What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

A very enjoyable drama in which the stunning Gene Tierney wants to possess new hubby Cornel Wilde all to herself.

Quite a slow burn affair but one with gorgeous scenery and idyllic locations that takes it's time for it's drama to unfold but when it does it becomes unmissable and sadistic viewing with a terrific courtroom finale where Vincent Price's lawyer lets rip at Wilde and lovely Jeanne Crain with breath taking ferocity.

[Demoncrat]

Dr Jekyll's Dungeon Of Death (1979)

Haven't fallen asleep during a film since The Colour Of Money at the pictures, but this made the grade

AVOID.

[MuckyFunster]

IMG_6027.jpg

Watched “Drive” last night.

Ryan Gosling’s character was like an introvert who was a really great driver, but outside of the car he was pretty silent and just kind of stared at folk. The driving scenes were exciting, but there weren’t a lot of them. I’d been hoping for a car chase film, something like Vanishing Point or Blues Brothers. Away from the driving scenes the film felt kind of formulaic.

I enjoyed it but I don’t think Mrs. Funster was as keen. She commented that she thinks Ryan Gosling would be a bit like that in real life!

7/10


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rob4]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

@Nostalgic

I rather enjoy a good old dark house movie here are one or two that i recommend.

If you want to pick up a couple of British ones i really like The Night Has Eyes - about a couple of teachers who end up staying at James Mason's creepy old place on the Yorkshire moors.

Then there's The Door With Seven Locks from 1940 starring the menacing Leslie Banks from The Most Dangerous Game in a crusty old mansion replete with tombs, cob webbed corridors, Iron Maidens and murder.

Then there's The Terror. Part crime mystery that quickly becomes a secret crypt and ghostly figures old dark house movie.

All three are available from Network for i would guess under a fiver each.

Have you seen The Spiral Staircase? A masterpiece by Robert Siodmak which beautifully blends Gothic horror and Film Noir.

1934's The Black Cat is an old dark house horror with a difference. The difference being that the house is a gorgeous modern affair, however the film is grim as hell, in fact brutal for the time and boasts great performances from Lugosi and Karloff.

Good choices Dem

The Door with Seven Locks is available from Kino as Chamber of Horrors.

A few I've seen from the 30s and 40s that are worth checking out:

The Bat Whispers
Murder by the Clock
The Phantom of Crestwood
The Ghoul
The Cat and the Canary (Bob Hope)
The Ghost Breakers (Bob Hope)
Horror Island
The Night Monster
Arsenic and Old Lace
The House of Fear (Basil Rathbone, Sherlock Holmes)
And Then There Were None
Dragonwyck

I think Hitchcock's Rebecca fits quite well in the old dark house category as well.

There were literally dozens of these type movies, both serious and comedies, made in the 30s and 40s and to be honest I've hardly scratched the surface in catching up with them mainly due to availability. The general category of old dark house also fits under many horror sub-categories: hauntings; fake hauntings; murder mystery; masked phantoms; monster on the loose; psychological thriller, etc.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Rob4

Good choices Dem





A few I've seen from the 30s and 40s that are worth checking out:





The House of Fear[/B] (Basil Rathbone, Sherlock Holmes)

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death is another good installment that fits comfortably into the Old Dark House catagory too. An old convalescent house that seems to be perpetually battered by howling winds is the scene of a series of murders connected to a mysterious old ritual. Good film.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Rob4

Good choices Dem

The Door with Seven Locks is available from Kino as Chamber of Horrors.

A few I've seen from the 30s and 40s that are worth checking out:

The Bat Whispers
Murder by the Clock
The Phantom of Crestwood
The Ghoul
The Cat and the Canary (Bob Hope)
The Ghost Breakers (Bob Hope)
Horror Island
The Night Monster
Arsenic and Old Lace
The House of Fear (Basil Rathbone, Sherlock Holmes)
And Then There Were None
Dragonwyck

I think Hitchcock's Rebecca fits quite well in the old dark house category as well.

