What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Unearthly Stranger (1963)

Things begin to go wrong for scientist John Neville when his beautiful but otherworldly wife becomes of interest to his superiors in the government, meaning both he and his wife are in great danger.

Definitely of it's time and possibly too talky for a modern audience, Unearthly Stranger is quietly compelling viewing. The film is intriguing and thought provoking and nicely atmospheric thanks to it's stark black and white photography. The cast headed by Neville also includes Jean Marsh and Warren Mitchell and the lovely Gabriella Licudi as Neville's wife.

Long unseen, Unearthly Stranger is recommended for those into sci-fi or with an appreciation of British films.

I was thinking about picking this up a few weeks back I think I will be now thanks for the review.

[wonderlust]

The Doctor and the Devils, 1985. 7/10



Up the alley and down the street Fallon and Broom sell bones and meat. Fallon's a butcher and Broom's a thief. And Rock's the boy that buys the beef.. : )


Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly, 1970. 9/10






The Psychopath, 1966. 7/10

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

The whip and the body

Great chilling and atmopsheric gothic horror from Bava. Only downside the dumbing of Lees voice will have to watch the extras to find out why this was done and the poor remastering done by odeon, had a couple of other odeon blu Rays and the picture quality of those is just as dispointing. 8/10

Watching blood and black lace and the picture quality is amazing words can't do it justice. Bravo arrow . This a film everyone needs in their collection those without a blu Ray player need to rush out and buy one just for this, it is that good

Got to disagree somewhat with your views on odeons discs. For me they look excellent, Witchfinder General, Black torment, Curse of the crimson alter, island of terror, blood on satans claw, Blood beast terror ect all look excellent. As for Whip and the body, well thats never looked great. I also have the kino disc as well and it seems to be something to do with the source materials as even my old DVD releases don't look amazing. Certainly I doubt this is Odeons fault.

[Prince_Vajda]

I own two Odeon Blu-rays (Witchfinder General, and Blood On Satan's Claw), and I think both look great.

[Demoncrat]

Watched Frankenstein (1931) at mates on blu.
The word stunning doth not do it justice. Crisp and deep and even even. Ahem. Came home, put on my now crappy Universal UK dvd....how faded it looks now etc.

Reco-fricking-mmended!!!

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Unearthly Stranger (1963)

Things begin to go wrong for scientist John Neville when his beautiful but otherworldly wife becomes of interest to his superiors in the government, meaning both he and his wife are in great danger.

Definitely of it's time and possibly too talky for a modern audience, Unearthly Stranger is quietly compelling viewing. The film is intriguing and thought provoking and nicely atmospheric thanks to it's stark black and white photography. The cast headed by Neville also includes Jean Marsh and Warren Mitchell and the lovely Gabriella Licudi as Neville's wife.

Long unseen, Unearthly Stranger is recommended for those into sci-fi or with an appreciation of British films.

Seconded!

[Crimson Blade]

I've never had any issues with Odeon titles whatsoever, apart from The Whip And The Body. Probably one of the darkest looking blurays i own, and with a horrible blue, green tint as well. Shame, as it's a great film apart from Lee's dubbing.
Odeon did say that there was not a lot they could do with the source material.

And i recently watched The Devil's Rain on the Horror channel. Very disappointed to be honest, and nowhere near as good as i remembered.
The all star cast, with Ernest Borgnine, who occasionally turns into a horned goat like creature,, can't save this turkey.

The 70's did however, produce some great satanic horrors, with Blood on Satan's Claw and Race With The Devil being two of my favourites.

[Buboven]

Porco Rosso (1992)

My fav Ghibli film so far!

