What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Flying Scot (1957)

An Anglo Amalgamated quickie starring Lee Patterson, Alan Gifford and Kay Callard about small time crooks who set out to steal half a million pounds in one pound notes as they are transported on passenger train The Flying Scot.

I thought this was excellent. Involving and tense right from the off. The scheme is brilliantly foolproof but naturally things don't go according to plan. Filmed almost exclusively on a train this is quite claustrophobic in it's setting and the twist in the tale early on had me completely fooled.

An excellent heist thriller beautifully restored by Network and a bargain at £2 in the recent Bonkers sale.

[Paul Zombie]

Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde.

Dr Jekyll(Ralph Bates) is a very dedicated scientist chap who gets depressed when he realises that death will end his scientific discoveries. so decides to find an elixer of life, which requires grave robbing with the help of Burke and hare and knocking off the local hookers. and when he does discover the elusive elixer, there's just one snag, it turns him into a foxy lady who enjoys making red dresses out of the curtains.

this is one of Hammer's greatest films from the 1970's period. It is very good indeed and has a great story, bags of 1800's atmospheres in the foggy streets and marvellous performances from Ralph Bates as the crazed Dr Jekyll who does what ever takes in the name of science. and Martine Beswick who is brilliantly cast as the lusty and evil Mrs Hyde who continues with Dr Jekyll's cull of the local whores after he tries to stop, even keeping a trusty blade in her boot. A love interest is also providing by Susan Brodrick who plays Dr Jecyll's prim and proper neighbour who has the hots for Mr Bates.

top notch Hammer film indeed with plenty of black comedy as well and suspenseful kills. 90 out of 100.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by John Matrix

8/10

Points deducted for Julia's hair, shoulder pads, earings and make-up and because of the 3 people she brings back to the house, only 1 questions why they've went up stairs to this dilapidated dingy room.

Review!! Can you do Suspiria at some point?

[troggi]

"Teen Titans: The Judas Contract" (2017)
This arrived today at the bargain price of less than £15! Brilliant film based on the Marv Wolfman/George Perez story. All the characters, hero or villain, have some aspect to them that draws you to them, even Robin/Damien! I normally have a go at the "bog-standard DC animation" but it is used to great effect here, as is the voice acting. Oh yeah! I also love the mini fig.
Well I liked it a lot so- 72/10 + 2 bottles of Crabbie's Ginger Beer and an apple!

[Frankie Teardrop]

SUSPIRIA – The remake, which I saw at the Leeds International Film Festival last night. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from ‘art-house’ director (to be slightly lazy about it) Guadagnino, but it’s well known that the project has been a labour of love of his for some time. This ‘Suspiria’ feels invested in, sure, but thankfully it’s no fannish reprise. One thing I appreciated about it, and kind of predicted, was lack its of emulation of the original and disregard for the sort of stylistics that less confident hands might feel a need to cling to, Argento’s movie being basically, let’s face it, really all just style and style alone. Themes and attitudes (particularly to women, or the idea of the feminine) are different. There’s an interesting attempt to evoke what was going on politically in Berlin at the time, and we get a punkish back-drop with lots of graffiti and references to Baader-Meinhof that also allows the film to show how the embers of the Nazi past simmer in the lives of its characters. All that stuff feels a bit loose in a way because it needs a more rigorous cinematic terrain to do it justice, but the vibe of stark, ominous social realism cuts well against the original’s bad-trip fairy froth. On some level, I felt the film was going for the feel of something like Zulawski’s ‘Possession’, which you’ll remember was also set in Berlin. Nothing overt, just a sense that came through from time to time, although ‘Suspiria’ is less weird and oblique than that film. That might be its biggest failing, for me – for all its well developed textures, tones and thematic excursions, it couldn’t quite sustain the atmosphere of estrangement I was looking for. To be blunt, some of the ‘horror bits’ worked OK, but some of the visuals almost seemed to belong to a different movie and unfortunately at points they brought to mind a sub-par Netflix Insidious-rip off. Having said this, the film’s climax, an orgiastic occult ceremony doused in red lighting with cadaverous entities and exploding bodies, couldn’t have been a better homage to dodgy Euro-goth excess. In the end, ‘Suspiria – the remake’ has a lot going for it, interesting ideas, great performers like Tilda Swinton, nice textures and atmospheres in places, although ultimately the 21/2 hour run time seems a bit testing. It’s perhaps something I need to revisit on DVD, as I’m never very switched on in cinemas, particularly when my arse is going numb. I doubt it’ll resonate with anyone expecting continuity with Argento, or maybe even horror fans in general, but that’s not the point.

