What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

If you didn't like the first and easily the best then why would you be even remotely interested in seeing sequels that nobody thinks are as good?

Sometimes I watch a film I didn't like very much and change my mind about it, enjoying it much more than I expected.

Although I can't remember the last time this happened, I know I hated The Phantom Menace at the cinema then watched it years later and thought the score and some of the action sequences, such as the lightsaber fights with Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi were really well choreographed and scored. Despite the clunky dialogue, uninspired direction, wooden acting, and Jar Jar Binks and some dodgy CGI, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

[MrBarlow]

Fatal Games. 1984.

All promising athletes at a high school are being bumped off by a killer skilled in javelin throwing.

With the amount of athletic equipment about everyone seems to meet their fate with a javelin and become a human Shish Kebab and pinned against the walls. Sleepaway Camp came out the year before that gave us a twist to the killer and the ending and this one does kinda follow that suit of the twisted killer and why they are a bit of a mental case and why they may same upset at other people. The first part of the film does keep your attention with the nudity in the showers and saunas and one or two people getting a rub down and you basically think "yep she has a nice body, lets see how long she lasts in the film". To be honest the acting is not great and you can tell it's on a low tight budget but does help pass some time away.

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[MrBarlow]

Fargo. 1996.

William H. Macy plays Jerry, a car salesman who needs some money, gets in touch with Steve Buscemi and his associate Peter Stormare for the ideal plan, Kidnap the wife, get the ransom money from dear daddy in law Harve Presnell and split the money. Simple little plot for them until blood is shed and determined pregnant police officer Frances McDormand is on the case.

I haven't watched this since the VHS era and didn't quite take it all in and ignored it, in its time frame of 98 minutes, it is a crime drama but the Coen brothers constantly undercut the seriousness with a quirky irony. The movie has the element of thriller but done in a comical way, we see a woman sitting doing knitting watching tv and sees a guy in a ski mask looking in and does nothing except sit there and watch him smash a window then takes off and hides in the simple place after biting a guy's hand....the shower.

Take into a count that this was filmed in America and has a winter setting with the snow and not someplace in Scandinavia, the Coen Brothers use great camera angles to capture everything white to Jerry having a temper tantrum while scraping his car. The acting is brilliant in this and nobody goes OTT or become dull and boring. A great classic of 90s film making YAH.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

House of Wax (2005)

You know when you just need to see Paris Hilton's impaled head sliding down a rusty old iron bar.

House of Wax doesn't disappoint.

It may take an age to properly get going but when it does it's a non-stop gore fest which culminates in a fiery conclusion as we discover the house really is made of wax.

[MrBarlow]

The House Of The Devil. 2009.

Jocelin Donahue plays Samantha a struggling college lass in 1983 accepts a job as a babysitter for Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov who tell her she isn't babysitting a child but his mother in law while they go and observe the eclipse. All going well till Samantha realises something is off.

Ti West does a throw back to a 80s film, having Dee Wallace in a horror even for a cameo is worth something and have Tom Noonan appear is a throwback as he was a bit of a big star in the 80s and 90s. I'm sure some would think having 400 quid thrown your way for one nights work would be a big thing.

Isolation and atmosphere in one house always work and you never know what will happen as we wait for something to happen and doesn't but then we get something of a small reveal happening, then a bit of a big reveal then the finale that comes with a good twist about the elderly couple and their homicidal trigger finger happy son, then boom goes the dynamite with another twist. I never gave this film much recognition and didn't quite make it to the end the first time watching this and now, i loved it.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

The House Of The Devil. 2009.

The moral of the story is never babysit for Francis Dolarhyde. It's not going to end well.

Excellent film. A proper throwback to classic occult films.

[MrBarlow]

Cronos. 1993.

We get the back story of a alchemist finding a secret to living within a device called "Cronos" that disappears and manages to find it's way into a antiques shop where Federico Luppi finds it and uses it. Claudio Brook is the millionaire guy who is dying and wants the Cronos device and has his nephew Ron Perlman head out to find it.

Guillermo Del Toro's imagination on the vampire genre comes to the screen but in a different way, yeah there is blood drinking but done differently where the fangs are not shown but the device itself is the blood sucker. Del Toro has come a long way from this one as it was his first feature film and manages to create something new that can keep you intrigued from start to finish and also entertained with some laughs from Perlman and his hatred for his Uncle. The film does have it's moments of being gruesome, bizarre and weird but never goes off course.

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[Justin101]

Cronos caused so much buzz when it first came out it was a very unique film. I really like it but it’s a film that I appreciate how good it is rather than really love watching it if you know what I mean The Devil’s Backbone though! Oh boy, scary stuff it’s a fantastic film.

[MrBarlow]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Cronos caused so much buzz when it first came out it was a very unique film. I really like it but it’s a film that I appreciate how good it is rather than really love watching it if you know what I mean The Devil’s Backbone though! Oh boy, scary stuff it’s a fantastic film.

That's a film on my list for a watch

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I didn't rate Cronos at all. Over rated and over hyped.

I agree though that The Devil's Backbone is excellent. Might watch that tonight.