What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Prince_Vajda]

Originally Posted by James Morton

Yes and would of said so otherwise
and there have been other messages with just the films the person saw, nothing else
this applies to other sites as well of course
Do you ask the same questions to those as well?

Simply forget it!

Greetings!

[Slippery Jack]

Spent saturday and sunday at Fright Fest....

The Troll Hunter
Got my weekend off to a great start with this – I had a blast! It’s always a tricky thing, foreign films with a comedic element, with the humour not always translating (I find most Asian comedy unfunny as hell). The humour here was right down my street, with the frequently silly content delivered with real deadpan wit (very British!). While as a film it was a bit one-note, it was one note played extremely well! I thought there were more than enough clever little ideas peppered throughout to keep things entertaining (loved the Three Billy Goats Gruff gag) – and the winning cast were the polar opposite of the smug pricks from Cloverfield. Speaking of that film, I appreciated here how the director had no qualms about showing off his CGI monsters – and what well designed monsters they were! Done with proper attention to character, they had a physicality you rarely get with the big budget Hollywood CGI. I’ll definitely be getting the dvd.

The Wicker Tree
Oh dear. To be honest, the film lived up to expectations as an awkward mess; I was just hoping it would recapture some of the oddball atmosphere of the first film. There were moments of attempted eccentricity (and more sexed-up folk songs), but to me it all felt horribly forced. While The Wicker Man didn’t exactly have an Oscar quality ensemble, at least you had the brilliance of Woodward to propel you through the story. Here, performances were awful across the board, not helped by a terrible screenplay (including a cringe making Simpsons reference) – Shaffer rolling in his grave! The story was all over the place, and especially unconvincing in its portrait of a rural cult community - one of the highlights of the original (I’m going to stop calling it that, this is no sequel). That leads to the ending, which is pretty shameless in its attempt to recapture the spirit of The Wicker Man, falling far far short of it obviously. More enjoyable was the wonderfully awkward pre-film appearance by Robin Hardy. Acting like he was hosting a 1970s beauty pageant, he introduced each cast member in turn till Alan Jones had to cut him off. Priceless...

Fright Night 3D
I’ve never seen the original, so didn’t come to it looking to unfavourably compare. To be fair, for a mainstream Hollywood horror, I found it surprisingly entertaining. Of course, as a 3D film it was utter shit, with the all usual gripes applying here. But yeah, it rocked along at a decent pace, the characters were all likable enough, and the set piece action scenes were quite varied and effective. Not sure about David Tenant’s Russell Brand shtick though...

The Woman
Bloody hell. Low point of the weekend. Relentlessly grim, and not at all in a good way. I just didn’t buy any of it, the main element of the plot set up way too early, with no time taken to introduce the characters properly. With no one behaving in anything approaching realistic human behaviour, I didn’t give a shit about any of them. Along with that you had some truly naff direction – seems Lucky Mckee’s sequence of choice is the character montage set to booming, full-length tracks of indie rock dirge. Every other scene was a bloody montage! I seem to remember that being true of the other film of his I’ve seen (May – not as bad as this). The climax delivered some audience-pleasing gore, but I’d lost interest long before then.

Chillerama
I knew it was a bad sign when the introducing directors made a point of preferring the audience to be boozed up before the film started. It’s exactly the kind of comedy I hate: hyperactive, dumb, ‘it’s supposed to be bad’ gross-out bollocks. An anthology film of four stories, I was ready to leave well before the end of the second, and reckon I did well to stay till the halfway point. Trick r’ Treat it aint.

The Divide
All I knew about this going in was it being directed by Xavier Gens, so I was expecting relentless gore and French people, and this had neither! Starts off with a particularly big bang as most of New York is blown up. After that striking opening, it quickly settles into ‘survivors in a confined space turn on each other’ territory I’d seen a million times before. It most reminded me of Fernando Meirelles’ adaptation of Blindness, although with a much less distinctive visual style. It was all just a bit bland and predictable, and overlong at 110 minutes. Though if you want to see Peter Petrelli from Heroes get convincingly burned alive, this is the film for you!

Rabies
A bit of a weird one this, I’d heard word it was either a slasher or an infection film (or both?), and in the Q&A, the directors admitted to playing with audience expectations – quite a risky strategy! In the event, the film is a schadenfreude-tastic black comedy, with various characters meeting gruesome fates through misunderstanding, overreaction, and happenstance. Good stuff, though I’m not sure it quite warranted the buzz that lead to it being granted an extra screening. Contained the best jump-scare gag of the weekend, got a big laugh.

The Innkeepers
A ghost story with laughs that I thought did a good job of being funny without mocking the genre. While the ghost tale itself was pretty lacklustre, the film made up for it in the casting. As with House of the Devil, Ti West provides a very strong female lead, this time in Sara Paxton. I was totally charmed by her everygirl performance, and her chemistry with co-star Pat Healy (who I recognised, appropriately enough, from Ghost World). Again to compare with the previous film, West builds tension through long, drawn-out sequences that lead to nothing more often than not. I don’t think the technique was as effective here as it was in House of the Devil. I think it’s because here, the setup conforms to very familiar ghost story conventions, whereas in the earlier film you were never quite certain what it was all building to. On the whole I enjoyed it though.

