What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[MrBarlow]

The Black Dragon. 1974.

A Chinese farmhand expert in martial arts travels to the Philippines to make his fortune, uncovers a drug cartel in a factory where he works and tries to bring everyone down.

On the cover it looks like this is a American produced film which it isn't and even thou Ron Van Clief who resembles Jim Kelly is on the front this isn't his movie and not in it a great deal but does pack a punch or two. Jason Pai Piao is the lead as the young man who ventures to the open world, meets a down and out who introduces him to his new place of employment and then it goes down hill for him. The fight scenes are decent enough and the finale was a bit rushed but there is plenty of bad dubbing to keep the unintentional laughs handy.

images.jpeg

[Frankie Teardrop]

MAXXXINE - The mid-Eighties Hollywood setting and sleaze 'n' murder angle meant I went in with the vague feeling that 'Maxxxine' might play like some kind of De Palma homage, but it's more interested in confirming what we already know - that Ti West is an arch-stylist and Mia Goth is pretty much a star. I like the way it really cops for eighties aesthetics in a way that doesn't cleave to that tired 'neon'n'synths' look... you scope its scummy grain field and it's like breathing in the foetor of some back alley behind a yuppie-era downtown LA porn boutique. It's a mash-up of horror, thriller and Hollywood satire pulped down to a dreamy blur, and if it can't reach the heights of 'X' or 'Pearl', then it still dishes out a definite style KO.

BOGGY CREEK 2: AND THE LEGEND CONTINUES - In 1972, Charles B Pierce made 'The Legend Of Boggy Creek', a Bigfoot docudrama that's well regarded to this day. In 1983, Charles B Pierce made 'Boggy Creek 2: And The Legend Continues', a strange combination of feature film, pseudo-documentary and cryptid propaganda that is not well-regarded at all, but at least offers the comedy value of Pierce running around with a gun in red shorts. He 'stars' as an anthropology professor who takes his students to the swamps to look for evidence of Bigfoot; he finds ornery locals and a skulking Sasquatch who might be a predator. There's a naivety to the drama - there's no tension within the group as they plunge further and further from civilisation, none of the sizzle that would wait to erupt in any other film. We're left with a string of odd travelogue, baffling dog attacks, and a scene where a Bigfoot toilet intervention leads to someone inadvertently shitting on their trousers whilst reading an underwear catalogue. A far gentler 'Night Of The Demon'? If that sounds a bit thin, 'Boggy Creek 2' is full of a spooky kind of charm, pretty much accounted for by the location - as Pierce himself puts it near the start, "The swamp - sometimes it's exquisite, sometimes it's eerie."

SLAUGHTER HIGH - This odd eighties slasher parody is full of strange turns. It's a Dick Randall production, which, if you're familiar with the likes of 'Pieces' or 'Don't Open Till Christmas', kind of lets you know what you're in for. It's not as screwy as those offerings, but it holds its own. A class re-union in a derelict school(!) turns into a bloody grudge match when a bully's victim returns to settle the score. Notable for several bizarre deaths and a finely honed sense of randomness (on discovering a mutilated body, you realise your sinister building harbours an unseen murderer - what do you do? You immediately take a relaxing bath, that's what). The slack-paced comedy is offset by an out-of-sync gothic atmosphere that occasionally surfaces in the form of images of silhouetted figures in jester masks, rotting corridors, long shadows etc etc. With Caroline Munro, a toilet overflowing with blood and several Brits pretending to be American.

[MrBarlow]

Kill Squad. 1981.

A ex platoon leader is paralysed and his wife raped and killed, he gathers his former soldiers to seek revenge while someone is hunting them down.

This was fun flick 80s fighting film, with each character bringing in their own fighting skills even with the muscular tough guy who knows how to throw a punch. The plot is simple, army vet needs help calls on his buddies who drop things at a hat and seek revenge while a masked sniper is picking them off one by one while the vets watch their comrade die there and then. This isn't a big budget film but does provide some good fights and action scenes. The acting isn't great but not terrible and in some parts looks like it has been dubbed over. It's on YT if anyone is interested.

