What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

The 9th installment in the long running Friday the 13th series.

In a final attempt to kill supernatural serial killer Jason Vorhees for good, a crack military group trap him and at last blow up Jason for good in a hail of bullets and an explosion as we see him disintegrate into a million gory pieces.

Sadly for those who think the Friday films are a cliched waste of time all this happens before the opening credits. What follows is a completely different beast of a film taking it's cues from sci-fi films such as The Hidden as the spirit of Jason Vorhees hijacks various unlucky hosts in a bid to make himself whole and reborn again through a member of his original bloodline.

Talk about a convoluted plot, however this first film in the series to be produced by New Line Cinema takes the idea of mass killer Jason in a bold new way. Hopping from host to host means the hulking killer isn't actually in the film an awful lot, although Jason actor Kane Hodder does get a cameo as a police officer at the morgue where Jason's supposedly unbeating heart is taken following his destruction. However it's the lack of the hockey masked killer that also acts as a drawback. He is after all the reason to watch this series of slasher films.

Jason Goes to Hell is fast paced, exciting and a lot of fun. New Line up the gore content considerably with some very gooey practical effects, one scene midway through is 'jaw dropping'. The final scene is also a bit of a jaw dropper but in a different way as it rather unexpectedly features a brief cameo from another iconic horror character which paves the way for a sort of sequel some ten years later.

[trebor8273]

Just started bad moon on Blu Ray. What amazing job has been done with the picture quality. Its fantastic for such a old not so well knowing movie it buts a lot of new films to shame

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Q Planes (1939)

Extremely entertaining pre-war thriller with a wicked streak of humour about test flights for new bomber planes which inexplicably go missing whilst out over the sea. Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson star as the test pilot and reporter attempting to figure out whats happening, all the while Ralph Richardson's Major Hammond seems one step ahead of everyone with his wild ideas about a strange device which grounds planes.

Despite the obvious talents of Olivier, Ralph Richardson steals the film from under him. His ever so slightly mad Major owns each and every scene, his quick witted, eccentric repertoire adds a lot of humour to potentially po-faced pre-war proceedings as well as great energy. The film seems to have a decent budget and it shows with plenty of flying scenes as well as ocean going sequences. Added to this there's a lengthy gun battle aboard a German frigate towards the end.

I really enjoyed Q Planes. Highly recommended.

Network's dvd looks terrific.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE COLLECTOR – I watched 'The Collector' on its initial UK DVD release, and turned to it again because I couldn't remember much about it. I guess I was expecting something typical of its time – it was made in 2009, when the genre was still glutted with attempts to rip of the likes of 'Saw' and 'Hostel'. Well, my expectations weren't entirely off the mark, but on the other hand, there's more to 'The Collector' than yet more mediocre 'torture porn'. The set up is fairly standard – thief with a heart is trying to raise some cash to placate his ex's loan sharks, and hits on the idea of ripping off the rich household of his former employers. Only, on the night he breaks in he finds that there's someone else in the house – a sadist with a creepy mask and a way with setting traps. A reliance on mechanical novelty as the source of graphic horror isn't the only move 'The Collector' cops from the 'Saw' sequels (unsurprisingly, as the director was involved in the latter franchise), but there are aspects that elevate it beyond mere imitation. Mostly, these are to do with style. Whilst the filtered look of the 'Saw' series is around, it's deployed in a more thoughtful way here, and the result has a dense, richly textured feel that seems quite ominous. Also, some of the set pieces are elaborate, almost baroque – there's a great sequence involving the daughter of the house and her boyfriend, soundtracked to good effect by 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'. All of this propels 'The Collector' more towards Italian territory almost, a line that was taken further with its sequel, 'The Collection' (which I remember really liking at the time). If you're looking for something brutal and visually compelling, I would defintely check out 'The Collector'.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE COLLECTOR

Excellent write-up, as usual, Frankie. I saw this at the cinema and haven't watched it since, though I seem to remember something about a sequel (The Collection?), which I intended to check out and watch.

I agree completely with your analysis and thoughts, with the film being suitably nasty but different enough from the Saw and Hostel films to stand on its own two feet – onto the Lovefilm rental queue it goes!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE COLLECTOR – If you're looking for something brutal and visually compelling, I would defintely check out 'The Collector'.

I've only watched my dvd once. I did enjoy it though, time for a rewatch i think.

Never seen The Collection.

The Teardrop influence grows ever stronger.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

If it weren’t for the unnecessary, misguided, badly written and overlong Batgirl prologue, I would give this a higher rating as the rest of it - the actual adaptation of the graphic novel - is excellent.

*** out of *****

The Woods (2006)

***1/2 out of *****

[platostotal]

JONAH HEX... here we go, first the positive, Josh Brolin is very good as our semi-zombie lead IMHO, and the audio fireworks are room shaking good, however everything else seems to be in another movie entirely, as for the plot it's a direct steal from the Will Smith film Wild Wild West with a fair bit of Outlaw Josey Wales thrown in and botched in both attempts, the other actors should receive a proper slapping too, Megan(shot in soft focus throughout)Fox in a ridiculous love interest side plot comes across as a crap superhero-slut, and as for John Malkovich... he plays the villain as if he's a mono-tone French aristocrat from the Three Musketeers and not a crazy renegade southern general, although miscast he should have come up something better than that tosh, but having said all that if you switch your brain off it was a reasonable trashy Poundshop buy IMHO.

So if you can pick it up for £1 you can have a laugh at it's crass plot rip-offs and enjoy the rubbish acting from Malkovich.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by platostotal

other actors should receive a proper slapping too, Megan(shot in soft focus throughout)Fox in a ridiculous love interest side plot comes across as a crap superhero-slut,

Right then Plato, firstly if Megan Fox needs a slapping then I'm your man. Cos lets be honest, slap and spank aren't that far apart. And if she was a "superhero slut" should the film not have been amazing???

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Beach Volleyball Detectives.

Some old guff about terrorist at a volleyball match. If you like close ups of Japanese women's' gussets, then this is the film for you. The title song is a reworking of this...but about volleyball.