What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Wow! Can you imagine the warm Christmassy glow you'd be left with following that film?

Nothing quite sums up Christmas like forced prostitution.

[davidmurphy.dm19]

Watched They Live, from Studio Canal and Arrow's The People Under the Stairs. Both movies look great in HD. Decent selection of extras on both discs.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[Frankie Teardrop]

NIGHT SCHOOL – Dour early eighties slasher which to me felt like a Canadian Giallo, even though it's set in Boston. Someday someone should do exactly that, a seventies / eighties set Canadian Giallo with a real downer 'Kids of Degrassi Street' vibe. Oh how those kids ruined my childhood! Made the journey home from school seem like an eternity. Anyway, forget all that Degrassi schtick, here we are in Boston with a killer in a sinister crash helmet who carries a machete. Said killer is decapitating various locals for reasons that don't seem very clear (till the reveal, that is). There's a night school involved, and there's talk of tribes, ancient rituals and headhunting. A philandering lecturer becomes suspect number one, and a pretty by-the-numbers plot moves between police procedural, murder scenes, and the night school's internal wranglings. 'Night School' has a surprising pedigree – it was directed by none other than Ken Hughes, and stars Rachel Ward, whose abysmal performance is more in keeping with the film's awkward vibe. Despite coming across as muddled and a bit of a mess, there are some highly effective sequences between the stretches of filler – the scene with Ward in the shower when the supposed killer rings her doorbell had me on edge, as did a few other gialloesque moments which looked interestingly stylised and well filmed. 'Night School' is a bit half baked and certainly not the pinnacle of eighties slasher, but it's interesting and entertaining enough to recommend.

LOST AFTER DARK – Had mixed feelings about this retro-slasher, which mismatches a well rendered period feeling with the cold, hard look of contemporary digital video. Settled into it after a while, but it really could've done with being shot on celluloid to make good on the obvious time and effort spent on getting the 'eighties vibe' right (don't know how possible that is for a shoestring indie production these days). It could also have left behind yawn inducing gimmicks such as the 'missing reel' bit. As for the rest, well you can probably guess that it involves a van load of kids who head out into the wilds to smoke doobie and make out – only to touch down near a house with resident murderer etc etc. Some OK gore, and thankfully the cheeseball humour is kept in check, but basically this is pretty much like watching a fairly run of the mill late first wave slasher flick only with the added distraction of that shot-on-hi-def look.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Bettie Page Reveals All.

Excellent companion piece to the Mary Millington doc I reviewed yesterday. Both women ooze a natural sexiness, and a healthy, playful attitude to sex that is missing in today's click and wank world of porn.

What makes this so good is that the film is narrated by Bettie from several hours of interviews recorded after she disappeared from public life in the late 50s to resurface in the 90s following years in Bible school and a secure hospital for trying to kill her landlady at God's command due to late onset schizophrenia.

Excellent stuff.

Tempest Storm has a biodoc coming soon too. At 85 she is still doing the bump and grind on stage!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Eternal (1998)

I used to own this on big box vhs when it came out originally in 1998. I'm thinking it was possibly one of my last of this kind of cassette as by October that year i had moved onto dvd and aside from finishing the Doctor Who vhs collection that was pretty much the end of vhs collecting.

What i do recall about the film is fairly standard. A young American couple move to Ireland and discover an emaciated body near their house which turns out to be the body of a witch who revives herself and terrorizes the couple. On the whole it was fairly slow moving, but that's about it.

How wrong was I?

Granted the couple move to Ireland, they are actually both recovering alcoholics and decide Ireland would be a good place to dry out. On arrival they move in with her uncle (Christopher Walken) and events just spiral from the bizarre to the ****ing barking mad.

Yes there is the mummified body of a druid priestess, a body Walken hopes to revive and go on a date with (His words not mine). Fans of the great man should adore this film as he's in full on Walken mode in that Pulp Fiction 'Hid it up my ass' style, sort of comforting but quite clearly bonkers.

In fact bonkers is a good word to describe the whole thing. There's little structure to the plot, scenes are practically detached from one another, the soundtrack veers wildly from trance to Stiff Little Fingers and the whole thing flies along in an unfocused haze almost as if everyone in the cast is actually drunk, and when you see how much Jamesons they all drink they probably were. In fact i wasn't sure if i was just watching a film about a womans decent into alcoholism and the witch was all part of her general downward spiral. Having said that it's not a gloomy downbeat film. It's all quite amusing, i just hope it was meant that way.

