What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[MrBarlow]

Superstition. 1982.

A witch put to death in 1690s returns to seek revenge.

Filmed with the new slasher craze that came out in the early 80s but this one has a supernatural element to it, the site where the witch was sentenced to death, a house that is on the site of her watery grave with warning notices and a creepy looking woman who speaks in riddles...what more do you want?

It does have a decent start, young couple in a car, the guy planning a bit of front or back seat bunk up, and two friends planning a prank who meet a grizzly death, then que the new minister of the area who decide to renovate the house in order to save it and then things go wrong.

The acting is what you expect from a low budget, but everyone does try their best to make it entertaining, nice flashback scene with the attempt of a exorcism that didn't really plan out and maybe one or two jump scares added in for the mix, still enjoyable.

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[MrBarlow]

Witch Story. 1989.

Two siblings along with some friends check out a old house that has just been inherited to them unaware that a witch was burned at the stake on the grounds.

Another Italian made film, relax people this is not a Filmirage movie although it does have that tone about it, listed as a sequel to Larry Cohen's Wicked Stepmother in Germany, in America is was listed as a sequel to Superstition, it does have the creepy girl in white dress from the first one, give her a clown doll and she can be like the girl from Ghosthouse.

Simple plot, two teens inherit a house from a long departed family member, no clue about the background, stay there and fix it up then all hell breaks loose. British star Ian Bannen stars as the priest who seems a bit over the place and not sure if the role was suitable for him but he seemed to be enjoying it. It does have the dark tone atmosphere, the long corridor with the light at the end and not really one for jump scares, second time watching this and still not sure what to make of it.

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[trebor8273]

Well that's 90 minutes of my life I will never see again. The films name and poster really gives the wrong impressing, it looks like straight horror and Michael Berryman plays a big role, but nope it's a dreadfully painful and unfunny so called comedy that tries to rip off the exorcist but doesn't have any exorcists or teenagers in sight and Berryman is only in it for five minutes,A big old steaming turd avoid!!

[MrBarlow]

Constantine. 2005.

John Constantine helps a female police detective to find out whether her sister's death was suicide or something supernatural.

Nice decent supernatural tale based on D.C. Comics that deals with Constantine played by Keanu Reeves who has been to hell and back literally and now a somewhat exorcist who has the soul that Satan will gladly come up and collect. Rachel Weisz plays the catholic detective who thinks her twin sister's death was not a suicide. Shia Lebouf plays the young wannabe assistant to Constantine and hopefully be a expert on the occult.

The effects are done decently both make-up and visual effects, even with Balthazar's face getting hit by holy water and slowly dissolving on one side then the knuckle dusters. This wasn't greatly advertised and the trailers made it look crap but I still find it good even with the background score by Klaus Badelt and Brian Tyler.

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[Frankie Teardrop]

HELL HIGH – Bratty high schoolers wreak home-invasion style havoc after their leader gets dissed in class… they obviously forgot that conspicuously mousy biology teachers in eighties B-movies tend to have traumatic pasts and dark sides ready to swing into action. A slow burn for the most part, although the blankness of its characters and their seeming lack of context – we never see much of their lives beyond school and their hang-outs – give ‘Hell High’ a slightly unreal quality which actually works in its favour, as if it were intended as a cautionary fairy tale about running on the wrong side of the tracks. The horror, when it comes, has the stagey quality of many of its ilk from around the time, although there’s one surprisingly ‘transgressive’ moment. Vaguely ‘off’… I liked it.

VAMPIRE’S KISS – Nasty yuppie Nick Cage loses it in late eighties NY after a drunken shag and a neck bite… or maybe he really is transforming into Nosferatu. ‘Vampire’s Kiss’ is a horror comedy that touches on many Reagan-era anxieties, and you can definitely see a bit of ‘American Psycho’ in there – I don’t know whether Brett Easton Ellis was thinking about it, but maybe Mary Harron was. Either way, I’ve seen Cage on far more maniacal form than he is here, I don’t know why people go on about his performance being so grotesque. Then again, there aren’t all that many laughs in this portrait of the dissolution of a racist corporate bully – it’s kind of bleak. Those somehow quite morbid-seeming opening shots of empty Manhattan office blocks by sunset sum up the overall tone quite well. In that respect, the dourness and psychosis behind the satire bring it closer to something like ‘Martin’, which seems at times to be ‘Vampire Kiss’s unspoken mirror image. Recommended.

