What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

Today's Sunday afternoon film was the first Alien vs Predator. Fans of "serious cinema" won't be impressed but I had a lot of fun with it. Of course if I really wanted to upset people, I'd tell them how I enjoy it far more than Alien 3 (which to me has always been an almost total misfire).

I don't mind the first 25 mins or so of Alien 3 (either cut) but after that I find myself watching mostly indistinguishable British shaven head actors running around shouting things like "wanker." Also the superimposed rod puppet xenomorphs have always looked terrible, even at day one in the cinema.

AVP is much more fun, the creature effects look good and the film never outstays it's welcome. I also get to see Trainspotting's Spud (yes I know his real name) in an Alien movie. That's my money's worth right there. AVP is an enjoyable unpretentious film and for me, a good way to spend an afternoon.

btw Afterwards I ordered a cheap bd copy of recent Predator film Prey.

I agree with your assessment of Alien vs Predator but not Alien 3. The directors cut really adds to that film.

I've seen AvP way more times than i've seen Aliens.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Fragment of Fear (1970)

British oddity that seems to have it's eye on both the Italian giallo and Hammer's thriller output in which a reformed druggie (David Hemmings) witnesses his aunt's murder whilst on holiday in Italy. On returning to England he finds himself implicated in the murder in every way possible. That's just for starters.

An interesting psychological thriller that ramps up the levels of paranoia to screaming point but ultimately fails due to it's fairly unsatisfying ending and a lack of motive behind...well everything really.

Although David Hemmings is okay as the former drug addict whose world slowly collapses around him in a paranoid frenzy, Gayle Hunnicutt was wasted and the crucial plot point of her wearing her glasses at her wedding made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Despite this there's lovely atmosphere of mystery about Fragment of Fear with Johnny Harris' soundtrack evocative of the work of Bruno Nicolai with the likes of Adolfo Celi and Angelo Infanti adding to the international flavour in addition to it's early Pompeii setting.

[MrBarlow]

Transylvania Twist. 1989.

The nephew of a librarian travels to Transylvania to recover a book and goes with a rockstar who is the benefactor of a will and tries to stop a family member who wants the fortune. Yeah it's spoof of other great horror films with a small brief cameo with Boris Karloff from The Terror and few scenes "borrowed" from the film. Robert Vaughn plays the newest Count with his brides...sorry nieces while trying to strike fear in the villagers while Victor Van Helsing is more laid back than anything else. I hadn't seen this one in a while and still laughed at it or I was laughing at myself for watching it.

MV5BNTQ0ODg2NTk2OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjc4NjI0OA@@._V1_.jpg

[nicholasrope]

Sinister 2

When a abused Mother moves into the house of a murdered family, she sets into motion the next in the line of murders. She meets up with Deputy So & So (From Sinister) who is trying to stop the spirit, Baghul. But the kids are trying to entice one child into joining them. Sinister was a surprise hit (Still surprised it was a 15) and this one tried to emulate the shock value with the Films but I actually liked it but it's a shame that there hasn't been a 3rd one (Even if it was a Direct To DVD)

In Bed With Madonna

Documentary on Madonna's controversial Blonde Ambition tour in 1990. Using mainly black & white backstage footage and concert footage, it focuses on her Backing Dancers, relationships and legal issues with her Concerts. I remember this being controversial when it was released in 1991 and watching it for the 1st time in 2024, the shock value wasn't there, whilst I probably won't watch this again in a very long time, it kept me interested even it felt too long.

Alien: Romulus

Some workers on a mining planet take off on a roaming spaceship in order to go back to Earth but on that spaceship are some Aliens. This is one of those Films that if you want to watch it then I would say there's nothing wrong with it but if it's not one you're interested in then there's nothing to make you regret not watching it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Seven Women for Satan (1976)

After reading Frankie Teardrop's review for this at the weekend i thought i'd revisit my Mondo Macabro dvd after being inspired by Cult Labs resident wordsmith.

