What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Dave Boy]

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LEVIATHAN (1989)

An underwater mining crew battle the effects of genetic mutation after two of the crew drink what they think is vodka from a sunken Russian ship..

A mish-mash of ideas from movies such as ALIEN and THE THING.
Stan Winston's practical effects look good and we really only get glimses of the mutation creature with the crew it's absorbed.
I saw this at the Odeon Marble Arch London on release and it was at the same time as other underwater movies such as THE ABYSS and DEEPSTAR SIX were also doing the rounds.

[MrBarlow]

Originally Posted by Dave Boy

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LEVIATHAN (1989)

An underwater mining crew battle the effects of genetic mutation after two of the crew drink what they think is vodka from a sunken Russian ship..

A mish-mash of ideas from movies such as ALIEN and THE THING.
Stan Winston's practical effects look good and we really only get glimses of the mutation creature with the crew it's absorbed.
I saw this at the Odeon Marble Arch London on release and it was at the same time as other underwater movies such as THE ABYSS and DEEPSTAR SIX were also doing the rounds.

This is one of those films that is a guilty pleasure for me and a laugh when Meg Foster gets a happy knuckle sandwhich at the end. Hands Down though The Abyss will always be top of the list for the best 80s underwater Sci-Fi film.

[MrBarlow]

Wolf. 1994.

Publisher and chief editor Will Randall faces lossing his position to young protege Stewart Swinton. When he is bit by a wolf, his senses are heightened up and becomes more competitive and tries to get help from becoming the creature that bit him.

This is a new take on the "werewolf" genre, like the Lon Chaney film he doesn't want to be a werewolf yet Will played brilliantly by Jack Nicholson also doesn't want to have the instincts yet welcomes the senses and the job competitive side and the ideas that he didn't have before to save his job, like every animal there is always a pack leader.

Michelle Pfeiffer plays the young love interest Laura, who's father Raymond is taking over the publication company that Will works for and both have a strained father/daughter relationship and sees potential in James Spader's character Stewart. When bitten Stewart embraces the wolf side to him and shows how much a person can try to be dominant and competitive as a pack leader.

Rick Baker returns to another wolf film unlike An American Werewolf In London, Director Mike Nichols shows the change from human to wolf slowly and less painful. This isn't a full blown horror movie, it has got a killing of a deer it also has drama, suspense mixed in. After not seeing this since the VHS era, I kinda forgot David Hyde Pierce, Prunella Scales, Richard Jenkins and Om Puri made a appearance. The Indicator Blu-Ray release was well worth buying for picture and sound quality is a lot sharper than remembered.

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[Demoncrat]

Doctor Dracula (1974/1978/1981?, Al Adamson, Paul Aratow)

Started life as Lucifer's Women apparently.
John Carradine heads a cult and need I say more?
A dour wee thing tbh. A chap seems to believe he is the reincarnation of Svengali so naturally hooks up with a girl called Trilby
Quite domestic in places, this reminded me a lot of Nurse Sherri, but don't ask me why, similar vibe possibly.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Brigand of Kandahar (1965)

In India in the 1850's a mixed-race Bengal Lancer officer played by Ronald Lewis is framed and accused of cowardice . After being discharged, he joins desert bandit Eli Khan as played by Oliver Reed and fights against the British. However neither Lewis nor Reed see the trouble ahead from Khan's sister (Yvonne Romain)

A hugely enjoyable historical swashbuckler from Hammer Films with as much care and attention on the relationships between Lewis, Reed, Romain and Duncan Lamont's British Colonel as there is on the swashbuckling. This allows for a gripping story of betrayal to play out before we get to the final battle between the Indian rebels and the British forces with seemingly a cast of thousands and is superbly done especially as the film makers never once left Hertfordshire.

Part of Indicator's Death and Deceit box set. Goes without saying this looks loads better than my Optimum dvd.

