What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Madman (1981)

Average backwoods slasher which rips off The Burning no end. There's a decent spooky atmosphere and some shots like the killer high up in the trees were quite effective but it doesn't really work overall. It didn't help that we never saw the killer until the last twenty minutes and only once did we actually see his face.

What seemed odd were the various point of view shots from the killer's perspective along with lots of heavy breathing as though wearing a mask when he wasn't.

I can imagine this is alright when you haven't watched a slasher film for ages, otherwise it's purely run of the mill stuff. Oh and the amount of times someone shouted "Richie". It felt like i was watching Happy Days.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Cold Eyes of Fear (1971)

I've always liked Enzo G Castellari as a director. His films tend to grab you immediately and keep you held until the final reel. Compared to some Italian directors he has an almost pulpy way of film making which i think always sits well in his area of film - Crime, sci-fi , westerns and horror. He never exudes that air of pretentiousness that some Italian directors have and seemingly seems to enjoy taking his viewers on a one way thrill ride.

Cold Eyes of Fear is an unconventional Giallo, more home invasion movie than anything to do with black gloved killers. It's stylish and resides in it's own little yellow sub-world, but opening sequence apart never particularly sleazy, nor does it boast any over the top violence. It's a film that relies on it's taut script of blackmail and corruption and some great dialogue which is occasionally witty and often sparky with dubbing in the most horrendous English accents. This, emblazoned with a terrific Morricone score makes Cold Eyes of Fear practically unmissable viewing for the adventurous Giallo fan.

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by J Harker

The Electric State. The Russo Brothers. 2025.

I'm an alternative 1990's the world has been turned on its head following a war between human and robots. The humans won and the surviving robots are banished to an exclusion zone, the Electric State of the title.
Humans now choose to vegitate in virtual reality as a new technology originally developed to help win the war now allows them to seperate their consciousness between vr and control droids that do the physical work.
Orphaned teenager Michelle lives with a neglectful borderline abusive foster dad Ted while she waits for the next opportunity to run away.
When a sentient robot called Cosmo tracks Michelle down the pair go on the run in an effort to find Michelle's long lost and thought dead younger brother Christopher, teaming up along the way with former soldier now turned smuggler Keats.
Think that's roughly the plot of this super budget adaptation of a graphic novel I'd never heard of and know nothing about.

Perhaps it's the lack of awareness of the source material but I really enjoyed this film.
It looks fantastic and has a lot of great ideas and fun characters. Voice work is excellent, Woody Harrelsons Mr Peanut being a standout. There's great world building going on here and while I accept that is surely more to do with the source material I think this movie is great and seems to be unfairly getting dismissed.

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

Sadly that's the way it is now a days everything is just dismissed it just seems to be the trendy thing these days to be negative about everything be it films games or music my favorite is people slating things and then saying I'd never listen/watch/play that garbage forming opinions based on nothing what a world we live in.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

X312 - Flight to Hell (1971)

A plane crashes in the South American jungle. As the survivors attempt to reach safety, it seems some have secrets they'd rather keep from the others. Meaning head hunters and revolutionaries might be the least of their worries.

X312 is a fun action adventure from director Jesus Franco. For the most part he dispenses with the sex and amazingly Lina Romay too, in this bullet strewn romp. Once the plane crashes (You don't actually see the plane crash of course, this is a Jess Franco film) the plot dives straight into character development and things do fall a little flat, however Franco does know how to wake males, well, me anyway, up from their slumber - he gets the voluptuous Esperanza Roy to bathe in the river.

Despite it steering clear of the usual softcore fumblings, being a Jess Franco film there is plenty of nudity and even the odd scene of girl on girl action (Good old Esperanza ), however the bulk of the second half of the film is thankfully well staged action as the survivors attempt to flee from Howard Vernon's armed revolutionaries. It was interesting to see a fight take place on the back of a pickup truck. It was clearly staged on a moving vehicle going at speed down a main road played out by the actors themselves - definitely not the sort of dangerous stunt you'd see nowadays.

