What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[MrBarlow]

Ma. 2019.

When a group of underage teens and a new girl are looking for a adult to buy alcohol, Sue Ann tells them she will buy it and offers them a place to hang out in her basement and follow simple rules. What starts out as a laugh with their new friend her intentions slowly becomes clear as to what she wants.

Why we were told to never speak to strangers:This was a twisted psychological thriller, may not be great and has some of it's OTT cheesy moments, Octavia Spencer who plays Sue Ann (Ma) may not be like Annie Wilkes but comes close to it and seems to have a close knit story to Gypsy Rose's mother backstory. The film does go back and forth to flash backs and why Ma behaves the way she does and slowly looses the control of everything. Worth a watch but not one to watch over and over.

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[Dave Boy]

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THE GHOUL (1933)

Egyptologist Boris Karloff insists a jewel is bandaged to his hand on his death so that he will receive eternal life from the god Anubis. He warns that if anyone steals the jewel he will rise and kill when the moon touches the tomb door..

Atmospheric movie made by Boris in England. The old house looks suitably creepy but the movie is let down somewhat by unnecessary and silly 'comedy' moments.

[Nordicdusk]

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A down on his luck actor battling with claustrophobia come home to from a rough day at the office to find his wife in bed with an other man his life takes a strange turn. Looking for somewhere to live he meets a fellow actor at a few auditions and they strike up a friendship. Over a few drinks he opens up about what just happened and his new friend offers him the chance to look after a house he is staying at for five weeks while he is away doing a part. The house is a beautiful place placed up in the Hollywood hills over looking the valley. The main perk of the house is the neighbour that is not only beautiful but he puts on a strip tease act at the same time every night luckily enough the house is equipped with a telescope for closer inspection. Night after night he watches the show but one night he gets more than he bargained for.

Body Double has a surreal feel to it almost dream like how its shot. The scenes where he is following the neighbour are a little bit awkward not really tailing her in a discreet way but literally up on her back a step or two behind her i almost felt embarrassed for the guy. There is a lot of Hitchcock going on here with how some scenes play out or just how they were shot but it is beautifully done. There are a nice few twists and the story keeps you gripped all the way to the end at no stage was i taken out of it or distracted. I have to mention the brilliant soundtrack really takes things to the next level.

8/10

[Nordicdusk]

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A group of outcast friends with an obsession for all things monsters go from freaks to heros when they are they are the last line of defence against Dracula and his group of monsters. Dracula has come to town to find the amulet thats if destroyed will give evil forces the upper hand. One of the kids mothers finds the diary of Van Helsing but the only problem is its in German and the one person they can get to translate it is the creepy German guy that lives down the street. But what can a group of kids do against Dracula Frankensteins Monster The Mummy The Wolfman and Gillman.

Love this film so much fun great make up effects and plenty of charm. Great characters and some really funny scenes. The film just oozes the 80s leather jackets bright clothes and big sunglasses everyone drinking pepsi . What more can i say its just a fantastic escape feel good film and a hell of alot of fun. Great soundtrack too.

After all the years since i last watched it its still as good as i remember definitely adding it to my Halloween annual viewing list.

8/10

[nicholasrope]

American Shaolin

A Martial Artist is cheated out a victory in the final of a tournament, his trainer then admits that he lied that he was a Shaolin Monk therefore student travels to China to become a Shaolin Monk. He is initially rejected before being allowed to train. Once there, he starts to rebel against some of the methods used before finally accepting everything. Once he's finally finished his training, he comes up against the fighter who robbed him in the beginning of the film. This is a strange one, the training and fighting sequences are really good but the fact that the main lead was rebelling and moaning against the methods used to train him was a turn off for me. The script was corny but I can live with but the use of the song "Summertime Blues" got annoying after a while as well as the trainees singing it while doing some work in a routine and changing the title to "Shaolin Temple Blues" was just strange.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has always been a conundrum for me.

Shane Black's script is far too self aware and despite several laughs and finding Robert Downey Jr's Harry Lockhart account of events throughout the film both engaging and charming i do feel the wit and style detracts from the actual story line making the film as a whole pretty unfocused.

It's a movie that wants to be a cool noir thriller akin to classics like Out of the Past, and although both Downey Jr and cop Val Kilmer are on tremendous form, the fact it's all played very much for laughs takes me out of the neo-noir zone leaving a slice of celluloid that would make a fun double bill with Steve Martin's Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid rather than Polanski's Chinatown, which i suspect was never Black's intention.

This is no Lethal Weapon - a near perfect Shane Black script - and nearer to Last Action Hero - not a perfect Black script - unfortunately, yet it's still more than watchable. I guess for me it's a 'What could have been' film.

[MrBarlow]

The Prodigy. 2019.

A mother becomes concerned about her son Miles and believes something supernatural is tormenting him, with the help of a child psychologist she tries to find the answers.

This was a intriguing story line that seems to come across as a twist of The Exorcist, The Omen and add in a dash of the film Orphan, sadly the trailer as always seem to ruin most of the jump scares, so whoever created the trailer thank you very f%*king much for that you are a real sport.

There is good solid acting from Taylor Schilling as the new mother Sarah whot thinks she has a miracle baby who doesn't yell, cry or shout and disbelieves in the truth of what she finds out. Jackson Robert Scott plays the part of 8 year old Miles pretty well and pretty creepy as he seems to have a innocent face with a darker part. All in all it was decent and interesting twists in it, good for a viewing...or two.

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[Dave Boy]

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EARTHQUAKE (1974)

After a few moderate tremors, Los Angeles is hit by a massive Earthquake.
Charlton Heston and George Kennedy head out with an all star cast to rescue survivors from the crumbling city..

Enjoyable disaster movie with some good effects and Matte paintings.
Lots of stunt work as various poor souls fall from or are crushed from falling buildings or swept away in a flood and of course the notorious elevator sequence. The Sensurround soundtrack is pretty thunderous.

[Mojo]

THE MUTATIONS
Donald Pleasance stars as a scientist secretly developing a new hybrid creation of human / plant creatures, in this bizarre UK horror from 1974.
Pleasance enlists the help of deformed sidekick Lynch ( played by Tom Baker ) who lives with the local fairground freak show, who kidnaps unwilling young students for experimentation.
Pleasance turns in a quite restrained performance, while, Tom Baker, looking like a deformed Dr Who, complete with hat and scarf, steals the show as Lynch.
Unique looking plant creatures and some nice time lapse photography contribute to a very colourful and at times unsettling movie.

DEADLINE
A horror author’s quest to write his best ever work results in fantasy and reality crossing over, resulting in madness, in this unusual Canadian horror.
More of a psychological study rather than an out and out horror ( the author has a drug addicted wife, and children who are gradually going off the rails ) this is an enjoyable flick, presented in their usual excellent way by Vinegar Syndrome.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

2 Days in the Valley (1996)

Forty eight hours in the lives of a disparate group of people whose stories all interlock together in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley following a murder.

I love 2 Days in the Valley, tonally it's similar to Pulp Fiction, although in this the story and people's lives run in chronological order which makes it a smoother ride and the shorter run time comes with a tighter script in my opinion. However that's where the similarities end as this is less Tarantino and more James Elroy or Elmore Leonard in storyline.

The ensemble cast is a fantastic who's who of B-movie stars such as Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, James Spader, Eric Stoltz, Glenne Headly and a young Charlize Theron whom all play their parts believably well in a darkly funny crime thriller that thoroughly entertains from start to finish.

Besides which other movie has Teri Hatcher injected in the ass with a tranquilizer, never to be seen again for forty minutes?