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Decemberdike December 14th Twisted Nerve (1968) From British comedy legends the Boulting brothers comes this psychological thriller notorious for its use of Down syndrome as a reason for murder. It stars Hywel Bennett as a disturbed young man, Martin, who pretends, under the name of Georgie, to be intellectually impaired in order to be near Susan (Hayley Mills) a girl with whom he has become infatuated. Somehow he moves into Susan's guest house run by her mother - an ever so slightly sleazy Billie Whitelaw - and as you can imagine things escalate from there on in. At first i wasn't too sure if Bennet was miscast, but he seemed to grow into the role of Georgie and ended up giving a riveting performance. Mills and Whitelaw were both excellent throughout. Twisted Nerve isn't your typical proto slasher, it has a slow burning atmosphere that simmers with uneasy sexuality and dread and as a first time viewing is one of my Decemberdike highlights. .................................................. ................................ December 15th Prince of Darkness (1987) As with the other John Carpenter film (The Fog) i've watched recently, Prince of Darkness is an old favourite and one i wanted to see how well the new Studio Canal print improves the film. It does. Immensely. Even comparing the two dvd versions the new Studio Canal print is far superior. Crisper, brighter, richer colours and a hell of a lot sharper in clarity. As for the film? For me it's classic unmissable Carpenter. |
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Centurion A roman legion head into the wilderness of Scotland to find what remains of a roman garrison and to defeat the picts. Unfortunately they get their arses handed to them and the remaining few have to flee or die. A survival movie in many regards, strong cast and violent. Michael Fassbender brings a good performance and there's some beautiful scenery of Scotland as well. Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Tapatalk
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Decemberdike December 16th I initially watched Pool Party Massacre (2018), a fun film but as it went on i quickly came to realise it was a comedy with gore rather than a horror film of any sort. So whilst entertaining it didn't deliver on the Decemberdike scale. On to an unseen classic i thought. Mark of the Vampire (1936) What the hell was this? Tod Browning's film sets itself up as a typical Universal graveyards and vampires chiller, (Except it was made by MGM) it's script apparently following the lost film London after Midnight. Bela Lugosi creates his Dracula image and Carol Borland becomes his vampire bride. However very quickly the film turns into a 'whodunnit' with a preposterous premise without any supernatural thrills at all. Even by 1935 standards this film came across as dated. Universal with Dracula and Frankenstein frightened audiences and made them believe they were real, but Mark of the Vampire seems to come from the period prior to those films where monster were frauds, and it's twist ending was both disappointing and a film killer making it seem as if the preceding reels were a parody more than anything else. I really need to watch this again with the Kim Newman / Stephen Jones commentary. |
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Man From Deep River. John bradley(Ivan rassimov) is on holiday in thailand and accidently kills a chap in a bar who pulls a knife on him. so afterwards he buggers off down the river with his guide and ends up getting netted by a tribe of savages who think he is a fishman because he is wearing a wet suit with flippers. after a bit of torture and being a slave he eventually starts to get accepted by the tribe and falls for the chiefs foxy daughter Maraya( Me Me Lai). The film that started the cannibal trend, although there is actually very little cannibalism at all in this movie apart from the main scene were a woman gets raped by a cannibal tribe and eaten afterwards. and is in fact more of a mix of adventure and romance with elements of A Man Called Horse as well. Umberto lenzi does a superb job as well, with a great story and colourful locations and is a brilliant director who's films always keep you entertained. Acting is also very good too with Ivan Rassimov who gives one of the best performances of his career despite the blond dye job and Me Me Lai who has great chemistry with him. Just a shame that their romance in the film is sadly cut short after Ivan pisses off the local witch doctor. definitely one of my favourite romps in the jungle, even if it still does have a lot of the unnessasary animal cruelty including cock fighting, snake and mongoose, crocodile and goat throat slitting. 88 out of 100.
