What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[MrBarlow]

The Spider Labyrinth. 1988.

Roland Wybenga plays a professor sent to Budapest to visit another professor he collaborated with on a project and is thrown into a mystery trail while a killer is on the loose. This was a interesting little flick, at the opening credits nobody pretends that they are American which is a change, the film does start off a tad slow then thrust into the film that does change to a murder/mystery movie then into horror. Director Gianfranco Giagni took inspiration from Dario with the use of the colour scheme through the film even in the sewer scene and a similar scene from a Carpenter movie. This is not a edge of your seat movie but there is some good make-up effects and claymation moments involving spiders. Certainly one to watch.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

House of Whipcord (1974)

Starring Barbara Markham as the sadistic warden of an unauthorized women's prison where the female 'criminals' are tortured and abused by the three psychotic staff. Sporting a grimly sleazy atmosphere, House of Whipcord has much to say on the state of criminal justice in Britain, much of which still holds sway today. The film itself is by the numbers and occasionally predictable, especially one plot contrivance that you'll see coming a mile off. Whilst the final twenty minutes is genuinely thrilling with a fair sense of tension.

Newcomer and former Page 3 girl Penny Irving is fine as the prison's new inmate, and for once Ann Michele has a lot more to do than merely shed her clothes, but as is often the case with Walker's films it's the older actresses like the aforementioned Markham and the ever reliable Sheila Keith giving a typical robust performance who steal the show,

I do wonder if House of Whipcord was Walker's ripost to Mary Whitehouse and her strong arm levels of right wing censorship. It's easy to suggest Markham is playing a Whitehouse parody, meanwhile Patrick Barr's doddery performance as the judge is clearly a premonition of Joe Biden.

The new Blu-ray from 88 Films is head and shoulders above any other version of the film i've seen.

[nicholasrope]

Darkman

Sam Raimi's comic book directed Film which see's Scientist, Liam Neeson get left for dead but survives and ends up disfigured. So he is able to recreate his face alongside the attackers and gets revenge. Not a bad watch, had a Sin City vibe to it and Larry Drake looks intimidating but has a softish voice.

A Quiet Place: Day 1

Prequel to the Aliens invading Earth and having to keep quiet. This sees a Cancer Patient looking to survive after the Aliens first arrive. If you like the others, then you'd probably enjoy this. The trouble with prequels is that you know if particular characters survive so you are just invested in the characters you see for the 1st time.

SPOILER:

I was disappointed that after the opening credits, the survivors know to keep quiet. With it being the initial attack, this film could have spent time with people trying to work out what is going on and making noise. It was basically status quo from near enough the beginning. Also in a way it was kind of stupid that a very loud helicopter hovered above the building with a loud speakers telling people to keep quiet.

[SymbioticFunction]

Rewatched Ridley Scott's Hannibal on 4K UHD format (it was a big upgrade over the UK 1080p option). Whilst it can't match Manhunter or Silence of the Lambs, it's still an enjoyable watch. It's very polished with excellent performances and pleasingly all make-up and effects look totally realistic (I'm especially thinking of the brain carving). I don't rate Red Dragon (really not sure why they chose Brett Ratner as director) or Hannibal Rising but I very much like the first 3 films in the franchise.

[MrBarlow]

Infestation. 2009.

A office worker wakes up cocooned in webbing and realises that the world has been taken over by giant bugs, with other survivors they try to find sanctuary.

I hadn't seen a trailer for this so had no idea what to expect and from the plot I was thinking of the film Evolution and Eight Legged Freaks with some bad acting thrown in. It does start off straightaway into the film within the first 6 minutes and actually becomes a decent film. The acting is better than expected and decent visual effects for the bugs with a help of some CGI. What does help is that Ray Wise appears halfway through the film and helps it move along as the old retired army guy who goes back into the battlefield nearly armed to the teeth with a plan that lands on him. It's not spectacular but worth a checking out.

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[nicholasrope]

13 Sins

American remake of the Thai Film 13 Games Of Death which sees a man partake in a game where he has to complete 13 challenges each one gets more and more extreme but if he fails one, he loses everything. This was pretty decent with some interesting ideas but the lack of sequel means we don't get any answers to who is behind it all. Ron Pearlman stars in a Film that probably should have gotten a small Theatrical release, one that gets released the same time as a bigger Film but gets the people who couldn't get tickets for that film.

Holy Virgin VS Evil Dead

A Archeologist tries to save a Princess from a supernatural being but also has to prove his innocence to a Police Detective. Oh this is a mess, the plot was too convoluted and didn't find it entertaining at all. Maybe watching it first thing in the morning wasn't the best time for it.

Cop

James Woods is a Cop investigating a Serial Killer but gets too involved. Not the Action packed Thriller it could have been but a slow methodical Film with a very good performance from James Woods. Not a bad watch.

Murder By Numbers

Over 20 years before Kenning it up in Barbie, Ryan Gosling plays a rich kid who teams up a High School Loner in order to commit the perfect Murder but Police Detective Sandra Bullock doesn't fall for it. Gosling is pretty good as the cocky kid but this could have been better.

[Justin101]

I was looking forward to Holy Virgin since I like Donnie Yen, but I'm not sure now

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I listened to the excellent commentary on House of Whipcord (1974) last night with Barry Forshaw, Kim Newman and screenwriter David McGillivray. I've always thought McGillivray a bit of a miserable git in interviews who doesn't like anything but he was great here.

A couple of things stood out for me. The first being he and Newman discussing review writing. They both agreed that publishers always wanted a brief synopsis of what was being reviewed to begin with rather than straight in with the reviewers thoughts.

Secondly Kim Newman said he was about to start a writing a new book on British horror in the seventies which sounds just up my street.

Going to watch the hour of interviews on the disc shortly. Must get value out of my eighty quid spend.

[MrBarlow]

Late Night With The Devil. 2023.

David Dastmalchian plays Jack Delroy, a late night tv show presenter looking to get high ratings and competing with Johnny Carson. After a month of hiatus, Jack returns for a Halloween special that does not go well.

Something a bit new with the plot with found footage and documentary style, we are given the small back story to Jack and his rise from radio to the television and his life away from the screen with some mystery ties and the live broadcast that was filmed but never shown. With the narration it does give out a creepy vibe tone that doesn't drag on and a good character build up. The throwback to the 70s was a decent touch with the studio set piece and of America television, and there is a nod to a de-bunker of the paranormal with a character that was based on a actual person that was nicely added in. This isn't exactly jaw dropping edge of your seat chiller but certainly worth a watch.

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[MrBarlow]

Murder In A Blue World. 1973.

A killer is on the loose murdering young men, while a gang is terrorising unsuspected families, while a doctor is trying out a new experiment to reform criminals.

Yep as you may have guessed this is a take on A Clockwork Orange style flick brought to us by Spanish director Eloy de la Iglesia that the title was originally released as A Clockwork Terror...not very inventive but hey ho. Some of the colour scheme used in the film both Kubrick and Argento would be proud of that another director went the same way that these directors used in their films. To be honest this was watchable and entertaining, a mix of crime, sci-fi with some Giallo thrown in the mix with some decent acting and not so great dubbing I may add. Certainly worth a glance or two.

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