What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[James Morton]

THE BLACK WINDMILL - i remember seeing when i was younger with my Dad
a very good Brit thriller
SCUM - haven't seen this powerful Borstal drama in ages - good film

[keirarts]

TIME WALKER.

Vaguely remember watching this on vhs with my dad sometime in the eighties. Forgot almost everything aside from the green flesh-eating mould. A fun and novel take on a mummy movie with a very frustrating ending.

[Frankie Teardrop]

SHIVERS - Back to horror basics with David Cronenberg's first non-experimental feature. I think it must have made a very strong statement at the time of its release, and imo remains a disturbing and vivid piece of cinema to this day. In fact, on seeing it now, I find a far more potent and disconcerting work than did my 16 year old self, who felt short changed on watching it for the first time back in the early nineties. Of course, back then I was expecting a load of sci-fi blood and guts... now I'm sufficiently evolved and well adapted to be enthralled by an orgy of sexual terror! Erm, well on a 'serious' note this takes on the issue of libidinal economy like few B-movies of its time and seems to offer a vision of socio-sexual dystopia a la a kind of inverted Norman O Brown. It's difficult to read its sexual politics - Cronenberg has been lambasted by both left and right, particularly for his early stuff - but the final image, with the swingers cruising into town with all the placid, smug contentment of their previously sexless, caged up alienation, is more grim in its irony than anything else in the movie. And there IS plenty of grim, with some sequences that even now must seem unassimalable from the perspective of mainstream cinema. This is well up there with Cronenberg's best stuff at leat in terms of ideas, impact and imagery, and is the first of his to embody that Brundlefly fusion of B-movie exploitation and dead serious quasi-art film that marked those early works, which still seem so unique in tone and atmosphere.

[Handyman Joe]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

SHIVERS - Back to horror basics with David Cronenberg's first non-experimental feature. I think it must have made a very strong statement at the time of its release, and imo remains a disturbing and vivid piece of cinema to this day. In fact, on seeing it now, I find a far more potent and disconcerting work than did my 16 year old self, who felt short changed on watching it for the first time back in the early nineties. Of course, back then I was expecting a load of sci-fi blood and guts... now I'm sufficiently evolved and well adapted to be enthralled by an orgy of sexual terror! Erm, well on a 'serious' note this takes on the issue of libidinal economy like few B-movies of its time and seems to offer a vision of socio-sexual dystopia a la a kind of inverted Norman O Brown. It's difficult to read its sexual politics - Cronenberg has been lambasted by both left and right, particularly for his early stuff - but the final image, with the swingers cruising into town with all the placid, smug contentment of their previously sexless, caged up alienation, is more grim in its irony than anything else in the movie. And there IS plenty of grim, with some sequences that even now must seem unassimalable from the perspective of mainstream cinema. This is well up there with Cronenberg's best stuff at leat in terms of ideas, impact and imagery, and is the first of his to embody that Brundlefly fusion of B-movie exploitation and dead serious quasi-art film that marked those early works, which still seem so unique in tone and atmosphere.

Totally agree, last time I watched this film I couldn't believe the scenes of sexually crazed schoolgirls, nice old pensioners and everyone in-between - this stuff is more subversive than 100 Saws or Hostels, in fact early Cronenbergs cooly detached psycho-sexual mania has never been equalled.

[Invid Ninja]

Slightly off topic but, was cautiously looking forward to Taken 2.

Not anymore though.

Title « British Board of Film Classification

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Handyman Joe

Totally agree, last time I watched this film I couldn't believe the scenes of sexually crazed schoolgirls, nice old pensioners and everyone in-between - this stuff is more subversive than 100 Saws or Hostels, in fact early Cronenbergs cooly detached psycho-sexual mania has never been equalled.

100% agree - a couple of those scenes made me think 'BBFC? Even now?' - even though very little is made 'explicit'.
David Cronenberg is a true cinematic anomaly. This is recognised, but somehow not fully realised, by the tastemakers who dominate the media. 'Cooly detached psycho-sexual mania' totally sums up the frosty, slo-mo violence of consumer culture's naked self imploding, in 'Shivers'. 'The Brood', 'Videodrome', or any of those amazing early films, in fact even now.

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Invid Ninja

Slightly off topic but, was cautiously looking forward to Taken 2.

Not anymore though.

Title « British Board of Film Classification

Well since it was edited by the distributor to get a 12, we can be sure of an extended cut on dvd and BD. Bloody typical!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

Well since it was edited by the distributor to get a 12, we can be sure of an extended cut on dvd and BD. Bloody typical!

That's what we thought would happen with The Woman in Black, and look what happened (or, as the case may be, what didn't happen).

[Make Them Die Slowly]

REC 3. The best episode of "Don't Tell the Bride" you will ever see.

666 REVEALED:TRUE STORIES OF REAL EVIL. Highly amusing nonsense about the nature of evil and Satanism shown through reconstructions of serial murders and interviews and clips of the Church of Satan.

THE HOWLING REBORN. A weird mix of visual Spiderman, Harry Potter and Twilight references cloud this uninteresting mix of angsty teen film and werewolf tale that fails pretty much on every level. However there were just enough odd bits to keep my attention and by the end I quite liked it.

ABSENTIA. This started out by irritating the f*ck out of me due to the manner it is filmed in, and the fractured dialogue of the two lead characters. Once I got past this, the film is in fact a compact, minimalist vibe on Japanese horror, early Stephen King with a hint of Lovecraft. Recommended.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

REC 3. The best episode of "Don't Tell the Bride" you will ever see.

666 REVEALED:TRUE STORIES OF REAL EVIL. Highly amusing nonsense about the nature of evil and Satanism shown through reconstructions of serial murders and interviews and clips of the Church of Satan.

THE HOWLING REBORN. A weird mix of visual Spiderman, Harry Potter and Twilight references cloud this uninteresting mix of angsty teen film and werewolf tale that fails pretty much on every level. However there were just enough odd bits to keep my attention and by the end I quite liked it.

ABSENTIA. This started out by irritating the f*ck out of me due to the manner it is filmed in, and the fractured dialogue of the two lead characters. Once I got past this, the film is in fact a compact, minimalist vibe on Japanese horror, early Stephen King with a hint of Lovecraft. Recommended.

I really liked 'Absentia', a slightly weird film which could've taken a way more obvious approach but thankfully didn't. It was a bit grating and clumsy in places, but at least tried to approach things 'at an angle'.
Have you seen 'Livide' yet? If so, what did you think?