DEAD BIRDS – Good ‘western’-era set flick in which some thieves hide out in an abandoned and isolated house. Horror comes in the form of some bestial ghost-creatures over the course of a slow build. ‘Dead Birds’ has the atmosphere of a slowly gathering storm, and looks cinematically a lot richer than its probable low budget. Although it seems to be going for something character driven and ambient, it doesn’t skimp on gore – some nice splattery bits along with a little CGI that didn’t bother me. A film from fifteen years ago, an underexplored era in the sense that it’s neither classic nor contemporary. Recommended.

NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF – Naschy does Daninksy yet again. This time, he gets tangled in a plot to revive a long dead vampire and her inevitably evil buddies. Although set in the ‘modern age’ (well, it was made in the early eighties), ‘Night of the Werewolf’ is basically gothic in its marrow, and even the bits where eg. a werewolf stalks a couple of illegal cigarette dealers look like they’re meant to be happening somewhere in the 1800s. The film is basically a procession of gothic imagery out in search of a plot, and it’s all here – fog banks, cobwebby candelabras, carefully lit crypts etc etc. I find that kind of thing intoxicating, so although this isn’t quite peak Naschy it will still whet the appetite of most who like long shadows and monsters.

[Paul Zombie]

Spasmo.

Christian(Robert Hoffman) a hirsute chap with a passing resemblance to Noel Edmonds dumps his girlfriend after meeting Barbara(Suzy Kendall) who he thinks is dead at first after finding her stretched out on the beach. and later go back to her pad for sex on the understanding that he will shave off his beard first. however he finds that there's a creepy hitman in her bathroom and ends up shooting him in a struggle, but it turns out that he's not dead afterall.

This is from Umberto lenzi the chap who made Cannibal ferox and all the other great cannibal films. and although this film is a serious head scratcher plot wise it is still a very stylish effort and like all of the giallos i've seen entertaining. There's nice locations on beaches and old stone buildings, and with bizarre dreamlike images of mannequins or are they sex dolls? dressed in sexy lingerie and being hanged and stabbed to death.
and just when you think you have a handle on the plot, Lenzi throws in another curve ball.

good effort in deed, and with favorite Ivan Rassamov playing Christian's brother in the film who has a lot to hide as well. Just a shame that Suzy Kendall had packed her mini skirts away in this one.
79 out of 100.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

DEAD BIRDS – Good ‘western’-era set flick in which some thieves hide out in an abandoned and isolated house. Horror comes in the form of some bestial ghost-creatures over the course of a slow build. ‘Dead Birds’ has the atmosphere of a slowly gathering storm, and looks cinematically a lot richer than its probable low budget. Although it seems to be going for something character driven and ambient, it doesn’t skimp on gore – some nice splattery bits along with a little CGI that didn’t bother me. A film from fifteen years ago, an underexplored era in the sense that it’s neither classic nor contemporary. Recommended.

I remember Dead Birds. Not seen it for years. there were a few gems that came out that are probably forgotten around that period such as Hallowed Ground and some probably only i liked - Death Tunnel, Wrestlemaniac, 7 Mummies, Dead and Dying - that sort of thing. All do seem to have more ambition than what we generally get nowadays, or perhaps that's just me and my non-interest in rentaghost, sorry, poltergeist films doing the rounds for the last few years.

Nice thoughts on Suspiria too, Frankie. I think you mention everything except a story.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Flesh Eating Mothers (1989)

Cannibal mutated mothers - i don't know why it never explains it - wisecrack their way through town wearring heavy make up.

Practically unwatchable, abysmally acted rubbish with only a few decent gore effects worthy of mention.

[Demoncrat]

The First Purge
Pointless prequel. See the Dead Kennedys song (hear? ) "Kill The Poor" instead. Plucky proles try to evade the results of an "experiment" based in their area. Lawdy!!

[Demoncrat]

Gangster No 1 (Paul McGuigan)
The rise of a London hardcase, told in extended flashback mode. A host of familiar fizzogs flit about. Paul Bettany radiates menace whilst he's on screen. The score (by John Dankworth) helps by evoking the era.