DR LAMB – Notorious Cat 3 flick echoes (but predates) ‘The Untold Story’ – violent cops arrest a bad man and get heavy between fevered recollections and plush kill scenes. This time the bad man is a twisted cabbie with a thing for Polaroids, necrophilia and severed breasts, one of which flops out at an inopportune moment and lands on someone’s back; just for a second, the unwelcome Cat 3 slapstick succeeds for once (to be fair, the usual misplaced ‘comedy’ is toned down a lot here). Stylistically, ‘Dr Lamb’ wavers between on-the-nose renderings of procedural and more vivid forays into serial killing madness, which are served up with those early nineties post-Mann atmospherics, slick with heavy rain and filtered lighting. It doesn’t seem all that harsh these days as far as the sleaze and debauchery go, but there’s a nasty tone and enough ‘eugh’ about it to quicken the pulse one way or the other. Based on a true story, so there you go.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Alien:Resurrection (1997)

Unlike many films, this fourth effort in the Alien franchise, from French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, seems to improve with each subsequent viewing.

Elements i found disappointing at the cinema now seem fine - the human / Xenomorph / Ripley hybrid for a start. Certainly the underwater sequence stands out like a sore thumb due to it's sheer unbelievability, how can people swim underwater for almost five minutes and not drown? However that's basically all i found wrong with it when i went back to the film last night.

In fact there's plenty to love about Alien: Resurrection. Unlike some of the films Jeunet doesn't hide the Xenomprphs away. We get to see them and in close up. Jeunet allows his camera to practically study the creatures in depth which always delights me as they are such a wonderful creation.

The film also has a great cast. Back when it originally hit cinemas i wasn't particularly aware of Ron Perlman nor Gary Dourdan and Winona Ryder seemed tragically miscast. Now twenty five years on and thanks to the brilliance of shows such as Sons of Anarchy and CSI Perlman and Dourdan are familiar and cherished names to me. (Ryder's still miscast though). Sigourney Weaver remains excellent as heroine Ripley, albeit in a much changed persona.

Whilst the film is arguably a more humorous affair than it's predecessors it also possibly ups the violence levels with several moments of strong gore. There's even some sympathy generated by the hybrid creature at the end despite the sight of it biting heads in half moments earlier.

Alien Resurrection will always have it's critics and that's fine. However when all's said and done it offers us the best chance to gaze at the Xenomorph creature and all these years on still proves an entertaining science fiction/action movie.

[MrBarlow]

Dagon. 2001.

A boat accident just of a Spanish town, a couple go to find help and uncover the town's secret.

Based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft which is a interesting read, writer Dennis Paoli manages to do a decent job of putting it to the screen wit Stuart Gordon directing who is not shy with Lovecraft's work.

Even at first glance of the small fishing town there is a dark tone atmosphere and why the people seem a bit fishy (pun intended of course ) then comes the drunk who reveals everything in a good shot flash back story. The acting from lead Ezra Godden starts off a bit wooden then actually gets better as the film goes on to the point of cheering him on. The CGI effects seem a bit amateurish and cartoonish but the gruesome moments makes up for it, still think this was a decent blind buy for me.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

Dagon. 2001.

A boat accident just of a Spanish town, a couple go to find help and uncover the town's secret.

Based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft which is a interesting read, writer Dennis Paoli manages to do a decent job of putting it to the screen wit Stuart Gordon directing who is not shy with Lovecraft's work.

Even at first glance of the small fishing town there is a dark tone atmosphere and why the people seem a bit fishy (pun intended of course ) then comes the drunk who reveals everything in a good shot flash back story. The acting from lead Ezra Godden starts off a bit wooden then actually gets better as the film goes on to the point of cheering him on. The CGI effects seem a bit amateurish and cartoonish but the gruesome moments makes up for it, still think this was a decent blind buy for me.

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I've always rated Dagon.

Demoncrat be damned!

[MrBarlow]

Lake Placid. 1999

A Fish and game officer, a palaeontologist from a New York Museum, the local sheriff and a mythology professor try to stop a gigantic crocodile in Black Lake, Maine.

A bit of tongue in cheek salute to the 50s B movies, it is a bit of a rip-off from the Jaws movies mixed in with a lake that's roughly the same length as Loch Ness but this one does have something big floating in it.

Stan Winston climbs on board for the design of the creature effect and and does his best to make it look realistic as possible although some of the effects don't seem to be taken seriously. There is some good humour between sheriff Brendan Gleeson and professor Oliver Platt who seem to hate the way each other go about their jobs and try to act professionally. Bridget Fonda and Bill Pullman manage to be the referee's to the squabbling. Who would have though sweet old Betty White would have such a insulting potty mouth on her. Still a laugh and enjoyable film.

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[MrBarlow]

Lake Placid 2. 2007.

3 Crocodiles return to the lake one being a aggressive female protecting her eggs.

Set at some point after the first, with Cloris Leacham playing the sister of Betty White who seems to be keeping the secrets of the crocodiles from sheriff John Schneider while his son and friends are out by the lake. The close up of the crocodiles seem to be a nod to Stan Winston but the crocodiles are certainly CGI. Some good funny moments/comments in this but certainly not as good as the first film.

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