'The Babadook' is great and 'It Follows' is a very good film that's almost great.

I went to see Doctor Strange this afternoon and I feel pretty disappointed. The story was boring and disjointed, the first part seemed to be a different film to the second half. And they really over do it on the Matrix/Inception special effects, we have time freezing, glass shattering, reversing and building bending all over the place making pretty patterns for sure but it's all a bit tedious.

At this point it has that special place of "My Worst Marvel Universe Film" :(

We're in a small club by the looks of it! Baggsy Chairman!

I saw it yesterday with no knowledge of the character or source material and thought it was very good. The character arcs worked, the visual effects were spectacular (at one point I thought I was tipping over sideways), performances universally excellent, humour was well used and effective.

As an origins film, it's one of the best, probably comparable to the first Iron Man and the two scenes (during and after the end credits) set up some interesting films with other Marvel characters with the first apparently being Avengers: Infinity War. A solid 8/10 from me.

I'll be president!

Hell Night (1981)

Linda Blair looks quite pretty in this generic fraternity slasher set in in old manor house. At 101 minutes it's far too long and very little happens until the discovery of a madman running loose towards the end. Still, there's plenty of moody old dark house wanderings from Linda in her fancy dress costume which gives it a distinctly Gothic flavor.



Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

The fifth film in the saga of Michael Myers. Take away the needless and daft occult opening scenes, well, no take away all the occult scenes and what's left is pretty similar to what's gone before it. Michael returns to Haddonfield on Halloween night to slaughter anyone connected with his family name.

The film features one or two interesting kills (Michael seems to have learned how to use farm machinery at some point, no wonder Loomis is worried every time he escapes from the madhouse) and serves as a farewell to the great Donald Pleasence.

Honestly it's not really as bad as people make out.

It's interesting that you had such a different experience than I did, while I still enjoyed the film it didn't work cohesively for me as I thought the action scenes were at odds with the spiritual scenes. Obviously, with it being an origin story it has a responsibility to introduce characters to an audience but I feel it was done better in Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger than it was here.

I can pinpoint the moment when my mind switched off as well, 'The Ancient One' pushed Strange's astral body out of his physical body, all well and good, but then when she opened his mind's eye and it went on a 5 minute psychedelic trip into la la land, that was it for me.

I scored it 6/10.

I was switching off reading this.

Sounds a right load of codswallop.

I felt that sequence was essential in order to put the audience in the same place as Strange: out of the comfort zone and wanting to know exactly what he had experienced and where, physically or mentally, he had gone during the 'trip'. That paid dividends in the third act as I knew what was happening because I otherwise would have been lost.

There were some problems in its formulaic nature being a byproduct of an origins film, something which didn't affect Iron Man, as it was the first of the Marvel origins films (despite 2002's Spider-Man) to follow the path which has been used in every subsequent film kickstarting any franchise in the Marvel universe.

BUtterfield 8 (1960)

Elizabeth Taylor won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a high class call girl with much emotional baggage. Eddie Fisher to whom she was married at the time seems uneasy as her only true friend but Laurence Harvey is convincing as the wealthy executive with whom she has a sordid affair.

Taylor is at her most glamorous here but the opening scenes as she wakes in Harvey's hotel room to a note and $250 then proceeds to clean her teeth with Scotch gives her an almost sleazy allure.

BUtterfield 8 plays out as a human drama with little in the way of humour to enlighten proceedings, the sex, whilst tepid nowadays caused controversy at the time and the shock ending is still quite stunning even now.