Kill_Squad_poster.jpg

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

House of Mortal Sin (1976)

One of director Pete Walker's more underrated efforts. Starring Anthony Sharp in an extraordinary performance as a Catholic priest who gets off on his own desires by violating the trust of the confession booth and torturing those he is supposed to help across the other side of the curtain with guilt. Naturally anyone who decides his methods are less than ethical are murdered in a diverse series of kill sequences, be it poisoned holy water or battered and burned to death with an incense burner. Lovely Susan Penhaligon soon becomes Sharp's victim and Stephanie Beacham and Norman Eshley give good support.

Walker stalwart Sheila Keith is of course on hand and gives another clever performance with a sting in the tail of this warped parable of morality. However after three Keith films on the trot i'm growing a bit tired of her seeing as she has become typecast playing 'psycho older woman'.

House of Mortal Sin also known as The Confessional to international audiences thanks to it's end credits title, may not be as well known as other Walker efforts like Frightmare and House of Whipcord but in it's own way it's just as good and gives Walker a voice on the Catholic church in the same way he did crime and punishment in Whipcord.

This may have been the best looking of all the films in the new 88 Films Pete Walker box set.

[MrBarlow]

Maniac Cop. 1988.

A killer dressed as a New York policeman targets innocent people around the city.

Hammered by what would be classed as low budget movie still stands strong today that would be a cheesey ass film yet still somehow entertains a audience. Robert Z'Dar plays the maniac who has a penchant for killing people and slowly uncovers that he was policeman presumed dead and is still alive and kicking. Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon and Tom Atkins become the trio coppers trying to figure out who the killer is and why. Richard Roundtree is the chief of police along with the mayor Ken Lerner who know a thing or two about cover up and corruption within the city offices. Larry Cohen and William Lustig did put something decent together back in the day.

Maniac+Cop+Quad+Poster+650.jpg

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

Maniac Cop. 1988.



A killer dressed as a New York policeman targets innocent people around the city.



Hammered by what would be classed as low budget movie still stands strong today that would be a cheesey ass film yet still somehow entertains a audience. Robert Z'Dar plays the maniac who has a penchant for killing people and slowly uncovers that he was policeman presumed dead and is still alive and kicking. Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon and Tom Atkins become the trio coppers trying to figure out who the killer is and why. Richard Roundtree is the chief of police along with the mayor Ken Lerner who know a thing or two about cover up and corruption within the city offices. Larry Cohen and William Lustig did put something decent together back in the day.



Attachment 251832

One of my favourite films MrBarlow. Wish someone over here would put at least the first sequel out.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

[iank]

Maniac Cop is a classic!

[MrBarlow]

Originally Posted by J Harker

One of my favourite films MrBarlow. Wish someone over here would put at least the first sequel out.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

The sequels are certainly worth a watch, I agree with you, someone needs to pull their fingers out and release them.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

An welcome addition to the franchise thanks to the hiring of Finland's Renny Harlin as director. He brings a genuine European aesthetic to proceedings with several scenes feeling Argento like due to use of vivid bold colours and some genuinely great camera work which makes even the most mundane scene visually interesting and the horror action the best in the series. The film also lacks the glossy eighties sheen that often hampered films of this ilk in the eighties.

It's easy to see why mainstream Hollywood snapped up Harlin who went on to make action classics Die Hard 2 (1990), Cliffhanger (1993) and 1996's The Long Kiss Goodnight.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Man Who Finally Died. (1962)

Intriguing mystery thriller finely acted by a stalwart British cast - Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing, Niall MacGinnis, Eric Portman, Nigel Green, about a German born Englishman (Baker) who receives a call to return to his Bavarian ancestral home because his father had died. But he died twenty years ago... didn't he?

The Man Who Finally Died has a great initial premise but becomes far too convoluted for it's own good. Although the final acts bring everything into place this could or indeed should have been more exciting. That said it's still a very entertaining film with the performances over shadowing most of the nonsensical parts of the story.