What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demoncrat]

Anything with Karen Black ....

Quandary ... Joe D'amato's Black Cobra Woman (76)
or

Watership Down

?

Hmmmm ........

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Santa Sangre (1989)

Revered by some but lost on others. I think i'm somewhere in between. Extremely odd at times with ideas overflowing, and at other times feeling like a semi related series of vignettes, it is however a film to both savour and in turn be repulsed by.

There's weirdness and gore galore as director Alejandro Jodorowsky shows us a world of bizarre and grotesque characters. The bendy painted lady seemed like a dream of suicide girl eroticism, yet to others i can imagine her being the stuff of nightmares. Then there's the armless mother, the invisible man scene... far too much to mention in just a few lines.

Lets just say Santa Sangre is a surreal fever dream that, love or hate, will leave you with images not easily forgotten.

[nosferatu42]

Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps

sennentuntschi.jpg

In a small village in the Swiss Alps a young priest is found hanged in a church tower, at his burial a young mute woman, covered in dirt and rags appears and is taken into the care of a local policeman who tries to protect her and find out who she is.

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The villagers come to suspect she is a Sennentuntschi, a manifestation of a local legend about three herdsmen who were lonely and made a doll from straw, wood and cloth. In the tale the doll came to life in the shape of a female servant and lover, but is actually the devil in disguise.

This story is replayed within the film by a local herdsman, a young boy who lives with him and a city slicker who is helping them out, these people reside in cabins in the mountains, self sufficient and isolated until they perform the summoning whilst drunk on absinthe and a young woman appears (who looks very similar to the one the policeman found.)

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This is an interesting, atmospheric and well made film which kept me guessing until the end, these are many strands that run throughout the film, the policeman and the woman, the herdsmen story and the mystery of the priests death.
These elements intertwine so the watcher is unsure as to the timeline or wether the girls are even the same person, also we are uncertain to her innocence or guilt.

Due to her being mute and the isolation of the mountains, the herdsmen ultimately take advantage of her and although these scenes are unpleasant they are not drawn out or unnecessarily leering, our sympathy lies solely with the victim.
Yet even while doing this the film gives the men involved back stories and lives so they do not come across as one dimensional beings.

I found this riveting and wanted to find out how the story concluded, it's not an out and out horror film although it has many elements of one, but it is also a mystery and is very well acted by everyone on screen. (Especially the woman, who conveys a lot of emotion without a word.)
But those just looking for gore and titillation would be disappointed.

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It's a film that is not available on U.K disc and is not very well known, but it is on Netflix at the moment, so catch it while you can if it appeals to you.
I really liked it, so a recommendation from me. 8/10

[Demoncrat]

The Fly (Cronenberg)

A film I can endlessly return to. When a socially awkward scientist invites a bored reporter to witness his new invention, don't expect any Monkey Business here .
Visceral and decently paced, this is the one I always felt was DC just reminding Hollywood who he actually was
Am going to watch the sequel tonight. I expect little from the trailer I remember

[trebor8273]

bonkers horror by Ken Russell, tame compared to some of his films. very loosely based on the Bram Stoker novel and legend of the worm. Huge Grant is in usual upper class self as a descendent of the man who killed the worm in the legend, Peter Capaldi is a hippy archaeologist that digs up what he believes is the skull of a giant worm , when Sylvia Marsh appears(Amanda Donohoe) they believe that there maybe more too the legend, especially when it turns out she is a ageless priestess of Dionin. The film belongs to Donohoe and her performance who goes around killing people (usual virgins) with her huge strap on dildo, let down by some terrible ps1 style cgi. 8/10


now watching

[Demoncrat]

Lair is just fun. Ken didn't give a hoot. I miss him.

[Demoncrat]

The Gate II: Trespassers (Tibor Tabacs)

Is there nowt that man wouldn't helm?
So so sequel. Fake Demi Moore in cast . Likee stop motion?? Otherwise ....

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Legacy (1978)

Architects, Katherine Ross and Sam Elliott, are stranded at an old English manor house following a road accident. It soon transpires they were expected visitors and are soon joined by the likes of Charles Gray and Roger Daltrey among others as it turns out the house is owned by a wealthy but dying man (John Standing) and the six guests are there for a very sinister reason.

A late entry into the time honored old dark house horror genre. The longer the film goes on the more convoluted and ridiculous it becomes as well as the more entertaining. Following a stodgy opening the story evolves and we have a monstrous creature in the attic, a satanic coven as well as the reincarnation of a long dead witch.

The cast are great and the whole thing is slickly directed by Richard Marquand (who would later go on to direct Return of the Jedi.) and has some delicious death scenes including Gray engulfed in flames, Daltrey dying from a gory tracheotomy and Marianne Broome drowning in the indoor pool - probably the films most memorable sequence. The final third has enough tension and WTF? moments to make it eminently watchable and thoroughly enjoyable.

[Demoncrat]

I always forget about The Legacy .... until I remember . Rewatch methinks!!

[Demoncrat]

The Fly II (1989, Chris Walas)

Fascinating. Cheeeeky nod to Cronenberg. Country song in a sci fi film! Not since Dark Star etc. A lead actress without those doll like WHITE teeth. John Beard . It is not very good. But then when did that stop me watching anything?