What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[keirarts]

Shivers.

Part corman-esque exploitation picture, part art house horror that feels like a cross between the works of William Burroughs and J.G Ballard and Night of the living dead. Starliner tower, a luxury apartment complex for upper middle class Canadians that's situated on an island in relative isolation and as self sufficient as possible. Due to an experiment gone awry by a pederast scientist on his teenage lover a parasite that's described as part aphrodisiac and part venereal disease is unleashed into the apartment with devastating results. Since a large number of the complexes male residents have been having affairs with the teenager the Parasites run out of control quickly.
Under director David Cronenbergs direction Starliner towers becomes something akin to a petri dish as we watch modern civilised society revert to a Bacchanalian orgy where anyone of any age and gender is fair game. Elements of the film are still troubling today. Certainly the little girls that turn up in the various rampages as well as the sexual violence on display should make most people uncomfortable. That's pretty much the point. The film refuses to make any moral judgements throughout and takes a detached view of proceedings as we watch the parasitical disease run its course.
Shivers is still as potent a film today as it was on release, Arrows Blu-ray looks phenomenal as well so highly recommended to any who have not seen the film.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain (2003)

A mish mash of the Sawney Bean legend and the customs of Halloween / Samhain. Evil Breed is a film populated by porn stars with OTT gore thrown in, or in Jenna Jameson's case - pulled out.

The release i have is the cut version i believe running at 78 minutes. I'm not even sure there is a full version anymore due to legal wrangling by the producers and distribution company. However it's still ridiculous gory fun as various characters come to very messy ends - witness Chasey Lain being cut in two, the aforementioned Jenna Jameson getting sliced and diced on a table and one male character having his intestines removed via his anus, not to mention the poor naked girl with her dead baby hanging from her body. To be honest if this is the cut version, what exactly is the uncut release like?

Some of the acting isn't that great, although Bobbie Phillips holds the film together whilst she's in it. We get a fairly informative Hallowen 101 and that's about it. Legends, lore and gore.

Bugger, passed on this in favour of Silent Madness. C'est la vie!!!


Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (Robert Rodriguez, 2014)

By gum, it's violent.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (Robert Rodriguez, 2014)

By gum, it's violent.

Extremely violent and with more nudity than I've seen in a mainstream film for a very long time! My main gripe was the enforced casting changes feeling jarring, with Dennis Haysbert replacing Michael Clarke Duncan, and not very well, Brittany Murphy also sadly absent, Jeremy Piven appearing instead of Michael Madsen and Devon Aoki being unavailable due to pregnancy and replaced by Jamie Chung. It was good, but also disappointing, and would've been so much better if it had been made six years ago.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Extremely violent and with more nudity than I've seen in a mainstream film for a very long time! My main gripe was the enforced casting changes feeling jarring, with Dennis Haysbert replacing Michael Clarke Duncan, and not very well, Brittany Murphy also sadly absent, Jeremy Piven appearing instead of Michael Madsen and Devon Aoki being unavailable due to pregnancy and replaced by Jamie Chung. It was good, but also disappointing, and would've been so much better if it had been made six years ago.

All true. It's not a patch on the first, but it is an rollercoaster of a film imo. Have a mate who's obsesed by Eva Green etc, so can't wait for him to see it.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE SCAR CROW - A lame but frequently quite entertaining UK horror outing. A quartet of awful, 'lad' type Brit-wankers (Nuts readers usually herald a really shit movie experience and a rapid resort to 'eject' button for Frankie) are on some kind of corporate field exercise and find themselves lost in the wilds of southern England. They stumble upon a farm where three young women greet them in Elizabethan speak. The latter are witches, and have something to do with a scarecrow based on the undead remains of their incest fixated perv of a father, whom they murdered 'back in the day' several centuries ago. Gore and mild sleaze follow at a reasonable pace. 'The Scar Crow' is pretty rubbish, but, as I've spelled out, it does have its plus points, and, beyond the awful performances and badly scripted developments, certain images linger (a torso nailed to the scarecrow's support frame... the scarecrow entering a Brit-dick's abdominal cavity... nasty Dad being inappropriate and lechy). And also, most scarecrow movies turn out to be rubbish for some reason (can you honestly think of many that aren't? - 'Wizard Of Oz', 'The Dark Night Of The Scarecrow', and, well, 'Scarecrows' are the only ones that spring to mind), so it earns a couple of extra points for at least distinguishing itself from the forgettable majority.

