What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

Zombieland: Double Tap. 2019.

Columbus, Tallahasse, Little Rock and Wichita, are still travelling through zombie infested America and trying to make a life for themselves, but the zombie population is growing and getting smarter, while trying to find a save haven in a small population called Babylon.

Do sequels work and become more entertaining than it's predecessor, sometimes they do and others fall flat on their faces and fail, this one did work. The group have names for their zombies as to which is smart and dumb, Woody Harrleson is just as wacky as ever which makes it more enjoyable even if he has no weapons at hand to use and tends to be creative even with some sarcastic comments with Emma Stone about new comer Madison. Jesse Eisenberg still lives by the commandments of the apocalypse and Abigail Breslin seems to find a new friend Berkeley. Entertaining but does go off the rails a bit then back on track.

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I really liked this too, I want to re-watch them both soon

[Demoncrat]

Army Of The Dead

Stoopid. Not as Stoopid as The Mummy or WWZ or Blackhat even ... but nonetheless it's a veritable laugh riot. Bautista ... that face wasn't made to emote no siree ... did like the tiger I will admit. Didn't feel like 150 minutes either, so that was something at least. What it did feel like was "highlights from a mini series" tbh. As none of it seemed to gel .... and he's "expanding" this world? Pass.

[MrBarlow]

AVP: Aliens Vs Predator. 2004.

A satellite over the Antarctica picks up a heat signature, a team is sent in to investigate and discover it's a battle ground for two alien species.

This was panned by critics and fans of the franchise, a film that should never happen, how can it be possible for these two aliens to fight? This had to be toned down and think that's what got the fans and myself less violence and not much going on, when I saw the uncut version I changed my views and enjoyed it.

There is either a few flaws or some questions unanswered who was Charles Weyland, is he the guy who designed the Bishop android or a clone or is it just a coincidence and whatever happened to the queen, did she die or did she survive? With the ending the way it happened it did leave a possibility for a sequel and when that happened I didn't enjoy the film. This has very little suspense, it builds up on who is the superior race and a dreaded fear of claustrophobia as the battle ground opens up new levels for hunting and nowhere to hide.

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[trebor8273]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Sputnik (2020)

Excellent Russian sci-fi horror film. Similar in feel to classic Quatermass, it takes in the story of a young Russian psychiatrist, under review for her controversial methods, recruited by the military and taken to a secret base where a newly returned cosmonaut is housed after surviving a mysterious accident whilst out in space.

There's some genuine tension and creepiness that i simply wasn't expecting together with an awesome creature design. It's a simple enough story and features a great dynamic between the doctor (Oksana Akinshina) and the cosmonaut (Pyotr Fyodorov) as they try to make sense out of what happened as well as battling against the controlling authorities who have other nefarious plans in store.

Anyone wanting a well made sci-fi horror could do far worse than Sputnik. I really enjoyed it.

Nice one Trebor, for bringing this to my attention.

Thanks. Like you I was pleasantly surprised by it well worth a watch and it's on Netflix for those interested who have it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Thanks. Like you I was pleasantly surprised by it well worth a watch and it's on Netflix for those interested who have it.

Yes, one i'm more than happy to own on dvd. Not bad for a fiver from Asda.

[MrBarlow]

Oz The Great And Powerful. 2013.

A circus magician is swept away to the land of Oz, where he is mistakenly to be a great prophet that was predicted by three witches and the inhabitants of Oz.

Having never read the books even though I have been trying to get my hands on them for a decent price, I can't compare the film to the book even though they are meant to be darker. Hat's off to Sam Raimi for trying his best to visualise the prequel and probably being told what to do by the heads of production.

James Franco plays the circus magician Oscar Diggs who is forced to flee and lands in Oz and is greeted by Mila Kunis and is told the prophecy and meets Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams, who only one of them seems to be telling the truth. This seemed to be a good idea as it starts off black and white then goes to colour like the 1939 film, but we enter the age of forgetting how the original film works and goes to CGI which works at times and then spoils it at other moments, Enjoyable enough to a point.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

North Sea Hijack (1980)

Roger Moore plays against very much against type as an eccentric underwater saboteur who can't stand women but loves cats who is enlisted by the British government and Naval commander James Mason to come up with a plan to stop Anthony Perkins and his band of terrorists who hijack a cargo vessel with the aim of blowing up the largest oil rig in the North Sea unless his ransom demands are met.

