http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QekOjRaEaw


While not quite as good as tales from the crypt, still highly enjoyable and the only film to see terry Thomas is in women's pantys. 8.5/10

THE STABILIZER

Non stop shit blowing up action in this Indonesian action flick that never lets up from the opening moments to the end. Sure it is rough around the edges and the hero looks like Queeen's Brian May birthed by Sly Stallone but it certainly gives western films from the same time a run for their money.

Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

*** out of *****

Hello all, I haven't been on in some time (according to my profile my last visit was 16th May 2015).

Panic (1982)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fAMbB_TAkm.../panicpost.JPG
A biological accident in a lab, turns a scientist into a hideously deformed, blood thirsty monster. The shambling, snarling monster takes to the streets and begins attacking anyone unfortunate enough to cross it's path. Thankfully a police detective, Captain Kirk (Warbeck), and scientist, Jane Blake (Janet Agren) are on hand to hunt the monster down. Warbeck and Agren work well together, which might explain how they were reunited 6 years later for the ultra trashy, Ratman.
A quick look at the IMDB page shows that I enjoyed this film more than most. But i'd chalk that up to Warbeck's rugged action man image, making the film more watchable that it might've been otherwise.

Welcome back, sir.

Nice write up of a film i don't know.

Thanks for the welcome (back). :thankingyou:

Is that film available on dvd? It sounds quite promising.

There is a DVD by 'Synergy Archive Service', but the quality doesn't look promising from the reviews. It is, however, currently on youtube...

Cheers. I'll have a look out for that. :thankingyou:

Tale of tales

From the director of Gommorah comes this fantasy tale based on a series of 16th century Italian fairy tales. There are several stories woven together including one about a barren queen who devours the heart of a sea monster in order to become pregnant, a king who raises a giant flea, another monarch who becomes entranced by the beautiful singing voice of a crone.
The stories interweave and various characters appear in other stories. Being an adaptation of Fairy tales the stories take some very dark turns and the films not afraid to depict the sex & violence when needed. Its a visually stunning film that really needs to be seen in HD to do it justice. There are some terrific performances here as well including Tobey Jones, salma hayeck and Vincent Cassell. I can't guarantee everyone will like it as it comes across as hybrid of films like Company of wolves and the films of Guillermo DCel Toro. For me it was one of the best of 2016


The Autopsy of Jane Doe

A father & son team of morticians are kept up late by the Local sherrif who has brought in the mysterious corpse of an unidentified woman and wants an Autopsy ASAP. Working overnight through a storm they begin to discover weird discrepancies with the body and the further the examination goes the stranger things become. They find strange occult symbols on parchment in the girls stomach and underneath her skin. Then the lights go out.
This ones a terrific low budgeter with Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch as the father son team. Its very well realised given a large amount of screen time is devoted to two characters and the tension is ratcheted up almost perfectly. This ones from the director of Troll Hunter and comes highly recommended.

Fender Bender

A mysterious killer in a beat up old car gets into collisions with people so he can get their addresses then terrorise and murder them.
The film is another one of those 'throw back' type films that tries to emulate the sort of low budget slasher flicks that used to be in vogue in the 80's. In fairness the film isn't that original but it does its thing well, its nasty without becoming a gore fest and handles the tension well. The obligatory synth score is terrific.

Minds eye

Almost in the same vein as Fender bender, this one is from the director of Almost Human (no not the Lenzi one!) and actually manages to deliver a film that riffs on scanners and other Cronenberg films. Once again we have a synth score that the film demands is played loud (nicked from Driller Killer) and the blood flows freely. This one is also an awful lot of fun.

Proxy

The first disappointment. The films boasts influences from Rosemary's baby but that's BS. Its a dark-as-hell character based drama with theme of Munchhausen by proxy that opens with a genuinely horrible scene and then loses its way. Its central problem is that the people involved seemed not to have any real focus and the film could easily have been shortened and used a re-write. That said it has some interesting ideas but ends up being the wrong side of 5/10

Silence
This one will inevitably bore the hell out of a some of its audience. I liked it but its ones for people who managed Kundun and Last Temptation of christ only. Essentially it explores the Christian missionary's to Japan and the persecution of the hidden Christians by Japanese authorities. It really gets down to exploring the ethics of transporting a faith to a country when it provokes such bloodshed and suffering. It also deals with issues over berlief, suffering and sacrifice that make it a bit too cerebral for popcorn fodder. I liked it though.