Of the rest of the cast, Fernando Sancho, a veteran Spanish actor most famous for bandit roles in westerns is a suitably sleazy villain and also the planes steward, and Tom Hunter, who went on to write the excellent Kirk Douglas film The Final Countdown (1980) makes for a typically heroic type. Another of Franco's regulars, the excellent Paul Muller, also pops up in a small but pivotal role as the film takes a left field turn in the final act and no Jess Franco film would really be complete without Howard Vernon sporting a dodgy tache.

X312 - Flight to Hell isn't a great film but as a diversion from the norm for the director it's well worth seeking out for fans.

[Nordicdusk]

MV5BZjM1NjA3ZTgtZGM0YS00Y2EzLTkxZTMtNTU5NDcxZDkxYzdiXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg

When an American test pilot lands in a small British village he is greeted by a disturbing scene of chaos crashed cars trains and peoples bodies who it would appear to have just dropped in their tracks. On further investigating Willard finds a small group of survivors of this strange event while they are hold up in a guesthouse they recount their most recent steps to try and figure out what is going on moments later they are face to face with a threat not from this planet. Is this the end of the world as we know it or can these total strangers band together to safe mankind.

This is a really fun films with some great acting and great looking alien robots I loved their look no cheesy dialogue just intent on murder with no of your typical we come in peace nonsense . The whole thing is pretty fast paced well I supposed it had to be with just a 62 minute run time I really would of loved if it was even 80 minutes not because I felt it was too rushed but it was the fact I was really enjoying it. I really did love the setting of the little quant English country village I always love films shot in those locations it's a setting that brings so much atmosphere with it it gives the feeling of comfort and safety all the while there is a little feeling of under the surface all is not right.

Definitely worth a watch really fun great looking film just shame about the run time.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

Sadly that's the way it is now a days everything is just dismissed it just seems to be the trendy thing these days to be negative about everything be it films games or music my favorite is people slating things and then saying I'd never listen/watch/play that garbage forming opinions based on nothing what a world we live in.

I agree ppl just slag things of because they can or feel they want to, its when on forums ppl go name me the worst films you ever seen, and someone will go Midsommar, and I think really just because you didn't like it or felt it was over rated definitely isn't worse film you've ever seen,
But saying that Ive yet to come across anyone who've anything to say good about electric state, I think part of that is they think how the **** did the film cost so much, apparently 320 million most expensive film ever.

[Nordicdusk]

It seems with The Electric State people are complaining about the source material but I had no idea there even was a book so I just enjoyed it for the film it was as I said when I spoke about it it's not the most revolutionary story but it's still a fun time. Apparently people don't like fun anymore

[Nordicdusk]

MV5BYWVhMjMxOGUtNTM0Yy00ZDQyLWI3ZDItN2NmZGE3M2YyMWEyXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg

A mysterious meteorit shower over a farmland is investigated by a small group of scientists when the meteorites release a beam leaving the whole team possessed by an alien race.

This was not a good film right from the credit I left something was off with the sex jazz swinging London sixties music playing but I just laughed at that thinking I was maybe in for a swinging sixties sci fi romp. The music didn't match the tone of the film at all and it didn't take long before it started to grate on me every time there was an action moment or a eureka moment this loud sax started playing it just felt really out of place. The next thing that's very odd is the camera work so many crazy angles close ups and camera filming peoples legs and filming from the floor up it was such an odd choice. 90% of the film is our leading man driving is 1930s car up and down country lanes to and fro to and fro to and fro. When we get to the climax it turns in to Batman the TV series with a really strange almost dance off first fight with added crazy music all we are missing is POW KABOOM KBLAMMO and so on flashing up on the screen. It's all so odd it's not even in a funny way I was sitting here just thinking HOLY BEINGS FROM ANOTHER PLANET BRAIN WASHING PEOPLE INTENT ON THE DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND BATMAN what's going on. The final scene really made me laugh and wince a little bit a painful wince but an embarrassing wince

The poster is awesome but all is not what it seems.

