| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
I've just watched the remarkable DEMONS OF THE MIND for the first time in about 15 years. I have no recollection of the film being so bloody weird. It's an absolutely extraordinary piece - a seething cauldron of twisted emotions - and has the same unique gritty British weirdness as films like Witchfinder General. Indeed, it's almost as if Michael reeves did a Hammer film. Could this be Hammer's finest hour? I'd say it's surely one of the studio's highlights. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
I should've put the word deranged in there somewhere... We really need an edit function. :-( | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.141.80 |
Pretty sure I've never seen it - must try to track it down to see if I have or not... | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.177.62 |
Gary, I've had this on my shelf for over a year now, and still haven't got round to watching it! I only have vague memories of seeing it on VHS ages ago, but I don't remember much about it. Maybe I'll give it a watch tonight (with all the lights off, of course). I've enjoyed many of the Hammer films I've watched again lately (most recently the Region 1 two-disc/4-film set). | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.21.168 |
Huw! I'll watch with you! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
I just received the 21-disc Essential Collection. Some good stuff on there. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.21.168 |
Some. Some really is rusty, however, such as The Reptile. Tread carefully cos some memories will get dashed...  (And yet; the opposite is also true because some supposedly duff films like Straight on till Morning really shine.) | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I love THE REPTILE. One of my favourites, even now. They're all rusty, I think; that's part of the immense charm of these deranged little films. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
I rewatched DEMONS OF THE MIND recently & it may be the only 1970s Hammer film that actually still works today. I say 'still' but I suspect it was ahead of its time. Fascinating, and with some cracking dialogue. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
It's demented. And what the hell does the roaming preist have to do with things? Demented.  | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.177.62 |
Let me know when you're watching it, Tony! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.21.168 |
Any time easier for you? Why not go for Hammer night - i.e Friday?  | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.177.62 |
That's fine with me, Tony - Friday it is! | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.32.131 |
Still planning to watch this, Tony? I have the DVD ready to put in, as soon as I finish watching the 'guided tour of the Troll Market' on the Hellboy 2 DVD. ;-) | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.245 |
Friday night is Hammer night here as well, but I'm watching THE GORGON :-> | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.20.12 |
Ha! Yes, Huw. That'll be great. Er, anyone up for Da Vinci code before that...? | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.32.131 |
Lord P, I watched The Gorgon last week. It's no masterpiece in my opinion, but it has a nice Gothic feel, and I still enjoyed it after all the years. It's nice to have it on disc finally. Tony, I'm afraid I have to draw the line at The Da Vinci Code (once was enough for me)! I've been watching the old Star Trek films again recently - I watched Wrath of Khan last night, and have The Search for Spock on standby... | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.245 |
Huw - Just finished watching The Gorgon. I agree - it opens well & has a better sense of the gothic than some of the Hammers, but it does drag a bit and suffers from a less than memorable monster. I like Christopher Lee's outfit though - I think I would have worn something like that if I'd lived then. But I would have had shorter hair. Oh & a nice line I intend to pinch - 'Don't use long words - they don't suit you!' | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.32.131 |
Yes, I liked the scenes with Lee and Troughton. He played the petty bureaucrat quite well, I thought! Do you know where this was supposed to take place, John? I can't remember whether the place was actually named, or whether it was one of those vaguely European countries whose name is never actually stated. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.20.12 |
Ooh! Tell me when you get to the one after Voyage home! I loved the first Trek film very much. One of the few space epics with real awe in it. And lovely music to boot... Yeah, Gorgon does drag. Nice moments, and a nice atmosphere, but that never quite is enough to scratch that itch, is it? | ||
| Jamie Rosen (Jamie) Username: Jamie Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 192.26.212.72 |
The first Trek movie has a lot of things I look for in a Big Dumb Object SF story. But it also has a race of mechanical aliens who can upgrade a 20th century human satellite beyond even 24th century capabilities, but can't wipe some dirt of the satellite's surface. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.58 |
Huw - Lee is in Leipzig at the start but I think the Castle Borski et al is in an unnamed police state where everyone speaks with RADA accents. Lovely. And Tony - you're spot on. It indeed doesn't scratch that itch. Whereas for some strange reason Curse of the Mummy's Tomb does. But I love mummy movies, especially the really cliched ones. What did you chaps think of Demons of the Mind? | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.20.12 |
Not seen just yet. About to put it on. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.177.220 |
I fell asleep halfway through The Search for Spock, so didn't make Demons - I'll watch it tonight... | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.141.243.187 |
