What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[gag]

Series 7 the contenders,
Different and highly amusing a dark comedy satire about reality tv and the boundries it'll go to, contenders have to hunt and kill each other for real anyway possible.

[PaulD]

Originally Posted by Rik

I bet it's still better than The Card Player

It's honestly not. The Card Player, at worst, looks like a TV movie. Dracula looks like a wannabe straight to DVD cheap student Digital Video mess. It's one of those cheap looking DV films where everything is in focus (a result of the genius idea to film it in 3D apparently) so there's just nothing cinematic about it at all. I thought the sets looked pretty tacky myself and its all shot very close up so it feels claustrophobic which is probably less of an artistic decision and more to do with not having enough sets or locations which would look good on camera.

Plus the story is plodding and tedious and not in any way engaging. The mantis bit is the best part though. Reminded me of Resident Evil 2

[Metallicbomb]

HELP: Can someone tell me if they have the UK DVD of Midnight Movie and if there DVD has jerky picture.

[Delirium]

Originally Posted by gag

Series 7 the contenders,
Different and highly amusing a dark comedy satire about reality tv and the boundries it'll go to, contenders have to hunt and kill each other for real anyway possible.

I really, really like Series 7. I saw it at the cinema years ago when it had a low key release, and have always been a huge fan since. Hugely underrated, it's one of the more successful satires on reality TV, the media and televised murder, with some great characters. Terrific ending too.

I even have the soundtrack, but then I'm a Girls Against Boys fan and have seen them live before.

[keirarts]

Just finished the evening up with TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION. The canadian release thats actually 'complete' and not the re-edited uk release.

Renee Zelwegger plays a wallflower who dresses down because her step father (one in a long line) keeps hitting on her. On her prom night her and her stoner buddy end up getting an inadvertant lift off two fellow students, one the archetypal sex-obsessed jock and his insecure and somwhat dumb debutant girlfriend. For some reason never clearly explained they end up in a random inexplicable car wreck out in the sticks and fall afoul of the lastest leatherface family, including a robotic-legged matthew mcconaghey in full fledged killer joe mode! The film plods along almost as if some kind of parody of this now (at that time) well worn genre until midway through the obligotory dinner scene a stretch limo pulls up and a well dressed business man enters and apologises for everything up to now...

"you were supposed to show them horror"

Whoever he is, the family seems terrified of him, after he leaves things start going dark again, zelwegger eventually escapes and in another retread is being chased in the open in full daylight. A random plane swoops down and takes out mconoghay's character and then the limo turns up again and gives Zelwegger a lift to the nearest hospital...

once more the well dressed businessman apologises, apparently the whole thing was supposed to be a spirittual experience for her character...


I'd almost forgotten how f*****g weird this film is, not as weird as perhaps skinned deep but part of me suspects half the probelms I have with the film are put deliberately there by writer/director kim henkel in an attempt to say something about the saw franchise itself. Certainly Henkel has something to say about femininity in horror with the film, but I'm still not sure exactly how META this film is supposed to be. I supspect its a film i'll have to see some more times, and I still don't think its especially great. I do however think its TRYING to say something more.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike

A Lonely Place To Die (2011)

I'm not going to spoil this for anybody, storywise. I'll just say that i was completely gripped by this thriller. Superb cinematography from a director who puts his money where his mouth is (See the extras). The cast are uniformly excellent in a story in no way did i find predictable.

Its everything you would hope for from this type of film. Great action, ruthless killers, a twisty plot and above all nerve shredding outdoors terror.

Anyone who likes their outdoors horror films, if they haven't seen it should check this out imminently.

I thought it was a really well made, engrossing thriller and the disc is packed with extra features. If you're interested, this is my review A Lonely Place to Die | Film 365.

Yesterday, I watched Ron Fricke's amazing documentary Samsara which is every bit as good as Baraka: beautifully filmed and scored and the picture quality – from the 70 mm film stock – is incredible. I also watched The Master, which I saw at the cinema and thought was brilliant and my mind hasn't changed after a second viewing. As they were both rentals, they are now near the top of my wish list and I'll buy them sooner rather than later.

[jiraffejustin]

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Typically I hate musicals, and seeing as every word of dialogue in the film is sung, you might think I'd hate this film. Au contraire. It took me awhile to get into the film because of the singing, but I was already admiring the beautiful use of colors by the time the meat of the story arrived. It's quite the sad story too. Though I do believe we should see the ending as optimistic as we go through the door that opened when the first door closed.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Delirium

I really, really like Series 7. I saw it at the cinema years ago when it had a low key release, and have always been a huge fan since. Hugely underrated, it's one of the more successful satires on reality TV, the media and televised murder, with some great characters. Terrific ending too.

I even have the soundtrack, but then I'm a Girls Against Boys fan and have seen them live before.

Saw this years ago and totally forgot all about it until quite recently.

[Linbro]

Bit of a mixed bag this week, quality wise.
Started with 'Maniac Cop'. Really didn't like this at all, had forgotten all about it five minutes after finishing. In a word - dull.

'Return of the Living Dead'. One of my favourites, when I was a teen and it was first released. Must have watched it 10 times! My taste has obviously changed, and I couldn't even finish it. Horror-comedy is just not my thing anymore.

'From Beyond'. Another of my old favourites, and I enjoyed this a lot more than ROTLD. Still found it a bit dissapointing though. For me, nostalgia value only.

'City of the Living Dead'. This is more like it! My first time, and I've now seen the Gates of Hell trilogy. I was super impressed by this. I've only seen four Fulci films, and they have all surprised me - in a positive way. I did think 'The Beyond' and 'House by...' were better, but this was still great. So many WTF moments!
What I don't understand is this - almost everything I've read about these films always mentions the 'lack of plot', or how 'incoherent' they are, how they only work when you apply 'dream logic'. To me, the plots are coherent, and easy enough to follow. Is it because not everything is spelt out? What do you guys make of the plots?

[SilverGunnar Hansen]

Originally Posted by Delirium

Maniac (2012)

Decided to go see this after work, and traveled out of my way to do so seeing it's on so few screens in London - boy, am I glad I did.

What a film! A proper horror film - I haven't said that for a while - and one owing as much to arthouse as exploitation. Beautifully directed, I loved the aesthetic, and despite its contemporary setting its heart is in the 80s, complete with a terrific synthy soundtrack courtesy of Rob. Elijah Wood shakes off all traces of the shire and convinces as the edgy, crazy-eyed killer - he's impressively psychotic. It's unflinchingly violent, the unnerving first person viewpoint making us helplessly complicit to the numerous gruesome scalpings and other satisfyingly grisly moments.

I liked this a lot. Franck Khalfoun has paid affectionate homage to the original, while successfully updating it. Inspired casting too.

I watched it for a second time (having seen it at Frightfest), and it still left me really conflicted. It's brilliantly made, but the acting and dialogue are pretty iffy, and some of the situations are just dumb. I wish it could have been more psychologically convincing rather than succumbing to the usual slasher cliches. It leaves me cold but it's still a pretty powerful, provocative experience that I'd recommend - my (female) friend that I was with felt pretty much the same, although I was worried at points that she wasn't 'appreciating' the violence. Still can't believe House By The Edge Of The Park is cut and this wasn't . . .

Here's my review: Maniac (2012) Movie Review from Eye for Film