[MrBarlow]

Devil Girl From Mars. 1954.

In the Scottish Highlands, a spaceship crashes and emerges is a female lady saying she is on her way to London but collided with a airplane, her sole intentions is to take men back to her planet for breeding purposes. Patricia Laffan plays the alien dressed as a dominatrix clad female who has the look and personality of a unsympathetic alien queen who doesn't care who she takes or kills with her Ray Gun. With it being a B grade British movie that relies more on acting than budget this is a bit of a slow burner with too much talking from start to finish and listed as a really badly made movie, this was actually a not too bad watch, certainly helped pass a hour or so for me.

download (2).jpeg

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE NIGHT OF DEATH - It seems odd that nursing homes are rarely seen in horror films when, if you think about it, they're overflowing with morbid potential. Though maybe that's why - after all, who really wants to look humanity in the face? French horror movies were also pretty thin on the ground in the early eighties, making elderly care-themed 'The Night Of Death' something of a novelty. Martine takes up a post in a home run by the slightly Thatcher-esque Helene, unaware that it's all a front for a secret society of cannibals. Blackly comedic, though I think I remember a lighter touch from when I saw it all those years ago - maybe I'm getting old. If the laughs stick in your throat, it's because they're underpinned by a superbly chilly, eerie atmosphere, exemplified as much by scenes where Helene laments alone at the piano as by shots of twilit corridors filling with creeping elders. One thing I'd forgotten was the surprisingly offal-heavy H G Lewis-flavoured sacrifices, real Pan Horror material, and I loved the way they engineered an entire little subplot just so they could end on that utter downer. A satisfyingly macabre death rattle of a movie that makes for a kind of defiantly unsexy answer to 'The Substance'.

THE SISTER OF URSULA - Swinging Dagmar and spiky Ursula are sisters on vacation in a coastal town plagued by a sex murderer with a massive wooden dildo. No prizes for guessing that, first and foremost, 'The Sister Of Ursula' is brimming with sleaze from all angles - I know it was the seventies, but whipping your clothes in front of your sib as if that's what people actually do when they're holidaying in Torquay... On the other hand, the raunch is the least interesting thing about it. A strange, semi-abstract tone lingers throughout thanks to scenes where existentially tormented Ursula has philosophical conversations with weird bits of sculpture in the corners of shadowed ruins, or where arty shots dominate throwaway encounters and let in an air of indefinable oddness. Maybe the secret's in the sax - it goes for 'slinky' when the bedroom action starts to simmer, but through some quirk of the recording process ends up sounding gratingly weird, bordering on rancid. If none of that grabs you, you might be mildly entertained by the tangled subplot about drug smuggling and hotels. This sun dappled sizzler fascinated me with its casual bizarreness.

BLOOD TRACKS - Semi-legendary bad 'slasher' from the minds of Mats Helge Olsson and Derek Ford. Never heard? Ford was a seventies Brit porn guy who at one point squeezed out the utterly beguiling 'The Urge To Kill', a film in desperate need of restoration so the world can gawk at it in disbelief. Maybe some of that craziness seeped through into 'Blood Tracks'. It takes the fateful combo of metal and horror and lands it in the mountains of Sweden, where a 'Hills Have Eyes' clan of frostbitten cannibals look on as their abandoned factory lair is requisitioned by spandex rockers for the sake of a music video. The snowy surrounds and awful eighties glitz look pretty ace as it trundles along doling out epic one liners and agonising non-performances - this is not an actorly movie. There's some grot and salaciousness and the intrinsic majesty of an industrial ruin, all things that shore up the badfilm fascination and shield a little bit from the grim truth that it needed more horror and a better pace.