What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[tele1962]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

He was the cinematographer on Koyaanisqatsi, but I don't think he actively worked on Powaqqatsi. Chronos is also well worth watching as it is a brilliant piece of filmmaking.

I haven't seen Naqoyqatsi, Godfrey Reggio's other entry in the 'Qatsi trilogy'.

I have Chronos also.

[SShaw]

I spent last weekend at Fantasy Film Nights in Hamburg (this is the smaller sister event to the summers Fantasy Film Fest) which gave me the opportunity to see:

Cub - which despite a well signposted ending is a quite effective old school horror with some of the best traps since John Wayne was in the jungle. this one has been announced as part of Dead by Dawn next month.

German Angst - a Portmanteau film in which three German directors explore what it means to be German. it is stark, brutal uncompromising with castration, fascist race hate and bizarre sex. brilliant.

Wyrmwood - Australian apocalypse comedy horror which did little for me at Fright Fest Glasgow and even less in hamburg. it seems to be a festival favourite however, it will be shown at Imagine in a couple of weeks.

Tusk - Kevin Smith finally managed to disappoint me with this bizarre tale. I already have it on blu so perhaps I will give it another chance soon.

Spring - a very strange, but interesting, love story. this one played last years Fright Fest so I guess many of you will have seen it already.

The Guest - finally got to see this and although it lost me at the end with its military conspiracy cop out ending I thought it was great. Really liked the soundtrack which I have been listening to all week.

The Lazarus effect - mainstream horror which explores what it would mean to be brought back from the dead. Flatliners did this much better 20 odd years ago.

A girl walks home alone at night - Iranian genre mashup which reminded me a lot of Jarmusch and Kaurismaki. my pick of the festival.

Automata - the first of a number of films this year to explore artificial intelligence. it's interesting but rehashes too much from better films to really connect. average

Marshland - Spanish thriller which is full of quiet moments and beautifully shot. it cleaned up at the Goya's last year and deservedly so. essential viewing.

imagine in Amsterdam next in a fortnight..

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Imitation Game (2014)

Another terrific British film. Intelligent, gripping, powerful. I was really impressed. Benedict Cumberbatch gives a mesmerizing multi layered performance as WW2 code breaker Alan Turing. In fact all the cast, from Keira Knightly to Mark Strong, are uniformly excellent.

A Cult Labs film? Possibly not...but a superior piece of cinema all the same.

Highly recommended.

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by SShaw

I spent last weekend at Fantasy Film Nights in Hamburg (this is the smaller sister event to the summers Fantasy Film Fest) which gave me the opportunity to see:

Cub - which despite a well signposted ending is a quite effective old school horror with some of the best traps since John Wayne was in the jungle. this one has been announced as part of Dead by Dawn next month.

German Angst - a Portmanteau film in which three German directors explore what it means to be German. it is stark, brutal uncompromising with castration, fascist race hate and bizarre sex. brilliant.

Wyrmwood - Australian apocalypse comedy horror which did little for me at Fright Fest Glasgow and even less in hamburg. it seems to be a festival favourite however, it will be shown at Imagine in a couple of weeks.

Tusk - Kevin Smith finally managed to disappoint me with this bizarre tale. I already have it on blu so perhaps I will give it another chance soon.

Spring - a very strange, but interesting, love story. this one played last years Fright Fest so I guess many of you will have seen it already.

The Guest - finally got to see this and although it lost me at the end with its military conspiracy cop out ending I thought it was great. Really liked the soundtrack which I have been listening to all week.

The Lazarus effect - mainstream horror which explores what it would mean to be brought back from the dead. Flatliners did this much better 20 odd years ago.

A girl walks home alone at night - Iranian genre mashup which reminded me a lot of Jarmusch and Kaurismaki. my pick of the festival.

Automata - the first of a number of films this year to explore artificial intelligence. it's interesting but rehashes too much from better films to really connect. average

Marshland - Spanish thriller which is full of quiet moments and beautifully shot. it cleaned up at the Goya's last year and deservedly so. essential viewing.

imagine in Amsterdam next in a fortnight..

I have been wanting to see A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night for a while.

[keirarts]

Hidden in the woods.

A film that managed to upset a few people including Kim Newman. Essentially its about two teenage girls raised by their abusive drug dealing dad who spends most of his time raping them. The oldest has had a deformed kid as a result whose been raised on raw meat. Eventually the police decide to check things out and dad kills them with a chainsaw. The daughters flee into the woods with their brother/son and live out there on the proceeds of the eldest daughters new career in roadside prostitution. Life seems fine, aside from a spot of cannibalism on some rapist backpackers who try things on.
The peace is finally shattered when their fathers boss twigs on that a lot of dope seems to be missing and his hired thugs head into the woods to find the girls, meanwhile daddy has escaped and is also looking.
Watching the film its pretty clear why so many people got angry. The film is skirting the line of what is acceptable in many places throughout. Very few, if any of the characters are sympathetic and the film is shot with a queasy yellow tint and cut together in a sometimes disjointed manner.
That said, unlike Hate Crime or Serbian Film this film isn't trying to mask its sleaze and gore behind any agenda and instead plays very much as a rough and ready, nasty as hell exploitation picture from beginning to end.
I cannot promise you will like this film. In fact you may hate its guts. However its worth a look at least.

