What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Ride the High Country (1962)

Western icons Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott as former lawmen assigned to transport an assignment of gold from a mountainous mining camp to the Californian town of Hornitos.

On their way they meet up with a young cowboy and a naive young woman who wishes to marry one of the miners.

Ride the High Country might just be Sam Peckinpah's best film, i'd certainly say it 's his best western. His use of Scott and McCrea feels like a last hurrah for both the actors and the genre. Indeed it was Randolph Scott's final film role as he retired soon after at the age of 64. As for the genre itself, well of course it would continue and is still arguably going strong although with a much slower output to this day, but Peckinpah's film certainly does feel like final love letter as the two western heroes take one last ride with some witty and at times sad sparring dialogue between the two.

As well as it's occasional feeling of melancholia the film also has a slightly disturbing edge to it when we get to the mining camp. It's clear that when young Mariette Hartley marries her beau she's going to become a ride for himself and his four brothers at their pleasure and whilst there is no on screen rape it's certainly implied it will happen and almost immediately following her wedding.

Luckily none of this occurs, how could it when you have Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea on your side and the final descent down the mountain with it's lush green scenery (a long way from John Ford's Monument Valley landscapes) is a western fans dream as Scott and McCrea make one final stand against the inbred miners in a set piece that would influence film makers especially Spaghetti western ones for years to come.

Ride the High Country is an excellent western and highly recommended.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Ride the High Country (1962)

Shit doesn't blow up!

Several dudes get shot!

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Dudes get shot, shit blows up!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

Dudes get shot, shit blows up!

Probably the perfect film!

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Probably the perfect film!

Haha! It isn't too bad actually and it was good to see an action film set in the UK.

Train to Busan is really good though, the best mix of action and horror I have seen for a long time.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

Haha! It isn't too bad actually and it was good to see an action film set in the UK.

Train to Busan is really good though, the best mix of action and horror I have seen for a long time.

I know what you mean about films set in the UK. They have a certain flair that i can't put my finger on. Even shite like London has Fallen and that dodgy Pierce Brosnan / Mila Jovovich action thriller from a couple of years ago seem to possess a certain something that they wouldn't have done set in New York or Chicago.

[Frankie Teardrop]

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN – Fun movie starring Rutger Hauer as a homeless dude with a trench coat and a shotgun. This time he's a good guy of sorts, trying to get by in a slimy, derelict cityscape run by corrupt cops and gangsters. He tangles with the wrong side of the mob and ends up having to blast his way to freedom. Made at the height of all that neo-grindhouse hokum, HWAS doesn't take itself seriously and just packs as much violence and craziness into its run time as it can, although the lack of anything to hold on to apart from Hauer doing the same thing again and again means it threatens to get a bit tiresome towards the end. Still, there are some really great, obnoxious highlights such as a school bus torching, and the film itself generally looks great, a homage to eighties neon garishness. Good stuff, worth checking out. I think Hauer is a great actor, and no-one is more suited to doing the whole long coat / shotgun avenger type thing than him, but here his presence feels a bit faint for some reason.

THE DARK BACKWARD – A failing comic finds that the growth on his back has transformed into a third arm. Spurred on by his friend, a maniacal garbage man, he tries for the big time by rebranding himself as a novelty act and, well, doesn't really make it. 'The Dark Backward' is a pretty fried movie. I'm surprised I've only just seen it for the first time, as it's fairly well known still and I do tend to seek these things out. Part of the strangeness in this instance lies in seeing the likes of Judd Nelson and James Caan in such warped surrounds, and in fact the whole enterprise, despite being obviously deliberate in it's attempt to seem 'out-there', certainly came from the mainstream at least in terms of production values – we're not talking about a microbudget underground flick here. Aesthetically, the film pitches itself somewhere between a David Lynch nightmare and a Terry Gilliam dystopia – those references aren't arbitrary, there are very clear nods to both directors, particularly Lynch when you think about the incessant Splet style soundtrack and the obsession with freaks and communication dysfunction. Somehow though, 'The Dark Backward' taps into its own vibe. Perhaps that's because, beneath the weirdness, there's kind of an old fashioned morality play thing going on with it, something about staying true to who you actually are when pursuing whatever dreams of creative fame. That said, most viewers will likely tune in more for scenes such as the one where Bill Paxton (RIP, Bill) licks a corpse in a landfill site, or that bit in the talent scout's office where a Viking lady plays a 'human xylophone' made up of dwarves. I liked 'The Dark Backward', and recommend you check it out. Parts of it really stayed with me – seeing Nelson do a slow, shuffling pirouette on stage after his lead balloon one liners just to show his third arm to the audience was quite unnerving, high pathos and low freakiness in one soiled combo.

