What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind (1978)

If ever a title summed up a film then this is probably it.

It's fine for a film to have weird and wonderful imagery but it needs to have some sort of driving narrative behind it as well. This film has the flimsiest of story lines about a man slowly being driven mad thinking his wife is being seduced by the fictional horror character Coffin Joe. The film regularly uses huge swathes of previous Joe films as the mans hallucinogenic nightmares congeal into a thick mess.

Oddly the more Jack Daniels i consumed the better the movie became. The images take a hold and actually become enjoyable and for the second half of the film it all became rather fun in A Clockwork Orange subject yourself to random images of violence, sex and the occult sort of way.

Impossible to recommend even though i did enjoy it.

[Buboven]

Massacre Gun (1967)

7/10

Retaliation (1968)

8/10

Both are nowhere near as good as Branded to Kill but both, particularly Retaliation are worth watching most definitely.

[keirarts]

Society

What begins as a tale of suburban paranoia among the wealthy and elite of Beverly Hills becomes something far, far stranger. Billy Warlock plays disaffected youth troubled by incestuous feelings, a sense that he doesn't belong and events that seem like they might be hallucination. When Brian Yuzna got the script for this it was a basic tale of a blood cult. Uninterested in making another straight ahead horror he did some re-writing and hired Japanese FX artist Screaming mad george to turn it into a mutating cannibal orgy inspired by the works of Salvador Dali. In all honesty YUZNA gives some flat direction here but the overall twisted weirdness of the piece really saves it. The final act really lingers in the mind. Arrows blu-ray release is excellent.

Island of death.

I'm pretty much going to bet that most people here have seen this twisted little picture, some probably hate it, others (me included) love it. In all honesty its not a scary picture, its not even offensive to me. Nico Mastorakis takes things so far in this film it actually goes to another place entirely and for me becomes something closer to black comedy. It's hard to imagine anyone empathising with the lead character, hes clearly nuts. His general hypocrisy and random acts of cruelty and violence seem like the actions of someone with severe impuls control issues. His sister/lover is pretty much submissive to his desires and as much as she is portrayed as a possible victim she certainly seems to get off on some of the killing.
Gorgeous transfer from arrow and some interesting extras. Sadly missing the commentary it has a four part documentary on the Films of Mastorakis that could cost you some money if you watch it!

Space Raiders.

Rodger Corman Sci-fi Epic that recycles sets, ships and even scores from previous films such as Battle beyond the planets. This one is more a kids film (albeit with numerous character deaths.) where a young kid stows away on a raider vessel and gets into adventures. Honestly its great fun and worth checking out.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Buboven

Massacre Gun (1967)

7/10

Retaliation (1968)

8/10

Both are nowhere near as good as Branded to Kill but both, particularly Retaliation are worth watching most definitely.

Glad you enjoyed them both. I also prefer Branded to Kill, which I'd give a '10' to. Massacre Gun would get an '8'. I'm very much looking forward to checking out Retaliation when it arrives.

Have you seen Youth of the Beast, Bub? Another great entry into the genre that is worth checking out.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Impossible to recommend even though i did enjoy it.

Pretty much my thoughts on this one too Dem.

I remember when I first bought the ABUK Coffin Joe box set several years ago, I watched all the films back-to-back over a few days. It's safe to say I was a slightly different person when I came out the other side.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Society

What begins as a tale of suburban paranoia among the wealthy and elite of Beverly Hills becomes something far, far stranger. Billy Warlock plays disaffected youth troubled by incestuous feelings, a sense that he doesn't belong and events that seem like they might be hallucination. When Brian Yuzna got the script for this it was a basic tale of a blood cult. Uninterested in making another straight ahead horror he did some re-writing and hired Japanese FX artist Screaming mad george to turn it into a mutating cannibal orgy inspired by the works of Salvador Dali. In all honesty YUZNA gives some flat direction here but the overall twisted weirdness of the piece really saves it. The final act really lingers in the mind. Arrows blu-ray release is excellent.

Island of death.

