What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[MrBarlow]

Lake Mungo. 2018.

Strange occurrences happen around the Palmer house when Alice Palmer is found drowned in the local dam.

Filmed as a documentary style with a family who's daughter was found dead and seems that her spirit is haunting the family home and appearing in videos and photographs. This is a intentionally slow paced film that slowly uncovers some family secrets that throws in a curve ball and then goes in a different direction. This isn't exactly edge of your seat mystery but certainly passed the time.

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[trebor8273]

Sounds good on paper. A mixture of mad scientist movie, horror and spy movie it sounds good on paper but it's so boring and slow. Best thing is the artwork.

Now watching



Followed by.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Wendigo (2001)

Larry Fessenden's film is an excellent mixture of harsh reality and American legend. The film is alive with strong sounds and images of dread as the spirit of the Wendigo comes alive seemingly taking revenge on hillbilly types who slowly terrorize a family vacationing in the snowy woods.

The films cast, including Patricia Clarkson and Jake Weber, give strong performances throughout, in particular Erik Per Sullivan as the child who is given the effigy of the Wendigo. His acting is subtle and realistic, values rarely shown by child actors in low budget horror.

Fessenden directs the film at a languid pace allowing the strong atmosphere to take a hold over the viewer. In fact it's so languid that nothing supernatural remotely happens for the majority of the film but that at least for me gives the ending more power as psychological tendencies give way to the supernatural.

Much like Fessenden's other psychological folklore horror The Last Winter, Wendigo really won't be for all, but i really like it.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I need to get Phantom of the Monastery, glad you liked it, the La Llorona one as well. Oh and the Adventures of box set, which i ended up canceling my preorder as i'd spent way too much this month.

Go get yourself Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. You'll love that, Mojo.

Yeah - it’s definitely on my ‘to buy’ list.
Similarly, I think PHANTOM OF THE MONASTERY could be right up your street ( or cemetery ) .

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Catacombs (1964)

Superior Hitchcockian chiller from director Gordon Hessler about a man who plots to murder his wife so he can become sole heir to her fortune and seduce her young niece.

This largely forgotten British thriller with supernatural overtones is a little gem. The acting is excellent, especially from Gary Merrill and Georgina Cookson as the husband and wife, although i wasn't that convinced by Jane Merrow as the femme fatale niece.

Whilst the first half introduces characters and gives them motives, the second half ramps up the mystery with the plot taking a turn for the ghostly and the final denouement was something i didn't see coming, even on a second viewing.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Moonshine Mountain (1964)

Dross from Herschell Gordom Lewis about a famous country singer who goes back to his childhood roots in the Carolina hills and ends up in a feud between local moonshiners.

It’s basically Two Thousand Maniacs without the gore and killings, except for the murderous sexually frustrated sheriff that is, and lots of hillbilly sing-a-longs.

Virtually plotless and the sing-a-longs quickly become tedious this is hard going. Not only that but the Blu-ray image and sound quality is, to put it mildly, shit.

Going to the extras on the Arrow disc i followed the glories of Moonshine Mountain with Two Thousand Maniacs remake director Tim Sullivan's doc Two Thousand Maniacs can't be Wrong and then watched the film for the second time in as many days.

Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)

Probably Herschell Gordon Lewis' most successful and mainstream film... however it's still not very good, entertaining certainly but not what you'd call good.

Whilst the gory death set pieces are impressive, the rest of the film less so. Especially the many scenes which require the 'maniacs' to act, most come across terribly amateurish. Jeffrey Allen, who plays the mayor buffoons across the screen like some sort of hysterical idiot.

For the most part the film is watchable with some all round cringe inducing clunkiness as well, however it has a great denouement which might surprise first time viewers.

I must credit Lewis for coming up with the terrific song - Robert E. Lee Broke His Musket On His Knee - and it's insanely catchy chorus 'The South's gonna rise again'. It's so good i always thought it was an actual traditional song of the south.

[MrBarlow]

Horror Express. 1972.

A anthropologist and a rival combine themselves when a prehistoric creature awakens from it's ice cold sleep and starts taken over the passengers on a train.

This is a great film that gives us good acting, and close knit atmosphere and claustrophobia on a old fashioned steam train where nowhere to run or hide is impossible. It does go in a way of horror then turns in the sci-fi direction that makes it feel like it's The Thing, nobody knowing who to trust yet we know who is the carrier but makes it tense not knowing how it will end. Peter Cushing and Christopher lee play the rivals who team up to understand what the creature wants and Telly Savalas plays the Cossack. Even though he is on screen for a short time he still gives out a great performance, plenty of British humour that still gives us a laugh.

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[nicholasrope]

Operation Mincemeat

True Story based on a plan to deceive The Nazi's with a fake drowning. Similar in vain to Imitation Game, this is quite entertaining with a couple of humorous moments.

Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent

Nicolas Cage plays Nicolas Cage who is hired to go to a Millionaire's Birthday Party but is caught up in a Kidnapping. To tell you the truth, I thought the joke wore pretty thin really early on. A somewhat good idea gone to waste.

Lost City

Sandra Bullock is a Writer who is abducted by (An amusing) petulant Daniel Radcliff and his tasked with finding a Lost City. Channing Tatum and Brad Pitt co-star. Radcliff is the star of this Film which was a bit of a disappointment. Should have been a lot better.

Big Racket

Reviewed this a while back with my Vipco DVD, which has sentimental value because I bought it with my 1st or 2nd Full Pay from my first job and I realized that I didn't have to pick and choose what I bought, I just did.

Anyway I got the Arrow Blu-Ray and it's an obvious improvement. Pretty show there's 3 extra minutes?

[Demoncrat]

Satan's Storybook[ (1989, Michael Rider)

SOV anthology.
On the day that I learned Suburban Sasquatch is coming to the Blu ray
Ahem.
Remember those Amicus flicks? Weren't they all (mostly) great ???
Well, we sure ain't in Kansas anymore
Satan's squeeze goes walkabout, and the big red one is peeved to say the least
In between we get ... some other things. A tale of revenge and a tale of regret tbh. SOV can be a rough ride sometimes and this was no exception, the audio being very poor in places. Maybe I should have just watched Decker Vs Dracula
Ahem.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

if only i knew what SOV was?