| Author | Message | ||
     John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
...is this weekend! I generally disagree with Alan Jones on just about everything to do with the modern horror film, but I'm off to the full weekend to sit in the dark. Anyone else going? | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
We went last year but there wasn't enough on the programme this time to justify the cost of staying in London near Leicester Square. Have fun, though! | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
I shall be sure to report back on anything worth watching. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
Good man! We found out about Human Centipede last year, and we've still yet to find Argento's Giallo | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Giallo's a... difficult film to recommend. Viewed as a straight thriller, it's laughably bad. Viewed as a pastiche of gialli, it's utterly hilarious. As to which Argento intended - I have no idea. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Yes, come back armed with film recommendations, John! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
Did you ever watch La Horde, Zed? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Not yet, old chap - it's on the list, though. The DVD is out soon. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.45.171 |
Lord P. - you have email... | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
So do I!  | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.45.171 |
You have! Consider it sorted... | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Probert Towers thanks you  | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Right - after five days sitting in the dark, it's taken me a wee while to compose my thoughts on everything I've seen. Here's a brief rundown on the lot of them: PRIMAL (Josh Reed) - Group of grad students in the outback looking at cave paintings fall prey to some kind of ancient curse. Aussie horror comedy with a pretty witty script and a killer last line. The internal mythology of the film is a bit muddled, but it's good fun. Had an actor named Wil Traval in it, who I hope has a brother called Hav Gunn. RED HILL (Patrick Hughes) - Not really horror, but a decent modern day Australia-set (again) Western. A small town locks down against a storm and a vengeful killer heading their way. MONSTERS (Gareth Edwards) - Quite an oddity. A journalist and his boss's daughter try to make their way back to the U.S. through a Mexico which has been quarantined due to massive, squid-like aliens which have landed there. More of a road movie romance than thriller. It's good, and remarkable for a film with such a small budget, but lacks peril. DREAM HOME (Ho-Cheung Pang) - Very bloody Hong Kong satire about a woman who will go to gruesome ends to get the apartment of her dreams. Extreme comedy violence, and probably the best severed penis effect of the five (!) seen during the weekend. WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (Jorge Michel Grau) - This is about a family of Mexican cannibals, struggling to adapt after the death of their patriarch. This was billed as a successor to LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, but lacks the spark that made the Swedish film something special. Worth a watch, though. DAMNED BY DAWN (Brett Anstey) - An utter stinker, and an object example of why you shouldn't try CG if you don't have the budget for it. The story - about a woman returning to her family home to confront a banshee curse - had promise, but it was bulldozed by an awful script, performances, and some of the shittiest effects I've seen in ages. BURIED (Rodrigo Cortes) - This replaced A SERBIAN FILM. Ryan Reynolds plays a man who wakes up buried alive, and the entire film plays out within the confines of the coffin. This manages to transcend its central gimmick, but some clumsy political points detracts from the main story. Thrilling, though, and recommended. THE DEAD (The Ford Brothers) - Old school South African zombie film. Takes its cues from Romero and Fulci, and doesn't really add much of its own. But it's solid and exciting. Video game fans can imagine a cross between RESIDENT EVIL 5 and FAR CRY. BEDEVILLED (Jang Cheol-soo) - Slow-paced, but rewarding Korean revenge film. A poor woman is put upon by just about every inhabitant of her island and ultimately cracks. It all gets rather brutal. Be patient with it, and its very satisfying. RED WHITE AND BLUE (Simon Rumley) - Unremittingly grim tale of the relationship between a damaged young woman, a man who may be a CIA torturer or may be a serial killer, and some hipster dickheads who get between them. It's... good, but tough to recommend. The director previously made THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, which may give you an idea of what's in store. THE LAST EXORCISM (Daniel Stamm) - BLAIR WITCH-esque documentary-style movie about a fraud exorcist who gets caught up in what may be a real case. Good performances, and a decent first two acts, but then it goes seriously off the rails in the last ten minutes. I blame Eli Roth. Also, watch out for the pair of boots early in the film... The real reason for the 'possession'? WOUND (David Blyth) - Artless, wanky nonsense. Thinks it's a lot smarter than it actually is, and had the first ever male genital mutilation scene to not make me wince. CHRISTOPHER ROTH (Max Sender) - Giallo-influenced story about a horror author and his wife who have moved to a remote region of Umbria to finish his new book. The writer has clearly read a bit too much Stephen King, and the performances were a bit clunky, but it does have one moment of genius that makes it worth sitting through. FANBOYS (Kyle Newman) - Comedy about a bunch of Star Wars geeks travelling cross-country to break into Skywalker Ranch and steal a workprint of The Phantom Menace six months before its release. Some fun references, but all in all a pretty standard piece of American teen comedy. AMER (Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani) - An oddity. This strange, almost wordless film, uses the images and style of gialli to tell a story about three stages of a woman's life (childhood, adolesence and maturity). An interesting re-casting of some very familiar images, and a great soundtrack culled from various classic giallo. And that, I believe, was my lot. I also sat through THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE on the big screen, which was glorious. The Q&A with Tobe Hooper afterwards was ruined slightly by the dick from Total Film conducting it (sample question: "So, Tobe, when will we see the full 3 hour version of SALEM'S LOT on DVD?" Erm, it's the only version you can actually get right now...) There was also the short film showcase, two in particular stood out for me. FOR MY MOTHER AND FATHER was about a child in a strange mask who suffers some kind of Lovecraftian meltdown after seeing his pregnant mother having sex with his father. And the other was called THROUGH THE NIGHT, about a man asleep by his other half who goes through some horrible transformation. I've put links to the trailers to each below (alas, neither is available in full) but I suggest keeping an eye out for both. TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER: http://vimeo.com/10059333 THROUGH THE NIGHT: http://vimeo.com/6050589 | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
Thanks for the in-depth field report, John! I'm definitely putting some of those titles on my let's-hope-they-find-distributors list! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Good man, John! Thanks for listing these. There's some interesting stuff here. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
John that's great - thanks very much indeed for that. |