What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demoncrat]

Catch up time! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


Star Of David: Beautiful Girl Hunter (1979, Norifumi Suzuki)

Fun little flick about a spoilt brat whose outlook on life leaves something to be desired. Think Angst rather than Arthur though .....
Repellent. Recommended Highly.


Malignant (2021, James Wan)

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamily. It's at the heart of everything. Not as mad as I had hoped. Will revisit.
Next!!



Invisible Mom (1997, Fred Olen Ray)

Relatively sane and competent kids flick .... I had to see if this would be terrible, but it is basically a generic family flick. Russ Tamblyn has fun as the nemesis.



Love Letters Of A Portugese Nun (1977, Jess Franco)

Is this the best production since Justine?? Hmmm.
Religious hypocrites ruin a child's life. Told soberly .... Mark Of The Devil it ain't .... a "devout" pair of schemers prey on the local populace's offspring to sate their desires. Male slightly reminded me of the Rutger, which made me realise that Jack Taylor wasn't playing that part which took me out of the film slightly.
Ahem. Recommended.

[MrBarlow]

Siren. 2016.

Heather Fierman returns to her role as Lily from V/H/S segement Amateur Night, The trailer made this seem decent, usual premise, guys on a stag night are introduced to a underground strip joint, one releases a stripper and all hell breaks loose. Somewhat homage to Vamp, a strip place has a secret or two. The acting was decent and Heather being shown throughout the film naked but just seemed rushed towards the end, clench your cheeks lads it can be painful in bits.

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[gag]

Originally Posted by Graveyard

I done that with 1900, around the same length time.

On topic:

Scream 1-4

I love Scream 1 & 2, the others are just watchable, but easy forgotten - tomorrow it's time for Scream 5. No high hopes, so it's already a bonus

Just for fun did you know Scream got a Bollywood remake?





Scream’ Got the Bollywood Treatment in 2003 Remake ‘Sssshhh…

Can't get the link to Work.

[Justin101]

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021)

Now streaming on Shudder ahead of its physical release in a couple of weeks. At 3 hours and 12 minutes, over 200 films and 50 interviewees it's somewhat exhaustive and exhausting. BUT, really interesting. Starting with the 'Big 3 of UK folk horror' before branching out across the world, redefining what folk horror means and giving examples of how the folklore of other cultures has been interpreted on film.

Jonathan Rigby and Vic Pratt both feature prominently which is good, but it would have been nice to see Kim Newman or Stephen Thrower pop up as well, but they didn't.

Nice section on freaky, scary kids TV in late 60s/early 70s, Moon Dial, Children of the Stones, The Owl Service!

I've got some films to add to my watch list now, particularly an intriguing looking Icelandic film starring a teenage Bjork, called The Juniper Tree.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Great Silence (1968)

Cracking spaghetti western from Sergio Corbucci that's shot in snow bound locations in the Italian Dolomites that create a beautiful almost Gothic atmosphere.

Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Vonetta McGee, Frank Wolff and Luigi Pistilli, The Great Silence is effortlessly performed and thankfully avoids the silly incessantly laughing idiots that for me spoil many an Italian western. The story itself is fairly straightforward and not especially unique with Trintignant playing a mute gunfighter returning to a remote, cold Utah landscape to exact his revenge on bounty hunter Kinski. However if the story is good but unremarkable the finale is anything but and it hits you like a gut punch with it's nihilistic unforgettable ruthlessness.

The new Eureka Blu-ray is a mixed bag. Had the picture quality continued in the same vein as the pre-credits opening i'm not sure i'd have stuck it out. The blacks are horrible as if seen through a blurred mesh fence, but thankfully this isn't an issue for more than the five opening minutes. The majority of the film is decent to look at with the outdoor scenes (That's most of the film) quite lovely on the eye.

The package itself is really good, the poster is gorgeous on lovely thick paper as are the lobby cards with the extras plentiful. I watched and really enjoyed an informative chat with Alex Cox on the film's background.

From what i've seen The Great Silence is one of the very best spaghetti westerns ever made. Better than The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or For a Few Dollars More? No. Certainly not, but it's shorter running time, quicker pace and shock ending made it a more satisfying experience than Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West which i saw on Blu-ray for the first time last week.

[Frankie Teardrop]

BODY PARTS – Jeff Fahey’s new arm is up to no good in this proficient early-nineties transplant-gone-wrong thriller from ‘Hitcher’ guy Eric Red. I remember clocking the title back in the day and wondering whether it might go the gross-out route – in fact it’s a slow, tense build which focuses on personal plight and relies as much on nice turns from the likes of stalwarts such as Brad Dourif before jacking it in for a final half hour of silliness. Good.

