What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Following the excesses of The Spy Who Loved Me and especially Moonraker (1979) this feels like a stripped down Bond adventure.

It has a very Euro feel as if they'd given the directing gig to say Enzo Castellari and only a quarter of Moonraker's budget.

Action sequences usually involve cars or motorbikes and work well, the most memorable being the hillside car chase where Bond and Carole Bouquet are at the wheel of a yellow Citroen, whilst the finale involving Bond scaling a sheer cliff face to infiltrate the villains (Julian Glover) hideout is suitably tense.

The film also lacks the sex of earlier films, Bond even shuns Lynn Holly-Johnson when she's practically begging him. Speaking of lacking where's the Bond theme during the action sequences? Pretty much non-existent.

As far as grittier Bond films go this is certainly no License to Kill (1989) but for the most part it is pretty decent although on the grand scale of things it probably gets a little lost in OO7 history sandwiched between the incomparable Moonraker and the under appreciated but certainly grander Octopussy (1983).

[J Harker]

I'm not sure I can remember much about For Your Eyes Only. I get it mixed up with The Spy Who Loved Me for some reason.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

I'm not sure I can remember much about For Your Eyes Only. I get it mixed up with The Spy Who Loved Me for some reason.

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It can only be in it's title. There are no huge underwater sea bases in this one.

The end of the cliff top assault is good. The Russians come for the weapons codes they'd been promised - what the whole film is about - and Bond throws them off the cliff saying "We don't get them, you don't get them". The KGB just say "Oh well" and fly off again.

[nosferatu42]

Personally i've always really liked "For your eyes only" Roger Moore is still my favourite Bond as he was the one I grew up with and is generally more tongue in cheek and fun.

This one stands out to me as being a bit grittier and I quite fancy Carole Bouquet in it so that helps, my third favourite Moore film behind Let die and Spy.

I rewatched Octopussy last year and still don't remember anything about it except the crocodile(?) sub thing and Moore standing about looking like a twat in a clown suit.

I do like Moonraker though, it's proper goofy.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

It can only be in it's title. There are no huge underwater sea bases in this one.



The end of the cliff top assault is good. The Russians come for the weapons codes they'd been promised - what the whole film is about - and Bond throws them off the cliff saying "We don't get them, you don't get them". The KGB just say "Oh well" and fly off again.

Yeah I didn't want to mention what I did remember...
And no absolutely it's more of a title thing. I can remember the content of The Spy Who Loved Me but can't always remember if it's that film or For Your Eyes Only.

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[MrBarlow]

Ghosts That Still Walks. 1977.

This one I have never heard of so went into it not knowing what to expect and seems to be a rip on The Exorcist, Exorcist II and drop in a bit of The Manitou (that was released a year later)

We have a 15 year old Mark who is somehow possessed and living with his sweet old grandma who are both under psychiatric care and the doctor uses hypnosis to understand what exactly happened to the family.

So don't expect a priest to turn up and go full blown exorcism on the possessed lad who has been possessed by a Indian medicine man after Mark managed to have a outer body experience. Most of the film is shown in flash backs. This is very low budget and seems to use the same part over again in the runaway camper home sequence. The acting is not the best but not the worst. Maybe a re-watch will happen at some point.

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[MrBarlow]

The Screaming Skull. 1958.

Something of a mix with thriller and horror even though the director plays the part of the mentally challenged gardener, this is actually a decent atmospheric flick.

A newly married couple where the wife has a history of mental illness and her new husband's first wife died in mysterious circumstances retreat to the house and the wife is seeing a skull.

Peggy Webber plays the wife and is able to keep the film going with her acting as the mentally ill wife who thinks she is tormented by the deceased wife's Skull that pips up a few times. John Hudson plays the husband who insists there is no Skull floating about the plantation Manor. Russ Conway and Toni Johnson play the friendly reverend and wife who try to calm things down with the wife but believe something is happening.

Half way through you kinda guess what is going on but to see the film play it out is decently done with some good visual effects that were available at the time. The acting is decent especially from Hudson towards the end when something goes missing and taking his frustration out on the gardener. At 68 minutes the film is paced our decently and nothing seems to be rushed. A nice nightly chiller.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Outcast (2010)

Certainly a different take on the lycan myth. Outcast sees a bearded grizzled James Nesbitt as a ritualistic killer hunting a mother and her son in an Edinburgh council estate.

Despite being low of budget the film has a grim as f*ck tone to it portraying Scotland as a grey depressed urban jungle, populated by misfits and feral youths which added to the films sombre mood.

At the heart of the film is a tender love story between the mother's son Fergal and resident Petronella but mainly this is a delve into Irish and Scottish folklore as well as a delve into pigeon entrails as the vicious Nesbitt hunts a werewolf in what is a gritty, gory, urban, supernatural horror.

Outcast would make a great Ken Loach inspired Grittish double bill with 1998's Urban Ghost Story.

Look out for Karen Gillan in a role before she became famous.

[MrBarlow]

The Iceman. 2012.

Michael Shannon plays Richard Kuklinski, a porn movie tech who becomes a contract killer for his bosses.

Wow this film shows how a mild mannered family man who became a killer and kept his new profession a secret from his wife. Winona Ryder plays the doting wife who gets the brunt of her husband's anger. The film doesn't mention anything about Richard's upbringing with violence.

Ray Liotta plays the mobster who wants to control his new hitmans contracts and gets a tad upset when his best killer goes freelance. Chris Evans plays the mentor to Richard and teaches him different creative ways to kill his targets. There is scenes that do depict realism of violence that can be upsetting but this is a film I'd watch again. The acting, writing and directing is awesome right from the start to the end credits.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Devil's Den (2006)

Devon Sawa and his mate stumble on a strip joint out in the desert inhabited by ghouls and are about to become the midnight feast when they are saved by fellow patrons Kelly Hu and Ken Foree - both contract killers and both here for the night or should i say fight, of their lives.

I've seen Devil's Den loads of times through the years. Despite it being a low (ish) budget From Dusk Till Dawn knock off it's incredibly entertaining with creative gore, cool fighting and in Foree, Hu and Sawa a fun cast with great chemistry who are always worth watching