What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Gojirosan]

Snowbeast
Jaws on the slopes...a badly acted, poorly made, thin storied TV monster flick from the late seventies. I liked it! It has made me want to get hold of a copy of Shriek Of The Mutilated!

Blood Creek
You know, Joel Schumacher is an odd director with a very varied career. He is mostly pretty dreadful having put his name on films inane (The Lost Boys, Flatliners), toe-curling (his two Batman films, Dying Young), tedious (The Client, Veronica Guerin) and just plain bad (8MM - one of the worst films ever made IMO). Yet, he is also responsible for bringing us the excellent Falling Dawn and Phone Booth. He is hard to predict.

I was hoping for another fluke Schumacher winner as I put on Blood Creek. I didn't know much about it, and Schumacher's name did concern me, but I was intrigued. But I watched it and I watched it all. It's...OK. No, it's actually a bit better than OK. It's no Falling Down, but also, it is certainly far from an 8MM! It is competent in all respects and interesting without ever fully catching fire. Watchable, likeable even, but it just falls short.

It's well worth a viewing if in the mood for a Hollywood horror flick, being better than most of that ilk, but there is something unfulfilling about it. A shame, and possibly a lost opportunity, but, for Schumacher, not bad.

The Innocents
I hadn't seen this for years and then had only seen panned and scanned BBC screenings. Film 4 recently showed a fully 'scoped print of pristine quality, which I recorded. Finally caught up with it last night. Exquisite. One of British cinema's horror highpoints, it is damned near impossible to find anything even resembling a flaw in the production. The photography in particular is sublime - more so when one can actually see the full frame - and the use of sound is easily the equal of the visuals. Even though I have seen it before and know the story well, it is still creepy and wonderfully atmospheric. A masterpiece of the genre and essential viewing.

[DeadAlive]

Killer Nun - Loads of fun and a big question from me. Why was this film once banned in the UK?

[iluvdvds@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Gojirosan

Snowbeast
Jaws on the slopes...a badly acted, poorly made, thin storied TV monster flick from the late seventies. I liked it! It has made me want to get hold of a copy of Shriek Of The Mutilated!

Ah I too luv Snowbeast! It's a great little film - when the yeti bursts into the room - that was brilliant!

Nice choice to DA! Killer Nun is a great film - and that music is great!


Just finished watching Urban Legend 2: Final Cut for the first time. Been putting this one off for quite a while but finally sat down and was really surprised. It's a very fun and enjoyable film - lots of great GREAT scenes in there and that very last twist of the film made me laugh.

As far as slasher sequels go this one is excellent!

I think I'll have to check out the third one now.

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by DeadAlive

Killer Nun - Loads of fun and a big question from me. Why was this film once banned in the UK?

It was never banned by the BBFC. It appeared briefly on the original DPP 74 list of video nasties but was removed when the list was whittled down to the official 39. The Redemption video was cut (the facial needles/scalpel scene) and later waived for the Shameless release.

[Gojirosan]

Ceremonia Sangrienta/ The Legend Of Blood Castle
With the girlfriend out for the night, I have the chance to watch some films that she is unwilling to sit through! This includes badly dubbed costume Gothics of the 60s and 70s, so I have not yet had a chance to see Jorge Grau's 1973 take on the Bathory legend.

I rated it; a most enjoyable film. It's not without its problems - some of the editing decisions are clumsy and/or odd, and the narrative gets very confused in the last thirty or so minutes. But what is good about the film outweighs this: it looks amazing, really evoking the period with superb costume and set design; the performances are great, especially the haunted looking Lucia Bosé in the lead; it's crawling with an atmosphere of mystery and dread which is sustained successfully throughout. And it's a decent story well told! Furthermore, surely the lovely Ewa Aulin has never looked lovelier than her doe-eyed, ginger-haired appearence here?

It's not as assured an effort as Grau's famous Living Dead At Manchester Morgue, but it's nonetheless a great period horror, more like Merino's The Hanging Woman.

[Wolf]

Watched House By The Cemetaryb for the first time - I know I'm late.

I was surpised. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

It's creative enough but it's insanely poorly executed. It doesn't make sense. It's a mess. The character's are incredibly stupid. The acting is laughably bad. Literally burst out laughing at Bob a lot of times.

