What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by gag

I hate that I?m in a few film forums on fb and twitter, and I feel ppl saying a film crap it?s like the latest craze ppl have to call every film crap, but never explain why ? Even if it classed as film of the year,
It was crap because it wasn?t horror enough,
Why was it not horror enough ?
Because it wasn?t scary, or not enough ppl get killed, or not gory enough, load of rubbish horror comes in many forms, and worst ones are ones that could actually happen,
Many times I?ve posted and asked why they think it was crap but they don?t responds or explain why, just say because it was.

So what do you think of The Haunting?

[iank]

It's an early example of CGI and sensory overload. It's supposed to be - er- haunting, not a Marvel movie.

[nosferatu42]

I saw The Haunting remake on TV once, loving the original i thought it was worse, but i didn't think it was as bad as everyone said.
Having said that i've never felt like watching it again.
I think the main problem was some dodgy CGI stuff, whereas the original was much more effective by suggestion alone.

[MrBarlow]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Haunting (1999)

Professor Liam Neeson gathers a group of people (Catherine Zeta Jones, Owen Wilson and Lili Taylor) at a huge estate in Massachusetts for an alleged volunteer study on insomnia, only to find themselves plagued by paranormal events connected to the house's grim history.

Jan De Bont's remake of the 1963 classic is a bit of a strange one. It ramps everything up on the earlier film including the special effects from Phil Tippett which are largely excellent whilst the sound design is magnificent in True HD surround and thankfully all the jump scares are based round natural sounds rather than musical cues. I can't really fault the cast - Taylor is good as the put upon heroine of the piece whilst Zeta Jones vamps it up, even Owen Wilson is watchable. The house itself is the star of the film. Filmed at Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire, it's beautifully grand and quintessentially Gothic, a stunning example of Victorian architecture.

And yet it doesn't quite work. Once you've done marveling at the technical aspects you realise the script lacks something and it's not in the least bit scary or thrilling.

Despite all this i enjoyed it when i saw it at the cinema, bought it on dvd and upgraded to Blu-ray so make of that what you will.

The film does have a good set up of a dark atmosphere and a good death with Owen Wilson and you can tell that the house is haunted whereas the original has you thinking is the house haunted or just more psychological, i'm in the minority of hating the remake.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE BLACK ROOM - If there's one seemingly lost early eighties horror flick I've always wanted to see make the jump to HD, it's 'The Black Room'. And here it is, on lovely blu ray at last. I've reviewed it before, maybe a couple of times actually, but it remains one of my fave examples of the kind of dour, vaguely trippy nihilism that flavoured the post-grindhouse era, before the genre started chasing cash after 'Evil Dead' by going for laughs. A man who feels trapped in his marriage rents a secret room where he can live out his adulterous fantasies; it's hosted by a pair of twisted sibs who need a steady supply of blood to quell the brother's anaemia. The film plays with a few semi-profound ideas - what happens when we partition ourselves off in relationships, what role does fantasy play in maintaining power and control - and floats these enticingly before botching them with throwaway developments and a lack of direction and patience. But the whole draw for me is atmospheric. Its ambience is striking - the candlelit room, the disembodied, droney soundtrack, passages that feel stark and enigmatic and full of looming unease, but then there's the California thing, windchimes in the hills. A scattered second half and clunky ending don't detract from a style that cloaks everything in shadow. There is a dark seam of mystery about this period of horror that, in the best stuff, seeps through and spreads like a stain. Threadbare, slipshod, but deeply mesmerising - a film I could watch endlessly.

[MrBarlow]

The Devil's Wedding Night. 1973.

Lady Dracula uses a ring that belonged to Count Dracula to lure women to the castle in order to kill them and bathe in their blood.

Mark Damon plays twin brothers in this, one a gambling man and the other a scholar who both end up at the castle for different reasons but one manages to escape unharmed. Rosalba Neri is the lady of the castle who uses the ring for seduction of the young virgins and tries to keep her youth and powers.

