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  #35661  
Old 12th February 2016, 09:00 PM
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Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs View Post
Another Euro-double:

The Bloodstained Lawn (Il prato macchiato di rosso) (1973)
Great stuff! What next? The Bloodstained Tulip Patch?

Fine reviews as always B_E.
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  #35662  
Old 13th February 2016, 05:13 PM
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Kiss of the Damned (2012)



Supposedly heavily influenced by '70s erotic vampire fare from the sub-genre's maestros Rollin and Franco, Xan Cassevetes' film whilst rather stylised and sublime with shades of the erotic unfortunately falls short of the mark in terms of re-creating that particular aesthetic; at least for me - and this is coming from someone who has invested a lot of their time and clean underwear poring over many of these vampire erotica cinematic delights from the sub-genre's golden age.

The narrative is fairly straight forward: boy meets mysterious girl and falls for her and girl then turns boy into vampire. Her sister comes to stay with them and shakes things up a bit amongst the vampire community and her relationship with her recently turned beau... and that's pretty much it; certainly a plot-line more akin to Twilight fan-fiction (albeit put across in a more stylish - and dare I say it - pretentious manner) than the surreal sex-peppered ramblings of Franco or Rollin.

Despite what may appear to be a lot of negativity directed towards it above, Kiss of the Damned actually isn't half-bad and once my brain had successfully put to one side the film's slightly suspect claims of influence, it was able to settle down and enjoy the film for what it was; a passionate, romantic tale with deep, fairly well-rounded characters you actually care about - and it plays to these strengths by focusing on the characters and their turmoils. It does lose its way a little in the final third and gets a little trying, but overall I'm glad I decided to give this one a watch. Oh, and the soundtrack is really good - whilst the film won't be on my shopping list, its OST certainly will be.



62/100
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  #35663  
Old 13th February 2016, 07:01 PM
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The Killing (1956)

Stanley Kubrick's classic noir stars Sterling Hayden as Johnny Clay. An ex criminal who devises a scheme to become $2m richer with a daring robbery at a race track...during the 7th race. Unfortunately he should never have told Sherry (Marie Windsor), a tough talking dame who also intends to become a couple of million richer.

I love films like this. The idea of Hayden coming up with the plan and getting a crew together then meticulously planning every detail, it's film noir heaven to me and it's a theme that was duplicated so brilliantly in the 1960 British classic The League of Gentlemen, which proves an even better film than this in my opinion.

The first half an hour i found a little too talky and slightly uninvolving. Naturally we get to meet all of the characters including Elisha Cook jr's betting office clerk, but it's via this talky opening that everything clicks into place during the second half of the film. Kubrick also wrote the screenplay and where he perhaps fails dialogue wise he certainly makes up for in the action and suspense department.

It's that second half which makes The Killing the classic it is. Tightly plotted, and directed with flair to create a gripping scenario which plays out precisely as planned... or does it.

The Killing is an excellent noir thriller. Highly recommended.
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  #35664  
Old 13th February 2016, 07:42 PM
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The Killing is superb, it would easily make my top five 'noir' films.

It may be sacrilegious, but I'm not a massive Kubrick fan, but I do love The Killing, Lolita and Dr Strangelove.
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  #35665  
Old 13th February 2016, 07:59 PM
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The Killing is superb, it would easily make my top five 'noir' films.

It may be sacrilegious, but I'm not a massive Kubrick fan, but I do love The Killing, Lolita and Dr Strangelove.
I wouldn't call myself a great Kubrick fan either. I don't even own A Clockwork Orange on dvd.

The films of his i like, i really do like. I haven't seen all of his work but after a quick scan there's only The Shining and 2001 i don't like.

I've yet to see Lolita, Barry Lyndon and Killers Kiss.
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  #35666  
Old 13th February 2016, 08:32 PM
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Me neither, I've not seen many of his films, and only own his attempt at adapting a great Stephen King novel without bothering to read it first
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  #35667  
Old 13th February 2016, 08:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs View Post
I wouldn't call myself a great Kubrick fan either. I don't even own A Clockwork Orange on dvd.

The films of his i like, i really do like. I haven't seen all of his work but after a quick scan there's only The Shining and 2001 i don't like.

I've yet to see Lolita, Barry Lyndon and Killers Kiss.
Mate i love Barry Lyndon! It's a great movie! Killers Kiss is also a great watch!

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Me neither, I've not seen many of his films, and only own his attempt at adapting a great Stephen King novel without bothering to read it first
Mate i'm sure Kubrick read the book but i think he wanted different things than King, it's very true that the film doesn;t work in regards to storyline but Kubrick is a photographer who learnt how to use video cameras and that's why he makes stunning films that often don;t really flow or end very well.

A clockwork orange is the exception, that film is just glorious.
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  #35668  
Old 13th February 2016, 08:57 PM
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Don't get me wrong, I love The Shining, great film, but it always bugs me how unlike the source material it is, it's basically a film about Jack Nicholson going crazy, so a Jack Nicholson film then
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  #35669  
Old 13th February 2016, 09:05 PM
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Eyes of a Stranger. A serial rapist-killer is stalking the streets, and a TV journalist obsessed over the safety of her disabled younger sister (a young Jennifer Jason Leigh in her movie debut!) becomes convinced that the bloke living just opposite from her is the lunatic. This early 80s suspense thriller is fairly well made and acted, and has a very intense climax, but was marred slightly just by the sheer unhinged stupidity of the lead character. She has a fairly reasonable reason to be suspicious, though not entirely certain, of this man, but rather than calling the police and leaving a tip, she starts breaking into his apartment and then harassing him over the telephone, while leaving a gigantic clue as to her identity. She practically INVITES the killer's attention onto her and her sister and I was just sat there shaking my head and doing my best Rene-from-'Allo-'Allo impression: "You stoopid wo-man!"
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  #35670  
Old 13th February 2016, 09:06 PM
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Don't get me wrong, I love The Shining, great film, but it always bugs me how unlike the source material it is, it's basically a film about Jack Nicholson going crazy, so a Jack Nicholson film then
I agree mate, i love the book and weirdly im re-reading the new copy i got for christmas, lots of importnat stuff is missing. It is basically a kubrick movie about jack nicholson.
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