Absolutely terrific high seas adventure which although lacking in action is more than made up for by the level of suspense which rises with every passing minute. Often quirky and offbeat with a strong air of British humour, North Sea Hijack is one of the best thrillers of the decade.

One of my favourite action / adventure films that i can always go back to. The 88 Films blu-ray looks great i'm delighted to say.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE STRANGENESS – I know I always wheel out the ‘people wandering around in the dark’ trope when I’m in the middle of a review and feeling slightly irked (by the movie, or maybe just by the fact that I don’t have anything very interesting to say), but ‘The Strangeness’, well, it’s THE ‘people wandering around in dark’ movie. That darkened, shadowy wandering itself could almost have been the film’s true theme, cos it’s pretty much all that happens. Prospectors in a mine shaft are… Wandering Around In The Dark on the lookout for gold (or something), until a big Harryhausen-esque Cthulhu slime phallus monster has a go at them. Note back in time – guys, you needed to include a bit more of the latter. For all the non-event, ‘The Strangeness’ still manages a certain atmosphere courtesy of its location and scrungy early eighties 16mm aesthetic. This rough-hewed real-indie charm bypasses elements (ie the boring ones) which would have me reaching for my DVD player had they been present in a slightly more polished affair. I’m a sucker for a bit of grain and bad lighting, it seems.

RUSH WEEK – I’m a forgiving soul when it comes to eighties slasher trash. I can watch stuff like ‘Rush Week’ till the f*cking cows come home, but I’d be the first to say that it probably isn’t very good. It’s another campus based horror where someone with a mask is moidering some frat boyz (and girlz). A bit of a cheat this one, as there really isn’t much blood, and the array of potentially exploitative elements (such as the naughty photographer’s necrophilia ‘speciality’) never progress beyond the tease. However, old punks will get their shiny little tear’s worth of nostalgia in with an impromptu appearance by The Dickies and a couple of others, and it’s all fairly well put together.

BEYOND TERROR – Strange Spanish flick seems to condense early eighties continental street-hustle vibes with something that looks like it might have stepped from the furthest recesses of De Ossorio’s fruit cellar. A small gang of hoods is on the lam with kidnappees in tow – they make the mistake of burning down the house of someone involved in black magic, then come a cropper in the ruins of a haunted church. I really enjoyed ‘Beyond Terror’, having seen it (and, it saddens me to admit, dismissed it) on an awful bootleg years ago. The restoration by Cauldron is very good, and now a film that has never been served by home based media is watchable at last. ‘Beyond Terror’ is at its best when the crime element makes way for a subtle pile-up of weird imagery and atmosphere (exemplified by a scene in the gang’s careening car on the way to the ruins, when eerie, celestial music pours from the radio). There’s also quite a lot of other eccentricity, such as sacrilegious in-church wanking before a be-cobwebbed undead-heavy gothic blowout at the end. Disjointed and uneven but fascinating and mysterious, it’s nice to see ‘Beyond Terror’ finally getting its due to some extent.

DEVIL TIMES FIVE – I’ve seen DX5 a few times over the years, and strangely enough my impression of it seems to change from viewing to viewing. The last time I saw it, I didn’t like it. I changed my mind again when I watched an upgraded version on blu-ray the other day. Maybe it was just my mood, but I found the film mysterious and intoxicating. It’s about some nasty kids who terrorise some nasty adults in a house that happens to be surrounded by acres of snowy wilderness. The claustrophobic atmosphere is also quite off-key and has that ‘seventies semi-art house’ feel about it. I liked the slippery dialogue, the devious characters, the arbitrary malevolence of the psychotic kids, the dreamlike feel of it all. That there is no-one to route for lends the film quite a doomed, nihilistic accent. Very recommended.

CASTLE FREAK – Whatever possessed the re-animators of Stuart Gordon’s ‘Castle Freak’? I mean come on, what the f*ck was the point, really? Maybe they realised they were already on to a winner, relatively speaking, given that no film could be as dismal as the original ‘Castle Freak’, even its remake. Am I exaggerating? Maybe, I’ll never like the original though. But this one boasts a fair amount of lubricious splatter, sexual violence, and attempts to inject a bit of Lovecraft in a rubbery tentacular way. Pretty good, all in all.

[Demoncrat]

As always F ...

Have a soft spot for Dx5 myself.

[Justin101]

...and I quite like the original Castle Freak