What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[MrBarlow]

Blair Witch 2016

After seeing a tape of his sister Heather, James believes she is still alive in the woods. He gathers his friends to go to the woods of the Blair Witch and search for her.

This is like a remake of the original Blair Witch Project, people going to the woods and search of something that is or not real, the jump scenes are a bit better in this. 6 out of ten.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Logan (2017)

Finally Hugh Jackman and the Wolverine get a film worth shouting from the rooftops about. This is a superhero film like they should be, tense, gritty and heart felt, where it's all about the characters not how many buildings they can whizz at each other.

I imagine this is the film Jackman always wanted to make - down and dirty, full of swearing and violence - yes those Adamantium claws really hurt - he can really get his claws into Logan and show those who only know him as the comic book character what a good actor he really is. Logan is definitely not an action film. Nor is it particularly a superhero film. It's a character study of a tired and vulnerable ageing man given powers he never wanted and now in the slow process of dying due to those same powers. However it's not just the Wolverine in this predicament. There's also a stand out turn from Patrick Stewart as the equally ailing Professor X who's semi-consciously losing control of his mind with disastrous consequences for those around him. Then there's a lovely performance from young Dafne Keen who may or may not be Logan's daughter and a beautifully underplaying Stephen Marchant only adds to proceedings.

Rather than any other X-Men film, director James Mangold looks back at his own work such as Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma for inspiration and references to this films direction, think No Country for Old Men or Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven with an injection of Easy Rider. This is no X-Men: Apocalypse. Thankfully.

The second best film i saw yesterday. Highly Recommended.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

Blair Witch 2016

After seeing a tape of his sister Heather, James believes she is still alive in the woods. He gathers his friends to go to the woods of the Blair Witch and search for her.

This is like a remake of the original Blair Witch Project, people going to the woods and search of something that is or not real, the jump scenes are a bit better in this. 6 out of ten.

I can't remember any jump scares in The Blair Witch Project; it is a film where the interest, and ultimately the horror, comes from characters, environment, and atmosphere.

[J Harker]

I Walked With a Zombie. Jacques Tourneur. 1943.

I hesitate to say I'm a fan of this one, and yet I've now seen it more times than some of my acknowledged favourites.
Nurse Betsy Connel travels to the Caribbean Island of San Sebastian where she has been hired to care for Jessica the catatonic wife of wealthy plantation owner Paul Holland. Despite assurances that every possible treatment has been attempted Betsy becomes convinced Jessica can be cured, eventually resorting to taking her to the voodoo practising locals on the island.
I Walked With a Zombie is a film with some great pieces, Betsys first encounter with Jessica Holland, the twilight walk through the sugar cane fields, Carrafours arrival at the Holland house. Not to mention the calypso singer Sir Lancelot who's presence seems to turn rather menacing once Betsy finds herself alone in the village with Mr Hollands drunken unconcious brother. And yet for those moments its a film i find quite slow and intermittently dull, particularly given its short sharp running time. But it is clearly a film i keep returning too and have to confess i grow to admire a little more each time. Performances are spot on from the whole cast, Darby Jones is a strange otherworldly sight as Carrifour. And at times the script is rather poetic, the whole thing has a sense of doom about it and well, truth be told i look forward to watching it again sometime.

[Inspector Abberline]

Exterminator 2 takes the vigilante movie back into the gutter where it truly belongs, where black and Puerto Rican characters are portrayed as mere criminal cannon fodder for flame thrower wielding Exterminator.Instead of the gritty street feel of the first vigilante adventure the sequel goes all Mad Max or maybe Bronx Warriors as a gang led by the youthful looking Mario Van Peebles as x , goes about their daily business of hijacking security vans, shooting helicopters out of the sky and tieing policemen to the railway tracks.If you thought that Death Wish 3 was slightly on the ludicrous side then Exterminator 2 will be no surprise, as it's chock full of the most riotous action.When X needs to test his sample of dope to see if its pure,he sends one of his break dancing roller skaters out to carry off some unsuspecting lady right under the nose of her boyfriend.It's all very obviously 80's, but you can't exactly hold that against it,the late Robert Ginty does the best with a fairly one-dimensional character but he doesn't get to do a great deal in the sequel apart from appearing out of nowhere with a bloody great flame thrower, where his character gets all this stuff is beyond me he can't have stolen it all from his Vietnam days. (although miraculously his friend Frankie Faison as Be Gee has an arsenal stashed away) Gintys character does look like a man out of sync with the times,while everybody else is body popping in track suits Ginty looks like he is auditioning for a part in a vigilante movie.It's not until Ginty's girlfriend is beaten and paralysed by Peebles gang that Ginty finds the impetus to step up his vigilante antics.While not as nasty or as iconic as the first film it has to be said its all trashy fun (literally as they drive around in a rubbish lorry).

