock territory – for example, the bar full of unwelcoming locals who won't talk about 'what happened back then' but turn out to be necessary plot devices. This kind of thing does provide a slightly better alternative to yet more shots of a car going along a road in the middle of nowhere, but, midway through the run time, it all becomes a bit of a trudge. Thankfully, things are enlivened by some crazier interludes, with bits of gore and flashbacks showing the cruel farm owners and their tormented son, who seems to spend his time on a rocking horse next to soon-to-be murder victims. These latter scenes are actually quite grim, and foreshadow 'Charlie's Farm's final act, which blossoms into gory violence and claustrophobic hopelessness as dicks are cut off and shoved in mouths, throats are slit in leering close up and jaws are wrenched savagely from pleading faces, all courtesy of a giant with a knackered mug and a huge weapon. It's a pay-off worth sticking around for if you like these kind of twisted vibes. 'Charlie's Farm' acquits itself as a worthwhile piece of DTV dreck, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes to pick up cheap bits of plastic from Supermarkets, Poundland and Cex (a kind of trinity which marks out the spiritual homeland of trash like the film under discussion). Had it been keener on the vile stuff before the end and a little sharper round the edges generally, then it could've been an anti-classic – as it stands, it's a well put together, slightly flawed diversion, but one which bodes well for the future of its makers.

Seems we agree on Charlie's Farm, Frankie. :pop2:

Blood Beach. A sunny beach in California becomes the centre for a swathe of disappearances, and it soon becomes clear that there is some kind of monster lurking beneath the sand, and pulling its victims under! The great John Saxon co-stars in (and is the best thing about) this mildly diverting early 80s B movie horror. He also gets to utter the film's best line - also used as the movie's tagline:
"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... you can't get to it!" :pound:

Werewolf: The Beast Among Us (2012)

Set in a 19th century Transylvanian village, a young man studying under a local doctor joins a team of hunters on the trail of a wolf-like creature.

Universal return to their Gothic roots in this fast paced, action packed tale. Coming across as a less messy version of Van Helsing (2004), this may lack the star power of Hugh Jackman but it plays out as less of a derivative cash in on the Universal legacy.

The team of bounty hunters are a rag tag bunch of actors including Ed Quinn and Scarface's Steven Bauer with Nia Peebles in the obligatory role of doom telling wise woman. Hell even Stephen Rea pops up in possibly his goriest role yet as a doctor / mortician type.

Being a Universal film the production looks great. Filmed in the Dark Country, the streets look uncannily like those from 1922's Nosferatu and give the film a realistically authentic look thankfully, whilst never shaming their legacy of monsters and mayhem. The only slight drawback being the way CGI morphs with excellent practical effects work. The creature make up is great, did they really need CGI?

As the credits roll, hopefully you'll have enjoyed this as much as i did third time around with the final thought that although not a classic by any stretch of the imagination Werewolf: The Beast Among Us is a decent 90 mins entertainment and should be lapped up by Universal completists.

7 Men from Now (1956)

Classic Budd Boetticher directed western starring Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin.

Boetticher has a style all his own. Unlike say John Ford who is at home playing out events over vast areas and times, Boetticher keeps his films small. His work tends to feel more personal. In this case Scott tracking down the 7 men responsible for killing his wife in a botched heist. The Lincoln County range wars for example are just not his thing. That's not to say 7 Men from Now is small scale, it isn't. Boetticher liked to film in an area known as Lone Pine in the Californian hills. An area where every type of land is available for western film making, from plains to forest to hillside terrain. There's nothing worse than a studio bound western of which there are many. The script by Burt Kennedy who went on to become an accomplished director in westerns (The Train Robbers, The War Wagon etc) is a pacy affair. Gripping in it's simplicity. It's clear the Scott and Marvin will come to blows and that their friendship throughout is strained and sinister to say the least, but the script and direction keep you on edge none the less.

The film, a Batjac production, was originally meant as a vehicle for John Wayne, but he was still making The Searchers for Ford so suggested Randolph Scott. Scott, like James Stewart, isn't an action tough guy like Wayne, he's more an everyman and thus comes across as a more intriguing prospect and less likely killer of men than Wayne or Clint Eastwood portray. Marvin on the other hand, well i suppose he plays a young Lee Marvin. Full of swagger as the trade mark anti-hero.