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE – Mary Winstead wakes up after crashing her car, only to find that she's chained to John Goodman's wall. That might be bad enough, but here Goodman is a rabid conspiracy theorist who's holed up in his cellar, believing that his country's just been attacked. Tensions escalate in the bunker, and the film follows Goodman's collapse and Winstead's attempts to break out. '10 Cloverfield Lane' succeeds pretty well in keeping a minimal scenario interesting, which is impressive considering there are only three main players (I should add that there's someone else down there with them, a hick who alternates between being Goodman's and Winsteads's foil.) There's enough angst ridden atmosphere and suspense to carry it through to the climax, which takes an abrupt left turn into territory more familiar from the original Cloverfield movie, which I quite liked although it might be a bit too arbitrary for some. Good film, worth catching.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT - A top tip from Dem (thanx, guy) in which a disfigured killer escapes from a psych ward and gatecrashes a Halloween party. Surprisingly, he murders a load of annoying teens. I really liked 'Halloween Night'. It's a dumb as f*ck, but it's allowed to be. In fact, it kind of has to be. The template has already been set down, we all know the score when it comes to a film like this. It can only survive by drilling the routine to the max, which of course 'Halloween Night' does, it couldn't be more formulaic, you know, you've got a public holiday and a house with a secret, what more do you want besides a load of tits and gore, also happily present. That being said, the closer a slasher adheres to formula, the more its idiosyncrasies stand out, particularly if it isn't very competently made, which is the case here. I liked the killer – he was burned as a kid, when he witnessed a brutal home invasion – it's what sent him over the edge. But instead of just having the scars of a burns victim, he looks like a zombie or a monster or something! It's ludicrous, and just adds to the weirdness. There are numerous other instances of questionable filmmaking skill lending a wtf factor to proceedings here, including the ending – how did that dude get in that bag? Why did that other dude pick up the hitch-hiker who couldn't look less like a serial murdering monster, particularly with that upside down face mask scrawled in biro? Why end your movie with a shot of some pavement? Although the UK DVD looks a bit ropey, 'Halloween Night' is solid latter day exploitation trash which I recommend to anyone who can stomach the fact that it was put out by The Asylum.

Great to hear you enjoyed it, Frankie. :thumb:

I imported my copy years ago and it looks pretty decent.

Tales of Halloween (2015)

Ten stories are woven together by their shared theme of Halloween night in an American suburb, where ghouls, imps, aliens and axe murderers appear for one night only to terrorize unsuspecting residents.

It's impossible not to compare Tales of Halloween to Trick r Treat (2007). However whilst that film works a treat (ahem) the same cannot be said for Tales of Halloween. Not all of it anyway.

After a terrific opening half hour with the short stories hitting you thick and fast it suddenly became a bit of a chore to sit through. So much information attacking your senses. Ten stories in under 90 mins is just too much. It would have worked far more successfully with half that number. I wanted it all to stop or slow down and take it's time. Visually it's excellent with so many references to horror down the years you just don't have chance to take it all in.

Where Trick r' Treat really works for me is the loving way all the stories interconnect with each other and you notice scenes from one story taking place whilst watching another. There's nothing like this here with only a few references thrown in, mainly during the police investigation story at the climax. Some of the ideas used did seem to come from other films such as Jeff Lieberman's Satan's Little Helper (2004), but it was lovely to hear and briefly see Adrienne Barbeau reprise her role of late night witching idea DJ throughout the film. Shame there wasn't much of a role for Tiffany Shepis mind, not that anyone really had much screen time.

Some of the stories amuse, some repulse, a couple i felt didn't work at all. Mostly though Tales of Halloween is a fun and gory spectacle that i think i'll watch in three segments next year.

Finally whoever told me Axelle Carolyn's entry was The Halloween Kid was wrong. If you want to see that you'll still have to buy the Soulmate dvd.

Not sure you've really sold me this one.

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

**1/2 out of *****

High Society (1956)

An enjoyable Hollywood musical with an impeccable cast of Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra as well as Louis Armstrong and his band.

The great things about this film are also it's flaws. Kelly whilst beautiful to look at is way out of her depth in a musical with Crosby and Sinatra and mumbles her way through a mere single song, it also wasted the chance to have Sinatra and Crosby sing with Armstrong and his band in what should have been one of the greatest jam sessions of all time.

Still we can make do with Bing Crosby fronting Armstrong and his band in a wonderful jazz routine on Now You Has Jazz and the timeless pair up of Crosby and Sinatra's version of Well, Did You Evah!.

Not the best musical around but one with some outstanding highlights.

Although it is an enjoyable film, I find High Society difficult to watch because I always compare it to the far superior The Philadelphia Story, the impeccable 1940 film on which it was based. In that case, the cast of Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Katherine Hepburn was perfect and, as you said, is impossible to better because there is no weak link, as Grace Kelly proved to be here.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

**1/2 out of *****

I did think Kelly seemed to be channeling Hepburn on more than one occasion.

I didn't notice that, but it has been a long time since I saw High Society. There's nothing wrong with channelling Katherine Hepburn (I think it worked really well when Anthony Hopkins did it to play Hannibal Lecter) but, although Hepburn was a great actress, I don't feel musicals would have been her strong point!

