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  #30821  
Old 19th December 2014, 08:50 PM
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Default What Films Have You Seen Recently?

Silent night deadly night
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One of my favourite festive chillers, a young boy visits his grandpa on Christmas Eve, grandpa end up scaring the young lad telling him Santa will punish him. Unfortunately on there way home his mother and father are killed by a man dressed as Santa , this gives him a life long fear of the jolly old fat man. He ends up in orphanage run by a complete bitch of a mother superior who's only purpose in life seems to make the children's life a misery, years later the boy now a young man gets a job in a toy store. Things take a unfortunate turn for the worse as the man ends up snapping and goes on a killing spree dressed as Santa, punishing those he deems naughty. It's up to the inept police department to try and stop him. A lot better acted than you would expected especially from the actor playing the killer, who you real feel sympathy for. The real monster in this movie is the mother superior who sadly doesn't get her comeuppance. What really gets me is how nice the old bitch appears to be near the end of the film, maybe if she had showing this love to the boy things would not of turned out like they did. Only downside she didn't get a axe in her head. 8.5/10 over the Christmas period will be watching the rest of the films in the series, none I have seen before.

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  #30822  
Old 19th December 2014, 11:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J Harker View Post
Managed to watch Mulberry Street (or Zombie Virus On Mulberry Street as it's been titled on dvd in the UK) last night. Jim (Stakeland) Mickle's second feature i think. Not a bad film really, nothing to do with bloody zombies though. Basically a bunch of tenants in a small New York apartment block find themselved fighting to survive the night when some sort of weird virus starts turning people into crazy rat-like monsters. I love the way Mickle manages to evoke such a sense of place in his films with some brilliant cinematography. Not a patch on the excellent Stakeland but this definately shows Jim Mickle's potential. Just a pity the UK dvd has such shitty picture quality(and title) anyone know if the US disc is better?
It's mulberry street in the US. I believe (but may be wrong) the low rent PQ was somewhat deliberate. At the very least it evokes the 70's new york based exploitation pictures like C.H.U.D and the Larry cohen pictures that I really enjoy.
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  #30823  
Old 19th December 2014, 11:54 PM
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Night School (1981)

An atmospherically directed slasher with it's origins in headhunting in New Guinea. The plot centres round a Boston university campus and the gruesome beheadings which befall the co-eds.

English actress Rachel Ward is quite good as the lead heroine given it was her first film role, but the murders become quite repetitive rather than tense as the motorcyclist killer (a motif clearly nicked from gialli ten years earlier) decapitates his victim then dumps the head in liquid. The knife slashes are seen as streaks of blood rather than gory flesh wounds which doesn't help. A few moments of gratuitous exploitation are thrown in to please horror fans but overall Night School doesn't really deserve it's tag as a non-prosecuted video nasty.

Now if only they'd called it something cool like Terror Eyes. That would have made for a far better movie.

The Warner Archive dvd looks great for those interested.
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  #30824  
Old 20th December 2014, 12:26 AM
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The last part of my 20 day, 25 film DTV review-a-thon, Militia (2000). I picked this up for 50p in town and wasn't disappointed.

Directed by that master of the straight to video film, Jim Wynorski, Milita is a rather unambitious film that feels more like an extended TV pilot. There is nothing particularly original about the plot, in which a jailed US far right militia leader is released to work with an ATF agent and take down the radical movement his group has become.

The casting is good, Dean Cain works well as the agent and goes up against Stacy Keach as a rabble rousing far right radio show host.

The film is most notorious though for its major use of stock footage. The most obvious are the entire Cyberdene plant sequence from Terminator 2, with a villain taking the part of Arnie and a helicopter fight near the end from Rambo: First Blood Part 2. Look at the IMDB page for this film and you will see people spitting feathers about this "stolen" footage (although given that this film is available on DVD in the UK and US, the footage is presumably fully licenced and paid for).

Obviously Wynorski is trying to give the film more bank for its small stack of bucks and he does a pretty good job of it. The scenes from T2 are so smootly edited in I didn't notice them at first (not having seen T2 for a long time), the shots from Rambo are rather more obvious as the helicopter changes colour scheme and the print of the latter film is noticably grainier.

If you see this for 50p and enjoy low budget action films, this might be one for you. If the idea of the film using stock footage puts you off, give this one a miss.

Milita film review.

That is probably it for 2014, I'm heading up to my in-laws for Christmas with a huge stack of DVDs to watch, so look out for a whole load of new reviews in January. Hope folks enjoy these reviews and Merry Christmas!

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  #30825  
Old 20th December 2014, 08:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik View Post
The Bleeding House (2011)



Bought this from Poundland the other week, decided to give it a spin tonight.

Here's the plot summary from IMDb:



A stranger with mysterious intentions comes to stay the night at a secluded country home, but what he finds inside is a family torn apart by a violent past and a secret more deadly than he expected.



Typical low budget rubbish I really should know better than to buy/watch, I spent the entire 86 minutes running time trying to figure out what I should've spent that £1 on, maybe a One Direction book, or a new pen, 2 pints of milk, a multibag of crisps, the list is endless....