[bleakshaun]

Nightmare on Elm Street
A group of teenagers are having recurring nightmares within a ruined boiler and are being tormented by a person with knives for fingers who is out to kill them, a teenager is murdered and her boyfriend is held responsible, it's now up to her friend to discover the truth and save herself and her boyfriend.
Wes Cravens classic slasher really needs no introduction; surreal and dark the first outing with Freddy Krueger is a classic and instantly became an icon.
9/10

Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
Set 5 years after the events of the original a new family move into Nancy's house, the problem is that the house is roasting, the son meanwhile is being tormented by Freddy Krueger who wants to possess our hero to continue murdering the children.
The first sequel is great, however there are some moments where it is lacking in comparison to the original, the acting is great and it has one of my favourite kills: the shower scene.
7/10

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
This time Freddy, tries a new tact by making the new batch of teenagers try to commit suicide. a group of teenagers in the asylum are doing every thing they can to stay awake, Nancy returns and discovers Freddy and has to help the kids stop the Krueger from killing more kids.
The kills are elaborate but Freddy does starts to become a bit more of a comic relief element, but it doesn't detriment the movie. the soundtrack as well is slightly iffy, but it gets made up for some inventive kills and great use of stop motion, my favourite of the sequels.
8/10

[nosferatu42]

Haven't seen it since it was on VHS, but i'd just thought i'd point out that the 1988 film Dream Demon is available to watch on BFI player for about £3.

Dream-Demon-images-f85d1467-3d78-49bd-9f74-aecfcafd145.jpg

Thought it might be worth noting as there doesn't seem to be a dvd release available.
Featuring Jemma Redgrave, Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail.

Also looking through the site there are some old horror shorts that are free and might be worth a look.

[Rik]

Never seen it, but I do remember seeing that VHS cover in my local video shop (R.I.P) as a kid

[Demoncrat]

I still have Dream Demon on VHS. An oddity. If a very British oddity at that.

Prevenge (2016, Alice Lowe)
Would like to rave about this more, but as was traumatised by an early scene, my focus was somewhat diminished. Love AL in practically everything she's done (and yes, she would be great as The Doctor IMHO). Recommended nonetheless

Revenge Of The Creature (1955, Jack Arnold)
Subtext be damned. This film is about SEXSEXSEX. And cruelty. Mankind hang thy head in shame!!

Marnie (1964, Hitchcock)
I've never seen Topaz either, so sitting down to this was something of a revelation. Sick puppy!! Such a pity that Connery just doesn't have the range to convey the complexity of his character, so his slightly stilted reading makes it...even more frightening imho. Loved the cameo as well. And the opening stank of giallo what what. Hermann's score is a braying delight. Will look forward to seeing this again

[Cinematic Shocks]

Originally Posted by bleakshaun

Nightmare on Elm Street
A group of teenagers are having recurring nightmares within a ruined boiler and are being tormented by a person with knives for fingers who is out to kill them, a teenager is murdered and her boyfriend is held responsible, it's now up to her friend to discover the truth and save herself and her boyfriend.
Wes Cravens classic slasher really needs no introduction; surreal and dark the first outing with Freddy Krueger is a classic and instantly became an icon.
9/10

Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
Set 5 years after the events of the original a new family move into Nancy's house, the problem is that the house is roasting, the son meanwhile is being tormented by Freddy Krueger who wants to possess our hero to continue murdering the children.
The first sequel is great, however there are some moments where it is lacking in comparison to the original, the acting is great and it has one of my favourite kills: the shower scene.
7/10

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
This time Freddy, tries a new tact by making the new batch of teenagers try to commit suicide. a group of teenagers in the asylum are doing every thing they can to stay awake, Nancy returns and discovers Freddy and has to help the kids stop the Krueger from killing more kids.
The kills are elaborate but Freddy does starts to become a bit more of a comic relief element, but it doesn't detriment the movie. the soundtrack as well is slightly iffy, but it gets made up for some inventive kills and great use of stop motion, my favourite of the sequels.
8/10

My favourites of the franchise along with New Nightmare. The rest of the series is meh.