Doctor strange

Glad to say Marvel pulled it off, this was always going to be one of the tougher nuts to crack from the marvel stable of characters but it had me pretty much hooked. Visually its impressive and not only lives up to the material in the trailer but manages to conjur up some of the visual stylings of steve ditko. Its only real flaw is unavoidable and thats the world building. Strange is different enough to a lot of the regular marvel characters, but takes stuff from Marvels more cosmic characters that a lot of it is introducing the concept of sorcery to the Marvel universe. Nontheless I'll probably hit up the cinema again to see it again.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

***1/2 out of *****

1 more day till halloween, halloween, halloween, 1 more day till halloween, silver shamrock!

If you don't sing the song in your head while reading Deadite's post, then you have no business being here :nod: :pumpkin:

I unfortunately watched 'The Fall Of The Essex Boys' yesterday, it's so terrible it's almost a satire. Whoever directed this steaming pile makes Guy Ritchie look like Godard. That said, it's so ridiculously bad, I had to finish it. Hollyoaks has better acting.

Going to watch Angel Heart later to cleanse my palette.

Damn you! That's given me bad earworm which will probably keep me awake!

Psychomania (1973)

Utterly bonkers but completely brilliant British horror that packs everything but the kitchen sink into it's 90 minutes. From maniacal biker gangs terrorizing British shopping centre's to outrageous mass suicide attempts, to Nicky Henson riding his motorbike out of the depths of his grave at Avebury.

Not only that but you've got Beryl Reid and George Sanders as a couple of toffs who seem to worship a toad God in Occult ceremonies whilst inspiring Reid's son to commit suicide so he can rise again as the undead.

Look, stop reading this. Psychomania is a near impossible film to sum up in a few lines. Just go out and buy the recent BFI Blu/dvd combo and enjoy one of the maddest, baddest British genre films ever.

Sorry. Still singing Riding Free from last night's viewing of Psychomania.

Gravity. Man, don't know where to start really. I was close to turning it off throughout the first thirty minutes as it was playing havoc with my vertigo - so glad i didn't see it on the big screen. Probably would have vommed. Certainly tension filled, naturally far-fetched, and definitely vertigo inducing. A decent watch first time round. It'll be interesting to see if it stands up to multiple viewings.

Wuthering Heights (1939)

Screen greats Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon and David Niven star in this moody, Gothic tale of unrequited love.

Wonderfully atmospheric from the wind swept moors to the shadowy old dark houses even with a hint of the supernatural and a feel of loss and bleakness throughout, making this the definitive screen version of Emily Bronte's classic novel.

I generally despise period dramas and novels but Wuthering Heights is one that does intrigue me given its mention in Lovecrafts Supernatural Horror in Literature.

It's a film i've seen bits of on daytime Film4 and such like in the past. The ending is really quite powerful and i'm pleased to have it in my collection at last. Gothic film fans will definitely get something out of it.

I'm thinking about going back and giving it another chance since my thoughts are at odds with everyone else. As I've said in the past your mood definitely affects your perception of a film so perhaps I wasn't in the right frame of mind.

I'm going to the Odeon 'Screen Unseen' film tonight though. For those who don't know it's a mystery film (for a fiver) that they show up to 2 weeks before it's regular release date, obviously as a device to generate buzz. They give clues the week before though and it seems that tonights film is Arrival which I'm already dying to see!

The Houses of Halloween (2014)

Utterly dreadful shaky cam non-horror about a group of friends searching for the ultimate Halloween horror experience. From the opening moments it's plainly obvious how the film is going to end and getting there is such a chore.

The film is bloated and overlong with endless shots of dreary driving and wandering round Halloween theme park houses where there are no scares as we know it's all basically an extreme fun house, at least until the end which as mentioned already was so, so predictable.

The dvd case proudly boasts 'From the producers of Insidious and Paranormal Activity' - well they sucked as well. The Houses of Halloween is the worst film i've watched in quite a while. Avoid like the plague.

Yeah, i've never got the popularity of the Paranormal Activity series. 75% boredom, 25% of which is down to the annoying 'found footage' to save money in production, 15% bad acting, 10% slight spookiness.