7 Men from Now is an excellent example of a fifties western. Not too talky and full of action.Recommended.

Eye in the Sky (2015)

Set in several locations around the world, this follows events in Kenya where several high profile terrorist leaders congregate in one location, perfect for a planned 'raid and capture' move. However, they move and are followed to a different location where a UK national, radicalised as a teenager, is confirmed amongst their number and is one of the most wanted members of Al-Shabaab, an African terrorist organisation.

With the house in a different area of the city, and now with two men being fitted with explosive vests for suicide detonation, the only option now becomes a strike from a Reaper Drone, which is operated by two young pilots in Nevada, but events are complicated when a young girl sets up stall selling bread outside the house perimeter walls. While the military and political personnel try and come to a decision, the clock is ticking.

The film introduces all sorts of moral, ethical and philosophical questions, with Helen Mirren's character, a colonel who has been tracking the radicalised Brit for six years, desperate to launch the Hellfire missile but, along with the Lieutenant-General (brilliantly played by Alan Rickman in his final screen role) in the COBRA meeting, finds herself frustrated by the politicians who are increasingly concerned by collateral damage and the propaganda war they are waging with Al-Shabaab and the wider Muslim world.

Events basically take place in real time, switching between the British Northwood headquarters, an office somewhere in Whitehall, the cabin in Nevada where the pilots sit at the controls and then on the ground in Nairobi. Also, various other people, from the US attorney general, US Secretary of State (on a visit in Shanghai) and a very ill British Foreign Secretary in his hotel room after hastily leaving an arms fair in Britain are all involved in the decision over whether or not to launch a missile that would potentially save 80 lives, but kill or injure those in the vicinity of the house.

Eye in the Sky is as tense as films come, extremely cerebral, thought-provoking, and timely. It makes you realise the level of decision-making that goes into each drone strike, almost asking 'what would you do?', whilst not giving any easy answers. The entire cast are superb, with Mirren in a role originally written for a man, Aaron Paul brilliant as the young drone pilot, and Somali actor Barkhad Abdi, who came to prominence in Captain Phillips, again superb as part of a terrific ensemble cast. Very highly recommended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxpX8-efsZI

Great review, Nos.

You've made me really want to see this now. Look forward to the dvd.

The sinful dwarf

A down on their luck couple are looking for a cheap guest house to live in while hubby's writing career takes off. They manage to stumble on a shoddy little dive run by a faded cabaret act and her dwarf son Torben. Little do the couple know, mother and son are making a few quid kidnapping young woman, shooting them up with heroin and leaving them perpetually stoned on filthy mattresses in a hidden room in the attic. Torben and his mum make a few quid letting punters up to screw the girls brains out. The young wife is gorgeous and has a cracking set of tits so greasy little Torben sets himself a task to capture her for his collection.
There comes a point when you genuinely believe you have seen everything then a film like this comes and shows you something new. Apparently unwanted based on the featurette included with American fans claiming to have been traumatised. Perhaps they watched the XXX hardcore porno version with added penetration? Personally I must admit now to actually enjoying the film. Torben, a children's television presenter before and after he made this scuzzy little flick is memorable as the dwarf and the film has a very desolate atmosphere that sticks with you, a little like House of whipcord for me in that respect. Worth checking out.

Me too. It's not a regular watch i admit but i do like it.

Yeah, I really like The Sinful Dwarf too - I may upgrade my DVD copy at some point.

Face a very under rated britsh gem with ray winston, robert Carlyle, Dalmon Albarn and lots of other famous actors.
One of those films where if it was showing eg in a friends house on tv even if you walked in half way through you still got to sit down amd watch rest of it....

Yes, it is good. Another classic from Antonia Bird RIP.

Samurai Cop (1991, Armin Shervan)
A film from beyond. Whilst tenuously "a thriller", this literal turd is a delight from beginning to end. See!! a lack of reaction shots. Stand agape! at the overuse of repeated footage. Choke on your sandwich! as yet another crudely tacked on sex scene rears it's blemished head.