10/10

[Handyman Joe]

Survival of the Dead - George, George, George, how could you fall so low? This movie isn't quite as bad as Argento's Dracula but that's not even damning with faint praise. Where do you start? - how about no atmosphere or context? For a zombie movie to work you need to be whipped (or lulled) into a state of dread from the get-go, you must believe the impossible has happened - George Romero, more than anyone, knows this - think of the opening scenes of NOTLD or Day - unparalleled- here however we are plunged straight into a who gives a shit conflict between two Oirish clans - the walking dead a lousy CGI aside (those heads on spikes - oh man!). Ok, a poor opening, still plenty time, will this viewer get his Pound(land)s worth? No. Worthless scenes proliferate - clunky humour (a fisherman catches a zombie arf arf, DOA action scenes featuring a crumb bum of a hard man, a zombie rides a horse - ah, you know what, I can't go on - George, either make that personal indie dream project or retire gracefully - it's getting beyond embarrassing, even Jonathon Ross wouldn't accept a zombie cameo these days. Took no pleasure from this review, don't even recommend it, I hate it when heroes go sour, I've only Lynch and Cronenberg (albeit in a different groove) left from my teenage years.

[Frankie Teardrop]

CLOWN – A guy finds a clown costume in a dusty attic. It's his lucky day, because the entertainer hired for his kid's party hasn't turned up. He starts to realise that he might have a problem when he can't actually take the clown suit off. Then he turns into a flesh eating demon. 'Clown' is actually pretty good. Its ludicrous premise is treated seriously, and, aside from a few blackly comic moments, a kind of dour tone prevails. Its heart is set on an enormously bleak theme – child murder. The temptation might be to lessen the impact by goofing around, but 'Clown', whilst rarely all that explicit, doesn't flinch. This is a movie that lets you know that, deep down, it's a pretty mean spirited beast (like most clowns, I imagine). There are some problems. It gets a bit ponderous. It can't quite sustain itself. Once we know where we're going, we're simply taken there. That's OK, 'Clown' still has plenty going for it, although in some ways it doesn't do all that much besides replay its prototype, which is surely Cronenberg's 'The Fly', another film which charts the disintegration of a relationship through the lens of punishing physical transformation. For all its flaws, I recommend that you take a look.

CURSE OF THE CROWS – Opens in a mysterious prison, where some pretty vicious dudes have been locked up. No-one seems to know how they got there, or even where they are. A woman who wears a cloak of raven's feathers appears, and seems to start to play head games with the scummy internees. Where is it all going? I found 'Curse Of The Crows' pretty intriguing at first – the strange set up, the multitude of nasty characters, the low-rent video look (though this might be down to a not so good transfer?)... as time wore on I felt its grip on me ease a bit, and my mind started to wander and I went outside for a cig. When I got back, something happened. 'Curse Of The Crows' went from being baffling and a bit nihilistic to a full blown cod-metaphysical fever dream, bursting with oddness and often teetering on the verge of being not very comprehensible. Characters die, are reanimated, twin up with their externalised demonic souls via yucky umbilical cords. A dense guy digs out eyes with spoons. It all gets a bit mind bending, in a rather good way. Or maybe in a bad way, if you're not keen on this kind of fragmentation. Even if you're not, you won't be able to say you can see what's coming around the corner, which isn't the case with, say, 'Clown'. Some surprisingly good performances – Debbie Rochon is great as a murderess in a scarlet shawl. If you like microbudget weirdness and can tolerate nonsense, 'Curse Of The Crows' might float your boat.

SHACKLED – A lonely guy who works in a bar dreams of a killer in a bunny costume. It's said that a killer is stalking the locale – maybe that's got something to do with the bunny costume. A noirish hooker turns up – also a character from barman's dreams. Strange events occur. Barman gets increasingly paranoid. 'Shackled' is an Indonesian thriller with a tinge of horror and some slightly surreal edges. The blurb goes on about D Lynch comparisons – I can sort of see it, but 'Shackled', although baffling in places, does not exude that kind of ineffable atmosphere. Its weirdness is a bit laboured, a bit strained, and... just not all that weird. It also suffers from a saggy mid-section which shifts the tone and sets up the twisty finale. Some of this works, but there's an element of info-dump about it all. However. 'Shackled' might not be all it wants to be, but there are plenty of positives at work – it looks aesthetically impressive, the first half is diverting and overall the film is pretty entertaining. There were some aspects which subjectively appealed, although I can imagine many others would be indifferent – like, the bunny's mouth, a sinister black crevice. It really creeped me out. I guess bunny costumes do it for me in general, as well. Anyway, far from perfect as it is, 'Shackled' is probably worth checking out if you're into good looking thrillers in need of a reality check.