BRIDE OF REANIMATOR – I watched this for the first time in years the other day – can't remember what I made of it 'back then', although I suspect I felt a bit underwhelmed as I never thought 'Re-animator' was total dynamite anyway. Seeing it now, well... it has some good things going for it, number one of these being Herbert West himself, J Combes. I mean, I can watch him any day of the week really, and no-one does arch-dweeb narcissist (homicidal variant) like him. Needless to say, he's in his element here. David Gale is great in it, too. There's a craziness to the proceedings that works well in places, although there's not enough of it. The climax, with all that mad mutant shit happening in West's basement, was enough to leave me feeling disappointed that Yuzna et al hadn't gone for the jugular throughout, despite the presence of a few conspicuous Screaming Mad Georgisms. But the problem with it for me was that it just didn't flow. Maybe it was the editing or something to do with the dynamics, or perhaps it was just my mood on the day, but I never really hooked in. Oh well, ask me in another twenty years and maybe I'll say something a bit different.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

BRIDE OF REANIMATOR – I watched this for the first time in years the other day – can't remember what I made of it 'back then', although I suspect I felt a bit underwhelmed as I never thought 'Re-animator' was total dynamite anyway. Seeing it now, well... it has some good things going for it, number one of these being Herbert West himself, J Combes. I mean, I can watch him any day of the week really, and no-one does arch-dweeb narcissist (homicidal variant) like him. Needless to say, he's in his element here. David Gale is great in it, too. There's a craziness to the proceedings that works well in places, although there's not enough of it. The climax, with all that mad mutant shit happening in West's basement, was enough to leave me feeling disappointed that Yuzna et al hadn't gone for the jugular throughout, despite the presence of a few conspicuous Screaming Mad Georgisms. But the problem with it for me was that it just didn't flow. Maybe it was the editing or something to do with the dynamics, or perhaps it was just my mood on the day, but I never really hooked in. Oh well, ask me in another twenty years and maybe I'll say something a bit different.

I totally agree with you, Frankie.

I don't rate Bride of Reanimator at all. In fact i don't even own it any longer. It doesn't flow at all. I am also underwhelmed by the first film too. I think it's a mid 80's comedy horror thing which doesn't seem to be my bag at all. House, Return of the Living Dead, i find them all over rated.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

arch-dweeb narcissist (homicidal variant)

Is that going to be in the new DSM?

Excellent reviews. I don't think I have watched the Arrow Video release of Bride of Re-Animator yet, so that might be tonight viewing. The Dark Backward sounds fascinating, so that will be another to check out, whether it's available to stream or to put on my Lovefilm list for when I resume my membership.

[Dave Boy]

PRIVATE BENJAMIN (1980)

Spoiled rich girl Judy Benjamin finds herself a widow on her wedding night.
After a radio talk show, Judy gets tricked in to going to an Army recruitment office..

I pulled this out of my archives as I had not seen this in a long while. I so much enjoyed it.
Goldie is great, as is Eileen Brennan as Captain Lewis.
Good fun scenes as Judy takes basic training against her wishes and some nice touches as she realises that life in the Army is better than her life outside.