I'm pretty much going to bet that most people here have seen this twisted little picture, some probably hate it, others (me included) love it. In all honesty its not a scary picture, its not even offensive to me. Nico Mastorakis takes things so far in this film it actually goes to another place entirely and for me becomes something closer to black comedy. It's hard to imagine anyone empathising with the lead character, hes clearly nuts. His general hypocrisy and random acts of cruelty and violence seem like the actions of someone with severe impuls control issues. His sister/lover is pretty much submissive to his desires and as much as she is portrayed as a possible victim she certainly seems to get off on some of the killing.
Gorgeous transfer from arrow and some interesting extras. Sadly missing the commentary it has a four part documentary on the Films of Mastorakis that could cost you some money if you watch it!

Space Raiders.

Rodger Corman Sci-fi Epic that recycles sets, ships and even scores from previous films such as Battle beyond the planets. This one is more a kids film (albeit with numerous character deaths.) where a young kid stows away on a raider vessel and gets into adventures. Honestly its great fun and worth checking out.

Sold sold sold then.

[Buboven]

Originally Posted by Buboven

Massacre Gun (1967)

7/10

Retaliation (1968)

8/10

Both are nowhere near as good as Branded to Kill but both, particularly Retaliation are worth watching most definitely.

As beautifully shot Massacre Gun is at points i feel Retaliation has deeper and more interesting themes (which are complimented by its grittier and more realistic feel) The contrast between the old yakuza order and the new Yakuza thugs of the rival gang is mirrored in the sub-plot about the farmers and the yakuza's association with the factory owners - just look at the shot of the farmer smoking a cigarette like the yakuza gangsters after they accept the land deal. Basically this theme of tradition being violently replaced runs throughout the film. It also is nearly as well shot as Massacre Gun at points.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Natural Born Killers (1994)

I still recall seeing this when it finally hit our cinema screens after it's mere mention baited the Daily Mail and the rest of the tabloids for what seemed like months. My overriding memory of the film was a mish mash of visual styles, film stock and especially cool music.

Watching it again for the nth time the film itself is really just a lovers / killers on the run movie as in Badlands or even Thelma & Louise. Director Oliver Stone brings out a career best performance from Juliette Lewis and other great ones from Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Downey Jr.

Yes the film as mentioned is over the top in it's changes of film stock and it can grate a little even to the point of being headache inducing if you're not in the mood. However, overall the film is a lot of violent fun, with highly quotable dialogue and some excellent set pieces elevated by songs from Trent Reznor's record collection, - the prison riot thrashing it out to Lard's Forkboy is a brilliant example - and one where it's director really does control all the shots, whilst satirizing the media's raising of murderers to what seems like celebrity status.

One of the must see films from the 90's.

[keirarts]

Mad Max Fury Road.

Mad Max fury Road possibly ranks as one of the most bat-shit insane Hollywood projects I've seen in a long, long while. My first response to a Mad Max reboot was utter horror. This was then tempered somewhat by hearing George Miller was involved. Then the trailers came out and I was intrigued.

Thankfully the film mostly lives up to the trailers, filling the film with demented post apocalypse death cultists, Hugh Keays-Byrne (toecutter from the original) as a demented warlord called Immortan Joe and a one armed Charlize Theron sporting a shaved head and cyber arm as a character named Imperator Furiosa who nicks Joe's wives from his prime breeding stock. Max, who has been captured by Joes War boys to be used as a walking blood bank escapes and tries to help Furiosa escape. This leads into a film that can be best described as a 2 hour car chase with insane stunt work and plenty of violence.

The film is frankly f^&%$ beautiful to look at, some parts are genuine works of art, the films score will lodge itself in the brain and refuse to leave and for the most part all is good aside from Tom Hardys ludicrous accent and the occasional CGI-shot which is jarring in a film that is mostly shot practically.

The film is a riot. Weirdly it even manages to include some gender politics and redemption between the car chases and violence so actually manages to say something about the war-like masculine destructive cultures and attitudes that lead to global destruction.

But then you can ignore the deep shit and just enjoy.

Its not a perfect movie, and Hardy does grate in places but overall you really do need to see this... really.

It even has a souped up monster truck devoted to a flame-thrower guitar solosit and some drums to give immortum Joe a soundtrack... seriously... see it!

[iank]

Splash, on Blu-ray. First time I've seen this film in 20 years. Absolutely loved it.