What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Been there, done that. It doesn't hurt my eyes, it hurts my brain and make film to watch a film with an intelligent screenplay, convincing acting and inspired direction.

Is it just me as well or did anyone else watch VAN HELSING then completely forget everything about it 5 minutes after watching? I thought I was coming down with a neurological condition as the whole thing felt like nothing more than a vague blur, like the suits from a scanner darkly.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Is it just me as well or did anyone else watch VAN HELSING then completely forget everything about it 5 minutes after watching? I thought I was coming down with a neurological condition as the whole thing felt like nothing more than a vague blur, like the suits from a scanner darkly.

It is one of those films which you watch and if, ten minutes later, someone asked you to tell them the plot, you wouldn't have a clue.

Maybe there's a subliminal flash at the beginning of the end credits similar to the devices carried by the Men in Black which causes you to have only a vague recollection of what happened during the past two hours. It would explain a great deal about Van Helsing and other such films.

[fuzzymctiger]

Originally Posted by keirarts

it's pretty good but CORALINE was much better.

[Handyman Joe]

Finally saw 2 films I've been meaning to watch for an eternity -

Melancholia - Just great - no matter how arty farty Von Trier is, his films always have a gritty, realistic edge to them. Kirsten Dunst is just amazing and there's great cameos by the likes of Udo Keir ('I am at the end of my rope'), John Hurt, and not forgetting Charlotte Rampling as the mother-in -law from hell. A lot of doo-dahs on Amazon dismissing this as pretentious drivel, completely missing the black humour and sly references (Alain Renais especially) that underscore all the weird goings on. A depressing treat for Xmas!

13 Assassins - 75% of me loved this, the other 25% wished I was watching The Seven Samurai. This is like a pulpy, cartoon version of that film - none of the mythic granduer and spot on characterisations but plenty fun. I hated those stupid CGI flaming bulls though, much as I hate all CGI these days.

[Gojirosan]

Originally Posted by Handyman Joe

I hated those stupid CGI flaming bulls though, much as I hate all CGI these days.

Better than setting real bulls on fire surely?!

[VicDakin]

Larry Talbot returns to his ancestral home in Wales,which is fair enough,but boy is it foggy,and er where are all the Welsh?And Bela is the most unconvincing gypsy ever,I mean he doesn't once offer to tarmac Talbot Castle's driveway.

wolfman.jpg

[Handyman Joe]

Originally Posted by Gojirosan

Better than setting real bulls on fire surely?!

IMO better not to have included them at all!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

December 14th.

Die Monster Die (1965)

How the hell i've never seen or owned this gothic classic before is beyond me.

Produced in England by AIP as a vehicle for the great Boris Karloff. Very loosely based on Lovecraft's story The Colour Out of Space. Set typically in Arkham County, the story involves an American (Nick Adams) searching for his bride to be who is holed up in Karloff's gothic mansion. Adams soon discovers something from outer space is mutating the locals and fear runs deep in the village.

A full review will appear in the Gothic Thread in the new year.

December 15th

After. Life (2010)

A young couple Paul (Justin Long) and Anna (Christina Ricci) are toying with the prospect of marriage when they have a chance encounter with Eliot (Liam Neeson), a mysterious undertaker who claims he can speak with the dead. When Anna who is involved in a car accident is declared dead, she becomes caught in the otherworldly realm between life and death, she risks being buried alive. Will Eliot help her, or is he being driven by darker motivations?, can he really talk to the recently deceased or is it all in his mind?

Performances are excellent in After. Life. Liam Neeson plays sinister so well, Justin Long who's not someone i have great affection for was also very good. Christina Ricci however is the undoubted star of the show, she gives a performance of strength through doubt and denial and turns in a performance that will have all lovers of the dead salivating, she spends a good performance of the film topless and is a dream come true for necrophiliacs and Marilyn Manson fans alike.

The premise of this thriller was intriguing, yet also undercooked. The final denounment was frustratingly left open. I would have loved a happy Hollywood ending, but even the director says she left it open ended for the viewer to make up their own mind. Generally i always see this as a good thing but not in this case. Some sort of conclusion would have helped resolve what was an interesting, yet for this reason flawed movie. Recommended.

December 16th

Humongous (1982)

Bog standard slasher thriller about a boat load of young people who find themselves stranded on an island, then at the mercy of someone or something who would like them all dead. After a suitably sleazy opening involning a fairly graphic rape and a gory dog attack, we are then introduced to our victims, sorry, protagonists, and all is going well. Unfortunately the bulk of the film is very hum drum, set in near darkness, and i'm pretty sure we never get a good look at the killer. The film blatantly steals the girl wearing the mothers jumper in order to pass herself off as the killers son from Friday The 13th Part 2 a year earlier.

December 17th

Bare Behind Bars (1980)

The governess of a female prison in South America sells her captives off as slaves to wealthy buyers.

A puzzle this one. With so much female flesh and sex on display this film couldn't go wrong. Somehow director Oswaldo de Oliveira has contrived to make his Brazillian exploitation classic extremely dull. The film has minimal plot and all the sleaze just blends into one great orgy of limbs. Not one of the characters bar the nurse and prison governess are memorable, even this is probably due to the fact they wear different clothes to the rest of the cast. Many think this film is decidedly grubby but to me i became unaware of it all as my mind wandered after half an hour. I did wake from my slumber for a few minutes as i howled with laughter at the excruciatingly funny gloryhole lesbian sex through a prison cell door. The faces the guard pulls are priceless. There are a few hardcore scenes scattered throughout the movie, mainly at the end, but they add nothing to it. Three escaped prisoners licking a captured boy certainly wasn't in the best taste but by then i was really beyond caring. Had i known i would have got the UK cut version as it would have, mercifully, a shorter running time.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike

Die Monster Die (1965)

You've made me want to re-visit this one, Dem

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

You've made me want to re-visit this one, Dem

Yes, i shall also be going back to it in a couple of weeks time.