What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[trebor8273]

Dull and boring, with dull and uninteresting characters and a uninspiring story which was painfully unfunny. Not surprised people walked out. 5/10


Was going to watch reanimator as an antidote to it but couldn't decide between the 2 versions so went for burial ground instead.

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Dull and boring, with dull and uninteresting characters and a uninspiring story which was painfully unfunny. Not surprised people walk out. 5/10


Was going to watch reanimator as an antidote to it but couldn't decide between the 2 versions so went for burial ground instead.

Re-animator is an easy one. Don't watch the integral cut. Its shit. It totally ruins the pace. It feels like some joker used an editing suite on their laptop to put all the deleted scenes back in not considering there was a very good reason it was removed in first place.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

We Are Still Here (2015)



A couple, grieving the loss of their teenage son move to a new home in rural New England in an attempt to start a fresh. However the house is notorious in the area for being haunted and is seen by the towns folk as being a house that demands sacrifices every 30 years.



We Are Still Here is a slow burn horror film. The first half mainly consists of atmosphere and background building whilst being impeccably acted by Barbara Crampton and Andrew Sensenig as the new arrivals and Larry Fessenden and Lisa Marie as their spiritual friends who they hope can contact whatever spirits reside in or indeed beneath the house. In some respects this first half is actually quite dull (in comparison with what is to come) if occasionally eerie but succeeds in building a believable back story and characters in order for the second half to come to fruition as a worthy pay off.



If the first half burns slowly then the second half is ablaze. The mystery and truth is uncovered and a gory almost Fulci-esq bloodbath kicks into gear.



If anything We Are Still Here could have been an early 70's Italian horror production. It's set in the late 70's and has references throughout to Italian genre cinema especially Lucio Fulci's The House by The Cemetery (The lead spirit is named Lassander Dagmar after that films actress Dagmar Lassander and the electrician that discovers something is wrong is called Joe as he is in House among others) we've also got the bouncing ball on the stairs from Bava's Kill Baby Kill (1966) and not The Changeling as some ill educated oaf suggests on IMDB as it's reference point (Do these people not know we use the first used example and not one that borrowed it later on) The film has a high Lovecraftian atmosphere and utilizes it's ideas far better than the many crash, bang, wallop jump scare horrors doing the multiplex rounds.



Recommended.

We watched this last night and apart from the obvious nods to other films like House By the Cemetery, I didn't think much of it tbh, I was pretty bored towards the end and found myself checking to see how long was left before I could go for a cig

[Deadite]

Yeah, saw it on horror channel last week. Didn't rate it much.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Year of the Dragon (1985)

***1/2 out of *****

[Frankie Teardrop]

BLAIR WITCH – This is a competent remake of the original that adds a lot more jump scares and screaming, but perhaps not much else besides. 'The Blair Witch Project' is by now thought of as a 'classic' by regular viewers and horror fans, although it still tends to divide the latter – I like it, I can think of few films that breathe down your neck in quite the same way, and also you have to bear in mind that found footage wasn't such a lame duck back in the late nineties (or any kind of duck really, TBWP pretty much inaugurated it as a genre commonplace which is regrettably still going strong today). Anyway, this new 'Blair Witch' is very well made by Adam Wingard and, although it's also a semi-sequel in some ways, more or less treads the path beaten down by its prototype in that we have a local legend, some kids with cameras, a forest to get lost in before everything goes wrong and a creepy house at the end. I mean, there are different group dynamics and some modern shite like camera-laden drones that do bollocks all apart from fly around for a bit, but nothing really novel. I was entertained, and wanted to keep watching, but I can't see this film stemming the cries of “heresy!” that some fans make when something valued is retouched (though to be honest, those cries are really more likely to be “Zzzzz!”, or, more charitably, “Pretty good in some ways, but, what's the point?!”) Adam Wingard has made some excellent genre flicks from 'Home Sick' to 'You're Next' to 'The Guest', so I was expecting something different and better, but in itself 'Blair Witch' is still worth a watch.

DEATH PROOF – Quentin's half of the Grindhouse double, 'Death Proof' is full of the director's usual sassy talk, although to his credit he does somehow manage to make vast stretches of people chatting feel mesmerisingly watchable. All the reference-heavy dialogue might entertain, but it's Kurt Russell's turn as a murderous ex stunt man that gives the film its attractive seam of menace. I was quite impressed with his way of offing his victims – forcing them to ride in his modified stunt mobile without a seatbelt or any buffering, and basically letting high velocity and sharp swerves do their work. Good stuff, I'm not a massive QT worshipper but I really like this one and of course 'Kill Bill'.

PURGE 3 ELECTION NIGHT – Number three in the franchise ups the tension, the mayhem and to some extent the politics, which are even more obvious in this tale of a liberal politician's attempt to rid America of the cull. Predictably, she becomes a target of the old regime on purge night, and cue lots of chase sequences and various bits of violence. I like what this series is doing in some ways, and it's good that a genre film is making these kind of social statements in the realm of DT etc (steps down from soapbox before rant mode fully engaged). But I did prefer the creepier, more low key edge of the first one and it seems that the risk here is of the series becoming a bit too familiar with its well worn siege tropes and so on. Well made though, definitely diverting and worth seeing.

SE7EN – The film that put Fincher on the map, 'Se7en' is a smooth thriller with a slightly apocalyptic vibe which unfolds a game of cat and mouse between a crazed killer and a couple of detectives. You knew that already, but, just sayin'... I suppose there's little point in blowing a load of digital ink on this as it's been so comprehensively digested by viewers and fans, but it was fun to see it the other day for the first time in ages.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

If you are a fan of Joy Division, the Ian Curtis biopic 'Control' is well worth watching

Imho, Oh no, it isn't

[Demoncrat]

Have done anything really Cultlabby recently...so I watched this video I've had kicking about in the house for a while....

The Wailing (Budget Pack release....75 minutes)
Which turns out to be Murder Obssession cough
A shockingly trimmed, murky print....
If there is a blu
SOLD!!!!

Mates were nonplussed

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Have done anything really Cultlabby recently...so I watched this video I've had kicking about in the house for a while....

The Wailing (Budget Pack release....75 minutes)
Which turns out to be Murder Obssession cough
A shockingly trimmed, murky print....
If there is a blu
SOLD!!!!

Mates were nonplussed

There is indeed a Blu from Raro in the US that is worth picking up:

[Deadite]

Capricorn One. Ah, a good old slice of conspiracy pie. Based somewhat, i suspect, on theories that the moon landings were faked, this film widens the plot to the first 'manned' mission to Mars. To its eternal credit, the film doesn't muck about - no silly training montages or touching family goodbyes to get you attached to the characters. Nope, the film starts with them entering the capsule, and before you can say "NASA cover-up to protect future funding. Oh, did i say we'll do unmentionable things to your loved ones if you don't play along?" the crew are up to their neck in fake films and transmissions. Elliot Gould does his trade-marked 70's lovably rumpled spanner in the works (in this case an investigative reporter) and Telly Savalas his equally trade-marked 70's nut-job "Pervert!". Karen Black looks suspiciously cross-eyed as the (very) mild love interest for Gould.

The astronauts themselves are James Brolin (fine job), Sam Waterston (equally fine job as the joker of the pack - his joke as he climbs the cliff is a cracker) and the (not proven) wife-killer OJ Simpson does well enough too. Add Hal Holbrook as the geezer who manufactures the whole thing to protect his funding and then finds that as things spiral out of control, he does worse and worse things to justify himself, and you have a fine cast in a fine film.

Haven't seen it since the mid-nineties i reckon and forgot how much i enjoyed it. I won't wait that long for the next viewing.