Some decent practical effects, but overall a boring, predictable film that is extremely amateurish in all aspects. 4/10




Think I saw this on Netflix. Guy in a white suit? Southern Gothic kinda feel? I quite liked it although can't remember if I saw it to the end.


On the subject of ABCs of Death, O For Orgasm is clearly the best!
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  #30826  
Old 20th December 2014, 11:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulD View Post
Think I saw this on Netflix. Guy in a white suit? Southern Gothic kinda feel? I quite liked it although can't remember if I saw it to the end.


On the subject of ABCs of Death, O For Orgasm is clearly the best!

That's the one, I just found it boring and predictable
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  #30827  
Old 20th December 2014, 10:23 PM
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First trip to the cinema for almost a month to see the final instalment of The Hobbit. While I enjoyed it, it seemed a bit flat. The cinema I watched it at put an irritating 15 minute break after the first hour.
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  #30828  
Old 21st December 2014, 05:04 PM
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Night of the Creeps (1986)

Above average, low budget sci-fi / horror spectacular, which is actually derivative of pretty much everything. Taking in alien probes, axe murderers, walking dead, invasive worm creatures and more, in this equally scary and funny monster mash.

Tom Atkins outshines his younger cast members with a fun performance as a rather unorthodox policeman.Writer / director Fred Dekker's debut feature is a whole lot of fun and should entertain everyone who reads this.

Recommended.
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  #30829  
Old 21st December 2014, 08:07 PM
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From 1962: Part 2

Tarzan Goes to India - Jock Mahoney's second Tarzan picture was his first as the jungle lord, his first was Tarzan the Magnificent where he played the villian of piece. Taking over from Gordon Scott, Mahoney was the oldest actor to take on the role at 42, Weissmuller was only a year older when he retired. The picture isn't too bad and it has a reasonable story which most of the post Weissmuller ones dont have.

It's Trad Dad - The first Amicus Production, (directed by Richard Lester), is a teen orientated pop/jazz musical with such stars as Acker Bilk, Helen Shapiro, Del Shannon and... Arthur Mullard! In a town whose name is unmentioned the mayor decides to ban modern jazz music. A couple of teens decide to coerce a 'disc jockey' (David Jacobs, Pete Murray and Alan Freeman) into organising a Jazz Festival in the town...Cue lots of musical numbers by famous stars.

To Kill A Mockingbird - The word 'classic' tends to be bandied around for almost anything that has achieved either cult or iconic status, but here it really is justified. Another one of those movies that has earned the status with almost every frame filmed from cinematography to performances.

Lolita - Kubrick's controversial picture starring James Mason as the professor who is obssessed with an underage girl. My first time seeing this and when I put the timer up on the blu player to see how long it was I originally sighed "2h 34m"! You know what I quite enjoyed it! Not a fan of Peter Sellers tbh but like the rest of the cast he gave a great performance.

On The Beat - A Norman Wisdom slapstick comedy in which he plays a dual role, that of a wanna be copper and an Italian mobster. I laughed a few times but for me Wisdom reminds me too much of Lee Evans and I'm not a fan of his.

Mutiny on the Bounty - A remake of the 1935 Clark Gable, Charles Laughton Oscar winning picture, this time starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard. A great film with a equally great score from Bronislau Kaper.

The Manchurian Candidate - A great picture, my first time seeing this so didn't realise at first who the 'American Controller' was, the build up to the assassination was tense and really did surprise me as to its outcome.

The Longest Day - Darryl F. Zanuck's multi-starred WWII epic, although a good picture its more a series of vignettes with almost everyone from John Wayne to Kenneth More getting their five minutes.

How the West Was Won - Another multi-starred historical epic, a western, charting three generations of a family as they head west during the 1830's to the 1890's. The film utilises Fred Waller's short lived Cinerama technique which before the films restoration and arrival on blu really didn't work on the flat screen although it still has a few 'hhmmm!' moments, again another picture with a great score, this one from Alfred Newman.

That Touch of Mink - A Cary Grant and Doris Day romcom....As much as I like Cary Grant this isn't one of my favourites.

Going to take a break for awhile see you all in the new year, (if I don't pop in before Xmas have a good one).
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  #30830  
Old 21st December 2014, 09:06 PM
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Election - In my opinion, Alexander Payne has been one of the most consistent directors of recent years so I was keen to check this out as one his earlier offerings. For me, this seems to lack the bitter-sweetness and maturity of the likes of Nebraska or About Schmidt but it does have the same trademark cynical world-view. Reese Witherspoon puts in a truly great performance as the ambitious over-achiever so desperate to be elected school president and Matthew Broderick is also very good as the school-teacher who makes it his mission to stop her. There are lots of twists and turns and nuanced characters throughout, all of which make this a very enjoyable watch. Intelligent and fast-moving, I would have no hesitation in recommending this, especially if you can find it in Poundland as I did!

Do the Right Thing - I expected a lot more from this. I found it to be a slightly clumsy handling of a controversial subject and the direction seemed really amateurish. Some of the acting is also toe-curlingly bad. Maybe the years haven't been kind or perhaps I need to give this another spin but it left me cold.
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