WHAT JESS FRANCO.........

Actually see Downtown Heat cough


And breathe.
Hopefully the sequel will be of the same high standard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtRb7XCwuvI

I went to watch this today, I hadn't seen this review until now though, I don't need to write one for myself because I 100% agree with yours, it was fantastic. Alan Rickman was particularly good though which you didn't mention!

Every member of the cast was brilliant. I know it would be sentiment as well as merit, but it would be really fitting if he was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category.

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NEAREST AND DEAREST (1972)

Another Hammer Films production of a popular tv comedy show. I had not seen this in ages so it was good to see Hylda Baker again as Nellie, getting all her words wrong. Nellie trying to walk in high heels was laugh out loud funny.

"Walter...have you been" ?

Body Double

Struggling actor Jake Scully is having a shitty week. He's been fired from his gig playing a vampire in a low budget horror flick for having a panic attack while in a coffin, he's discovered his missus cheating on him ( a brief cameo from a totally nude Barbara Crampton) and he's ended up with nowhere to live. A pal from his acting class tells him he's leaving town for a week or so and can crash at the house he's house-sitting. Its a modernistic design set in the Hollywood hills and pretty swanky for the 80's, even better there's a telescope set up to look down into a neighbouring property in order to watch the lady of the house do a sexy striptease. Jake being something of a voyeur can't help but watch her and becomes alarmed when he watches first her husband abusing her, then a mysterious Indian who has begun to follow her. Deciding to follow the woman himself to ..you know... make sure she's safe, Scully soon finds himself drawn more and more to the woman. Then he witnesses the Indian break into her apartment and kill her with a bloody huge drill while he's attempting a rescue. It's after the police close the case that Scully discovers something more is going on after seeing porn star Holly Body doing a dance that he saw the woman do while he was creeping on her.
Body double is quite similar to the thrillers that DePalma was doing in the 70's with themes of voyeurism, male gaze, obsession and murder that showed an inspiration from Hitchcock and the Giallo pictures from Italy. The main difference here is Body double is shot through an eighties, post MTV sensibility (DePalma states he was watching a lot of MTV at the time) as well as adding a deliberately tacky, neon veneer to the proceedings that suit mid eighties LA. The twist is pretty easy to guess from the beginning, the fun with Body double is the journey itself which manages to be incredibly transgressive for a studio picture of that period that normally shunned graphic sexuality and focused on the fetishism of violence. The film was pretty much pilloried at the time for this and the usual misogyny labels were thrown at the film. This critique doesn't really hold up as the two female characters in the film are independent and strong, especially Holly who avoids the 'damaged goods' stereotype depiction of Porn stars and actually feels like someone who got into the industry because she actually likes sex. The film sticks in the brain long after the credits roll, especially the credits themselves which feature a lingering tit-shot for... reasons.
Overall its an occasionally nutty (Frankie goes to Hollywood music video right in the middle of the film) entertaining slice of sleazy thrills from DePalma. The Umbrella blu-ray looks terrific and is UK friendly.

Thundercrack!

Hoo-boy! an almost three hour art-porno shot in black & white that feels like it probably freaked the f*** out of the dirty mac brigade. It features a group of people caught in a torrential downpour who head to a house. Set in the middle of a brutal thunderstorm it feels like the set up to a typical horror movie. Once inside the group begins to get chatty and through the night they hook up in numerous gay and straight hardcore scenes. In between and during the f*****g the couples engage in philosophical discussions chew away at the weighty & sometimes bizarre dialogue.
This is one of those films quite a few people will end up switching off, its a tough viewing for anyone looking for a little light entertainment and perhaps a sly wank. Instead its ends up creeping into your brain like Eraserhead with tits and dicks and throws up some genuinely out there scenes including cucumber-dildos, vomit wigs and gorilla f****g. Overall its worth a go, I cannot guarantee you will enjoy it but its one you might like if you genuinely enjoy the weirder side of cult cinema.

I thought Thundercrack! was fantastic, like nothing I have ever seen. I will agree though that it's tough to recommend this one to someone.