It was weirdly likeable and kind of enjoyable, but really is one of my less favourite Fulci movies.

Arrow did a ****ing good job of the dvd though.

[alex s]

Originally Posted by Angel

Which scene in "Duckling" are you referring to Alex?

Yeah I've seen Vinyan but didn't get passed the first 20m. There must be a very good reason why the BBFC passed the scene which would otherwise have been illegal under the protection of children act.

The scene Where Barbera Bouchet strips naked in front of a child in an attempt to seduce him.

There is a similar scene in Malena where Monica Berlucci strips naked in front of a child.(this scene is only available in the italian and korean dvd's)

SPOILER ALERT

Vinyan

at the end of the film Emanuelle Beart stands in the middle of a group of children clearly topless while the children around her rub mud on her torso. the majority of hands concentrate on her naked breasts and thier is clear contact between the hands of a number of 8-10 year old children and Emanuelle's breats.

[DeadAlive]

Originally Posted by vincenzo

It was never banned by the BBFC. It appeared briefly on the original DPP 74 list of video nasties but was removed when the list was whittled down to the official 39. The Redemption video was cut (the facial needles/scalpel scene) and later waived for the Shameless release.

I thought that. At Lovefilm this is being advertised as "previously banned in the U.K."

[antmumford]

Antichrist (Blu-Ray) - Ok, now this has split the audience right down the middle but I am definitely and firmly placed on the positive side. This was awesome, I loved it. It started off absolutely stunningly and beautifully shot and it didn't get any worse throughout the film. The cinematography was sublime, every shot was like a postcard.... in HD. I could not stop gasping at how beautiful everything looked, it seemed to be just one long dream sequence to me. As I'm sure you have heard some scenes are rather brutal but I feel they were necessary to portray the collapse in the human mind. The acting was nigh on perfect, when Charlotte Gainsbourg cried it completely sank my heart, the emotion that was poured into that performance was breathtaking. You could feel everything she was feeling with the pain and turmoil her character was going through.
Okay I won't carry on and bore you but I really, really loved this. (Thanks Kelly for picking this up for me )

Thirst (DVD) - I managed to pick this up in Tesco for just £7 so if you haven't got it already, buy it, but it right now. Wow! What a cracking film, another amazing film I got to see in the same day. I heard great things about this and none of them were wrong, this film just blew me away. It started off a little confusing, trying to figure out who was who and what was going on. The thing is, it worked. It kept me intrigued, I wanted to engross myself to figure it all out. I may have to say that this is probably the best Vampire film I've seen. It's so original, so dark yet so comical too and it doesn't at all become silly. It's incredibly gorey but not in a squeemish way but in an "Awesome, did you see the way the blood poured out" kind of way *big grin*. It was so much fun and if you haven't got it, go get it. Tesco stores, £7, nuff said. An absolute steal!

Pontypool (DVD) - I know, you're gonna get bored now. ANOTHER awesome film (you must think I'm easily pleased.) This was really tense. It was set entirely in a radio station, bar the first 2 minutes say, and believe it or not it really didn't get boring or tedious. I think what engrossed me was Stephen McHattie's voice, it was so friendly on the ear and his character Grant Mazzy was quirky and fun. He was so cool that you wanted to sit there and listen to what he had to say. This film may not have worked with someone else playing that role, except maybe say Morgan Freeman. Good cast all round and oh so original, I wont say anything about the story because I might spoil it but as you know it's a zombie film with a difference. Well I can tell you that basically a zombie infestation breaks out in the quiet town of Pontypool and the radio station have to witness it unfold via listening to people calling in from their mobiles. Watch it, I don't think you'll be disappointed, I certainly wasn't and I'm a huge zombie fan. Enjoy!

I did see another 3 films but I actually can't remember what they were. They weren't bad though. I'll try and remember then get back to you.

[pedromonkey]

i have finally gotten around to seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey nearly 15 years since i originally saw it and being 11 years old i hated it, 15 years later i can confirm that this is one of the greatest films i have ever seen, mystical, symbolic and shot so magnificantly by kubrick, for a film made in 1968 you would think it was made in the late 80s early 90s, and i finally think i understand it. A Truely breahtaking Experience....