What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

SMILE – The corrective to a contagious laugh, this ‘smile’, which doesn’t look very friendly at all by the way, is passed from person to person when one witnesses the suicide of the other. An A&E psych doc with a traumatic past tries to get to the bottom of it. As many others have noted, it leans heavily on J-horror tropes and the vibe of all those jump-scare driven post-‘Insidious’ spookers from ten years back, but it’s well put together and worth a punt.

MANIAC DRIVER – A self-proclaimed giallo homage, but you can forget about black gloves and mysteries, this is basically just a dude in a taxi who goes around philosophising about how bleak life is. I admit, life is pretty bleak if you’re one of his passengers as you’ll probably end up with your boobs out plus or minus being decapitated by a garage door (!), so it’s not all a delicate paean to Travis Bickle. In fact there’s lots of filtered lighting and some obvious nods to ‘Strip Nude For Your Killer and the sleazier end of that stuff so yeah, ‘giallo’, why not. Creeped out, scuzzy and, despite the short run time, hypnotically languid. I liked it, maybe not as much as ‘Gun Woman’.

NIGHTMARE AT NOON – I’m such a ‘Nightmare At Noon’ nerd, I have the original cheapshit UK DVD (which looked really good if I remember), the Scream Factory Blu ray and now this new Arrow version, very rare I double dip. I must say that the Arrow video looks the best of the lot. As for the movie, I’m slightly less hot on it these days but it still inspires the odd quiver; I think any movie that crams Bo Hopkins, George Kennedy and Brion James inside the same desert town as Wings f*cking Hauser deserves some kind of medal. For the unanointed, it’s a bone-headed retread of ‘The Crazies’ (or maybe ‘Mutant’) decked out with western references and just loads of stupidity. Trashy fun, and one of two Mastorakis movies I really rate.

Hush now child, NAN is a small delight and we all know it. Yes it clunks severely, as does Edge Of Terror (anal Demon ), but rather that than Ferngully 4 or whatever.

[Demoncrat]

Ninja Knight: Thunder Fox (1987, Godfrey Ho)

Right from the start you know this is Ho territory. the sprawling narrative gives you the basic kit, wronged rights and schemes thwarted etc so would recommend this as an ideal GH primer to the first timer. Y'all. Mike Abbott dons the headband this time and the fight scenes are the usual gravity defying madness etc.



The Mask (1961, Julian Roffman)

This was a find now ... originally 3D (?) as the opening blurb hints at, watched baldly the one thing that leaps out is that Lynch must have seen this at some point. Basically a thriller elevated (not in that way ) by certain sequences which push it into horror territory. Would make a great double bill with City Of The Dead.

[MrBarlow]

A Cure For Wellness. 2016.

A young corporate executive is sent to a spa in Switzerland to bring back the CEO of the company and discovers some dark secrets of the spa and the doctor who runs it.

A nicely psychological thriller that has the element touch of gothic toned horror mixed in from Gore Verbinski who tries to add in a few of his own elements from movies of the 60s horror chiller films.

Dane DeHaan plays the young corporate sent to the wellness spa hospital that is converted from a 200 year old castle run by Jason Isaacs. As time goes by he uncovers a urban legend/ghost tale of the baron who lived there.

This was like at times seeing someone's nightmare of being trapped in a location that makes you wonder what is real and what isn't with some dark hallucinations. The main location is something you would see in a dark European style horror that you know will eventually give out its secrets. This certainly kept me engrossed from the start but still baffled by the strange grin at the end.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters. (2013)

Hansel and Gretel have turned pro. Coping with the trauma of their childhood captivity in the gingerbread house by slaying witches for bounty. Things take a turn for the worse with the appearance of the grand witch Muriel (Famke Janssen).

I'd only ever seen this on dvd previously and quite liked it. Watching it on Blu-ray was a whole new experience. The Blu is an extended edition which is ten minutes longer. Ten minutes of expanded and additional scenes which move the film from a 6/10 to an 8/10 for me.