The film had that quirky, oddball ambiance to it, never scary or gory, no, strike that, it was quirky and oddball, as if it were about to sit down to a teddy bears picnic with The Lair of the White Worm, (1988) Gothic (1986) and Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1970). If that mad hatters tea party sounds like an event you'd like to attend then The Eternal might just be for you. I know i'll be back for second helpings.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Eternal (1998)

I used to own this on big box vhs when it came out originally in 1998. I'm thinking it was possibly one of my last of this kind of cassette as by October that year i had moved onto dvd and aside from finishing the Doctor Who vhs collection that was pretty much the end of vhs collecting.

What i do recall about the film is fairly standard. A young American couple move to Ireland and discover an emaciated body near their house which turns out to be the body of a witch who revives herself and terrorizes the couple. On the whole it was fairly slow moving, but that's about it.

How wrong was I?

Granted the couple move to Ireland, they are actually both recovering alcoholics and decide Ireland would be a good place to dry out. On arrival they move in with her uncle (Christopher Walken) and events just spiral from the bizarre to the ****ing barking mad.

Yes there is the mummified body of a druid priestess, a body Walken hopes to revive and go on a date with (His words not mine). Fans of the great man should adore this film as he's in full on Walken mode in that Pulp Fiction 'Hid it up my ass' style, sort of comforting but quite clearly bonkers.

In fact bonkers is a good word to describe the whole thing. There's little structure to the plot, scenes are practically detached from one another, the soundtrack veers wildly from trance to Stiff Little Fingers and the whole thing flies along in an unfocused haze almost as if everyone in the cast is actually drunk, and when you see how much Jamesons they all drink they probably were. In fact i wasn't sure if i was just watching a film about a womans decent into alcoholism and the witch was all part of her general downward spiral. Having said that it's not a gloomy downbeat film. It's all quite amusing, i just hope it was meant that way.

The film had that quirky, oddball ambiance to it, never scary or gory, no, strike that, it was quirky and oddball, as if it were about to sit down to a teddy bears picnic with The Lair of the White Worm, (1988) Gothic (1986) and Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1970). If that mad hatters tea party sounds like an event you'd like to attend then The Eternal might just be for you. I know i'll be back for second helpings.

Never seen it. Never even really heard of it. You've made me want to watch it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

Never seen it. Never even really heard of it. You've made me want to watch it.

Get it whilst it's cheap second hand. The Eternal [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Rachel O'Rourke, Lois Smith, Alison Elliott, Jared Harris, Sinead Dolan, Raina Feig, Jason Miller, Jeffrey Goldschrafe, Paula Malcomson, Paul Ferriter, Christopher Walken, Niamh Dolan, Michael Almereyda, Amy Hobby

I've had it in my wishlist for years and it's been silly money for the most part as it's on the Cinema Club label and is deleted.

Just remember i haven't told you to buy it.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Get it whilst it's cheap second hand. The Eternal [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Rachel O'Rourke, Lois Smith, Alison Elliott, Jared Harris, Sinead Dolan, Raina Feig, Jason Miller, Jeffrey Goldschrafe, Paula Malcomson, Paul Ferriter, Christopher Walken, Niamh Dolan, Michael Almereyda, Amy Hobby

I've had it in my wishlist for years and it's been silly money for the most part as it's on the Cinema Club label and is deleted.

Just remember i haven't told you to buy it.

Oh, it's by the guy who did 'Nadja'? I'm interested.

Not obsessive about AV, but what's the picture like? Earlyish DVD?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

Oh, it's by the guy who did 'Nadja'? I'm interested.

Not obsessive about AV, but what's the picture like? Earlyish DVD?

The pictures good. It's full screen 4:3 but that's the only quibble. It never looked odd so could have been filmed that ratio.

A couple of grabs for you.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The pictures good. It's full screen 4:3 but that's the only quibble. It never looked odd so could have been filmed that ratio.

A couple of grabs for you.

Thanks for taking the trouble, Dem. Looks open matte rather then pan-and-scan. Can't wait to see it.