Saint
Like The Fog, only with Santa and his helpers instead of pirates - thought this was good fun. More specifically, it was good fun in bits, whenever the baddies were on the rampage (some fantastic kills!). But the story holding it together was very patchy and unfocused, with a host of unmemorable characters. The makings of a top horror bogeyman in Saint Nick and his rotting horse. It’s just a shame he wasn’t developed more or given more to do. Despite the wobbly CGI, a few set pieces really delivered the goods in terms of action and mayhem - until the climax, which felt rushed and underpowered, as if compromised by budget restraints.

Kill List
The funniest, the scariest, AND most brutal film I saw over the weekend. I absolutely loved the combination of witty, naturalistic performances with an unplaceable, creeping dread (reminiscent I thought of Winding Refn’s superb Fear X). The lurching tone (in a good way) really kept the audience on their toes, the funny banter giving way to some truly shocking violence. Going in I was expecting it to be more of a psychological horror, open to various interpretations (my favourite kind), but I did enjoy the relatively straight-forward approach once I realised it wasn’t really that kind of film. So while there wasn’t much to read into when it was all over, I did find it an utterly thrilling ride, and I was really impressed with Wheatley’s handling of the final moments of outright horror. Definitely lived up to the positive buzz, a perfect film to end my weekend!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Excellent report, Slippery Jack. It'll be interesting to see which of those films are a big success on DVD/BD and which sink without trace.

[pedromonkey]

just finished watching Nightmares In A Damaged Brain, **** me was that film top notch, shame the R2 disc is pants. It was a combination of Psychological Docu Slasher, ****ing loved it. Dunno if it's still or was ever cut but it was very tame compared to some and what a neat twist at the end. Arrow really need to give this the white box treatment. Man im still buzzing off this.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Excellent report, Slippery Jack. It'll be interesting to see which of those films are a big success on DVD/BD and which sink without trace.

Agreed. I quite fancy seeing The Troll Hunter.

[sawyer6]

Originally Posted by Slippery Jack

Spent saturday and sunday at Fright Fest....

The Troll Hunter
Got my weekend off to a great start with this – I had a blast! It’s always a tricky thing, foreign films with a comedic element, with the humour not always translating (I find most Asian comedy unfunny as hell). The humour here was right down my street, with the frequently silly content delivered with real deadpan wit (very British!). While as a film it was a bit one-note, it was one note played extremely well! I thought there were more than enough clever little ideas peppered throughout to keep things entertaining (loved the Three Billy Goats Gruff gag) – and the winning cast were the polar opposite of the smug pricks from Cloverfield. Speaking of that film, I appreciated here how the director had no qualms about showing off his CGI monsters – and what well designed monsters they were! Done with proper attention to character, they had a physicality you rarely get with the big budget Hollywood CGI. I’ll definitely be getting the dvd.

The Wicker Tree
Oh dear. To be honest, the film lived up to expectations as an awkward mess; I was just hoping it would recapture some of the oddball atmosphere of the first film. There were moments of attempted eccentricity (and more sexed-up folk songs), but to me it all felt horribly forced. While The Wicker Man didn’t exactly have an Oscar quality ensemble, at least you had the brilliance of Woodward to propel you through the story. Here, performances were awful across the board, not helped by a terrible screenplay (including a cringe making Simpsons reference) – Shaffer rolling in his grave! The story was all over the place, and especially unconvincing in its portrait of a rural cult community - one of the highlights of the original (I’m going to stop calling it that, this is no sequel). That leads to the ending, which is pretty shameless in its attempt to recapture the spirit of The Wicker Man, falling far far short of it obviously. More enjoyable was the wonderfully awkward pre-film appearance by Robin Hardy. Acting like he was hosting a 1970s beauty pageant, he introduced each cast member in turn till Alan Jones had to cut him off. Priceless...

Fright Night 3D
I’ve never seen the original, so didn’t come to it looking to unfavourably compare. To be fair, for a mainstream Hollywood horror, I found it surprisingly entertaining. Of course, as a 3D film it was utter shit, with the all usual gripes applying here. But yeah, it rocked along at a decent pace, the characters were all likable enough, and the set piece action scenes were quite varied and effective. Not sure about David Tenant’s Russell Brand shtick though...

The Woman
Bloody hell. Low point of the weekend. Relentlessly grim, and not at all in a good way. I just didn’t buy any of it, the main element of the plot set up way too early, with no time taken to introduce the characters properly. With no one behaving in anything approaching realistic human behaviour, I didn’t give a shit about any of them. Along with that you had some truly naff direction – seems Lucky Mckee’s sequence of choice is the character montage set to booming, full-length tracks of indie rock dirge. Every other scene was a bloody montage! I seem to remember that being true of the other film of his I’ve seen (May – not as bad as this). The climax delivered some audience-pleasing gore, but I’d lost interest long before then.