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Been getting into some old 'classics' recently. Nothing better than a creeky, vintage black and white horror to warm up those cold nights... Recently I've seen; - The Devil Bat - Mad Scientist, Bela Lugosi invents an aftershave...with a twist. Wear it at your own risk as a giant killer bat will come for you. Great fun! - The Giant Claw - Brilliant monster movie, about a giant alien buzzard - the size of a battleship! - reaping havoc on the world. Great fun - love the crazy effects in this one. Ridiculous science mumbo-jumbo language in here. - Frankenstein Meets The Spacemonster - Mad Scientist's creation, Frankenstein takes on a creature from outer space. Nuts! Bonus points for a young James 'Return-Of-The-Living-Dead' Karen. - Invasion Of The Saucer Men - Iconic 50's aliens VS a bunch of teens. I just love the way they spoke back then, all the 50's teen slang. Good stuff (though not as fun as the above films) - Glen Or Glenda - My fave Ed Wood film. Great fun 'documentary' about someone who is definitely NOT a homosexual... - The Manster - Mad Scientist injects a guy with a strange serum, transforming him into a Jekyll/Hyde esque monster. Army Of Darkness pays tribute to the eye on the shoulder scene and the two heads...
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Eaten alive. Sheila(the lovely Janet agren from city of The Living Dead) is searching for her missing sister, and discovers that she has been brainwashed by a religious nutjob called Jonas( old favourite Ivan Rassimov) and is living in the jungle. and pays a ex veitnam vet to help her. Out of director Umberto lenzi's cannibal films i have to say that i found this one his weakest. it's not that it's a terrible film as it is a lot of fun and entertaining. The problem i have with it is that loads of footage in it is recycled from his previous better film Man from Deep River and other cannibal films as well. and this is a shame because it has a lot of interesting ideas and a good story. nevertheless there's still a fair bit of gore and nudity that hasen't been recycled including miss Agren getting painted gold and defiled by Ivan Rassimov with a large dildo covered in snake blood . a woman raped doggy style and eaten by the cannibals with a hilarious scene of them devouring her plastic leg . and not to mention the return of Me Me Lai in a lesser role were she gets to constantly walk around topless with rather unaturally looking perky boobs and having a gangbang. However, as with almost all of these films it still has loads of the usual animal cruelty as well, but most of that is even recycled too. Definitely worth a watch though. and with a great score that lenzi also used in his most famous cannibal classic, Cannibal Ferox. 74 out of 100.
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Decemberdike December 17th Alien: Covenant (2017) A complete mess of a film from Ridley Scott. It seems he forgot what made Alien so good and decided to opt for a CGI cop out Xenomorph which would have been more suited to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The characters were instantly forgettable. Fassbender merely did his Fassbender thing and Katherine Waterston, supposedly a Ripley for the 2010's, has the screen persona of a bin liner. The rest were so poor i've completely forgotten them not 24 hours later. Whereas Scott's earlier Prometheus was thoughtful and clever this came over as a mish mash of greatest hits from other better Alien movies. In fact the film is as muddled as it's poster below. Rubbish. |
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I was impressed by the continued world building (or universe building) in Alien: Covenant and the Ultra HD release has been on my wish list for quite some time as I feel that would be the best way to watch it and Prometheus, a film I also enjoyed at the cinema seems to improve with every viewing. There were couple of parts in both films, where they appeared to get a little bogged down in the enormity of the pre-Alien world which Ridley Scott is bringing to the screen, so the plots aren't as tight or (at least on first viewing) coherent as his 1979 tour de force, but the ambition, set pieces and visual grandeur are stunning. I'm a big fan of Michael Fassbender's portrayal of David and Walter because for an actor to be so chillingly restrained is an achievement in itself, but to make those characters so interesting and believable is an astonishing piece of acting. Whenever the sequel to Alien: Covenant is released, I'll be very disappointed if I don't get to see it at a cinema.
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