Dead Mary (2007)
It's always nice to see Dominique Swain, though I wish she'd get more high profile work. On occasion, throughout Dead Mary, I was reminded of the original Evil Dead.

I do have Dead Mary but have only watched it the one time. Is it the one that ends up playing out at the cemetery?

No, it's set around a lakeside cabin, in the middle of a woodland area.

Damn! I was thinking of Urban Legends: Bloody Mary.

Amazon says i ordered Dead Mary on 11/07/2013. It's not ringing any bells now. I'll have to dig it out and give it a rewatch.

I was wondering why the description confused me, but that's because I was I was thinking of American Mary, which is completely different.

I don't believe I've seen Dead Mary, but it's available from Amazon for £1.27 with free next day delivery, so I'll probably buy it.

I've never seen the Urban Legend sequels, are they worth watching?

Yes, i think so. The second one has some lovely gory set pieces. Plus they are connected in name only.

Ok, i'll keep a look out for them.

Given that with the arrival of Decemberdike i'd been keeping an eye out for your thoughts on this one Dem, i don't know I bloody missed it. Still I'm glad you liked it, for me probably Del Toros best film, just gorgeous to look at and Hiddleston is splendid. I also don't mind Mia Wotsherface I thought she had a suitable gothic like look. The scenes of Hiddleston in his laboratory just made me think how perfect he'd be as Peter Cushing if ever there was a biopic.

Yes i thought he'd be a good Cushing as well. I'd love to see him play the Baron.

Bit of work from the make up department he could have done a decent job of Tarkin in Rogue One in my opinion.

I'm going to put this in the film thread rather than the tv one, even though it was shown as a tv mini-series. I have always watched it as a film and consider it one - and still a pants-wettingly scary one at that. I talk, of course, of Salems Lot, which other than Misery remains the best screen representation of Stephen Kings work IMO (yes, yes, The Shining, before you start screaming about it, but i find that inordinately dull, so there).

I dunno whether it's the fact that the first showing of this on British telly seems to have scarred a generation of kids, but it still seems to have a kind of weird dated time-warp nightmare quality that seems unique to this one film. For me, it is quite literally a one-of-a-kind. I can't think of something with a similar atmosphere where i instantly feel a certain way every time i watch it.

The biggest shocks have been seared onto my retinas since about the age of 12. You know the ones...

"Let me in" *scrape, scrape*.

"Look at me, teacher."

"Your faith against his, holy man!"

Watching this again is like walking past a stall selling toffee apples and getting that waft of scent that takes you back to your childhood or like seeing that girl who reminds you of your first crush. It's like popping your horror cherry all over again and wondering why all that torture porn shit is so popular when this stuff from your childhood still makes you quake like a long-tailed cat in a rocking chair factory.

and they say nostalgia ain't as good as it used to be. ;)

I'm with you on Salem's Lot, great stuff.:nod:
Shining i really like but have to be in the mood for, my other early favourites are Carrie, Christine, Creephow, Dead Zone and Stand by me.
My favourite overall is Carrie.:pop2:

IT is currently my favourite Stephen King adaptation, very closely followed by The Shining. I found Salems Lot rather dull.

The Beastmaster

Attachment 185532

Haven't seen this for about 10 years, loved it as a kid after going to see it at the cinema, got a uk dvd bout a year back and was disappointed with the picture quality and framing of shots, so traded it in.
Thought i'd go for an upgrade and although theres a blu available i just thought i'd go for a cheaper copy.
This copy must be a foreign disc due to some writing on the cover but the actual disc is in english, with removable subtitles. It's a decent quality print and widescreen so i was happy to finally re watch the film.:woot:

Does it stand up to my memories, well yes actually it does.:nod:

Its quite dark for a kids style film and has a couple of quick flashes of breasts, it has cheesy dialogue and a suitably corny performance by Marc Singer of TV series "V" fame.

The story concerns some gumf about Singers character being the first born son of a king, an evil villain who worships some dark god wants rid of the king and gets a witch to remove his queens baby by transferring the unborn heir into a cows womb(as you do.).:rolleyes:
~The villain has been told that the queens offspring will kill him so the witch removes the baby from the cow to sacrifice it, but the child is saved and raised by a passing old man.
Due to being born of an animal the young boy has powers to befriend and control animals, he becomes the beastmaster and sets out to get revenge for the slaughter of his village's people.

