What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Susan Foreman]

'Avatar'?

[Frankie Teardrop]

TIMESWEEP – Knocks ‘The Strangeness’ clean off the podium when it comes to first prize for endless shots of people wandering up and down darkened corridors. That’s ALL that happens in ‘Timesweep’, but the crazy thing is – it’s fantastic. An impenetrable curtain of acid fog surrounds a movie studio, where way too many sightseers to even keep track of have gathered; for the sketchiest of reasons, the sinister mist induces some sort of time-slip phenomenon that not only snatches figures from the past, but also zombies, aliens and monsters. Divine eighties garbage, full of killer lines and inexplicable scenes. We might witness random spearings, nonsensical bug attacks or sleazy top-ripping followed by bloodletting, but those shadowy corridors are never very far away (the odd flight of stairs, too). I watched a VHS rip on YT. Apparently, there’s a German DVD. Someone put it out on blu in time for Christmas!

[Demoncrat]

Death Code Ninja (1987, Godfrey Ho)

This was in 2:35 btw. I am now going to make the case that Ho was a competent director whose "reputation" has been bolstered by unscrupulous distributors. Some of the compositions were lovely and no different from most of his ilk. The plot was some madness concerning a map, and the chap from Royal Warriors was the baddie this time. This was a mate's German dvd btw. Am severely ordering my own copy. Came with a bonus flick (Ninja: Extreme Weapons) which was in 1:85!!! REVISIONIST DEMON!!!

[Demoncrat]

Satan's Slave (1982, Sisworo Guatama Putra)

He's my new favourite director cough.
More of that Indo madness, this time surrounding a family and their new housekeeper. Could her arrival be at all related to the variety of shenanigans going on.
Mrs Doubtfire it isn't (TF).
To say that the lighting and shot choices made me think "...giallo ..." but that would be pushing it tbh. I got a whiff for all that. A hoot.
After a revisit, I'll see if that ending rivals City Of The Living Dead cough ....


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[nicholasrope]

But I'm A Cheerleader

Natasha Lyonne is a Teenage Girl whose Parents and Friends think is gay, so they send her to a Conversion Camp ran by Cathy Moriarty. Whilst there, she has to go through several tasks in order to get out but falls for another resident.

This is a little gem of a Film which shows the complete lunacy of some people and has a great performance from Ru Paul as a Counsellor who tries to get the Male Residents into stuff that straight Men do (Threatening them with watching Sports all weekend if they don't behave) It also has a Indie Rock Soundtrack.

Matilda

The 1996 (And superior) version of Roald Dahl's classic Book which sees Mari Wilson as the titular character who outsmarts Pam Ferris and her Parents, Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman. There are no songs and the Villains are more nastier as well.

[Frankie Teardrop]

DREAMANIAC – Heavy metal guy throws a party - most of the guests get splattered after he summons a succubus. David DeCocteau films, like the strange delicacies of an unknown cuisine, are best approached with curiosity and tempered expectations. There is possibly no movie more DeCocteau than ‘Dreamaniac’ . Nothing much happens for the first hour apart from a lot of bickering and light shagging, and if you believe that still doesn’t auger badly, consider that the film ends about ten minutes later. There’s a bit of gore before it stops (and a ploy I always love, some extra-long credits to bring it up to feature length!) The acting is awful, the tone is all over the place, the pace numbing, and yet there’s just something about the whole thing that feels a little hypnotic. Is the often overlooked and deeply misunderstood DeCocteau factor responsible for this? Or is it simply the presence of obvious Frankie Teardrop box-ticks such as music video-esque lighting and the ever-present synth soundtrack, both of which set a hazy enough tone to match the unintentional surrealism of all the things that are wrong with it. DeCocteau made a couple of genuine oddball trash classics like ‘Breeders’. I’d hesitate to put ‘Dreamaniac’ in that league, but he did something similar with ‘The Murder Weapon’, another baffler where you can never really tell whether you’re dreaming or just bored.

BODIES, BODIES, BODIES – Life these days seems to be an endless toxic merry-go-round of victims and perps. This has fuelled a few films where we see the narcissism of groups erupting into mayhem and murder – “All My Friends Hate Me” being a notable recent example. BBB goes a different route on the same territory. It uses the murder mystery template to argue that, whoever the killer might be, we ultimately do a much better job of f*cking ourselves over with our vindicative game playing and willingness to shit all over any and everyone’s social boundaries when we find that the world has somehow failed to suckle our inner brat. Any film treading this kind of ground needs to be sharp on what makes groups tick when they’re running on rancour, and BBB is careful to set down layers of subtle discord, to enumerate all the little glitches that later become ammunition, and to top this poisonous confection with a drizzle of diversions and foils. It does all that really well. In fact, like AMFHM, the build outdoes the pay-off. BBB works better as an edgy, twisty thriller than as a slasher or a Giallo, although to be fair it’s not trying to be ‘A Bay Of Blood’ or anything, its approach to those kind of tropes is one of convenience. I think that quite a few will guess the ‘reveal’ early on, although the way this is explained in the end is pithy, relevant and sadly typical (of the psychology it’s trying to skewer). Good, solid. I was entertained.

[Demoncrat]

Noted ala BBB FT.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

The original made for tv movie, whilst not a patch on the excellent Del Toro produced remake still has it's moments.

True Grit's Kim Darby is very good as the newly arrived wife in a house that's full of odd little creatures living behind the walls who want to make her one of their own.

It lacks much in the way of suspense until the final ten minutes which thankfully make up for any shortcomings.

[nosferatu42]

I like the remake, but the original is far superior to me, i love that weird 70's vibe endlessly, so that's my personal preference.

Don't be afraid of the dark stands head and shoulders above a lot of the 70's TV horror films for atmosphere alone.

Whereas the remake while good, blends in, and is lost in being a bit bland as a horror film of its time.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Schoolgirl Hitchhikers (1973)

As the saying goes 'If you can't say anything good then don't say it'.