CREATURE – A very blatant mid-eighties ‘Alien’ rip-off which must’ve played as dated even at the time; it’s not called ‘Creatures’, is it? This is like a straighter variant of those wacky Roger Corman rip-offs from five years prior – ‘Galaxy of Terror’ et al – but it’s still good, gory fun. Klaus Kinski pops up for the full five minutes the makers had access to him, and just about establishes a plot point. Otherwise, it’s aesthetically nice, sometimes making the fag-ash gloom of its alien world seem a bit gothic after the addition of a few cobwebs and heaving bosoms.

ZOMBIE ISLAND MASSACRE – Some tourists in the Caribbean fall foul of… well, that would be telling, but unfortunately it ain’t zombies. Actually, although some corners of ‘fandom’ would pummel it as an execrable waste of time, ZIM really isn’t that bad. It’s cheap, ludicrous, full of unlikely plot devices and at least manages to match dull wandering with a smattering of poorly done gore… what more might you realistically ask of a film that bears the taint of Troma? I’ve seen, and enjoyed, far worse.

MANIA KILLER – ‘Classic’ Eurocine from ‘Burial Ground’ maestro Andrea Bianchi. Any attempt to summarise what happens is doomed to collapse in a pool of its own wee. Hilarious? Tedious? ‘Mania Killer’ is not going to win any awards for its sensitive portrayal of oppressed identities; on the other hand, it’s just not going to win any awards. Robert Ginty wears an inquisitorial crimson cape and tortures hookers in a cellar. Chuck Connors has an amazing computer and teaches a mute guy to speak. Another guy does some other stuff. It’s the kind of movie where a gunfight happens because the director found three squibs. I lost track of the fact that I was even watching a film god knows how many times. Have I put you off or turned you on? ‘Mania Killer’ is quite good at doing both at once.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

MANIA KILLER – ‘Classic’ Eurocine from ‘Burial Ground’ maestro Andrea Bianchi. Any attempt to summarise what happens is doomed to collapse in a pool of its own wee. Hilarious? Tedious? ‘Mania Killer’ is not going to win any awards for its sensitive portrayal of oppressed identities; on the other hand, it’s just not going to win any awards. Robert Ginty wears an inquisitorial crimson cape and tortures hookers in a cellar. Chuck Connors has an amazing computer and teaches a mute guy to speak. Another guy does some other stuff. It’s the kind of movie where a gunfight happens because the director found three squibs. I lost track of the fact that I was even watching a film god knows how many times. Have I put you off or turned you on? ‘Mania Killer’ is quite good at doing both at once.

Sounds a bit like some of the stuff i've been watching recently from Fragasso. If we have something no matter what we'll use it. Does it enhance the plot? Do you really give a shit?

Sounds good to me.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Sounds a bit like some of the stuff i've been watching recently from Fragasso. If we have something no matter what we'll use it. Does it enhance the plot? Do you really give a shit?

Sounds good to me.

Ha ha, it's probably as mad, but also slightly duller, than Fragasso. Well, it's certainly no 'Troll 2'. Then again, it's no 'Burial Ground', either!

The first hour was like a demented anti-masterpiece, but then it drifted a bit and I got a little tired. And then it picked up again. Yes, the privileging of lacklustre improvisation over concerns regarding plot cohesion is totally in evidence, as is a completely crass attitude to the representation of disability (basically, one of the characters is a poacher with a learning dis, and the portrayal is like a ghastly playground impersonation with full-on gurning etc etc) - but there you have it, trashy exploitation in the raw with a bus-fare sized budget and no-one giving a flying f*ck.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

Ha ha, it's probably as mad, but also slightly duller, than Fragasso. Well, it's certainly no 'Troll 2'. Then again, it's no 'Burial Ground', either!

The first hour was like a demented anti-masterpiece, but then it drifted a bit and I got a little tired. And then it picked up again. Yes, the privileging of lacklustre improvisation over concerns regarding plot cohesion is totally in evidence, as is a completely crass attitude to the representation of disability (basically, one of the characters is a poacher with a learning dis, and the portrayal is like a ghastly playground impersonation with full-on gurning etc etc) - but there you have it, trashy exploitation in the raw with a bus-fare sized budget and no-one giving a flying f*ck.

Is it a Vinegar Syndrome release?

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Is it a Vinegar Syndrome release?

Full Moon. They've been putting out a fair amount of old European stuff recently. BD is OK, soft-ish in places but with grain and looks 'film like' enough. Basically it looks like a faithful rendering of a cheapshit production from the eighties.