As is often the case in such Gothic Euro horror, there's an awful lot of wandering around the castle, with an obligatory storm raging overhead, all of which is fairly mundane, but at least director Luigi Batzella and some uncredited work by Joe D'Amato manage to hold your attention and also you can expect it to be a bit cheesey and sleazy but I ain't complaining. There is a daft fight scene in this with a bold wannabe vampire which nearly made me laugh, in all I found this one iinteresting.

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE BLACK ROOM - If there's one seemingly lost early eighties horror flick I've always wanted to see make the jump to HD, it's 'The Black Room'. And here it is, on lovely blu ray at last. I've reviewed it before, maybe a couple of times actually, but it remains one of my fave examples of the kind of dour, vaguely trippy nihilism that flavoured the post-grindhouse era, before the genre started chasing cash after 'Evil Dead' by going for laughs. A man who feels trapped in his marriage rents a secret room where he can live out his adulterous fantasies; it's hosted by a pair of twisted sibs who need a steady supply of blood to quell the brother's anaemia. The film plays with a few semi-profound ideas - what happens when we partition ourselves off in relationships, what role does fantasy play in maintaining power and control - and floats these enticingly before botching them with throwaway developments and a lack of direction and patience. But the whole draw for me is atmospheric. Its ambience is striking - the candlelit room, the disembodied, droney soundtrack, passages that feel stark and enigmatic and full of looming unease, but then there's the California thing, windchimes in the hills. A scattered second half and clunky ending don't detract from a style that cloaks everything in shadow. There is a dark seam of mystery about this period of horror that, in the best stuff, seeps through and spreads like a stain. Threadbare, slipshod, but deeply mesmerising - a film I could watch endlessly.

The trailer for this film is on the 2nd of Nucleus' Video Nasties collections, it immediately struck me as a film that I wanted to watch, and completely different to everything else on the discs. It's vinegar Syndrome isn't who has put this out, I'm trying my best not to order a load of stuff in their current sale

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Justin101

The trailer for this film is on the 2nd of Nucleus' Video Nasties collections, it immediately struck me as a film that I wanted to watch, and completely different to everything else on the discs. It's vinegar Syndrome isn't who has put this out, I'm trying my best not to order a load of stuff in their current sale

Yep Justin, it's a VS release and they've done their usual good job.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

A biting satire done mockumentary style which traces a small town USA beauty contest from the auditions to the glitz and glamour of the finals.

There's a great mix of contestants including Kirsten Dunst performing brilliantly as kind hearted trailer trash against spoilt rich bitch Denise Richards and their respective mothers - the even more of a rich bitch Kirstie Alley and the hilarious alcoholic, beer can fused into her hand following a trailer park fire, Ellen Barkin as Dunst's mother, who proves a great trashy duo along with best friend Allison Janney.

Added to this someone in the town is knocking off all their competition.

Absurdly funny in places - those judges...Jesus Christ? - this was such a refreshing re-watch last night, Drop Dead Gorgeous is a wonderfully ironic, withering look at small town Americana and the lengths some will go to in the struggle of the classes.

[nicholasrope]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

A biting satire done mockumentary style which traces a small town USA beauty contest from the auditions to the glitz and glamour of the finals.

There's a great mix of contestants including Kirsten Dunst performing brilliantly as kind hearted trailer trash against spoilt rich bitch Denise Richards and their respective mothers - the even more of a rich bitch Kirstie Alley and the hilarious alcoholic, beer can fused into her hand following a trailer park fire, Ellen Barkin as Dunst's mother, who proves a great trashy duo along with best friend Allison Janney.

Added to this someone in the town is knocking off all their competition.

Absurdly funny in places - those judges...Jesus Christ? - this was such a refreshing re-watch last night, Drop Dead Gorgeous is a wonderfully ironic, withering look at small town Americana and the lengths some will go to in the struggle of the classes.

Add this film to the makes me feel old column, 25 years old. Also this as a young Amy Adams also.