What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Cinematic Shocks]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

As you know, I think The Babadook is a great film and really rate It Follows. Both engage me and create an unnerving atmosphere (which lingers long after the end credits of finish) of which Ouija's makers could only dream.

'The Babadook' is great and 'It Follows' is a very good film that's almost great.

[Justin101]

I went to see Doctor Strange this afternoon and I feel pretty disappointed. The story was boring and disjointed, the first part seemed to be a different film to the second half. And they really over do it on the Matrix/Inception special effects, we have time freezing, glass shattering, reversing and building bending all over the place making pretty patterns for sure but it's all a bit tedious.

At this point it has that special place of "My Worst Marvel Universe Film"

[Deadite]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

As you know, I think The Babadook is a great film

We're in a small club by the looks of it! Baggsy Chairman!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I went to see Doctor Strange this afternoon and I feel pretty disappointed. The story was boring and disjointed, the first part seemed to be a different film to the second half. And they really over do it on the Matrix/Inception special effects, we have time freezing, glass shattering, reversing and building bending all over the place making pretty patterns for sure but it's all a bit tedious.

At this point it has that special place of "My Worst Marvel Universe Film"

I saw it yesterday with no knowledge of the character or source material and thought it was very good. The character arcs worked, the visual effects were spectacular (at one point I thought I was tipping over sideways), performances universally excellent, humour was well used and effective.

As an origins film, it's one of the best, probably comparable to the first Iron Man and the two scenes (during and after the end credits) set up some interesting films with other Marvel characters with the first apparently being Avengers: Infinity War. A solid 8/10 from me.

Originally Posted by Deadite

We're in a small club by the looks of it! Baggsy Chairman!

I'll be president!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Hell Night (1981)

Linda Blair looks quite pretty in this generic fraternity slasher set in in old manor house. At 101 minutes it's far too long and very little happens until the discovery of a madman running loose towards the end. Still, there's plenty of moody old dark house wanderings from Linda in her fancy dress costume which gives it a distinctly Gothic flavor.



Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

The fifth film in the saga of Michael Myers. Take away the needless and daft occult opening scenes, well, no take away all the occult scenes and what's left is pretty similar to what's gone before it. Michael returns to Haddonfield on Halloween night to slaughter anyone connected with his family name.

The film features one or two interesting kills (Michael seems to have learned how to use farm machinery at some point, no wonder Loomis is worried every time he escapes from the madhouse) and serves as a farewell to the great Donald Pleasence.

Honestly it's not really as bad as people make out.

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

A solid 8/10 from me.

It's interesting that you had such a different experience than I did, while I still enjoyed the film it didn't work cohesively for me as I thought the action scenes were at odds with the spiritual scenes. Obviously, with it being an origin story it has a responsibility to introduce characters to an audience but I feel it was done better in Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger than it was here.

I can pinpoint the moment when my mind switched off as well, 'The Ancient One' pushed Strange's astral body out of his physical body, all well and good, but then when she opened his mind's eye and it went on a 5 minute psychedelic trip into la la land, that was it for me.

I scored it 6/10.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I can pinpoint the moment when my mind switched off as well, 'The Ancient One' pushed Strange's astral body out of his physical body, all well and good, but then when she opened his mind's eye and it went on a 5 minute psychedelic trip into la la land, that was it for me.

I was switching off reading this.

Sounds a right load of codswallop.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

It's interesting that you had such a different experience than I did, while I still enjoyed the film it didn't work cohesively for me as I thought the action scenes were at odds with the spiritual scenes. Obviously, with it being an origin story it has a responsibility to introduce characters to an audience but I feel it was done better in Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger than it was here.

I can pinpoint the moment when my mind switched off as well, 'The Ancient One' pushed Strange's astral body out of his physical body, all well and good, but then when she opened his mind's eye and it went on a 5 minute psychedelic trip into la la land, that was it for me.

I scored it 6/10.

I felt that sequence was essential in order to put the audience in the same place as Strange: out of the comfort zone and wanting to know exactly what he had experienced and where, physically or mentally, he had gone during the 'trip'. That paid dividends in the third act as I knew what was happening because I otherwise would have been lost.

There were some problems in its formulaic nature being a byproduct of an origins film, something which didn't affect Iron Man, as it was the first of the Marvel origins films (despite 2002's Spider-Man) to follow the path which has been used in every subsequent film kickstarting any franchise in the Marvel universe.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

BUtterfield 8 (1960)

Elizabeth Taylor won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a high class call girl with much emotional baggage. Eddie Fisher to whom she was married at the time seems uneasy as her only true friend but Laurence Harvey is convincing as the wealthy executive with whom she has a sordid affair.

Taylor is at her most glamorous here but the opening scenes as she wakes in Harvey's hotel room to a note and $250 then proceeds to clean her teeth with Scotch gives her an almost sleazy allure.

BUtterfield 8 plays out as a human drama with little in the way of humour to enlighten proceedings, the sex, whilst tepid nowadays caused controversy at the time and the shock ending is still quite stunning even now.

[Frankie Teardrop]

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE – Mary Winstead wakes up after crashing her car, only to find that she's chained to John Goodman's wall. That might be bad enough, but here Goodman is a rabid conspiracy theorist who's holed up in his cellar, believing that his country's just been attacked. Tensions escalate in the bunker, and the film follows Goodman's collapse and Winstead's attempts to break out. '10 Cloverfield Lane' succeeds pretty well in keeping a minimal scenario interesting, which is impressive considering there are only three main players (I should add that there's someone else down there with them, a hick who alternates between being Goodman's and Winsteads's foil.) There's enough angst ridden atmosphere and suspense to carry it through to the climax, which takes an abrupt left turn into territory more familiar from the original Cloverfield movie, which I quite liked although it might be a bit too arbitrary for some. Good film, worth catching.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT - A top tip from Dem (thanx, guy) in which a disfigured killer escapes from a psych ward and gatecrashes a Halloween party. Surprisingly, he murders a load of annoying teens. I really liked 'Halloween Night'. It's a dumb as f*ck, but it's allowed to be. In fact, it kind of has to be. The template has already been set down, we all know the score when it comes to a film like this. It can only survive by drilling the routine to the max, which of course 'Halloween Night' does, it couldn't be more formulaic, you know, you've got a public holiday and a house with a secret, what more do you want besides a load of tits and gore, also happily present. That being said, the closer a slasher adheres to formula, the more its idiosyncrasies stand out, particularly if it isn't very competently made, which is the case here. I liked the killer – he was burned as a kid, when he witnessed a brutal home invasion – it's what sent him over the edge. But instead of just having the scars of a burns victim, he looks like a zombie or a monster or something! It's ludicrous, and just adds to the weirdness. There are numerous other instances of questionable filmmaking skill lending a wtf factor to proceedings here, including the ending – how did that dude get in that bag? Why did that other dude pick up the hitch-hiker who couldn't look less like a serial murdering monster, particularly with that upside down face mask scrawled in biro? Why end your movie with a shot of some pavement? Although the UK DVD looks a bit ropey, 'Halloween Night' is solid latter day exploitation trash which I recommend to anyone who can stomach the fact that it was put out by The Asylum.