What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

A lot of viewing there, Dae!

[keirarts]

Vampires Kiss.

A vain, womanizing New York executive gets home with a lady friend only to get attacked by a bat before sealing the deal. Later he picks up another woman from a bar and while their having sex she bites him. He becomes increasingly convinced he's becoming a vampire!

This is an odd film. It's one of Nicholas Cages early starring roles. He gives his character a weird Bill and Ted slacker accent and has a crazy floppy hair do. As the film progresses he gets to do the now typical Nic Cage schtick of pulling crazy faces at the camera and generally being manic and over the top. It actually works here however as it's pretty much strongly suggested the whole Vampire thing is in his head so it's basically a study of someone going insane. The highlight for me was Cage running down the street screaming "i'm a vampire!"

Maria Conchita Alonso plays a secretary he torments up until a near rape. Its somehow both alarming, disturbing yet oddly funny. Mainly at the expense of Cages character which is why it came across that way rather than disturbingly misogynistic. Jennifer Beals plays the 'vampire' and honestly i'd probably let her bite me too!

[ArgentoFan1987]

Originally Posted by The Reaper Man@Cult Labs

Yeah I also watched the International cut of Lifeforce and was mildly disappointed-I too remember it to be far more exciting as well!
Still LOOKS the part though-just a pity about some of the dialogue!
Perhaps give the shorter cut a whirl....
Another which I watched today that wasn't as good this time round was Craven's PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS.....Might be this flu,but I struggled with it....

Something well worth picking up is Criterion's THE UNINVITED-A true haunted house classic.

Also-Anyone who hasn't ordered directly from Eureka,I highly reccomend they do.
NOSFERATU arrived a day later!
Watched it yesterday and found it a highly pleasureable experience.(I usually struggle to stay awake through silent films,and in fact,skipped through their last dvd release from a few years ago.)

And lastly,the US BD of THE MONSTER CLUB is well worth upgrading to.
Another grand job from Scorpion.

Next to The Hauning, The Uninvited is my favourite haunted house film ever (a sub-genre I'm not very fond of)!

I wasn't THAT keen on Scanners! It wasn't a bad film at all, just over-rated and didn't meet my expectations.

[troggi]

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
Hairy toe-tastic!

19/10

[ArgentoFan1987]

Originally Posted by troggi

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
Hairy toe-tastic!

19/10

It's a film I'll certainly avoid, as I know I'll hate it.

[PaulD]

Viewings since last update:

Intruder - rewatched this after finishing a half marathon and celebrating with beer and pizza. The perfect film for such an occasion. I'm still surprised Scott Spiegel hasn't had more of a successful directing career as his work in this is excellent. It has tension, inventive camera placement and a wealth of great gore gags making it a really under-rated slasher film outside of the cult audience

The Night of The Hunter - another rewatch. Still an excellent southern Gothic fairytale with one of the most monstrous boogeymen in film history. Speaking of missed directorial potential I'd have loved to see what else Charles Laughton was capable of behind the camera.

The Call - Halle Berry does a minimal location/high concept b-movie-esque thriller. Really enjoyable stuff. Does what it sets out to do with great efficiency and verges on Maniac territory in the end. Really surprised at how much I enjoyed this

Blue Jasmine - it wasn't until I came out of the cinema that my friend said "I haven't read or seen it but apparently it owes a lot to A Streetcar Named Desire", something that completely passed me by when watching it. Cate Blanchett is incredible in this riches to rags story about a emotionally fragile woman who falls down the social ladder and has to move in with her sister following her husband's imprisonment for shady dealings. Blanchett's performance is mesmerising as the eponymous character in a way which makes you both pity and thoroughly dislike her. A return to form for Woody Allen since the last return to form since the last return to form since the last return to form since the last return to form since the last return to form since the last return to form...

Blackout - straight-to-dvd (one assumes) thriller of the 'people stuck in a lift' variety. Confusing, messy and all over the place but oddly shot with a real visual flair at times. The sort of rubbish Netflixploitation (yeah MTDS, let's call it that!) I can never seem to get enough of, no matter how rubbish it is.

The Wicker Man (The Final Cut) - it's been years since I saw the other 2 versions so can't really comment on how it differs in that respect (other than, in line with the so-called Director's Cut Britt Ekland's stunt arse takes a while to make an appearance) but this cut certainly doesn't lose anything that makes the original so fantastic. Looks great on bluray for the most part but I was surprised at the dip in quality on some of the newer scenes, considering the restoration work done.

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage
The Cat O' Nine Tails
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Deep Red
Suspiria
Tenebrae
Phenomena
Two Evil Eyes
Trauma
The Phantom of The Opera

Revisted most of Argento's ouvre prior to see him in conversation at the BFI earlier this month. All rewatches apart from The Phantom of the Opera which was my first viewing and a curious mix of the tedious and the stupid albeit with great production design and soundtrack. I'll not go over the rest as you'll have all seen them and they're all varying kinds of good from the sublime (Deep Red, Tenebrae, Suspiria) to the ridiculous (Phenomena)

The Roommate - more light horror/thriller action, courtesy of Netflix. Utter arse and extremely dull to boot. I think I started nodding off at the end and can remember little about it.