I still find this to be hugely enjoyable sword and sorcery nonsense, most of the other actors play their characters pretty well, with Rip Torn as a pretty nasty villain who is always trying to sacrifice kids.:nono:
Tanya Roberts is the love interest who we first meet with her tits out in a bathing scene, which is nice.;):loveeyes:
Marc Singer although cheesy is entertaining and a suitably dashing protagonist who always travels with his animal companions - An eagle, a black panther (ahem, tiger painted black) and two ferrets that help him in various situations.

Along side this we get some black guy with a staff, his young boy sidekick and a race of weird bat/bird winged creepy lookin' guys.
The adventure is fast paced,well shot and entertaining with some really effective scenes. It still ranks among the Sinbad,Argonauts,Clash of the Titans and Conan films for me as the best of these adventure style films.


This is directed by Don Coscarelli who also made Phantasm and Bubba Ho Tep, a guy who always seems pretty creative and with a lot of interesting ideas and bizarrely has a theme tune that is reminiscent of the original Battlestar galactica TV series music.
I really love it and it gives me a nostalgic buzz to catch it again.

Recommended 8.5/10:pop2:

Attachment 185533 Attachment 185534

Battle of Algiers

Shot in a neo-realist style and based on actual accounts (and even starring real life guerrillas) Battle is an account of the often brutal struggle for Algerian independence against the French colonial forces. It shows the escalation from street shootings to bombings and the sometimes brutal and underhanded tactics French forces used against the Algerians.
This is one of those films that ranks high on a lot of best of lists for good reason. Its a tense, gripping film from start to finish, shot in sark black & white.

Come & see

If you ever want to see something that depicts as brutally honest as it can, the absolute horrors human beings can perpetrate on one another then this is the film to watch. Based around the Nazi invasion of Belorussian SSR. The film follows an idealistic young boy who is thrust into the direct horrors of war as the Nazi soldiers begin purging each village of its residents. As the horrors stack up the boy visibly ages and appears to go mad from the nightmarish and surreal world he has been thrust into.
This is absolutely harrowing stuff and not for everyone. Certainly it makes a lot of Horror titles appear restrained in the scenes of terror they depict, partially because this is based on true accounts. Its tough going but comes with my highest recommendation.

Nice review Kierarts, Come and See is brutal but brilliant, one of my favourite war films, but it is a really difficult watch.:nod:

Prehistoric Women (1967)

Big game hunter Michael Latimer is captured by a tribe of dark haired women after he is mysteriously sent back in time to prehistoric days. The women led by the buxom Martine Beswick have imprisoned all the fair haired women (including the pouting Edina Ronay) and use them as slaves and sacrifices to the Rhino God.

Written and directed by Michael Carreras in order to hopefully continue the skin bikini success of the previous years One Million Years BC, Prehistoric Women is a Hammer glamour watchers delight but probably a bit of a chore to everyone else. The film features acres of writhing female flesh as they gyrate and parade away in ritualistic dances that actually come across less tribal and more Hollywood musical in front of the phallic Rhino statue.

Beswick does the sex symbol routine rather well and with gusto but Latimer, whom i watched again recently in Pete Walker's Man of Violence (1974), appears hopelessly out of his depth that you long for someone to look like they are having fun trapped in a place full of beautiful women (Where's that Askwith fella when you need him?). In fact that might be the key problem with Prehistoric Women, it's all so earnest, yet when you witness Beswick stroking the rhino horn and cracking a whip you can't help but smile at the seemingly unintentional sexuality.

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

The Borg are back and have assimilated earth in the past, its up to the enterprise crew in the newly commissioned enterprise E with the Help of Worf ( who at this time is part of DS9) to stop them. Its really of story of two half's with Riker, Geordie and Troy making sure that first contact with the Vulacans take place while on the enterprise picard , worf, data and the rest of the crew battle the Borg, this is were most of the action takes places and is a lot darker in tone than the other half which is were most of the humor takes place. 9/10


Now watching your vice in a locked room and only I have the key.