I'm not sure how our Frankie managed it because words fail me so i'll come out with a few sentences and hope to make something of them.

Star Michel Lemoine directs himself as a descendant of Count Zaroff in this oddball reworking of The Most Dangerous Game. Half the time the events that happen, usually pervy, happen only in Zaroff's head and the rest of the time we wish it was only in Zaroff's head.

The Count goes around with Howard Vernon playing his creepy butler and a large hunting dog that's as threatening in it's attack as me clowning about with my Milly. Poor thing, it was so sweet.

The music? What a soundtrack, quite cool for a Euro Bond rip off but inappropriately out of place playing over this smorgasbord of weirdness.

As a whole the film is a surreal, trance like almost parody of Euro horrotica that has a penchant for naked girls dancing sexually or best of all writhing on a bed with a faux feather boa...and speaking of those seven women for Satan...there are only six.

[MrBarlow]

Requiem For A Dream. 2000.

The lives of four people slowly change when the dwell deeper into a drug addiction.

Darren Aronofsky's visual assault on the mind and body of four people who succumb to a drug addiction, Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans (yeah the guy from Scary Movie taking on a serious role) try and score the big deal to make them rich, Jennifer Connelly is a fashion designer and Leto's gal wants to open her own clothing shop and Ellen Burstyn wanting to loose weight and her doctor is handing her pills like smarties.

This has always been a tough film to watch yet you can't look away, the cinematography is amazing even with Connelly walking away after been given a hit and staggering about trying to keep up with her barings of being high yet trying not to show it. It does show the lengths people would go through just to get money for a fix from small time dealers to those have the big deals and the not so happy ending of a addiction. Creative writing, direction and performances from all is what that makes this movie memorable.

MV5BOTdiNzJlOWUtNWMwNS00NmFlLWI0YTEtZmI3YjIzZWUyY2Y3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU0OTQ0OTY@._V1_.jpg

[Frankie Teardrop]

REVENGE - This is a slight anomaly in the world of low budget horror in that it's a shot-on-film sequel to a shot-on-video original, 'Blood Cult'. Whilst I've seen 'Blood Cult' I remember jack all about it, a state of affairs that didn't seem to bode well when sitting down with the film in question. Well, they say revenge is a dish best served cold, but I'd say 'Revenge' is a distinctly lukewarm affair. It sounds pretty good - a small town harbours a dog worshipping cult that doubles as its rotary committee, leaving a shotgun wielding farmer and an out-of-towner to sort it all out - and it wrings some atmosphere from a few windswept locations and a handful of effective scenes (including a bizarre hot-tub slaying). But it can't quite shake the torpor that creeps in between the perky bits. Guarantor of B movie bad John Carradine adds a senescent sizzle here and there to a film that can only really get by on creaky mid-eighties charm.

REVENGE - Richard is a hubby, a dad and, as evinced by the presence of young Jen (Matilda Lutz) at his plush desert pied-a-terre, a bit of a philanderer. He's also a rapist and would-be murderer. 'Revenge' is about Jen's forty days in the wilderness, during which time she tends to her spiritual growth by grabbing herself some firearms and wreaking gory havoc on Richard and his cringey pals. 'Revenge' was originally going to be called '(Yet Another Rape) Revenge (Movie)', but they thought it might seem a bit more enigmatic if they stuck with just the one word. If I jest, it's only in part - whilst 'Revenge' is coded to read as a more overtly feminist text than, say, ISOYG and its remakes (curiously, its opening, close and to an extent its overall theme mirror 'Ex Machina', a feminist sci-fi horror film with way more depth), there's really not that much distance between this and the more downmarket exploitation stuff. Conceptually, I mean; aesthetically it's a different story. Look at the wonderful photography and director Coralie Fargeat's visual command, both of which elevate the scuzz factor into something near-rhapsodic in places - blood spatter on cool wallpaper has never looked as swish. 'Revenge' is a bit shallow, but that's not an issue really - it works, pulls you in, makes you feel, repulses, invigourates, just really motors along like the nasty horror flick it basically is. Can't wait to see Fargeat's 'The Substance', and I hope she applies the same mix of brutality, looks and slightly vacant charm.

MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY - Michael Sopkiw isn't an archaeologist, he's a 'bone hunter'. That means he can tell you interesting facts about tyrannosaurus skulls whilst ripping leeches from your arm with his bare teeth. He doesn't spit them out, he just swallows 'em! MIDV is pure mid eighties Italian tack. It looks as cheap as hell but throws everything it has at the screen. Contradictions abound - a Moroder-style synth number, sad, sweet and lush, gallops by whilst the world's shittest miniature aeroplane crash lands in a puddle that looks like it was filmed in a pub car park. Sopkiw is a way-off brand Indiana Jones / 'Romancing The Stone' adventurer who must shepherd Suzane Carvalho through a jungle full of hostile tribes and vile slavers. Politically stunted? What I can't defend I simply observe, and MIDV is fascinating to behold. Grubby discord reigns in nearly every other sequence - sweaty Milton Rodriguez leers at crotch after crotch. At the same time, in a way it strives to be a good natured goof; Sopkiw gets distracted from some hot action by a groovy dinosaur footprint! Hilarious. The combination of sleaze and nice scenery wouldn't come easily to the filmmakers of today.

[MrBarlow]

Resurrection Man. 1998.

Based on the 1970s Belfast killings that a group of boys who killed their fellow Irishmen who were catholics.

I haven't read the book and only seen a documentary based on Lenny Murphy, here we have Stuart Townsend playing Victor Kelly who somehow must have got dropped on his head a few times or overly mothered by Brenda Fricker and begins to go on a killing spree. James Nesbit is the journalist looking for a story to follow and sets his eyes on this along with a detective trying to find the connection to the victims and stop the killers. The acting is decent in this, but times the violence and brutality is a bit harsh but we know what to expect with the background of the story. There could have been a bit more to tell on why Kelly had so much hate in him that would have made this more interesting.

MV5BMTQyNDE0MDQyOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODg3NDYyMQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012).

Despite having one of those exploitative and very daft sounding titles I once again really enjoyed this tale of the secret life of America's 16th and most famous President. The secret being of course, as the title says that Abraham Lincoln is a vampire hunter. The film takes place across decades, from Lincoln being a young store clerk studying law to the end of the American Civil War some forty years later in 1865.

Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, he of Nightwatch / Daywatch fame, shows a good hand for fantastical action set pieces - i find the final train escape quite gripping - as well as large scale battles which were very well staged, although i don't recall there being mention of Vampires during the battle of Gettysburg in the history books.

Thankfully the script has just the right tone, making Abraham Lincoln a fun, action packed film that doesn't take itself too seriously and has an enjoyable cast that follow suit. Having said that the film doesn't simply stick to vampire slaying and does rightly look at Lincoln's role in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation that declared freedom to slaves in Confederate states.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is an enjoyable slice of action horror and and a far better film than it's hokey title might suggest.

[MrBarlow]

Phantom Of Death. 1987.

Michael York plays a young pianist living in Rome, while suffering from Progeria he begins to go on a killing spree while detective Donald Pleasance is pursuing him.

A somewhat Giallo with a twist, are the police looking for someone in their 30s, 50s or 70s? it is revealed half way through who the killer is and what his intentions for the killings is never really properly revealed yet the kills are gory thanks to Deodatto's direction and imagination. Even though York is a brutal killer in this, his character is able to create a sympathy vote for the audience with the illness he has. Pleasance is brilliant as the detective who is engaged in a cat and mouse chase and being tormented by phone from the killer while hoping to be transferred to another department on a promotion if he can crack. May not be the best movie to watch but still entertains.

p51027_p_v10_aa.jpg