What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Island of the Living Dead (2006)

A boat load of treasure hunters become stranded on a mysterious island only to become victims to the recently risen living dead.

What a mind**** of a film this is. Bruno Mattei what were you thinking? This is amazingly bad yet also so weirdly watchable. It's difficult to know where to start.

No. It's not. The dubbing. Never have i seen dubbing as bad as this. It's worse than one of those fan made bad lip reading YouTube videos for show such as The Walking Dead.

The zombies are on a par with Zombie Lake in the make up dept, alright not as bad but you see where i'm heading. When one zombie lurches into shot we see the back of it, it then turns round slowly, leers at the camera then emits a lions roar. One of the treasure seekers then decides to partake in some of the feeblest martial arts on a zombie that barely flinches, all this after Mattei deliberately lifts the whole 'They're coming to get you Barbara' from Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Laughably he also nicks the eye stabbing sequence from Zombie Flesh Eaters but clearly didn't have the budget to show the piercing so lazily has someone walk over and just casually push the about to be stabbed girl away to safety. The borrowing from other, better, films is over the top in fact. Nightmare City, Tombs of the Blind Dead, they're all here.

To his credit Mattei's location work in the Philippines is excellent as are some of the gore FX work, the flamenco dancing zombie however is not.

The shot on video look doesn't help either.

This is so bad...you have to watch it!

'Mondo Cannibal' is another unbelievably shite offering from Mattei's twilight, and has a similarly inexplicable "is he making it this bad on purpose?" vibe to it. A real mind warper.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

'Mondo Cannibal' is another unbelievably shite offering from Mattei's twilight, and has a similarly inexplicable "is he making it this bad on purpose?" vibe to it. A real mind warper.

I've still got his final zombie effort to go. Zombies the Beginning.

Might leave that until next year.

[Handyman Joe]

Blanche (1971) - What is it about this movie that's so addictive? It's a medieval set, Jacobean type tragedy played out deliberately and with none of the transgressive Borowyck sex and violence . For me it's the obsessive attention to detail, especially the numerous cutaway shots that illuminate the whole - a monkey in trousers peeking out the frame, a cowled monk sneaking some sausage, a row of polished apples sitting on a mantlepiece - it really convinces you you're in a weirdly different world. This trip through WB's cv. has notched 4/4 so far - this is the best movie so far although Dr Jekyll is still the most fun!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

One of the many highlights from the last film I watched:

[iank]

Turbo Kid. In a post-apocalyptic future (1997, amusingly, seemingly in a nod to T2) a young lad gets by reading comic books and trying to avoid trouble, only to be forced into a fight when he meets a new girl who is then unceremoniously abducted by heavies working for a local tyrant (Michael Ironside). A not entirely unsuccessful attempt to make a 1980s movie in 2015, there's some fun to be had in Turbo Kid - especially the Bad Tasteesque wildly OTT blood and gore - and the dippy chick is cute in a weird sort of a way, but it never really manages to turn into anything particularly special. You might as well just watch a real 80s movie, really.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Pickup on South Street (1953)



A pickpocket unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring.

A solid noir-thriller from Fuller which blends gritty violence with a criminally-entwined romance. The dialogue really adds a lot to the plot here with plenty of slang that will have you reaching for your Noir Thesaurus. The cast are all believable in their various roles and Jean Peters simmers as the femme fatale caught in between Widmark's pickpocket and the Commies who hired her. As Noir goes, this is upper tier and one of my viewing high-lights of the year so far.



81/100

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Wrong Cops (2013)



If you're familiar with Quentin Dupieux and enjoy his work (especially Wrong) then you don't need to read any further and you can just go off and enjoy Wrong Cops, but for those who aren't overly familiar with him or his films this is a spin-off from his film Wrong and revolves around a group of amoral, lawless, and generally screwed-up cops from Wrong's universe. Dupieux's style is certainly Marmite in flavour, and his comedy style whilst zany also resembles the particular yeast extract food-stuff in colour as well. Overall this was a fun ride and the mix of ridiculous situations, deadpan comedy and general weirdness really played to my sensibilities as I knew it would; even if it was a little too smug with itself at times... however that's just Dupieux I guess. Marilyn Manson also has a bizarre little cameo too which was a nice surprise.

Recommended for fans of all things f*cked up who like their comedy and their films a little bit off to side of the beaten path.



74/100

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

Robert Quarry plays Count Yorga. A Bulgarian vampire who sets up home in an eerie castle in the LA hills.

An enjoyable modern day vampire romp whose closest comparison films would be Hammer's Dracula AD 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula.

Robert Quarry makes an engaging Count although he's no Christopher Lee who is the definitive Dracula in my opinion. The film, although low on gore, ups the Counts sensuality to levels i feel Lee would have been uncomfortable with. As an example, Yorga drinks the blood of a young woman and the camera lingers on the bite, then on a bloody kiss and back to more blood sucking in a lengthy scene which i thought worked well.

Interestingly the film was originally conceived as a soft core porn film and some elements still seem to remain, in particular with the female cast members. However there is no nudity whatsoever but the editing at times leaves something to be desired with an almost clunky shoddiness that makes you wonder exactly what was left on the cutting room floor.

Weirdly although i said the film was low on gore one sequence lingers in the memory where a vampire girl eats a cat. It's quite shocking and feels out of place in this PG rated vampire yarn.

The film did well at the box office and a sequel - The Return of Count Yorga soon followed.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Duffer (1971)



Duffer is a black and white movie set in a declining Notting Hill with pretty much no dialogue spoken by those taking part in it. Almost everything is spoken as a commentary by Duffer, a lost teenage boy whose life bounces between homosexual and heterosuxual worlds.

Every once in a while a film comes along that just blows you away whether it be mentally, emotionally, or even physically and all/any combination of the above. For me, Duffer was one of those rare films and despite having watched it late last night my brain and blood and skin - in fact my very bones - are still swimming and swarming with its images messages and sounds. The 'Flipside' collection from BFI is no stranger to the weird, wonderful and offbeat but Duffer is just in a class all on its own. Difficult to recommend to anyone but yet essential for everyone who has a vested interest in cinema. Eraserhead for the Flipside generation.



93/100

[J Harker]

13 Sins.
A timid insurance salesman faced with impossible debts and family responsibilities agrees to take part in a bizarre game requiring him to complete 13 tasks going from the silly to the downright horrific.
For some reason the film seems familiar but i can't think of any major comparisons. Maybe Fincher's The Game.
Anyway great fun i really enjoyed it and it was very funny in parts.