Directed by Dead Snow's Tommy Wirkola, this utilises the same gore, irreverence and fun not to mention anachronisms as those two classic Nazi zombie films. As an example Hansel has diabetes from eating too much sweet stuff when trapped in the witch house as a child.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters delivers on all counts. Its a good old fashioned medieval romp full of folklore and superstition with just the right blend of frenetic action with gratuitous gore galore which thankfully doesn't rely completely on CGI for its thrills. Added to this is a nice layer of humour, with some of the conversation laugh out loud funny, especially the choice use of expletives.

The film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the titular characters and both do a fine job. Arterton in particular seemed to revel in the madness, be it getting kicked to shit by thugs or headbutting Peter Stormare's sheriff in her opening scenes. It should be noted that the extended version makes her beatings even stronger to stomach.

Meanwhile Famke Janssen is fabulous as the grand witch, especially when she loses her human guise and becomes Black Metal style cracked of face - it's probably wrong to fancy her but i did.

If i'd known how much i was going to enjoy this on Blu-ray i'd have bought it long ago not simply picked it up from a charity shop because it was there.

[iank]

The Appointment. Edward Woodward is a middle aged family man concerned how his teen daughter will react when he tells her he can't go to a concert she's in at her school. And he should be...especially given what happened to one of her classmates. This early 80s British chiller is a very weird little movie that feels like a nightmarish little short story. There's little in the way of explanation, yet it leaves an unsettling feeling. Very odd but I rather liked it.

[Graveyard]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

MANIAC DRIVER – A self-proclaimed giallo homage, but you can forget about black gloves and mysteries, this is basically just a dude in a taxi who goes around philosophising about how bleak life is. I admit, life is pretty bleak if you’re one of his passengers as you’ll probably end up with your boobs out plus or minus being decapitated by a garage door (!), so it’s not all a delicate paean to Travis Bickle. In fact there’s lots of filtered lighting and some obvious nods to ‘Strip Nude For Your Killer and the sleazier end of that stuff so yeah, ‘giallo’, why not. Creeped out, scuzzy and, despite the short run time, hypnotically languid. I liked it, maybe not as much as ‘Gun Woman’.

Where did you find Maniac Driver? After watching Samurai Avenger & Karate Kill.. I look for that one but with no luck

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by iank

The Appointment. Edward Woodward is a middle aged family man concerned how his teen daughter will react when he tells her he can't go to a concert she's in at her school. And he should be...especially given what happened to one of her classmates. This early 80s British chiller is a very weird little movie that feels like a nightmarish little short story. There's little in the way of explanation, yet it leaves an unsettling feeling. Very odd but I rather liked it.

Watch The Lake on this disc won't you. It's the main reason i bought it to have that in HD.

I thought that and the great 18 minute interview with lovely Julie Peasgood was good enough reason to buy it even if the main feature was poor.

[nosferatu42]

Julie Peasgood is a bit of a weird one, for some reason instantly recognisable as a 70's kid, yet when I look up stuff she appeared in i can't see much I watched growing up except House of long shadows.

But remember fancying her as a young un.

Apparently she's a bit of a goer...

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[MrBarlow]

At Close Range. 1986.

A troubled teen is re-united with his career criminal father that the outcome for them both takes a dramatic change.

Based on a true story that happened in Pennsylvania between the 60s and 70s farming community, Sean and Chris Penn play brothers who want attention from their dad and decide to get a gang together and pull off small robberies and the police using them to get something on their dad. Christopher Walken plays their old man with his gang who show no remorse for their crimes. This is quite dark, gritty and can be tense, but everyone pulls out all the stops with their acting, this was a decent made crime drama that's certainly worth a watch.

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[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Graveyard

Where did you find Maniac Driver? After watching Samurai Avenger & Karate Kill.. I look for that one but with no luck

Well, I scored mine from Strange Vice, but by all accounts it's readily available from Wow HD. Failing that, several ebayers.