I love the first Star Trek film, too. There's some stupid stuff in it, but it still has the whiff of the pages of a sci-fi novel about it, an ambitious intelligent story. Ideas. Do you love Star Trek V, Tony? I do. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.20.12 |
I fell asleep through DEMONS! Hit halfway and zzz. I'll watch later. Yeah, Search for Spock is hardly a humdinger. What's V again, Proto? The one where hey search for God? I like that one. the ending, round the campfire, with them all joking, felt like the end of Trek for me. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.20.12 |
But then I really loved Generations, too! | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.208.109 |
Yeah, that's the one! And I love Generations also. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.43.119.113 |
Guys...guys...I love the Trek MOVIES BUT...V?! Baaaaad film. VI Undiscovered Country was much more like it. gcw | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.20.12 |
No! Lovely film. Trek was always best when touchy-feely, whatever sf folk say, however much they mock it. It was Wagon Train in space but what the hey? I think V caught that spirit more than in any of the other films, to be honest. Undiscovered Country was ok, though. It just felt a bit too talky. Patrick Stewart has looked me in the eye and smiled at me you know. And seen me clapping at him like nuts. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.141.80 |
Even numbered Trek films are ok, odd numbered ones less so, in my opinion. Liked the first one too - it was different to the tv series. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Sorry chaps, but none of the Trek films really do it for me. The TV show, however, was sublime. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.187.117 |
I still haven't watched Demons of the Mind - I got sidetracked by an episode of Season 2 of Night Gallery. The episode consists of two stories. The first is an adaptation of 'The Phantom Farmhouse', a Seabury Quinn story that appeared in Weird Tales and August Derleth's anthology Who Knocks?. It's a simple enough story, and not very original in any way, but it's fun in a pulpy way. It stars David McCallum and a (presumably) pre-Kung Fu David Carradine. The second, superior part of the episode is an adaptation of Conrad Aiken's beautiful story 'Silent Snow Secret Snow'. I won't say what it's about, just in case anyone hasn't read it (although everyone here should have!), but it is quite effectively done, with narration by Orson Welles and a strong performance from the child actor who plays Paul (the tragic main character in the tale). The effects with the snow are well done and nothing is overstated or overblown. One can only imagine how this might be ruined if made today, in the wrong hands. The whole episode has an audiocommentary by Guillermo Del Toro, who shows again not only his genuine love for horror and fantasy, but also a real depth of knowledge of the genre. He talks about watching Night Gallery as a child in Mexico, and how much the series affected him (the adaptation of Blackwood's 'The Doll' apparently caused him to pee himself!). Lord P, I remember you saying you'd ordered this - have you watched this yet? | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.141.80 |
I have the second series on order - I'm also probably one of the few folk on here old enough to have seen the series when first broadcast! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.203.130.145 |
I saw bits on HTV as a youngster. My NIGHT GALLERY 2 set is here now on the shelf for a rainy day. Oh look - the weather's a bit shit. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.204.203 |
You're right, Tony. Trek V really has a lovely warmth to it. Kirk talking about his death, the revelation of a dark side to Bone's. Great stuff. I really like I, II, V and VI. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Trek IV is one of the worst films ever made. I liked II and III. I've never bothered with any of the films with the next gen cast in. I hate Next Gen with a vengeance. My brother used to think it was the best TV ever made so I was forced to watch (or be in the same room and endure) enough episodes to know that it was pants of the smelliest order. I always detested Data. Kryten was a better "robot that wants to be human". The Holodeck was nicked straight from Ray Bradbury's the veldt. Why the fuck would you put something on a spaceship that - at least once a year - would create a new personality that tries to destroy the ship. A typical episode for me - why I think it's so bad - is the one where we hear about a Klingon warship where the crew don't know that the war is over. It's about to wake from hibernation and it's going to go on the attack. This is a potentially interesting storyline introduced in the precredit sequence. We're then introduced to a female Klingon who Worf falls in love with and the next forty minutes is spent chronicling boring and tedious klingon mating rituals. Only in the last two minutes of the show do they return to the story from the precredits and they sort it that out without a hitch. It was a big pile of smelly poo. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 160.6.1.47 |
I like a lot of TNG, grew up with it, sort of. I liked the less-slick, clunky earlier stuff because it had that TMP feeling of having ideas. They had men in skirts! Actually I meant liked VII rather than VI. VI is good (how could it not be with Nick Meyer at the helm?) but a little emotionally empty. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.43.119.113 |
I liked V1 because they let the crew be what they were - old & on the edge of retirement. Just look at poor old Shat in the previous film all dark hair dye and paunch. The Undiscovered country had a dignity lacking in the previous film. Oh, and a good script, decent effects... gcw | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.242.173 |
They've been doing the over-the-hill stuff since II, then kept doing it for another 12 years or so. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.44.101.224 |
Yeah - I agree about VI. Sort of a bit 'hard' for Trek, too plot, plot, plotty. Not bad, though - just not what I go to Trek for. |