10 Cloverfield Lane. David Trachtenberg. 2016.

A young woman heading to her parents place following a break up is involved in a nasty car accident somewhere in upstate NY and wakes to find herself in an underground bunker with two men who claim the outside world has been hit by some sort of unknown attack.
For the most part this is just three people in a room and as such works quite well. John Goodman turns in another excellent performance as Howard a conspiracy theorist and possible nutter. Unfortunately towards the last twenty minutes it all becomes a bit unstuck as if it has exhausted the potential of its scenario and has to resort to bigger things just to confirm what we already knew. Not bad but not really anything to get excited about.

Wolf Creek 2. Greg McClean. 2013.

Mick Taylor returns to massacre more tourists in the Australian Outback. Not just a retread of the fantastic original as this sequel does mix things up a little with a bigger budget and a bit more twisting and turning in the plot. And cutting fingers off is one thing, but grinding?!? I really enjoyed this and Mick Taylor is a terrifying creation.

The initiation

A college girl with amnesia is plagued by a disturbing dream of a man attacking her father before getting set alight. She's currently trying out for the campuses sorority house and is going through various initiations (hence the title) unaware that her parents are keeping several dark secrets from her including a breakout at a lunatic asylum that has them worried. Naturally people start getting brutally murdered and the film climaxes in a showdown in an empty shopping mall.
While the various ingredients to initiation don't quite gel as they should, its still a fum little slasher romp with an entertainingly bat shit ending that makes the film memorable. Being that i watched the Arrow Blu-Ray it felt weird not to follow it on with the appalling mountaintop motel massacre (comes double billed on my DVD) but non the less it remains an entertaining slice of schlock.

Slaughterhouse (1987)

A lesser slasher film about the owner of an old slaughterhouse in Nowhereville, USA, about to be put out of business, who instructs his Neanderthal like son to kill those who want to take his property from him.

Slaughterhouse is one of those dumb comedy like slashers where the characters do the daftest things. I mean, the son is hugely overweight, one girl, who is fit as a fiddle, decides the best thing to do would be hide in some farm equipment rather than just run away given she has a head start and he's about 25 stone. There's also a hell of a lot of chatter early doors, chatter and looking at pigs which will drive you to distraction.

Where the film does achieve some success is the gore effects which are well done and gloopily effective. The location of an actual slaughterhouse also works giving the film a lot of credibility rather than just running round in the pitch black, the place is nicely atmospheric, although due to the script and stodgy direction the film is unable to create any sort of tension and the stalk and slash sequences are scare free.

You make it sound fun but I know I'll hate it :lol: :pop2:

To be honest it's the second time i've watched it and it's really a bit tired. It's sort of third tier slasher material at the arse end of the 80's slasher genre. It really is only the slaughterhouse location and decent gore that make it worth a watch.

http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/f4...779316882a.jpg
THE GHOST AND THE GUEST (1943)

A new married couple inherit an old farmhouse and move in on their wedding night. Soon, the house becomes crowded with a dead body, gangsters, a hangman and the police! Then people start thinking that they see ghosts....

Comedy old dark house mystery. The film travels along at a great pace with almost non stop one-liners. I thought this was a great little B movie and spent the whole film with a smile on my face.
Yeah...good fun.

Death Race 2050

The purpose of good science fiction is to shed a light on the wold as it is. Predicting the world as it might be is difficult and ends up getting more things wrong than right. The original Death race 2000 used science fiction and satire to depict an exaggerated and darkly satirical look at lat 60's - 70's America and the direction it was headed in. As a piece of speculative science fiction it got a lot of things wrong (not everything mind) but as satire it worked admirably.
Given how much has changed since the first film came out DR2000 is more an interesting social document than a depiction of the world as it has become.
Its nice to see then that we now have a Death Race remake (its not a sequel) that takes the humour and aesthetic and dark humour of the original and uses it to take a side swipe at an America polarised on issues such as Race, gender and politics, an America that is seeing its working classes and middle classes rendered seemingly irrelevant by technology.
If you have never seen Death Race 2000 and are only familiar with the Stath/Goss films then this might not be your cup of tea but if you liked the original then this definitely comes recommended.

Sold! Cheers, K. :nod:

Amsterdamned. A scuba diving serial killer is stalking Amsterdamn, using the city's innumerable canals as a hunting ground from which to stalk his victims. This late 80s Dutch thriller starts off really well and is very entertaining for the first hour or so, but goes on well past its welcome and also gets sillier and sillier as it goes on. Average.