There were literally dozens of these type movies, both serious and comedies, made in the 30s and 40s and to be honest I've hardly scratched the surface in catching up with them mainly due to availability. The general category of old dark house also fits under many horror sub-categories: hauntings; fake hauntings; murder mystery; masked phantoms; monster on the loose; psychological thriller, etc.

The comedies do nothing for me sadly, as far as being old dark house movies anyway. I can't deny i love Arsenic and Old Lace but wouldn't recommend it to someone who wanted to watch an old dark house horror film.

I've never rated Bob Hope's comedy either.

Dragonwyck, an interesting choice. Seen it twice this year and there are certainly some sequences of brilliant Gothic horror especially the shot from outside looking in on Price. However for someone just getting into the genre it's quite a mellow dramatic film for the most part and has little in the way of chills until the last few minutes.

[Rob4]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Dragonwyck, an interesting choice. Seen it twice this year and there are certainly some sequences of brilliant Gothic horror especially the shot from outside looking in on Price. However for someone just getting into the genre it's quite a mellow dramatic film for the most part and has little in the way of chills until the last few minutes.

Yes mainly melodrama, but as you say some fine gothic touches. And of course there's VP in all his mad glory.

Interestingly I had a debate with someone online who insisted it wasn't remotely horror, but for the life of me I can't find anywhere in the film where there is an explanation for the ghost?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) ★★★★

Sam Rockwell is one of those actors who seems to improve every film in which he appears so it's a treat when he is the lead. In this, George Clooney's directorial debut, he plays Chuck Barris, a game show host and producer, who I hadn't heard of prior to watching the film.

Clooney teams up with people with whom he worked as an actor: editor Stephen Mirrione (Ocean's Eleven) and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel (Three Kings) and the result is a film which – even on DVD – looks brilliant. The bright sets of The Gong Show and The Dating Game contrast starkly with Barris's CIA missions in Helsinki and East Berlin.

The supporting cast is excellent, from Drew Barrymore to Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer to Clooney himself and even Michael Cera as a young Chuck Barris are very well cast (there are fun cameos from Brad Pit and Matt Damon who have nonspeaking roles as contestants on The Dating Game). That said, this is Rockwell's movie and he rightly (and predictably) shines in a film which is part absurdist fantasy and part thriller.

Clooney handles the subject material extremely well; the film is as much a character study as a Cold War thriller and yet the tonal changes never feel clunky or unnecessary. It's an excellent film which I last saw probably around 2005 and bought the DVD very cheaply to see if my memories of the film were accurate. It was as good as I remember and I'll probably upgrade to the Blu-ray release.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Arthur Christmas (2011) ★★★★

It's been several years since I saw this last, and this was my second viewing. It might seem a strange film to watch in August, but I have a system of buying films and adding them to a queue and watching the ones I have owned the longest and this was at the front of the queue.

The story is fairly simple, and completely charming, and it's directed with tangible energy and excitement. The voice acting from the entire cast, from James McAvoy to Jim Broadbent, Hugh Laurie to Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton to Bill Nighy is perfect for each character and imbues the action with humour, humanity, and a necessary amount of danger.

I'll probably watch this again in a few months time as part of the run-up to Christmas and can see it becoming regular festive viewing.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Krull (1983) ★★★

If you took Flash Gordon, added most of Hawk the Slayer, added a dash of Star Wars and then removed most of the fun and excitement, you'd end up with Krull.

Like Flash Gordon and Hawk the Slayer, it's a bit of a narrative mess, a film that only just hangs together without becoming unbearably dull. Some of it is incredibly well-designed, it's shot with skill, and it's quite funny to see Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane looking reasonably young and freshfaced!

Krull is the sort of film you could watch while doing the ironing – you don't have to give it your full attention and it ultimately doesn't matter if you miss five minutes here and there.