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The Tall Man (2012) In the small rural former mining town of Cold Rock, local children are going missing, seemingly just disappearing. The locals attribute it to the local legend of the Tall Man. When a recently widowed doctor's (played by Jessica Biel) child goes missing she vows to find the truth. I loved this thriller from Martyrs director Pascal Laugier. Note i said thriller. The Tall Man is not a horror film. At its heart its a mystery thriller with themes of horror. The film has a wonderful twisty turny plot and nothing is as it first seems. Unpredictable is the word i would use as i had no idea how the story would unfold. The film has a terrific cast including Biel, who i have never seen better, Stephen McHattie and X-Files regular William B. Davis. In fact all the cast give fine performances which made them possible suspects in my eyes, giving the film swathes of tension no matter who was on screen. I liked the way Laugier used the theme of child abduction, thankfully never venturing into the graphic torture of his earlier Martyrs, but treating a serious subject with finesse and care whilst keeping the viewer glued to their seat. Laugier's location filming and use of the old mining community and its surrounding area was a high point of the film for me. The camera often giving us birds eye views of the bleak woodland scenery before sweeping the area and giving the viewer a grand sense of scale not to mention a lovely gothic atmosphere. It's this skillfull cinematography that made me wonder why it never achieved more than a limited theatrical release. I can understand if some people come away from this scratching their heads suggesting the plot twists to be implausible, but it worked for me and i for one really enjoyed it and look forward to revisiting it again in 2014. |
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The Murder Clinic aka La Lama Nel Corpo (1966) "Patients and staff of an isolated mental hospital are being killed off by a hooded maniac who stalks the halls." As the gothic horror genre was slowly running out of steam in Italian cinema and a shift towards the giallo genre was happening,we get a sort of cross-over of both genres here. An enjoyable mix of Italian gothic and early giallo which always reminds me of a bit of The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962). The original story was adapted by Luciano Martino and Ernesto Gastaldi which will give you somewhat of an idea what to expect. A familiar face of Italian gothic horror also pops up: Harriet White. i remember the first time I watched this,horrible image quality from an old vhs tape. This time I watched it in better image quality from an old vhs tape. Seems the Italian film materials are in bad condition so I've been contacting dvd companies from all over the world to look into this one (using materials still in existence in their respective country). Well there is hope and 2014 could be the year we finally can watch this on dvd (as well as another extremely rare Italian gothic).
__________________ bdcs-hk-taiwan-dvd-vcd-wants-page |
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The Night Porter (1974). A concentration camp survivor (Charlotte Rampling) meets up with a concentration camp officer (Dirk Bogarde), with whom she had a sadomasochistic relationship, thirteen years after the war in a Viennese hotel. A film that deals with sexual transgression in the context of the Nazi holocaust, The Night Porter is never the easiest film to watch. Concentrating on the relationship of captive and Officer both during and after WW2, the film deals with morally dubious subjects and adds titillation to events, thus making them even more morally dubious. Often slow moving the film is abruptly awoken by Rampling's infamous Dietrich song and dance (if you could call it dance) routine and the gift of a severed head. The Night Porter isn't a film i'd recommend everyone to watch as entertainment, but it is a thought provoking piece that everyone should probably see at least once. |
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City of the living dead For me the weakest of the gates of hell trilogy. But it's still a great film in its own right. We all know the story priest hangs himself in the town of dunwich, queue teleporting zombies, entrails vomiting, town weirdo and brain ripping. Has genuine disturbing and chilling atmosphere. 8.5/10 |
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I have the AB BD but ain't got round to it. Bleak,harrowing and a classy film,which holds your interest from start to finish.
__________________ Teddy, I'm a Scotch drinker - you know that. I just have the occasional brandy when I'm not drinking. |
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The House on Straw Hill A first for me and I really enjoyed it. Udo Kier put in a good performance and it's nice seeing home counties countryside in a Nasty instead of the Staten Island ferry (not to say that isn't completely cool). Pleased to get one of the first 3000 w/ Ban the Sadist Videos included.
__________________ I was busy pushing bodies around as you well know and what would a note say, Dan? "Cat dead, details later"? |
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