[Dave Boy]

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QUO VADIS (1951) BEN HUR (1959)

This time last year, all hell was breaking loose with me as buying and selling a property nearly gave me a breakdown.
Some of my usual Easter movies had to be shelved as were in boxes and with all what was going on, there was no time to relax.
So, this time I am hopefully back on track.
Two biblical epics.
My Mum and Dad went to see both these movies at the cinema. Mum said they had to book up and go to London to see them.
Fantastic! I would love to see these on the big screen. Imagine BEN HUR in it's super wide ratio and Miklos Rozsa's terrific score.
Great stuff!

[Frankie Teardrop]

CENSOR – The real horror in ‘Censor’ is early eighties UK, reconfigured here as a Sov-Bloc nightmare of whispering corridors and smoke-filled committee rooms. The film worked more for me on this level, with its images of a hallucinogenically dreary Thatcher’s Britain, than it did with its blurry mystery plotline; nor was I quite sure how to take ‘Censor’ when it shifted gear into ‘swept away by the madness of a fractured psyche’ mode, as signalled by a lol gore moment involving spearing via trophy, then a full-on lapse into Bava lighting. But there’s a lot going on in this beguiling debut, and I can’t wait to see more from the director. Pleased to note that Nathan Barley’s still in the biz.

DELIRIUM – A traumatised guy’s going around murdering folks; a bald guy in sinister shades is the leader of a back-room cabal. Two seventies movie cops do what seventies movie cops do. I must admit that I owe ‘Delirium’ a second viewing as I was completely plastered when I saw it the other day; a case of “yee-ha, got the whole week off and a box of blu-rays just in through my door.” Never seem to learn that that’s a bad idea if you want to watch a film that sucks AND remember that it sucks. Anyway, ‘Delirium’, I get the impression that I twiddled my thumbs a little when those seventies movie cops hogged the screen with their incessant talk, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

THE AMERICAN SCREAM – Ooh, where do I even begin? If I had to watch only one movie this year, it would be ‘The American Scream’. It’s just one of those. It’s probably a Frankie-specific thing, so don’t hit me with your “but it’s just a shit David Lynch rip-off” protestations. ‘David Lynch’, as always, is the lazy person’s go-to weird film comparator, but it’s apt in this case as 1) AS is a LITTLE like ‘Twin Peaks’ and 2) you’ll feel your mind went to sleep whilst you were watching and dreamed something your eyes could not possibly have seen. ‘The American Scream’ is essentially a pile-up of the strange non-sequitur events that follow when a cheesy US family go on vacation to a snowy boondocks town – out-in-the-sticks slasher tropes are involved, but so is the madness of a dancehall scene in which people just basically bump into each other in slow motion for ten minutes. Entertained? I was reborn!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE AMERICAN SCREAM – Ooh, where do I even begin? If I had to watch only one movie this year, it would be ‘The American Scream’. It’s just one of those. It’s probably a Frankie-specific thing, so don’t hit me with your “but it’s just a shit David Lynch rip-off” protestations. ‘David Lynch’, as always, is the lazy person’s go-to weird film comparator, but it’s apt in this case as 1) AS is a LITTLE like ‘Twin Peaks’ and 2) you’ll feel your mind went to sleep whilst you were watching and dreamed something your eyes could not possibly have seen. ‘The American Scream’ is essentially a pile-up of the strange non-sequitur events that follow when a cheesy US family go on vacation to a snowy boondocks town – out-in-the-sticks slasher tropes are involved, but so is the madness of a dancehall scene in which people just basically bump into each other in slow motion for ten minutes. Entertained? I was reborn!

Is this out on disc or just streaming?

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Is this out on disc or just streaming?

VS put it out a couple of months ago; dunno about streaming. Uh, it's very 'marmite', I would definitely try for some kind of preview before shelling out if you were interested in acquiring. Just happens to be my kind of thing.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

VS put it out a couple of months ago; dunno about streaming. Uh, it's very 'marmite', I would definitely try for some kind of preview before shelling out if you were interested in acquiring. Just happens to be my kind of thing.

Sorry, not VS - Culture Shock is the label.