What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Carver (2008)

A group of friends visit a backwoods USA bar where the owner says they can cash the night at an old cabin he uses for storage in the woods. Once there they discover film reels and a projector and the contents seem to be real murders. It's not long after that the group become the target for two lunatic brothers intent on making more snuff films.

There's a scene about 45 minutes in involving pliers and testicles and, well, let's say, talk about wince inducing. I looked at Milly next to me and uttered the word "Shit", as she snored totally ignored me. For any guys reading this. Be warned. You'll spend the rest of the evening trying to talk your nuts back into their sack.

Although a little slow to begin Carver ends up a grimy and very nasty little horror film created on grainy film stock that would have been banned outright in the eighties.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Dragon Wars (2007)

Excellent Korean movie set in Los Angeles with a largely American cast, including Robert Forster.

I actually can't remember what it was about - was there a plot? - other than dragon mayhem and chaos in LA as huge creatures battle it out among the streets and skyscrapers swatting tanks and choppers away like flies.

At 85 minutes it never out stays it's welcome and proved a great spectacle and thoroughly enjoyable all round.

At least nobody has their bollock squeezed in graphic detail until it bursts in this.

[MrBarlow]

Fade To Black. 1980.

Dennis Christopher plays young shy Eric who seems to the target for bullies and takes inspiration from some films to exact his revenge while dressed up in a few characters he seems to admire. Eve Brent is the crippled not so loving aunt who realises her wheelchair is not for wheelchair use and Mickey Rourke meets a gunslinger that looks like Yul Brynner from Westworld and a Marilyn Monroe look a like who our killer seems to be attracted to.

This is between a slasher and full blown psychological film but doesn't exactly lean towards to either genre but certainly has it's entertaining moments especially with Tim Thomerson being a police criminologist who seems very sympathetic/empathetic towards Eric who seems to be like a anti-hero and we want to see the bullies get a bit of karma brought their way.

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[nicholasrope]

Originally Posted by gag

In the length of time they was in the room must have been ages, make one wonder how someone can remain so still without a single movement, cough, sneeze or anything else for so long.

But got to admit one hell of a surprise twist ending that no one saw coming ..

I've read the theory that Jigsaw took a Paralytic Drug which stopped him moving.

Also working in a Cinema, this was a surprise hit, it got moved into the 2nd biggest screen, the day after release. It nearly sold the screen out for it's late screening. It's one where the audience reaction to him rising up is something.

I saw it's 1st screening on release day and was in that screening as well.

[nicholasrope]

Beekeeper

Jason Statham is a former Special Operative who gets revenge on the people who stole money from a friend of his. A surprise hit, this is now on Sky Cinema and it's still really good. Statham plays the somewhat psychopathic hero with a somewhat sadistic streak really well and is believable. The bad guys are so slimy and cocky that you want them to be got. It loses it's way near the end but it's still worth a watch.

Wishmaster 3: Devil Stone

The Djinn invades the body of slimy Professor played by Jason Connery and battles Teacher's Assistant by AJ Cook whose Boyfriend is invaded by the spirit of St. Michael. It's good when the wishes are made but the series is going downhill with this one. Luckily I picked it up with Wishmaster 4 from a CEX for a quid each.

It's a shame because Wishmaster was a very pleasant surprise when it first come out and still holds up.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Suburbia (1983)

An excellent coming of age drama about a group of homeless punks (The Rejected) in 1983 Los Angeles who squat in an abandoned housing district and come into conflict with nearby residents as well as a band of wild dogs.

Directed by cult film maker Penelope Spheeris who cast genuine punks from the area including Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and regular of the LA scene Chris Pederson. This casting isn't a stunt and it works superbly giving the most accurate depiction of the hardcore punk scene at the time. Spheeris gets everything right - the attitude, the clothes and of course the music. There are three live performances in the film from D.I., T.S.O.L. and The Vandals which are riveting viewing and generally end in mayhem.

There's a compassion to the film and it's never judgemental, simply unflinchingly raw in it's observation of the youths and their activities.It's not all anarchy though. The church scene and the traumatic finale will leave you in bits.

Last night was a first time viewing and i loved it.

[Dave Boy]

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WATCHMEN (2009) DIRECTORS CUT

Excellent movie based on the graphic novel.
Another movie I had not seen in a long while. Like most adaptations there are some changes from the novel but this is great.
Dark and bloody super hero action set in an alternate 1985.

[MrBarlow]

Martial Law. 1990.

Cynthia Rothrock and Chad McQueen play two cops expert in martial arts, trying to take down a crime syndicate headed by David Carradine and Phillip Tan.

So we got three good stars and all know how to kick assone way or another, different styles of the martial arts with plenty of kick swinging but the plot itself seems a bit daft. At the start we are introduced to a hostage situation and the pizza guy comes in with a order and we know how that would end. For the finale I was hoping that Chad and David would have a decent fight but it didn't take long for the bad guy to go down. Passed the time by for a Saturday morning flick.

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[MrBarlow]

The Beasts Are On The Street. 1978.

A truck crashes into a zoo and releases dangerous animals into a community.

A somewhat 70s disaster film that was made for T.V that does disclose that the animals were under the watchful eye of animal protection...a animal kills a person and very little happens and yet a person kills a animal and everyone goes bat shit crazy...The film does focus on more a lioness looking for her cub who seems to enjoy exploring the open world while a few people try to round up the other animals and avoid being killed. The acting is not the best but you go with it, some good tense moments especially during the hospital scene, yet one person claiming to be in pain, sees a lion and runs out quick....miraculous recovery.

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[Frankie Teardrop]

MOTHER'S DAY - This remake of the Charlie Kaufmann original seems at first to swap schlock for smoothness, but soon gets the bile flowing with escalating nastiness. A trio of thugs gatecrash a yuppie house party, expecting to find their old residence empty and waiting for them. Better call mum to sort it out cos she's, well, an incredibly vicious criminal psychopath. The original 'Mother's Day' came at the tail end of a time when the genre tested the facade of middle-class bliss and its touchstones of family and property, and you can see echoes of that in this film, where credit-crunch era anxieties light the touch paper and suburbanites get vicious. If there's something a bit perfunctorily 2010s about the look, feel, construction etc, then the torture-porn ickiness that rears its head more than few times is gnarly and compelling, and Rebecca De Mornay and Jaime King are good as the film's two warring mothers. Part of a decade long trend of 'horror classic' remakes that generally tried to out-nasty the originals. Well worth a stab.

TRICK OR TREATS - Basically an hour of a kid taunting his babysitter with bad magic tricks, then a bit at the end with an angry guy and a knife. This failing 'Halloween' spoof might've been intended as a comedy; it's a hard film to grasp, but the question is, is it worth trying? Maybe I'm exposing myself as slightly too much of a traditionalist when I say this, but in my opinion, slashers need a good gimmick - even the dude in 'The Final Exam' had a green coat. The disgruntled husband who brings on the 'menace' in 'Trick Or Treats' looks like he'd be better off in a sit-com. Maybe that's kind of what it's trying to be? A sense of wonderment at all the names involved - Carrie Snodgress, David Carradine, there's even a cameo from Paul Bartel - kept me going somehow. Plus, it does leave you with that feeling you get when you see the lopsided hanging of a bad painting against mouldy wallpaper. Hope it was as painful for them as it was for me.