My thoughts exactly. I really liked it but I can imagine a fair sub-section of its audience getting pissed off by it.

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Three trappers protect a British Colonel's daughters as British and French troops do battle in colonial America, with aid from various native American war parties.

Based on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans is probably the most underrated yet equally loved film in the canons of director Michael Mann and it's star Daniel Day-Lewis. Part love story part thrilling spectacle, Mann's film is completely captivating from beginning to end. Michael Mann has always been a stylish director, even his less celebrated efforts like Miami Vice (the film not the tv series) and Public Enemies had style about them. Mohicans is no different. Gone are the neon reds and blues, replaced by lush greens and yellows as Mann puts us in a world of misty forests, thunderous waterfalls and shudder inducing precipices.

As the film opens we are introduced to three men, apparently fleeing through the forest and this sets the tone for the whole film. The three - Day-Lewis, Eric Schweig and Russell Means - are trackers but what are they tracking or are they being themselves hunted. This opening, including the wonderful score by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman is both exhilarating and gorgeous to behold. Stunning in it's simplicity but executed with such flair. The rest of the film plays out in such a manner as to keep you transfixed as events unfold. Mann putting us right in the midst of French cannon fire and savage attacks by Huron war parties lead by the warlike Magua as portrayed by the excellent yet truly frightening, Wes Studi.

The close combat is brilliantly staged putting the viewer in the midst of the bloodshed as scalps are taken, bodies sliced open and heads crushed. The film isn't just about war though even though it's at the very heart of things. A poignant love story unfolds between two women, the daughters of British Colonel Munro, and two of the trackers, Day-Lewis and Schweig. Although at times contemplative the romance is powerful and you really feel the determination as Day-Lewis' Hawkeye declares 'I will find you' as he has to leave Madeleine Stowe in the hands of Magua and the Huron raiders.

To those who haven't seen the film it may come as a surprise that Daniel Day-Lewis' character Hawkeye, although the hero of the story, isn't actually the last of the Mohicans. He was adopted and is actually a white man. The last remaining Mohicans are Chingachgook (Means) and his son Uncas (Schweig). Also (MAJOR SPOILER ALERT) it isn't Hawkeye who thrillingly slays Magua in mesmerizing and lethal vengeance in a scene which makes the spine tingle.

The Last of the Mohicans is a breathtaking experience and in my opinion the best work of both Michael Mann and Daniel Day-Lewis.

DEATH NURSE – 'Death Nurse' comes from Nick Millard's late eighties camcorder period. If you've seen the even more obscure 'Dr Bloodbath', you'll know what to expect – namely, the director's friends and family putting on a show in the Millard house, a show which involves lots of static shots of people talking, scooping out ice cream, preparing invoices, digging holes. Some horror bits get thrown in, probably at points when Millard remembered he was making a film called 'Death Nurse', rather than 'What I Did Around The House On My Days Off'. 'Death Nurse' follows a nurse / doctor duo who run a private clinic which looks just like a suburban house (because that's exactly what it is, see above). They've hit on a scam to murder their patients, then bill the medical authorities for 'the treatment'. Millard's wife plays an alcoholic patient. 'Dr Bloodbath' himself, a dude with a serious hangdog expression on loan from some seventies French comedy, is here under a different name. If this account gives you the impression that things actually happen during 'Death Nurse', don't be fooled – it's more about people wandering around looking vacant and confused, wondering if what they're doing actually counts as being in a movie. 'Death Nurse' runs for about an hour, but even so, Nick Millard couldn't get enough mileage out of filming people hanging out, so he drafted in whole sequences from his seventies post-HG Lewis classic 'Criminally Insane' to pad things out. As shameless as this is, his use of his own stock footage isn't quite as inspired as it was when he pulled off the same trick in 'Dr Bloodbath' – here, we get 'Criminally Insane's horror scenes, whereas in 'Dr Bloodbath' he lifted shots of someone mopping their kitchen! All of this would be intolerable if 'Death Nurse' didn't have a certain 'something'. Whilst the bulk of the 'shock' of seeing something like 'Death Nurse' can be put down to its brazenly anti-cinematic qualities, there's also a weird experimental artiness about the way Millard does things that comes through here, whether this be about shots, compositions, use of repetition etc. There's also (I think) a self consciousness and humour at work, although for me this detracts a little – I prefer this kind of freakiness to be played dead straight. By now, having read this review, you'll already have decided whether 'Death Nurse' is something you'd consider watching at all. I'd hesitate to call it a classic of unintentional surrealism or similar, but it is from that strange realm of films which, with time, seem more like things you've dreamed about rather than watched.