Chillerama
I knew it was a bad sign when the introducing directors made a point of preferring the audience to be boozed up before the film started. It’s exactly the kind of comedy I hate: hyperactive, dumb, ‘it’s supposed to be bad’ gross-out bollocks. An anthology film of four stories, I was ready to leave well before the end of the second, and reckon I did well to stay till the halfway point. Trick r’ Treat it aint.

The Divide
All I knew about this going in was it being directed by Xavier Gens, so I was expecting relentless gore and French people, and this had neither! Starts off with a particularly big bang as most of New York is blown up. After that striking opening, it quickly settles into ‘survivors in a confined space turn on each other’ territory I’d seen a million times before. It most reminded me of Fernando Meirelles’ adaptation of Blindness, although with a much less distinctive visual style. It was all just a bit bland and predictable, and overlong at 110 minutes. Though if you want to see Peter Petrelli from Heroes get convincingly burned alive, this is the film for you!

Rabies
A bit of a weird one this, I’d heard word it was either a slasher or an infection film (or both?), and in the Q&A, the directors admitted to playing with audience expectations – quite a risky strategy! In the event, the film is a schadenfreude-tastic black comedy, with various characters meeting gruesome fates through misunderstanding, overreaction, and happenstance. Good stuff, though I’m not sure it quite warranted the buzz that lead to it being granted an extra screening. Contained the best jump-scare gag of the weekend, got a big laugh.

The Innkeepers
A ghost story with laughs that I thought did a good job of being funny without mocking the genre. While the ghost tale itself was pretty lacklustre, the film made up for it in the casting. As with House of the Devil, Ti West provides a very strong female lead, this time in Sara Paxton. I was totally charmed by her everygirl performance, and her chemistry with co-star Pat Healy (who I recognised, appropriately enough, from Ghost World). Again to compare with the previous film, West builds tension through long, drawn-out sequences that lead to nothing more often than not. I don’t think the technique was as effective here as it was in House of the Devil. I think it’s because here, the setup conforms to very familiar ghost story conventions, whereas in the earlier film you were never quite certain what it was all building to. On the whole I enjoyed it though.

Saint
Like The Fog, only with Santa and his helpers instead of pirates - thought this was good fun. More specifically, it was good fun in bits, whenever the baddies were on the rampage (some fantastic kills!). But the story holding it together was very patchy and unfocused, with a host of unmemorable characters. The makings of a top horror bogeyman in Saint Nick and his rotting horse. It’s just a shame he wasn’t developed more or given more to do. Despite the wobbly CGI, a few set pieces really delivered the goods in terms of action and mayhem - until the climax, which felt rushed and underpowered, as if compromised by budget restraints.

Kill List
The funniest, the scariest, AND most brutal film I saw over the weekend. I absolutely loved the combination of witty, naturalistic performances with an unplaceable, creeping dread (reminiscent I thought of Winding Refn’s superb Fear X). The lurching tone (in a good way) really kept the audience on their toes, the funny banter giving way to some truly shocking violence. Going in I was expecting it to be more of a psychological horror, open to various interpretations (my favourite kind), but I did enjoy the relatively straight-forward approach once I realised it wasn’t really that kind of film. So while there wasn’t much to read into when it was all over, I did find it an utterly thrilling ride, and I was really impressed with Wheatley’s handling of the final moments of outright horror. Definitely lived up to the positive buzz, a perfect film to end my weekend!

I too liked Troll Hunter ,really good , can't wait for a bd release

[enterthehero]

Watched 4.3.2.1
Not a bad little flick in a fan of Noel Clarke anyway and I wasn't expecting to see sneaky Kevin smith in it.

Followed by the burning
I have never instantly loved a film so much, I can't believe it took me all these years to see it, defiantly one of my favourite slasher movies. Some of savini's best effect work IMO.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.609170,-0.268922

[Pete]

Just watched MARTYRS - really good for the first hour, then turned shit.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Really? It's definitely a film which follows the three act structure pretty closely, but I found it became more interesting and even intellectually challenging as it progressed, particularly during the third act, which is why it stands up to repeated viewings.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by pedromonkey

just finished watching Nightmares In A Damaged Brain, **** me was that film top notch, shame the R2 disc is pants. It was a combination of Psychological Docu Slasher, ****ing loved it. Dunno if it's still or was ever cut but it was very tame compared to some and what a neat twist at the end. Arrow really need to give this the white box treatment. Man im still buzzing off this.

hmmmm.

also watched Super. liked! a droll little film, far better than Fwight Night.

and i watched Taxi Driver with P Schrader's comm. i have to admit that it IS my favourite film, so am slightly biased towards gushing, but surrounded by Lost Boys fans i feel nae shame. interesting to hear PS more or less admit he only has one kind of script in him, still he's nae Esterhaus