The factory.

Serial killer/rapist is abducting hookers and has built a baby farm in his basement. John cusak is the detective hunting him for whom it becomes personal when the next abductee is his daughter.
Its a fairly conventional Hollywood thriller with a surprisingly nasty edge and a very silly twist ending that relies a lot on coincidence. Flawed, possibly misogynistic but interesting.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Hidden in the woods.

A film i've had in my wishlist a while now.

Great write up Keirarts.

[monkeypedro]

Originally Posted by SShaw

Spring - a very strange, but interesting, love story. this one played last years Fright Fest so I guess many of you will have seen it already.

I really enjoyed Spring when i watched it last month at the Glasgow Film Festival. It had two likeable lead characters who had good chemistry and the Italian scenery was gorgeous and made a refreshingly different movie than the horror i thought i was expecting.

It premiered last year in October at the London film festival followed by a screening at Sheffield's Celluloid Screams but it never played Frightfest.

Spring gets a UK cinema release on April 17th.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Hellbreeder (2004)

In the town of Ludlow somewhere in England, Alice see's her child murdered and is so desperate to find his killer she ends up in an institution. Several years later on hearing the news of a new spate of killings she escapes and vows to find the killer, a grotesque clown who may have been shat out of hell itself.

The story is fairly straightforward and is actually told in the films opening scenes, however following this it's almost impossible to call the film plot driven as it isn't. It's practically a tidal wave of often startling imagery that due to the quality of the editing process neatly slot into place like a jigsaw of weirdness as if drinking an intoxicating cocktail of hypnotic sound and imagery.

The film has a yellow graininess throughout along with an almost mesmerizing soundtrack which when added to the often dream like images onscreen give the impression of flashing in and out of some subconscious alternate reality.The film is low budget but the whole experience gives the impression of something much more than that.

The directing duo of James Eaves and Johannes Roberts make great use of repetition especially when it comes to Alice's fragile mental state and we hear the same voices over and over throughout the film. I can see this really annoying some viewers but i thought it added to the whole experience.

The film taken as a whole has the overall effect of a surreal Rollin-esq nightmare. Certainly not easy viewing but quite original and highly recommended. IMDB hates Hellbreeder. I loved it. Make up your own mind.

Thanks to Frankie Teardrop for originally writing about this film and bringing it to my attention.

[gag]

Deliver us from evil.

Decent made Danish film thats equivalent to straw dogs.
But under no circumstances let that put you off.
I stumbled across the film without knowing anything about it. I was very pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Well made beautifully shot with some great scenery.
My main downfall was from time to time the dialogue had a bit to be desired.
Were expecting a child im going to buy a settee and tv now.
Because i never heard it i googled it several people said it was to violent for them.
Guess these people have never watched anything past a pg before.
Violent my arse ive seen more violent 12rated films.
Either way dont let my small minor faults and complaints about the film put you off if you come across it get it watched i dont think you be disappointed.

[Hawkmonger]

Scanners (1980, dir. David Cronenberg): One of the many movies that raises Cronenberg as among my favorite directors. Though I first time around found the general lack of explosive heads misleading, I've grown to appreciate the need for that insane first act and then keeping it low key until the utterly delightfully gross last few moments. Wooden performances throughout from cast members Jennifer O'Neill, Steve Lack, and Patrick McGoohan are bearable thanks to the greasy yet fun to watch Braeden Keller as a corrupt CEO and Michael Ironside being.....Michael Ironside. Dude's ****ing messed up. But it was never the acting in Cronenbergs movies that interested me, more the high concept sci-fi and outlandish gore effects granting them more merit than if they had been handled by anyone else.

Not a movie for everyone but a movie many should give a try. Which is more than can be said for...

The Deadly Spawn (1983 dir. Douglas McKeown): ...Is one of the schlock masterpieces of drive in cinema. Definitely not a film for everyone but damn fun if you want a laugh at ATROCIOUS acting contrasted against superb effects. No, really, this movie was produced on a humble $25,000 and yet the effects for the aliens and indeed for the gore are insane for a movie on that budget. Who would have thought we would live to see the day that movie's like this would be on terrestrial TV again*! Thank you Horror Channel!


*Yeah I own the DVD but, different experience ain't it.