This past week's viewings:



Beware! The Blob (1972)

http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...8gt5o1_500.jpg

56/100


Zaat (1971)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_s_30zQFJp4.../ZAAT+(83).jpg

27/100


Dear Dead Delilah (1972)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6NIlERcbL6w/hqdefault.jpg

59/100


The Fury of the Wolf Man (La furia del Hombre Lobo) (1972)

https://goregirl.files.wordpress.com...-wolf-man1.jpg

53/100


Grave of the Vampire (1972)

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...feedonpaul.jpg

52/100


Moon of the Wolf (1972)

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52/100


The Possession of Joel Delaney (1972)

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57/100


Alabama's Ghost (1973)

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...rtersghost.jpg

51/100


Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)

https://40.media.tumblr.com/5a39e098...6zmvo1_500.png

64/100


Performance (1970)

https://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m...aev3o1_500.jpg

81/100

https://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m...aev3o1_500.jpg

Chas: [to Mick Jagger] You're a comical little geezer. You'll look funny when you're fifty.

how true he was.

Took my lad to watch the new Jungle Book film this morn.
I've never been a fan of the old Disney cartoon. Easily one of their worst. I just find it silly and the kid irritating. So i was expecting much the same from Jon Favreu's new live action epic. I was wrong, an intelligent expanded storyline, stunning effects and brilliant voice work from Idris Elba, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray and especially Christopher Walken. And the kid played by newcomer Neel Sethi is very good too.
I really enjoyed it.

I love the original Jungle Book, and really want to see the adaptation of the book. I've heard mixed things about it, which will enable me to have a fairly clean slate when I watch it, which will hopefully be this coming week.

Maybe it helped that i weren't expecting much but i really liked it and will definitely be picking it up on blu.

I watched The Jungle Book yesterday as well and I did enjoy it. The kid who plays Mowgli is the worst thing about it, but a) it's his first acting gig and b) he's the only actual person in the film so you can easily forgive him. There are some great action scenes, a splash of comedy and even some intense drama. It also looks fantastic.

Lost River (2014)

Actor Ryan Gosling makes his directorial debut with this haunting film that plays like an adult fairy tale much reminiscent of David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn. It's not surprising it has the look and feel of Refn as he was probably Gosling's muse and chief influence.

The film centers on financially strapped mother, Christina Hendricks, who is offered a job in a club, by her bank manager!?, where acts involving torture and mutilation top the bill. Meanwhile her quiet unassuming son (Iain De Caestecker) just wants to get on with his existence and a blossoming romance with the delightfully named Rat, (Saoirse Ronan) which brings him to the attention of a local nut job (Matt Smith) who runs their practically no-go neighbourhood after dark.

Gosling's film is certainly interesting, visually it's fascinating and keeps you watching over the 90 minutes, however it's also challenging viewing but mainly down to it's lack of focus and narrative structure. It's the Lynchian Twin Peaks aspects of the nightmarish club and the night time world that come over the more stimulating but it's lack of coherence lingers longer in the memory than anything else on screen.

Where Gosling's film certainly does work is in the performances. For a first time director he brings together a terrific list of actors. Hendricks is excellent. (Her face peeling stage act is harrowing viewing), Ronan is ever watchable, as is Eva Mendes. Gosling also brings out a terrific scenery chewing performance from Matt Smith who is as far away from his Doctor Who role as could be imagined.

Lost River comes across as a bit of a missed opportunity and too much like it's influences, having said that it is one that was interesting enough to demand a re-view in the future.

I also found Lost River to be a very interesting viewing experience Dem, and it's certainly one I want to revisit in the near future too to see how I take to it second time around.

Did you find it lacked focus or maybe needed tightening at times?