What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[iank]

Went to the cinema to see Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation today (for free!). Really enjoyable, loads of great action scenes and suspense set-pieces, all-round great cinema entertainment. This was more like a Bond movie than the Bond movies are these days. Lots of fun.

[Frankie Teardrop]

LATE PHASES – Latter day werewolf yarn has garnered quite a lot of praise from various reviewers here and elsewhere, and I can sort of see why. It's about a curmudgeonly old guy, a Vietnam vet, blind, in a retirement village, who realises that there's something seriously the matter when his dog and his neighbour are ripped up by some unseen bestial thingy. It turns out that this is quite a common occurrence around this neck of the woods, and the cops don't appear to give a shit. Old blind guy decides to investigate, and his suspicions take in neighbours, church congregators, and the local priest himself. He buys himself a bunch of silver bullets and it doesn't end terribly well for anyone. I liked 'Late Phases', but it does have some flaws. The werewolfism is a bit... well, let's just say that in some places it / they looked more like furries! Which to me would suggest a more interesting and amusing take on retirement village horror, a whodunnit set in a swinging octogenarian sexual underground. That's another story. Anyway, the slight lameness of some of the costumes is offset by some good practical effects, and the gory climax, with its flesh ripping and gruesome transformations, will pay off for eighties nostalgists. The more overt horror elements of 'Late Phases' are its weakest hand, however, and are limited to a burst at the beginning and the blow-out at the end. For the most part, 'Late Phases' is a slow-burn, a mystery which plays more on the isolation and dislocation of its main character than either thrills or graphic gore. It's not especially stylised or atmospheric, but ripples of dreamy detachment do come through now and again – the guy in the iron lung could've been moonlighting from 'Twin Peaks', and the sun-lit haze of the showroom village felt a bit unreal as well, as did the “oh, just another violent death” attitude of the local authorities. But what holds it together is the central character, courtesy of Nick Damici. He gives an absolutely sterling performance as the lonely old guy at the heart of it all, and makes us sympathise and finally root for a not especially likeable character who could potentially be quite dark. And interestingly, the emotional tone of the film is more in sync with its main focus's resignation and melancholy, so, instead of playing the paranoia card – isolated guy in hostile new community etc – 'Late phases' is suffused with a kind of sadness, a sense of the end of days. Great cast in general and some interesting genre names associated with it – Larry Fessenden for one. I was surprised to find out that it was by the guy who did 'Here Comes The Devil', an excellent, mean and very dark film. 'Late Phases' is by contrast slightly staid, but it is evocative and involving and worth checking out for genre fans who feel attracted to the combo of werewolf action and old dude's woe.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

LATE PHASES

Sold – onto the rental list it goes!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Sold – onto the rental list it goes!

It seems to be the same film (2014), but the one at Amazon/Lovefilm is called 'Night of the Wolf - Late Phases'. This is the description:

Ambrose (Nick Damici) is a blind and grizzled war veteran, forced into the sedate retirement community of Crescent Bay. After narrowly surviving a savage werewolf attack, Ambrose steels himself for the next full moon and one final battle against the odds. With a note-perfect performance by Nick Damici and intensely brutal action, Late Phases: Night Of The Wolf is gory treat for all hardcore horror fans seeking a true werewolf classic.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Human centipede.

Two Americans in Germany break down in a remote country road. Seeking help after being propositioned by a greasy pervert, the girls stumble across the house of Dr. Heiter, a skeletal weirdo and renowned surgeon with a fixation on Siamese twins. Before you can say "what's that strange taste in my drink" the girls have been knocked out and wake up on an operating table. Heiter announces his plans to make the worlds first Human centipede, the girls try and fail to escape and before long they are connected ass to mouth and dreading the first bowel movement.
This is an odd one, as Human centipede in terms of structure and plot is pretty much Identikit horror. However, the central concept is so repellent the film becomes actually watch-able and in an odd way actually relatively original as well. Tom Six makes the film look genuinely beautiful in places, the photography and colour schemes look great, especially in HD and Dieter Laser is exceptionally bonkers as the mad doctor. This is a like it or loathe it 'marmite' film to be sure but I find myself enjoying it each time I watch it. There is a sense of humour to the piece which is dark and makes me chuckle. Perhaps not as gag inducing as one might expect either, there is a sense of disgust to the film but little actual gore.

Human Centipede 2.

A film that could be considered almost the polar opposite in some respects to the original, Human Centipede 2 goes 'meta' and tells the story of Martin, a lonely, slightly retarded abuse victim who has become dangerously obsessed with the first movie. He works in a car park as security and spends most of his days sat at work watching Human centipede on repeat in his office, making a scrap book dedicated to the film and wanking with sand paper. In between this he begins to 'collect' people unlucky enough to enter the carpark and takes them to a warehouse in order to begin work on his own centipede. Martin is played to perfection by Laurence R. Harvey who delivers a fantastic, dialogue free performance. He's a frustrated, demented and ultimately tragic loser who appears to be in need of professional help. Unfortunately his mother blames him for his fathers imprisonment for child abuse and his case worker is a seedy asshole intent on buggering him. Gradually His sanity fractures until he decides to make the centipede in the final act where things get genuinely queasy and shocking.
Where the first film was a look into the clinical ordered world of Dr Heiter with beautiful composition and colour schemes and a sparsely decorated modern country house. Martins world is a bleak, black & white, perpetually rainy London suburb that feels like a cross between Eraserhead and somewhere imagined by Bela tarr. The dark humour is still evident but director Tom six here goes for stark Black & white imagery that still looks terrific and a hand held approach to filming. It feels very different to the first while also managing to feel like part of a 'franchise'. Tom Six states that he wanted a trilogy as 3 films would form their own centipede and each film would feed into the next. Seeing this film as the excretia of the last might be a reasonable way to view it. Its way nastier than the first and was actually censored in the Uk for scenes involving martin wanking with sandpaper and wrapping his knob with barbed wire before raping the rear end of the centipede, the once scene in the film that perhaps goes 'too far'.
I really like part 2, its a tough film to love and its pretty vile but has the same weird vibe to it. Its pretty ballsey to follow something as commercial looking as the first movie then deliver something as outrageous and odd as this.