PHANTOMS - A Dean Koontz movie adaption, 'Phantoms' is a straight ahead, no nonsense (OK, actually plenty of nonsense) mainstream B-movie that is as unoriginal and uncomplicated as it is enjoyable. An apparently deserted township soon reveals itself to have been taken over and assimilated by an unknown menace. People run around. Ammo gets fired. Tentacles fly. Peter O' Toole turns up. I like the way it pretty much dives into the action, although the first part sustains more tension than the second, when the military hit town and 'The Thing' references begin to mount up. It's not overly gory, but does offer a decent fusillade of fx (doggie bladder etc etc a la, again, 'The Thing). It has that nineties kind of slick, linear stylelessness about it, but 'Phantoms' hammers its no-frills-but-some-thrills message home without too much flab or that many lulls. Not one for the time capsule, maybe, but ample entertainment if you can spare ninety minutes of existence.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

All true. It's not a patch on the first, but it is an rollercoaster of a film imo. Have a mate who's obsesed by Eva Green etc, so can't wait for him to see it.

If he also loves comic book adaptations, it's practically his ideal film!

The strange thing I found was how the nudity was a big deal at the beginning, as in "Wow – I didn't expect there to be as much as in the book", but it soon became just part of the film and, after a while, nothing noteworthy.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE SCAR CROW - A lame but frequently quite entertaining UK horror outing. A quartet of awful, 'lad' type Brit-wankers (Nuts readers usually herald a really shit movie experience and a rapid resort to 'eject' button for Frankie) are on some kind of corporate field exercise and find themselves lost in the wilds of southern England. They stumble upon a farm where three young women greet them in Elizabethan speak. The latter are witches, and have something to do with a scarecrow based on the undead remains of their incest fixated perv of a father, whom they murdered 'back in the day' several centuries ago. Gore and mild sleaze follow at a reasonable pace. 'The Scar Crow' is pretty rubbish, but, as I've spelled out, it does have its plus points, and, beyond the awful performances and badly scripted developments, certain images linger (a torso nailed to the scarecrow's support frame... the scarecrow entering a Brit-dick's abdominal cavity... nasty Dad being inappropriate and lechy). And also, most scarecrow movies turn out to be rubbish for some reason (can you honestly think of many that aren't? - 'Wizard Of Oz', 'The Dark Night Of The Scarecrow', and, well, 'Scarecrows' are the only ones that spring to mind), so it earns a couple of extra points for at least distinguishing itself from the forgettable majority.

Glad you enjoyed The Scar Crow too Frankie.

I've seen it a few times now. Despite some script flaws. I mean how dumb are the guys for not realizing things are a little odd to say the least? It's an entertaining Brit flick that tries for something out of the ordinary and genuinely does sport some rewatch value.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

If he also loves comic book adaptations, it's practically his ideal film!

The strange thing I found was how the nudity was a big deal at the beginning, as in "Wow – I didn't expect there to be as much as in the book", but it soon became just part of the film and, after a while, nothing noteworthy.

Is Carla Gugino in this one? and yes, does she have nude scenes?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

PHANTOMS - A Dean Koontz movie adaption, 'Phantoms' is a straight ahead, no nonsense (OK, actually plenty of nonsense) mainstream B-movie that is as unoriginal and uncomplicated as it is enjoyable. An apparently deserted township soon reveals itself to have been taken over and assimilated by an unknown menace. People run around. Ammo gets fired. Tentacles fly. Peter O' Toole turns up. I like the way it pretty much dives into the action, although the first part sustains more tension than the second, when the military hit town and 'The Thing' references begin to mount up. It's not overly gory, but does offer a decent fusillade of fx (doggie bladder etc etc a la, again, 'The Thing). It has that nineties kind of slick, linear stylelessness about it, but 'Phantoms' hammers its no-frills-but-some-thrills message home without too much flab or that many lulls. Not one for the time capsule, maybe, but ample entertainment if you can spare ninety minutes of existence.

You didn't mention Ben Affleck!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Is Carla Gugino in this one? Nnd yes, does she have nude scenes?

No and no.

Oddly, Lady Gaga appears, but she is fully clothed.