I can't recall a single found footage film i've thought is any good - oh, wait, i did enjoy Cloverfield. I was looking forward to watching Frankenstein's Army on telly the other day, then it started and it was found footage bollocks. Knackered the film IMO. :chainsawkill:

I watched The Culture High (2014, Brett Harvey)
An American doc about "mary jane" and personal freedoms. Didn't really learn anything new, so I decided to redress that balance by watching the sterling:pound:

Go Ask Alice (1973, John Korty)
As it is a searing look at "drugs" and kids", neither of which feature in the film, though that may have been the terrible print haha. Read the "novel" years ago, and was quite taken with its blatant propaganda. This TVM is the same confused garbage. See! people stare at a birthday cake. Watch! As Shatner takes another paycheck whilst sleepwalking. Recoil! from some of the most hysterical nonsense since Refeer Madness. Highly recommended, if you like having your brain turned to porridge.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS
I originally caught this by chance on the BBC years ago and absolutely loved it. Through various ok dvd releases through the years, we now have the ultimate Blu ray edition from Criterion. I've often thought black and white movies benefit especially from the BD treatment and this print looks stunning ( no seriously - ask the experts! ).
The film itself has a quality and atmosphere all of its own - there really isn't anything else quite like it.

THE HORRIBLE DR HICHCOCK
Robert Flemying stars as the nefarious Doc, whose kinky experiments lead to the death of his wife, only to marry Barbara Steele years later - but his past starts to catch up with him.
Apparently, this Blu ray from Olive Films contains the shorter US edit, but until someone comes up with a longer print, this comes highly recommended for all fans of Italian gothic.

SYMPTOMS – Jose Larraz had an interesting career. Before he made slightly porny films about satanism a la 'Black Candles', he directed this exquisite gem which has to be the ultimate seventies horror sleeper. In it, moon faced Angela Pleasance gets a bit weird in an isolated mansion and Peter Vaughan hangs around being sinister. There's not much to it plot wise, and in fact not a great deal happens until the slightly overwrought climax, but 'Symptoms' is resplendently heavy on atmosphere. Visually, and just in terms of 'feeling', 'Symptoms' practically redefines 'Autumnal', being a film where every nuance and every pause is surrounded by a far-off but somehow menacing haze. I've seen it before on Youtube and I think I reviewed it at the time, but I didn't go mad for it until now, which I think is probably down to BFI doing such a great job on it. In the wrong frame of mind it could be boring, but I can only say that I watched it twice in a row (something I almost never do) and was transfixed each time. Surely up there with the best of seventies cinema full stop, 'Symptoms' is simply a must-see.

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS – Was nice to catch up with this bit of classic Carpenter once again. For the uninitiated, Sam Neil plays a private investigator tracking an elusive horror novelist whose fiction appears to be altering reality in a worryingly Lovecraftian manner. Yep, it's pretty ludicrous, but if there's room for Ken Loach then there should be room for garish, over heated pulp like this. There may not be much of a dramatic catharsis for the characters in this film, but the shortfall is more than made up for by some satisfyingly tentacular action and Carpenter's usual visual panache (though I thought there were a couple of nods to D Lynch here and there, but then I always say that). Nineties horror was a pretty shoddy affair, but here Carpenter, shining for the last time, showed them all how to do it.

INFERNO – Can't go wrong with 'Inferno', possibly Argento's greatest (yeah, sue me) and a head spinning journey into the possibilities of horror set free from narrative concern. Well, there is a story of course, but its sole purpose is to give some validity to this 'Three Mothers' hokum and to hold together a bunch of sequences and vignettes which are more about visuals, lighting and camera work than plot development. That's not to say that 'Inferno' is shallow, just that its depths are cryptic and associative rather than based around psychology, character etc. It's a spiderweb of ambiguous symbols and references that hints at something genuinely nightmarish lurking beyond the wooden acting and throwaway dialogue. Witness that killer montage of black gloved hands decapitating a row of paper figures, an unidentified woman hanging herself and a lizard eating a moth... what's going on there? Still so enigmatic after all these years, and it amazes me that a major studio put this out. These days, it wouldn't even get made.

Totally agree. It's basically caught up to Suspiria with me over repeated viewings.

Glad you enjoyed the gem that is Symptoms, Frankie.

Inferno is still leisurely lolling around mid-tier Argento territory for me. Maybe with a few more viewings that may change though...

I didn't read that review as i've only just bought the film, well just the last line i read.