Human Centipede 3.

If 2 was the excreta of the first film, part 3 is the final steaming dump on the floor after passing through both previous films.
Dieter Laser returns, this time as Bill Boss. Warden of a maximum security prison. Lawrence Havey plays Dwight Butler, his accountant. Boss spends most of his time chewing clitorises he stores in a jar on his desk, brandishing firearms, sexually harassing (and also assaulting) his secretary Daisy, played by Porn star Bree Olsen. He lives in a state of total terror at the prospect of rape by the inmates so he devises various ways to keep them in line, including water boarding with boiling water, broken limbs and castration. Realising the Governor, played by Eric Roberts, is looking to fire him, Boss is desperate for an idea to keep the inmates under control. Dwight suggests a human centipede but Boss is sceptical at first, declaring he's not interested in some directors 'poop fetish' however in the face of failure he finally relents.
Human Centipede part 3 is a satire on American ideas of justice and punishment. Its as subtle as a chainsaw to the face with Laser playing his role like some sort of PCP addicted Skeleton, screaming and ranting tirades of racist and misogynistic language in between sporadic acts of violence. Pretty much everything in the film is delivered over the top. The sets look cheap and the whole thing has a weird TV look to it. Given the previous films I suspect this is deliberate, to show everything has devolved to the basest level possible and in fairness its a film designed to offend almost everyone. At the same time I do feel its also very underrated as well and is best viewed as a comedy. Depending on your sense of humour its also very funny indeed and in terms of comparisons for me its like Warhols Frankenstein and Dracula films (up to and including a play on the Gall bladder scene)
Personally I really like it, I can see why others don't. Its pretty much trash in many respects but deliberate trash in a way that sort of works. Especially if you watch all three in a row.

Kudos sir!! Surely you stopped for toilet breaks cough??

[Demoncrat]

Watched Dracula: Prince Of Darkness on THC.

An interesting sequel, new leads etc. Shelley's absolute terror when they reach the castle is dismissed by the rest as mere uptightness, but as is usually the case, the virgin is spot on. I'm stretching that a bit, I know, but she exudes repression in a way that, I frankly admit, I never really noticed before, chortling at Kier's swarthy priest as I always did. The print shown did look a tad washed out, so this blu should be another revelation no doubt.

[Gold6082]

Most of my recent viewing have been revisits of titles I've had in my collection a while. Despite an ever growing pile of unwatched/new arrivals.


I revisited some giallo's, Fulci's Lizard In a Woman's Skin which I watched when the dvd was released then never got round to watching again until now.

I liked it first time but enjoyed and appreciated in much mpre this time. Although as a general rule of thumb I am not a huge fan of Florinda Bolkin.

I can't put my finger on it but I just can't warm to her. the film however stands as one of fulci's finest works IMHO.

All The Colours of the Dark,The Killer Must Kill Again both also got a revisit.

I class both of these amongst my favourite top 10 giallos. and watching the Shriek show & Mondo Macabro Releases again were great fun. However the audio on both for the English dubs are muffled & poor at times.

I hope both eventually get a blu release they would be day one purchases for me.

I watched 3 Jeff Liberman films as well. Just Before Dawn (Code Red Blu), Remote control (Limited Blu) and Blue Sunshine (AWE DVD) all 3 are fantastic. Sadly Squirm doesn't do it for me the way the forementioned 3 do. So I never bothered to revisit that one.

It's not a bad film but it doesn't bring to the table the fun (For Me) the other 3 of his films do.

[Nordicdusk]

220px-Frontiersposter.jpg

During some political riots in Paris a group of small time thieves leave the turmoil of the French capital for a new life in Amsterdam with a bag of stolen money to fund their escape. When one member gets shot the group are forced to split up and arrange to meet in the French countryside. The first two find a small hotel run by some overly friendly women that turn out to be part of a Neo Nazi group. After they are treated to some drinks and a bit of the old in ad out the mood is soured when the hosts discover their guests are Muslims and soon the good times are brought to an abrupt end .Later that night the other half of the group show up at the hotel but their friends are nowhere to be found.

I had heard alot about Frontiers i was really looking forward to watching it but i was left a little disappointed. Things just didnt sit right with me its hard to explain without going into spoilers but the Nazi thing didnt work for me and for all the preaching about being pure blooded and keeping the bloodline strong their actions were a total contradiction of what they were preaching so it made it hard for me to understand why they decided to go down that route rather than just a crazy family. Yes its been done a million times but the Nazi angle just brought absolutely nothing to the film just maybe a gimmick used to attempt to shock im not sure. I may give it another watch in the future but i wont be in any rush. Some of the torture was ok nothing really stood out.

5/10

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Yeah, I'm not keen on Frontiers either Nordy.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

Some of the torture was ok nothing really stood out.

I thought some of the SFX make up and visual effects were really good. The bolt cutters on Achilles tendons made me squirm!