What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[mr 420]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Last House on Dead End Street (1977)

An ex-convict takes revenge on society by kidnapping four strangers and filming their murders in an abandoned building.

Last House on Dead End Street is a difficult film to review positively as technically it's rather poor and amateurishly made, producing a film that verges on the boring side in it's first half. However the second half is like a punch to the guts. Tonally bleak as ****, genuinely nasty and hard to watch. Yes it has death and torture that we've all seen before in horror films, but rape, severe lashings, legs crudely sawn off, disembowelment, eye balls drilled, throats slashed...i could go on...and all in just half an hour of running time.

The home made look of the production gives it that edge. Crudely made, i'm surprised this wasn't banned outright for being a genuine snuff film. The film stock suffers from grain, blemishes and all manner of problems which give it that head**** dose of reality.

Even though it was obviously titled to cash in on Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, this film is far more disturbing and in my opinion has the art house feel of Ferrara's Driller Killer, especially during it's mind numbingly dull middle section. However all this is forgotten during the mean and cruel final third.

And talk about a weird ending. Did they just run out of money or film? Last House on Dead End Street isn't fun nor do i recommend it but i'll certainly be knocking on it's door again.

Never, ever coming to a blu-ray disc near you.

Quality review, Dem. It's one of the most atmospheric films I have ever seen, although that atmosphere is horribly dirty.

On a trivial note: it is one of the rarest UK pre cert video releases ever, with only a two known examples (it was renamed Fun House and released on the FLK label).

[gag]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Last House on Dead End Street (1977)

An ex-convict takes revenge on society by kidnapping four strangers and filming their murders in an abandoned building.

Last House on Dead End Street is a difficult film to review positively as technically it's rather poor and amateurishly made, producing a film that verges on the boring side in it's first half. However the second half is like a punch to the guts. Tonally bleak as ****, genuinely nasty and hard to watch. Yes it has death and torture that we've all seen before in horror films, but rape, severe lashings, legs crudely sawn off, disembowelment, eye balls drilled, throats slashed...i could go on...and all in just half an hour of running time.

The home made look of the production gives it that edge. Crudely made, i'm surprised this wasn't banned outright for being a genuine snuff film. The film stock suffers from grain, blemishes and all manner of problems which give it that head**** dose of reality.

Even though it was obviously titled to cash in on Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, this film is far more disturbing and in my opinion has the art house feel of Ferrara's Driller Killer, especially during it's mind numbingly dull middle section. However all this is forgotten during the mean and cruel final third.

And talk about a weird ending. Did they just run out of money or film? Last House on Dead End Street isn't fun nor do i recommend it but i'll certainly be knocking on it's door again.

Never, ever coming to a blu-ray disc near you.

I found it completely dull, boring and a waste of my time and completely over rated.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Yeah I have the Tartan release.

As far I am aware they are working from the original 16mm negatives, however I'm not sure whether they have the entire film in OCN format. Time will tell and I haven't seen the workprint version either so can't comment on how that compares to the DVD version.

VS have their own scanning facility and lab (they restore films by trade, releasing DVDs started off as a side project for them).

I'm expecting it to look as stunning as Deep End did then.

[iank]

Deathtrap. Michael Caine is a once successful playwright desperate for another hit after a string of flops. So desperate, in fact, that when a former student (Christopher Reeve) send him his first play, which he thinks is so good it will be a massive success, he decides, much to the disbelieving horror of his wife (Dyan Cannon), to murder him and steal the play for himself... or does he? Nothing is quite as it seems in this hugely entertaining twisty turny tongue in cheek early 80s comic thriller. Haven't seen this for decades, but still great fun.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I'm expecting it to look as stunning as Deep End did then.

Well, let's not get too over-optimistic... remember TLHODES had a staggering budget of $1,500!

[trebor8273]

Psychomania. 8.6/10



A quintessential British film, that could only be made and work in Britain with British cast. Story involves a biker gang that find away to com back from the dead and cause all sorts of mayhem, a great cast of english actors including Robert Hardy, Beryl Reid and George Sanders in his last role.

Next up terror creatures from the grave.

[Frankie Teardrop]

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE – Thought I'd check in with this ever-dubious blast from the past, if only to find out what I actually think about it these days. It still seemed as obnoxious and ambiguous as ever. I suppose those very qualities will always ensure its status as a kind of 'forbidden fruit', despite it having been long surpassed in the gratuity stakes by less socially concerned filmmakers (note the potential use of heavy sarcasm somewhere in this sentence, I for one have never bought the attempts to rehabilitate it as a pro-feminist piece). For the unacquainted, New Yorker Camille Keaton endures a triple rape at the hands of some vicious bumpkins out in the sticks – bloody revenge beckons. 'I Spit On Your Grave' is an ugly film about (generally quite) ugly people doing ugly things, and the whole threadbare ambience of shoestring fleapit grindhouse is ramped right up and shoved in yer face. One thing you can say about it is, it doesn't attempt to window dress or Hollywoodise in its depiction of vicious sexual abuse, although it does sell it as car crash theatre. It's stark, unsentimental and somewhat leering, not only in its attitude to Keaton - it also finds room within its rather meagre heart to play up the manipulation, humiliation and destruction of an arguably vulnerable learning disabled man – gosh, the seventies, eh? Whatever it's trying to say, whatever it's showing, I've always found it to be quite aesthetically flat, although again there is the flyblown feel of mean, cheap trash movie making about it, and it does quite benefit from the absence of music – this amplifies the film's rawness and bolsters its claim to a kind of 'realism', I guess. These concerns are ultimately superseded by the harsh subject matter and depiction thereof, which still seem pretty grim even now. Though, speaking of 'grim', it's not a patch on another film that's been mentioned recently, 'Last House on Dead End Street', in terms of subject matter, impact or overall 'quality'. A heart warming treat for the festive season!

[trebor8273]

Terror Creatures From the Grave. 6.5/10



Now watching perfect Sunday afternoon viewing.

[Deadite]

Quatermass and the Pit is one of my favourite Hammer films.

[keirarts]

Rogue one

***warning some minor spoilers*****


The main problem with the force awakens is that once you get past the fact its not one of the shitty prequels (to be fair episode 3 is ok) is that there wasn't a great deal going on with it. My personal theory is that they (disney and jj abrahms) were so scared of upsetting the militant fan base and tried a wee bit too hard to emulate the original film leaving it feel a little too like the original. Between that and the constant foreshadowing of future films it did marr an otherwise fun film.
Fortunately Gareth Edwards has been (mostly) allowed to go off on his own tangent with this and barring some annoying fan service in places manages to stand alone as a fun mash up of Dirty Dozen & star wars. essentially it acts as prequel to episode 4 with a gang of misfits and outlaws, some of who are classed as too extreme for the main rebellion, set off to steal the plans for the Death star.
I do have one or two problems with the film, but I'm going to start off with the positive. Donnie yen is totally bad-ass as a Zatoichi type warrior who mows down countless stormtroopers with a stick. The rebels are not nice, clean cut people and like han shooting first are not beneath killing people when its necessary. Forest Whittaker has loads of fun as the leader of a terrorist cell on Jaku and plays it like a cross between Kurtz from apocalypse now and a more subdued Frank Boothe. The ships feel run down and greasy and not the shiny new stuff from the prequels. We also get vader showing why people are so terrified of him.
Unfortunately by bringing back Peter Cushing as Tarkin Disney reveal the CG involved in putting dead/younger characters on screen is not quite there yet. As its a major part of the plot an not a throwaway scene it does become a little off-putting sadly.
Overall though its worth going to see.