The Open Door - more Netflixploitation (it's gonna catch on, fear ye not!). This one concerns a girl who calls a mysterious pirate radio station which grants its caller their hearts desires. But, y'know, with horrible consequences. You think it's going to be a slasher film but it ends up as some half-arsed Evil Dead-lite possession film with everybody screaming in a room and making little attempt to do anything about it. One of the characters quotes a line from Pulp Fiction at one point, presumably to prove that the director has actually seen a film before, and the film opens with a father shooting his family before killing himself at the dinner table which seems to have little relevance to the painful 85 minutes that follow. Poop.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch - quintessential Halloween viewing. I'd forgotten how oddly silly some of it is but it's balanced with a bleak and nihilistic edge which makes you forget about it (that ending!). It's such a shame it tanked at the box office as I'd love to have seen more standalone stories in this vein rather than the pissing on Michael Myer's legacy route that the franchise took

From Dusk Till Dawn - stuck in a hotel and this was on Channel 4. It's still about 1000% more Grindhouse that Grindhouse.

Curse of Chucky - went into this with low expectations considering the last few films but was pleasantly surprised. Felt like an old school horror film (large gothic house? Check! Thunder and lightning? Check!) and although it was a bit too free and easy with adding to the backstory in order to further the plot it was all done rather well. The 2 cameos towards the end felt a bit tacked on and like fan service to me though.

Last Caress - Strange French giallo tribute. Some decent gore effects and an enjoyable sub-Goblin electro-soundtrack but let down by incredibly amateurish directing. The poor script and lack of plot wouldn't be a problem in the company of the genre's usual visual flair (especially as the film only runs to 1 hour 5 minutes without credits!) but the straightforward locked-off-camera-and-shoot style really hampers its potential. It's good fun as an exercise in box-ticking for giallo references (including Deep Red, Suspira and the push-the-key-out-the-keyhole scene in Torso to name but three) but if you want a well done modern tribute to the gialli of the 70's you're better of looking into the work of Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - Aka The Texas Penis Metaphor 2. I really enjoyed this a lot more on this viewing. Once you get passed the film's completely different tone it's a crazy and fun ride

[Daemonia]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

A lot of viewing there, Dae!

My name is Daemonia and I'm a film addict.

*cue applause from other film addicts in the group*

[SCM]

Originally Posted by Daemonia

My name is Daemonia and I'm a film addict.

*cue applause from other film addicts in the group*

awkward silence for 7 minutes.

[Bringer Of Funerals]

My Netflix weekend Viewing

MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL

King Arthur is looking to find men to be knights of the round table, then he gets a quest from God to go and search for the holy grail which brings with it funny as hell results. "What's it do nibble your bum?" - "and there was much rejoicing"

I proper love this classic and Im sure everyone else does too

Lego Ninjargo: Masters Of Spinjitzu

Kai as grew up dreaming of becoming a blacksmith like his father but that was before skeleton warriors ransacked his village and abducted his sister. So he learns to become a ninja and joins 3 other ninjas to save the day.

Surprisingly it was a very well thought out CGI adventure for kids that was very imaginative. There was a part where a shadow warrior was kicking a ninja's arse. So another ninja stood where the light would make a shadow on the wall and fought him like that. I really enjoyed it when I wasn't expecting much.

After Porn Ends

A documentary that talks to ex porn stars and they discuss what happened to them after porn. If they could get a normal job or not.

It was so so, I wasn't expecting full on hardcore porn but I was expecting a bit more in depth, they spoke about how they got into porn and how much they got paid. Then the reasons they left. It was a bit shallow and didn't go into anything we didn't already know, there was a woman on there called Shelley Lubben who after looking at her filmography had no right being on it. She starred in 3 films.

Pingu - Season 1

We all know what Pingu is and for those who don't its about a family of plastesine penguins. There is the mam and dad, Pingu the child penguin and his baby sister Pinga. The episodes last for about 10 mins each and it's the adventures of Pingu being naughty.

I don't know why I still like these after all these yrs. The language is foreign but you still understand what's going on. It is also very funny. It's even better to watch with kids. I don't mind admitting I watch kids stuff.

Drop Dead Fred.

When Phoebe Cates was a kid, she had an imaginary friend called Drop Dead Fred played brilliantly by Rik Mayall who only she could see. Now she is 30 and unhappy that she has found her husband is cheating on her. Hence Rik Mayall comes back to help her get him back.

Rik Mayall is the stand out character here and causes all sort of trouble like smearing dog turd on a freshly cleaned carpet, making Cates throw food all over a restraunt and sinking a ship. He also meets his other imaginary friends which is very funny.

The War Of The Worlds (1953)

Aliens have decided to land on Earth and take over by causiing chaos and destruction and it's upto the towns people to try and survive.

A very good piece of sci fi that was better than the remake and it was very well thought out and didn't turn into a CGI fest - it was also very talky which didn't bother me. I also like the way there was not a kid screaming all the way through it. With the remake I wanted to slap her and say shut the **** up

[ArgentoFan1987]

Originally Posted by Daemonia

My name is Daemonia and I'm a film addict.

*cue applause from other film addicts in the group*

I don't care what people say, I'm applauding the guy! I know how it feel to be a film-o-holic. It's a lonely place and loses you lots of girlfriends!