What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[nicholasrope]

The Woman

A controlling Husband kidnaps a feral cannibalistic Woman in order to domesticate her. When Arrow launched their latest Sale, I made a list of potential targets to watch the Trailers of. This one made the cut and it's rather enjoyable and made me think why I never picked up on this one before, it's disturbing and violent.

I think that if this was made in the early 80's, it might have landed on the Video Nasties List, a lot tamer Films made it.

Bad Blood

Abigail Breslin takes up a job as a Drug Runner for her Uncle played by Sean Bean but is caught in the middle as her Sister starts dating one of her customers played by James Purefoy. It's not bad but the cover description made it seem a bit more violent and action packed.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Slashy Ashy goes to a secluded cabin in the woods with his friends and girlfriend , when Ash plays a tape recorder everything literally goes too hell. It's still very gory but it's quite tame by today's standards as we see worse on TV. A classic , it always 50/50 in which I enjoy more this or the sequel .

Now for something completely different and no it's not Monty Python.

I love The Evil Dead. It's my favourite of the trilogy, it has some very dark humour but it's played straight enough to not be comedy. I do adore the sequels but the original is one of my earliest experiences of real horror cinema and I hold it in exceptionally high esteem.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

High Lane (2009) aka Vertige.

French backwoods shocker in which a group of climbers are hunted in the mountains by a crazed poacher.

A film genuinely of two halves. The first is survival horror on the mountain with an incredible set piece taking place across a long highly unstable rope bridge. The tension is almost unbearable and even on last night's second viewing i was literally on the edge of my seat.

The second half of the film is more formulaic survival horror in the kill or be killed vein that we've seen many times before, be it Just Before Dawn (1981) or Wrong Turn (2003) and the countless imitators before and since.

It's still good value for money with outstanding scenery that would make this well worth a Blu-ray purchase but the villain is instantly forgettable especially in comparison to the movies first half.

[Demoncrat]

Every time that I have ever revisited The Evil Dead .... tame is not the word that springs to mind.

[MrBarlow]

The Exorcism Of Molly Hartley. 2015.

Six years have passed, Molly is 24 years old and living the dream until the demon that was summoned by a cult is still tormenting her. A fallen priest tries to do battle with the demon and save Molly's soul.

This seemed to borrow some elements from previous horror flicks, a fallen priest, a tormented girl and a psychiatric hospital. Sarah Lind plays Molly in this and Devon Saw a as the priest who is forced to face a demon for a second time round. To be honest this was better than the previous film, the writer obviously took notes from the first film and though we can do better. The make up effects of the possessed Molly isn't great nor the demonic voice but does have some good visual effects and a little curve ball added in.

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[MrBarlow]

The Fog. 1980.

A old fashioned ghost story created with a good imagination by John Carpenter and Debra Hill who got the idea while holidaying by Stonehenge and watching a fog go by.

The movie has a good and original creepy story with awesome ghostly figures and gore, without any blood. It is notable that this movie had a low budget which works perfectly for the dark, depressing atmosphere. The opening is great with John Houseman sitting round a campfire telling a tale then the opening shot of Antonio Bay with a great background score.

The acting is brilliant with Tom Atkins taking the lead male role and assisted with Hal Holbrook as the town's minister who discovered the old family secret. Jamie Lee Curtis is the newbie in town who quickly builds up a relationship with Atkins. Janet Leigh as the town Mayor who doesn't believe what lie the town has been built on. Adrienne Barbeau is the town's late night DJ who helps build up the suspense and tension while guiding people to sanctuary and detailing where the fog is and screaming for someone to help her son. The film is 43 years old and still a great classic film.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

FFS!

Despite The Fog being one of my top twenty films of all time i never remember about the 21st of bloody April.

I always treat it as a classic Halloween watch type of film.

I suppose i could always watch it tonight seeing as it's still the 21st.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Anyone who would simply like to listen to the camp fire tale. Here it is as a Gothic song with Machen's story and Carpenter's theme interwoven.

The Vision Bleak - Elizabeth Dane



The Death Ship has a new Captain (2003)

[J Harker]

The Irishman. Martin Scorsese. 2019.


The story of Frank Sheeran, the titular Irishman of the title. How he goes from a meat truck driver in 50's Pennsylvania to becoming involved with the notorious Buffalino crime family and rising through the ranks of organised crime to become a top hitman and close friend and confidant of the legendary Union leader Jimmy Hoffa.
We have events told through the eyes of a now elderly Frank as his last years drift by, forgotten in a nursing home.

Scorsese's mob epic is a long leisurely affair. For a three and half hour film I wouldn't say an awful lot really happens, even with a story spanning decades. In terms of mafia films, The Irishman is more akin to The Godfather or Leone's Once Upon a Time In America than to Scorsese's own Goodfellas or Casino. An intimate, look at relationships within the mafia, the role friendships plays, the impact on families. Sheeran isn't a man raised in this world. He's a working class family man who just happens to drift into this world.

Much has been made of the digital effects used to de-age the leads, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino. Claims that younger actors being used for earlier stages in their lives would have worked better, I disagree. The events don't take place over a long enough time period for that to be necessary and by and large the effects used are perfectly acceptable. To be honest Pacino's Hoffa doesn't seem to look much different at any point to me, not helped by Pacino's usual shouty performance, it isn't a bad performance but it's nothing he hasn't done before.

Joe Pesci is on fine form playing the head of the Buffalino family, Russel Buffalino. An understated turn as a calm, calculating orchestrator of events. Much much subtler than say Goodfellas wild unpredictable Tommy DeVito or Casino's Nicky Santoro. One never doubts the ruthless predator lurking behind the calm demeanour though. The star of the show though for me is De Niro. It's his film through and through with him delivering the best performance in years, possibly since Heat.

For me Frank Sheeran never feels anything more than a pawn, manipulated by the higher ups around him and I think DeNiro got that playing the guy with a sort of naivety. Russel Buffalino is a friend but there's no doubt whatsoever that he is willing to play Frank to get what he needs even up to the tragic conclusion.

We end up with Frank in his twilight years as the last man standing in a world that doesn't know or even care who he is. A point driven home by his interchange with a young nurse in his care home who has never even heard of Jimmy Hoffa, a major character in not just Frank Sheerans past but American history.

Through all this though there's never any semblance of remorse from the character, even as he converses with the priest assigned to the care home. He admits to feeling no particular regret, it was what it was. Frank Sheeran is a cold murderer, there's a certain charisma to DeNiro's performance but ultimately he's an irredeemable killer.
IMDB would tell you that Robert DeNiro only played a man-made monster once, I disagree.
An excellent film.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Excellent review, J.

I bought The Irishman when it first came out on dvd, from Asda of all places, and i still haven't watched it yet.

I'll have to move it up the to-watch pile.