What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by ArgentoFan1987

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

4/10

Originally Posted by Buboven

Couldn't stand this film either, only watched it as my old flatmate liked it

I'm with you both in disliking this immensely.

[MrBarlow]

Faust 2000

After his girlfriend is killed, John meets a man only known as "M". They make a pact he will gain powers to use for vengeance but his price is his soul.

Based on the German folklore and comic books this is a different take on the story directed by Brian Yuzna.

There is great effects to it especially with the transformation of human to demon, that's a bit like Wolverine from X-men with some added extra blood and gore mixed in with a good soundtrack. The down side to this some bits show like flashbacks that can be confusing, and slide away from the plot itself. The pace picks up then goes slow and very boring at times then picks up a bit. 6 out of 10.

[MrBarlow]

Nightmare Hostel aka The Struan House 2005

Michael signs up for Dr Struan's method of studying and hope to get him for anger, the experimental study is not what he was expecting.

The film stars Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster) John Kassir (tales from the crypt TV show) and Karen Black (trilogy of terror). I didn't buy this movie it was given to me, it does say "unrated director's cut" don't be fooled by that, this was a waste of 90 minutes of my life, you would have more fun watching paint dry, the last ten minutes were interesting as well as seeing the end credits. Avoid at all costs.

Arachnid 2001

A team of explorers in Guam searching for answers to the death of a local person from a insect bite, encounter something far more deadly.

This is like the 50s movie Tarantula but set on an island, instead of escaping from a lab the spider comes from space.

The acting is mediocre as well as the effects being good as it's not CGI but animatronic that does help the movie. It's not as creepy as Arachnophobia or Kingdom of the spiders but if you like creature features this one is for a, watch. 6 out of 10.

[nosferatu42]

Dracula 1979

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The Frank Langella job that i picked up recently, Mr Barlow seemed to enjoy this version when he recently reviewed it, so did i, up to a point.
As the count Langella is interesting and has a decent screen presence, doing a weird thing with his eyes that is alluring, strangely flickering and memorable.

The sets and lighting are atmospheric and the opening with the Demeter floating into England are all great.

But like many Dracula films this for me strays too far from the source novel, swapping the main female roles and removing the castle/ brides of Dracula segment.

Still i enjoyed it, also Langella was too romantic and didn't really embody the fierceness and horrific elements of the ultimate vampire, leaving the females to have the only real impact as vampires, the creepiest moment is when they find Mina under the graveyard.

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I also felt slightly frustrated as i would have preferred to have seen Pleasance as Van Helsing and Sylvester Mccoy as Renfield instead of the roles they played.
Still it was nice to see the crawling down the wall moment, even if the cape defied gravity making me think of 60's Batman climbing up a wall.

7/10

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

Dracula 1979


Still it was nice to see the crawling down the wall moment, even if the cape defied gravity making me think of 60's Batman climbing up a wall.

7/10

Hammer completely screwed that up in Scars of Dracula by having his climb UP the wall.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much i enjoyed the Langella Dracula film.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Here's what i said about it in last years October Horror Movie Marathon thread.

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Dracula (1979)

Director John Badham's take on the classic Bram Stoker story is perhaps more romantic than usual as a seemingly fangless Frank Langella charms his way across the screen. Coming across more Lestat than Dracula, Langella in truth is miscast yet he manages to easily steal many of the scenes he's in especially with Laurence Olivier's Van Helsing, who also appears to be miscast. The mighty Donald Pleasence has a large role in this, although his Dr. Seward isn't a million miles away from his trademark Dr. Loomis in the Halloween series of films. Look out for Sylvester McCoy as well, playing Seward's general dogsbody.

Despite these seemingly damaging flaws in the casting, Dracula is still a good film. It looks terrific and has Gothic atmosphere in spades, and is beautifully photographed, there truly isn't a dull scene to be ahem' scene and whilst it isn't as gory as some of the best vampire films there's still some delightful throat ripping and stakings galore as well as some frightening imagery such as the dead Mina Van Helsing (?) coming on to her unwilling father in her tomb. Isn't it odd how the various Dracula films play mix and match with character names and scenarios?

I was a bit apprehensive as i settled down to watch this, almost fearing the worst, but i actually really enjoyed it.

[nosferatu42]

Fire and Ice

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An adult animation by legendary counter culture filmmaker Ralph Bakshi the guy who made "Felix the cat", "Lord of the rings" and "Wizards" among others.

This one is a very basic Conan the Barbarian style animation with designs provided by fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, that i've been wanting to watch for years since i used to admire the VHS cover in rental stores as a kid.

I don't know why it eluded me i guess i always used to grab the horror films when given a choice at the time.

I thought i'd finally watch it because of the animation top ten.

I enjoyed this, i've always liked the idea of Bakshi's work, but find the animation too erratic to be totally satisfying on the whole.

"Lord of the rings" has some brilliant moments if i recall correctly, with the Ringwraith's section seeming to be duplicated in part by Jackson's films, also the battle's in that film stood out,but i was never that impressed by the more basic drawing of the hobbits.

Same with "Wizards" which i like but the tonal variations in the artwork is pretty jarring, but the use of world war two footage in that film really gives it a unique identity and hallucinatory quality.

Likewise when i saw "Heavy Metal" it never lived up to the poster image and was a let down.

This film i liked a lot and although the story was lacking, i really enjoyed the animation, the use of rotoscoping to capture lifelike movement gives the film a unique feel, i always liked this technique in Bakshi's other films, but here it is the whole deal so the film seemed much more complete as a piece of work.

Also the backgrounds used were very painterly which i found intriguing, giving the animation a distinctive mood.

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Being a very visual person i found the films style really elevated the basic storyline and kept me enthralled throughout.

7.5 / 10

[nosferatu42]

Sounds like you and me are generally alike in regards to Langella's Dracula Dem, considering the money and acting resources available it is a strangely skew whiff concoction.

Yet still very watchable and entertaining.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

Sounds like you and me are generally alike in regards to Langella's Dracula Dem, considering the money and acting resources available it is a strangely skew whiff concoction.

Yet still very watchable and entertaining.

Have you got the 1977 BBC adaptation, nos?

That was terrific and very faithful to the novel in comparison to other productions.

[nosferatu42]

Haven't got it at the moment, but i've seen it and thought it was one of the better versions.