What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Black Room (1935)



A pair of identical twins are plagued by a curse that foretells that," just as the family began with the elder twin killing the younger, so it shall end".



Boris Karloff shows his acting class in this film where he has a dual role as two identical brothers, one good and one evil as sin. Naturally we root for the decent and sympathetic brother but Karloff plays Gregor, a proper Mr. nasty, with glee.



The Black Room is a delightful macabre Gothic romp featuring murder and secret torture chambers. The black room in question is a deep pit with spikes at the bottom where the evil Gregor dumps the bodies of local girls once he has had his way with them.



It must be noted that the special effects in this film are excellent. Karloff is frequently on screen in both roles and the picture is seamless. Although the film was made by Columbia rather than Universal, the films sets are just as pleasing to the eye, lovely east European villages, stunning mansions and beautiful set design all add up to produce a finely crafted seventy minutes of entertainment

I have that one in Eurekas, Karloff at Columbia set that you've just picked up Dem. I have to be honest I didn't think much of it all. Much preferred a few of the so called Mad Scientist films in the set.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

I have that one in Eurekas, Karloff at Columbia set that you've just picked up Dem. I have to be honest I didn't think much of it all. Much preferred a few of the so called Mad Scientist films in the set.

What's not to like?

Gothic castles, torture chambers, spiked pits, an evil Karloff, torch wielding mobs, a dog that saves the day...

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

What's not to like?



Gothic castles, torture chambers, spiked pits, an evil Karloff, torch wielding mobs, a dog that saves the day...

Didn't find it especially gothic. Nor was evil Karloff particularly evil. Can't really recall the mobs. It was all a bit too period melodrama for me.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Didn't find it especially gothic. Nor was evil Karloff particularly evil. Can't really recall the mobs. It was all a bit too period melodrama for me.

The mobs were there or thereabouts all film. From jeering and attacking the good brother on his return by mistake to chasing the evil Karloff back to the castle.

[J Harker]

Maybe I'll try it again. I found it a bit dull to be honest. Although weirdly I've just looked it up on imdb and I could have sworn Charles Laughton was in it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Goldeneye (1995)

What an introduction to Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in what is arguably the finest film in the entire series. The plot, which sees Bond up against 006 (Sean Bean) and the Janus crime syndicate and their attempt to control the Goldeneye - a secret Russian satellite weapon - flows beautifully and before you know it the first hour is gone.

Judi Dench as the latest M (a role she would hold across the next six films) is excellent and her abrupt appraisal of Bond as a 'sexist, misogynist dinosaur' is brilliantly cutting as the series came to terms with modern sensibilities yet despite their apparent dislike for one another there's a definite respect between the pair. Brosnan meanwhile appears born for the role and is a more comfortable fit than predecessor Timothy Dalton (Who incidentally i also like even if the critics weren't so impressed).

The action sequences are terrific, especially a tank chase through the streets of St. Petersburg, and the finale which takes place in Cuba in a hidden base concealed beneath a lake would once have been an all action assault by armed forces on the villains is strictly a two man showdown as Brosnan and Bean fight it out on the huge dish.

It would be blase to suggest Goldeneye is better than the few films previous as the two directly prior, especially License to Kill (1989), are also top tier Bond, however it could be suggested that Casino Royale (2006) aside it's never been equaled since.

[gag]

The kitchen,

About a urban concrete jungle where the governments wants everyone out,
Starts of where a bunch of bikers hijack a van who delivering food there as a way to stop things going in and forcing them out,
Sadly that was as about as exciting as it gets, I stopped around 1hr 15min, wether anything else happends I don't know I didn't bother to find out,
All they did was go around their daily lives, just general chit chatting, eating that type of thing,
Every morning some radio bloke wakes everyone over the speakers at 7 am.

The film is decent and well made acted etc, but I feel it was a missed opportunity with this one, I felt like it was going nowhere and didn't stick around to find out because it didn't come across as if there was any build-up leading to something.

Not sure if can recommend it, but if anyone has seen it let me know if anything does happen towards the end please.

[SymbioticFunction]

Just watched the second part of the new Dune, it was a bit of a struggle. I'm pretty obsessive about the Lynch adaption and I often find this new cinema take quite po-faced and often risible. Examples of that would be the desert walk seeming quite silly, the current take on the Baron and when characters use the voice. It reminds me of when I watched Red Dragon after first seeing Manhunter. Sorry.

I'll probably end up picking up a bd copy at a cheap price (like I eventually did with the first one). My wife hasn't seen these and I should imagine that if I'm struggling, that will be amplified for her. I realise that I'm a minority voice here. I'm still not sure how the brilliant Blade Runner sequel tanked at the box office yet these have done so well.

[nicholasrope]

New Town Killers

One psychopathic Banker and a Assistant hunt a young adult in Scotland for 12 hours. The title of this Film was bugging me until I saw it another Thread. Anyway I thought it was quite tense in places however I felt it was ruined when the hunted just happened to be a Computer Expert instead of using his street smarts but it's definitely worth a watch.

Evil Dead Trap

Japanese Horror which sees a late night TV Host get sent a mysterious Videotape in which a woman is Murdered, so she and her team go to the building where it happened but they start getting Murdered themselves. This had a promising start however the Supernatural elements ruined it for me, just wished that it was more grounded like 8mm. Some good gore effects though.

V/H/S 94

Another Horror Anthology, this time a SWAT team uncovers the mysterious Videotapes. I'd say this had some better stories than some of the previous instalments especially the Mad Doctor one but the plot twist at the end would have made for a good story.

Oh what happened to this site that it went down for a couple of days, think I saw a message about a new server.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Sorority Row (2009)

A remake of The House on Sorority Row (1983) except it is actually a remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1987).

Somewhere just after the midway mark Rumer Willis says "Oh; This is really dumb". She wasn't kidding either.

If you even think about this film for a moment it's a disaster but if you can disengage your brain for ninety minutes, somewhere there's a reasonable slasher in there with a half decent cast of also-rans, as well as the always value for money Carrie Fisher, and has some inventive murder sequences which allow a sizable dose of tension to build up as it's finale nears.

Just don't think about how we get to the fiery finale if you can.